Since the guard had gone to the trouble of bringing him information, Rei pulled some fruit water from his Misty Ring and offered it as a token of gratitude.
Summer was fast approaching, and the evening sun made the air feel even hotter than usual. The guard gratefully accepted the cold drink and downed it with evident relish.
"Phew... that's good stuff."
"Glad you like it. So, what's the information you obtained?"
At Rei's question, the guard looked puzzled.
Rei had wanted intelligence on the underground organizations purely for the purpose of crushing them. Since he had already done exactly that, the guard figured he wouldn't have any use for the information anymore.
Reading the expression on the guard's face, Rei understood what he was thinking. He produced some fruit water for Set, who had been nuzzling against him demanding a share, and then spoke.
"I took out several organizations today, but I didn't get all of the ones that came after me. It was getting late, so a few are still standing."
"Which ones did you take out today, by the way?"
Rei hesitated briefly, wondering if he should say, but decided that since the other man was a guard, there was no harm in it.
"Blue Spear, Black Phantom, Wind Fang, the Clown, and Heaven's Light. Five in total."
"...Those five."
The guard had already gathered from their conversation that Rei had destroyed five organizations. But hearing the actual names drove home the reality of it.
At the same time, he was struck anew by Rei's sheer capability. Working as a guard, he knew full well that Rei's strength was on par with an alias holder. He'd had plenty of opportunities to witness it firsthand, too. But even so—destroying five underground organizations in a single day, in even less time than that—was staggering.
What's more, the five organizations Rei had just named were ones the guard recognized as groups that had been rapidly gaining power in the Slum District. Heaven's Light, in particular, was a high-priority concern—a group funneling large quantities of drugs into the Slum District.
That was exactly why this was so astonishing.
"Rei, you really are something else."
"Huh? What are you talking about, all of a sudden?"
"Well, hearing your story just now, that's about what anyone would think."
"Is that so? Whatever. The point is, yes, I crushed five of them, but that doesn't mean every new underground organization targeting me is gone. Do you have intel on any others besides the ones I've already handled?"
"I've got information on a group called Green Bone."
"...Just one? I figured there'd be more left."
Rei sounded faintly surprised.
The guard eyed him with mild exasperation.
"Even if there were others, they wouldn't give up information that easily. These people are professionals. If anything, you should be grateful we managed to pull this much out of them."
"Is that right?"
Rei replied, though he knew full well that interrogations were difficult business.
Of course, a lot depended on the subject. Run-of-the-mill bandits, for instance, would spill everything they knew the moment they saw Set—or even just felt Rei's killing intent. No need for any actual strong-arming.
But someone trained to withstand interrogation was an entirely different story. Wringing information out of that kind of opponent was no simple feat.
Rei understood that perfectly well, so despite his casual tone, he was genuinely grateful.
"For now, I'll crush Green Bone tomorrow. There are probably a few others, but..."
He figured he could just ask Lazaria about the rest.
Honestly, Rei did suspect that Black Dog's intelligence network was more detailed than whatever the guards had managed to extract. But given that these were Slum District organizations—new arrivals, not long-established ones—it was hardly realistic to expect the guards to have obtained anything more comprehensive.
"You're really going to crush them?"
"Yeah. The main issue is taken care of, but they came after my life. Naturally, I'm hitting back. Even as we speak, someone out there is still gunning for me."
While talking with the guard, Rei shifted his gaze toward a building some distance away.
The figure who had been watching Rei from one of its windows vanished the instant they realized their gaze had been met. That level of split-second judgment was impressive, to say the least.
Now that the unease had vanished after defeating Daub, detecting a stare laced with killing intent was nothing difficult. If the lingering wrongness had still clouded his senses, he never would have noticed it at all.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
He could have mentioned the assassin, but the man had already bolted. Raising a fuss over it now would accomplish nothing. With that in mind, Rei let it go.
(Still, which organization did that assassin belong to? They didn't move particularly flashy, so probably not the Clown. ...But do they even know I destroyed their organization?)
Blue Spear and Black Phantom had been taken out as organizations, but their surviving members were still out there. Blue Spear's boss was dead, and Black Phantom's hideout was gone, yet two of the five groups he'd dismantled today still technically persisted in this way. Black Phantom should have already pulled out of Gilm entirely.
Regardless, if the would-be assassin belonged to one of those two, it wouldn't be strange for them to be recalled at any moment. If it was one of the other three, there was a real chance they didn't even know their organization had been destroyed.
(If your organization gets literally wiped off the map... what happens to the operative you've already dispatched?)
Musing on this, Rei wrapped up his exchange with the guard and took his leave.
His next stop was the clinic where Marina worked. She had helped him in various ways throughout this whole affair, and he owed her a thorough explanation.
"Though I'm not sure whether Marina's still at the clinic."
By the time he finished talking with the guard, it was already fully evening. That being the case, she could well have finished up and gone home.
