"Hm?"
Rei had left Robel's mansion and taken the same carriage back to the Slum District. Now he was walking toward the Fusetsu hideout with Orban.
He'd been walking — but along the way, he caught sight of Seto and came to a halt.
Orban, seeing Rei stop, wondered what was wrong and followed his gaze. When he spotted Seto and the figures collapsed nearby, he got a general sense of what had happened.
"Seto!"
"Grrrl!"
Seto purred happily in response to Rei's call.
Naturally, Seto's senses were far sharper than Rei's, so he had noticed Rei's approach well before Rei spotted him.
The reason Seto hadn't called out first was probably because he knew Rei was still in the middle of working.
Rei walked over and stroked Seto as the gryphon rubbed its face against him.
While petting him, Rei surveyed the figures piled up around Seto — adventurers, most likely — and spoke.
"Seto, these guys... they're the ones who attacked you?"
"Gruu!"
Seto purred in affirmation.
In truth, they hadn't attacked Seto directly. They'd tried to put him to sleep with drugged dried meat. But if they had succeeded, there was a strong chance they would have killed him. Either way, the end result would have been the same.
Had Rei known they hadn't fought head-on but had resorted to drugged dried meat instead, he would have fixed the adventurers with a far more complicated look.
Using alternative means to defeat an opponent you couldn't beat in a fair fight was a perfectly sound tactical choice. Rei understood that. But knowing someone had used such methods on his partner Seto — his reason might have accepted it, but his feelings wouldn't have.
In that sense, the adventurers were fortunate to have been unconscious at the time. And fortunate that Seto, the actual target of the sleeping drug, didn't seem particularly bothered by it. Though that was luck in its own right...
"In that case, I'll help myself to their weapons and armor for now. ...They look like decent quality."
Since they'd been prepared to face beings like Rei and Seto, the adventurers had brought their finest weapons and armor to maximize their odds of survival.
That was a sound decision for adventurers to make. But from Rei's perspective, these were people who had come after him. Having their weapons and armor stripped was only fair.
He relieved them of their longswords, short swords, and shields. Noticing that several carried potions, he confiscated those as well.
"The armor... looks like a hassle to strip off."
The metal armor appeared fairly valuable, but removing it from unconscious men was labor-intensive, and Rei couldn't be bothered.
In the end, their weapons, shield-type armor, and potions were all taken. The armor they still wore was left as-is, along with the unconscious men themselves.
Then again, just because I passed on the metal armor doesn't mean anyone else will. But they probably won't get killed... most likely. So that's lucky for them.
With that thought, Rei stored the confiscated items into his Misty Ring.
"You're surprisingly soft, aren't you."
Orban, who had been watching Rei and Seto, said this with a hint of exasperation.
For a man who led an assassin guild — and the largest one in Egginis, at that — leaving attackers alive seemed less like mercy and more like weakness.
Of course, Fusetsu didn't slaughter every last person who came at them either. But when they chose to spare someone, there was always a specific reason behind it. That was the key distinction.
In that sense, Rei letting the adventurers go without any particular justification wasn't something Orban could easily swallow.
"Even so. If these guys were with the Dolan Workshop, that'd be one thing. But they're just hired swords — ordinary adventurers. If I went around killing every last one of them, I'd earn grudges I don't need. I already make enemies easily enough as it is. I don't want to add more by doing something like that here."
Rei's personality tended to attract enemies.
Then again, there were also people who resented him over things that had nothing whatsoever to do with his personality.
Under those circumstances, massacring everyone who attacked him would undoubtedly spawn a long line of people seeking revenge.
"Besides, I didn't kill them, but I did take their weapons and potions. That's a serious blow to these guys."
That was no exaggeration.
For adventurers, weapons, armor, and potions were indispensable.
...Unless they only took low-rank jobs within the city — cleaning, hauling cargo, weeding, and the like. Then they could get by without.
But the moment they stepped outside the walls to fight, those things became essential.
And equipment you staked your life on naturally came with a matching price tag.
In Rei's case, his weapons were things like Death Scythe, obtained through Beast Magic, along with the Dracon Robe and Sleipnir boots left behind by the Zephyle Clan.
The Twilight Spear, which alongside Death Scythe had become one of his signatures, had been received as a quest reward in its base form.
In that sense, the only item he'd actually purchased for a significant sum was the Eye of Nebula at his waist.
He did buy large quantities of disposable spears, and sometimes picked up ordinary spears on a whim, but those weren't particularly expensive.
And even if he needed to buy weapons, money was the least of his concerns.
He made a hobby of hunting bandits, had completed countless difficult requests, and could easily fell monsters that yielded high-value materials or magic stones.
Under those conditions, running short on money was virtually impossible.
But that was Rei. Ordinary adventurers were a different story.
While they might not be living quite hand-to-mouth, it was not uncommon for them to scrape and save desperately just to afford a decent weapon or set of armor.
