He had been introduced by Unchuu.
Hearing the man say this, Marina quickly cast Spirit Magic to prevent their conversation from leaking to the surroundings.
Yet the fact that she also used Wind Spirits to make their conversation sound like an entirely different discussion to anyone listening in was proof enough of her overwhelming skill with Spirit Magic.
Seeing Marina nod, Rei spoke up.
"From Unchuu, huh... So this is about the Resistance?"
"Yes. My name is Nokor, and I cooperate with the Resistance here in Rossi."
"Cooperate? Meaning you're not actually a member?"
Nokor nodded in response to Rei's question.
"That's correct. Strictly speaking, I am not a member of the Resistance. Though I would like to belong to them at any time."
Nokor looked as though he wanted to say from the bottom of his heart that this was truly regrettable, and a shade of sorrow lingered on his face.
"Did something happen? You look like you've got circumstances."
"Just being a Resistance cooperator is circumstances enough, I'd think."
Vihera muttered in response to Marina's words.
Whether he heard Vihera or not, Nokor continued as if shifting his mood.
"Actually, a short while ago, one of the Resistance's bases was attacked by Jaya's people. As a result, the Resistance's combat power was greatly reduced. The upper echelon had their spirits broken... and currently the younger members are the ones primarily moving about."
Hearing those words, Nokor's mood had likely shifted.
However, that mood was like one of having bitten into a bitter bug.
In truth, the combat power the Resistance had lost was enormous.
An attack had been launched on a place where those who could be called the Resistance's main force had gathered, and they had been nearly annihilated.
There were some survivors, but only a handful.
Those who escaped with minor injuries or none at all were an even smaller fraction within that handful.
As a result, the Resistance's combat power was drastically reduced, and the hearts of those who had been the upper echelon at the time were broken.
"What was especially painful was the loss of a man named Zuil — the Resistance's strongest fighter. Someone who had fought a C-Rank Adventurer and won. It may not be my place to say this to Lord Rei, but he might have been able to win even against a B-Rank Adventurer..."
Seeing Nokor shake his head, everyone present could easily imagine what had happened to that man, Zuil.
However, upon hearing Nokor's explanation, Rei and his party all harbored a question.
"Does Reblurina have someone that strong? I've at least seen the quality of adventurers at the Guild, so I have a rough idea. Oh, but I did see an Orc-faced woman in Mejougo. She looked pretty strong."
"Ah, that would be Ruraina."
The fact that her name came out so readily at the words "Orc-faced woman" meant she was undoubtedly well-known.
"Ruraina is known as quite a capable fighter within Jaya. However, the one who attacked the Resistance... was not Ruraina. I only know this through hearsay, so I can't say for certain, but the attacker was reportedly of considerable size."
"...Size?"
Part of it was that Rei was short, but generally speaking, the people of this world tended to be tall.
Whether it was related to having to fight monsters, or whether magic had something to do with it, Rei didn't know. But in any case, a large number of the inhabitants of Elgin were, from Rei's perspective, tall enough to warrant being called such.
In a world where people exceeding two meters in height were not particularly rare, when Rei heard "considerable size," what came to mind was not a human, but monsters like Ogres and Cyclops that he had fought before.
"Yes. I was told the person was about two heads taller than me."
At those words, Rei recalled Nokor's height from when he had approached earlier.
Two heads taller than Nokor would put the person in the mid-two meters... no, closer to three meters.
Not as large as an Ogre or a Cyclops, but as a human, it would clearly be an enormous frame.
Of course, that was if the story were true.
If Nokor had seen it himself, Rei could have believed it to some extent.
But since it was hearsay, there was no choice but to be skeptical.
Still, questioning whether they could believe the story in their current situation was pointless. Whatever the information, gathering it first was the top priority.
"Did this giant... no, they might be a little small to be called a giant, but in any case, were you wiped out by a single one of them? Giants might be strong, but being overwhelmed by just one..."
Rei briefly hesitated over whether to say "one person" or "one creature," but judging from Nokor's account that it was not a monster, he chose "one person."
Rei said this, but what came back from Nokor was a shake of his head.
"No, not just one. There were several... at least ten, according to the reports."
"...Huh?"
It was only natural that a dumbfounded sound escaped Rei's mouth at Nokor's words.
A single person nearly three meters tall, he could accept. Even two, he could manage to believe.
But ten or more? That was nothing but a sense of wrongness.
Even a single person around three meters tall would be quite rare, so why would there be more than ten of them?
"Could it be... an illusion? Or maybe not a human, but a small Ogre or something?"
"No, the face was human. However..."
Nokor looked as though the words were difficult to say, or as though he felt no one would believe him even if he did, but he continued speaking as if steeling his resolve.
"This is also strictly something I heard, but the giants' faces were all identical."
"...Huh?"
Another dumbfounded sound leaked from Rei's mouth.
For a moment, Rei wondered if this was some kind of joke, but Nokor's gaze was perfectly serious, and he didn't look like he was joking at all.
"Um, so that means... like twins... no, in this case there were more than ten, so what should I call it? Decuplets? Anyway, it wasn't something like that?"
"Listen, Rei. Twins or triplets are one thing, but normally it's impossible to conceive ten children at once. Moreover, they were all large enough to be called giants, right? If so, it wouldn't be strange for them to be somewhat large-bodied from birth."
