Asked point-blank whether he intended to make an enemy of him, the noble flashed a brief expression of frustration but quickly shook his head.
Even as a noble, making an enemy of Rei—someone who wielded force without hesitation—was something he absolutely wanted to avoid.
"No, I have no such intention either. I merely... yes, I was asked by a certain person to come here. I was told that there are Lizardmen here, and to defeat them."
"...Huh. A certain person, huh."
To Rei, those meaningful words sounded like nothing more than a flimsy excuse.
At the very least, Rei couldn't possibly believe that the man had come here after genuinely hearing about it from this so-called certain person.
Or perhaps someone intended to pit Rei against whoever the noble was currently at odds with, for some reason of their own.
Such doubts crossed Rei's mind as well, but for now, he prompted the man to continue with a look, deciding to first hear out his explanation—or rather, his excuse.
The noble had various thoughts about Rei's words, but in this situation, there was nothing he could do.
That said, there was no way he could easily talk about the person who had told him about this place.
If he spoke about that person here, he might manage to get by for the moment, but the one who had shared the information might carry out some form of retaliation.
(Should I run?)
For an instant, the noble considered it.
But as if reading the noble's thoughts, Set, who had moved away from Rei, circled around behind the nobles.
If the noble tried to flee by carriage, he would need to pass by Set.
Naturally, if such a situation arose, Set had no intention of letting him pass peacefully.
Even when staying in the stables, Set was normally careful not to frighten the other horses, but if he felt like it, he could easily render a horse unable to move without even using King's Intimidation.
...Though lately, since he had been staying at Marina's house or camping out here as a guard for the Birth Tower, the occasions he entered the stables at all had decreased.
"So?"
Understanding that the noble had briefly looked behind him to secure an escape route, Rei prompted him to continue.
He said it with the conviction that, with Set now positioned behind them, escape was already impossible.
...Strictly speaking, even with the front and back blocked, there was still the option of fleeing to the side. There was, but... doing so would mean either charging into the Treant Forest by carriage or moving in an arc along the edge of the lake.
The former was out of the question, but even the latter—turning near the lake—would give Rei and Set plenty of time to come up with any number of ways to stop him.
In other words, from the moment Rei and Set had appeared, the situation had already become hopeless for the noble.
The noble racked his brain for some way to escape his current predicament, but no convenient method came to mind.
"Now then... exactly who told you about this place? Or rather, on whose orders did you come here? There shouldn't be that many people who know about this location."
Even as he said this, Rei was aware that quite a few people knew about the place.
Since the Guild was dispatching adventurers as guards here, they naturally knew various details about the surrounding area.
Rei didn't want to assume information had leaked from the Guild, but even so, he couldn't bring himself to fully trust everyone there.
As far as Rei knew, every guild staff member took pride in their work, and there was no one who would sell information for money.
However, that was only true for the people Rei personally knew.
The Guild located in Gilm, the sole frontier of the Kingdom of Mireana.
Naturally, the number of people working there was considerable, and it wouldn't be surprising if, among them, there was someone who would leak information for money.
"Th-That is..."
The man faltered at Rei's words.
He knew what he should do in this situation.
But he couldn't reveal the person behind it.
And he couldn't run away either.
The best course of action would be to silence himself permanently, but despite wearing a flashy... no, gaudy could also describe it—outfit, the man himself lacked the nerve to match such clothing.
"What's wrong? If you won't say anything, I suppose I'll just have to ask your body directly. Is that what you want?"
Rei swung Death Scythe lightly.
To Rei himself, Death Scythe felt almost weightless, but its actual weight was around one hundred kilograms.
The sound of such an object being swung reached the ears of the noble man... and his private soldiers. It was an ominous sound, as if it were crushing the very air itself.
The private soldiers were originally supposed to protect their noble employer, but in this situation, they couldn't possibly do such a thing.
If any of them stepped forward here, they would unquestionably end up fighting Rei, or perhaps Set.
If that happened, they had no chance of winning, and while they might not get their limbs severed... they would at least need to be prepared to have a bone or two broken.
Alternatively, if the noble had the kind of personality that inspired loyalty in his subordinates, it wouldn't have been strange for someone to consider protecting him even at the risk of their own life.
But unfortunately, the noble's personality was far from something that would earn the devotion of his private soldiers.
And so, the cornered noble... eventually made his decision.
"I heard this from Lord Veen of the Dorat Count Family."
"...The Dorat Count Family? I've never heard of them."
The noble man had told him that he heard it from Veen of the Dorat Count Family, Veen Dorat, but unfortunately, Rei knew neither the person named Veen nor the noble family known as the Dorat Count Family.
Granted, when it came to Count families, there were inevitably quite a few of them, and above all, Rei was not a noble of the Kingdom of Mireana, so there was no reason he would know of them.
If it had been someone he had clashed with before for some reason, he might have at least remembered the name.
"...Understood. Veen of the Dorat Count Family, huh. I'm curious about how he learned about this place, so I'll inform Lord Daskar about that matter, but... what should we do with these guys?"
Rei's gaze shifted to the Knight.
One way or another, Rei had ended up taking charge of the situation, but the person officially responsible for this location was the Knight, and Rei and the other adventurers were technically under his command.
Given that, the one to take orders from in this situation was, naturally, the Knight.
It would be bad for Rei to act on his own here—for example, by attacking the noble before him.
Of course, if the other party attacked first, Rei would strike back to his heart's content as self-defense.
