In that room, several lights existed.
What illuminated the space was not candlelight, but pure light floating in the air.
One of those many lights suddenly vanished.
The man in the room had been writing furiously on a piece of paper at his desk, but the moment one of the lights disappeared, he looked up as if he had known it would happen.
"Hm? That light was... what was it again? ...Right, the Black Crystal? But why was the Black Crystal destroyed? There shouldn't have been anything suspicious about it."
Looking toward where the light had vanished, the man tilted his head.
The Black Crystal the man had created, while possessing various special properties, should have been a very powerful Magic Item.
"With that receiver, there should be no shortage of combat power to protect the Black Crystal, and above all, the Black Crystal itself should have had a defense function built in. If someone tried to destroy it, normally their consciousness would be consumed and they would die... Was there an incredibly powerful adventurer or something?"
Looking at the vanished light, the man thought for a moment.
But he soon shook his head and turned back to the paper on the desk.
"Well, the Black Crystal never performed as well as planned in the end, so it's not that much of a loss if it's destroyed. ...More importantly, the problem is this formula. Why does it only produce these kinds of values? In theory, it should produce three times... no, about eight times as much."
The vanished light was apparently not something the man needed to be particularly attached to.
He focused once again on the paper, muttering to himself about what was wrong and what needed changing.
"...Hm? This is..."
When Rei suddenly came to his senses, he was in a state where he had no idea what he was doing.
For some reason, he had activated the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor and was reaching his hand out toward empty space.
On Rei's shoulder—not that it was meant as a replacement or anything—Elena, who had approached at some point, had placed her hand.
"Elena?"
"...! Rei!?"
"Yeah, as you can see... but what's wrong? I told you all not to come down the stairs, didn't I?"
"You're slow, far too slow. ...In the first place, Rei, do you understand what kind of situation you were in?"
Looking at the bewildered Rei, Elena directed an intense gaze at him.
A gaze so powerful that, if a gaze could carry physical force, it felt like it would bore a hole right through him.
Seeing Elena's demeanor, and then seeing Marina, Vihera, and Byune standing behind her, Rei finally understood that he had caused them worry.
"Ah... sorry. I caused you worry."
"Honestly... Rei, you really..."
Looking at Elena's displeased expression, Rei recalled what he had experienced.
Darkness... yes, he had been in a place that could only be described as a space made entirely of darkness.
(No, if my body was here and Elena was able to touch me, then does that mean it was my consciousness that was in that dark space? And then the darkness was eroding me...)
Thinking that far, Rei finally remembered what kind of situation he had been in.
He had been subjected to some kind of mental attack by the Black Crystal.
"Sorry. I caused you worry. ...I'll explain."
Saying that, Rei released the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, which was still active, and explained what he had experienced.
He had been in a space with nothing—no light, nothing at all—only darkness.
Within the darkness, he could not remember anything about himself, and was in a state where he could not even comprehend anything resembling emotion.
The darkness had tried to erode his body.
At that moment, he suddenly heard the voices of Set, Elena, and the others, and that was what finally brought him back to his senses.
And ultimately, he activated the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor and burned away the entire dark space.
"...And when I came to, I was in this situation."
Saying that, Rei turned his gaze toward where the Black Crystal had been.
Normally, the Black Crystal... or at least its remains or something should have been there, but not even a speck of ash existed there.
Whether that was because the Black Crystal had originally been that kind of object, or because of the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei could not tell.
But the fact that the Black Crystal itself no longer existed was an undeniable reality.
"The Black Crystal being gone... well, I suppose it's fine to consider that a good result in the end."
Rei murmured reflectively.
Having experienced his consciousness being trapped in a dark space, there was no way he wanted to bring the Black Crystal back with him himself.
He had originally thought about using it as a material for some Magic Item, but if he made another Magic Item using the Black Crystal as a material, he couldn't imagine it would have the kind of performance he could use with peace of mind.
"I suppose so. But... honestly, I never expected something like this to exist either. Who made it is a serious matter of concern."
"Right. I think the possibility is low, but if this Black Crystal is something that could be mass-produced, it could cause all sorts of trouble."
At Marina's words, Rei imagined the sight of entertainment districts like Mejougo appearing in various locations.
However, Mejougo was ultimately an entertainment district created by the people of Jaya and Reblurina to make the most of the Black Crystal.
Even if another force obtained the Black Crystal, there was no guarantee they would use it in exactly the same way.
"Come to think of it, this Black Crystal was the cause of the giants being born, right? Then, since Rei destroyed the Black Crystal, shouldn't it be fine now?"
"...Right. I think it'll be fine from here on, but honestly, I can't imagine what will happen to the pregnant women on the upper floor."
Rei hoped they would be saved if possible, but he could easily imagine that the possibility was low.
Elena gently placed her hand on Rei's shoulder.
"Even so, there won't be any more sacrifices beyond this, so you can be proud of that."
Elena spoke not as if she were merely comforting Rei, but as if she were stating the truth.
Her words seemed to lift Rei's spirits somewhat. He gave a small nod and looked once more at where the Black Crystal had been.
"Anyway, the Black Crystal being gone can be considered a major blow to Jaya, right? Also, this Underground Facility suffered significant damage too."
