The new technology Roger had developed turned out not to be quite what Rei had hoped for.
To be precise, it may have been significant for an alchemist, but it was ultimately just an extension of existing techniques—not the kind of thing Rei had been expecting. Or rather, fantasizing about: a cleaning golem that could transform, combine, or perhaps even fly.
(Well, now that I think about it, even if a cleaning golem could transform or combine, there might not be much point to it. If it could fly, it might be at least somewhat useful for cleaning.)
In terms of pursuing new technology, it would have been fine to develop something that catered to that kind of romantic aspiration, but unfortunately, the current situation didn't allow for such indulgence.
In the first place, the reason Roger was working so desperately to develop a new golem type was simply to restore the Jalis Workshop's honor as the finest workshop in Egginis, having been overtaken by the Dolan Workshop.
But considering the current situation, the Dolan Workshop had essentially brought about its own downfall.
Given that, there was no longer any need for Roger to go out of his way to develop new technology and new golems.
"Anyway, I understand the gist. So what exactly is this new technology? You said it's similar to existing techniques."
"Leaving aside the technical jargon, to put it in terms easy for you to understand, Rei... the overall speed of judgment for finding and processing garbage has improved."
"...In other words, it's become higher-performance overall?"
"That's not wrong."
The news that it had become higher-performance overall was a moderate surprise to Rei. Since he didn't know specifically how much the capability had improved, he couldn't be sure how to judge it.
(That said, considering Roger's personality, he wouldn't go out of his way to get my permission just to release cleaning golems into the city for a mere slight improvement in ability. If that's the case, maybe this is more impressive than I thought?)
Rei had no way of knowing exactly what kind of performance the cleaning golem possessed.
However, it was also a fact that the cleaning golem was something he had commissioned.
In other words, an improvement in the performance of a cleaning golem he had requested was by no means a loss for him.
"Anyway, I want to use those cleaning golems. Do you mind?"
Roger asked with a serious expression, and Rei nodded without hesitation.
"No, I don't mind. Given the current situation in Egginis, the more cleaning golems, the better. A fair number of the ones in the city were absorbed by the Necro Golem."
"About that. I've heard about the existence of the Necro Golem. But can corpses really be used like golems?"
Reacting to the term, Roger asked Rei with a serious demeanor.
For Roger, the Necro Golem—a being created by the Dolan Workshop using Dailas as its core—likely held strong appeal precisely because he was a fellow alchemist.
Rei had somewhat expected this from Roger's personality, which was exactly why he needed to caution him.
"Roger, I'm sure you know this, but the Necro Golem is an extremely dangerous entity. If you're thinking of trying to create one, I'll have to stop you even if it means killing you."
The Necro Golem was, as its name suggested, a golem created through necromancy... using human corpses.
That alone would be troublesome enough, but in the case of the Necro Golem, it leaked rot fluid from its wounds, which turned into deadly poison smoke upon contact.
If Roger was actually trying to create such a golem, as someone who had fought and defeated the Necro Golem, Rei couldn't just let it be.
"I-I would never consider such a thing! I just found it a little intriguing."
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in Rei's words, Roger said this in a flustered manner.
To be honest, Rei wasn't sure how much of Roger's words he could believe.
Considering Roger's personality, it seemed entirely plausible that he might dabble with the Necro Golem if it meant advancing golem technology.
Rei might have been able to tolerate it if it were simply about golems in general, but when it came to the Necro Golem, that was a different story.
"Anyway, you want to use the cleaning golems now, right? Shouldn't you focus on that first? Personally, I'd like to ask how the defensive golem is coming along, though."
Rei could understand how the cleaning golem had become higher-performance using Orc Naga materials.
But what was truly important to him was, after all, the defensive golem.
When he had visited the Jalis Workshop previously, he had been shown part of the equipment the defensive golem would use, so it wasn't as though no development had been done on it at all, but...
"That's also properly under development. But it's undoubtedly easier to develop the cleaning golem, since many of them have already been manufactured."
"It's an understandable reason, but I would have preferred you prioritize the defensive golem."
At Rei's words, Roger showed a dissatisfied expression but nonetheless spoke up.
"It's not like I forgot about the defensive golem. More importantly, let's get the cleaning golems out there. What about you, Rei? I won't stop you if you want to come along."
"Ah... right. Honestly, I'm a bit torn."
If the new technology used in the cleaning golem had been something intriguing to Rei, he might have gone to see how it moved in person.
However, since it was a new technology but not the kind he had hoped for, there seemed to be no need to go out of his way to see it.
(That said, having come all the way here, going back without doing anything at all seems a bit... well. In that case, maybe I should look around at least a little.)
For Rei, returning straight to the Slum District like this felt off.
At the same time, he wasn't in the mood to go watch the cleaning golems in action.
