Once their conversation at the café wrapped up, they each went their separate ways.
Naturally, Marina headed back to the treatment center.
She figured that the people who had been making a scene over the earlier incident were already gone from the area.
Even so, while the loiterers might have cleared out, the people still inside the building were another matter entirely.
The staff working at the treatment center had a decent grasp of just how powerful Marina was, so even after a disturbance of that magnitude, it likely wouldn't amount to much of a problem.
The patients receiving treatment, however, were a different story.
Precisely because they didn't know much about Marina, watching her unleash that power earlier had left them thoroughly impressed.
On top of that, the arrogant adventurer who had tried to claim Marina as his woman had been insufferable, and she had struck him down with overwhelming force.
Having witnessed that spectacle, it would have been impossible not to feel a sense of satisfaction.
...Among the lightly injured patients, some had even moved toward the doors to catch a glimpse of Marina in action as she chased down the men she'd blown outside.
She was returning to exactly that kind of environment, so there was no question it would cause a stir.
That said, the injured had seen Marina's power with their own eyes, and many already knew of her reputation.
Given that, it was highly unlikely anyone would try to mess with her.
"Well then, see you later."
With those words, Marina gave Rei a light kiss on the cheek and turned toward the treatment center.
A ripple of commotion spread through the onlookers.
The shop staff and customers who had been watching, along with the people who happened to be passing by, all saw the kiss and erupted into murmurs...
(Ah, this is bad.)
Rei made that judgment in an instant.
He had the Dragon Robe's hood pulled up, so no one could get a clear look at his face.
But Marina had kissed him—even if only on the cheek.
And anyone who understood Marina's current standing would realize without a moment's thought just what kind of person the recipient of that kiss was.
Listening to the swelling buzz of voices, Rei immediately broke into a sprint away from the scene.
Several seconds later, the people who realized the man from just now had been Rei were stunned.
Rei's good fortune was that there were no agents of nobles or merchants among them.
The place where he and Marina had been wasn't a shop on a main thoroughfare but rather a hidden, hole-in-the-wall establishment.
Thanks to that, the number of customers was fairly small, and even among the passersby who had been near the shop at the time of the kiss, none were particularly eager to make contact with Rei.
In truth, some of them did serve masters who wanted to contact Rei—but they hadn't been specifically ordered to search for him, nor were they close confidants of those masters. They were underlings.
That was why, even after realizing the fleeing figure was Rei, they didn't give chase.
Rei had been graced with that stroke of luck, but naturally, sprinting through the middle of town drew its fair share of attention.
There were workers who ran through town as part of their duties, so it wasn't as if a running person was completely unheard of.
Even so, someone in this area wearing a commonplace robe yet moving with the practiced agility of a seasoned fighter... it went without saying who that person was.
"Did they spot me?"
"What are you going to do?"
She must have caught Rei's muttered words. Nielson spoke up from inside the Dragon Robe.
Running through the noisy streets, she asked in a voice kept low enough that no one around them could hear it. Under normal circumstances, it would have been easy to miss.
But Rei's senses were far sharper than an ordinary person's.
Thanks to that, he caught every word Nielson said.
"I've already finished what I needed to do in Gilm. I would've liked to see Vihera if she were around, but apparently she's at the Birth Tower. In that case, there's no need to go out of my way. I'll head straight to Marina's house."
Once he was inside Marina's house, getting onto the grounds would be virtually impossible for anyone else.
Anyone currently keeping Marina's house under surveillance knew that it was protected by spirits.
Given that, there was no doubt Rei would be safe the moment he set foot on the property.
"Okay. Good luck, then."
Nielson's voice was bright and cheerful.
The interior of the Dragon Robe was somewhat cramped, but the simplified air conditioner kept it comfortable.
Even so, that cramped feeling was far from ideal for Nielson.
She had always preferred moving about freely over staying cooped up in one place.
That was why she must have figured that once they reached Marina's house, she could slip out of the Dragon Robe and fly around to her heart's content.
...And she wasn't entirely wrong about that.
However, Marina's house was currently where Elena was staying, and Nielson had completely overlooked the fact that people would be coming and going to visit Elena.
Of course, if Elena had been in the middle of meeting with someone when they returned to Gilm, the situation might have been somewhat different.
But when they had arrived, Elena hadn't been meeting with anyone—she had been in the middle of a mock battle with Ara.
Thanks to that... or perhaps because of it, Nielson must have assumed that going to Marina's house meant there wouldn't be anyone around and she'd have the freedom to fly as she pleased.
Rei could more or less grasp what was on her mind from her demeanor, but he didn't press the issue.
Saying something careless now risked souring Nielson's mood, and more importantly, he couldn't entirely dismiss the possibility that no visitors would actually be at Marina's house when they arrived.
"Ah, there he is!"
A voice reached Rei's ears mid-stride.
He had no idea who "he" referred to.
But from the tone and the timing, it wasn't hard to guess they meant him.
So Rei paid it no particular mind... he ignored the voice and kept running.
A moment later, he heard footsteps pounding after him, confirming that the shout had indeed been directed his way.
With those sounds behind him, Rei quickened his pace, driving his feet harder against the cobblestones.
He sensed a flicker of agitation from his pursuer.
Realistically speaking, there weren't many people who could easily keep up with Rei's running speed.
That said, this was the middle of town.
