"A snake tattoo on his left arm? Hmm, let me think. I haven't heard of anything like that. Even when I was serving as Guild Master, unless someone was as extraordinary as you, Rei, I wouldn't have known anything based on a tattoo alone."
Marina replied to Rei with those words as they headed toward the construction site for the expansion project.
At those words, Rei let out a disappointed sigh.
Yesterday, when he had returned to the Wheat Inn at dusk, Ilse had been waiting for him. After hearing her story in Vihera's room—that she had spotted someone at the Guild with the same tattoo as the person who had killed her family five years ago—Rei had figured he would ask Marina, the former Guild Master, about it.
But what came back was the response that she had no memory of it.
(In that case, should I ask the receptionists?)
Unlike the Guild Master, who wouldn't hear about information unless it concerned a truly exceptional adventurer, the receptionists were the ones who directly interacted with the adventurers.
Naturally, that meant they came into contact with a large number of adventurers, and they would firmly remember anyone with distinguishing features.
And Rei had two receptionists close to him: Lenora, his assigned receptionist, and Kenny, who was friendly with him.
Given that, there was no reason not to reach out to them.
"The fact that you're investigating this person means... Ilse, was it? Have you decided to cooperate with that girl's revenge?"
"Not exactly. I haven't fully decided yet. But if the person Ilse saw at the Guild really is the one she described, it would cause all sorts of problems, right?"
"That's... true enough."
The target was someone who would kill a family of traveling merchants.
Rei had heard that Ilse survived only because her other family members had desperately helped her escape, but it was close to total annihilation.
No, Ilse had only been doing simple tasks within her merchant family.
In that sense, it could be said that the merchant group had been wiped out.
Indeed, the peddling business Ilse's family had conducted had not been carried out since.
Anyway, if such a person was truly in Gilm, there was a high probability they were plotting something.
Having learned that, there was no way Rei, who was deeply attached to Gilm, could turn a blind eye.
At first, he had entertained the thought that it might be quicker to simply act secretly on his own and dispose of the target. But in present-day Gilm, Rei was drawing attention in various ways.
At the very least, moving openly would be problematic in multiple respects.
Moreover, the role Rei played in Gilm's current expansion project was significant in many ways.
While he could manage minor tasks, it was also an undeniable fact that he lacked the time to take full-scale action.
"What about the guards..."
"For now, I'll have a word with Daskar."
The ease with which she could say she would speak to the lord of this land was likely due to the comfort of being old acquaintances.
The guards were currently managing by borrowing the help of adventurers... no, even so, they were short-handed and dealing with one disturbance after another.
She had judged that feeding them uncertain information and having the guards investigate based on it would cause various problems.
"So you'll have Egg and his people move on this."
Egg, who led the former vigilante band of Prairie Wolves, now commanded Gilm's Intelligence Unit.
By normal standards, it would be considered an extraordinary promotion.
...Of course, whether he himself was happy being kept so busy with various tasks was another matter entirely.
Regardless, there was no doubt that Egg and his unit were reliable when it came to gathering information.
However, present-day Gilm had a massive influx of people arriving from all sorts of places.
Among them, there were undoubtedly those orchestrating some kind of scheme, and it was certain that the Intelligence Unit had to prioritize those threats.
(If anything, with fewer people than the guards, Egg and his unit might be even busier right now. I doubt they can hire adventurers to help, either.)
So Rei thought, but he agreed with Marina's decision to leave the target's information gathering to Egg and his people—trusting the right people for the right job.
"Yeah, let's leave that sort of thing to the professionals."
"Lord Rei! Lord Rei! Lord Reiii!"
As if timing it to the moment Rei and Marina's conversation reached a lull, such a voice reached Rei's ears.
In reality, since he had been walking while talking to Marina, the man probably hadn't been timing it.
It was likely just a coincidence... but even so, to Rei, it seemed as though the timing had been deliberately calculated.
Looking toward the figure approaching him—someone who showed vigor unbelievable for an old man, running toward him at about the same speed as a young person—Rei let out a sigh.
It wasn't that he disliked Malz, but Malz's nature of being unable to leave questions unaddressed meant he constantly approached Rei to talk.
The man meant no harm, but the fact that the people around him directed looks of pity at Rei made it obvious just how frequent these encounters were.
"Hehe, do your best."
"Ah, hey. Marina!"
It was true that the majority of Malz's interest was directed toward Rei, but it wasn't as though he had no interest in Marina, who wielded Spirit Magic on a massive scale, with precision and power that would normally be hard to believe.
Marina, knowing that, had probably made her swift escape.
As Rei watched Marina's retreating figure—her dark-brown, smooth-looking back largely exposed by her deep green party dress—he was about to voice his displeasure.
But before he could, Malz reached him and opened his mouth happily.
"Lord Rei, about the types of magic you use..."
"Ah... for now, I'm heading to work."
Rei had already finished using Terrain Manipulation to lower the ground.
In that sense, there was no need for Rei to deliberately come to the outer wall construction site... but it wasn't as though he had nothing else to do.
"Is that so? I understand.... But Lord Rei, just because you're an Item Box User, aren't you being taken advantage of too much? Hauling defeated monster corpses, transporting construction materials..."
Malz muttered with dissatisfaction in response to Rei's words.
