"Mm."
Toward the man groaning in pain, Byune produced another Long Needle.
Since they were launching a surprise attack on a key stronghold of the organization known as Jaya, she had naturally brought a large number of weapons this time. The Long Needles she used for suppression were more numerous than usual as well. And while recovering a thrown Long Needle in the heat of combat was impossible, an advantage of their current situation was that she could retrieve and reuse them.
For that reason, Byune was about to draw yet another Long Needle, but...
"That's enough. That's enough."
Rei grabbed her hand and stopped her.
Why? Byune tilted her head slightly, still expressionless.
The other three had been stopped by Rei, but she hadn't. That was the thought embedded in her gaze—though to Rei, her face revealed nothing. He opened his mouth with the look of someone who had made a mistake.
"That goes for you too, Byune. We're about to extract information from him, so killing him here would defeat the purpose. Bear with it for now."
Pausing there, Rei reached for the Long Needle piercing the man's arm, its tip protruding from the other side.
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Even the slightest touch must have sent a jolt of searing pain through the man. Or perhaps it didn't actually hurt, and the sight alone was enough to make him feel it. Either way, Rei pinched the tip of the needle... and yanked it out in one swift motion.
Since he had gripped the very tip and ripped the Long Needle free in a single pull, the pain the man felt this time was agony in every true sense of the word.
"Ah, my bad."
Rei said that without looking remotely sorry.
"I-It hurts... it hurts..."
As a researcher, the man probably never went outside. And as for injuries, the worst he had likely ever suffered were minor ones—a slight cut from a failed experiment, or bumping a hand or foot against a table in his daily life. That was why having his arm pierced by a Long Needle brought a pain the man could only describe as unknown.
Yet in the eyes of Rei, Elena, and the others watching the man clutch his pierced right arm with his left, not a shred of sympathy existed.
"More people suffered because of your research. And they felt far more pain. There's no need to carry on like this over something so minor, is there?" Rei said with a refreshing smile.
Faced with that, the man felt an eerie sensation, as though he were standing before something utterly incomprehensible.
"Hehe, that's right. The suffering the women endured thanks to that Black Crystal and those Slave Collars... I'd love to make him experience it to his heart's content," Marina said, wearing a smile as broad as Rei's, if not broader.
Perhaps because she was suppressing her rage, she radiated a fearsome allure. The others wore expressions similar to Marina's, albeit to varying degrees. Only Byune remained as expressionless as ever.
...But considering she had just thrown a Long Needle without changing that expression at all, there was no way the man could find any comfort in that.
"Wh-What... what are you going to do!?"
"Can't you tell? Well, I had anticipated as much from what you've told us so far. Regardless, we're intruders in this Underground Facility. In other words, we're enemies of Jaya. Do you really think we'd treat you—a member of Jaya—in a friendly manner?"
If the man had been kidnapped and forced to conduct research, Rei would not have harmed him. He would have at least used a potion to treat the wound caused by Byune's Long Needle. But the man before Rei—while it was true he had initially been kidnapped—had thereafter cooperated with Jaya of his own volition.
For Rei... and for the others as well, if asked whether they could forgive the man, the answer was an unequivocal no.
"N-N-N..."
"From the look of it, you still hadn't realized what kind of situation you're in."
Rei's voice carried a faint hint of exasperation at the man's behavior. Looking thoroughly annoyed, he pulled a potion from the Misty Ring.
...Granted, the potion he produced was not one of the high-quality ones Rei had hoarded, but a cheap, run-of-the-mill one sold just about anywhere.
"Wha!? An Item Box!?"
The man shouted as though he had forgotten the pain in his right arm entirely.
Watching him, Rei spoke again.
"My circumstances aside, there are quite a few things I need to ask you. First, this Black Crystal you've been researching—tell me where it is. Also, the facility for birthing Giants, and where the born Giants are being held."
"...The Giant facility is one thing, but could you perhaps let the Black Crystal slide? I've been researching that Black Crystal this whole time."
"It's precisely because that Black Crystal exists that the Slave Collars are effective."
"That's..."
The man tried to argue back, but the sharp glares from the women behind him shut him up. He felt that if he said anything more, the agony in his right arm would return many times over.
That judgment was likely correct. If he had pushed back, there was a high chance he would have met the worst possible outcome.
With the man fallen silent, Rei spoke again to prompt him.
"Anyway, let's settle the Giant matter first. Where is the room for birthing Giants?"
"If this is the first basement floor, then it's on the third basement floor. The pregnant prostitutes are gathered on the second basement floor as well. But since they became pregnant wearing those Slave Collars here in Mejougo, it's already been decided they will birth Giants. It's a result that cannot be overturned."
Grit.
The sound of someone grinding their teeth echoed through the room.
Deliberately letting it pass, Rei confirmed the man had begun speaking and popped the lid off the potion bottle in his hand, pouring it roughly over the man's right arm.
Since it was a cheap potion, it couldn't completely heal the wound with just that, but it could still close a wound of the level left by a Long Needle piercing.
...What mattered was that it only closed the wound on the surface. The damage inside the pierced arm would not recover. Healing those internal injuries would take some time.
