Several days had passed since Rei returned to Gilm and the party was held. Now the summer heat had grown truly fierce, and simply moving around in the daytime was enough to send torrents of sweat pouring down one's body. On this day, Rei was inside Gilm.
Naturally, he wasn't alone. The members of the Crimson Lotus Wings were all gathered—Marina, Vihera, Byune, and Set.
Gilm, however, was vast.
Rei stood at the site where the wall was scheduled to be demolished.
When Rei had first appeared, several craftsmen unfamiliar with Gilm wore expressions of displeasure. But after being told by those around them exactly what kind of person Rei was... and above all, after seeing Set up close, no one dared voice any complaints toward him.
At least, not on the surface.
"Then, we will begin the demolition of the wall! Once the wall comes down, there's no telling when monsters might appear. Adventurers, please be ready to respond at a moment's notice. Also, please remove the rubble as quickly as possible!"
One of the craftsmen, pressed into the role of announcer, shouted to everyone gathered near the wall.
At those words, the large number of adventurers assembled there—including Rei—shouted their acknowledgment.
The adventurers' jobs were exactly as the craftsman had shouted: dealing with monsters that might approach as a result of the wall's destruction, and processing the rubble.
Neither task took priority over the other; both were equally crucial.
If the rubble wasn't cleared quickly, the construction and expansion of the town and walls would take far longer. But at the same time, they couldn't afford to let their guard down against monsters.
"Then, please begin!"
As the staff member shouted those words, the demolition of the wall finally began.
A Dwarf craftsman made some kind of movement, and in concert with it, a sound emanating from the wall echoed through the surroundings.
That sound, which seemed to resonate deep in the gut, gradually grew louder... and eventually, countless cracks spread across the wall.
Fissures appeared across a significant portion of Gilm's wall, and the sounds coming from within grew steadily louder as time passed.
Then, in the next moment... with a roar that seemed to echo throughout all of Gilm, the wall began to collapse.
What method had been used to accomplish this, Rei couldn't tell.
But even so, the scene before him carried considerable impact.
At first, a single fragment fell from near the top and struck the ground. Then other areas began to crumble as well.
The wall shattered and rained down to the earth... and over a remarkably wide area.
That was why the sight carried more than enough force to steal Rei's breath.
It started little by little, but in the next instant the wall collapsed with accelerating speed—truly an avalanche of rock, a landslide, the only way to describe what he was seeing.
"Whoa..."
The voice reached Rei's ears, though he couldn't tell who had let it slip.
No—rather, those who hadn't gasped something similar were probably in the minority. After all, the deafening roar of the wall being destroyed—no, collapsing under its own weight—reverberated all around.
A roar so immense that it seemed every person in Gilm must have heard it.
Among those standing near Rei, perhaps because it was simply too loud, several had pressed their hands over their ears. One adventurer, a rabbit Beastman—male—had even folded his long ears flat against his head.
Doesn't that hurt?
Rei found himself wondering that for a moment as he glanced at the rabbit Beastman, but he quickly turned his gaze back to the wall.
Strangely, the rubble created by the wall's destruction showed no sign of falling toward the Gilm side. Every last piece of it tumbled to the outside.
It was a sight that spoke to either the meticulous calculations of those who had carried out the destruction, or perhaps the intuition born from years of experience as craftsmen.
How long did the collapse actually last? To Rei, watching it unfold, it felt simultaneously like seconds, tens of seconds, and minutes.
And when the portion of the wall that had covered Gilm—no, a rather substantial area—had finished collapsing, one Dwarf raised his voice while everyone else stood dumbfounded.
"Alright! The wall's down! Get to your jobs, ya slackers!"
He was short in stature, but the muscles packed across his frame ensured that the Dwarf didn't look small in the slightest. If anything, he appeared far more rugged than some of the adventurers nearby who were all show and no substance.
At that shout—which by no means paled in comparison to the roar of the collapsing wall—those around finally snapped back to reality.
"Hey, let's go! Get that rubble hauled out, fast! Those assigned to defense patrol, head to your sectors immediately!"
"Ralda, Zebi, move it! The more rubble we haul out, the more we earn!"
"Everyone, let's go! It's still daytime, but with a sound that loud echoing across the area, there's a high chance monsters will come! Don't do anything reckless, you hear me?"
Amid the various voices ringing out, Rei called out to his nearby party members.
"Well then, shall we get to it? You all know what you need to do, right?"
At Rei's words, Marina, Vihera, and Byune each nodded, and Set rumbled in acknowledgment.
Rei's first task was to store the massive chunks of rubble that would obstruct the path toward Gilm's exterior. After that, he would prepare the groundwork for the new wall by raising and lowering the ground according to the craftsmen's instructions.
...Naturally, Rei wasn't the only one leveling the ground.
Scanning the area, Rei spotted several individuals who appeared to be mages. There were also a few Spirit Mages among them, Marina included.
"...Rei?"
One of those Spirit Mages made eye contact with Rei and murmured in surprise.
Rei already knew exactly who she was.
"Filma?"
Even so, he asked to confirm—out of caution, so to speak.
She was an Elf whose primary weapons were the bow and Spirit Magic, a cohort from when Rei had taken his very first Rank Up Exam. An Elf, a Spirit Mage, an archer. Judging from her combat style, she bore a strong resemblance to Marina.
The difference was that Filma was an Elf, while Marina was a Dark Elf.
