Removing a slave collar was no simple matter.
In this world, slavery carried profound significance.
For debt slaves, freedom came once they completed labor equivalent to their debt, so there was no particular issue. But criminal slaves were sent to mines, or into combat, or... depending on the circumstances, used as test subjects in magical and pharmaceutical experiments. Such fates were far from uncommon.
By the common sense of Japan—or of Earth—one would be entirely justified in considering it cruel. But as long as the practice was necessary in this land, Rei had no intention of commenting on the matter.
After all, Rei himself captured bandits and sold them into slavery.
Given the nature of such slaves, slave collars naturally held vital importance.
Those capable of removing them were not numerous, either.
However, if it was Fusetsu—the largest assassin guild in Egginis—Rei had figured they could leverage their influence to somehow arrange for someone who could remove the collars. Even so, the fact that they had produced such a person in a single night came as a genuine surprise.
"So... this collar will come off here...?"
One of the men who had been enslaved through illegal means murmured while touching the collar fitted around his neck.
When he had been confined in the basement of the Dolan Workshop, he had thought it was over.
He had believed he might die there, completely unknown to anyone.
...In reality, rather than dying unnoticed, his soul was about to be harvested as material for a golem core through necromancy. Not knowing that had been a mental mercy.
If he had known, he would never have been able to sleep—tormented by the constant fear of when he would be killed... no, when his soul would be used as golem material.
At any rate, since these were slave collars being removed from illegal slaves, there was no way they would not rejoice.
In the worst case—truly the worst case—had someone who still held command authority over Anne and the others appeared, there was a real possibility they would have been unable to defy that person's orders and would have been forcibly controlled.
"Then, one at a time, please."
"...Huh? You're not doing everyone at once?"
In a room within the Fusetsu hideout, Rei—who had come to watch the collars being removed—asked the question in response to the words of a man who appeared to be the assistant of the person performing the removal.
He had been completely convinced that all the slave collars would be released simultaneously, so doing them one by one was unexpected.
"From what I've heard, the places where they were enslaved and the individuals who fitted the collars differ for each person. As such, removing them all at once isn't possible."
"In other words, the removal procedure varies from person to person?"
"You may think of it that way, if you'd like."
Hearing this, Rei surmised there was probably more to it, but since there was no need to press the issue, he did not pursue it further.
"Then, who shall we start with?"
"Please start with me."
The first to respond to the assistant's words was Anne.
She had been doing cleaning and tidying work at the Fusetsu hideout but had naturally been called here for the collar removal.
That Anne was the first to request her collar's removal surprised the onlookers.
Lindy, who was close to Anne, showed a look of understanding rather than surprise.
That said, the assistant, not knowing Anne's personality, simply nodded at her words without any particular reaction.
"Understood. Then, please come here."
Following the assistant's instructions, Anne moved close to the man. He touched her neck and muttered something quietly.
What those words meant, Rei could not determine.
He couldn't determine it, but given the situation, he could at least grasp that it was something necessary.
When the muttering finished, the slave collar flashed briefly... and before he realized it, the collar that had been fitted around Anne's neck had fallen away.
"Ooooooooh!"
Voices of astonishment rose from the illegal slaves watching.
The detestable collars fitted around their own necks—they were now witnessing one being removed with their own eyes, so of course they would react.
They had been told the collars could be removed, and they had undeniably gathered here precisely for that purpose.
But... even so, actually witnessing a collar being removed right before their eyes was enough to astonish everyone present.
Even after hearing that someone capable of removing slave collars had been arranged, they could not fully bring themselves to believe it.
Even being told it was possible, doubting whether it was truly so was only natural.
Considering the feelings of those who had been enslaved, such doubt was an understandable response.
But upon seeing a collar removed before their very eyes, hope blossomed on the faces of those who witnessed it.
And then... a man stepped forward.
"U-um... could you do my collar next, please?"
"Of course. Please come here."
Following the assistant's words, the man headed to the spot where Anne had been just moments before.
Meanwhile, Anne was rejoicing with Lindy and Camila over the removal of her collar.
(Ah, come to think of it... Camila was here too. I completely forgot.)
Rei had entirely forgotten about Camila, since she hadn't been in the living room or any of the other rooms.
In reality, Camila had been cleaning the Fusetsu hideout alongside Lindy and Anne.
For Camila, it was true that she had complicated feelings about the existence of an assassin guild, but it was equally undeniable that they had helped her.
Given that, it would not be strange for her to want to repay the favor even just a little.
Whether she would have done such a thing entirely on her own was another question—the answer was probably no.
But alongside Anne and Lindy, it made perfect sense.
As Rei watched Anne and the others celebrating...
"Oooh."
Voices of surprise rose once more.
Though quieter than before, witnessing a collar being removed right in front of them was apparently still astonishing even a second time.
Once Anne's and the second man's collars were removed, the process proceeded smoothly.
The sight of collars being removed one after another had something inexplicably mesmerizing about it.
"Rei-san, thank you so much."
