The day after deciding to keep watch over Ajas a while longer, Rei went about his work as usual.
"Oooooh, Lord Rei! That Magic Item of yours, the Death Scythe... please, I must see it!"
"You never learn, do you? Forgotten how you nearly got crushed last time?"
The old mage—Malz—cried out upon seeing Rei use the Death Scythe to perform Terrain Manipulation, smoothing out subtle irregularities in the surrounding ground.
Rei's reply carried a hint of exasperation.
Several days earlier, when Malz had asked to get a better look at the Death Scythe, Rei had granted permission. But the Death Scythe weighed roughly one hundred kilograms in its normal state.
Even a highly skilled mage was, physically speaking, just an ordinary one—and Malz was an old man on top of that. There was no way he could have lifted that weight.
Having seen Rei hold the Death Scythe one-handed with no apparent effort, Malz likely hadn't realized just how heavy it was at first. Even when Rei warned him, Malz's fascination outweighed his caution and he insisted he'd be fine. He did manage to scramble away before being crushed, but it was still a close call—near-death, really.
Given that this same Malz was now asking to see the Death Scythe again, Rei's concern was only natural.
At first, Rei hadn't known how to handle the man. But he'd come to understand that Malz harbored no ulterior motives—he simply held a pure, genuine admiration for magic and Magic Items. Because of that, Rei had started interacting with him more casually.
...Though he still wasn't quite used to being treated with such reverence.
"I'll be fine! Last time, it happened because I tried to catch the Death Scythe directly. Just set it on the ground and—"
"Well, alright then."
Rei pulled a cloth from his Misty Ring and spread it on the ground. Once he placed the Death Scythe on top of it, Malz began examining the weapon in earnest.
"I should warn you, there's not much time."
"I know!"
Malz answered without taking his eyes off the Death Scythe and resumed his study with intense focus.
Watching him from the corner of his eye, Rei surveyed the surrounding area.
The new wall was still quite low, but it had already begun to stretch outward. Of course, it wasn't expanding on its own—the craftsmen were working hard to push it forward. Even so, looking at the big picture, the project was still very much a work in progress. After all, they were expanding Gilm—a city that already boasted considerable size—by a full fifty percent.
Still, for a construction project of that magnitude, they'd need to push forward bit by bit. It'd be great if they could finish in about a year... but is that realistic?
By Rei's common sense, expanding a city by fifty percent wasn't something that could be completed in a single year. But this world was Elgin. A world with magic.
Unlike the Earth Rei had originally come from, there was no heavy machinery here—but magic filled that gap. It wasn't something anyone could use as conveniently as heavy machinery, but there were individuals whose abilities let them accomplish in seconds what would take machines a long time.
Of course, looking at the big picture, those who could use magic were a minority, and once their magical power ran out, they were done—so compared to heavy machinery, it had its share of disadvantages. However, the Beastmen and Dwarves working here possessed raw physical strength that was incomparable to the inhabitants of Earth, and the same went for the Fleeing Adventurers.
Taken all together, Rei's impression was that this world was on par with Earth... or perhaps even surpassed it.
"Hm?"
While scanning the area, Rei noticed a small group of people gathered off to one side. The atmosphere didn't seem hostile, so he could tell they weren't arguing—which left him wondering why they were clustered together.
"Malz, I'm going to check on something over there for a bit. ...You listening?"
No response. Malz remained utterly fixated on the Death Scythe.
Giving up on the old man, Rei turned to someone nearby—not an adventurer, but an ordinary laborer hired for odd jobs.
"I'm going to take a look over there. If Malz snaps out of it and I'm not back yet, let him know."
"Ah, yes. Understood."
The man was older than Rei, somewhere in his twenties, but he nodded without any hesitation. Having worked here since the old wall was first demolished—in other words, since day one of the expansion project—he had seen firsthand just how much of a Combat Power Rei brought to the table. That was precisely why he accepted the request without complaint. He understood full well that being a few years older meant absolutely nothing here.
Leaving Malz in the man's care, Rei headed toward the gathering a short distance away.
As he drew closer, he could make out two men and two women deep in discussion. Just as he had initially sensed, they weren't fighting or arguing. But every one of them wore a grim expression.
"What's wrong? Did you hit a snag with the construction?"
"Ah... Rei... san?"
One of the women looked up at Rei's approach and blurted out his name. A troubled expression was etched across her face.
Don't tell me there's some critical defect in the construction...
The project was already underway. The new wall had only just been started, but getting to this point had required countless people spending long hours on meticulous calculations, planning meetings, and material preparation. If some major flaw had surfaced now, it would deal an enormous blow to Gilm—both economically and in terms of time. In the worst case, they might even have to start the whole construction over from scratch.
Rei studied her face with that thought in mind. The woman looked momentarily confused, as if she wasn't sure what he meant. Then understanding must have clicked, because she hastily shook her head.
"No, it has nothing to do with the construction. It's just... something about our party..."
The motion sent her blue hair, which fell to the middle of her back, swaying. Being used to seeing Ilse's green hair, the word "traffic light" popped unbidden into Rei's mind.
