The moment he stepped into the research room, the metallic stench of blood hit Rei's nose.
Rei possessed senses far sharper than those of an ordinary person, and Set's were sharper still. Set had been resting outside Asimov's house, and under normal circumstances, it would have caught the scent of this much blood being spilled.
The reason neither Rei nor Set had noticed was because of a Magic Item Asimov used in his research room.
Alchemy, whether an experiment succeeded or failed, could produce an overwhelmingly foul stench—one potent enough to spread beyond the house and across the entire neighborhood. Asimov had actually done exactly that once before, and upon hearing about it, Pamidor had all but forced him to create a deodorizing Magic Item.
Its effectiveness was unquestionably first-rate. Indeed, it had completely masked the smell of blood from both Rei and Set.
But this time, that countermeasure had likely become a fatal liability.
Upon entering the research room, Rei's eyes widened for a fraction of a second at the scene before him, but he immediately shifted into action.
A tremendous amount of blood covered the floor. "Sea of blood" might have been slightly exaggerated, but it was enough to warrant calling it a river, a swamp, or a lake.
Given that the blood had barely begun to dry, only a few minutes could have passed since Asimov had been attacked. In fact, the assault had likely occurred right around the time Rei and his party had arrived.
Approaching Asimov, Rei pulled a potion from his Misty Ring—not some common shop-bought remedy, but a high-quality one. Even for Gilm's adventurers, who earned far more than those in other frontier towns, it was an item difficult to afford. Only someone like Rei, who never lacked funds, could have purchased it.
With the expensive potion in hand, Rei rolled the collapsed Asimov onto his back.
"Let me."
A beat behind Rei, Marina tore open Asimov's clothes to expose the wound. What lay beneath was a large slash from a blade, and blood was still flowing freely from his body.
Vihera and Byune watched the two of them work before shifting their attention to guarding the surroundings. Judging by the wound and the fresh blood, Asimov had been struck only moments ago, meaning the culprit could still be nearby. And if they saw Rei and his party treating Asimov, it wasn't impossible that they would show themselves to interfere.
Because Vihera and Byune stood watch, Rei and Marina could focus entirely on treating Asimov.
Marina tore the supine Asimov's clothes further, fully exposing the wound. A massive gash ran from his right shoulder to his left flank, still bleeding profusely. That such a wound hadn't reached any internal organs was either sheer luck or the result of some other factor Rei couldn't determine. Either way, at this rate of blood loss, Asimov would undoubtedly die before long.
"Be grateful," Rei muttered, pouring the potion over the unconscious Asimov's wound.
True to its high quality, the wound began closing before their eyes—at a speed that might have seemed slightly grotesque to anyone unfamiliar with the process. If Asimov had still been conscious, Rei would have liked to ask him how it felt.
The fact that Rei could spare a thought like that was because the wound was actually healing. Of course, while the potion could mend the wound, it couldn't restore the blood that had already been lost. Asimov wouldn't die now, but he would still need plenty of rest to recover from the blood loss.
"The enemy?" Marina asked, breathing a sigh of relief once Rei's treatment had reached a stable point. She turned to Vihera, who was keeping watch.
Vihera only shook her head.
"...I see. What's the plan?"
Rei, now looked to for direction, scanned the room with a grim expression. He was fairly close with Asimov, but even so, he didn't know the layout of the research room well enough to account for everything in it. Even if a Magic Item had been stolen, he had no way of knowing what had originally been there to begin with.
(Hm?)
Reaching that thought, Rei suddenly noticed something. The Sleipnir boots were nowhere in the room.
He had come today to pick up the finished boots, and knowing that, Asimov would naturally have been making final checks on them. Given that Asimov lay collapsed here in the research room, it was highly likely he had been doing exactly that. In other words, the Sleipnir boots should have been right here.
"Tch—was the Sleipnir boots the target all along!?" Rei cried out, his impatience bleeding through.
Whether the culprit had come to Asimov's house specifically for the boots, or whether they had simply been among several Magic Items snatched up on a whim, was unclear. Either way, the boots were definitely gone from the room. He couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that the final checks were already finished and the boots had been moved elsewhere. But if he indulged in that optimistic thought and it turned out they had actually been stolen, he'd never forgive himself.
(But what do I do? How do I track someone who already fled? The trail is already... no, the scent!)
There was no one in the room anymore, but whoever had been here had left a scent behind. The Magic Item prevented odors from leaking outside, but conversely, that meant the culprit's scent was still trapped inside the research room.
He hesitated for a split second before deciding that capturing the culprit was the top priority.
"Set!"
