"Thank God! Thanks to you coming by, Rei, we don't have to haul these anymore."
The Fleeing Adventurers looked at Rei and expressed their heartfelt gratitude, bowing deeply.
Just a few minutes ago, there had still been a massive pile of felled trees remaining, but now every last one of them had been stored inside Rei's Misty Ring.
After leaving the Centaur settlement and returning to Elgin, Rei had explained the situation to Grimm—who had been delighted to hear that there were still large numbers of Dragonias—and then, on his way to Gilm, suddenly remembered that the Woodcutters and Fleeing Adventurers were having a hard time of it. He stopped by the logging site.
Thanks to Rei's presence before, they had never needed to do things like haul lumber. But lately, with Rei having gone to the other world to annihilate the Dragonias headquarters—which turned out not to be the actual headquarters—the Fleeing Adventurers had been the ones transporting the felled trees.
However, no matter how capable this world's adventurers were, felled trees were extremely heavy.
If these were ordinary trees, they could be left after cutting to let the moisture drain, making them somewhat lighter before transport. But since the Alchemists needed to perform magical processing on them, the felled trees had to be brought to Gilm immediately.
Furthermore, the Expansion Construction in Gilm could always use more materials, so in that regard as well, the Woodcutters and the Fleeing Adventurers hauling the logs had to work hard.
Even if they worked hard hauling every day, they could never transport everything, and the felled trees inevitably piled up.
It was only natural. Felling trees wasn't exactly easy, but still, one person could do it—though an Adventurer was assigned as support—and there were quite a few Woodcutters.
With that many people each felling trees, the timber piled up fast.
By comparison, transporting the trees from the Treant Forest to Gilm was extremely arduous. They had to load the logs onto specially modified carriage beds and haul them all the way to Gilm.
Even though the Treant Forest and Gilm were relatively close, there was still a considerable distance between them.
Naturally, more trees were felled than could be transported, leaving a surplus of lumber.
That was why a significant number of logs had accumulated by the time Rei stopped by today.
Since he was storing them one after another into his Misty Ring, it was no wonder the Fleeing Adventurers voiced their gratitude.
"It's just an errand on my way, so don't worry about it. But I probably won't be able to help with the Expansion Construction for a while yet, so I think you should gather more people."
"We know that, and we've been telling the Guild that, but..." One adventurer said, glancing toward the Birth Tower, which was visible from here.
If the Birth Tower wasn't there, they could bring in as many job-seekers as they wanted. But under the current circumstances, that was difficult.
It was an open secret, but Daskar's decision was to keep knowledge of the lake and the Birth Tower as limited as possible.
In fact, only those with Daskar's permission were now allowed to approach the area where the lake and Birth Tower were located.
Because of that, personnel entrusted with escorting the Woodcutters or handling miscellaneous tasks could only be hired if the Guild deemed them trustworthy.
If they hired some random adventurer and he caused a commotion around the lake or the Birth Tower, it would affect the Guild's credibility.
That was why adventurers working in the Treant Forest had to be sufficiently trusted by the Guild.
"I understand there's a shortage of people, but the pay went up, right?"
"Yeah. The work's that much tougher, though."
Given that heavy labor like hauling felled trees was involved, nobody would want the job if the pay was low. That meant they had to raise the compensation to keep the workers from growing dissatisfied.
In fact, the Treant Forest was currently a first-class danger zone. After all, it was directly connected to another world.
So in a sense, the higher pay was justified.
The Guild probably found it a mixed blessing that more people were seeking requests in the Treant Forest, drawn by the high compensation.
"Then you don't have room to complain, do you? Just do your best and work hard."
"...Somehow, when you say that, I can't honestly accept it."
Rei could store the logs they struggled to haul into his Misty Ring and transport them to Gilm in the blink of an eye. For the Fleeing Adventurers who were earnestly doing their jobs, only the word "envy" came to mind.
"Oh yeah? Well, I'll transport the stored logs, so today should be a little easier than usual at least."
With that, Rei exchanged light greetings with the Woodcutters as well, then mounted Set and headed for Gilm.
"Hey, Rei. Long time no see."
The Village Gatekeeper at the Lord's Manor called out to Rei upon spotting him.
Rei would normally return the greeting casually, but he wasn't very energetic, having been pestered by the Alchemists when he delivered the felled trees before coming here.
Since Rei hadn't been around in a while, the Alchemists had come asking if he had any interesting materials. He did have Dragonias corpses stored in his Misty Ring, but since the other world was a secret, he obviously couldn't mention that.
So Rei had just brushed the Alchemists off as best he could.
"What's wrong? You don't look energetic."
"The Alchemists pestered me."
"Ah... my condolences."
A different Village Gatekeeper than the one who had been speaking offered his sympathies.
Rei exchanged a brief conversation with the Village Gatekeepers and entered the Lord's Manor.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen the Green People lately... I wonder if they're doing well? No, Lord Daskar would handle that sort of thing well enough.
After all, with the Green People around, spice trees that normally wouldn't grow in this climate could thrive just fine.
Given that, to Daskar, the Green People were more of a priority to protect than even the Lizardmen.
Rei couldn't possibly imagine Daskar treating the Green People poorly. It wouldn't be surprising if they were living quite comfortably.
As he was thinking about the Green People, the Maid guiding Rei came to a stop.
