After telling Lindy to wake the others and gather them in the living room, Rei passed through the room and stepped out into the hallway.
The man who had gone to ask his superior whether Rei was free to move was already there waiting.
"That was fast. So, what did they say?"
"They said to do as you see fit, Rei-san. However, they asked that you avoid causing damage to the hideout if at all possible."
"I see."
Even upon hearing that Rei was cleared to move freely, the man who had told him to go ask showed no particular concern.
He probably never imagined that Rei would choose not to deploy his combat power in this situation.
From what Rei had gathered in his conversations with Orban and Nina, he felt they were capable of at least that level of judgment, so this outcome was only natural.
Since it was only natural, what he needed to do now was confirm the current situation, even if just a little.
"So? Did you figure out who the enemy is? You mentioned they seemed like assassins. I also thought they might be high-rank adventurers hired by the Dolan Workshop and brought into Egginis. Do you have any information on that?"
"They are assassins."
He must have asked about those details as well when he went to consult someone about Rei.
Rei was surprised by those words, muttered with a bitter expression.
"Assassins? Are you sure?"
Given that he himself had once tried to crush Fusetsu, and also because of his conversation with Lindy in the room, Rei had been completely convinced that the attackers were adventurers.
That was why hearing that assassins were attacking was naturally surprising.
"Which assassin guild is attacking? Attacking Fusetsu is suicidal."
"Well... among the larger ones, Blue Lizard, Chaos Fang, and Abyss. Beyond those, it appears numerous smaller organizations and solo assassins are mixed in as well."
"Ah, I see. That makes sense when you think about it."
That information surprised Rei for a moment, but upon thinking about it, he understood immediately.
Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in Egginis.
However, just like Blood Blade, there were multiple other assassin guilds in Egginis as well.
If a single organization could not match Fusetsu, then multiple organizations simply needed to cooperate.
The one who had arranged all of this was undoubtedly the Dolan Workshop.
Actually pulling it off would require an enormous amount of effort.
Hiring even a single organization would cost a substantial amount of money.
Yet they were hiring multiple organizations, making them cooperate with one another, and even getting solo assassins to cooperate as well.
Just thinking about how much effort that would take was staggering.
Even if someone told Rei to do it, he probably would not have wanted to.
(In other words, they're that serious about this. Did they lose their composure after failing during the daytime? ...Or do they want to recover Anne's group that badly? And above all, do they want to recover the altar used for necromancy? Something along those lines?)
That was Rei's guess, but it probably was not far off.
The daytime assault on the Slum District... they had not only sent adventurers but even dispatched golems that were supposed to be their merchandise.
Rei believed they had done so in order to take Anne's group hostage as a means of recovering the altar in his possession.
Since the adventurers and golems had failed, they had chosen assassins next.
(That said, why did the assassin guilds agree to this? Of course the reward must be enormous, and beyond that, there may have been pressure from the Dolan Workshop or parties connected to them. Even from the assassin guilds' perspective, if things go well they might be able to eliminate Fusetsu after all.)
There were many assassin guilds in Egginis, but naturally, for the guilds other than Fusetsu, there were many who found it galling that Fusetsu was regarded as the top assassin guild in the city.
There were surely many who thought that, if possible, they would like to eliminate Fusetsu and become the top guild themselves.
However, even those guilds could not do something like defeating Fusetsu on their own.
In the midst of all that, this opportunity had been brought to them.
For the riffraff assassin guilds, of course, but also for the large assassin guilds that the guard-sentinel had just mentioned—Blue Lizard, Chaos Fang, and Abyss—it was not strange for them to think of using a request from the Dolan Workshop as an opportunity to wipe out Fusetsu in one fell swoop.
"For that reason, it might be an opponent that is difficult for you to fight, Rei-san... but will you still go out?"
At the guard-sentinel's words, Rei did not understand what was being said for a moment.
A "Huh?"—the proof was that such a vacant sound slipped from Rei's mouth.
"Difficult to fight? Why?"
"No, well... the enemy is assassins, you see?"
"Ah... right. I see. I understand what you're trying to say."
From the expression on the man's face when he said the opponents were assassins, Rei understood what the other party was getting at.
They must have assumed that Rei, being an adventurer, was accustomed to fighting monsters but had little experience fighting people.
(Do these guys not know that I've participated in a war and made bandit-hunting my hobby? No, maybe they do know but still judged that assassins are different from those kinds of opponents. I was targeted plenty by assassins in the Bestia Empire, though.)
Rei recalled events from several years ago, but since those took place in another country, he reconsidered that perhaps the information had simply not reached them.
That said, even setting aside the Bestia Empire incident, it was also a fact that he had been targeted by multiple assassins here in Egginis and had fought them off.
Given such circumstances, being told what he had just been told was still genuinely surprising to Rei.
Since the other party was saying this out of concern for him, Rei did not voice any complaints.
"Don't worry. I'm an adventurer, but I'm used to fighting people too. I fought assassins quite a lot in the Bestia Empire as well."
"Is that so. Understood. Then I will say no more. ...Good luck."
From Rei's demeanor, the man must have judged that this was not bravado or bluffing, but genuine confidence.
The man who had been worried said nothing more.
The other man also showed no sign of speaking, perhaps judging that anything further would only burden Rei.
