"Oh, Gilm is coming into view."
"Gruu!"
Set let out a happy cry at Rei's words.
The seaside vacation had been enjoyable, but for Rei and Set, Gilm was truly home.
"Still... there are as many people as ever, huh."
Rei muttered this because the number of people heading toward Gilm showed no signs of decreasing compared to before.
He understood that Gilm's expansion construction was an extremely large-scale project—one where it wouldn't be surprising for it to take several years.
With a project of that magnitude, it was only natural for those overseeing the various operations to want as many workers as possible.
Gilm was constantly accepting such people, and as a result, it was a certainty that this many were still flowing toward the town.
(But I wonder what they did about the inn problem?)
As far as Rei knew, the inns in Gilm had reached capacity quite some time ago.
With more people sleeping outdoors, simple lodgings—though calling them lodgings was a stretch, given they were rudimentary shelters—had been built near the expansion construction site to prevent it.
But even sleeping packed together in those buildings was clearly a drop in the bucket with this many people, so where were all these travelers sleeping?
As Rei pondered this, he spotted several horse-drawn wagons loaded with timber traveling along the highway.
Naturally, a standard carriage couldn't carry that many logs; these were specially built for hauling lumber.
Several wagons were linked together, and the number of horses pulling them was equally large.
Rei had been wondering where to land, but figured he might as well store the timber and save them the effort.
With that in mind, he instructed Set to descend to the ground.
Naturally, the first thing to be dropped... was the Set Basket.
They descended toward a spot on the ground slightly away from the timber wagons, and when they reached the lowest possible altitude, the Set Basket was released.
The sound of the Set Basket hitting the ground echoed through the area, startling those who knew nothing about it.
Among the crowd, only the handful who knew of the Set Basket's existence were startled for a moment before quickly regaining their composure.
A particularly considerate person reassured those around them who seemed on the verge of panic that it was safe.
Sure enough, the Set Basket's concealment effect quickly faded, leaving only the basket itself sitting where the sound had come from.
Soon after, the beating of wings could be heard, and Set descended.
(People are surprised by the Set Basket, but not by Set... in fact, a lot of them seem happy. I suppose that means Set's become well-known, but... hmm, honestly I'm not sure if that's a good thing.)
Rei was glad Set had been accepted, but at the same time he worried that people might stop fearing monsters, and more importantly, that someone might try to mess with Set.
If messing with Set meant admiring and petting him, Rei would welcome it... but dealing with people who tried to get their hands on his fur and feathers was extremely tedious.
In any case, once on the ground, Rei headed straight for Set and the timber wagons.
The wagon coachmen and guards broke into delighted expressions the moment they saw Rei and Set.
...Granted, they were happy to see him again after so long, but the biggest reason was surely that they understood their work was about to get much easier.
"Oooooh! It's Rei! Rei's back!"
"Our savior, Rei! No—Rei-san! Lord Rei! Lord Rei!"
"Thank goodness. Hauling this wood is going to be so much easier now."
Everyone celebrated like that, and those nearby who had nothing to do with the operation wondered why they were making such a fuss.
Rei didn't seem bothered by their reactions as he spoke.
"So, is it alright if I take these?"
"Of course! Please do! Without you, Rei-san, transporting this stuff aside, unloading it would've been a real struggle."
"Figured as much."
For someone with superhuman physical abilities like Rei, that would be one thing, but hauling this timber normally required considerable labor—enough to nearly exhaust the workers' stamina.
(I thought the ones doing the unloading would be the crew assigned to that spot... but from the looks of it, the guarding adventurers get roped into it too, huh.)
Thinking this, Rei stored the timber from the wagons into his Misty Ring.
The onlookers who had known nothing about this stared in dumbfounded amazement, but... that was the usual reaction, and Rei continued talking without paying it any mind.
"So, how much felled timber has piled up around the Treant Forest?"
"Ah... that would be... an incredible amount, to put it mildly."
One of the guard adventurers told him with visible difficulty.
But Rei didn't get angry. If anything, he nodded in understanding.
After all was said and done, he and his group had been away from Gilm for over ten days.
If this had been his absence during the Jaya matter, that would be one thing, but this time everyone had known from the start that he would return soon.
That was likely why the woodcutters had been felling trees in the Treant Forest without holding back.
Moreover, it was already late summer... no, early autumn by now.
Once autumn came, winter would follow soon, and once winter arrived, the woodcutters wouldn't be able to work.
Well, it wasn't impossible to push through if they really tried.
Especially this time, since they were logging in the Treant Forest rather than in the mountains.
But even so, the danger level was naturally high.
Winter brought monsters that only appeared during that season, and those types were generally stronger than ordinary ones.
Logging under such conditions would require hiring stronger adventurers than the ones currently on duty... but for Gilm, which was in the middle of expansion construction, that was a needless expense.
If they were going to do that, it would be far more efficient to send a large crew of woodcutters fresh in the spring.
Above all, they were currently in the middle of desperately gathering lumber for winter construction work, so there was no reason to dispatch woodcutters into the winter.
"Got it. I'll head to the Treant Forest once I'm done here. Are you all heading back there now?"