No, it wasn't that he seemed dissatisfied—he likely was dissatisfied.
Even from Malz's perspective, Rei wielded unbelievable magic and mastered a Magic Item that might be as valuable as an Item Box.
To make someone like that do what amounted to menial chores...
Of course, Rei himself didn't care about such things at all.
To begin with, Rei was currently cooperating with Gilm's expansion project in the form of a Nomination Request.
Given that, using his Item Box was no burden to him.
...If he had obtained the Item Box after great hardship and suffering, the story might have been slightly different.
But Rei had obtained the Item Box, which had been prepared for him almost immediately upon arriving in Elgin, so while he understood its rarity, he didn't hesitate to use it.
Besides, it wasn't as if it were a Magic Item with a usage limit.
"Ah, it's Rei-san! Rei-san's here—!"
The adventurers who had been entrusted with the night guard raised their voices in cheers at the sight of Rei.
They were happy that Rei had come... but more accurately, they were calling out seeking the Misty Ring that Rei possessed.
The adventurers each marked the corpses of the monsters they had defeated to prevent them from being stolen by other adventurers.
Rei stored those monster corpses into his Misty Ring one after another.
Of course, since most of the corpses were Goblins, after securing the Magic Stones and right ears as subjugation proof parts, the remains would be disposed of by the Guild.
However, there were a few monsters of decent value, including some Orcs, and the adventurers who had slain them seemed pleased—partly from the joy of finishing their work.
Seeing Rei's situation, Malz displayed a somewhat displeased expression.
For Malz, who held a deep sense of reverence toward Rei, the others' attitude toward him was apparently unamusing.
But he quickly erased that expression and headed toward Rei.
"Lord Rei, shall I help you with anything?"
"Ah... no, there's nothing in particular I need help with today. Once I'm done here, I have to head to the Treant Forest. I can't exactly take you along to the Treant Forest, can I?"
"That's..."
Malz nodded regretfully at Rei's words.
His spirit was quite youthful, but his physical decline was unavoidable.
Doing something like Vihera and the others—grabbing onto Set's front legs to travel—would be impossible under normal circumstances.
If he attempted such a thing, he would undoubtedly fall to the ground midway.
(Hm? Ah, but from Gilm to the Treant Forest, at Set's speed, it's only a few minutes. For that long, clinging to Set wouldn't be impossible... would it?)
Rei considered this while looking at Malz, but immediately rejected the idea.
Malz's arms did not look like they had the strength to support his own body weight.
He might somehow endure it for a few minutes, or he might not.
While it would be one thing if it were a true do-or-die situation, in the current circumstances with nothing at stake, it was only natural that Rei didn't want to attempt such a thing.
"Well, that's how it is. Besides, you originally came to Gilm as a mage, right? Then you should focus on that."
"...I see. I understand. It is regrettable, but I shall concentrate on my own work."
"Yeah."
For a moment, Rei wondered about the expression "regrettable, but I'll concentrate on my own work"—but since saying so out loud seemed likely to cause trouble, he let it slide.
After seeing off Malz, who had returned to his own work, Rei continued storing monsters one after another.
Once that was done, Rei's next destination was the Guild.
The adventurers who had been on night guard duty returned to their sleeping quarters—inns and the like—passing the adventurers who had taken on the day shift.
Even if the monsters that appeared weren't that powerful, pulling an all-nighter for guard duty was still extremely harsh.
Moreover, while no truly powerful monsters had appeared this time, that was largely due to chance or luck.
After all, this was Gilm... the frontier.
It wouldn't be strange for a C-Rank monster or even a B-Rank monster to appear with no warning whatsoever.
Of course, if a monster beyond the guards' ability to handle had appeared, more capable adventurers would have rushed in as reinforcements.
That no such battle occurred was fortunate for the adventurers.
Those returning to their beds fully understood that fortune, and they wanted to surrender themselves to that luck and sleep soundly in their beds.
...Though there were some who, despite it being only morning, were already thinking of heading to a brothel.
The adventurers who arrived to replace them, perhaps because it was morning, included some who looked sleepy, but the majority were brimming with vitality.
However, those people too were energetic only because it was still morning.
As the day progressed into afternoon, the sunlight pouring down from the sun would grow fierce, and they would have to endure that heat.
Whether it was the daytime heat or the nighttime drowsiness... whichever one chose, it was certain that the adventurer guards could not work in a comfortable labor environment.
(Well, for now I can leave Egg's matter to Marina... I suppose I should just act normal.)
Given that he was drawing attention in various ways, Rei figured it would be better for him to behave as usual so that Marina and the others could move more easily. With that in mind... after confirming that all the night-guard adventurers had departed, Rei began walking toward the Guild.
Along the way, as he watched the large number of people working, he was once again struck by the realization that Gilm's expansion had truly begun in earnest.
"Oh, that looks tasty. Give me one."
"Coming right up. Working again today, Rei? Hang in there."
He bought a single skewer from a familiar stall owner and ate while walking.
Since the stall catered to adventurers and craftsmen working at the construction site, the saltiness was a bit strong, but for Rei, that actually served as a nice accent.
If he got thirsty, he could simply buy some fruit water or take out the Dagger of Flowing Water from his Misty Ring.
Continuing to walk while thinking such thoughts... Rei eventually arrived at the Guild.