When Rei entered the Guild, the place was already crowded with adventurers—hardly surprising, given that evening was fast approaching.
Some had just finished their requests. Others had slain monsters and come to exchange their Subjugation Proof Parts, Magic Stones, and materials for coin.
Even so, it wasn't fully evening yet, so the crowd wasn't quite as large as it would be after nightfall.
Among the adventurers who had already received their rewards, many were heading toward the attached tavern. The number of customers there was far greater than during the daytime.
In such a large crowd, Rei naturally blended in and disappeared.
He had never been particularly tall to begin with, and with the hood of his Dragon Robe pulled up, not many people could recognize him as Rei.
If the members of the Former Mobile Unit who had fled from the Cyclops had already reached Gilm, he would have pushed his way—somewhat forcefully—to the counters of familiar receptionists like Lenora or Kenny. Fortunately, Ranga had told him that he was the first to arrive in Gilm.
(This crowd, huh… This is exactly why I hate coming to the Guild in the evening or early morning.)
As he stood in line for the receptionist, Rei let out a mental sigh.
The surrounding adventurers turned curious gazes toward him.
From appearances alone, he looked small and slender—hardly like a solo adventurer. Some even wondered if a party member had found standing in line too troublesome and pushed the chore onto Rei. However, no one voiced such thoughts aloud.
Interfering in another party's affairs was a breach of manners.
Unless it was clearly a case of severe abuse, simply seeing someone made to stand in line couldn't be called particularly cruel.
If he had lowered his hood, they probably would have realized it was Rei, but in this crowded space, he had no intention of doing so.
Completely unaware that he was being looked at that way, Rei casually glanced around.
Since the sheer number of people couldn't be helped, he figured he might as well kill time until his turn came.
As he looked around, Rei suddenly noticed that the lengths of the various lines were all different.
(Why is that?)
The question was answered almost immediately.
He had overheard a conversation from the adventurer standing in the line right next to his.
"Today's the day I finally ask Kenny out… Dinner tonight…"
"You idiot. Just give up already. It might've worked before, but the Kenny-chan of now isn't someone you can casually ask out to dinner. Besides, with this many people in line, trying to invite her out would just bother everyone else. You'd only end up hurting your chances with her."
"Ugh, then what am I supposed to do?"
"Maybe ask her when the receptionist isn't busy?"
"No, because during the day we're all out taking requests, right?"
"Then how about on your day off, when you don't have any requests?"
The adventurer's eyes widened as if the idea had never occurred to him.
"Oh, right. I don't actually have to be looking for a request to come to the Guild."
"That should be obvious by now. You're always hanging around the tavern anyway."
From the conversation he overheard, Rei finally understood that the length of each line reflected the popularity of the receptionist behind the counter.
Of course, a longer line didn't automatically mean higher popularity.
If a receptionist processed reports and exchanges quickly, the line wouldn't grow excessively long no matter how popular they were.
As he pondered the high popularity of both Lenora and Kenny, the line gradually advanced until it was finally Rei's turn.
"…Eh? Rei-san?"
Lenora's eyes widened for a brief moment in surprise when she realized the person before her was the Rei she knew, but she quickly returned to her professional demeanor.
"Correct. I thought I might go unrecognized."
Rei smiled and lowered his hood, revealing his face as expected.
The adventurers lined up directly behind him, as well as those handling procedures at the neighboring counter, all wore expressions of shock.
…Naturally, this included Kenny at the counter beside Lenora's.
"We've known each other for quite a while now, after all. So, what brings you here? I believe you went into the forest for the Cyclops matter, correct?"
"Yeah, that's been safely resolved. However, there were more Cyclops besides the five that were originally reported. Before we arrived, Mirene and the others sent someone to Gilm to request reinforcements. I came to let you know that those reinforcements are no longer needed…"
At Rei's words, Lenora hurriedly reached for some nearby documents.
She was checking to see if someone had already processed the report.
After all, in this Cyclops subjugation, Deetz had already reported that the normally solitary Cyclops were acting in a group—an anomaly that had raised many questions.
That was why she wondered if another receptionist might have already received the report. However, Rei stopped her.
"Relax. When I entered Gilm, I checked with Ranga first. Apparently, the person sent to report still hasn't arrived. All thanks to Set."
"I see… Yes, it appears that's the case. There's nothing about it in the reports we've received so far."
Lenora scanned the important report documents just to be sure, then let out a sigh of relief.
"That's why I was quietly standing in line like this."
"Rei-kun, if that's the case, wouldn't it have been fine to line up at my counter instead?"
Kenny, who had been handling another adventurer at the neighboring counter, called out to him.
The reason she didn't approach him like usual was likely because she still had many people waiting in her own line.
Even though Rei was right there, the fact that she didn't abandon her post and continued working properly was the natural behavior of a receptionist. However, upon seeing this, Lenora thought to herself, So Kenny can finally act seriously! while remembering all the previous incidents.
Chest, chest, chest, chest…
"Kyaa! H-hey, Lenora! Why are you suddenly glaring at me like that!?"
Although Kenny was a receptionist and not an adventurer, thanks to her instincts as a cat Beastman—or perhaps simply a woman's intuition—she sensed something like bloodlust from Lenora.
Rei, too, was startled by the sudden change in Lenora's demeanor.
"Oh my, I'm sorry, Kenny. I just remembered some things from before and it happened naturally…"
"You're not fooling anyone. Not fooling anyone at all."
