"I can see it now."
Flying through the sky on Seto, Rei murmured in relief as Egginis came into view ahead.
Between one thing and another, the day trip to Buldan meant it was already nearing evening.
When he handed over the paper containing Garby's written confession, the director's grave nod had left a strong impression on Rei.
Given the situation, he wanted to meet with Lindy today, tell her about Anne's case, and infiltrate the Dolan Workshop tonight—or so he was thinking.
Fortunately, he knew where the enemy was located... or rather, where the Dolan Workshop's workshop was.
That said, the real question was whether they were actually conducting work that used humans as materials in that workshop.
The people of the Dolan Workshop surely understood well enough that it would be dangerous if what they were doing became known.
So would they really be doing such work in an obvious location? It was only natural to find that questionable.
Of course, if the place where they conducted such work was hidden, then how exactly to find it was another matter entirely. While it might be possible given enough time, considering Anne's case, sooner was definitely better.
(Going in blind, huh. ...Well, it's not exactly unusual for me. "Adapting flexibly to the situation"... does that sound more legit if I phrase it like that?)
No matter how much he dressed up the words, the fact that it was essentially playing it by ear didn't change. Still, rewording it made it sound at least somewhat more presentable.
As he was half-forcibly convincing himself, Seto eventually turned his gaze toward Rei on his back.
"Gururu?"
In response to Seto asking whether it was okay to descend to the ground, Rei nodded to indicate that was fine and stroked his neck.
"Yeah, land. This isn't Gilm, so I can't just drop right into the middle of the city... or rather, there's probably some kind of barrier. Depending on the circumstances, it wouldn't be surprising if they had some means of intercepting us."
Since Egginis had a thriving golem industry, it was only natural that there could be anti-air golems or the like in case something happened.
(This world is supposed to be your typical sword-and-magic fantasy world, but looking at it like this, maybe there are actually sci-fi elements too. Well, since they're golems, calling it fantasy is probably the right answer.)
Watching the ground draw closer, Rei entertained such thoughts.
When Seto landed, many of the people nearby showed surprise, but fortunately no one came demanding that Rei hand over Seto, nor did anyone demand compensation for being startled by him.
Well, perhaps if there had been more time, such people might have appeared, but before that could happen, guards stationed near the gate came over and secured Rei, so it was more accurate to say there was no opening for them.
From the guards' perspective, Rei had completed his paperwork and entered the city last time, only to be attacked by an assassin.
Thinking about it that way, they apparently couldn't just casually process Rei's paperwork and let him through.
As guards, they would have been asked by others whether they were actually doing their job... and above all, the fact that an assassination attempt had occurred right after Rei entered Egginis meant it wouldn't be strange if someone connected to the assassin guild... Blood Blade, was among them.
Or rather, Rei was convinced that someone connected to Blood Blade was almost certainly there.
If asked who exactly that was, he couldn't really say.
Also, as a possibility, it wasn't impossible that none of the guards were connected to Blood Blade, and an assassin had simply been waiting in a visible spot near the gate, ready to act immediately when Rei returned... but the probability of that was indeed low.
The attack on Rei by Blood Blade had occurred after he returned from Gilm.
Information about when Rei, who had left Egginis, would return was known by only a truly small number of people, Rei included.
(Nothing's going to happen today, and worrying about that sort of thing at this point is meaningless anyway.)
After completing his paperwork and entering Egginis, Rei walked through the streets while checking for any assassins.
That said, assassins generally employed methods that involved killing their targets without letting them sense any killing intent.
In that sense, the one who had attacked him disguised as a maid and the one who had challenged him to a direct fight in the Slum District were probably exceptions.
"Now then, that means I need to rendezvous with Lindy and the others first, but... where should I go?"
Belatedly realizing that they hadn't decided on a meeting place, Rei hesitated over where to go from here.
He considered going to the Guild, but it was already evening.
Naturally, adventurers who had finished their requests would be gathering at the Guild, and he couldn't imagine Lindy being in a place like that.
Well, if it were just Lindy, since she was an adventurer and partied up, it wouldn't be strange for her to be at the Guild for some reason.
However, right now Lindy was acting together with Camila.
Given that Camila struck Rei as a spirited... rather cheeky child, he didn't think she would go to the Guild where many people would be tired and short-tempered right after finishing work.
If Lindy were a high-rank adventurer, she could handle any trouble Camila might cause on her own, but unfortunately Lindy didn't have that level of strength.
Since Lindy knew that as well, she shouldn't be thinking of bringing Camila to the Guild at this hour.
(In that case, the most likely place is Lindy's inn after all? There, it would technically be her own room, so it shouldn't be a problem even with Camila there. ...Unless they make too much noise, that's a different story.)
Recalling the guest who had complained about the noise when Camila was crying on arrival, Rei thought as much.
That said, since that was the most likely option, there was no choice but to go to Lindy's inn.
"Ah, Rei!? You're already back!?"
Rather than entering the inn... Lindy and Camila were outside.
While feeling puzzled by the two of them being out there, Rei took out the letters given to him by the director and staff from his Misty Ring and handed them to Lindy.
