"Oooooooooooh! It's Rei! Rei's here!"
An adventurer's voice rang out through the Treant Forest, brimming with joy.
For the adventurers assigned to the Treant Forest, Rei's existence was nothing short of a godsend. He could fell trees effortlessly with his Death Scythe. He could store the felled timber in his Item Box and haul it away in an instant. And if the monsters that had recently begun settling in the forest attacked, he possessed overwhelming combat power to deal with them. For everyone working in the Treant Forest, he was an undeniable asset.
"Oh, Rei! You finally made it!"
It wasn't just the adventurers—the Woodcutters rejoiced at his arrival too. No matter how many trees they cut down, transporting them always fell behind schedule, so work had been stalling lately. Dozens of felled logs now sat unattended on the forest floor. The logging itself was progressing well; the treed area had shrunk considerably since Rei's last visit. But in exchange, the felled lumber simply wasn't being hauled away.
(I think they could solve this by assigning more people to transport duty... The fact that they haven't— is there a reason? Well, there's probably plenty of work at the Expansion Construction site too. And I made a lot of progress here before heading to Reblurina, so maybe they still have some breathing room.)
Dismounting from Set, Rei surveyed the fallen timber around him and immediately began storing a nearby log into his Misty Ring. Seeing him get to work, Set flapped his wings and ascended back into the sky to keep watch and hunt down the monsters that had taken up residence in the forest.
"I'll handle storing the felled trees on my end, so the rest of you focus on your own jobs. Now that I'm here, we're not letting any wood pile up!"
"Oooooh!"
At Rei's shout, the Woodcutters raised their voices in unison. Among them were a few who had caused trouble with Rei in the past. But even those men welcomed him with open arms—anyone who could get the job done was a hero here. Especially now. They needed to fell as much timber as possible, including enough to last through the winter construction. If they cut corners here and ran short of lumber during the colder months, they'd have to trek all the way back out here in the dead of winter to cut more. For the Woodcutters, that was a fate to be avoided at all costs.
Gilm was a frontier region, after all. It wasn't uncommon for powerful monsters to appear even near the town. And once winter set in, season-specific monsters could easily make an appearance. The Woodcutters had more confidence in their strength than ordinary townsfolk, but that didn't mean they could stand toe-to-toe with a monster. The answer to that question was a firm no.
With that in mind, the Woodcutters immediately got back to felling trees to meet their quotas.
(Well, if they really do run short of lumber this winter, I'm probably the one they'll ask.)
Sending Woodcutters out in winter would require guards and haulers for the felled logs. Doing all of that in deep snow would be grueling. But if they dispatched Rei, he could fell trees with his Death Scythe and store them in his Misty Ring. As for the trip to and from Gilm, if he rode Set, he'd arrive in minutes. No matter how you looked at it, sending Rei was far more efficient than dispatching a whole crew of Woodcutters and adventurers. The only question was whether Rei would actually accept the job.
"Whoa, incredible... No way. He's storing that many trees one after another."
"Yeah, you hadn't seen him before? That man is Rei. Crimson."
"I know that. He's riding a gryphon, so who else could it be but Crimson? Still, for someone that small to be him..."
A short distance away, the adventurers serving as Woodcutter escorts exchanged conversation.
(Until a while ago, the adventurers were felling trees too, to earn some extra coin... I guess they stopped because they couldn't keep up with hauling the wood either.)
Even as Rei pondered this, felled trees were swallowed into the Misty Ring one after another.
"Gururururururururu!"
A cry rang out without warning. Rei, who recognized it as Set's call, wasn't particularly startled, but several Woodcutters and adventurers jumped at the sudden sound.
"That's just Set! Don't worry about it!" Rei called out to the surrounding workers, pre-empting any dangerous misunderstandings—especially the notion that a monster was attacking.
Set's cry was distinctive enough that most people wouldn't mistake it for a monster attack, but a few visibly relaxed after hearing Rei's reassurance. Even those who knew Set, if they had only ever seen his usual docile self, could be forgiven for being startled by the sight of him in combat mode.
A little while passed.
"Gurururu."
Set returned, wings beating the air. Clutched in its front legs was an Orc corpse.
"An Orc, huh... That's troublesome."
From a culinary standpoint, Orc meat was delicious and always welcome. But considering the creature's habits, having Orcs this close by was nothing to celebrate. Perhaps sensing this, many of those who caught sight of the corpse Set had brought back wore grim expressions. The sternest among them was a Female Adventurer. Small wonder—if a man was caught, he'd simply be killed. But if a woman fell into an Orc's hands, only the worst possible fate awaited her.
Rei glanced around at the others, then called up to Set.
"Set, thanks. I'll take the Orc off your hands."
"Guru!"
Set let out a happy cry. Rei stroked its head as it nuzzled against him, practically demanding praise, then spoke again.
"So about that Orc... Were there others? They haven't built a settlement nearby, have they?"
"Guru!"
