After requesting the Snow Ape dissection, Rei headed to the Guard Station with Set.
Naturally, he wanted to ask whether there had been any progress in the surveillance of the hideout he'd learned about from Glanje the previous day.
If there had been any major developments, a message would have been sent to Rei through the Guild. But that also meant if it was only a minor development, it wouldn't be surprising if they decided there was no need to contact him specifically.
...In truth, calling out to Rei through the Guild over some movement that didn't seem particularly important would be a burden on both the Guards and the Guild alike.
In that sense, Rei going to hear the report directly was by no means the wrong call.
On the way to the Guard Station, he told the people who spotted Set that they had no time to play today... and yet, he still ended up casually buying food from stalls along the way, so it ultimately took longer than expected to arrive.
"Alright, Set. I'm going to have a quick talk, so keep watch out here."
"Gruu!"
Purring in acknowledgment of Rei's words, Set lay down on the ground a short distance from the Guard Station.
Rei placed several nikuman bought from a stall along the way in front of Set. With a sidelong glance at the sight of Set happily pecking away at the nikuman, Rei knocked on the Guard Station door.
A few seconds after the knock, the door opened.
"...Rei? Here about yesterday's incident?"
"Yeah. I wanted to hear how things turned out. Considering no message came through the Guild, it seems there wasn't any major progress, but..."
When Rei said that, the Guard nodded and ushered him inside.
The first thing Rei noticed upon entering was that the number of Guards on hand was small. But that was only natural—they needed to send people to watch the location suspected of being the enemy's hideout.
"As Rei said, there haven't been any notable movements so far."
The Guard said this as he handed Rei a cup.
Inside the wooden cup was warm water—what was commonly known as boiled water.
"Sorry we only have something like this."
"No, don't worry about it. In this cold, even this is plenty to warm the body."
Rei replied to the Guard, though he himself felt no cold at all thanks to the Dragon Robe's properties. Nevertheless, not wanting to refuse the Guard's consideration, he brought the hot water to his lips.
(Couldn't tea be made from ordinary leaves? I feel like there was something like persimmon leaf tea... Well, I don't know if persimmons even exist in this world. Come to think of it, it seems like you could dry regular plant leaves and make tea. This is the frontier, after all—it wouldn't be strange to have some special plants.)
Even as he thought this, Rei didn't actually know how to make tea. He had only vaguely seen leaves being sun-dried or roasted on TV programs.
"So, about their hideout. I understand there haven't been any major movements, but have there been any minor ones either?"
"Unfortunately, no. It seems they're being quite cautious. Naturally, of course."
At the Guard's words, the other Guards nodded in agreement.
Indeed, that was by no means an exaggeration. Even if they were just Cobolts, they had brought monsters into the city. If they were caught, execution was certain. No—rather, if it were simply execution, you could even call it leniency. In the worst case, it could lead to endless cycles of being tortured, then restored with potions or Recovery Magic, and then tortured again...
"So what's the plan? Even though I'm preventing Cobolt intrusion with the Earth Wall for now, it's not perfect. As proof, when I went to check yesterday, I actually saw adventurers fighting Cobolts—only a few, but still."
"The problem is how long that Earth Wall will hold. Yesterday, Rei coincidentally ran into Glanje and his group, so there was no particular issue. But there should be other Former Red Cloth members out there, right? I don't know exactly how many are left, though."
"Sending people there too... would be difficult?"
"Yeah. If we were to watch the Earth Wall, we'd be the first to fight any Cobolts that somehow make it over. We Guards are fundamentally good at combat against people, but not so much against monsters."
That was only natural, considering the nature of the Guards' work. The opponents they were supposed to fight were, fundamentally, people who got drunk and went on rampages in the streets, or those who had committed some kind of crime. They had undergone combat training against such opponents, but when it came to monsters, it was a different story.
...Of course, there were Tamed Monsters, and if monsters were to attack Gilm in an organized swarm, the Guards would have to fight them too. But the opponents they should normally be fighting were, after all, people.
Though "people" encompassed various races—humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Beastmen alike.
"Then what about adventurers? If they're the type who'd gladly fight Cobolts, they might surprisingly be willing to keep watch over the Earth Wall too."
A different Guard in the room offered that suggestion, but Rei shook his head.
"If they're the type who enjoys fighting Cobolts, they'd want to fight even more of them and might end up breaking the Earth Wall themselves. It's not an Earth Wall that can be destroyed so easily, but I still want to avoid danger as much as possible."
Of course, the wall had been made considerably sturdier thanks to Mail and Marina's Spirit Magic. So much so that someone with only enough power to fight Cobolts wouldn't be able to destroy it so easily.
"You think so? But dispatching anyone from the Guards is still impossible. In that case, all we can do is leave the Earth Wall alone. Is that fine with you?"
"Ah... right. Maybe I should ask Marina if she can do something about it with Spirit Magic."
The sheer versatility of Marina's Spirit Magic was clearly special, even from Rei's perspective. That said, it wasn't because Spirit Magic itself was a highly versatile form of magic. It was specifically because Marina was the one using it that it had such broad applicability.
