The moment he saw that person—and the man's companions—Jestal realized he was already trapped beyond any hope of escape.
If Rei had been here alone, then perhaps... truly, perhaps, if everyone scattered in different directions at once, they might have somehow gotten away. But the moment he understood that Rei was leading the Crimson Lotus Wings with several other reinforcements besides, Jestal knew his situation was dire.
If there was any fortune in this for Jestal, it was that he failed to recognize one of the reinforcements as Elena, who bore the alias Princess General, along with her subordinates. With only moonlight to see by, and Rei's presence already delivering such an overwhelming shock, he likely couldn't identify Elena at all. Ara included, he couldn't put names to faces—only perceiving them all as Rei's reinforcements.
"Lebejev! What is the meaning of this!"
That was precisely why Jestal shouted at his trading partner, demanding to know why someone like Rei was present. A being that had no business being in a place like this. And yet, since Rei had no reason to be here on Jestal's account, the only explanation lay with Lebejev and his group.
But Lebejev and his companions, even with Jestal's glare fixed on them, showed no concern whatsoever. They simply exchanged looks among themselves.
"You stay quiet. The guards should be here soon, and you'll tell them everything you know when they arrive."
"Guh..."
Silenced by those words and the gaze Rei leveled at him, Jestal found himself unable to speak further. He was a man who had survived Gilm's underworld and climbed to the top of his organization. His nerve was far from ordinary, and yet when Rei turned his way and told him to shut up, his mouth simply refused to move.
A frog stared down by a snake, so to speak. In Elgin there were even frog monsters that fed on snakes, but unfortunately for Jestal, becoming such a creature was beyond him. Then again, Rei was not something so endearing as a snake—if anything, he was closer to what one might call a dragon.
At any rate, having silenced Jestal with a single glare, Rei turned his attention back to Ajas. Two men flanked Ajas, and Rei had recognized from a distance that these were the companions Dahl had mentioned—Lebejev and Haston.
"Long time no see... or not quite. We only met this morning, after all. Strictly speaking, it's been a matter of hours."
"...Right. Though I'd have preferred not to meet at all."
Ajas's attitude toward Rei differed from when they had crossed paths in the Treant Forest. That was likely because he no longer had any reason to conceal his true nature.
While he exchanged words with Ajas, Rei watched the Intelligence Unit members surround and capture Jestal's subordinates one after another. The underlings naturally tried to resist, but when Set's growl reverberated through the area, they were rendered utterly powerless. Truth be told, with the members of the Crimson Lotus Wings present, many had already had any will to resist crushed out of them. Better not to fight back here, get beaten down, and then face heavier charges for resisting during interrogation—or so they reasoned.
The carriages carrying dozens of women fitted with slave collars were likewise being secured by the Intelligence Unit. Seeing that—their objective already in enemy hands—Ajas and his group had no intention of trying to reclaim them. Right now, above all else, they needed to break free and escape Gilm.
They had originally planned to rely on Jestal's help to get out of the city, but with things having come to this, that was no longer an option. If anything, making any fuss over Jestal here would only get them captured as well.
"Oh? I wanted to see you, though. Besides, you vanished from the Treant Forest without a word—that surprised me. If you had some reason to leave, why not tell us?"
"Just a sudden errand."
"Huh. And that errand is what brought about this situation?"
Even while talking with Rei, Ajas repeatedly and rapidly scanned his surroundings, searching for some way to escape. But Rei and the others had no intention of allowing it, watching vigilantly for any opening—ready to act the instant Ajas and his group made a suspicious move.
"No, no, that's got nothing to do with it. My errand is mostly done, so I'd love to just head back if possible."
"...Is that so? Still, I'd prefer it if you stayed here a little longer and gave us a proper account."
"You can't make Rei the Alias-Bearer go to all that trouble, can you?"
"No, there's someone who very much wants to hear what you have to say, so I absolutely need you to stay."
"Is that... absolutely necessary?"
"Yeah, absolutely. I have a lot of questions for you myself, and there are others who have business with you besides me. I'd even say that's the main event."
From Rei's words, Ajas seemed to grasp immediately who he meant. His expression turned sour—thoroughly, from-the-bottom-of-his-heart sour.
"Why is a high-rank adventurer alias holder getting involved with someone like that? Wouldn't you normally take on better-paying requests? Like the Gilm expansion project?"
"Don't worry, I'm handling that too."
In truth, while cooperating with Ilse's revenge, Rei was also steadily contributing to the Gilm expansion project—though most of that work involved transporting goods with the Misty Ring, so it didn't take up much time.
"...Is that so. Sounds like you're working hard, but wouldn't it be better to take things a little slower?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I'm managing fine. ...Now, we can't keep standing here talking forever."
Seeing that the Intelligence Unit had finished binding Jestal and most of his subordinates, Rei made the declaration.
