On the night of the day he received the gemstones as payment from Remuria, Rei found himself unable to sleep for some reason and lay on his bed reading.
This was a book he had borrowed from the library in the Duke Kerebel Mansion, which Miranda had mentioned to him before.
The mansion did not lend books to servants, but since Rei was treated as a guest of Duke Kerebel's House, he had been granted special borrowing permission.
Naturally, he had been made to sign a contract stipulating that he would pay compensation if he stained or tore the book.
In any case, the borrowed book served as a perfect way for Rei to pass the time.
...Though the contents were nothing like the manga or novels he used to read back in Japan. It was a practical manual.
What Rei had borrowed was a guidebook on monster dissection.
He had seen and even purchased similar books before, but the one in this library was different from any he had read thus far.
In other words, it described dissection methods for monsters Rei had not yet encountered.
That alone made it invaluable to him.
Several years had passed since he came to this world, and his monster dissection skills—which had been utterly abysmal at first—were now... well, he wouldn't go so far as to call himself skilled, but he could at least manage to a respectable degree.
Even so, that was all it was: a respectable degree. Compared to Marina, who had worked as an adventurer before becoming the Guild Master, or Byune, who had been challenging dungeons alone since childhood, he fell short.
Rei knew this, which was why he studied like this whenever he had free time, hoping to improve his dissection technique even a little.
"I see. You cut by sliding the blade along the bones. But... does it really go that smoothly in practice?"
He nodded along at the dissection method described for a giant boar monster that only lived in the deepest reaches of the mountains, yet still harbored a slight doubt.
That said, if it was written in a book, it surely couldn't be wrong.
Making that judgment, Rei suddenly paused his hand mid-page-turn.
But only for a moment.
He resumed turning pages and continued reading.
"A scorpion monster, huh... Its poison looks powerful, and those pincers seem like a handful. But apparently the meat is quite tasty. Well, they say the higher the rank of the monster, the better the flavor gets, so if it's a B-Rank Monster, good taste is a given. ...What do you think?"
Rei spoke without stopping his hand from turning the pages.
This, despite the fact that he was the only person in the room.
Miranda, who had been assigned as his attendant, was currently out on other duties.
Even though she had been assigned to Rei, she was not his exclusive maid by any means. As such, if another task demanded her attention, it was only natural for her to be called away.
Given that Rei should have been the only one in the room, no one should have responded to his question. ...Under normal circumstances, that is.
"..."
The figure that had somehow appeared in the room simply watched Rei in silence.
As if responding to that gaze, Rei closed his book and directed his attention toward the intruder.
Silver hair.
It was a different hair color from when Rei had first seen the person, but it was nothing to be surprised by. After all, by their second encounter, the hair had already been silver.
"Still silver-haired, I see. Are you dyeing it, by any chance?"
The thought crossed Rei's mind, but the silver hair of Black Wolf standing in his line of sight showed none of the unnatural telltale signs of dyeing.
...Even back in Japan, by the time students reached high school, there were always a few who dyed their hair. He had witnessed scenes of them being reprimanded time and again by the student guidance teachers, and the hair color of such individuals always carried a certain incongruity about it.
That may have been because Rei remembered what their hair looked like when it was still black, which was why it struck him that way.
Incidentally, Rei had no desire to be lectured about various things by the guidance teachers, and considering the hassle of re-dyeing whenever the roots grew out, he found the whole process too troublesome and never touched hair dye at all.
In any case, while Rei was no expert on hair coloring, from where he sat, Black Wolf's silver hair did not look dyed.
Of course, given his lack of expertise, it was possible that it was simply dyed so skillfully he couldn't tell, or perhaps magic or a Magic Item—something that didn't exist in Japan, or at least whose existence Rei was unaware of—was at work.
"How about saying something at least? Last time you didn't say a word either, but... it's not like you can't talk, right?"
Rei asked, but Black Wolf said nothing as ever, simply staring at Rei.
(This guy is really an assassin, right? He doesn't look the part at all, not by a long shot.)
For starters, the assassins Rei knew of might observe their targets to search for openings, but they would never come right up beside them... and then not attack.
Well, if the target was unaware of their identity, it wouldn't be unusual to pull something like that. But Rei already knew Black Wolf was a skilled assassin.
(Ah, but when we met on the balcony before, he did attack, I suppose. ...Though he vanished right after.)
Thinking that far, something suddenly occurred to Rei.
"Is the reason you're not attacking me... because something happened with Marquis Seisole's House?"
The suspicious movements of Marquis Seisole's House that he had heard about from Leodanis. He had never learned the reason behind them, but according to the information Rei had, they appeared to be searching for something.
Could that be related to Black Wolf?
It was by no means a wild guess.
To begin with, the only thing Rei could think of that would make Marquis Seisole's House scramble to mobilize people so urgently was the matter of Gaiska, who had presumably hired Black Wolf.
...Since Marquis Seisole's House wielded considerable influence and authority within the Noble's Faction, the possibility that some trouble Rei was unaware of had occurred couldn't be entirely ruled out.
