The day after Rei and his party returned to Gilm. They had finished breakfast at the Wheat Inn at dusk as usual, and were just about to head out to buy souvenirs for Elena and Ara, who would be leaving in a few days, when a guard appeared.
"Sorry, Rei. It's about yesterday's incident. Could you come with us for a bit?"
"Well, I don't mind, but..."
Rei glanced back at Elena, Vihera, Ara, and Byune, silently asking what they wanted to do. All four nodded in resignation.
Byune hadn't been caught up in yesterday's incident, so she didn't have to come along. Perhaps she judged that staying behind alone would be boring, or maybe she had other reasons—either way, she headed to the Guard Station with Rei and the rest.
"Grrrrl."
The only one who seemed slightly displeased was Set. He had been hoping to go buy souvenirs with Rei, and despite having just finished breakfast, was still thinking about getting something to eat.
Ielo, meanwhile, was perhaps still sleepy—it was curled up and napping on Set's back.
"Come on, I'll make sure to feed you something proper once we're done talking, so cheer up."
"Grrrrl?"
Set turned his round eyes toward Rei as if asking Really? Rei smiled and gave him a gentle stroke.
"Yeah. Since the guards are taking up our time like this right when we're about to head out, they've probably got food and compensation waiting for us over there. Probably... Gamelion, maybe."
"Grrrrl!"
At the word Gamelion, Set let out a happy cry.
However, in stark contrast to Set, the guard's cheek twitched slightly.
Given the way things were going, not giving Set any food would be rather awkward.
And just as Rei had said, there were indeed several Gamelion skewers at the Guard Station.
To be precise, they had been set aside as a snack for the very guard who had come to fetch Rei and his party.
(Why is there Gamelion meat here? Did I have the smell on me or something?)
The guard actually arrived at the correct answer, but immediately dismissed it with a no way.
And so, with it now decided that Set would be eating Gamelion meat, they arrived at the Guard Station, the guard feeling slightly depressed.
"Hm? Is Ranga not here again today?"
"Captain Ranga had some business to attend to, so he's not in Gilm right now. Can't tell you the specifics, though. ...So, what's wrong with him?"
A man of relatively high rank within the Guard Force directed his gaze at the guard standing near Rei's party—the one who was subtly depressed about having his eagerly anticipated Gamelion skewers stolen by Set—and asked the question.
"Well, I wonder. I'm not entirely sure. Though he did feed Set some skewers when we got to the station."
"You've really got some nerve saying that."
The depressed guard directed the remark at Rei.
The superior officer seemed to understand what had happened from that exchange alone. The guard who had first been speaking with Rei decided that getting any further involved would only lead to trouble, and promptly moved on to the main point.
His swiftness in making that call probably came from working as a guard in Gilm, or perhaps simply from having known Rei long enough.
"The reason we've called upon you all, starting with Lady Elena, is regarding yesterday's incident."
"Yesterday's incident... you mean that half-baked ambush?"
When Elena, whose name had just been mentioned, asked the question, the guard nodded.
"Yes. Normally, we would have liked to wait and explain after summoning Marina-sama as well, but she was too busy with various matters and couldn't spare the time. We'll be sending a report to her instead."
"Ah."
At that explanation, not just Elena but Rei, Vihera, and Ara each voiced their acknowledgment.
Byune alone showed no sign of speaking, simply observing the situation.
It was already a season that was borderline winter—or, depending on one's perspective, already was winter.
For Gilm, winter brought all kinds of busyness.
For the Guild Master in particular, this season was every bit as hectic as spring, when adventurers began operating in earnest.
And during just such a season, the Guild Master had been away for several days.
It likely wasn't as overwhelming as when she had gone to the Dark Elf settlement during the World Tree incident, but even so, the backlog of paperwork Marina had to process was considerable.
Since yesterday, Marina had been dealing with that backlog, along with documents related to handing over the Guild Master position to Worker.
Given all that, Elena and the others could easily understand that Marina was too busy to have any leeway to come here.
Byune, who had barely met Marina and was expressionless by nature, was the only one who showed no particular reaction.
"I understand Marina can't be here. So, what about yesterday's incident?"
At Rei's words, the guard nodded and began to speak.
"The first thing I want to make clear is that we've successfully captured the mastermind behind yesterday's attack."
"...Hoh? That was fast."
Rei knew full well that the Gilm Guard Force was a capable outfit. They maintained order in a town full of confident adventurers, so that much was a given.
Even so, having it resolved the very next day was nothing short of astonishing.
"Ah, well, you're right about that. Unfortunately, it wasn't us who cracked the case—it was the Knight Order."
"The Knight Order?"
Rei had dealt with the Gilm Knight Order a handful of times before. During the war with the Bestia Empire several years back, he'd even ridden in the same carriage as them on the march, so he had a few acquaintances among their ranks.
Still, compared to adventurers and guards, his interactions with them were limited. Given that, Rei couldn't quite follow the guard's reasoning.
"Why would the Knight Order get involved?"
"...Are you serious? Setting you aside as an adventurer, just think about the rest of your party. If anything had happened to Lady Elena in particular, the current friendly relations with the Noble's Faction would have collapsed on the spot. And..."
The guard trailed off, shifting his gaze to Vihera.
That alone told Rei everything he needed to know about what the man was implying.
