The lunch break had ended, and the afternoon work had been underway for a short while.
It was hard to believe it was winter. A bright sun hung in the sky.
Clouds drifted by, but they weren't the kind that brought snow. They were white, wispy clouds reminiscent of summer.
(Those look like cumulonimbus clouds... but aren't those supposed to only form in summer? Something about meteorological conditions?)
His memory on the subject was hazy at best, but the sight of those towering clouds wasn't an unpleasant one for Rei.
Snow would be a problem, but there was no sign of that happening anytime soon.
...Even so, winter was still winter.
The weather was fair, and while the sun poured down rays that were warm for the season, the cold remained unmistakably wintry, chilling the bodies of anyone outside whether they liked it or not.
(Should I just use magic to make a big bonfire? No, wait. Even if I did, it would only warm the people right next to it. Besides, from Gilm's perspective, it might look like a building fire or something.)
The bonfire idea was quickly dismissed.
If they were in an enclosed space with proper ventilation, building a fire to take the edge off the cold might have been feasible... but no matter how many fires you lit out in the open, they wouldn't provide much warmth. That much was certain.
With that settled, he turned his attention back to watching the Gigant Turtle dissection.
The Snow Ape dissection had already been finished that morning, and their materials were safely stored inside the Misty Ring.
"Rei, what are we going to do now?"
As he watched the dissection, Vihera suddenly spoke up from beside him.
Though she stood next to him, she wasn't watching the Gigant Turtle at all. Her eyes were fixed on the surroundings, scanning for approaching monsters.
She was probably hoping for something on the level of a Snow Ape to show up. Unfortunately, the monsters appearing today were, as always, predominantly Cobolts.
Even so, she wasn't too displeased—likely because of the battle with the Snow Apes that morning.
"You ask me what to do, but honestly, there's nothing I need to do. It doesn't look like there's any kind of Magic Item hidden at the Expansion Construction site."
"Oh my, are you finally ready to drop the Magic Item theory?"
"No way."
He shot back immediately, but the truth was, even Rei had no idea how to go about finding a Magic Item.
Still, he clung to the theory because, if such a Magic Item existed, he wanted it for himself.
(Since they can be made to follow simple commands like 'gather Cobolts' or 'charge into that location,' it'd be pretty handy depending on how you use it. Like during bandit hunting.)
Bandit hunting—one of Rei's hobbies.
When doing that, he could gather Cobolts and send them charging into a bandit hideout, or use them as meat shields and expendable pawns when encountering monster packs. There were plenty of applications.
(It's not limited to the Bestia Empire, but the possibility of war hasn't exactly disappeared, either.)
Rei was fundamentally someone who valued quality over quantity, but that didn't mean he dismissed quantity entirely.
Even a monster as lowly as a Cobolt could be a remarkably useful tool depending on how it was used.
That was why Rei hoped the cause of this incident really was a Magic Item.
"Hmm... well, if that's what you think, then I guess it's fine. But just so you know, don't forget about the possibility that it's something other than a Magic Item, okay?"
"Yeah, that's... hm?"
Rei had been about to reply to Vihera, but suddenly stopped.
He had noticed someone riding a horse, galloping toward them from Gilm.
If the rider had been an adventurer or something similar, he probably wouldn't have paid it any mind.
Just like Vihera and the others had done until yesterday, there were people who joined the dissection work later in the day.
Naturally, those people received less pay and less Gigant Turtle meat compared to those who had been working since dawn, but that was beside the point.
In any case, if the approaching figure had been an adventurer, Rei wouldn't have been particularly concerned. But the rider was wearing a Guild uniform... and it was Lenora. That changed everything.
Lenora—Rei's assigned receptionist—was riding a horse straight toward them.
That was clearly an abnormal situation.
(So Lenora can ride a horse, huh. And from the looks of it, she's quite used to it.)
That thought crossed his mind for only a moment before he called out to Set, who had been lying down a short distance away, soaking up the unseasonably warm sunlight.
"Set!"
Set had been sunbathing until a second ago, but at Rei's call, he immediately sprang to his feet and broke into a run.
Whether he understood what was needed from that single phrase or not, he didn't come to a complete stop upon reaching Rei. He only slowed slightly.
Rei, for his part, seemed to understand Set's intent. As the griffon passed in front of him, he swiftly leapt onto its back.
"Lenora's coming from Gilm. Head that way."
"Gruu!"
Set gave a sharp cry and took off toward Lenora.
Even though there was a fair amount of distance between them, this was Set.
He reached the side of Lenora's horse in a matter of seconds, and...
"Burururu!"
Naturally, the horse froze in terror at Set's approach.
To an ordinary horse, an absolute powerhouse like Set barreling toward it was nothing short of nightmarish.
If it had been one of the horses that pulled Guild carriages, it might have been at least somewhat accustomed to Set, having traveled alongside him before... but the horse Lenora rode was no such animal. This was its first encounter with a griffon.
For Rei, who had come to hear what was going on, that actually worked in his favor.
"Rei-san!"
Lenora knew exactly who was riding Set, so she didn't hesitate. She called out to him.
"What happened!? You coming all the way out here means you have business with me, right?"
"Yes! Actually, we received a communication from the guards..."
