"W-Welcome. The fact that you've come to my mansion like this means the evidence..."
The moment they arrived at Robel's mansion, Rei and the others were immediately shown to the room where Robel was waiting.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been unusual for them to be kept waiting for a while, but Robel had clearly been expecting Orban and his group.
His manner of speaking was as timid as ever, but his decisiveness—contrary to his hesitant speech and demeanor—proved he was indeed someone capable of moving Egginis.
This was only the second time Rei had met Robel, and he still felt slightly unaccustomed to the man's attitude. Orban, however, had a long relationship with Robel, and Nina had apparently spoken with him on several occasions while accompanying Orban, so neither of them seemed particularly bothered by his speech.
"Yeah, we seized the evidence. With this, we should be able to corner Dailas. I want you to convene a meeting immediately. Today, if possible."
"U-Understood. I'll send word right..."
As Robel responded to Orban and was about to dispatch messages to convene the meeting, the sound of a knock suddenly echoed through the room.
When Robel called out for the person to enter, a man opened the door immediately, stepped inside, and spoke.
"Excuse me, Master! A message just arrived saying that a meeting—the Holy Four Assembly—is to be convened, and everyone is to gather urgently!"
The Holy Four Assembly?
Rei tilted his head at the term, but from the flow of conversation, he could easily grasp what kind of meeting it was.
The meeting Robel had been about to convene. Its official name must be the Holy Four Assembly.
(Is it really a good idea to give it such a grandiose name? ...Well, considering that the people attending that meeting are the ones who run Egginis, maybe a name like that isn't so strange after all.)
Harboring such doubts, Rei shifted his gaze to Orban and Robel, then to Nina... and found Nina's refined face twisted with frustration at having been beaten to the punch.
"T-The Holy Four Assembly...? F-For what purpose?"
"I don't know. However, I was told that the other three besides Master have already agreed. Considering that, most likely..."
"He's targeting Robel."
Orban finished the sentence of the man who had burst into the room.
Just as naturally, frustration at having been outmaneuvered—by the enemy, by Dailas—was etched across Orban's face.
"But with Dailas making a move under these circumstances... what's his plan? It's obvious they're targeting Robel, but that also means they were prepared before we could even ask them to hold a meeting. Isn't that actually not a bad thing for us?"
"No. The fact that all three others are already on board means there's a high possibility Dailas has gotten to the other two. The question is exactly how far those two are cooperating with Dailas."
"How far?"
"Right. Do they know everything about Dailas's affairs and still cooperate with him? Or are they simply being deceived by Dailas? If we know that, we have ways to deal with the situation."
"I can see the latter being manageable, but if it's the former, I don't think there's anything we can do."
If they were cooperating with Dailas fully aware of his crimes, then the evidence of his misdeeds that Robel—or more precisely, Orban—presented would be meaningless.
No, it wasn't as if it would be completely meaningless, but the likelihood that the evidence would ultimately be suppressed was still high.
"They've completely beaten us to the punch. Dailas got us. Robel, what do we do?"
Robel, receiving Orban's gaze, thought for a moment before speaking.
"A-At this rate, Egginis will head toward the worst possible future. T-To prevent that, we have to act now."
That was, in effect, a declaration that they would head into a place where all three might be their enemies.
Rei was surprised by Robel's words.
He knew that Robel, despite his timid personality, was a man of action when it counted.
Even knowing that, for him to say something like this here was truly unexpected.
Not unexpected in a bad way—quite the opposite, in fact.
"Orban?"
Rei hadn't actually asked "what do we do?", but Orban seemed to fully understand what he wanted to know and spoke up.
"Understood. Let's go. Nina... carry out your duties as originally planned."
"Are you sure? This situation is different from what we anticipated."
From Nina's perspective, since the situation had changed from the original plan, she must have thought she should adjust her own actions accordingly.
However, Orban nodded at her words.
"Just leave our side to us. Rei will be there, and while we probably won't be able to bring Seto inside the meeting hall, he'll be right outside. Given that, if they try to pull anything underhanded, dealing with it won't be difficult."
Rei and Seto would be there.
Those words carried more persuasive power than anything else for Nina.
Considering the current situation, she shouldn't normally have the luxury of feeling that secure.
She shouldn't—and yet, she still found herself thinking it would be fine.
"You're right. The other side should understand Lord Rei's power as well. Given that, they won't be able to make any careless moves."
So saying, Nina turned her gaze to Rei and bowed deeply.
"Lord Rei, I entrust Lord Orban's protection to you."
"Leave it to me. If they try to pull anything here, we just need to respond accordingly. ...Honestly, if it comes to that, it might actually mean less hassle in the end."
"No, I'd really prefer it didn't come to that."
As far as Orban was concerned, in the sense that force would settle everything if it did come to that, he agreed with Rei's words.
But if that happened, it would undoubtedly cause troublesome complications down the line.
As someone in a position leading Fusetsu, an organization with deep roots in Egginis, he absolutely wanted to avoid such a thing.
Rei hadn't been entirely serious either, so he quickly replied to Orban.
"I know. Half-joking... no, in this case, maybe 'half-serious' is more accurate?"
That meant he was half-serious.
