When Rei went to search for the Guards, he was fortunate enough to find a pair heading toward the study, and they regrouped immediately.
"Hey, Rei. What's up? The fact you were heading this way means you didn't find anything? For the record, we didn't find anything resembling a clue, either."
One of the Guards muttered this upon seeing Rei.
The other Guard who had been working with him nodded in agreement with his partner's words.
(If the professional Guards couldn't find anything, then maybe there really was nothing... or else it was set up so that even the Guards couldn't discover it... well, which is it, I wonder.)
Perhaps it would have been better to bring along some Bandits, who were better at searching than the Guards were.
Thinking that, Rei shook his head.
"I found something here."
"Really, so you also—... what?"
The Guard had assumed Rei was about to say he couldn't find anything either.
But, unexpectedly, Rei stated plainly that he had found something.
Watching the two Guards' surprise, Rei continued.
"Also, while I was investigating, I was attacked by a guy who seemed to be guarding this mansion."
"Really? I was about to say you're lucky to be safe... but actually, if it's you, Rei, it's probably fine, huh."
Since Rei had easily defeated the Old Man who appeared when they tried to enter the mansion, the Guards felt that even if he were attacked by someone else, Rei would have no problem.
Rei nodded without looking particularly smug.
"Well, yeah. Honestly, I think the guy was weaker than the one who showed up at the entrance. ...Anyway, I tied him up and left him in the study, so come with me."
"The study? So the place you were searching was the study."
"Yeah. ...Though, from a quick look, there was nothing there. The one thing I did find was a switch on the wall."
At something so blatantly suspicious, the Guards' expressions naturally grew more serious than before.
"So, did you try pressing the switch?"
"No, I was wondering what to do about that. If this were some petty thug you could find anywhere, I would've pressed the switch right away... but the mastermind behind this incident is cautious. If I pressed something as obvious as a wall switch, worst case scenario, this whole mansion could collapse to destroy the evidence... something like that."
"Ah... yeah, that's true. Given that they're abnormally cautious, it wouldn't be strange for them to have that kind of mechanism set up."
"Right? That's why I was looking for someone knowledgeable about that sort of thing when I ran into you guys."
Hearing that much, the Guards understood what Rei was expecting of them.
In other words, he wanted them to inspect the switch and check whether there was any kind of trap on it.
"Got it. Then let's head there right away. There might be a chance we can get some information out of the guy you captured, too."
And so, Rei set out to return to the study with the two Guards in tow... but just as the study door came into view, Rei suddenly stopped.
"Rei?"
"...I never expected them to kill a comrade so easily. Or wait, did another Guard come after I left, and that person was attacked?"
The Guard had been about to say something to Rei, who had suddenly stopped, but upon hearing those words, he seemed to understand what had happened. With a stern expression, he followed Rei's gaze toward the door leading to the study.
"What do we do?"
"We need to go in for now, at least. If it's the smell of blood from a Guard being attacked, they might be saved if we treat them. ...I had the guy I captured tied up so he couldn't move, so if he's the one who was attacked, there wouldn't have been any first aid applied, so saving him would be difficult, though."
"Even if the guy you captured was there, he was essentially an ally, right? So why would they go as far as killing him?"
"Who knows. Maybe they thought it would be hard to carry an unconscious man and did it to silence him, not knowing when we'd return. Or maybe the other side simply isn't united. ...Anyway, once we go inside, that should become clear."
"Understood."
With that, the three of them, including Rei, headed for the study and entered the room.
Once inside, the Guards must have clearly recognized the smell of blood as well, and they looked around the room while wearing faintly unpleasant expressions.
"This is..."
"Look."
One of the Guards started to say something, but the other cut him off and pointed at the wall of the study... the wall where the painting of the sea that Rei had seen was hanging.
There, as if lined up alongside the painting, the man who had attacked Rei earlier was pinned to the wall.
Yes, in the literal sense of the word, his arms and legs were spread wide in a star shape, and their extremities were pinned to the wall by metal stakes.
However, the cause of the strong metallic smell of blood wafting over was not the stakes piercing his limbs, but the wound from his slashed throat.
The time Rei had been away from this study was about fifteen minutes.
To swiftly do something like this in that time... and moreover, if it was done to someone who was, ostensibly, a comrade, that was far from ordinary.
"Whoever did this was quite efficient. ...And they have strong cruelty and a strong desire to assert themselves."
At Rei's words, the two Guards nodded, though wearing bitter expressions.
If they simply wanted to silence him, they could have slashed his throat, stabbed his heart, or pierced his head.
Despite that, the fact that they went out of their way to slash his throat and then pin the extremities of both his arms and legs to the wall with stakes was surely an act of self-assertion.
(Besides, I didn't hear the sound of stakes being hammered into the wall. In that case, whoever did this didn't pound the stakes in with a hammer or anything, but used some other means to embed them in the wall. Like, pressing them in by hand, for example...)
If there had been sound, and given it was both arms and legs, that would mean driving stakes with a hammer at least four times. That sound would be high-pitched, and it would be strange if Rei hadn't heard it even from a distance.
The fact that no such thing had occurred was proof that this was carried out using a method other than a hammer or mallet.
"For now, what do we do? Should we take this corpse down? As it is, it's certain to get in the way of investigating this room."
"Probably."
The Guard nodded immediately at Rei's words.
