About thirty minutes had passed since Rei and Crow returned to the room where Lindy and the others were sheltering and treated the guards-cum-watchmen.
Judging that their injuries were sufficiently treated for the time being, Crow prepared to leave the room.
"Alright, I'll go report this to the higher-ups. I'll also take these two back for proper treatment and send someone to replace them. As for the potion Rei used, I'll ask the higher-ups if we can prepare replacements."
Crow seemed somewhat bothered by the fact that Rei had used his own personal supply of potions.
To Rei, he had only used potions confiscated from Blood Blade—not something he had purchased or crafted himself—so he didn't feel it was necessary for them to go that far. Still, if they were offering replacements, he wasn't about to refuse.
The more potions he had on hand, the more useful they would be in emergencies—situations exactly like this one included.
"If you're willing to prepare replacements, I won't object. I'll look forward to seeing what kind of potions you bring."
At Rei's words, Crow offered a wry, somewhat troubled smile.
Thanks to Rei, two members of Fusetsu had their lives saved.
Given that, the potions they gave Rei couldn't merely be of comparable quality—they had to be higher-grade.
Furthermore, Rei had used two potions to treat two people, so they needed to compensate for that amount as well.
Judging by the value of the potions alone, it would be a significant loss for Fusetsu.
But two people had been saved as a result, so Crow felt that even handing over fairly high-quality potions was acceptable.
...In reality, it was Rei who had dragged Fusetsu into this affair, but Crow didn't seem to hold much of a grudge over that.
(The damage we took from this incident is by no means small. But... it's also a fact that what we stand to gain is far greater.)
Many of those who stormed the Fusetsu hideout possessed considerable skill within their respective organizations.
While not every last one of them, there was no question that a significant number had been killed or taken prisoner.
Given that, the organizations that cooperated in this surprise attack must have suffered considerable losses.
If so, Fusetsu could crush those organizations, absorb them, or press them into service as subordinate factions.
Looking at the big picture, Rei's cooperation as a combat asset alone amounted to an enormous gain.
That said, that was only when viewed apart from emotions.
People—and among their ranks were beastmen, elves, and dwarves—being emotional creatures, there would inevitably be those who couldn't accept Rei on that basis alone.
"Crow, what's wrong? Weren't you going to bring people to transport these two?"
"Hm? Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. ...I'm sure this goes without saying, but there's a high likelihood that invaders are still hiding somewhere inside the hideout. Tell anyone who comes not to open doors carelessly. With that in mind, I was going to send someone, but it'd be better if I come along with them."
Fusetsu's hideout was structured like an ant nest, offering numerous places to hide.
Also, though Crow didn't say it aloud, the possibility couldn't be entirely ruled out that someone harboring a grudge against Rei might use the current chaos as a cover to harm Rei and the others.
Though he kept that latter concern to himself, Crow could sense from Rei's gaze that his thoughts were already understood.
Not that Rei actually said anything about it.
"Understood. For now, the bleeding has stopped thanks to the potions, but they should receive proper treatment as soon as possible. I imagine you'll need a Healing Magic user or a pharmacist."
"No problem."
With that, Crow left the room.
Rei saw him off, and Lindy posed a question.
"Rei, what do you think that meant? Does Fusetsu have a Healing Magic user?"
Magic users themselves were quite rare, and among them, those capable of Healing Magic were even rarer.
Considering that, it was only natural for Lindy to wonder.
"I wonder. For an organization of Fusetsu's scale, it wouldn't be surprising if they had one or two Healing Magic users."
Egginis was an autonomous city with a thriving golem industry, where nobles and wealthy merchants arrived in large numbers.
Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in a city like that.
The extent of their power was evident enough from the fact that they had used burrowing golems to construct a vast underground hideout.
Given that, Rei's guess was that having one or two Healing Magic users wouldn't be unusual.
"Or perhaps a highly skilled pharmacist. ...That said, a pharmacist's medicine doesn't offer the rapid healing of Healing Magic."
"Then it really is Healing Magic. Just being able to use it is enough to make me envious."
Lindy murmured those words with genuine envy from the bottom of her heart—not just lip service.
If you could use Healing Magic, you'd be highly valued as an adventurer, and you could have your pick of Party Members.
Even if you didn't become an adventurer, being able to use Healing Magic meant you could work at a clinic, serve as a personal healer for a noble or a wealthy merchant, or find employment in any number of other places.
For Lindy, who wanted to earn money to send to the orphanage, Healing Magic was a genuine aspiration.
"Yeah. Healing Magic really is remarkable—that's a fact."
Rei also understood the value of Healing Magic in a sense that went beyond mere compensation.
He had seen Marina's work—the Party Member he adventured with—on countless occasions.
To be precise, Marina wasn't a Healing Magic user but a Spirit Mage.
But at her level of skill, Spirit Magic was so versatile that one might almost believe it was omnipotent.
One application of that versatility was Healing Magic through Earth Spirit Magic, which she used to treat even the most severely injured among those hurt during the expansion construction in Gilm.
Thanks to her treatment, wounds that would normally require days, weeks, or in some cases months to heal would close instantly, and the patients would return to the construction site right away.
In the expansion construction, the roles Rei and Seto fulfilled were significant.
But the role Marina fulfilled was no less important than Rei's.
