For the time being, Rei stored the treasures from the warehouse in his Misty Ring. Since the majority of the Magic Items were potions and poisons, he entrusted Fusetsu's experts with analyzing their effects.
The remaining Magic Items were of little interest to Rei—the sort of things wealthy people owned purely to show off. Still, he decided they might come in handy someday and stowed them away in the Misty Ring as well.
He would never spend his own money on this type of Magic Item, but if they were free... well, that was a different story.
If Rei were the collector type, gathering such things would inevitably lead to the problem of having nowhere to display them. Fortunately, he had the Misty Ring.
Even for items he had no plans to use—things he collected simply on a whim—he would never struggle with finding a place to put them.
In that sense, Rei was extremely well-suited to being a collector.
Then again, a collector not only enjoyed gathering things but also loved showing off their collection to others.
An ordinary collector could show off their collection at a moment's notice, but since the majority of Rei's was inside his Misty Ring, putting it on display was... not impossible, but certainly difficult.
Showing someone a specific item from his collection was easy enough.
Lining up his entire collection for display, however, was another matter entirely.
Should I display them at Marina's house? ...No, she'd probably get angry.
Marina's house had highly reliable security, protected as it was by Spirits.
That said, compared to the other nobles' residences in the Noble District, Marina's house was very small.
While the other nobles' homes could properly be called mansions, Marina's was better described simply as a house.
Given its size, there was naturally no space for Rei to freely display the Magic Items he had collected—and would go on to collect in the future.
"Thinking about that sort of thing in the current situation is pointless. I don't even know whether I'll start collecting ordinary Magic Items from here on out."
"Grru?"
Seto, walking beside Rei, looked up at him and purred as if asking what was wrong.
Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing, stroked Seto's body, and surveyed their surroundings.
They were on their way back from Fusetsu's warehouse.
Naturally, there was no sign of anyone targeting him at the moment.
Well, strictly speaking, since he was accompanied by Seto, it was true that many people were staring in his direction—but those were merely looks of curiosity, surprise, or friendliness.
None of those gazes, however, carried any murderous intent.
In that sense, he could feel reassured that, for the time being at least, no one was after him.
First things first—who should I contact about this? Roger, after all?
Given that the one targeting him was the Dolan Workshop, perhaps he should talk to Roger, who was also an Alchemist—and furthermore, possessed some of the foremost Golem-related expertise in Egginis.
That was what Rei thought, but he immediately dismissed the idea.
Considering Roger's personality, he felt that bringing this matter to him could turn the whole affair into a major incident.
Still, Rei could understand the impulse.
He didn't know exactly why the Dolan Workshop was targeting him.
But the most likely possibilities were either the disappearance of the Bandits and Golias, or the desire to obtain his Crystal Dragon materials.
Alternatively, both could be reasons.
Whichever it was, Rei's prediction was that Roger would find what the Dolan Workshop had done utterly unforgivable.
To Roger, Rei was someone who had provided him with rare materials.
Additionally—though this was only Rei's guess—Roger could be somewhat extreme in his attitude, but he still took genuine pride in manufacturing Golems.
Given what Rei had heard from Ridon, that they were using humans to create Golems, there was no doubt in his mind that Roger would find that intolerable.
Then again, making Golems out of human materials does sound pretty damning when you think about it normally.
Since Golems were made using monster materials, it wouldn't be strange for someone to think that using humans as materials should be perfectly acceptable too.
As he walked along lost in such thoughts, he eventually arrived back at the Star River Inn.
After parting ways with Seto, he headed to his room, only to find...
"Rei, where have you been! Honestly, leaving me behind like that!"
"My lady, you didn't have a prior arrangement with Rei, did you? ...I apologize. My lady apparently wanted to spend time with him."
Maruka and Nicky were waiting outside his room. Maruka scolded him for taking so long to return, while Nicky apologized on her behalf.
"I see, sorry about that. I was making contact with an Assassin Guild for a bit."
"Hah!?"
The words that came out of Rei's mouth were apparently the last thing Maruka expected.
She let out a cry of surprise and stared at him anew.
Then she hurriedly checked their surroundings.
Fortunately, the hallway was empty—no one had overheard Rei's words.
Visibly relieved, Maruka urged Rei to open the door.
"Open the door at once. Saying such things in a place like this... what on earth are you thinking? You will explain everything inside. Now."
Prompted by Maruka, Rei did as instructed and opened the door, stepping into the room.
Before Rei could even say a word, Maruka settled herself on the sofa.
Her demeanor made it quite clear she was already well accustomed to this room.
Nicky bowed his head to Rei at Maruka's behavior, but sat down beside her all the same.
Normally, Nicky was Maruka's bodyguard.
In a situation like this, he should have been standing behind Maruka, ready to protect her at a moment's notice.
Sitting beside her would put him a step behind if something happened.
That said, this was Rei's room.
He couldn't imagine Rei doing anything to harm Maruka, and if someone outside the room tried to target her, Rei would notice before he did.
