The next morning. As usual, the coachman driving the Knight Order's carriage—loaded with food, luxury goods, documents for the knight, and various other supplies—arrived at the Birth Tower, only to widen his eyes at the scene before him.
Naturally so. A group of suspicious-looking Black Garb members, bound hand and foot in a manner that made escape utterly impossible, were sitting right there.
Had it been night, they might have been able to blend into the darkness.
But right now it was daytime... no, morning.
In broad morning light, black garb could only look like a foolish outfit.
The Black Garb members likely understood that as well.
Under the coachman's gaze, they seemed almost embarrassed.
"Um... what is this?"
The coachman asked the knight with visible confusion.
The knight glanced at the Black Garb members before opening his mouth to speak.
"These bastards came here last night to reconnoiter... most likely the lake. We were able to capture them thanks to Set being here. They weren't much in terms of combat skills, but they were highly skilled in stealth. For this many of them to come on a reconnaissance mission, they must have had some reliable information."
Understanding what the knight was implying, the coachman's expression turned stern.
If information about this lake had been leaked, then he himself would be one of the suspects.
However, the coachman was a man who had served Daskar for a long time, and thus enjoyed deep trust.
No one would seriously believe he would do such a thing.
In that sense, the Fleeing Adventurers brought in yesterday were undeniably the more suspicious ones.
In fact, the information had leaked from that direction... but only the Fleeing Adventurers who leaked it, the person who heard it, and whoever received that person's report knew this.
"At any rate, these bastards were either hired by someone or are someone's subordinates. Something along those lines. They came here to reconnoiter. Take them to Gilm and make them spill everything they know."
"Understood. But transporting this many of them comes with its own dangers. The Black Garb's allies might come to take them back. Could I get a few guards?"
"That's the plan on our end too."
The coachman asked the knight to send a few men from those guarding the Birth Tower as escorts, and the knight immediately nodded.
After all, there was no option to transport this many Black Garb members without an escort.
Not only was there the possibility of someone coming to take them back, but cramming ten people into a single carriage and traveling with no one watching would invite the risk of them dislocating their joints or doing something similar to slip the ropes binding their hands and feet.
From that perspective alone, a watch was necessary.
As a knight, he understood that this incident was important, and he intended to take every precaution in escorting the Black Garb.
"Rei, can I count on you?"
"Got it."
The one the knight turned to was, naturally, Rei.
As the strongest adventurer among those guarding the Birth Tower, it was only obvious.
Besides, if Rei went along, Set would go along as well.
The one who had captured these Black Garb members was Set, whose abilities had spotted them first.
With Set present, it was expected that the Black Garb would not attempt anything reckless.
That was exactly why Rei had anticipated being asked to serve as escort.
Additionally, there was the task of delivering felled wood to Gilm.
...After breakfast, he had felled a certain amount of wood and stored it in his Misty Ring, so he wanted to deliver it to the alchemists.
Unfortunately, the woodcutters were about to start their work, so no logging would have taken place yet... and even if some trees had been felled, it would only be a few.
In that case, it would be faster to collect them all at once later.
(Besides, I need to report that the Underground Space hasn't been discovered.)
Given that the Black Garb members had come all the way here to reconnoiter, there was a possibility that some of them had gone to investigate the Underground Space where the Wisp was located.
When Daskar heard about the Black Garb, he would naturally worry about that.
That was why Rei needed to inform him directly that there had been no problems.
To notify Daskar without reporting in person would mean relying on letters or messages.
A letter could be stolen by someone, and a message could be overheard.
Either way, it would need to be obscured with some kind of metaphor or phrasing.
Even if he did something like that, Rei had no way of knowing whether Daskar would see through it, and it would leave Daskar with a troubling period of uncertainty.
Considering that, it was indeed better for him to report directly.
"So, are we transporting these guys right away? Or do you have some other business here first?"
In response to Rei's words, the coachman spoke without hesitation.
"Of course we're going immediately. I want to spend as little time as possible with these bastards. Besides, the more time we take, the more likely the Black Garb's boss or employer will come to take them back to prevent their information from getting out, right? Then it's better to get them to Lord Daskar as quickly as possible."
Rei had no objections to the coachman's words, so he nodded in agreement.
"That would help us out too. ...Alright then, let's go. Should we load them into the cargo bed?"
"Yeah. Normally, the best thing would be to make them walk while pulling the carriage, like when we captured the bandits... but doing that would be like announcing that we've caught these Black Garb bastards, right? It might not mean much, but I want to keep that as hidden as possible. Although..."
The coachman paused his words there, cast a meaningful glance at Rei, and then spoke again.
"If Rei says he wants to use the captured attackers as bait to increase our information sources, I'd be fine with that."
"No, I'll pass on that."
Rei understood that having more information sources was better.
Even so, his judgment was that this matter should be handled as secretly as possible.
Naturally, since none of the Black Garb members had returned, their superior or the one who hired them would conclude they had been captured, and to prevent their own information from being exposed, they would likely attempt to rescue the Black Garb or silence them.
If he had the leisure, that would be one thing, but right now he wanted to get the Black Garb into the lord's manor as quickly as possible and hand them over to the professional interrogators.
