Seeing the adventurers gathered around the carriage, Rei turned his gaze toward Orban beside him.
He had hoped Orban would tell him this wasn't the carriage that had come to pick them up, but that expectation was swiftly betrayed.
"I'll help."
"Which means...?"
"It's the carriage that came to pick us up. You can tell just by looking, right?"
Now that it was pointed out, Rei examined the carriage again and understood that it was not the sort used by ordinary merchants, but a fairly high-class model.
Such a carriage being near the Slum District meant that for adventurers—or more precisely, for adventurers hired by the Dolan Workshop—expecting them not to take an interest would have been impossible.
And since that carriage had indeed come to pick up Rei and Orban, the assumption was by no means wrong.
That said, neither Rei nor Orban could simply stand by and let the carriage be taken...
"Let's take them down."
Nodding at Orban's words, Rei kicked off the ground and charged toward the adventurers.
"You're unharmed?"
"You saved us."
Every adventurer around the carriage was unconscious and collapsed on the ground.
Amidst the aftermath, Orban was speaking with an elderly man seated on the carriage's coachman seat.
They appeared to be acquaintances, exchanging casual words.
Listening in, Rei dragged the adventurers to the side of the road so they wouldn't obstruct the carriage when it moved.
He left their weapons as they were for the time being.
Even though they were hired by the Dolan Workshop, they hadn't attacked the carriage or the coachman. The fact that they didn't seem to be thoroughly bad people played a large part in his decision.
If they had needlessly damaged the carriage or attacked the coachman, Rei would likely have confiscated their weapons.
"Rei, let's get moving. If we stay here and get attacked by another group of adventurers, that won't be fun."
"Understood."
Rei nodded at Orban's words and approached the carriage.
The man on the coachman seat bowed to him.
"You must be Lord Crimson Rei. Thank you for your help this time. Thanks to you, the carriage was left unharmed."
"Don't worry about it. The reason those adventurers targeted it in the first place was because it came to pick us up, right? In that case, it wouldn't be strange to say the attack was our fault."
"Even so, the fact remains that you saved us. Given that, I believe expressing my gratitude is only natural."
When pressed that far, Rei couldn't argue further and simply accepted the gratitude.
"I'll gratefully accept the sentiment. Anyway, if we stay here too long, the same sort of crowd might show up again. I think we should leave while we can. What do you say?"
"You're right. My job is to transport the two of you to my master's location, so now that you're both here, there's no need to remain any longer."
Saying that, the man invited Rei and Orban to board the carriage.
"Figured it'd be a place like this."
The carriage headed toward the area of Egginis where the wealthy lived.
In other words, a district similar to Gilm's Noble District.
The difference was that in Egginis, those who lived in such areas were workshop operators or merchants who could purchase and sell golems.
Being an autonomous city, Egginis had no nobles.
No, to be precise, there were nobles, but the vast majority were simply customers who had come seeking golems.
A few nobles did own mansions, but their numbers were inevitably small, and compared to the district where Rei and Orban had arrived, their estates were modest in scale.
"We're meeting someone who moves Egginis, so coming to a place like this is only natural, wouldn't you say?"
Hearing Rei's murmur, Orban replied with practiced ease.
In truth, Orban had visited this area many times before in connection with Fusetsu's work, and he had a fairly long-standing relationship with the person they were about to meet.
Given that, his casual attitude was only natural.
"More importantly, I'm surprised you don't seem particularly taken aback or nervous, Rei. I suppose when you're an alias-holding A-Rank Adventurer, you're used to places like this?"
"Used to it, or rather... where I currently live in Gilm is the Noble District, after all."
"...Did you become a noble?"
At Rei's mention of living in the Noble District, Orban cast a surprised glance at him.
For Orban, the fact that Rei lived in the Noble District was apparently that unexpected.
But Rei shook his head.
"No, it's not like I became a noble. A party member of mine has a house there, and since it was available, we all decided to live in it together."
Strictly speaking, Elena and Ara, who were associates but not party members, also lived there, but he left that part out.
Orban was easy to talk to, but he was still the leader of the assassin guild Fusetsu.
If he gave such a person unnecessary information, there was no telling how it might be used.
Besides, if Orban truly wanted to know about Rei—or if he seriously intended to follow through on what he had jokingly mentioned in the Slum District about becoming an adventurer in Gilm—he would naturally obtain that information on his own.
Given that, Rei judged there was no particular need to share such details here.
"The Noble District in Gilm that I know and this area... there are some similarities, but the atmosphere really is different. Maybe it has to do with the difference between nobles and merchants or workshop operators."
For nobles, appearances and reputation mattered greatly.
That was why the mansions owned by nobles tended to be quite lavish.
...Of course, even among those living in the Noble District, there were people like Marina who lived in a small house—small only by comparison to the other estates in the Noble District—but such cases were truly rare.
In contrast, the mansions visible from the carriage were luxurious, yet they still carried a subtly different atmosphere from those in Gilm's Noble District.
If pressed on exactly what was different, Rei couldn't have pointed to any one thing immediately.
