"Hang in there."
Rei called out to the backs of the two thugs as they stumbled away carrying nearly thirty axes between them.
Even a single axe weighed several kilograms, and though the two had divided the load, it was still nearly thirty in total. The combined weight was undoubtedly considerable.
What would become of those two from here on was something even Rei didn't know. As he had told them, they might use the money from selling the axes as seed capital to leave Egginis—or they might blow it all on alcohol and women and end up right back in the Slum District.
Still, Rei's guess was that they wouldn't be returning to the Slum District anytime soon.
After all, they had leaked information to him about the Assassin Guild's location. Given that, if the two thugs' fears came true and survivors remained even after Rei wiped out the Assassin Guild, there was a very real possibility they would be targeted.
Naturally, Rei had no intention of making such a careless mistake. But the two thugs didn't know Rei's true strength, and while he fully intended to crush the Assassin Guild, there was nothing he could do about those who happened to be away from the hideout for some reason. In that sense, it wasn't entirely impossible that an assassin who coincidentally happened to be away and survived might come after the two thugs who had just given Rei the information.
"Grrr."
Let's hurry, Seto purred, rubbing its face against Rei.
Smiling at the gesture, Rei stroked its head and continued through the Slum District.
There were Slum District residents watching Rei and Seto, but having witnessed the exchange that had just taken place, none of them dared try anything like laying a hand on Rei. That went double given that Seto was at his side.
The two thugs from earlier had seemed to know absolutely nothing about Rei, but within the Slum District there were naturally some who knew he was an adventurer bearing the alias Crimson. Even so, they probably didn't know he was an A-Rank adventurer.
For that reason, Rei made his way through the Slum District with Seto without being harassed or accosted. He had been walking along, but suddenly he stopped in his tracks and spoke.
"I figured I'd be able to take it easy with this approach... or so I thought."
"Gru."
Seto purred as if in agreement. Since Rei had noticed the killing intent directed at him, there was no way Seto, whose senses were far sharper, would have missed it.
Even so, Rei didn't look particularly surprised. He was currently being targeted by assassins. Under such circumstances, coming to the Slum District—home turf of the Assassin Guild's hideout, so to speak—would naturally present a perfect opportunity for them to strike. If anything, Rei had partly come to the Slum District hoping for exactly that.
When fighting assassins, it was naturally better to pick them off one by one before reaching their base rather than facing large numbers all at once at their headquarters. In that sense, the battle between Rei and the Assassin Guild had already begun.
That said, there's no guarantee that this assassin or the hideout I just heard about is really the Assassin Guild that's after me.
Rei understood that Egginis had multiple assassin guilds. Whether the one he was planning to infiltrate was the same one targeting him was something he didn't know. And whether the guild that this assassin currently aiming for him belonged to was the same one he was heading toward was equally unknown.
But to be blunt, whether that Assassin Guild was the one targeting him or not didn't matter to Rei. The reason he was attacking them this time was primarily as a deterrent—a demonstration of what happened to anyone foolish enough to lay a hand on him. Being destroyed for such a reason, Rei was nothing but a God of Plagues to the Assassin Guild.
If this were a legitimate organization, they could appeal to the guards. But an Assassin Guild was, naturally, an illegal one. They could hardly go crying to the guards just because Rei had targeted them. That said, while appealing to the guards was out of the question, they could appeal to those who ran Egginis. Such individuals naturally relied on the Assassin Guild when they had troublesome people to deal with. In that sense, it was all the more necessary to crush the Assassin Guild without giving them time to react—tonight.
"Anyway, the fact that you're radiating killing intent means you're not planning a sneak attack or ambush, right? In that case, would you mind coming out already?"
In response to Rei's voice echoing through the Slum District, someone stepped out from the shadow of a building with a clink of metal.
Hearing that sound, Rei found it slightly unexpected. Normally, assassins didn't wear armor of any kind—in order to avoid detection and to move as swiftly as possible. Even those who did usually opted for gear made from monster or animal hides, which produced less noise and was lighter than metal armor. In that sense, an assassin wearing clinking metal armor was extremely rare.
Feeling a spark of curiosity, Rei watched as a man who looked to be in his late twenties appeared at the end of his gaze, wearing metal armor just as expected. He held a longsword in his hand and looked far more like an adventurer—or perhaps a knight—than an assassin.
"Just you?"
"That's right. Crimson Rei. I've come to take your life." The assassin held his longsword at the ready, in a stance from which he could strike at any moment.
"It's a bit odd to ask this after hearing that line, but I'll ask anyway. Are you actually an assassin?"
"I'm targeting your life. Given that, I'd think the answer is obvious without needing to ask."
The man acted the part, but Rei spoke with open exasperation.
"Even if you tell me you're an assassin looking like that, do you honestly expect me to believe it? If you're an assassin, at least act like one. Why not wear something like a Black Garb?"
"Even if you say that, this suits me best. More importantly—brace yourself."
The very fact that he said this made it painfully clear the man was unsuited to be an assassin. When the objective was to kill, one should exploit an opening or do whatever it took to get the job done. Instead, going out of his way to tell his opponent to prepare—from Rei's perspective, the man simply wasn't cut out for the role.
