After the assassins withdrew, the group of five—Rei, Rhodos, Ruzy, Veikyul, and Most—quickly moved to a different location.
They had used a smokescreen to cover their escape, and it wasn't hard to guess that people further away would have noticed something happening. The smoke itself had cleared relatively quickly after the assassins fled, but a screen large enough to be seen from a distance had still blanketed the area. It would have been foolish to think that no one would come to investigate.
If they stayed, they would almost certainly be caught up in an interrogation by the guard force. While they had nothing to hide, the process would be a massive waste of time. More importantly, Rei considered the possibility that some members of the guard force might still harbor a grudge against him from the war.
"Hah... hah... hah... hah... Phew."
Rhodos was the only one in the group still out of breath. He finally let out a long exhale, looking somewhat recovered. In his hand was a bottle of fruit water that Rei had produced from his Misty Ring.
"You're supposed to be a warrior, yet your stamina is already tapped out? Isn't that a bit of a problem?" Ruzy muttered, sounding exasperated.
Rhodos took another drink of the fruit water, his gaze turning sharp as he looked back at him. "Then why don't you try being attacked by assassins immediately after training with Rei to your absolute limit?"
"...My bad, I'll pass. Honestly, I'm just impressed you survived in that state."
Ruzy must have recalled the intensity of the training he'd seen. At the sight of him backing down so quickly, not only Rhodos but even Veikyul nodded in agreement.
Most was the only one who remained silent. As a mage, he hadn't been subjected to training quite as grueling as the other two, though Rei had still made him practice dodging daggers more times than he cared to count.
"Anyway, we should get back to the inn. I'm sure the guards will be poking around there as well."
Security in the Imperial Capital had already been tightened because of the fighting tournament. On top of that, a massive number of participants who had failed to clear the qualifying rounds were still loitering in the city.
While they were still in the tournament, most participants stayed on their best behavior to avoid disqualification. However, once they lost in the qualifiers, those restraints vanished. Brawls and other disturbances had become a frequent occurrence. With so many tourists and dignitaries in the city, it was only natural for the imperial capital guard force to step up their patrols.
"True," Rhodos muttered. "I should let my mother and Lord Daskar know what happened."
The fact that Elk’s name didn’t even cross Rhodos’s lips spoke volumes about his priorities. Indeed, Ruzy and the other two members of the Wind Dragon Fang were visibly surprised that he had omitted his father.
Rei, however, was already well aware of Rhodos's mother complex. He didn't bother to press the issue and simply nodded.
"Then let's move. We stay on guard the whole way back. They might have pretended to retreat just to double back for a surprise attack. Or a completely different organization might decide to take a shot at us."
"...Would they really be that persistent?" Most asked, looking like he found it hard to believe.
Rhodos, having heard Rei's warning, gave a firm nod. "We were attacked even while we were on our way here. I don't know the exact magic they used, but they could paralyze their sense of pain and exert strength that seemed impossible for their builds. They’re thorough—they brainwash people and make them fall unconscious the moment they're captured. There's no way to predict what they'll try next."
"Well, the Requiem Bell is a pretty famous organization. I'm sure they find this sort of thing easy enough," Rei added nonchalantly.
The moment that name left his mouth, the members of the Wind Dragon Fang froze.
"...H-Hey, wait. Did you just say 'Requiem Bell'?" Veikyul asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Given her class was a thief, she was naturally well-versed in that sort of information. However, it wasn't just her; Ruzy and Most were also staring at Rei and Rhodos with looks of pure disbelief.
"According to the intel we have, it's a fact that the Requiem Bell is operating here," Rei replied, acting as if it were a minor detail.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Ruzy and his companions came to a dead stop. Rei and Rhodos, who had continued walking for a few steps before realizing the others weren't following, turned around.
"What's wrong?"
"...'What's wrong?' How can you be so calm when you're being targeted by the Requiem Bell?" Veikyul muttered.
Operating within the Bestia Empire, she knew exactly how terrifying that organization was. She had never been directly involved with them, of course—if she had, she likely wouldn't be alive to talk about it. The Requiem Bell was that notorious. She couldn't wrap her head around how Rei and Rhodos could remain so composed.
"I mean, I'm an adventurer from the Kingdom of Mireana. It's a bit late for me to be shocked by how famous a group is in the Bestia Empire," Rei said easily.
In the first place, Rei had made an enemy of the entire Bestia Empire during the Spring War. Currently, he was working for Vihera and Theoreme, helping them with a plan that could very well lead to a civil war. More importantly, he had recently come face-to-face with the S-Rank adventurer Noise. Compared to that man's overwhelming presence, the threat of the Requiem Bell didn't feel particularly daunting.
"I get where Rei is coming from. When you spend your life around my father, your perspective on this kind of thing gets a little skewed..."
Rhodos felt the same. The alias of the 'Axe of the Thunder God' was legendary not just in Mireana, but in the neighboring countries as well—even here in their long-time enemy, the Bestia Empire. Growing up as the son of such a man, Rhodos had spent his life watching someone exert strength that was clearly inhuman. Unless it was an outlier like Rei, it was hard for him to feel a true sense of crisis just because a shadow organization was mentioned.