"The atmosphere of the residents certainly plays a part. Plus, Gilm is a frontier and Egginis prospers from the golem industry. If the two felt the same, that would be the real surprise."
Orban said that in response to Rei's words, and precisely because he was someone active in Egginis, the statement carried genuine persuasive weight.
As they talked, the carriage eventually came to a stop in front of a single mansion.
"Is this the place?"
Rei asked, almost as a formality, and Orban nodded.
"That's right. The owner of this mansion is one of the people currently moving Egginis. His influence is considerable. Contrary to his appearance, that is."
"Appearance?"
Catching a slightly intriguing remark from Orban, Rei pressed, but Orban didn't seem particularly bothered and simply nodded.
"That's right. At first glance, he doesn't look like someone who moves Egginis. But his abilities are the real deal."
At that, Rei accepted matters as they were and stepped down from the halted carriage.
"W-welcome, thank you for coming. Um... I am Robel, the owner of this mansion. Pleased to meet you."
Wait, this man is him?
That was Rei's first impression upon seeing the person who introduced himself as Robel.
He was slightly taller than Rei, but by this world's average, quite short.
Age-wise, he appeared to be in his forties, somewhat older than Orban.
He was a man to whom the word "scrawny" suited well, and he didn't at all seem like the sort of person Orban had described—someone who moved Egginis.
He had been called part of the Moderate Faction, but it seemed less like Robel had chosen that stance of his own will and more like he had ended up categorized as moderate by being swept along by his surroundings.
He gave that kind of impression.
(Still...)
Rei glanced at Orban beside him, and Orban spoke as if to say Robel's demeanor was perfectly normal.
"Robel, sorry for taking up your time today."
That casual attitude indicated that Orban and Robel's relationship went beyond that of a mere client and an assassin guild leader—there was a deeper familiarity between them.
"N-no, it's fine. If it's a major crisis in Egginis, there's no reason for me not to listen."
"That's right. Glad to hear you say that. So, Rei, explain the situation to Robel."
"Me?"
"Who else? In the first place, you're the one at the center of this matter. Meaning there's no one better informed about this incident than you. Or am I wrong?"
Put that way, Rei couldn't exactly refuse.
"Understood. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Rei."
"I-I know of you. You're the A-Rank Adventurer who holds the Crimson alias, correct?"
Rei was slightly surprised by Robel's words.
He had expected the man to know he was an alias holder, but knowing he was an A-Rank Adventurer was unexpected.
(Ah, but if he heard it from Orban, it wouldn't be strange for him to know.)
Since Orban had also possessed information about Rei, it wouldn't be unusual for that to have been passed along to Robel.
"I'll have you know, I haven't shared anything with him. Robel gathered that information on his own."
"T-that's... it's not really something as grand as all that."
Robel deflected with those words, but Rei couldn't tell whether he was being genuinely modest or not.
"I see. At the very least, it's clear you're a capable person."
His speech and bearing were those of a timid man, but the fact that he had obtained information about Rei early on showed he understood the value of intelligence without question.
"I-I'm glad to hear you say that. So... once again, please tell me about the Dolan Workshop matter. My trading company handles Dolan Workshop golems as well, so this isn't someone else's problem for me."
"For a merchant, that would certainly be the case."
Precisely because Robel's trading company wielded strong influence within Egginis, they were able to procure Dolan Workshop golems.
But if the information spread that those golems were actually crafted using human souls, the damage to his trading company would be enormous.
Under normal circumstances, someone in Robel's position leading a trading company would be better off keeping the Dolan Workshop matter quiet... yet even knowing the risks, Robel was trying to do something about it.
Observing Robel's demeanor and understanding the gap between his speech and his true character, Rei grasped why Orban kept such company, and began recounting everything he had learned at the Dolan Workshop.
Roughly thirty minutes passed before he finished, and upon hearing it all, Robel's face went deathly pale.
"I-I had heard. I had heard, but... even so, I never imagined..."
There was a stark difference in realism between the information from Orban's letter and Rei's firsthand account of everything he had witnessed at the Dolan Workshop.
For Robel, that had likely been a profound shock.
"That's everything I know. So, as one of the people who move Egginis, what do you intend to do, Robel?"
"Th-that's... difficult."
What came from Robel's mouth was a somewhat disappointing response as far as Rei was concerned.
Having heard he belonged to the Moderate Faction, Rei had assumed he would immediately propose some kind of action against the Dolan Workshop on Egginis's behalf.
(No, but perhaps this can't be helped? Even though he helps steer the city, it's not as though he can decide everything on his own the way a lord would.)
Reconsidering, Rei pressed Robel once more.
"It may be difficult, but leaving things as they are isn't really an option either, is it? If this information spreads before Egginis can take action, it could be the worst possible outcome for the city. As a merchant, can you accept that?"
"Y-you raise a difficult point. In this current situation, what should we..."
Perhaps Rei's words had struck a nerve, because Robel's eyes darted about busily.
Guessing that he was assembling his thoughts, Rei waited to see what decision Robel would reach.