Having settled things with the potions, Ninash felt a wave of relief, though she kept it from showing on her face.
These potions were a combination of those given to her by the upper echelon when expanding into Gilm and ones she had purchased with her own funds.
Being potions worth several Platinum Coins each, they were not something that could be obtained easily.
However, according to the information gathered while operating in Gilm, Rei had a hobby of collecting Magic Items.
Whether potions fell under the category of Magic Items Rei collected was debatable, but since they were an incredibly valuable commodity for an adventurer, it was nearly certain he would accept them... and that had in fact worked.
There had also been the fear that he might kill her and simply seize the potions, but fortunately, Rei did not seem the type to commit such a ruthless act.
Granted, the real reason might simply have been that killing her would likely cause the remaining Black Phantom members to attack him until their dying breaths, and that would have been troublesome.
"You're leaving Gilm. That's the deal, right?"
"Yes."
"Obviously, if these potions turn out to be fakes or poisoned... you understood what would happen when you proposed this deal, right?"
"Yes."
Ninash nodded once more at Rei's words.
Honestly, coming to Gilm this time had brought about the worst possible outcome for Black Phantom... no, for Ninash personally.
...Well, Ninash was still alive, and given that many Black Phantom members had also survived, perhaps it wasn't truly the worst. Still, it was far from a favorable result.
There was no doubt they had achieved some degree of success coming to Gilm, but it was equally undeniable that Rei had reduced the organization to half-ruins... no, had inflicted damage severe enough to be called near-total annihilation.
Considering those circumstances, even if she left Gilm and returned to headquarters, Ninash's future was far from bright.
She had held considerable respect within Black Phantom, but this incident would cause her reputation to plummet.
Given the situation, one might even think it would have been better to have been killed by Rei here. But in order to get the remaining survivors out of Gilm somehow, she could not afford to die — that much was certain.
"I see. Then take the Black Garb bastards with you, among the assassins targeting me. ...Also, ever since entering Gilm, Set and I have been sensing an unease. Do you know who's behind it, and by what means?"
"No, unfortunately I don't. At the very least, it's certainly not our organization. Even if emerging organizations are cooperating with one another, that's ultimately nothing more than a product of compromise. If we had successfully defeated Rei, maintaining a friendly relationship between organizations would have been difficult. Under those circumstances, do you think we'd reveal our secret weapons to potential future enemies?"
"...I see."
That explanation was convincing enough for Rei.
He remembered hearing or reading somewhere that there is no friendship between nations, and the same likely applied to organizations.
No, unlike nations that had laws, underground organizations naturally had no such constraints.
There might be tacit understandings, but even those could be ignored if one chose to.
Moreover, if they succeeded in killing Rei, the fame would be immense, and it wouldn't be strange for them to want to monopolize that for themselves.
That was precisely why they would never do something like teaching their secret weapons — weapons that might work even on Rei and Set — to a rival they could end up fighting.
"In other words, you know nothing."
Rei asked to confirm, looking just slightly — truly only slightly — disappointed.
Given the organization's name, Black Phantom, there was a strong possibility they possessed methods that could affect their target's perception, and that thought had given him a glimmer of hope.
But Ninash clearly shook her head, indicating she knew nothing.
The possibility that Ninash was lying wasn't entirely dismissed, but with her own life and the lives of the surviving Black Garb members on the line, Rei thought she wouldn't dare tell such a lie here.
"It seems so. ...So, if there's nothing else, may I go? I'd like to begin preparations for our withdrawal, if possible."
"Right. ...Ah, before that. The spears fired at me from the ceiling during the battle earlier — is that also a Magic Item?"
"Yes. However, I don't think you'll be able to take this Magic Item with you, Rei."
"Oh?"
Interpreting her words as provocative, Rei prompted Ninash to continue.
...Meanwhile, the other Black Garb members were clearing away corpses and treating the wounded.
Naturally, potions and similar items were being used for treatment, but those were not the ones Ninash had offered to Rei, so he said nothing about it.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
You know what happens if you lie, right?
Rei directed such a gaze at Ninash, but though she noticed his demeanor, she showed no sign of agitation as she spoke.
"It's simple. This entire building is a Magic Item. ...You must have noticed on your way here, Rei — that the walls formed hidden rooms, didn't you?"
"So those hidden rooms were also an effect of the Magic Item."
The words that came from Ninash's mouth were unexpected even for Rei.
Indeed, if the entire building was a Magic Item, recovering it would be difficult.
If it were something like a ship, it could be stored in the Misty Ring.
But a building with its foundation firmly buried in the ground was impossible to store.
If it had been something like a Container House — which one might occasionally see in Japan — then it could have been stored.
"Yes, that's right. Naturally, since the entire building is a single Magic Item, you can't just take a portion of it. If you still want this building, you'll need to live here."
"Looks like I'd better give up on it."
Living in this building was not an option for Rei.
