On the night of the day Rei brought back a felled tree from the Treant Forest, several figures gathered in the Guild warehouse.
Among them were Guild Master Worker, the lord of Gilm Daskar, and the alchemist Zumous.
A few others were present as well, but their attention was wholly focused on examining the tree stored inside.
"If we look at the magical power distribution of this tree, using Taris red liquid would yield..."
"No, even with the same Taris liquid, wouldn't the blue liquid be better suited in this case?"
"But there's an issue with fixing the magical power..."
Conversations entirely incomprehensible to anyone but an alchemist echoed throughout the warehouse as they inspected the wood.
Zumous was reporting his findings to Daskar, but the alchemist in him couldn't help it—the tree clearly fascinated him, and he was itching to investigate it himself.
Recognizing this, Daskar spoke up once the general explanation concluded.
"Go on. I'll hear your full report once you've finished examining it."
"Thank you very much!"
At Daskar's words, Zumous hurried over to his fellow alchemists.
Watching his subordinate go, Daskar let out a wry smile, and Worker spoke up with one of his own.
"It's a relief that it seems sufficiently viable as a construction material."
"It is. ...However, even for expanding Gilm, we still lack sufficient materials. No matter how much lumber we have, we can't exactly build walls out of wood."
"True."
Worker nodded without any particular objection to Daskar's point.
And indeed, it was the correct assessment.
If Gilm weren't situated on the frontier, the wood from the Treant Forest alone would suffice for the expansion.
But wood was still wood.
Some monsters could use magic; others could unleash breath attacks.
...In other words, fire.
Flame Magic was Rei's specialty, but he wasn't the only one who could wield it.
If anything, as a means of attack, it was downright common.
Because of that, building defensive walls out of wood ran the risk of them being easily burned down.
On top of that, wood was also susceptible to rot.
Magic could address the issue to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent.
There were various other concerns as well, so naturally, expanding Gilm would demand a wide range of materials beyond just lumber.
"Which begs the question of where to source those materials."
"Yeah. Whichever firm we approach, it's bound to stir up a fair bit of movement. If it's positive movement, fine, but if things go sour... that'll be trouble."
"True. Just recently, Rei-san got caught up in the Spiel Firm's internal strife, after all."
"Ah, and the Azoth Firm got dragged into it too, right?"
Given that the Azoth Firm was one of the major firms in Gilm, reports concerning it had naturally reached Daskar.
After all, it was a serious enough matter that Marina had come to see him personally—there was no way he could forget it.
"Indeed. For now, it would be best not to involve them in this matter. If we commission something and problems arise afterward, it creates trouble for us as well."
Commissioning the procurement of materials, only for them to never arrive due to internal disputes and stall the city's expansion... if this were an ordinary city's expansion project, it wouldn't be a particular problem. But for Gilm on the frontier, the story was entirely different.
After all, it was a region where all manner of monsters prowled actively come nightfall.
Because of that, if the city's expansion ground to a halt... it would mean monsters could potentially breach the city.
Of course, the expansion wouldn't be finished in a single night.
It would take over a month... no, several months, and depending on the scale, it wouldn't be unusual for it to take years.
Under those circumstances, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that a single firm taking a little extra time to procure materials was acceptable.
But considering that even a slight delay could impact the entirety of Gilm's expansion project, there was no way they could tolerate such a thing so easily.
As a result, the Spiel Firm would either be unable to participate in Gilm's massive public works project... or even if they were involved, they would be relegated to areas where any problems they caused wouldn't have a significant impact.
"Also, we'll need to gather a large workforce. Especially carpenters and the like."
"Yes, we'll handle the protection of the workers on our end."
Worker, chiming in without a moment's hesitation, was indeed a capable man.
"We'll likely need more adventurers than usual as well... will that be manageable?"
Gilm had a large number of adventurers—and ones confident in their skills, at that.
Even so, if they were to fully cooperate with the city's expansion project, there was no doubt they'd be short-handed.
That was because, even while the expansion work was underway, ordinary requests would keep coming one after another.
If they reduced the personnel assigned to subjugation requests, the monster population could rise, and monsters might attack the very site where the expansion work was taking place.
If they reduced the personnel assigned to gathering requests, goods such as potions and Magic Items circulating in Gilm would run scarce.
If they reduced the personnel assigned to escorting merchants, they would no longer be able to fend off attacks by monsters or Bandits.
Normally, Bandits wouldn't dare operate near Gilm.
But with a city expansion on this scale, a massive influx of merchants and supplies was guaranteed, and Bandits would multiply in pursuit of that commerce.
...Though those increased Bandits would almost certainly operate near Abuelo along the route, rather than in Gilm itself.
"We should mobilize the Prairie Wolves, too."
"Those are... Lord Daskar's... no, Gilm's intelligence unit, correct?"
"Yeah. Did Marina tell you about them?"
"That, and I'd heard rumors from various sources that they were an excellent unit. In any case, increasing our adventurer numbers will be essential. ...Though that depends on the scale of the expansion, of course."
Daskar, prompted by Worker's inquiring glance, spoke with a smile on his rugged face.
"The size of Gilm... let's see, I'd like to increase it by forty percent from its current state... ideally fifty."
"...That's quite..."
