The meal had ended, and by the time most of the sheltered Anne and the others had gone to sleep... Rei was in Orban's room.
Rei wondered whether it was really alright for the one leading Fusetsu to meet with him so easily, but to Orban, Rei was a comrade.
Not just any comrade, but an exceptionally reliable one.
...At the same time, depending on the circumstances, a comrade who could become an exceptionally dangerous bomb.
The fact that they were together like this was largely because Rei had built a friendly relationship with Orban... and with Fusetsu.
In that regard, Nina, who had negotiated with Rei first, must have pulled off the finest play possible for Orban.
"How about it? Won't you have a drink too? This wine is quite a rare item."
So saying, Orban offered wine to Rei.
However, Rei declined the wine as a matter of course.
"I might have said this before, but I don't think alcohol tastes good even when I drink it. I can drink it if I set my mind to it, though."
This was not bravado or anything of the sort; it was simply the truth.
Rei could drink wine.
However, he did not find its taste pleasant by any stretch.
Also, while he could drink it, he was not particularly strong against alcohol, so if he drank too much, he would naturally get drunk. ...Though the very act of drinking that much of something he found unpleasant was rare in itself.
"Was that so? That's a shame, though. Alcohol is a friend for life, you know? There's no doubt you're losing out on a decent percentage of life just by not being able to drink."
Orban said this seriously.
It was neither an exaggeration nor anything else; he genuinely believed that, without a doubt.
That said, whether Rei would acknowledge that was another matter entirely.
"That's going a bit too far no matter how you look at it. ...Well, I can understand that alcohol has its merits, though."
So said Rei, but those merits were not things Rei would consume himself—rather, they were things like using it as a secret ingredient in cooking, or its effectiveness as a gift item, or using it as a disinfectant for injuries when potions were unavailable... things of that nature.
If Orban had known what Rei meant when he said alcohol had its merits, he might have shouted, "Don't mess with me," in anger.
But Orban, unaware of Rei's true intentions, smiled and nodded.
"I see. So you've come to understand the wonders of alcohol too, Rei."
"Ah, yeah, sure. Let's go with that for now. But I'm not drinking, so this fruit water is plenty for me. ...By the way, the food served here at your place is good, but the food served to Lindy and the others is also delicious. Does Fusetsu have a skilled cook even though it's an assassin guild?"
"I do. Mainly at my request, though. Naturally, Robel aside, there are times when I serve food to people leading other guilds or to clients. Surprisingly enough, this sort of thing carries a lot of weight."
"I'd imagine. Nobody would expect to come to an assassin guild and be served quite delicious food. ...Though normally, I think the bigger concern would be whether or not to eat food served at an assassin guild in the first place."
A meal served at an assassin guild.
Just hearing that alone, nobody would normally want to eat it.
You never knew what kind of poison might be used in the food.
In Rei's case, he had joined hands with Fusetsu, his body was immune to most mild poisons, and if anything happened, he could just use potions—so he had been enjoying the food without any issues.
(Wait? But if that's the case, Anne and the others ate it quite normally. Lindy is an adventurer, so it wouldn't be strange for her to be even more cautious about that sort of thing.)
Savoring a bite-sized sandwich—which, despite its size, showed no cutting corners in preparation, being solidly made—Rei got to the main topic.
"Setting aside the alcohol and food, you've been looking into various things, right? Have you figured out who's connected to the Dolan Workshop, or who's pulling the strings behind it?"
Since the meeting with Robel, Orban had been investigating who was connected to the Dolan Workshop.
But to Rei's question, Orban opened his mouth as if exasperated.
"There's no way we'd find them that quickly. ...What the Dolan Workshop is doing is seriously bad. Because of that, if there is someone connected to the Dolan Workshop, they're definitely hiding it thoroughly. Given that, we can't simply find them that easily."
"With the strength of Fusetsu, the largest-scale organization in Egginis, can't you manage something about that?"
"Don't be unreasonable. No matter what, there are things that can be done and things that can't."
Orban said this with an exasperated look, but Rei hadn't intended to say anything that unreasonable.
In fact, considering the current situation, Rei thought that Fusetsu's assassins could investigate those connected to the Dolan Workshop, and even if their methods were somewhat forceful, they could probably manage by pushing the fact that they were Fusetsu, the largest assassin guild in Egginis.
Whether that could actually be done, Rei didn't know.
He didn't know, but even so, considering the current situation, he thought it was certain that they needed to push themselves to some extent.
"Even if it's something you can't normally do, isn't it natural to think that in this current situation, you have no choice but to do it? Whatever moves we make from here, it's better to have more information. Otherwise, the Dolan Workshop... no, the people collaborating with the Dolan Workshop will get the jump on us."
"That's... hmm. Well, it might be an undeniable fact."
He must have judged that there was a point to Rei's words.
Orban murmured as such, appearing to think it over slightly.
That said, just because there was a point didn't mean he would immediately fully adopt Rei's opinion.
If he were to fully adopt Rei's opinion, this matter might go smoothly.
However, that would simultaneously mean not considering how much damage Fusetsu would sustain in this affair.
Given that, Orban could not fully accept Rei's opinion.
From Rei's perspective, the relationship with Fusetsu might not need to be worried about once this matter was over, but for Orban, who led Fusetsu, he couldn't afford to do such a thing.
