The discussion between Orban and Rei began with Orban offering words of gratitude and bowing his head.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been utterly unthinkable.
The impossibility lay not only in the fact that the Orban Nina knew would never bow so easily, but in the very act of lowering one's head at the outset of a discussion. Doing so naturally handed the initiative to the other party.
This was not a negotiation, merely a discussion. Even so, surrendering the initiative was far from desirable—and that should have held true even given Rei and Orban's friendly relationship.
Naturally, Orban, as the leader of Fusetsu, should have understood this as well. The fact that he bowed his head anyway meant there was undoubtedly some meaning behind it.
Nina, seated beside Orban, reached that conclusion and tried to read his intentions... but unfortunately, nothing came to mind as to his reasons.
In truth, Orban's bow was not driven by some ulterior motive. He was genuinely, deeply grateful. If Rei hadn't been there, how much damage they would have suffered in last night's attack required no consideration.
And so, while Nina remained bewildered, the conversation between Rei and Orban continued.
"There's no doubt the Dolan Workshop orchestrated this," Orban said. "But it seems the assassins who invaded weren't simply used one-sidedly despite being hired—they had their own desire to eliminate Fusetsu."
"That's right. In fact, no assassins were dispatched from organizations on friendly terms with us, nor has any contact come in about such a request being made. They must have only reached out to organizations other than those close to us from the very start."
"Fusetsu had friendly organizations?"
"Of course. What do you think we are, Rei?"
Orban looked as though he couldn't quite accept Rei's words, but Rei replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're the largest assassin guild in Egginis, aren't you? That's exactly why I figured there wouldn't be any friendly organizations. I'd understand if you meant subordinate groups, though."
"We've got all kinds of things going on over here too."
Rei's words, while not entirely accurate, had apparently struck something of a nerve. Orban quietly averted his gaze.
"Let's set that aside. The real question is what to do from here. Have you found anyone among those who move Egginis who's connected to the Dolan Workshop? The arrangement was that Fusetsu would handle that investigation, right?"
As far as Rei was concerned, now that the Dolan Workshop had gone to such unreasonable lengths, he had no intention of sitting around waiting for intelligence to come in. The moment he found someone suspicious, he figured he might as well raid them even before securing evidence.
Naturally, doing something like that would cause all sorts of problems. But Rei could probably manage somehow using his connections with Daskar, Elena, Marina, and others. And before that, if the people who moved Egginis learned the truth about the Dolan Workshop—specifically, that they had lured in bandits, used illegal slaves, and turned the souls of such people into golem cores through necromancy rituals—what would happen?
Thinking about it normally, they would try to hush it up and pretend it never happened.
But to attempt such a thing in this situation, they would first need to silence everyone who knew the secret. And naturally, Rei was among them.
In reality, he didn't just know the secret—he was in possession of the altar the Dolan Workshop had used for their necromancy rituals.
Given those circumstances, it was impossible for the people who moved Egginis to attempt a cover-up. Above all, Robel—one of the people who moved Egginis—was on the side of Rei's group, or more precisely, on the side of Fusetsu.
That was precisely why, in the current situation, they couldn't afford to try to eliminate Rei. What's more, Fusetsu had also heard the Dolan Workshop's secret from him. Considering that they would have to turn not only Rei but also Fusetsu—the largest assassin guild in Egginis—into an enemy, most people wouldn't make that choice.
"I think it'd be fine even if we take a rather forceful approach," Rei said.
"Right. I intend to do exactly that."
"...Really?"
Fully convinced his opinion would be dismissed, Rei found Orban's words somewhat unexpected. Orban was someone Rei could converse with reasonably well, but at the same time, Rei perceived him as the cautious type.
"Yeah. If we get hit this hard and just stay quiet, it'll tarnish Fusetsu's name."
"Ah, I see."
In other words, having someone invade the Fusetsu hideout was something Orban couldn't let slide. If they could identify the assassins' affiliation from captives or corpses, they would certainly crack down on those groups. But the assassins who invaded last night were merely pawns of the Dolan Workshop and those pulling the strings behind it. What Orban intended to crush were the ones who had given the orders.
So he has to go that far, otherwise the Fusetsu name stays tarnished for having their hideout infiltrated. I don't really understand that part, but if Orban says so, then that's how it is. Besides, forcefully moving things forward is easier for me than wasting time idling like this.
Rei had no desire to deliberately cause a major uproar himself. But given the current situation, doing so would be the quickest way to move things forward—that much was certain. As long as that was the case, Rei had no intention of stopping Orban.
"So you said you're going to be forceful, but what exactly do you plan to do? Are we storming in from the front right now?"
"That would be difficult, to say the least. I said we'd be forceful, but I have no intention of needlessly terrifying the residents of Egginis. You feel the same, Rei?"
"Well... yeah, I suppose."
