Having crushed Blue Spear, Rei stepped out of the building.
There, for some reason, lay even more men on the ground than the ones he had taken down when entering the building.
Rei judged them to be Blue Spear members likely because blue spears were scattered about around the fallen men.
As far as Rei knew, the only people who used such weapons were the members of Blue Spear.
...Well, there might be individuals here and there who did, but when they were all identically equipped, that was a different story.
"Well, that makes sense. It's not like everyone was inside the building. It wouldn't be strange for some to have been outside."
"Gruu!"
Praise me, praise me—Set approached Rei and purred.
Rei praised Set and patted his head.
"Rei-san, how did it go? No, I can tell you're unharmed just by looking."
Perhaps judging from Rei and Set's demeanor that things were safe, Lazaria—who should have been hiding in the shadow of a building some distance away from the Blue Spear hideout—approached and asked.
Normally, given her position, Lazaria would probably prefer not to be seen by others.
But perhaps in this case alone, she had determined it was safe based on Rei and Set's attitudes.
...In fact, every Blue Spear member inside the hideout had been either defeated or killed by Rei, and those outside the building had been knocked unconscious by Set.
(They don't seem to be dead, but their limbs are bent in directions they shouldn't be.)
Set must have judged that there was no need to show mercy to opponents targeting him and Rei.
Of course, if Set had truly exerted his full power without holding back, it wouldn't have been just a matter of one or two broken limbs—arms and legs could easily have been blown clean off their bodies, and it wouldn't have been surprising.
Given that it hadn't come to that, Rei could understand that Set had definitely held back.
Unfortunately, Rei had no idea why Set had held back against opponents targeting them.
(Maybe it's because if limbs got blown off, they'd rot and the stench would drift around... or something like that?)
Rei accepted Set's behavior with that tentative reasoning for the time being, then nodded to Lazaria.
"Yeah. I dealt with the Blue Spear boss that was in this hideout, and his subordinates too... Those who heard the boss's dying words probably won't attack me anymore. Though I can't say for sure what the ones dispatched as assassins will do."
The possibility that an assassin dispatched by Blue Spear had been inside the hideout wasn't particularly high.
Given that, how the assassin who received this report from Blue Spear survivors would judge the situation and what action they would take—unfortunately, Rei couldn't predict that either.
However, as he had also told the Blue Spear boss, if they came at him, he would simply respond with an appropriate counterattack.
"...I knew it already, but you're truly strong, aren't you."
Lazaria spoke to Rei with a deeply impressed tone.
Living in Gilm and belonging to Black Dog, which excelled at information gathering, Lazaria naturally possessed a great deal of information about Rei.
Of course, the fact that Black Dog had so much information about Rei was undoubtedly related to the fact that the head of Black Dog was someone who admired Marina like a sister or mother.
In any case, that was why Lazaria knew a fair amount—or more—about Rei.
She had known, but... still, when told that he had so effortlessly crushed one of the underworld organizations, she couldn't help but truly feel his strength once again.
"I may not look it, but I am an Alias Holder, you know... Right?"
"Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry as if in agreement.
Seeing the pair, Lazaria hesitated over what to say, but a smile naturally formed on her face.
Worrying about Rei and his group would only be a waste.
"Umm, then I suppose we're done with Blue Spear?"
"Yeah. The next organization, please."
"...Just to be sure, I'm really only asking to be certain, but don't you need a break? I know a reasonably good place."
Normally, one wouldn't think about heading out to crush another organization right after destroying one.
There were physical limits, and mental fatigue was nothing to scoff at either.
And yet, Rei showed no sign of fatigue as he asked Lazaria for the location of the next organization.
At Lazaria's words, Rei nodded, indicating there was no problem.
"I don't mind. Actually, I'd like to settle this whole situation today if possible. I don't know exactly how many organizations there are to crush, but even so, I'd prefer to hurry."
"...Huh?"
The words that came from Rei's mouth were surprising enough, even for Lazaria, who had a certain degree of understanding of who Rei was.
"Um... are you serious? There are nearly ten organizations, you know? You're going to crush all of them in a single day?"
"That's the plan. ...That said, I don't think it'll come to seriously crushing every single one. Probably, once I crush a few, some will surrender. Though whether I'll accept their surrender is a delicate question."
Even if they surrendered to Rei, he naturally had no intention of accepting it at face value.
To be precise, if Rei were to readily accept an enemy's surrender, it could lead to trouble the next time he was attacked by someone.
If it became known that surrendering would earn forgiveness, then anyone who found Rei a nuisance would simply attack him first—if they could kill him, great.
If they couldn't, they could just surrender immediately. There was no telling that someone might think exactly that.
That would become extremely troublesome, so Rei couldn't afford to easily accept enemy surrenders.
...Of course, even without such circumstances, if asked whether he could readily forgive those who had targeted him, Rei would shake his head.
"Umm, then... well, let's head to the next organization's location for now."
Lazaria judged that continuing this conversation with Rei might lead to something strange—something she'd rather not hear—and forcibly changed the subject.
Though the new subject was, indeed, about the next place Rei was heading.
"Yeah. Please do. What kind of organization is the next one?"
