Those waving happily at Rei as he descended to the ground with Set were the people participating in Gilm's massive public works project — its expansion.
Naturally, the carpenters were the stars of this undertaking, but the carpenters gathered from surrounding villages and towns alone could never hope to handle a construction effort of this scale.
If this were a simple village or town, they might have managed with carpenters alone.
But while Gilm was nominally classified as a town, in practice its population and scale were comparable to a city. Expanding something of that size — by fifty percent, no less — meant the assembled carpenters could never be enough on their own.
Nearly hundreds of carpenters had been gathered, divided into teams, and meetings regarding how to proceed with construction were held almost daily.
For the carpenters, being able to participate in such a large-scale expansion project was a point of honor.
Naturally, each one tried to make the most of their own skills, but... to each their own. Since many carpenters had the temperament of artisans, they tended to insist on their own methods.
When that many carpenters with such fierce professional pride gathered in one place, reaching a consensus was no simple matter.
At first, it wasn't uncommon for arguments over whose methods to use to escalate into full-blown fistfights.
Since carpenters performed physical labor such as hauling lumber, many of them were more hot-tempered and physically stronger than the average adventurer.
Because of that, the adventurers initially present at the site were unable to keep things under control due to the sheer number of carpenters. The one who stepped in to handle it was Daskar.
Perhaps it was thanks to his background as a former knight, but Daskar brought the carpenters masterfully to heel through sheer dignity. It was exactly what one would expect of him.
At any rate, the carpenters were now united under Daskar's authority, moving discussions forward regarding Gilm's expansion project.
Meanwhile, the adventurers — Rei included — had no shortage of tasks: securing construction materials, tools, housing for the carpenters, food supplies... all sorts of things that needed doing.
Amid all this, what had been entrusted to Rei was, just as Worker had previously told him, transporting lumber felled in the Treant Forest.
"Nearly two months since then... huh."
Murmuring to himself from atop Set's back as they descended toward the ground, Rei gazed up at the cloudless blue sky.
Indeed, nearly two months had passed since the battle with the Gigant Turtle in the Treant Forest.
The season had already turned to what could fittingly be called early summer, and the sky seemed higher than it had two months prior.
(I wanted to get started on dissecting the Gigant Turtle, though...)
He glanced at the Misty Ring on his right arm as they descended and let out a small sigh.
Originally, he had even considered starting the very day after the Treant Forest incident was settled.
But naturally, dissecting a monster as massive as the Gigant Turtle wasn't something that could be finished in a day or two. That being the case, it meant hiring a certain number of people for an extended period.
And the one who put a halt to that plan was Worker.
Naturally so. With Gilm's expansion construction about to begin, there could never be enough adventurers to go around. If Rei had hired a large number of them at a time like this, it would have created all sorts of difficulties for the Guild.
And so the discussion turned to whether Rei could postpone the Gigant Turtle's dissection until the expansion construction — or more precisely, until the adventurers' busy period settled down. Hearing this, Marina negotiated with Worker, and the matter was settled with the Guild covering all costs associated with the dissection — adventurer rewards, meals, tools, and every other expense.
...The fact that Worker's back looked scorched after that negotiation was a remark made by Lenora, the Guild's receptionist.
Rei had wanted to extract at least the Magic Stone as quickly as possible, but for now, the whole thing was on hold.
As for the Flame Ore he was to receive as compensation for his work during the Treant Forest incident, he had already obtained the amount he needed. Since he was still working, he would continue to receive more, but still.
"Alright, sorry to keep you waiting. Where to?"
"This way, please!"
Rei dismounted from Set after it landed on the ground and entered Gilm alongside the adventurer who had been waiting for him.
Normally, procedures were required to enter the town, but those recognized by the Guild as trusted adventurers — Rei among them — were permitted to enter freely without going through any procedures.
...Of course, given that the condition was being deemed trustworthy by the Guild, those who could enter with what amounted to a free pass were truly few in number.
In that sense, the adventurer who had been waiting for Rei must also have been someone the Guild trusted.
"Hey, Rei. Good work out there."
Rei raised a hand lightly in response to the guard's greeting.
Under normal circumstances, he would have liked to stop and chat, but Rei was in a hurry, and more importantly, the guards were swamped processing the influx of people entering Gilm.
Many had grown busier thanks to the expansion, but the guards were probably the busiest of them all.
Expanding the town naturally required a massive amount of materials. But it wasn't just that — carpenters and other workers brought in from surrounding villages and towns, adventurers called in from elsewhere, people arriving in search of work, merchants who had anticipated the crowds and come to do business... all manner of people were descending on Gilm.
And of course, the guards had to process entry procedures for every last one of them.
It was even busier than the busiest time of spring — normally the most hectic season of the year.
That was why, even if the guard wanted to talk with Rei, he simply didn't have the breathing room. That was the plain truth of it.
"Excuse me! Why does that boy get to enter Gilm without going through any procedures?!"
She had probably been waiting in line for a long time, her frustration reaching its breaking point.
A female merchant in her thirties fired the question at the guard. No — to be more precise, she hurled the words at him.
They had all been standing in line for ages, so why was that boy the only one who didn't have to? That was her complaint.
Having waited in line for over half a day, the woman didn't even register Set's presence. She simply watched Rei with an irritated glare as he entered Gilm without so much as a stop at the checkpoint.
Among those in line were people who had visited Gilm before, and they directed looks of exasperation at the woman.