Either way, at present, the most suspicious figure was undoubtedly Black Wolf standing right before him.
"..."
But Black Wolf showed no sign of answering. As always, he simply watched Rei in silence, as if observing him.
At first Rei thought he might be looking for an opening, but judging by Black Wolf's demeanor, there was no indication of that either.
They continued staring at each other in silence for several minutes.
Eventually, as if giving in, Rei spoke.
"Hey. What exactly do you want? Didn't you come to kill me? And yet you don't seem inclined to take any action."
"..."
"Did Gaiska do something? Something that's keeping you from coming after me? ...Am I wrong?"
Rei asked somewhat halfheartedly, but Black Wolf gave no reaction whatsoever.
Finally, as if surrendering to that wall of silence, Rei spoke again.
"Look, I'm telling you, I don't have the luxury of entertaining you forever. Can you make it clear whether you intend to fight me or not? For that matter, I'll be leaving Anesis before long. You do realize that once I'm gone, you won't be able to come after me anymore, right?"
Rei didn't understand why he was doing something like this toward Black Wolf—something that amounted to giving the man advice.
Under normal circumstances, the person before him was someone after his life. If that was the case, he didn't need to go out of his way offering advice; he could simply defeat him.
From the incident on the balcony, Rei understood that Black Wolf was no ordinary opponent. Even so, he was confident he could win if he fought seriously.
If that was the case, rather than doing something like giving advice, he should just defeat Black Wolf with his own two hands... yet for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Of course, Rei didn't think Black Wolf was harmless. After all, even though Black Wolf was sitting still in front of him right now, he was by no means an innocent party.
On the day of the festival that had been staged as a mock battle... whether it was to gauge Rei's abilities or for some other reason Rei couldn't determine, Black Wolf had controlled over a dozen people with drugs and sent them charging at Rei.
Rei had heard from Leodanis that most of those defeated by Rei, Set, and Bluitt that day had died, and the survivors were now suffering from the drugs' aftereffects.
How Leodanis, who had been on a date with Miranda when the incident occurred, knew about those circumstances... was likely because he belonged to the Knight Order, and the information had flowed from there.
"..."
No matter what Rei said, Black Wolf remained silent, doing nothing but watching him.
Faced with that silence, Rei felt his fighting spirit steadily draining away.
The person before him was unquestionably an assassin. One who had come to kill him, no less.
And yet, why was he being so soft?
It must have been Black Wolf's attitude. The man had definitely attacked him before, and yet for some reason, Rei couldn't bring himself to feel any hostility toward him.
So much so that he found it easier to regard some disagreeable noble as an enemy than to regard Black Wolf standing right in front of him as one.
(Could that be Black Wolf's ability? Something that prevents the other party from feeling hostility... no, animosity toward him, or something along those lines?)
The thought wasn't without merit, but Rei had never heard of such a skill, Magic Item, or magic existing.
...That said, it wasn't as if Rei knew every single magic, skill, and Magic Item that existed in Elgin. If anything, there were probably more things he didn't know than things he did.
For starters, Black Wolf could disappear from a place without Rei detecting his presence, and reappear just as easily. This time too, there had been no sound of a door opening, yet before he knew it, Black Wolf was inside the room.
The fact that Rei could still vaguely sense Black Wolf's presence was probably because, after multiple encounters, something like familiarity had developed within him.
Either way, whether he fought or not, Rei wanted to uncover the trick behind how Black Wolf could freely appear and vanish.
...Then, noticing Black Wolf still staring at him, Rei voiced a thought that had just come to mind.
"Hey, Black Wolf. That ability of yours to appear and disappear without me noticing—is it the effect of a Magic Item or something?"
It was truly just a passing thought. Under normal circumstances, no assassin would reveal their own abilities to their target. That was exactly why he figured it would probably be pointless, but there was no harm in trying... and with that in mind, Rei asked.
"..."
Which was why, when Black Wolf—though silent—shook his head, Rei was caught off guard.
He hadn't expected an answer to come back in any form.
"Umm, just to confirm... you're not appearing and disappearing through the effect of a Magic Item. Is that the right way to read it?"
Black Wolf gave a nod.
Seeing that, it was unmistakable: Black Wolf was answering Rei's question.
Why was he answering here, of all times?
That was Rei's genuine question. He knew as a matter of course that Black Wolf was targeting him. Why would he go out of his way to reveal his own abilities to his target?
He didn't know the reason, but if Black Wolf was willing to share information, there was no reason not to take advantage of it.
"Then is it magic? Though you didn't seem to be chanting any spell."
Black Wolf shook his head once more.
Not a Magic Item, and not magic. If so, only one possibility remained. In other words...
"Is it a skill, then?"
Black Wolf nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"...I see. A skill."
The hint of disappointment in Rei's voice likely came from the thought that if it had been a type of Magic Item, he might have been able to take it from Black Wolf.
Looking at Black Wolf now, it was hard to imagine that being the case, no matter how he looked at it.
Even so, the lingering thought of "maybe..." was only natural for Rei, who had a hobby of collecting Magic Items.