A rebel army, a Resistance... such terms referred to those who had raised the banner of revolt against the one ruling their land.
Given the heavy taxes imposed in Count Relduct's territory, it would have been strange for such people not to emerge.
"...Sure, I mean, they call it heavy taxes and all, but they do leave you enough to survive on. But it's truly the bare minimum. In normal times, that might be fine, but if your family gets sick or injured, your livelihood instantly falls into danger."
The man muttered as he ate the bread Rei had produced.
Whether he no longer felt the pain from being blown away by the Death Scythe, or was simply enduring it, was unclear—but he didn't let it show on his face.
Around the man, the others who had been unconscious had already come to, and they too were eating the bread Rei had handed out.
Some regained consciousness in the middle of the conversation between Rei and the man. They would look at Rei and try to voice a complaint, but a nearby companion would tell them they were free to eat the bread, so they would take some from a nearby bag and start eating.
(They're eating it like it's the most delicious thing in the world. ...It's not freshly baked or anything, it's hardtack made for long-term storage.)
Watching the men's behavior, Rei reached for the bread himself and brought a piece to his mouth.
It was the kind of bread suited for long-term preservation, used by adventurers, soldiers, merchants—the sort of people who traveled for a living.
Given that it was prepared by baking it hard, it naturally wasn't meant to be eaten as-is. The usual method was to soak it in soup to soften it first.
Of course, when there was no soup, softening it with water or hot water worked too.
It wasn't that it couldn't be eaten as-is, but it was hard and far from tasty.
And yet, right now, every single member of the Resistance was desperately gnawing at the hardtack.
Just looking at the way they ate was enough to understand how hungry they had been.
"For people who can supposedly survive, you all certainly seem starved."
"Well, we are. ...We're an existence that can't operate in the open."
They couldn't possibly act openly as a rebel army; they had no choice but to move in the shadows.
If that was the case, it was only natural that they would struggle with food supplies as well.
"The taxes are so high that the villagers and townsfolk can barely scrape by, so there's no way they could spare a portion of their livelihood for us. And if we tried to live in the villages or towns, paying the taxes alone would take everything we have... Changing the current situation is simply impossible."
The man explained that this was why they were short on food, and Rei shook his head weakly.
"Isn't that completely defeating the purpose?"
"Even if you say that... in the end, someone just has to do something about it."
The man muttered bitterly.
This man, who had been conversing with Rei since earlier, was the one leading the Resistance.
The fact that he was the first to be blown away by Rei's attack should probably be chalked up to bad luck.
If he hadn't been the first to lose consciousness, they might have coordinated a slightly better response to Rei and Set. ...Though in the end, it would have only delayed the inevitable.
"Anyway, I understand the situation. ...But if you're struggling even to feed yourselves, I'd say rebellion is the least of your concerns."
"...I know that. I know I keep saying this, but we've been driven to the point where we have no choice but to act."
The man declared that he would never bend on his conviction.
And it wasn't just him—the others eating bread around him felt the same way.
"I see. ...Then, how about this. This might work out perfectly."
Rei said it so casually that the man gave him a puzzled look.
"See, the reason I came to Count Relduct's territory in the first place was to retaliate against the Count for certain actions he's taken. And what I have in mind for that retaliation is to seize his Magic Items and make it absolutely clear to his side that it was my doing."
"Killing him is off the table, though," Rei continued, and the man's eyes went wide.
The man had already heard straight from Rei's own mouth who he was.
If someone like that was going to retaliate against Relduct, then surely that would benefit them as well—or so the man thought.
"H-hey!"
"I'm telling you now, I won't explicitly form an alliance with you. However... if, after I do something, you happen to coincidentally decide to take action and storm Count Relduct's mansion, and if you coincidentally find that the enemy's garrison has vanished, and if you coincidentally discover Count Relduct incapacitated... I know nothing about it."
"...Heh, so a coincidence piles on top of a coincidence, huh? That does sound interesting."
"However. Do not do anything that would take Count Relduct's life."
"Why the hell not!"
One of the man's companions shouted.
Given the suffering they had endured, they had every right to take Relduct's life—or so the looks directed at Rei seemed to say. But Rei shook his head.
"If you absolutely insist on taking Count Relduct's life, then I'll have to make sure none of you can move for a few days, right here. ...Are you still fine with that?"
"That's..."
The man faltered.
Even though they outnumbered Rei overwhelmingly, they already knew full well what would happen if they actually fought. They had experienced it firsthand.
Even so, they must not have been able to stomach Rei's attitude. Another one of them shouted, his face twisted with indignation.
"Why?! Why would a famous adventurer like you suck up to a noble?!"
"I have no such intention. As for Count Relduct, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't care if he died."
"Then why!"
"Because that's the request I accepted. I can't tell you who gave it to me, but that person wants retaliation against Count Relduct—not his death."
"...Why, damn it!"
One of the men shouted, unable to accept Rei's words.
"Well, if you can't agree to my terms, you don't have to act alongside me. You do you, and I'll do me. If you think you can defeat Count Relduct on your own, then by all means, go ahead. I'm not forcing you to work with me."
Put like that, the men had no choice but to fall silent.
In truth, it was an undeniable fact that they had grown strongly inclined to rely on Rei's power.
"Anyway, it's fine for you to act with the intention of using me. But if you ignore my terms and try to force your own will while doing so... next time, I'll seriously come after you."
