"Terrain Manipulation!"
As he shouted, the ground where the wall was to be built sank by about a meter.
"Good work. I know I've had you use a lot of magic, but are you holding up alright?"
The craftsman in charge of the area where Rei was currently using the Terrain Manipulation skill—a Tanuki Beastman—handed him a cup of water as he spoke.
Rei had cold Fruit Water, regular water, and even the Dagger of Flowing Water stored in his Misty Ring, but he accepted the cup as a gesture of goodwill. He took it and moistened his throat...
"Hm?"
A look of mild surprise crossed his face at how cold the water was.
It wasn't as cold as the Fruit Water in his Misty Ring, but it was still plenty chilled.
If anything, it was closer to the refreshing chill of a mountain stream.
At the very least, it was far too cold to be water prepared in the middle of this blazing heat.
"What's this?"
"Haha, surprised? They set up a Magic Item for us up above. Probably to make us work a bit more comfortably and speed up the wall's construction. Well, I'm sure it's also to keep people from collapsing in this heat."
The Tanuki Beastman looked up at the sky—a cloudless, endless expanse of blue—and murmured.
Because the sky was so clear, the midsummer sun was making its presence felt, pouring intense sunlight down onto the ground.
Many of the workers were continuing their tasks with sweat streaming down their foreheads, battling both the heat and the direct sun.
...Amidst all that, Rei was getting through his work without any struggle at all, even under the blazing morning sun, thanks to the Dragon Robe and its simplified air conditioner-like effect.
"Well, the higher-ups probably have their reasons, but for those of us actually doing the labor, better working conditions can only be a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
There was no such term as heatstroke, but still, plenty of people knew from years of experience that running around in the heat without hydrating was bad for the body.
Even while Rei was talking with the Tanuki Beastman craftsman, the mages in charge of this section continued their work, using magic to dig further into and expand the area that Rei's Terrain Manipulation had created.
They couldn't manipulate the ground over a wide area continuously like Rei could, but they had enough skill to keep digging after Rei—limited to a one-meter depth—had done his part.
Watching the workers sweating at their tasks, Rei took another look around.
As far as he could see, a large number of people were working.
Among them, the ones who looked idle were the adventurers standing guard in case monsters appeared.
Several hours had passed since the wall came down, and it was nearing noon... but not a single Goblin had appeared yet, so it was no wonder their alertness had slipped.
The veteran adventurers occasionally reminded them to stay sharp, but the effect only lasted a short while after each warning.
Well, the real work for the guards is obviously at night.
The adventurers on daytime watch were mostly not particularly skilled, except for those leading the groups.
Bringing in elite forces at night, when monsters were most active, was only natural from a security standpoint.
While observing his surroundings, Rei realized—truly belatedly—that he had a question.
"Huh? Come to think of it, why did they tear down the old wall first? Wouldn't it have made more sense to build the new wall first and then demolish the old one?"
"...You're asking that now?"
The Tanuki Beastman shot Rei an exasperated look, having clearly heard his muttering.
"Hey, it's not like I know much about construction. And of course, this is my first time being part of a town expansion in Gilm. Do other cities follow this same process when doing expansion work?"
"Nope."
The Tanuki Beastman immediately shook his head.
The speed of that reaction was considerable, even from Rei's perspective.
"No? But that's what you're actually doing, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess... How should I put this? For a normal city, they'd use the method you described—building the new wall first, then tearing down the old one. But where are we?"
"Where...? We're in Gilm, aren't we?"
"Right. Gilm... in other words, the frontier. And Gilm is built to match its frontier status. The biggest factor is the barrier covering all of Gilm. There's also the fact that, because it's a frontier, there's more magical power flowing in the surroundings, and more flowing underground as well."
"...Well, it is the frontier. If those things were the same as a normal town or village, you wouldn't call it a frontier, would you?"
If the surrounding environment were the same as an ordinary place, then naturally it wouldn't be called a frontier—it would just be the countryside.
"So it's a procedure specific to the frontier?"
"That's right. There are other minor reasons too, but that's the main one. At first, someone did propose what you said—building the new wall first and then tearing down the old one—but the craftsmen of Gilm rejected that."
Hearing this, Rei had no choice but to accept it.
After all, he had neither the knowledge nor the skills of a craftsman.
"And so the result is demolishing the old wall before building the new one, like this."
"That's how it is. Oh, and the barrier is apparently related too, but... that's outside my area of expertise, so I don't know the details."
"The barrier?"
From what Rei had seen, the barrier over Gilm was quite impressive.
At the very least, the barrier of the town where Relduct lived—the one Rei had visited recently—had been essentially meaningless against Rei and Set.
It had alerted them to Rei and Set's intrusion, so it wasn't completely useless... but thanks to Set diving straight down and crashing directly into the Lord's Manor, even when it detected their entry, the response was inevitably delayed.
As a result, while it might have been effective against ordinary flying monsters, it ended up being completely ineffective against Rei and his party.
"Yeah. Like I said, I don't know the details. But someone higher up might know the circumstances behind that. Anyway, there are various reasons that led to this construction method. And besides..."
