"A miss, huh?"
"No, it's not exactly a miss, is it?"
Five underground basements.
Among them, the one Lindy chose first was the very first one they had found.
Rei had told her to choose based on her intuition as someone close to Anne, but since she had no way of knowing which room to pick, Lindy simply went with the first one.
What they found inside was a large collection of documents.
And since they were hidden away in an underground basement, they were naturally not ordinary documents—they were records that could never be allowed to see the light of day.
Upon reading the contents, Ilunara and the other Non-Mainstream Faction alchemists felt something close to despair.
The documents contained contracts for assassination requests made to the Assassin Guild, numerous reports on illegal Golem experiments... and records regarding procured slaves.
Naturally, the slaves described in documents hidden in a basement like this were not the kind Rei and his group had encountered earlier.
There were catalogs of illegally enslaved people—like Anne, who had been sold through semi-illegal means... no, beyond that, people who had been outright abducted and fitted with Slave Collars. Genuine illegal slaves.
Ilunara and the others had known the current Dolan Workshop was engaged in such practices.
They had known, but actually seeing it with their own eyes still dealt a severe shock.
Ilunara in particular had admired the Dolan Workshop since childhood and had worked tirelessly to become an alchemist there, so the blow hit him that much harder.
The sheer volume of documents before him was arguably the worst possible revelation for Ilunara.
Not that he had believed the Dolan Workshop he admired was entirely without fault, of course.
But even so, they should never have gone this far.
"Ilunara-san."
One of the alchemists called his name with concern.
To the Non-Mainstream Faction alchemists, Ilunara was their leader.
They understood full well just how much the Dolan Workshop meant to him.
That was precisely why the current situation felt nearly unbearable for them as well.
(Then again, whether this is truly the worst... honestly, I wonder.)
Rei harbored that thought as he watched Ilunara's stricken expression.
The documents here, while stored underground, were not particularly well-concealed. The fact that they were in a basement at all could be considered a form of hiding, true, but still.
Which meant that if truly critical documents existed, they were likely hidden somewhere else entirely.
And whatever was concealed in such a manner would undoubtedly contain far more damning content than what lay here.
Rei could piece that together easily enough, but he judged it best not to mention it to Ilunara right now. Instead, he brought up something else.
"For now, these documents will definitely serve as evidence. We're taking them."
"Huh?"
The alchemists let out bewildered sounds, unable to grasp what Rei meant.
They were probably wondering how they were supposed to carry this many documents.
Anyone who had known Rei longer might have thought of the Misty Ring, but the alchemists' acquaintance with him was brief.
Lindy, meanwhile, was directing a thoroughly dissatisfied glare at Rei.
She knew full well that Rei had a Misty Ring, but given the circumstances, she wanted him to skip the document gathering and move on to the next basement immediately.
Lindy was not here to gather evidence of the Dolan Workshop's wrongdoing. She was here to rescue Anne and Golias.
Every wasted second was a second too long.
Ignoring Lindy's frustration, Rei swiftly began storing the documents into his Misty Ring.
The alchemists were initially startled, but before long they recalled how he had stored the Golems.
They immediately started bringing documents over to help.
Not everyone shared Ilunara's depth of attachment, but a fair number had been favorably disposed toward the Dolan Workshop. Some hesitated to hand over evidence of its misdeeds to Rei.
Even so, whether judging it wiser to follow Rei's lead or simply deciding to stop thinking and move, they devoted themselves to carrying the papers.
With everyone's cooperation, all the documents were stored in the Misty Ring in under ten minutes.
"Alright, next. Lindy, have you decided where to go?"
"Yes. I've already decided. This time I'll definitely pick the room where Anne and Golias are."
Lindy's voice carried an unmistakable determination—she would find them this time.
Rei had no objection to her resolve.
After all, rescuing Anne was the entire reason they had infiltrated the Dolan Workshop in the first place.
Wanting to find her as quickly as possible was only natural.
That said, discovering Anne too early would mean navigating the rest of the investigation while escorting her and potentially others, so Rei had hoped to manage that timing if possible.
"Anyway, let's head back up and pick the next basement."
Rei stepped out of the underground room into the corridor above, then suddenly extended his arm sideways to signal those behind him. He closed the distance to the door in quick strides and threw it open.
A dull thud rang out. Rei paid it no mind and forced the door wider.
(Maybe I should have just destroyed the whole door instead of only the lock?)
The thought flickered through his mind, but his body never stopped moving.
As if performing a routine he had rehearsed a dozen times, he cracked the door just wide enough for his small frame to slip through and slipped outside.
His eyes swept the corridor. Three figures still standing. He moved to neutralize them immediately.
One man already lay crumpled on the floor. Rei ignored him.
The three still standing seemed dazed, but the way they instinctively reached for their weapons suggested a decent level of training.