"Yes, it's been a while."
"Yeah. I'd love to catch up on everything, but we don't have that kind of time right now. How about we grab a meal together after we finish today's work?"
For Rei, the invitation came from a genuine desire to talk with Filma again.
He'd seen Culotte, Arrogan, and Schola—his fellow Rank Up Exam cohort—reasonably often since then. But Filma the Elf... and also the swordsman Superbia, were two people he hadn't crossed paths with at all.
That was why he wanted to reconnect, having not seen her in so long.
Given that only a few years had passed, perhaps it was premature to call them "old ties," but Rei and the others were adventurers. In a profession where danger was a constant companion, it wasn't uncommon for acquaintances to die—not just over years, but over months... or even days.
Reuniting with a cohort he'd barely heard a whisper about since the Rank Up Exam made it perfectly natural for Rei to invite her to share a meal.
However, to anyone who didn't know the context, it looked as though Rei were hitting on Filma.
"Hmm."
The one who spoke with a distinctly displeased tone was Vihera.
Marina, the former Guild Master, knew Filma from taking the Rank Up Exam alongside Rei, so she didn't seem particularly bothered. Naturally, it wasn't common to remember everyone who took the exam with you, but Filma was a relatively rare Elf in Gilm, and above all, the fact that she had taken the exam with Rei had left a strong impression.
That was why Marina understood exactly what kind of person Filma was.
"A-Anyway, work comes first. We can talk tonight."
Part of it was that Vihera's glare was intimidating, but taking in the surrounding situation, it was clear that wasn't the only reason she said so. Dozens—hundreds—of adventurers, craftsmen, and day laborers were streaming toward the outside of the wall. Stopping where they were, like Rei's group, was naturally an obstruction.
In fact, a few of those heading outside were shooting them annoyed looks.
"Right, let's get to work. Oh, I'm staying at the Wheat Inn at Dusk. Come by tonight if you can."
"You're still staying at that inn? I'm jealous."
She said this with genuine feeling—no doubt because for Filma, the Wheat Inn at Dusk was a high-class establishment with prices that made her hesitate to even consider staying there.
Rei had lodged there when he first arrived in Gilm and simply made it his regular inn, but that was something only someone like Rei could pull off. Even with confidence in one's skills, ranking up that quickly was no simple feat.
Of course, that was simply Rei being exceptional; it didn't mean Filma's own progress was slow.
In any case, after making the promise, Filma departed.
"Well then, let's get moving too."
"...I have plenty of things I want to ask you, but I'll save them for later."
Vihera announced this and headed outside the town with Byune.
Vihera, who relished battle, and Byune, the bandit-hunter, had naturally been assigned to the group handling monster watch on the outside.
Though it was still daytime, and powerful monsters were far more likely to appear after nightfall.
"Alright, let's go too."
"Yeah."
"Gruu."
With Vihera and Byune gone, the remaining two—or two and one beast, counting Set—likewise left the area.
Stepping through the breach in the collapsed wall, they found a large number of people already hard at work.
The most numerous among them were those hauling away the rubble created by the wall's collapse. Some carried it in wooden baskets, some hauled it by hand since they were alone, others used leather sacks—and a fair number had even brought wagons.
Well, it'll be a while before wagons can get through here.
With countless pieces of rubble of all sizes scattered about, there was no way wagons could pass just yet. But the wall had been destroyed over a considerable area, and the rubble was being cleared steadily. By the time they'd gathered enough into wagon beds, one or two would surely be able to pass through.
"Once we clear the rubble around there, wagons should be able to come and go."
"Good luck with that. I'm going to go adjust the ground."
"Gurururu!"
At Rei's words, Marina said her piece and crossed beyond the wall, with Set following close behind.
Naturally, Set wasn't going to help level the earth. Instead, it would keep watch from the sky.
Flying enemies were among the most troublesome opponents imaginable, which meant enormous expectations were heaped upon Set whether it liked it or not.
...Though from Set's perspective, it was simply doing its usual patrol through the sky.
"Do your best."
Calling out to the two—person and beast—Rei crossed where the wall had once stood and stepped outside of Gilm.
The guards and the adventurers who took the request... they're in for a rough time.
Storing a chunk of rubble roughly four meters across into his Misty Ring, Rei thought about the hardships the guards and adventurers would face in the days ahead.
Now that the wall was gone, anyone drawn to Gilm would naturally zero in on the gap. Entering Gilm without proper procedures would give criminals an enormous advantage.
Well, I don't need to worry about the Noble's Faction... but is there a chance the King's Faction might make a move?
Thanks to the Relduct incident, Rei was confident that the possibility of the Noble's Faction showing up over this expansion had all but vanished. But how the King's Faction—the largest of the Three Great Factions—would respond was something even Rei couldn't predict.
If they chose to act, it was a certainty that some kind of disturbance would erupt at the wall construction site.
"Ah, Rei-san, sorry, but could you process that rubble over there?"
An adventurer nearby flagged him down, and Rei turned his gaze toward a sizable chunk of stone—one that had to be about six meters across.
He had generally tried to ensure the debris was broken down to a manageable size, but inevitably, exceptions still turned up.
In the first place, the reason Rei had been asked to handle the larger rubble was precisely because of those exceptions.
"Yeah, got it. I'll clear it right away."
Saying that, he stored it into his Misty Ring—truly clearing it in an instant—and moved on to the next piece of rubble, stowing it away as well.