Those who had voiced their complaints earlier felt a chill run down their spines and froze in place.
If Rei seriously came after them, they didn't think they would survive.
At this point, the members of the Resistance had several options.
Borrow Rei's power to defeat Relduct, while refraining from killing him.
Refuse Rei's help and challenge Relduct with vanishingly low odds of success.
Hold off on a full-scale offensive and continue watching for a while longer.
Or... ignore Rei's warning, use Rei's power to kill Relduct, and make an enemy of him.
(Damn, this is rotten. Looks like there are several options, but in reality there's basically no choice at all.)
There were indeed several paths, but only one could be called a clear answer.
No, waiting and observing wasn't ideal either, but it wasn't necessarily a bad choice.
Even so, the prospect of actually being able to topple Relduct was an irresistibly attractive option.
(But if we're not careful, we might end up killing Count Relduct. And if that happens, judging from how he acted earlier, Rei will definitely come to kill us.)
The men had dabbled in rebellion, but what they had done so far was nothing more than minor skirmishes.
Of course, there had been times during combat when they thought they might be killed. But compared to the absolute killing intent they had felt from Rei earlier, those moments felt like child's play.
Joining forces with Rei—or rather, using him, as Rei himself put it. Either way, they absolutely could not ignore his demands if they did.
Understanding that the companions around him were watching, waiting for his decision, the man hesitated over what to do.
It was Rei who spoke the words that temporarily shelved the man's dilemma.
"Well, you can decide on that by the time I actually take action. More importantly—do you know where the mines in Count Relduct's territory are located?"
"Huh? Ah. Yeah, I know that... but what are you going to do?"
"First, I'm going to destroy them."
"Are you out of your mind?!"
The one who shouted was neither Rei nor the man he'd been talking to, but another man present.
It was a natural reaction. The mines were one of the few export industries in Count Relduct's territory.
If they were destroyed, the ones who would suffer were the residents of the territory.
"I understand where the man who just shouted is coming from, but you're all aware that Count Relduct's territory is building up its military, right? And that they're planning to invade the neighboring Viscount Gail's Territory?"
Conflicts between nobles were not uncommon.
Fighting with neighboring nobles over mines or water sources wasn't an everyday occurrence, but it happened often enough.
Of course, there were unspoken rules involved.
If noble casualties rose, that meant the national power of the Kingdom of Mireana would decline.
For the Kingdom of Mireana, which shared a border with the great power of the Bestia Empire, weakening itself through internal squabbles was to be avoided at all costs.
But the military buildup Relduct was currently undertaking went far beyond anything that could fall under such unspoken understandings.
At the very least, that was the picture painted by the information Rei had obtained from Gail.
"But! ...Besides, there are people working at the mines. Destroying the mines means killing them too, doesn't it?!"
"Don't worry. Even if I destroy the mines, I have no intention of doing it during the day. As long as the mines become unusable, that's enough. I have no desire to kill the people working there. ...What happens to Count Relduct's subordinates is another matter."
"...At night, huh."
Relduct was zealous about increasing his own wealth, but he didn't force the mines to operate around the clock.
If he had, not only would resentment against him have intensified, but he likely also feared that such conspicuous activity would be detected by Gail.
Whatever the reason, the fact that the mines weren't operating at night was a stroke of luck for Rei.
There was no need to worry about dragging the workers into it.
"That's right. At night. ...With that in mind, it would be helpful if you could tell me the locations of the mines. You don't want Count Relduct's subordinates getting better armed either, do you?"
"True. ...But it's been a fair amount of time since mining operations began. There's no doubt that Count Relduct's subordinates have already significantly upgraded their equipment. In fact..."
The man paused his conversation with Rei and directed his gaze toward the weapons they carried.
Lying there were the weapons used by the Resistance.
"Hm?"
Unable to understand the man's intent, Rei also looked at the items.
At Rei's reaction, the man gave a wry smile before speaking.
"These weapons were actually stolen with the help of our comrades who had infiltrated Count Relduct's forces. No, saying we stole them isn't quite accurate. It would be more accurate to say we took weapons the Knight Order was no longer using—ones sitting in storage."
"Ah... I see. In other words, they're hand-me-downs from Count Relduct's subordinates."
At the phrase "hand-me-downs," the people around them displayed expressions of genuine disgust.
But it was undoubtedly true that they wouldn't have been able to gather weapons otherwise.
Weapons were fairly expensive items.
Moreover, trying to procure weapons here in Count Relduct's territory—aside from the cost, it simply wasn't something that could be obtained easily.
In that sense, taking weapons that were no longer in use and repurposing them was probably the most practical method.
The only drawback was that, being hand-me-downs, their quality was naturally inferior to the weapons currently in active use.
Rei handed the man—who had nodded at his words—several spears retrieved from his Misty Ring. Not the nearly broken ones he used for throwing, but ones seized from Bandits and the like.
"If you tell me the locations of the mines, I'll give you these in exchange for the information. The quality isn't the highest, but they should still be perfectly usable. You can never have too many spare spears, right?"
"...Are you sure?"
For the Resistance, there was no such thing as too many spare weapons.
Rei nodded at the man's question.
"If I can get the information here, it saves me the trouble of going all the way to the neighboring city."
Rei judged that obtaining the information here was more advantageous than going out of his way to meet a man whose name he only knew.