Guided by Lenora to the Guild Master's office, Rei took a seat on the sofa as Worker had suggested.
"Sorry for taking up your time," Worker said.
"No, I don't mind. It's not like I could explain what happened on this request at the counter like a normal mission report."
"That's true. If that happened, it could lead to all sorts of troublesome situations. ...So then, could I have the request completion documents from Lord Daskar?"
Rei nodded and produced the documents from his Misty Ring, handing them over to Worker.
Worker glanced over them, confirmed that Daskar's name was properly signed at the bottom, then nodded. He stood up from the sofa and placed the documents into a sorting box inside his office desk.
"Confirmed. I recognize the request as complete. ...Still, your travel speed is as fast as ever. I never expected you back this quickly."
"I have Set, after all. Plus, it's more convenient to have me around, right?"
"Absolutely."
Rei had said that half as a joke, but he hadn't expected Worker to nod with such a serious expression.
Facing the surprised Rei, Worker spoke with a thoughtful nod.
"The biggest thing was transporting lumber from the Treant Forest, after all."
"Ah... I heard about that from Kenny. Sounds like it was rough."
"It was. There were also adventurers who started acting strangely emboldened because you weren't around, but that's ultimately all they amounted to, so I don't think there's any need to worry about it too much."
"Emboldened because I'm not here... It's not like I go around enforcing adventurer discipline or anything."
In the first place, Rei went on rampages quite frequently.
The majority of those were because someone had picked a fight with him, but it was still an undeniable fact that Rei had caused commotions in town. Hearing that someone like him had been maintaining discipline would naturally leave anyone bewildered.
"Well, I don't think you need to worry about that. More importantly, starting tomorrow..."
"Yeah, I heard. They've got a plan to demolish the wall."
"Yes. It took quite some time, but they've somehow managed to work it out."
"Craftsmen tend to be stubborn."
There were some flexible craftsmen out there, but to Rei, it seemed that most were stubborn precisely because they had confidence in their skills.
"That was part of the issue, but there were also problems with materials. So, what do you say? Would you be willing to cooperate with the construction work using earth magic?"
"Well, if it comes as a request. Fortunately, I don't have anything in particular I need to do right now. ...Though I would like to get the Gigant Turtle dissection done..."
"Ah, about that. We might be able to help out."
"Hm?"
"The expansion work won't need adventurer hands forever, and, well... it seems more adventurers are gathering here than we anticipated. Some of them even came from the Bestia Empire and neighboring countries."
"...From the Bestia Empire? Could it be that they were ordered to come investigate what Gilm will look like after the expansion?"
Previously, agents from the Bestia Empire had infiltrated Gilm and caused several disturbances. Rei had been caught up in those disturbances, ending up hostile to the Bestia Empire and ultimately participating in the war.
Of course, those currently holding strong power in the Bestia Empire were pro-Mireana Kingdom sympathizers, so it wouldn't necessarily lead to war right away. But that didn't mean they wouldn't investigate the internal affairs of Gilm, which was home to Rei—one of the Mireana Kingdom's key persons of interest.
Even if they weren't currently hostile, the fact that they were a potential enemy nation—the same country that had started a war just a few years ago—remained unchanged.
Given that, if a central figure of the Neutral Faction—one of the Three Great Factions within that country—whose true combat power was known from the war and the subsequent civil war, was making major moves, it was only natural that they would gather intelligence.
"You're both correct and incorrect. They likely have no intention of openly opposing Gilm. But at the same time, it wouldn't be strange for them to think they need to confirm those movements."
"I don't really get complicated talk, but basically, I don't need to worry about espionage and sabotage?"
Since the wall would be demolished, there was a possibility of monster attacks at night. If suspicious movements occurred under those circumstances, it would definitely become an extremely troublesome situation for Gilm.
But Worker dispelled Rei's concerns with a nod.
"Of course, we won't just leave them completely unsupervised. We plan to have our people tail them and monitor for any suspicious activity. ...Though they're surely aware of that themselves."
Given that they were openly identifying themselves as being from the Bestia Empire, they were likely only aiming for information obtainable within the scope of what a normal adventurer could gather. Rei nodded in understanding at Worker's explanation.
"Well, I'll leave that to the Guild. If they try anything funny on our end, that's a different story."
"Hahaha. That's probably not going to happen."
There probably weren't many countries that understood Rei's true capabilities as well as the Bestia Empire. His name was more famous among the citizens of the Bestia Empire than in the Mireana Kingdom where he belonged.
...Though, unlike in the Mireana Kingdom where he was fundamentally viewed as a hero since he was one of their own adventurers, in the Bestia Empire he was synonymous with terror.
Still, due to his exploits during the civil war, there were some who weren't that afraid of him... or rather, even held him in respect. Most of those individuals were people who had belonged to the Mobile Unit Rei led during the civil war, or those who had witnessed his power up close.
"Then that's fine. ...More importantly, what's the plan from tomorrow?"
"...Ideally, I'd like you to rest for a few days, but unfortunately, we don't have that much time to spare. Given that, I'd like to ask you to handle the Treant Forest matter and the earth magic work right away."
"When is the wall demolition expected to happen?"
