The moment he stepped into the room, Ajas hurled the scabbard of his longsword against the wall in a fit of frustration.
"Damn it!"
The sound echoed through the room, startling his two companions—Lebejev and Haston.
"Hey, what's going on? What's got you so worked up?" Haston asked, lowering the ale he'd been drinking.
But it wasn't Ajas who answered. It was Lebejev.
"Did something happen with Rei, by any chance?"
It was already understood that Ajas had fallen under Rei's suspicion after yesterday's incident. Given that, it was only a matter of time before Rei came poking around.
Sure enough, Ajas gave an irritated nod, confirming Lebejev's prediction.
"Rei wasn't at the Treant Forest at first today, so I thought we were in the clear. But he showed up halfway through. ...Though that's fine. I'd already heard he comes to the Treant Forest every day to transport felled timber."
"...Well, having an Item Box User around must make hauling lumber easy enough. Seems like it'd make transporting the women we've gathered a breeze, too. I'd sure love an Item Box myself. ...Shame you can't smell a woman's scent when she's inside, though."
"Didn't you know? You can't put living things inside an Item Box."
"Ugh. ...Still, seems handy enough for all sorts of things."
"Yeah. Apparently there are similar Magic Items made by analyzing the Item Box, but they're nowhere near anything we could afford."
They were supposed to be listening to Ajas's account, but before long Lebejev and Haston had wandered off into a discussion about Magic Items. Hearing them, Ajas felt the blood that had been rushing to his head start to settle.
It wasn't as if the two had deliberately steered the conversation that way to calm him down... but Ajas realized he hadn't been thinking straight. Compared to when he'd first stormed in, he now opened his mouth with a somewhat more composed air.
"Leaving the Magic Items aside. ...The point is, I don't know why, but it seems Rei has me squarely in his sights. I figured as much yesterday, but that doesn't make it any less of a problem."
His words seemed to snap the other two back to reality. Lebejev and Haston dropped the Magic Item talk and turned their attention to Ajas.
"Not knowing the reason is what's dangerous. As long as we don't understand what's behind it, we can't know when he might turn his eyes toward us, too."
Lebejev's words might have sounded like he was preparing to cut Ajas loose, but neither of them had any such intention.
The three had been working together for several years, and this operation was being carried out on orders from above. There was a real sense of camaraderie between them, and more than that, Ajas held a leader's position among the three. Neither Lebejev nor Haston had the slightest thought of abandoning him.
"You're right. As long as I don't know why I've been marked, there's a chance the spotlight could shift to you two as well. ...Fortunately, it seems we don't need to worry about that just yet."
Given the nature of their underhanded work, all three of them naturally possessed Thief Skills. That was precisely how Ajas had detected the Intelligence Unit investigating him.
Yet even so—especially for Ajas—they couldn't fathom why Rei had singled him out.
He said something about a peddler, so there's a good chance that's where the suspicion originated. ...But which peddler?
They had attacked countless travelers, peddlers, and adventurers over the years. There was no way to determine which one Rei had been referring to. An outsider would simply call it poetic justice, but for Ajas and his companions, not knowing the reason was a serious problem.
"What do we do? We haven't gathered the full count yet, but should we pull out of Gilm? Luckily, getting out shouldn't be hard right now."
"But then we won't hit the number the higher-ups specified. They're already short-handed as it is."
At Haston's words, Ajas and Lebejev—no, even Haston himself—fell into an uneasy silence.
It wasn't that they felt guilty about abducting women. They had done that sort of thing more times than they could count, and had committed far crueler acts besides. The reason they felt so unsettled was that they knew exactly what fate awaited the women they took.
If it were only a matter of being violated by men... as callous as it sounded, that wasn't particularly unusual in this world. But when they thought about the ultimate fate those women would meet, even Ajas and his companions—despicable as they were—couldn't help but feel a twinge of discomfort.
At the very least, they absolutely refused to imagine themselves in the same position.
Well, as men, we probably wouldn't end up like that. ...But if we're not careful, we could meet an even more miserable end.
Even so, Ajas and his companions had no intention of leaving their organization. Precisely because it was so dangerous, the rewards exceeded all expectations. And if they tried to slip away, it was a safe bet that the organization would hunt them to the ends of the earth to silence anyone who knew their secrets.
After all, the three of them knew at least something about the higher-ups' affairs.
"It's just Ajas who's been marked, right?" Lebejev asked.
Ajas nodded with visible resentment. "Yeah. For now."
For now. That was the key.
At present, it appeared only Ajas was under suspicion. But if things continued as they were, Lebejev and Haston could well find themselves in the crosshairs of Rei and the Intelligence Unit. They were currently operating separately, staying at the same inn but maintaining the appearance of strangers in public. They didn't expect that facade to hold forever.