Of course, treatment didn't simply stop just because evening rolled around, so there was still a decent chance she was there.
"Gruu?"
Set purred, asking if they were still going.
Rei patted his head and nodded.
"Knowing Marina, I don't think she'd pack up and head home the moment the sun goes down."
Marina's recovery through Spirit Magic was vital to the clinic. Given that, it was only natural for them to want her to stay as long as possible. And since she was the one who'd written the introduction letter to Black Dog, she'd surely anticipated that Rei would come by to report back.
...It was also possible she'd head home early to hear him out at her place instead.
In any case, Rei set off for the clinic with Set. Naturally, if they spotted a stall selling something mouthwatering along the way, they'd stop to grab a bite as they walked.
Upon arriving at the clinic, Rei was relieved to find no patients—or injured parties, more accurately—waiting. He told Set to stay put and stepped inside.
"Yes, yes, who is it? We're about to—oh, Rei-san."
One of the women working at the clinic smiled when she saw who had come through the door. If it had been an injured patient, she'd been ready to tell them that unless it was critical, they'd have to come back tomorrow. But since it was Rei, he clearly wasn't here because of an injury. Of course, even if he had been, as long as Marina was present, there'd be no need for her or the other staff to get involved.
"Is Marina here?"
"Yes, yes, wait just a moment. I'll go fetch her."
The woman disappeared toward the back of the clinic. Rei surveyed the room while he waited, but there wasn't a single injured patient in sight.
(Huh? Maybe they don't have an inpatient system?)
When he'd come to consult Marina earlier that day, a considerable number of people had been lying on cloths spread across the floor. Now the place was completely empty, scrubbed spotless with no trace of anyone having been there. They must have cleaned up for tomorrow.
(I suppose clinics and hospitals are the same in that regard.)
While musing over this, the woman reappeared from the back with Marina in tow.
Marina offered a small, quiet smile at the sight of Rei unharmed. She knew his capabilities well enough not to expect him to lose easily, but even so—sending him into the Slum District to assault underground organizations was naturally cause for concern.
"It looks like you're safe."
"Yeah. I crushed five of them for now."
"I see. But that's not all of them, right?"
"Apparently not. The unease is dealt with, though, so there's no need to rush. I'll handle the rest tomorrow."
Their exchange made no sense to the woman still standing nearby. She seemed to sense, however, that she was better off not asking, and bowed to Marina.
"Well then, I'll be heading out."
"Yes, be careful on your way home."
After the woman left, Rei and Marina were the only ones remaining. Strictly speaking, there were still people in the back doing cleanup and prepping for tomorrow, but in this room, it was just the two of them.
"Did I make her feel she needed to leave?"
"No, I don't think that's it. She has a hungry family waiting for her at home, after all."
"I see. ...Thanks to your introduction letter, by the way, I managed to meet Zoraku without any trouble."
Rei spoke the name of the half-elf who led Black Dog. Marina seemed to read from his tone exactly what sort of attitude Zoraku had displayed, and offered a wry, somewhat helpless smile.
Marina knew perfectly well that Zoraku saw her not as a woman, but as a mother figure. Honestly, she'd far prefer he think of her as an older sister. But in any case, Marina's feelings toward Rei were well-known—so well-known, in fact, that even someone well-informed in the Slum District could easily piece it together.
In other words, from Zoraku's perspective, it was as though his mother had brought home a new father—making Rei something of a stepfather. There was no way those two would hit it off.
"I see. Um... there weren't any particular problems?"
Marina asked somewhat hesitantly. Rei nodded without a second thought.
"No, nothing worth mentioning."
"...Good."
Marina let out a visible breath of relief. For her, the destruction of underground organizations was apparently less pressing than how Rei had gotten along with Zoraku.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest in a gesture of relief—but Marina's outfit was her usual party dress, cut low across the neckline. With her generous figure, the motion threatened to spill her bust right out of the dress entirely.
Rei's eyes were momentarily caught before he caught himself. Marina noticed, and her lips curved into a deliberately seductive smile, radiating pure feminine allure as she shot him a knowing glance.
An ordinary man would have been utterly captivated—or simply overwhelmed—by that level of charm. But Rei worked alongside Marina regularly and even stayed at her house, though lately he'd been sleeping near the lake or the Birth Tower more often. He could brush off her playful teasing without breaking a sweat.
Not that he'd have an easy time of it if she ever decided to seduce him in full earnest.
"Ah... right. Anyway, thanks to your letter, there's no question that I was able to take out most of the organizations behind the attacks. So, thanks."
"Hehe. Then how about a date next time? ...Once the current work settles down, that is."
"Sure. ...Oh, it might be nice to go to the sea again, like last year."
"The sea, huh. You'd probably spend the whole time catching fish rather than actually relaxing, but that could be fun. It'd be nice if we could all go sometime soon."
Rei nodded in agreement.