Mejougo was a pleasure district in the truest sense—a settlement sustained entirely by brothels and taverns.
In the end, it was decided that Rei would be the one heading there. Currently, he stood alone at the gathering point where people assembled to board carriages bound for Mejougo.
"Kyu?"
...No, to be precise, he wasn't alone. If one counted Ielo, who had slipped inside his robe, it would be more accurate to say one person and one creature.
Normally, Ielo's role would fall to Set... but there was no doubt that Set would stand out far too much.
Additionally, in the event that urgent communication was needed while in Mejougo, they would need Ielo to fly messages back.
If they had a Paired Orb, that wouldn't have been necessary—but unfortunately, Rei had lent his Paired Orb to Ara back in Gilm.
And so, Rei found himself at the gathering point with Ielo, waiting to board a carriage.
...The reason Ielo was accompanying Rei was, of course, partly for communication purposes. But Rei suspected the real reason was that Elena would also be able to view Ielo's memories.
"Oho? Oh, you heading to Mejougo too? You look pretty young, but... you're quite the eager one, huh."
One of the men who had gathered there apparently noticed Rei's presence.
Wearing a broad grin, he called out to Rei.
As always, Rei was clad in his Dragon Robe with the hood up.
It was probably difficult to gauge his age from his appearance alone, but even with the hood on, Rei's face was faintly visible. Above all, his small physique likely contributed to the impression.
Even so, Rei felt relieved that he wasn't told to go home like a child.
(Well, I'm about to head to Mejougo, so maybe everyone's senses are already dulled when it comes to that sort of thing.)
Feeling Ielo stay quiet inside the Dragon Robe, Rei opened his mouth.
"Yeah, my dad told me to go get some real-world experience," he replied to the man who had spoken to him, using a tone that made his own back itch slightly even as he said it.
"Gahahaha! I see, real-world experience, huh. Mejougo just might be a good place for that. You'll be climbing the stairs to adulthood a step ahead of the rest, boy."
"Hm? Hey, Kotonara, what's up with that kid?"
"Ah, this boy here says he's going to Mejougo for some real-world experience."
"Hah? Real-world experience at Mejougo? Isn't that dangerous in more ways than one?"
The man who had called out to Kotonara murmured with concern, glancing at Rei as he spoke.
Both men appeared to be in their thirties, right in the prime of their working years.
Naturally, their various desires were strong as well, and they had likely been looking forward to Mejougo.
Even so, the man who had spoken to Kotonara seemed to possess a sensible side.
He appeared slightly hesitant about whether it was appropriate to bring someone of Rei's age all the way to Mejougo.
But Kotonara patted the man on the shoulder a few times and spoke with a grin.
"Don't worry about it. I was even younger than that kid when I had my first woman."
"...In your case, you were just full of curiosity from a young age. Or rather, you had a strong interest in women from the start."
Rei watched the exchange between the two, who were apparently childhood friends, but realized that if this continued, he might end up being sent home.
Making that judgment, he deliberated.
(Was it a mistake to use this tone? No, there's a chance I could run into someone who knows my personality and such... thinking about it that way, it's definitely better to play the sheltered young master type.)
Despite his concerns, Rei spoke to Kotonara and the other man.
"Please don't worry. I may not look like it, but I'm fairly confident in my strength. If anything happens, I think I can at least manage to escape."
"...Well, judging by the way you carry yourself, I'd say you seem like quite a capable fighter."
The man who had spoken to Kotonara told him as much after looking Rei over.
If this had been Gilm, and if Kotonara and the other man possessed a certain level of skill, Rei's manner of carrying himself would not have been dismissed as merely "capable."
But this was not Gilm, where many skilled adventurers gathered. It was merely the capital of a vassal state of the Kingdom of Mireana.
Naturally, there were not that many highly skilled individuals here, and as expected, even Kotonara and the others could not discern Rei's true level of ability when they looked at him.
"I'm glad you understand. So there's no need to worry about me. Kotonara-san and... um..."
Seeing Rei trail off, Kotonara spoke up.
"Ah. This is my rotten-bond childhood friend, Jil. Nice to meet you."
"No, why are you introducing me? ...Well, anyway, I'm Jil. Nice to meet you, kid."
"Yes, Kotonara-san, Jil-san, pleased to meet you."
With that, Rei gave a small bow.
A smile lingered on his downturned face.
Rei had very little information about Mejougo, the place he was about to visit.
It was only what he had heard from the man who had approached him at the tavern.
Given that the man had said he had never actually been to Mejougo himself, the information Rei could obtain from Kotonara and Jil—who, by all appearances, had been to Mejougo many times—would be significant.
In that sense, putting on this meek act had been worth it... or so he thought.
When Rei lifted his head and looked around, there were more people than before.
Thinking that this was proof of how profitable Mejougo was, a faint irritation rose within Rei.
If the only people in Mejougo were those who had chosen to become prostitutes of their own accord, Rei would not have particularly minded.
He personally had no intention of going, but he might have even been impressed, thinking that was simply how things were done in Reblurina.
A city built from nothing but brothels and taverns... when he thought about it normally, it was by no means a bad approach.
Since customers came purely for alcohol and women, depending on the quality of the services, Mejougo would earn an outrageous amount of money in a single night.
Moreover, if Mejougo's existence was known not only within Reblurina but also to surrounding nations, the number of customers would increase even further.
But... that was only assuming it was all carried out with people who genuinely wished to be prostitutes.
