After extracting information from Cathy's acquaintance, Rei headed straight for Augusto's shop.
Upon returning, he found several figures stationed around the building.
The figures showed a moment of vigilance when they spotted someone approaching, but upon recognizing Rei, they let out a breath of relief and spoke.
"Rei-san, you're safe."
"...I didn't go off to fight or anything, so of course I'm safe."
A look of dissatisfaction surfaced on Rei's face at the man's words, which seemed to imply that trouble always followed wherever he went.
But facing that reaction, the man spoke with a wry smile.
"Still, Zarust-san did say as much."
"Zarust..."
When he had been chasing after the man who attacked Augusto, Zarust had been cloaked in killing intent. But ever since Augusto — who had been on the brink of death — recovered thanks to Rei's potion, Zarust must have regained his composure considerably.
Otherwise, he never would have made such a lighthearted remark.
"Well, fine. So are Zarust and Augusto inside the shop?"
"Yes. Though I don't think you should go in right now."
Rei tilted his head at those words, spoken with a certain considerateness.
Zarust was the one who had originally asked him to gather information, so in order to report it, he needed to explain things directly to Zarust and Augusto.
And this was a report that Daridora had been attacked — not as any kind of staged alibi, but genuinely.
That information was extremely important to Augusto, and the sooner he heard it, the better.
So why? As if understanding the question forming in Rei's mind, the guard offered a wry smile and spoke.
"The truth is, Cathy-san is visiting the shop right now..."
Hearing that much alone, Rei immediately understood what was happening inside.
Most likely, a cloying atmosphere was spreading through the shop interior.
He didn't understand why Cathy was there when the attack had been kept secret from her, though.
Out of love? he wondered — but seeing Augusto and Cathy's passionate romance, he couldn't help but think it might not be far from the truth.
"...What do you think I should do?"
"No, I'm not sure what to tell you if you're asking me."
"You're the one who said I shouldn't go inside right now, aren't you? Then don't you think we could at least discuss what to do?"
"...Umm...give up?"
"That's not happening. ...Oh, right. What about Set?"
Suddenly remembering his partner, who had been acting separately from him to serve as Augusto's guard, Rei asked about him.
"Set? Set is behind the shop. There's no stable that can accommodate a griffon, so he's apparently just lying on the ground."
"I see. ...Then I'll go check on him for now."
The option Rei ultimately chose was to buy some time.
Approaching Augusto and Cathy right now would be dangerous in more ways than one.
He figured that if even a little time passed, things might become somewhat more reasonable. However, the expression on the guard's face was something closer to pity.
...Whether one knew Augusto and Cathy well or not. That difference was what divided their judgments.
(Even if he kills a little time, the heat between those two isn't going to cool down. ...If anything, the more time passes, the hotter it gets and the more uncontrollable it becomes.)
Going later was actually close to the worst possible option...
Though, truthfully, the absolute worst would be not going to report at all.
Watching Rei walk away, the man returned to guarding the shop.
The tension from before Rei's arrival had already dissipated, but the man gripped his longsword firmly, resolved never to let his employer Augusto be harmed again.
When Rei came around to the back of the shop, he found Set exactly as he'd been told.
Set must have noticed Rei approaching. Still lying down, he purred happily.
A short distance away from Set, for some reason, Zarust was also present.
"Zarust? Why are you here?"
Rei approached Set, stroking his body as he called out to Zarust, who stood a little farther away.
At Rei's words, Zarust gave a small shrug before speaking.
"Didn't you hear before going into the shop? Cathy-san is here right now."
"Ah...yeah, I understand why you're here now."
In short, Zarust had escaped from the sweet atmosphere for the same reason Rei had.
However, having Zarust here now was also a welcome convenience for Rei.
"I've gathered the information."
"You mean about Daridora being attacked?"
"Yeah, that's confirmed. And he was attacked far more seriously than Augusto was."
"Really? What about the possibility that it was staged?"
Like Rei, Zarust must have assumed that Daridora's attack was a fabricated alibi to divert suspicion from himself for attacking Augusto.
That was why, upon hearing that Daridora had been genuinely attacked, he asked with evident surprise.
"I don't think it was staged. According to someone who witnessed the attack, three men attacked first. Three men who felt absolutely no pain. And just when they thought those three were dealt with, multiple arrows were loosed from out of nowhere. If not for someone named Narcus, an arrow would have ended up in Daridora's head."
Hearing that much, Zarust couldn't dismiss Daridora's attack as staged either, and let out a groan.
"But then...who's pulling the strings behind this? Augusto-san and Daridora...no, Augusto-san doesn't have that much influence, but even so, for someone to make an enemy of Daridora..."
He couldn't imagine such a person existing, he said. Faced with Zarust's assessment, Rei could only nod in agreement.
Rei had only just arrived in Gauche, so he didn't have a complete picture of all the opposing factions in the city.
What he did know was that Augusto and Daridora were at odds over the handling of Tira Trees, and that Daridora was allied with the lord, Lyubrand — and at that point in his thoughts, a single possibility occurred to him.
Rather than a mere possibility, given that Daridora wasn't the culprit behind this incident, the only remaining person of influence was Lyubrand.
"Could it be that the lord, Lyubrand, tried to assassinate Daridora?"
"No way. That's not it."
Zarust immediately rejected Rei's words.
