The night desert — a time and place where anyone would be forgiven for shivering from the cold.
Yet Rei and his companions pressed on across it.
Leading the way was Set, tracking the assassin's scent.
Rei walked alongside it, with Zarust and Narcus following behind in that order.
"…So, how far do you think we'll have to go?"
Zarust asked as they trudged through the sand, but Rei merely shook his head.
"We don't even know where their hideout is, so guessing that is hard. More importantly — Daridora and Augusto, the presumed assassination targets, are inside Gauche. So why do you think they built their hideout outside the city?"
"Well, normally it'd make more sense to set up a hideout inside Gauche. If Augusto-san and the others made any moves, they could respond right away."
Zarust had a point. If they were planning to take action, establishing a hideout near Gauche — where their targets Augusto and Daridora lived — would be the obvious choice.
But this time, the hideout was outside the city, in a location far from even the roughly packed paths that served as roads.
No matter how he looked at it, something was off.
(The only reason I can think of… is that a hideout inside Gauche would be convenient but also easy to find?)
Rei kept thinking, even as the sensation of his feet sinking slightly into the sand with every step irritated him.
(But would they really need to worry about a temporary hideout being discovered? If it seemed like they were about to be found, they could just move to a different spot. Setting up outside the city has far more downsides no matter how you slice it.)
Having a hideout outside the city meant they had to enter Gauche every time they wanted to do anything.
That meant going through procedures with the gate guards each time, which guaranteed they would draw attention.
For assassins capable of replacing their facial skin to disguise themselves as someone else, it might not be that much of a burden.
But there was no such thing as absolute certainty. If anything went wrong, those secrets could be exposed.
(A reason to go so far as to build a hideout outside the city despite all that… hm? That far-fetched, huh?)
Rei had been mulling things over as he walked through the desert, when suddenly something in his own line of thought snagged, and he stopped in his tracks.
Naturally, Set — walking beside him — stopped as well, and the two behind, Narcus and Zarust, did the same.
"Stopping out of nowhere — what's wrong?"
Zarust's tone carried a hint of irritation.
Walking in freezing air with nothing but starlight and moonlight to guide them — under conditions like these, a sour mood was only to be expected.
But Rei ignored Zarust's voice from behind, focusing instead on pinning down what had caught in his thoughts.
Zarust, having his words brushed aside, opened his mouth to press the issue, but Narcus stopped him with a gesture.
Knowing Rei's true strength as an adventurer, Narcus was genuinely curious about what was going through his mind.
At the same time, something about Rei's demeanor had clearly resonated with him as well.
After about a minute of standing motionless… Rei finally spoke.
"Hey, doesn't this seem off? Even if they're out to assassinate Augusto and Daridora, why would they need to set up a hideout in a dangerous place outside the city?"
"That's… well, like I said earlier, it's probably about prioritizing stealth, right? The assassin Rei took down could apparently swap out their facial skin to disguise themselves as a completely different person. Maybe they set up outside to protect that secret?"
"Probably. No matter how well you can disguise your appearance as someone else, you can't imitate their mannerisms and speech. If they carelessly bumped into an acquaintance, there'd be a high chance their true identity would come out."
Zarust nodded in agreement with Narcus's assessment.
But Rei, while conceding the point, shook his head.
"I considered that too. But Gauche is a city this size. If they needed to hide in order to carry out assassinations, there'd be no shortage of places to lie low."
"But there's always the 'what if,' right? Maybe they figured it was better to be safe than sorry?"
Narcus silently nodded in agreement with Zarust's words.
Facing the two of them, Rei lowered his voice so no one else could hear, even out here in the night desert.
"What I'm about to say might sound completely absurd. But if my prediction turns out to be right, we could be looking at a very bad situation in more ways than one. I want you to hear me out knowing that."
Rei's tone left no doubt — he was not joking.
Seeing the look on his face, the two adventurers had no choice but to listen in silence.
When it came to operating in Gauche, Zarust and Narcus were far more experienced than Rei.
But purely in terms of adventurer rank — or past achievements — they couldn't even hold a candle to him.
Because of that, they felt they should hear out whatever was about to come out of Rei's mouth. No — that they needed to.
With the two now willing to listen in silence, Rei spoke.
He laid out the conclusion he had reached, including the sense of dissonance that had been nagging at him.
A story that, under these circumstances, would be hard for anyone to believe if they heard it.
"The hideout we're heading to right now. That it's outside the city is all but certain based on Set's behavior. So then — why is it there? For the reasons we just discussed? …I don't think so."
Something in Rei's words made Zarust and Narcus both swallow hard.
Rei pressed on with his explanation.
"What if that location was chosen for the sole purpose of truly never being found? What if it isn't the temporary hideout for killing their targets that we've been assuming all along… but their headquarters?"
No way.
The two voices overlapped in unison.
Their expressions made it plain — they couldn't bring themselves to believe Rei's theory.
Even with both of them shooting down his idea immediately, Rei didn't push back. If anything, he understood exactly how they felt.
The notion that an assassin headquarters sat right next to the city of Gauche was, frankly, hard to swallow.