While Gilm normally had its share of repeat visitors, right now there were just as many first-timers. And among those, there were naturally some who watched Rei with envious eyes.
However, many of them, upon seeing the gryphon — Set — at his side, understood that the boy was not what his youthful appearance suggested. And those with some awareness of the broader situation deduced from the gryphon that Rei was the adventurer with the alias of Crimson.
"He's an adventurer who takes on a variety of requests. For that reason, during the current expansion period, he's been granted permission to enter Gilm without undergoing the standard procedures."
The guard offered this explanation, trying his best to calm the female merchant down.
(Though "until the expansion is done"... that'll take years, won't it? Does Rei really get to skip procedures that whole time? Well, Rei has an Item Box, so inspecting him would be meaningless anyway.)
When it came to processing entry into the town, the most time-consuming part was naturally the baggage inspection. Illegal items, goods that required special permits — there were always people trying to smuggle all sorts of things into Gilm.
This was especially true now, with so many people gathering who didn't normally visit. Naturally, that made baggage inspections stricter, but... as long as items were stored inside Rei's Item Box — the Misty Ring — there was nothing the guards could do to check them.
In that regard, they simply had to trust Rei.
The reason they weren't particularly worried about it was probably thanks to the years of association they already had with him.
And while it wasn't quite accurate to say that Gilm's expansion would be impossible without Rei, there was no mistaking that efficiency was vastly different with him than without him.
"Excuse me! Are you even listening?!"
The guard, who had been lost in thought about Rei, snapped back to reality at the merchant's shout.
"Ah... well, you see..."
The guard opened his mouth to try and talk her down, doing his best to calm the enraged woman standing before him.
"Man, it's really something, isn't it? I've been in Gilm for several years now, but aside from the last war, this is the first time I've seen a line this long in front of the Main Gate."
The adventurer who had come to meet Rei spoke with barely contained excitement as they walked down the main street.
Naturally so. Rei had simply ridden Set down from the sky and skipped the wait entirely, but in front of the Main Gate, a queue stretching several hundred meters had formed.
Considering that every single person in that line needed baggage inspections and various entry procedures processed, there was no telling how many hours it would take.
It was a queue long enough to make anyone despair at the thought.
"Yeah, I'm just glad I didn't have to wait in that line myself. ...Is it this way?"
"Ah, yes. We've been asked to place this batch of lumber at the Third."
Previously, the lumber felled in the Treant Forest had been transported secretly by the Knight Order. But the town's expansion had already been publicly announced and was well underway. There was no longer any need for secrecy, which was why Rei could transport it directly like this.
Construction materials were gathered and stored at several locations around town. One of those was the site simply called the Third — and that was where Rei needed to go now.
"Got it. ...Hold on a second."
After a word to the adventurer, Rei headed toward a nearby stall.
"Three skewers, please."
"Coming right up. Looks like things are pretty hectic for you too, Rei."
The Hobbyist Shop Owner, a familiar face, offered this with a grin and quickly handed over the freshly grilled skewers.
Rei paid, cracked a faint smile at the shop owner's remark, and replied.
"It's true that things got a lot busier all at once these past two months."
"Yeah... figured as much. They're making Gilm bigger than it's ever been, so of course it's more than just a little busy. Well, business is booming for us thanks to that, at least."
The increased number of people in Gilm naturally meant more people eating there. Given the sheer volume of people drawn in by this surge in demand, it was a given that restaurants' sales would climb.
Inns were also nearly fully booked, and many of those with acquaintances in Gilm had simply crashed at their friends' places. Under those circumstances, those who had originally opened shops in Gilm were all boasting considerable sales figures.
What's more, dishes that Rei had popularized — or more accurately, that the cooks had popularized — such as Nikuman, Pizza, and Udon, were still quite rare, and they had firmly captured the hearts and stomachs of everyone who had flocked to Gilm.
Udon could probably be found in towns like Abuelo and Sablusta as well, but even so, it was no mystery that many people wanted to try the genuine article if they had the chance.
"Well then, I'm off to deliver the cargo."
"Yeah, hang in there."
After a brief exchange with the shop owner, Rei set off once again toward the Third Material Storage Area.
He had bought three skewers — one for himself, one for Set, and one for the adventurer guiding him.
They each munched on their skewers as they made their way down the main street.
New adventurers who had come to Gilm, merchants, people searching for work... seeing such people react in shock at the sight of Set was already something Rei had grown thoroughly accustomed to. In a way, it actually served as a convenient way to distinguish between Gilm's residents and outsiders.
"So, how are the preparations for the expansion coming along?"
"The relocations are finished, and the demolition of houses near the wall is mostly complete. The last resident to hold out apparently came around in the end, too."
"Ah, that man..."
Rei's face twisted in displeasure.
If the man had refused to move because it was his hometown, or because he had lived there since childhood and felt a deep attachment to the house, Rei would have understood.
But that man had simply demanded more money.
On top of that, the house the man lived in was extremely old — the kind of place that looked like it would fall apart on its own in a matter of years. Not exactly someone whose demands Rei felt any inclination to humor.
Recalling the man in his forties with that vulgar smile plastered across his face, Rei spoke with visible distaste.
"Did they end up raising the offer?"
"No. They brought in someone the man couldn't refuse and had them give him a thorough talking-to. After that, he complied right away."
"Ah... I see. So that's how it went."
Chatting as they went, Rei and the adventurer continued on toward the Third Material Storage Area.