Or even if they purchased slaves—people who had fallen into slavery due to debt or crime—and made them into prostitutes, Rei could have accepted that.
However, what he could not condone was what Ajas had done: abducting women from other villages, cities, and even other countries, and forcing them into prostitution.
(Besides, there are various contradictions in Ajas's actions. Abducting women and making them into prostitutes. That in itself... fine. But the number of prostitutes who can work in Mejougo should be fixed. There's no way they can just keep increasing the number of prostitutes indefinitely. If they did, they would run out of land.)
Even if this was not a frontier region, walls to keep out intruders would still be necessary.
What's more, Mejougo was a place where women, alcohol, and money all gathered, making it an ideal target for bandit gangs.
That being the case, walls were naturally required, and the available land was inherently limited.
Bringing in women one after another to make them into prostitutes in such a place would inevitably lead to a surplus of prostitutes and a shortage of brothels.
(And Ajas is probably not the only one tasked with bringing in women. In fact, the Intelligence Unit had also mentioned information suggesting as much.)
If that were the case, then in contrast to the ever-increasing number of women being brought in, the number of prostitutes in Mejougo had to be constantly decreasing.
If it were only a matter of a few people, it could be attributed to patrons buying out their contracts...
In other words, there was definitively some cause behind the decreasing number of prostitutes.
If he could confirm the circumstances surrounding that, this reconnaissance mission would be considered a sufficient success.
"Oh, here it comes. Hey, get ready to board."
"Ah, yes. ...Come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Ren."
"Ren, huh. I suppose I should say, welcome to the adult world."
Kotonara smiled at Rei, who had given the alias "Ren," and right at that moment, a carriage came to a stop.
There were five carriages in total.
They were fairly well-maintained carriages, and an ordinary merchant would have had difficulty preparing that many.
(As expected, it seems they're making quite a profit.)
While he was impressed, the carriages came to a halt.
Then the doors opened, and everyone lined up to begin boarding.
Naturally, to gather information, Rei lined up to board the same carriage as Kotonara and Jil.
"H-Hey, wait! Why?! I was allowed to go to Mejougo before!"
As Rei stood in line to board, that voice reached his ears.
When he turned his gaze toward the source of the voice, he saw a man being dragged out of the line by two men gripping both his arms.
"That's right. However, you did commit violence against the prostitutes, didn't you? And not just once or twice. Numerous times. I believe you've been warned many times before, haven't you? Or am I wrong?"
"That's..."
When the Coachman said that, the man could not open his mouth any further.
It was because what the Coachman was saying was the truth.
(Now that I think about it, they did say they screen out unsuitable customers.)
Thinking that, Rei turned his gaze to the men standing in front of the carriage door.
Judging from the exchange just now, those men likely had the role of removing anyone they deemed unsuitable for Mejougo.
Kotonara and Jil boarded the carriage without any issues.
Following behind the two of them, Rei also tried to board... and in that moment, the two men stationed beside the carriage door shifted slightly, but they did not say anything to Rei and remained still.
Judging that he had apparently passed, Rei boarded the carriage.
The interior of the carriage, in contrast to its flashy exterior, was quite cramped.
They had probably increased the number of seats to fit as many people as possible.
For a moment, Rei wondered if the nobles of this country would complain—but thinking back, there had been no one of noble birth among those gathered earlier.
If that was the case, he concluded that the nobles probably had their own dedicated carriages.
(Well, you can't see inside from the outside anyway.)
The fact that these carriages were heading to Mejougo was something anyone with a bit of knowledge could find out.
In other words, that meant there were people who wanted to treat Mejougo as a special place.
"Hey, Ren. Sit over here. If you sit anywhere else, you might get crushed."
"Understood. ...But you're surprisingly able to leave Rossi at night. Normally, wouldn't the gates be closed at night?"
"Hm? Ah, that's not a problem. There's probably all sorts of arrangements at the top... but for us, it doesn't matter. As long as we can enjoy ourselves at the taverns and brothels, that's enough."
"Huh... but the gates are closed at night because it's dangerous, right? What would happen if a bandit gang attacked? A group moving so boldly at night like this seems like the perfect target for bandits."
If this were around Gilm, Rei would have been more worried about monster attacks than bandits.
But this was not the frontier city of Gilm.
Of course, monsters like Goblins did appear, but the ones they were more likely to encounter were bandits.
Rei voiced that question, but Kotonara smiled and looked toward the front of the carriage... probably at the Coachman ahead.
"You saw how easily they pinned down that man earlier, right? Every single guard on this carriage is a skilled fighter."
"Skilled fighters... so the ones who subdued him are adventurers too?"
At those words, Kotonara... and Jil, who had been listening beside him, both stopped moving.
No, it was not just the two of them. Even the others in the same carriage who had heard Rei's words froze.
(Did I push too far?)
Seeing the atmosphere around him, Rei thought that for a moment—but whatever he said now, he could not take back the words he had spoken seconds ago.
A few seconds of silence.
But fortunately, in the next moment, that silence was broken by Kotonara.
"Well, Ren's still young, so I get being curious about all sorts of things. But there are things in this world that you're better off never being curious about. Don't you ever forget that, alright?"
"Yes. Honestly, I'm not sure what it was that I shouldn't have asked about, but I'll be careful from now on."
"Gahahaha! You're apologizing without even knowing what you did wrong? This guy's something else."
With Kotonara's words, the tension in the carriage dissipated.
Wondering what would happen if he casually mentioned that he was actually an Alias Holder and a B-Rank Adventurer, Rei simply floated a smile to match those around him.