Rei proceeded alongside Seto and Crow.
Whether it was because Gigalana had seen Rei forming a friendly relationship with him, or whether it was due to orders from above, was unclear—but it seemed Crow had been designated as Rei's handler.
For Rei's part, having a relatively familiar companion alongside him was not a bad arrangement.
It was precisely because he was traveling with Crow that Rei walked on the ground rather than flying through the air with Seto.
...Though the fact that he didn't know the location of Dailas's mansion, the target of their assault, was also a reason Rei traveled with Crow.
"Do you think Dailas's mansion will have its defenses reinforced?"
The assassins were supposed to be moving in groups of a few each, but in Rei's case, Seto stood out—stood out far too much—so the journey consisted of only Rei, Crow, and Seto: two people and one creature.
Addressed amid these circumstances, Crow thought for a moment before answering.
"It depends on how much of our movements they've anticipated, I suppose."
Crow showed no signs of agonizing over fighting Dailas, his former benefactor.
Whether he had truly made peace with it, or was simply keeping it from showing on his face, Rei couldn't tell.
From Rei's perspective, he wondered whether someone could really compartmentalize their feelings about a benefactor that easily—but at the same time, he thought that if one was an assassin, perhaps such compartmentalization came naturally.
"How much of our movements they've anticipated, huh. Thinking about it normally, it wouldn't be strange for them to have someone watching Fusetsu's hideout and sending immediate reports if anything happens. That much, at least, they could easily be doing."
There had been no such individuals near Fusetsu's hideout.
But if it was just monitoring Fusetsu's movements, they didn't need to be nearby—they could observe from a distance.
Moreover, since the enemy had co-opted the Dolan Workshop, golems were also a card they held.
Whether observation-type golems existed or not, Rei didn't know, but he did know that golems built with cores made from human souls exhibited human-like responses.
Given that, it seemed plausible that golems capable of autonomous judgment could exist as well.
(Besides, even if it's not golems, there's also the option of Magic Items. ...With Magic Items, cores made from human souls wouldn't be relevant, and if things go well, maybe I could seize them too.)
He thought this, but ultimately, he had no way of knowing whether Magic Items or golems were actually being used.
The possibility that they might be—that was merely Rei's conjecture and nothing more.
"Still, you're taking us through some pretty empty streets."
Rei was walking through the city following Crow's guidance, but the roads they took were considerably narrower compared to the main streets.
Even so, they were wide enough for Seto to pass through, so they had a reasonable amount of space.
"Of course. Rei, you might not be aware of it yourself, but if the guards spot you, there's a chance you could be arrested. ...Even if we actually encountered guards, whether they'd try to capture you is uncertain, though."
Among the guards, many had been bought by the Dolan Workshop or Dailas, but there were also those who hadn't been bribed.
In that sense, contact with the guards wouldn't necessarily result in a disturbance.
"That said, even if you and the guards did encounter each other, it's highly likely they wouldn't be able to do anything about you."
"Is that so? If it's someone bought by the Dolan Workshop or Dailas, I'd think it wouldn't be strange for them to hassle us."
"If there were a lot of them, I think they might take that kind of action, but look at the time. Even if guards are on patrol, there'd only be two or three of them at most. Do you think that many could do anything about you?"
Put that way, Rei found himself agreeing with Crow's words.
Even if two or three tried to hassle him, Seto letting out a single purr would be enough to make them flee.
Lately Seto was often recognized as a pet animal, but in reality, he was a high-rank monster—a gryphon.
If Seto, rather than purring in his usual affectionate way toward people, were to purr with hostility, just how many people could stand up to him?
"I see. ...Then wouldn't it be fine to not bother with these narrow streets and just boldly walk down the main road?"
"Look, there's no need to go out of our way to deliberately cause a disturbance. If we can avoid encountering guards, isn't it better not to encounter them?"
"Depends on the situation. ...Though if we'd been walking down the main road, I don't think we'd have gotten caught up in that kind of commotion."
Shouting voices and the sound of fists striking flesh, coming from ahead of them.
Hearing that, Rei immediately understood what was happening.
At first, Crow didn't seem to understand what Rei was talking about, but after advancing a little further, Crow must have sensed the same thing. He wore an expression that said they'd stumbled into trouble...
"Hold it right there! If you want to pass through here, the toll is... never mind, it's nothing. Please, go right ahead."
A single man suddenly appeared on the road lit only by moonlight, holding a short dagger and trying to say something, but his words quickly trailed off.
Even so, without hearing him to the end, Rei could easily grasp what the man had been trying to say partway through.
Because of the moonlight, at first only Rei and Crow were visible, and the man probably hadn't noticed Seto behind Rei.
On the main streets, even at night, shops that were still open used light-producing Magic Items, but this was not a main street. The moonlight pouring down from the sky was the only source of illumination.
Because of that, Seto's figure was invisible to the man's eyes.
If the man had been someone of considerable skill, he might have been able to detect Seto's presence, and he might have been able to comprehend the gap in strength between himself and Rei or Crow.
But the man was nothing more than a thug—not an adventurer or anything of the sort.
A short distance away from the man, the sound of flesh being struck could still be heard.
(He probably didn't pay that so-called toll, or maybe there was some other reason he ended up getting beaten.)
Whether out of a sense of justice, or because he didn't have enough money.