Traffic lights are blue, yellow, and red... but actually, they're green, yellow, and red. ...Not that it matters, thinking about that sort of thing while I'm in Elgin.
His gaze drifting to the rest of the group, Rei noted that the party consisted of a red-haired man and woman, plus a yellow-haired man—which only reinforced the traffic light association.
"Ah... right. I see. Good, as long as it's not related to the construction."
He was relieved, but having already approached them, he couldn't just walk away. That had been his mistake. Normally he might have left them to it, but they had been polite from the start, and he had a reasonably favorable impression of them. Reluctant though he was, Rei looked over the four and spoke again.
"So what happened? I can't promise talking to me will solve anything, but I can at least listen."
At his words, the blue-haired woman spoke again, as if clinging to a lifeline.
"Um, we're a D-Rank party called Mercy Rain. One of our members suddenly stopped showing up a few days ago..."
"She went missing? Without telling anyone?"
"Yes. After we finished work, she said she was going out to do a little shopping, left the inn, and never came back. She's a woman, so we're worried about all sorts of things..."
"I'll ask just in case, but is there any chance she got swept off her feet by some guy she ran into and ran off with him? Or that she's holed up in some room with him right now?"
The members of Mercy Rain all wore sour expressions at Rei's bluntness.
The blue-haired woman who had been doing the talking spoke up again, apparently as the group's representative.
"She wouldn't do something like that. ...Of course, I suppose there's always the possibility of a fateful encounter or something, but..."
"There's no way Lyusha would do something like that!"
The yellow-haired man's voice rang out with full-force intensity. The other three exchanged pained glances at his outburst. What kind of feelings this man harbored toward the missing woman was painfully obvious to anyone watching—even to Rei.
"In that case, she may have gotten caught up in some kind of incident."
"That's what we're thinking. Or maybe she's out helping someone. Whatever the case, Lyusha was always genuinely kind."
The other three nodded in agreement.
"Has something like this happened before?"
"Yes."
"...Then I don't think you need to worry too much. She's probably just helping someone out again, isn't she?"
"I hope so... But there are some strange rumors going around, so we're a bit on edge."
"Strange rumors?"
"Yes. Have you not heard? Apparently, the number of people suddenly vanishing has been on the rise. ...Well, with this many people flooding in, it's not exactly strange that some would disappear for one reason or another."
"I suppose not."
Gilm already had a sizable population, and the expansion construction had swollen those numbers even further. The sheer volume of people who had gathered here meant Rei was spotting faces he'd never seen in Gilm before.
Well, the Bestia Empire had even bigger crowds, though.
Rei recalled the throngs of people he'd seen at the fighting tournament, but deciding this wasn't the time for nostalgia, he turned his attention back to the members of Mercy Rain.
"Where did this rumor about people vanishing come from in the first place? I've never heard it."
Rei moved between multiple work sites in short bursts rather than staying in one place, yet he hadn't caught wind of any such rumor. He hadn't heard it from Marina or Vihera either, despite eating dinner with them every night. Elena and Ara were mostly cooped up in Marina's house, and since communicating with Byune was difficult at best, she didn't factor into the equation.
"It hasn't spread that far. A rumor of a rumor... would that be a good way to describe it?"
"A rumor of a rumor. That's an interesting way to put it. But be that as it may—what are you all planning to do now?"
"Fortunately, today's work is scheduled to wrap up by midday, so we were thinking of all going out to search in the afternoon."
"I see. Setting the rumor aside, all kinds of people are pouring into Gilm right now. Some of them are bound to be the type who are up to no good, so stay on your guard."
"Yes, thank you."
The blue-haired woman bowed, and the other three followed suit.
In truth, they probably wanted to ask Rei for help. And in reality, the influence he carried wasn't trivial—it was considerable. But that was precisely the problem: if he casually lent a hand to someone, others would inevitably come forward with "me too" requests. If the missing person were definitively caught up in some kind of incident, they might have swallowed their pride and asked him regardless. But right now, nothing was certain. For all they knew, she was spending a sweet afternoon at the home of a man she'd fallen for at first sight.
...Though that was probably the last thing the yellow-haired man, who clearly harbored feelings for the missing Lyusha, wanted to imagine.
Rei considered saying something more to the group, but ultimately decided that anything he added now would be pointless.
"Right, I understand. If this... Lyusha, was it? If she's genuinely gotten tangled up in some real trouble, go talk to the Guards or the adventurers patrolling the city. Gilm's Guards are particularly capable—they deal with skilled adventurers on a daily basis."
A faint glimmer of hope surfaced on the faces of the four.
Leaving them behind, Rei made his way back to where Malz was still hunched over, thoroughly absorbed in examining the Death Scythe.
His excitement was so unbecoming of a man his age that Rei half-expected him to keel over on the spot. In fact, several other workers nearby were keeping a wary eye on the old man, apparently sharing that concern.
People going missing, huh. I'll try asking Vihera about it over dinner tonight. And what if Ajas is somehow involved? I'm heading to the Treant Forest after this anyway—maybe I'll probe him a little while I'm there.
With those thoughts turning over in his mind, Rei strode back toward the Death Scythe.