"Gurururururu!"
The fruit Rei had brought back as a souvenir seemed to be plenty satisfying for Seto.
Smiling at Seto's reaction, Rei turned to look at the gatekeepers who had been looking after him. Though to be precise, they had really been playing with Seto to keep him from getting bored.
He had given fruit to those gatekeepers as a gesture of thanks.
The fruit grew sweeter in the heat, but would spoil the moment the temperature rose beyond a certain point.
It was a fruit with unusual properties, but if it was currently at its sweetest, all Rei had to do was store it in the Misty Ring.
Since time stood still inside the Misty Ring, the fruit would remain in that perfectly sweet but unspoiled state, ready to be eaten whenever.
(The only downside is that I can't chill it. The vendor said chilling it would affect the taste too.)
In other words, this fruit couldn't be eaten chilled—it could only be eaten at room temperature.
That was rather disappointing for Rei.
"Delicious..." one of the gatekeepers murmured, savoring the fruit with deep satisfaction.
The other gatekeepers didn't say it aloud, but they wore the same expression as the one who had.
Given that it was high-quality fruit, the residents of the Slum District—even those who belonged to Fusetsu—probably didn't get many chances to eat something like this.
If it were Nina, who handled negotiations, or Orban, who led Fusetsu, that might be a different story.
The gatekeepers here generally didn't have many such opportunities.
...Even so, the fact that they had "not many" rather than "none at all" was perhaps proof that Fusetsu was relatively well-off.
"I'm glad you're all enjoying it. Since it suddenly got hot, you need to make sure you're staying hydrated too. I'm just glad you all seemed happy to eat this fruit."
Since Rei knew he was the one responsible for raising the temperature, he felt a fair amount of responsibility about it.
That said, he wasn't planning to do something for every single person in the city.
After all, without Rei, the Necro Golem likely couldn't have been defeated. Compared to that kind of future, the current situation was clearly better.
"Well, it looks like you all enjoyed the souvenir fruit, so I'm heading inside now. Gatekeepers, keep up the good work. See you later too, Seto."
"Gurururu."
At Rei's words, the gatekeepers bowed their heads in gratitude, and Seto purred with disappointment.
Seto would have preferred to stay with Rei longer.
Rei was about to head toward the Fusetsu hideout when one of the gatekeepers suddenly called out to him.
"Rei, come to think of it, those two who left a while ago—Anne and Lindy, was it? They came back a little while ago."
"Huh? Already?"
Those words were enough to surprise Rei.
After all, Anne and Lindy had gone to visit Golias, who had been found. Rei didn't know exactly where Golias had been taken, but they had headed there nonetheless.
Lindy in particular harbored romantic feelings for Golias.
Because of that, for the two of them to return so soon after seeing him was quite unexpected.
However, the gatekeeper who told Rei this didn't know those circumstances.
Given that, there was nothing so surprising about the two who had gone to visit Golias coming back.
"Oh, right. But... there are a lot of injured people in Egginis right now, aren't there? When you think about it that way, it's not so unnatural."
"Normally, yeah, that would be the case. But there are various circumstances involved."
Rei decided it would be inappropriate to say something like "actually, Lindy has feelings for Golias" right here, so he deflected with that explanation.
Hearing Rei's words, the gatekeeper looked a little puzzled, but ultimately didn't ask anything more.
He probably judged from Rei's demeanor that it was better not to pry further.
And that judgment was indeed correct.
Even if he had asked for more details, Rei almost certainly wouldn't have spoken about those circumstances.
With that, Rei entered the building and was led by the waiting guide to the usual room, as expected.
"Rei!?"
The one who raised a surprised voice upon seeing Rei enter the room was, naturally, Lindy.
She had already heard from her companions that Rei had safely returned to this room a little while ago.
Even so, seeing Rei in person was undeniably reassuring.
"I heard you were safe, but..."
"A lot happened. You guys found Golias too, right? ...Though I have to say, finding him in the Dolan Workshop was pretty unexpected."
"...Yeah."
At Rei's words, Lindy murmured quietly, perhaps recalling Golias's appearance.
Golias, who had once been powerfully built, was now so emaciated that it was impossible to imagine his former self.
Given the state he was in, it must have been a shock for Lindy.
Or perhaps she was thinking that if they had searched more thoroughly when she went to the Dolan Workshop with Rei before, they might have found Golias sooner.
When they had infiltrated the Dolan Workshop previously, they had been quite pressed for time.
If they had found Golias then, they wouldn't have been able to find Anne... or the others who had been made illegal slaves, nor would they have discovered the altar used for necromancy rituals.
In that sense, failing to find Golias was unfortunate, but being able to rescue Anne was undeniably the better outcome, if not the best.
"I've never met Golias, but from what I've heard, he's not the kind of person who'd break from something like this, right? Then you should support him firmly and help him return as an adventurer. Besides... coming to have feelings for someone you've been helping like that is a common enough story."
