"So there's really nothing of note on the ground floor, huh?"
Rei muttered in disappointment after confirming there was absolutely nothing inside the Fusetsu hideout.
He had expected as much, but still harbored the hope that there might be something—anything—that could serve as a clue.
Yet upon entering the building, while "ruins" would have been an exaggeration, it was unmistakably not a place anyone was actively using.
"Which means the first order of business is figuring out how to reach the hideout underground."
This was the stronghold of Fusetsu, the largest assassin guild in Egginis.
Naturally, hidden passages or concealed doors leading to the hideout would not be so easily found.
With that in mind, he searched throughout the building, but...
"Uh... seriously...?"
In the very back room of the building, there was a blatantly obvious staircase leading downward.
No camouflage whatsoever—anyone could simply walk down into the underground if they wanted to. It was far too blatant.
(A trap?)
An ostentatious staircase inside an assassin guild's stronghold.
Thinking about it normally, it could only be a trap.
Rei understood that, but with it right in front of him, he still found himself at a loss.
"A trap... is it really a trap? If it were a trap, would they make it this obvious?"
Muttering, he hurled one of his still-plentiful axes down the staircase.
If it were a trap, something should happen to that axe.
Rei watched the staircase with that thought, but all he heard was the sound of the axe tumbling downward.
No trap-like mechanism activated, and the axe appeared completely unscathed.
"So... it's not a trap?"
Surprised by the unexpected turn of events, Rei peered down the staircase.
Naturally, even in this situation, no traps fired—no spears, arrows, or needles flying toward him.
"If this isn't a trap, does that mean they're underestimating me? Or..."
Rei trailed off, then looked back toward the staircase and continued.
"Do they think they can take me head-on?"
"No, that is not the case."
The one who answered Rei's words was a voice coming from the staircase.
As the owner of that voice replied, she revealed herself.
An extremely alluring woman... one who looked like nothing but a prostitute.
However, her footwork was that of a first-class fighter.
Even compared to the man who had challenged Rei head-on earlier, the woman before him was likely stronger.
Furthermore, her revealing attire typical of a prostitute would certainly give her an advantage when facing men.
Yet faced with such a woman... Rei showed no sign of being perturbed.
There was no doubt the woman before him was beautiful.
But Rei was accustomed to seeing women of peerless beauty like Elena, Marina, and Vihera, and likewise accustomed to their revealing outfits. ...He still flushed red on occasion, though.
Seeing Rei's demeanor, the woman's eyebrows shifted almost imperceptibly.
As her attire demonstrated, the woman possessed strong confidence in her own beauty.
Given that, a man who showed no sign of arousal upon seeing her was simply incomprehensible.
...In truth, the woman was certainly a rare beauty, but "rare" did not mean "unparalleled."
She may have had the finest looks in Egginis, but there was always someone better in the world.
She was dissatisfied that Rei showed neither lust nor admiration upon seeing her, but she quickly erased that expression and put on a smile.
This time, it was not the smile of a woman seducing a man, but a smile designed to give the other party a friendly impression.
Her ability to instantly change the type of smile—despite it being the same expression—came from her experience in negotiations.
"So, what business might Lord Rei have with us?"
"Just to confirm—this is Fusetsu's stronghold, right? At first, I thought that staircase leading underground was so blatantly obvious it had to be a trap."
"Given who the opponent is. If they tried to hide it poorly, the entire building might end up being burned down, wouldn't it?"
Those were words born precisely from knowing Rei's nature and abilities.
In fact, if Rei had searched the building and failed to find a staircase or door leading underground, there was a high likelihood he would have gotten fed up and burned the entire building down.
"I see. So you left it open because you knew I was coming. Despite that, the ones guarding this building came at me with plain hostility and killing intent."
"We didn't inform them about you, Lord Rei. Someone of your caliber could dispatch opponents of that level without issue, correct? And you did exactly that."
"That's true enough, but did you not consider that it would leave me with a poor impression of you?"
"If the information I've gathered is accurate, I judged it would not be a problem."
Rei nodded in understanding at the woman's explanation.
Indeed, Rei had simply thrown an axe, and Seto had dispatched his opponent with a single swipe of his front paw.
And Rei harbored no particular ill will from those encounters.
The woman's assessment was not far off the mark.
"Fair enough. You're not wrong. Though you did lose two cards from your hand in the process."
"They were not critical cards, so please do not concern yourself."
"Then, enough with the preamble—may we get to the main topic?"
"Oh my, I would have preferred to converse with a somewhat more charming gentleman... but if you say so, I can hardly refuse. So, what is this main topic?"
"Be destroyed."
It was a blunt, straightforward demand from Rei.
The woman, perhaps not expecting Rei to so directly tell them to be destroyed, showed a flash of surprise on her face.
She quickly plastered on a friendly smile, though.
"How very direct. However, we have no recollection of making an enemy of Lord Rei?"
Naturally, the woman was also one of Fusetsu's executives.
She knew that Rei was currently being targeted by assassins.
She had assumed Rei came to the Slum District to destroy the assassin guild that was targeting him.
Yet for some reason, he had come to Fusetsu's entirely unrelated stronghold and was now telling them to disappear.
Truthfully, she had no idea what Rei was thinking.
