Rei, Seto, and Camila—who had been sleeping on Seto's back—arrived safely at the Slum District.
Rei felt that describing it as arriving "safely" at the Slum District was somewhat odd, but given the current situation, it wasn't inaccurate.
For Rei right now, the Slum District was actually safer than the city streets where the Dolan Workshop's agents lurked.
(Though by now, there's a high chance the Dolan Workshop's pursuers have come to the Slum District too. But the guards don't come here very often... I think.)
It was a somewhat optimistic prediction, but he wasn't basing it on nothing.
To the residents of the Slum District, the guards were by no means a welcome presence.
Since the guards knew that themselves, they wouldn't want to carelessly wander into the Slum District and spark unnecessary trouble.
That said, some guards did have connections with Slum District residents, so it wasn't an absolute certainty.
"Mmm... mnnnh... huh...?"
A few minutes after entering the Slum District, Camila stirred awake on Seto's back.
At first she seemed unsure of where she was, but after taking in her surroundings, noticing that something beneath her was moving on its own, and—most importantly—spotting Rei walking beside Seto, she quickly grasped the situation.
"Huh? Where are we!?"
"The Slum District. We're heading to where Anne, Lindy, and the others are right now. ...You don't remember? You fell asleep while waiting in Maruka's room."
"Ah..."
Hearing that, Camila understood why she was in this situation. She showed a mix of acceptance and agitation, but above all, embarrassment at not having noticed being carried all this way.
"I don't think you need to worry about it that much. You're still a kid. It's natural to get sleepy when night falls, and if you don't sleep properly, you won't grow."
"Ugh... but..."
Camila had initially looked embarrassed listening to Rei's words of comfort—though perhaps not quite that level of comfort—but then she began surveying her surroundings once more.
Unlike Rei and Seto, who possessed Night Vision, Camila was an ordinary person.
In the darkness of night, she could only make out general outlines, though the moonlight offered some assistance.
"Where... is this? Aren't we going to where Anne and the others are?"
"That's right. And we're on our way there now."
"Huh? Anne and the others are in a place like this?"
Even if she couldn't fully take in her surroundings, she could at least vaguely tell that this was a dilapidated area.
Given that, it was only natural for Camila to wonder whether Anne was truly in such a place.
But Rei nodded without hesitation.
"Yeah. They're in the Slum District. I'm not sure if 'acquaintance' is the right word, but anyway, an organization I know is sheltering them."
"An organization in the Slum District..."
Given Camila's age, she had a reasonable grasp of common sense.
Buldan also had a small slum, and the organizations there were the kind you stayed away from.
If Camila hadn't been taken in by the orphanage when she lost her parents, it wouldn't have been surprising if she had eventually ended up in a slum and gotten involved with an underworld organization just to survive.
"That's right. Fusetsu—the largest assassin guild in Egginis. That's the organization sheltering Anne, Lindy, and the others."
"An assassin guild... are you serious!?"
Camila let out a cry of surprise.
She probably never imagined she'd be sheltered by such an organization.
To her, an assassin guild was nothing but a symbol of terror.
That was likely why she had shouted almost involuntarily at Rei's words.
Yet Rei nodded without a trace of hesitation.
"Fusetsu is an organization that honors its obligations. If you give them a proper request, they'll take it. Even if the Dolan Workshop's pursuers show up, they accepted the job, so they should do everything in their power to protect Anne and the others."
There were plenty of people within Fusetsu who didn't care for Rei.
But even so, Rei expected they would treat work as work and draw a clear line.
If anyone slacked off just because it was his request, he could easily predict that person would meet the worst possible outcome.
Seeing Rei's expression, Camila apparently decided it was fine to trust him for now and voiced no further complaints.
Instead, she asked a question born from observing her surroundings.
"This place is peaceful, even though it's the Slum District. Is it because it's night?"
"Maybe so."
In reality, the reason no one tried to mess with Rei or Seto was because they understood that getting involved with them would unquestionably bring misfortune.
To survive in the Slum District, information was critical.
That was why Rei and his party were advancing down the road without any issues.
(That said, there are always some who get strange ideas... Nope, there aren't.)
Former adventurers confident in their own abilities. Failed assassins who believed they'd lose to no one when it came to killing. Or perhaps those who had only recently arrived in the Slum District and didn't even understand the importance of information.
For any number of reasons, it wouldn't have been strange for someone to try picking a fight with Rei's group.
And yet, as Camila had pointed out, they were truly advancing through the Slum District without a single incident.
(Did Fusetsu take care of things ahead of time? It's probably more for the Slum District's sake than for mine, though.)
For Fusetsu, the Slum District served as a recruiting ground for new members and could also be expected to function as a buffer against the outside world.
It wouldn't be strange for them to think it wasn't in their interest for Slum District residents to suffer by carelessly getting entangled with Rei.
And so, without being accosted by anyone, Rei and his party arrived at the Fusetsu hideout.
The lookouts showed surprise at Rei returning when he had just left moments ago, but they didn't try to stop him.
Nina or someone similar had probably told them he might come back.
Not only that, but Seto was at Rei's side.
