Resonance breathed his last abruptly, mid-conversation.
Naturally, Rei, Zarust, and Narcus — who had been speaking with him normally just seconds earlier — could not hide their shock.
"Huh? Hey, Rei. Is this some kind of joke?"
That was precisely why Zarust asked with an expression of genuine bewilderment.
But Zarust himself understood that Resonance was dead. He asked anyway because the situation was simply that unexpected.
Of course, they had seen blood flowing from his mouth. They had seen his body pierced by multiple spears, half of it crushed beneath the iron ball Rei had dropped from the sky. Given such a condition, they naturally hadn't expected him to last much longer — but even so, they never imagined a man who had been talking normally just moments ago would lose his life so effortlessly.
"...No doubt about it. He's dead."
Unlike Zarust, who had turned to Rei in surprise, Narcus quickly approached Resonance and checked whether he was breathing, whether he had a pulse, whether his heart was still beating.
Even among fellow adventurers, the difference in how many life-or-death situations they had weathered was plainly on display.
"You're sure?" Rei asked, seeking confirmation.
All Narcus offered in return was a silent nod.
"Gurururu!"
Set suddenly let out a sharp cry.
Had a monster been drawn by the scent of blood?
The three of them readied their weapons, but there was no sign of anything approaching.
"...Set?"
At Rei's question, Set directed its gaze toward the figures lying some distance away — some corpses, others missing limbs but still alive, and a few merely unconscious by extraordinary luck.
Seeing Set rumble at those figures, Rei was momentarily confused about why it had cried out. Then, in the next instant, he recalled the assassin he had fought at the research facility.
"Suicide poison!?"
He shouted and rushed toward the men collapsed in the desert.
Rei's words must have made it click for Zarust and Narcus as well. They immediately followed.
When Rei reached the nearest man, what he found was a corpse — green liquid already dripping from its mouth.
"No good, he's dead!"
"Same here... Suicide poison, huh."
Zarust called out, and Narcus nodded in agreement, muttering as if echoing Rei's words.
They had heard about suicide poison from Daridora and the other guards. And yet, his murmur was laced with regret at having let them use it right under their noses.
"...Hold on."
The groans of the wounded had already faded. All that remained was the sound of the cold wind sweeping across the night desert. Amidst that silence, Rei's voice rang out softly but clearly.
What is it? At the looks Zarust and Narcus gave him, Rei turned his gaze toward the village — the village that, according to Resonance, had been concealed by an artifact.
Those who had come out to intercept them had, the moment they accepted defeat, immediately chosen death by swallowing suicide poison. And since Rei was now looking at the assassins' village, it stood to reason that there would be people other than the combatants inside — women, children, the elderly.
But what would happen to them now that the assassins who served as the village's combat power were dead?
As Rei stared toward the village, Zarust and Narcus must have reached the same conclusion. Their faces twisted grimly.
It was small, but it was still a village. And judging by the number of fighters they had faced, a considerable number of people could still be inside.
What had happened to them — the moment the three of them realized, they broke into a run.
"Set! Keep watch — make sure no monsters come!"
"Guruu!"
At Rei's shout as he ran, Set cried out in acknowledgment.
If any monsters did appear, Set's presence would eliminate any cause for concern. Trusting in that, Rei chased after Zarust and Narcus, who had been running ahead.
In the blink of an eye, Rei caught up and surged past them, plunging straight into the village.
Such a fierce battle had taken place outside, so naturally no one was out of doors. Still, if anyone remained inside, they might be peering through a crack in a doorway... With that thought and a creeping sense of dread, Rei threw open the door of the nearest house.
There was no lock to speak of. The door swung open easily, and inside—
"Tch. Just as I thought."
A bitter mutter slipped from Rei's lips.
An elderly man and woman lay dead on the floor, green liquid and blood seeping from their mouths. The same cause of death as every other body they had seen.
...The only mercy was that the expressions on the two old people's faces were peaceful smiles.
"Rei!"
Zarust and Narcus burst into the house. Rei silently shook his head.
Seeing that gesture, then seeing the two elderly bodies on the floor, the fate of the village was all too easy to imagine.
Even so, clinging to the possibility — however slim — that someone might have survived, the three of them split up to search.
For a fleeting moment, the thought that a surviving assassin might still be lurking crossed Zarust and Narcus's minds. But they decided that confirming the villagers' fate took priority, and accepting the risk, they moved separately.
What Rei and the others found as they combed through the village was that in every single house, no one was left alive.
The elderly. Children. Even infants who appeared to have been newborn. Every one of them had taken their own life, green liquid and blood flowing from their mouths.
"...No good, then."
After a quick sweep, Zarust and Narcus regrouped near the village center. They nodded at Rei's words with pained expressions.
This was not the first time they had seen death. They had experienced it countless times before. But even so, the sight of the nearly powerless — the elderly, the children — lying dead was not something anyone could bear lightly.
Hence the pained expressions.
"Why did they do such a thing... There's no need to even ask, is there?"
Rei's question cut through the heavy atmosphere, and the other two nodded without hesitation.