Given that, they had to consider the possibility of the other two being discovered.
"Then how about Ajas leaves Gilm for a while? You could head to the nearest city—Abuelo, was it?—and gather women there while you wait for us."
"...I see. If I leave Gilm, the heat stays off you two. That could work."
"Hmm, I'm not really on board with that."
The one who objected was Haston.
"Why? I'm the one under suspicion. If I'm gone—"
"No, I get that. I do. But honestly, the three of us working together is what makes operating in Gilm feasible at all. If Ajas drops out, the work could stall completely. And if that happens, what do you think our contacts in the slum underworld will do?"
Put that way, the other two had no response.
They were gathering women through their dealings with the slum's underworld organization, but those transactions ran smoothly because the three of them got the job done without fail. But barely managing with three also meant that losing even one would cause things to unravel. And if that happened, there was no guarantee the underworld organization would continue to play nice.
Given that they had come to Gilm specifically to gather women, losing the ability to trade with the organization would be a devastating blow. Without that channel, they'd have to procure women on their own. For one or two, sweet-talking them into coming along wasn't impossible. But there was no way they could meet the quota demanded from above at that rate.
"That's... true. But if I'm the one Rei's watching and I stay here, you two are just as likely to get caught. To avoid that, it really would be better if I just vanished from Gilm."
Ajas had a point, and Haston had no choice but to fall silent.
Watching the two of them, Lebejev thought for a moment before speaking.
"Haston, how many women do we have right now?"
"Huh? Oh... let me think. About thirty, I'd say."
"How many slave collars are left?"
"About twenty."
Smuggling fifty people out of Gilm was no simple task. They would have to leave through illicit means, which meant the captured women couldn't be allowed to raise a fuss. And given what those women knew about the fate that awaited them, they would fight to the death before letting themselves be dragged off.
Slave collars—devices enforcing absolute obedience—were essential for keeping the women silent during their departure. They were, of course, enormously expensive items. The fact that fifty had been procured so readily spoke volumes about the power of those pulling Ajas's strings.
"In that case, why don't we just pull out of Gilm altogether? With about twenty, we could manage in other towns and villages—Abuelo or Sablusta, for instance."
"Wouldn't it cause problems if the Guild caught on that women are vanishing everywhere we go? If we end up with bounties on our heads, it'll make moving around a lot harder."
Ajas and his companions were not impostors playing at being adventurers. They were properly registered with the Guild and operating legitimately. That was precisely why they had been entrusted with the critical task of gathering women.
All three had a fair degree of confidence in their own abilities. They believed they could survive in the underworld even without their adventurer status. That said, they had no desire to abandon it willingly.
"Then it's settled. How long will it take to prepare for departure?"
"Ah... that depends on what we do about the deal we're negotiating. If it goes well, we might be able to secure five more."
"Then let's make this the last negotiation. If we cut it off abruptly, we risk making an enemy of the other party."
Having already decided to leave Gilm, they didn't necessarily have to cut the negotiation short—they could simply walk away. But if that bred bad blood and the other party sent someone after them, it would be a headache they didn't need.
Besides, gathering a large number of women in Gilm meant they wouldn't need to abduct as many along the way. This wasn't mercy on their part—far from it. They simply didn't want to leave a trail of evidence along their route. And they certainly didn't want to do anything that would invite scrutiny from the Guards.
With everyone in agreement, the current deal would be their last.
"In that case, we'll need a pretext for leaving Gilm."
"Right... Gilm's got a flood of people coming in right now, but not many heading out."
Haston's response to Ajas made sense. Gilm was in the midst of an economic boom from the expansion construction. Naturally, far more people were flowing in than out. With so many jobs tied to the project, even someone with an ordinary person's stamina—not an adventurer's—could find work easily. Those who had traveled to the frontier town of Gilm, braving danger for a payday, weren't about to pack up and leave on a whim.
Yet even so, there were a few ways to depart Gilm without raising eyebrows.
And the most natural among them was—
"Guards. Escort work."
Lebejev nodded in agreement at Ajas's words, while Haston's face registered surprise.
The expansion had drawn a flood of people to Gilm, but the materials fueling the construction were hauled in by merchants. Some could be sourced from the Treant Forest and nearby areas, but that alone couldn't supply everything the project demanded. Once merchants delivered their goods, they would depart to restock. The expansion was a bonanza for anyone with the eye to sell—bring materials, and they'd sell. Though that held true mainly for merchants with good judgment.
...And so, Ajas and his two companions resolved to finish their current deal, then leave Gilm under the cover of guarding a merchant's cargo.