"Rei? What's going on, coming back all of a sudden?"
The one who asked Rei that question in front of the guard station was a guard.
However, it wasn't the guard with the stern expression Rei had seen earlier, but a different one with a much friendlier face.
The contrast with the previous guard was so stark that Rei almost broke into a smile, but he somehow held it back and spoke.
"Yeah. I found a guy with leads. Brought him along. He's a survivor of the Red Cloth who tried to destroy the Earth Wall."
At the words "Red Cloth," the guard's friendly expression did a complete about-face, and he directed a sharp glare at the man.
Faced with that gaze, the man recoiled half-reflexively.
(The guards really had a hard time dealing with the Red Cloth. I guess this can't be helped.)
Rei nodded in understanding as he watched the guard's change in demeanor, but he couldn't just leave the man to be frightened when he had potential leads.
"Calm down. In the end, you couldn't do anything yesterday. Besides, right now you want any leads you can get, no matter how small, don't you?"
"…Understood."
Unable to argue with Rei's words, the guard replied.
That said, just because he couldn't argue back didn't mean his feelings toward the Red Cloth had vanished. As proof, the look in his eyes as he watched the man remained stern.
While they exchanged words, Set moved to the spot where he had been lying down earlier and settled in the same way.
"For now, let's head inside. I need to hear the full story from this guy, and it's not entirely impossible that the mastermind behind this incident might send pursuers after him."
At those words, the guard reluctantly allowed them inside. …Or rather, he looked as though he were simply turning a blind eye.
When Rei entered the guard station, the guards inside naturally reacted with surprise. He had just left a short while ago, so it was only natural that they would be startled to see him return—and not alone, but bringing another man with him.
"Who's that? If Rei brought him, does that mean he's connected to this incident?"
One of the guards asked while looking at the man.
Rei gave the same explanation he had given to the guard out front, but sure enough, upon hearing the words "Red Cloth," many of them looked displeased, their gazes sharpening as they studied the man.
Subjected to those stares, the man was beginning to seriously regret letting himself get talked into coming all the way here by Rei's persuasion.
(Ugh, is this really okay? Maybe I shouldn't have come here? But Rei said pursuers might come after me…)
The man had been a member of the Red Cloth, so he had some confidence in his abilities. But that was strictly in comparison to ordinary people. Against adventurers, he never thought he could win, and the same held true even against guards who had undergone anti-personnel combat training.
For someone like himself to be protected in a place full of guards directing such harsh stares at him was, no matter how he looked at it, mentally taxing.
That said, if asked whether Rei would introduce him to anywhere else, the answer would likely be no.
"In other words, we just need to extract the information that guy has."
"Right. But through non-rough methods. For now, we've identified their base—and not a disposable one like the one Gran knew about, but their real base. What should we do?"
Those words—what should we do—carried the question of whether to raid that base right now, gather more intelligence before raiding it, post watchers as they had done with Gran to observe the enemy's movements, or choose some other option entirely.
That said, given the possibility of a traitor among the guards, wasting time would likely result in being forced onto the back foot again.
(Ah, come to think of it, if there's a traitor among the guards, isn't it dangerous to leave this guy in the custody of the guard station? …Well, from the looks of it, the guards seem to be keeping an eye on each other, so it's probably fine.)
Rei thought he might have made a slight miscalculation, but now that they had already come this far, there was nothing he could do about it. For one thing, the traitor among the guards—if one existed at all—was likely not one of the guards at this station, but someone in a higher position. That is, assuming a traitor existed in the first place.
Deciding it was probably fine for now, Rei turned his gaze toward the guards. At the very least, none of the guards he was looking at right now struck him as a traitor. …Since Rei didn't particularly have an eye for reading people, he couldn't guarantee whether the guards here were truly safe or not.
"Even if you ask what we should do… unfortunately, because the guys who were watching the base got ambushed, we don't have that many people who can move right away. At most, we can mobilize a handful."
"A handful, huh. If we're going now, I plan to go too, along with Set. In that case, wouldn't a few people be enough?"
Rei's words were undeniably true. If anything, having Rei and Set alone would be sufficient combat power. Bringing guards along was likely so that, in an emergency—when someone needed to provide some kind of explanation—that duty could be pushed onto them.
The guard probably understood that as well, but he nodded immediately. It wasn't that he didn't feel like the responsibility had been shoved onto him, but he figured that sort of work was originally what guards were supposed to do. Moreover, if they were heading out immediately, having the formidable combat power of Rei and Set as allies was significant. Since they didn't know what kind of forces the enemy had prepared, it was only natural to assemble as much combat power as possible.
The guards present exchanged glances with one another, and eventually one of them nodded.
"Understood. Then we'll get our preparations in order right away. Even if we go right now, this many people won't be enough."
The number of guards in this room was five. Given that, they were clearly insufficient as combat power to raid the enemy's base. …To be precise, in terms of pure combat power, having Rei and Set meant there was no problem, but this was about the manpower needed to surround the area and prevent those inside the base from escaping.
