Chapter 323

The three prisoners were transferred directly to the Guild rather than a normal Ganesha holding facility.

Rayleigh accompanied Shakti and Ardi because nobody wanted to risk another assassination attempt during transport.

By the time they reached the restricted interrogation area beneath Guild headquarters, Fels was already waiting.

The mage examined the scar on the first man's wrist for less than a minute.

"Old Thanatos network."

Rayleigh leaned against the wall.

"So they really are Evilus remnants."

"Originally, yes. That marking belonged to one of the smaller cells operating under Thanatos during the Great Feud. Most were destroyed, and the survivors scattered after their god was returned to Heaven."

Fels lifted the prisoner's wrist and examined the age of the scar.

"This mark is old. He was part of them during the war."

Shakti glanced toward the other two prisoners. "Then why attack Monsterphilia now? The Great Feud ended years ago."

"That is what we need them to tell us."

Rayleigh looked at the unconscious saboteur.

"Wake the first one."

Fels turned slightly toward him. "You sound impatient."

"Someone released monsters into a crowd, poisoned guards, forged Familia credentials, and then sent two people to murder their own man when he was captured. I'm past being curious."

Fels did not disagree.

A Guild healer administered something beneath the prisoner's tongue, and the man woke several minutes later with his arms and legs secured to the chair.

His gaze moved across the room.

Shakti.

Ardi.

Fels.

Then Rayleigh.

Fear appeared immediately.

Rayleigh noticed.

"So you know me."

The man said nothing.

Rayleigh pulled another chair over and sat in front of him.

"I'll make this easy. Seven cages were opened. Nobody died because we contained the monsters quickly, which means you haven't crossed the line where everybody in this room stops caring whether you cooperate. Tell us who ordered it."

The prisoner laughed weakly.

"You think because the old gods are gone, Evilus died with them?"

"No. I've spent enough time cleaning up after you people to know better."

The smile disappeared.

Rayleigh continued in the same calm tone.

"What I don't know is why a cell that survived this long suddenly decided to expose itself at a festival."

The man's eyes shifted toward Fels.

That tiny movement was enough.

Rayleigh leaned back slightly.

"This wasn't about Monsterphilia."

Nobody else spoke.

Rayleigh kept watching him.

"You wanted the Guild to respond. You wanted Ganesha Familia to mobilize, wanted to see which routes closed first, which adventurers moved where, how fast the city could contain multiple threats after three quiet years."

The prisoner tried to hide his reaction.

Too late.

Shakti's face became grim.

"A test."

Rayleigh nodded.

The saboteur finally spoke, his voice rough from smoke inhalation.

"You've all gotten soft."

Ardi's hand tightened at her side.

The man looked toward her and smiled despite the blood on his mouth.

"Three years of peace. Festivals. Taverns. Children playing in streets that used to burn every week. You really thought everyone simply disappeared because you won one war?"

Rayleigh felt no need to answer the speech.

"Who gave the order?"

The man's smile widened.

"You already know her."

That changed the room.

Fels became perfectly still.

Rayleigh's eyes narrowed.

The prisoner laughed once before coughing painfully.

"She told us Orario would forget. She said all we had to do was wait long enough for the city to start believing the nightmare was over."

Rayleigh already knew the name before it came.

"Valletta Grede."

The man looked directly at him.

"Lady Valletta sends her regards, Yōtōsai."

Silence followed.

Rayleigh remembered the sealed chamber beneath the city, the collapsed escape route, and the report Fels had given him years ago.

Valletta was alive.

Valletta was hunted.

Valletta had nothing left to build with.

Apparently three years had been enough to change the last part.

Shakti turned toward Fels. "How long has the Guild known she was active again?"

"We didn't."

That answer came immediately.

Fels moved toward the table where the confiscated equipment had been placed.

"We have had occasional reports of old Evilus contacts moving through the black market, but nothing connected directly to Valletta. No confirmed sightings, no intercepted orders, and no attacks carrying her methods."

