Scattered across the ground were the corpses of the Black Garb.
Bodies cleaved in two—some split top to bottom, others severed side to side—by the sweeping arc of Rei's Death Scythe.
The result was a field of carnage that could only be described as mutilated remains.
Naturally, entrails spilled from the corpses lay strewn across the earth.
And with the season inching closer to summer, the temperature had been climbing steadily.
The rising heat meant the stench of blood was now joined by the reek of viscera, thickening the air around them.
The one they'd captured alive was one matter, but the corpses posed a different problem entirely.
It was Rei who suggested storing the bodies.
With his Misty Ring, storing corpses was a simple task.
From the Guards' perspective, since Rei was the one who'd created the bodies, he might as well clean up after himself.
Rei agreed that leaving the corpses scattered about would cause problems, so with some reluctance, he began storing them in the Misty Ring.
The heat was one thing, but the stench of entrails it produced couldn't be mitigated even by the Dragon Robe.
So he worked as quickly as he could, stowing the bodies one after another... until eventually, the only ones remaining were the man who had wielded the Trident Dagger and the others who'd been knocked out while still breathing.
"So, what do we do with these guys? I've tied them up so they can't move for now, and gagged them so they won't swallow poison or bite their tongues off."
"Hold on. I'll go call for reinforcements."
Two of the Guards left the scene.
There were five unconscious Black Garb in total.
Five Guards wouldn't be enough to haul them all to the Guard Station.
They needed more men.
"Yeah, I get that. But be careful. Especially that one—he was leading the Black Garb, and he's seriously strong. You guys might have trouble holding him."
Rei's words were an undeniable truth.
The Guards of Gilm often had to subdue adventurers who got out of hand.
That required a corresponding level of skill—but only a corresponding level.
The man with the Trident Dagger was far beyond that standard.
If they tried to handle him the way they would an ordinary adventurer, they'd be counterattacked without breaking a sweat.
To prevent that, either their best fighters would need to take point, or they'd need to overwhelm him with numbers.
At Rei's warning, the three remaining Guards exchanged grim looks and nodded.
"Understood. I'll make sure your advice gets passed up the chain. But seriously, why's today been nothing but one incident after another?"
"You're asking me? I honestly couldn't tell you. Another Guard asked me the same thing earlier, but it's not like I did anything to bring this about. At the very least, I haven't been picking fights with any underworld organizations lately."
"Most people go their whole lives without picking fights with underworld organizations even once."
One of the Guards stared at the bound Black Garb and spoke in exasperation.
In truth, picking a fight with an underworld organization meant risking exactly this kind of scenario—assassins showing up at your door.
Even short of that, there was always the threat of intimidation and retaliation.
By those standards, crossing an underworld organization was practically suicide.
...Of course, this world wasn't like the Japan Rei remembered, where sheer numbers could overwhelm quality.
Well, to be precise, quantity over quality held true up to a certain threshold—but past that point, quality crushed quantity without exception.
And Gilm had no shortage of people who'd crossed that threshold, Rei included.
For individuals like that, taking on an underworld organization was entirely feasible.
...And Rei was the very epitome of such a person.
"Take that up with the underworld organizations, not me. That said, I think I've actually reached a reasonably friendly understanding with the ones operating in Gilm."
That wasn't an exaggeration. It was plain fact.
Every underworld organization that had crossed Rei had suffered devastating losses.
The lucky ones withdrew from Gilm before coming to blows with him in earnest, but those were few and far between.
The end result was that underworld organizations now considered provoking Rei more trouble than it was worth. An unspoken agreement had taken root: don't make an enemy of him.
Since no formal pact had been signed, Rei could only assume that was their stance—but things had undeniably been going smoothly of late.
And yet, today, all of a sudden, this.
Did someone get their hands on a Magic Item or a person with a skill that's creating this lingering unease, and that's why they came after me? But even so... these Black Garb and Daub feel completely different.
The Black Garb had the look of trained assassins or underworld operatives. Daub, with his balloon-like physique and painted face like some kind of clown, was conspicuously eye-catching.
He'd held his own against Set well enough, which meant his combat skills were considerable.
At the very least, he seemed more capable than the Black Garb Rei had fought, including the man with the Trident Dagger.
Or could Daub himself be the source of this unease? ...Maybe I should pay a visit to the Slum District. If I do, the organizations there might reach out, and I might actually get a handle on what's going on.
If enemies were coming after him for a reason, then he just needed to root out the cause at its source.
Besides, while some in the Slum District were hostile toward him, others had become friendly after the Gigant Turtle dissection had earned them good money.
Given that, the Slum District would be a natural place to gather information.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that going straight to the Slum District beat walking around Gilm and waiting to be attacked.
Alright. Once I hand these guys over to the Guards, I'm heading to the Slum District. If they want a fight, I'll give them one.
