On the night of the day they had spent touring the city of Egginis, Rei was having dinner with Maruka and Nicky in the Star River Inn's dining hall.
Maruka still seemed dissatisfied that she hadn't been allowed to touch the Magic Sword rapier at the weapon shop, but after visiting several other shops afterward, her mood had already improved.
The baked sweets they'd eaten at a café-like light meal shop along the way had also been delicious—likely another reason for her good spirits.
At any rate, touring Egginis had apparently been enough of a thrill for Maruka that dinner alone couldn't satisfy her; she wanted to keep talking well into the night. But then—
"Excuse me, Lord Rei."
Someone appeared to interrupt.
The nobles and merchants nearby watched the man who had called out to Rei with eyes full of ridicule. They were no doubt certain—absolutely certain—that Rei would brush him off coldly, and the man would end up leaving a terrible impression.
In truth, Maruka, who still wanted to discuss the day's events with Rei, showed clear displeasure toward the man who had come to interrupt their conversation. But Rei simply said,
"Oh, you're still here?"
He recognized the man. It was the servant who had been present when Rei was targeted by an assassin—and the man was now addressing him directly.
Rei had heard that many guests had left the inn after the assassin's infiltration, so he had assumed that the master of a servant who'd been at the scene would have been the very first to check out. After all, his own servant had seen the assassin's face. And the female assassin, though captured once, had escaped.
If so, then the servant—and likely his master, who had been informed of the situation—had a very real chance of being targeted next. Under those circumstances, the simplest course of action would be to leave the inn. Or more precisely, to get out of Egginis altogether as quickly as possible.
Yet the master of the man now speaking to Rei was still staying at the inn. It was only natural for Rei to find that surprising.
"Yes. I told my master the same thing, but unfortunately..."
The servant who said this must have sworn genuine loyalty to his master from the bottom of his heart. That was surely why he believed they should distance themselves from the Star River Inn at once. But his master, having obtained a chance to make contact with Rei, had refused.
In that case, all the man could do was arrange a meeting between Rei and his master as quickly as possible, and then urge him to leave the inn.
"Well, I did promise to meet your master when I left that matter in your hands. You couldn't afford to let the opportunity slip by."
The assassin had escaped in the end, but the man had done his job—calling the guards and having her captured. Given that, Rei couldn't go back on his word.
"Shall we, then?"
"Yeah, I'll meet your master."
A stir ran through the onlookers. Those who had been watching to see how the exchange would unfold began to murmur at this completely unexpected turn of events. Up until now, many people had attempted to make contact with Rei, only to be turned away. For the man's words to be accepted so readily, it would have been stranger if they hadn't reacted with surprise.
Those still remaining at the Star River Inn were there for a variety of reasons. Among those reasons, there were naturally some who wanted to get close to Rei—or at least have him remember their face. Of course, those for whom that was the primary reason were probably not very many.
"Sorry, Maruka. I need to go keep a promise. We can talk about today another time."
"Nuu... it cannot be helped. I shall endure for tonight."
Reluctantly—truly reluctant from the very bottom of her heart—Maruka nonetheless nodded obediently. Nicky tried to comfort her, but Rei had no idea when her mood would actually recover.
"Alright then, let's go. Lead the way."
"Understood. This way, please."
And so, guided by the man, Rei climbed the inn's stairs—not to the second floor where his own room was located, but up to the third.
"Here we are."
Before a room set in the back of the third floor, the man announced this and knocked on the door.
"Lord Ridon, I have brought Lord Rei."
As those words reached the inside of the room, the sound of scrambling footsteps could be heard—
"Well done! I knew that if it was you, you'd surely bring Lord Rei!"
The one shouting happily was a man who appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties. After praising the servant who had brought Rei, he immediately turned toward Rei with a smile and spoke.
"Welcome, Lord Rei. I've been looking forward to this day as if waiting with bated breath. Please, come inside."
"Y-yeah."
Somewhat surprised by the man's unexpected friendliness, Rei stepped into the room.
His own room had quite comfortable furnishings, but this room on the third floor was set up to be even more comfortable than his—and considerably more spacious to boot.
(Well, the second floor is below the third, the third is below the fourth, and the fifth floor has the highest-grade rooms, from what I hear.)
Recalling what he knew about the Star River Inn, he accepted the logic. For the record, Maruka and her group were staying on the fourth floor, even higher than this third floor. As members of Duke Quento's House, they couldn't very well stay in just any accommodation. Given that they were influential nobles even within the King's Faction, such a mindset was only natural.
"At any rate, I'm glad you're pleased. More importantly, could you introduce yourself? You seem to know about me, but I don't know who you are."
"Ah, pardon me. I am Ridon Kuzkyus. The second son of the Kuzkyus Count family."
"The Kuzkyus Count family?"
"Yes. To put it in terms that are easy for you to understand, Lord Rei, I am a noble of the Neutral Faction."
Hearing that, Rei understood. He understood why the man had been so friendly toward him. As a member of the Neutral Faction, he would naturally know that Rei was Daskar's trusted aide—that must have been the reason.
In reality, Rei was not Daskar's subordinate or anything of the sort. Daskar was someone he owed a debt to, a person he was friendly with and respected, but the relationship between them was fundamentally that of an adventurer and a client.