"So, I plan to move around inside the hideout, but... is there any way to distinguish between Fusetsu and the others?"
"Uh... that is..."
The man hesitated at Rei's words.
From Rei's perspective, he knew a few of the assassins belonging to Fusetsu, but he did not know all of them.
In that situation, with multiple assassin guilds teaming up to attack, it was only natural to be uncertain about how to distinguish friend from foe.
If it were someone belonging to Fusetsu, they would be able to confirm whether a given person was a comrade or an enemy. However, Rei did not know Fusetsu's members.
No, to be precise, there were a few he knew, but that was only a small number.
Given that, Rei wanted to avoid attacking Fusetsu—his own allies—if at all possible.
At the same time, even within Fusetsu, there were likely those who knew Rei and his companions were being sheltered by the guild but did not know their faces.
What would happen when they encountered each other in a situation where neither knew the other's face?
From a Fusetsu member's perspective, it would not be strange for them to regard someone who was not their comrade as an enemy simply for being inside the hideout.
If hostility were directed at him in that way, it would not be strange for Rei to likewise recognize them as enemies and intend to attack.
"Then... would you perhaps reconsider not going?"
One of the guard-sentinels said to Rei with a timid demeanor.
He wanted to avoid, as much as possible, a situation where Rei and his own comrades ended up fighting each other.
He felt that if such a thing happened, the damage on Fusetsu's side would be extremely severe.
That was why he had said so, but...
"No, sorry, but I have no intention of doing that."
Rei dismissed the man's suggestion outright.
"Why not? Can you not... trust us? Trust Fusetsu?"
Originally, Fusetsu had accepted the request from Rei to shelter Rei and his companions.
Despite that, Rei was going to go out on his own without entrusting his defense to Fusetsu.
If he could distinguish between friend and foe, they could have accepted it to some degree.
But Rei was insisting on going out himself even in a situation where he could not tell friend from foe, so it would not be strange for the men to feel that their assassin guild, Fusetsu, was being looked down upon.
"That is not it at all."
"Then why? Given that Lindy can hardly serve as a combat asset, I think it would be better for you to stay here and focus on defense, Rei-san, just in case."
"Under normal circumstances, that approach might have been fine. But multiple assassin guilds have teamed up to attack Fusetsu. In that case, Fusetsu is not absolutely safe either, is it? If so, the best defense is a good offense. Deploying my combat power here should result in fewer casualties. Besides... I'm also worried about Seto."
Rei's decision to go out himself was partly because the opponents were multiple assassin guilds, but it was also out of concern for Seto.
Seto was supposed to be lying down right next to the abandoned building that served as Fusetsu's dummy hideout.
Despite that, the group that could be called an assassin guild coalition had infiltrated Fusetsu's hideout.
Thinking about it normally, there was no way Seto would have let such opponents pass.
That meant it was highly likely that something had happened to Seto on the ground.
That said, Seto was a Rare Species of gryphon—an A-Rank monster—and was evaluated as equivalent to S-Rank, so Rei did not think assassins could take him down so easily.
Even so, given that the assassins of the coalition were converging on Fusetsu's base, it seemed certain that something had happened to Seto.
That was why he wanted to confirm Seto's current condition.
Since Rei and Seto were connected through Beast Magic, if worst came to worst and Seto had been harmed—he did not even want to think about it—if he had been killed or seriously injured, it would not be strange for Rei to sense it.
However, since Rei had no such conviction at the moment, the possibility that Seto had suffered fatal damage was low.
Even so, since there was a chance Seto might have been harmed in some way, Rei's strong desire to check on Seto's condition was a major factor.
He did not think Seto had been defeated at all.
If he were going to worry about that, he would sooner worry about Seto having defeated all of the attacking assassins instead.
That was how much Rei trusted Seto.
Not trust in the sense of believing in and making use of someone, but trust in the sense of believing in and relying on someone.
That was why Rei could not just sit still here.
"Understood. It seems further attempts to stop you would be meaningless. No matter what we say here, we will not be able to stop you, Rei-san. So at the very least, please do not harm any Fusetsu members."
"I understand. For now, I will not initiate any attacks, so rest easy."
That was the bare minimum line Rei could compromise on.
That said, Rei not initiating attacks meant that if a Fusetsu assassin who did not know Rei attacked him, he would counterattack.
"As an added measure, I will attack but refrain from killing. That way, even if the person I attack turns out to be a Fusetsu assassin, the worst-case scenario should be avoidable."
Even in that case, Rei could predict what would happen if an invading assassin found an unconscious Fusetsu assassin in the hallway, but he could not take responsibility for that far.
The guard-sentinels understood that as well, but since Rei had already compromised this much for them, they could also understand that pressing him further for concessions would be difficult.
"Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. I know I'm asking for various unreasonable things on my end too. As a result, even if I encounter an invading assassin, the flow will be that I knock them out rather than kill them."
"That would be a great help to us as well."
If they could capture an assassin, being able to extract various information from the opponent was not a bad deal for Fusetsu either.
Just because Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in Egginis did not mean they knew all there was to know.
Given that, being able to capture and interrogate an assassin here would without a doubt become a significant benefit.
...Of course, that was on the major premise that the assassin did not commit suicide by swallowing poison or the like before being captured.