Kenny couldn't help but say it, but since she still had adventurers to attend to, she couldn't say anything more.
Leaving Kenny to return to her work, Rei cleared his throat and spoke to Lenora again.
"Regarding the Cyclops matter, there's something that's been bothering me."
"Something bothering you? What would that be…?"
"There was a red Cyclops that seemed to be commanding the normal ones. I think it was probably either a Rare Species or a High-ranking Species…"
"A Rare Species or High-ranking Species Cyclops? That certainly sounds troublesome… However, since you fought it, I assume you defeated it? Rare Species Magic Stones are quite valuable, after all."
Perhaps because she clearly remembered that Rei had a hobby of collecting Magic Stones, Lenora didn't look particularly concerned.
Rei had claimed he collected them as a hobby to secure the stones consumed by Beast Magic. He was surprised she had remembered that detail.
"Yeah, well… I was planning to, but it turns out that Cyclops was carrying a strange Magic Item hammer."
"…A Cyclops using a Magic Item?"
It must have been quite unexpected. After a brief silence, Lenora repeated his words.
The adventurers lined up behind Rei, those handing completed request forms to Kenny, and even those at the opposite counter were subtly listening in on the conversation. Whether their shock showed on their faces or not, they were all surprised internally.
Cyclops were monsters specialized in physical attacks. The only magical ability they possessed was the limited power to fire shockwaves from their single eye.
The idea that one could wield a Magic Item was simply unbelievable.
"More importantly, the red Cyclops was significantly larger than a normal one. The Magic Item hammer also looked like it was the perfect size for that large body to use. Normal Magic Swords would be too small and awkward for a Cyclops to wield, so the fact that this one was perfectly sized felt somewhat artificial to me."
"I agree. Under normal circumstances, it should be impossible for a Cyclops—especially a Rare Species or High-ranking Species—to prepare a Magic Item that would be easy for it to use. In that case, the artificial intent you mentioned is certainly concerning."
Lenora murmured as if she fully understood Rei's point.
"Right? I figured it would be better to report it just in case. I also brought the Magic Item with me. If you want to see it, I can take it out."
Lenora didn't ask where the Magic Item was.
She already knew that Rei was the Item Box User, after all.
"Could you, please? The Guild staff might be able to learn something if we examine it."
"I don't mind, but it's pretty cramped in here, you know? Since it belonged to a red Cyclops, it's quite large and heavy. If I carelessly take it out here, it might even damage the floor… Oh, and since I defeated that red Cyclops, it's mine, right? It'd be troublesome if I had to submit it to the Guild or something."
"Using a Magic Item whose creator is completely unknown is… No, that's actually quite normal, isn't it?"
At Lenora's troubled words, nearly every adventurer present nodded in agreement.
Of course, it was ideal to use Magic Items that were verifiably made by Alchemists, but Magic Items were generally very expensive.
It was a different story for cheap imitations that could barely be called Magic Swords—nothing more than a normal longsword with a slight amount of magic power infused into it—but a proper Magic Sword came with a correspondingly high price.
That was why, even if the origin was unclear, those who obtained Magic Items often happily claimed them as their own.
…Even though there was always the possibility of curses.
Magic Items found in Dungeons were the prime example of ones whose creators were unknown.
Nevertheless, for those who discovered them, they represented a golden opportunity to strike it rich, and it was only natural to make them their own.
"Yeah. Besides, I'm not going to use it as it is anyway."
"That makes sense. A Magic Item sized perfectly for a Cyclops to use would obviously be far too large for you to…"
"Well, I probably could use it if I wanted to, but I don't want it badly enough to go that far. I've never even used a hammer before. Wouldn't it be better to make effective use of it instead?"
"Effective use, you say? If it's not too much trouble… could you tell me what you have in mind?"
Rei was about to nod at Lenora's question when he noticed the attention focused on him from all around.
In fact, the Guild—which was usually extremely noisy—had fallen completely silent.
The tavern was still rowdy as usual, so it wasn't total silence, but nearly everyone on the Guild side—including the Guild staff behind the counters—was focused on Rei's words.
He judged that if he revealed how he intended to use the Magic Item in this situation, many people would come looking for scraps. So, to dodge the topic for now, he simply shrugged.
"I'll keep that a secret. Though if things go well, it might lead to some interesting developments. Whether I can actually pull it off is another matter."
Using an existing Magic Item as material to create a different Magic Item.
Under normal circumstances, that would seem almost impossibly difficult. However, the same could be said about the plan to remake the remnant of Noise's Magic Sword into a spear.
Of course, in the case of this hammer, combining it with a sword would likely make the difficulty even higher.
(Besides, if even just a portion of that hammer can be used as material for Magic Items, I should be able to make quite a large number of them.)
The hammer was so large that it didn't look small even when held by a Cyclops nearly five meters tall.
Its mass was naturally enormous. Even if part of it had to be shaved down to make material for a spear, there should still be more than enough left to be effective… or so Rei hoped.
"…Understood. However, I would like to see the hammer first. In that case… would you mind coming with me to the Guild warehouse? We should be able to appraise it there without it being seen by others. Of course, only if you're willing, Rei-san."
Rei immediately nodded at Lenora's suggestion.
Even if he planned to use it as material for Magic Items, he still needed to properly investigate whether there were any problems with the hammer.
If the Guild was willing to do that for him, it was exactly what he had been hoping for.