Rei, who had chased after the person responsible for spilling his soup on the ground, arrived at a sparsely populated back alley.
One man had been cornered at a dead end, with four armed men toying with him — and Rei arrived right at that moment.
Now then, let me properly repay them for the soup. That was what Rei thought, but he was surprised to find that one of the five people present... the person who had been cornered, was someone he knew.
It was the man Rei had spoken to on the highway while heading to Gracial, when his carriage wheel had been stuck in a hole.
The man likely remembered Rei as well.
Since Rei had been eating soup until moments ago, he had lowered his hood, which may have also played a part.
To an onlooker, he would seem like nothing more than a novice mage wearing a robe.
Even so, the man had seen Rei once before, so it was unmistakable that the person standing before him was Rei... that he was the one who had a gryphon at his command.
"You... why are you here?"
The man muttered with an air of disbelief. Rei gave a small shrug before speaking.
"What do you mean 'why'? I told you I was heading to Gracial, didn't I? I certainly didn't expect to run into an acquaintance while chasing down the person who spilled my soup, either. More importantly, you're in quite an interesting situation here. Where are your guards?"
Rei was talking to the man, but the four armed men were under no obligation to listen in silence. Rather, they judged that an accomplice of the man they were about to torture and kill had just shown up, and exchanged glances with one another.
One of them then stepped toward Rei.
He was about two meters tall with a fair amount of muscle on his body.
Gripping a club, the man snapped irritably at Rei.
"H-hey, hey. You're in the way, you know. We were just having some fun... so die, die, die!"
His emotions must have surged as he spoke. He raised the club and swung it down at Rei's head without a moment's hesitation.
If Rei had been an ordinary person, his skull would have undoubtedly been crushed.
But... Rei was far from an ordinary person.
Rather than stepping back from the club swinging down at his head, he stepped forward — into the attacker's guard.
The man with the club was startled when Rei suddenly appeared inside his reach, and just before the club struck the ground, he felt a heavy impact in his stomach before his consciousness plunged into darkness.
"Guh!"
Rei glanced at the man who went flying with an ugly scream, then turned his gaze to the remaining three and spoke.
"So, it looks like you're the ones behind this situation... but what exactly is going on?"
"......"
Rei asked quietly, but none of the remaining three answered.
They simply could not comprehend what had just happened before their eyes.
Before them stood someone who appeared to be a mage.
Normally a figure to be wary of, sure — but a mage without a Magic Catalyst like a staff was nothing to fear. Or so they had thought, and their strongest companion had tried to kill him. Yet before they knew it, it was their own man who had been sent flying.
Even so, if he had been blasted away by some kind of spell, they might still have been able to make sense of it.
But the small-statured figure who looked like a mage showed no signs of chanting, and didn't even carry a Magic Catalyst to begin with.
What's more, he had slipped past the club strike and closed the distance with their companion — in a situation where any proper mage, even if they somehow managed to dodge an attack, would have absolutely created distance instead.
And then, before they knew it, with a dull thud, the club-wielding man was sent flying.
Five meters, no less.
And on the torso of the leather armor worn by the man who had been launched, there was a clear fist print embedded in it.
In other words, the club-wielding man had been punched — no, punched and sent flying — by the small-statured mage standing before them.
Some ten seconds passed. The men, still fixed under Rei's gaze, finally understood what had happened. ...They had no choice but to understand.
It was something they absolutely did not want to believe, did not want to comprehend, and did not want to accept — but what had just occurred before their eyes was an irrefutable fact.
"D-damn it! Who the hell are you!"
The man who appeared to be their leader shouted, thrusting the dagger in his hand toward Rei.
His attention was no longer on the person he had been planning to torture and kill just moments ago.
He perceived only the threat directly in front of him, and thought of nothing but how to survive this situation.
The other two must have read the leader's intentions. They immediately leveled their daggers at Rei as well.
"You guys don't listen, do you... I asked if you were the cause of this. Well, whatever. So, what's the story?"
Shifting his gaze away from the men pointing their blades at him, Rei looked next at the noble man.
The noble man had seen Rei with his gryphon on the road to Gracial.
In this Kingdom of Mireana — perhaps in all of Elgin — as far as the man knew, there was only one person who could make a gryphon their Tamed Monster.
(Is it all right to think I've been saved?)
He had heard a fair share of rumors about the person known as Crimson Rei, but hadn't thought him the type to resolve a situation like his.
Even so, as someone who had exchanged a few words with him, there was something about Rei that inspired a vague sense of trust.
"These men are assassins hired to kill me."
"...Not again."
He had expected as much from the situation, but getting tangled up with this sort again was a hassle for Rei too.
He had come chasing after the person who spilled his soup, but ending up in a situation like this was entirely beyond his expectations.
(To begin with, I'm already being targeted by some assassin... hmm?)
Muttering complaints inwardly, he suddenly realized something.
Just as the saying goes — leave mochi to the mochi maker. If these men were in the same trade, they might carry information about whoever was targeting him.
"Thinking about it that way, this situation is actually convenient. Like a moth to a flame."
An indescribable tension radiated from Rei.
The men had been frozen in place by that very tension, but sensing that the words Rei had just muttered spelled absolute disaster for them, they moved almost reflexively.
