Even within the Dolan Workshop, there was a section where the Non-Mainstream Faction couldn't enter.
Currently, Rei was making his way through just such an area alongside Ilunara, the other Non-Mainstream Faction Alchemists, and Lindy.
The moment he had stepped into this section, Rei had unmistakably sensed something.
What exactly that something was, even he didn't know.
He didn't know—but the fact that it was something was undeniable, and it seemed all but certain that things beyond even Rei's imagination were being carried out within this section.
Something far beyond merely using humans as material for Golems. If someone told him something else entirely was going on here, he wouldn't have been surprised.
No—he probably would have accepted it without question.
Because of that, Rei had been on high alert since entering the section.
However... that was something he could grasp precisely because he was Rei—someone who had been caught up in countless incidents before now.
The Alchemists and even Lindy sensed that there was something wrong with the atmosphere in this section, but theirs was merely a vague feeling of unease.
From Rei's perspective, he found himself wondering how they could fail to pick up on it given the circumstances—but voicing that now would only needlessly alarm the others, who didn't fully understand the situation the way he did.
Understanding this, Rei decided that he simply needed to react immediately if anything happened, and had no intention of doing anything beyond that.
...The fact that they had only sensed the atmosphere upon entering without any actual harm coming to them was also likely a significant factor.
"Rei-san, is it certain that something is happening here?"
One of the Alchemists asked Rei in a timid voice.
For the Alchemist, he couldn't believe—or perhaps didn't want to believe—that something was truly happening here.
Part of it was that, like Ilunara, he had harbored admiration for the Dolan Workshop as an institution. But beyond that, the thought that something serious enough to put Rei on guard was occurring in the very building where they worked was something he would rather not imagine if he could help it.
That was why he hoped, if at all possible, that Rei was wrong.
He had asked while harboring those thoughts... but Rei nodded immediately in response.
"Yeah. Something is definitely happening here."
At that flat declaration, the Alchemist opened his mouth as if to object, but ultimately fell silent.
Acknowledging the Alchemists' reluctance, Rei pressed on down the corridor.
However, after walking a short distance, they reached a T-junction and had no choice but to stop.
Which way do we go? There's no doubt something is happening here, but the problem is I don't know what that something is specifically—and more importantly, I don't know exactly where it's taking place.
The moment he had entered this section, Rei had half-instinctively understood that there was something here.
He understood that much—but he didn't know where it was happening.
Since he didn't know, he needed to ask someone who might.
"Which way do you think we should go?"
He directed the question at Ilunara, who was behind him.
But Ilunara shook his head with a troubled expression.
"As you probably gathered from the warehouse where we hid the guards earlier, it's been quite a while since we stopped coming anywhere near this section. I have information about what they used to do here, but as for how it's currently laid out..."
He didn't know—that was what he was telling him.
But Rei showed no particular disappointment at Ilunara's words.
"I don't expect you to know exactly how things are right now. But what kind of place it was before should at least serve as a clue for predicting how it is now, right?"
Ilunara thought for a moment, then nodded.
A fierce conflict had been raging within him.
It was truly... a belated concern at this point, but the question of whether it was really all right to do something detrimental to the Dolan Workshop still gnawed at him.
At the same time, though, manufacturing Golems using humans as materials, collecting slaves through quasi-illegal means, commissioning the Assassin Guild to kill Rei... that such things were happening was by no means good for the Dolan Workshop's present state was also an undeniable fact.
And in the end, placing his hopes in Rei's words that they themselves would rebuild the Dolan Workshop, he spoke.
"As far as I know, there should be various experimental facilities on the right side, and meeting rooms and similar spaces on the left."
"Then it's the left side first."
"Huh? Not the right?"
Apparently finding it unexpected that Rei chose the left side where the meeting rooms were, a surprised voice slipped from Lindy.
She was the only one to actually voice it, but the others seemed to share her sentiment, directing questioning looks at Rei.
"Experimental facilities and meeting rooms. If there's a room for confining slaves, I think the latter is more likely. Besides, even if they were building new facilities to hold slaves, they wouldn't want to mess with the experimental facilities."
Rei's words carried a certain persuasiveness, and those who had harbored doubts—including Lindy—seemed to accept them.
That said, whether such a situation actually existed here was, honestly speaking, still unknown.
He needed to see it with his own eyes and judge for himself.
Even if there's something important in the experimental facilities, considering the effort of coming back to check the meeting rooms later, it makes sense to start with the less important-looking side first.
Back in Japan, Rei had played RPGs often.
In RPGs, entering a Dungeon was a common occurrence, and whenever he did, he would explore every last corner as thoroughly as possible.
Rei heading toward the meeting rooms first was likely influenced by that habit, at least to some degree.
At any rate, Rei and his group proceeded toward where the meeting rooms were, but...
"This is..."
A stunned voice slipped from Ilunara.
Naturally. Originally, the left corridor from the T-junction should have had meeting rooms and the like—but upon actually arriving here, nothing of the sort remained.
No, saying nothing is wrong. There's at least one meeting-room-type room.