Rei's enemies were strictly the members of the Dolan Workshop's mainstream faction and those behind them—not the city of Egginis itself. In reality, there were also the adventurers who had attacked the Jalis Workshop, as well as the guards suspected of being bought by the Dolan Workshop. But getting into the details was pointless; in broad terms, it still came down to the Dolan Workshop and those behind them.
Nina, sitting beside Orban, also felt relieved. She had been thinking that if they did something like Rei suggested—storming the home of a suspicious person right now—she, who was in charge of negotiations, would become incredibly busy. She was truly glad Orban had turned down the proposal.
That said, given the current situation, they couldn't afford to take their time, either.
"So what's the plan? If we just let time pass, it'll look like Fusetsu got attacked and didn't fight back at all."
"I know. I'm not saying we'll do nothing. Tonight. We launch the attack tonight. There are suspicious individuals... or rather, people who based on circumstantial evidence are almost certainly the true culprits. I would have preferred to confirm solid evidence before going on the offensive, but..."
"Leave that part to me," Nina said. "I'll use the captives as bargaining chips and initiate negotiations with several organizations. If all goes well..."
"Can you do it?"
"Yes. I'll give it everything I have."
Rei listened to their exchange, wondering if that would really be sufficient. He had been told that the people who invaded the Fusetsu hideout were arranged in such a way that it would be unclear who had made the request. He had also heard that even if they could trace it back to the Dolan Workshop, it was set up so they couldn't reach the party behind them—and Rei himself had guessed that was probably the case. Under such circumstances, would negotiating with organizations as Nina suggested actually lead them to the mastermind?
It was only natural for Rei to have such doubts. That said, since Orban was trusting Nina to handle it, it would be odd for Rei to interject here.
"Tonight, huh."
"That's the plan. Can I assume you'll cooperate with us, Rei?"
"Of course. If we let the enemy do as they please in this situation, there's no telling what methods they'll resort to next."
They had the Jalis Workshop attacked, bought off guards to look the other way, and tried to capture Rei when he came to help. They sent golems rampaging through the Slum District, and at night brought out burrowing golems and hired assassin guilds hostile to or dissatisfied with Fusetsu to invade the hideout.
Given that they were already employing such methods, it was impossible to imagine what kind of attack they would launch next. Should Rei praise the enemy for launching attacks he couldn't even imagine, or rebuke them for doing something so foolish?
Regardless, since they had no way of knowing what methods the enemy would use, shifting to offense rather than staying purely defensive was definitely the right call.
"What methods, you ask. All the various incidents yesterday—was it the Dolan Workshop, or those behind them? I wonder which one's idea it was."
At Nina's words, Rei glanced at the Misty Ring on his right arm.
"I think it was probably the Dolan Workshop, though."
What Rei said was largely due to the matter of the altar stored in his Misty Ring. From the other party's responses so far, it was easy to surmise that the altar Rei had stolen was quite valuable to the Dolan Workshop. If it was that valuable, it seemed like they should have had a spare for emergencies.
Or perhaps because it's so valuable, there is no spare.
If it was something that could be bought with money—something precious specifically because of its price tag—then the Dolan Workshop, which profited from golem trading, could probably purchase a replacement immediately. But what if the altar was the kind of rare Magic Item that couldn't be bought even with money? No matter how much they had, if there was no altar available to serve as merchandise, obtaining one would be impossible no matter how badly they wanted it.
For Rei, this was in a sense the most ideal outcome. As long as he held the altar, the likelihood of anyone using human souls to create golem cores again would decrease.
"The Dolan Workshop, huh. That's troublesome. If they're the ones behind it, they likely have Dolan Workshop golems. The golems used in last night's incident were probably prepared by them too. In that case, the chances of encountering their golems during tonight's assault are high."
Orban furrowed his brow slightly and spoke with evident displeasure. For him, this matter was genuinely troublesome.
Rei had no objections to that assessment, either. The golems he had fought in the Slum District did possess some degree of autonomy, but he hadn't felt they were particularly strong. However, that was likely because he had caught them off guard, or simply because his own combat power was that overwhelming. If someone weaker than him encountered Dolan Workshop golems, the casualties would undoubtedly be greater.
That said, that assumes a proper head-on fight.
Fusetsu were assassins, not adventurers. There were exceptions, of course—like the Blood Blade assassins Rei had encountered during his earlier visit to the Slum, who looked like knights and attacked head-on with confidence—but such assassins were naturally a minority.
"In that case, it seems I should be the one to handle the golems. To avoid unnecessary casualties for Fusetsu."
"We'd appreciate that. It would help us a great deal."
For Orban, having Rei volunteer was as welcome as could be. Orban naturally trusted his subordinates' abilities. He trusted them—but that didn't mean he could honestly say they'd win against Dolan Workshop golems. Given that, having Rei, who could be counted on as a genuine combat asset, cooperate was extremely helpful.
"Understood. I appreciate the cooperation. Let's put an end to this uproar tonight." Orban formed a wry smile. "Though in reality, there'll be all sorts of things to handle even after the uproar is resolved, so I can't say when it'll truly be over."