In the end, while some among the Fusetsu group Rei encountered still looked dissatisfied and hadn't fully accepted the arrangement, they decided to act together with him.
From the Fusetsu members' perspective, they likely reasoned that moving alongside Rei—an overwhelming combat asset—would work to their advantage.
In truth, even those who harbored resentment toward Rei acknowledged his ability. Enough to think that if they fought him head-on, they would have almost no chance of winning.
Even so, the feeling that they simply couldn't stand him wasn't about to disappear.
That Rei accepted the group's request to merge was also because traveling with Fusetsu members was by no means a bad deal for him. The biggest factor was that he didn't know where Gigalana was, and there was also the benefit of having them help judge whether people Rei happened to encounter—like this group—were Fusetsu members or not.
With that settled, Rei's group immediately set out.
"You mean where Gigalana-san is, right? ...Yes, I think I probably know, so leave it to me."
The person who had been negotiating with Rei spoke up first. From his demeanor, Rei could surmise that he had at least a general idea of Gigalana's location.
"I see. I'll leave it to you. However, Crow and his group might have encountered the adventurer reinforcements and ended up in a fight, so I'd like to make contact with them as quickly as possible too."
"Understood. Though if Crow-san is with them, I don't think there's any need to worry."
Within Fusetsu, Crow was known as someone of considerable ability. Because of that, they likely believed that even if he ran into ordinary opponents, he could handle them without any particular trouble.
Rei could agree with that assessment as well. Even so, his concern was largely a matter of preparing for the worst.
"Even so. Given Dailas's cautious nature, it wouldn't be strange if he still had some other hidden trick up his sleeve. If we ran into something like that, it'd be bad."
No one could laugh and call Rei's words an exaggeration. This was true not only for the man who had been speaking with Rei, but also for those who found Rei's presence distasteful.
This was Dailas, after all—the man who had hidden his true face so thoroughly. It wouldn't be strange at all for him to have prepared some kind of hidden measure for the worst case, something that could even be called a trump card.
"Let's go. I think it's best to rendezvous with Crow-san and Gigalana-san's group as quickly as possible."
At those words, Rei and the others broke into a run.
One of the assassins moved ahead to guide Rei. Rei ran along the indicated path while keeping a vigilant watch on his surroundings.
Even as they ran, the sounds of fighting could be heard from afar—or from places slightly further off—but those guiding Rei pressed forward, ignoring them.
(The fact that I can hear the noise of battle means Fusetsu assassins are fighting, right? Is it really okay to ignore that?)
Though Rei felt such doubts, he concluded that since they were an assassin guild, they likely intended to handle such matters on their own.
"Next path is to the right. Tch!"
A click of the tongue slipped from the person guiding them. Given that reaction, Rei had expected the ones approaching to be adventurer reinforcements, but...
"What, it's allies?"
Rei spotted a familiar figure among those who appeared from around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief. The other group also looked relieved upon seeing Rei's party.
"You're planning to escape too?"
"Yes, and you as well?"
"Yeah, we heard from Crow and his group. But Gigalana-san isn't with them."
"...If it's Gigalana-san, I don't think there's any need to worry even if something happened."
The two groups stopped and exchanged information. Even so, some naturally remained on alert, watching their surroundings. Such judgments were made with an unspoken, shared understanding—as if by instinct.
Naturally, only the Fusetsu members shared that kind of instinctive coordination. Rei, not being a member, simply listened quietly to the exchange. Since he was the one carrying the safe containing evidence of Dailas's crimes, it was only natural that he stayed on the listening side.
"The adventurers who came as reinforcements are the same ones who attacked the Jalis Workshop. I can't say for certain that all of them are, but I recognized several faces from the Jalis Workshop."
"Then it really was the Dolan Workshop that sent the reinforcements."
A man from the group that had just merged spoke up in response to Rei's words.
That Dailas and the Dolan Workshop were enemies was already nearly confirmed. Given that, it was entirely predictable that the Workshop would send combat forces in this situation.
(Though I never expected them to use a hidden passage connected to Dailas's mansion. ...Or maybe, when Dailas and the Workshop's associates had meetings, they used that hidden passage to travel? That's entirely possible.)
It was certainly possible, but there was no time to be thinking about that right now.
In reality, the adventurer reinforcements had initially tried to come in through the front openly. However, the first few who entered the grounds of Dailas's mansion were attacked without hesitation by Seto and knocked unconscious. As a result, entering through the surface became impossible, which was why they had moved through the underground passage instead—but Rei was unaware of those circumstances.
"What's really troublesome is that there are a lot of those adventurers."
One of the men, who had also fought the adventurers, said with evident distaste. While assassination was their profession, fighting adventurers head-on was something they would prefer to avoid if possible. The other assassins who had been listening nodded in agreement.
