Rei confirmed that the Heaven's Light hideout had burned completely to ash. The drugs that had likely been stored inside were gone, and even the smoke produced from their burning had fully dissipated. Satisfied, he turned his gaze toward Lazaria.
"For now, let's get out of here. The people around us are just reeling from the shock of watching the hideout burn, but if we stick around, there's no telling when they'll come to their senses and start acting up."
"...You're right. We should."
Lazaria nodded in agreement with Rei's words.
What kind of feelings Lazaria harbored toward the organization known as Heaven's Light, Rei couldn't say for certain. But at the very least, there was no doubt she hated them.
After glancing at Lazaria's state, Rei touched the butt of his Death Scythe to the ground and activated a skill.
"Terrain Manipulation."
With those words, only a section of the earthen wall surrounding them collapsed, opening a gap just wide enough for Rei and Lazaria to pass through.
Rei was originally small in stature, and Lazaria was by no means tall for a woman. That being the case, slipping through even a narrow gap presented no particular issue in their current situation.
"Let's go. I want to regroup with Set and put some distance between us and this place. Lazaria, if you're thinking about the people here, wouldn't it be better for you to get back to the Black Dog hideout quickly too?"
"Right... Yes, you're right."
Lazaria seemed to have a lot on her mind regarding the destruction of the Heaven's Light hideout, but Rei's words brought her back to herself somewhat.
The junkies here were currently lamenting and causing a commotion, but that was all they were doing for now. However, if left unchecked, they would undoubtedly spread to other parts of the Slum District in the future and start rampaging from withdrawal symptoms.
Depending on how bad things got, there was even a chance they would leave the Slum District entirely and go on a rampage. If that happened, Daskar would naturally need to crack down hard. And a strict crackdown would inevitably bring harm to the people of the Slum District.
That was precisely why Black Dog—and anyone else who understood the situation in Gilm—would naturally want to avoid such an outcome and do something about the junkies.
Even so, there were many among the Slum District's residents who thought the simplest solution was to just kill the junkies outright. Since Black Dog refused to tolerate that approach, their stance was to save as many as possible, even if they couldn't save everyone.
"Understood. Let's go right away. ...Rei-san, I'm sorry, but about destroying the other organizations—"
Before Lazaria could finish, Rei nodded.
"I know. I was planning to call it a day after taking down Heaven's Light anyway."
If the dissonance he'd felt since arriving in Gilm hadn't been resolved, Rei might have pushed himself to destroy a few more organizations. But that issue had been settled when he destroyed the Clown organization and killed Daub.
...Though, thinking back on Daub's body, "destroyed" was probably a more fitting description than "killed."
Regardless, the entity that served as Daub's true body might still be alive, but the most pressing matter—the dissonance—had been resolved. Given that, Rei felt that forcing himself to crush more organizations today would be unnecessary.
"Thank you. Then let's head back to the Black Dog hideout."
"Yeah, good idea. ...Actually, now that I think about it, there's something I need to take care of before going to the Black Dog hideout."
Rei recalled the situation at the Wind Fang hideout. He had left the Morning Star members to search for anything leading to the basement, trusting them to handle it. Now that he'd finished his other business for the day, he honestly wanted to settle that matter too.
The Morning Star members had no idea when he'd be back, so by now they had to be desperately searching for a hidden passage or staircase leading underground.
"Eh? ...Ah."
Lazaria seemed to remember the Wind Fang incident at Rei's words and showed a look of understanding. But in the next moment, she bowed her head toward him.
"In that case, I'm sorry, but I'll return to the hideout for now. I think it would be best to report on this incident as quickly as possible."
"Hold on."
Lazaria moved to leave immediately, but Rei stopped her. She gave him a questioning look, as if asking what was wrong, but as far as Rei was concerned, being left behind here was a problem.
Lazaria knew the Slum District well, so returning to the Black Dog hideout on her own would be no issue at all. But they had gotten here through back alleys, and if he were abandoned in a place he was visiting for the first time, navigating his way out of the Slum District or finding the Wind Fang hideout on his own would be difficult.
"We came here through back alleys. If you leave me and Set here, we'll be in trouble."
"Ah..."
Lazaria seemed to understand what Rei meant, letting out a small sound of realization.
"So, take us to the Wind Fang hideout."
If it came down to it, riding Set would make leaving the Slum District easy enough. But Rei judged that flying around on Set within the Slum District would cause problems for various reasons, so traveling on foot seemed like the better option.
"Right... Understood."
Lazaria sounded slightly disappointed as she replied. She wanted to get back to the Black Dog hideout as quickly as she could, but there was no way she could just abandon Rei here.
Seeing her expression, Rei spoke in a reassuring tone.
"Just guide us to the Wind Fang hideout. After that, you're free to head back to the Black Dog hideout."
"Eh? But how will you get from the Wind Fang hideout...?"
"The Morning Star guys are there, right? They came to the Slum District too, so they probably know how to get out of the area. And it wouldn't be strange for them to know where the Black Phantom hideout is, either. They might even be able to guide you all the way to the Black Dog hideout."
"...I see."
