Rei and his group, having stored about ten golem cores in the Misty Ring for reference, headed to the next location.
Given the number of remaining basements, Rei would have liked to reach the place where Anne and the others were held by the next one at least. But this ultimately came down to luck for Lindy—down to a woman's intuition—so he couldn't say for certain.
Naturally, rescuing Anne meant they would also need the combat power to protect her.
(Which means there's no doubt we'll be even more short on combat power than we are now. ...It would make things easy if there were adventurers, soldiers, or knights among the prisoners. Golias is probably out of the question, though.)
Lindy seemed to believe that Golias was imprisoned here alongside Anne, but Rei couldn't imagine things would work out that conveniently.
After all, while Anne had been enslaved and brought here recently, Golias had gone missing quite some time ago.
Given that, Rei felt sorry for Lindy, but he couldn't believe Golias was being held here.
If he had been captured, it wouldn't be surprising if he had already been turned into golem material.
In that sense, it was only natural for Rei to think that, for some reason, Golias not being here was still not the worst outcome for Lindy.
"Lindy, the next basement is up to you."
"Yes. This time for sure..."
Lindy revealed her resolve, but since she was choosing which room to investigate based on intuition, her own motivation alone couldn't change the outcome.
Given that, there was no way they would find what they were looking for so easily...
"Are these golem parts? ...There was a warehouse right next to this section too, though."
The next basement was a storage room containing what appeared to be numerous golem parts.
If it was simply a warehouse, then as Rei had just pointed out, there had been one right beside this section.
"These are parts for the golems the mainstream faction uses. They probably kept them in this section so they wouldn't have to let us use them."
Ilunara stated this with a complicated expression.
For Ilunara, the fact that they had hoarded parts they refused to share with his group was by no means a pleasant discovery.
However, at the same time, looking at these parts, there didn't seem to be anything particularly shady about them.
In other words, there was probably no need to worry about the parts in this basement.
...From Rei's perspective, given that they were making golems using human materials, he couldn't help but wonder if the parts here might also be made from human bodies.
"Are these parts the kind made from human materials?"
That was why Rei asked, seeking to resolve his own doubt.
Lindy and the other alchemists were startled by Rei's words, and several of them instinctively moved away from the parts.
But among them, Ilunara showed no particular concern and did not step away.
"It's fine. No human materials were used in these parts."
"Is that so? I don't know much about golems, so I'm not very well-versed in that area."
Ilunara confidently stated there was no problem.
Since Ilunara was that confident about it, Rei didn't press the matter any further.
"So, what should we do? Is it all right to take these parts too?"
Rei, having understood for the time being that the parts were not made from human materials, asked Ilunara—but Ilunara floated a difficult expression at Rei's words.
Thinking about it normally, he understood that surrendering the parts here would not be good for the Dolan Workshop.
That said, while the cores were one thing, when it came to the parts, considering what lay ahead, he was genuinely unsure of what to do.
With the cores, swapping them out for the golems currently in operation was not something that could be done so easily.
But parts were different.
Unlike the cores, which served as the equivalent of a magic stone for a golem, parts could be easily swapped out when a portion of a golem was destroyed.
Considering that they were sneaking into the mainstream faction's section, the possibility of fighting golems couldn't be denied.
Thinking about what would happen then, wouldn't it be better to seize the parts here?
That was what Ilunara thought, and he opened his mouth.
"You may take them for now, but once this incident is settled, could you return them to the Dolan Workshop?"
"Sure."
"Eh??"
He probably hadn't expected Rei to agree to return them so readily.
Not just Ilunara, but the other alchemists also showed expressions of surprise.
"Listen, what do you take me for? It's not like I'm a bandit, you know?"
The fact that he was feared by bandits, who called him the Bandit Eater, he set aside for the moment.
For Rei, even if he received golem parts, he didn't have much use for them.
At most, he could throw them as weapons.
If Rei had knowledge of golems, he might have been able to repurpose those parts when constructing one.
Even if he tried to sell them, how many places would buy them in their current state as parts?
There might be some who would want them knowing they were parts from the Dolan Workshop's golems, but that would only be the case here in Egginis.
In that sense, golem parts were far less practical than axes or iron ingots, which could be sold fairly well anywhere.
When Rei explained these circumstances, Ilunara and the others understood.
They understood, but it seemed they still had various thoughts about it, and they wore complicated expressions.
As alchemists of the Dolan Workshop, they were happy that Rei intended to return the parts.
But thinking as mere alchemists, being told that the parts for the golems they manufactured couldn't even be sold and that the only use for them was throwing them as weapons was naturally not something they could find amusing.
That was why they displayed complicated expressions at Rei's words.
Rei urged the alchemists on and stored most of the parts from the basement into his Misty Ring.
"Well, that makes three. Two left, so I feel like it's about time we found the place where Anne and the others are. ...If they're actually here, that is."
Since there was a section that Ilunara and the others were barred from entering, Rei had assumed Anne and the others were in a basement within this section. But initially, he had thought there might be a separate building where the slaves were being held.
Still, given the current situation, they had no choice but to bet on the remaining two basements.
