With Glanje quieted down for the time being, Rei decided to head to the contact point where they could establish communication... but he realized there was a slight problem with going there on their own.
If they were simply going to storm the place on the spot, there would be no issue at all.
In this case, however, the primary objective was to capture those orchestrating the Cobolt incident and resolve the current situation once and for all.
Given that, rather than charging straight in, they needed to stake the place out for a while.
That said, Rei couldn't very well do the staking out himself.
He had his own matters to attend to, including the Gigant Turtle dissection.
"That's how it is. We're heading to the Guard Station to increase the number of people who can act on this."
"...What about my safety? Being handed over to the guards as things are, I would... no, I would very much like to avoid that if at all possible."
Glanje said as much, but he was no longer making any attempt to flee from Rei.
The fact that Set, who had been keeping his distance, had rejoined them was a major factor. Glanje understood full well that even if he tried to run in this situation, he would absolutely be caught.
"Don't worry. It's already been decided that you'll be handed over to Egg... Gilm's Intelligence Unit. I won't be turning you over to the guards. Though if you try anything suspicious from here on out, that's a different story."
Glanje nodded at Rei's words. "Of course."
He said so precisely because he understood that his current situation was a delicate tightrope walk.
"Then you have nothing to worry about. I'll smooth things over one way or another. ...Well, they're professionals in a sense, so they'll probably find something suspicious. But if I say I'm taking responsibility, they shouldn't press the matter much further."
The guards were the ones who maintained order in Gilm.
And Gilm was no ordinary city. It sat on the frontier and drew large numbers of adventurers.
For those charged with keeping the peace in such a place, having an eye for anyone behaving suspiciously was essential.
If that was the case, it was only natural that they might find Glanje, whom Rei was bringing along, suspicious.
...But with Rei stepping in, the story changed considerably.
There was a good chance they'd overlook it, reasoning that since Rei was taking responsibility, it was fine.
And if someone still won't accept it, I can just say he's someone I'm entrusting to Egg. ...It's not set in stone yet, but that is the plan.
With that in mind, Rei led the reluctant Glanje toward the Guard Station.
Perhaps because word of the Earth Wall had spread among the adventurers, the atmosphere in the city seemed somewhat brighter than it had been the day before.
Even knowing that Gilm possessed enough combat power to handle Cobolts with ease, the residents had likely still harbored a latent anxiety.
Thanks to the Earth Wall, that anxiety had vanished.
...Strictly speaking, even with the wall in place, there were still Cobolts crossing over it by some unknown means, so they couldn't be completely at ease.
Additionally, the barrier that normally enveloped Gilm was not currently deployed, meaning they were by no means fully prepared against flying monsters.
Even so, when comparing Cobolts that attacked almost daily without fail to sky monsters whose arrival was uncertain, the former was clearly the more tangible threat.
Lost in such thoughts as he made his way through the city, Rei arrived in front of his destination: the Guard Station.
Without Rei needing to say anything, Set, unable to enter the building, lay down in an open space nearby. This was routine, so Rei showed no particular concern and simply knocked on the door.
"...I never expected to come to a Guard Station under circumstances like this," Glanje murmured, taking a deep breath as if to steady himself.
The door opened.
"Yes? Hmm? Oh, it's Rei. And that one is... a face I don't recognize. Something happen?"
One of the guards who stepped out addressed Rei upon seeing his face.
From the guard's perspective, Rei was a familiar presence—they'd been through enough together to call each other acquaintances.
For Rei's part, the guard who came out was someone he knew, so he spoke without any particular tension.
"Something happened, or rather... something I'm about to cause."
"Hey now, whenever you get involved, it always turns into a major incident. I'd really prefer you hold back if possible."
"Heh, is that so? ...Even if it's about capturing the people who've been luring Cobolts into Gilm by some means?"
The moment Rei said that, the guard's gaze sharpened.
Gone was the demeanor of someone chatting casually with Rei seconds ago; in its place was the face of a guard entrusted with Gilm's peace.
"Is that true? I'll have you know, this isn't something you can pass off as a joke."
"Yeah, that's no problem. Right now I only have circumstantial evidence, but I'd say it's almost certain."
"...Come inside. This isn't a conversation to have out here."
Judging from his exchange with Rei that this was truly no joke, the guard ushered both Rei and Glanje into the station.
Rei entered without any particular concern, but Glanje—perhaps because of his history of underhanded dealings—wore a subtly displeased expression. Still, knowing full well that escaping from Rei was impossible, he quietly followed inside.
They were shown into what could be called a living room... or more accurately, a waiting room.
Inside, five guards were on standby in addition to the one who had come to the door, making six personnel in total ready to mobilize at a moment's notice.
"Hmm? Rei and... who's that?"
One of the guards in the waiting room spoke up upon seeing Rei and Glanje.
His tone was light, as if wondering whether Rei had caused some kind of trouble again, but the guard who had been speaking with Rei moments ago opened his mouth with a serious expression.
"According to Rei, it's about the Cobolt issue that's been a problem lately. He says he has information about the perpetrators behind it."
The instant those words left his mouth, the guards who had been listening casually all turned serious.
Naturally, it wasn't just the guard who had been speaking—the others reacted the same way.
"Really?"
At the words of one guard seeking confirmation, Rei nodded.