It wasn't that Lazaria believed everything Rei said at face value. But for someone familiar with the Slum District, guiding Rei and his group to the Black Dog hideout wasn't a tall order. With that in mind, she nodded at his words.
"Understood. I'll take you up on your offer, then."
Rather than bringing Rei to the Wind Fang hideout, waiting for his business there to finish, and then tagging along to the Black Phantom hideout to watch him destroy that one too, it made more sense to simply lead him to the Wind Fang hideout and then hurry back to the Black Dog hideout on her own.
Making that decision, she urged Rei forward as they moved, and before long—
"Gruu!"
Set spotted Rei and Lazaria and bounded over happily.
There were still junkies scattered around, but Rei and his group paid them no particular attention. They had put considerable distance between themselves and the Heaven's Light hideout, so there was no one nearby making a commotion about losing their drug supply.
However, a few did notice Rei's group and started getting agitated.
Ah, right. It was something like they'd receive drugs in exchange for reporting anyone they spotted.
Naturally, even if they made a fuss now, the Heaven's Light base no longer existed, so there was no one to give them drugs. But in their drug-fueled state of excitement, they probably couldn't grasp that.
For Rei, things would get troublesome if they rioted, so he was relieved that none of them attacked.
With that settled, Rei stroked Set as they made their departure.
The junkies had been stationed in greater numbers the closer they were to the Heaven's Light hideout. Which meant that the farther they got from it, the fewer junkies they encountered. That was exactly why Rei and the others wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the hideout.
Following Lazaria's guidance through back alleys and narrow paths, they eventually arrived at their destination—the Wind Fang hideout.
"Looking at it from here, it doesn't seem like anything happened."
There wasn't a single Slum District resident anywhere near the building. They knew the Wind Fang members were extremely aggressive, so they likely believed that carelessly approaching meant death. Given that the organization had primarily worked as assassins, it was understandable that nearby residents would want to stay away.
The only person outside was a single Morning Star member who appeared to be serving as a lookout, scanning the surroundings from outside the building. Since she was on watch, she naturally noticed Rei and the others approaching. Even if it had just been Rei and Lazaria, that would be one thing—but Set was with them too. Failing to notice them under those circumstances would mean failing as a lookout entirely.
"Wha—!? You're back already!?"
Astonishment rang in the woman's voice. The Morning Star members knew Rei had gone off to destroy a separate organization. They had expected him to return eventually, but destroying even one organization—not just any organization, but one that had survived in Gilm—should have taken a considerable amount of time.
In reality, after destroying the Clown organization, he had burned the Heaven's Light hideout to ash from the outside, so in that sense, the lookout woman's assumption wasn't entirely wrong.
"Yeah. I took down two organizations—the Clown and Heaven's Light. So, did you find a staircase or door leading underground?"
"N-no..."
In response to Rei's question, all the woman could do was answer and shake her head.
Ideally, she would have wanted to ask for more time. At the very least, the lookout woman hadn't received any report that they'd found a staircase or door of any kind leading to the basement inside the building. Perhaps—if it was truly possible—just a little more time would let them find it, but she couldn't imagine Rei would grant them that.
"Um, Rei-san. I'll take my leave now, then."
"Got it. I can leave dealing with those people entirely to you, right?"
At Rei's words, Lazaria nodded without hesitation. "Of course." For Lazaria, it was a fierce personal conviction to absolutely follow through on treating those junkies as part of Black Dog's work.
She definitely had some kind of past experience related to drugs... but it's probably better not to ask.
Making that judgment, Rei exchanged a brief farewell with Lazaria and they parted ways. Set purred a farewell of his own as Lazaria left.
"Now, back to the matter at hand."
Once Lazaria was out of sight, Rei turned his gaze back to the lookout woman.
"As promised, you weren't able to find a staircase or door leading underground before I returned. Given that, I'm going to burn this building to the ground. That's fine, right?"
"...Yes."
After a few seconds of silence, the woman nodded.
Rei, who had fully expected her to express dissatisfaction and ask for more time, found this surprising.
In any case, the sun was already getting low in the sky. Given that, he decided to get this over with quickly.
"Then bring everyone inside out here."
"Understood."
Before the woman entered the building, the sound of teeth grinding could be heard, but Rei had nothing to say about it. He understood that whatever he said here could ultimately come across as an insult to the Morning Star members. Or she might ask for more time.
Spending any more time searching this building would likely end in failure to find a staircase or door leading underground anyway. He couldn't afford to waste time here.
Next was the Black Phantom hideout—
"Ah."
Rei let out a short sound, realizing he had forgotten to ask the woman about the location of the Black Phantom hideout before she went inside.
"Gruu?"
Hearing him, Set looked over with a gaze that seemed to ask what was wrong.
"It's nothing. Just a little slip-up on my part. ...Well, if it comes down to it, I can always ride Set."
For now, he hoped the Morning Star members knew where the Black Phantom hideout was. Before long, they emerged from the building.
They had likely heard the situation from the lookout woman, but they couldn't hide their astonishment that Rei had truly returned this quickly.
Even so, not a single one of them asked for more time upon seeing him. That left a strong positive impression on Rei.
"Right then. I'm going to burn it down. No objections?"
To Rei's question, the Morning Star members simply nodded.