"...I've heard they have specialists who are A-Rank equivalent, though," Veikyul added, her tone becoming somewhat desperate.
The reaction her words provoked, however, was entirely unexpected.
"Heh. A-Rank, is it?"
A ferocious smile spread across Rei's face. Veikyul, seeing it from inches away, reflexively scrambled back several steps without even realizing why.
Rei didn't even notice. If anything, he clenched his fist as if he welcomed the idea of such a powerful enemy.
He had been called an inhuman existence himself. But from his perspective, Noise was a true monster, an S-Rank outlier. He wanted to win against that man. That singular desire made him relish the idea of fighting an A-Rank opponent.
Technically, Elk and Min were also A-Rank, but they were currently busy as Lord Daskar's guards. He couldn't exactly ask them for combat training, and even if he did, a serious duel between him and Elk would likely leave the entire city in ruins.
For Rei, strong enemies were a necessity if he wanted to grow enough to defeat Noise. If there were assassins with the combat power of an A-Rank adventurer, they were exactly what he needed.
"H-Hey... you're not planning something crazy, are you?"
Veikyul finally regained her composure and asked fearfully. Rei let the ferocious smile fade and gave a simple nod.
"Don't worry, I won't go looking for trouble. But if they come for me, I'll have to deal with them."
"...He's totally looking for trouble," Most muttered, sounding drained.
Engaged in this somewhat dangerous conversation, they continued through the city until they reached the busier streets. The ruins where they had been training were a spot the staff at the Eternal Sky Inn had recommended specifically because they were secluded. Rei realized that the Requiem Bell forces had likely chosen that spot for the ambush for that very reason.
In reality, the attackers were assassins from a completely different organization, but Rei was now fully convinced they were from the Requiem Bell.
Ironically, this misunderstanding would cause the number of organizations targeting Rei to plummet from that day forward. The surviving assassins from the other group reported back that Rei was already a target of the Requiem Bell. Not wanting to poach a target from the most powerful shadow organization in the Empire, the higher-ups decided to wash their hands of Rei entirely. They knew better than to risk a turf war with a group of that scale.
Rei, unaware that his presence was causing such ripples, suddenly caught a scent that made his mouth water. Nearby was a stall selling grilled skewers, and the smell of charred sauce filled the air.
It wasn't just Rei's group; other pedestrians were also stopping in their tracks, drawn in by the aroma.
"That smells amazing. Want to grab some?" Ruzy was the first to speak. His eyes were already locked onto the meat.
The others felt the same. Rhodos was hungry after his mock battle and the subsequent fight, and the three from the Wind Dragon Fang weren't about to turn down good food. As for Rei, it went without saying.
The group approached the stall.
"Welcome! Care for some of our signature skewers? They're fresh off the fire!" the stall owner called out.
Beside him, another worker was basting the meat with sauce before returning it to the flames, sending a fresh wave of that intoxicating scent into the air.
"Five for me."
"Three, please."
"I'll take three as well."
"Two for me."
Ruzy, Most, Rhodos, and Veikyul placed their orders. Then it was Rei's turn.
"Thirty."
The quantity was in a completely different league.
"Eh?"
"Pardon?"
The man who seemed to be the stall owner and the woman assisting him stared at Rei in shock. The skewers here were delicious, but they were also more expensive than the average street food. They wondered if they had misheard him.
But Rei didn't blink. He simply repeated himself. "Thirty."
"...Y-Yes! Right away!"
The owner scrambled to get the order ready. He served the other members of the group first, then started handing over the rest to Rei. Fortunately, they had a large batch ready, so they were able to fulfill the request without much delay.
Rei and the others took their food and continued on their way. They were soon making happy noises as they bit into the meat, savoring the rich sauce and the savory fat. Looking at them, one would never have guessed they had been fighting for their lives against assassins just a short while ago.
The stall continued to sell through its stock, and in less than an hour, every skewer was gone. Many disappointed customers were left wondering why they hadn't prepared more, but the owner simply bowed and began closing up shop.
"...Up close, what did you think?"
"He's a monster. No doubt about it."
As they pulled the stall away, they whispered to each other in voices so low they were lost in the noise of the city. These two were actually Mura and Shistoi, members of the Requiem Bell.
They had been gathering intel on Rei and Daskar when they heard that another organization was sending assassins. Deciding to use the chaos as a cover to observe Rei up close, they had set up the stall. They had correctly gambled that Rei's legendary appetite would bring him right to them.
The results of their observation were exactly what Shistoi had said.
"To be honest, his presence is completely different from the last time we saw him. It might be because of that encounter where we lost track of them."
"...So, all we've really confirmed is that Crimson has become an even bigger problem."
When Noise had made contact with Rei, members of the Requiem Bell had been watching, but because Noise was disguised with a magic item, none of them had recognized the S-Rank adventurer. Consequently, they were left scratching their heads, unable to understand why Rei had suddenly become so much more obsessed with attaining strength.