Why did he oppose Lyubrand and Daridora? And why was he unwilling to accept the use of Tira Trees — which preyed on monsters and posed no harm to humans — to protect Gauche?
Originally, Rei had no intention of actively involving himself in the conflict taking place in Gauche.
His strongest sense was that he was here in the first place to wait for the bothersome merchants to settle down over the Twilight Spear matter.
As long as he wasn't in danger of being harmed, as with the Sand Bandits, he had intended to simply watch.
In fact, when asked at his meal with Lyubrand which side he would take, he had ultimately answered that he would side with neither.
Even so, the reason Rei asked Augusto like this was that this incident was significant.
It was not Daridora's doing, nor Lyubrand's, and certainly not Augusto's. This incident was believed to be the work of a third party.
Rei could predict that if this incident was left unaddressed, it would undoubtedly lead to troublesome consequences.
Given that, he believed he needed to involve himself — and since he was involving himself, he had to properly understand the cause of the conflict between Augusto and Daridora.
Those were the thoughts behind his question.
If Augusto's opposition to using Tira Trees was for selfish reasons, there was even a possibility that Rei would side with Daridora.
Augusto seemed to understand Rei's intentions behind the question. He fixed his gaze on Rei, let out a small sigh, and then opened his mouth.
"Using Tira Trees in place of defensive walls. I also think it's a good method if you consider it normally. Well, Tira Trees don't react to humans, so there is the issue of Sand Bandits and anyone with ulterior motives being able to freely enter and leave Gauche, but..."
"You weren't seriously opposing it just for that reason, were you? Something like that could be dealt with."
"That's right. However, this is also by no means a reason that can be easily dismissed. As you know, Solrein has low national strength, and the adventurers in Gauche are by no means high-ranked."
At Augusto's words, Zarust furrowed his brows slightly.
For Zarust, a native of Gauche, Augusto's words were likely painful to hear.
However, what Augusto was saying was also an undeniable fact.
The guards stationed in Gauche were not particularly elite.
Under such circumstances, if Tira Trees were used in place of walls and the repair of the walls surrounding Gauche was neglected, the ones relied upon would naturally be the adventurers.
"Well, I understand that's a pretty significant issue. But that's not all, is it?"
Rei spoke, cutting off Augusto, who was about to say something more.
Augusto paused the stream of words from his mouth and fixed his gaze on Rei.
Several minutes passed, and eventually Augusto took a small, deep breath before opening his mouth again.
"Are you sure? If you listen to this, you'll have to see it through to the end, you know?"
Augusto said, pressing the point.
Behind him, Zarust nodded without saying a word.
Hmm? The fact that he's not confirming anything with Zarust — could it be that Zarust already knows about this?
Rei looked at Zarust and harbored such a doubt, but he didn't voice it.
Augusto, knowing Zarust was here, likely judged there was no need to say anything himself.
Moreover, if Zarust knew what Augusto was about to say, that would explain why Zarust was cooperating with Augusto rather than Daridora.
"I don't mind. I've been dragged into this much already, so I might as well be dragged in to the end. And let me be clear — just because I hear the reason doesn't necessarily mean I'll cooperate with you. I might end up cooperating with Daridora."
"Fuu, you're a curious one. Very well. I'll tell you. However, unfortunately, I can't tell whose ears might be listening here. Fortunately, today isn't a day for work, so shall we return to my home and talk there?"
"Set is here, so I think you don't need to worry about that."
Rei placed absolute trust in Set.
With Set watching the surroundings, he could be at ease no matter what, and if anyone tried to observe them, Set would find them immediately.
"I understand that you place absolute trust in Set, Rei-san. However, what I'm about to discuss is not something that can be easily spoken of in a place like this. I apologize, but I must ask you to move to another location."
"Well, if you're going that far."
Rei was slightly dissatisfied that Augusto didn't trust Set, but it was also true that he was curious about the secret serious enough to make Augusto say all that.
"Guruu?"
Set looked at him with a gaze that seemed to ask what was wrong. Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing.
No matter how much Rei said this place was safe and tried to reassure him, if Augusto said he couldn't feel at ease here, there was nothing more to be said.
And so, Rei, Set, Augusto, Zarust, and Cathy — four people and one creature — headed toward Augusto's mansion.
Naturally, during that short trip, Rei witnessed Augusto and Cathy exchanging words of love, and he understood all too well what the phrase "sugar-coated" meant.
"Now then, about the reason I oppose the use of Tira Trees."
A room in Augusto's mansion. Currently, only Rei, Augusto, and Zarust were there.
Cathy, sensing that what was about to begin was work talk, had voluntarily left the room, understanding she would be in the way.
Once the three of them sat on the sofa, Augusto promptly began to speak.
"Yeah. I'd very much like to hear the circumstances behind that."
"Honestly, this is also a shameful part of my family. I'll tell you, Rei-san, but please, if at all possible, don't leak it to anyone else. Can you promise me that?"
"I can't quite promise 'absolutely,' but I'll try to keep it as much as possible."
At Rei's words, Augusto for some reason smiled and opened his mouth.
