"It's here."
An Alchemist near Ilunara looked at the door at the end of the corridor and spoke.
The building owned by the Dolan Workshop was quite large. Considering that it manufactured Golems, that was perhaps only natural.
Still, they had been fortunate to make it this far without any real trouble since their encounter with the guards who had initially harassed Ilunara.
Of course, if asked whether they had encountered no other guards along the way, the answer would be no. However, unlike the ones who had harassed them before, the other guards did not bother calling out or making contact when they saw Ilunara's group alongside Rei and Lindy. It was only natural—they had no desire to willingly interact with Ilunara and the Non-Mainstream Faction.
For Ilunara and his group, the guards' attitude was by no means pleasant. Yet given their current situation, the fact that those guards avoided contact was undeniably helpful.
In that sense, they had reached this place—the slave quarters owned by the Dolan Workshop—without any particular problems.
"Surprising. I was certain the slaves would have living quarters outside the research facility rather than inside it."
"Apparently there was such an opinion initially. That having slaves live in the research facility was undesirable. However... it was deemed a hassle to go all the way outside to summon slaves when something urgent came up at night, and so the current arrangement came about."
That explanation made sense to Rei. Intuitively, summoning someone within the same building was not much trouble, but stepping outside to reach a separate building was clearly inconvenient. Above all, once you stepped outside, fair weather was one thing, but snow, rain, or strong winds would make it a struggle. Having the slaves' living quarters within the same building meant they could be reached without issue even in bad weather.
(If they had something like a communication device, it would be a different story... but Paired Orbs and the like aren't so easily obtained.)
The Paired Orbs that Rei himself possessed were quite rare Magic Items. Even if the Dolan Workshop obtained one, they would not use it to communicate with slaves but would put it to more meaningful use.
"Then, let us go inside."
Rei nodded at Ilunara's words, and Lindy nodded as well with a determined look.
The likelihood that Anne or Golias was here was low. Even understanding that, she could not help but think that maybe, just maybe...
As if sensing Lindy's feelings, Ilunara took a deep breath and opened the door.
"Huh..."
That was the word that escaped Rei's mouth upon seeing what lay beyond the door.
Having heard it was where slaves lived, he had expected something far filthier. However, from what he could see, it was not that dirty. Of course, compared to the areas they had walked through to get here, it was somewhat dirtier, but considering it was a living space for slaves, it was considerably better than what Rei had imagined.
Seeing Rei's reaction, one of the Alchemists spoke up.
"Are you surprised?"
"Yeah, I'm genuinely surprised. I was sure the living conditions would be much worse."
"Normally, that's what you'd think. But this... was Ilunara's proposal. Though that was before we became the Non-Mainstream Faction."
"Ilunara's?"
When Rei directed his gaze at him, Ilunara appeared somewhat troubled before speaking.
"Even though they are slaves, they are alive and have hearts. Given that, if their living environment deteriorates, it goes without saying that their willingness to work—their motivation—would disappear. That is why it was necessary to do so in order to boost the slaves' morale."
Ilunara's explanation was convincing to Rei. That said, not everyone could do what he had done. A major reason was that such measures naturally required cost. Many would question whether they would be willing to spend that much money on the living conditions of slaves.
Beyond that, those who used slaves to run mining operations fundamentally treated them as disposable due to the harsh labor conditions. If they had the money to improve the slaves' living environment, they would rather purchase as many additional slaves as possible. Even if it did not go that far, there were quite a few who viewed slaves as something to be used until broken.
In that sense, the treatment of slaves at the Dolan Workshop was exceptional. Of course, there were slaves elsewhere who received even better treatment than those at the Dolan Workshop—cases where someone purchased a slave they had fallen in love with at first sight, or where they saw a slave as a replacement for someone who had died.
In fact, one of the books Rei had previously read at the library told the story of someone who was bought as a slave by a merchant, had their talent recognized, was freed from slavery, worked as the merchant's apprentice, and eventually became the merchant's successor, growing into a great merchant. Being published in a book meant that not everything was true, and there were likely parts that were exaggerated.
"Ilunara-sama!? What brings you here!?"
As they entered the slaves' living quarters, a man in his twenties raised his voice upon seeing Ilunara. Hearing the male slave's voice, the other slaves emerged from their rooms as well. The gazes of those slaves carried a strong color of respect.
(Well, naturally. They can live comfortably thanks to Ilunara, after all.)
Comfortable as it was, that was only comfortable for slaves. In fact, even from Rei's perspective, it looked like quite a number of people were living in cramped rooms. But even in such conditions—or perhaps because of them—the gratitude directed at Ilunara was immense.
"I have some business here. Actually, I would like to ask you all something. A person named Anne, and another..."
"Golias."
Lindy immediately supplied the name as Ilunara hesitated.
Ilunara nodded at Lindy's words and continued addressing the slaves.
"That's right, Golias. Are those two here?"
"No, they are not."
