Continuing through the 17th floor, Rei’s party managed to find the stairs to the next floor after encountering a group of Goblins. After reaching the stairs, they quickly used the magic circle to leave the dungeon.

Leaving the dungeon, they went to the guild and sold all the Goblin materials and proofs of subjugation before heading out into the main street, shopping and eating like they usually did.

The sun was still shining down strongly as it was still in the afternoon.

All things considered, it seemed that cutting their own path through the forest had drained more stamina than they had expected. Even though it hadn’t been that long since they had eaten lunch in the dungeon, Rei and Elena bought grilled skewers and sandwiches to fill their stomachs as they savoured the taste.

Naturally, Set and Yellow also started to ask for food, so they bought more food than usual as they enjoyed eating everything.

「Huh, the meat filling in this sandwich is spicy.」

Elena let out a surprised voice as she ate a sandwich with grilled chicken with some blue coloured hot sauce on it.

「The fish in this one is boiled and paired with a really sour fruit.」

Like so, they ate their sandwiches and described the flavours to each other, eventually sharing their sandwiches as they made their way down the street.

Even though it was well over 35C in the afternoon and the sun was glaring down……Set and Yellow enjoyed their food as well while walking alongside Rei and Elena.

Normally, it wouldn’t be strange for them to lose their appetite due to the summer heat, but neither of them seemed bothered by it as they continued to walk along……

「Ara~ ara~, it’s quite hot. Or, should I say, it’s really hot.」

「Mm.」

「Uhh……um, I hope we’re not bothering you?」

「……Mm, ahem.」

As Rei’s group neared the Golden Wind inn, some people called out to them.

Turning to see the direction the voices came from, they saw four people, all acquaintances.

Vihera was still wearing the same thin clothes, similar to those of a dancer or prostitute, in the heat. Byune came over to Set and Yellow and reached out to pat them with an expressionless face. Essetus raised his hand lighly with a somewhat irresolute expression while Nakuto looked away as if pretending he hadn’t seen anything.

Rei questioned them after seeing the unexpected combination.

「This is an unusual group. What happened?」

Vihera replied to Rei’s question with a smile on her lips.

「Yes, actually, I’d like to ask you out for something.」

「Hey, are you trying to ask him out in front of me!?」

「Oh? What’s wrong with that?」

Seeing the way Vihera was looking at her, Elena realised that she was just being teased and gave a small cough before asking another question.

「So, what do you want us to help you with? ……Well, I have a good guess seeing those two here.」

Elena directed her gaze over to Essetus and Nakuto.

They were the two people they had introduced to Vosk, the head of the Silva family, to ask for help in locating their

「A-Ahh. Uh……actually, when we were looking around for the guy who kidnapped Tivia, they attacked us. These two helped us out.」

Essetus turned to look over at Vihera, who was looking at Elena with a seemingly friendly smile, and Byune, who was stroking Set and Yellow expressionlessly.

「Heh. Then, did you find their hideout? Or are you saying you don’t have enough strength? It wouldn’t take much time to raid them, so I can help with that.」

If they were to attack a hideout, it would probably take about an hour. It wasn’t too much trouble, so Rei didn’t mind helping with something like that. However, Vihera shook her head at Rei’s words.

「We haven’t found their hideout yet. ……But there’s some information that you wouldn’t want to miss.」

「……Information I wouldn’t want to miss?」

「Yes. Whenever you kill an abnormal species, I know you bring the corpse over to the Silva family. But, I know you’re more interested in finding out who’s creating them and where they’re actually from.」

「That is right. I am interested in that.」

To be exact, his interest was more in the sense that he wanted to deal with the person who was creating all the abnormal species as it could have a negative impact on his Magic Beast Art. But, as he couldn’t say that directly, Rei vaguely admitted his interest.

That was enough for Vihera.

「The people creating the abnormal species and the people recently kidnapping adventurers. ……If I told you the two were related, what would you think?」

「……Is it true?」

The appearance of abnormal species and the attacks on adventurers. Rei, who hadn’t considered that the two incidents were related, asked Vihera.

「My intuition.」

Seeing Vihera’s response, Rei was astonished.

However, looking at her face, she wasn’t joking at all. At the very least, Vihera herself believed in what she was saying.

Normally, if an ordinary person had made a judgement based on their intuition, Rei would have just laughed it off.

But, if the person saying it was a high ranking adventurer, that would be a different story.

A person’s intuition made unconscious judgments based on the accumulated data from events that a person had experienced.

Furthermore, the person who was currently smiling in front of him was a battle maniac who was called the Mad Beast, so he couldn’t just dismiss her intuition without considering it.

「……Fine. Let’s head up for now. We’ll hear the details in my room.」

「Fufu~, you should have just done that at the beginning.」

Hearing Rei’s words, Vihera gave a small smile.

