After discussing matters regarding his promotion for a while, Rei left the Guild's office once a reasonable amount of time had passed.
Daskar walked beside him.
Marina and Worker remained in the office.
The former guild master and the current one hadn't met face-to-face in some time, so there was likely plenty for them to discuss. With that in mind, Rei had simply left the room alongside Daskar.
"Today was enjoyable. Now I can focus on my work again for a while."
"Honestly, doing paperwork every single day is genuinely impressive. I don't think I could manage it... well, it's not that I couldn't, but I certainly wouldn't want to."
Rei had attended high school back in Japan, after all. Naturally, he'd done his fair share of submitting reports and the like, so he figured he could handle paperwork if he really tried.
But he certainly didn't think he was suited for that kind of work.
Besides, several years had passed since he came to Elgin. Honestly, it was doubtful whether he could still write reports the way he had during his high school days in Japan.
In that sense, Rei didn't see himself as cut out for paperwork.
"That's true. I don't want to do paperwork by choice either. But as long as it's the lord's duty, it can't be helped."
"...Being a lord sounds tough."
Rei didn't know the exact details of Daskar's workload. But ever since the expansion construction began, he'd had plenty of reasons to visit the office at the lord's manor, and each time he'd seen with his own eyes mountains of documents piled on the desk.
Among the adventurers Rei had met over the years, there were some who wanted to become nobles—whether through wartime merits or anything else, it didn't matter. When he'd heard such ambitions, he'd simply thought that was just how things worked. But watching Daskar grind through mountains of paperwork day after day, there was no way Rei would ever want to become a noble.
Of course, plenty of nobles in the world shoved their work onto subordinates and spent their time idling. And it was precisely those nobles who caused the most problems.
"That's right. Everything has its hardships. But neglect them, and it wouldn't be surprising if things headed toward the worst possible outcome."
Daskar's response carried wholehearted agreement. Since he was actually performing the role of lord in Gilm, he undoubtedly understood exactly what would happen if he handled his paperwork carelessly.
Daskar certainly didn't love paperwork either. But to properly govern his birthplace, dumping it on subordinates or doing it half-heartedly was something he absolutely had to avoid. If he did such a thing, Gilm would quite literally stop functioning. And if that happened, the many people living there would all suffer the consequences. Ultimately, it wouldn't be strange if Gilm itself fell into ruin.
"Do your best. If I find any golems or magic items in Egginis that would help with your paperwork, I'll buy them for you."
Rei said this in response to Daskar's busyness. For his part, Rei found present-day Gilm a very comfortable place to live. Of course, it wasn't without its problems, and he did get caught up in his share of trouble. If anything, considering just how much chaos he'd been dragged into since arriving, Gilm could hardly be called a peaceful town.
But Gilm was the first place Rei had come to in this world of Elgin. Given that, he'd inevitably grown accustomed to its way of doing things. Perhaps it was precisely because Gilm was a frontier that someone like Rei—an extraordinary existence in every sense—had been accepted so readily.
In that way, Rei considered Gilm his second hometown... no. Given that he'd gone from being Reiji Saiki to inhabiting this body, perhaps it might become his true hometown in the fullest sense. Though if one spoke of the hometown of Rei's body itself, perhaps the Zephyle Clan's hidden base in the Forest of Magic would be the more accurate answer.
At any rate, it was a fact that Rei placed great importance on the town of Gilm. That was why he hoped that in Egginis—a city renowned for its advanced golem technology—he might find some golem or magic item that would ease the burden of paperwork.
(Something like a ballpoint pen, where you don't have to bother dipping a nib in ink... I feel like something like that could probably be made, but... well, it's probably difficult.)
Rei knew roughly how a ballpoint pen was structured. To be precise, he had a rough understanding of it—he'd taken them apart before, naturally enough. But how the individual components were actually manufactured was something he didn't know. That was why his knowledge remained only approximate at best.
(If I could commercialize ballpoint pens, they'd definitely sell. ...Oh, but what about pencils? If I could do something with charcoal... yeah, no way.)
Rei vaguely remembered hearing that pencil leads were made from processed charcoal, but he had no idea how that processing actually worked. Given that, he had no choice but to conclude that making pencils would be difficult too.
Of course, if the method for processing the charcoal were discovered, all he'd need to do afterward was cover it with wood like a Japanese pencil, or failing that, wrap it in cloth or something. In that respect, the odds of success were higher than with a ballpoint pen, whose mechanism was a complete mystery.
"Putting the paperwork aside, what are you going to do now? Ah, I don't mean your trip to Egginis—I mean right now, at this moment."
"Even if you ask that... if I walk around town in my current situation, a huge crowd would definitely gather."
There would be those who wanted to get acquainted with Rei now that he was an A-Rank adventurer, merchants and alchemists hoping to somehow get him to part with Crystal Dragon materials, and messengers from nobles among them. Dealing with such people was a hassle Rei could do without.
"I would've liked to enjoy the food stalls, if possible."