The Tanuki Beastman paused, then turned a meaningful look toward Rei.
"What is it?"
"Well, if you're here, that won't be a concern. But with the method of building the new wall first and then tearing down the old one, there's also the issue of transporting materials. If this weren't the frontier, it might be fine to stockpile materials outside the city, but..."
Leaving materials outside Gilm carelessly in the frontier meant you never knew what might happen to them—or so the man was saying.
Rei raised a question in response.
"In that case, wouldn't it have been fine to not tear down the entire old wall and just leave openings for carriages to pass through?"
"If the wall had been built with that in mind from the start, that would work. But when Gilm was founded, nothing like that was anticipated. In that situation, carelessly destroying a section of the wall could cause damage to other areas as well."
"I see, so that's how it is."
Rei had almost no knowledge about such things, so when a professional told him as much, he had no choice but to accept it.
They probably would have considered what happens when the wall is damaged... but I guess that's a different matter?
Looking somewhat intrigued, Rei opened his mouth to say something more... but before he could, a voice called out to him from afar.
"Hey, Rei! It's about time to move on to another area!"
Spending too much time in one place meant adding to the burden of other locations.
A short break was one thing, but a fair amount of time had passed since he started talking with the Tanuki Beastman.
Being hurried along like this wasn't unreasonable.
"Got it, I'm heading over now!"
Rei waved to the person who had called out and returned the empty cup to the Tanuki Beastman.
"So I should get going. I need to make the rounds at other places too."
"Got it. Do your best... With you around, Rei, this kind of construction work gets a lot easier. You might start getting Nomination Requests from now on."
"I'm... not sure whether to be happy about that or not."
Smiling with a slightly troubled look, Rei broke into a run toward the man who had called him.
It wasn't that far, so it took less than ten seconds to arrive at the next work site.
"Sorry for rushing you. But if we have you do the work first, it moves things along on our end too."
"I know. I took a bit too long of a break anyway."
"It looked like you were having a serious conversation though. What was it about?"
"Nothing much. I was just curious about why they deliberately tear down the old wall before building the new one, so I asked about that."
"That's because this is Gilm, isn't it?"
"Apparently so. I didn't know that, though... So, can I get started right away?"
The man's look seemed to ask—You didn't know about the place you live in?—and Rei asked the question as if to brush it off.
Whether he noticed Rei's demeanor or not, the man didn't seem particularly invested in talking and nodded readily.
"Alright, go ahead."
Just as Rei was about to use his skill, one of the mages nearby suddenly approached him.
"Forgive me, but if you wouldn't mind, could you show me how you use your magic? I may not look it, but I have a fair amount of confidence in my own magic. However, I've heard rumors that your magical prowess is quite considerable. I would very much like to see it up close."
Before Rei could respond to the elderly mage's words, the craftsman in charge of this site spoke up.
"Come on, old man. Sorry, but don't get in Rei's way. He's the busiest person here right now."
Even being told he was the busiest, Rei had just been talking with the Tanuki Beastman, so he slightly averted his gaze.
"Now, now, don't say that... So, what do you say?"
"Ah... I don't really mind either way. Just don't do anything to break my concentration."
At Rei's words, the old man nodded, fixing Rei with a stare that couldn't quite hide his curiosity.
Rei had some reservations about the old man's demeanor, but deciding to just get the work done, he thrust the butt cap of Death Scythe into the ground.
"Terrain Manipulation."
With those words, the ground where the wall was to be built sank by about a meter.
The other mages and craftsmen watching from nearby widened their eyes at the scene before them.
They had known from afar just how much Rei was accomplishing, but seeing it up close was an entirely different matter.
It was only natural to wonder how he could cast this much magic continuously, with no sign of fatigue whatsoever.
"Wha—!?"
The one who let out a strange gasp was the old man, who had been watching intently from right next to Rei.
His eyes were wide open, his face wearing the expression of someone who had just seen something unbelievable.
"W-What's wrong, old man? Raising your voice like that all of a sudden."
The craftsman in charge of the site called out to him in a panic.
Perhaps he was worried that the heat had taken a toll on the old man's body.
But the old man didn't seem to hear the craftsman. With an expression of pure astonishment, he turned to look at Rei again.
He wasn't intentionally ignoring his surroundings—rather, everything from other people simply passed right through him as he focused solely on observing Rei.
"You... you... what in the world are you!?"
Rei, pressed by the old man, tilted his head and spoke.
"What do you mean, what am I...? I'm a B-Rank Adventurer and an Alias Holder."
"That is not what I am asking about! You... no, the weapon you carry... what level of skill would be required to create such a thing..."
Hearing the words that came from the old man's mouth, Rei sharpened his gaze toward him.
The old man, seemingly unaware of Rei's scrutiny, was directing a gaze at Rei's Death Scythe that could only be described as fanatic.
"Tell me! Who created this Magic Item!? Whose work is it!? Please!"
"I mean, I can't really say. This was given to me, so I don't know the details behind it."
He couldn't exactly say it was something created through Beast Magic, so Rei deflected as best he could.
Even so, knowing that the old man hadn't actually grasped the true nature of his abilities, a faint look of relief crossed Rei's face.