Rei nodded in agreement at Vihera's words.
Pregnancy was an act permitted only to women, and for Rei, a man, it was utterly incomprehensible — something that could rightly be called a mystery.
If Vihera, a woman, said so, Rei had no choice but to accept it.
Indeed, when he glanced at the others, both Elena and Marina were nodding.
Only Byune, still a child, tilted her head, apparently not understanding such matters.
"But... then why would so many giants with the same face appear?"
At Rei's question, asked with genuine puzzlement, Nokor shook his head.
Having an enormous body alone constituted a powerful weapon.
Of course, they might not be able to win against those of a certain level of strength — such as the people present here like Rei's party — but against those below a certain level of ability, it meant they would be overwhelmingly powerful.
In fact, the Resistance's main force had been unilaterally crushed, so Rei's estimation was probably not far off the mark.
"Same faces... that could be a clue. Hm? Same face... same face? Same face!?"
Rei, who had been muttering "same face" to himself, suddenly murmured with force, as if he had noticed something.
That sharp utterance carried enough intensity that someone who knew nothing could have fainted from it alone.
But without even noticing the gazes directed at him from those around, Rei became lost in thought.
This body I use was created by Zephyle and the others. If so, then despite the difference between science and magic, creating a physical body is not impossible. In other words, even if there were a Homunculus or something like that...
Rei thought this, but questions still remained.
In the first place, Zephyle, who possessed enough power to be called a Majin, and the members of his clan — an unprecedented gathering of geniuses even among geniuses — had combined their powers to finally create Rei's body.
Something the same — well, not quite the same, but why would something similar be possible for Jaya, an underground organization in a small country called Reblurina, no matter how large they might be?
He simply could not believe such a thing was possible under normal circumstances.
In that case, rather than purely magic or Alchemy techniques, there must be something else. No matter how much technological capability they have to mass-produce Slave Collars, doing something like that... wait. Slave Collars?
In the middle of his thoughts, something suddenly triggered Rei's instincts.
Slave Collars. The ability to alter the consciousness of women forcibly taken from other countries. The women whose consciousnesses were altered being made into Prostitutes. And then — the words of the Adventurer Man who had harassed him in Mejougo, saying his favorite prostitute had disappeared.
Dozens, hundreds of women already taken, far more than Mejougo could possibly hold, yet Mejougo continued to operate without any issue whatsoever.
When he put all of this together, a thought rose in Rei's mind — a vile thought, one that inspired an intensely strong feeling of disgust.
Looking at Rei's face, the others likely judged that he had organized his thoughts. Elena, who had been watching quietly, opened her mouth on behalf of everyone.
"Rei, if you have thought of something, I want you to tell us. It may serve as an aid in breaking through this current situation."
"...Alright. But honestly, it's a pretty sickening story. You still want to hear it? Enough that I think it's better not to let Byune hear it, at least for now."
At those words, everyone turned their gazes toward Byune, but Byune herself, skewered food in hand, shook her head.
"Mm."
She only muttered as quietly as ever, but for once, even Rei understood what Byune was trying to say.
She was telling them that she would hear it too.
Byune, though still young — no, though still a child — was an adventurer.
And one who had operated solo in the Labyrinth City from an even younger age than she was now.
Furthermore, due to the circumstances of her birth, she had seen plenty of dirty sights throughout her life.
Being left out by everyone was not something Byune found pleasant.
Her expression was almost the same as always, but Rei and the others, who had traveled with her for a certain period, could understand that her brow was ever so slightly furrowed.
Subjected to that gaze, it was Rei who eventually gave in.
After letting out a small sigh, Rei opened his mouth.
"The giants that supposedly attacked the Resistance... what produced them... no, what literally gave birth to them was the Prostitutes. And it's safe to assume that the Prostitutes were sacrificed in the process of giving birth to them."
At Rei's words, everyone who heard them drew a sharp breath.
No — only Nokor showed mild surprise, nothing more.
Seeing Nokor's reaction, Rei understood that he had probably been harboring the same thought.
Then again, with such obvious hints lying around, it wasn't so difficult. If one was active in Rossi as part of the Resistance — as a cooperator, according to the man himself — arriving at the same conclusion as Rei wouldn't be all that difficult.
"I see... so it is as I thought. To be honest, it would be a lie to say I hadn't suspected it. But as to whether such a thing is actually possible... honestly, I don't know."
Nokor wore a troubled expression and asked Rei.
As an information-gathering agent, Nokor was competent, but he likely wasn't very knowledgeable about magic and Alchemy.
That was why, even though he had suspected as much, he had been unable to obtain certainty.
"As for whether it's possible... I can only say that it probably is. Of course, I don't know the specific method. But if you think about it that way, it all makes sense."
"But would the upper echelons of Reblurina be involved in such an atrocity? If it became known that they were doing such a thing, it would become a massive scandal. So great that not even a king of a nation could do anything about it."
"Probably."
No one had any objection to Elena's words. Indeed, everyone nodded in agreement.
However, amidst all that, Rei had thought of something that just might be possible.
This nation of Reblurina was a vassal state — and among the vassal states of the Kingdom of Mireana, it was a small country near the bottom.
For the upper echelons of such a small country to go so far as to join hands with an underground organization... Rei didn't think that was something that happened very often.