"Welcome, Lord Rei. Honestly, I didn't expect us to reunite this quickly."
Nina was already waiting inside the building that served as Fusetsu's hideout. The moment she saw Rei, she called out to him, her gaze fixed solely on him.
If Seto had been inside, her eyes might have been drawn to him instead—but as usual, the gryphon was too large to enter the building, so he waited outside. The assassins stationed as guards around the premises, those posing as ordinary Slum District residents, had been visibly uneasy about Seto's proximity.
Meanwhile, the masked man who had guided Rei to the building gave a brief bow and disappeared—not into the hideout, but into the darkness of the night. Since he was a member of Fusetsu, Rei thought he might have entered with them, but figured the man had his own duties to attend to and didn't try to stop him.
As such, the only two who mattered in the Fusetsu hideout—not the true hideout underground, but the abandoned building serving as camouflage—were Rei and Nina.
Quite a few of the men who had accompanied Rei were captivated by Nina's beauty. Her appearance possessed a magnetism that drew the eyes of the opposite sex—and sometimes even the same sex. It was precisely because she possessed such beauty that she handled negotiations for Fusetsu, occasionally using honey traps to coerce opponents into accepting their demands.
"True enough. Honestly, I didn't expect to reunite this quickly either. But... in this situation, Fusetsu was the only reliable option I could think of."
"I'd love to say that's a welcome sentiment, but..."
For the first time, Nina's gaze shifted from Rei to the others behind him. Her expression was troubled. Knowing Nina, Rei didn't for a moment believe it was genuine—she was likely putting on that face for the benefit of those accompanying him, playing her role as negotiator.
"My request is simple. I need you to shelter these people. They're involved in the Dolan Workshop affair—and it's not unrelated to the Blood Blade incident, either."
"I suppose not."
The connection between Blood Blade and the Dolan Workshop was undeniable, backed by the contract that Nina had handed over to Rei. With this much chaos erupting so soon after, she couldn't possibly believe the Workshop was uninvolved. Even so, Nina considered the Blood Blade matter settled. Having the Dolan Workshop affair dragged back before her now was, in its own way, troublesome.
"Of course, I'm not asking for free. I've got a large quantity of iron ingots from this whole incident. I can hand all of them over."
"Iron... ingots?"
Nina looked genuinely bewildered. Naturally—of all things, he had proposed iron ingots as compensation.
"That's quite an unexpected offer."
"It was one of the things that came to mind as something you might want. As an assassin guild, you'd at least have in-house blacksmiths, right? If you're having them forge weapons, I figured you'd need iron."
In truth, Rei was mostly just looking to offload his surplus ingots, but if it helped Fusetsu, he didn't see a problem.
"You're right. If asked whether we need them, then yes, we do. Still, I never expected them to be offered as compensation for this."
"And besides... the various magic potions seized from Blood Blade. You know the ones—you're having Fusetsu analyze them. I don't mind handing those over, too."
The instant Rei said that, Nina's expression shifted to open surprise. For a seasoned negotiator who had concluded countless deals on Fusetsu's behalf to betray such a blatant reaction—there was no mistaking it. Rei noticed, of course, but he had no intention of pressing the issue.
(She's probably surprised because there was some special... expensive potion in the mix that I didn't recognize. I have no idea what kind, exactly.)
He was mildly curious, but pushing the question risked giving Nina a reason to refuse handing over the potions. That was the last thing he wanted, so he let it drop.
"A-Are you truly certain that's alright?"
"Yeah, that's fine. How about it? Judging from your reaction, it doesn't seem like a bad deal."
"You're right. It's favorable enough to make me wonder whether it's truly acceptable to receive that much."
"Then I have one more request. With Fusetsu's resources, you should be able to remove slave collars, right? The people here were enslaved through semi-legal or outright illegal means. I want you to do something about that."
"Understood. I'll accept."
Nina replied without a heartbeat's hesitation. Rei hadn't expected her to agree so readily, and despite having just decided not to dwell on it, he found himself wondering all the more what was in those potions.
"O-oh. I see. ...That's how it is, apparently."
Still somewhat taken aback by Nina's eagerness, Rei turned and relayed the news to Anne and the others still wearing collars. They looked relieved, but also visibly uncomfortable about relying on an assassin guild.
"Thank you, Rei. I'm grateful."
