Since giants were not born in Rossi, the secret to their birth had to lie here in Mejougo itself.
Hearing this, Rei furrowed his brows slightly, realizing his own theory had been mistaken.
(Does that mean the Slave Collar serves no purpose? Well, it's not entirely meaningless in the sense that rather than forcing obedience, it makes the wearer believe she's acting as a prostitute of her own will——)
The Slave Collar itself had existed for a long time, but the ones Jaya used were vastly different from the ones Rei knew of.
Feeling a sense of dissonance about this, Rei spoke up.
"So, what else do you know? I understand that giants aren't born outside Mejougo. Then what's the reason?"
He wouldn't tolerate lies—what mattered was exactly that. Overwhelmed by the intensity in Rei's gaze as he pressed the question, the man nonetheless lived up to his claim of being one of the elite and opened his mouth.
"Unfortunately, I don't know that. But I'm certain there's something in this Underground Facility."
"…You don't know? Really? You, who claims to be an elite?"
"It's true! For starters, only a limited number of people can enter this Underground Facility! The ones tasked with guarding the entrance were stronger than me, so you should be able to tell!?"
"What do you think?"
"He doesn't seem to be lying. Besides, telling a lie here would be the same as choosing death."
At Vihera's words, the man trembled for a moment.
In truth, it was obvious that if he told any lie here, he would immediately follow his companions who had been cut down on the surface.
"I-I'm not lying, of course!"
He shouted those words, but at the same time, it meant no further important information could be extracted from the man.
Naturally, he probably knew plenty of other minor details, but the place where Rei and his party currently stood was enemy territory.
Given that, they had no time to leisurely linger here.
Having gathered most of the necessary information, Rei judged that they needed to press forward, and turned his gaze back to the man.
"I won't kill you."
At those words, the man let out a sigh of relief.
He had been told he wouldn't be killed as long as he possessed useful information, but the possibility of being disposed of the moment he outlived his usefulness was never zero.
In particular, as one of Jaya's elite, he had enjoyed certain perks.
For instance, monopolizing his favorite prostitutes… and so on.
Because of that, he understood full well that he was by no means looked upon favorably by Rei's party, which had several women among its members.
That he had survived such a situation was, for the man, an unexpected stroke of fortune.
Given the current circumstances, it wouldn't have been strange for him to be killed after being made to spill everything he knew.
"S-So I can go, then. If I stay here, I'll only get in your way!"
Knowing he wouldn't be killed, he needed to disappear from before Rei's party as quickly as possible.
If he lingered here, there was no telling when Rei and his group might change their minds and kill him.
For those reasons, the man tried to leave——but Rei, who had at some point drawn the Death Scythe, blocked his attempt to flee with the Grim Reaper's Blade.
Even the man, with the massive blade thrust before his eyes, had no intention of trying to run in that situation.
"Umm, weren't we talking about letting me go?"
A few more steps and he would have thrown himself onto that blade.
Thinking so, the man asked Rei timidly.
But Rei, meeting his gaze, smiled beneath his hood and spoke.
"I, and we, said we wouldn't kill you. I don't recall saying we'd let you go. We need you to guide us through this Underground Facility."
At those words, the man broke into a cold sweat caused by something entirely different from the summer heat.
They were currently inside the Underground Facility, which was considerably cooler than the surface.
Despite that, he couldn't stop the sweat now running down his body.
From his throat, parched by tension, he forcibly squeezed out a voice.
"What do you mean by that? I thought I was going to be released."
"Don't joke around. For starters, we know absolutely nothing about this Underground Facility. In that situation, how do you expect us to get to where we need to go?"
"That's…"
When Rei put it like that, the man had no words to reply.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered the idea of just advancing aimlessly, but he knew that if he said so, the blade of the large scythe Rei held would without a doubt come swinging down.
At the same time, he understood that even if he disclosed everything he knew about the Underground Facility, it would only take time.
The fact that Rei was telling him to guide them——that was presumably what it meant.
It was certain that Jaya already knew intruders had breached this Underground Facility.
If so, they would naturally deploy a heightened alert, and Jaya would take action to eliminate the intruders.
As a barricade for that purpose——a wall of flesh——that was what he was being told to become.
Naturally, the man was dissatisfied with those words, but voicing it would likely get him killed by the man before him… or perhaps by the other women surrounding them.
In the end, all the man could do was either advance through the Underground Facility as a meat shield exactly as Rei commanded, or gamble on a one-in-a-million chance and try to escape from this place.
As a third option, it wasn't as though negotiating with Rei's party was entirely impossible… but with no cards to use for negotiation coming to mind, that option was effectively nonexistent.
"What's wrong? Get moving already. First, let's see… heading toward something here, or the Giants… or maybe wherever the higher-ups are. That part is up to you. But if you try anything suspicious, consider your life forfeit at that very moment."
Rei stared at the man with a gaze that said he had absolutely no intention of letting him go, and delivered those words.
In terms of reconnaissance, Byune existed as an option, but this was an enemy stronghold.
With no way of knowing what lay ahead, they needed a substitute——a meat shield——for emergencies.
(Doing this kind of thing is probably why Byune's skills as a thief aren't improving, though.)