"Yes, that's fine. Now then, where should I begin. Let's start with the conclusion. Using the properties of Tira Trees to prevent monsters from approaching Gauche — this has actually been attempted once before. And the one who tried it was my ancestor."
"Hah? No, given the Tira Tree's nature of only reacting to monsters, this wouldn't be the first time something like this has come up."
"Indeed. By the way, Rei-san, I believe I mentioned before that my family has been a merchant family for generations, and that it once flourished greatly, as you can see from this mansion — do you remember that?"
Though puzzled by the sudden change in topic, Rei nodded.
"Yeah. I heard it when I first came to this mansion."
"I'm glad you remembered. At one point, we held power exceeding even the current Elema Trading Company. The cause of our decline was the Tira Tree."
"What do you mean? Tira Trees don't have any negative effects on humans, right?"
"Yes, that's correct. As long as they're growing in the desert, they have no particular effect. But when Tira Trees become concentrated beyond a certain threshold, the story is entirely different."
"Apparently?"
"Yes. Naturally, we can't test it ourselves, so this is based on documents my ancestor left behind, but it seems that when Tira Trees become concentrated beyond a certain point, they begin attacking humans."
Tira Trees, which had been said to not attack humans and only prey on monsters, would begin attacking humans as well.
Hearing this, Rei widened his eyes in surprise.
"Something like that can happen?"
"Yes, at least when my ancestor tried to sell Tira Trees as Gauche's defense, it apparently caused significant harm to people. According to the researchers of that time, the cause was that concentrating Tira Trees reduced the number of monsters available as prey."
"Ah, yeah, I see."
Somewhat convinced, Rei nodded.
Tira Trees normally preyed only on monsters, but when concentrated, the number of monsters they could naturally obtain decreased.
If that happened, they would need to acquire nutrients through some other means, and humans were apparently chosen as the nutrients they could acquire there.
"So the talk about them not attacking humans was only true when there were enough monsters serving as prey."
"Yes. It apparently caused considerable damage at the time. And as a result, my ancestor, who had been involved with Tira Trees, suffered losses great enough to bankrupt the family..."
"And all that was left was this mansion?"
At Rei's words, Augusto silently nodded.
I see. What Daridora is doing now has already been attempted before. Wait. Then why...
A part of Augusto's story caught Rei's attention, and he turned his gaze back to Augusto and opened his mouth.
"If there was a failure in the past, why not tell Daridora about it? Then the other side would..."
"No, Daridora knows about that as well. Knowing that, he claims that they — though 'rampage' isn't quite the right word — can prevent them from attacking humans."
"But you can't trust that?"
"Yes."
At Augusto's firm attitude, Rei's doubts only grew stronger.
Is it normal to harbor such a strong aversion toward Tira Trees just from information left by one's ancestor?
From Rei's perspective, Augusto appeared to harbor a strong aversion toward Tira Trees.
That was enough to make Rei think there might be another reason Augusto disliked Tira Trees.
"Is that really all? Isn't there another reason you dislike Tira Trees?"
"!?"
Augusto sharply inhaled at Rei's words, but eventually, perhaps deciding he could no longer evade the question, he nodded.
"Yes, I also researched Tira Trees when I was young. Using the information my ancestor left behind, I tried to find a way to make Tira Trees useful for Gauche. However..."
Seeing Augusto fall silent and shake his head, Rei could easily imagine what kind of result that had produced.
For him to oppose Tira Trees this adamantly, that endeavor must have failed.
Of course, from Rei's perspective, Augusto still fell into the younger category.
That meant Augusto's youth was probably not all that long ago — a reasonable assumption.
"Does Daridora not know about that?"
"No, when I heard talk about using Tira Trees, I requested a meeting with Daridora and told him about it. However, Daridora has also invested a great deal of money and resources into this matter. So much that if this plan fails, it wouldn't be strange for him to end up like my ancestor."
"And because he doesn't want that, he's pushing forward with using Tira Trees by force?"
"Probably. Besides, he's not proceeding without any prospect of success — he must actually have some kind of plan. Otherwise, I can't imagine Daridora would put this much effort into it."
"But it's failed before, hasn't it? Do you think it'll succeed this time?"
"I don't know. However, Daridora said he hired a renowned researcher even within Solrein, so depending on that person, I do think it's possible. But even so, I am opposed to using Tira Trees."
At Augusto's words, Rei showed an expression of understanding.
However, there was still something he didn't understand.
"Wouldn't it work to publicize the fact that you researched Tira Trees and failed? Then, Daridora aside, I think some of the other city residents would side with you."
Even if the Elema Trading Company's influence was strong, if the residents learned their lives would be in danger, wouldn't they oppose it too?
At Rei's words, Augusto silently shook his head.
"I told a few people, but considering the Elema Trading Company's power, they told me that even if I couldn't do it, the Elema Trading Company might be able to. Besides, I didn't conduct experiments on a large scale either. The scale was only what I could manage without overextending myself. There are people who would cooperate with me, but..."
Those people have their own livelihoods, so I can't ask them to go too far. As Augusto said this, his tone was tinged with sorrow.