The inn's staff member led Rei and his party to where the carriage was parked, then immediately hurried back inside.
Even if it were only Precious's room, having guards search it meant calming the other guests and explaining the situation. With more tasks than hands available, they simply couldn't afford the time to attend to Rei's group — that was presumably the reasoning.
Of course, if Rei and his party had been complete unknowns, the staff member wouldn't have left them unattended to examine the carriage until they were finished and gone. The employee had permitted it solely because Marina, who had served as Guild Master until recently, was among them, and Rei himself held a certain credibility as an alias-holding adventurer.
At any rate, after confirming the staff member had left, Rei called out to Set, who was looking around with evident interest.
"Set, it's this carriage. Can you pick out Precious's scent?"
"Grrrrl... Gruh!"
Set pressed his face toward the carriage, checked the scent, and rumbled his throat. The message was clear — he had it.
Seeing Set's response, Rei let out a breath of relief.
"I see. You can track him. ...Alright then, let's go after Precious."
"Rei, don't you think we should tell the guards?" Vihera, who had been watching the exchange between Rei and Set, asked.
Rei shook his head. "They're moving on their end, so we should move on ours. Besides, if we act alongside people we don't know, we'd likely just slow each other down."
With the members of the Crimson Lotus Wings, having spent the winter together and undergone combat training, they could read each other's movements — not perfectly, but well enough. But if guards, complete strangers in a combat sense, were thrown into the mix, there was a real risk of delayed reactions in crucial moments.
Vihera likely understood that as well. She had asked merely as a formality and didn't press the matter further.
"Alright, let's go. ...Set, we're counting on you."
"Grrrrl!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a happy cry and stepped out of what could be called a storage depot.
There were several carriages in the vicinity, each subtly different from the others. Rei found that somewhat interesting, but catching up to Precious took priority right now.
(I'll have them show me the storage depot at the Wheat Inn at Twilight later.)
The luxury inn where Rei's party was staying, the Wheat Inn at Twilight, naturally had a storage depot for carriages, given that many merchants and adventurers used it. In the first place, the stable where Set usually stayed was also a stable for the horses that pulled those carriages.
...Thanks to Rei having made the Wheat Inn at Twilight his regular lodging as of late, Set had come to be treated almost like the master of the stable.
At any rate, deciding he could inspect the Wheat Inn at Twilight's carriages later if they still interested him, Rei's party moved straight on to tracking Precious.
Set, who had been sniffing around the inn's entrance, apparently distinguished Precious's scent from the other odors drifting in the air. Without the slightest hesitation, it began to walk. Rei's party followed behind.
The guards watched Rei's group with complicated expressions, but Rei and his party brushed off those gazes without particular concern.
Meanwhile, the guards who had initially been scattered around the inn had already been gathered inside to search the room Precious had been using and question other guests. Some, confirming that Rei's party had emerged, were also inspecting the carriage.
(Well, good luck to them. Meanwhile, we get to move freely.)
Glancing back at the inn, Rei followed Set.
After walking for a while...
"Ah, this really is the Slum District."
The first to realize this was, naturally, Marina, who had lived in Gilm the longest among them. She recognized that the direction Set was heading led to the Slum District.
However, it was a different path from the one Rei's party had taken when they previously visited. This was presumably Precious's attempt to confuse his pursuers even slightly.
"Whether it's the Slum District or even outside Gilm, escaping Set's nose is pretty much impossible," Rei murmured proudly, harboring deep confidence in Set's sense of smell.
He started to reach out to stroke Set's body, but pulled his hand back, thinking he shouldn't interfere with Set while it was tracking a scent.
In truth, the reason Rei could trust Set this much was largely because Set had a proven track record of successful tracking using his sense of smell. The level of Sense of Smell Enhancement was still four, not yet reaching level five where the skill would be significantly enhanced. But even so, thanks to Set's inherently sharp sense of smell as a gryphon, it demonstrated more than sufficient performance.
"Now, I wonder how far Precious intends to flee. With Givnan captured, he can no longer deny anything. In that case, it's over the moment he's caught..."
"Really? The fact that he left the inn right after seeing you take Givnan means he cut Givnan loose, doesn't it? Then maybe he plans to insist that Givnan acted on his own judgment in this matter."
Marina shook her head at Vihera's words.
"Vihera, you were a former princess, so you should understand. A subordinate's failure falls on the superior. Moreover, Givnan wasn't an adventurer belonging to the Spiel Firm — Precious hired him personally. He can't escape that responsibility."
"...Hmm. That's quite troublesome."
Even as they exchanged these words, Set steadily tracked Precious's scent, and before long, Rei's party entered the Slum District.
"Alright, we should be catching up to him about now... which is why you all came out, isn't it?"
About ten minutes after entering the Slum District... Rei drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring and readied them, Marina nocked an arrow to her bow, Vihera took a combat stance, and Byune readied Hakumo.
What appeared before the party was a group of faces Rei and his companions recognized — Precious's guards.
"...I didn't expect you to catch up this quickly. I'd be happy if you just turned around and went home, but I doubt you'd listen. However, I can't let you pass."
A man who appeared to be the leader among the guards — in his thirties — muttered as he readied his longsword. What floated on his expression was a bitter look.
