With Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear in hand, Rei fixed his gaze on the man and woman.
There had originally been a third combatant on their side, but that man's spine had been crushed under Rei's foot. He was in no condition to fight.
...Actually, it wasn't even clear whether he was still alive.
Regardless, these were assassins who had disguised a brawl to mask their true intent — and skilled ones at that, capable of concealing their killing intent. Naturally, letting his guard down was not an option that even entered Rei's mind.
"Let's go."
The woman with the poison-coated blade muttered the words, and the man holding the Long Needles gave a silent nod.
For the assassins, a successful ambush would have been the ideal outcome.
But now that it had failed, their options were few.
Flee, fight, or surrender.
The third option vanished without question.
That left fleeing or fighting.
But Rei had seen their faces. If they recklessly fled, the guards and knights would simply receive their descriptions.
If that was the case, killing Rei — the only one who had seen them — was by far the more efficient choice.
...There was also the fact that they had known their fallen comrade for a considerable time. A faint desire for revenge still flickered within them.
Had the situation been decisively hopeless, the two assassins would have chosen to retreat immediately. But in that sense, they had simply been unlucky.
...Yes. They had been unlucky.
"Grrrrrrl!"
Set charged straight at the two assassins facing Rei.
Rei's attackers understood Set's presence all too well.
Even so, they had believed they could handle him.
That belief, however, proved meaningless.
Set's speed was entirely beyond their expectations.
Anyone living in Gilm — or even a newcomer who properly gathered information — would know of Set's existence and attempt to learn the extent of his abilities.
But the available intelligence was scarce.
To the residents of Gilm, Set was a beloved pet.
He was undeniably strong in combat, but instances of Set fighting within the city were... not nonexistent, but exceedingly rare.
That was precisely why the assassins had been unable to obtain detailed information about him.
...There were adventurers who had witnessed Set's capabilities firsthand, but the assassins, anticipating unforeseen contingencies, had wanted to avoid contact with such people as much as possible.
A lack of time had also contributed.
Still, regarding Rei — who frequently showcased his strength even within the city — the assassins had apparently managed to gauge his abilities. Set, however, was a complete surprise...
"Tch!"
The first to react to the charging Set was the man with the Long Needles.
Though the woman carried a poison-coated dagger, she would have to fight in close quarters. The man, by contrast, could attack from range with projectiles. There was no question about which of them was better equipped to deal with a charging griffon.
The Long Needle the man hurled sped toward Set at considerable velocity.
But... purely in terms of Needle Throwing, Set knew someone more skilled than this man: Byune.
In raw physical ability, Byune was clearly inferior to the man.
And yet, Byune's thrown Long Needles were noticeably faster than his.
While running, Set dropped low and easily evaded the projectile.
The man, however, hadn't expected a single throw to stop Set. He immediately launched a second shot — this time with his left hand instead of his right.
But by then, Set was no longer on the ground.
Using the momentum from his initial crouch, he had launched himself into the air.
Soaring upward, Set flapped his wings to forcefully redirect his flight path... and in the next moment, opened his beak toward the man mid-flight...
"Grrrrrrl!"
Along with that roar, Crystal Breath erupted from his maw.
The man, never expecting such an attack from Set, was caught completely off guard and took the Crystal Breath head-on.
His body became coated in crystal.
He didn't understand exactly what was happening to him, but he grasped well enough that his body could no longer move.
The Crystal Breath that Set employed was, as the name suggested, a breath of crystal — possessing the ability to entomb opponents within it.
...However, since its level was still low at one, it couldn't actually seal an opponent inside crystal. All it could do was coat their body in a crystalline layer.
The crystal coating was thin enough that the recipient could deal with it — provided they understood what had been done to them.
But the man had no such understanding. He was bewildered and terrified by the unknown attack.
His body wouldn't move... no, it was difficult to move, and merely trying produced a crackling, crunching sound. Naturally so.
Then, having frozen for less than a few seconds, the man was struck by a blow from Set's front leg the instant after the griffon landed — and sent flying.
The impact shattered the crystal encasing the man's body. Sunlight pouring from above caught the fragments, scattering a glittering, almost fantastical light across the surroundings.
But that fantastical scene ended almost immediately.
This was a dead end. The man sent flying by Set's strike crashed into the wall at the far end, and that single blow snuffed out his consciousness without effort.
While Set handled his fight, Rei wasn't simply standing by watching. He took action too.
Since Set had dealt with the man wielding the Long Needles, Rei's target was naturally the woman with the poison-coated dagger.
Sensing Rei approaching, the woman recognized that her defeat was all but certain — no, virtually guaranteed. Even so, she did not give up.
As if the very concept of surrender had never existed in her mind, she raised her dagger and charged at Rei.
(Poison, huh. Troublesome.)
Rei had no idea what specific effect the poison on the dagger carried.
With a Pharmacist's or Alchemist's knowledge, he might have been able to identify it. But Rei possessed no such expertise.
