Leaving the Lord's Manor, Rei headed toward the Guild with Seto, who—true to expectations—was happily carrying food given to him by the Cook.
Though called out to by several people along the way, Rei and Seto arrived at the Guild, only to find...
"Well, this is..."
"Gruu..."
Rei let out a startled exclamation, and beside him, Seto was equally surprised.
A massive stage had been set up in front of the Guild.
One glance was enough to tell it was meant for publicly displaying the Crystal Dragon's corpse. Still, having such a structure suddenly appear in a place he knew so well—it would've been impossible not to be caught off guard.
The stage itself wasn't particularly flashy. If anything, it wasn't the kind of thing that would surprise you on closer inspection... but seeing it there like this was still startling.
Naturally, the presence of such a stage was an obstacle for anyone passing in front of the Guild, but fortunately, the pathway there was quite wide—which was precisely why the stage had been placed there in the first place.
"Umm, your usual spot is part of the stage now, so... let's see. Could you find somewhere out of the way but still close to the stage? Just take it easy there for me."
"Grururu"
At Rei's words, Seto showed a slightly restless air as he searched for a spot where he could lie down without being a problem. For Seto, the fact that his usual lounging spot had been claimed by the stage probably bothered him at least a little.
Watching Seto pad off to a spot slightly removed from the stage, Rei headed inside the Guild.
Normally there would be a considerable number of people, but today the interior was sparsely populated. With today being the Festival, all Expansion Construction work—including emergencies—had been suspended.
Regular requests unrelated to the Expansion Construction could still be accepted, but the vast majority of adventurers currently in Gilm had come for the construction work. In that sense, being able to visit the unusually empty Guild wasn't a bad thing.
A few years ago, this was normal. But once you get used to that packed-like-sardines state, this feels incredibly empty. It should sort itself out once the Expansion Construction settles down, though.
Glancing around the Guild anew, Rei noticed that the attached cafeteria already had quite a few people drinking alcohol, despite it being morning—closer to early morning, even. Perhaps they'd been holding a banquet since the night before as a pre-celebration for the Festival. Since today was a day off, Rei had no intention of commenting on that.
He headed straight for the counter.
"Rei-san, good morning. I've already heard the news, so please wait a moment. I'll go call the person in charge."
Spotting Rei, Lenora set down the documents she'd been processing and headed toward the back of the counter. Perhaps because the Expansion Construction was on break, her paperwork seemed somewhat lighter than usual.
"Rei-kun, good morning. You're early today."
With Lenora gone, Kenny flashed a smile and called out to Rei. Normally, being seen chatting with Rei like this would earn her a telling-off from Lenora—or a rolled-up document swat. But with Lenora away, Kenny could talk to her heart's content, at least until Lenora returned.
"Yeah, a bit of Festival business."
"Ah, the stage out front. I've only heard vaguely about what's happening, but it sounds like you'll be busy today too, Rei-kun."
"Yeah. I'd say 'unfortunately'... though I'm not sure that's the right word. But busy is right. I just checked the stage out front, and now I have to head back to the Lord's Manor again."
Hearing that he'd be gone again soon, Kenny wore a disappointed expression.
"Aww, I wanted to walk around the Festival with you, Rei-kun."
The moment she said that, the other receptionists nearby and the Guild Staff Members working behind the counter shot her flat, irritated glares. Even if today wasn't as busy because of the Festival, there was still a mountain of accumulated paperwork. With less work than usual, wanting to clear the backlog today was only natural for the staff.
Having Kenny among them gushing about wanting to go to the Festival with Rei—it was only natural some would feel resentful.
From Rei's perspective, doing nothing but paperwork meant concentration would eventually falter, so a change of pace was necessary to some degree. After all, even Daskar had said he was coming to see the Crystal Dragon's corpse today.
But that was Rei's own opinion, and how others felt was another matter entirely.
The Guild Staff Members had been working day after day, late into the night—returning home only to sleep, then waking, getting ready, and heading straight back to the Guild. It was a daily routine that in Japan would've been enough to certify the company as a black corporation without question.
That said, overtime pay was properly compensated, and they even received what amounted to special bonuses. As Guild Master, Worker clearly believed that pay commensurate with the work performed had to be provided. In fact, the salaries the staff had been receiving over the past few months were incomparably higher than normal.
The problem was that with nothing but work, work, work, no matter how high the salary, they had no free time to spend it.
"Ahem."
With a jolt, Kenny timidly turned around at the sound of someone clearing their throat directly behind her.
There stood Lenora, wearing a smile that spread across her entire face.
Beside Lenora was a single young mage, but Kenny showed no sign of noticing him. That was how frightening Lenora's full-faced smile was.
"Kenny, what about your work?"
"...I know."
At Lenora's pointed remark, Kenny reluctantly returned to her duties.
Directing an exasperated glance at the retreating Kenny, Lenora turned to Rei and introduced the young mage beside her.
"Rei-san, this is the mage Yigal-san. The stage preparations were handled entirely by him."
"Hello. Um... I'm Yigal."
