"Gruooooaaaargh!"
The Orc-faced woman swung her fists as she gasped for breath, but her movements were sluggish—hardly surprising, given that her entire body was already riddled with wounds.
She had been wielding a weapon at the start, but Vihera had shattered it with a single strike mid-battle.
Even so, she had put up a decent fight for someone who had faced Vihera.
Though every one of her comrades had already collapsed to the ground, the Orc-faced woman alone somehow retained consciousness and kept fighting.
Not that it mattered. She was already in a state that could only be described as battered beyond belief.
"My fight with you was reasonably enjoyable."
Dodging the woman's strike, Vihera delivered the brief remark as she slipped past her side, landing a light blow.
From Rei's perspective, it looked like nothing more than a jab.
But the strike precisely grazed the tip of the woman's chin. The next moment, her brain was violently rattled, and she lost consciousness.
Given that she had already been barely able to stand, she had no chance of withstanding Vihera's blow.
She collapsed to the ground, still unconscious, and the battle over the gate quietly came to a close.
"Good work... though you don't look like you broke much of a sweat."
Rei had descended the slope to observe the situation while Vihera and Elena fought. Now he handed her a cup filled with cold fruit water.
Just as Rei had noted, despite the fierce battle, Vihera showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever.
If anything, the look on her face suggested she was far from satisfied.
"You're right. I enjoyed it to some extent, but... no, well, the Giants are still waiting, so I'll hold off on saying anything more for now. So, what do we do from here?"
For Vihera, the fight with the Orc-faced woman was already over.
Without another word on the matter, she turned to Rei and asked the question.
Rei, for his part, looked at the captive man before opening his mouth.
The man, understanding what was demanded of him from that look alone, hurried toward the gate.
Rei briefly wondered if he was going to make a run for it, but in this situation, escape was impossible and they both knew it.
With that in mind, Rei watched the man's actions with curiosity.
The others did the same, all fixing their gazes on him to see what he would do.
When the man fiddled slightly with the wall next to the gate, the door gradually began to open.
Rei watched this and briefly thought automatic door? But since the door hadn't opened when they stood in front of it earlier, he had to question whether that term actually applied.
(Well, this is probably another type of Magic Item too... but I don't need this one.)
The reason they had assaulted this Underground Facility—considered an important installation among Jaya's holdings—was primarily because they used Prostitutes to birth Giants, something Rei found utterly unforgivable. But at the same time, seizing the Magic Items Jaya possessed was also a key objective.
Given that Jaya had prepared this many Slave Collars, they must have many other Magic Items as well... With that thought, Rei turned his gaze to those who had lost consciousness or died near the gate.
"Strange."
"Magic Items?"
The one who reacted instantly to Rei's quiet mutter was Marina.
This was likely the product of her years of experience as an adventurer.
"Yeah. Jaya has Magic Items in bulk. That much is certain from looking at the Slave Collars... and this door. But then why is it that the ones guarding this door—the so-called elite of the elite within Jaya—don't have even a single Magic Item on them?"
At Rei's words, everyone present looked at the bodies collapsed near the gate.
And they understood that Rei was right.
This was especially apparent to those who had actually fought—Elena and Vihera.
Magic Items were extremely expensive, but they had performance worthy of that price.
Of course, there were people in the world who disdained Magic Items, but such individuals were rare.
At the very least, it was impossible to believe that every single person lying there disdained them.
"...You're right, Rei. It is strange."
Elena agreed with a murmur.
"I don't know what methods Jaya uses to obtain Magic Items, but it wouldn't be unusual for them to equip their so-called elite with some kind of Magic Item weapon."
"Yeah. ...Hey, what's the deal with that?"
Rei directed the question at the man who had been operating the door.
That man was also one of the elite who had been defending the building leading to the Underground Facility.
For someone of that rank, it wouldn't be strange to carry at least one or two Magic Items.
Rei's renewed question was met with the man shaking his head, insisting he knew nothing.
"I-I don't know! We never received any Magic Items from above, that's for sure!"
His demeanor was far from that of someone lying.
If he had been carrying some kind of Magic Item, he probably wouldn't have needed to grovel for his life the way he was now.
"...Looks like you're not lying. The door's open now, so it's perfect timing. I think I'll have you tell me everything you know right about here."
Rei's gaze shifted past the open door, toward the passage beyond—wide enough for even a carriage to pass through.
The man clearly understood that his life depended on talking. He nodded frantically and opened his mouth.
"Got it! I'll tell you anything, so please—just help me!"
"Alright, then first... let's hear about the combat strength inside this facility. And also about what's bound to be here—other entrances and exits besides this one."
"As for combat strength, as far as I know, there should be a few more people with the same level of strength as these guys."
"These guys"—it was hardly an affectionate way to refer to one's own comrades, but for the man, it was only natural to want to distance himself from the people of Jaya.
If he didn't, then probably... no, without a doubt, even if he survived for now, he would certainly be killed in the end.
