Rei and his party were shown inside the Lord's Manor immediately upon arrival.
The gatekeepers were naturally on familiar terms with Rei and his group, and since orders had come from above to let them through without delay, there was no need to make them wait.
As always, a crowd of merchants lingered near the manor, but upon seeing the party walk straight in, they could only watch with evident envy.
Compared to before, the number of merchants has dropped. Is that because Lord Daskar has been working through them relentlessly? Or maybe they realized they wouldn't get an audience with him and went looking for other opportunities elsewhere.
Mulling over the thinner crowd, Rei stepped into the manor—
"Lady Elenaaaa!"
A voice rang out through the hall the instant they entered.
There was no need to wonder who had called out. Standing there was a short-haired woman as familiar to Elena as she was to everyone else in the party.
"Ara, sorry to keep you waiting. We're back."
Elena replied with a smile just as radiant as Ara's.
Seeing Elena's expression, Ara nodded, her relief genuine and deep-seated.
"Thank goodness you're safe..."
"When you get this emotional about it, it's a little embarrassing for me. We spoke through the Paired Orbs almost every day, didn't we?"
"Of course I know that. But even so, seeing you in person like this— it makes me truly happy."
Whether from sheer joy or overwhelming emotion, tears had gathered faintly at the corners of the normally sharp-eyed Ara's eyes.
"Umm, that is... Lady Ara?"
The one left unsettled by Ara's display was the maid who had come to guide Rei's party to Daskar. She had arrived to escort them to the office only to walk into this emotional reunion. Her bewilderment was understandable.
"Rei, I'm going to stay and talk with Ara for a while. Can I leave the briefing with Lord Daskar to you?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Ara must have had plenty to worry about, so I'll handle things here. Just make sure to show your face later."
"Umu."
Elena's position was that of an envoy dispatched by the Noble's Faction. Given that, Rei judged it necessary for her to be properly briefed on the incident, which was why he made the suggestion. Elena understood this as well—no doubt that was why she had nodded without hesitation.
"In that case, let's get going. Could you show us to Lord Daskar?"
The maid nodded at Rei's words and set off, leaving Elena and Ara behind.
Their destination, of course, was the office that Rei had visited countless times before. Strictly speaking, he hardly needed a guide. The reason one was provided anyway was simple: there were always people who might use such an opportunity to entertain questionable ideas. It wasn't that anyone suspected Rei's party of such behavior, but with the off chance of danger, the manor couldn't simply let visitors wander freely.
...In fact, the sight of a separate maid attending to Ara and Elena showed just how thorough the manor's security was.
"Daskar must be getting quite exhausted by now. It seems it falls to me to help him relieve some of that fatigue."
"Please don't."
At Marina's mischievous remark, the words slipped out of Rei before he could stop them. In truth, there weren't many people who could pull off something like that with Daskar, and Marina was at the very top of that short list. Whether Daskar actually wanted her to was another matter entirely.
"Oh my, but helping Daskar unwind when he's overworked is necessary, isn't it?"
"I'm not denying that. But if it ends up tiring Lord Daskar out even more, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?"
"Is that so?"
"Umm, that... if possible, it would be appreciated if you could... exercise some restraint..."
The maid, who had been listening to Rei and Marina's exchange, spoke up as though shielding Daskar. Serving Daskar directly, she knew full well just how overwhelming his current workload was. Causing him any additional mental fatigue was something she wanted to avoid if at all possible. That was the sentiment behind her words.
"Oh my, but a change of pace is essential, you know? Daskar is so busy right now that he has no mental room to breathe. In that case, it's only right to help him with that at least a little, wouldn't you say?"
"That's..."
It wasn't just Daskar—his subordinates had also been burdened with a mountain of tasks, so the claim that they were busy was an undeniable fact. Even so, whether it was really acceptable to tease him as Marina suggested... the fact that such a doubt arose was surely because she was a maid. Would her respected lord Daskar truly find relief in being teased by Marina?
She harbored that doubt... but walking as they were, they inevitably arrived at their destination regardless.
Should she announce Marina and the others to Daskar? She hesitated for a brief moment, but ultimately, as a maid, she couldn't simply turn away visitors—especially visitors Daskar himself had summoned. Her pride as a maid would never allow it.
"Excuse me, Lord Daskar. I've brought your guests."
"Yeah, come in."
At the voice from beyond the office door, the maid opened it.
Beyond the door—every bit as ornate as Rei remembered—sat Daskar, looking as though he were being buried alive under a mountain of paperwork. Even so, the pile was considerably smaller than the last time Rei had seen it, back when they were tasked with retaliating against Jaya.
"Bring some cold drinks and something light to snack on."
At Daskar's order, the maid bowed, closed the door, and departed.
After seeing her off, Daskar set the documents in his hand on the table and approached Rei's group.
"Good to have you back. Honestly, I never expected things to spiral this far."
His relief at their return was unmistakable. Daskar smiled with genuine warmth and gestured for them to take seats on the sofa. They had communicated through the Paired Orbs regularly enough to know everyone was safe, but seeing them in person versus through an orb was a world of difference.
Coincidentally, that was exactly how Ara had felt seeing Elena.