"That said, being able to use magic—including Healing Magic—ultimately comes down entirely to talent."
"...You're right. I wonder why it's so unfair. If anything, it'd be nice if anyone could use magic just by practicing."
"Oh, if anyone could use magic, there would absolutely be people who abuse it. And the children might use it for pranks, too."
Anne, who had been listening to Rei and Lindy's conversation, interjected.
Having been deceived and enslaved herself, she understood the danger of bad people being able to use magic freely.
And since she worked at an orphanage, it was easy for her to imagine how disastrous it would be if children used magic to pull pranks.
Camila already pulled stunts like sneaking out of town without permission as it was.
If someone like Camila could use magic freely, it might not stop at pranks—she could end up with life-threatening injuries.
"But if you could use Healing Magic, you'd be able to treat the children right away whenever they got injured, wouldn't you?"
"That's..."
At Lindy's words, Anne appeared to mull it over.
Working at an orphanage with mischievous children like Camila, she had witnessed children get injured more times than she could count.
Because of that, she was genuinely drawn in by Lindy's words.
"Magic, huh. If anyone could use magic freely, business would probably change in all sorts of ways."
The one who said that was one of the men who had been captured alongside Anne as an illegal slave.
From what Rei had heard, he had been a traveling peddler who was captured by bandits and sold into illegal slavery while on the job.
Because of that, he probably figured that if he could have used magic, he might have been able to fend off the bandits when attacked, or perhaps carry more goods when traveling as a peddler.
That remark from the former peddler opened the floodgates, and the others began discussing what they would do if they could use magic.
It was the kind of conversation reminiscent of childhood friends talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up.
(They're probably anxious, I'd guess.)
Rei could somewhat sense that underlying their discussion was anxiety about their current situation.
The people here hadn't chosen to be in this place of their own accord.
They were here because circumstances had left them no other way to survive.
In the midst of all that, numerous invaders had appeared in the Fusetsu hideout.
If it had been only that, they probably wouldn't have been this frightened.
But seeing the two guards-cum-watchmen sustain serious injuries right before their eyes had been a profound shock.
Until now, even though they understood they were in danger, they hadn't actually experienced true peril—or rather, being sold as illegal slaves was certainly dangerous enough, but some of them hadn't yet grasped that reality on a visceral level.
For those people, seeing the guards-cum-watchmen suffer severe injuries forced them to confront their own situation anew, and anxiety took hold.
As a way to mask that anxiety, they were having this conversation now.
Rei realized this a beat later.
For Rei, having combat—life-or-death combat—as part of his daily life was nothing unusual.
Saying such combat was an everyday occurrence might be stretching it, but comparing an adventurer like Rei to ordinary people was simply unreasonable.
(Thinking about it that way, I really am quite unusual in a lot of ways. That said, I don't regret any of it.)
It wasn't as if Rei had no feelings about his current situation compared to when he was in Japan.
But if asked whether he regretted how things had turned out, he would shake his head without a second's hesitation.
In Elgin, none of the manga, novels, games, or internet that Rei had enjoyed in Japan existed.
But in exchange, he got to live in a fantasy world of swords and magic.
Telling him not to be happy about that would be unreasonable.
(Well, it is a life-or-death lifestyle, so anyone who can't handle that sort of thing would never be able to accept it.)
Fortunately, Rei had cleared that mental hurdle thanks to Zephyle.
If he had remained in the same state of mind as when he was in Japan, he would have certainly hesitated at something like killing another person.
"More importantly, Rei. Since you came back, I forgot to ask... can we assume tonight's commotion has settled down?"
Lindy suddenly turned to Rei with that question.
Things had been hectic, and above all, since Rei and Crow had been so composed, she hadn't gotten around to properly asking whether tonight's turmoil was truly over.
Remembering that, Lindy asked Rei once more whether she could consider the incident finished.
Perhaps hearing Lindy's words, the people who had been chatting about what they would do if they could use magic all turned their gazes toward Rei simultaneously.
Understanding what those looks meant, Rei nodded plainly in response to Lindy's question.
"Yeah, that matter is settled. No need to worry. You should be able to move around normally from here on. However... like Crow said earlier, what we destroyed was the invasion point they created. Depending on how things went, there might still be some left behind in the Fusetsu hideout who don't know the invasion point was destroyed. We need to stay alert."
Those who heard Rei's words nodded with grave expressions.
Lindy, who had been chatting along with the others, suddenly noticed something.
"Huh? Hey, Rei. I know this is really late to be asking, but that person from earlier... was that Crow? Isn't he the person who was already at that spot when I was trying to have a mock battle with you?"
"Correct. Or rather, that's really late to be bringing up."
Even as he said that, Rei recalled that he hadn't actually mentioned it before.
Then again, mentioning it wouldn't have changed anything in particular.
"I just sort of remembered. But the person we met back then ending up acting together with you—that's quite a coincidence, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I never expected to run into Crow while moving through the hideout, either. Thanks to that, I was able to distinguish friend from foe."
If Crow hadn't been there, he wouldn't have been able to tell friend from foe... and depending on how things unfolded, he might have ended up attacking Roaby's group. Thinking that, Rei reflected once more on how truly fortunate it was that he had been able to work alongside Crow.