With the matter settled for the time being, Rei still harbored some lingering dissatisfaction, but they had decided to act independently on their own.
Thus, Rei now had to find evidence that Precious had orchestrated the incident. However, since the Spiel Firm—no, since Tris himself had judged that he wanted to resolve this matter with his own hands, he would not simply stand by and watch Rei's actions.
(How do we outsmart them, huh?)
Thinking this, Rei left the Spiel Firm building together with Marina and the others.
After being told where the stable with Set was located, they headed there. Inside, women and children—and even some adult men—had all gathered around Set, feeding him, petting him, and doting on him.
(Here too, huh?)
At Set's ever-present popularity, Rei felt the intense emotions within him calm slightly, even if only a little.
That was right. Getting impatient here would change nothing.
Since what they needed to do was already decided, all they had to do was carry it out.
"Ah, Rei-san!?"
One of the people attending to Set noticed Rei and the others and raised their voice.
At those words, the others immediately turned their gazes toward Rei and, looking disappointed, began to move away from Set.
Since Rei had come, their time to play with Set was over—or so they must have understood.
Grateful for their cooperativeness, Rei called out to Set.
"Set, let's go."
"Grrruh."
Responding to Rei's call, Set stood up, lingering regretfully over the food, and headed toward him.
Petting Set, Rei spoke.
"Thanks for keeping him company. He looked like he was enjoying himself."
"Gruu."
Just as Rei said, Set gave a happy cry.
At the sight of Set, the people who had been doting on him moments ago went into a daze... but in the next instant, they snapped back to reality at the words Rei spoke.
"Things are going to be a bit adversarial... no, a competitive relationship between us for a while, so I can't get too involved. But once this matter is settled, please be friendly with him again."
"Eh?"
"Adversarial relationship?"
"Competitive relationship?"
"Why?"
Several people murmured at Rei's words, in tones suggesting they completely failed to understand why such a thing had happened.
However, Rei said nothing further and left with Set.
(Hopefully, this will slow the Spiel Firm's movements at least a little.)
He thought to himself.
The Spiel Firm had established a branch in Gilm, but naturally, they had not brought all of its staff from headquarters.
The number of people hired after arriving in Gilm was also considerable.
Those people, of course, knew of Set's status in Gilm.
No, even those who had only just arrived in Gilm would have no difficulty understanding what kind of existence Set was to the city, provided they were even slightly well-informed.
Because of that, the people who heard the words come from Rei's mouth were startled and stiffened.
...The fact that he corrected himself to say "competitive relationship" instead of "adversarial relationship" was the only saving grace, perhaps.
Still, Rei and his group left the Spiel Firm grounds, leaving the shaken people behind.
Terry, who had come outside the shop, offered to send them by carriage, but Rei declined, not wanting to incur a debt with the Spiel Firm when they were about to enter a competitive relationship, and started walking.
"...Isn't that a little mean?"
After moving a short distance away from the Spiel Firm, Marina suddenly murmured.
Rei judged that it wasn't something worth making such a fuss over and tilted his head.
"Is it? But it's better for them to know early on than to have Tris suddenly tell them later that they'll be competing with us."
"That just means those people will have more time to be shaken up, thinking they're in an adversarial relationship with us, though," Vihera interjected into Rei and Marina's conversation.
"No, it's a competitive relationship, not an adversarial one, right?"
"Normally, there's not much difference between the two... Well, when it comes to Rei, things are different."
Rei would not be so gentle toward someone in an adversarial relationship.
Thinking about it that way, calling it a "competitive relationship" was by no means a bad choice.
Of course, even so, a fair number of people were left shocked.
"Well, that's that and this is this. More importantly, what do we do now? ...Shouldn't Asimov be waking up soon? His wound was healed with a potion, right?"
"Right. It wouldn't be strange for him to have regained consciousness by now. The problem is whether Asimov actually has any information about whoever attacked him."
Rei pondered Marina's words for a moment, but quickly revised his thinking.
In the first place, this incident had left no real clues to speak of.
They had Set track the scent, and that had led them to Galahat's mansion.
Since they could no longer follow the trail from there, Asimov's memories were now their biggest lead.
...If force was an option, he could just go ask Precious directly, but that kind of method was forbidden this time.
(Ah, but what's forbidden is strictly violent means. In that case, instead of laying hands on him directly, I could talk to him to provoke some unease... No, that's impossible.)
No matter how much Rei spoke to Precious, the man would never be shaken by something so trivial.
Much less the likelihood of him making some clumsy move out of that unease—those odds were practically nonexistent.
If he did make a clumsy move, it could prove fatal for him... or so Rei thought, but he immediately shook his head.
There was no point agonizing over something impossible to achieve.
(Though, if he were truly cornered... if it really came down to having no way out, it's not impossible he'd try for a one-shot reversal and make such a move.)
But Rei also thought that if Precious were cornered to that extent, he would probably just leave Gilm altogether.
Precious was in Gilm purely out of competitive spirit toward Tris.
Even if he thought it might lead to his own ruin, Rei couldn't imagine him staying in Gilm.