Outside, Set had been lounging in the warm spring sunlight, having watched Rei and the others enter the house. Normally, someone would come out and give it attention, but with no one passing by, it was simply enjoying a sunbath. Even in the dead of winter—when temperatures dropped below freezing—Set could sleep without a care, but it naturally preferred the warmth of the sun.
It had been half-dozing when its sharp hearing caught Rei's voice calling from inside. Its beloved Rei was summoning it—not for play, but with a note of desperation. The moment Set registered the urgency in that cry, its drowsiness vanished instantly, and its usually round eyes snapped sharp toward the house.
The door wasn't wide enough for Set to fit through. It had the Size Change skill, but even shrunk down, navigating the interior of Asimov's house would be difficult.
Set's decision was instantaneous. If it couldn't use the door, it would go straight to where Rei was calling.
It rose to its feet and skirted around the house to the yard. The yard, untended since winter's end, had grown wild. Set bounded through the overgrowth in a flash and arrived at the research room window from which Rei's voice had echoed.
Then it smashed through the window, driving its head inside.
Given that it was an Alchemy research room, the walls and windows were naturally built sturdily and had even been reinforced with Alchemy. But against Set's physical prowess, such reinforcements meant nothing.
Rei's voice had carried none of its usual soft warmth—it had been raw with urgency. As if danger was bearing down on him. That was why Set had done something so forceful, so unlike its usual behavior.
It broke through the window and forced its way in. Considering it hadn't just shattered the glass but taken out the surrounding wall frame as well, the damage was considerable.
Set's dramatic entry sent documents, materials, and assorted items whose purposes Rei couldn't even begin to guess flying off shelves and crashing to the floor. But there was no time to worry about trivialities—at least, nothing that Rei and his party considered trivial.
Facing the gryphon that had just demolished the wall, Rei barked out a command.
"Set, can you pick up the scent of anyone other than us and Asimov in this room?"
"Gruhh... Grururu!"
Set gave a sharp, affirmative cry. What it meant was clear without explanation—especially once it activated Sense of Smell Enhancement, sharpening its already acute olfactory senses even further.
Almost immediately, Set succeeded in isolating the scent of someone other than Rei, his party, and Asimov.
"Grurru."
Set's gaze turned toward the very gap it had just blasted open. The person who had attacked Asimov had fled through that window.
(No, of course that makes sense. The attack happened right around when we arrived. It's entirely possible someone was still in this room when I called out.)
In the chaos of the moment, Rei had thought he was calm, but the agitation had clearly gotten to him. He reflected on this for a few seconds, then spoke.
"Vihera, Byune—you're with me and Set, we're pursuing. Marina, get Asimov somewhere safe and contact the guard force. And... get hold of Pamidor too."
Everyone nodded. Marina channeled Spirit Magic to create a floating platform of water and gently settled Asimov on top of it. Strangely, he didn't sink.
Rei would have preferred Marina come along—her Spirit Magic would be useful in a fight—but Byune's thief skills made her invaluable for tracking, and Rei couldn't fully understand Byune's speech. Bringing Vihera along to bridge that communication gap was essential. Besides, leaving Byune behind to help carry Asimov would only slow things down.
So Marina stayed behind. As someone who had been the Guild Master until just an hour ago, her credibility with the guard force was far higher than Rei's or Vihera's.
"Leave Asimov to me. Be careful out there. Vihera, watch over Rei."
"With me, always," Vihera replied.
The two women exchanged brief words, and everyone moved. Marina guided the unconscious Asimov out of the research room on her floating water, while Rei, Vihera, and Byune climbed through the hole Set had made.
"Set, lead the way."
"Grururu!"
At Rei's call, Set let out a sharp cry and took off—not back the way it had come, but deeper into the yard. Rei was mildly surprised, but if the attacker had still been inside when they arrived, fleeing in the opposite direction from Set made perfect sense. No one in their right mind would run toward a gryphon to escape.
"Let's hope it's not too tough a fight," Rei muttered.
"No point worrying about that now," Vihera countered. "Anyone who'd pull something like this either has serious confidence in their abilities, or they're just an idiot."
"Mn."
Vihera and Byune each chimed in as they followed Set's trail.
Rei's closeness with Asimov was fairly well known—the Twilight Spear commission, and the gathering of Alchemists during the Anbris incident, had seen to that. To Vihera, the idea that someone aware of this connection would attack Asimov and steal Rei's Magic Item seemed like outright suicide. They were provoking Rei the Alias-Bearer, after all. They had to have some kind of plan.
(The Sleipnir boots, of all things... stealing a Magic Item that directly supports Rei in combat... it's nothing short of suicidal. Though there's no way Rei will just give up halfway.)
With that thought, Vihera chased after Set alongside Rei and Byune.