(Well, if he's misunderstanding things like that, I don't particularly intend to correct him from my end.)
Even if Daskar was intentionally behaving in ways that made people think Rei was his trusted aide, that was fine by him. Rei had received a great deal of help from Daskar, so if he could repay him even to that small extent, he had no complaints.
Of course, that was strictly a matter of tacit approval. If Daskar actually ordered Rei to work as his trusted aide, Rei would naturally defy him.
"I see. A member of the Neutral Faction... You could have just told me that from the start. Come to think of it, I met a Neutral Faction noble named Nigl Dresten..."
"That you did. I also met with Nigle and heard about you, Lord Rei."
He dropped honorifics for a fellow Neutral Faction noble while attaching "Lord" when addressing Rei. Finding that slightly puzzling, Rei continued the conversation.
"Then wouldn't it have been better to just tell me you were Neutral Faction? I don't think you would have needed to go to such lengths."
"We have our own circumstances. Now, I would love to hear all sorts of adventure tales from you, Lord Rei, but it would be better to get to the main topic first. You intend to purchase a golem from the Dolan Workshop. That is correct, is it not?"
"Yeah."
It wasn't particularly surprising that the man had discerned Rei's purpose. In the first place, most of those who came to Egginis did so with the goal of purchasing golems. Among them, those staying at a high-end inn like the Star River Inn would naturally desire high-performance golems, and the most famous high-performance golems in Egginis at present were those of the Dolan Workshop.
Of course, just because one was in Egginis or at the Star River Inn didn't mean one absolutely had to buy a golem. One might be there for a meeting with a merchant, for instance. However, those who traveled for such purposes were generally of considerable standing—specifically, nobles and merchants. Given that, deducing Rei's purpose wasn't difficult.
Furthermore, as a member of the Neutral Faction, it wouldn't be strange for him to know that Rei had a hobby of collecting Magic Items.
"About that matter... according to the information we've received, the Dolan Workshop is apparently somewhat suspicious."
"...Suspicious? Not in the sense of jealousy or something like that?"
The workshop with the foremost technology in present-day Egginis was the Dolan Workshop. That was an undeniable fact. But the more undeniable it was, the more true it became that those who refused to accept it would emerge.
One such representative was Roger. Even so, Roger intended to hone his own skills and catch up to the Dolan Workshop. As part of gathering materials for that effort, he had provoked Seto—and as a result, his wallet had become considerably lighter. But Roger was only able to take that approach because he was already one of the top-class alchemists in Egginis.
However, there were also those who lacked such skill to begin with, yet couldn't tolerate the fact that the Dolan Workshop's engineers possessed the greatest technology in Egginis. To such people, whispering ill of the Dolan Workshop to others and dragging it down was an effective tactic. After all, if things went well, they might destroy the Dolan Workshop without lifting a finger themselves. Even if things didn't go well, having bad rumors spread could still reasonably cast suspicious eyes upon the workshop.
Considering that, it wouldn't be strange if someone had fed Ridon a dubious story.
"I don't know."
In response to the word "jealousy" from Rei's mouth, Ridon shook his head. Ridon didn't believe the information was entirely true, either. He didn't believe it—but even so, there was a possibility, a one-in-a-million chance that he couldn't deny. The golems produced by the Dolan Workshop, while having productivity issues, were outstanding in terms of pure performance. Considering that, the bad rumors about the workshop that Ridon had learned of couldn't be dismissed as entirely baseless.
"When you say 'I don't know,' it's a bit troubling to be told that sort of thing without more to go on."
"That may be so. But if the Dolan Workshop truly does have some kind of shady dealings, that would be unpleasant for you as well, would it not, Lord Rei?"
"That's... well, I won't deny it."
In fact, if something like that were the case, he would hesitate over whether it was acceptable to use a Dolan Workshop golem. Thinking that—for an instant, truly just an instant—the matter of the bandits and Golias came to mind.
That said, it was merely a passing thought, not something backed by any evidence. It was entirely possible that the disappearances of bandits and an adventurer like Golias were merely coincidental.
Even so, it was an undeniable fact that the matter had left some impression on his mind.
Ridon must have noticed Rei's demeanor. He spoke with a curious—and concerned—tone.
"What is it, Rei?"
"...No. Are you aware that the bandits around Egginis have been vanishing lately?"
"I recall hearing rumors of it, but in the end, that was just a false report, was it not? In fact, I haven't heard any talk of bandit-related damage decreasing."
"No, it's no rumor. Bandits who were operating in Egginis found out about it and left the area. I happened to encounter one of those bandits and got the story out of him."
"Bandit Eater..."
Ridon murmured the alias—different from Crimson—by which Rei was known among bandits.
"Something like that. And according to that bandit, the ones who had been active around Egginis vanished one after another. Not because they were defeated by adventurers or anything like that. They sensed the danger and pulled away from Egginis. Since they also worked as bandits in other places, that's how I ended up running into them."
"But... then why hasn't the bandit damage decreased?"
"Someone is replenishing the ones who left. More precisely, my guess is that someone is spreading rumors or something to lure bandits to this area. I have no proof, of course. It's a hypothesis built on top of another hypothesis."
At Rei's words, Ridon furrowed his brow slightly.