The bread and soup must have helped her regain her composure. The beastman woman relaxed her guard somewhat toward Rei, who had given her food—and not just any food, but freshly baked soft bread and a soup loaded with vegetables, which by some standards was quite a lavish meal.
Even so, the fact that she did not completely let down her guard likely stemmed from her natural cautiousness.
"O-Okay. I'm Sharia. As you can see, I'm a Wolf Beastman."
Sharia puffed out her chest, which was slightly above average in size, but her clothes were stained with dirt and dust, making her appearance far from something to be proud of.
(A wolf, huh... Good thing I didn't call her a dog beastman.)
Hearing that the woman before him was a Wolf Beastman, Rei praised himself for not calling her a dog beastman when he first noticed the ears growing from the top of her head.
"I see, Sharia. I'm Rei. So... where should I start? First off, why are you hiding here? Looking at your clothes, you came here to work as a prostitute, right?"
While concluding that she had most likely been brought here by force by Jaya, Rei didn't let that assumption show.
After all, there was a possibility that she had truly come here of her own volition to become a prostitute.
Of course, given that she was hiding like this, he figured there was no doubt she had some circumstances.
(How will she react?)
As Rei watched over her, Sharia opened her mouth, anger burning in her eyes.
"Are you kidding me?! Why should I be dragged here by force and have to sleep with men I don't even like?!"
Sharia shouted, unable to contain herself at Rei's words.
Seeing her reaction, Rei nodded in understanding.
He understood that she was exactly the person he had been looking for—someone who had been forcibly brought here by Jaya.
First, what should he ask about... While thinking that, Rei remembered what he should ask first.
"I'm sure there are others besides you who were brought here by force, but despite that, why are the others satisfied with their lives as prostitutes?"
"That's... probably because of this."
What Sharia held out as she said that was a single collar.
It was decorated beautifully, but Rei could guess that it was a Slave Collar.
However, he also found it questionable.
For instance, using a Slave Collar to order someone to stand in one place or bring something would normally work just fine.
However, ordering a reluctant woman to live as a prostitute... giving such an order would naturally have all sorts of issues and couldn't completely restrict one's actions.
Moreover, from what Rei had seen, all the prostitutes appeared to be working of their own free will.
At the very least, Rei couldn't believe that mass-produced Slave Collars like this could accomplish such a thing.
"What, do you think I'm lying?"
"No, I don't think that. Actually, the reason I came to Reblurina in the first place is because Jaya's people tried to abduct someone from the city where I live."
"...Did you come to rescue the people who were taken?"
There was an envious look in Sharia's eyes as she asked Rei that.
When Sharia was taken, no one had probably come to rescue her.
Or perhaps, even if someone wanted to help, they hadn't known who was responsible... that was also a possibility.
"No, I should call it a stroke of luck within misfortune, but I managed to rescue them before they were taken. I came here to make Jaya pay for messing with Gilm."
"Gilm... that Gilm?!"
Sharia apparently knew the name of Gilm, as she showed surprise at the word coming from Rei's mouth.
"I don't know what 'that Gilm' means, but if you mean Gilm, the frontier city in the Kingdom of Mireana, then yes, that Gilm."
"Gilm... Gilm... No way..."
The word Gilm must have dealt a severe shock to Sharia.
Dumbfounded, she simply repeated the word, not even noticing that the bread in her hand had dropped to the ground.
Rei was naturally surprised by her reaction.
No, the name of the city Gilm was very famous, so it wasn't that strange for her to know it.
However, being this shocked just from hearing the word Gilm was completely unexpected.
"Calm down. Here, drink this for now."
She had just had soup, but in order to help Sharia settle down, Rei handed her some Fruit Water he took out of his Misty Ring.
Noticing that the cup of Fruit Water she received from Rei—or rather, that the cup containing the Fruit Water was cold—Sharia instantly snapped back to reality.
Sharia wondered when she had received the cup, but given the season, which could accurately be described as sweltering nights, the coldness was extremely appealing.
Then, having drunk the chilled Fruit Water almost instinctively, Sharia finally calmed down. She let out a small breath.
Confirming that, Rei opened his mouth again.
"Now then, the fact that I came from Gilm, and that I'm here to make Jaya pay for messing with Gilm... Does that work for you?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. ...I wonder what on earth Jaya was thinking, doing something like messing with Gilm."
Gilm was a city governed by Daskar, the central figure of the Neutral Faction, and his subordinates and adventurers were all elites.
Moreover, she had heard that Gilm was home to many Alias Holders, including Crimson and the Axe of the Thunder God.
For an organization that was merely the shadow organization of a vassal state to lay hands on such a place—had they lost their minds? Such were Sharia's thoughts.
...In reality, the Rei standing before Sharia was none other than Rei, Bearer of the Crimson Moniker, but without the Death Scythe, the trademark of Crimson, or the recently famous Twilight Spear, and without his partner Set, it was only natural that Sharia wouldn't realize it.
Since he was taking bread, soup, and Fruit Water out of his Misty Ring, she might have noticed if she had paid attention to those details.