"You're right. Honestly, I didn't think it would blow up this much either. Though it seems like the outcome wasn't bad for Gilm."
Securing nearly a thousand new people was by no means a poor result for Gilm. What's more, the women among them were all attractive enough to be called beauties—certainly something for the lord of Gilm to celebrate. The former Resistance members, along with the carriages and horses transporting them, were also far from unwelcome in a town in the midst of large-scale expansion. And then there was the Zorgeh Merchant Guild, now effectively under Daskar's thumb—an arrangement that wasn't without its benefits.
Of course, it wasn't all good news.
The women had been brainwashed and forced into prostitution, which meant many of them harbored a deep-seated aversion toward men. Some would likely return to their hometowns on the way to Gilm, or choose to settle in the villages and towns they passed through. The Resistance members would pose no problem as long as Daskar governed justly—but if he turned into an arrogant nobleman, their past experiences made it highly likely they would take up arms against him once more. And the Zorgeh Merchant Guild had stated outright that while they might toe the line initially, once they had solidified their foundation, they would happily do business with criminal organizations if it proved profitable.
In short, the people Rei had brought would be a tremendous asset to Gilm if managed well, but a potential blight if mishandled.
Well, that part isn't my problem. Once I've delivered them to Gilm, the rest is up to Lord Daskar's skill.
Even so, Rei wasn't particularly worried about Daskar's capabilities. After all, the man had run Gilm this far without any major failures. Small problems had cropped up along the way, certainly, but they had always been resolved before they could escalate. If that was the track record, there was no need for undue concern. Naturally, Daskar understood all of this himself.
"Right."
He said so to Rei's words, somehow managing to look both relieved and troubled at the same time.
"This is exactly where your skills come into play, isn't it, Daskar? Besides, you said it yourself before—that you'd make Gilm the greatest city in the Kingdom of Mireana."
"M-Marina! That's a childhood story, isn't it!?"
At Marina's words, Daskar sputtered in a panic. From their childhood—around the time he had proposed to Marina, to be precise. Having that particular memory dragged up was something Daskar desperately wanted to avoid.
The sight of the normally intimidating Daskar flustered and scrambling wasn't exactly rare for Rei. When he was with Rei, Daskar maintained his composure, but around Marina, he was teased more often than not.
Still, when the maid returned with tea and refreshments, Daskar managed to pull himself together.
"Then, Lord Daskar, please excuse me."
Once the maid had bowed and taken her leave, Daskar finally turned to Marina.
"Honestly, Marina, you never change."
"Is that so? It's because I'm a Dark Elf, you know. But isn't that exactly what you like about me?"
At Marina's playful smile, Daskar stuffed a sandwich from the plate into his mouth as if to deflect the question. Following his lead, Rei and Byune helped themselves to the sandwiches as well.
Served as a tea accompaniment, they weren't hearty, substantial sandwiches but rather bite-sized ones. Their fillings, however, ran the gamut—ham, cheese, vegetables, fish, meat—a little of everything. For Rei and Byune, the taste was more than satisfactory.
After finishing the sandwiches, the conversation eventually shifted to the journey itself.
"Using the Sand Ship as lodging... that was a thousand people, wasn't it? Was it manageable?"
"Normally the cargo hold in the hull is for storing food and supplies, but we crammed a considerable number of people in there, so we managed. Though I won't pretend it wasn't tightly packed."
"I see. But with the Sand Ship gone, conditions are going to get tougher. It's warm enough during the day, but mornings and nights have turned considerably cooler."
"That's true. But it's gotten cooler, not cold or freezing, so I think it's still manageable. The Zorgeh Merchant Guild should have procured a fair amount of camping bedding as well."
Even with autumn approaching, as long as summer hadn't fully ended, sleeping with even a single blanket wouldn't leave anyone shivering through the night. And however cold it might get, sleeping in a carriage would at least keep the wind and rain at bay.
"As the lord of Gilm, having taken all the measures I have, I'd like as many of them as possible to arrive here safely."
"Agreed. After everything we went through to save them, I want them to make it too. Once I have a little breathing room with work here, I'll head back over to check on them."
"...Having Set really is convenient, isn't it."
Daskar spoke with unmistakable envy. Set's travel speed was in an entirely different league from a horse-drawn carriage. Even after parting ways with Sura's group upon entering the Kingdom of Mireana, the fact that they had reached Gilm in under two days spoke volumes about that speed. For someone in Daskar's position, having such mobility was nothing if not enviable.
Not that he could ever order a subordinate to go tame a gryphon. A command like that would be tantamount to telling them to commit suicide—and more importantly, encounters with a High-Rank Monster like a gryphon didn't exactly happen every day.
"That's true. I'm genuinely grateful to have Set. ...So, let's get down to business."
"Hm? Ah, right. Naturally, I want you to head to the Treant Forest to transport lumber, Rei. The woodcutters are working hard, there's no question about that, but they can no longer keep up with moving the felled trees. Monsters have started reappearing in the area recently, too."
"I figured. Once the Treant Forest itself stops being a threat, it's only natural that monsters would start moving back in. ...Understood. I'll handle it from our end. If I leave it to Set, it'll deal with any monsters it comes across."
With that settled, they moved on to discuss work assignments for the rest of the party.