Judging that there was no point remaining in the Slum District any longer, and with the knight and soldiers from Marquis Seisole's House having already departed, Rei and his group decided to head back to the Duke Kerebel Mansion.
That said, while the site where Celestan's house had stood was now gone, they left a few soldiers behind to confirm that the spatial anomaly and the sealed Flesh Cocoon would not cause any further harm—and to verify that Gaiska had truly died along with everything else.
"Gruu! Grururururururuu!"
On the way back to the Duke Kerebel Mansion, Set purred beside Rei, rubbing its face against him and acting affectionate.
Set possessed high enough intelligence to understand human speech, so it likely recognized that what had happened inside that house had been considerably dangerous for Rei.
That was precisely why it was being so affectionate toward him now.
Understanding this himself, Rei gently stroked Set as it rubbed against him while they walked.
"Sorry for worrying you. But... there's no way I'd lose to enemies of that level, right?"
"Hehe. It seems you had quite a hard time fighting because you couldn't pull out your weapons, though."
Elena, walking beside Rei, said this with a hint of teasing in her voice.
Rei tried to think of something to say back to her... but it would be pointless.
After all, it was an undeniable fact.
While advancing through the house and the hidden passage, the narrow space meant it was only natural that Rei hadn't drawn out long-handled weapons like Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear.
But when they emerged into that vast space where the Flesh Cocoon had been, if he had immediately drawn Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring, he wouldn't have been short on weapons.
Granted, the moment they entered that space, the Misty Ring had likely been sealed by the Flesh Cocoon's power.
"That incident was certainly a significant lesson, no doubt about it. Whether I can fully put it to use, though, is another matter."
Drawing weapons from the Misty Ring right in front of the enemy. What's more, the weapons drawn were Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear—items so overwhelmingly powerful that their nature was apparent at a glance.
That act alone would serve as a powerful deterrent against any hostile opponent, and depending on the situation, it could even deal a fatal blow to the enemy's will to fight by making them realize they could never beat Rei wielding such weapons.
Ending a battle before it even begins was an extremely convenient tactic for Rei, without question.
Not using an available means of attack was a tremendous waste for him.
"I can't really say much about that. It's something for Rei, who actually fights, to decide. Still, though..."
Elena paused there, stroking Ielo on her right shoulder as she let out a heavy breath.
"Honestly, I expected this affair to become troublesome, but it turned out even more troublesome than anticipated. I never imagined it would cause this much of an uproar."
"I agree, Lady Elena. When you and Lord Rei came bursting out of the hidden passage, I truly wondered what on earth had happened."
Ara, standing beside Elena, nodded with deep conviction.
Even in such a situation, she had shown not the slightest doubt at Rei and Elena's words telling her to run, and had taken immediate action without any confusion or hesitation. It would not be strange for Ara's judgment to be praised for that.
"Losing the documents that could have proven the relationship between Celestan and Black Wolf, or evidence that Gaiska had made the request... that stings. I grabbed some documents at random, but..."
Rei pulled the documents from his Misty Ring and skimmed through them in the moonlight.
"For now, the documents I brought aren't anything that important. Well, looking at them here, they seem to be some kind of ledger, so it's not like they'd be completely useless, but."
Rei had hardly ever seen ledgers and the like before, but he had had a few occasions to see the ledgers his parents, who were farmers, kept.
The documents Rei had brought weren't exactly identical to those ledgers, but at a rough glance, they looked quite similar.
Of course, thinking they resembled a ledger was merely Rei's opinion. In reality, the staff of Duke Kerebel's House would examine these documents thoroughly and determine exactly what kind of documents they were.
"On my end... oh, an instruction letter targeting several subordinates—executives of the organization Celestan led. This would be useful whether we're destroying Celestan's organization, turning it into a puppet, or taking any other approach."
"...Lady Elena, Lord Rei, it's impressive that you can read documents in this moonlight."
Ara's words were tinged with exasperation.
It wasn't that Ara completely lacked Night Vision, but even so, reading documents in this level of moonlight was difficult for her. The fact that it was difficult rather than impossible was probably thanks to training.
Still, once they returned to the Duke Kerebel Mansion, they would be able to examine the documents under proper lighting, so she didn't feel the need to check them here and now.
Seeing Ara's attitude, Rei and Elena likewise judged there was no need to keep reading in such a place. They stopped reviewing the documents and hurried toward the Duke Kerebel Mansion.
"Hurry, huh. But you've already sent word that the operation was a success, right?"
"Yes. However, it ended in an entirely unexpected manner. I never imagined the house itself would vanish. Father was likely bewildered when he received the report."
At Elena's words, Rei and Ara both nodded in understanding.
Originally, the plan had been to rough Celestan up to a certain extent and obtain documents proving the connection between Black Wolf and Celestan, as well as evidence that Gaiska had commissioned Black Wolf to assassinate Rei. But as a result, the house itself had been completely annihilated.
It would be unreasonable not to be surprised by that.
Of course, being surprised didn't mean that was the end of it—such was the nature of Duke Kerebel's position. Rei's prediction was that he would likely take some kind of action.