"No, no, let's talk a bit more. Running into each other here by coincidence—don't you think we should have a proper conversation?"
"Coincidence, huh. Unfortunately, our time is—hm?"
Their time was up, and Rei was about to say as much when a voice suddenly reached his ears. Voices, in a sense, were everywhere—Jestal and his subordinates had been running their mouths with various remarks—but this wasn't that. It was something closer to a war cry, a voice like someone about to charge into battle.
"What was that?"
At the edge of Rei's gaze, in the direction the voice had come from, a familiar figure was running toward them, longsword in hand. It was Melan.
Seeing him sprinting straight toward them for no apparent reason, Rei was puzzled.
"Why is Melan here?"
"Eh?"
At Rei's words, Vihera let out a blank sound. She had the longest association with Melan from patrolling Gilm together, so it was only natural she'd react to his name. And it wasn't just Rei and Vihera—the Intelligence Unit members around them also turned to look.
With their lives on the line, Ajas and his group were never going to miss a decisive opening like that. The fact that they didn't know Melan also served as the trigger for them to move.
If it had been Rei and the Crimson Lotus Wings, or Elena, Ara, and the like, they could have handled it even if Ajas's group fled in their direction. But since Ajas and his group understood full well how formidable Rei and his companions were, there was no reason to head that way. They ran toward the Intelligence Unit instead.
What's more, all three of them moved at once without any signal. Haston dropped his rucksack of food on the spot, lightening himself for the dash. All three moved without making a sound. How they'd communicated in that situation was something that briefly piqued Rei's curiosity, but right now he needed to move faster than that.
"Flying Slash!"
He swung the Death Scythe in a wide arc. The released slash shot straight through the air and severed the right knee of Haston, who was running at the rear of the three.
Haston had thrown away his rucksack to flee, but that wasted motion delayed him just enough to fall behind the other two. That was the biggest reason he ended up at the back—and fell prey to Rei's Flying Slash.
"Uwah!"
Despite having his right knee severed, what escaped Haston's mouth was a somewhat dazed sound. The slash was so clean that the pain hadn't registered yet. The intense tension of the situation also helped dull it.
"Terrain Manipulation!"
Next came Terrain Manipulation. Driving the pommel of the Death Scythe into the ground, Rei activated the skill, and Ajas, who had been running at the front, slowed. Naturally—a one-meter wall had just materialized in his path. Since it was a split-second action, a few of the ruined buildings crumbled to accommodate the wall's appearance, but Rei paid that no mind.
A one-meter wall wasn't difficult for an adventurer like Ajas to leap over. But that was only if he knew it was there and had time to prepare. Faced with a wall that suddenly appeared ahead—though not right in front of him—Ajas momentarily checked his speed. Under normal circumstances that would have been no problem, but Lebejev was running right behind him. When Ajas suddenly slowed, Lebejev slammed into his back, lost his balance, and tumbled, dragging Ajas down with him.
"Gwah!"
"Nagh—!"
Ajas had been so focused on the earthen wall ahead that he never expected Lebejev to crash into him from behind. But of course, they couldn't just lie there. They needed to escape, now—and then Ajas noticed something wrong. Here were only himself and Lebejev, who had slammed into his back. That was fine. But what about Haston, their other companion? If he'd been running with them, he should have overtaken the fallen pair by now. Ajas turned to look behind him.
What he saw was Haston, lying on the ground, desperately swinging his longsword to keep the approaching Intelligence Unit members at bay. For a moment Ajas wondered why he wasn't standing—then he noticed the blood pooling around Haston, and a short distance away, his right leg from the knee down, severed and lying on the ground. The reason was obvious.
"Haston!?"
At Ajas's shout, Lebejev also looked behind him and saw the same thing.
Ajas, Lebejev, and Haston knew they were villains. Because they knew that, they treasured each other as the only companions who would never betray one another. Seeing one of their own fighting for his life to buy them time to escape—it was only natural that they froze.
"What are you doing, run!"
Whether he noticed the two's reaction or not, Haston shouted while swinging his longsword. But it was already too late. In a matter of seconds, Rei, Elena, Vihera, and Set would have no trouble catching up to Ajas and his group.
Softly, the blade of Rei's Death Scythe touched the back of Ajas's neck. It was midsummer, and the night was hot enough to deserve the term "tropical," yet the blade against Ajas's neck was as cold as ice. At that coldness, the words died in Ajas's throat.
He wasn't the only one frozen in place. Lebejev was in the same state—in his case, the tip of the Twilight Spear was pressed against his face, and it was abundantly clear that if he moved even slightly, that spear tip would easily pierce—no, crush—his skull.
Pinning both men motionless with a weapon in each hand, Rei formed what could only be called a cold smile.
"There's no need to rush, is there? Take your time. ...Yes, take it slow."