The man answered immediately, without even pausing to think. Lindy directed a displeased look at him, but among slaves, it would not be unusual for them to naturally know each other's names. Given that, answering immediately that no such person was here upon hearing the name was not strange.
"I see."
Ilunara wore a disappointed expression at the man's words. Since the Dolan Workshop had enslaved those individuals through quasi-illegal means, the possibility that they were not here was something he had half expected. He had expected it, but even so, it was still not the answer he had been hoping for.
If they were not here, it meant that Anne, who had been enslaved, and Golias as well, were in a place that only the Mainstream Faction could access. That meant he would have to believe much of what Rei had told him.
"Ilunara-san..."
One of the Alchemists called out to him. It was likely because he knew just how much Ilunara had worked for the sake of the Dolan Workshop.
"Let's go."
Ilunara seemed to have feelings about those words, but since they were not here, he had no choice but to move on to the next location—a place he desperately did not want to accept or go to—and said as much.
"Um, Ilunara-sama?"
From the slaves' perspective, having Ilunara—their benefactor—come to their quarters only to suddenly try to leave was naturally confusing.
"If it would help, are you looking for those two from before, Anne and Golias? We can help search for them."
"No, it's better that you don't get involved. Tomorrow will be busy—undoubtedly so. Rest up while you can."
Tomorrow would undoubtedly be busy with cleaning up the room Rei had destroyed, among other things, including the aftermath of the incident about to unfold. Given that, it was only natural to think they should rest as much as possible while they still could.
However...
"If any disturbance occurs tonight, all of you are to evacuate outside the building immediately. Fortunately, the nights are not yet cold enough to freeze to death."
If Rei went on a rampage, the building remaining intact was highly unlikely. There was also a decent chance he would achieve his objective before causing destruction, leaving the building unharmed. Since there was no way to know what would happen, all Ilunara could do was tell the slaves as much.
The slaves who were told this naturally harbored doubts about what was going to happen and felt uneasy.
"Umm... what exactly..."
"Sorry, but we're in a hurry right now. Listen, if anything happens, get outside immediately. Do not forget that."
With those words, Ilunara departed from the slave quarters. Rei and the others followed after him... and all the slaves left behind could do was prepare to evacuate outside the building immediately if anything happened, in accordance with Ilunara's instructions.
Fortunately, leaving the building itself was not restricted by the Slave Collar. A separate command was required to leave the grounds entirely, however.
In addition to this main building of the Dolan Workshop where the slaves currently resided, there were several other buildings, including warehouses. Since the slaves needed to go to those buildings during the day, this was only natural. If they truly wanted to prevent slaves from moving freely, they could have made it so that permission was required each time—but deeming that troublesome, the slaves were granted a degree of freedom. This too was largely thanks to Ilunara's efforts.
"For now, following Ilunara-sama's words is the right thing to do."
Saying that, the slaves decided to sleep until any disturbance broke out.
"Sigh."
After leaving the slave quarters, while heading toward the section used exclusively by the Mainstream Faction, a sigh escaped Ilunara's mouth.
Everyone naturally knew why such a sigh was escaping him. Having admired the Dolan Workshop and joined it, the current state of affairs was something Ilunara could not believe—no, did not want to believe.
However, even when he had headed to the slave quarters with his last hope, neither Anne nor Golias had been there. In other words, whether or not the Dolan Workshop was manufacturing Golems using humans as materials, it was now certain that they were doing something illicit.
"Ilunara-san, cheer up! Setting aside what the Dolan Workshop has been doing, the fact that we were able to learn about it is significant. If we can resolve this matter ourselves, it may be judged that the Workshop has a self-purging mechanism, and it might just be possible to rebuild the Dolan Workshop."
"That's..."
A pipe dream. That was what Ilunara had been about to say, but the Alchemist speaking about rebuilding was not considering how realistic his own words were. If one considered the city of Egginis as a whole, it might be a different story, but viewed as a workshop, there would be many who sought to crush the Dolan Workshop—an entity that had suddenly begun producing Golems with conspicuously outstanding technology.
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. And to the other Alchemists, the Dolan Workshop was a nail sticking out as far as it possibly could.
Thinking of that, whether the Dolan Workshop could truly survive after this incident was settled was uncertain.
"Ah, Ilunara-san. Guards are coming from over there."
A different Alchemist from the one who had been encouraging Ilunara slightly furrowed his brow upon seeing several guards appear from the opposite direction.
They were already entering the section used exclusively by the Mainstream Faction, and for Ilunara's group to be in such a place was clearly suspicious. The place where they had first encountered guards had still been an area that Ilunara's group normally used.
The guards directed questioning gazes at Ilunara and his group upon spotting them. That their gazes were still questioning rather than hostile was likely because they did not think the Non-Mainstream Faction Alchemists would dare to rebel against the Mainstream Faction Alchemists.
That was why they were about to ask with suspicious expressions...
But having come this far, Rei had no room to show mercy to such opponents.
Judging that from here on it was a race against time, Rei attacked the unsuspecting guards.