Rayleigh looked toward the prisoners.

"Until today."

"Yes."

Ardi's expression was unusually cold. "Then today's breach wasn't meant to kill as many people as possible. If that had been the goal, they could have opened the cages during peak attendance and attacked the evacuation routes at the same time."

Shakti nodded slowly.

"They wanted information."

"Exactly," Rayleigh said. "Response time, containment procedure, command structure, probably which first-class adventurers were available inside the city. We just gave them a very detailed demonstration."

The prisoner smiled again.

Rayleigh looked at him.

Then his expression softened.

That frightened the man more than anger would have.

"But your cleanup team failed."

The smile vanished.

Rayleigh pointed toward the two captured assassins.

"They're alive. You're alive. The copied key is here, your equipment is here, and Ganesha Familia has the complete personnel list you used to infiltrate the festival. Whatever Valletta learned today, she paid for it by giving us three people who know how her new network operates."

The prisoner stared at him without answering.

Rayleigh stood.

"Fels, let the Guild interrogators handle the rest. I'm better at breaking monsters than people."

The mage nodded.

Rayleigh headed for the door, but Fels stopped him before he left.

"Rayleigh."

He looked back.

"Ouranos will want to speak with you once we know more."

"Tomorrow."

Fels tilted his head slightly.

"You have somewhere more important to be?"

"Yes. Home."

After the day he had just had, Rayleigh had absolutely no intention of spending the entire night underground discussing Valletta.

If she had survived three years, she could survive until breakfast.

...

It was already dark when Rayleigh reached his house.

He checked the street as usual before entering and locked the door behind him.

The quiet inside felt almost unnatural after spending the entire day surrounded by roaring monsters, explosions, and Ganesha shouting through magical amplification.

Alfia was waiting in the sitting room.

She looked up from her book as he removed his coat.

"I heard Monsterphilia ended badly."

"That depends on your standards. The monsters were contained, nobody important died, and I discovered an old enemy has apparently spent the last three years rebuilding her organization."

Alfia closed the book.

"Who?"

Rayleigh walked into the kitchen, poured himself water, and drank half the glass before answering.

"Valletta."

Alfia's expression barely changed, but the Reiraku between them carried immediate recognition.

"The woman from Knossos."

"Same one."

Rayleigh sat down across from her and briefly explained the opened cages, the false maintenance worker, the captured assassins, and the old Thanatos markings.

He kept it concise because there was little value in repeating every detail from the Guild interrogation.

When he finished, Alfia considered the situation for a moment.

"You allowed her to escape before."

Rayleigh stared at her.

"That sounded suspiciously like criticism."

"It was."

"She collapsed a tunnel behind herself."

"And you are capable of crossing half a battlefield with Shunpo before most people blink."

"I didn't know where the tunnel came out."

Alfia calmly opened her book again.

"Excuses."

Rayleigh leaned back in the chair and laughed despite himself.

There was something strangely comforting about discovering that even the return of Valletta Grede was apparently insufficient to make Alfia stop criticizing him.

After a moment, her expression became serious again.

"If she has spent three years rebuilding quietly, do not assume today's incident was her first operation. It was merely the first one you noticed."

That possibility had already occurred to him.

Rayleigh looked toward the window.

"Yeah. That's what bothers me."

Three years was a long time to disappear.

Long enough to recruit people.

Long enough to rebuild contacts.

Long enough to prepare things nobody in Orario knew existed yet.

Rayleigh finished his water and stood.

Alfia watched him.

"Where are you going?"

"To sleep. Fels can tell me how doomed the city is tomorrow."

For once, Alfia did not disagree.

Rayleigh reached the stairs before she spoke again.

"If Valletta appears in front of you this time, finish it."

He looked back.

Alfia had already returned her attention to the book.

Rayleigh smiled faintly.

"That was the plan."

He went upstairs, leaving Valletta Grede, the Guild, and whatever remained of Evilus for the morning.