Located deep within the Slum District, using it as a base would be variously troublesome.
Granted, with Set, he could fly to get around, so it wouldn't be that much of a hassle... but Marina's house had a proper courtyard, Marina cooked for him, and being in the Noble District, the public order was good.
Between Marina's house and this building, which was more comfortable required no consideration.
(Maybe dig it out with Terrain Manipulation... no, that's probably impossible.)
For a moment, Rei wondered if he could manage it by digging around the building with Terrain Manipulation, but he immediately dismissed the idea.
"I suppose so. There's no need to acquire it by force. ...Though once we're gone, another organization will likely use this building as their base."
"Probably."
Rei couldn't deny that.
In reality, this building had various attack features — creating hidden rooms in the exterior walls, firing spears at intruders, and so on.
Considering that, with such a convenient building sitting empty, many underground organizations would want to use it as a base.
(In that case, maybe I should just destroy it? I have no idea who created this kind of Magic Item, but leaving something this dangerous as-is seems problematic in various ways. ...Besides, depending on the circumstances, I might be able to obtain the key components that power this Magic Item.)
The building itself might become unusable, but if it were the key components of the Magic Item that constituted a building of this scale, it wouldn't be strange for them to have some use.
"Destroy it, then."
"Huh?"
Perhaps not expecting Rei to say such a thing after hearing the explanation about the building, a voice of surprise escaped Ninash's lips.
"Um, are you serious? This building, I mean?"
"Yeah. If this building is left alone, some organization will use it again, right? In that case, rather than letting those kinds of people use it, it'd be better for me to take the key components of this Magic Item. ...Or is there some problem with that?"
"No. We lost to Rei. Given that, if Rei says he wants to do so, I have nothing to say. ...However, this building is fairly well-known in the Slum District, so if Rei destroys it, there might be people who hold a grudge against you."
Ninash said this with apparent concern, but Rei had no intention of taking her words at face value.
For one thing, Ninash might appear at first glance to be a good-natured woman, but her true identity was the woman leading Black Phantom's Gilm branch.
A genuinely good-natured woman could never do what she had done.
That being the case, what immediately came to Rei's mind was that she was trying to egg him on while pretending to dissuade him, goading him into destroying the building.
(Black Phantom must have done quite a lot of unreasonable things themselves.)
Fundamentally, the emerging organizations currently targeting Rei had established their positions through considerable force.
But that force had naturally earned them the resentment of other organizations to varying degrees, and if such organizations learned that Ninash and Black Phantom were withdrawing from Gilm after suffering heavy losses from fighting Rei, what would happen?
Of course, many organizations that had clashed with Black Phantom had been destroyed.
But there were also many that had taken damage without being destroyed.
For those organizations, Ninash and her group — who had challenged Rei, suffered massive losses, and were now leaving Gilm — would be perfect prey.
It wouldn't be strange for them to attack, as if to say they were settling old scores.
Ninash understood this as well, which was why she wanted to somehow avert their attention.
The result of that was the building's destruction.
As far as Rei was concerned, that was fine either way.
If they came at him as enemies, he simply needed to deal with them accordingly.
"Right, I'll destroy it after all. How long will it take for you to carry out your belongings?"
"I can't exactly say it'll be over immediately. We'd like to bury our dead, too."
So saying, she looked at the Black Garb corpses spread across the floor.
The wounded had already been treated, so the only ones lying on the floor now were corpses.
Carrying those corpses all the way to Black Phantom's headquarters was, first of all, impossible.
With summer approaching, they would rot quickly.
If Rei's Misty Ring were available, time could be stopped, but Rei had no intention of cooperating with Black Phantom to that extent.
There were simplified versions of the Item Box available, but they were quite expensive, and unlike the Item Box, time still flowed for items stored inside.
That was why they would bury the corpses in Gilm, and the best they could do was cut off some hair to take back as mementos.
"I see. Then I'm going to crush the other organizations. When I'm done, I'll destroy this building, so be gone by then."
So saying, Rei held out his hand.
Ninash understood what that meant and handed Rei the promised potions.
Ten potions, each worth several Platinum Coins.
With potions that valuable, even if an arm were severed for some reason, one could reattach the limb if done quickly.
...For the regeneration of lost body parts or the reattachment of limbs that had been severed for an extended period, one would need potions costing Light Gold Coins.
"Received. ...Then do as you please. However, if you're still here when I return... you understand what will happen, right?"
Having received the exceedingly rare potions, Rei no longer intended to annihilate them here for the time being.
But Black Phantom was still an enemy that had targeted his life, making this the maximum concession he would offer.
"Yes, I understand. ...But, just possibly — really, just possibly — someone might enter this building after we're gone and before Rei returns. What would you do in that case?"
"If someone like that shows up, I'll call out to them. If they want to be buried under rubble, then they probably wouldn't come out of the building, would they?"
At Rei's words, Ninash's cheek twitched for just a moment, but she nodded.