Using Resonance's clan's blood and Tira Trees, one could create a drug that eliminated the sensation of pain. The exact method was unknown, but if the premise was simply that it could be made, then producing it would not be especially difficult. At the very least, it would be far easier than starting from scratch with no knowledge at all.
But to make that drug, Resonance's clan's blood was necessary. If it were produced in earnest, the clan would be reduced to livestock — kept alive only to be drained of blood.
Fearing that fate, they must have chosen to end their lives now, while they still had their dignity. That was Rei's surmise, and Zarust and Narcus shared the same view.
"It's not really my place to say, but if Lord Daridora learns about this, he'll certainly try to create the drug. He took heavy losses in this affair, too."
Narcus spoke knowing full well that his employer was generous to his subordinates but did not hesitate when it came to pursuing profit. Zarust nodded.
Having lived in Gauche, Zarust understood Daridora's character all too well. After all, Daridora had once sent Sand Bandits to attack Zarust and Augusto for his own gain.
(Well, as a result, Rei ended up taking the Sand Ship.)
But that was only because Rei had been there. If Rei hadn't been present, they would have been wiped out — or at best, suffered devastating casualties. Most of the camels pulling the carriages would have died. The cargo would certainly have been lost. And it was entirely possible that Augusto — the likely target of the Sand Bandits' orders — would have lost his life.
"However..."
Zarust, who had been lost in thought about Daridora, snapped back at Narcus's words.
"However?"
"No, what I mean is... given that we found this place, it's undoubtedly a significant benefit for Gauche, isn't it?"
At that, Zarust and Rei looked around as if realizing it for the first time.
Everyone, including Rei, had confirmed the presence of a small oasis here. True, the houses currently contained numerous corpses, but once those were cleared away, they could be used as perfectly serviceable homes.
In other words, Gauche had essentially acquired another village for free.
Of course, it was not without its problems. Until now, an artifact had maintained a barrier to keep the village hidden from the outside world. But that barrier had been sliced apart by a single strike of Rei's Death Scythe, and the artifact itself was destroyed.
To make use of this village, they would need to devise countermeasures against monsters and Sand Bandits. Small though it was, a village was still a village — and securing it would require significant expenditure.
"Hey, what if they used this place for Tira Tree experiments?"
At the words that slipped casually from Rei's mouth, Narcus furrowed his brow.
He already knew that when Tira Trees gathered beyond a certain density, they would attack humans in search of prey. His honest feeling was that he would prefer not to live somewhere so dangerous.
Of course, the person Narcus guarded was Daridora, and given Daridora's fastidious nature, Narcus couldn't imagine him personally visiting a site where Tira Tree experiments were conducted.
(Besides, the dangers of Tira Trees don't end there. The drug... that will need to be dealt with as well.)
He recalled the conversation he had just had with Rei and Zarust. As Daridora's employee, he would have no choice but to report the existence of the pain-blocking drug. And once he did, Daridora would inevitably begin researching it. This wasn't a matter of whether it could be done — the drug demonstrably existed.
The real problem was the ingredient. If a substitute for Resonance's clan's blood had to be found, the first candidate would naturally be ordinary human blood. It would be unreasonable to assume only a specific clan's blood could work, so testing the blood of common people would be the obvious first step.
(If they conduct that kind of experiment here... there's a real chance Undead might appear.)
A village that had been home to an assassin clan was already the sort of place where Undead wouldn't be surprising. With that in mind, Narcus had no desire to see such experiments conducted here.
"I'd prefer not to use this place like that, honestly. There's an oasis here and everything. If it became a kind of enclave for Gauche, we'd welcome that."
"...I understand what Narcus is getting at, but the question is whether Daridora would agree to it. Honestly, I think that'll be a hard sell."
Zarust's words carried the weight of someone who had opposed Daridora for years.
"But still, we've gotten an entire village, small though it is. Wouldn't it be best to leave managing it to Lyubrand? ...Though Daridora will probably try to meddle."
Rei's words implied that at least that much should be left out of Daridora's hands. But what he got in response was Zarust and Narcus shaking their heads in unison.
Rei gazed at the two with a hint of sympathy. It was a sad thing when the lord of the city you called home was not competent.
...Though, objectively speaking, Lyubrand was not incompetent — just not exceptional. In fact, thanks to him heeding much of Daridora's advice, Gauche had grown more prosperous than before. That much was undeniable.
"Well, anyway, there's no point staying here forever. Shouldn't we head back soon? Burning all the corpses ourselves isn't impossible, but it'd be a massive hassle. Better to call for help and have them handle it."
If the corpses were left as they were, there was a high probability they would rise as Undead. They needed to be disposed of promptly — but it was an entire village's worth of bodies. Disposing of them with only three people would require tremendous effort, no matter how much stronger they were than ordinary humans. For this kind of work, what was needed was not a small number of highly capable individuals, but sheer manpower.
At Rei's words, they agreed that leaving the site unattended and risking a monster attack would only cause more trouble. Rei, who could reach Gauche the fastest, would ride Set back to summon help, while Zarust and Narcus stayed behind to wait.