After exiting the basement, Lindy chose one of the two remaining options.
(According to Jane's information, there's apparently an altar too. If so, I want to investigate that as well. Or rather, that altar is obviously suspicious, right?)
As he thought about the altar—a place that was in no way fitting for an alchemist's workshop...
"Wait, this... could it be..."
Opening the door on the floor and heading underground, Lindy saw that the door ahead had yet another lock on it, and she muttered in a voice mixing panic and excitement.
None of the basements they had visited so far had been locked like this separately.
Given that, it meant there was some reason a lock had to be placed here... and in such a situation, there was only one reason Lindy could think of.
Rei understood Lindy's feelings as well, so he took out not the Death Scythe... but the Twilight Spear.
The underground passage simply didn't have enough space to swing the Death Scythe.
"Stay back. Based on what I'm sensing, I don't think there's anyone on the other side who'll immediately attack us once I destroy the door, but..."
There were several presences on the other side of the door, but he sensed nothing like hostility from any of them.
Alternatively, even if there was a lookout, it was possible they simply hadn't noticed Rei and his group's presence outside the door yet—but in that case, the lookout's skill level was nothing to worry about.
"If anyone is inside the room and near the door, stay back! I'm going to destroy the lock!"
Rei didn't know whether his voice would reach them, but he announced it as a precaution anyway... and after waiting about thirty seconds, he unleashed a strike with the Twilight Spear.
The sharp sound of metal being destroyed echoed through the surroundings, and the Twilight Spear's thrust alone succeeded in shattering the lock.
"Rei."
Confirming the lock had been destroyed, Lindy turned her gaze toward Rei.
Rei understood the meaning behind that look and returned a nod, whereupon Lindy immediately opened the door with the shattered lock...
"Anne! Golias!"
She called out as she rushed through the doorway.
"Lindy? Lindy, is that you? Why are you in a place like this..."
The voice calling Lindy's name from inside the room was one Rei recognized.
The owner of that voice was the very person Camila had walked all the way from Buldan to Egginis on foot for... Anne.
"Anne!"
Listening to Lindy's overflowing emotional voice, Rei entered through the door alongside Ilunara and the others.
Unlike Lindy, who was unmistakably overjoyed, bitter expressions settled on the faces of Ilunara and the other alchemists.
It was only natural. They had heard from Rei and Lindy that there were people who had been more or less illegally enslaved by the Dolan Workshop.
And seeing the large-scale construction work in the section they had been barred from entering, they had thought that what Rei and Lindy said was probably true. They had also seen documents in the very first basement that served as evidence of illegal activities.
But still, having such decisive evidence thrust directly before their eyes like this—harboring strong feelings for the place called the Dolan Workshop as they did—there was no doubt it stirred something within them.
This was true not just for Ilunara, but for the other alchemists as well.
Though not to the same extent as Ilunara, for the alchemists who held an attachment to the Dolan Workshop, the current situation was by no means something they could accept.
What would become of the Dolan Workshop from here on?
They intended to rebuild it themselves, but could they really pull off such a thing?
Thinking such thoughts, the alchemists entered the room... and seeing about twenty slaves there, they once again understood the current abnormality of the Dolan Workshop.
They had brought in nearly twenty slaves through means that were borderline illegal.
No, not borderline—it wouldn't be strange if some among them had been completely and illegally enslaved.
Moreover, the fact that there were only about twenty people here right now didn't mean they knew how many people in total had been enslaved up until now.
"Huh, Rei-san!?"
Anne, who had been embracing Lindy and sharing their joy, was surprised to see Rei's figure entering through the door.
From Anne's perspective, Rei was the benefactor who had helped Camila and the others and left food behind for them... but that was essentially all he was.
It was only natural for her to question why such a person was here.
"Camila let us know about your situation, and Rei was there at the time, so he came to help. Anyway, Anne. ...Where's Golias?"
While explaining the circumstances to Anne, Lindy scanned the room searching for the person she cared for.
Among those in the room were some faces she had seen a few times in Buldan, as well as faces she was seeing for the first time, but Golias was nowhere to be found.
Lindy had believed that since Anne was here, Golias must be here as well.
...Rei had thought, considering when Golias went missing, that he probably wasn't here. But for Lindy, he had to be. He had to be. She wanted him to be. That was how she felt.
However, in response to Lindy's words, Anne tilted her head with a puzzled look and shook it.
"Golias? He's not here. At least, he wasn't here when I arrived... Did Golias become a slave too?"
"No, that's not it. But Golias has gone missing. So I was sure he must have been captured by the Dolan Workshop."
Lindy told her this, but it didn't change the fact that Golias was not here.
"It's certain he wasn't here when I arrived."
"I see. Then we can't rule out the possibility that he's being held somewhere else."
Isn't that a stretch?
Rei, who had been listening to Lindy's words, thought so.
After all, there was only one basement remaining, and what was there was probably the altar.
If so, that meant Golias was being held in an entirely different location from this building.
"Anyway, we'll search for Golias later. For now, let's get out of here."
"The slave collars..."
In response to Lindy's words, Anne told her with difficulty.