"Heh, so this is the place. ...Looking at it from out here, it just seems like an ordinary shop, though."
"Well, of course. It's one of those 'if you know, you know' kind of places."
"...You're not about to tell me I need some sort of qualification to get in, are you?"
From the man's explanation, Rei gathered this was a membership-only establishment—the kind of place where you couldn't get in without an introduction from an existing member or a direct invitation from the owner.
Plenty of so-called membership shops were membership in name only and would let first-timers walk right in, but strict ones certainly existed too.
Rei had wondered if this was one of them, and whether the man's introduction would be enough to get them through the door. Fortunately, no membership card or special ritual was required to enter.
(Given the man's description, a membership system wouldn't have been surprising. Besides, Egginis is already swarming with nobles and wealthy merchants.)
It might have been Rei's own assumption, but he'd always felt that nobles and major merchants had a weakness for exclusive membership cards—something only the chosen few could obtain.
"Seto is... um, sorry, but could you wait somewhere around here?"
The man sounded apologetic.
After traveling together this far, he'd apparently realized that Seto wouldn't attack anyone without reason. To Rei that was obvious, but for someone seeing Seto for the first time, that distinction mattered a great deal.
"Seto, that's how it is. Go hide somewhere for a bit, would you? There are plenty of good spots around here, so you'll be fine."
"Gururu."
At Rei's words, Seto let out a low purr and headed toward a gap between the buildings—one with just enough room for it to squeeze into.
"Alright, that should do it. Let's head inside."
"...I know it's a little late to ask, but you're sure it's okay, right?"
The man still looked slightly worried. He was probably thinking that if the Tamed Monster he'd brought along caused a scene, it would become a real headache.
Rei understood the concern and simply nodded as if to say there was nothing to worry about.
"Seto is smart. It knows how to behave. Besides... if anything does happen, I'll handle it. Don't worry."
Rei's confident answer finally put the man at ease.
Of course the man knew that Rei was the Alias Holder known as Crimson. There weren't many people who kept a Gryphon as a Tamed Monster, so it was only natural he'd pieced together Rei's identity.
Reassured, the man led Rei into the shop.
"Heh... well, this is..."
A note of genuine surprise slipped into Rei's voice.
The interior itself was a perfectly ordinary tavern or dining hall. The one real difference was the spacing. Most establishments like this crammed tables as close together as possible to maximize seating—still leaving enough room to walk, but only just. This shop, however, had noticeably wider gaps between tables.
Part of that was probably because the clientele were all people in the know, but the biggest reason was without a doubt the staff working inside.
"Is that thing technically a Golem too? It looks more like a puppet, to be honest."
The word "puppet" carried a faint edge of bitterness in Rei's tone.
That was because it reminded him of the incident in the Labyrinth City—where he had first met Vihera and Byune.
An enemy who had controlled puppets to launch attacks. In a sense, the mastermind behind the whole affair.
But the puppets he'd fought back then were the kind children played with, whereas the ones moving around this tavern were close to human size.
That said, each one was different. Some were designed to look almost human, while others resembled miniature versions of standard Golems.
(So basically, this is a Golem café instead of a maid café. Well, it's more of a tavern or dining hall than a café.)
Rei wondered whether there was actually demand for something like this, but the customer count was decent. Not packed, but roughly seventy to eighty percent of the tables were occupied.
The man had mentioned that hobbyists gathered here, so it wasn't hard to guess that the patrons were exactly that sort of crowd.
"For now, let's grab a seat over there."
Prompted by the man, Rei headed toward an empty table. Along the way, the man exchanged brief greetings with customers at several other tables.
"You've got a wide circle."
"It's not so much a wide circle... Like I said, this place is only known to those in the know. The customer base is narrow, so everyone naturally ends up familiar with each other."
Rei accepted the explanation and sat down.
Almost immediately, a Golem approached their table—not the mannequin-like puppet type, but a miniaturized version of a standard Golem. It stopped and waited beside them.
"What do you want to order? That said, this place isn't exactly known for its food, so don't get your hopes up about the cooking."
"Fair enough. In that case, just recommend something for me. Oh, and no alcohol."
Since this was his first visit, Rei figured it made sense to let the man, who presumably knew the menu, decide what was worth ordering.
The man looked faintly surprised.
"You sure you don't want a drink?"
Ah, so that's what surprised him.
Rei nodded. It wasn't that he was wildly intolerant to alcohol—he wouldn't pass out after a single sip, and he could drink if he put his mind to it. The main reason was simply that he didn't find alcohol enjoyable in the slightest.
Given that, there was no point in forcing down something that didn't even taste good.
"Got it. But I'll be having one."
The man placed his order, and Rei nodded. Just because Rei didn't enjoy drinking didn't mean he'd stop anyone else from doing so.
While the man ordered, Rei took another look around the tavern.
(A Golem café instead of a maid café, huh... Then again, I've never actually set foot in a maid café.)