"Well, it could've turned into a diplomatic incident."
"..."
Rei's words must have hit the mark. The guard fell silent.
The current relationship between the Kingdom of Mireana and the Bestia Empire was by no means poor.
The Emperor of the Bestia Empire was an ambitious man, but even so, through the war and the civil unrest that followed, he understood full well just how much power Rei—who was notoriously effective against armies—possessed, as well as the military strength of the Kingdom of Mireana.
And the third prince, heir to the throne, all but worshipped his sister Vihera.
If his beloved sister had been attacked by someone... it could very well have sparked another war.
In reality, Vihera wasn't the type to let her private affairs escalate to that extent, but that wasn't something one could glean from secondhand information.
(Well, if that's the case, then if it ever got out that she was unconscious for nearly two months during the Unbris incident... and that it happened while she was traveling with me... I'd hate to hear what gets said the next time we meet.)
Struck by a sudden unpleasant premonition, Rei steered the conversation elsewhere.
"So, who exactly was behind this? There's no shortage of people who might want to target us, but..."
Rei posed the question to the guard with a slightly mocking edge.
At the time of the attack, everyone in the carriage had circumstances that would make them a plausible target. Even Ara, who had been acting as the driver, could have drawn unwanted attention as a noble.
But there was a world of difference between "it wouldn't be surprising if they were targeted" and actually being targeted.
Everyone in that carriage possessed a certain level of skill—no, they were all individuals whose abilities could genuinely be called first-rate.
Having even one such person would lower the success rate of an ambush considerably. What kind of fool would launch an attack when there were multiple people of that caliber, starting with Rei?
In response to Rei's question, the guard's expression hardened slightly as he uttered the mastermind's name.
"Viscount Linus Marnino."
You know the name, don't you?
The guard's gaze silently asked the question. Rei's response was to tilt his head in genuine bewilderment.
It wasn't an act. He truly looked like he had no idea.
The guard who had been listening to Rei was something of a veteran. If someone was trying to play dumb, he was confident he could see through it—unless the opponent was truly exceptional.
He'd also dealt with Rei enough times to know that political maneuvering was far from his strong suit.
That was exactly why Rei's reaction caught him off guard.
"You do know him, right?"
"No, I don't think I've ever heard that name."
Rei said it so naturally that for a moment, the guard actually wondered if he truly didn't know.
But according to the intelligence that had come down from above, Linus had tried to submit a nomination request to Rei, been refused, suffered significant losses as a result, and bore a grudge that led to yesterday's attack.
If that information was accurate, then Rei was the one playing dumb.
"Are you serious? You really don't know?"
"Ah... right. Now that you mention it, the name does sound sort of familiar..."
Something in Rei's demeanor must have convinced the guard that he wasn't trying to hide anything. The man let out a breath of mild exasperation.
"According to our investigation, you met with Viscount Marnino quite recently."
"...When?"
"Before you left Gilm for the dungeon. Something about him trying to file a nomination request and being turned down."
"Ah!"
With that much prompting, it wasn't hard for Rei to recall Linus.
Normally, Rei wouldn't be this forgetful, but in this case, immediately after meeting Linus, there had been a major development regarding Vihera's situation. The shock of that had driven the encounter completely from his mind.
"You actually forgot...? The man is a noble, you know."
"Yeah, a lot happened after that. So this noble, Linus, held a grudge over having his request refused and hired those men yesterday, is that it?"
"That's right. Though he apparently went to considerable lengths to keep his involvement hidden. He worked through several intermediaries and hired mercenaries rather than adventurers."
"...I see."
Mercenaries and adventurers were similar in some ways but fundamentally different.
Mercenaries were those who fought against other people, participating in wars or, at the very least, armed conflicts. In the sense that adventurers also participated in wars, mercenaries could perhaps be called a subspecies of adventurer.
"But even mercenaries would have at least heard rumors about Rei, even if they're not as plugged in as adventurers. There aren't that many people who stand out as much as he does," Vihera said, looking puzzled.
Set, Rei's partner. Death Scythe, Rei's signature weapon. And the Twin Spear Style using the Twilight Spear, which had been gaining fame recently.
There was no shortage of information to identify Rei.
Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear were often not carried inside the city, but even so, there was no hiding the existence of Set.
If they understood that the creature accompanying him was Set, then how suicidal such an attack would be should have been painfully obvious.
"It seems they deliberately recruited people who were completely ignorant of that kind of information. He probably never seriously intended to harm Rei. As long as he could harass him, that was enough."
"...What do you even say to that?"
All Rei could manage in response to the guard's answer to Vihera's question was a blank stare.
"I get how Rei feels, but they never imagined their involvement would be discovered."
"So how was it solved the very same day?"
Rei didn't doubt the Guard Force's capabilities, but he didn't have blind faith in them either. If they had gone through several layers of intermediaries, he couldn't see how it could be untangled in a single day.
"...Well, we have our own resources."
For the Guard Force, having a case they should have resolved themselves cracked by the Knight Order—even with the help of the Prairie Wolves—was a somewhat bitter pill to swallow.
Rei tilted his head at the guard's vague answer, but Elena and a few others seemed to read between the lines. Faint smiles crossed their faces.
After that, they listened to the rest of the report. And so, while Rei was left with a somewhat indescribable feeling about the whole affair, the matter was, at least, resolved.