Having separated from the adventurers, Rei moved through the interior of the Dolan Workshop alongside the woman.
As was to be expected, the building bore the scars of golems forcing their way through, leaving it in a state where it could collapse at any moment.
"I... it's not really my place to say this, but are you sure it's safe? Even while we're walking, I can't tell when the whole thing might come crashing down."
Perhaps because golems larger than the corridors had forced their way through, there were considerable gouges near the ceiling.
Taking in the sight, Rei had to agree—it truly did look as though it could come down at any moment.
Because of that, he could understand the woman's concern.
At the same time, he figured that since it was a Dolan Workshop building, it wouldn't collapse so easily.
"It's probably fine. Since the Dolan Workshop never knows when something might happen, it wouldn't be strange for them to have reinforced the building for emergencies. I'd think you'd know that better than an outsider like me, since you actually work here."
"Precisely because I spend every day here, seeing it damaged like this makes me worry. ...Ah, it's at the dead end just around that corner. The largest shelter room is there."
At the woman's words, Rei focused his awareness.
The people in the shelter room were probably mostly those who knew nothing about the situation.
However, he couldn't rule out the possibility that someone among them knew about the Dolan Workshop's dark side.
That was exactly why he needed to make sure such individuals didn't slip away if the opportunity arose.
Arriving at their destination with the woman acting as guide, Rei reached out toward the door...
"Ah, wait a moment. I should at least call out to them inside so they know we're not a threat. The door locks from the inside, so we can't open it from out here."
"Is that so? Well, thinking of it as a shelter room, I suppose that makes sense—not just for the golem situation, but to deal with possible intruders as well."
"Yes. So even if you tried to force it open... well, an adventurer might be able to manage it, but it would be better to have them open it from the inside."
If that was the case, how were the adventurers who had gone to the other shelters planning to open their doors?
Rei briefly wondered about that, but figured that if they explained they were acting on Robel's and Dwanda's orders, the doors would be opened. ...Granted, that assumed the people inside the shelter rooms believed them.
The ones who had stormed in were demanding the shelter room doors be opened.
If that was how they saw it, there was no denying it in this case.
In a sense, it was undeniable that Rei and the others were, in fact, demanding the doors be opened.
(Besides... in the worst case, if it's a shelter room where only people involved in the Dolan Workshop's dark side are gathered, I doubt they'd open the door even if I claimed it was an order from Robel and Dwanda.)
Rei hoped the ones who had gone to the other locations weren't running into trouble. Eventually, the woman approached the door and called out.
"Excuse me, is anyone in there? It's me, Yona."
In response to the woman's—Yona's—words, there was a brief silence from behind the door before a voice spoke up.
"Yona-chan? You're safe? Is there no one else with you? Have the attackers withdrawn?"
"Um, well... actually, one of the people who attacked is here with me."
"Wh—Are you all right!?"
"Yes, there's no problem. Um... it seems the attack on the Dolan Workshop this time was ordered from above."
"From above? What do you mean? The Dolan Workshop earns money from golem trading in Egginis, and it pays a lot in taxes. So why would anyone be talking about attacking the Dolan Workshop?"
The voice from behind the door raised what was a natural question.
After all, it was tantamount to strangling the goose that laid the golden eggs.
"Um... it seems the Dolan Workshop had been doing various illegal things behind the scenes. Because of that, Dailas ended up killing Lusitania, and Robel and Dwanda apparently issued orders to secure the Dolan Workshop."
"...Huh?"
In response to Yona's explanation, a heavy silence of several seconds passed behind the door before that single word was finally muttered.
It was only natural. To the person who had been speaking with Yona, the content was completely unexpected.
Given the current situation, it wouldn't be strange for them to wonder what on earth she was talking about.
The fact that they didn't immediately say as much was probably because the person behind the door suspected that Yona herself might have been deceived.
Leaving this to Yona any longer seemed like it would just waste time.
Making that judgment, Rei spoke up.
"I'm Rei. Would it be easier to understand if I said I'm an A-Rank adventurer who goes by the alias Crimson?"
"Eh? ...Really?"
Rei's alias and, above all, the title of A-Rank adventurer seemed sufficient to catch the other party's attention.
Of course, some A-Rank adventurers Rei had encountered before had overbearing personalities and not necessarily high ability to match.
In that sense, the person in the shelter room had taken Rei at his word.
"Yeah, it's true. I'm deeply involved in this matter as well. That's why I want to hear about the situation regarding this incident. If you, like Yona, knew nothing about what was going on, there shouldn't be any real problems. Don't worry. So, could you open the door?"
Even as he said that, Rei thought about how he, despite being with Yona, hadn't been easily believed—which meant the ones who had gone to the other shelter rooms were probably having a much harder time of it.
Clack.
What interrupted Rei's thoughts was the sound of the shelter room door unlocking.
Then, with a heavy creeeak, the door swung open.
From the way the door swung slowly, it was clear that it was extremely heavy and served as a shield of sorts to protect against emergencies.
And the person who appeared from inside was a portly man in his thirties.
"You're... Crimson Rei?"
From the man's words, Rei deduced that the person who had been speaking with Yona until just now was the individual standing before him.
