"…So, it's been a while since the Expansion Construction started. What are your impressions?"
Nighttime, in the garden of Marina's house.
The usual members had gathered, exchanging words over a meal as they always did.
Hearing Rei's question amid that atmosphere, Vihera was the first to speak up.
"Anyway, it's tough. It's true that spring has just begun, but that's exactly why there are so many people causing trouble."
Without a doubt, Vihera was the one having the hardest time among everyone present.
Rei understood this as well, so he directed a sympathetic glance her way.
…In terms of actual workload, Rei might have had the most, transporting felled logs from the Treant Forest to Gilm. But in his case, he used his Misty Ring and traveled by riding Set.
Storing large quantities of felled logs was demanding, but even so, there was no question it was easier compared to what the others were doing.
That said…
"The work itself isn't that difficult, but every time I bring felled logs, the alchemists swarm me. That's quite a hassle."
"Yeah."
At Rei's words, everyone except Byune responded in unison.
Everyone present had seen the alchemists desperate for the eyeball tail that Rei possessed—or more precisely, a portion of it—so they all knew about it.
But since those alchemists were employed by Daskar and processing lumber essential to the Expansion Construction, Rei couldn't use violence against them.
Well, if he explained the situation, there was a high chance Daskar would let it slide, but doing so would only further delay the Expansion Construction, which was already suffering from a lumber shortage.
…the fact that the alchemists were driven by pure intellectual curiosity rather than any kind of malice was probably also a significant factor in this case.
"In that sense, Byune was smart to take the day off and not work."
"Mhm!"
At Rei's words, Byune uttered her usual single word smugly while eating bread.
Of course, not working naturally meant having no income… but fortunately, Byune still had some financial breathing room.
For starters, Byune ate breakfast at the Wheat Inn at Dusk, but after that, she stayed at Marina's house all day, so she ate both lunch and dinner there as well.
In other words, in terms of food expenses, Byune was saving quite a lot.
And since she had no interest in fashion or anything of the sort, she only bought practical clothing.
If she spent money at all, it would be on consumables like Long Needles used in combat, or on snacks from food stalls.
At that level of spending, Byune still had enough cushion to live without working for a while longer.
That said, given how she was raised, Byune had the mindset of earning money while she could, so she probably wouldn't just loaf around indefinitely.
Besides, when it came to the public order work Vihera was currently doing, Byune would be quite useful.
Having seen Vihera invite Byune along on several occasions, Rei predicted that Byune would likely be doing the same kind of work alongside Vihera before too long, just as they had last year.
"It'd be nice if nothing else happened this year."
"…Rei, not that much time has passed since the year began, you know? Besides, considering your personality… no, your very nature, there's no doubt you'll get caught up in all sorts of incidents again this year."
Hearing Rei's words, Marina declared this with certainty.
Rei tried to think of something to say back, but considering everything he had experienced so far, the fact that he couldn't deny Marina's words was undeniable.
Marina, who had told him so… no, the others as well, seemed to have no choice but to agree with that opinion, and they all nodded quietly in unison.
"Mmph."
Rei harbored a slight dissatisfaction.
That said, knowing that if he said anything here it would come back several times over—and as a sound argument at that—all he could do was eat the stew packed with plenty of Orc meat.
"For now, the plan is to push the expansion forward starting this spring… just how much will get done this year, I wonder."
"Hehe, right."
That Rei was trying to change the subject was, of course, understood by Marina, who said so with a smile, as well as by everyone else.
That said, none of them pressed the issue deeply and simply continued the conversation.
Rei was the one saying he didn't want to get caught up in trouble, but the fact that they understood he would actively take action if he actually did get involved in some kind of trouble was probably a big part of it.
"How much, huh… since we're pushing forward all at once starting this spring, it should progress a lot more than last year, don't you think? Word that the Expansion Construction is underway has spread, and a lot of people are coming seeking work."
"I think having too many people would be a problem too. Even last year, there ended up being so many people that we didn't have enough places for them to stay, right?"
Even high-end inns filled to capacity, and still there weren't enough lodgings. Ultimately, many ended up sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder in a large shack built right next to where the Expansion Construction was taking place.
If that was the situation even last year, with even more people coming this year, the same thing would likely happen again.
That was what Rei thought, but Marina spoke up, saying there was no need to worry.
"Do you think Daskar would repeat a mistake he's already made once? You don't need to worry about that."
"Specifically?"
"He's having several large huts built in advance. And unlike last year, they're designed to be much more comfortable to live in. On top of that, he's establishing a system that allows Gilm residents to host travelers in their homes."
"That's… well, the former is one thing, but the latter seems pretty risky in various ways, doesn't it?"
At Marina's explanation, Vihera voiced this concern.
In truth, taking in complete strangers to lodge with you was something most people would normally hesitate to do.
Or rather, if this were Japan, there might be some people kind enough to do so, but this wasn't Japan—this was Elgin, and specifically Gilm, the only frontier in the Kingdom of Mireana.
None of them, not just Vihera, could believe that the people living in such a place would do something like take complete strangers into their own homes.
(In Japan, there was something called minpaku, but… I think it'd be pretty difficult in this world.)
Rei too had seen on the news back in Japan something called minpaku, where tourists stayed in ordinary homes rather than hotels.
But trying to do that in this world seemed quite impractical, or so he thought.