Still, considering it was a poison used by assassins, it certainly wouldn't have a gentle effect like paralysis.
Almost certainly, it was the kind of poison where even a trace amount entering the body would cause instant death in an ordinary person.
(Well, the poison means nothing if she can't land a hit... and I don't even know if it would work on me anyway.)
He didn't know whether poison would even affect the body that Zephyle and the others had created.
Even so, he had absolutely no desire to test the poisoned blade against his own flesh.
That was why Rei swung Death Scythe at the woman.
A strike at a distance that clearly could not reach her.
Seeing this, the woman smiled at what she took to be Rei's blunder... but in the next instant, the Twilight Spear in his left hand swept horizontally, catching her in the flank and sending her flying.
The woman had considerable confidence in her own abilities. Withstanding a single enemy strike should have been within her power.
But the moment the shaft of the Twilight Spear connected, that confidence shattered completely.
A devastatingly ferocious blow that made defending against it impossible.
...Judging by appearance alone, it was inconceivable that Rei possessed such strength.
But the crushing impact she received overturned that assumption effortlessly, and she slammed into the wall just like the man who had wielded the Long Needles.
The only difference was that she didn't lose consciousness on impact.
"Guh... ugh..."
Groaning, the woman tried to stand, but the force of Rei's strike had taken her legs out from under her. She wobbled on her feet like a newborn fawn.
Even so, she reached for her dagger... and without warning, turned the blade toward herself and thrust it at her own body with all her might... but in the next instant, a violent impact sent the dagger flying from her hand.
"Silencing yourself? You're certainly dedicated to the job."
Rei wanted information from those who had attacked him.
He especially needed to know who had hired them, so he couldn't let her kill herself before she talked.
Without hesitation, he drove the butt of the Twilight Spear into the woman's solar plexus and knocked her out cold.
"Now then, considering this woman tried to kill herself without a moment's hesitation, the man over there might try the same once he comes to."
To prevent that, Rei bound both the man and the woman with rope and gagged them so they couldn't bite their own tongues.
He checked on the third man, but as expected, he was already dead.
"...So, what should I do now?"
He muttered to himself as he assessed the situation.
In a dead-end alley: one man dead with a crushed spine, two others gagged and bound, unable to move.
And standing over them were Rei and Set.
...To any reasonable observer, Rei was the suspicious one. If guards who knew nothing of the circumstances stumbled upon this scene, it wouldn't be at all strange for Rei to be the one detained.
Keeping that in mind, Rei surveyed the surroundings.
When assassins were deployed, someone was typically stationed nearby to observe the outcome.
Perhaps he could find such a person.
That was what he thought, but unfortunately, no one caught his eye.
"Set, is anyone hiding around here, or watching us?"
"Grr? ...Grrr."
At Rei's words, Set scanned the area, but soon shook his head.
In a forest — well, perhaps not quite that — but outside Gilm, he might have been able to find such a person.
But this was inside the city.
A massive crowd of people, far too many to count, filled the streets.
Finding a single person who might not even exist among them was like panning for gold in a desert.
As Set lowered his head in apology, Rei gently stroked him and told him not to worry.
He had only thought it would be lucky to find someone. He had no intention of blaming Set for coming up empty.
Perhaps sensing Rei's feelings, Set purred happily.
Stroking Set, Rei turned the problem over in his mind.
They had gone so far as to stage that entire ruse to attack him. There was no mistaking it — the assassins' target had been Rei.
And Rei had more reasons than he could count on every finger and toe for why someone might want him dead.
Given the current situation, the first possibility that came to mind was Veen.
He was someone even Daskar recognized as troublesome. It wouldn't be strange for him to see Rei as an obstacle worth eliminating.
Above all, he was the one who had dispatched a Noble to the Birth Tower.
Learning that Rei had thwarted that plan would naturally make him consider Rei a nuisance.
(No, wouldn't that be too fast? I captured that noble... captured? Well, "captured" is close enough. Anyway, not much time has passed since then. And yet they already had assassins of this caliber ready? ...It's more likely that someone else is the mastermind and the timing was purely coincidental.)
It was possible that someone had read everything and planned accordingly, but it made more sense to assume coincidence.
"Anyway, whoever's targeting me might try again if I just go about my life as usual... and more importantly, if I can get information out of these two, I could figure it out far more easily. The problem is how to make them talk."
If they were common Thugs or Bandits, a little rough treatment would loosen their tongues.
But the two lying before Rei were assassins — ones who had received extensive, highly advanced training.
Whether even Veen could procure multiple assassins of this caliber was something Rei couldn't quite bring himself to believe.
"Well, I'll leave that part to the guards. The real question is whether I or Set stays here to watch them."
If Rei went to fetch the guards, Set would watch the unconscious assassins. If Set went, Rei would stand guard.
The problem was which option made more sense.
He weighed his choices... and eventually, Rei made his decision.