"Hey."
Vihera wore a displeased expression at Rei's use of the potion. And it wasn't just Vihera—Elena, Marina, and even Byune, who didn't show her emotions on her face, all seemed dissatisfied with Rei's actions.
If Rei had been in their position, he might have felt the same way. But he hadn't treated the man's injury out of mercy.
"If he hesitates, we just use the Long Needle again. In the same spot."
He said it as though it were nothing, without any particular force or tension behind it. Yet the man, witnessing it up close, understood that precisely because of the light tone, it was neither a joke nor an empty threat.
Rei was serious. And if he failed to answer their questions, he could easily imagine suffering the same agony as before—delivered to the exact same spot, without a shred of mercy.
Standing before that Rei, the man understood he had to speak clearly. He could not lie. He could not stay silent. Having grasped that much, Rei judged the man had properly understood his situation and spoke once more.
"The Giant rooms are settled. Next question. Let's see... are the Black Crystal and Slave Collars really the only Magic Items Jaya uses? I was under the impression that Jaya possessed a wide variety of Magic Items."
"They're producing Magic Items as well. In order to research the Black Crystal and the Slave Collars, a large number of researchers and Alchemists were gathered. Since they went through the trouble of assembling them, there was also the opinion that they should put those people to work creating Magic Items to distribute on the side."
At the mention that they were also producing Magic Items, Rei felt a wave of relief.
Originally, they had come to retaliate against Jaya because Daskar had requested it after the organization meddled with Gilm... and as part of the reward, there was an agreement that any Magic Items obtained would belong to Rei. That was precisely why Rei had gone out of his way to travel all the way to the small nation of Reblurina.
...Granted, now that he had arrived and learned what was being done there, his priorities had shifted slightly. Even so, his resentment toward Jaya and his objective of obtaining Magic Items remained unchanged, making the man's words a genuine relief.
"And where are those Magic Items?"
"They're divided among several warehouses. Apparently some are stored in warehouses outside this Underground Facility as well. Unfortunately, I only know the locations of a few of them."
While the man had taken a cooperative attitude toward Jaya, ultimately he was still someone who had been brought there by force. Given that, it was likely Jaya's judgment that, future prospects aside, they couldn't trust him with everything just yet. Even so, having some information was clearly better than none.
"Where are those warehouses?"
"One is in the room three doors down from this one. Another is in the room six doors beyond that warehouse."
"I see. What kind of Magic Items are in them?"
"Mostly consumables. I can't really say, since I don't know what kind of Magic Items you're after."
At those words, Rei's expression turned slightly displeased. What he wanted were Magic Items he could actually use—Magic Swords or concealed weapons, and given the Set Basket, a Magic Tent would be ideal. But from what he'd just heard, it was best to assume that sort of Magic Item simply wasn't there.
(Are the Magic Items I want stored in other warehouses—ones that only executives can access? Or do they just not have those kinds of Magic Items at all? Hard to say.)
Thinking about it normally, it was hard to believe that an organization in a small country like Reblurina would have the kind of Magic Items Rei desired. But with Mejougo—something that could truly be called a money tree—they could collect as much money as they wanted. And with that kind of money, purchasing even fairly expensive Magic Items wouldn't be all that difficult. Considering those circumstances, it wasn't impossible that maybe...
Granted, while that might apply to Magic Items the organization created, he couldn't imagine they would leave Magic Items they had gone out of their way to purchase sitting in a warehouse.
"I see. For now, we'll need to search around for those warehouses... though I shouldn't get my hopes up. What about the Slave Collars?"
From the man who had been guarding the Underground Facility, Rei had already heard that the Slave Collars were also stored in a warehouse. But he hadn't been told which warehouse, so he wanted to extract that information from the man before him if possible.
However... his optimistic hopes had already been dashed by the man's words. It was, of course, entirely predictable that Slave Collars wouldn't be so casually stored in just any warehouse. Given that, it was hard to believe they could be obtained so easily.
(Should I just wipe out every enemy in this Underground Facility? If I did that, I could buy myself some time... no, considering the possibility of hidden warehouses, that's a bit unrealistic.)
Ultimately, he decided that if they encountered anyone further ahead, they would simply ask where the Magic Item warehouses were... and then moved on to his final question.
The last, and the biggest, question.
"So, where is the Black Crystal?"
Yes—the Black Crystal, the root cause of this entire incident. The very thing the man before him had begged to be spared from. Rei asked him once more where it was located.
"But... I answered your other questions, didn't I!? So the Black Crystal..."
Ah, Rei thought. He understood why the man had been so cooperative.
He had probably been planning to divulge everything else and somehow get Rei to let the matter of the Black Crystal—the subject of his own research—slide.
"No can do. If the Black Crystal didn't exist in the first place, none of this would have happened. Given that, I can't just leave it be.... Byune."
"Mm."
He had only called her name, but Byune understood what Rei expected of her and quietly handed a Long Needle to him.
The man must have remembered the pain of being pierced.
He instinctively clutched his right arm—the exact spot where Byune's first thrown Long Needle had punched through—and his face drained of all color.