Rei cast a cold glance at the man who had lost consciousness with the Death Scythe's blade still pointed at him.
Then he surveyed the area.
By that point, not a single guard who had appeared to take down Rei and his party was still standing. Some were dead, others merely unconscious — but nowhere was there anyone who still intended to fight.
"Rei, we should get going. If we stay here, there'll be another battle."
Rei gave a small nod at Marina's words.
"Yeah. Once we're inside the underground facility, they won't be able to fight this flashily... well, maybe they can."
If Rei's party had been common thieves, Jaya could have simply dispatched a few skilled fighters. But since it was Rei's group that had infiltrated the underground facility, Jaya likely wouldn't think they could handle it with just a handful of men. If so, they would naturally send their maximum combat force — and Jaya's maximum combat force would, of course, be the giants.
And if the giants went on a rampage, the resulting damage would be considerable.
"Right. ...By the way, why did you leave that man alive?"
Elena asked, flicking the blade of Mirage to shake off the blood clinging to it. Rei likewise shook the blood from the Death Scythe's blade before answering.
"We need at least some information about the underground facility. Of course, we don't have the luxury of interrogating him at our leisure, so we'll bring him along."
"...Can he be trusted?"
Elena's gaze was fixed on the man lying unconscious before Rei. Since he had been stationed here, he was undoubtedly one of Jaya's elites. But being elite didn't necessarily mean he had information about the underground facility. Above all, there was the question of whether he would obediently share information with the very people who had just attacked him.
"Probably. If he doesn't talk, he knows better than anyone what will happen to him. ...More importantly, if we stay here, reinforcements will likely show up. That means another fight, so let's get inside. ...Set, I'm leaving this place to you!"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a loud cry.
Jaya had no flying combat forces, and there was no barrier or anything of the sort around Mejougo. Given that, Rei judged there would be no problem whatsoever leaving Set — who could fly — to guard this position.
The underground facility had enough room for giants to move around in, so Set would be able to operate inside without difficulty. But Rei wanted to avoid, as much as possible, a situation where additional Jaya forces arrived here after his party stormed the facility and followed them inside, catching them in a pincer attack.
That was precisely why he entrusted their rear to Set, whom he trusted absolutely.
"Alright, let's go."
Glancing at Set — whose cry made it clear he would let no one pass — Rei grabbed the unconscious man by the collar and dragged him toward the building that led to the underground facility.
Since Rei wasn't particularly tall, the man's lower back and legs scraped along the ground as he was dragged. The fact that he was still unconscious suggested that Rei's single strike had been truly terrifying. Though considering he had been shown, up close, how he would have had his neck severed if he'd opened his mouth a moment later, perhaps that was understandable.
"...Hey. There really must be other entrances and exits, right?"
The building leading to the underground facility was reasonably large — large enough for a horse-drawn carriage to enter, with a corridor to match. Even so, the others nodded at Marina's words.
If giants were housed in the underground facility, they would naturally need to be brought outside. Rei couldn't imagine that the giants which had sortied to crush the Resistance's main force had marched out through this building in the heart of Mejougo. Doing such a thing would have inevitably spawned rumors about the giants.
Yet at present, talk of the giants was almost entirely unheard of. Only the Resistance and those connected to them had heard anything. Of course, that didn't mean the information was truly unknown to everyone.
"Probably. Most likely somewhere with few people, even within Mejougo... no, even that would be somewhat conspicuous. In that case, it wouldn't be strange for there to be an exit to the underground facility outside Mejougo. Finding it would be difficult, though."
If there was a path leading from outside Mejougo to the underground facility, there would have been no need for this kind of assault in the first place. But the fact that they didn't know was precisely why they were in their current situation — that much was certain.
"You're right. I said something pointless. ...More importantly, shall we proceed?"
Nodding at Marina's words, the group moved forward.
The building itself wasn't that large. This was only natural — immediately upon entering, there was a slope leading underground. In other words, the building was likely nothing more than a shell constructed to hide the descent.
"...A slope. Fine for now, but the way back is going to be a pain." Thinking about climbing this slope on the return trip, Rei's face twisted into an expression of disgust.
Openly displaying that sentiment, he descended the slope.
"Ow! Whoa — what is this!?"
A sudden voice echoed up. Rei knew whose mouth it had come from without needing to think.
"You're awake, huh?"
"Huh? Whoa! ...!?"
Rei, who had stopped walking, roughly threw down the man he'd been dragging. Tossed onto the slope, the man likely didn't know where he was or what was happening for a moment. Still, befitting one of Jaya's elites, he quickly grasped his situation. And upon doing so, he opened his mouth while trembling with fear.
"Um — this is on the way to the underground facility, right?"
"Yeah. Quite an impressive slope, too."
If horses pulling carriages were to traverse this kind of slope, wouldn't they injure themselves? The question crossed Rei's mind, but he judged he didn't have the luxury to voice such concerns, and instead fixed the man with a silent stare.
