At Rei's request for information, Suchee opened her mouth.
"So, what kind of information do you want? I don't have all that much, you know. It's not like I'm an information broker or anything."
"Figured as much. I'm not expecting much on that front."
Suchee scowled at his dismissive words. It was one thing to say it about herself, but having someone else flat-out say they weren't expecting much was rather insulting.
From Rei's perspective, though, Suchee—someone with no combat experience who still pulled the reckless stunt of trying to take down Cobolts on her own—was hardly information broker material.
Even so, the reason he had approached her was simple: as a Slum District resident, she might have access to information unavailable anywhere else. Since Rei rarely set foot in the Slum District, it stood to reason that someone living there could know things he didn't.
Besides, Cobolt corpses were worthless enough to him that he could trade them away without a second thought—which made it easy to barter for information.
"Then I don't see why you need to ask me..."
Even so, the prospect of claiming two Cobolt corpses she could harvest for Magic Stones must have appealed to her—originally there had been three, but Rei's thrown spear had punched clean through one's chest. Looking displeased but willing, Suchee spoke up.
"So, what exactly do you want to know? If I don't know what kind of information you're after, I can't exactly help you."
"Right... First off, Cobolts have been appearing here in massive numbers. Do you have any idea why? Specifically, something like someone using a Magic Item?"
Naturally, that was his first question. After all, Rei was operating under the premise that a Magic Item was controlling the Cobolts, so it was an obvious starting point.
...He didn't entirely dismiss the possibility that no such Magic Item existed, but having committed to the theory, he wanted to be thorough.
But as expected, Suchee shook her head.
"How would I know something like that? I mean, if I knew there was a Magic Item like that, I'd sell it to someone."
Given her financial troubles, that attitude was only natural.
A Magic Item—one that could endlessly gather Cobolts or send them on the attack, even if it only worked on something as weak as them—would be coveted by anyone in a position of power. An item like that would have countless applications.
The most obvious use would be directing Cobolt attacks against a hostile noble's territory. The ability to inflict damage on an enemy without lifting a finger would make it highly desirable.
There were plenty of other uses beyond that as well.
...Though given how rare such a Magic Item would be, any attempt by Suchee to sell it would inevitably come with considerable danger.
"Figured as much. I just thought maybe there'd be something from the Slum District... even just rumors would do."
"Rumors? Hmm..."
Since he was asking about even rumor-level information rather than concrete details, she wracked her brain for anything relevant.
Fortunately, many people in the Slum District were currently dissecting Cobolts. Since they worked in large groups, there was naturally plenty of conversation, and rumors frequently came up as topics.
Suchee herself had initially participated in that work to earn even a little food money for the Children she lived with.
She tried to recall whether she had picked up on anything during those sessions, but nothing came to mind immediately.
No—to be precise, there were plenty of plausible-sounding rumors. The real question was whether it was wise to actually repeat them.
"When it comes to Magic Item rumors, there's a mix of truth and lies. More than you could count, really..."
If this were an ordinary village or town, there wouldn't be that many rumors circulating. But this was Gilm—a frontier town where rare Magic Item materials were frequently harvested. Given that, it was only natural for all manner of rumors to circulate, a mixed bag of fact and fiction.
"Then let's narrow it down... Are there any rumors about Magic Items that can gather monsters, or anything along those lines?"
That was the crux of it, but once again, Suchee shook her head.
"Haven't heard anything like that."
"Then... what about someone with a skill that could do it?"
Rei was hoping this incident involved a Magic Item, if possible. But with no leads on that front, he judged it necessary to investigate the possibility of skills as well.
...If it wasn't a Magic Item, his honest hope was that a Rare Species or High-ranking Species was involved. Defeating one of those, obtaining its Magic Stone, and using Beast Magic could potentially grant him the skill in question.
"Hmm, even if you say 'control,' how exactly would you control Cobolts? If it were monsters as a general category, then maybe... and I mean a big maybe... it could be possible. But only Cobolts? Besides, if you had a skill like that, wouldn't you use it to control something far more useful?"
That was an undeniable point.
Take Orcs, for instance. Their materials and Magic Stones fetched decent prices, and the meat itself was delicious. If someone could freely control Orcs, they would never want for meat again—and could make a comfortable living selling it.
Even setting Orcs aside, there was no shortage of monsters more useful than Cobolts.
"Ah... then how about this. You know about the group called Red Cloth that was running rampant right around when winter started, or just before?"
