Francois had no choice but to take Daub's outstretched hand.
On her own, she couldn't see any way to beat Rei.
Given that, she had no choice but to rely on the people in this building—those dispatched by Underground Organizations that included members even stronger than Francois.
Seeing her take his hand, Daub let out a laugh.
"Foh foh foh. Thank you for taking my hand. There will surely be many hardships in this endeavor... but even so, let us both do our best."
"...Indeed. I'm glad to hear you say that."
Francois told him this, but it was clear from her expression that she didn't genuinely feel that way.
Daub, however, was well aware of this and said nothing.
In truth, targeting Rei's life required as many strong hands as possible.
Given that, whether Francois was reluctant or otherwise, her cooperation was extremely welcome.
But precisely because they had been dispatched from various organizations, some among them found her attitude disagreeable.
After all, those gathered here had been sent by organizations that had expanded into Gilm—a frontier, no, a place that could only be called a savage land—and had survived without being wiped out.
Naturally, they were among the most skilled within their organizations, and at the same time, many had strong personalities.
To such people, Francois's attitude was offensive. Above all, the fact that they had backing while she had none—or if one forced a comparison, she had found Daub—yet she stood here among them as an equal, did not sit well.
"Hey, what's with that attitude! You're the lowest-ranking nobody here! Do you not understand your position!?"
The one who shouted was a man dressed in Black Garb.
His short temper was partly his natural disposition, but more significantly, it stemmed from the fact that his subordinates had been captured by Rei.
They had gone to reconnaissance the lake, and the fact that Rei had been there was a major factor.
Moreover, those who had attempted to rescue their captured comrades had ended up captured or killed themselves.
For Underground Organizations, reputation mattered as much as strength.
In that sense, this man's organization had been made to seem questionable in ability by Rei, and their reputation had been thoroughly crushed.
Because he cared deeply about his organization, the current situation—where it was being looked down upon—was by no means amusing to him.
And in the midst of all this, someone like Francois, who rubbed him the wrong way, had appeared.
Expecting him to deal with it calmly was unreasonable.
For Francois's part, if she backed down here, she would continue to be disrespected from this point forward.
Thinking about what lay ahead, that was absolutely unacceptable.
"I didn't come here to be a lackey. I came because I want Rei's head. At the very least, I have no reason to be lectured by a man of your caliber."
"Hoh."
Hearing Francois's words, the Man in Black muttered quietly, his voice laced with the unmistakable stench of violence.
He was not a patient man to begin with. One more push and a fight would break out right here.
No—considering the people gathered, it would be better described as a deathmatch than a fight.
In any case, the situation was truly on the verge of erupting, but...
"Could I ask you to leave it at that?"
A voice echoed through the room.
Who had spoken was obvious without even thinking about it.
Every gaze in the room turned to the source—Daub.
His demeanor hadn't changed much from before. He seemed no different than when they had first gathered for this endeavor.
But that was strictly on the surface.
To the first-class assassins present, Daub's presence had shifted slightly but unmistakably.
Given the current situation, if such a Daub were to go all out, what exactly would happen?
Everyone found themselves acknowledging that he undoubtedly possessed top-class ability among those assembled here.
Of course, if one knew even a little about Daub's background, it would have been obvious from the start that he was among the top class.
The reason they thought "top class" rather than "the top" was likely because each of them held a certain pride in their own abilities.
"The Hill of Reubeses... huh."
One of the men muttered.
Francois didn't understand what those words meant, but the others clearly did.
Their expressions hardened, and they turned their gazes toward Daub.
Daub, receiving those stares, paid no mind to his surroundings and merely looked at Francois and the Man in Black.
"We have gathered here solely to take Rei's... Crimson Rei's head. There is no one here who would forget that, is there?"
Daub delivered these words while repeatedly leaping with an agility that belied his balloon-like physique.
The words carried a strange power, leaving those who heard them no option but to nod.
"That's right. That's why we shouldn't engage in meaningless conflict here. If you want to prove yourself, all you need to do is defeat Crimson and make him acknowledge your strength."
When one of the women said this, the tension in the air noticeably eased.
Seeing this, Daub spoke again.
"Now then, that being the case, let us get right to the matter at hand. The problem is that Crimson isn't in Gilm, is it?"
"Yeah, apparently he's been sleeping at the Birth Tower or something lately."
The Man in Black clicked his tongue, perhaps recalling his subordinates who had gone to scout the lake again.
But paying him no mind, one of the other men spoke up.
"From what I heard, he comes back to Gilm almost every day. Bringing lumber felled from the Treant Forest, going to the Lord's Manor, things like that."
"That's right. Our people tried to make a move then and failed. Their act to catch him off guard should have been convincing, but..."
One man sighed, and another lamented that even the underlings in his organization had been captured.
"My, my. It seems your organizations have suffered quite a bit of damage. Mine was still in the process of gathering information, so we haven't taken any losses."
"Tch. You only avoided losses because you're slow."