The man wasn't so foolish as to not understand what was being demanded of him. No — he understood perfectly that if he tried to claim ignorance here, he would be killed.
"I — if you keep going down this slope, there's a huge door. Beyond that door is what you could call the core of Mejougo. But of course, entering requires various procedures, and there are multiple guards stationed there."
"Reinforcements didn't come from this building when we were raising hell on the ground, though?"
Confirming the man was willing to talk, Rei spoke as he resumed the descent. Elena and the others simply watched the man's every move, ready to kill him the instant he tried anything reckless.
When off duty, the man had frequently bought prostitutes in Mejougo, but being subjected to the stares of this many beautiful women... he felt no arousal whatsoever. In his current situation, his own life was in danger. He had no composure to spare for thoughts of bedding women.
"Those who guard the door are elites among us. Of course, I'm one of the elites too, but those guys — you could call them the elite of the elites."
The man was implicitly insisting that he, being an elite, was worth keeping alive, but Rei continued without paying it any mind.
"So how many of these 'elite of the elites' are there in total?"
"No, that's..."
The man faltered. Rei took a single step forward. That alone — truly nothing more than that — but it was more than enough of a threat. The man opened his mouth in a panic.
"I — I don't know! Information like that is kept secret from us! Those guys hold a higher rank than us!"
"...Huh. In that case, can I assume the information you have isn't all that important either?"
If he said something careless here, he would die. He had to at the very least avoid lying, while also saying something that would pique Rei's interest. Assailed by that fear, he somehow managed to speak.
"I don't know the details about the ones serving as gatekeepers, but I know a fair amount about the corridor beyond that door. That's true! I definitely know a fair amount!"
Seeing the man's desperate demeanor, Elena and the others looked at Rei as if asking what to do.
"...For now, this is fine. If there are any traps, he'll spring them first."
"Hey! You're putting me at the front!?"
"Obviously. If you don't like it, well, that's fine too, you know?"
The implicit message — that he would be killed if he proved useless — made the man nod immediately.
In terms of combat power, he posed no particular concern for Rei's group. But when it came to detecting danger, he displayed an astonishing aptitude.
(As a trap detector, he was an unexpected find?)
So Rei thought — but this corridor was a passage for horse-drawn carriages transporting prostitutes. That would likely hold true beyond the gate as well. If one considered whether they would bother setting traps in such a place... the answer was probably no.
(Well, things might be different now.)
Since Rei's party was attacking, it wouldn't be strange if they had activated traps in response.
"Still, it was like this before too — is this country just good at building underground facilities?"
Marina muttered while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. She was being vague with "before," but Rei could easily guess she meant Unchuu's hideout. She avoided naming him out of caution toward the man.
"Yeah. That place was quite a sight too. ...It's coming into view. They're there."
As they descended the slope, a gate came into view. Seeing its considerable size, Rei naturally thought of the giants.
(They don't seem to let the giants out through here, but it's not like they can't. ...Which means there's a possibility giants are waiting beyond that gate once we break through.)
While mulling that over, he noticed about ten people near the gate. The group — a mix of humans and beastmen — appeared to be waiting for Rei's party as they descended the slope. No, not "appeared" — they were definitely waiting.
"It's them. Those are the gatekeepers. They're strong."
The man spoke while eyeing the gatekeepers. The first to react was, naturally, Vihera.
"Strong?"
"Yeah. Like I said, they're the elite of the elites."
"Hmm. ...Ah, Rei."
At the man's words, Vihera called out to Rei as if she'd noticed something. Rei looked at her, then followed her gaze — and soon understood why she had spoken up.
At the end of that line of sight, among the gatekeepers, stood the Orc-faced woman. There was no doubt she was the same person Rei had encountered when he previously infiltrated Mejougo.
(Well, I can't tell individual orcs apart, so... right, she wasn't a pig beastman or a smart orc. She was human.)
With that thought, Rei understood what Vihera wanted. Given her love of combat, she had likely been curious about the Orc-faced woman ever since hearing of her from Rei. And now, that very person had appeared right here. It was only natural she'd want to fight her.
And beyond the Orc-faced woman, there were plenty of others.
"Understood — she's all yours. ...What about the rest?"
"Right. I'd love to take them down myself, but that might take some time."
Vihera said this with a smile, but the "take some time" in this case didn't mean she'd struggle against the Orc-faced woman. It was simply that her combat style was specialized for one-on-one fights.
"Then I'll go. You don't mind, do you?"
"...If Elena steps in, I have a feeling it'll be over just like that. Can't be helped."
From what Vihera could see, the Orc-faced woman was among the top fighters among the gatekeepers. Of course, each of them might have something hidden — power, techniques, magic items, weapons — but even so, taking everything into account, the Orc-faced woman was the strongest-looking of the bunch.
"Then I'll be off."
Floating a smile like a ferocious beast of prey, Vihera charged down the slope. As if chasing after her, Elena followed with Mirage in hand.
Rei and the others watched them go without a trace of concern.