"...It feels like things have gotten pretty noisy. Could it be related to the Antelme situation?"
Having returned to Gilm from the Treant Forest, Rei noticed the city was abuzz while he was transporting felled timber.
Given that Antelme was highly likely the perpetrator behind the Zolgela Count House incident, it was only natural that people were searching for him.
(Still, the problem is that even if they find Antelme, there aren't many who can actually capture him. ...Vihera would probably gladly challenge Antelme to a fight, though.)
That much, Rei could say with absolute certainty.
Vihera was someone who sought out battles against the strong.
An A-Rank adventurer who was also targeting the man she loved—there was no way Vihera wouldn't get involved.
"What? What's wrong?"
Sensing something from Rei's demeanor, Nielson asked from inside the Dragon Robe what was going on.
At first, Rei had considered it less troublesome not to tell her about the Antelme situation, but judging by Nielson's behavior, she would likely keep asking him repeatedly until she knew the full story.
To the point where it wouldn't be surprising if her voice echoing from inside the Dragon Robe reached the surrounding area.
"You know about that adventurer named Antelme who harassed us, right?"
"Of course I know. That's why we needed a Magic Item, right?"
"Right. Well, apparently that Antelme killed everyone who was employing him and went into hiding. That's probably why the guards and such are swarming around."
That said, there were also many who hadn't noticed the guards' presence.
Since Gilm currently had more people gathered than usual, to those visitors, the guards moving about like that probably just seemed like ordinary work.
This was largely because the guards were deliberately acting in a way that made it appear so.
Still, among those with a certain level of skill, sharp observational eyes, or those who had lived in Gilm for a long time, there were some who had noticed the guards' unusual behavior.
"Something like that happened? I didn't know about it."
"Someone was sleeping off a hangover."
"Ugh..."
Nielson fell silent, unable to retort.
The hangover was probably a major blunder for Nielson as well.
"Anyway, a dangerous man is on the loose, so the guards are probably searching for him. ...No, it's not just the guards. The Prairie Wolves are moving too."
Rei muttered that, recognizing a man walking at a distance.
The man must have noticed Rei looking at him too. He showed brief surprise, then bowed his head slightly and left the area.
"Prairie Wolves?"
"They handle the underside of Gilm... hunting down agents and spies, things like that."
"Hmm."
Whether Nielson understood Rei's words or not, judging by her demeanor, Rei couldn't tell either. But since he felt it was unwise to discuss the Prairie Wolves in the middle of the street, he didn't go into further detail.
"Anyway, with the Zolgela Count House situation too... if Elena is there, there's probably nothing to worry about, but still, it would be trouble if something happened. Let's head to Marina's house quickly."
Rei figured that with Elena's strength, she could handle Antelme without any issues.
But at the same time, that was exactly why he didn't want to put Elena in front of Antelme.
Considering Antelme's personality, it was easy to predict what kind of actions he would take when faced with a beauty like Elena.
Precisely because he had the power to back it up, it wouldn't be strange for him to think he could do whatever he wanted and be forgiven for it.
...Even so, Rei didn't think Antelme could beat Elena.
"Ehh? Aren't we going to buy various things?"
Nielson said discontentedly, but the moment Marina's name left Rei's mouth, she instantly fell quiet.
That was how much of a formidable opponent Marina was to Nielson.
(Still, she ends up following me to Marina's house, so maybe she's not as bad with her as I thought? ...Well, I don't need to think about that.)
Since Nielson had gone silent, the priority now was to get to Marina's house as quickly as possible.
Making that judgment, Rei headed toward the Noble District, but...
"Ah, it's Set-chan! Hey, Set-chan, let's play!"
Several children spotted Set and called out to him.
If they had been adults, they would have understood that they were in the middle of work, but unfortunately, children wouldn't grasp that even if told.
If Rei were the kind of person who would mercilessly strike down even a child, the children would have been afraid of him and wouldn't have tried talking to Set.
But unfortunately, Rei generally didn't lay a hand on children.
The children knew that too, which was exactly why they casually approached Set like this.
"Sorry, we're in the middle of work right now. Play with Set some other time when we're free."
Rei told them that, but for some reason, only today the children showed no sign of listening to his words.
"Ehh! No! I want to play with Set-chan right now!"
Rei hesitated over what to do about the child's behavior, and then—!
The next moment, Rei grabbed that child's wrist, almost reflexively.
Yes—the hand of the child holding a dagger.
"Eh?"
At the sudden action, the other children who had been with her let out surprised voices.
Naturally. They had no idea what that child was doing... or why Rei had done such a thing.
"Who are you?"
"Eh? What? I just want to play with Set-chan?"
The child responded to Rei's words in that manner.
In order to search for Antelme, many of the guards were out in the city.
Naturally, in such a situation, seeing this kind of commotion, the guards wondered what was going on and approached Rei and the others.
What the guards then saw was the figure of a child whose wrist was being held by Rei.
Under normal circumstances, seeing such a sight would make them perceive Rei as the assailant.
Even so, the guards didn't immediately try to seize Rei because he was on fairly friendly terms with them.
Knowing Rei's personality, they didn't think he would do anything strange to a child. More importantly, they saw that the hand Rei was holding had a dagger gripped in it.