Anne, who had been celebrating with Lindy and Camila over the removal of her collar, approached Rei and bowed deeply.
"You don't need to say that to me. In the first place, it was Camila who reported that you'd been made an illegal slave, and it was Lindy who decided to take action to rescue you."
"Even so, if you hadn't been here, Rei-san, I wouldn't be standing here right now."
"Well... I suppose that's true."
Normally, one might be modest at a moment like this, but doing so here would only come across as a slight to Lindy.
In reality, if Rei had not cooperated and Lindy had infiltrated the Dolan Workshop alone, she most likely would have been caught in a trap while trying to scale the wall.
Or even if she had somehow overcome that trap, she would have been captured by the golems of Ilunara and the other non-mainstream faction members... or in the worst case, killed.
Thinking about it, it would have been virtually impossible for Lindy alone to pull off rescuing Anne.
That was precisely why Rei being modest here would be tantamount to embarrassing Lindy.
Lindy was by no means weak, but her abilities were only average at best, and she did not possess overwhelming power like Rei.
"You're right. So please, let me thank you properly."
Faced with that, Rei couldn't exactly refuse.
"Alright. Then I'll accept your gratitude graciously. But you should thank Lindy and Camila too, you know?"
"Yes, I've already thanked them plenty. Especially Camila—I gave her a thorough talking-to about her reckless behavior, beyond just words of gratitude."
"Ah... right. I see."
Faced with Anne's imposing smile, that was all Rei could manage.
Because Camila had risked her life to come to Egginis, they had been able to inform Lindy about Anne's situation. And since Rei happened to be present at the time, it had led to him cooperating—that much was certain.
But precisely because of that life-risking effort, Anne probably couldn't simply praise Camila.
In fact, it was nothing short of miraculous that Camila had safely reached Lindy's location.
If even one thing had gone differently, Camila would have died before ever reaching Egginis.
Rei could understand Anne's feelings on the matter—that was part of it—but he also judged that if he tried to defend Camila here, he himself would end up on the receiving end of Anne's scolding, so he kept quiet.
...That said, perhaps because a fair amount of time had passed since the scolding, Camila didn't seem particularly bothered now.
No, rather than unbothered, she seemed to be simply rejoicing over the removal of Anne's collar.
(For now, I don't need to say anything about that. If they're satisfied, that's fine.)
Judging that it would be better not to carelessly get involved, Rei changed the subject.
"Come to think of it, I hear you've been helping with household chores at Fusetsu—cleaning and such. Have there been any problems? It must be quite different from cleaning at the orphanage."
"I was a little confused at first, but once I got used to it, the people at Fusetsu helped me out with all sorts of things."
"That's... certainly unexpected."
What came out of Anne's mouth was, from Rei's perspective, a completely unforeseen statement.
The people at Fusetsu... that essentially meant assassins.
Of course, not everyone belonging to Fusetsu was an assassin, but it was undeniable that the majority were.
Among those who had offered to help Anne, assassins were undoubtedly mixed in.
What's more, Rei was held in discontent by those very assassins.
Given all that, the fact that assassins had been friendly toward Anne was undeniably astonishing.
"Is something the matter? Everyone was so kind."
"...Right. I suppose there are people like that too."
Anne's features were well-proportioned. Rather than beautiful, she had more of a cute face, but among the assassins, there were probably those who wanted to get closer to her.
From Rei's perspective, Nina, who handled negotiations for Fusetsu, was also sufficiently attractive.
(That said, the fact that she handles negotiations means she's undoubtedly one of Fusetsu's executives. Even if she's an assassin, there's no way an ordinary member could casually make a move on her.)
Making a move on one's superior, or trying to seduce her—such things were not easily done.
What's more, Fusetsu was not an ordinary trading company but an assassin guild.
In such an organization, a clumsy attempt costing one's life in payment for the failure wouldn't be out of the question.
In reality, it might not be that strict, but that was how Rei perceived it.
For that reason, it would not be strange for Fusetsu members to consider Anne an easier target to approach than Nina.
Or perhaps, rather than Anne, they might have been more interested in Lindy, who was working alongside her.
"At any rate, the point is that there haven't been any problems working at Fusetsu so far. In that case, I have nothing to add. But don't forget that Fusetsu is an assassin guild. If you carelessly learn their secrets, you might not even be able to do something like going back to the orphanage."
"Th-that's..."
Anne hesitated at Rei's words.
For Anne, her true home was, after all, the orphanage.
The reason she was currently cleaning at the Fusetsu hideout was largely out of gratitude toward Fusetsu—or perhaps because she simply couldn't bear doing nothing while being sheltered by them.
"Well, as long as you don't go prying into their deeper circumstances, it should be fine. If you're careful about that, I don't think it'll be much of a problem."
At those words, Anne nodded firmly.
That said, Rei also thought there wasn't much to worry about since Lindy was there.
"Yes. I'll be careful to work diligently so that doesn't happen."
Anne said that, and nodded firmly.