The place Soleil led him to was a warehouse in a back alley, a fair distance from the Star River Inn.
Given the nature of what was stored inside, several Fusetsu assassins were stationed outside as guards.
Some directed hostile glares at Rei.
It wasn't a threat from a larger organization—rather, they were displeased that Egginis's largest assassin guild, Fusetsu, had been so conveniently used by the threat of a single individual: Rei.
That said, there were also many who, upon seeing Rei—or rather, seeing Seto beside him—felt that Nina's decision to negotiate had been the right call.
(Assassins acting as guards... well, I suppose if anyone were to attack, it would be Blood Blade remnants or the like. Thinking of it that way, it's not so strange, is it?)
With that thought, Rei decided there was no real need to pay their glares any mind.
If any of them actually tried to start something, that would be a different story.
"This way."
Guided by Soleil, Rei entered the warehouse together with Seto.
In an ordinary building, Seto would never fit inside.
However, this warehouse was normally used to store golems.
Naturally, the entrance was large enough that Seto could walk in without any issue whatsoever.
And upon stepping inside...
"Damn... Blood Blade sure raked it in."
The treasures spread out before him were without a doubt worthy of being called exactly that.
Not gold coins, but gold bars and various gemstones, along with paintings that, even to Rei's untrained eye, possessed a captivating intensity.
It was easily worth enough for a person to live a life of leisure—their entire family included—without a doubt.
"Blood Blade was a fairly large assassin guild within Egginis, after all. It's only natural that the treasures they amassed would amount to a commensurate sum," Soleil said.
"Huh... then does Fusetsu, being a larger organization than Blood Blade, have even more treasure than this?"
"Well, I couldn't say. That's not for me to comment on."
So saying, Soleil quietly averted his gaze.
Not only that, but the other assassin guards inside the warehouse also looked away upon hearing Rei's words.
They absolutely did not want to say anything careless here that might result in Fusetsu being attacked by Rei again.
There were those who harbored resentment toward Rei, just like the assassins standing guard outside.
However, even those individuals understood that doing anything foolish here would end badly, so none of them made any move to provoke him.
"Well, I don't really care about that. Are there any Magic Items or the like? From what I can see, it's just ordinary treasure."
From what Rei could see of the warehouse, the only things present were, as he said, treasures of that sort.
There were no Magic Items anywhere.
"The Magic Items are gathered over there. However, there don't appear to be any particularly rare ones."
Soleil's words were highly disappointing for Rei.
Still, since what Rei sought were not rare Magic Items but rather ones that could be used in combat or on missions, he held out hope that there might be something useful.
An assassin guild—and one of considerable size in Egginis, at that. Surely they would have Magic Items they actually used when carrying out assassinations? That was what he had been thinking.
Rei's fixation on Magic Items was likely influenced by the fact that this was Egginis—a city where the golem industry thrived and many alchemists resided.
However, most of the alchemists in Egginis, like Roger, were specialists focused on golem manufacturing.
Considering that, even with so many alchemists, perhaps they simply couldn't create particularly rare Magic Items? He found himself wondering.
(In terms of materials, Egginis isn't that well-off, either.)
If this were Gilm, being the only frontier in the Kingdom of Mireana, rare materials could be obtained cheaply.
In fact, many alchemists migrated to Gilm for precisely that reason, and high-performance Magic Items were crafted by such alchemists.
The Twilight Spear Rei possessed was one such item.
By comparison, even though Egginis had a large gathering of alchemists, materials for creating Magic Items were inevitably scarce.
Moreover, with the golem industry thriving, most materials were diverted to golem production.
When that happened, there were inevitably none left over for Magic Items.
"Ah, even so, there were potions and antidotes—medicines of that sort. And... there were also numerous poisons. Those might be of use to you, Rei-san."
Perhaps because Rei looked so dejected, Soleil offered this in an encouraging tone.
"Potions aside, poison, huh? They're assassins, so I suppose that's a given."
In fact, the short sword wielded by the assassin who had charged at Rei with the carriage had been coated in poison.
Thinking back on that, it was only natural for poisons to be stored at Blood Blade's base.
"Do you dislike poison?"
"I don't think there's anyone who likes it. Well, there are people in the world with unusual tastes, and some might absolutely love poison, I suppose."
Rei suddenly recalled a manga he had read back in Japan.
In several fighting manga, there was a technique where one imbued their hands with poison to create lethal "poison hands."
Whether or not such a thing was actually possible, Rei had no idea.
However, thinking about it logically, wouldn't the poison spread throughout the entire body, not just the hands, during the imbuing process?
But that was only common sense in Japan—no, on Earth.
In this world, given the existence of magic and Magic Items, it wouldn't be strange for there to be those who could actually wield techniques like poison hands.
"If you don't need the poisons and such, we can take them off your hands?"
Seeing Rei deep in thought, Soleil apparently assumed he was hesitating about what to do with the poisons and made the suggestion.
However, Rei shook his head.