"Ah... right. I think a few of us should head back to let everyone know you've returned. Especially in this case, since they'll need to prepare for you to haul the wood."
Preparations? Rei found the adventurer's words somewhat puzzling, but he decided not to worry about it for now, figuring he'd understand once he visited the Treant Forest later.
"Alright, do that then."
"Are you done? In that case, I'd like you to store the Set Basket for now."
Hearing Marina's voice from behind, Rei turned his gaze toward the Set Basket.
Several people had gathered around it and were examining it with deep interest.
It had suddenly appeared out of thin air, so it was only natural that many were curious.
What's more, among those traveling along the highway, there were quite a few merchants.
For a merchant, it wasn't strange at all to see the Set Basket as a major business opportunity.
In fact, a merchant who couldn't recognize the Set Basket as a business opportunity had no business being a merchant at all.
...That said, Rei had absolutely no intention of indulging them.
"Right. At this rate, someone with funny ideas might show up."
In the current situation, laying a hand on the Set Basket—getting hold of even a fragment of its material—would clearly mean making an enemy of Rei.
Making an enemy of Rei in Gilm naturally meant making an enemy of his tamed monster, Set, and once that happened, living and doing business in Gilm... while not impossible, would certainly become difficult.
Even understanding that, the Set Basket stirred the merchants' interest, and more importantly, merchants visiting Gilm for the first time had no idea how troublesome it was to make enemies of Rei and Set.
Before such an annoying situation could arise, Rei headed toward the Set Basket, leaving the wagons and adventurers where they were, figuring he should store the basket into his Misty Ring right away.
For the record, the adventurers had stiffened with tension because Marina, the former Guild Master, had suddenly appeared.
Even so, the fact that their gazes were drawn to Marina's outfit—particularly her deeply exposed neckline—was probably unavoidable, as a matter of male instinct.
"Excuse me, could you step aside? Sorry about this."
Saying this, Rei pushed his way through the merchants and onlookers toward the Set Basket.
Naturally, those being pushed aside weren't pleased, but once they realized it was Rei—the person who had been riding on Set—they couldn't voice their complaints.
...At least, as long as they weren't complete idiots.
"Hey, what's the big idea, pushing people! Hand that thing over to me as compensation!"
A man... or more accurately, a man with the complete appearance of a bandit, shouted at Rei.
Several of the onlookers leaked disgust at the sight.
It was painfully obvious he was making a false accusation to try to steal the Set Basket.
But even more people cast pitying glances at the man.
They knew exactly who the man—a person who had no right calling himself a merchant and was better described as a bandit—was picking a fight with.
The man had probably conducted his business through his own strength—through violence—up until now.
In a small village, it wouldn't be unusual for no one to be able to stop a man who behaved that way.
But this wasn't the kind of place where he had done business before. This was Gilm.
It was a place where many skilled adventurers gathered. ...Though there were also plenty of less capable adventurers around nowadays.
In any case, in such a place, the man's usual methods of doing business were virtually guaranteed to fail.
What's more, the person he had tangled with was that Rei, meaning the man's future as a merchant was as good as over.
"Huh? Save your sleep talk for when you're asleep. Actually, you're annoying even in your sleep, so don't say it then either."
"Wh-!?"
From the man's perspective, Rei should have done as he was told when threatened, just like always.
In fact, the man had made his living as a merchant by selling goods he had obtained that way, and besides, Rei was small in stature and unlikely to defy his orders.
The Rei who was supposed to obey him had talked back without showing any sign of fear.
That was probably why the man couldn't comprehend what had just been said to him.
If the man had thought to question why Rei showed absolutely no fear of his threat—or as the man would call it, a business negotiation—the ensuing tragedy could have been avoided.
But the man couldn't accept that Rei had defied his orders... and unable to contain himself, he clenched his fist as usual and suddenly threw a punch.
To the man, this was simply the natural thing to do.
A sudden surprise attack that Rei could do nothing about, and would be struck by his fist.
Thinking that, the man formed a triumphant smile in his mind...
"Gah!"
But in the next instant, he took a violent impact and went flying.
A person—especially a huge man like the one who had just tried to punch Rei—being sent flying several meters was quite a spectacle.
Despite all that, no one in the crowd around the Set Basket was injured.
That was proof Rei had calculated precisely when he sent the man flying.
For Rei, it was nothing more than a light tap, but that was only from his perspective.
For the man, it was more than a strong enough blow; he stayed conscious, but couldn't form words.
After one glance at the man, Rei immediately lost interest and resumed walking toward the Set Basket.
After seeing that, no one tried to block Rei's path any further... let alone tangle with him and attempt to steal the Set Basket.
"Don't go overboard."
Hearing Elena's words near the Set Basket, Rei nodded and stored the basket into his Misty Ring.
Many had already seen him store the timber, so few were surprised to see the same thing happen again.
Even so, there were still many astonished that he possessed an Item Box.
"Oh my, if it isn't Jerislau. Long time no see."
"Ugh, Bistol... what are you doing here..."
"I'm on good terms with Rei-chan and the others, you see. Thanks to that, I got to go to the sea."
The merchant, who appeared to be an acquaintance of Bistol's, cast an envious gaze at the word "sea."