They had been moving through the slum district guided by the man for a little over ten minutes. Unlike when Rei's group had advanced on their own, they proceeded now without losing their way.
Until just moments ago, it would not have been unusual for slum residents to attack at the slightest opening, but now the number of those targeting Rei's group had visibly decreased.
"Is this because that man is here?"
Elena murmured while surveying the surroundings.
Their guide apparently heard her. He turned back with an obliging smile and spoke.
"Yessir, it's 'cause I'm here. See, I'm the one guidin' ya, so my acquaintances are holdin' back on account of that."
Perhaps trying to make a better impression on Rei's group, his speech had grown somewhat more polite than when Byune had forcibly dragged him over to talk with Rei.
Polite—or rather, the speech of a low-ranking underling—was more accurate.
"I see. But despite that, there still seem to be those targeting us, do there not?"
"The ones holdin' back are just my acquaintances, see. The ones with no connection to me are probably still aimin' at ya."
"If they mean to attack, I would rather they simply get on with it. Being trailed like this is honestly not a pleasant feeling."
"Nah, if we get attacked, I'm the one in danger, see."
The man lived in the slum district and had been watching for a chance to attack Rei's group, so he was by no means lacking in confidence in his ability.
Even so, taking on multiple fellow slum residents at once would hardly be an easy fight.
There was no sense of camaraderie among those with no connection to him, but becoming hostile could lead to trouble down the line, so he preferred to avoid fighting other slum residents if at all possible.
"If we keep goin' a bit further, the number of those aimin' at ya should drop, so just bear with me a little longer."
"A bit further? That would be the place you spoke of earlier, the one we intend to reach?"
"Yessir. I'll be takin' my leave at a spot a little distance away."
The man asked Rei with his eyes if that was acceptable. Rei gave a nod.
It was something Rei was not entirely accustomed to, seeing a man clearly older than himself acting so deferentially, but he let it slide as just the usual.
In the world of adventurers, ability was everything. For that reason, even someone as young as Rei would be respected so long as he had the strength.
—Though in Rei's case, perhaps due to his personality, he had just as many enemies.
"Sorry 'bout all this. Well then, let's be off."
Satisfied that he did not have to accompany them all the way, the man proceeded forward with lighter steps than before.
Exasperated by his fickle attitude, Rei and the others nonetheless followed after him.
They walked on for another ten minutes or so before the man finally came to a halt.
"The place I was told to guide ya to is over yonder."
At the man's words, everyone except Asimov wore expressions of understanding.
Several people were inside the building, and among them, some radiated an aura suggesting at least a degree of strength.
(The residents of this slum are accustomed to violence, but they're by no means technically skilled. Well, that's just based on the ability of the ones who attacked us, so there are bound to be some who can actually fight. Anyway, if I gauge the skill level of the ones inside that shack based on what I know...)
What came after that could be understood without even thinking it through.
And the man before their eyes had probably seen that sight with his own eyes.
Even now, as they stood there, the man's feet were faintly trembling.
Still, keeping that fear off his face was something Rei found rather impressive.
(Heh.)
Impressed inwardly, Rei tossed a silver coin to the man.
"Whoa—! ...Heh, much obliged. Well then, I'll be takin' my leave. If ya're gonna do somethin' to that building, be real careful, yeah."
The man departed with a grin, laughing as he went...
"Hey."
Rei called out to his back.
Whatever he sensed from that voice behind him, the man went no further. His feet stopped, and he turned back with a stiff motion.
The man's eyes met Rei's.
"Something extra. Take this too."
Along with the words, a piece of black bread—baked hard as preserved rations—came flying through the air.
Hardly any ordinary person would willingly eat black bread, let alone the kind adventurers carried as preserved rations, but to a slum resident it was practically a feast.
Catching the black bread midair, the man stared with a look of sheer bewilderment and opened his mouth.
"Eh? Um, why?"
"Just felt like it. More importantly, our business is done, so you can go."
"Uh, um, well... thank ya kindly for takin' it."
Offering his thanks for the time being, the man took off at a sprint, wanting nothing to do with whatever trouble was about to unfold.
"What manner of whim was that?"
The words from Elena's mouth clearly referred to Rei tossing the black bread.
Rei offered a small smile in response.
"I just kind of liked him, that's all. He was clearly terrified, but he didn't let it show."
"...Is that so?"
Elena wore a vaguely unconvinced expression at Rei's words, but she did not press the matter further and turned her gaze toward the target building.
"They're there."
"Yes. I wonder what kind of strong opponent awaits us. I'm looking forward to it."
Vihera replied to Elena's words with a melting smile.
For Vihera, who loved combat to begin with, there had been no satisfying battles lately.
The fight with the Cyclops had been reasonably enjoyable, but reasonably was only reasonably.
It had been nowhere near enough to make her burn from the bottom of her heart.
Thinking there might be an opponent who could satisfy what could only be called her battle lust, Vihera instinctively radiated her presence into the surroundings.
It was not so ominous as to be called killing intent, but an aura better termed fighting spirit—born of a pure desire to enjoy combat.
Whether in response to Vihera's fighting spirit or not, there was movement inside the shack.
Several seconds later, the shack's door opened and five people appeared.
Since they were still at a distance from Rei's group, the five who emerged stood still and watched them approach.
Among those five, Rei recognized two of them.
The magic item shop owner and Adria—the woman Rei had... more precisely, the woman Set had captured.