"Damn it, get him! Kill this bastard!"
"Uoooooh!"
"D-diiiiie!"
Against the three charging at him with daggers drawn, Rei's response was brutally simple.
He charged straight back at them.
But the speed at which he closed the distance was on an entirely different level from any ordinary person.
Though not as fast as when clad in the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, it was still fast enough that to the men, he seemed to vanish from their field of vision for an instant.
What's more, Rei was wearing the Dragon Robe, crafted from dragon leather and scales, whose defensive power could shrug off the strikes of ordinary weapons without a scratch.
So what happened when Rei, clad in that Dragon Robe, plowed into them head-on at a speed their eyes couldn't even follow?
The answer came in the sickening crunch of crushed flesh that echoed through the back alley.
And it didn't ring out just once — but twice, three times in rapid succession. All three men who Rei had smashed into were sent flying, slammed into the walls, and crumpled to the ground.
They had likely lost consciousness from the impact the moment Rei collided with them. The men lying on the ground showed no signs of movement.
"Well, that's about that."
He muttered, scooped up the daggers scattered on the ground, and stowed them away into his Misty Ring.
The noble man was at a loss for what to say at the sight of Rei disarming unconscious opponents without a second thought, but then remembered that this was hardly the time for such concerns.
"I'm sorry, and thank you. I did say we might cross paths in Gracial, but I never expected a reunion this soon."
"I imagine not... So, what do we do with these guys? They came after your life, right? Hand them over to the city guards, finish them off, or just leave them lying here?"
At Rei's words, the man shook his head without hesitation.
"There's no reason to waste time on these men... Rei. You are indeed the adventurer known as Crimson, correct?"
"Hmm? Yeah, that's me... If you don't plan on doing anything with them, mind if I take them? I've gotten tangled up in some trouble on my end too. If they're connected to the underworld, they might know something useful."
At those words, the man's expression grew complicated.
Partly because Rei was also caught up in trouble of his own — but more than that, it made what he was about to say all the harder to get out.
But hesitating was not an option. Right now he was safe, but that applied only to himself.
The guards who had accompanied him from his family home were, at this very moment, still fighting assassins.
"I'm sorry, but let me be direct. My guards are currently in the middle of fighting assassins. They used quick thinking to help me escape, but..."
Hearing that much, Rei understood what the man was getting at.
In other words...
"You want me to help."
"Yes. Given the suddenness of it all, I have almost nothing to offer as payment, but for now I'll give you everything I have on hand. If that's not enough, I'll pay the rest at a later date... Can I ask this of you?"
His words might have come across as presumptuous, but strangely, Rei felt no aversion toward the man before him.
That was because, setting aside his manner of speech, it was clear he was sincerely worried about his guards.
He regarded his guards not merely as employees, but as companions.
Observing the man's demeanor and thinking it over briefly, Rei decided that securing more potential sources of information about those targeting him would be for the best, and accepted the pouch the man held out.
Without even checking how much was inside, Rei nodded.
"I'll take the job. So, where do I need to go? ...Ah, before that. You seem to know my name, but may I ask yours? I should at least know who's hiring me."
"Right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I am Ealand Viden, of Viscount Viden's House."
"Ealand, huh. It'll be short-lived, but let's work together. So, where is it? Lead the way."
Ealand immediately nodded and broke into a run out of the alley...
"!? ...Rei-san!? And you're..."
...nearly colliding with Grink, who had been about to enter the back alley.
Rei had supposedly gone chasing after the person who spilled his soup, yet here he was, moving alongside a man who appeared to be a noble.
From Grink's perspective, the situation was completely incomprehensible.
But Rei offered no explanation. Instead, he bluntly made his demand.
"Those four men on the ground over there — they tried to kill this noble, Ealand. Sorry, but I need you to secure them. They might have information about whoever's after me."
"Please, Instructor Grink!"
Without waiting for a reply, Rei departed with Ealand in tow.
From the fact that Ealand had known Grink's name, Rei could infer his background — or rather, his position at the academy.
Grink hesitated for a moment over whether to follow the two, but he couldn't simply leave behind the men who had caused a disturbance in Gracial — and if there was a chance they held information about the attack on Rei, he certainly couldn't leave them as they were.
Confirming that all four men were unconscious, Grink set off to call the city guards.
"It's just around the corner down that road!"
Rei sprinted down the main street following Ealand's directions.
The crowds were thick, but weaving through the gaps was hardly difficult for Rei.
They rounded the corner and continued down the road, with Ealand lagging slightly behind, until the faint sound of clashing metal began to reach their ears.
Yes — the sound of weapons striking against each other.
Should I leave Ealand here? Rei wondered for a moment, but if he left him alone and another assassin came after him, there would be nothing the man could do.
Better to keep him close where Rei could protect him — and Ealand would surely feel safer alongside his guards as well. With that, the two of them charged together into the area that had become a battlefield.
It was a back alley, much like the one where Rei had taken down the four assassins earlier.
However, this one was several times wider, forming something of a small plaza.
In that space, several men Rei recognized were armed and locked in combat with about twenty opponents.
Ealand's guards were outnumbered, but in terms of pure individual skill, they had the edge.
Into that fray, Rei charged with Ealand at his side.