Standing before the unconscious woman, Rei probed the surrounding area for any hostile presence.
Set did the same at Rei's side, but... there was nothing left to find. To be precise, there was no shortage of presences belonging to Gilm's residents, but none that harbored hostility or killing intent toward them remained.
With Death Scythe in hand, ready to react instantly should the woman be targeted again, Rei waited in place. Eventually, multiple footsteps could be heard approaching.
Upon hearing them, Rei did not tense up but rather felt relieved. If they intended to continue targeting the unconscious woman, they certainly wouldn't have a large group of people come running like this.
Given that, what kind of people these footsteps belonged to was obvious without needing to think about it.
"Don't move!"
A Guard shouted the moment he entered the alley. The approaching footsteps belonged to the Guards, just as Rei had predicted.
The Guards, too, had likely been surprised. They had come running after a shout went up that a woman was being attacked, only to find Rei and Set standing there.
The Guard who had shouted spoke up, still taken aback. "Rei... right? That shout earlier, was it about you?"
"Yeah, that's right. Though that voice was probably the work of someone trying to draw my attention so they could kill this woman."
Saying that, Rei stored Death Scythe into his Misty Ring and directed his gaze toward the remnants of the daggers scattered on the ground. The daggers, their blades cleanly severed, were more than enough to make the Guard's expression turn stern.
"Mind explaining exactly what's going on here?"
"Sure. I don't mind, but staying here any longer is dangerous considering this woman's situation. Why don't we talk at the Guard Station? We'll need to get her Treatment too, right?"
Rei was the one who had knocked the woman unconscious, but he showed no concern about that as he spoke. That was precisely why the Guards concluded that the woman's unconsciousness was likely the work of the daggers' owner, and they carried her out of the alley.
It was only natural, given that multiple Guards had entered the alley, but what Rei saw upon exiting was a crowd of curious onlookers who had gathered to see what had happened.
It's possible that the one who threw those daggers earlier is mixed in among them... it's plausible. Then again, finding them would be a hassle. I'll just have to hope they show their tail.
Even as he thought that, Rei suspected they probably wouldn't do such a thing given the current situation.
"Alright, Rei. Sorry, but we need to hear what happened, so come with us to the Guard Station."
Rei, who had been observing the people around them, nodded in response to the Guard's words.
Even upon seeing Rei like this, more of the onlookers thought "again" rather than being surprised. Over the past few days, Rei capturing troublemakers had happened numerous times. That was why, even as Rei headed toward the Guard Station with the Guards, most people simply assumed the same sort of thing had happened again.
The only slight difference from usual was that a shout had echoed through the area before the Guards arrived. However, the fact that no one thought the shout was about Rei was probably due to his usual demeanor. Rei showed no mercy to those who picked fights with him or to villains, but he fundamentally never raised a hand against innocent residents. The people of Gilm knew that, which was why they didn't think Rei had committed any crime even seeing him like this.
"Hm? Hey, wait. What's with that woman? She's pretty... no, cute."
Several of the onlookers noticed the woman the Guards were carrying. Once one person pointed her out, the others naturally noticed her as well and began whispering about who she was.
A woman whose appearance was better described as cute than beautiful. That the very same woman had been planning to stuff Set was something very few people could have predicted. Of course, among the adventurers mixed in with the crowd, there were a few who discerned that the woman was somewhat capable.
And then, upon seeing Set emerge from the alley, a few people wore expressions of disappointment. They would have loved to pet Set, but Rei heading to the Guard Station naturally meant Set would follow, and they were disappointed at being unable to pamper him. Some were even considering waiting near the Guard Station for a chance to do so.
Be that as it may, Rei and the others headed toward the Guard Station under all sorts of gazes.
Inside the Guard Station, Rei was talking with a Guard he had seen many times over the past several days. The scene was extremely relaxed, to the point that a cup of tea had even been placed in front of Rei. It was not at all what one would imagine upon hearing "questioning"—if anything, "chatting amicably" would be a more fitting description.
Of course, while the atmosphere was relaxed, the content of the conversation was by no means lighthearted.
"And so, I blocked the thrown daggers. You recovered the remnants, right?"
"Yeah. However, the daggers themselves aren't that unusual. They're daggers made for throwing, but that's all they are. If they had been the work of a skilled craftsman, we might have been able to narrow down the place of manufacture to some extent, but..."
Since they were not the work of a craftsman that skilled, tracing them in that regard would be difficult, the Guard continued.
"That being the case, we'll need to extract information from that woman once she wakes up, but... how is she?"
At Rei's words, the Guard he was looking at shook his head.
"There's no sign of her waking up yet. Just as you said, we tied her to the bed to keep her from moving and posted a watch, but..."
He trailed off at the mention of posting a watch, likely because when he ordered a subordinate to keep staring at the sleeping woman's face, a female subordinate had directed a cold glare at him. Staring intently at a sleeping woman's face was apparently in poor taste.
That said, the female Guard was not particularly strong, and if the woman unconscious on the bed in the medical room were to wake up and start thrashing around, it was doubtful she could stop her. Ultimately, he told the subordinate he had first ordered to carry out the assignment as instructed, but the female subordinate's cold gaze pierced both the Guard who gave the order and the one who received it like a sharp blade.