"When they take direct action, they wear Black Garb. Their name is Black Phantom."
"Ah... those guys."
Among the assassins who had attacked, the Black Garb was the group Rei had come into contact with the most.
From those who came to investigate the lake and Birth Tower, to those who came to rescue the captured members. There were even some among those who had attacked in the middle of the City of Gilm.
"You know them?"
"Yeah. A lot happened. Aren't they the organization that hates me the most in this whole affair?"
"...Then, would you prefer a different organization? As far as I know, there are several others at about the same distance besides Black Phantom."
From Lazaria's perspective, there was no need to deliberately destroy an organization that held a strong grudge against Rei here—wouldn't it be better to attack a different one first?
An organization that held a grudge would naturally be more aggressive than the Blue Spear members.
If so, wouldn't it be better to raid a different organization first?
That was the thinking behind her suggestion, but Rei shook his head in response.
"No, I want to destroy Black Phantom first. If the organization that hates me gets destroyed so easily, that'll be a huge shock to the enemy, right?"
"I mean, just having multiple organizations destroyed in succession in a single day is already a huge shock, I think."
Lazaria's words were perfectly reasonable.
Thinking normally, destroying multiple organizations in a single day was simply unthinkable.
The fact that he was still going to do it could, in a way, be called very Rei-like.
"Is that so? I know several people who could pull off this much."
In fact, Rei was confident that the people he partied with and lived with—specifically Elena, Marina, Vihera, and the like—could casually do what Rei was planning.
There were also many skilled adventurers in Gilm, so depending on their motivation, there should be a fair number of people capable of such things.
"That's... not something a normal person could do at all, you know."
From Lazaria's perspective, that judgment was only natural.
Rei could say such things because there were many people nearby who could be called strong, but if asked how many among those currently in Gilm could actually pull something like that off, the number would be astonishingly low.
"Be that as it may, Black Phantom, was it? Take me to their hideout as soon as possible."
"When you say 'be that as it may,' it's a little troubling... Well, it's Rei-san, after all."
Lazaria uttered the same words that many people involved with Rei seemed to say for some reason.
Rei had some slight feelings about it, but judging that it was better not to say anything unnecessary given the current situation, he turned the conversation to Black Phantom.
"So, how far is Black Phantom's hideout from here? I'd be happy if it's close, preferably."
"Let's see. I think it's quite close. Shall we go?"
With that, Lazaria started walking.
Rei and Set followed after her.
The path they took was, naturally, a narrow one that was hard to spot—just like when they had come to the Blue Spear hideout.
Set also used the Size Change skill to navigate such paths.
Along the way, several Slum District residents tried to harass Lazaria, but upon realizing she was with Set, they backed away without doing anything.
"Having Set-chan along really makes walking through the Slum District so much easier."
Lazaria muttered with genuine feeling.
Given Lazaria's relatively refined features—better described as cute rather than beautiful—walking alone through the Slum District was somewhat dangerous.
Those who knew Lazaria was a member of Black Dog wouldn't dare lay a hand on her.
But to those who didn't know, she was nothing but a good target.
For someone like Lazaria, having Set with her meant she wouldn't be attacked, so her delight was only natural.
"That's right. That's an undeniable fact."
Rei, too, was often accosted when alone due to his appearance.
Especially in places outside of Gilm when he wasn't with Set, such things happened frequently.
But having Set with him served as proof of who he was, and even those who didn't know the alias Crimson wouldn't think of messing with someone accompanied by a Gryphon.
Having such abundant experience—having been accosted in all sorts of places he had visited—Rei could deeply agree with Lazaria's words.
Of course, while Rei had a feminine face, he was definitely male, and being accosted meant something very different for him than it did for a cute woman like Lazaria.
"I'm glad to hear you say that. It helps us too. ...Ah, look. You can see the Black Phantom hideout now."
While talking, the place Lazaria indicated held a single-story building.
However, it was built quite spaciously for one in the Slum District.
The building Blue Spear had used was three stories, but this one was probably about as large as its first and second floors combined.
"That building was used by a different organization before Black Phantom took it. But they lost a conflict with Black Phantom..."
"So they took it by force."
"Yes. Though I hear the organization that used it before also took it from another organization previously."
"...Being a building in the Slum District, a good location is something many would want. Though it's gotten quite run-down."
A building in the Slum District. One that had changed hands repeatedly through conflicts between organizations.
Naturally, it wouldn't be strange for the building to bear scars from past battles.
Rei thought they should just repair the broken parts, but that wasn't something for him to decide.
Ultimately, it was up to the members of Black Phantom who currently used the building to make that judgment, and their decisions had led to the current state of things.
"Lookouts... ah, there are some."
"Eh?"
At Rei's words as he gazed at the building, Lazaria half-reflexively hid behind the shadow of a nearby building.
From Lazaria's perspective, it didn't seem like there was anyone around the building.
That was why she had been watching the building with peace of mind... but being told there were lookouts when she hadn't noticed them was impossible not to be startled by.
"Don't worry, you haven't been spotted yet. I'll head in right away, so hide just like you did with Blue Spear."
With that, Rei headed toward the Black Phantom hideout together with Set.