"……Huh?"
A vacuous sound slipped from the Mansion Owner's mouth.
In truth, he probably still hadn't grasped what had just happened. Having a short blade suddenly thrown at him from out of nowhere was, without a doubt, completely unexpected.
Though to the Guards and Fleeing Adventurers who had participated in the forced search and uncovered mountains of criminal evidence, it wouldn't have been strange for the Mansion Owner to be targeted for exactly that reason. If anything, the real surprise was that he had committed so many crimes yet never expected to be targeted himself.
"Well now, it seems our guest has finally arrived."
Gazing at the short blade that had been deflected by her Hand Gauntlets and fallen to the hallway floor, Vihera announced happily—genuinely, from the bottom of her heart. It was a beautiful smile, so radiant that anyone who didn't know Vihera would have been captivated by her beauty and had their heart stolen.
However, since nearly everyone present knew what kind of person Vihera was, while her smile inspired awe in some, there were actually quite a few who found themselves mesmerized by it. Being a beauty was proof enough of the power to draw people's eyes.
Though the person wearing that smile paid no mind to her surroundings as she dashed swiftly in the direction the short blade had flown from.
Vihera ran out of the room, and those inside watched her go. Only then did the Mansion Owner finally come back to his senses.
Looking at the short blade on the floor, he likely realized then that his life had just been targeted. Suddenly, his legs gave out and he slumped down onto the floor.
"Eh?"
The one who let out that questioning voice was Rei, but the others undoubtedly wondered the same thing—why was he suddenly sitting down? But with everyone in the room staring at him, the Mansion Owner understood his current situation—that his legs had given out. His face turned bright red as he spoke.
"T-T-Take me to another room!"
He shouted in a voice mixed with shame and anger, and that finally seemed to snap the Maids and Butlers back to reality. They lifted their master from the floor and carried him away.
As they did, the other Maids and Butlers bowed politely to Rei's group, but the sight gave off a strangely disjointed impression. Their master had collapsed from fright, yet why were they offering such elegant bows? That was what came to mind.
"Ah—… Well, looks like there was someone in this mansion acting as a guard, or rather an assassin, or something like that. Same as the mansion yesterday. Luckily, it seems there aren't many of them."
After the Mansion Owner, the Maids, Butlers, and Soldiers had disappeared, Rei spoke as if to change the atmosphere.
His words seemed to snap the others back to reality as well. They began talking amongst themselves about the series of events that had just occurred.
"But I never thought they'd strike in a situation like this. In the first place, why was that man targeted? If they wanted to kill him, they had plenty of time to do it before now, not just this moment."
"Now that you mention it, you're right. To try and kill him deliberately when Rei is here… that's nothing short of a suicidal act. Does that mean there was a reason it had to be now?"
At the Guard's words, everyone in the room directed their gazes to a single point. Namely, the staircase leading to the Underground Space.
"But why? Just because this staircase was found doesn't mean they had to kill him right this instant."
"Really? The forced search turned up quite a bit of criminal evidence. If that's the case, the chances of him being arrested were high, so isn't it understandable to think they should do it while they still can?"
Hearing the Guard's reasoning, many found themselves convinced. In fact, the Guards had planned to arrest the Mansion Owner based on the evidence found once today's forced search was concluded. And if he was arrested by the Guards and taken to the Guard Station, the difficulty of assassinating him would skyrocket. It wouldn't be strange for the assassin who had infiltrated this mansion to judge that it was better to dispose of him now.
"But why did they need to dispose of that man? From the looks of it, he didn't seem to know anything about this hidden staircase. If so, I don't think there was any need to risk danger to silence him."
At one Guard's words, everyone nodded as if to say that was true enough…
"In that case, wouldn't it be best to ask this child for details?"
At the voice coming from the doorway, everyone except Rei—who had already sensed the presence—directed surprised looks toward it.
Standing there was Vihera. However, in her arms was a single unconscious Child.
"Ah."
The one who involuntarily let out a sound upon seeing the Child was Rei. That was because the Child was someone Rei recognized—to be precise, it was the Child who had been attacking the Guards during the forced search of the neighboring mansion yesterday.
In the end, they had lost sight of the Child in the Underground Space. And since the incident with the pink tentacles had occurred, they had retreated from the area and left it at that, but…
(Did the Child escape from that Underground Space into this mansion? Using that hidden staircase?)
Even if that were the case, there was no reason for the Child to try and kill the Mansion Owner.
While harboring such doubts, Rei called out to Vihera.
"So, how was it?"
He didn't specifically ask how what was, but between Rei and Vihera, that was enough to get the message across.
"Let's see. A bit smaller than I expected. But for this age, promising for the future. Though I have no idea what kind of life this child will lead from here on out."
For a Child to be doing this kind of work, it was clear there was some kind of circumstance behind it. What would happen to this Child in her arms from here on out—Vihera seemed somewhat looking forward to it, while also feeling slightly concerned. Though she hadn't considered taking the Child in herself, not to that extent.
"A child, huh."
Thinking of Ranga and Daskar, who both had a soft spot for things like this, it was likely the Child would be taken in and entrusted to Egg, then moved into intelligence work.
With such thoughts, Rei switched his mindset.