Regardless, since she was merely unconscious, they couldn't very well force her awake. As a Guard, he had no choice but to wait for her to come around naturally.
"Still, to think there's someone in Gilm who'd try to pick a fight with Rei of all people. What kind of death-seeker are they?"
"I'm guessing it's probably related to that Red Cloth Group."
"Ah... the ones you've been looking into lately. Honestly, having Rei deal with them is a lifesaver for us."
Because more people than usual remained in Gilm for the Expansion Construction, various troubles naturally increased as well. As a result, the Guard Force's hands were considerably short at the moment. So much so that despite the majority of the Expansion Construction currently being halted, they were still employing adventurers as patrol assistants.
Work had decreased, and a significant number of the people who had come to Gilm for the Expansion Construction had already left. Despite that, they were this busy precisely because, with work gone, people now flooded the city streets during the day.
For the Guards, Rei's existence—finding and capturing criminals, albeit limited to those wearing red cloth—was incredibly welcome. Since they hadn't filed a request with the Guild and Rei was doing it on his own initiative, the fact that no compensation was required was also a plus.
"I'm glad to hear you say that, but in the end, the ones I can catch are all just small fry."
"The ones committing the crimes are the rank-and-file... the small fry you're talking about, so of course chasing them will only turn up small fry."
"I know that. That's exactly why I'm pinning my hopes on that woman."
In the end, it always came back to that. And since there was nothing in particular to do until the woman regained consciousness, they were chatting like this, but suddenly, Rei realized something.
"Wait, aren't the Guards busy? Is it really fine for you to be sitting here entertaining me?"
"Ah. That's why I'm the only one keeping you company. I left just one person in the medical room and sent the rest off to work, remember?"
"...So that's why you're taking it easy here with me."
When Rei said that with a hint of exasperation, the Guard puffed out his chest and grinned rather proudly.
"This is my job, after all. Besides..."
The Guard was about to add something, but before he could, a knock came at the door.
"Is this a bad time? The woman in the medical room has woken up. Romolo is watching her right now, but she wants someone to come as soon as possible."
The speaker was a man in his forties. He was the doctor entrusted with the medical room at this Guard Station. And Romolo was the man who had been ordered to watch the unconscious woman—the same man who had received a cold glare from the female subordinate and was currently not in the Guard Station.
"She's awake, huh. Then let's go. You're coming too, right, Rei?"
"Of course."
Saying that, Rei stood up from his chair. After all, the only reason Rei had stayed behind was to hear the circumstances from that woman. What she was thinking, what drove her to distribute red cloth and commit crimes.
Of course, there was no physical evidence linking that woman to the red cloth incident. If anything, given that she had merely directed hostility toward Rei and Set, it couldn't even be said that circumstantial evidence was stacked against her. It wasn't as though there were no existences in Gilm who harbored ill will toward Rei.
Even underground organizations wouldn't carelessly lay a hand on Rei, given his strength and his merciless attitude toward enemies, but that didn't mean they held no hostility toward him. They weighed the benefits and drawbacks of acting against him and refrained from doing so only because the latter overwhelmingly outweighed the former.
Naturally, among those belonging to underground organizations, there were many who wanted to throw their weight around and be looked up to by those around them. That was why, upper echelons aside, someone like Rei was an enormous nuisance to the rank-and-file. In reality, there were even Set Enthusiasts within the underground organizations, so it wasn't necessarily the case that every single one of them was hostile toward Rei.
Be that as it may, the Guard's view was that the possibility the woman currently in the medical room was a member of such an underground organization couldn't be entirely dismissed.
"...She's making quite a racket."
As they neared the medical room, the Guard who had been keeping Rei company muttered. In fact, the woman's shouting from inside had been reaching Rei's ears for a while now. Untie these ropes, who do you think you are to do this to me—she was screaming things like that, and on top of it, she could be heard hurling a barrage of insults at Romolo that would shatter his spirit, such as the fact that he would never get a woman because he did things like this.
"Ugh..."
The Guard must have understood the content as well. Realizing that if he headed into the medical room like this, he too would be on the receiving end of this verbal barrage, his pace slowed slightly. The abusive language was vicious enough to make one suspect that the doctor had left Romolo behind and come over precisely because of her foul mouth. Hearing it without pause, one insult after another, there was no doubt that Romolo's mental damage was considerable.
Rei and the others had made it to the medical room, but the Guard leading the way had come to a halt, so naturally Rei and the doctor stopped as well.
"Hey, aren't you going in?"
When the Guard remained motionless for several dozen seconds in front of the door, Rei addressed him. Of course, Rei had no desire to come face to face and talk with someone with a mouth as foul as what was coming from inside the medical room, but he still needed to meet her in order to extract information.
"Ah... I know. I know, but. Even so... come on? You get it, right?"
"I don't entirely not understand what you're saying, but you can't just stay like this forever. Hurry up, steel yourself, and get in the room."
The Guard shot Rei a resentful glare, but what Rei was saying was also the truth. That was why, eventually, the man steeled himself and opened the medical room door...
"So hurry up and let me... eh?"
The woman had been shouting at Romolo, but noticing the door open, she turned her gaze that way and started to say something to the Guard. But the moment she saw Rei behind him, the woman lost consciousness once again and collapsed onto the bed.