"...Huh?"
Those were the words that slipped from Rei's mouth upon seeing inside the room. Neither Elena nor Ara voiced it aloud, but they felt exactly the same way.
Given how deliberately everything had been staged up to this point, they had naturally assumed the mastermind behind the incident—the organization's boss, or someone similar—would be waiting inside.
But upon actually opening the door, they found an empty room.
Given that, such a reaction was only natural.
"Shouldn't we go in and have a look around for now?"
At Elena's words from behind him, Rei nodded in agreement and stepped into the room.
He surveyed the space once more, but there was indeed no one there.
Even so, Rei could tell that every piece of furniture in the room was exorbitantly expensive.
It would not have paled in comparison even to the furnishings in the Duke Kerebel Mansion. If anything, some items here were likely worth even more.
Though, that was strictly from Rei's perspective—the reality might differ.
"From what I can see here... no, Rei."
Elena, who had been scanning the room just like Rei, suddenly noticed the air shifting. A faint breeze was seeping in from somewhere.
Rei, who had been examining the furniture with curiosity, also noticed the draft thanks to Elena's words.
"Where's it coming from?"
"Over here, Lady Elena, Lord Rei."
Ara, who had been searching a different section of the room, called out from in front of a wall where a painting of a massive mountain hung.
The wall Ara had found had a faint gap in it, and the breeze stirring the air in the room was flowing in from there.
As Rei and Elena approached, they could feel the current of air more clearly.
"Do you think this is intentional?"
"It's not impossible that they fled in a panic and failed to seal the wall properly. That possibility exists, but..."
Elena turned her gaze back toward the room.
"Every piece of furniture here shows refined taste. I cannot imagine someone who curates such furnishings would be so careless. Furthermore, this is the man who leads the largest criminal organization in Anesis. I find it utterly implausible that such a person would flee in such an undignified manner."
"I don't necessarily think good taste correlates with ability—or nerve, in this case. But either way, the fact that they ran means they knew they couldn't take us, right? Then isn't that punishment enough? The rest is just the documents."
Looking around the room, Rei's gaze naturally settled on the desk.
He figured that if any documents related to Black Wolf existed, they would most likely be there.
"What do you want to do?"
Elena was the one running this operation, not Rei. Given that, it was only natural for him to defer to her.
"Hmm... Ara, can I entrust this room to you? Rei and I will head through that wall—into the hidden passage beyond."
"Understood. I'll search for any document leads here, then."
Elena's decision was to split their forces in two.
Under normal circumstances, that would mean dispersing their combat power. In this case, however, it wasn't much of an issue.
Rather, sending Rei and Elena—their two strongest fighters—into an unknown location where enemies might be lurking, while Ara, who was clearly inferior in combat, stayed behind to search for documents, was the right call.
Ara understood this as well, which was why she didn't object.
She would likely have preferred to accompany Elena, but she wasn't foolish enough to let her personal feelings override the optimal decision.
When she had first met Rei, the sight of Elena and him gazing at each other had driven her to attack him on the spot. Compared to back then, she had clearly matured.
That growth might have been thanks to her position as commander of Elena's Escort Knight Order.
"Umu. I'm counting on you. Now, the question is how we proceed through this hidden passage..."
"Should we just force our way through?"
"What if that triggers a trap? Even if we resort to that, it should be a last resort."
Elena showed a hint of exasperation at Rei's suggestion.
Given how far their opponent had gone to lure them in, it wouldn't be surprising if they had rigged a trap to bring the entire house down the moment the door was destroyed.
In the first place, the sheer number of traps in this mansion—and how they had been set up in the first place—remained a mystery. The fact that they kept regenerating was equally unexplained.
It was likely the effect of some Magic Item, but even that wasn't confirmed.
Given all that, proceeding cautiously was the only sensible option.
"Then what's the plan? We don't have time to leisurely search for a way to—"
Just as Rei was about to finish his sentence, the door with the painting slid sideways, revealing the hidden passage.
"..."
Rei looked at Elena in silence, half-wondering if she had done something to open it.
But Elena was staring at the suddenly revealed passage with an equally surprised expression.
Which meant there was only one remaining candidate for whoever had triggered this...
"Umm..."
Ara, who had received Rei's gaze a beat before Elena's, stood frozen with her hand inside one of the desk's drawers.
It was immediately obvious what had caused this.
"Well done."
Elena was the first to break the silence.
Her praise brought a look of relief to Ara's face.
It's possible whoever's waiting for us ahead opened this door intentionally... No, better not mention that. It'll become clear once we go through.
Rei kept that thought to himself, judging it pointless to voice in the current situation. If he could think of it, Elena surely had as well.