Looking at the single meeting room that still existed, Rei amended his thought.
And in the places where meeting rooms should have originally been... there were several separate rooms fitted with sturdy doors that could never be mistaken for meeting rooms.
Whether they had renovated the existing rooms into this layout or had torn everything down and rebuilt from scratch, Rei couldn't tell. But it was abundantly clear that this place held significant meaning for the Mainstream Faction Alchemists of the Dolan Workshop.
"Rei, does this mean... Anne and Golias might be here?"
Lindy's gaze was fixed on the doors.
More precisely, on the door locks.
Doors with locks on the outside could only mean one thing—they were keeping someone, or something, inside and preventing escape.
It was possible that they were simply storage rooms housing important items... such as High-Rank Monster materials and the like.
But for Lindy, whose mind was completely consumed with rescuing Anne and Golias, the option of not opening these doors simply didn't exist.
"Rei!"
At Lindy's urging, Rei nodded.
Ultimately, since the doors before them were suspicious, Rei had no intention of leaving them unopened.
Fortunately, while the locks were quite sturdy and crude, they were not Magic Item locks.
Given that this was a Dolan Workshop building, he had expected Magic Item locks wouldn't have been out of place.
"Understood. Then I'll break the locks."
Since they weren't Magic Items, destroying them was trivial for Rei.
With a single flash of the Death Scythe he retrieved from the Misty Ring, the sturdy, crude lock was effortlessly severed and clattered to the floor.
A heavy thunk that was clearly audible to everyone present.
Most of those watching involuntarily caught their breath.
They had known of Rei's strength, but apparently hadn't expected him to be capable of something like this.
"Why are you all so surprised? You already saw me destroy Golems with the Death Scythe, didn't you?"
"That's true, but... seeing it with my own eyes like this, it's still a bit..."
Ilunara's words left Rei with nothing but puzzlement, but right now, checking what was inside the rooms took priority over addressing that question.
Given that such a sturdy lock had been placed here, he had expected to find something inside, but...
"A basement, huh."
The only thing in the room was a door set into the floor.
This space, with absolutely nothing else in it, had to be an important location.
What lay underground, Rei didn't know.
But with double doors like this, it wasn't difficult to guess.
"Just to check—was there a basement here before too?"
When Rei asked with a casual air, Ilunara immediately shook his head.
Even seeing Ilunara's reaction, Rei simply nodded in understanding.
A considerable amount of time had passed since Ilunara and his group had been barred from approaching this section.
It wouldn't be strange for this kind of construction to have been carried out during that period.
Actually, if they did construction work like building a basement, it's hard to believe Ilunara and the others wouldn't have noticed even without being able to approach here... unless the construction was done with Golems too?
The Dolan Workshop could manufacture high-performance Golems, so producing Golems for civil engineering work shouldn't be all that difficult.
That said, since those Golems likely used humans as materials too, Rei didn't feel particularly good about it.
"Anyway, this basement can wait. Let's check the other places first. We can't rule out the possibility that Anne and the others are imprisoned in another locked room."
Lindy hesitated for a moment... but apparently deciding it was better to check the other rooms first before proceeding, she nodded.
She was probably thinking that if they went underground here and, as a result, ended up being too late to rescue Lindy or Golias from another room—
With that, the locks on the remaining doors were also severed with the Death Scythe, but...
"What's going on?"
What escaped Rei's mouth was a voice of pure bewilderment.
No—the fact that Rei alone was able to voice his confusion was probably enough.
Every one of the others wore an expression of utter incomprehension.
The reason being...
"Every single room has a basement? No matter how you look at it, that's way too suspicious."
Yes—that was exactly why Rei and the others were bewildered and stunned.
Five rooms, excluding the meeting room.
Every single one of them had a door set into the floor leading underground.
At this, even Lindy showed a look of genuine, bottomless disappointment.
As Rei had suggested, she had been holding out hope that Anne or Golias might be imprisoned in one of those rooms.
And yet, the result was that every room had a basement—an unexpected outcome in the worst possible sense. It was no wonder she felt that way.
That said, if all there was beneath these doors were basements, then those basements needed to be searched.
Fortunately, they hadn't encountered any Mainstream Faction Alchemists so far.
But since this section was exclusive to the Mainstream Faction, if they stayed here wandering the corridors, encountering them eventually was a certainty.
Though, since all the door locks had been destroyed, even without Rei and his group being present, anyone who came by would immediately know there had been an intrusion.
Or rather, the fact that all the doors were locked from the outside means either no one is currently in the basements, or only beings like Anne and the others are locked inside?
If the locks had been on the inside, it could be taken to mean they didn't want anyone getting in, but...
"Lindy, which basement should we search first?"
"Huh? Wait a minute. I'm the one deciding!?"
Apparently not expecting to be told to choose, Lindy let out a voice of pure astonishment.
But Rei nodded at her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"The primary reason we came here is to rescue Anne, and we don't have a single clue to go on. That being the case, we need to go with intuition. If anyone should choose by intuition, it's you—someone who's close to Anne."
At Rei's words, Lindy thought for a moment... then nodded with a serious expression.