That eye watched as Rei, Set, and the wolf walked side by side.
The floating eye in the sky never let Rei out of its sight.
And yet, it didn't even trigger a sense of unease in Set, who possessed exceptionally sharp senses.
...Though in truth, perhaps because the floating eye had drifted too close, Set had looked around quizzically right after they entered the Treant Forest.
From that point on, the floating eyeball refrained from entering the Treant Forest and simply waited.
(A wolf? Did Rei come all the way to the Treant Forest just to meet that wolf? No, but... why would he do such a thing? It doesn't seem to be a monster he tamed, either.)
From the observer's perspective, there was no telling what Rei was doing.
He had used one of his few remaining Magic Items hoping to find one of Rei's weaknesses—or at least some vulnerability to exploit—yet this was all he had to show for it. A complete waste of a Magic Item.
"Damn it... word about the Zolgela Count House spread faster than I expected. At this rate, maybe I should have disposed of the bodies after all?"
Losing his judgment to frustration was perhaps Antelme's greatest flaw among his many shortcomings.
Normally, he carried himself with a noble's demeanor—or at least what Antelme considered a noble's demeanor—and having been born into nobility, his manners and etiquette were beyond reproach.
To a certain extent, he could suppress his true feelings and act the part.
It was no empty achievement that he had risen to A-Rank—a position second only to the exceptional S-Rank among adventurers—even if he had other nobles pulling strings for him.
"Phew... Regardless, to obtain Set, I need to deal with Rei. It seems he has a large number of Magic Items too. Kill him, and I can reach even greater heights."
In reality, the fact that Antelme was the prime suspect in the Zolgela Count House incident had already been relayed to the Guild through Daskar, and the Guild had accordingly issued a wanted notice based on Daskar's intelligence. But whether fortunately or unfortunately, Antelme—currently lying low and monitoring Rei through a Magic Item—was completely unaware of these developments.
"...Tch. Useless piece of junk."
Antelme let out an irritated curse as the Magic Item's effect expired and the eyeball vanished.
In any case, with his last one gone, he could no longer gather intelligence on Rei.
Still, he had a clue.
In the Treant Forest, Rei had been playing with a wolf.
...Though the reality was a bit more complicated.
Regardless, it was a wolf that Rei doted on.
If he killed that wolf, Rei would undoubtedly lose his cool and be unable to make rational decisions.
If that happened, Antelme—already at an advantage—would gain an even greater edge over Rei.
...Naturally, Antelme understood that Rei was strong. He did, but even so, he held a firm conviction that he himself was superior.
However, this was based solely on the impression from their encounter in the Noble District, having never witnessed Rei's true strength.
Even so, Antelme's methods had served him well in the past, and he judged that things would be fine this time too.
"I'm hungry. Should I eat something?"
He muttered to himself and rummaged through the room.
It must have been the midsummer heat. A thick, rusty iron smell drifted in from the next room.
Noticing this, Antelme furrowed his brow slightly and grew irritated.
This house was, by Gilm's standards, a perfectly ordinary one.
The reason he had chosen it as his hideout was simply a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do.
Having survived countless life-or-death situations as an adventurer, Antelme's instincts in such matters were extremely sharp.
Those instincts had told him this place was safe, so he had chosen it as his hiding spot.
However... the residents of this house had done what came naturally to them, and Antelme had forcibly—and permanently—silenced them for daring to defy a noble such as himself. In this sweltering heat, the stench of that act naturally permeated everything.
As a result, a terrible odor hung throughout the house.
Antelme found it deeply unpleasant, but he had decided it was better not to go outside, and so he remained inside the building.
"Hmph. Tastes terrible."
He ate some bread he found in the kitchen, but it was naturally day-old and rock hard.
Given the midsummer heat, there was a chance it had gone bad, but Antelme ate it without the slightest concern.
Properly speaking, hard bread should have been soaked in soup before eating, but whether Antelme didn't know this or simply couldn't be bothered, he tore off a chunk with his teeth.
Accustomed as he was to lavish meals, bread alone—and not even freshly baked, but stale, hard bread at that—was barely edible.
Even so, he forced himself to eat, likely because as an adventurer, he knew it was best to eat when he could.
"Well, I'd love to get out of a place like this soon... but is it still too risky?"
Antelme murmured, but no one answered.
He was likely talking to himself, answering his own questions to organize his thoughts.
"First, if I kill that wolf, I should be able to shake Rei up and make him angry. Once that happens, I can win."
His monologue echoed through the empty house.
"So? Antelme, was it? Still no sign of him?"
At Daskar's words, the scar-faced man bowed his head apologetically.
"I'm sorry, we still haven't been able to find him. I suppose even down on his luck, he's still an A-Rank adventurer. My people are searching desperately, but..."
The man's name was Egg.
He had once led a bandit group called the Prairie Wolves, but he now served Daskar after being scouted by Rei.
Naturally, given that background, his was not an official position.
Think of it as Gilm's intelligence division.
They were men who handled the shadows.
It had been several years since Egg and his men had come to Gilm and entered Daskar's service.