"Anyway… we have the staircase leading to the Underground Space, so should we go down and take a look?"
"W-Wait, Rei!? What are you doing all of a sudden!?"
The ones who reacted to Rei's words were, naturally, the Guards. It was Rei who had insisted that the Underground Space was dangerous. Yet why was he trying to head underground in this situation? It was only natural for the Guards to have such doubts.
However, unlike the flustered Guards, Rei spoke without any sign of agitation.
"I understand what you're saying, but we need to investigate the Underground Space. I know you had them check it out, but they came right back, didn't they?"
"Well, yes, but that's…"
The Guard tried to say something in response to Rei's words, but Rei nodded, indicating he understood. In fact, Rei knew that to prevent the Guards from suffering harm from the pink tentacles, they had been told to avoid staying in the Underground Space as much as possible if they found it.
Even so, the reason Rei said he would go to the Underground Space was partly because he wanted to confirm for himself that it was the same place as yesterday, just to be sure, and more importantly—
"Here. Please take care of this child. When she wakes up, she'll probably struggle, so you'd better tie her up now."
Vihera was handing the unconscious Child over to the Guards. After handing the Child over, Vihera's gaze immediately turned toward the hidden staircase. No matter what the Guards said, and no matter what Rei said, her expression made it clear she had decided to head to the Underground Space no matter what.
However, that was something only Rei, who had been traveling with Vihera, could understand; the Guards couldn't read Vihera's expression in such detail. Still, considering Rei's words just now and Vihera's usual behavior, it wasn't difficult to guess what she was thinking. This was likely a result of the Guards having had some dealings with Vihera, one way or another.
Vihera, receiving looks from Rei and the Guards, didn't seem particularly bothered and simply approached Rei.
"Now then, Rei. Let's go. I don't know if any tentacles will appear, but nothing will happen if we don't at least go and see."
"That's how it is."
Instead of replying to Vihera, Rei directed those words at the Guards. Can you stop Vihera when she's like this? Rei's words, carrying that unspoken meaning, left the Guards speechless.
It wasn't that the Guards didn't think Rei could stop her if he were serious, but Rei had no intention of forcefully stopping Vihera either. Above all, it was also a fact that Rei wanted to see the Underground Space for himself.
That was why he moved toward the hidden staircase together with Vihera.
The Guards watched the two of them leave in silence. They understood that stopping them here would be pointless with words, and using force was out of the question. Also, investigating the Underground Space in as much detail as possible was an action that benefited the Guards as well, which was a significant factor.
And so, without anyone stopping them, Rei and Vihera descended the staircase leading to the Underground Space.
"I was sure someone would try to stop us."
As they descended the stairs, Vihera murmured quietly.
Hearing her words, Rei shook his head as he walked behind Vihera, figuring she wouldn't see it.
"Investigating that Underground Space is absolutely necessary. If that's the case, then they probably want to gather as much information as possible. In fact, there's almost no usable information about that Underground Space."
"There wasn't anyone in this mansion, but there must be people in the other mansions who know something about this Underground Space, right? In that case, wouldn't it be fine to just capture them?"
Having actually seen the sight of someone bringing the Red Cloth group into the Underground Space, Rei could accept Vihera's words.
While holding that conversation, they continued down the staircase, and eventually, they emerged abruptly into the Underground Space.
"…How is it? The same place you came to yesterday?"
Vihera, looking around, asked Rei.
Rei also looked around in the same manner and nodded in response to her question.
"Yeah. There's no way there are several Underground Spaces this large just lying around. It's definitely the same place I saw yesterday. The fact that there are several staircases leading upward supports that too."
Precisely because Rei possessed eyesight superior to that of an ordinary person, he could make out the staircases leading upward on the opposite wall from where they had descended. Vihera, who also currently possessed abilities beyond that of a normal human, followed Rei's gaze and nodded in understanding.
"I see. Looking at it like this, it really is vast. I wonder how they created such a space. Is it possible this space existed before the mansions were built above?"
"Who knows. With a space this large, it would definitely be discovered when building a mansion, and I can't imagine anyone building a fine mansion like that in such a place."
With a space this large underground, there would be a risk of the ground collapsing when constructing a building. If that were the case, Rei couldn't possibly imagine someone building on top of such an Underground Space.
"Ah."
Vihera suddenly murmured quietly.
Turning toward her at the sound, Rei saw she was looking to the side. Following Vihera's gaze, Rei saw several Guards emerging from a staircase. They seemed to have noticed Vihera as well, and Rei could tell they were surprised.
"The Guards there probably found a hidden staircase leading here as well."
"Right. They conducted forced searches on the mansions in this area simultaneously, so thinking about it that way, it's not strange for them to come down here at the same time."
The Guards waved at them, and Rei and Vihera waved back. Seeing that, the Guards didn't approach Rei and the others, and immediately went back up the staircase they had descended from.
The Guards who had found the hidden staircase Rei and the others came down had done the same, but perhaps due to the incident with the pink tentacles, they had likely been told to return immediately after confirming the Underground Space.
If it were Rei or Vihera, they could handle being attacked by tentacles, so it wouldn't be a problem.
"Well, what should we do? Should we look around here a bit more?"
At Rei's question, Vihera nodded.