(Well, if he held that much of a grudge against Tris, it might be a different story... No, is it a possibility? In the first place, the Gilm branch was entrusted to Tris. Precious had no reason to come, yet he went out of his way to do so. At that point alone, it's certain his jealousy, resentment, or envy toward Tris is strong.)
If this weren't the frontier region of Gilm, moving to another town or village wouldn't be that difficult.
But this was the frontier.
A region overrun with all manner of monsters—a land of non-human monstrosity.
For someone to voluntarily come to such a Gilm meant that strong emotions were definitely at play.
Granted, it had just turned spring, and the number of adventurers coming to Gilm was also large.
If they hired such people as guards, they could reach Gilm without spending much money.
...However, the adventurers who came to Gilm at this time of year could truly be called a mix of good and bad.
Those with genuine skill possessed enough strength to make a living in Gilm, but among them were those who had somehow mistaken themselves for being highly capable when they were actually not that skilled.
Such people tended to be loud and appear full of confidence, so many merchants were half-deceived by their bravado.
(Precious is apparently quite the merchant within the Spiel Firm, so I doubt someone like that would fall for it.)
Since he was able to rival Tris, that much was certain.
Of course, despite being such a person, he also possessed the recklessness to meddle with Rei.
With even a little research into Gilm... and into Rei, it should be easy to imagine that he was not someone you want to carelessly make an enemy of.
Despite that, he was making an enemy of Rei in the present tense.
"So, we check whether Asimov has regained consciousness, and after that... questioning people? I've never met an information broker."
Until now, whenever they needed to gather information, luck had been on their side and they managed without particular difficulty... well, they had struggled, but they had still been able to gather information on their own.
But since information brokers existed, it was undoubtedly faster to use one.
Rei's words, having heard about information brokers from Marina and Vihera, drew a reaction from Marina first.
Given her former position as Guild Master, she likely had some connections to information brokers.
Vihera had contacts with information brokers in the Labyrinth City where she used to live, but unfortunately, she had no such connections in Gilm.
She had thought she needed to build connections with information brokers, but one thing or another had kept getting in the way and it had been put off.
However, even Marina didn't have very extensive connections.
When she had been active as an adventurer before becoming Guild Master, she had known several information brokers.
But that was quite a long time ago, and very few of them were still active now.
"How do you make contact with an information broker?"
"Information brokers themselves—you can find as many as you want if you just look. But truly trustworthy information brokers, capable information brokers, are few in number."
Marina answered Rei's question.
Information brokers, like adventurers, were a mix of good and bad.
There were those who brought completely off-base information, those who fabricated information outright, those who charged exorbitant fees... such people were not uncommon.
If anything, compared to adventurers, the competent ones were even rarer.
Because of that, connections with capable information brokers were extremely scarce.
Moreover, capable information brokers also knew that making a clumsy move could cost them their lives, so there were not many who would proactively step forward.
That was why, to gain a connection with such a capable information broker, one needed an introduction from someone influential.
And making that connection was also difficult.
Because if you carelessly introduced someone and that person did something strange to the information broker, responsibility would also fall on the one who made the introduction.
For a skilled information broker, it was only natural that they wouldn't want to associate with such a dangerous party.
If that happened, the connection between adventurer and information broker would be severed.
"Ah, I can see it."
They continued walking for a while, snacking as they went.
They had been gathering bits of information along the way while eating, but nothing they obtained there amounted to actual intelligence.
...Even if Precious had been operating openly, his appearance was not particularly eye-catching.
At the very least, he didn't have the kind of looks that left a strong impression at first glance, like Marina or Vihera... or like Rei with his Dragon Robe hood down, and above all, like Set.
Seeking information about such a person, there was no way intelligence would just come rolling in immediately.
"So we couldn't get any information after all."
"On the other hand, we did get to buy a variety of food. ...It's normally an amount you'd never be able to finish, but with Rei, Set, and Byune, it was barely enough."
"Well, with Set around, that part is a given, isn't it?"
Rei said while petting Set at Vihera's somewhat exasperated manner.
Set, having been petted, tilted his head as if to say "What is it?" and looked at Rei.
"It's nothing. We're going to talk a bit at the Guard Station, so you can play around here, Set. It's nicely warm out, so it's a good time for a nap."
"Grrruu."
At Rei's words, Set looked up at the sky and purred happily at the soft sunlight pouring down before lying down near the Guard Station.
...Naturally, guards were stationed in front of the Guard Station, but they made no move to warn Set.
They knew it would be pointless to say anything... and above all, they could adore the sight of Set sleeping right beside them.
Since the guards were also residents of Gilm, many of them naturally liked Set.
No, since the Guard Station handled the paperwork for those leaving Gilm, the guards came into frequent contact with Rei, an adventurer who regularly went outside.
Having frequent contact with Rei meant, in turn, frequent contact with Set.
Given that, it was only natural for the guards to feel affection toward Set.
In fact, the sight of an off-duty guard feeding Set dried meat while Rei was doing paperwork had practically become a regular occurrence.
Of course, not all the guards held that much affection for Set, but at the very least, the guards standing in front of the Guard Station right now narrowed their eyes at the sight of Set lying there.