They had never even known of its existence until now, after all.
"No, but… Gauche is a big city in Solrein. I've heard about and seen all sorts of incidents over the years that looked like the work of assassins. But I've never once seen guys who peel off their own facial skin show up here."
Zarust said it almost reflexively.
And he wasn't wrong.
Born and raised in Gauche, he had been an adventurer long enough that calling him a veteran wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
If assassins who peeled off facial skin — the kind of unforgettable threat that would stick with anyone who heard about it — had been operating here, there was no way Zarust would have forgotten.
Narcus hadn't been active in Gauche as long as Zarust, but he had been employed by the Elema Trading Company — the most influential organization in the city — and had served as bodyguard to its head, Daridora.
But just like Zarust, he had never heard a thing about assassins who peeled off facial skin.
"Yeah, I thought about that too. Actually, when Daridora first brought it up, he seemed genuinely shocked. But… still."
Rei paused and quietly scanned their surroundings.
As if to say an assassin might be eavesdropping on their conversation at that very moment.
…Of course, even while putting on that show, Rei placed absolute trust in his partner, Set.
He had heard that the archers who attacked Daridora were never visually confirmed, but he was confident that if anyone was hiding through some unknown means, Set would find them.
So this was just a pose — a way of conveying just how seriously he was treating the possibility of a nearby assassin headquarters.
"If assassins have their headquarters in this area… do you really think they'd cause trouble right at their own doorstep? And these aren't ordinary assassins. They're the kind who peel off their own facial skin. I don't think assassins that peculiar would risk exposing their identity."
Even as he said this, he added the caveat that it was unlikely they had carried out zero activity in Gauche.
However, if they had, they would have made thorough preparations to ensure their true identities would never be discovered.
"…I see. Because they understand just how unusual they are, they limit their activities in Gauche. When you put it that way, it's not entirely unconvincing… what do you think?"
Narcus, apparently finding a degree of persuasive logic in Rei's explanation, nodded and turned to Zarust, who still looked unconvinced.
Faced with Narcus's question, Zarust could only grunt.
He knew he had to acknowledge that Rei's argument had a certain logic to it.
But even so — as someone born and raised in Gauche — having an assassin headquarters nearby was something he simply didn't want to accept.
"As a possibility… I can only say it's conceivable. Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, the lord governing Gauche is not someone who can be called exceptionally capable by any stretch."
"Hm? Hold on. I understand that the current Lyubrand is that kind of person, but what about the previous lords? His father, or grandfather, for instance…?"
At Rei's words, all Zarust did was quietly avert his gaze.
That was all Rei needed to see. He had more or less gotten the message.
"In other words, it's been that way for generations."
"…Yeah. Whether to call it fortunate or not, the lord's family is generally neither outstanding nor, conversely, incompetent. As far back as I can remember, I've never heard of a lord abusing his authority to exploit Gauche's residents."
"I've heard the same from Lord Daridora. But apparently it's not that they're particularly virtuous — it's that if they tried anything like that in Gauche, the city itself would quickly collapse."
I see, Rei nodded, his expression showing understanding.
Gauche was a large city by Solrein's standards, but situated in the desert, it was by no means wealthy.
If that was the case, it made perfect sense that looting or exploitation here would quickly drain available resources and bring the city to ruin.
"Taking that into consideration, that's probably why the current lord's family has remained in charge of Gauche."
"So they never exploited the city, but in exchange, they never noticed an assassin group setting up headquarters right under their noses."
"That's… still not actually confirmed, is it?"
Zarust pushed back against Rei's words.
However, even Zarust himself — considering everything Rei had laid out — couldn't definitively claim there was no chance of an assassin group lurking nearby.
"That much will become clear once we see what lies in the direction Set is heading. …Set, can you do it?"
"Guruu!"
Set, which had been silently listening to Rei's conversation while keeping watch over the surroundings, rumbled in response and began advancing through the desert, leading Rei and the others along.
Tracking the scent, Set led the way with Rei at its side. Behind them, Zarust and Narcus followed, mulling over Rei's words while staying alert to their surroundings.
Nearly an hour had passed since they left Gauche.
Even accounting for the time they had spent talking, it was no short walk.
(Well, even if they wanted to build a headquarters near Gauche, they couldn't exactly put it right next to the city walls…)
Rei briefly imagined the assassins' hideout sitting directly beside Gauche, but given that the city's guards weren't known for their keen perception, it wouldn't be surprising if they had simply overlooked it.
(They probably factored that in when choosing this area… Lyubrand and his family are being completely underestimated.)
Still, the fact that the assassins had limited their activities in Gauche to hide their identity even a little was probably a stroke of luck for Lyubrand, Rei reasoned.
…Of course, that was merely Rei's own thinking — speculation and nothing more.
Be that as it may, as the party continued through the night desert…
"Gururururu!"
Set suddenly let out a sharp growl.
"Did you find it!?"
For a split second, Rei was certain it had — but when he looked in the direction Set was facing, there was nothing that resembled a building. Just the vast, empty expanse of the night desert stretching out before them.