Thinking about it normally, a dagger held by a child would be a toy... or a bladeless imitation sword.
But Rei wouldn't do something like this just because of a mere imitation sword.
In other words, it meant that what the child was holding was a real dagger.
"Rei, what exactly happened?"
"Hold this child down. ...Be careful. The strength is unbelievable for a child."
"Hey, let me play with Set-chan? I came here because I wanted to play with Set-chan."
Those words, spoken as though she didn't think her wrist was being held by Rei at all.
Hearing that, the guards must have understood that what was happening before their eyes was not normal.
They exchanged glances with their fellow guards and moved to restrain the child Rei was holding.
One grabbed the child's torso, and the other grabbed the wrist near where Rei was holding.
"Ready? I'm letting go."
Seeing the two of them in position, Rei asked, and after confirming their nods, he released his grip...
"Whoa!"
"What the!?"
Both of them cried out in surprise.
Naturally. Despite the child being not even ten years old, two grown adults who trained their bodies daily as guards were both nearly dragged off their feet.
That they somehow managed to pin the child down was surely because they trained regularly.
If ordinary passersby had tried to restrain the child, they would have undoubtedly been dragged off.
"Rei!?"
What in the world is this child!? The guards shouted at Rei with that question, but rather than answering, Rei considered what the best course of action was for this situation.
"First, keep holding her down."
Saying that, Rei forcibly pried open the child's palm and dropped the dagger she had been gripping to the ground.
"Phew. ...Now then, as for this child... the question is what to do."
"Wait, never mind that, just do something! What's with this child's strength! This isn't a child's strength at all!"
One of the guards shouted with a look that said, "What in the world is this!?"
For the guards, who trained considerably on a daily basis, it was only natural to wonder why they were being so thoroughly overpowered. And at the same time, it was equally natural to wonder what on earth they should do with this child.
"Can't be helped. I don't want to, but... sorry."
That last remark wasn't a mutter to himself, but directed at the child in front of him.
Even in this situation, the child was still innocently talking about playing with Set.
Moving behind the child, Rei delivered a hand chop to the back of her neck in a way that wouldn't interfere with the guards holding her, and knocked her unconscious.
The child went limp and collapsed to the ground from Rei's strike, but a guard quickly caught her.
"Hey! Rei, don't be so rough!"
"Even if you say that, it'd be harder to let her keep thrashing around, right? She looks like an ordinary child. For such a child to be difficult for even two of you to restrain—in that situation, letting her stay conscious would be problematic in all sorts of ways, wouldn't it?"
"That's..."
Perhaps finding merit in Rei's words, the guard who had been about to complain fell silent.
Considering the current situation, it was immediately clear that if the child thrashed around with that kind of strength again, it would have an adverse effect on the child herself.
(Is it one of those hysterical strength situations? ...But even if it were, normally you can't use it because there's no need, and if she could use it freely, her muscles would probably be tearing or something like that.)
Rei thought that as he looked at the unconscious child.
Anyway, by rendering her unconscious, the immediate problem was resolved.
However... that was only the problem here and now.
"Most likely, this child has been brainwashed or something along those lines. The question is what happens to that brainwashing when she regains consciousness. Fortunately, whether or not she's been brainwashed was easy to tell just by looking."
Looking at her behavior—being unable to hold a conversation—it was easy to determine whether she was brainwashed.
That was the one small mercy.
"The real question is who did something like this, though..."
Rei could hear one of the guards muttering discontentedly.
What Rei directed at that guard was a gaze of half-disbelief.
"Why do you think the guards are moving around this desperately when they're this busy? If you think about the reason for that, you can probably guess."
"!? Then, this is... Is it Antelme's doing?"
The guard had been about to say that, but perhaps thinking it was unwise to speak that name aloud here, he fell silent.
After all, the series of actions just now had been clearly seen by the passersby around them.
Given that, it was impossible to predict what kind of impact uttering Antelme's name here would have.
Since he was an adventurer who didn't normally operate in Gilm, his name recognition wasn't all that high.
But to the adventurers who had encountered him in the Noble District, he was a highly unpleasant individual.
Some voiced their complaints about the experience at taverns, and naturally, there were those who overheard.
That was exactly why, regarding this incident, the guards had been ordered by their superior not to carelessly mention Antelme's name.
"Have you heard about his relationship with me?"
"Somewhat. But... would he really do something like this?"
An A-Rank adventurer, no less.
The guard who seemed to want to say that was still young.
So young that Rei thought he must be a rookie who had just become a guard.
"He would. At the very least, there's no doubt about this incident. You know about the commotion in the Noble District, right?"
"That's..."
The guard fell silent, unable to respond to Rei's words.
It wasn't that he couldn't believe it, but rather that he didn't want to believe it.
(The type who admired adventurers? But he lacked the ability, or had some other reason for not being able to become one, and ended up as a guard instead. ...It's always those types who, for some reason, still idolize adventurers.)
The grass is always greener on the other side, as they say, and for those who couldn't become adventurers, the profession was one to aspire to.
Rei could understand that to some extent, but still, given the current situation, he couldn't help but think this was Antelme's doing.
"For now, there's also the matter of the other children... why don't we head to the guard station and talk?"
Looking at the children who were still startled by their friend's sudden behavior, Rei said that.