"The lord here — honestly speaking — only manages as well as he does because Daridora is there. Of course, it's not that the lord is malicious, but how should I put it...a typical noble? Someone who thinks 'this is what a noble should be like'? Hmm, it's hard to articulate."
Zarust's words were vague, but Rei more or less understood what he was trying to say.
From actually meeting the man once, Rei had gotten the impression that Lyubrand acted according to his belief that this was how a noble should behave.
(For example...)
Rei glanced at Set, whom he was stroking.
Lyubrand had voiced a desire to make the rare Set his own, but it had seemed like he said so simply because he believed that was what a noble would ordinarily say.
In fact, once Rei refused, Lyubrand never pressed the matter further.
Compared to those whose eyes were clouded by desire, he was clearly different.
(Well, for all that, he didn't seem to take offense at my manner of speech or attitude. ...Normally, a noble fitting that description would turn into a corrupt noble. In that case, is he actually virtuous? ...That's dangerous.)
Rei muttered inwardly.
As long as Lyubrand remained as he was now, there would be no problem at all.
But since he shaped his behavior around what could be called his personal concept of nobility, what would happen if that concept shifted to that of a tyrannical noble?
It wasn't hard to imagine.
Gauche, whose residents currently managed a decent standard of living, would become the target of the lord's exploitation and plunder.
And Lyubrand, carrying out such acts, would feel absolutely no guilt.
Given that Gauche was by no means wealthy, if that came to pass, it would face ruin in the not-so-distant future.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"No, yeah. It's nothing."
There was no way he could admit he'd been imagining a future where Gauche was destroyed, so he deflected.
Zarust seemed to sense something off about Rei's demeanor, but not wanting to be pressed about what he'd been thinking, Rei forcefully moved the conversation forward.
"So, what makes you so certain that Lyubrand isn't involved in this attack?"
"...You shouldn't refer to the lord by name without an honorific."
"Even if you say that, I'm not sure whether you've heard from Augusto or not, but I did share a meal with him."
At Rei's words, Zarust let out an exasperated sigh before speaking.
"The lord and Daridora are allied, but one of the reasons they're working together is that Daridora is helping develop Gauche — specifically, he's lending his wisdom for that purpose. Would someone try to kill the man who helps develop Gauche?"
"...What if Daridora said something Lyubrand found unacceptable, and as a result they came into conflict...or something like that?"
"That's about the only scenario I can think of, but honestly, I can't imagine Daridora doing anything that would put him at odds with the lord."
Scratching his head roughly, Zarust muttered in displeasure, wondering how and why the current situation had come about.
"Then it really is a third force?"
"...That's about all that's left, isn't it."
Zarust seemed to be saying things had gotten even more troublesome.
Watching Zarust's demeanor, Rei continued stroking Set, who was purring contentedly, and turned his gaze toward the shop.
Just then, Augusto emerged from the building.
Fortunately, Augusto was the only one coming out — Cathy, who had presumably been creating a passionate atmosphere with him until just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, Rei-san. You're back. You could have come to report to me directly, you know."
"Yeah, right. I was planning to take a short break here before heading over."
Rei couldn't exactly say honestly that he hadn't wanted to get involved in their lovey-dovey atmosphere, so he offered that excuse instead. But Augusto tilted his head at Rei's attitude — and at Zarust, who stood beside Rei nodding as if to say he understood exactly how he felt.
"Is that so? Well, if that's the case, then fine...so, about the information you were gathering, how did it go?"
Rei answered Augusto, who asked while still looking puzzled, in a straightforward manner.
"Daridora was also attacked. And it wasn't a staged attempt to cover up what happened to you — his life was genuinely targeted."
"...Is that true?"
Facing Augusto, who — like Zarust — asked without hiding his disbelief, Rei gave a nod.
"I heard the details from a woman who's a friend of Cathy's, and compared to the ones who targeted you, they attacked with a much larger force. If anything, your attack was probably the diversion, and Daridora was the real target."
"From what you're describing, that does seem to be the case...but both me and Daridora being attacked almost simultaneously..."
At Augusto's demeanor, which seemed to say he couldn't comprehend it, Zarust also nodded.
"It's most likely a third force. Augusto-san, do you have any leads?"
"No, unfortunately..."
From those words, it was clear that Augusto had more or less assumed his own attack was Daridora's doing.
But since it was an open secret that Daridora had hired Sand Bandits to attack Augusto's caravan, it was understandable that he would think so.
"If you don't have any leads either, Augusto, then we're out of clues."
"...I'm sorry."
Augusto bowed his head at Rei's words, and seeing that, Rei hurriedly spoke up.
"No, I'm not blaming you or anything, so don't worry about it."
"But Rei-san, you're not employed by me, are you? You're just someone staying at my house. And yet, to cause you this much trouble..."
"Ah, don't worry about that. If something happened to you, Cathy would be heartbroken. And that would cause all sorts of problems, right? The cooking, the cooking, and the cooking."
"Just the cooking?"
Zarust muttered in exasperation, but Augusto smiled at the exchange.
"You're right. Cathy's cooking is worth that much."
At Augusto's words, Zarust — knowing the taste of Cathy's cooking firsthand — couldn't argue.
Watching their exchange, Rei suddenly spoke up.
"Since I'm this deeply involved, I'd like to know — why are you so opposed to Daridora, Augusto? If we used Tira Trees, we could protect Gauche more cheaply and safely, couldn't we?"
So he asked.