Entertaining thoughts of a potential clash, Rei also calculated that any underworld organization worth its salt might well have Magic Items in their possession.
Whether those would serve as compensation for his trouble or become spoils of war after he dismantled them remained to be seen.
Either way, judging the odds of acquiring Magic Items from the underworld organization to be high if things went smoothly, Rei settled on his next move.
...In truth, the assassins targeting Rei belonged to an underworld organization that had slipped into Gilm under cover of the Expansion Construction. They had no ties to any of the established groups in the city, and yet they had survived where others had been culled.
For the existing underworld organizations in Gilm, Rei's arrival alone would have been a serious miscalculation.
To have to weather Rei's visit—no, his barrage—because of an incident they had nothing to do with?
Had they known, they would have been on the verge of panic.
Or they might have gone so far as to attack the upstart organization that had caused this mess, telling them not to drag everyone else into their problems.
"Rei? Hey, don't tell me... you're not actually thinking of doing something stupid, are you?"
The Guard who'd been talking with Rei suspected, based on the entire conversation, that Rei might be entertaining something reckless—like raiding an underworld organization head-on.
As a Guard, he had no love for criminal outfits.
But it was also undeniable that their very existence kept crime in Gilm suppressed to a manageable level.
Without underworld organizations, the more volatile residents of the Slum District would each commit crimes on their own initiative, and the resulting chaos would spread needlessly.
Instead, the organizations absorbed such individuals, kept them in line, and channeled their energies productively.
That was exactly why the Guards feared a clash between Rei and the underworld—the organizations would bear the brunt, and that protective buffer would collapse.
...The fact that they assumed the underworld organizations would be the ones taking heavy losses in a confrontation with a single man spoke volumes about how accurately the Guards understood Rei's strength.
"Be that as it may. When you've got assassins coming after you, fighting purely on the defensive isn't exactly thrilling."
"With all due respect, deciding your course of action based on what's entertaining or not is a problem for us. Besides..."
The Guard gave Rei an exasperated look, then his expression shifted, his gaze turning toward the Black Garb.
Rei caught the meaningful change in demeanor.
"Besides what? Something on your mind?"
"Yeah, these Black Garb... If there were a group running around in matching outfits like this, word would get around. We actually know of a few outfits like that operating in the city. But I've never seen uniforms like these."
"...What? So they're not from a local underworld organization?"
"No, anyone pulling an assassination attempt is obviously tied to the underworld. But they're definitely not from any outfit I know."
Rei studied the Black Garb again.
He'd had run-ins with underworld organizations before, but that didn't make him an expert on their inner workings.
Marina might know more about that side of things.
Given that Marina had served as Guild Master in Gilm for years, it wouldn't be surprising if she had extensive intelligence on the city's darker elements.
With adventurers occasionally clashing with underworld organizations, that kind of information was essential.
But even Marina probably can't explain this lingering unease. Which means I'd be better off asking the people pulling the assassins' strings directly... No, these men aren't from a Gilm organization. So where did they come from, and what brought them all the way here? To kill me, obviously.
Rei understood full well that there were people beyond Gilm's borders who wanted him dead.
The nobles stationed in Gilm—whether from the King's Faction or the Noble's Faction, drawn to the city by Daskar's rule over the Neutral Faction or by the unique resources of the Kingdom of Mireana's sole Frontier—were perfectly capable of hatching schemes.
More often than not, those dispatched here were second and third sons with no hope of inheriting their family's title, and some of them schemed to distinguish themselves and return in triumph.
For such men, Rei was ideal prey.
...Though if they recklessly tried to sink their teeth into him, they'd find themselves devoured instead.
"Heeey!"
A sudden shout broke through Rei's thoughts.
He turned toward the voice and saw more than ten Guards approaching.
Among them was the Guard who'd been working the gate when Rei entered Gilm—the same one who'd shown up during Daub's Street Performer act and again at the poisoned Fruit Water stall.
With the Expansion Construction underway, the Guards were stretched thin.
Patrols within the city had taken such a hit that they'd resorted to hiring adventurers for routine sweeps.
For over ten Guards to show up like this meant they were taking the assassination threat against Rei very seriously.
How critical Rei was to the Expansion Construction in Gilm.
Anyone who understood that would consider this response only natural.
"Man, you're having quite the busy day."
The Guard addressing him was the same one he'd crossed paths with repeatedly throughout the day.
After being attacked this many times, exasperation had clearly overtaken concern.
"Yeah. Pretty busy. Once we're done processing these guys, I'm heading to Marina's place to see if she knows anything about them."
"...Marina, huh."
The Guard nodded in understanding at Marina's name.
Anyone serving in the Gilm Guard knew exactly who Marina was.
Then again, it would be stranger for any man in Gilm not to know a beauty like her.
And so the Guards directed jealous stares at Rei—the man who partied with Marina, and who was currently living under her roof.