An alleyway, a short distance from the tavern.
There, Rei, Vihera, and Byune stood together with the man.
He was the same man who had tried to hit on Vihera back at the tavern. When she rejected him, he had flown into a rage as a matter of course and decided to make her his woman by force.
Given Vihera's beauty, his reaction wasn't particularly surprising. But considering the gap in ability between them, it was nothing short of suicidal.
Vihera had effortlessly manhandled him, and now here he was—dragged to this alleyway by Rei's party, forced to cooperate in gathering information.
"Now then. Brothels... where are the ones with a particularly large number of prostitutes? Could you tell us?"
"Hiii! W-Why do you want to know something like that!?"
"My, didn't I tell you? My boyfriend here is just too vigorous at night."
As she said that, Vihera's gaze drifted toward Rei.
Rei, receiving a feminine, sultry glance so unlike her usual demeanor, quietly averted his eyes.
They already knew the story—that the women taken by force, using Slave Collars no less, were being put to work as prostitutes.
If so, it stood to reason that the brothels where those women worked were tied to Ajas's organization.
And the reason Vihera, a woman, had given for seeking out a brothel was that her boyfriend was so vigorous she couldn't keep up with him, so she wanted to take him to one.
Rei didn't mind the premise itself. He just hadn't expected to be cast in the role of that boyfriend.
Of course, he knew how Vihera felt about him, so perhaps it was only a natural result.
"L-Liar! Then why are you doing something this forceful!?"
"Because you look like you're going to lie, don't you? So I think it's best to do at least this much. How about it?"
As she spoke, Vihera flashed a smile that would captivate anyone who laid eyes on it.
...This, of course, ignored the fact that right beside that radiant smile, she was gripping a stone from the ground in her right hand and crushing it to dust.
No matter how attractive the smiling beauty beside him was, watching her do something like that made it impossible to feel anything but terror.
"I-I got it! I'll tell you anything I know! So please! Don't do anything!"
At the man's response, Vihera smiled with satisfaction.
The expression she wore a moment ago had also been a smile, but there was no doubt that the one she wore now was an entirely different kind.
Perhaps aware of this herself, she spoke while still smiling.
"Then tell me. Where is a brothel with a lot of prostitutes?"
"A lot... you really want to know about brothels? Well... that's..."
The man was slightly surprised that, despite threatening him like this, they genuinely wanted to know about prostitutes.
Having been dragged here by force, he had assumed the talk of prostitutes was just a front—that they actually wanted information on something else entirely, the kind of thing that wasn't so easily obtained.
But the man was just an adventurer, and nothing more than an adventurer from the small country of Reblurina.
Working in the capital of Rossi gave him a degree of confidence in his abilities, but even so, he was only a D-Rank Adventurer.
"For now, let's start with the prostitutes. Where specifically are the brothels with the most of them?"
It was Rei who asked, not Vihera, but the man's will to resist had already been completely shattered.
He would have answered honestly even if Byune had been the one asking—provided he could understand her question, that is.
"Ah, well, there's a district in Rossi with brothels, but I don't think any one place has a particularly large number of prostitutes. Of course, I haven't been to every brothel, so I can't say for sure... but..."
He paused, his tone shifting meaningfully. Vihera's gaze snapped back to him.
A chill ran down the man's spine, and he frantically continued.
"Um, about a day's carriage ride from here, there's a town called Mejougo that only has brothels and taverns. If anywhere, that'd be the place with a huge number of prostitutes, just like you're saying."
"...Oh?"
Vihera voiced her interest in that seemingly suspicious town.
What was fortunate for the man was the absence of any displeasure in her voice.
She well understood that there were women who could only survive as prostitutes.
But if they were doing what Ajas had done in Gilm—abducting women by force and using Slave Collars to make them work as prostitutes—that was something she could never forgive.
As a woman who loved Rei, she fully understood the agony of being held by a man against one's will.
She knew her feelings on the matter were full of contradictions, but for now, she needed to learn more about this town called Mejougo.
"So, what do you have to do to enter Mejougo? Can you just show up and get in?"
"Yeah, apparently you can get in without any problems. The drinks at the taverns are supposed to be expensive, but the prices at the brothels are pretty cheap. But..."
The man paused and looked at Vihera.
More precisely, at the sheer fabric covering her body.
"What is it?"
"Um, you might be fine, but someone like the little girl over there would really stand out in Mejougo."
"...True. That might be right."
Since Mejougo was a town built primarily around brothels, men would naturally gather there, but women generally had no reason to.
That was the general rule, at least. It wouldn't be strange for women who preferred other women to exist.
Regardless, if someone like Elena, Marina, or Byune set foot in such a place, they would undoubtedly stand out.
In Vihera's case, her outfit would likely lead people to mistake her for a prostitute.
And if she looked like one, the chances of unnecessary trouble were high.
To begin with, a prostitute with Vihera's level of beauty would attract most men who wanted to buy her.
But Vihera had no such intention, naturally.