Even as he thought he might be slightly overprotective, Rei thrust the Death Scythe's blade toward the man.
The man, too, must have judged that further protest would invite a fatal outcome.
Reluctantly, he began advancing down the corridor toward its depths.
"Then let's go."
"Are you sure? He might betray us at a crucial moment."
"If that happens, I'll take appropriate countermeasures."
Responding thus to Marina's words, Rei and his party followed after the man.
They kept a distance of about five meters, so that they wouldn't be caught in anything if it happened.
Rei suddenly recalled the practice of using canaries in mines.
It felt somewhat similar to their current situation… but then he reconsidered, thinking the finer details were probably quite different.
In any case, having left the forward watch to the man, Rei's party advanced down the corridor while remaining vigilant——watching for attacks from behind, or perhaps someone striking from hidden passages.
It was unclear how far the news of their intrusion had spread, but at least the several rooms along the corridor they were passing showed no signs of anyone coming out.
A wide, single path that could accommodate carriages, with numerous doors lining both sides——a very simple structure for an Underground Facility.
However, the mere fact that such a facility had been built underground meant it must have required enormous labor——that much was easily imaginable, even to Rei.
(When I was in Japan, I saw a TV special on underground complexes… it felt something like this. Though overall, those were better.)
Thinking such thoughts, Rei and his party continued down the corridor.
The Underground Facility was enveloped in silence, which naturally filled the surroundings with tension.
They were on guard against a surprise attack——wondering when the enemy would strike——so it was only natural.
Among them, the most tense was undoubtedly the man being made to walk ahead of Rei's party.
If Jaya were to launch any kind of attack, the first to suffer would without question be him.
"Haa, haa, haa…"
The man did possess the skill befitting someone called elite.
But that was strictly in direct combat; unlike a thief, he was not adept at reconnaissance.
Because of that, his current situation was quite harsh.
With every step forward, he worried: perhaps some trap had been laid. Perhaps his former comrades——in this case, his enemies——would appear to eliminate him.
Assailed by such anxieties, he pressed on down the corridor.
Even so, as five minutes, then ten minutes passed, the tension gradually began to loosen.
Even if he had initially advanced while staying alert, that alertness faded as time went by.
That must have been why. The man gradually grew bolder… and then his consciousness suddenly… and eternally, was severed.
The last thing the man felt was simply the question: Huh?
"Tch, a trap! Watch out!"
If this had been, for example, a Jaya member using a bow, the story would have been different.
For Rei's party, sensing the killing intent would not have been impossible.
But a trap naturally had no person involved, and no killing intent to sense.
If Rei's party had been the target, they could easily have dodged or deflected the arrows flying toward them. …Byune was a bit questionable, though.
However, the man who had been ahead of Rei's party——had his tension still been high, it might have been one thing, but by then his vigilance had faded considerably, leaving him in a state of near-carelessness.
Because of that, he couldn't evade the arrow unleashed by a trap carrying neither killing intent nor malice.
And the arrow that pierced through the man's head naturally did not end there… one after another, arrows were launched at Rei's party behind him.
But while the first strike might have surprised them somewhat, once they understood such a thing existed, dealing with it was not so difficult.
Rei swung the Death Scythe in his hand and casually slashed aside the arrows flying toward him.
The others similarly dealt with the arrows coming their way.
The consecutive barrage lasted for several tens of seconds, but eventually the arrows seemed to run out, and the attack ended.
"To think they'd kill their own ally along with us… no, considering Jaya's character, it's not all that surprising."
Glancing at the man——whose forehead had been pierced, dying without even understanding what had happened——Rei muttered.
He had expected something like this sooner or later, but even so, he hadn't anticipated the man being discarded this quickly.
In the sense that the man had provided information, Rei was somewhat grateful… but even so, perhaps because the man had been with Jaya, looking at the corpse, there was surprise but no sadness.
"For starters, this is a normal corridor, isn't it? And yet it's rigged with a trap… that was slightly unexpected."
Elena murmured without the slightest sign of distress, even looking at the corpse.
In fact, from Elena's perspective, the man's existence had likely not been very interesting to begin with.
"In any case, let's move forward. Since they've made a clear hostile move against us, we can largely predict what Jaya will do next."
At Marina's words, everyone nodded.
Thus, while remaining vigilant of their surroundings, Rei's party pressed forward.
As they did, Byune took the lead.
As a thief, this was only natural.
Vihera looked slightly worried since the man had been killed by an arrow, but as they were operating as the Crimson Lotus Wings party, Byune——who naturally participated as the thief——was expected to do her share of the work.
Of course, the others were also keeping watch on the situation around them.
Outside the building, Set was standing guard to prevent Jaya's people from approaching, but there was no guarantee this Underground Facility had only one entrance.
The man earlier had claimed not to know, but it wouldn't be strange if there were several other exits leading outside the building.
Furthermore, the possibility that someone might take a wide detour through the Underground Facility to attack them from behind could not be denied.
While advancing with that much vigilance, their pace inevitably slowed.
Since this operation was a surprise assault, Rei wanted to accomplish their objective and withdraw as quickly as possible… or so he thought.