Having been born and raised in the countryside of Tohoku, maid cafés were something Rei only knew from TV, anime, games, and manga. He didn't truly understand what they were like, but watching the scene before him, he was fairly confident his impression wasn't far off the mark.
"What do you think? Pretty incredible, right? These aren't your run-of-the-mill Golems, so they're not exactly put up for sale... though it's not entirely impossible, either. But fundamentally, these are ones the Alchemists built as hobby projects. That's why they're packed with cutting-edge techniques. In a way, this is close to the forefront of Golem development."
"Well, they are hobbies."
People who threw themselves into their hobbies could sometimes display unbelievable skill. Because of that, it wasn't uncommon for them to pour every ounce of their technical expertise into something they made purely for fun. From a moneymaking standpoint, it was a waste of talent. But there were plenty of people who believed that precisely because it was a hobby, they should be free to do whatever they wanted.
Rei understood that mindset, which was why the single word "hobby" was enough to make it all click for him.
"You get it... In practice, buying one of these Golems would cost far more than a regular one. But here you can just sit back and enjoy looking at them. That's what makes this place so Egginis, wouldn't you say?"
Now that he mentioned it, Rei remembered he'd originally been brought here because he was looking for something characteristic of Egginis.
Keeping that in mind, he tried the dish the Golem had set down on the table. Just as the man had said, it wasn't particularly good. But it wasn't bad, either—just thoroughly, unremarkably average.
He chewed, swallowed, and nodded.
"You're right. I was hoping for a local specialty dish or something like that, but getting to see Golems like this is a rare experience in its own way."
Even as he said it, Rei glanced toward a group of men a short distance away who were practically beside themselves with excitement.
"Look at this! This size, this level of precision... How the hell do you even build a Golem like this?!"
Judging by the conversation, they were probably Alchemists themselves—fired up after seeing Golems built by peers with far greater skill than their own.
When Rei shifted his gaze from the Golems to the other tables, he noticed there were quite a few Alchemists scattered throughout the room. ...Some of them looked openly proud, and it was easy to guess those were the ones who had created the Golems currently working the floor.
"By the way, is it possible to buy any of the Golems working here?"
"Hm? Ah—generally speaking, no. If you absolutely have to have one, you'd need to negotiate directly with the Alchemist who built it and have them make you a new one."
"So you can't buy the ones working here directly. That's a little disappointing."
"Can't be helped. Like I keep saying, the Golems working here are basically hobby projects for the Alchemists... Though in some cases, they also serve as a debut for new techniques."
Rei nodded honestly, despite his disappointment. If that was the tavern's rule, he had no intention of breaking it.
Right now, he needed to get a solid sense of what kinds of Golems existed in Egginis so he'd be prepared when it came time to purchase Golems and Magic Items starting tomorrow.
"Come to think of it, are there any Golems here from that rumored high-performance workshop?"
Twitch.
The moment Rei said it, the man's eyebrow moved—just for an instant. He tried his best to keep it off his face, but Rei caught the reaction clearly.
Even so, he let it pass. Perhaps the man felt Rei had struck a nerve. Or maybe there was some other reason. Either way, since Rei couldn't be sure, he chose not to press.
"So? Are there any? If there are, I'd love to take a look."
"No, there aren't. The Golems from that workshop are high-performance, but they're not suited for mass production. Besides, the Alchemists who work there aren't the type to dispatch their Golems to a hobbyist tavern."
The man's words were laced with irritation, anger, and dissatisfaction—all tangled together.
(From the looks of it, this guy probably has some kind of personal grievance against the workshop making those high-performance Golems.)
Thinking that, Rei reconsidered what he knew about the workshop and realized he still didn't actually know its name. He'd never needed to ask—simply saying "high-performance Golems" was enough for anyone familiar with Egginis to know exactly which workshop was being discussed.
Prying into the matter with a man who clearly had feelings about it seemed unwise. Still, Rei figured he should at least learn the name.
"By the way, I only just arrived in Egginis, so I don't know yet—what's the name of the workshop that makes those high-performance Golems?"
"...The Dolan Workshop."
The man answered with visible reluctance.
To Rei, the fact that the Dolan Workshop produced Golems powerful enough to overwhelm all others was genuinely impressive. He couldn't fathom why the man disliked the place so much.
But judging from the man's current demeanor, even if Rei asked for the reason, he seriously doubted he'd get an answer. The man had been kind enough to share all sorts of useful information so far, and there was no sense in souring his mood over this.
(Even back in Japan, there were people who'd unconditionally dislike certain teams in soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, or whatever else, without any real reason.)
Incidentally, Rei himself had never been particularly interested in sports, so he was largely indifferent. At most, he disliked professional baseball because it preempted the TV shows he wanted to watch.
"Ah, sorry. I wanted you to enjoy what Egginis has to offer, and instead I went and ruined the mood. Anyway, just sit back and take your time enjoying the place."
With that, the man forced a smile back onto his face, as if to shake off what had just passed between them.