Those assigned to guard the entrance to the Fusetsu hideout—though there was no actual gate—possessed considerable skill.
That was why, when confronted with Seto, they could fully understand that they stood no chance of winning.
"Sorry, but I'm coming in."
"Go ahead."
At that curt reply, Rei lifted Camila down from Seto's back and entered the hideout with her—more precisely, the hideout disguised as an abandoned building for camouflage purposes.
"Huh? Here?"
Camila's voice carried unmistakable bewilderment. She wasn't sure if this was really the Fusetsu hideout.
Indeed, if someone came to this abandoned building knowing nothing, they would never suspect it was an assassin guild's base.
...Though if you actually tried to enter, the lookouts would probably stop you.
"That's right. Come this way. In a way, this is a man's romance. I mean in the secret-base-and-hidden-room sense."
When Rei was in Japan—around elementary school age—he had once built a secret base in the mountains.
In that sense, he said it thinking Camila might also be interested in secret bases and hidden rooms, but...
"Huh? Really!?"
Camila reacted to the words "secret base" and "hidden room" far more than Rei had expected.
He couldn't help but wonder what about Anne and Lindy's situation?, but honestly, since Rei was telling her it would be fine, she wasn't worried.
"Yeah, that's right. ...Come on, let's go."
Leading the excited Camila, Rei made his way to the hidden staircase leading underground.
For Camila, a hidden staircase was something she was seeing for the very first time, and that alone had her extremely excited.
So when Rei showed it to her, she started making enough noise—from surprise and excitement—that it was hard to believe she had been asleep just moments ago. Or rather, maybe she was this energetic precisely because she had been sleeping until recently.
Still, heading underground—to the Fusetsu hideout—with this level of energy was a bit problematic.
If Camila kept up this intensity and tried chatting up everyone she came across, it could end up provoking Fusetsu's assassins and causing real trouble.
In terms of provoking Fusetsu's assassins, Rei's very existence was the biggest reason of all, but still.
"Calm down. From here on, it's the Fusetsu hideout. The people inside are assassins, so don't make too much noise. Seto won't be with us either, so if you carelessly cause a commotion, I can't guarantee you'll be safe."
If Seto were waiting outside and Camila were riding on his back, there would be no need to worry about anyone harming her.
But with only Rei present, whether he could fully protect Camila if something went wrong was uncertain.
Camila didn't actually understand Rei's reasoning.
But from his words, she judged that it would be better to stay quiet for now, and stopped making noise.
Leading the now-silent Camila, Rei entered the true Fusetsu hideout—not the abandoned building used for camouflage, but the real hideout underground.
"Ah, Rei-san. What brings you here?"
The first person to call out to Rei upon entering the underground was a face he was seeing for the first time.
Since Rei didn't know every face in Fusetsu, it was only natural that he wouldn't recognize the man.
"Camila... I came to leave this child with Anne, Lindy, and the others. Didn't you hear from Nina?"
"Ah, yes. I did hear that Rei-san might come again."
"I see. Then please guide us."
"Understood."
Nodding obediently to Rei's words, the man began leading Rei and Camila forward.
Rei had been walking behind the man when Camila suddenly tugged at the hem of his Dragon Robe.
"What is it?"
"Is that person really from an assassin guild?"
From Camila's perspective, the person walking ahead of them didn't look like an assassin at all.
Rei understood her point and gave her head a light pat.
"People like that are actually the scarier ones."
Previously, when Rei had come to ask Fusetsu to assault Blood Blade, he had been attacked in the Slum District by a Blood Blade assassin who looked unmistakably like a warrior.
But to Rei, an assassin who looked like an ordinary person was far more troublesome than someone like that.
If an opponent was overtly aggressive, Rei could deal with them easily.
Compared to that, someone who approached without showing any killing intent was difficult to handle.
In such cases, the only option was to react with semi-reflexive movements.
...Thinking about it normally, the very fact that one could respond with such reflexes was already abnormal.
For that reason, Rei found opponents who looked completely ordinary to be the more troublesome sort.
Though getting past Seto's vigilance to approach Rei in the first place was itself a considerable challenge.
Still, Rei could feel this way because he had fought assassins numerous times and survived through all manner of real combat.
For Camila, who had only ever heard of assassins through rumors or in stories, Rei's words raised nothing but questions.
"Is something the matter?"
At the words of the man whose defining feature was having no defining features, Rei shook his head.
"No, it's nothing. Camila is a child, after all. Since it's her first time in an assassin guild's hideout, she's intensely curious about her surroundings."
"Ah, I see. That may well be true. However, there are also various things here that you shouldn't look at, so please be careful not to let her see those areas. If you do, it would lead to all sorts of troublesome consequences."
Whether "troublesome" in this case meant killing Camila for seeing things she shouldn't, or negotiating terms to settle the matter, Rei didn't know.
But he judged that taking unnecessary action right here and now wasn't an option.
"Understood. I'll make sure Camila is careful about that. Once we reach where Anne and the others are—the people being sheltered—Camila will be in their hands, so you don't need to worry about that."
Whether the man was satisfied with Rei's words or not was unclear.
But without pressing the matter any further, he continued guiding them.