The Man in Black muttered loudly enough for the woman to hear, but she let the words pass without particularly caring.
"So, what do we do? Since the skilled members of each organization have gathered like this, I'd like us to cooperate if possible, but..."
"Don't be foolish. With this many people gathered, do you think everyone can cooperate? That would only recklessly increase the damage."
People of mediocre ability might have been able to cooperate to some extent.
But those gathered here all possessed skill worthy of being called first-class.
In other words, each had their own distinct fighting style.
If such people tried to cooperate carelessly, it would only prevent them from demonstrating their respective abilities.
Many of those listening nodded at the man's words.
"Then why did we bother gathering like this?"
"That's obvious, isn't it? Even if we attack separately, it's so we don't end up fighting each other if we run into one another by chance. Did you not hear that before coming?"
Rather than everyone cooperating to attack Rei, each would strike on their own without getting in the way of the others present.
Additionally, each would bring whatever information they had on Rei.
That was the purpose of this discussion—though Daub bringing Francois had thoroughly disrupted the flow.
"Come to think of it, I do remember hearing something like that. But it's information about Rei, right? It's actually spread quite a bit. There are even some wild rumors going around."
"Yeah, uh huh. Rei only started becoming famous in the last few years, right? And in that short time, he instantly became the alias holder Crimson. He's a problem."
"From what I heard, he was training as a Young Mage's apprentice, right? That's when he supposedly got Set, too. Though I have no idea how you go about acquiring a Gryphon."
Since each person referred to him as either Rei or Crimson, even if someone had been eavesdropping, they probably wouldn't have been able to tell whether everyone was talking about the same person.
Though given that Rei was a famous figure, that would likely become clear soon enough.
"Foh foh foh. I understand the desire to discuss various things, but first, we must defeat Rei. What we know about his abilities is this: he wields both a scythe and a spear, both of which are Magic Items. His scythe serves as a Magic Catalyst, allowing him to wield various magic, beginning with Flame Magic."
"Especially famous is the Flame Tornado, right? Though since it's a wide-area attack, he probably can't use it inside or near Gilm, and he can't use it in the Treant Forest either."
Rei was famous for using the Flame Tornado, but the people here were assassins.
Since they would be attacking with small numbers, they didn't need to worry about the Flame Tornado for the time being.
"What's really troublesome is that despite being a mage, he's also strong in close combat."
Mhm, mhm.
Everyone who heard that opinion nodded.
Even Daub nodded, which spoke volumes about just how exceptional Rei's combat style was.
"On top of that, there's Gryphon Seto, right? And if we're unlucky, there's the Princess General, Gilm's former Guild Master, or Vihera, who was called the Crazy Beast in the Labyrinth City Exil."
"...Setting those last ones aside, the fundamental problem is that Rei generally acts together with Set."
"That's true. Right now Rei is at the Birth Tower, right? He's staying nearby, so we don't need to worry about his party members, do we?"
"Right. The problem is how we take down Set."
"And Set isn't just a normal Gryphon—it's a Rare Species, a monster equivalent to S-Rank, right? How do we take down a monster like that?"
The more they talked, the more they understood the sheer difficulty of defeating Rei.
Those gathered here were all skilled agents of their respective organizations.
Francois, too, was extremely formidable in terms of combat power.
Despite such individuals being assembled, when they considered the gap in Combat Power between them and Rei, they couldn't believe they had a chance of winning.
"What's troublesome about Set isn't just its attack power, but above all, the fact that it can fly freely through the sky. Even if we somehow managed to corner Rei, the moment he gets on Set, he escapes into the air. Daub, can you do something about that?"
"Impossible."
Daub could leap high—so high it was closer to flying than jumping—but even so, it was still merely a leap.
If Set, which could truly fly, escaped into the sky, there was no way he could catch up.
"In that case, if we're going to attack, it'll have to be inside Gilm. Outside, he can ride Set and take off, but inside the city, he can't recklessly do something like that."
"The problem is whether we can push Rei that far. Oh, but in the city, long-handled weapons would be harder to use than outside Gilm, wouldn't they? No—more fundamentally, before Rei even draws his weapons... assassinating him while blending into a crowd would be more likely to succeed, wouldn't it?"
At that assassin's observation, everyone shifted their thinking in that direction.
True assassins, as the woman had suggested, mostly killed by catching their targets off guard—blending into crowds, or in some cases infiltrating a target's household as a Maid or Butler and using poison.
The reason none of those present had thought of that approach was precisely because they were all skilled enough that, rather than tediously blending into crowds, they could defeat their target head-on.
"In that case, the idea of everyone acting independently is off the table too. If it's that kind of assassination method, we'd actually need to coordinate."
When one of the men said this, everyone nodded in agreement—and their gazes shifted to Daub.
His balloon-like physique stood out conspicuously, clearly unsuited for blending into a crowd.
Receiving those stares, Daub found himself wondering whether he should take up street performance.