At Daskar's words, which far exceeded his expectations, Worker was at a loss for words.
They had discussed expanding, yes, but he never imagined it would be on such a massive scale.
However, to Daskar... no, to the lord of Gilm, expanding the city was not a decision to be made lightly.
Given that, it was only natural that once he resolved to do it, he would commit to it fully.
Of course, if they undertook such a large-scale expansion in a town in the middle of nowhere with nothing around, they'd fail to attract people and merely accelerate depopulation.
But Gilm, situated on the frontier, could draw people endlessly.
To be precise, it was already stretching its limits in its current state.
After all, when spring came, a large number of adventurers would arrive, so the population was only going to grow.
Naturally, from illness, old age, accidents, and incidents... there were also never few who died from failing requests while working as adventurers.
Even so, with adventurers and merchants wishing to immigrate, and the number of children born among Gilm's residents, the population grew more than it shrank.
Given that, it was only natural to want to make Gilm as large as possible.
(Still, forty or fifty percent... honestly, that feels like too grand a scale.)
Worker thought this, but judging by Daskar's demeanor, he couldn't possibly be joking.
In other words, he was serious.
"Forgive me for saying this given my position, but with an expansion project of that scale, it's clear that Gilm's adventurers alone won't be enough."
"Probably not. ...That's why I want you to reach out to other cities... specifically, the Guilds in cities you have friendly relations with. Have them dispatch adventurers to Gilm. Of course, Gilm will cover the request fees."
It couldn't compare to a city on the level of the Royal Capital, but Gilm on the frontier possessed an economic sphere large enough to be called a city rather than a town.
The fact that it was the only frontier in the Kingdom of Mireana meant it held that much value.
There were monster materials and plant materials that only existed on the frontier, along with various other sources of revenue.
"It seems there will be work even for adventurers who aren't particularly skilled—ones who have just become full-fledged."
"Yeah. Aside from guarding the work and night patrols, there's plenty of manual labor, like hauling construction materials. We can't have too many hands for that."
Adventurers, having trained their bodies, were more useful than ordinary people when it came to carrying heavy loads.
Worker, having run a Guild branch office near the Dungeon, understood this well.
He had even seen adventurers who didn't dive into the Dungeon but instead worked as carpenter's assistants.
In the end, that person quit being an adventurer and became an apprentice carpenter.
In any case, adventurers were physically strong from training, making them extremely convenient in that sense.
"Understood. So, when exactly will the expansion project begin?"
"...I don't know the details yet. I'm currently having my subordinates run various detailed calculations. I never expected such a convenient construction material to appear. And in such abundance."
"True. I don't understand the logic behind it yet, but the fact that the forest expands on its own..."
The report written by Lenora, who had received the information from Rei.
According to it, the forest had indeed expanded compared to the day before.
In other words, it was certain the forest would continue to expand every day, and considering its current size, there was almost no chance they'd run short of construction materials for Gilm's expansion. That was Worker's judgment.
(According to Thresha-san's report, there were Treants... but I hear that when Rei-san felled this tree, there was no sign of any Treants appearing. I'm curious about what's going on there... but that will likely become clear through future Investigation.)
For now, they still didn't have a clear understanding of what kind of place the Treant Forest was.
They would need to investigate it further over time, of course, but first, they needed to prepare.
At the very least, gathering skilled members like Rei was no easy task... but if they were to carry out Gilm's expansion, it was better to start moving on that front as early as possible.
(Rei-san, I suppose? But given that Rei-san has an Item Box, I'd want him to handle the felling... in which case, Rei-san's party members? No, I'd want a party other than Crimson Lotus Wings...)
Worker was turning over various thoughts in his mind when he suddenly heard a loud voice from the alchemists examining the tree, and turned his gaze toward them.
It wasn't just Worker; Daskar also directed his gaze toward the source of the voice.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's. When someone gets that engrossed, the report tends to come late."
"...True. Can't deny that."
At Daskar's words, Worker nodded with a quiet smile.
No matter how much they deliberated here, it was certain that they still lacked information.
Given that, he judged that it would be better to dispatch multiple adventurers—other than Crimson Lotus Wings—to gather even a little more intelligence.
"What is it? You seem pleased about something."
Zumous, addressed by Worker, spoke up with shining eyes.
"Yes! Look at this! When you apply a liquid with a specific magical property, the hardness increases in response to that magic!"
"Didn't you say the same thing about the branch yesterday?"
"Yes. The phenomenon itself is no different from yesterday's case. However, what is decisively different is the degree of hardness. With this, it might even be usable for the outer walls enclosing the city."
"...What about its resistance to fire?"
Daskar, who had been listening to the exchange between Worker and Zumous, interjected.
Being asked this was apparently unexpected for Zumous as well, and he faltered for words.
"Th-That is..."
Zumous's reaction was all the answer Daskar needed.
"No matter how sturdy it is, if it can be burned by fire, it can't be used for walls."
"...Yes."
Fire was a commonly employed tactic when attacking.
Be it monsters or humans.
Given that, it was only natural to require fire resistance for something used as a wall.
"But... that wood might be useful for many things besides walls. Let me know if you discover anything else."
Whether intended as a consolation or not, that was what Daskar told Zumous.