"You're right. We should get instructions from Lord Daskar after all. It would be problematic for us to make our own judgment here. ...Sorry, but could you go? Rei, who can travel by riding Set, is the fastest."
Rei nodded at the Knight's words.
...The noble man, knowing that he would at least not be attacked by Rei for the time being, felt relieved.
But as if he had been waiting for the exact moment the noble felt that relief, Rei thrust the tip of Death Scythe toward him.
"Kyaaah!"
At the sudden movement, a scream escaped the noble's mouth.
Since it happened right at the moment he thought he was safe, the surprise must have been all the greater.
"I'm going to go explain the situation to Lord Daskar now, so I'll be leaving this place. But... just because I'm gone, don't even think about trying anything funny. Everyone here is far more skilled than your private soldiers."
This was by no means a lie; it was an undeniable truth.
The adventurers stationed here had been selected by the Guild because they were judged capable of responding to emergencies.
Combat prowess alone was not the sole criterion for selection, but at the same time, combat ability was an undeniable requirement.
Given that, they were not at a level that the noble's private soldiers could do anything about.
To begin with, from what Rei could see, the private soldiers' abilities were by no means impressive.
That was precisely why he judged it was safe to leave things to the others.
"Y-Yes! I swear I won't do anything foolish!"
The Death Scythe pointed at him must have been truly terrifying.
The noble man shouted desperately.
Death Scythe... a scythe was an extremely difficult weapon to master in actual combat, but in terms of visual impact, it was overwhelmingly powerful.
The noble man was experiencing that firsthand, from the bottom of his heart.
"Understood. I'll take your word for it. However... if you can't even keep the promise you just made, I'll have you pay up properly. Keep that in mind... alright?!"
With a roar—no, with a gust of wind that seemed like it could have blown his body away—a clean slice was left in the ground right next to the noble man.
Who had done it was obvious when one considered the Death Scythe in Rei's hand and the content of the conversation just moments before.
"I understand, I understand, I understand! I'll be good! I'll be good, so please spare me!"
Perhaps his fear had exceeded its limit, a plea escaped from the noble man's mouth.
Seeing that, Rei was satisfied that, for now, the noble wouldn't try anything funny under the shield of his noble status.
"Then wait here quietly. If you're gone when I get back... you know what'll happen, right?"
At Rei's final words, spoken just to be sure, the noble man nodded repeatedly.
Judging from his demeanor that he wouldn't try anything foolish anymore, Rei left the noble and his private soldiers in the Knight's custody and approached Set.
"Set, sorry, but it looks like we need to go to Gilm. Can you take me?"
"Gruu!"
Leave it to me! Set let out a cry in response to Rei's request.
It wasn't as if Set would never refuse Rei's requests... but fundamentally, he would listen unconditionally.
Because it was a request from his beloved Rei.
Rei stroked Set's head with gratitude and immediately straddled his back.
Once Set confirmed that Rei was on his back, after a few running steps, he flapped his wings and soared into the sky.
The adventurers, the Knight, and the Lizardmen were already accustomed to the sight, but the noble and his private soldiers could only watch Rei and Set's departure in blank amazement.
"Rei? What's wrong? You've come back quite early again."
"There was a bit of trouble at the Treant Forest. I need to see Lord Daskar to report it."
Hearing Rei's explanation, the Guards made a pained expression as if suffering from indigestion while completing the entry procedures.
Understanding how the Guards felt, Rei lightly patted one on the shoulder as if to say hang in there, then entered Gilm with Set and headed straight for the Lord's Manor.
The wood that the Woodcutters had felled also needed to be delivered to the Alchemists, but if asked which was more important—the delivery or the report to Daskar—the answer was naturally the report to Daskar.
(If there's no issue with the time after I finish reporting to Lord Daskar, I should head over there. The wood I brought isn't that much anyway.)
Since he had returned much earlier than usual, the amount of felled wood was naturally less than usual.
In that case, he judged there was no need to force himself to go... and after exchanging light greetings with a few acquaintances along the way, Rei eventually arrived at the Lord's Manor.
"...What? Veen of the Dorat Count Family? Is that true?"
In the Office of the Lord's Manor, Daskar set down the document he had been reading onto his desk in response to Rei's words.
Since Rei had been visiting the Lord's Manor frequently as of late, he was shown straight into the Office.
Having had the situation explained to him by Rei, Daskar wore a troublesome expression—one perhaps the same as, or even worse than, the Guards at the Main Gate.
Looking at Daskar's expression, it was not difficult to guess what feelings Daskar harbored toward the person named Veen.
"Yes. The noble who came to the Birth Tower... ah."
It was only then that Rei realized he had forgotten to ask the noble's name.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I forgot to ask his name, but regardless, it seems certain that the noble received information from a person named Veen of the Dorat Count Family."
"Don't worry about that noble's name. If he's been detained, finding out his name won't be difficult."
"Thank you. So then... what kind of noble is this person named Veen? If there's no problem with telling me, could you explain?"
"Ah. This incident will undoubtedly concern you as well... no, it will concern all of you. In that case, it's better I tell you. First of all, he is a King's Faction noble."
With those words alone, Rei made an expression that said ugh...
He knew that there were some King's Faction nobles he could feel favorably toward, but the King's Faction nobles he had recently learned about were mostly problematic individuals, so it was only natural.
Seeing Rei's reaction, Daskar nodded deeply, as if to say he understood the feeling perfectly.