Orban, having retrieved the documents from the top shelf of the safe golem, naturally asked Rei to cut open the safe's door so they could secure whatever other evidence remained inside.
"This safe contains things Dailas absolutely cannot afford to have found. For us, that means a significant advantage. In the battles to come—not physical clashes like tonight's, but political ones—this evidence will carry enormous weight."
"I follow that. But why would Dailas deliberately leave such evidence here in the first place? If it was dangerous to him, shouldn't he have just burned it or something?"
"Destroying it would have been the safest option, without a doubt. But this evidence is a vulnerability for Dailas—and at the same time, it's also a vulnerability for anyone who's dealt with him or maintains ties to him."
"So it's a weapon for emergencies... no, blackmail material. He kept it for that? For someone who's been so careful about hiding his identity, that seems reckless."
"That's likely why he went to the trouble of making the safe itself a golem. Besides, the place where this safe sat was probably rigged with strict traps, right? They never expected someone could break through."
"I won't deny that."
Without Rei, destroying the barrier covering the door would likely have been impossible.
In that sense, it wasn't unreasonable for Dailas to keep such evidence for emergencies.
"Anyway, cut the door open for me. If the top shelf held that much evidence, there's a good chance the other sections do too."
Prompted by Orban, Rei casually sliced off the safe's door with a single stroke of the Death Scythe.
He made it look effortless, but most of Orban's guards stared at him with naked astonishment.
As men who served as Orban's escorts, they had considerable confidence in their own skills.
But if asked whether they could replicate what Rei had just done, none of them could honestly say yes.
With enough attempts, perhaps they might manage it eventually.
But claiming they could do it outright would be difficult.
After all, Rei had judged with absolute certainty that he could pull off such a feat—which was precisely why he'd done it so casually.
"That helps. But we can't stand here reviewing evidence all night. You—bring everything inside this safe to my room."
"Understood."
The guards, still transfixed by Rei's display, snapped back to attention at Orban's command and began removing the safe's contents.
Most of what they pulled out were documents of some sort, but—
"Whoa!"
A guard who had lifted out a leather bag let out a cry of surprise upon checking its contents.
Naturally, that drew the attention of everyone nearby.
Orban in particular addressed the man, wondering if some critical piece of evidence had surfaced.
"What is it? Dailas's evidence?"
"Ah, no, sir. Not that. It's gems. Look—"
Saying so, the man plunged his hand into the leather bag and pulled out its contents.
Red, blue, green, black, pink... a variety of gems were clutched in his grasp.
(Gems, huh. I recall reading somewhere that when you store them all together like that, the differences in hardness can cause scratches that lower their value...)
Rei mulled this over from half-remembered knowledge, but it was Orban who resolved the question.
"I've seen this bag before. It's a Magic Item that protects the gems inside."
"Something like that exists? Then I can assume these gems are genuine?"
"They were stored alongside evidence of his hidden face—Dailas's trump card. There's no way they'd be fakes. The fact that they're kept in a Magic Item bag itself confirms the gems are real in this case. From what I can tell, they're genuine as well."
Orban appeared to have confidence in his eye for gems, stating this with certainty.
He took the leather bag from the guard, glanced inside... and then suddenly hurled it toward Rei.
"Hey—Orban!?"
Orban's action caught Rei completely off guard.
Even so, Rei caught the bag reflexively and shot Orban a questioning look.
"You've helped us out a great deal this time, Rei. Consider that your reward."
"A reward? This much?"
From the weight of the leather bag, he could tell there was a considerable amount of gems inside.
But whether he should be the one receiving them was a fair question.
"I don't mind. Thanks to you, we can finally deal with Dailas."
"That's fine, but isn't there a chance these gems serve as evidence for you as well?"
"Hard to say. From what I've seen in the documents, I don't think there's an issue. But if you're concerned, Rei, then on the off chance these gems do turn out to be evidence, I might have to ask you to return them. Would that be acceptable?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
The gems were somewhat desirable, but not something he desperately needed.
Given that, if they turned out to be evidence of Dailas's wrongdoing, he had no intention of hesitating to hand them over.
(Then again, what we originally paid for Fusetsu's protection was iron ingots. Considering the quantity of gems here, we're clearly getting far too much. Well, if someone asked whether we earned it, I'd say we did.)
He had defeated the attackers who assaulted the Fusetsu hideout and uncovered evidence of Dailas's crimes at his mansion.
...Both of those outcomes—and perhaps more—stemmed from Rei having ended up in a hostile relationship with the Dolan Workshop and Dailas.
"Then they're yours. From what I've skimmed of the papers here, I see nothing to suggest these gems are a problem. Most likely, in the unlikely event Dailas was ever cornered, he intended to grab these gems along with the evidence and use them as escape funds."
Hearing that, Rei could see the logic.
Given Dailas's cautious nature, it wouldn't be strange for him to prepare for contingencies.
"Let's hope so. I mean, this whole incident was partly my doing in the first place, you know? Are you sure it's fine to be this generous?"
