A few days had passed since Rei agreed to serve as a guard for the woodcutters in the Treant Forest.
The promised day had finally arrived, and Rei made his way to the Guild.
...Though by that point, it was already past ten o'clock, and most people were in the middle of their work.
Naturally, the woodcutters and their adventurer guards had already headed for the Treant Forest.
As for why Rei alone was arriving at this hour, it was because he had various errands to take care of beforehand. Transporting construction materials for the new wall, delivering the monsters slain the night before to the Guild, and so forth.
That was precisely why Rei was the only one showing up at this time.
"Well then, Rei-kun. Take care."
"...Please be careful, Rei-san."
Not just Kenny, but Lenora as well wished him safety with those words.
The arrangement had been settled while Lenora was speaking with Worker.
Of course, if the adventurer called Ajas was truly the person Ilse had described, the Guild couldn't simply turn a blind eye and leave such a man alone.
That was exactly why this plan had been approved.
...Though the Guild would have preferred to assign the task to someone other than Rei.
"Yeah. I have no intention of losing to the likes of anyone here, so don't worry."
Exchanging those brief words, Rei stepped out of the Guild.
Set was already waiting outside, playing with a few adventurers and passersby while waiting for Rei to arrive.
"Gurururu!"
Seeing Rei approach, Set stood up, purring happily.
At the sight of Set's behavior, those who had been playing with it also stood up quietly and returned to their own work.
...All except one person. Yohanna lingered, gazing at Set with regretful eyes.
"Rei-san... monopolizing Set-chan like that..."
"Even if you say that, Set is my Tamed Monster to begin with. More importantly, what about your own work?"
As a member of the Former Mobile Unit, Yohanna was naturally involved in various tasks related to Gilm's expansion alongside her fellow Former Mobile Unit party members.
Then again, this time, just like Rei and the rest of the Crimson Lotus Wings, most party members were operating individually even while part of a group.
It made sense. A party was generally formed by gathering people with a variety of skills—warrior, thief, bowman, mage, and so on.
Some parties naturally had overlapping roles, but fundamentally, they were collections of individuals each possessing several skills.
Given that, it was only natural for everyone to take on the work best suited to them during Gilm's expansion.
"Huh? Me? I'm scheduled to go on town patrol in a little while. There's still some time before we muster. So I was browsing the shops as I walked, and then I spotted Set-chan."
Somehow holding back the hand she wanted to reach out toward Set, Yohanna muttered in frustration. If she had known Set was in front of the Guild, she never would have wasted time browsing the surrounding shops—she would have come straight here.
(I went to the trouble of outmaneuvering Mirene, and I might have gotten to play with Set-chan...)
Genuinely regretful from the bottom of her heart, Yohanna directed those feelings into her gaze at Rei.
"Don't look at me like that. It's not like I could have sent word that I was letting Set out to play."
"That's true, but... fine, never mind."
Looking disappointed, Yohanna pulled herself away from Set.
"Guruu."
Set purred toward Yohanna, as if to say they'd play again next time.
Yohanna nearly reached out toward Set and its round, pleading eyes, but somehow managed to restrain herself.
...Though that wasn't out of consideration for Rei. Her desire to not cause trouble for Set was simply stronger.
"If another chance comes up, play with Set for me."
With those words, Rei straddled Set's back.
Before the expansion construction, taking off from within Gilm's walls wouldn't have been so simple.
But now, with the wall destroyed, flying posed no particular issue.
Moreover, Rei and Set specifically had been granted free passage in and out of Gilm without any special procedures, which was what made this possible.
Normally, though, even Rei would exit through the Main Gate. This time, he needed to reach the Treant Forest as quickly as possible rather than detouring to the Main Gate.
He had already cleared this in advance with Worker and Daskar.
Of course, Worker was one thing, but he hadn't gone to see the busy Daskar directly—Marina had broached the subject with him on Rei's behalf.
...Given that she held what could only be called his dark history, Daskar had no choice but to accept most requests, as long as they weren't terribly unreasonable or harmful to Gilm.
"Hmm... it's coming along fairly well."
A fair amount of time had passed since the expansion construction began.
The old wall had been completely demolished, and not a trace of its rubble remained.
Instead, the ground was now being excavated to lay the foundation for the new wall, and in some places, the wall was already beginning to take shape.
Naturally, a wall of that caliber couldn't prevent monster incursions, let alone support a Barrier.
But even so, from Rei's perspective, seeing the wall under construction was deeply satisfying as someone who had a hand in the project.
"Guruu?"
Set looked back, as if asking whether it was okay to go. Rei took his eyes off the wall and stroked its neck.
Reading that as the signal to move, Set spread its wings and headed for the Treant Forest.
...At Set's speed, it took only a few minutes after departing Gilm to reach the Treant Forest—perhaps not even a full minute.
The Treant Forest had been considerably thinned by woodcutters and adventurers alike. That much was obvious at a glance from above.
Even from the sky, the sound of axes ringing below could be heard.
Without Rei needing to say a word, Set angled into a descent toward the ground.
Several of the adventurers keeping watch on the ground must have mistaken the descending Set for an attacking monster. They hurriedly tried to ready their weapons—only to be stopped by the other adventurers around them.
(The ones who got wary are the guys assigned here starting today. The ones who stopped them are the ones who've been in charge here from before.)