"Hm? Ah, so I was wrong. I heard Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in Egginis, so I assumed the ones after me were Fusetsu."
"I see. Then the misunderstanding is cleared up, so if you would..."
As a negotiator, she wanted someone like Rei to leave as quickly as possible.
He moved by logic she could not comprehend, on top of which he declared he would destroy them, and possessed the power to make good on that threat.
He was a completely incomprehensible entity.
And... precisely because he was incomprehensible, when Rei opened his mouth next, her expression stiffened.
"No, I don't intend to just go home. I'm still going to destroy Fusetsu."
"...What did you just say?"
Please let it be a mishearing.
As the woman asked with that wish in mind, Rei spoke again as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"My plan to destroy Fusetsu hasn't changed."
"I'll confirm just in case, but you understand that we are not the ones targeting you, correct?"
"Yeah. If Fusetsu had been the one targeting me, things would have been simpler."
"Then... why would you try to destroy us when we have no quarrel with you?"
"Fusetsu is the largest assassin guild in Egginis. If that guild gets destroyed, normally the ones who did it wouldn't have to worry about retaliation, right?"
"Well, that is..."
She understood Rei's aim. She understood it, and she thought it was indeed effective—but being told to just accept their own destruction because of that was unreasonable.
Moreover, Fusetsu was the largest-scale assassin guild in Egginis.
If Fusetsu were to be destroyed, it would have a massive impact on Egginis's underworld power balance, potentially sparking needless conflict.
"If we are destroyed, there will be turmoil in Egginis's underworld as well. That could result in unnecessary deaths, you know?"
"That's undesirable. Undesirable, but that doesn't mean I think the current situation should be left as is either. Besides, if things go too far, I can just intervene again."
That was something only possible because Rei had the power to back it up.
And Rei actually possessed enough strength to do exactly that if he chose to.
Because the woman understood this as well, she recognized that this situation was about as bad as it could get.
Precisely because she understood, she felt the need to somehow turn the current situation around. She rapidly turned over ideas in her mind... and eventually reached a conclusion.
A conclusion that she believed was the only way for Fusetsu to survive.
"Lord Rei, I have a proposal. I believe you will find this one satisfactory—what do you say?"
"A proposal?"
The words that came from the woman's mouth were quite unexpected to Rei.
He hadn't imagined that in this situation, a negotiator dispatched by Fusetsu would make some kind of offer.
At the same time, though, since they understood that continuing as is would lead to their annihilation, he fully grasped that they had no choice but to resort to such measures.
In a head-on fight, Fusetsu's defeat would be decided then and there.
Alternatively, they might survive if they chose to flee without fighting Rei—but in that case, it would not be surprising if they ended up being targeted by other assassin guilds instead.
While there was no doubt that Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in Egginis, there was certainly no shortage of those who wished to supplant them.
"Yes. A proposal. You intend to destroy Fusetsu because assassins are targeting you, is that correct, Lord Rei?"
"That's right. Also, I want the information on who ordered my assassination, so I'm searching for leads to obtain that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered entering an assassin guild's stronghold—I'd have just used magic from outside and annihilated it without a word."
Thank goodness.
Hearing Rei's words, the woman—through the fruits of her training—kept her expression neutral, but a cold sweat had broken out across her back in copious amounts.
If Rei had intended that, they would have been annihilated without even being able to make any proposal like this.
As Rei's alias "Crimson" suggested... and as the rumors spread during the war with the Bestia Empire indicated, he excelled at Flame Magic.
In reality, the alias "Crimson" came not only from his Flame Magic, but largely from the sheer volume of blood spilled when he killed enemies with Death Scythe. ...But generally speaking, the perception that he excelled at Flame Magic was the dominant factor.
If such magic had been used from somewhere they didn't know about, what would have become of them?
The answer was obvious without even thinking about it.
They were saved. Saved, truly from the bottom of her heart.
Harboring such thoughts, the woman nevertheless kept her expression free of turmoil or relief and continued speaking.
"In that case, there is an offer even more beneficial to you, Lord Rei. What do you say?"
"An offer beneficial to me?"
He didn't entirely believe those words.
But as long as they were talking like this, it was clear the other side wanted to somehow resolve the current situation—a situation that could only be called desperate for Fusetsu.
Given that, Rei felt he could at least hear the woman out.
"Let's hear it. However, if it turns out to be a complete lie or a stalling tactic to get out of this situation, I will annihilate Fusetsu without mercy."
If an ordinary... no, even a reasonably skilled adventurer said such a thing, the woman could have laughed off the bravado.
She would have dismissed it as empty posturing.
But... in Rei's case, he would actually do it.
Even against an assassin guild fielding numerous skilled operatives, it was clear from the information Fusetsu possessed that Rei had enough power to annihilate them without fail.
Gulp.
The woman's pale throat moved alluringly.
If an ordinary man saw the sensual way her throat rippled, it wouldn't be strange for him to lunge at her on the spot—such was its allure.
Without even being aware she was doing it... the woman opened her mouth as if gambling everything on a single throw.
"We, Fusetsu, will destroy the assassin guild Blood Blade that is targeting you. We shall also obtain the information you seek. ...How about it? In that case, you wouldn't need to go so far as to destroy us, would you?"
That was what the woman said.