The day after his trip to the Slum District, Rei overslept. Once he had finished getting ready, he made his way to the dining hall.
If he had taken on a request, he would have felt guilty about sleeping in.
If he had made some kind of appointment, that would have been another matter entirely.
But today, he had no particular obligations to speak of, so it wasn't an issue.
Waiting for a messenger from Fusetsu could, in a sense, be considered an appointment of sorts.
At any rate, with no real commitments to keep, enjoying a leisurely morning like this was far from unpleasant.
After all, while Rei had come to Egginis to purchase golems, the trip served more as a vacation.
Given the incident with the Crystal Dragon corpse, it went without saying that he could no longer walk around freely in Gilm. One only needed to recall the uproar that had greeted his return to understand that.
Until that commotion settled down—or at least dwindled to the point where people no longer made a fuss just from spotting him—Rei wouldn't be able to stroll through Gilm as he pleased.
I'd like to spend the winter in Gilm, though.
He didn't go out all that often during the winter to begin with.
Even when he did, most people wore coats or robes against the cold, which lowered the chances of his face being recognized.
Given that, Rei figured there would be no problem returning to Gilm once winter came.
The real question is whether I'll have finished buying the golems by then.
He had already commissioned Roger to build a defensive golem and a cleaning golem, and on top of that, he was preparing for the possibility of purchasing golems from the Dolan Workshop.
Roger had said he would craft the golems using Orc Naga materials, so it wouldn't be surprising if the work took some time.
Working with an unknown material like Orc Naga meant he first needed to determine its properties.
Once that analysis was complete, he could then figure out how best to use it as a golem component.
If the material's properties were identified quickly, the actual construction wouldn't take all that long.
But if the analysis proved troublesome, production would be delayed accordingly.
Compared to Roger, Rei predicted the Dolan Workshop wouldn't take nearly as long.
No—it was more than a prediction. He was certain of it.
After all, Rei wasn't the only one who wanted Dolan Workshop golems.
Nobles and merchants from large trading houses were all vying to purchase them as well.
It was currently late summer, edging into autumn. But if asked whether those nobles and wealthy merchants would wait until winter for their chance, the answer was a resounding no.
If it were just Rei, he might have been willing to wait. But with parties like nobles and prominent merchants in the mix, the workshop couldn't possibly keep them waiting that long.
"Hm. Delicious as always."
After enjoying breakfast in the Star River Inn's dining hall, Rei headed back toward his room, only to be stopped in his tracks.
"Rei-san, might I have a moment?"
What could it be? he wondered, turning toward the voice. It was one of the inn's employees.
Beside the employee stood a man in his twenties.
A man with no particularly notable features to speak of. If pressed to describe him, "healthy-looking" was about the best one could muster.
Upon seeing Rei, the man bowed, and a suspicion formed in Rei's mind.
"This gentleman says his name is Lord Soleil. Would he happen to be the person you mentioned might come visit last night?"
Soleil.
The moment he heard that name, Rei understood exactly who the man before him was—or rather, on whose behalf he had come.
He understood, but that didn't stop him from being surprised.
Rei had gone to Fusetsu's base yesterday... or more precisely, last night.
Given that timing, wasn't it far too soon for them to come with a report? That was what had crossed his mind.
"Lord Rei?"
"Ah, right. Yes, this is the one I told you about. I'll hear him out in my room, if that's all right with you?"
"Of course. Thank you."
Rei nodded to the man—Soleil—then thanked the inn employee before heading toward his room.
It wasn't unusual for a guest at this inn to invite someone up to their room.
But the one doing so this time was Rei.
In Egginis as a whole... and at the Star River Inn in particular... he was a figure who drew considerable attention.
With someone of his stature inviting a guest from outside and walking through the halls together, there was no way they wouldn't attract notice.
If it had been someone already staying at the inn like Maruka, Nicky, or Ridon, that would have been a different story entirely.
Ah, but come to think of it, Roger and Lindy did come by yesterday, didn't they? When I got back, I was with Maruka and Nicky, so people might have assumed they were just my acquaintances' guests... no, that doesn't hold up.
After all, they had called out Rei's name loudly when he returned.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange at all for them to be recognized as people connected to him.
What's more, while Lindy was one thing, Roger was well-known in Egginis as a skilled alchemist.
Bearing the weight of those stares without so much as flinching, Rei led the man into his room.
"Now then... for the time being, have a seat on that sofa."
"Thank you."
But before sitting down, the man bowed deeply toward Rei.
"I am Soleil, dispatched by Fusetsu."
"Just to confirm—is Soleil your real name?"
"No. Please think of it as a job title for those serving as messengers."
"I see. Then I'll just call you Soleil."
Rei took a seat on the sofa, and Soleil followed suit.
"So. The fact that you're here means I can assume the Blood Blade matter has been settled?"
"Yes. Yesterday, Lord Rei—"
"Ah, you don't need to speak so stiffly. Just talk however comes naturally to you."
"Understood. Thank you." Soleil paused, then continued in a more casual tone. "Yesterday, after Rei-san left, Fusetsu mobilized every fighter we could spare and assaulted Blood Blade's base. We annihilated everyone inside without a single survivor."