For the stall owners, having Rei—the newly minted A-Rank adventurer—shop at their stall would serve as excellent publicity. Today was a festival, and many stalls were set up. Amidst all that, Rei showing up would certainly be a major advertisement, and they would naturally broadcast the fact to everyone within earshot.
Once that happened, word would spread, and a massive crowd would inevitably gather. For Rei, that was the absolute worst-case scenario. Because of that, he'd resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the festival today, despite the rare opportunity.
Alternatively, he could take off his Dragon Robe, disguise himself, and walk around without Seto—then there was a chance nobody would recognize him as Rei. But Rei had abandoned that idea. If it were just himself in disguise, that would be one thing, but leaving Seto behind to enjoy the festival alone was something he simply couldn't bring himself to do.
Also, once a little more time passed, he would need to store the Crystal Dragon's corpse in his Misty Ring, move it to the warehouse, and have it dissected. The staff had rested properly yesterday, and by now the guild members in charge of the dissection were probably brimming with motivation, eagerly awaiting the moment. At least, that was his prediction.
(Knowing them, if they hadn't been told the corpse needed to stay on public display, they'd probably try to dissect it right there on the stage.)
For that reason, given the matter of handling the Crystal Dragon, remaining at the Guild was the best course of action.
"For now, I'll go show my face at the warehouse. The guild staff tasked with the dissection should be waiting there."
"I see. You'll have your hands full with various things from here on, Rei, but it would help if you lent your strength for Gilm's sake."
"If something's impossible, it's impossible. But I do want to do as much as I can. Keep at it yourself, Lord Daskar."
Moving through the interior behind the counter, Rei and Daskar carried on this conversation. Naturally, the guild staff wanted to hear more about the Crystal Dragon from Rei, not just the brief explanation he'd given earlier. But seeing him engaged in conversation with Daskar, they couldn't very well intrude. Rei hadn't intended it, but he was effectively using Daskar's presence as a shield.
After finishing their talk and exiting the counter area, Daskar didn't head out the front entrance. Instead, he left through a door leading elsewhere.
"Well then, Rei. I'm counting on you from here on as well."
With those parting words, he was gone.
After seeing Daskar off, Rei noticed several guild members looking his way. Judging that lingering would only lead to more trouble, he headed for the warehouse.
Several adventurers were already standing guard out front.
"Rei? Heading inside?"
"Yeah. But why are you already on guard duty? The Crystal Dragon's dissection hasn't even started yet."
"Ah, that. Apparently there are some quite rare tools stored in the warehouse right now. The Crystal Dragon, right? To dissect an S-Rank monster like that, you'd need special tools."
I see, Rei thought. He could certainly understand the adventurer's reasoning. They were going to dissect a Crystal Dragon, so naturally the tools would be special. He'd heard as much from the Foreman already, but special tools inevitably came with equally special price tags. And precisely because they were so valuable, they could fetch a high price if stolen. That was why adventurers had been hired as guards from this early stage—to eliminate any chance of theft.
(I wonder what kind of tools they are.)
He'd been told special tools would be used, but seeing adventurers hired specifically to guard them naturally piqued his curiosity. He'd heard that Mithril was involved, but that alone didn't seem to warrant this level of strict security. Mithril was certainly a rare magic metal, but it could still be purchased if one had the money. Though it was exactly because it commanded such high prices that it made an attractive target for thieves.
"So where's the Foreman and the others? Already inside?"
"He's inside. Though not everyone's gathered—about half of them, maybe. The rest are still enjoying the festival."
The envious edge in the adventurer's voice was certainly not Rei's imagination. Whatever reason this man had for guarding the warehouse in the middle of the festival, he clearly wanted to be out there enjoying it himself. That said, since the man had chosen this assignment, Rei had no intention of commenting on it.
"I see. Let me through, then. It'll take a while... no, a fair amount of time, but after that I'll bring the Crystal Dragon's corpse over here, so I figured I should give you a heads-up."
In reality, there was no particular need to tell them yet given the current situation. But Rei had nowhere else to be right now, so in that sense, this was more about killing time.
"The Crystal Dragon's corpse, huh... My shift change is coming up soon, so I'll go take a look after that. Oh, right. Congratulations on the promotion, Rei."
"Yeah, thanks. ...Huh? You knew, even though you've been out here on guard?"
"Lord Daskar's voice carried all the way out here, and so did yours. Plus, I just heard about it from a guild staffer who brought us refreshments a little while ago."
That made perfect sense to Rei. They were standing guard on the day of a festival, so it wouldn't be strange for someone to bring them food from the stalls as a treat.
"Refreshments, huh. Must be nice."
At Rei's words, the adventurers first looked puzzled, then quickly understood. They'd held such a grand ceremony and put the Crystal Dragon's corpse on public display. If Rei carelessly went out front and got recognized, it would undoubtedly cause a scene—they grasped that well enough.
Or perhaps, being adventurers trusted by the Guild, they were naturally skilled. It wouldn't be strange if they'd experienced being swarmed by people coveting the materials of rare monsters they'd slain. The sympathetic looks some of them cast his way were proof enough of that.
After exchanging words with the adventurers for about five minutes, Rei stepped inside the warehouse.