That said, the reason for her smile was more her desire to fight, believing that she might be able to find stronger enemies to fight.

「Is Byune okay with this? You know, these people are now members of the Silva family.」

「……Mm.」

When Elena asked Byune, who was stroking Set and Yellow, Byune was silent for a few seconds before giving a response.

Of course, Byune couldn’t say that she didn’t have her own thoughts regarding the Silva family……or rather, the three ruling families of Exil.

But even so, if she could help Rei and Elena, who were kind to her, it wasn’t hard to suppress her own feelings.

Besides, it seemed like the current events could earn her a lot of money.

For Byune, who was always in need of more money, there was no way she would miss this perfect opportunity

Even if it would likely benefit the Silva family.

In any case, if Byune had no complaints, Elena had no issues either. Leaving Set and Yellow at the stables, their group entered the inn together.

 

 

After wiping away the sweat and dust and taking care of her appearance, Elena joined the others in Rei’s room.

「So, Vihera said her intuition was the reason……what do you think?」

The first to respond was the calm Nakuto.

「According to the people who attacked us, we’re quite sure that Tivia is still alive. But, now that the information has been leaked, it wouldn’t be strange if she was killed at any time. Unless there is some special circumstance.」

「Some special circumstance? Since they purposely chose to kidnap Tivia, I can’t deny the possibility of that, but……it’s too dangerous to bet on that, isn’t it?」

Speaking that far, Rei stopped before turning to Essetus and Nakuto.

「I understand your feelings. But didn’t you consider bringing the information to the Silva family?」

Even though they were now inside a temperature controlled inn, the boiling heat outside seemed to make Essetus thirsty. He took a sip of cold fruit juice before shaking his head.

「I don’t think Vosk-sama would act on baseless intuition, regardless of the situation. Besides, it was only after I came here that I heard it was based on intuition.」

「That’s right. Besides, I know about the relationship between the Silva family and the Fraut family. It’s true that I plan to return the favour to the Silva family for getting their help. ……But that all after we’ve rescued Tivia. After that, I’ll apologise to Vosk-sama for everything and make amends.」

Hearing the two’s determination and seeing the look in their eyes, showing that they wouldn’t turn back, Rei turned to Elena.

From the beginning, there was no reason for Rei to become involved with the abnormal species incidents.

However, it was in his own self interest to get rid of any possible irregularities to do with the Magic Beast Art.

That said, was it fine to drag Elena into this as well? That was what he thought for a moment, but what he got back was a rather sullen look from Elena.

「Elena?」

「……Of course I have no complaints.」

Although Elena said that, her attitude clearly showed she wasn’t happy.

(Seriously, you shouldn’t have to ask me if I want to help as well. You could at least understand my feelings.)

Distant. That was what Elena was feeling in her mind.

She had been with Rei for quite some time and thought that he would be able to understand her feelings. Because of that, she was dissatisfied that Rei asked her something that he should have known without having to ask.

There was one person who didn’t miss Elena’s expression.

Next to Byune, who was slowly sipping on some fruit juice, Vihera spoke up with a smile.

「Oh? Even if it looks like things are going well, I wonder if it is actually going that well. Maybe I still have a chance.」

「There is no such thing. Rather, how are we supposed to help? In the end, you didn’t go after the people who attacked those two, right?」

Realising that she would only be teased again, Elena forcibly returned to the main subject.

Vihera had a somewhat disappointed expression on her face, but Byune gently pulled on her clothes, prompting her to continue.

「Mm.」

「It can’t be helped, I understand. ……When these two were attacked, the attackers didn’t even hide their faces. Probably because they weren’t planning on letting them escape. Or maybe they thought they might stand out more if they wore a mask? At the very least, it wouldn’t be as obvious if they wore a mask at night compared to during the day.」

「……Come to think of it, why did they attack us in the middle of the day?」

In response to Vihera’s words, Essetus muttered without thinking, as if thinking of something.

The one who answered him was not Nakuto……but Vihera.

「I can think of several reasons. Maybe it was because they were in the back alleys near the slums, so the didn’t have to worry about being seen by other people……or maybe there was something nearby they didn’t want anyone to see.」

「You mean to say that they made a move first because we were getting close to finding something?」

「That’s just my guess. If anything, now that you’ve seen their faces, there’s a high possibility they’ll start to dispose of whatever we were close to finding.」

Elena, who was listening in to Vihera and Nakuto’s conversation, hesitated for a moment over whether to reveal the information she had.

However, if the incidents were really connected, as Vihera had guessed, hiding the information she had wouldn’t do any good. After placing her glass of fruit juice on the table, Elena looked at every before speaking.

「If the culprits who kidnapped Tivia are connected to the abnormal species incidents……there is a high chance the Marschel familiy is also involved.」

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