"No, they might be useful for something, so I'll take them. Just make sure I can tell what kind of poison each one is."
"I don't mind, but... are you sure? These are poisons that Blood Blade used, you know?"
"That doesn't bother me. Poison has its uses as poison."
"If you say so, Rei-san, then I have no objections. I'll make the arrangements, then. What about the potions?"
"Those... let's see. Look into them for me, just in case. Since they're potions from an assassin guild, it'd be troublesome if they turned out to be poisons disguised as potions or something like that."
Normally, there would be no need to worry that much, but given that these were potions found in an assassin guild's base, one couldn't be too careful.
Soleil nodded at Rei's request, but then directed a puzzled gaze at him.
"I don't mind, but are you sure? The ones investigating Blood Blade's potions would be Fusetsu—another assassin guild, you know."
In other words: was he not worried about being deceived?
At Soleil's words, Rei offered a smile.
However, it was not a smile meant to convey friendliness—it was the smile of a ferocious beast of prey.
"If that happens, I'll just pay Fusetsu's base another visit. And this time, without any negotiation from Nina, the organization known as Fusetsu would cease to exist."
Soleil apparently understood that Rei was completely serious.
Soleil—no, not just Soleil, but everyone inside the warehouse—gasped upon hearing those words.
Seeing their reaction, Rei decided that intimidating them any further might be counterproductive, and continued speaking as if to shift the mood.
"That said, Fusetsu has no intention of pulling anything like that and incurring my wrath, right?"
"Y-yes. Of course that is our intention. We've finally built a good relationship with you, Rei-san. I could never do something that would throw that away of my own accord."
"Then that's fine. As long as you don't do anything foolish, I won't make a move against you."
Ideally, it might have been better to destroy every last assassin guild.
However, if he destroyed Fusetsu—currently the largest faction in Egginis—what would remain in the end would likely be a struggle among assassin guilds over Fusetsu's vacant throne, or new organizations arriving from outside Egginis to seize that opportunity.
Should that come to pass, the damage in Egginis would inevitably escalate.
Given that, Rei couldn't carelessly crush Fusetsu.
Of course, that was strictly on the condition that Fusetsu did nothing to harm Rei.
If Fusetsu ever targeted him, he would annihilate them without the slightest regard for power balances within Egginis.
Soleil and the others sensed this from Rei's tone and demeanor, and they understood once more the sheer folly of making an enemy of him.
Normally, an individual taking on an organization would be nothing short of reckless, but in this world, quality surpassed quantity.
Making an enemy of such an existence would undoubtedly be fatal for Fusetsu.
"For now, I will relay to the organization that we are not to harm you and not to act with hostility toward you. Understood?"
Soleil directed this question at the assassins inside the warehouse.
Some had harbored resentment toward Rei, but after that exchange, they apparently understood he was someone they could not lay a hand on.
Most of the assassins nodded.
"Now then... the next matter is the one who targeted me. There's a contract, right?"
The original reason Rei had come to this warehouse was precisely for that contract.
Of course, the treasures and Magic Items and so on were unquestionably things Rei wanted as well.
But the biggest reason by far was the contract—or more accurately, the document that would reveal exactly who had targeted him.
"Yes, of course it's here. Right this way, please."
Saying that, Soleil guided Rei to the back of the warehouse.
There were already quite a few assassin guards inside, but there were even more stationed in the back.
That was likely a testament to how important the items stored there were.
And what those items were, Rei naturally understood from the flow of the conversation up to that point.
(The contract, huh. But still, needing to guard it this strictly... what does that mean? Does it imply that the organization that commissioned my assassination to Blood Blade wielded that much influence? That in itself raises questions.)
Thinking about it logically, an organization with that much power, when commissioning Rei's assassination, would more naturally turn to a more capable assassin guild rather than Blood Blade.
Blood Blade was among the upper-tier assassin guilds in Egginis, but there were others with larger operations. For example... Fusetsu.
Of course, whether Fusetsu would accept such a request was a separate matter entirely.
If they didn't know of Rei's capabilities, it might be one thing, but since they understood just how much power he held, even if an assassination request for Rei came to Fusetsu, they would never accept it.
If they did accept it, Fusetsu would be destroyed—just as Rei had initially considered.
Exactly as he had told Nina—not by storming their base directly, but by wiping them out with magic from outside.
"This is the contract."
Soleil received a single sheet of paper from one of the assassins and handed it to Rei.
As an extra precaution, rather than leaving the contract lying around, they had one of the assassins hold onto it personally.
Since this content was the information Rei wanted to know most, such carefulness was appreciated.
If it had been carelessly left out, it was not entirely impossible that Blood Blade remnants—or perhaps some other assassin guild—might see Fusetsu's current state as the perfect opportunity to launch an attack.
Rei immediately looked over the contract he had received... and froze when he saw the name written in the requester's field.
The reason was simple. What was written there was a name he had, in a way, expected—but one he had hoped would be wrong more than anything.
It clearly stated: Dolan Workshop.