Silence filled the room.
Silence had filled the room before the Holy Four Assembly began as well.
Even so, Dwanda and Lusitania had somehow managed to converse, and Orban, Robel, and Dailas—the man who could be called the mastermind behind this whole affair—had also been talking.
However, the more they talked, the stronger the sense of dissonance with Dailas grew... and now, the room was filled with silence once again.
The one who broke that silence was Dailas, the very person who had created it.
"It seems you have understood my position. I may not look the part, but I love Egginis. ...It seems none of you can see it that way, but on this point, I can assert with certainty that it is true."
So said Dailas, but not a single person who heard those words could believe them at face value.
"Your reasoning is clear enough. But don't you think it's unreasonable to ask us to simply accept it?"
To Dwanda's words, Dailas shook his head.
"That is not the case at all. In fact, thanks to my actions, Egginis is more vibrant than before. Is it not?"
When put that way, no one could immediately deny Dailas's words.
It was an undeniable fact that the Dolan Workshop had begun producing high-performance golems, and the rumors had spread, causing many nobles and merchants to desire them.
Given that much, there was no denying that Egginis had indeed grown more vibrant.
It had, but...
"Even so, you're asking us to tolerate it? That is difficult."
Lusitania rejected Dailas's words.
From Dwanda and Lusitania's perspective, they had been half-tricked by Dailas into dragging Robel to the Holy Four Assembly.
Given that, if things continued as they were, they themselves could end up in a critical situation as Dailas's companions in crime.
Thinking of it that way, they still needed to somehow sever their ties with Dailas here.
Robel and Orban observed the two of them but said nothing in response.
If asked whether they had thoughts on the matter, of course they did.
However, Dwanda and Lusitania were undeniably indispensable to the administration of Egginis, and they could not simply cut such people loose in this place.
If they were to do such a thing, there was no denying the possibility that Dwanda and the others, judging the situation to be dangerous as-is, might side with Dailas.
"Is that so. I would have preferred it if you all agreed with my opinion, if possible. For our part as well, causing any further unnecessary commotion could have a negative impact on Egginis."
"A negative impact? Dolan Workshop golems rampaging through the Slum District, launching surprise attacks on our strongholds—do those not count as negative impacts?"
From Orban's perspective, he had suffered considerable damage from his clashes with the Dolan Workshop and Dailas.
It was only natural that he had various thoughts about that.
"But that was because Fusetsu joined hands with Rei, was it not? For my part, I had thought Fusetsu was a necessary existence in Egginis, so I found it very regrettable."
Dailas, stating this with conviction, was not trying to provoke Orban. It was clear that he truly believed it from the bottom of his heart.
(Was Dailas always this kind of person?)
Orban, watching Dailas's demeanor, suddenly found himself wondering.
This was not Orban's first time meeting Dailas.
Through his relationship with Robel and as the one who led Fusetsu, the largest assassin guild in Egginis, Orban had met Dailas several times before.
However, even comparing his memories of their previous encounters with the current situation, Dailas did not seem like the same person.
(Was he hiding his true personality? No, if I consider that he was pretending to be a good person while doing all of this, it doesn't seem that strange.)
Orban considered the possibility that Dailas had been feigning goodness, but for Dailas himself, the face known to others as a good person and the face he wore now, believing that anything was acceptable for the development of Egginis, were one and the same.
"In any case, I have firmly stated my position. So, what will you do now? I will ask once more, for good measure. Is there anyone here who accepts that some underhanded dealings are necessary for the development of Egginis... anyone who will cooperate with me?"
Dailas posed this question to those participating in the Holy Four Assembly.
However, it went without saying that in this situation, there was no one who would accept Dailas's words.
Silence filled the room.
Just how many times had the room fallen silent since the Holy Four Assembly began?
While thinking such thoughts, Orban readied himself to respond to whatever might happen at any moment.
After all, given the current situation, there was no telling what Dailas might do.
Depending on the circumstances, there was even a possibility that he could go on a rampage.
Even so, Orban did not appear particularly concerned.
He had the confidence that, as the one who led Fusetsu, he possessed commensurate strength.
Given that, even if Dailas were to go on a rampage here and now, dealing with him would not be a difficult matter.
Of course, Orban did not consider himself the strongest by any means... but even so, he had the confidence that he could handle anyone currently in this room, no matter what.
If that was called overconfidence on Orban's part, it might be a slight exaggeration.
However, Orban did have information about what kind of golems the Dolan Workshop had been producing.
In that sense, it was undeniably careless.
"It seems there is no one. How regrettable. Well then..."
Saying this, Dailas rose from the chair he had been sitting on and gently placed his hand on his own body... specifically, his abdomen.
(What on earth is he doing?)
Orban found Dailas's behavior questionable.
Even with considerable strength, Orban naturally did not go to the front lines to fight in person.
That was why, even seeing Dailas take a clearly suspicious action, Orban only felt doubt without acting on it.
As a result, Orban allowed his opponent to take the initiative.
"Grant me power. Power worthy of protecting Egginis!"
Thump.
Words spilled from Dailas's mouth, and as he channeled magical power through his own body, it pulsed.
Yes, it was exactly as if a powerful Magic Item had activated.