"What do you think will happen to the organization Celestan was leading? Originally, you didn't intend to kill Celestan today, right?"
Even so, even if that had been the initial plan, given how things had unfolded, even if Gaiska hadn't killed him, there was a high probability that either Rei or Elena would have.
The original plan aside, considering that Celestan had been trying to release what appeared to be a sealed monster, leaving him alive hadn't been an option either.
Above all, if Celestan had been left alive, there was a possibility that he could have continued using the Flesh Cocoon's ability to keep Rei's Misty Ring sealed.
Honestly, I never expected the Misty Ring to be sealed. I didn't even know such a method existed. Then again, even if I wanted to do something about it, I wouldn't know how to counter it.
Magic Items designed to counter specific conditions—for example, ones that raised resistance to poison or paralysis—Rei knew about and had even seen. But when it came to resisting something that manipulated space to seal the Misty Ring, Rei had never seen or heard of such a thing.
In the first place, the ability to manipulate space itself was undeniably extremely rare. Trying to find a Magic Item to counter that would be unreasonable. In that case, rather than searching for one myself, would it be better to have an Alchemist make one?
The person Rei thought of was the one who had crafted the Twilight Spear. Given that individual's eccentric personality in every sense of the word, asking them to create such a Magic Item would inevitably cause another major commotion.
"Ah, Lady Elena. It seems a messenger is coming from the other direction as well."
Rei, who had been thinking about Magic Items, snapped back to reality at Ara's words. When he turned his gaze in the direction Ara was looking, he saw a soldier running toward them.
"Hmm, he appears to be in a hurry..."
"Given what happened at that house, that's only natural."
Ara replied briefly to Elena's words.
In truth, since it was still night, the situation hadn't become that large of a commotion yet, but once morning came, it would almost certainly turn into a major uproar.
Even so, the fact that Celestan's house had been located deep in the Slum District was a saving grace. If this had happened on the main streets of Anesis, it would have without question become a massive disturbance.
"Do you think this affair will become that large of a commotion?"
"For now, the underworld organizations must be in complete chaos. Information that we were attacking Celestan's house had likely already been circulating. And in that situation, the house suddenly vanished in the literal sense of the word, without leaving even a trace of debris behind."
At Ara's words, spoken with deep conviction, both Rei and Elena nodded in agreement.
Right at that moment, the messenger soldier arrived before Elena.
"Excuse me, Lady Elena. I have come as a messenger from Lord Liberte."
"Yes. And what did Father say?"
"First, he told me to ask: was the initial report factual?"
"...It is factual."
Elena replied with a slightly displeased expression at the messenger soldier's words.
From Elena's perspective, she had merely reported exactly what had happened, but the content was so unexpected that they had come to confirm it once more. That said, even Elena would have done the same and verified whether such a report was true if she had been the one hearing it. Thinking of it that way, it was understandable that her father had told the messenger to ask whether it was a genuinely real event—not as a joke or anything of the sort.
"I see. Then, he said to return as quickly as possible. Lord Liberte instructed me to convey that."
"I see. As quickly as possible, hm. This affair must have been unexpected for Father as well."
As Elena muttered in understanding, Rei thought it was obvious but kept the words to himself.
The one who had directed this operation was without a doubt Liberte. Liberte had naturally gathered information on Celestan as well, but he surely hadn't known that Celestan was attempting to break the seal on the Flesh Cocoon.
Well, judging by how he acted, it seemed like he just wanted to unseal it because he thought he could. Or perhaps Black Wolf's death had something to do with it.
In the end, exactly what kind of relationship Celestan and Black Wolf had was something Rei still didn't understand. But even so, Rei, who had conversed with Celestan, could somehow sense that the connection between Black Wolf and Celestan was not a purely business-like one.
"I understand Father's request. Then, Rei. I'm sorry, but I'll return to the mansion a step ahead of you. Rei, once you return to the mansion, you may go back to your room and rest. However, there is a possibility that Father may send some sort of Communication to you..."
"Yeah, I'll go too if that happens. That said, I doubt there'll be much for me to explain after you've already given your report."
"Is that so? While I was fighting that butler, what did you say... ah, Deotres, was it? You were fighting that man, weren't you? If so, Father may want to hear some explanation about Deotres at that time. Especially since Deotres was a member of Marquis Seisole's House."
"Ah... I see. That kind of thing could happen. Yeah, got it. Then wake me up if I'm asleep. Or would it be better to play with Set for a bit instead?"
Even while talking with Elena, Rei had been stroking Set's head. Hearing Rei's words, Set's eyes sparkled as if saying Really!? but Elena shook her head.
"I feel bad for Set, but I'd prefer it if you stayed in your room. Since we don't know who will come to fetch Rei, it would be more helpful if you were in your room rather than the stables."
"Who do you mean? That'd be Miranda, wouldn't it? She's my assigned maid, right?"
"Think about the time—the time. At this hour, most of the maids would already be asleep, and it wouldn't be strange at all."
When Rei looked up at the sky at those words, the moon had moved visibly from where it had been before they stormed Celestan's house.