"Yeah, there's Seto's flight speed to factor in, and things progressed faster than expected. More importantly, these are letters from the orphanage director and the other adults."
The moment the director's name was mentioned, Camila flinched.
Both Rei and Lindy observed Camila's reaction without saying anything in particular.
It was easy to imagine that the incident of him coming all the way to Egginis alone was definitely something he would be scolded for.
Of course, without Camila, they would never have known about Anne's case either.
Looking at it that way, Camila's actions weren't necessarily bad. ...Though "reckless" was the only way to describe them.
Rei had at least told the director before leaving Buldan not to be too angry with Camila, but when he said that, the director had simply smiled and replied that discipline was important.
Rei could understand the meaning of the director's words.
This time, by coincidence... they had truly coincidentally arrived safely in Egginis, but thinking about it normally, Camila should have been dead before reaching Egginis.
Considering that, it wouldn't be strange for the director to intend to lecture Camila so that he would never do such a thing again.
From Rei's perspective, considering Camila's personality, he thought the boy would probably do the same thing again.
"Lindy's room... no, it's likely to get loud, and we need to gather information too, so should we talk in my room?"
The Star River Inn where Rei was staying was a high-class inn with solid soundproofing.
Even if they made noise inside the room, it shouldn't be much of a problem.
At the very least, it was clearly less problematic than making noise in the room of the cheap inn where Lindy was staying.
At Rei's words, Lindy's expression tightened.
He wasn't saying anything specific, but if they were going to make noise in a room, it wasn't difficult to guess what that meant.
It was easy to predict that something had happened to Anne, who had been enslaved.
The reason Lindy didn't say so here was probably because she thought saying it would cause Camila to go out of control.
As far as Lindy knew, Camila was quite attached to Anne.
That was why she couldn't discuss such things around him.
...Similarly, Rei also thought that if he told Lindy the details of Anne's case, Lindy might go on a rampage.
In any case, Lindy and Camila apparently had no objections to going to Rei's inn, and they nodded obediently.
"Whoa... this place is amazing."
Upon entering Rei's room at the Star River Inn, Camila murmured with surprise.
The room itself wasn't that large, and the furnishings, regardless of quality, were of standard types.
However, the presence it imposed on the viewer was overwhelming.
This was Lindy's second time here, and the first time she had come was when she heard Rei had been attacked by an assassin, so she wasn't particularly tense.
Camila, being a child, didn't show much nervousness either.
"Yeah, it's definitely an inn worth the price. ...Now then, what should we do first? Do you want to read the letters first and then hear what I have to say, or hear what I have to say first and then read the letters? Choose whichever you prefer, Lindy."
"Then please start with your report, Rei. You investigated Anne's situation directly, right? In that case, I think it's best to hear from you first."
Rei nodded at Lindy's words.
As far as Rei was concerned, either option was honestly fine.
Since Lindy had decided on that... he took out some fruit water from his Misty Ring, handed portions to Lindy and Camila, and prepared his own as well.
Once the three of them were seated on the sofa, Rei opened his mouth.
"First, I'll start with the conclusion. ...I'm telling you this now, don't go on a rampage."
He told Lindy this, pressing the point, and just as Lindy was trying to understand the meaning of his words, Rei continued speaking.
"According to what I got out of Garby, it's certain that Anne was sold as a slave, but she wasn't sold to a slave trader. A certain specific organization asked him to enslave Anne and sell her to them, and this is the result. In other words, Anne was sold directly to that organization without going through a slave merchant."
"Directly...? Why Anne? No, Anne is cute, so I'm sure there are plenty of people who would want her in that sense."
Lindy's own features were fairly well-arranged.
Having come to Egginis and worked as an adventurer, she could easily imagine how men looked at her.
Such things might have happened back in Buldan too, but... the number of people living in Buldan and Egginis was different.
For that reason, Lindy vaguely understood how men saw Anne, who was cuter than herself... and kinder and more feminine.
But because of that, she also felt dissatisfied that enslaving her was going too far.
She had felt that dissatisfaction... but it vanished from Lindy's mind the next moment at the words that came from Rei's mouth.
"By the way, the one who made that request to Garby was the Dolan Workshop."
"!?"
"Calm down!"
Rei shouted sharply at Lindy, who had reflexively tried to stand up.
If he couldn't calm Lindy down here, she would charge straight toward the Dolan Workshop this very moment—or so he had judged.
And in fact, Rei's response was correct.
If he hadn't stopped Lindy there, just as he feared, she would have charged toward the Dolan Workshop without considering the difference in their strength.
That said, it was understandable.
Lindy had already had Golias, someone dear to her, taken away by the Dolan Workshop.
...In reality, while the bandit matter was one thing, the Dolan Workshop's involvement in Golias's case was only supported by circumstantial evidence.
However, it was also a fact that in Lindy's mind, it had already become an irrefutable truth.
As a result, it was only natural that Lindy would reveal her agitation.
"Just calm down. The Dolan Workshop's name came up in Anne's case. I'm not going to just leave it be, so tonight I'll infiltrate the Dolan Workshop together with you."
At those words from Rei, Lindy finally regained a measure of composure.