The room Nina guided him to had a considerable amount of potions prepared.
In terms of both quantity and quality, they were likely superior to the ones Rei had received from Dwanda.
"Please, Lord Rei. All of these potions have been prepared as your reward."
"It's not really my place to ask, but can I really take all of these? Just from looking at them, they're clearly better than what I got from Dwanda."
Since Nina was the one saying this, it was almost certainly true. Even so, Rei figured he would ask just to be sure.
Seeing his hesitation, Nina smiled and nodded.
"Yes, there is no problem. Lord Orban has instructed as much. However... if you are surprised, I have been entrusted with a message: these potions are from both Lord Orban and Lord Robel, which is why they are of this quantity and quality."
"From both of them? ...I see, so that's what it is."
The message Nina relayed carried enough weight to convince Rei.
From Orban and Robel's perspective, their relationship with Rei predated Dwanda's. That was precisely why they needed to provide more—and more effective—potions than what Dwanda had given.
Setting Orban aside, it was only natural for Robel and Dwanda to want to maintain their connection with Rei, who had defeated the Necro Golem that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the city.
While not everyone necessarily felt this way, Rei was regarded almost as a hero in Egginis for defeating the creature, so it was only natural.
If Rei had not been present when the Necro Golem appeared in the city, there was no telling how much damage would have been done. Depending on the circumstances, there was even a possibility that Egginis could have been completely destroyed.
That was why, if words criticizing Robel or Dwanda were to slip from Rei's mouth, the impact would be significant. As for Orban, who knew Rei reasonably well, he did not think Rei would do such a thing—but even so.
In any case, it was only natural to conclude that maintaining good relations with Rei was the best course of action.
And so, what had been prepared were the potions before him now.
"Then I'll gladly take these off your hands."
"Please do. To repay the favor I have received from you, Lord Rei, I believe even these potions are hardly sufficient."
"...Is that so?"
Having received permission, Rei stored the potions into his Misty Ring while giving that response to Nina's words.
Rei was aware that he had caused Fusetsu a fair amount of trouble, but he couldn't help feeling that such deep gratitude was somewhat unwarranted.
After all, Fusetsu had annihilated Blood Blade, who had been targeting him, and had protected Anne's group whom he rescued from the Dolan Workshop.
It wasn't as if he was only receiving help one-sidedly. When the assassins hired by the Dolan Workshop attacked the Fusetsu hideout, he had lent his strength in repelling them, and he had played a major role in the Necro Golem incident.
He had provided various other forms of cooperation as well, but ultimately, Rei's assistance was largely directed at the troubles he himself had brought—giving it a strong sense of match-pumping, he thought.
Of course, if Rei had not stirred up such incidents, the Dolan Workshop would likely still be using necromancy to create cores from human souls.
In that sense, Nina's gratitude toward him was perhaps only natural.
"Yes. This is neither flattery nor anything of the sort—Egginis was saved thanks to you, Lord Rei. And though it may be presumptuous to say, Fusetsu's influence has risen to a level incomparable to before."
"That's... well, I suppose so."
The assassin guilds that were hostile to Fusetsu—or at least neutral—due to the Dolan Workshop's influence had banded together to attack Fusetsu, and that assault had been repelled.
The damage from that would have been quite significant, and beyond that, in the negotiations for the return of captured prisoners, there was no doubt that Fusetsu had been able to exploit their position considerably.
Given that, it was only natural for Nina to feel deep gratitude toward Rei regarding this incident.
...That was precisely why, rather than delegating to a subordinate, Nina had personally come to demonstrate her sincerity in the act of delivering the potions as a reward.
If it were merely a matter of guiding him to the room where the potions were prepared, a subordinate would have sufficed.
Whether Rei understood all of that or not was another matter, however.
"Therefore, on a personal level, I had hoped to prepare something additional beyond these potions as a token of appreciation, but..."
"These potions alone are more than satisfactory. ...By the way, have you heard anything specific about what Egginis plans to do from here on out?"
"No, unfortunately I have not. Once Lord Orban returns, I expect we can learn about those matters from him."
"I see. ...If I stay in Egginis as is, it'll become a bit difficult to move around, so I'm thinking of stepping away from the city for a while. What do you think?"
"That is... if you feel that way, Lord Rei, then I think it would be best to do so. However, if possible, I would personally find it very reassuring if you could stay."
For Nina, having Rei—a reliable presence in times of need—was something to be deeply grateful for. So much so that she genuinely wished he could stay here forever.
But of course, she could never force Rei into anything. If they were to forcibly confine Rei here, in the Fusetsu hideout, it could very well result in the hideout itself being destroyed.
Fusetsu was the largest assassin guild in Egginis, but even Fusetsu stood no chance of winning in a direct confrontation with Rei.
That was precisely why, when Rei first came here, they had chosen not to fight him and instead taken action on his behalf by destroying Blood Blade, the guild that had been trying to assassinate him.
"If I stay here, it feels like the troubles themselves would come straight to us. To prevent that, my not being here is the best option. ...Besides, I'd like to look around other places that seem interesting if there are any."