It wasn't necessarily true for every single person, but those who had been guarding the woodcutters in this Treant Forest from the start would naturally know that Rei came from the sky to haul away felled lumber.
Even so, a few of them had been readying their weapons, as if under some misunderstanding.
Casting a mildly exasperated glance at those individuals, Rei dismounted the moment Set touched down.
Since this was a routine he was well accustomed to, there was no chance of him botching the landing.
...One woodcutter directed a glare tinged with irritation at Rei, but the person on the receiving end paid it no particular mind as he surveyed the surroundings.
His gaze naturally settled on those who still seemed unaccustomed—the group assigned to guard the woodcutters starting today at the Guild's request.
He glanced at one of them in particular—a man with a snake tattoo on his left hand—but said nothing.
"Ah, Rei-san. I've heard about you. Running late, huh?"
From the veteran group of woodcutter guards, one adventurer called out to Rei. A man in his thirties spoke with polite language even to Rei, who could easily pass for someone his son's age.
It was an attitude born of knowing Rei's true strength.
"I had some errands on the wall construction side. So, how are things here? From the look of it, progress seems slow."
As expected of adventurers gathered in Gilm, every one of those assigned to guard the Treant Forest possessed a certain degree of skill.
Even so, from Rei's perspective, the fact that they weren't operating as smoothly as the veterans who had been doing this from the start struck him as slightly off.
"Ah... that's partly because they're not used to the Treant Forest yet. Plus, it hasn't been that long since they got here."
"I see."
Rei accepted that.
Unlike Rei, who had arrived here in a matter of minutes on Set's back, the woodcutters and adventurers had come by horse-drawn carriage.
That was faster than traveling on foot, but it still couldn't compare to Set flying through the sky.
What's more, the carriages weren't even moving at full speed—they were proceeding at a leisurely pace.
"Hmm. Well, that's fine then. But I'm assigned here today too, and guarding isn't exactly my specialty. Could you spare a few people for me?"
"Got it. Guard duty here differs from the norm in a number of ways. We'll need someone to show them the ropes."
At the man's words, several of those assigned to the Treant Forest starting today wore expressions of clear dissatisfaction.
They wanted to make the point that they weren't such amateurs that they needed to be taught how to do guard work.
(Ajas... doesn't seem to be showing any particular displeasure. He's awfully quiet.)
Based on Ilse's account, Rei was fairly certain—truly only probably, but fairly certain—that Ajas was indeed Ilse's enemy.
But it still wasn't one hundred percent confirmed.
Whether he was the enemy or not didn't matter either way. Rei's honest desire was to obtain that certainty through this assignment if at all possible.
(Well, I don't expect to understand everything in a single day, but it would be good to at least get a sense of what kind of person he is... and if he is the enemy, what he's plotting.)
If Ajas was exactly the person Ilse had described, Rei couldn't imagine he was simply keeping his head down and doing honest work.
In that case, he was most likely scheming something.
(Leaving that side of things to Egg and his people would be the quickest approach, but they're apparently swamped with their own business.)
With Gilm's expansion underway, there were those who sought to interfere with it—or those scheming behind the scenes to skim the profits.
Those operating in the shadows with such intentions were beyond counting, spanning organizations, nobles, and commoners alike.
It was Egg and his people who were crushing the vast majority of them.
Naturally, they couldn't eliminate every single one, which was why exceptions like Count Relduct still cropped up.
In any case, thanks to Elena, most of the Noble's Faction had withdrawn, but there were still plenty of others lurking in the shadows within Gilm.
Egg and his unit, tasked with countering them, were naturally swamped.
If anything, it was fortunate that even one person had been spared for this matter.
...Though since Marina had made the request to Daskar, it was more accurate to say that Daskar simply couldn't refuse.
"Rei-san, no point in just standing around. Shall we get started? I'll be with your group."
The man who had been speaking with Rei offered this.
Looking at him again, Rei found it curious that despite being an adventurer—and a warrior at that—the man was remarkably humble.
Of course, it wasn't as though humble adventurers didn't exist.
But setting that aside, the man likely held the same respect and awe toward Rei as when they'd first met. With that in mind, Rei spoke up without hesitation.
"Understood. Let's get started, then."
At Rei's words, everyone dispersed.
Those who had been guarding the Treant Forest from the start moved to observe the area around where the woodcutters were felling trees.
Once they confirmed there were no enemies nearby, they too picked up axes and began logging.
Unlike before, however, they kept their weapons close at hand so they could respond immediately if anything happened. They weren't focusing solely on the logging.
Since they were felling trees while staying ready to react to their surroundings at all times, the logging work inevitably took a back seat.
And since they weren't professional woodcutters to begin with, their skill naturally fell short of the actual woodcutters.
When that happened, it was only natural that no matter how many trees they felled, their additional compensation would suffer.
"Damn it, if only the monsters would show up."
"Don't say that. We're here as guards in the first place. The guard pay is decent enough, so let's just be content with that."
"True. If we're just keeping watch on the surroundings, the monster count isn't even that high. Give up on the logging, focus purely on guarding, and the pay is pretty decent for a fairly easy job. Try looking at it differently."
"Bullshit. I need money... money to buy a hair ornament for Ilage-chan!"
"Ah... come to think of it, this guy was hitting the brothel pretty hard, wasn't he..."
Listening to that exchange drifting over, Rei approached the newcomer group alongside the man serving as their guide.