Not that Rei himself actually expected that to come true.
After all, they wouldn't know what the situation was until they actually went to where the Holy Four Assembly was being held.
(It's possible... just possible, that among the other two besides Dailas, there might be someone willing to cooperate with Robel.)
Given that the other two had demanded the Holy Four Assembly be convened alongside Dailas, Rei understood that the possibility of them cooperating with Dailas was extremely high.
But maybe... just maybe. The reason he thought that way was likely because he could sense that Robel and Orban truly cared about Egginis.
Perhaps the other two besides Dailas felt the same way? That was what he couldn't help but think.
"By the way, do you think last night's raid will become an issue with this? Since they decided to hold this Holy Four Assembly at this timing, I'd imagine it's related... but if this goes public, it could be a fatal blow to Dailas himself, couldn't it?"
"Hard to say. Honestly, I don't know. But going public with this—even if he manages to talk his way out of it this time—will undoubtedly mean that from here on, the others will be watching him far more strictly than before."
"A-Anyway, since the Holy Four Assembly is being convened, we can't just stand here. L-Let's hurry."
Rei and the others had no objections to Robel's words, and they made preparations to depart.
"Huh, so that's where they're holding this Holy Four Assembly. Security is pretty tight."
They had traveled by Robel's prepared carriage, and now their destination came into view.
The people guarding the building were staring intently at Robel's carriage.
No, to be precise, they weren't looking at the carriage itself, but at Seto walking alongside it.
To those not on familiar terms with Seto, a gryphon was nothing but an extremely dangerous monster.
As if to demonstrate this, among the soldiers on guard duty, some repeatedly swallowed nervously out of tension and others were sweating from something other than the heat.
If Rei and his group were to cause trouble here, the guards knew they would have to face Seto themselves.
From Rei's perspective, he had no intention of doing such a thing at present.
...However, that was strictly "at present," and what would happen in the future remained to be seen.
Depending on the outcome of the Holy Four Assembly being held here, it wouldn't be strange for Rei to go on a rampage on the spot—or even, in the worst case, generate a Fire Whirlwind right here.
Fire Whirlwind—along with Death Scythe and Seto, it was one of Rei's trademarks.
If it were unleashed in a place like this, Egginis would suffer massive damage.
Not that it would actually come to that, of course. If it ever seemed like it would, Orban and Robel, who loved Egginis, would surely try to stop Rei.
(It's not like I want to do anything like that, either.)
As he was thinking this, the carriage came to a stop.
Stepping out, Rei called out to Seto beside the carriage.
"Seto, sorry, but I need you to wait here."
"Gruu!"
In response to Rei's words, Seto purred as if to say "Leave it to me!"
From Seto's perspective, staying here in this state honestly wasn't very interesting.
But if it was a request from Rei, that was a different story.
He wanted to be of use to Rei even a little. He wanted to be praised.
Driven by such feelings, Seto showed enthusiasm in response to Rei's words.
...In that sense, the ones in a pitiful position were the guards protecting the building's perimeter.
Moreover, these guards were not private soldiers of Dailas or the other two inside the building, but proper Egginis guards, which was significant.
In a way, many of the guards were also effectively in a position serving as private soldiers for Dailas or the Dolan Workshop.
Even so, before the currently motivated Seto, both those who had been bribed and those who hadn't were in the same boat.
If they made any careless move in this situation, they would have to face the highly motivated gryphon that was currently the focus of all the guards' gazes.
No, perhaps what was even more pitiful was that even if they didn't make any careless moves, there was still a possibility that Seto and the guards could come to blows depending on how things unfolded.
Seto's side—no, Rei who had brought Seto, Orban whom Rei was cooperating with, and Robel who had joined forces with Orban.
If they were to end up as enemies with those people, it was only natural to feel that things would be... truly, very bad.
Whether they noticed the gazes directed at them or not, Rei and the others parted from Seto and headed into the building.
When they reached the building's perimeter, there were not only Egginis guards but also many individuals employed as private soldiers of Dailas and the others.
Among such people, a portion directed hostility-filled glares at Rei...
(Probably Dailas's subordinates.)
During last night's raid, Rei had rampaged freely inside Dailas's mansion.
Seto had been there too, not just Rei.
To those who had been in Dailas's mansion, Rei was nothing less than an enemy.
...The fact that they only glared was probably because they knew what kind of place this was and understood they couldn't cause a disturbance.
Or perhaps because they fully understood the gap in strength between themselves and Rei.
Rei couldn't honestly say which it was, but the absence of any rash disturbance wasn't a bad thing for him either.
(Still, if anything happens, Dailas's subordinates will definitely come at us. In that sense, the other two merchants' subordinates are still calm, which works out fine for me.)
If they came at him, he just needed to respond accordingly.
With that understanding, Rei paid no particular mind to the glares directed his way and entered the building.
However... just as he was about to head toward the meeting room, he was suddenly called out to.
"Please wait a moment."
Whether it was fortune or misfortune for Rei, the person who called out to him was not one of Dailas's subordinates who had been glaring at him like those outside the building, but an entirely different party.
Rei was somewhat surprised by words from such an unexpected person, but for the time being, he decided to hear them out.