Falling for someone who helped with rehabilitation was something Rei knew well.
...Though it wasn't from personal experience, but rather from knowledge gained through manga, dramas, movies, and anime.
That said, even in fiction, such things were included precisely because they weren't rare.
In that sense, even if Lindy wasn't currently seen by Golias in that way, cooperating with his rehabilitation could naturally lead to being seen that way.
"I wonder..."
Lindy didn't sound very confident, but Rei didn't press the matter any further.
He had already given what advice he could.
What Lindy decided to do with it was not something Rei needed to concern himself with.
The others who had been listening to Rei's words found themselves in a somewhat delicate atmosphere.
Sensing that, Rei cleared his throat softly and changed the subject.
"For now, the Dolan Workshop matter... and the matter of Dailas, who was behind the Dolan Workshop, have been resolved today. That means there's no need for everyone to stay here indefinitely, but... what will you all do?"
At Rei's words, many of them looked bewildered.
Of course, now that the Dolan Workshop situation was settled, they couldn't stay in the Fusetsu hideout forever.
They had already understood that much even before being told—when Rei had returned earlier, it had been mentioned.
So being asked again what they planned to do... many couldn't answer immediately.
Since this was a discussion about their future lives, being asked what they would do and immediately deciding—or even deciding within that same day after some deliberation—wasn't something they could manage.
(I guess it's not a situation where they can make snap decisions. It's not an immediate matter of life and death, so I think it's better to think it through carefully.)
Even in such a situation, there were some who could immediately decide what they would do next.
Specifically, those who had a place to return to.
"I'm going back to the orphanage. I can't leave Camila in a place like this forever."
"Huh? ...Wait, Anne! There's no need to rush back that fast, is there!?"
The first to voice dissatisfaction upon hearing Anne's words was, naturally, Camila.
There was also a man who had feelings for Anne and looked like he wanted to say something, but few noticed him.
"There is a need to rush back. The orphanage is struggling with various things. With me gone, things must be quite hectic."
"Ugh... that's..."
Hearing that, Camila couldn't argue back.
In truth, Anne was someone relied upon heavily at the orphanage.
And Camila fully understood that the orphanage had become quite busy since Anne had been enslaved.
Of course, part of that was undoubtedly due to the chaos caused by the shock of Anne being enslaved, but still, the absence of Anne was significant.
"You understand, right? Then it's settled. I'm going back as soon as we're able to leave."
"Wait—hold on! What about taking care of Golias? I haven't seen him, but it's pretty bad, isn't it!?"
Camila hadn't gone to visit Golias.
When information about Golias was shared, they had of course also been told about his current condition, and it was judged that it would be too shocking for the child Camila.
...From Rei's perspective, considering Camila's personality, he wondered if it was really necessary to be that cautious.
But there were likely differences between boys and girls, or differences in how close one was to Golias.
"You all can discuss that among yourselves and decide. As for those who were caught up in the Dolan Workshop incident, people like Robel and Dwanda who run Egginis will provide travel expenses for the return trip, and apparently a certain amount of money will be given as an apology."
At those words, several of the former illegal slaves showed expressions of relief.
Rei didn't know exactly how long they had been illegal slaves.
But he could at least guess that if someone had been employed somewhere, they had likely been dismissed from their position the moment they were taken as an illegal slave.
In worse cases, it was also possible that they had been dismissed for unauthorized absence without anyone knowing they had been enslaved, due to being unable to be contacted.
Considering that situation, the former illegal slaves here would undoubtedly face quite difficult times for a while.
In such circumstances, having money would help them manage to some extent.
Or perhaps there were those who needed money urgently, like to pay off debts.
"That being the case, the former illegal slaves should decide what to do as soon as possible. As for Ilunara and the other Dolan Workshop alchemists... I'm not sure what will happen to them, but at the very least, I think they'll be questioned by the guards."
Rei said that, but no one seemed to have any objections. No one voiced any complaints.
They had no involvement in the necromancy rituals as non-mainstream faction alchemists—that much was certain—but still, as alchemists belonging to the Dolan Workshop, they had probably expected to be questioned.
"Come to think of it, when we went to take down the Dolan Workshop, there were a few people who knew Ilunara. They were worried about him, so I told them he was safe."
Ilunara was told this, but he didn't seem particularly surprised to hear that people knew him.
He had been poorly treated as a non-mainstream faction alchemist, but even so, Ilunara knew that he was a fairly well-known alchemist within the Dolan Workshop.
For there to be people who knew of someone like him wasn't particularly strange.
Unlike Ilunara, his subordinates showed happy expressions upon hearing that.
The fact that Ilunara was liked by others was, after all, something to be happy about.
Thinking such things, Rei continued the discussion about what everyone would do from here on.