No matter how strong Rei and Set were, they were still just one person and one creature. If the enemy scattered in every direction, it would be virtually impossible for the two of them to capture everyone. If this were about killing them all, Rei and Set could handle it without issue, but the objective this time was intelligence gathering.
Finding leads connected to the Cobolt mastermind was the top priority. If this was a genuine base, there was a possibility that documents and other potential leads might be there, but the information obtained through interrogating captured individuals would undoubtedly be valuable as well. That was precisely why the guards wanted to gather as many people as possible.
(If there's someone among the guards leaking information, making a suspicious move could smoke them out too.)
In terms of potentially identifying whoever leaked information in this incident, the raid on the base was significant.
"Now then, that settles the discussion, but…"
Watching the guard who had been in the room head off to gather personnel, Rei called out to the Red Cloth member.
"Where exactly is this base of theirs that you know about?"
Rei looked at the man with a gaze that made it clear there would be consequences if he lied or tried to equivocate, but the man, having been told his life was in danger, wasn't foolish enough to try anything like that here. …In reality, the likelihood of the man being targeted was merely Rei's speculation, but since an Alias Holder adventurer like Rei was the one saying it, the man had completely bought into it.
Granted, from Rei's perspective, it was neither an exaggeration nor anything of the sort; he genuinely thought it wouldn't be strange if assassins were sent.
"It's a house not far from the Noble District."
"Near the Noble District? Even if it's not within the Noble District itself, it's quite something that they set up a base in a place like that."
The Noble District was, naturally, heavily guarded. The soldiers, knights, and adventurers employed by the nobles each patrolled the area. Even if a building wasn't inside the Noble District, simply being near it raised the level of safety to a certain degree. But naturally, renting or buying property in such a location came at a premium.
"Well, that's precisely why it would have been harder for us to find, I suppose."
Several people nodded at those muttered words from one of the guards, but one of them raised a question.
"Even if it's not a building inside the Noble District, renting a place in that kind of area requires not just money but credibility as well. Thinking about it that way, whoever is behind this incident might be a bigger figure than we expected."
"Manipulating the Red Cloth, gathering Cobolts… they're definitely no ordinary person, that's for sure."
"Ah, well, yeah. That's true. But we only have circumstantial evidence, so it's not certain that the ones sheltering the Red Cloth are the masterminds behind the Cobolt incident."
Based on circumstantial evidence alone, it was virtually certain they were the masterminds. The very moment they tried to destroy the Earth Wall that Rei had built to hold back the Cobolts—and the moment they commissioned Gran to have the Red Cloth members killed by the Cobolts once the destruction was complete—one could safely say they were undeniably guilty.
However, there was no definitive proof. If the actual Magic Item—the kind Rei claimed could gather and control Cobolts—were to surface, that would be a different story.
(If it's a genuine base and not a front, is there a possibility the Magic Item is stored there? For that matter, Gilm is large enough to be called a quasi-city, so it's not impossible to set up multiple bases at will, but it should be quite difficult.)
If so, one possibility was that the Magic Item was at the base in the location they had extracted from the man. Though Rei's stronger inclination was that it probably wasn't there.
"At any rate. Once the guards' preparations are done, we should head out right away. The less chance there is of information leaking to the other side, the better."
At Rei's words, a few of the guards showed expressions of faint displeasure. But since it was highly likely that information had in fact been leaked, they couldn't immediately deny it—that too was an undeniable fact.
"We're already getting things ready, so it won't take long enough to keep Rei waiting. …More importantly, about that man—we just put him in a cell like Rei said, right?"
Rei nodded to the guard who asked while looking at the Red Cloth member.
"Yeah, do that. Though it's not like he's a criminal… well, I suppose he technically is one."
Given that he had committed various misdeeds as part of the Red Cloth, calling the man a criminal wasn't incorrect. That said, the crimes committed by the Red Cloth were things like brawls, extortion, and assault—some of which were a bit difficult to call minor offenses, but even so, they hadn't committed murder. Even minor crimes, if repeated enough times, would undoubtedly result in heavier sentences.
"Anyway, it's an undeniable fact that he brought us information. With that in mind, make sure he's kept warm and given decent meals, something along those lines."
"…Understood."
Though he looked somewhat dissatisfied, the guard nevertheless nodded at Rei's words. It was an undeniable fact that the man's information had a high likelihood of making a major difference in the Cobolt incident. If so, the guards couldn't simply ignore his contribution.
"So, with that settled, you get to happily go to jail starting today."
"…That's not happy at all, not by a long shot."
The man replied to Rei with evident displeasure, but knowing that relying on the guards was the best option to protect his own life, he didn't refuse despite voicing his complaints. Being in a jail cell, or dying. If asked which to choose, the man could only choose the former.
"Come on, let's go. Don't worry, like Rei said, we'll treat you better than the other criminals."
Prompted by the guard, the man left the room.
"Hmph."
Once the man's figure disappeared, one of the guards snorted in displeasure. As a guard, harboring a man like this in connection with the current incident was apparently still distasteful. Even so, given that the man might still hold additional information, they couldn't voice their dissatisfaction directly.