It was Lindy who spoke on behalf of the group. As an adventurer who had handled her fair share of rough work, she was apparently better equipped to handle the concept of assassins than the others. Or perhaps, simply being a woman, she wasn't as paralyzed by Nina's beauty as the men were.
"Don't mention it. What about you? I've gotten Anne out, so I think it'd be fine if you stayed with her and Ilunara's group from here on."
"No, I'm going with you. Anne's situation is taken care of now, so the next step is finding Golias."
"...Right."
Rei had his own thoughts about Lindy's determination to find Golias. If Golias had truly been captured by the Dolan Workshop, then in all likelihood, his soul had already been extracted. Lindy was surely aware of that possibility too, but at this point, she seemed intent on refusing to believe it.
Given that, even if Rei said something—reassured her that everything would be fine—he didn't think she would listen. If anything, saying the wrong thing now might only make her more stubborn, doubling down on her refusal to give up the search.
"Lord Rei, may we return to our discussion? Sheltering these people is fine, but specifically, how long are we talking about?"
Nina cut in, redirecting the conversation. Taking in Anne, Ilunara, and the others was acceptable, but she couldn't shelter them indefinitely. To prevent that, she needed a concrete deadline from the outset. Turning Rei into an enemy wasn't an option for her, nor for Fusetsu—but even so, accepting his request unconditionally was equally impossible.
"How long, huh. I'd like to say until the Dolan Workshop matter is settled, but that's not really what you're asking, is it? You want something more concrete."
"Yes. A specific number of days, if you please."
"...A number of days. That's tricky. For starters, what's the maximum you can offer in exchange for the iron ingots and the potions?"
The iron ingots were one thing, but even Nina—a veteran negotiator—had let her composure slip at the mention of the magic potions. That being the case, Rei figured there was considerable leverage to work with.
"Let's see. Making the fullest concession I can... twenty days."
"...That's considerably shorter than I expected. I thought there'd be more room than that."
Including the potions. He didn't say it aloud, but the implication hung in the air. Nina shook her head.
"Lord Rei, you're underestimating the Dolan Workshop. It's true that Fusetsu is the largest assassin guild in Egginis, but even so, if the Workshop brought its full force to bear, we couldn't match them. If we resisted with everything we had, we could buy some time—but frankly, the compensation you've offered isn't enough to make that possible."
Simply put, the payment was insufficient. But Rei had no intention of footing a larger bill for this particular matter himself.
"Do any of you have something you can offer as compensation?"
He directed the question at the people who had fled with him—specifically, at Ilunara and the alchemists, not the former slaves. The enslaved naturally had no personal possessions; anything they'd once owned had been stripped away. But Ilunara and the others were different. Even as the Non-Mainstream Faction, they were still alchemists of the Dolan Workshop. It wasn't unreasonable to think they might have something of value.
Ilunara shook his head.
"We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs. What exactly are you expecting from us?"
"Something you can offer as compensation. It doesn't have to be physical goods. Knowledge would work too... right?"
Rei glanced at Nina, who nodded.
"Of course. Knowledge is acceptable—provided it proves genuinely beneficial to Fusetsu."
"That's what she says. So? As alchemists who build golems, can you offer Fusetsu something useful?"
"That's..."
Ilunara hesitated. It wasn't just him—the other alchemists wore the same uncertain expression.
(Judging from the looks of it, asking them to produce useful knowledge for Fusetsu on the spot would be a tall order.)
Ilunara and the others had thrown in with Rei's group to put a stop to the Dolan Workshop's corruption. The idea of cooperating with an assassin guild as alchemists was a prospect that naturally gave them pause. It wasn't an unreasonable hesitation.
"For now, they'll shelter you for a minimum of twenty days. You can decide what to do during that time. And it's not impossible that the Dolan Workshop matter will be resolved within those twenty days."
"...Understood."
Ilunara was silent for a full thirty seconds before answering. For him, having the Workshop affair settled within twenty days would be the best possible outcome. Rei intended to make that happen—but this situation was different in nature from the incidents he'd dealt with before. Honestly speaking, he had no idea how long it would take to resolve.
He had no intention of spending winter in Egginis, so he wanted it settled before the season turned—but that was merely his own hope, and whether it would pan out was something he wouldn't know until he tried. That was why he told Ilunara and the others to handle things themselves if problems arose. Though they didn't fully grasp everything Rei was saying, Ilunara and the others nodded all the same.