After playing with Seto sufficiently — though in reality, Seto still seemed to want to play — Rei returned to his room with Nina.
The two men serving as guards and lookouts at the front of the room bowed and opened the door when they saw Rei and Nina.
"Then, Lord Rei. We will prepare your meal here, so please rest comfortably until night. If anything happens, I will send a messenger right away."
"Got it. I know things are tough for you too given the current situation, but hang in there."
Calling out those words, Rei stepped into the room, but...
"Rei... how dare you come back so casually..."
The first to spot Rei upon entering was Lindy, lying on the sofa that Rei used for sleeping.
She directed a resentful glare at him but remained flat on her back, unable to move properly.
It was obvious that her entire body was wracked with severe muscle soreness from pushing herself beyond her limits during the mock battle with Rei.
From Rei's perspective, it was more or less what he'd expected.
"Hm? What do you mean? This is my room for now, so it's only natural I'd come back, right?"
"Grrr... how dare you..."
Rei looked utterly clueless about what Lindy was talking about, while Lindy, flat on her back and unable to move, groaned out her complaints.
That said, Rei naturally understood why Lindy was this angry.
In a state where her whole body ached with muscle soreness and even the slightest movement sent pain shooting through her, she had been pestered by Camila.
The already energetic and restless Camila had been cooped up in this cramped room.
There was no need to even imagine how aggressively he must have harassed her.
Recalling the scream he'd heard when he left the room earlier, Rei feigned ignorance.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but your whole body is sore, so you'd better take it easy."
"Remember this."
Lindy's voice came out like a rumble from the depths of the earth.
Rei couldn't help but wonder if he'd gone a little too far, but if left unchecked, Camila probably would have tried to leave the room.
In reality, even if Camila had tried to leave, the guards at the door likely wouldn't have allowed it — but still.
"More importantly, that's the sofa I've been using. Why are you on it? I'm a bit sleepy."
"Oh, I'm sorry. My body is so sore I can't move the way I want. Unfortunately, getting up is a bit impossible for me right now."
Lindy flashed a deliberately sweet smile, as if to say this was payback for earlier.
Rei wondered why, if her soreness was bad enough to keep her from moving, she had come all the way from her own room to here. But considering the Camila situation, he decided it was best to just go along with her for now.
And so Rei gave up on the sofa Lindy occupied and headed for one a short distance away.
Two guards had been injured the night before, and two sofas had been used as their beds.
Naturally, the replacement sofas Orban had sent through Crow also numbered two.
One of Ilunara's subordinate alchemists was sitting on one, but upon seeing Rei approach, he spoke up before Rei could say anything.
"Will you be using this sofa?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind. We're raiding the Dolan Workshop mastermind's mansion tonight, so I want to rest up while I can."
"Huh... hey, you should've said that sooner. If you'd told me from the start, I would have given up the sofa."
Lindy must have overheard. She spoke with unmistakable displeasure.
For Lindy, this had been meant as payback for the incident with Camila.
But in reality, Rei was trying to rest for tonight's operation, and she had ended up getting in his way.
"Don't worry about it. You really are sore, right? Then just stay where you are. Though if you want to rest properly, a bed would be better than a sofa."
No matter how high-quality a sofa might be, a sofa was still a sofa. It wasn't exactly proper bedding.
Or rather, what happened to Anne? If she's not in the room, is she still asleep? Camila's not here either... wait.
Rei had noticed how quiet it was since entering the room, and now that the reason had dawned on him, he scanned his surroundings once more.
Sure enough, Camila was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Camila?"
"Hm? Hehehe... Camila is in his room, reflecting on what he did."
Seeing Lindy's beaming smile, Rei felt relieved.
He couldn't help thinking that being relieved at the sight of Lindy's current expression was a bit questionable in itself, but Camila being confined to his room was far better than him having slipped out unnoticed.
"I get the Camila situation, but what about Anne?"
"Lecturing Camila."
From the way Lindy said it so tersely, she clearly wanted no part of Anne's lectures either.
Lindy being in the living room instead of her own room probably has something to do with that too.
Lindy and Anne were close, but that didn't mean Lindy actually wanted to sit through one of Anne's lectures.
Rei vaguely understood how she felt, so he didn't press the matter further.
"As long as Camila is safe. Given his energy, it wouldn't surprise me if he'd been exploring the entire Fusetsu hideout."
If this had been yesterday during the daytime, it might have been tolerable.
But after what happened last night, Fusetsu's members were on edge, and there was a possibility that some of last night's invaders had been left behind inside.
"You're right... I'm a bit worried, actually. Could someone go check if Camila is with Anne?"
The first to move at Lindy's request was one of the men who had been captured alongside Anne as an illegal slave.
Several of those present understood exactly why he had reacted so quickly.
He harbored feelings for Anne — not friendship, but the kind of affection a man directs toward a woman. He was in love.
Rei hadn't noticed the man's demeanor in the slightest.
In truth, Anne had features refined enough that the word "cute" suited her perfectly.
She was also mentally strong. Even when they were held captive by the Dolan Workshop, her cheerfulness had kept everyone's spirits up.
