"Oh, Rei. Are you done over there?"
"Yeah. I got Tris to promise to leave this whole matter entirely to us. It's not about competition anymore."
In front of the Guard Station, Rei and Set happened to run into Marina.
"I see. Everything's ready on our end, too. Daskar accepted our demands. Of course, it seems the Intelligence Unit was short on personnel, so he probably welcomed it."
"Is that so? Well, if you say so, I'm fine with it... You didn't do anything to make Lord Daskar resent you later, did you?"
"Of course not. Do you really think I would do something like that?"
Honestly, Rei felt that Marina was exactly the kind of person who would do something like that... but he wasn't foolish enough to say it out loud here.
After briefly greeting the guard in front of the station, the two of them headed inside. Naturally, Set couldn't enter the station, so it lay down nearby.
Several passersby were petting Set and giving it bread. The guard in front of the station watched its antics with a warm smile while carrying out his duties.
"Rei, Marina. The fact that you've come here means it went well, right?" Guided by the guard to the front of the solitary cell, Vihera called out to them upon seeing Rei and Marina.
Byune also raised her hand slightly toward the arriving group in greeting.
Marina was the first to speak to the two of them.
"Yes, everything's fine on our end. The documents, too... here."
After showing the documents to Vihera, Marina handed them to the guard. It seemed they had already communicated beforehand. The guard who received the documents wore a complicated expression but said nothing further.
"My side is fine, too. I got Tris to agree to pull out of this matter. And I convinced him not to go after Keena, either."
At Rei's words, Keena, who was inside the cell, showed a slightly surprised expression. She had been told by Vihera what was expected of her. But even so, she never expected that Tris—the very man she had targeted—would simply give up.
Of course, that was extremely helpful, so there was no doubt she was grateful. Keena had no intention of losing so easily to the likes of him, but the fact that Vihera had defeated her so effortlessly had made her question her own skill somewhat. In this situation, having fewer people coming after her was undeniably fortunate.
"So with that, preparations are mostly in order. The remaining issue is how to find the one who commissioned Keena. Keena, did you receive anything as an advance payment?"
"Huh? Yes, I got two Platinum Coins as an advance."
"...They were quite generous."
Originally, this whole incident had been triggered because Precious coveted Tris's position as manager of the Spiel Firm Gilm Branch. In other words, it stemmed from emotions like jealousy and envy. An act born from such feelings—and for a commission not to kill Tris, but to kill his guards as a warning—yielding two Platinum Coins. No matter how you looked at it, the reward was too high.
Of course, since Precious had lost Sleyn, it would be difficult for him to procure a skilled assassin. On top of that, with the possibility that Rei might get involved... Thinking of it that way, he probably needed to be generous with the reward to hire someone capable.
"So, where are those Platinum Coins? Don't tell me you're carrying them around."
"Hardly. Of course not. I wouldn't dare carry them around. Too scary."
"Then where are they?"
"...Why do you want to know?"
Keena directed a slightly wary gaze at Rei. She suspected he might be trying to steal her Platinum Coins. As someone from the underworld, that level of caution was only natural. After all, the ones Keena had grown close to were Marina and Vihera. Rei, if anything, had played the role of the one making threats.
"I have no intention of stealing your Platinum Coins. Since you received them as a reward, they were handed to you by the other party, right? Then their scent should be on them. And Set has a sharp sense of smell."
Muttering, Rei took a leather pouch from his Misty Ring and handed two Platinum Coins to Keena.
"Here, I'm exchanging these Platinum Coins for yours. Is that acceptable?"
"...Are they real?"
Keena asked suspiciously, but Rei was aware he had done things to earn her dislike, so without any particular reaction, he reached his hand through the iron bars and held out the Platinum Coins, waiting.
Ten seconds, twenty seconds... After about thirty seconds had passed, Keena finally took the Platinum Coins from Rei's hand. She quickly put distance between them, then checked whether they were genuine by touching them and lightly biting them.
"Come on, there's no way I'd give you fakes."
"...I can't believe it. But it seems these Platinum Coins are genuine."
After examining them thoroughly, she was finally satisfied. Keena responded to Rei and clutched the Platinum Coins protectively.
Watching Keena's behavior, Rei spoke again.
"Now then, since you've received these Platinum Coins, I need you to tell me where yours are. Let me warn you—if there are no Platinum Coins at the location you tell me, you'll receive an appropriate punishment. So be careful."
The killing intent released for just an instant made Keena think of death. Exposed to that killing intent, the option of deceiving Rei no longer existed for her. She understood that if she tried something like that, she would undoubtedly die.
"...Yes. Understood. The location is my hideout near the Slum District. There's a floorboard in the right corner of the room that can be removed, and I dug into the ground underneath and buried them."
"In the ground? That's quite a thorough hiding place."
"They're Platinum Coins. It's obvious."
Saying that, Rei and the others got the detailed hiding spot from Keena.
"Alright, let's go then... I'd like to say that, but we really should leave someone behind here as a guard."
"In that case, I should be the one to stay. It's best to have Byune and Vihera act together, and there's no option of not sending Rei."