They knew Gilm as well as their own backyard, familiar with most places in the city.
And yet, they could not find Antelme.
Born into nobility, Antelme had refined features that made him stand out.
His personality also tended to draw attention, yet they still hadn't caught sight of him.
"The highest probability is the Slum District, as expected."
"But I hear he has a noble's pride to match. Would someone like Antelme really go to the Slum District?"
Given Antelme's thoroughly noble disposition, Daskar found it hard to imagine him going somewhere like the Slum District.
And it wasn't just Daskar—Egg felt the same way.
He hadn't met Antelme in person, but based on the information he'd heard, the man simply didn't seem like the type who would set foot in the Slum District.
"In that case... there's the possibility he's holed up in some building. Gilm has a large population. There are bound to be people who'd harbor a criminal for the right price."
"Troublesome."
Daskar muttered bitterly.
It was the city he governed, but Daskar harbored no delusions that everyone in it was virtuous.
Just as Egg said, there were surely those who would shelter even criminals if the price was right.
If that were the case, figuring out where to even begin searching was extremely difficult.
He couldn't exactly search every single building.
Even if they did search every building in Gilm, anyone harboring a fugitive would likely keep them in a hidden room or something similar.
Searching every such place was simply not practical.
"What should we do? Honestly, the Antelme situation is important, but we have plenty of other work too, so the manpower we can spare is limited."
Antelme's case was the top priority at the moment, but Gilm also had to deal with infiltrators scheming various things, as well as spies sent by other nobles and foreign nations.
Antelme was important, but so were those matters.
Given that, they couldn't dedicate all of Egg's people to the search for Antelme in their current situation.
...But leaving an A-Rank adventurer fugitive at large was equally problematic.
"You've reassigned some soldiers to the search, right?"
"Naturally. But the soldiers have just as much on their plates as your people."
Daskar let out a heavy sigh.
In truth, the soldiers' workload was enormous. They alone couldn't maintain Gilm's security, which was why adventurers like Vihera had been hired to handle street patrols.
Considering those circumstances, he couldn't push the soldiers too hard.
"That's true enough... Why not ask Rei? With Set's sense of smell and so on, he might be able to manage something."
"Easier said than done. I've already entrusted Rei with other duties."
"But the one Antelme clashed with yesterday was Rei, right?"
"That's right. ...Mind you, Rei didn't pick a fight with Antelme. Antelme went after him because he wanted Set."
"Well, that's..."
Suicidal.
That was what Egg wanted to say.
Egg could understand the desire to have Set.
After all, Set was a gryphon—an A-Rank monster.
And not just any gryphon, but a Rare Species that wielded multiple skills... in other words, an S-Rank equivalent monster.
Simply having one at your side let you throw your weight around.
That was a fact, and beyond that, its materials held tremendous value.
Even naturally shed feathers or trimmed claws were of great significance to alchemists.
If someone like Antelme got their hands on Set, there was no telling how Set would be treated.
Knowing Set, that thought made Egg's stomach churn.
"At any rate, having an A-Rank adventurer like Antelme lurking in hiding is extremely dangerous."
"No argument there."
Egg understood Daskar's concern.
If this had been the work of, say, a D-Rank adventurer, Daskar wouldn't have been this frantic.
But Antelme was A-Rank.
His strength ranked among the upper echelon in all of Gilm.
The only saving grace was that he was merely upper-tier, not at the very top.
And when it came to those capable of dealing with an A-Rank adventurer like Antelme, the list was truly short.
"You're right. I should contact the Guild and have them assign an Alias Holder to subjugate Antelme."
"...Are you sure? If it comes to a fight between an A-Rank adventurer and an Alias Holder, there's a possibility of significant damage to Gilm."
The damage in question wasn't just to buildings.
It included the lives of everyone in Gilm.
A-Rank adventurers and Alias Holders existed in an entirely different realm from ordinary adventurers.
What would happen if such individuals went on a rampage in the middle of the city? It didn't bear thinking about.
What's more, the Alias Holder closest to Egg and Daskar was Rei, who specialized in wide-area destruction magic—making the concern all the more acute.
"That may be so, but leaving Antelme unchecked is even more dangerous right now. ...That said, I'd prefer to ask someone who won't turn it into such a flashy battle if possible."
"Agreed. ...The problem is whether any Alias Holder is actually available."
As an Alias Holder, one's renown was naturally high.
Which meant they were frequently flooded with Nomination Requests.
That was exactly why Egg was worried about whether anyone would be free in the current situation.
"I'll need to have a word with the Guild about that. If there's anyone who's taken a request but is still in Gilm, I'll have to ask them to take this one instead."
Under normal circumstances, Daskar disliked throwing his weight around.
But disliking it didn't mean he wouldn't do it.
If the situation demanded it, he wouldn't hesitate.
That was his duty as lord... and if he hesitated here, it was certain that the people of Gilm would suffer heavy casualties.
That was why Daskar, fully understanding that this would sour the Guild's impression of him, hastily wrote a letter, summoned a trusted aide—rather than Egg—and ordered them to head to the Guild.