"Over there?"
Rei confirmed the building visible ahead of him—the Jalis Workshop—and breathed a sigh of relief.
One reason for his relief was that, just as he had feared, the Jalis Workshop had not been attacked by the Dolan Workshop's agents.
The Jalis Workshop showed no signs of any commotion; it simply stood quietly in place.
Of course, the possibility that someone skilled had infiltrated the Jalis Workshop alone or in a small group to target Roger could not be entirely dismissed. Even so, given the current situation, Rei's best guess was that this was not the case.
"Now I just need to reach the Jalis Workshop without being spotted. The fact that they haven't made a move on Roger despite his known connection to me could mean they're waiting for me to show up there."
Muttering as if to convince himself, Rei approached the Jalis Workshop under cover of the buildings' shadows, taking care to remain out of sight.
Naturally, Rei was suppressing his presence as much as possible, so he wouldn't be discovered easily. As a result, he reached the Jalis Workshop without incident—no one so much as attempted to ambush him.
(Hm? There wasn't a single trace of a suspicious presence... Could it really be that there's no one here at all? No, but... is that even possible?)
Rei harbored such doubts, but in reality, there was no particular sign of human presence around the Jalis Workshop.
Or was there someone skilled enough that even Rei couldn't detect their presence? Or perhaps some kind of Magic Item at work?
He considered it, but while the latter was possible, he judged the former to be exceedingly unlikely.
That being the case, the most likely explanation would be a Magic Item.
Magic Items could produce effects Rei would never have imagined. In particular, Magic Items discovered in dungeons included many things that were essentially overtechnology in this world—the Paired Orbs being a prime example.
And Egginis was a city with a thriving golem industry and a large number of alchemists. That said, most alchemists specialized in golem manufacturing and weren't necessarily skilled at crafting Magic Items the way more conventional alchemists were. Even so, the possibility that there were alchemists with talent in that field couldn't be completely ruled out.
(Still, worrying too much about that won't help. Ultimately, I won't know anything for certain until I actually act.)
If someone showed up, he would deal with it as needed.
With that decision made, Rei took a step toward the Jalis Workshop.
He proceeded with the intention of being ready no matter when or who might appear, but...
"Hm?"
He had been thoroughly convinced that the moment he approached the Jalis Workshop, someone would appear. Yet in the end, he arrived at the building without encountering a single person.
Even after stepping onto the premises, there was still no sign of anyone showing themselves.
(Well, setting aside whoever's after me, I'd think the people guarding the Jalis Workshop could at least show themselves. Are they asleep because it's nighttime? No, I don't think that's it.)
The entire city was undoubtedly in quite an uproar over the Dolan Workshop incident. Given that, it wouldn't have been strange for the Jalis Workshop to be prepared to respond immediately if something happened.
However, from what Rei could see, there was no particular activity at the Jalis Workshop.
Despite his puzzlement, Rei entered the building.
Naturally, unlike when he had entered the Dolan Workshop, he didn't sneak in through some unconventional entry point—he went straight to the proper reception desk.
He wondered if perhaps there was no one at reception because it was nighttime, but a single middle-aged man was seated at the desk.
Normally, reception desks were staffed by women with refined features, and when Rei had visited the Jalis Workshop during the day, the receptionist had been a woman worthy of being called beautiful. But the one waiting there now was a man.
(I've heard lack of sleep is bad for the skin. Maybe that has something to do with it.)
Thinking this, Rei addressed the man who was staring steadily at him.
"I'd like to see Roger."
"...And who might you be?"
Upon hearing that he wanted to see Roger, the suspicion in the receptionist's gaze intensified considerably.
For the Jalis Workshop, Roger was an extremely skilled alchemist—in a sense, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him their treasure. For a stranger to suddenly show up in the middle of the night and ask to see such a person, it would be unreasonable to expect him not to be wary.
If Rei tried anything suspicious, the man would call the guards without hesitation. Yet the fact that he still asked for Rei's name out of basic courtesy suggested he had a dutiful side.
"I'm Rei, an acquaintance of Roger's."
So saying, he pulled back the hood of the Dragon Robe he was wearing.
Rei personally had complicated feelings about his own face, but his relatively refined, feminine features could serve as one form of proof that he was who he claimed to be. Sure enough, when the receptionist heard Rei's name and saw his face, the suspicious expression he had been wearing just seconds before vanished in an instant.
"Ah, you're the one. I've heard about you—something about providing Roger-san with materials from an unknown monster."
"The Orc Naga? That's right. ...Is Roger still at the workshop?"
"Yes, he's still doing research today. You said you wanted to see Roger-san—shall I call him for you? Or would you prefer I have someone guide you to his research room?"
"If you just tell me where it is, I can go by myself."
"No, that simply won't do. The Jalis Workshop is a historic institution and holds many proprietary technologies. In the event anything were to happen, you'd need a witness to ensure you, Rei-san, wouldn't come under suspicion."