It wasn't an open plain. With crowds of people going about their day, he had to weave through them as he advanced.
(I have no idea how they're tracking me. But since they're chasing me through crowded streets, they must be used to running through throngs of people... ah.)
Mid-run, he suddenly spotted a familiar face.
Not someone whose name he remembered, though.
It was one of Egg's subordinates—the operatives who handled intelligence work in Gilm's underworld.
(No, it's not just one.)
As he scanned the street while running, he picked out three, four, five familiar faces.
Naturally, the only ones Rei could recognize were people whose faces he already knew.
He had no idea how many people currently made up the organization Egg commanded.
Given that it was an organization charged with overseeing Gilm's shadowy affairs, and considering the influx of people drawn by the expansion construction, they could never have enough hands.
That said, if they carelessly let just anyone into their ranks, the odds of that person causing trouble were high.
In that sense, they needed to thoroughly investigate any suspicious connections before bringing someone in, which meant they couldn't simply bulk up their numbers on a whim.
(But a coincidence... no, that's impossible.)
The possibility that Egg's subordinates just happened to be gathering in the very direction Rei was fleeing was virtually unthinkable.
Which meant they had to be doing it for a reason.
(Does Egg want to make contact with me too? No, there shouldn't be any need for that. If there were something, he could just relay it through Lord Daskar. The fact that he didn't suggests he's not trying to capture me or make contact...)
Even as he ran, the moment Rei entertained that possibility, something happened that confirmed his guess.
"Whoa!"
"Ah, sorry! You came out of nowhere..."
"Whoa, hey!"
"You're not gonna just bump into me and run off, are you!?"
The voices reached him from behind.
And with each outcry, the presence of those chasing Rei grew fainter.
Up ahead, the familiar faces of Egg's subordinates caught Rei's eye. The moment their gazes met, they flashed him knowing smiles.
Seeing those smiles, Rei understood—Egg's people had gathered to run interference for him.
There weren't many people who could keep up with Rei in the first place, but Egg clearly didn't want a commotion breaking out in the middle of town.
He knew Rei's strength, and he judged that if Rei went on a rampage here, the collateral damage would be significant.
From Rei's perspective, he had absolutely no intention of doing any such thing... but for Egg, who was well-acquainted with Rei's track record, preparing for the worst was only natural.
(Still, gathering this many people means Egg knew I was in this area. How on earth did he get his hands on that kind of information?)
The fact that Rei had returned to Gilm had likely been passed from Daskar to Egg.
But after leaving the lord's manor, Rei hadn't decided on a destination. He'd simply wandered aimlessly.
From there, he'd gone to the treatment center on a whim.
And yet Egg's people had seemed to be waiting there—had Egg predicted Rei would go to the treatment center to see Marina, or was his organization's intelligence network simply that sharp?
Unfortunately, Rei didn't have an answer to that... but since they weren't getting in his way and were instead obstructing the people chasing him, he had no complaints about their intervention.
He could hear angry shouts and flustered voices behind him, and for some reason even bursts of laughter, but Rei tuned it all out and kept running... until eventually the Noble District came into view.
He was currently in the upscale residential area where the wealthy lived, just before the entrance to the Noble District.
...There had been a disturbance in the basement of one of the mansions around here before, so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar territory for Rei.
(One left... no, two.)
Rei tore through the area like a gust of wind.
Given that it was an upscale residential district, there were far fewer people walking about than in the busy streets.
That meant Rei didn't need to weave and dodge as he moved—he could run at his full, unrestrained speed.
The pursuers who had managed to keep up precisely because they were running through crowded streets began to fall further and further behind as the distance widened.
One of the remaining two dropped off completely, and before long, only a single pursuer remained.
The Noble District drew closer, but Rei's pace didn't slow in the slightest.
Running through the Noble District under these circumstances would naturally arouse suspicion.
Unlike the main thoroughfares, the residents of the Noble District were, by and large, nobles.
On top of that, with so many people flooding into Gilm seeking work from the expansion construction, patrols were stricter than usual.
...Of course, with the expansion construction having been underway for over a year now, many among the patrols had lost their initial edge.
Even so, they weren't so lax as to let someone sprinting through the Noble District slip by unnoticed.
What's more, Rei wasn't traveling with Seto at the moment, and the Dragon Robe's concealment effect made him appear to be wearing nothing more than a run-of-the-mill robe.
On the main streets, his current appearance wouldn't have raised any eyebrows.
But this was the Noble District.
Walking around in what looked like a cheap robe would make him stand out in all the wrong ways.
"Halt! Identify yourself!"
The adventurers on patrol in the Noble District spotted Rei sprinting past and instinctively called out to him.
Suspecting a possible criminal, they drew their weapons as they shouted...
"Sorry about that."
Leaving only that brief reply, Rei closed the gap between himself and the patrol in a flash.
They attacked almost on reflex, but Rei slipped past every strike with effortless grace and blew right by them.
"Ah, hey—!"
One of the men yelped, startled not only by how easily his attack had been evaded but also by the fact that his opponent hadn't struck back at all...
"It's fine. Let him go."
"Huh?"
Told this by one of his companions, he shot the man a questioning look, wondering why on earth he would say that.
But the man who met his gaze spoke with a knowing nod.
"I'd heard he was back in town, but... that's the alias holder of Crimson, alright."
At those words, the others realized just who it was they had attacked, and astonishment washed over them.