"Of course I know them. Those guys were causing trouble in the Slum District for a while too."
"...For a while? So they stopped quickly?"
What Suchee said surprised Rei. The Red Cloth group was notoriously brazen and had caused no shortage of disturbances. For people like that, the Slum District—a place where they could act freely without the heavy adventurer and Guard presence of the main streets—should have been an ideal hunting ground. Why would they stop so soon?
It made no sense to Rei.
But Suchee continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"On the main streets, there are strong adventurers and Guards. If you get caught doing something wrong, you're arrested and punished—but that's all through proper, established law, right? The Slum District doesn't have any of that, so..."
Her expression soured slightly, as if the memory itself was unpleasant, and she went on.
"The Red Cloth group picked a fight with some of the underworld organizations. As a result, one of those idiots was killed in a pretty brutal way as an example."
"Ah... I see. You don't need to say more."
In other words, a comrade's gruesome death had taught them they were out of their league. That must have been what stopped them from harassing the Slum District.
It made sense. Even if they meant it as harmless mischief, the other side often didn't see it that way—and the Red Cloth had clearly learned that the hard way. On the main streets, getting caught meant a slap on the wrist, so they'd assumed the Slum District would be the same. Instead, they'd been made an example of.
"Well, when fools like that clash with people who genuinely live side by side with death... I suppose they'd never go near that place again. No, what's really surprising is that they kept operating on the main streets after something like that happened. ...Hmm?"
Something about his own words snagged in Rei's mind, and he paused, thinking.
(If the Red Cloth group were really that cowardly, would they keep doing the same things on the main streets after watching their comrades get killed? Sure, they had numbers, so it wouldn't be strange if a few carried on... but it shouldn't have been that many. Which means... they couldn't stop? Why? Were they under someone's orders?)
But if that were the case, the question of who was giving those orders—and why—would need answering.
"What's wrong? More importantly, if you don't have anything else to ask, I can take these Cobolt corpses as my information fee, right?"
"Ah... right. Go ahead. No problem on my end."
Frustrated by the feeling that he was on the verge of connecting the dots but couldn't quite get there, Rei waved her off.
Suchee looked like she wanted to say something about his distracted demeanor, but having received permission to claim the Cobolt corpses, she prioritized that over her curiosity.
Between satisfying her curiosity and feeding the Children, there was no question which came first.
Drawing a knife—also somewhat rusty—from the sheath at her hip, she sliced open the Cobolt's chest and extracted the Magic Stone.
That Magic Stone was the most valuable part of any monster, and it was precisely to obtain them that Suchee had pushed herself to come here in the first place. Letting it slip away was not an option.
"Huh."
Rei was mildly impressed—and felt a twinge of jealousy—at how practiced her movements were, more adept than a mediocre adventurer's.
That said, there were probably plenty of people in the Slum District who could match Suchee's skill right now. After all, they were dissecting hundreds of Cobolts day in and day out. Getting proficient was inevitable.
...Though since that proficiency came exclusively from processing endless Cobolts, her smooth technique was strictly limited to that one species.
"...What?"
Noticing Rei's gaze on her, Suchee eyed him suspiciously. She knew enough about Rei through rumors not to think he would steal the Magic Stone she'd just harvested from the corpse he'd given her, but being stared at while working was still unpleasant.
It was precisely because she knew those rumors that she wasn't particularly frightened by Set, who was keeping watch nearby. When she'd left the Slum District on errands, she'd caught distant glimpses of all sorts of people—adventurers, Merchants, Gilm residents, young and old alike—fawning over Set. That probably had a lot to do with her lack of fear.
"No, I was just thinking you're quite skilled at dissection."
"Of course I am. How many Cobolts do you think I've dissected this winter? I can't do it blindfolded... but I've had plenty of practice."
As if to prove she wasn't bluffing, she kept right on dissecting even as she talked. She checked her work occasionally, but there was nothing unsteady about her hands.
"I've dissected my fair share of monsters, but I've never gotten that smooth at it."
Rei's dissection skills had improved dramatically since coming to this world. They had improved, yes, but he still couldn't honestly call himself skilled. He was competent—average at best, and nothing more.
Watching Suchee work, an idea suddenly struck him.
"I could put in a recommendation for you. Would you want to join the Gigant Turtle dissection?"
"...Huh?"
Suchee stared at him, wondering what he was going on about. But to Rei, someone with excellent dissection skills who was strapped for cash seemed like a perfect fit for the Gigant Turtle dissection—and so he began explaining the situation.