"I don't know if you know this, Sharia, but Gilm is currently undergoing expansion work. Because of that, a lot of people have gathered seeking work. Not just adventurers and artisans, but even ordinary people looking for day-labor jobs. Ajas... the guy who belonged to Jaya, probably understood that too."
"Ah, I see. If someone who had been living there for a while suddenly vanished, it would cause a commotion, but if someone who just arrived disappeared, it wouldn't cause that much of an uproar... right?"
"Correct. For that reason, Gilm was probably the perfect hunting ground for Ajas. Actually, I only noticed it because of a separate incident. If it weren't for that incident, I probably wouldn't have noticed."
Thinking this, Rei also speculated that even if it took time, the Intelligence Unit would have likely seen through Ajas's schemes.
Initially, the Intelligence Unit hadn't considered Ajas suspicious either.
He didn't know how things would have gone normally, but considering the number of people gathered in Gilm right now, that was probably unavoidable.
Of course, Ajas had likely been aiming for exactly that.
However, Ajas's misfortune was that there was someone targeting him as the enemy of their family.
From there, his schemes were exposed one after another, and ultimately he lost his life.
"Anyway, that's the gist of my situation. So, is it about time I heard your side of things, Sharia?"
"...Yeah."
At Rei's words, Sharia nodded with some hesitation.
Having heard Rei's circumstances, she probably felt she couldn't very well refuse to share her own.
Moreover, the person before Sharia hadn't tried to force himself on her as a prostitute, so there was no one better to seek help from.
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, I was most curious about this. Earlier, you said that the people brought here work as prostitutes of their own accord because of that collar."
"...Yeah. When you wear this collar, how should I put it... You start to think that being a prostitute is a wonderful profession, that it's your reason for living, that you were born to become one... It makes you feel that way."
Rei was surprised by the explanation that came from Sharia's mouth.
Naturally, the Slave Collars in general use did not possess such an effect, which could practically be called brainwashing.
If Sharia's words were true, it could no longer be called a Slave Collar; it would be more accurate to call it an entirely different Magic Item.
(What's going on? Even if Jaya has an abundance of Magic Items... isn't this a bit too unreasonable?)
Rei turned his gaze back to the collar Sharia held—or more accurately, its remains—and spoke.
"If you don't mind, could you lend it to me for a bit?"
Sharia hesitated slightly before placing the collar into his outstretched hand.
For Sharia, that collar was both a symbol of the hatred she held for what had bound her actions, and proof of what was happening here... of what was being done to people.
In other words, it was evidence of the damage inflicted upon her by those who had put her through such an ordeal.
That was why she hadn't thrown it away, even though it was a hateful Magic Item that had distorted her will.
Being asked to lend it was naturally cause for hesitation.
Though, that hesitation lasted only a moment.
After all, keeping this Magic Item in her current situation served no purpose... rather, it was easy to imagine what would happen if Jaya's people found her with it.
...It was fortunate for Sharia that the manager of the brothel she had been assigned to hadn't yet reported her absence to his superiors, in an effort to hide his own failure.
"...From what I can see, it doesn't look like it has such complex capabilities. Well, you can't judge a Magic Item by its appearance, though."
Rei muttered as he looked at the collar he had been handed.
Precisely because he had actually used various Magic Items, Rei understood that it was difficult to grasp a Magic Item's capabilities from its outward appearance.
"But—!"
Perhaps feeling that her explanation wasn't being believed, Sharia reflexively raised her voice at Rei's words.
However, before she could, Rei nodded, indicating that he understood.
"I told you that judging by appearance is unreliable, didn't I? ...It's just, if there's a Magic Item like this, I think they could do a lot of things besides making prostitutes earn money."
Even just from what Rei could think of off the top of his head, being a soldier, an artisan, farming... doing any of those involved various hardships.
To prevent someone from quitting halfway, to make them believe they were born for that purpose... if one could make people think that, for those in power, there would be few Magic Items as useful as this.
And yet, why...?
Rei harbored such doubts, but there was no way Sharia would know the answer.
"Anyway, I think we should have this investigated... Unfortunately, I don't have any acquaintances here who are knowledgeable about such things."
If they were in Gilm, he would have acquaintances he could trust with something like this, but Reblurina was practically enemy territory to Rei.
Furthermore, Reblurina was a small nation, and its level of Alchemy and the like was by no means high.
Bringing it to some random person wouldn't just fail to uncover the collar's effects... they might even report it to Jaya.
(Would Marina... know something?)
Elena, Vihera, and Byune could use Magic Items, but they wouldn't be able to investigate their detailed structures or capabilities.
Naturally, the same applied to Rei himself, and the only one with any possibility was Marina, who had lived for a very long time.
Though, it was very much a long shot.
"What will you do? Either I hold onto this, or you keep it. Honestly, I don't think there's much difference when it comes to figuring out its capabilities. But in terms of safety, it's better if I hold onto it. However, we've only just met. I know it's hard to trust or rely on me. So, you decide."
At Rei's words, Sharia thought for a moment... and then nodded.
"Okay. I'll leave this with you. But in exchange, I won't say every day, but could you bring me food once every few days? Given my current situation, it's hard enough just getting food and water."
Surprised by how readily Sharia trusted him, Rei nodded in agreement with her proposal.