In such a situation, Orban wanted to avoid putting Fusetsu's members in danger if at all possible.
Even as the largest-scale assassin guild in Egginis, first-rate personnel did not grow easily.
They needed to find those connected to the Dolan Workshop while keeping damage to themselves to a minimum.
If they could just find them, they could leave the parts with the heaviest casualties to Rei.
And if they could leave those areas to Rei, there would be nothing to worry about anymore.
The combat power Rei possessed was something that could take on even an entire army.
(No, if Rei went all out, that would be a problem in its own way.)
For Orban, Egginis as a place was extremely important as Fusetsu's base.
If Rei were to unleash power that could take on an entire army in the middle of the city, Egginis would suffer great... possibly irreparable damage.
The sight of Rei going on a rampage like that was something Orban did not want to see.
"What's wrong? You're staring at me. ...Don't tell me you wanted to eat this sandwich? I'm telling you, I absolutely won't give this up."
Perhaps thinking Rei was looking at the sandwich he was eating, Rei said this to Orban in a guarded manner.
Seeing someone showing this kind of attitude over a sandwich or two, one might slightly doubt whether he was truly a powerhouse bearing the alias of Crimson.
That said, he wasn't genuinely doubting Rei's abilities.
"I'm not thinking anything like that. I'm not trying to steal your sandwich either, so feel free to eat as many as you like."
At Orban's words, Rei began savoring the sandwich again.
After savoring the sandwich, he eventually opened his mouth.
"So, roughly when will my turn come? I think the Dolan Workshop is probably in considerable confusion from today's commotion."
"Probably."
Orban agreed with Rei's words from the bottom of his heart.
In fact, the damage the Dolan Workshop had suffered in a single day today was significant.
As for the adventurers who attacked the Jalis Workshop, they had been treated as disposable pawns from the start by the Dolan Workshop side, so whatever happened to them didn't matter.
The adventurers the Dolan Workshop had seriously hired were not involved in the attack on the Jalis Workshop.
However, in this case, the problem was that Rei, who had come in response to the attack on the Jalis Workshop, had immediately returned to the Slum District.
The Dolan Workshop hadn't thought Rei would notice their scheme.
As a result, the majority of the golems sent into the Slum District were destroyed by Rei, and furthermore, they couldn't even recover the wreckage—it had been taken by Rei.
The Dolan Workshop's golems possessed the highest performance among golems in Egginis at present, but their productivity was by no means high.
The biggest reason for that was, as expected, the golem cores made using necromancy to turn human souls into materials.
Under such circumstances, the golems the Dolan Workshop had sent into the Slum District were, as the non-mainstream faction alchemists had predicted during dinner, originally supposed to be merchandise.
...The fact that they had to use even such golems showed that the Dolan Workshop was actually being cornered.
In fact, several of those golems were ones scheduled to be sold in the next transaction.
That is to say, they were golems that Rei had been considering purchasing even if it meant trading Crystal Dragon materials for them.
The golems that nobles and wealthy merchants were planning to purchase had been destroyed, and even their wreckage had been stolen.
For the Dolan Workshop, telling them not to be in chaos under those circumstances would be unreasonable.
"What do you think the Dolan Workshop will do next? Do you think they'll dispatch golems or adventurers to the Slum District again, something like that?"
"That approach already failed once. Despite that, I don't think they'll take similar action again. Besides, if they use golems in the Slum District again, there's the issue of where they'd bring those golems from."
"That's... well, now that you mention it, that's true."
Orban's words carried enough persuasiveness to convince Rei.
That was precisely why Rei nodded at Orban's words.
"But if so, what kind of move do you think the Dolan Workshop will make next? Using the guards is a method they've already used today, so it'd just be a repeat."
"Setting aside the talk of repeats, the matter of adventurers attacking the Jalis Workshop has already spread quite a bit, and it seems to be unpopular among Egginis's residents."
"I see. There were quite a few onlookers around the Jalis Workshop, after all."
Rei hadn't paid it any mind, but for those who had witnessed the exchange between Rei and the guards, it must have made for a good topic of conversation.
In casual conversation, at dining halls, or at taverns... and in various other places, they would talk about the incident.
And when they talked about it, it was natural to feel dissatisfied about why the guards hadn't captured the adventurers who attacked the Jalis Workshop, and why they had tried to capture Rei, who had come to help the Jalis Workshop.
In reality, Rei was riding Seto and flying through the sky, so even if the guards couldn't capture him... it wouldn't have been strange for him to be brought in for questioning.
But the guards had been so egregious that very few people criticized that aspect.
In that sense, the ones who got the short end of the stick were the conscientious guards who hadn't gone to the Jalis Workshop.
For ordinary people, unless someone was fairly close to them, it wouldn't be strange for all guards to look the same simply by virtue of being guards.
The conscientious guards were viewed the same as the guards who had gone to the Jalis Workshop, and a great many of them ended up being subjected to lectures, complaints... and in some cases, snide remarks.
But even if they were blamed for being guards, they couldn't argue back by saying they had done nothing wrong.
Some did try to argue back, but those individuals ended up being criticized even more.
As a result, those who had been dancing to immediate interests ended up greatly diminishing the trust in Egginis's guards.