I'm not going to tell Travis and Theodore what I want to tell them about the incident, but about the identity of the culprit.

　An autonomous doll-type golem made with technology that even the Demon King's army can't match.
　The conjecture is that the one who sent them to earth was the true enemy of Gandalf, the Demon King, who lurks in the depths of the "Demon King's Castle Realm".

　If I was right, then the risk of encountering and engaging with him and others lurked in the search for the depths.

　This information is of a nature that must be shared before the search begins.

This is all I can tell you. Think of it as a kind of bulletin. I'm sure you'll be notified of the details from Guild Headquarters shortly.

　Telling the adventurers of Green Hollow about the people the Demon King's Army calls the 'True Enemy' and the dolls who caused the Night Ripper incident was not an action I decided to take alone.

　The person in charge of the guild headquarters, who learned that I was planning to return to Green Hollow soon, asked me to be the messenger for the breaking news.

　The official transmission of information from the Adventurer's Guild Headquarters would not be made official until after a detailed analysis of the dolls that were the culprits had developed.

''Good grief. I had thought that an unknown threat must be lurking, but this one was indeed unexpected. An autonomous golem that behaves indistinguishable from a human?　As hard as it is to believe, ......
''At the point when the Demon King's Army was defeated, it was a sure thing that we were dealing with an opponent beyond human understanding. Reality always surpasses our imagination.
You gave the golem a perfect personality and sent it to the point of being a disposable assassin. It's no wonder that Gandalf, the Demon King, was the last to fall behind.
But as long as he (...) and others (...) may be letting the dragons run free, we can't just ignore them. ...... Hmm.

　Travis and Theodore both had serious expressions on their faces and seemed to be considering reworking their search plans in their heads.

　They were A-ranked, the de facto highest rank of adventurers.
　They are the ones who have excellent ability to make the search difficult, which cannot be accomplished by simply excelling in individual-level combat and survival abilities.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for in a dungeon, but it's also a good idea to have a good understanding of the threats and possible dangers that lurk in the dungeon you're challenging, and not to overestimate or underestimate them.

　--Even Bruno, the blood-dyed blade that showed its ugly face during the Night Ripper incident, was like that in the past.

　It's a good idea to have a B-rank or even a C-rank at best if you can't immediately scrap and rethink your existing plans after being told of the unexpected threats lurking in the "Demon King's Castle Realm" that you plan to challenge.

　If you are worried about the cost of your preparation and think about not changing your plan, you will definitely be dead before you reach A rank.

　The average person might think, 'It's only natural to be able to do it,' but this is not so surprising.

　There are never a few guys who think without evidence that they are fine and embark on a reckless search without correcting their cognitive distortions.

'All right. Thank you, Mr. White Wolf. We'll postpone the search for the deeper regions for a while to get ready again. From what I've heard, our current preparations just can't get rid of my fears.
But, Mr. Theodore. That will increase your costs even more.
It is a necessary expense, Maria. It is a foolish thing to suffer losses that cannot be repaid with money by sparing the consumption of money. If your financial situation does not allow it, but in our case, we can afford it.
"...... is the right thing to do.

　Maria nodded her head with a hint of frustration.

　I can vaguely understand what she was thinking.
　Perhaps she wanted them to come up with the idea of withdrawing the search plan itself.

　I know it's not a good idea for a chaperone to put a legitimate son of the family in danger, but it's absurd to expect that from Theodore.

I'm sure you'll be contacted once the revised plan is finalized. For now, we're waiting for the details from headquarters.
'As promised, I'll help you as much as I can when you need my help. Until then, though, I'll have to give priority to the armorer.

　Theodore gets up from his seat a step ahead of me and leaves the rental conference room with Maria.

　The three people left in the room are me, Garnett and Travis.
　The timing couldn't have been better to get the one remaining thing out of the way.

"Hey, Travis. I'm going to change the subject: ......
'Now that we're done talking business, let's talk about your personal life. That's a rare thing for me to hear from you. Feel free to talk to me.
'Oh ...... no, it's not my advice. I've got a guy who wants to introduce himself to you.
You want to join the party? I'll have to see you in person to decide.

　...... I cut off the words once and lightly scratch my head.

　Apparently, or perhaps I should say, as I suspected, what I'm about to tell you is not in Travis's imagination.

'It's a woman. There's a girl who wants to introduce herself to you as the opposite s*x...

　Travis suddenly froze as if tension had penetrated his spinal cord, and he somehow managed to squeeze out the words, his expression contorted with impatience and confusion.

'Oh, you ...... know I'm not very good with women, don't you ......?'
'That's why you're trying to have this conversation in a more formal setting, isn't it? It's not like you don't like women or that you have to be a man or anything, is it?

　I've known that this guy has a problem with young women, and that's exactly what I've known since we first met, but I have no idea why he did it.

　He didn't even try to talk about it, and there was no reason for him to bother pursuing it.

''I know your 'weakness'. But I don't know why, and I don't know if you feel rejected beyond 'I don't know how to handle you, so I don't want to treat you as much as possible' in the first place.
'...... Sure, maybe it was. We've known each other a long time, but I don't think I ever dared to bring it up.
'If you don't mind me asking, you can tell me. I just owed that kid a debt, and I don't know why, but I don't feel comfortable telling him it didn't work.

　Travis folded his arms and thought about it.

　Suddenly, he thought Garnett had gotten up from his seat and was about to open the door to the conference room and walk out.

'Hey, where are you going?'
It's not always easy to talk when I'm around. I'll be outside.

　As soon as he said that, Garnett left the room and closed the door before he could stop himself.

'...... I'm sorry to have bothered you,'

　Travis' mouth twisted into a wry smile and he looked at me as if he'd made up his mind.

'Okay, we'll talk. But it's not much of a situation. I just didn't tell you because it's a very personal story. Don't expect me to get excited about it.