"I can't say exactly, but probably in a few more days."
"A few days, huh. Looks like I came back at a pretty good time then."
"That's true. The craftsmen demolishing the wall are highly skilled individuals. They'll properly determine where to demolish and precisely bring down only that section of the wall. They're people with that kind of skill."
"Huh."
What Rei recalled upon hearing Worker's words was a scene he had seen on TV when he was in Japan. A program showing a building being demolished through a controlled explosion in America.
(Well, according to Worker, they're only demolishing part of the wall, so it's probably less flashy than that.)
The sight of an enormous building being completely destroyed in one go using explosives had certainly surprised Rei when he watched it back then. It was an extremely flashy and large-scale explosion, but to actually pull it off, one had to make meticulous calculations, be thoroughly familiar with the building's structure, consider the direction of its collapse, and so on.
(I don't know what the craftsmen's skill level is like, but I suppose I can look forward to it a little.)
Feeling like he was anticipating some kind of attraction, Rei looked forward to the day the wall would be demolished.
The demolition of the wall naturally meant that the thing protecting against monsters at night would be gone. Also, since the Barrier normally cast over Gilm existed along the wall, things couldn't continue as before.
Of course, that didn't mean the Barrier would vanish entirely. There was no way they could skip preparations against monsters attacking from the sky in a frontier region. But still, since a portion of the wall would be destroyed, it couldn't perform with the same complete effectiveness as usual.
Given that, while it was lower priority than being vigilant against monsters invading through the breach, the need to watch for monsters attacking from above was still necessary.
"In any case, once the wall is demolished, there will be no rest from there on. We'll need to proceed with construction as quickly as possible. At that point, the key factor will be the cooperation of earth magic users, starting with you, Rei-san."
"...Well, I suppose so."
Of course, it wouldn't be impossible to build a new wall without leveling the ground. But between a wall built on unleveled ground and one built on leveled ground—if asked which was sturdier, it was clearly the latter.
Also, though the possibility was low, it wasn't impossible that some kind of cavity existed underground.
That area had probably been thoroughly investigated when Gilm was first established, but a long time had passed since then. It wouldn't be strange if some monster or animal had been burrowing through the ground near Gilm during that time and created holes. For that reason as well, it was only natural that earth magic users would be called upon.
(Furthermore...)
Worker looked at Rei once more.
Worker himself had naturally never seen it, but he recalled reading in a report that Rei's earth magic wasn't limited to leveling ground—it could manipulate earth to a certain degree freely. In other words, that meant the construction work for building the new wall could be shortened to some extent.
If they wanted to resolve the wall-less situation as quickly as possible, Rei's cooperation would be indispensable.
"I expect we'll be causing you quite a bit of trouble, but we're counting on you."
As Worker bowed deeply once more, Rei gave a small nod.
Gilm expanding was a welcome development for Rei as well. Given that, there was no reason to hesitate in cooperating.
...Of course, if they told him to work for free, he would refuse.
But this time, he was working as part of an official request, so there was no need for such concern. Worker certainly had no intention of letting go of such a highly capable adventurer. Though, that highly capable adventurer did also cause various problems.
"Yeah, I get it. Gilm expanding is something I welcome too."
"I'm glad to hear you say that. With that settled, I'd like to bring the conversation back to this recent request, if you don't mind?"
"Hm? Ah, I don't mind."
Now that he thought about it, he had only handed over the request completion documents. With that in mind, Rei began explaining to Worker about his retaliation against Relduct.
Perhaps because the content of his explanation wasn't much different from what he had told Daskar, Rei was able to recount it much more smoothly than when he had spoken to Daskar earlier.
"...I see. Even the mine..."
"Was that a problem?"
Seeing Worker hesitate slightly with his words, Rei asked while wondering if perhaps he had gone too far.
But Worker shook his head at Rei's words.
"No, that's not it at all. You simply followed the requester's wishes."
Strictly speaking, the mine's collapse wasn't something Daskar had asked for—it was a request from Gail, who belonged to the same Neutral Faction as Daskar.
However, Worker wasn't going to fault him for that. He may have had some minor thoughts about Rei's actions, but he apparently decided to treat it as being within the scope of this request.
"What will you do about the reward for this matter? I can pay it out immediately."
"Ah... no, just combine it with the reward for the Gilm expansion. I'll collect it all at once later."
"Well, if you say so, it helps us. A normal adventurer would try to collect their reward as quickly as possible, though."
Worker's words weren't wrong, but in Rei's case... no, more accurately, in the case of High-Rank Adventurers including Rei, that didn't apply.
In the first place, Rei wasn't struggling for money, so there was no need to rush to receive his reward—that was the biggest factor. Besides, since he planned to receive this reward along with the expansion payment in the form of Flame Ore and other ores, collecting it all at once would save him the hassle.
"Then I'll be taking off. I still haven't let Marina, Vihera, and Byune know that I'm back."
"Yes, understood. ...Then, I'll contact you once the details regarding the wall are decided."
Rei nodded at Worker's words and stood up from the sofa.
(Now then, Marina is transporting lumber from the Treant Forest, and Vihera and Byune are patrolling the town. ...I guess I should visit Vihera first.)
Thinking such thoughts.