Perhaps understanding that Rei was genuinely opposed, the coachman said nothing more about using the Black Garb as bait and issued instructions to unload the carriage's cargo.
This was where using a box carriage rather than an open cargo wagon proved beneficial.
It was impossible to tell from the outside that the Black Garb members were being crammed inside the carriage.
...In reality, the reason the coachman was using a box carriage was that cargo wagons, which Daskar owned, were in high demand, with many people waiting in line to borrow them.
Since cargo wagons lacked roofs and walls, they were considerably easier when loading and unloading cargo.
It was a small thing, but those small things added up to a significant difference.
In less than ten minutes, all the cargo was unloaded, and then the Black Garb members were packed into the carriage.
Given the number of Black Garb members, it was possible to fit them all inside.
...Though it would be quite cramped.
To keep watch over the Black Garb, Rei would normally have needed to ride in the carriage as well.
However, considering how packed the carriage would be, Rei had no choice but to judge that riding inside was more dangerous for himself.
The Black Garb members were skilled at concealing their presence.
In other words, there was a high possibility that they also had an assassin's side to them.
If so, even with their hands and feet bound and gags in their mouths, Rei had no desire whatsoever to be in a confined space where he could not move with such people.
Above all, Rei had Set.
Even from outside the carriage, Set's senses would immediately detect it if the Black Garb tried anything strange.
"Alright then, let's depart. ...I'll make sure to hand over the report properly, so don't worry."
The coachman called out briefly to the knight, and the carriage, Rei, and Set departed.
"Rei, I'm thinking of moving a bit faster than usual, is that alright?"
"Yeah, no problem on my end. Honestly, I'd be fine going at full speed."
"That would be too conspicuous, obviously."
The coachman said this while slightly increasing the carriage's speed as stated.
Normally, a carriage would slow down as it approached Gilm, but traveling at full speed would undoubtedly draw attention.
...Though, truth be told, the fact that Rei and Set were traveling alongside as escorts was conspicuous enough.
"Got it. I'll leave that to you."
Rei nodded at the coachman's words.
And so, the carriage began moving toward Gilm.
"So, how's the lake doing so far? Ah, of course, just tell me what you can talk about."
On the way to Gilm, the coachman suddenly asked.
For the coachman, he had seen it up close many times, but he still had various thoughts about the lake.
"Hmm, let's see. For now, the ecosystem is rich. The fish is perfectly edible... or rather, it's delicious."
What Rei recalled as he said this was the fanged fish.
He thought it should probably be treated as a monster, but in this world, since it lacked the defining characteristic of a monster—a magic stone—he wondered whether it should be treated as one at all.
He had already handed those lizards over to the Guild, so perhaps he should ask how the monsters from that lake should be classified.
Then again, the Guild was currently busy with various things, so it was entirely possible they didn't have the capacity for that.
"Oh, it's delicious? Then the residents of Gilm will be able to eat fish and such from now on."
"Probably. Though I don't think there's enough for all of Gilm's residents."
Considering the size of the lake, it might be possible to catch enough fish to feed all of Gilm's residents temporarily.
But doing so would naturally deplete the fish in the lake.
A certain threshold had to be maintained—enough fish had to be left so they could reproduce and sustain their numbers.
Rei was reminded of Hatahata, a fish he had loved when he was in Japan.
Hatahata, which was good boiled and good grilled, was a fish Rei was quite fond of.
However, whether due to overfishing or some other reason, the annual catch had steadily declined over the years.
As a result, a fishing ban was imposed for several years for resource conservation, and even after it was lifted, catch limits were enforced.
Thanks to that, the number of Hatahata gradually recovered.
In Gilm, which had neither seas nor lakes and where few people possessed knowledge or skills related to fishing, it was impossible to deny the possibility that someone might fish the lake dry simply because they wanted to eat fish.
...Especially since there were many people here with disproportionately high abilities.
(I should probably talk to Lord Daskar about this. People have been gathering in Gilm from all sorts of places. Considering that, there might be someone who knows about fishing.)
Rei had a rough understanding of what needed to be done, but he didn't know the specifics of how to do it.
Honestly, such matters should be left to professional fishermen.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"No, I was just thinking that once the lake's existence is made public, a lot of people will go there. ...Plus, summer is coming."
"Ah... yeah, that's true."
The coachman muttered in understanding at Rei's words.
Over the past few days... no, for a while now, the temperature had been gradually rising.
Considering that, it wouldn't be surprising if people started wanting to swim in the lake to escape the heat before long.
Those who lived in places with cooling magic items or could otherwise avoid the heat might be fine, but many could not live that way.
Fundamentally, magic items were extremely expensive, so this was only natural.
Alternatively, there was also the fact that very few people could become mages.
...If there were a dungeon, some areas maintained a constant temperature, so seeking shelter there would be an option, but unfortunately there was no dungeon right next to Gilm.
As a result, if the lake's existence were made public, many people would go to the lake to cool off... and given the presence of monsters, Rei could easily imagine it would cause quite a commotion.
"Yeah, that's something we'll need to figure out."
At Rei's words, the coachman nodded with a troubled expression.