Given that, he felt there was no need to insist on standing guard.
Whether Maruka noticed Nicky's reasoning or not, she fixed Rei with a serious gaze—a glint of curiosity dancing in her eyes—and asked:
"So, what exactly happened?"
"First off, I went to the Slum District last night. The goal was to destroy Fusetsu, the largest Assassin Guild in Egginis."
"Ooh..."
Maruka let out a sound of surprise at the words that had just come from Rei's mouth.
It was true that he had hinted at something like that last night, but for him to take action that very same day was completely unexpected, even for Maruka.
That said, words like "to do something so dangerous!" didn't leave her lips.
That was precisely because she knew Rei's true strength.
"But that Assassin Guild—they're called Fusetsu—turned out not to be the organization that accepted my assassination request. I figured since they accepted the contract, it had to be the work of the largest guild around."
"So, what became of this organization called Fusetsu?"
"Originally, I intended to destroy them to make an example of what happens when you mess with me. But an executive from Fusetsu proposed a negotiation."
"A negotiation?"
That was apparently an unexpected word for Maruka as well, and her surprise showed.
"I see. Smart move for an executive," Nicky said with a look of understanding beside Maruka.
When Maruka shot him a questioning glance, Nicky spoke with a serious expression.
"Think about it—Rei stormed their place, right? And since they weren't the ones targeting him, they obviously wouldn't have been on guard. In that situation, there's very little even an Assassin Guild can do."
Really, negotiation was about the only option left.
Hearing Nicky's explanation, Maruka nodded in agreement.
They were facing Rei, a force of nature unto himself.
If someone suddenly charged into a place where you'd made zero preparations, dealing with that would be nearly impossible.
Of course, even if she had known about the attack beforehand, Maruka wouldn't want to fight Rei.
The moment it came to fighting Rei, only the worst possible outcome awaited—he was practically a walking calamity.
Given that, avoiding a fight was the best possible choice, and in that sense, the decision made by Fusetsu's negotiator was optimal.
Maruka was genuinely impressed by Fusetsu's handling of the situation.
"As a result of that negotiation, Fusetsu agreed to destroy the Assassin Guild that was actually targeting me—apparently they're called Blood Blade—and obtain intel on who placed the hit on me."
"So they essentially became your substitute, then."
Maruka said so frankly, and Rei actually felt the same way. There was no doubt the negotiator, Nina, had intended exactly that.
But since that substitute had in fact been targeting Rei, he had no intention of holding it against them.
"That's right. And the moment I walked out of Fusetsu's Hideout after making that deal, they hit Blood Blade's stronghold."
"That's..."
At Rei's explanation, the exact same words as before slipped from Maruka's mouth.
Naturally. Even Maruka would assume that in such a situation, you'd conduct reconnaissance and make thorough preparations before launching an attack.
Based on how things sounded, though, that clearly hadn't been the case.
Even so, the fact that Rei showed no sign of dissatisfaction meant the assault had been a success.
"So I picked up the treasures and the Contract they obtained during the raid and came back."
"The Contract... so you found out who's targeting Rei?" Nicky asked.
He had been listening quietly up until now, but apparently this was something he couldn't let slide.
For Nicky, Rei was a younger brother figure he deeply respected, despite being the older of the two.
Because of that, he absolutely needed to know who would target Rei.
What's more, since Rei and Maruka were close, spending time together like today wasn't unusual.
If someone was trying to assassinate Rei, he wanted to know exactly who that party was, here and now.
That was the intention behind his question.
And to Nicky's question, Rei nodded.
"Yeah, I found out. ...It's the Dolan Workshop."
"Eh!?"
The name that left Rei's mouth was clearly the last thing either of them expected. Both Nicky and Maruka cried out in surprise in unison.
"The Dolan Workshop? Are you certain this is no mistake?"
Maruka asked while still in a state of shock—understandably, given that the name Rei had just uttered was the Dolan Workshop.
The entire reason Maruka and Nicky had come to Egginis together was to purchase Golems from the Dolan Workshop.
And not just Maruka—even Rei, who was now being targeted by them, had been in the same boat.
So why on earth would the Dolan Workshop target Rei?
It was a perfectly natural question to ask.
"I don't know the exact details myself. The Contract doesn't state a reason."
Saying that, he retrieved the Contract from his Misty Ring, handed it to Maruka and Nicky, and continued.
"But there are several possibilities I can think of. The disappearance of the Bandits, and what Ridon told me about the Dolan Workshop using human materials in their Golems. Or, given that I possess Crystal Dragon materials, the possibility that they're after those can't be ruled out either. There could be some other reason, but I have no way of knowing."
At Rei's words, Maruka and Nicky studied the Contract with grim expressions.
They found the possibilities Rei laid out entirely plausible.
And at the same time, since they themselves were seeking to purchase Golems from the Dolan Workshop, the notion of Golems made from human materials was by no means someone else's problem.