He said it so matter-of-factly—annihilated.
Using that word meant, naturally, that there had been a significant number of people present.
What's more, while Blood Blade wasn't Egginis's largest assassin organization like Fusetsu, Nina had told Rei it was still one of the bigger guilds among the many that operated in the city.
That meant the base would have housed a considerable number of people, and not all of them would have been combatants.
Yet Soleil was saying they had killed every last one of them.
Despite that, his expression betrayed no trace of fear or regret whatsoever.
Seeing this, Rei nodded inwardly. Right. He really is a member of an assassin guild.
"Still, that was remarkably fast."
"Were you ordered to move that quickly?"
"I was. I did think the sooner the better, but even so, I expected it to take at least a few days."
"I'm glad to have surprised you, Rei-san." Soleil's tone remained even. "At any rate, we dealt with everyone at the base, but those who happened to be away may have escaped. With Blood Blade destroyed, I doubt they'll try to target Rei-san again, but it's not a certainty. Please stay on your guard."
"I will. ...So, do you know who was behind it? Who ordered the hit on me?"
"Yes. We found a contract. I judged it too dangerous to carry with me, so it's been moved to one of Fusetsu's warehouses, along with the treasures."
Hearing that, Rei recalled that he had indeed told them to hand over the treasures as well.
They would certainly be useful to have. But in this case, what mattered far more to Rei than the treasures was the destruction of Blood Blade—and the identity of whoever had commissioned them to kill him.
"You didn't bring the contract with you? I can understand leaving the treasures behind, but bringing a single document shouldn't be that difficult."
"I wasn't given it, as a precaution. There was a chance Blood Blade remnants might try to attack me on my way here."
From Blood Blade's perspective, their entire organization had been wiped out before they even knew what hit them.
Survivors who happened to be away from the base would typically lay low and vanish to avoid being caught up in the aftermath. But among them, there could always be someone with a personal motive—a lover or a wife killed in the raid, or simply someone who couldn't stomach their guild being unilaterally slaughtered. It wouldn't be strange for such people to exist.
For individuals like that, someone like Soleil—a courier rather than a frontline fighter—would make the perfect target for revenge.
Naturally, as a member of an assassin guild, Soleil possessed a certain degree of strength.
But that strength was merely adequate—enough for minor self-defense and nothing more. If an active, seasoned assassin came after him, fending them off would be a tall order.
Precisely because he understood this, Soleil had left the contract behind and come simply to fetch Rei.
"I see. I understand the situation. In that case, let's head to this warehouse of yours right away. How far is it from here? Is it in the Slum District?"
Since Fusetsu's base had been in the Slum District, Rei assumed the warehouse Soleil was about to lead him to would be in the same area.
But Soleil shook his head.
"No, it isn't. It's not on a main street, but it's a warehouse on one of the back roads."
Egginis was a city with a thriving golem industry, and as a result, warehouses for storing golems were fairly common.
Fusetsu apparently owned one such warehouse, and that was where they had transported the treasures and the contract.
"I see. Then let's get going. I need to find out exactly who it was that hired Blood Blade to come after me. Depending on the answer, I may need to respond in kind."
"Understood. I'll guide you there at once. That said, even once the one who commissioned the guild is identified, please be careful about acting rashly. There's a possibility Rei-san could be framed in all this."
"Framed, huh? You mean something like claiming the client's contract with Blood Blade was my fabrication and the documents were forged? Since Egginis is an autonomous city, things could certainly get messy."
If a standard noble were in charge here, Rei could always have Daskar pull strings as a last resort.
Or even if not Daskar, he could have turned to a Neutral Faction noble currently in Egginis, like Ridon, for assistance.
But with Egginis being an autonomous city, the calculus changed entirely.
The people who governed Egginis—in this case, merchants—could very well frame Rei of their own accord, or collude with someone who wanted him dead. The possibility was real enough.
To avoid that outcome, rather than launching a frontal assault on the organization that had ordered his assassination, he would need to employ a subtler approach.
In that case, the best person I can rely on right now is... Roger, isn't it?
Roger may have been outclassed by the Dolan Workshop in terms of technique, but that didn't change the fact that he remained a highly capable alchemist in Egginis.
With Roger's reputation... and the influence of Roger's affiliated workshop... there was no question they wielded considerable sway in the city.
If so, asking Roger to publicly condemn whoever had tried to have Rei killed seemed like a sound option.
As for compensation, Rei could offer additional Orc Naga materials, or perhaps even share a portion of the Crystal Dragon's materials.
Roger was that thrilled about the Orc Naga materials, so there's no doubt he'd be over the moon with Crystal Dragon materials. Especially if I framed it as payment for dealing with the one who targeted me—he might just wipe them out even more spectacularly than Fusetsu did Blood Blade. At least, I'd like to think so.
With that in mind, Rei turned back to Soleil and spoke, as if shaking off his earlier thoughts.
"At any rate, there's no point speculating until I actually know who's after me. First, let's head to that warehouse and see the contract for ourselves. Lead the way."
"Yes, understood. Shall we go now, then?"
To Soleil's question, Rei gave an emphatic nod.