Set's cry was incomprehensible to the onlookers, but to his partner Rei, the meaning came through clearly. It was probably the same dynamic as Vihera understanding every word of Byune's terse speech.
Rei nodded toward the workers watching them so intently.
"It's fine. Apparently there's no Orc settlement in this area for now. Of course, the fact that there was one at all means we can't let our guard down completely."
Everyone who heard those words exhaled a collective breath of relief. As far as monsters around Gilm went, Orcs weren't especially powerful. But in terms of sheer ferocity and habits, they were among the worst. Then again, their meat was delicious for their rank—literally a tasty monster.
"Alright then, Set. From now on, if you spot any Orcs, hunt them down proactively. Got it?"
"Guru!"
Set gave a short, eager cry. The others couldn't understand what it was saying, but in that moment, they grasped the gist—that Set was promising to proactively hunt Orcs. Perhaps sensing that his response had pleased the crowd, Set purred happily.
(Yeah, that's good, but... this means I can't head back over there right away either.)
Rei had planned to return to Sura's group once the Expansion Construction work settled down. But now that he knew Orcs were lurking in the Treant Forest, he couldn't just leave. Besides, for Rei, Orcs were an ideal catch—delicious and worthwhile.
Of course, the Treant Forest was vast. With monsters like Orcs and Goblins filtering in, and no way to know just how many there were, completely wiping them out seemed impossible. No matter how sharp Set's five senses were, if more monsters poured in than it could eliminate, there was nothing to be done. It was only natural that the monster population would keep growing even as Set thinned their numbers.
"For now, leave the monsters to Set and focus on your own work. That's far more efficient than having us run around the forest hunting them."
That was what Rei told them, but the truth was, he also didn't want the adventurers here handling monsters because they simply weren't skilled enough. The truly capable adventurers had no shortage of other work. Even while Gilm's Expansion Construction was underway, the Guild continued posting standard requests—escorts, subjugations, gathering, Investigation, and everything in between. Those kinds of jobs couldn't be entrusted to people who had only come to Gilm chasing construction wages.
As a result, the skilled adventurers who had been in Gilm from the start naturally gravitated toward those requests, and a loose division of labor had begun to take shape. That said, it was only a tendency. There were boastful newcomers who took Guild requests and failed—though occasionally, if they had enough skill and luck, they succeeded. And conversely, veteran adventurers sometimes pitched in with the construction on a whim, just to earn some pocket money.
In that sense, the adventurers here today were the typical sort—people who had come to Gilm seeking construction work. Rei wasn't careless enough to entrust monster subjugation in the Treant Forest to people like them.
(Well, if it's just Goblins, they'd probably be fine... but if something shows up that's beyond their ability to handle, they'll pay for their inexperience with their lives.)
And that wasn't something Rei wanted to see happen.
"Gurururu!"
"Yeah, give it your all, Set."
"If you find any tasty-looking monsters, bring 'em back for us!"
"Idiot. Tasty monsters are basically High-Rank Monsters, you know? There's no way we could handle one of those."
"If it's just an Orc, maybe even I could manage!"
"Don't talk nonsense. One's one thing, but two or three? You don't even need to think about how that'd end."
"Ugh... th-that's..."
Pummeled by the rapid-fire rebuttal, the man fell silent. The truth was, with no way to predict what might emerge, there was even a chance a B-Rank Monster could appear.
(Well, I don't really need to worry about A-Rank Monsters showing up, though.)
Including gryphons like Set, A-Rank Monsters were creatures you would almost never encounter in a lifetime of ordinary living. Even working as an adventurer, catching sight of one was considered a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck. Of course, A-Rank Monsters were extraordinarily powerful. If an ordinary adventurer crossed paths with one, it was a virtual certainty that they would die right then and there. In that sense, "once in a lifetime" took on a rather final meaning.
"Hey! Stop chatting and get to work! Your job is guarding us! What're you going to do if monsters attack while we're cutting?!"
One of the Woodcutters barked in a low voice. It carried enough force to make even the adventurers assigned as guards flinch. With that shout, the conversation about the Treant Forest's monsters fizzled out on its own.
Confirming that, the Woodcutter turned to Rei.
"Rei, once you've loaded up all the felled trees, get them to Gilm pronto. We're fine for now, but I hear they're running low on wood over there."
His tone was the same low, forceful one he'd used on the adventurers. Rei nodded and began stowing the remaining logs into his Misty Ring one after another. Seeing him at work, the other adventurers returned to their own tasks.
Whether it was truly fortunate or not was debatable, but word had been properly spread the day before: Rei would be coming to the Treant Forest for a while starting today, which meant the adventurers wouldn't have to haul felled trees to Gilm by carriage. The number of adventurers assigned here was small for precisely that reason, and being spared the backbreaking labor of loading and unloading timber was, without a doubt, a stroke of luck for them.
And so, rejoicing in Rei's arrival, the adventurers devoted themselves to their work.