Clever way to put it, was Rei's honest impression. In reality, the stronger implication was that the man wanted to keep an eye on Rei so he wouldn't do anything suspicious—industrial espionage, to be specific. But phrased the way it was, Rei couldn't very well refuse.
"Understood. Call Roger for me, then. I have something urgent to discuss, so make it quick."
"I understand, but... if you truly need to see Roger-san urgently, it would be faster to go to him directly rather than wait for him to come here. Once Roger-san gets focused on his golem research, he doesn't respond easily even when called from outside."
"Then get me a guide."
Rei wanted to inform Roger about the Dolan Workshop matter as quickly as possible. The fact that they were applying necromancy to golems—that human souls were being used in the golem cores—would be of great interest to Roger. Above all, the information that Roger himself might be targeted because of his connection to Rei needed to be conveyed without delay.
When Rei asked him to call someone, the man rose from the reception desk and headed toward a room a short distance away. When he emerged, he had brought along what appeared to be an adventurer.
"This person will guide you. Please follow him."
"Got it. Appreciate it."
That said, as far as Rei could tell, the guide looked like nothing more than a hired adventurer—which made him wonder whether this person might be someone who could potentially steal the Jalis Workshop's technologies. But since the receptionist trusted the man without issue, Rei judged there was no problem.
"I'll guide you. This way."
Led by the tersely spoken man, Rei proceeded through the building.
"Have you been working here long?"
"...What makes you say that?"
As they walked down the hallway, as if unable to bear the silence, Rei posed the question. The man asked him back with an expression suggesting he didn't understand why he was being asked such a thing, so Rei explained the doubt he had felt earlier—that he found it odd a man who looked like an adventurer had been assigned to guide him.
"I see. In that sense, you could say I've been here a long time. I was hired well before the Dolan Workshop surpassed the Jalis Workshop. At this point, I'm practically a staff member."
His matter-of-fact tone suggested he wasn't particularly trying to hide it. For the man, it wouldn't have been strange to feel a sense of pride that the place he worked was one of the finest workshops in Egginis.
"I see. Then do you have any thoughts about the Dolan Workshop?"
"It would be a lie to say I don't. But even though we're behind now, if it's Roger-san, he'll surpass the Dolan Workshop eventually."
Those were words that could only come from absolute faith in Roger's skill as an alchemist. Rei had noticed the same thing when speaking with the receptionist—Roger apparently commanded far more respect from those around him than Rei had expected.
...In Rei's case, their first meeting had been what it was, so he simply couldn't see Roger that way.
As they walked and talked, the guide eventually came to a stop.
"He should be in here. I'll wait outside—go on in if you have something to discuss."
"Got it. Thanks for guiding me."
Rei knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. He could sense a presence beyond the door; someone—Roger, almost certainly—was inside. And yet, why wasn't he answering?
As Rei puzzled over this, the guide spoke up.
"He's probably so focused he hasn't noticed anything outside. You'd better just open the door."
Is that really okay? Rei wondered, but since the guide said so, he judged it would be fine and opened the door.
Inside, Roger sat at a desk, frantically writing something.
"No, this isn't it! This is completely meaningless! It needs to be something else. Something else..."
Midway through writing, he suddenly shouted, crumpled the paper, and hurled it to the floor. Then he turned back to a fresh sheet to write something once more—
"Roger."
"Hm? ...Rei? What are you doing here?"
At the sound of Rei's voice, Roger snapped back to his senses. He took in the face of the person standing before him and registered visible surprise.
Exasperated by Roger's state, Rei closed the door so the guide wouldn't overhear their conversation, then approached the desk.
"I did knock, for the record. You didn't respond at all, so I let myself in."
"That's fine. But coming here at this hour... you must have something important."
"Right. Honestly, so much has happened I'm not even sure where to begin... First off, I've found out why the Dolan Workshop's golems are so high-performance."
"Wh—why? How did you figure that out? I investigated based on the premise that they were using human materials, but I found nothing of the sort. Something I couldn't uncover—how did you...?"
For Roger, it was perhaps somewhat humiliating. That he, as a golem specialist, had been completely unable to grasp something Rei had uncovered.
That said, Rei hadn't discovered the secret behind the golems' performance by analyzing them the way Roger had. He had found the room with the altar and the magic circle, then learned the truth from Grimm. In a sense, he had cheated—so there was no need for Roger to feel disappointed.
"It's not that I investigated and figured it out myself. I heard it from my master. It's not my own ability, really."
"I see... Even so, to find so quickly what I couldn't uncover through investigation... that's astonishing."
"Probably more accurate to say it's precisely because he's a golem specialist that he couldn't figure it out."
"...What do you mean?"
"It's true they were using human materials. But they weren't using human bodies as golem materials—they were using human souls in the golem cores."
"Human souls...? What exactly do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. They weren't using human bodies as materials. They were using necromancy to employ human souls as material. This was probably something completely outside your expectations."
Roger apparently hadn't fully grasped the meaning of Rei's words, so Rei proceeded to explain the details of everything he had witnessed.