(Marina's house is protected by Spirits when she's not there. If a stranger tries to break in, they stop them... No, they capture them, or in some cases, even attack them. If that's the case, couldn't we do something similar with the Earth Wall?)
Rei thought so, and decided he would propose the idea to Marina during dinner that evening.
"The Guild Master... no, the Former Guild Master, huh. Honestly, I genuinely think it's impressive that you can associate with someone like her so casually."
One of the Guards who had been listening directed a look of admiration at Rei... along with a gaze of strong envy.
For those living in Gilm, Marina was someone many aspired to and many considered an unattainable ideal. But those who could genuinely attempt to woo her were exceedingly rare.
Her own abilities were exceptionally high, and on top of that, her beauty—not just simply beautiful, but a possessor of beauty with an intense feminine allure. That was Marina.
Marina, who could be called perfect in a certain sense, meant that those who could make such advances toward her were either extremely confident in their own power, or were beings who understood nothing at all.
In any case, Marina being such a person, the fact that Rei was in a party with her—and on top of that, ate dinner at her house nearly every night—was astonishing to many.
Moreover, what kind of meaning the gaze Marina directed at Rei held was something that anyone even slightly perceptive in matters of romance could easily discern.
"Hmm, well, I know Marina is incredible in a lot of ways, but if you spend time with her, she's just a normal woman."
Being able to call Marina a "normal woman" was, in a way, abnormal in itself... but unfortunately, Rei was completely unaware of that.
"Give it a rest. Rei is someone who has multiple other beauties on par with Marina-san waiting on him, right? Saying something like that isn't going to work."
"...Hold on, the expression 'waiting on him' is a bit much."
From an outside perspective, the expression was entirely fitting, but Rei himself had no such intention. That was why he voiced his dissatisfaction, but the Guard only directed an exasperated look at him in response.
Receiving such a look, Rei judged that his position in this conversation was disadvantageous and changed the subject.
"So, is there anything you've learned about the enemy hideout you're watching? Like who owns that building, for instance."
"Ah, we looked into that. But... unfortunately, it's someone who isn't currently in Gilm. I don't even know if the person themselves is aware of it. It's possible they know the owner isn't in Gilm right now and are using it as a hideout without permission."
"...Without permission, huh. Pulling something like that, I think they'll slip up eventually. Anyway, may I ask who the owner of that building is? Ah, of course, that's assuming you're at liberty to tell me."
"I don't mind. The owner of that building is the Coobs Viscount House, a King's Faction noble family."
Hearing "Coobs Viscount House," Rei thought about whether he recognized the name, but unfortunately, it was one he had never heard before. Originally, Rei wasn't particularly close to nobles, so that was only natural. However, he was acquainted with several major nobles, starting with Daskar.
"It's a name I don't know."
"Well, that's to be expected. They're not particularly famous nobles, and the one who was in Gilm wasn't even the head of the Coobs Viscount House, but some relative, if I recall."
In the Noble District of Gilm, there were mansions belonging not only to the Neutral Faction led by Daskar, but also to King's Faction and Noble Faction nobles. But naturally, the head of a family would not personally reside within a different faction's—in essence, a nearly hostile faction's—sphere of influence.
Since their primary purpose was intelligence gathering for the Neutral Faction, anyone with a certain level of competence would do... and the member of the Coobs Viscount House in Gilm had been a relative of the head.
"You said King's Faction, but what position do they hold exactly? The King's Faction members I know are, well, only about Duke Quento."
To be precise, it wasn't Duke Quento himself, but rather that Rei was close with his granddaughter, Maruka Quento. Through that connection, he had met face-to-face with several King's Faction nobles... Could one of them have had ties to the Coobs Viscount House? As Rei wondered this, the Guard shook his head.
"No, no. The Coobs Viscount House is, as the rank of viscount suggests, not that significant a family."
"...If they're not a significant family, I can't imagine them scheming something this grand. In that case, is it really just someone using that building without permission? For that matter, the Coobs Viscount House, was it? Even if the person dispatched from there isn't around, shouldn't there be some related parties?"
"No, there's no one. Everyone, servants included, left Gilm around the time the Expansion Construction began. The stated reason was that with so many strangers coming to Gilm for the Expansion Construction, security was likely to deteriorate."
"Can't deny that."
In fact, a great many people had come to Gilm seeking work related to the Expansion Construction, adventurers and non-adventurers alike. And, as a matter of course, when that many people gathered, there were also those of poor conduct mixed in. In reality, the Guards' patrols alone hadn't been enough, and they had even hired adventurers to help maintain public order.
Among Rei's acquaintances, Vihera and Byune had participated in that kind of work. Even with those measures in place, there had still been various problems, so those who felt uneasy about public order and temporarily left Gilm existed beyond just the Coobs Viscount House as well.
Thinking of that, Rei couldn't deny the reason the Guard had given.
"In that case, is it safe to assume the Coobs Viscount House isn't involved in this incident?"
"I wonder. I can't say for certain on that front. I can tell you they're probably not involved... probably."
Hearing the Guard's words, Rei found himself unsure how to react.