If this were a normal time with nothing particular going on, Rei would have gone to the main street, bought something from a food stall, or visited a shop selling weapons or Magic Items and purchased anything that caught his fancy. But unfortunately, the current situation didn't allow for such behavior.
After all, the main street had suffered considerable damage.
The conclusion Rei reached upon thinking this was...
"I'll look around a bit and then head back to the Slum District. Even shops that aren't on the main street might still be open if they escaped the Necro Golem's damage."
At Rei's words, Roger nodded with a somewhat complicated expression.
And so, having received Rei's permission, Roger immediately headed into the city with the cleaning golems... while Rei set out to purchase some kind of souvenir for Seto at a place away from the main street.
With that intention, Rei parted ways with Roger and exited the Jalis Workshop, but...
(Who is it?)
Sensing the presence of someone following him, Rei felt slightly bewildered.
If they were doing their utmost to suppress their presence, he might have concluded they were from some underworld organization.
But not only were they not concealing their presence, they weren't even bothering to muffle their footsteps as they trailed Rei, so there was no doubt they were not someone trained in such techniques.
And yet, from their presence, he could sense they harbored some grievance against him.
Not quite hatred or murderous intent, but someone holding some kind of negative emotion.
Thinking this, Rei recalled the words of the adventurer who had come to the Fusetsu hideout to see him.
(Right, now that he mentioned it, he did say there were some who had strong feelings about their golems being absorbed by the Necro Golem. Is this one of them?)
Thinking of it that way, it made sense that—while not quite hatred or murderous intent—they would have some feelings toward Rei.
...In reality, Rei hadn't created the Necro Golem, so being on the receiving end of such emotions was troubling.
Even so, with the Necro Golem already gone, they had no choice but to direct those feelings toward Rei.
But that didn't mean Rei would quietly accept such behavior, and the answer to that was, naturally, no.
(That corner should do.)
As he walked down the street, Rei turned at a corner.
But rather than continuing down the path, he leaned against the wall right after turning and waited a moment.
Then, the person who had been following Rei, unwilling to let him escape after he suddenly turned the corner, came running... and before long, a single woman appeared before him.
"!?"
When the woman realized that Rei, who had been waiting at the corner, had noticed her tailing him, she panicked... and immediately turned a sharp gaze toward him.
"You're Rei, aren't you!"
Even with the Dragon Robe's hood up in his current state, there was no way the woman would mistake Rei for someone else.
That was likely because she had already identified him as Rei at the Jalis Workshop.
Or perhaps, simply as an alchemist, she had the eye to discern Magic Items, which was how she had seen through to Rei being Rei so effortlessly.
Unfortunately, Rei couldn't know which of those reasons applied, but there was no mistaking that the woman recognized him.
Given that, pretending not to know him here clearly wouldn't work.
"Yeah, I'm Rei. And you are? It looks like you tailed me from the Jalis Workshop... Are you an alchemist affiliated with the Jalis Workshop? I heard that among the alchemists whose golems were absorbed by the Necro Golem, there are some who hold a grudge against me."
You're one of them, aren't you?
Though he didn't say it aloud, his gaze conveyed as much.
The woman, too, understanding that her grudge against Rei over the golem matter was known, must have decided there was no point hiding it.
She nodded while glaring at him.
"That's right. My precious golem was absorbed by that hideous Necro Golem. And it's all because of you!"
The woman shouted this, but Rei opened his mouth to point out that making such a claim to him was fundamentally mistaken.
"I'll accept that you hate the Necro Golem, but blaming me for your golem getting absorbed by it is another matter entirely."
At Rei's words, the woman's glare sharpened further.
Her eyes were sharp, but she was a rational beauty—it would not be a mistake to describe her as such.
Being sharply glared at by the possessor of such rational beauty might have been a reward for those with that particular taste.
For Rei, however, being glared at like that only served to deepen his dissatisfaction with the woman's misguided behavior.
Eventually, precisely because she was rational, the woman must have understood that her actions toward Rei were unreasonable.
Though showing clear irritation, she averted her gaze from him.
"I know that. But I put a tremendous amount of effort into making that child. If it had been damaged to the point where repairs were possible, that would be one thing, but there wasn't even a scrap of wreckage left!"
"In the first place, why did you do something like letting your golem come into contact with the Necro Golem in that situation? You knew it would be absorbed if it touched it, didn't you?"
"There was someone who couldn't escape in time, and I needed to buy even a little time."
At those words, Rei raised his estimation of the woman slightly.
He had assumed she let her golem come into contact with the Necro Golem because she wanted to claim all the credit for herself, or harbored baseless confidence that her golem would be fine, or had some other even more selfish reason. But from what she just said, it turned out she had done it to save someone.
"Your golem saved that person, didn't it? If so, you could at least take pride in that instead of holding it against me."
"That's..."
The woman, too, understood that what Rei was saying was right.
But at the same time, it was also a fact that she couldn't accept everything just because he was right... and so she fell silent at his words.