"Yeah. I'm involved in this incident as well."
"Um... is what Yona said earlier true?"
"It's an undeniable fact."
"How... how did things end up like that..."
For the man, the fact that the Dolan Workshop had a dark side was something he could somehow bring himself to accept.
But how that could possibly lead to Dailas killing Lusitania was beyond his comprehension entirely.
"I don't have time to explain that in detail right now. Still, having seen the Dolan Workshop's golems mobilized for battle, you should understand that this isn't an ordinary situation, right?"
"That's... well, true."
For the man as well, today's Dolan Workshop was undeniably abnormal in every sense of the word.
That was exactly why he had taken shelter in this room.
"So, how many people are in the shelter room?"
"Seven, including myself."
"I see. Then come with me, all of you. You'll likely be questioned about the Dolan Workshop situation, but please answer honestly. If there's no problem, you shouldn't receive any punishment."
Reassured by Rei's words, the man called out to the others inside the shelter room.
However... for some reason, there was no sign of the people inside coming out.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure. I'll go check on them."
Saying that, Yona headed toward the shelter room.
Rei considered going with her, but thinking that the people inside might be frightened by his presence, he decided it was better to wait here for now.
He waited... but after a few minutes passed, Yona returned from the shelter room and said with a troubled expression, "There are some people saying they don't want to come out of the shelter room... what should we do?"
"What should we do, you say. We can't have them living in there forever... wait. They don't want to come out of the shelter room?"
Rei sensed something unnatural in those words.
Of course, outside the shelter room—on the Dolan Workshop grounds—there had been a commotion with golems fighting Rei and the others.
But that commotion was already resolved.
And in the current situation, not wanting to go outside the shelter room... in other words, not wanting to meet Rei meant...
(Could it be, a hit?)
In this situation, not wanting to leave the shelter room was understandable in terms of avoiding danger.
But at the same time, it also seemed like they didn't want to leave because they didn't want to meet Rei.
And in the latter case, there wouldn't be many reasons for not wanting to meet Rei.
It was possible they were simply afraid of the high-rank adventurer who had brought ruin to the Dolan Workshop, but there was an even greater possibility that they didn't want to meet Rei for a different reason.
(Yes, for example, being involved in or knowing about the Dolan Workshop's dark side. I can't rule out the possibility of someone like that.)
Making that judgment, Rei spoke to Yona.
"I'm going in."
"Eh? Wa—Rei-san!?"
From Yona's perspective, her colleagues who worked at the same Dolan Workshop were frightened and saying they didn't want to come out of the shelter room.
Given that, it was only natural for her to think that having Rei—the very person they were afraid of—enter the shelter room would only make things worse.
But Yona, who had been about to stop Rei, froze mid-step upon seeing his demeanor.
It was in no way the appearance of someone going to meet a person who simply didn't want to leave a shelter room.
Though he felt Yona's gaze on him, Rei ignored it and entered the shelter room.
Inside, aside from the man who had been speaking with Rei earlier, there were six men and women.
Their ages ranged from about twenty on the younger end to nearly fifty on the older end.
And... the one who wore an expression of terror upon seeing Rei enter the shelter room was a man in his forties.
It wasn't simply the surprise of seeing an unfamiliar person—it was the kind of fear one might have upon seeing a grim reaper come for them.
"Hic, hii..."
The raspy scream also spoke volumes about just how terrified the man was of Rei.
"I see. I expected as much, but... you're not just afraid of me as an adventurer, are you? You have something to feel guilty about, which is why you're afraid of me. In other words, you're involved in the Dolan Workshop matter."
"!?"
The man who had screamed drew a sharp breath at Rei's words.
And the people around him wore expressions of disbelief at seeing the man's reaction.
"I thought there might be someone hiding in a shelter room instead of escaping... and I was right on the money."
For Rei, while he had said as much, he actually thought the possibility of someone hiding was quite low.
That was how dark the things the Dolan Workshop had been doing were.
However, for the person who had been hiding, the very idea that Rei and the others would storm in... that they would try to capture them—the Dolan Workshop, a major earner in Egginis—must have been completely unexpected.
It wasn't all that strange for there to be someone who couldn't escape in such a situation.
That said, naturally, such a person wouldn't honestly confess to their own sins.
"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm not... I just think it's dangerous to go outside right now, that's all!"
It was a spur-of-the-moment excuse, but of course Rei had no reason to believe such a story.
What he had right now was merely circumstantial evidence, but the fact that this man was suspicious—far too suspicious—was an undeniable truth.
Given that, Rei had to bring this man along no matter what.
"I'll ask you one more time. You... have some idea about this incident, don't you? How much do you know about what the Dolan Workshop was doing behind the scenes?"
"!? I... I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything!"
The man shouted and tried to run.
But to exit the shelter room, he needed to get past Rei... and naturally, Rei had no intention of letting escape someone who likely held leads about the Dolan Workshop's dark side. He stuck out his foot and tripped the man.
"Uwah!"
Even as he fell, the man tried desperately to get away from Rei... but before he could so much as get back to his feet, a boot came down on his back, and the man was captured.