Given that, a clash between clients wanting to buy her and Vihera herself was inevitable—which would interfere with their investigation of Mejougo and, ultimately, their retaliation against Ajas's organization.
"But... sending Rei to Mejougo alone... is a bit worrisome."
The Vihera who said this couldn't possibly be mistaken for the same woman who had just threatened the man.
Women are terrifying, the man couldn't help but think.
"We can talk about that later. It's not something we can decide on our own anyway. More importantly, tell us exactly where this Mejougo is. How do we get there?"
"Ah... how to get there, you say. Basically, you have to take a carriage departing from here, otherwise they won't let you in."
"...Hm? Does that mean even if I went to this town called Mejougo, I wouldn't be able to enter?"
"Y-Yeah. That's right."
"I see. So they're careful about who they let in. But in that case, wouldn't that be holding them back in terms of making money?"
A carriage could only carry a fixed number of people, and maintaining one required a certain amount of money.
The animals that pulled carriages—horses and the like—were expensive, and if they were monsters, the price only went up.
If they were running brothels to make money, this setup seemed clearly counterproductive. At least, that was how it appeared to Rei.
Which means they're not running brothels to make money? Well, they said there's a decent number of women who willingly want to be prostitutes, so there shouldn't be any need to go out of their way to abduct people from another country... But then, what's it all for?
In the end, that was the question he kept coming back to.
"I agree with you that it seems like it's holding them back money-wise. But they say people get turned away when trying to board the carriage, so thinking about that, there must be something more to Mejougo."
Perhaps talking with Rei had eased his tension.
Vihera's actions were certainly terrifying, but Rei hadn't threatened him.
Moreover, Rei was a man.
The man naturally assumed that Rei would be interested in Mejougo—a place teeming with prostitutes.
...At the man's demeanor, Vihera shot him a displeased glare, but he remained completely oblivious.
"Have you never been there yourself?"
"Ah... it's a money thing, you see. I hear Mejougo has cheap brothels and all, but if I'm going to go all the way there, I'd want to go to the best... well, maybe not the best, but at least a slightly more expensive place, so..."
The man trailed off mid-sentence, most likely because he had finally noticed the icy glare directed at him from Vihera.
As his words ground to a halt as if he'd been frozen solid, Vihera spoke again.
"So, is there anything you need to head to Mejougo? Like a letter of introduction from someone?"
"Eh? Ah, uh... n-nothing in particular, apparently. Though if you do have one, they'll apparently show you various favors."
"I see. Thank you for the information. But... you'd better be very careful with your words and actions from now on. As you can see, I have enough grip strength to crush stones."
As she said that, Vihera picked up another stone from the ground and crushed it.
Her gaze was directed at the man's... crotch.
What Vihere meant, the man understood completely. More than completely.
He nodded over and over, so fast one might think they were seeing afterimages.
Vihera stared at him for a long moment, then finally smiled and spoke.
"I'm glad we understand each other."
At her words, the man felt a wave of relief, even as his legs instinctively pressed together.
He had finished work yesterday and planned to take it easy for a few days starting today. To have this happen on the very first day was nothing short of misfortune.
Then again, he had been the one to approach Vihera in the first place, so from Rei's perspective, it was hard to feel anything other than that he'd brought it upon himself.
"Well then, thank you for all the information. Next time, you might want to be careful about who you approach."
With that, Vihera flashed her most dazzling smile and walked away.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be strange to be mesmerized by that smile. It wouldn't be strange at all. But what the man felt right now was nothing so sweet—it was pure terror.
For the time being, he was safe. He felt a rush of relief at that simple fact.
Byune, who had watched the entire exchange without changing her expression, followed after Vihera. Rei was about to do the same, but then stopped.
The man had been the one to approach Vihera, but even so, the outcome had been, even by Rei's standards, nothing short of miserable.
Thinking it over, Rei decided it wouldn't be right to just leave things as they were. He turned on his heel and walked toward the man.
"!?"
At the sound of footsteps on the ground, the man tensed, thinking Vihera had returned. But when he saw it was Rei approaching, he felt a small measure of relief.
Still, this was someone who had been keeping company with a dangerous person like Vihera.
And recalling their earlier exchange, there was no doubt that Rei was the object of Vihera's intense affection.
Such a person was unlikely to be as harmless as he appeared. In other words, Rei, too, was a figure of terror.
Fortunately, Rei hadn't directly harmed him. And though he now stood before him, he showed no sign of wanting to cause any trouble.
As the man felt a flicker of relief, Rei pulled several Silver Coins from his Misty Ring and held them out.
"For the information."
"...Ah."
With the Silver Coins in hand, that was all the man could manage in reply.
Between being accosted, having information squeezed out of him, being mesmerized, and being terrified—all in the span of a few minutes—he had experienced more emotions in a short time than most people would care to. Combined with Vihera having let him go, he was mentally drained.
The man stared down at the Silver Coins Rei had given him... and thought, Yeah. Let's go to a tavern.