"You're right. Daskar was worrying about that too… so in the end, only those who have a certain degree of confidence in their own strength, or in the strength of the family living with them, are permitted to host travelers. Though, since this is Gilm… you understand, right?"
"There are plenty of former adventurers, after all."
At Marina's explanation, Rei nodded in understanding.
In reality, there might be some hot-headed individuals among those coming to work, but how much they could bluster in front of former adventurers who had truly experienced life-or-death combat was questionable.
Of course, there were naturally adventurers among those coming to Gilm as well, so Daskar's policy wasn't absolutely safe.
"Right. From what I've heard, some people have really hit it off and even practice swordsmanship together… and things like that are working out well. …Though, naturally, the opposite happens too when personalities just don't click."
"That kind of thing probably comes down to compatibility."
Between people, there were those whose compatibility was so good it made you wonder why these two got along so well, and conversely, there were those whose personalities were so fundamentally incompatible that you thought they could never get along—people with poor compatibility.
That sort of thing wasn't something you could tell just by looking from the outside.
You only found out when you actually met and interacted with them.
"In that case, wouldn't there be brawls breaking out among adventurers and things like that?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like it can be ruled out entirely. That said, it's Daskar we're talking about, so it seems like it hasn't become a major problem on that front at least."
"If it's only people we can trust, I wouldn't mind using the Sand Ship as lodging. Well, Lord Daskar probably wouldn't permit it, though."
For Daskar, the Sand Ship was meant to become a major industry for Gilm once the Expansion Construction was complete.
That said, when Rei considered things like modifying the Sand Ship so it could run on ground rather than just sand to create a Land Ship, and building a shipyard factory to construct those Land Ships, he had no idea when that would concretely happen.
But from Daskar's position, it was only natural that he needed to administer Gilm with an eye toward years, or perhaps decades, ahead.
Using the Sand Ship—the key to all of that—as lodging for people hosting complete strangers was something Daskar would likely reject even if Rei offered.
When Rei explained this, everyone naturally agreed.
But… after agreeing, Marina spoke up.
"Certainly, there's no doubt Daskar will use Rei's Sand Ship as a research subject, but I don't think he'll only examine Rei's. Even when it comes to studying the Sand Ship, he'll probably purchase several other Sand Ships and research them."
"Is that how it works? But whether it's modifying a Sand Ship into a Land Ship and building it, since we don't even know if it'll actually succeed, it feels like it'd be close to a gamble, I'd think."
Naturally, the Sand Ship was an extremely expensive Magic Item when purchased normally.
Since it was uncertain whether it could even be modified into a Land Ship, buying several of them seemed like a high risk to Rei.
If there were a desert around Gilm, the purchased Sand Ships might still have some use, but unfortunately, no such place existed.
In other words, if analysis or modification proved impossible, there was a high possibility those Sand Ships would go to waste.
"Well, in that case, it would indeed be a wasteful purchase… but considering the economic scale of Gilm, something of that level wouldn't be a problem."
In reality, Gilm, as the sole frontier of the Kingdom of Mireana, was without a doubt very wealthy.
Being able to afford buying several Sand Ships would be painful but manageable, of that there was no question.
On top of that, with the Expansion Construction proceeding here in Gilm as well… thinking this, Rei suddenly had a question.
"Come to think of it, it seems Lord Daskar is planning to build Land Ships in Gilm, but in that case, where would the factory go?"
"That would be… in the area currently under expansion, naturally."
Vihera answered as if it were obvious in response to the question that had come from Rei's mouth.
In truth, a factory large enough to build Land Ships couldn't be built in the current Gilm.
If that was the case, it was clear that it would naturally be built in the area currently under expansion, but…
"In that case, would they also prepare something like a giant specialized door to launch the Land Ships from?"
"If you think about it normally, yes. …I'm sure Daskar is considering that as well."
Next, Marina answered Rei's question.
In truth, since Rei didn't know everything about the Expansion Construction, if Marina said so, all he could do was accept that was probably how it was.
(Well, it was Lord Daskar who said he wanted to make Land Ships one of the key industries, and as Marina said, he's surely thinking about all sorts of things regarding that.)
Thinking this, Rei turned his thoughts to the work ahead starting tomorrow.
Right now, the Expansion Construction was proceeding all at once, and every bit of Treant Forest lumber was needed more than ever.
…For that reason, Rei had been given a new job by Daskar through the Guild.
It was to visit several villages and towns and gather as many woodcutters as possible.
Right now in Gilm, the supply of Treant Forest lumber was completely unable to keep up with demand.
The alchemists still had some margin, so what was needed now was skilled woodcutters, even if only slightly better than average.
From Rei's perspective, gathering woodcutters didn't seem like it would be that difficult… but in this case, the important thing was not just ordinary woodcutters, but skilled ones.
Honestly, Rei had no idea where the line between good and bad woodcutters was drawn.
Was it the speed at which they cut trees, or the ability to freely choose which direction a felled tree would fall, or perhaps the post-cutting processing of the tree… like stripping branches and the like?
Regardless, he had only been told that the trees in the Treant Forest were more special than those in an ordinary forest, and that skilled woodcutters were needed.
In reality, Rei could easily fell trees using Death Scythe, but… this job was likely given out of the belief that relying on Rei alone was dangerous.
(I guess I can leave that sort of thing to the professionals.)
In the end, Rei simply thought so… and focused on the meal and conversation at hand.