"Yeah. Though the information I've brought is only a lead. I don't have definitive proof that it connects to whoever is truly pulling the strings behind the Cobolt incident."
"Tell us everything."
Prompted to begin, Rei started with the Earth Wall.
The guards had already received information about it from Gilm's administration, so they didn't press for details on that particular topic.
No, they clearly had things they wanted to ask, but they likely judged that hearing about the Cobolt incident took priority.
Next, Rei described the Red Cloth members who had come to destroy the Earth Wall, and how the man commanding them had ultimately tried to have them wiped out by the swarm of Cobolts that would pour through once the wall was breached.
As the explanation unfolded, the gazes the guards directed at Glanje grew sharp and stern.
Since he was plainly a criminal, such a reaction from the guards was only natural.
"Hold on. This one is set to be handed over to Lord Daskar's intelligence organization later. ...Right?"
When Rei asked for confirmation, Glanje, even under the guards' piercing stares, returned a nod without so much as a flicker in his composed smile.
"Yes. I believed that to be the best course of action. ...Also, I should mention just in case, I don't recall committing any crimes in Gilm."
At the qualifier "in Gilm," the guards' gazes sharpened all the more.
To put it another way, it was practically a confession that he had committed crimes in some other village, town, or city.
But before any of the guards could say anything, Rei spoke up again.
"Like I said earlier, this one is going to Egg... to Lord Daskar. At any rate, thanks to Glanje, we obtained crucial information about the Cobolt incident. Wouldn't you say that deserves at least a little gratitude?"
Even if the term "plea bargain" didn't exist as such, the practice itself was commonplace.
Given that, and the fact that Glanje hadn't committed any crimes in Gilm itself, Rei was essentially asking them to let it slide here.
At Rei's words, several guards in the room opened their mouths to object, but the guard who had let Rei in held them back... and addressed Rei instead.
"For now, we understand. But we'll need to write all of that up properly in the report. I can't say how our superiors will judge it after reading it, but... is that acceptable to you?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll talk to Egg from my end. Once I do, word should reach your side naturally."
In truth, the intelligence organization Egg led was chronically short-handed.
The moment he learned that someone with immediate practical value was available, Egg would undoubtedly take it up with his superior—in this case, Daskar.
Well, he said he hasn't done anything in Gilm, so it's probably fine... I hope. Then again, if he's committed a serious crime somewhere else, that's another story entirely. But Egg will judge that properly. He's got a better eye for people than I do, that's for sure.
Rei and the guard exchanged glances as those thoughts passed through Rei's mind... and eventually, the guard let out a small sigh.
He had apparently decided to trust what Rei was saying, at least for now.
"Still, to think the Red Cloth was involved in this incident. ...We haven't seen hide nor hair of them lately, so I just assumed they'd left Gilm."
At the guard's muttered words, the others nodded in agreement.
"From what the Red Cloth members I made contact with told me, it sounds like they were being harbored by someone with ill will toward Gilm. ...Come to think of it, that woman we captured before the snow fell, the one who seemed connected to the Red Cloth... what happened to her? If anyone would have information about all this, it'd be her, wouldn't it?"
"Ah... that woman was taken to the Lord's Manor and later sent to the Royal Capital. Something about her causing trouble elsewhere as well, and it being related to that."
The guard relayed this, but his expression suggested he didn't entirely buy the official explanation.
They had likely experienced this sort of thing before—someone they captured disappearing due to circumstances involving their superiors.
Daskar didn't find such practices amusing either, but even so, the title of Margrave and the position of head of the Neutral Faction meant there were many things beyond his control.
"I see. Since she was connected to the Red Cloth, I figured there was a good chance she knew something."
With that, Rei and the guards began exchanging all the information they each possessed in earnest.
The exchange took about thirty minutes. By the time it concluded, guards who hadn't been in the room earlier had filtered in and were listening to Rei's account.
"...So that's the situation. Does anyone know about the enemy base Glanje mentioned? It's probably a disposable safe house or something along those lines, but does anyone recognize it?"
Rei asked the question, but to his surprise, more than half the guards in the room did know of it.
Then again, since they patrolled the city streets daily as Gilm guards, perhaps it was only natural.
"Which means... what's the plan? If the base is disposable, storming it head-on would be practically meaningless. I think the best approach is to stake it out and tail anyone connected to it."
Rei's primary reason for coming to the Guard Station in the first place had been to ask them to do exactly that.
The guards seemed to agree with his proposal. They each nodded, and the dog beastman, who held a higher rank among them, spoke up.
"Understood. We'll adopt Rei's proposal. That does seem like the most reliable way to get a lead."
"Ah, but, if we're going to do this anyway, how about hiring some bandits or someone to infiltrate the place for us?"
One of the guards offered the suggestion, but the dog beastman shook her head.
"If the enemy were an ordinary criminal organization, that approach might work. But these are people who, by some unknown means, can control monsters... they can command that many Cobolts. Ordinary bandits would be more likely to get caught. And if they're caught, the enemy will know they're under suspicion."
Unable to argue with that logic, the guard who had proposed sending in bandits fell silent.
The dog beastman's words carried considerable persuasive weight.
"All right, anyone else have anything to say? Then let's work out assignments right away."
Rei watched the guards as they huddled together to discuss the details, offering no further input and simply observing in silence.