(I handed her over to the guards, but... if she's here, that means she escaped. Or did they intentionally let her run so they could capture her when she regrouped with her companions? It's a possibility, but I can't see Ranga relying on such an uncertain method. If there were no other options, maybe, but not otherwise.)
If Rei had known what happened while he was underground in the magic item shop's basement, the story might have been different. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of Adria's escape incident, and so found himself wondering whether it might have been Ranga's intention.
Even so, considering Ranga's personality, he concluded that was probably not the case.
The remaining three were a stout-looking man whose face was entirely covered by a beard, another man who appeared to follow him, and lastly a man who seemed somewhat well-bred.
Several glass bottles hung from that man's belt, recalling the alchemist's appearance described in the intelligence extracted from the bandits.
"An alchemist, huh."
"Hit the mark?"
"Well, I wonder. It's not necessarily the case that there's really only one alchemist involved in this matter... even if there is, they'd certainly have some kind of information, though."
"...For now, I'll be taking that bearded man, that alright with you?"
Vihera declared she would absolutely not hand her prey to anyone else. Rei, Elena, and even Byune said nothing.
However, Asimov, who had only just met Vihera, could not understand why she was so excited.
Though it was also true that Asimov was unaccustomed to rough work, he couldn't tell at all whether the bearded man—Dias—was all that strong.
(The man from earlier had a beard too. Is having a beard some kind of trend in the slums?)
Asimov could only harbor such an impression.
For the record, the reason so many men in the slums grew beards was simply that many no longer shaved.
Like the man from earlier, most slum residents were constantly short on money, and many did not possess well-cutting blades.
Even if they did have one, it was likely a rusty knife—and shaving with something like that would hardly produce a clean result.
A few did possess clean blades, occasionally stolen from others, but no one would use a blade that could serve as their meal ticket just to shave a beard and dull its edge.
Then there were those who deliberately left their beards unshaven for the purpose of concealing their faces, even if only slightly.
Which category Dias belonged to required no consideration.
"Hmm, then I shall take that woman. If the one I captured earlier has already fled, it would be terribly bad form."
"It's not as though Elena let her escape, right? She was properly handed over to the guards at the time, so if something went wrong, that's on them."
"Even so. I finally reunited with Rei, and for the person I captured at that time to have remained escaped this whole time is honestly not entertaining."
"Uh... right."
Faced with Elena stating her feelings far more directly than he had expected, Rei's face flushed faintly and he looked away.
"Listen, save that sort of thing for after this matter is settled. Honestly, if that's how it's going to be, include me too."
"Hm?"
Byune must not have understood what Vihera was talking about. She tilted her head with a puzzled look and turned her gaze toward Rei as if seeking an explanation.
"Never mind, ignore it. It's still too early for Byune."
"Mn!"
Byune muttered in displeasure at being treated like a child by Rei, whose apparent age wasn't so different from her own.
Rei turned his gaze toward Asimov.
"Sorry, but I need Byune to guard Asimov. I would've preferred having her handle one of the other three, but..."
"......Mn."
Though she looked somewhat displeased, Byune accepted Rei's instruction.
"Hm? Rei, it seems there has been some movement on the other side."
At Elena's words, Rei turned his gaze forward and saw the man who appeared to be the alchemist passing one of the glass bottles from his belt to Dias.
Dias received the glass bottle and drew back in a wide swing—and the instant Rei saw that motion, he reflexively drew Death Scythe from the Misty Ring.
He swung its massive blade in a horizontal slash.
"Flying Slash!"
The flying slash shot straight through the air and struck the glass bottle Dias had thrown, shattering it.
Shattered at roughly the midpoint between the two groups, the bottle's contents hit the ground and immediately produced a sickeningly vivid purple smoke that spread through the surroundings.
Whether by design to keep the smoke from reaching their own side, it stayed confined to a radius of only several meters and spread no further.
"......They've made something pretty nasty."
Seeing the purple smoke, Asimov muttered with a bitter expression.
"What is that smoke? It looks dangerous at a glance."
"It's a substance called Catoprepas's Breath. When you touch that purple smoke, it causes corrosion. ...Look."
At the spot Asimov indicated, the ground had been corroded where the purple smoke had touched it.
"That's quite..."
Rei, who would have to fight the alchemist, wore a look of distaste.
The Dragon Robe boasted strong defensive power against magic and physical attacks in general, but it was poorly matched against something smoke-based like this Catoprepas's Breath.
Because it was smoke, it could enter through any gap in the Dragon Robe, and once inside, it corroded whatever it touched—a nightmarish combination.
"Normally it would require Catoprepas materials, so it's not something that can be made so easily. It's not something an ordinary alchemist could make skill-wise either."
"......Countermeasures?"
"Don't touch the smoke."
At those perfectly reasonable words, Rei let out a sigh.
"That much is obvious from looking. Is there nothing else?"
"Well... in your case, you can do ranged attacks like just now, so fighting at a distance might be a good option too."
Rei turned his gaze toward the alchemist—Zboz—but saw that Zboz already had a fresh glass bottle in hand, readying it to throw at a moment's notice.
Furthermore, at some point, all five of them—including the bearded man—had equipped magic item weapons.
"So they're fully prepared and waiting for us, huh. ...Can't be helped. Wasting time like this will only work to their advantage. Let's take them down quickly."
As those words left Rei's mouth, the gap between the two groups having already closed, they threw themselves into combat all at once.