Veen of the Dorat Count Family was King's Faction.
Hearing this from Daskar, Rei found himself at a loss for words.
To be completely honest, as far as Rei was concerned lately, the King's Faction was nothing but a nuisance.
But at the same time, he understood that not everyone in the King's Faction fell into that category.
"So then, um... what do you think we should do in this situation? The noble who came to the Birth Tower is being detained, so if we send a carriage over there, I think they can bring him back quickly."
"You're right. ...First, securing that noble is a must. Let's send a carriage immediately. We'll need escort soldiers and knights too."
"Do you think a man named Veen will make a move himself?"
"Hard to say. That old man has a decent head on his shoulders. I can't imagine him deliberately crossing a dangerous bridge himself. If he does make a move, it'll be someone acting on his behalf. And he'd use outsiders as much as possible."
Outsiders.
Hearing that, Rei recalled the Black Garb members who had come to reconnaissance the lake and Birth Tower.
And then, the ones who had attacked during the transport to Gilm—also Black Garb members.
As the most recent outsiders Rei had fought... in other words, as hired muscle, those were the ones that came to mind.
That was exactly why Rei suspected Veen and those Black Garb members might be connected. But unfortunately, there was nothing to prove it.
"Lord Daskar, did those Black Garb bastards... spill anything?"
"No, we haven't received any such reports yet... You think those bastards are Veen's doing too?"
"As a possibility. Considering that the Black Garb bastards came to reconnaissance the lake and Birth Tower, and then that noble showed up less than a few days later... it's hard to dismiss that as mere coincidence."
Daskar nodded as though convinced by Rei's words, but in the next moment, he spoke up as if something had just occurred to him.
"Wait, the Black Garb members who came for reconnaissance—you captured all of them, right? In that case, wouldn't it be strange for Veen to have information about the lake and Birth Tower?"
Normally, if one confirmed that their allies had been captured, it wouldn't be unusual to assume that someone else watching from a distance had withdrawn.
However, given Rei and Set's presence, Daskar had already dismissed that possibility.
That was how much he trusted their abilities.
"That's true. That part is questionable. But even so, considering the current situation, I think the most likely explanation is that the Black Garb and Veen are connected."
How they had obtained the information was beyond Rei. But in this case, either there was some information source he didn't know about... or there was someone skilled enough to evade detection by both him and Set.
(There's no way it's just coincidence... right? That noble clearly seemed to know about the Birth Tower. Besides, the moment you say someone has the ability to avoid being noticed by Set—let alone me—honestly, I find that doubtful.)
As far as Rei was concerned, he had never met Veen in person.
But even so, from what he'd heard from Daskar, he couldn't imagine the man being able to hire someone skilled enough to act without being detected by himself and Set.
That said, if the compensation was substantial enough, that would be a different story.
"In any case, there's no doubt that Veen is suspicious. But what should we do?"
"What do you mean, what should we do? Without clear evidence, it's honestly difficult for us to take any definitive action. ...Of course, we won't just sit back and watch. We'll keep a firm eye on him. Egg is swamped with various things right now, but we can't just ignore this situation either."
Egg was originally the man who had led the bandit group known as the Prairie Wolves. But that particular group hadn't been the villainous sort—the kind of bandits Rei hunted semi-as-a-hobby.
Thanks to that, Egg had never found himself in Rei's crosshairs, and ultimately, having caught Daskar's favor, he was now entrusted with Gilm's underworld work.
That said, Gilm's underworld was also extremely busy at present.
A large gathering of people meant that among them were agents of factions hostile to Daskar, as well as elements tied to underground organizations and various other complications.
That was why Rei could easily predict that they were currently overwhelmed dealing with those matters, and hardly anyone would be available.
But considering the situation with Veen, Egg's involvement was still necessary here. Even if not the man himself, someone from his unit needed to step in.
If they could obtain some kind of evidence through that, Daskar would be able to act openly against Veen. Depending on the circumstances, he might even be able to lodge a protest with the King's Faction.
"Now that you mention it, if he's King's Faction, what about that agent of the Royal Family who contacted me before? Couldn't you work things through them?"
"That would be difficult."
Daskar shook his head at the proposal Rei had just put forward.
Rei wanted to know the reason, but Daskar showed no sign of offering one.
Rei judged that it was probably something he didn't need to know... or rather, something he was better off not knowing, and let the matter drop.
When it came to direct subordinates of the Royal Family, even Rei could only think of obviously troublesome scenarios.
Rei often found himself caught up in various troubles, but when it escalated to Royal Family-level problems, he had absolutely no desire to get involved of his own accord.
That was precisely why he kept his mouth shut about anything Royal Family-related.
"Hmm, in that case... it's painful not knowing when the enemy—when Veen—will make his move, even with Egg watching."
If it were clear they were going to act, Rei could take countermeasures.
But not knowing when they would move, for what reason, or where they would strike—that was difficult to handle.
Even so, since he was always with Set, he could respond more quickly than others using that mobility, but...
"You're right. From what I hear of this incident, their aim was likely just to gauge our response. If so, there's no telling whether they'll openly attack us next time..."