But decent was all it was.
For someone like Rei, who had fought countless skilled opponents, even their ability to react meant little when the reactions themselves were sluggish.
He closed the distance to the first guard and drove a fist into his solar plexus, dropping him instantly.
Had the man been wearing armor, a strike to the solar plexus would have been impossible. But while they carried weapons, they had foregone armor to stay mobile on interior patrol—a fatal miscalculation when facing Rei.
Two left. They both lunged, swinging at Rei simultaneously, but their panic threw off their timing. He sidestepped effortlessly, and another guard lost consciousness, crumpling to the floor.
One remaining.
Rei drew Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and leveled the blade at the survivor.
The Twilight Spear or other weapons from the Misty Ring would have served just as well, but when it came to sheer visual intimidation, nothing rivaled Death Scythe. For moments like this, it was the perfect tool.
"Kyaa!"
A scream tore from the last guard's throat as the massive blade materialized before her eyes.
Only then did Rei register that the final opponent was a woman. But for an adventurer, ability was everything. Gender was irrelevant.
One look at Rei's companions—Elena, Marina, Vihera—was enough to dispel any notion that women were inherently weak.
And being stationed here, in a section of the Dolan Workshop accessible only to the Mainstream Faction, strongly suggested this woman was complicit in illegal activities.
"Talk, and I won't kill you."
Rei's tone was flat. Not that he had killed the other guards, either.
Well, the one blasted by the door aside, the two he had punched unconscious might well have cracked ribs.
Not that he intended to lose any sleep over it.
"I—I understand. I'll talk. I'll tell you anything, just..."
As an adventurer hired to guard the Dolan Workshop, Jane had possessed a fair degree of confidence in her own abilities.
Enough to pride herself as being among the upper echelon of Egginis adventurers.
Yet companions whose skills were on par with her own had been dispatched without effort.
That alone told her everything she needed to know about the gap between her and the man standing before her.
Defying someone like that meant death, at worst.
No—if death was all that awaited her, she would count herself lucky.
There were fates far worse—being kept alive for prolonged torture, or something even more horrifying.
"Good. Then—" He paused. "Actually, first things first. You can all come out."
At Rei's word, the door opened wider, and Ilunara, the alchemists, and Lindy emerged.
"Lindy..."
The woman still pinned under Death Scythe's gaze caught sight of Lindy stepping through the doorway. Surprise flickered across her face—only to be replaced by raw hatred.
The look told Rei everything he needed to know about the history between them.
"Jane. You're working for the Dolan Workshop...? No, actually, this works out perfectly. I have quite a few questions for you."
"Do you really think I'll talk?"
Jane shot back, her defiance unmistakable.
No matter what Lindy said, she would give nothing away. That was the attitude she projected.
The next instant, Death Scythe's blade pressed against her neck, and the cold steel drew a small gasp from her lips.
"I'm fairly confident you will. Or are you telling me you have nothing to say?"
"I'll talk, I'll talk! Just let me go!"
The blade was so sharp that even the slight movement of speaking was enough to nick the skin. A thin line of warm blood trickled down her neck.
Jane felt it instantly. Whatever hatred she harbored for Lindy, self-preservation won.
"I don't know what bad blood exists between you and Lindy. But understand this—if you insist on defying me here, the only result is your head leaving your shoulders. Keep that in mind."
Jane swallowed and said she understood.
She wanted to nod, but with that blade against her throat, even that small motion felt like a gamble.
"Good. First question: Are you aware that the Dolan Workshop is engaged in illegal activities?"
"Not the details. But I know as much as what I've overheard from the alchemists and Workshop staff."
That answer fell short of what Rei had hoped for.
He had expected anyone posted in a section like this to be neck-deep in the Workshop's crimes. Instead, he had gotten a deflection.
Still, something was better than nothing. He pressed on.
"Do you know the Workshop has been gathering slaves through quasi-illegal means?"
"I know they exist. I don't know where they're kept, though. I swear I don't! We're hired as guards—we're not permitted inside the rooms!"
Perhaps she felt the blade bite a fraction deeper, because the words spilled out in a frantic rush.
If they thought she was lying, her neck would be severed without a second thought.
That fear was written plainly across her face.
"Useless."
Lindy's voice cut like a blade of its own. Jane's jaw tightened, frustration flashing across her features.
But one wrong word here—any hint of defiance—and that blade at her throat would make good on its promise. She couldn't afford to talk back.
Swallowing her pride, Jane racked her brain for anything—anything at all—that might buy her life.
She was attractive enough, and her role as a guard had brought her into frequent contact with the Workshop's alchemists and staff. She had overheard things, noticed things.
Desperately sorting through those fragments of memory, she finally landed on something—one piece of information that might be of use to Rei and his group.