"Tch!"
He was a step too late.
Making that judgment, Orban swiftly drew a short dagger from within his clothing and threw it.
Though Dailas had caught him off guard, Orban's forged skill was genuine.
The thrown dagger struck Dailas's forehead in an instant... and with a sharp, metallic clang ringing out, the deflected dagger tumbled through the air and fell to the floor.
"What..."
If, for example, the dagger had struck armor and been deflected, he might have been able to accept it.
But Orban's thrown dagger had undoubtedly struck Dailas's forehead.
It was a blow with enough power to pierce skin, tear through flesh, penetrate bone, and damage the brain.
And yet, with a sound as if it had hit a metal helm, it produced the same result as hitting one.
What on earth was happening? He had no idea.
Still, it was clear that Dailas had taken some form of action, and given that, it was necessary to respond to it.
"Robel, we're fleeing!"
"Y-yes!"
It was his usual timid voice, but Robel's actions were swift.
He fully understood what he needed to do to survive in this situation.
A moment after Robel, Dwanda also began to move.
Then, further delayed, Lusitania was about to move when...
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Guh..."
The instant he rose from his chair to flee, an intense impact robbed him of his breath.
What on earth? As Lusitania looked at his own body, he saw that for some reason, a single arm was protruding from his torso.
What was this?
While harboring such questions, Lusitania's consciousness sank into darkness.
Slurp.
As Lusitania's body fell to the floor, Dailas's arm, which had been piercing through Lusitania's torso, was withdrawn with that motion.
"My, they've escaped, haven't they."
He shook his arm to flick off the blood, bodily fluids, and fragments of internal organs clinging to it, and before he knew it, there was no one left in the room.
From the open door, it was obvious without needing to think that the remaining three had fled.
"Ideally, I would have liked to kill everyone here... but even if not, I would have preferred to kill at least one or two more. Well, it cannot be helped. Given how things have turned out, I will need them to serve as the foundation for Egginis's development... so I have no choice but to do this, even if it is a bit rough."
Muttering, Dailas gently touched his own body...
"My operational time still has some margin left. Defeating Rei would be difficult, but I would like to eliminate as much of the other combat power as possible."
Still muttering, Dailas left the room.
"Hm? What? Did something happen?"
In a room on the first floor, Rei muttered to himself.
Mirusu, who had been talking beside Rei, found Rei's behavior questionable.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"We should get ready. Looks like we've got an unexpected situation on our hands."
Rei could not sense magical power or anything of the sort, but through his sharp five senses and the combat experience he had accumulated over time, he sensed from the atmosphere that something had happened.
However, Rei was the only one who felt it.
The people in the room looked at him with puzzled gazes, wondering what he was suddenly going on about.
Dailas's subordinates in particular directed openly mocking glares at him.
...Incidentally, Dailas's subordinates had been in a state of mild infighting moments ago due to Rei's words, but it seemed that had been put on hold for the time being.
That they would shelve the matter from that state was surprising even to Rei.
In terms of negotiation ability, it was impressive enough that even Rei found himself convinced.
Bathed in the gazes of those around him, Rei left the room.
"Hey! Don't just do whatever you—"
Whether because he found Rei's behavior disagreeable, one of Dailas's subordinates shouted with hostility.
But Rei trusted the something inside himself more than such angry shouts, so he ignored those words and stepped out of the room.
For the man whose shout had been ignored, it was naturally unpleasant.
Having already found Rei's existence disagreeable as a subordinate of Dailas, he tried to say something tinged with irritation... but was stopped by a companion who was also one of Dailas's subordinates.
"Let it go for now."
"Hah? Why? If we let Rei do whatever he pleases again here, it's just going to cause us trouble later."
"But the opponent is Rei. You're getting worked up and forgetting, but he's not someone we can take on head-on, no matter what we try."
"That's..."
With those words from his companion, the man finally came back to himself.
Coming back to himself, he looked at the overwhelming gap between Rei and himself and felt frustrated.
"Anyway. There's no question that Rei is a higher-ranked existence than us. Given that, instead of just sitting here, we need to properly confirm what Rei is going to do ourselves."
When put that way, the man who harbored resentment toward Rei could not immediately object.
It was certain that the battle-hardened Rei had sensed something.
If so, what was that something?
It was only natural to think that they should confirm it themselves.
Though he harbored strong resentment toward Rei's existence, it was not as if he was completely ignorant of Rei's abilities.
And the others who had been in the room also followed Rei, each apparently having their own thoughts about his actions.
"Come on, we're going too. Rei reacted to that extent. Given that, there's definitely something there. In that case, there's no way we can just be the only ones waiting in the room, right?"
At his companion's voice, the man nodded reluctantly and stood up.
(But for Rei to react that strongly... What on earth happened? The most logical assumption is that a problem occurred at the Holy Four Assembly, but I'd really rather that not be the case.)
He thought such thoughts, but given the current situation, it was unlikely that nothing had happened.
Even Dailas's subordinate could predict that much.
Besides... the conversation had ultimately been left unresolved, but it also bothered him that Rei had mentioned Dailas having a hidden side.
Thinking such things, the man also followed Rei for the time being.