At Marina's words, everyone except the guard and Keena nodded. It was the same reasoning as when Asimov was attacked and they split into two groups—one to track the scent and one to leave it to the guards. The only one who could communicate smoothly with Byune was Vihera. And since Rei needed to act together with Set, the judgment was that it was better for Marina to stay behind rather than Vihera and Byune.
"Is that okay?"
When Vihera checked, Marina nodded, indicating there was no problem.
"Yes, given the current situation, that's the best option. Besides, once this matter is settled, I intend to spend with Rei however much time I yielded here. ...That's fine, right?"
"I can't... say no to that. Well, let's discuss that later and decide. We should hear Elena's opinion, too."
The words the two women exchanged with smiles were fortunately not heard by the guard, as they were spoken in low voices. Instead, Rei, who had sharper hearing than a normal person, heard them perfectly.
"If I use Spirit Magic, it's fairly convenient for guard duty. So Rei, you don't need to worry about Keena's safety. Go all out... no, if you go all out, Gilm might disappear."
At the dangerous words that came from Marina's mouth, the guard's cheek twitched. He understood that it was true. If Rei went on a serious rampage, how many people could stop him? At the very least, there weren't many who could handle him by force.
But when Rei received a suspicious glance from the guard who had been listening to Marina's words, he opened his mouth in displeasure.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't make it sound like I go on a rampage wherever I please."
"Say that after considering your usual behavior."
His protest was effortlessly brushed aside by Marina. And when he thought about his own past actions, there wasn't much room to argue back against her words. In the end, all Rei could do was quietly avert his gaze.
"Come on, now that we've decided on our next move, let's get moving. If we stay here forever, the scent on those Platinum Coins will fade, you know?"
At Vihera's words, Rei, reminded of the current situation, spoke with a slightly hurried look.
"Right. Then let's get going. Marina, I'll leave this place to you."
"Yes. ...Oh, right. If you wouldn't mind, could you have the guard check on Asimov's house? Arrogan and Culotte are there, so it's probably fine, but... someone might try something."
Listening to Marina talk to the guard, Rei and the others left the room with the cells. After exchanging a few brief words with some guards, they exited the station.
In front of the station, several passersby were petting Set and giving it dried meat, but that was a usual occurrence.
"Sorry, but please leave it at that. We've got things to do now."
Since it was a usual thing, when Rei said that, everyone quietly dispersed. Occasionally there were people who selfishly insisted on playing with Set more, but since they were right next to the Guard Force's station, there was no one like that. Rather, the guard who had been watching Set interact with passersby and feeling warm and fuzzy about it had the most disappointed look on his face.
"Alright, Set. We're heading to the Slum District."
"Gruu?"
Again? Set tilted its head. Even without using the Sense of Smell Enhancement skill, Set's raw sense of smell was sharp, so the Slum District was not a place it wanted to visit willingly. It was much easier than dealing with Zombies, but a foul stench was still a foul stench.
"Gruu..."
"Don't look so down. Where we're headed isn't exactly the Slum District, but near it. We won't actually be entering the Slum District."
At Rei's explanation, Set perked up a little. Since Set had a far sharper sense of smell than humans, even just going near the Slum District without entering it was not something it looked forward to. Still, it was a fact that the stench was somewhat more bearable than actually going inside.
Accompanied by Set, who had calmed down somewhat, Rei led Vihera and Byune, heading toward the Slum District.
Along the way, several people who saw Set asked to play with it... but unfortunately, there was no time for that now. Continuing down the road while politely declining, perhaps because he didn't stop to buy snacks on the way for once, they arrived near the Slum District.
"Ah."
As they walked, Rei's gaze fell on one of the huts near the Slum District, and he let out a small murmur. Vihera naturally noticed Rei's behavior.
"What is it?"
"No, I was just thinking that I'd been here before. And that it's somewhat connected to this current matter."
"Connected to this matter, too?"
"Yeah."
Nodding at Vihera's words, Rei explained about the time they had a dispute with the Azoth Firm. The former Chairman of the Azoth Firm had demanded that they hand over Set and Magic Items, which led to a dispute. During that incident, Galahat and the former Chairman clashed, and Galahat, sensing danger, fled into... the hut Rei was now looking at.
"For a place to flee to, it's quite an old building."
"Well, from the outside, sure. But there's a hidden room underground."
"Oh?"
At Rei's words, Vihera murmured with a hint of interest. But Rei immediately pulled Vihera along and started moving, as if to say they didn't have time to stop by that hut right now.
"Hey, ow... that's a little rough, isn't it?"
"If I don't do this, you won't come over here. Look, it should be just a bit further to the location we heard from Keena."
"I suppose it can't be helped. But once this matter is resolved, I want to hear more about you... about Rei before we met."
...Yes, the reason Vihera had shown interest in the hut was partly because she was curious about the basement mechanism, but more than that, she thought she might be able to learn about a Rei she didn't know.
Once she got Rei to promise to tell her that story, Vihera said nothing more and started walking again. Before they had walked even ten minutes, they arrived in front of the building they had heard about from Keena.