Leaving the corpse on the floor could get in the way of investigating the room.
But rather than repeatedly seeing a corpse pinned to the wall while investigating the room, it was undoubtedly easier on the mind to move the corpse to the floor... or rather, out into the hallway.
From the perspective of preserving the scene, it was far from commendable.
Anyway, after pulling the stakes from the extremities of the pinned corpse, Rei and the Guards carried the body into the hallway.
Rei had offered to store it in his Misty Ring, but for whatever reason, the Guards declined.
Whether they disliked relying entirely on Rei, or whether there was some other reason.
Rei didn't know which it was, but since the professional Guards said so, he judged it would be best to go along with it and complied.
"So, where's this switch?"
"Come over here for a bit."
Rei called the inquiring Guard over to the painting of the sea... the spot where the man had been pinned earlier.
Having witnessed the previous sight, the Guards didn't exactly feel enthusiastic about it, but since Rei was calling them, they figured it had to do with the switch and approached the wall.
"See, right there. ...Can you see it?"
At Rei's words, the Guards turned their gazes toward the wall he was pointing at.
At first, even looking in the direction Rei indicated, they didn't seem to have any idea where the switch was. But as they kept staring intently, they apparently finally found it.
Eventually, one of the Guards spoke up.
"Got it. Right there?"
Following that, the other Guard also said he'd found it.
"Glad you both found it. ...So, what do you think? Do you think it's some kind of trap?"
"Ah... I wonder. Considering it was hidden so you couldn't see it like this, I don't think they'd bother setting a trap."
"Yeah. If they were going to set a trap, they'd have installed that switch in a much more obvious, easily visible spot."
The opinion of the two Guards was that since it was in such a hard-to-find location, there was probably no trap set on it.
Rei also nodded, apparently thinking there was some truth to those words... but what came out of his mouth was different from the Guards' conclusion.
"The one behind this incident is a very cautious person. Precisely because it's someone like that, it wouldn't be strange to think they might have set some kind of mechanism on a switch in such a hard-to-find place, would it?"
"That's..."
Perhaps finding merit in Rei's words as well, the Guard couldn't continue speaking.
In fact, having it pointed out by Rei made it a very convincing reason.
"...Understood. I'm no match for a professional Bandit, but I have some skill in that area, so I'll inspect it a bit. Just don't get your hopes up too high."
Saying that, one of the Guards approached the wall with the switch.
True to his words, he carefully inspected the area around the switch, but his technique was by no means that of a veteran.
Even so, considering the current situation, leaving it to a Guard with at least some skill was undoubtedly the best choice.
(Now, what's going to come out? Ideally, there'd be a hidden room, and the mastermind behind this would be waiting on the other side. That would save us a lot of trouble.)
Things wouldn't go that easily.
Rei knew that too, but his honest feeling was that he wanted them to find some kind of clue.
And then, several minutes passed... Rei, who had been watching the Guard inspect the wall switch, suddenly turned his gaze toward the door.
The Guard next to Rei naturally noticed the movement as well, and with a stern gaze, readied himself to move at any moment.
He thought that perhaps the person who had created that corpse had returned... but the one who appeared from the door was one of the Guards.
"Hey, what's with the corpse in the hallway?"
For the Guard who had entered the room, that was a natural question.
Toward that Guard, Rei spoke without any particular surprise.
"He's probably one of this mansion's guards. Oh, just to be clear, I didn't kill him. I think someone else among the guards did it to silence him... more importantly, are you alone? What happened to the one you were working with?"
That's right, the Guard who entered the study was alone.
Normally, to guard against attacks from the Old Man or men like the one who had become a corpse in the hallway, they should have been moving in groups of two or three.
Despite that, the fact that the Guard who appeared was alone was enough to give Rei a sense of dissonance.
(A traitor among the Guards... is that a possibility?)
Thinking that, and judging that even if this man was the one who created the corpse in the hallway it wouldn't be strange, Rei asked while readying himself to respond immediately if anything happened. But the Guard, seeming to understand he was being suspected, hastily raised both hands and insisted he wasn't in league with the enemy.
"I know what you guys are thinking, but I'm no traitor. It's just, I found something unexpected over there... no, someone unexpected. So I came to consult about what to do."
"I understand the reason, but you really came alone, huh."
Saying that, Rei relaxed his stance for the time being.
Though, even so, in this situation he hadn't completely trusted him, so he remained ready to react immediately if anything happened.
"It seems you ran into an attacker, Rei, but there weren't any on our end. We didn't find any attackers, but instead we stumbled upon someone unexpected. That's why I came to consult on what I should do."
Normally, to guard against potential attackers, acting alone should have been avoided.
However, since no attacks from anyone tasked with defending the mansion had occurred in the area where this Guard was, he had come alone like this.
"You're being reckless."
The Guard who had been inspecting the wall switch said this in an exasperated manner to the man who had come alone to report.
Though, this Guard also hadn't found anything in particular where they had searched, nor had they been attacked.
That was precisely why it wasn't strange for him to think there wouldn't be any attacks from anyone.
"Well, just understand that I was in that much of a hurry."
"...So, what exactly did you find?"
In response to Rei's question, the Guard who had come here wore a serious expression... and opened his mouth.
"A large number of corpses of people reduced to skin and bones. So many that ten or twenty wouldn't be enough."
That was what he reported.