"That's right. I think Daskar will have no complaints when he hears about this incident. ...However, this incident involving the Black Crystal isn't limited to just the organization called Jaya. There's also the matter of Rezel, after all."
The name Rezel came from Marina's mouth.
Since he had died the moment he was about to say something, they hadn't been able to learn the full details, but they had still heard him say that he was dispatched under the Prime Minister's orders.
In other words, it was highly likely that Jaya was part of a national organization.
No, not just part of one—it was possible that it was actually a shadow organization run by the nation itself... a possibility that couldn't be denied.
Having attacked such a national organization, Rei and his party were naturally enemies that the upper echelons of Reblurina could not allow to escape.
If they let Rei and his party go in the current situation, their plans would be exposed—or so they would think.
...Though in reality, they had already informed Daskar of the general situation via the Paired Orbs, so even if they somehow silenced Rei and his party here, the outcome wouldn't change.
"How Reblurina will respond... huh. At the very least, the Prime Minister is definitely an enemy, right?"
Vihera's tone as she said that was somehow cheerful, undoubtedly because she relished the prospect of fighting powerful enemies.
(I don't think there are any powerful enemies in Reblurina, though. There should be plenty of giants, but...)
Since they all had the same face, fighting giants like that always felt somehow devoid of reality.
However, that was merely Rei's own perception, and if Vihera looked happy from his perspective, then she really was different.
In the first place, that had been obvious when considering the time she fought the horde of giants on the Underground Fourth Floor.
"Well, however they choose to respond... I don't think they can do anything that quickly."
"Why not?"
"The Black Crystal. The Black Crystal had to exist for giants to be produced. That much is clear, right?"
At Rei's words, not only Elena, who voiced a "Why?", but the others nodded as well.
Feeling a strange sensation as if he had somehow become a teacher, Rei continued.
"Since the Black Crystal was used to birth giants, don't you think it would also be necessary to issue commands to them? What's more, when we first looked into the Underground Fifth Floor, the giants were curled up around the Black Crystal, remember?"
Seeing that, Rei somehow recalled the word 'charging.'
Giants could probably eat food as well, but how much food would be needed to maintain bodies of that size... it went without saying.
Even one or two would be one thing, but there were probably a hundred... no, hundreds, or perhaps even over a thousand giants.
Feeding that many giants was no ordinary feat.
But... if what they were doing curled up around the Black Crystal was actually something like charging...
Of course, with no other giants here, it was certain that not all giants could receive that charging.
(Hm? In that case, was I overthinking the food issue? Maybe they're actually light eaters despite how they look... or something?)
Rei had such doubts, but regardless of the food matter, he was certain that the Black Crystal played some major role in freely controlling the giants.
"I see. Since the Black Crystal produced the giants, it makes sense that it would be needed to control them. Of course, there could also be a separate dedicated Magic Item for control."
Marina, who had been listening to Rei's words, muttered in understanding.
"Anyway, there's nothing left to do here, so shouldn't we leave soon?"
Looking around the Underground Fifth Floor, Vihera spoke.
In truth, the Underground Fifth Floor had essentially been a situation where only the Black Crystal existed, and everything else was just an excavated basement—albeit a fairly massive one.
Given that, with the Black Crystal itself annihilated by Rei's Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, it was obvious that searching for anything here would be meaningless.
Furthermore, the Underground Fourth Floor was one giant hall, and on the Underground Third Floor, Rei's magic had burned to ashes all the remains of the giant children and their mothers... pitiful wreckage that could barely even be called corpses.
(Which means the only places left worth investigating are the pregnant women on the Underground Second Floor and the rooms on the Underground First Floor... no, that's not it.)
Thinking that, Rei recalled the word 'shipping' once again.
"Since they mentioned shipping giants, there's probably a hidden passage or something leading outside on either this Underground Fifth Floor or the Underground Fourth Floor... what do you think?"
"It definitely exists, without a doubt. But wouldn't it be difficult to find?"
After all, a large number of giants couldn't exactly march openly through Mejougo.
What's more, getting the sheer number of giants that had gathered on the Underground Fourth Floor and Underground Fifth Floor up to the surface alone would be a major undertaking.
If so, there was no doubt that some kind of mechanism existed here.
"Should I search?"
Rei had a search magic called Pale Flame.
Using that, finding hidden passages and the like would not be difficult unless something extraordinary was at play.
...Of course, since the flames would spread to the surroundings, there was a risk that someone who knew nothing about it might see it and panic.
However, fortunately, the only ones here were Rei and his party.
If they knew it was that kind of magic from the start, they should be able to handle it without issue.
But the one who put a stop to that was Byune.
"Mn!"
Searching for hidden passages was, without needing to think about it, a thief's job.
For Byune, who felt she had contributed almost nothing during the exploration of this Underground Facility, the honest truth was that if she didn't do it here, who would?
If Rei and his party were truly in a hurry, they wouldn't have left it to Byune and Rei would have immediately used magic to find the hidden passage.
But right now, there was no particular reason to rush.
Well, above ground, Set was working hard to prevent intruders from entering this Underground Facility, but Rei couldn't imagine there was anyone in Reblurina who could threaten Set.
"Got it. Then..."
Leave it to Byune.
The moment Rei was about to say that, the wall right next to Rei and his party made a sound as it opened... and standing there were armed men.