"Excuse me, Lord Daskar. I have brought Lord Rei."
In response to the Maid's words, a voice from inside granted them entry.
The Maid opened the door, and Rei stepped into the Office.
"Hey, Rei. ...I'm going to take a short break, so bring us some cold drinks and something light to eat."
At Daskar's words, the Maid bowed and left the Office.
Watching her go, Rei was prompted by Daskar and moved toward the sofa.
"Have a seat. The detailed talk... will wait until the drinks and food arrive."
"Understood. ...You certainly seem busy, though."
When Rei remarked this while looking at the stack of documents on the desk, Daskar smiled.
"Indeed. Once winter comes, things will ease up a bit. Though that winter is still far off."
"It is summer, after all."
When Rei had been in this world originally, it had been transitioning from early summer to full summer. During that time, when Rei returned to this world after about two weeks, the climate was already what could be called midsummer.
That said, since Rei wore the Dragon Robe with its Simplified air conditioner function, even when the surrounding temperature exceeded thirty degrees, it was no problem at all.
"Ah. Until winter... no, until the end of autumn when people leave Gilm, I suppose? If we push through until then, we can take it somewhat easy until spring next year."
"Even when winter comes, I imagine you'll still be busy with various things."
"Don't say that."
Perhaps Rei's words hit the mark, because Daskar said it with a slightly displeased expression.
As a lord, Daskar handled paperwork competently, but perhaps because he was originally a knight, he preferred moving his body over doing paperwork.
As they were having this conversation, the Maid from earlier arrived with cold Fruit Water and Sandwiches.
Rei couldn't help but think that he always ended up eating Sandwiches whenever he came here, but when it came to light meals, Sandwiches were extremely convenient—they could be made quickly, and by changing the toppings inside, the flavor could easily be varied.
Also, when Daskar was busy with work, Sandwiches were convenient in the sense that he could eat while doing paperwork.
Once the Maid left, Daskar reached for a Sandwich and spoke.
"So? It was the Dragonias, right? Were you able to take out their headquarters?"
"Yes. We succeeded in annihilating the Dragonias that were there. However..."
"Something went wrong, then."
Seeing Rei hesitate, Daskar stated that.
Rei nodded honestly.
"Yes. We destroyed what we thought was their headquarters and returned to the Centaur settlement, but... that very same day, a massive number of Dragonias attacked again. Considering the reason, it's likely that what we struck wasn't the headquarters, but one of their outposts."
He hadn't mentioned Vihera yet, but he judged that explaining the Dragonias situation first was the better approach.
"So they're... far more numerous than expected. Speaking of which, about the Dragonias corpse..."
"It deteriorated quickly, right?"
"Correct. You knew about that as well?"
At Daskar's questioning tone, Rei nodded.
In reality, he knew because Grimm had told him, but he kept that hidden.
"Yes. But given that, does that mean the Dragonias corpse has no value?"
Even as he said that, Rei was certain that wasn't the case.
The red-scaled Dragonias possessed powerful resistance enough to withstand even Rei's magic.
Flame Magic was among the most commonly used attack magics.
If so, there was no doubt that scales capable of withstanding Rei's magic held extremely high rarity value.
Furthermore, Dragonias had scales of many colors besides red.
Exactly which attributes those scales had resistance to was something Rei hadn't investigated yet, so he didn't know, but the fact that scales of multiple colors were valuable was an undeniable truth.
And as expected, Daskar shook his head at Rei's words.
"No, there's no doubt that some rather interesting results came out. But time is the issue."
"I see. ...By the way, I'm a bit late in mentioning this, but when I returned to the Centaur settlement, Vihera was there."
"...What?"
Plop.
Hearing Rei's words, Daskar dropped the Sandwich he was holding.
It was fortunate that the dropped Sandwich fell on the table rather than on the floor or in the Fruit Water.
I hope a waste-not spirit doesn't come out.
Seeing Daskar's current state, Rei somehow found himself thinking that—probably because he was Rei.
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a moment."
Daskar said that while holding his head.
It was only natural. Even though she had already left the Imperial Registry, the fact that Vihera was a princess of the Bestia Empire remained unchanged.
And not just any princess, but one who had enjoyed tremendous popularity—no, who still enjoyed tremendous popularity.
It was precisely because of Vihera's cooperation that Mercureo, the Third Prince, currently held the first position in the Right of Succession to the Throne in the Bestia Empire.
Of course, Daskar knew that Vihera was traveling with Rei.
But even so, he never imagined she would go to another world.
"So, um... how is Lady Vihera doing?"
"She's enjoying herself."
Rei said it as if to dispel Daskar's worries.
In truth, the Dragonias were the perfect playmates for Vihera.
"The Dragonias are quite an enjoyable opponent for Vihera. Since they're driven by hunger, they don't even try to run away."
At those words, Daskar wore a conflicted expression.
He was glad to know she was safe for the time being, but the fact that a former princess of the Bestia Empire was happily battling an unknown monster called a Dragonias in another world was another matter entirely.
Daskar showed a conflicted reaction, unsure whether to be pleased or distressed.
"I think you can set the matter of Vihera aside for now. She went to the other world and was quite happy about it."
"But... how exactly did she learn about the other world?"
Unable to mention Grimm to the troubled Daskar, Rei simply savored his Sandwich slowly.