"Since the adventurers are only inside the mansion, once we get out, we should at least be able to avoid fighting them. Of course, that's only at first—if we waste time carelessly, they'll probably come outside too."
"Rei-san is right. If you don't want to fight the adventurers, we should get out of the mansion quickly. ...Either keep operating inside until we rendezvous with Gigalana-san, or assume Gigalana-san will be fine and escape right now. Which do you think is better?"
That question was very difficult to answer.
The assassins trusted Gigalana's ability—he was said to be the strongest in Fusetsu. They believed he could easily defeat most opponents. But at the same time, it was an undeniable fact that Gigalana was still only an assassin. While they didn't think he'd be helpless in this kind of situation, they couldn't know what would happen if he fought a large number of adventurers head-on.
If Gigalana possessed overwhelming strength like Rei, they might have been able to leave everything to him with peace of mind. However, while he might be the strongest in Fusetsu, he had not reached the realm beyond human like Rei. In that sense, they couldn't entrust everything to him in a place like this, where an assassin couldn't perform at maximum capability.
"Then it's best to rendezvous with Gigalana first."
If Gigalana was the pillar of support for the Fusetsu assassins, then meeting up with him before escaping was indeed the priority. The others agreed with Rei's words. Even those who found Rei's presence disagreeable honestly consented to his opinion, which made it clear just how central a figure Gigalana was to everyone.
(Though, given Gigalana's ability, I think he could handle fighting the adventurers head-on to some extent.)
Thinking of the skill Gigalana had displayed, Rei felt they might be worrying too much—but he kept that to himself. He understood that bringing it up here would only lead to all sorts of complications.
"In that case, the problem again is where Gigalana is. ...If we don't know that, we'd have to go around checking every place where there's commotion in this mansion. Obviously, we don't have the luxury to do something like that."
If they were to do such a thing, it would be faster to defeat all the adventurers and guards in the mansion first, then look around. ...To go that far, only to find that Gigalana had already left the mansion, would be truly disastrous.
"Then, for now—"
"Someone's coming!"
Just as one of those exchanging information was about to speak, the man on watch called out sharply. Immediately, everyone readied themselves for whatever might come.
"Rei!? Why are there this many people in a place like this!?"
The ones who appeared were Crow and his group. They too had apparently grasped that a certain number of people were here and had been ready to attack immediately if the opponents were adventurers—but upon recognizing Rei's group, they stopped in their tracks.
Rei's group was equally surprised by Crow's appearance.
"You're safe, Crow. I was sure you'd been ambushed by the adventurers."
"Yeah, we were ambushed. But they weren't that strong, so it wasn't difficult to deal with them. More importantly, I'm glad to see you're safe too."
Crow said so with a smile. For him, it must have been a relief that Rei, who had been left alone back there, was unharmed.
"There's no way I'd lose to opponents of that level. ...More importantly. I thought you were supposed to have escaped from this mansion first. Why are you still inside?"
"We met Gigalana-san."
Several people reacted strongly to the words that came from Crow's mouth. Naturally—they had been discussing how to rendezvous with Gigalana all this time. Hearing Crow say he had met Gigalana here, it would have been impossible not to react.
"So why isn't Gigalana-san with you then!?"
One of the assassins beside Rei cried out almost reflexively upon hearing Crow's words. If he had met Gigalana, it wouldn't be strange for them to be acting together—no, it would be strange if they weren't. That was likely the thinking behind the outburst.
But Crow, faced with those words, shook his head.
"I also told Gigalana-san that it would be better to act together. But he said that since his role was already fulfilled, he would issue evacuation orders to the remaining Fusetsu members in the mansion."
"That's rather... well, it's not my place to say, but as someone in a leadership position, isn't that a bit problematic?"
Several people shot harsh glares at Rei, perhaps thinking he was mocking Gigalana. But while it might be one thing for someone operating independently like Rei, he thought it was only natural to question the commander on-site doing such a thing.
As the person commanding, moving directly himself... such an option might exist, but Rei didn't think there was any need for it in the current situation. He didn't know Gigalana's current state, so he couldn't deny the possibility that there was something he didn't understand.
"At any rate. If Gigalana has issued orders to evacuate, then we don't need to rendezvous with him separately, do we? In that case, we should get out of here as fast as possible. ...We could end up dragging completely unrelated people into the fighting."
What Rei thought of as he said that was the maid he had encountered earlier. A person who believed Dailas was a good man. If there were others like her, things could get complicated in all sorts of ways. Dealing with such people was something Rei absolutely could not tolerate.
Given that, Rei's opinion was that it was indeed best to get out of the mansion as quickly as possible. The others, starting with Crow, also considered involving unrelated parties unacceptable... and ultimately, they nodded in agreement with Rei's proposal.
Though there were a few who wanted to oppose simply because it was Rei saying it, they were silenced by a single glare from Crow.