"About the same as these guys, huh. Then there shouldn't be any particular issue."
Giants aside.
Muttering those words inwardly, Rei judged it would be better to ask about the Giants last and addressed the man once more.
"Then what about entrances and exits other than this one?"
"Th-That's... sorry, I don't know."
"...Quit joking around. You're alive because you have information. Which means if you don't have any, there's no reason to keep you alive."
"Wait! Like I said, even if they call me an elite, in the end I'm nothing more than a common soldier to Jaya! There's no way I'd have critical information like another exit leading outside!"
The man shouted desperately.
Whether he was telling the truth, or whether he feared Jaya would kill him if he talked about the exit... Rei couldn't tell.
But either way, it was clear the man had no intention of revealing that information.
If they brought him along as he was, there was a high chance he would betray them at a critical moment.
Should they kill him then? Rei considered it, but the information the man held was also important.
"Rei."
Elena stepped forward, calling his name as if to calm him down.
"I know. ...Then, next. What's beyond this passage?"
"If you keep going past the gate, you'll reach an area with multiple rooms."
"Rooms? Rooms for what?"
"Various things. I don't know the details either. Like I said before, even if they call me an elite, I'm still just a single soldier."
"...I see. Then where's the warehouse where Jaya stores their Magic Items?"
"I know they're stored in several places, but I'm sure only a handful of people in the organization know about the real warehouse. How many of those Slave Collars—"
"No."
Rei cut the man off.
"What I want isn't Slave Collars. Things besides those—more practical weapons, like Magic Swords."
It wasn't that he wouldn't want Slave Collars if they were available.
Particularly in Rei's case, he made a habit of hunting Bandits whenever he encountered them.
Given that, Slave Collars were extremely useful for bringing captured Bandits to nearby towns or villages to sell as Criminal Slaves.
Even so, Slave Collars were ultimately something that would be nice to have, not something he desperately needed.
"I'm sure a place like that exists, but I don't think anyone would know about it unless they're fairly high up in the organization or part of a specialized department."
"Then you're useless?"
"Not when it comes to that!"
Driven by his desire not to be killed, the man replied instantly.
He must have felt that if he didn't get it all out in one breath, his life would end right then and there.
That judgment was by no means wrong.
After all, to Rei and his party, the mere fact that the man belonged to Jaya was reason enough to kill him.
They were only keeping him alive because they wanted information, and if he had none, they wouldn't mind killing him.
The man understood this, which was why he was so desperately trying to survive.
"Then what do you know?"
"Giants... I at least know something about what you call Giants!"
Whether the man had sensed that Rei and his party had a strong interest in the Giants, or whether it was sheer coincidence—in any case, the words that came from his mouth gave Rei slight pause in his consideration of disposing of the man.
"Talk. If what you say is satisfactory, I'll guarantee your life."
"Really? Even if what I tell you is extremely displeasing to you all?"
"...Yes."
After a few seconds of silence, Rei nodded.
Seeing Rei's response, the man hesitated slightly... but eventually opened his mouth.
"This is also something I heard, so understand that I haven't been able to properly verify it with anyone above me."
Making it clear he didn't want to be killed later for the story being different, he waited for Rei and his party to nod in confirmation before continuing.
"First of all, the ones birthing the Giants are the Prostitutes. Apparently, those women were originally brought here for the express purpose of bearing Giants."
"As expected, huh. But why are Giants being born? The Prostitutes here are just normal humans, right? The fathers too... well, they could be humans, Beastmen, Elves, or Dwarves, but still not Giants. So why Giants?"
Rei had largely predicted the reason, but he asked anyway.
Since the information he had gathered so far had come solely from people outside Jaya, he wanted to confirm it with someone on the inside.
...Though in this case, it was still hearsay, not the direct information Rei truly wanted.
"From what I heard, it's the effect of the Slave Collars the Prostitutes wear."
"...So if a woman wears a Slave Collar and is with a man, she will conceive a Giant?"
As if to cut Rei off, Marina addressed the man.
Her tone was calm, but her eyes gleamed coldly as she fixed her gaze on him.
The man shrank under Marina's stare, but judging that he had to speak if he wanted to live, he opened his mouth.
"Y-Yeah. From what I heard, that's how it works."
"If it merely forced the wearer to obey orders against their will, that would be one thing. But it actually alters the wearer's very will. And to be able to mass-produce them and make them give birth to Giants... Can that really still be called a Slave Collar?"
At Marina's words, the others who had been listening nodded in agreement.
Indeed, it was undeniably a stretch to still call them Slave Collars.
"Perhaps not. But apparently, there are also various conditions involved."
"...Conditions?"
"Yeah. Supposedly, even if you have a Prostitute be with a man somewhere away from Mejougo... like in Rossi... the child born would be a normal human, or so they say."
"In other words, there's something specific about this place—Mejougo?"
The man silently nodded in response to Marina's question.