Yigal bowed his head toward Rei. Robe and staff—he was a man in his twenties with the typical look of a mage, though he gave off a somewhat timid impression.
"I'm Rei. Nice to meet you. So, I'd like to get started on adjusting the stage right away, if that's all right?"
"Yes, pleased to work with you. I'll do my absolute best."
Seeing Yigal's seemingly timid demeanor, Rei found himself wondering whether this man was really Daskar's subordinate—and whether he was really the one who had built that stage in front of the Guild.
Actually, given that he came from the back of the Guild, does that mean he was doing paperwork until I arrived? Whether he volunteered or just couldn't say no out of timidity, I can't tell...
The documents the Guild Staff Members handled naturally included many that couldn't be shown to outsiders. But there were also plenty that would be harmless for an outsider to see, and Yigal had probably been entrusted with those. Rei surmised as much but didn't bring it up.
Yigal looked timid, but he was undoubtedly Daskar's subordinate. The Guild Staff Members would certainly be mindful of that fact... and above all, for Rei, it was ultimately someone else's business. If Yigal truly didn't want to be there, he'd at least have the backbone to refuse—or so Rei judged.
"Then let's head outside. We'd be better off having the detailed discussion out there."
"Understood."
"I'll take my leave here, then. Rei-san, Yigal-san, do your best. I'm looking forward to today's exhibition."
At Lenora's parting words, Yigal flushed and nodded bashfully.
Huh? Could it be...?
Somewhat understanding why Yigal had been helping with the Guild's paperwork, Rei made sure not to let a smile show on his face. Judging from what he'd just seen, there was almost no doubt that Yigal had feelings for Lenora.
Whether it had been the case for a while, or whether it was love at first sight upon meeting her at the Guild today, Rei couldn't tell. What he did know was that Lenora had well-defined features—better described as cute than beautiful—and was quite popular at the Guild as a result. There was no shortage of adventurers trying to woo her.
Then again, that wasn't unique to Lenora. Kenny, who surpassed Lenora in beauty and had a more feminine figure, along with the other receptionists, being wooed by adventurers was a common occurrence. If anything, reaching a point where men stopped paying them attention would more likely result in being pulled from reception duty. Guild receptionists were that kind of presence, so it wouldn't be strange at all for a visibly timid person like Yigal to fall for Lenora after being treated kindly by her.
Though pulling it off would be another matter.
Receptionists were wooed by large numbers of adventurers, but they didn't accept invitations easily. Many were quite guarded about such things. In Kenny's case, if Rei were the one doing the wooing, she'd probably cave so quickly it would make you wonder what happened to that reserve. But generally speaking, being won over that easily wasn't something that happened—which meant Yigal's chances with Lenora were probably quite low.
Mulling this over, Rei left the Guild with Yigal.
"Whoa..."
The moment they stepped outside, a wave of summer heat assailed them. The one who let out a startled voice at the heat was, naturally, Yigal. Thanks to the Dragon Robe's simplified air conditioner, Rei wasn't hot at all, even in the middle of a summer day.
"First thing I want to know: is the stage at its maximum size, or can it be made wider?"
"I can make it wider. But if I make it too large, it'll block people passing in front of the Guild, so if possible, I'd like to keep it at this width."
"...This width, huh."
At Yigal's words, Rei looked over the stage once more. At a glance, the size seemed fine. But that was only based on looking at it now—what would happen when they actually brought out the Crystal Dragon's corpse was another matter entirely.
With things as they are, the fact that the neck and other parts are severed is going to hurt. That'll take up extra space.
Thinking about how to arrange the Crystal Dragon's corpse, he decided that for now, the best approach was to actually bring it out and see.
"Yigal, cover this stage with an earth wall. I'm going to bring out the Crystal Dragon's corpse to test things. You can do that, right?"
"Yes, that's no problem at all, but what about the height?"
"Give it plenty of room... let's see. I'd like it about as tall as the Guild's roof."
No matter how well he concealed things with an earth wall, it would be meaningless if the wall was too low. Anything that didn't fit within it would be visible to the people outside the Guild.
That Rei was displaying the Crystal Dragon's corpse was already somewhat known, but only to those in the know. The majority of people still had no idea what the main event of today's Festival was—what was going to happen on top of this stage.
Because of that, Rei wanted people to be surprised when the actual reveal happened, not let them catch a glimpse of the Crystal Dragon's corpse during preparation and figure out what was being set up. That was precisely why he was carefully having Yigal envelop the stage in an earth wall.
"That's fine. But in that case, the earth wall will be quite fragile, you know? Wind won't do anything to it, but it'd be fragile enough to collapse if someone bumps into it."
"If that happens, it happens. I'd prefer it didn't, though."
"...Rei-san, you can use earth magic too, right? Then it might be more reassuring if you did it yourself."
Rei understood that the earth magic Yigal referred to was the Terrain Manipulation skill that Death Scythe possessed. But fully aware of that, Rei decided to leave this task to Yigal. He shook his head and asked Yigal to build the earth wall.