No sooner had they been rescued from the Workshop than they found themselves in an assassin guild's hideout.
And then last night — whether they were the target or it was something else entirely was unclear — a large number of invaders had stormed this very hideout.
Given all that, it wouldn't have been strange for someone to become frightened, depressed, or even emotionally unstable.
Yet through it all, Anne never showed the slightest sign of it. She kept up her bright demeanor even though she must have been anxious herself.
Many people had probably been saved by Anne's presence, and for a young man to fall for her because of it was hardly unusual.
"Please. I'm sure it's fine, but... if you'd like, you can take your time with Anne."
"Wh... wh... hmph!"
His inner thoughts laid bare by Lindy, the man snorted in a poor attempt to cover his embarrassment and left the living room.
"Really, Lindy... in situations like this, you're supposed to let things develop naturally."
A man slightly older than the one who had just left cautioned Lindy.
Since they couldn't leave the room, the others had few sources of entertainment, and the lovesick man's behavior was apparently prime amusement.
Whether his feelings would ever be reciprocated was anyone's guess, but just watching him seemed to bring back bittersweet memories for those present. Rei, however, had little understanding of such things. He tilted his head at the atmosphere in the living room, then lay down on the sofa the alchemist had yielded to him.
A fair number of people had gathered in the living room, so he probably could have used an empty bed if he'd wanted — but he had no desire to sleep on a bed that carried someone else's scent.
And so, lying back on the sofa... Rei's consciousness eventually sank into darkness.
"Hey, Rei-niichan! Dinner's here! Wake up, I said!"
"Hm? ...Ah, Camila."
Rei had been sound asleep, but the voice calling his name pulled him from his slumber.
He turned toward the source and found Camila standing there.
Unlike usual, Rei showed no signs of drowsiness and woke up immediately.
"Are you done being lectured already?"
He asked because he'd heard before falling asleep that Camila was getting a talking-to from Anne.
Camila looked up at Rei with dissatisfaction.
"It's because I did what you told me to, Rei-niichan, that I got lectured."
"But Lindy didn't yell at you, right?"
"...She said she felt sorry for me."
Camila wore a complicated expression.
That he, the one who had pestered Lindy, would end up being pitied by that very same Lindy was clearly the last thing he'd expected.
"I see. She felt sorry for you. Well anyway, the Fusetsu hideout is dangerous right now in a lot of ways. If you go wandering around as you please, at worst you could end up dead. When you think about it, staying right here in this room is the safest option."
"But... I'm bored..."
Camila understood that outside the room was dangerous.
Even so, not being able to endure it was proof that he was still a child.
An adult would understand from their own experience that the outside was dangerous and wouldn't go charging headfirst into it.
Having seen with his own eyes the two guards suffer severe injuries protecting them had also left a strong impression.
But that was because they were adults. Camila, a child, simply didn't have that kind of patience.
Then again, even among adults, it wouldn't be unheard of for someone to snap and burst out of the room.
Fortunately, no one here was foolish enough to do such a thing.
Having actually been treated as illegal slaves and having learned what the Dolan Workshop was truly capable of, they could all too easily imagine what would happen if they acted recklessly.
In the midst of all this, Camila — who had come to wake Rei for dinner — spoke up with an unusually serious look.
"Hey, Rei-niichan. How long do we have to keep living like this?"
Because he was a child — or perhaps precisely because he was a child — Camila was clearly harboring anxiety about their current situation.
Rei could understand that well enough.
That said, understanding it didn't mean he had much he could say.
Should I tell him tonight's raid might settle the whole thing? No, but I don't actually know if that's true.
Autumn was setting in for real now.
Rei couldn't stay in Egginis forever.
Of course, the uproar back in Gilm over the unknown dragon and the monster materials from the Forest of Magic wasn't likely to die down anytime soon either. So even if he resolved this incident and went back, he'd probably just end up caught in a different kind of chaos.
Once winter arrives in earnest, that uproar should settle down too.
It had been the same last year. When winter came, a lot of people temporarily left Gilm.
Some returned to their hometowns to rest until spring. Others went to do business elsewhere. There were all sorts of reasons.
Based on that, Rei was fairly confident the current commotion in Gilm would calm down once winter arrived.
Even if it didn't fade completely, it would definitely subside to a manageable level.
Besides, Rei had things to do that could only be done in winter.
Dismembering the Gigant Turtle currently stored in his Misty Ring was one of those things — it was a task only possible in winter.
Gilm had high hopes for it as well, since it would provide work for those seeking employment and serve as an opportunity for Slum District residents to get back on their feet.
In fact, last year several people from the Slum District had worked the job and used the earnings as a springboard to leave the slums behind.
Honestly, Rei had no intention of running a charity. He was doing it because it benefited him.
That said, if it benefited him and helped others at the same time, he figured that was perfectly fine.
Anyway, going back to Gilm has to wait until the Egginis situation is resolved. And for that, I need to give it everything I've got today.
With that in mind, Rei told Camila it wouldn't be much longer, then went to eat dinner.