What's more — though Rei didn't know this — the adventurers Seto had defeated had brought their absolute best equipment, anticipating a possible fight with Rei or Seto. And now all of it was gone.
In purely financial terms, the damage was enormous.
It wouldn't have been strange for them to spiral into despair and wish they'd just been killed instead.
Of course, if they were actually about to be killed, they'd undoubtedly take those words back.
"I see... Well, if that's how you do things, I won't press it. More importantly, we can't stand around here forever. Shall we get moving?"
"Right. ...Seto, let's go."
"Gruu."
Seto purred at Rei's words, glanced at the fallen adventurers, then looked back at Rei before turning his gaze to the adventurers one final time.
Reading Seto's demeanor, Rei nodded as if to say I know... then waited until Orban was out of earshot before speaking.
"You got lucky. But there won't be a next time."
A twitch.
The adventurer who understood those words were meant for them — the one feigning unconsciousness — gave a visible shudder.
That was right: the adventurers who appeared to be knocked out had actually regained consciousness.
They hadn't moved because they judged that doing anything rash here might get them killed for real this time.
"Seto, let's go."
At the repeated command, Seto this time showed no further concern for the adventurers and followed after Rei.
And once Rei and Seto had put enough distance between them... the adventurers who had been feigning unconsciousness sat up.
"Made it out alive, huh."
"More like we were spared. That last line was clearly aimed at us."
The rest of their companions also rose to their feet, and one of the women among them made the observation.
The party leader couldn't argue with that either. Rei had clearly known they were faking it.
Normally, if someone caught you pretending to be unconscious, they might attack on the assumption you were waiting for an opening.
The fact that hadn't happened was a mercy in itself.
"Still... can't really call this lucky, can we."
Haa.
The party leader let out a heavy sigh.
Their armor had been left alone, but their weapons, shields, and potions were all gone.
And while they'd been feigning unconsciousness, they had in fact been genuinely knocked out for a while from Seto's attack.
There was no denying they'd taken a considerable beating in that fight.
No major injuries — but plenty of minor lacerations and bruises.
That it was only this bad was because Seto had held back.
Considering they'd tried to feed Seto drugged dried meat, getting off this lightly was fortunate.
The adventurers understood that. Even so, losing their weapons, shields, and potions stung.
They'd brought their best equipment, knowing they might have to fight an alias holder like Rei — and it had completely backfired.
If they'd known their weapons would be taken, they should have brought spares.
A natural enough thought. But the fact that opposing Rei had only cost them this much was also proof of their good fortune.
Whether they recognized that themselves was another matter.
"So, what do we do now?"
One of their companions asked, but the party leader just exhaled heavily before answering.
"What do we do? Our weapons are gone. Going after Rei is off the table. We'll have to write off the people he took, too. Forget about that for now — first priority is getting out of the Slum District in one piece. ...They're gathering, and quite a few of them."
At his words, his companions' eyes shifted to the bandit in their group.
The bandit wore an expression of deep reluctance, but he nodded in agreement with the party leader.
"Yeah, looks like the ones planning to jump us are closing in. We don't have weapons, but we're still wearing fancy armor. From their side, that's reason enough."
To the Slum District residents, adventurers stripped of their weapons and shields were the perfect prey.
The armor the adventurers wore, if obtained intact, could fetch a respectable sum.
And then there was whatever money the adventurers had on them.
Rei had taken their weapons and potions but left their cash untouched.
The amount these adventurers carried was pocket change to Rei.
...Though if one of them happened to be the child of a major trading company or a noble family, they might well be carrying a sum far beyond their apparent station.
"Gold coins aside, be ready to toss silver and copper coins at any moment. Slum District residents will swarm even silver and copper. When they do, there's a good chance they'll turn on each other fighting over them — and that's our opening to escape."
At those words, the party members each nodded.
Given the situation they were in, they needed to boost their odds of survival by any margin possible.
With that in mind, none of them had any intention of hoarding a few coins here.
The group began making urgent preparations to flee the Slum District. But naturally, those who had been waiting to attack this party weren't about to simply stand by and watch.
The baseline abilities of Slum District residents and adventurers were simply different.
Weakened from the fight with Seto, stripped of their weapons, and then swarmed by a large group all at once — only then would it be a roughly even fight, perhaps slightly in the residents' favor.
That was exactly why they had gathered numbers and were preparing to rush them.
Of course, the more attackers there were, the smaller each person's share of the spoils.
Depending on how things played out, it could easily devolve into Slum District residents fighting each other after the adventurers were downed.
And so the tension between the adventurers and the Slum District residents continued to mount.
Both sides let the seconds tick by, each ready to strike the instant the other let their guard down... and when the tension reached its breaking point, the party leader screamed.
"Run!"
As expected of a party that had fought together, not a single one of them missed the signal.
They all bolted for the Slum District's exit simultaneously — and at that cue, the Slum District residents surged forward as one.