"Phew, that takes care of that, at least."
Rei muttered as he looked at the guards collapsed on the floor.
These guards had been hired by the Dolan Workshop and entrusted with securing a section used exclusively by the Mainstream Faction, so there was no doubt they were skilled.
But skilled by Egginis standards was still just that—skilled by Egginis standards.
True, they were far better than those who wangled their positions through connections despite having no real ability, but for someone like Rei—who operated in Gilm, where skilled adventurers gathered, and who had become an A-Rank adventurer and alias holder—they weren't opponents worth worrying about.
Of course, the fact that he had to knock them unconscious rather than kill them had definitely made things harder. That much was undeniable.
Even so, he counted himself lucky that it had only required a modest effort on his part.
"No way... you've got to be kidding..."
Lindy murmured, still processing what had just happened in a single instant.
For her, this entire operation was about rescuing Anne and Golias. Convinced that the two of them were likely being held here, she had been brimming with determination—so much so that she might have charged in recklessly if she hadn't kept herself in check.
That was how worried she was about Anne and Golias, so it couldn't be helped.
Yet even Lindy could do nothing but stare in astonishment at what had just unfolded before her eyes.
Given the circumstances, it wouldn't have been surprising if she had wanted to rush toward the enemy even a second sooner.
"For now, we'd better hide these guys somewhere. Are there any unused rooms around here?"
"Ah, um. Hold on. I think there was one over this way."
Though still dumbfounded by what he had just witnessed, Ilunara managed to recall the layout from hazy memory.
He had been here a few times before—back before the faction split, when there was no Non-Mainstream Faction.
If nothing had changed much since then, there should be several rooms nearby.
Trusting that memory, Ilunara directed Rei to where the rooms were.
"Is it really that surprising? I took down your golems, didn't I? Compared to that, dealing with a group of guards is nothing worth mentioning."
Rei's words were undeniably true, but there were still fundamental differences between fighting golems and fighting guards.
Naturally, Ilunara believed that if the guards fought the golems his team had built, the golems would win.
He had that much confidence, and objectively speaking, that was almost certainly how it would play out.
But golems and guards were still different opponents. Ilunara understood that distinction, which was why he was so stunned.
That said, he quickly decided that acting fast mattered more than dwelling on it, and forced himself to shift gears.
After pulling a stunt this brazen, there was no time to take things slowly.
Every second counted now.
Rebuilding the Dolan Workshop.
That was what Rei had told him to do, and Ilunara fully understood that those words were meant to motivate him—that Rei probably wasn't entirely sincere.
But unless he followed through, the Dolan Workshop was highly likely to collapse as it stood.
Not from poor business practices or inferior technology, but because it risked being remembered as an organization that had strayed from the bounds of humanity—an abomination that never should have existed.
For Ilunara, who had become an alchemist out of admiration for the Dolan Workshop, that was absolutely unacceptable.
And so he intended to do everything in his power with what he had.
"This is the room. That said, it's been quite a while since I last came near this section. Given that, I can't rule out the possibility it's been repurposed for something else."
He glanced at Rei by the door, silently asking if that was acceptable.
Rei looked over the unconscious guards they had dragged here—likely adventurers hired by the Dolan Workshop—and nodded.
(Even though we're standing right here talking in front of the door, there's no sign of anyone coming out. More importantly, there's no presence inside the room at all. Unless someone can conceal their presence so skillfully that even I can't detect them, I don't think we need to worry about an ambush from inside.)
Ilunara was being noticeably cautious, but as far as Rei was concerned, there was no one lying in wait inside.
Rei considered mentioning that, but judging by Ilunara's demeanor, he decided there was no need. Better to be cautious than careless, after all.
He reached for the door and threw it open in one motion.
"Phew."
Ilunara exhaled in relief.
Judging by his reaction, the room clearly wasn't anything suspicious.
"Come in. Looks like a warehouse."
Rei followed Ilunara inside.
From a quick glance, the room was slightly smaller than ten tatami mats.
As a storage room for golem parts and various other supplies, it wasn't unusual—just an ordinary room.
(Actually, considering the size of golems, maybe it is small?)
Golems came in all sizes—from ones over five meters tall to others roughly human-sized.
Naturally, smaller golems were harder to build than larger ones, and despite the added difficulty, their raw performance—particularly in strength, the attribute most valued in golems—was inevitably inferior.
In that sense, larger golems were the standard. Though bigger didn't always mean better, of course.
Since large golems were the norm, their spare parts were naturally large as well.
They were presumably disassembled for storage, but even so, parts for large golems remained correspondingly bulky.