Though the reason was unknown, Rei smiled at the man and opened his mouth.
"A toll, huh. I'm glad you're so grateful that we're passing through here that you're willing to pay us a toll. How much? Personally, I'd like at least silver coins, even if gold coins might be asking too much."
"Eh...?"
Naturally, the man had been trying to extort a toll from Rei and Crow—not, as Rei put it, planning to pay a toll himself out of gratitude for being allowed to use this road.
He hadn't been, but... that said, in the current situation, there was no way he could say no when facing Rei, Crow, and above all, Seto.
"What's wrong? You're going to pay the toll, aren't you? We're in a hurry, so if you make us waste time here, the toll goes up."
"Ugh... f-fine... please, go ahead."
Reluctantly—truly reluctantly—the man handed Rei three silver coins.
For Rei, who counted bandit hunting among his hobbies, three silver coins was not a significant amount.
But for a man who made his living through extortion, it was probably a fair sum.
"Hm? That's it? You haven't collected tolls from your companions over there yet, have you?"
"W-wait, please wait here! I'll go collect it right away!"
Saying that, the thug ran off from in front of Rei.
His destination was, naturally, where his companions were.
But rather than coming before Rei, the sound of several people hurriedly running away from the scene reached their ears.
"You went a bit too far. Or rather, we're taking these routes to avoid trouble, and here you are diving headfirst into it."
"It's not like I stuck my neck into trouble—the trouble came to me just now, didn't it?"
Rei shot back at Crow, who was scolding him.
The fact that trouble had come to them was something Crow couldn't deny. But...
"What were you planning to do if the other side took offense at you pulling a toll-collection stunt like that?"
For a thug, being reverse-extorted by the very person he'd tried to shake down would be humiliating.
Depending on the circumstances, he might attack even if he understood he had no chance of winning.
Crow, who came from the Slum District, knew that such people despised having their pride damaged above all else.
Given that, in a situation like the one just now, it wouldn't have been strange for them to attack without even comprehending the gap in strength.
Of course, Crow understood that there was no way Rei would be done in by the likes of those people.
Even so, there was always a chance, and wasting time over it was pointless.
"If it came to that, I'd have figured something out. ...More importantly, let's get going. No point in killing time here for nothing."
Rei said this without any sign of concern for the person who had been getting beaten.
If Rei were a champion of justice—or even if not that far, if he had a strong sense of justice—he might have treated the person who was being beaten.
But unfortunately, Rei wasn't that strong in the justice department.
Or rather, if the person being beaten had been a small child or someone who looked obviously frail, he might have done something about it... but from a quick glance, it was the same type of man as those who had just tried to collect a toll from Rei's group.
Judging that it was probably a dispute among thugs, Rei had no intention of concerning himself with such a person.
If it was a fight between peers of the same sort, his honest feeling was—let them do as they pleased.
Seto, like Rei, might have been concerned if the other party had been a child, but in the current situation, he apparently had no intention of taking any particular action.
Crow, naturally, had no intention of concerning himself with such a person either.
And so Rei's group continued down the road without the slightest indication of concern for the person who had been beaten and left lying there by the thugs.
"So, what are you going to do with those silver coins?"
On the way to Dailas's mansion, Crow suddenly asked Rei such a question.
It was less that he couldn't bear the silence and more that he'd simply felt like asking.
"What do you mean, what am I going to do? I plan to use them normally. It's not like there's anything wrong with these silver coins."
Depending on the person, some might call money obtained through wrongdoing dirty money.
But for Rei, money was money.
Moreover, this incident—while not on the scale of bandit hunting—was something taken from someone who had tried to extort him first.
Or rather, if Rei had used force to make an innocent person hand over money, that might qualify as wrongdoing.
In any case, money obtained in this manner was, in Rei's understanding, perfectly unproblematic and could be used normally.
"I see. I figured you'd say something like that, Rei."
Crow hadn't known Rei all that long... but even so, in this short time, he had grasped Rei's personality to a certain degree.
Given that, how Rei would react in a situation like this was obvious without even thinking about it.
"With three silver coins, that's more than enough to buy something a bit pricey at a stall. Do you know any good stalls... or maybe an inexpensive but delicious restaurant?"
"Don't ask me about that sort of thing."
Crow told him, averting his gaze in response to Rei's question.
Crow, unlike Rei, had no hobby of pursuing delicious food.
The influence of having grown up in the Slum District was likely a major factor—as long as he could eat, that was enough.
Among those who grew up in the Slum District like Crow, there were quite a few who, from the experience of hunger, became fixated on meals and, upon achieving success for one reason or another, awakened to gourmet dining.
But unfortunately, Crow was not that type of person; his view was that food was fine as long as it was edible.
What about nutrition? Rei couldn't help but wonder, but judging that if the person himself was of that disposition, there was no need to go out of his way to bring it up.
"I see. Then, once this matter is settled, want to go search for a good restaurant together?"
"Hah? Me?"
"That's right. It's fine to have a day like that once in a while, isn't it? I think if you had a good meal, Crow, you'd be filled with motivation too."
"No, it's not that I don't have motivation or anything... Do I come across that way?"
"Come across that way, or rather, I just sort of got that feeling. Besides, having something to look forward to makes you more motivated to push hard, doesn't it?"
To Rei saying this, Crow showed a troubled expression, but eventually gave a nod.