He didn't believe they could defeat Rei's party. But to help Precious, they needed to buy time here.
(Well, even if we buy time here, I don't know how much distance that would actually let Precious gain.)
After Givnan was taken by Rei, Precious had hesitated briefly before deciding to leave the inn. He had then come to the Slum District, but never expected Rei to pursue them this quickly. It paid off that he had arranged for some Slum District residents to alert him if someone with a gryphon approached.
Even so, the guards now standing before Rei were in a state close to barely suppressing their fear enough to remain standing.
"By standing in our way like this, it seems Precious is aware that he's committed a crime. ...The more you interfere with his capture, the heavier his crimes will become."
"...I can't just say 'yes, you're right.' Unfortunately."
The man shouted, putting firm strength into his arms to keep his longsword from trembling.
"I see. ...Then I'll respond accordingly."
Even as he said that, Rei had no intention whatsoever of killing the people before him. No — rather, he appreciated that they knew full well they couldn't possibly win, yet still chose to fight him for Precious's sake. From Rei's perspective, that loyalty was commendable.
...Of course, that didn't mean Rei was kind enough to play along with them.
He felt favor toward the people standing before him, but letting Precious go here was not an option.
"Alright... let's go."
Those words served as the signal to begin, and the Crimson Lotus Wings launched their attack.
Rei stepped forward with Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear at the ready. As the distance closed between him and the guard leader, the moment the man swung his longsword, Rei leaped and evaded the strike. Simultaneously, he activated the Sleipnir boots, kicked off the air, and landed behind the man.
As he turned, he swung the handle of Death Scythe and swept the man's legs. Without breaking the turning motion, he struck the man — who was about to topple from having his legs swept — with the handle of the Twilight Spear.
That alone sent the man flying several meters sideways into a building, where he crumpled to the ground. The impact of his back hitting the wall had completely robbed him of consciousness, which was only natural given the gap in ability between Rei and the man.
Having confirmed he had taken the man's consciousness but not his life, Rei turned his gaze to the other battles.
Vihera took down about three guards while moving like a dancer, and Marina used her bow to keep them at bay while employing Spirit Magic to strip them of consciousness.
Byune alone struggled somewhat, as despite wielding Hakumo, her opponent was reasonably skilled. But even so, she ultimately threw a transparent long needle to create an opening, then drove the handle of Hakumo into the opponent's solar plexus to knock them unconscious.
As for Set, it delivered held-back blows to avoid killing, effortlessly knocking its opponents unconscious.
...The time until all combat ended was less than three minutes.
The one who had been fighting the longest was, predictably, the weakest member of the Crimson Lotus Wings — Byune.
"Alright, nobody killed. ...Now then, Set, let's resume tracking Precious. They couldn't have seriously thought they could stop us with that level of force, could they? If so, he might have already started fleeing."
"Considering the combat time, I question how far he could have fled in that short period. Unless he had a horse, but the carriage was left at the inn."
Byune nodded at Vihera's words.
Rei and Marina agreed with that assessment as well, but they couldn't rule out the possibility that he had some other means of escape. In that case, it was better to capture him quickly before he could make any drastic moves.
"Grrrrl!"
Let's go! Set rumbled as it advanced through the Slum District.
And after Rei's party disappeared... presumably judging that it was now safe, the Slum District residents emerged, intending to strip the unconscious guards of their weapons, armor, clothing — and any money or gems they might be carrying.
They approached the unconscious men, but...
"Hey."
A man who was unconscious — no, who was supposed to have been — opened his mouth, and at that voice, the Slum District residents stopped in their tracks.
What the residents had failed to realize was that, even though they had been defeated effortlessly by the Crimson Lotus Wings, Precious's guards were originally skilled fighters. The only reason they had ended up in this situation was purely that their opponents had been the wrong ones to cross.
Furthermore, given the manner of their defeat, their injuries weren't extensive, and they still had enough stamina — at the very least, enough to fight the people before them.
At the men's voices, the Slum District residents instinctively halted, and upon understanding the gap in ability, simply walked away.
Watching them go, the man thought about what to do next — what he should do after Precious was captured.
"Grrrrl!"
Set ran through the Slum District, rumbling as it went. Its speed was clearly faster than when it had been outside the Slum District. That was proof of just how much closer it was getting to Precious.
Rei's party advanced as if guided by Set... but then Set's movement suddenly stopped in front of a building — a considerably old one.
"Here?"
"Gruh."
At Rei's brief words, Set let out an equally short cry. Seeing Set cry out as if to say there was no doubt, Rei's party didn't question it.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
Rei and Vihera exchanged brief words, and Marina and Byune nodded silently.
Set couldn't enter, so it naturally stayed outside the building to watch that Precious didn't escape.
As Rei's party entered the building... unexpectedly, Precious greeted them with a calm demeanor.
Given the circumstances of his flight from the inn, the sofa Precious was sitting on wasn't something he had brought, but rather something that had been there from the start.
"Surprising. When you sent your guards our way, I thought you'd have already fled."
"...Unfortunately, I never believed I could escape from Rei-san alone."
And so, having realized there was no escape, Precious was captured without even a token of resistance — almost anticlimactically.