At Rei's words, the guards also turned their gazes toward Orban.
They had no personal grievances with Rei, but they knew there were members within Fusetsu who disliked him.
If those people learned about the gems, they would certainly question why.
Orban, however, paid no mind to the guards' stares.
"That's right. This whole series of events started with Rei... No, it would be more accurate to say it happened thanks to Rei. If he hadn't been here, the Dolan Workshop would probably still be manufacturing golem cores from human souls, and we never would have uncovered Dailas's true identity either."
"That's... well, true."
Rei couldn't argue with that.
Without him, Orban would still know nothing even now.
There was some lingering doubt about whether someone who led an assassin guild would even care about such things.
But while Orban headed the assassin guild Fusetsu, it was also a fact that he loved the city of Egginis.
In that sense, he was grateful to Rei for bringing its festering wounds to light before they could worsen.
"That's why I'm grateful to you. Enough so that gems alone hardly seem sufficient.... Now then, I'm heading back to my room. What about you, Rei?"
"I'll head back to mine too. Lindy and the others are probably worried."
Given that it was the middle of the night, Rei didn't entirely rule out the possibility that they were already asleep. But considering the current situation, there was a good chance they were still awake and waiting for him.
Partly out of concern for Rei, but more than that, they had reason to hope this incident might resolve things. It wouldn't be strange for them to be waiting for good news.
And indeed, the evidence Rei had obtained from inside the safe was more than enough to corner Dailas.
"Come to think of it, there were other things in the room where the safe golem was—a sofa, table, chairs, a desk. I brought them along thinking there might be evidence hidden in them as well. What should we do?"
"...Good thinking. Bring them out for now. Given that evidence was in the safe, I think the odds of anything being in those are low, but with the possibility of something unexpected, I want to check them thoroughly."
In response to Orban's request, Rei withdrew the sofa and the other items from his Misty Ring.
For furniture used by Dailas—one of the people who effectively ran Egginis—they were remarkably shabby.
Orban seemed surprised, but perhaps because of their shabbiness, he found them suspicious and ordered the guards to carry them off.
"What about the safe itself? It won't move anymore, but if the golem's core is still active, there's a chance it could reactivate under some circumstances."
"It would help if you took it, Rei."
Inside the Misty Ring, time stood still, so there was no need to worry about it moving.
Rei understood Orban's reasoning perfectly well, and without objection, he stored the safe in his Misty Ring.
The safe golem was, at its core, a solid mass of metal.
Given its considerable weight, if Rei dropped it from the sky while riding Seto, it alone would serve as a devastating weapon.
Beyond that, if the golem's core reacted to the impact of the fall and reactivated, that would inflict additional damage on whatever enemies were below.
"Then I'll take it with me. I'll need someone to show me back to my room."
At those words, the same man who had guided Rei to Orban's room earlier stepped forward.
"Welcome back, Rei. You were faster than I expected. I thought it would take a little longer."
When Rei returned to his room, Lindy greeted him.
Inside the living room, a fair number of people were still awake and waiting.
"This many people are still up? At this hour, it wouldn't be strange for everyone to be asleep by now."
"Tonight's incident concerns us directly. Even if we tried to sleep, we'd be too on edge to rest."
Hearing that, Rei could understand.
Lindy aside, the others were all victims of the Dolan Workshop.
It was only natural that anything involving the Dolan Workshop incident would weigh heavily on their minds.
(Actually, even Lindy is a concerned party, considering Anna was made an illegal slave by the Dolan Workshop. And... there's also Golias's situation.)
Golias, Lindy's loved one, was still missing.
Given what Lindy knew about the Dolan Workshop, she likely suspected the Workshop was involved in Golias's disappearance as well.
"Then I'll get straight to it—tonight's target was Dailas's mansion."
"Eh?"
Those listening let out stunned, vacant sounds, unable to process what Rei had just said.
It was only natural. Dailas was widely known as a good and honorable man.
Why on earth would they raid such a person's mansion?
It was perfectly reasonable to be bewildered.
Lindy was no exception.
"Rei, is that true?... No, you're the one saying it, so it must be. You're not joking, are you..."
"I'm not."
Lindy asked hesitantly, as if hoping Rei might reveal it was all some kind of joke after all.
Amidst this, Rei noticed that several people weren't nearly as surprised as the rest, even after his explanation.
Why? he wondered for a moment—then realized those were the people who had been brought to Egginis as illegal slaves.
Since they didn't live in Egginis, the name Dailas didn't carry the same weight for them.
They may have heard of him, but they apparently couldn't fathom why his name would provoke such astonishment.
Turning his gaze away from them, Rei nodded once more at Lindy.
"Dailas had joined forces with the Dolan Workshop, and he was undoubtedly the mastermind behind all of this. The safe we seized from his mansion was packed with evidence."
Even hearing that, those still reeling from the mere mention of Dailas's name couldn't bring themselves to accept it so easily.