Daskar trailed off and shook his head.
In this situation, he couldn't possibly expect the enemy to move exactly as predicted.
"They targeted the Lizardmen this time, but it would be troublesome if they went after the Green People."
The Lizardmen themselves possessed considerable strength.
Objectively speaking, Zozo was also quite strong. But even among them, Gaga was in a class of his own.
After all, he had the ability to hold his own against Rei to a reasonable degree in mock battles.
Against opponents of that caliber, nothing short of true experts would even stand a chance.
But compared to the Lizardmen, many of whom possessed such strength, the Green People were different.
Their behavioral principles could be described as pacifist, and whether they could defend themselves if attacked was highly questionable.
And yet, they possessed the ability to accelerate plant growth.
Considering Veen's personality, Rei's prediction was that there was no way he wouldn't try to exploit them.
Naturally, Daskar found Rei's words convincing as well, but he didn't seem particularly disheartened.
"You don't need to worry about that. The Green People are extremely important to Gilm, so they have assigned guards."
No oversights there.
Rei thought that for a moment, but for Daskar—who was planning to have the Green People cooperate in cultivating spices and the like—the option of not assigning guards to the pacifist Green People simply didn't exist.
"I see. Then we don't need to worry about that. ...Which brings us to the next question: whether to increase the Birth Tower's guard force further. What do you think?"
"Even if you ask me that, we're already pushing the Guild to its limits with the current situation. Allocating more adventurers would be... difficult."
"What about Anastasia's guard detail? She has Fana as her assistant for now, so she's not defenseless. Besides, Set and I handle the transport between the Underground Space and the Birth Tower."
"I see. That's helpful. ...She is, well, excellent but quite eccentric. Please keep an eye on her."
"Eccentric... you mean that concentration of hers? Like how she focuses so hard she suddenly does something completely unexpected?"
Rei had seen her unconsciously reach out her hand while concentrating too intensely during her observation of the Wisp.
If she engaged in similar erratic behavior in other situations, it would be dangerous in more ways than one.
Though Anastasia herself probably understood that, which was likely why she had brought Fana along.
"Indeed. Well... she has her quirks, but there's no doubt she's an extremely capable person. She can be trusted."
In this case, the fact that she could be trusted was probably what mattered most.
It hadn't been that long since Rei first met Anastasia, but he could at least sense that she was trustworthy.
"Understood. For now, leave Anastasia's situation to me. I need her to properly research that Wisp, after all."
"...You need it? Why would that be?"
Having let that slip, Rei felt a jolt of alarm.
The real reason Rei wanted Anastasia to continue researching the Wisp was because he believed it might allow him to return to Japan.
But as far as Daskar knew, Rei's background was only the cover story about being raised by a master deep in the mountains.
That was why Daskar found it odd—why would Rei need research on the Wisp?
What saved Rei was Daskar's trust in him, built over their long association.
Having made countless unreasonable requests that Rei had always fulfilled, Daskar couldn't imagine Rei betraying him for some reason.
"We might be able to obtain Magic Items or magic stones from unknown monsters in another world. Well, there are also beings like the Lizardmen to consider, though."
For the moment, he deflected with that.
That said, it wasn't complete nonsense.
After all, he genuinely did hope that Magic Items and unknown monsters might come from another world through this affair.
Though even if an unknown monster did arrive, some—like the lake's monsters—didn't possess magic stones.
"True. If someone intelligent like the Lizardmen who can negotiate with us turns up, it would be helpful if you could at least try talking with them first."
He was half joking, but half serious.
If the other party was capable of communication, yet they were attacked without question, that could lead to the worst possible outcome.
It could be exactly like having an entity such as the Gran Dragonia Empire—to which the Lizardmen belonged—teleport here, sparking a war.
In that case, Daskar would without a doubt be held responsible.
That was why contact with beings like the Lizardmen and Green People had to be handled with the utmost care.
...Though when Rei had first encountered the Lizardmen, it had ended in a fight.
Even so, the fact that they had managed to build a friendly relationship was, in a way, fortunate.
"In any case, we need Anastasia and Fana to properly research the Wisp."
"Indeed. ...If possible, I'd like to see that Underground Space for myself at least once..."
"Wouldn't that be difficult?"
Rei replied immediately.
As things stood, the fewer people who knew about the Underground Space, the better.
After all, the only ones who currently knew were Rei and his companions, Grimm, and three others—Anastasia, Fana, and Daskar.
It was a secret of that magnitude, and precisely because it was, he couldn't easily reveal the Underground Space to anyone else.
Which meant that if Daskar visited, it would be just him... or at most, with Rei's group serving as escort.
For the knights at the Lord's Manor, being unable to serve as Daskar's escort despite their presence would be a blow to their pride.
Of course, in an emergency, that would be another matter entirely. But right now was not an emergency.
That was why this situation required considerable delicacy.
...Though for Daskar, there was undoubtedly a pure curiosity driving his desire to see the Underground Space himself.
"Mmph... I suppose you're right. ...Between work and everything else, I can't spare the time anyway."
For the stern-faced Daskar, it was a rare sight—an uncharacteristically disappointed expression crossing his features.