"Alright, let's hide the guards in here while we can. That should buy us some time."
Following Ilunara's instructions, the group—including Rei—dragged the guards into the warehouse.
Naturally, their hands and feet were tightly bound with rope so that even if they woke, they wouldn't be able to move immediately.
Rei decided that leaving their weapons behind would only benefit the enemy, so he stowed them in his Misty Ring.
(A warehouse with golem spare parts, huh. I'd like to take these too if I could, but... no, that won't fly.)
Rei didn't know exactly what significance these golem parts held.
But as components from the Dolan Workshop's golems, they were undoubtedly valuable.
They might not mean much to Rei personally, but that was strictly his own perspective.
With Ilunara present—someone who genuinely loved the Dolan Workshop—Rei couldn't just seize the parts like looting treasure from bandits.
In the end, he let it go.
(If I could've shown these parts to Roger, he might have been able to learn something about the human material usage... Well, Anne takes priority over that right now. Besides, where we're heading next, there might possibly be...)
Using humans as materials was naturally not something that could be done in plain sight.
Moreover, from what Rei could tell, Ilunara was a decent man.
If such practices were happening where Ilunara could stumble upon them, it would have caused a major uproar.
To avoid that, they would need to do such work somewhere else—and in that sense, the section where Ilunara and the others were forbidden entry was the ideal location.
That said, the top priority right now was Anne. And Golias, if possible.
(Then again, considering how many days it took Camila to walk to Egginis... I wonder. And if Golias is there, I can only imagine the worst.)
If possible, Rei hoped Golias hadn't been abducted by the Dolan Workshop at all—that he had simply left Egginis for some reason and gone elsewhere.
It would be painful for Lindy, but it would be far better if he had just gone off to visit a woman he fancied or something of that sort.
"Then let's move. I don't know what lies ahead any more than you do. But... well, with Rei here, perhaps there's no need to worry."
With that, Ilunara stepped into the section, his expression tight with tension.
The alchemists had heard enough from Rei to expect something the moment they entered this section, but fortunately, nothing seemed to happen as they crossed the threshold.
Then again, it wasn't as if something would trigger immediately upon entry.
However... that was only true for Ilunara and the alchemists—and for Lindy, who wasn't an exceptionally outstanding adventurer.
Rei alone was different.
The instant he stepped into the section, he sensed something—something that could only be described as a presence.
What exactly it was, he couldn't say.
But he had undeniably felt it. And that being the case, Rei was certain: there was something in this section.
"Rei? What's wrong? You're so on edge."
The alchemists hadn't noticed, but Lindy, as a fellow adventurer, had picked up on the fact that Rei was sensing something and had grown tense because of it.
Even so, while she noticed the change in his demeanor, she apparently couldn't tell what was causing it.
As she asked with a puzzled look, Ilunara and the other alchemists turned curious gazes toward him as well.
"There's definitely something here. And not something minor. It was probably concealed behind a barrier of some kind."
Rei hadn't even noticed the barrier itself.
It was possible, though, to pass through a barrier without detecting it.
And having crossed its threshold, Rei had sensed whatever lay within.
Ilunara furrowed his brow at Rei's words.
If possible, he wanted to dismiss whatever Rei had felt as a mistake.
But looking at Rei's current expression, words like "mistake" simply wouldn't come.
Which meant that something was happening in the Dolan Workshop—something that even Rei found cause to be wary of.
"This might go beyond using humans as materials. Something else entirely is likely going on."
Rei's voice was dead serious—no joke at all.
Using humans as materials was certainly a grave matter.
But what he had felt upon entering this section couldn't simply be chalked up to that.
It was something beyond.
What exactly, Rei still didn't know.
But there was no doubt the Dolan Workshop harbored something far beyond what he had anticipated.
(The question is what. Something significant enough to make me want to call human material usage "merely that level." What on earth is going on here?)
With that thought weighing on him, Rei took the lead. Ilunara and the other alchemists fell in behind him, with Lindy bringing up the rear.
Rei would have preferred someone more capable watching their backs, but with limited combat power available, there was no helping it.
The corridor was wide enough to move golems through.
Given that it was spacious enough for even Seto to move freely, Rei couldn't help but wonder whether bringing him along would have been the better call.
(No, no point thinking about that now. Besides, we need him on watch outside.)
Still, there was no denying that having Seto's combat power at his side would have been reassuring.
"For now, we push forward through this section. Sorry, Ilunara, but if anything happens, I'm destroying the building and getting us out."
Ilunara opened his mouth to protest—but seeing Rei's expression, he decided that such drastic measures might truly be necessary, and said nothing.