He wasn't cut out for it, true, but even so, being told to ready a weapon in this situation, Rei wasn't about to refuse. The man was undeniably unlike an assassin, but it was equally undeniable that he intended to fight.
"Just so we're clear—you can't beat me, you know. From the looks of it, you're around B-Rank adventurer level, right?"
Saying this, Rei drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear as usual and took his stance.
As Rei had said, the man appeared to have the ability of roughly a B-Rank adventurer. Of course, that was merely Rei's impression from looking at him. It was possible the man was hiding his true strength and Rei simply hadn't seen through it.
"Grru?"
Shall we fight together? Seto purred, but Rei shook his head while keeping his weapons at the ready.
"No, Seto, keep watch on our surroundings. There's a chance someone other than this man is waiting for an opening—or that someone might jump in while we're focused on fighting."
"Gruu!"
Understood! Seto purred at Rei's instruction.
Watching the exchange between person and gryphon, the man looked displeased, as if to say he would do no such thing. Even so, he understood that he was the assassin here, so he figured there was no point in saying anything.
"Then it seems you're ready as well. ...Here I come!"
With those words, the man broke into a run toward Rei, longsword at the ready. He was wearing metal armor, yet he moved at a respectable clip. But Rei had faced enemies far swifter than this many times before, and when it came to human opponents, he had experience fighting much stronger ones. As a result, even though the man's attack would likely place him firmly among the strong by general standards, at this level it simply didn't register as a threat to Rei.
Rei deflected the longsword swung down at him with a horizontal sweep of the Twilight Spear. The blow easily altered the longsword's trajectory, throwing the man off balance—and into that opening, Rei unleashed a horizontal slash with Death Scythe. He had no intention whatsoever of taking the man alive to gather information. It was a strike meant to cleave the torso cleanly in half, severing top from bottom.
That should have finished him. Or so Rei thought—but the instant Death Scythe's blade attempted to cut through the man's metal armor, it struck something for a split second. Not the armor itself, but something else entirely—specifically, a barrier or some similar defensive shield.
Though momentarily startled by the sensation, Rei judged that if such a thing existed, he simply needed to swing through it, and was about to put more force into the hand gripping Death Scythe—but in that fraction of a second, the man retreated.
A weaker opponent would have had their torso split in two right then and there. But this man had the skill of roughly a B-Rank adventurer. He hadn't missed the split-second opening created by Rei's hesitation and had pulled back. Though, retreating at that point was likely the limit of someone with B-Rank adventurer-level ability. If he'd been on par with an A-Rank adventurer, he would have used that opening to attack rather than evade. Whether that attack would have actually been effective against Rei was another matter entirely, but facing Rei and choosing evasion over attack was a poor decision. It wasn't universally a bad choice, but in the current situation, it was undoubtedly the wrong one.
"What's the plan, backing away like that? Not that it's going to make me stop!"
With a sharp shout, Rei stepped forward, Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear in hand. He was channeling magical power into both weapons.
What exactly had stopped Death Scythe's attack earlier, Rei didn't know. Whether it was the man's skill, some kind of Magic Item he carried, or whether the armor itself was a Magic Item. Regardless, since some form of barrier or shield was undeniably in play, Rei needed to deal with it. And with Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear infused with magical power, handling an opponent who relied on such a defensive method was not a difficult proposition.
"Guh!"
Judging from Rei's demeanor that the same defensive trick wouldn't work twice, the man let out a groan—but even so, he didn't attempt to retreat. Instead, he held his ground and waited.
This too was quite unlike an assassin. A real assassin would have fled the instant he judged he had no chance of winning, and no one would have thought it strange.
Facing such an opponent, Rei couldn't help but feel it was a waste. What exactly had driven this man to work as an assassin was beyond Rei's understanding. But had he worked as an adventurer instead, there was no doubt he could have risen to B-Rank based on his ability alone. There was no need to take on a dangerous job like assassination. "Stable" was never a word that applied to an adventurer's life, but being able to operate openly without the guilty conscience that came with being an assassin was a significant advantage.
Was there some reason this man couldn't do that?
Harboring that question, Rei closed the distance between them—and the man too, perhaps seeking life in the midst of death, swung his longsword at Rei with everything he had. A clean hit would cleave a person in two—or even if it fell short of that, it was a strike that could easily inflict near-fatal damage.
Rei parried the blow with the tip of the Twilight Spear. The longsword's blade slid along the spear's point, skated down the shaft—and when it reached the midway point, Rei deflected it with a simple flick of his wrist. The man's posture broke, and into that opening Rei swung Death Scythe.
The strike was nearly identical to the previous one. The only difference was that Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear were now imbued with magical power. The man attempted to defend using the same method as before, but the barrier or shield had no effect whatsoever. In the next instant, the metal armor's torso was cleaved cleanly in half, top from bottom—and the man died by Rei's hand.
"I don't know why you were doing something like being an assassin, but you made a foolish choice."
With Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear in hand, Rei looked down at the man's corpse and said so.