At those words, Rei was certain his guess about why Lenora had come was correct.
He had been told that if anything happened regarding the Cobolt incident, they would notify him through the Guild immediately.
Even so, he hadn't expected Lenora herself to make the trip.
He had figured they would send a junior Guild Staff Member, or perhaps someone more accustomed to rough business.
...The fact that Lenora—his closest contact at the Guild, though Kenny would certainly have something to say about that—had come herself might have been a deliberate choice by the Guild to make it immediately clear that something serious had happened.
"It's about the Cobolt incident, right?"
Given that the message came from the guards, that was the only thing he could think of.
Still, there was a chance it was something else, so he asked to be sure... but in the next moment, Lenora quickly nodded.
"Yes. Apparently, the guards who were watching the hideout were attacked and injured. Fortunately, no one was killed, but several people suffered bone fractures."
"...So that's how they played it."
For them to launch such a brazen attack—and on the guards, no less, the very people responsible for maintaining peace within Gilm—was a somewhat unexpected move as far as Rei was concerned.
He had assumed that if they realized the hideout was being watched, they would simply stop using it.
"Yes. The guards came to the Guild asking that you be informed urgently... I'm glad you were here."
Since the Gigant Turtle dissection was underway, Lenora had expected he would probably be at the site.
In reality, Rei had been moving between various locations, so his presence here was nearly coincidental.
After all, he had spent the morning walking all over Gilm.
"Understood. I'll head to the Guard Station right away. The same one from yesterday, right?"
"Yes, that should be the one."
Gilm was nominally classified as a town, but in practice, it was large enough to be called a city without exaggeration.
Because of that, there were dozens—perhaps even more—Guard Stations set up throughout Gilm.
After confirming with Lenora which station he needed to go to, Rei gave Set a signal.
Set understood and took off toward Gilm, leaving Lenora behind.
"I'm going on ahead!"
"Yes!"
After that brief exchange... Set reached Gilm's Main Gate in almost no time at all.
The guards at the Main Gate already knew about the attack on their colleagues and about Lenora having gone to fetch Rei, so they skipped their usual small talk and quickly processed his entry.
"Go ahead!"
Rei nodded at the guard's brief words, dismounted from Set, and headed for the Guard Station.
If he had stayed on Set's back, he would have arrived at the station that much faster... but riding a griffon through the streets would likely have caused a commotion among Gilm's residents, and Set's running might have startled people into tripping and falling.
Even so, from the way Rei and Set were moving, the people around them could probably tell they were in a hurry.
Many wanted to play with Set, but each one held back.
There were a few who tried to approach Set without considering Rei's circumstances, but fortunately, they were stopped by the people around them.
...Truly, fortunately.
If they hadn't been stopped and had tried to talk to Set, they almost certainly would have been ignored... and might even have been treated to an irritated growl for their trouble.
Set was usually adorable, but his top priority was, without question, Rei.
Anyone who got in Rei's way was instantly registered on Set's list of disliked people.
In any case, Rei and Set proceeded without interruption and soon arrived at the same Guard Station they had visited that morning.
Unlike usual, someone was standing outside the station.
Their expression wasn't particularly stern, but they couldn't completely hide the tension in their bearing.
The guard had been on the alert for anyone suspicious approaching, but the moment he saw Rei and Set, a flicker of relief crossed his face.
"I heard the people on surveillance were attacked?"
"Yeah... fortunately, the attackers were Red Cloth, so no one was seriously hurt. But the building we were borrowing took heavy damage. For now, come inside. We'll explain the details there."
Rei nodded and entered the Guard Station, leaving Set outside.
(Come to think of it, they said the building they were using for surveillance was borrowed as a goodwill gesture. I was wondering why everyone looked so displeased, but that must be why.)
The guards inside the station, unlike the one outside who had to maintain appearances, didn't bother hiding their stern expressions. They weren't concerned about being seen by the public.
"You were attacked?"
Rei already understood the general circumstances, but he wanted to hear the details firsthand, so he put the question to the guards.
At his words, the guards' expressions grew even more sour.
But since Rei was deeply involved in this incident, they couldn't exactly keep him in the dark.
"Yeah. Tch, I have no idea how they figured out we were watching, but they caught us completely off guard."
"And it was Red Cloth again? ...Any chance the survivors of the Red Cloth group Glanje was leading were among them?"
"Hard to say. We managed to capture most of the Red Cloth who attacked, but..."
"Could you take a look and confirm for us later, Rei?"
Rei hesitated at the guard's request... then shook his head.
"Sorry, but you're better off not doing that. I barely remember the faces of the Red Cloth members. If it was someone I actually had a conversation with, they'd probably stick in my memory, but..."
To Rei, the Red Cloth members had all looked like mass-produced thugs, so their faces were only a blur in his recollection.
Under those circumstances, even if he saw the captured Red Cloth members, he couldn't say for certain whether they were the same ones he had encountered the day before.
A misidentification could lead to a critical mistake, so Rei declined.
The guards seemed to understand his position and quickly dropped the matter.
If they had been in Rei's shoes, it was an open question whether they could have remembered the Red Cloth members' faces any better.
And so, a somewhat uncomfortable silence settled over the Guard Station.