"Then, Ara. Rei and I will investigate this hidden passage. You continue searching for documents here."
"Understood. With Lady Elena and Lord Rei on the case, I doubt there's anything to worry about—but please be careful."
Nodding at Ara's words, Elena and Rei stepped into the hidden passage.
Built inside the room, it was barely wide enough for one person. If anyone approached from the opposite direction, squeezing past would be next to impossible.
Then again, anyone coming from the other side under these circumstances would almost certainly be an enemy. So there was no need to worry about passing each other.
Rather, the real problem was the narrowness itself. Swinging the Death Scythe in here would be impossible, and the Twilight Spear could only be used to thrust—not sweep.
For Rei, who excelled at wielding polearms, the passage was more troublesome than a mediocre opponent.
"It's dim, but there's actual lighting."
"Umu. It seems a Magic Item providing faint illumination is embedded in the walls."
Lighting Magic Items weren't cheap. But for someone who led the most influential criminal organization in Anesis—the second-largest city in the Kingdom of Mireana—acquiring such items would be trivial.
Besides, hidden passages like this were generally used in emergencies. Making sure the path wasn't pitch-dark when that moment came, even if only dimly lit, was a practical necessity.
Though, needing light makes sense only when they're using the passage themselves. Leaving it on after they've passed through... is this an invitation? There's no way they'd keep it lit all the time when it's not in use.
It was almost certainly an invitation.
Convinced of that, Rei called back to Elena as they advanced.
"Elena, I think this is an invitation. What do you think?"
"Umu. I agree, it's unmistakably an invitation. The question is why they would go out of their way to lure us out."
Crimson and the Princess General—two Alias Holders.
Even if they deliberately drew the pair out, it would all be meaningless if the enemy simply fought and lost.
"Luring us to the end of this passage while they escape from the house?"
"That's... actually plausible. It would damage their reputation, but if survival means a chance at a comeback, what you're suggesting has merit. Still, even knowing it's likely a trap, there's no way we could just ignore such a blatantly suspicious passage."
"Right."
Rei understood Elena's reasoning. Ignoring this obvious hidden passage just because it might be a lure could lead to trouble down the line. They could be criticized for failing to investigate something so suspicious, or worse—skip it and suffer unnecessary casualties later.
"Then we have no choice but to press forward. If we're lucky, the organization's boss is at the other end... Come to think of it, I never heard the name. Is it all right to ask?"
"Ah. The man we're currently raiding is named Celestan. He's in his mid-thirties."
"...That's a bit unexpected. He's supposed to be the boss of the most powerful organization in Anesis, right? Thirty-something seems a little young for that."
Rei called him young, but Rei's own apparent age was mid-teens. In other words, Celestan was more than twice his age.
Of course, factoring in Rei's actual age, it wasn't quite double. But it was close enough.
"True. But building an organization at that age speaks to his competence. Though there's no doubt Black Wolf's combat power played a role in that growth."
Black Wolf was a freelance assassin, but the fact that Celestan had a connection to him meant he could also commission hits.
If that was the case, there was no way Celestan wouldn't have used Black Wolf as a weapon to expand his organization's influence.
"But Black Wolf is gone now."
A fleeting shadow of sorrow passed over Rei's face.
It vanished as quickly as it came. He refocused on what lay ahead in the passage—then noticed something.
"Isn't this passage sloping downward? And curving quite a bit... Did the house even have this much space?"
At least five minutes had passed since they'd entered the hidden passage. Given the size of the house they'd stepped into, there shouldn't have been enough room to keep walking for this long.
And yet, here they were—still walking, with no end in sight.
It was clearly abnormal. But for Rei and Elena, who had already witnessed the absurdity of those traps, something like this was easy to accept.
"Most likely, this too is some kind of Magic Item. I never expected to find such a thing in Anesis, though."
Elena muttered with a hint of bitterness. Whether it was the trap Magic Items or whatever was warping this space, none of them were things one could easily acquire.
Well, at this point... I can't shake the feeling it might not even be a Magic Item.
They had labeled it a Magic Item for lack of a better explanation, but Rei felt a faint sense of incongruity about a single person possessing both a trap-manipulating Magic Item and a space-altering one.
For items that powerful, rumors should have spread simply from owning them. For that not to have happened, the owner would have had to acquire them and never once use them.
As those thoughts churned in his head, light suddenly appeared ahead in the passage—as if perfectly timed.
"Looks like the exit."
"Umu."
Elena nodded at Rei's words, and the two stepped out of the hidden passage. In that instant, as if everything up to that point had been a lie, an overwhelming stench of blood washed over them.