"I understand. Then, when do you plan to depart?"
When she asked "when?" specifically, Rei thought for a moment before answering.
"With things like this, it's better to act as soon as you decide, so tomorrow. I'll rest up today and head somewhere else tomorrow. That said, I still haven't received the golem I asked Roger to make, so I'll probably be back before too long."
"I see, understood. ...Now that you mention it, I heard the new cleaning golems have been performing quite well."
That was somewhat surprising to Rei.
He had heard from Roger that he had developed a new technology. But he had also heard that it was not the kind of new technology Rei had expected—rather, it was merely an extension of existing techniques.
In that sense, Rei had lost interest almost immediately after hearing Roger's explanation, but from what Nina was saying, the reputation was apparently quite good.
(I was told that overall performance had improved, so thinking about it, wasn't that actually a decent proposition? ...And since I'll be the one receiving those cleaning golems in the end, it's not a bad deal either way.)
The fact that Roger's newly developed cleaning golems were currently operating and earning a good reputation meant that they were being put through direct use—serving, in a sense, as a field test to determine whether there were any issues.
Since Rei would ultimately receive those cleaning golems, confirming whether the new technology had any problems under current conditions was certainly not a bad thing for him.
"It'd be nice if the cleaning golems Roger developed catch on, though."
Even as he said this, Rei figured it would probably be difficult.
This was not limited to golems, but new technology invariably came at a considerable cost. Moreover, the new technology used Orc Naga materials.
Rei did not know specifically which parts of the Orc Naga were being used. It could be a part of which only one existed within an Orc Naga's body, or it could be a part of which there were a certain number available.
Furthermore, if that particular material from the Orc Naga were exhausted and could not be substituted with materials from other monsters, the number that could be produced would inevitably be limited.
Inside Rei's Misty Ring, there were still a large number of Orc Naga corpses, but even those would naturally decrease if they continued to be used.
Rei also thought that Orc Naga materials might have uses beyond cleaning golems.
He had slain a large number of Orc Nagas, but even those were rare monsters that inhabited the Forest of Magic. They did not inhabit other locations... or perhaps they did somewhere, but at the very least, since he had not heard any such reports from the Guild at present, the likelihood was high that they were endemic to the Forest of Magic.
"You're right. If they were to catch on, it might somewhat mitigate the bad reputation from this incident."
"I think that would be difficult, though."
The incident caused by the Dolan Workshop and Dailas was an atrocity significant enough to go down in history. Rei did not think the reputation of Roger's newly developed cleaning golems could do anything about that.
"Of course, I don't truly believe that alone would fix everything. But perhaps... just perhaps, it might at least soften Egginis's bad reputation to some degree."
For Nina, whether such a thing was truly possible was beside the point—these words likely came from her desire for it to happen if at all possible.
"Is that how it works? Well, if so, that's fine by me. Besides... regarding Egginis going forward, Fusetsu may also need to change in various ways because of this incident, so I think you should do your best."
Saying that, Rei continued his conversation with Nina for a short while.
"Ah, Rei-niichan. You're back? So, what did you get as a reward?"
When Rei returned to his room, Camila asked him this.
Earlier, he had been too embarrassed about the Maruka situation and retreated to his own room, but apparently that embarrassment had already faded.
For Rei, this was better than having Camila act sullen.
"There wasn't anything you'd want, Camila. Just potions."
Hearing Rei's words that he received potions, Camila showed a disappointed expression.
Camila had probably been expecting something like a fine weapon or a large quantity of gold coins.
...In reality, the potions Rei received were of far higher quality and quantity than the ones ordinarily sold in the city. Given that, they would fetch a considerable sum if sold at a shop.
Unfortunately, from Rei's words about receiving potions, Camila apparently could not imagine any of that.
"For an adventurer, having potions is extremely helpful, you know."
This was neither a lie nor an exaggeration—it was a fact.
If someone capable of using healing magic of some attribute were present, one might not struggle with recovery. But in the first place, those who could use magic were quite rare.
Moreover, among those who could use magic, how many could actually use healing magic?
The probability of finding such a rare mage to join one's party was naturally very low.
That was why potions were essential for adventurers.
...No, even mages had limits to their mana, so even if one did have a mage as a companion, Rei recalled having heard that many would only use healing magic when truly necessary and rely on potions otherwise.
If someone like Rei, who had more mana than he could possibly exhaust, were an exception, then it would be a different story.
But of course, people with such enormous mana were not lying around everywhere.
"Really? ...Huh, I'll keep that in mind."
Camila's response was more serious than Rei had expected.
Why? Rei wondered—and recalling the earlier conversation, he understood the reason.
Camila probably could not bring himself to give up on Maruka and intended to make a name for himself as an adventurer to attain a status worthy of her.
For an orphan like Camila, judging that becoming an adventurer was the quickest path to rising in status was not unreasonable, and that notion was by no means mistaken.
Observing Camila's demeanor, Rei decided to lend a slight hand and told him stories from his own time working as an adventurer.