A few days after the snow barbecue... as I had expected, the party ended with the satisfaction of all those who attended the party and ate silver lion meat.
　But naturally, that night, the next day... some people will not be satisfied with their meals for longer periods of time.
　He had lived such a life, but over time the afterglow of the flesh of the silver lion faded away.
　And by the time everyone had returned to their daily lives... Ray had somehow been summoned by Mayo.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ray," Call me all the way."
"No, I don't mind. I was going to show up once soon, too near future. but I think you have lost some weight than before."
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah...

　Mayo misleads Ray with a dry smile.
　Mayo, who was about 180 cm tall and weighed about 100 kg, seemed a little smaller in the eyes of Ray than before, and at the same time his face seemed a little thinner than before.

"A lot of things... I didn't show up at the last party. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Well... to be honest, it's a little bit of a bad thing."
"...your business is quite large, I think." Is it still impossible to do anything about it?"
"Well, well, it's true that there are many things because they're big."

　Seemingly difficult to say, Mayo breathes while wiping his sweat, even though it is snowing outside.
　Maybe it's because he's sweaty, but it's fair to say that Mayo is quite upset about the business at the moment.

"And is there any reason why Mayo came to see me like that?"
"...I'm ashamed to say that Ray is the only one who can save our business from the crisis we are in right now."
"Me? Why does my name appear there?"

　It was true that Ray was working hard with Mayo to make the goblin meat tasteful, but that he was not cooperating with Mayo's business... not exactly with Mayo's father's business.
　Ray couldn't figure out why his name came out here.

"Spir Trading Company. Don't you remember this name?"
"... the Spirits?"

　Ray shakes his head at the name that comes out of Mayo's mouth.
　It was a familiar name for a business.

"And in the name of Viscount Linus Marnino,"
"Huh? That's..."

　Ray remembers the person's face when he heard the name at the guard station a little while ago.
　a man who made unreasonable requests and, when Ray refused, attacked the Reys in Elena's carriage.
　And the name Speel Shokai was familiar to me too.
　A merchant called Tris contacted Ray to buy the material for the Silver Lion.
　The very number of merchants who came into contact with Ray was quite large, but why did you remember the name of Tris'... and Spiel's? It was probably because Tris was different from the other merchants.
　As soon as other merchants learned that Ray had captured Dungeon and returned to Gilm, they immediately contacted him.
　But in the midst of this, Tris came after a row of contacts with merchants ended.
　Clearly a bad idea, given the purpose of buying silver lion material.
　But... it was clearly working in terms of impressing Ray.
　In fact, Ray barely remembered the faces of the merchants who came in contact with him, but he remembered Tris very well.
　It may, however, be influenced by the fact that Tris is very different from other merchants.
　A merchant who laughed but didn't smile was an eye-catching partner for Ray had to Ray.
　That's why Ray remained impressive.
　But why do they both appear here? Ray has such doubts.

"What's the point where these two connect? Even to your business".
"First of all, the Viscount Marlino family and the Speel Chamber are, in short, the relationship between the debtor and the debtor."
"... Debt?"

　I remember the Viscount Marlino's house, which I had previously called, not the main house, but the villa or villa, but it didn't seem to me that I was in debt.

"I hear that Viscount Marunino carried out extensive flood control work on his territory. At that time, I borrowed a lot of money from Spiel Trading Company."
"I see. I hear that kind of work costs money."
"Yes, but hopefully we'll be able to farm in places that weren't previously suitable for farming, and we'll be able to earn more."
"That's it,"

　As it was called flood control work, Ray was definitely trying to figure out where the river would overflow, but he didn't expect it.

"No, I think one of the purposes was to do something about the flood, because there seems to be a lot of mixes in that area, so it seems to have been a very large-scale construction project." But if you include both of them, of course the cost will increase."
"... I see,"

　That alone somehow made Ray understand Mayo's point.
　The ballooning cost may have further increased the amount of money owed to Spiel.

(But what was your request at that time after all? You said you couldn't refuse it once you heard it. If you are short of money, you must attack the robber's hideout and give him the treasure there?'

　That's how I feel and I'm convinced.
　Ray has come to be called a bandit eater by the bandits.
　Naturally, we can fight very well against thieves.
　... of course, it's like a hobby for Ray to beat the thief. Although it serves as a substantial benefit.
　Some people frown at the idea of bandit hunting, but Ray feels comfortable with his pocket and the damage caused by bandits is reduced in the vicinity. In addition, this is more like killing three birds with one stone than killing two birds with one stone by selling off robbers to slave traders.
　Isn't it a little stupid of you to ask yourself to defeat the thief? That's what you think.

(And was that Viscount Marnino? He said he was on the royal side. Then, would you like to go out of your way to the remote guillem in the near winter season?）

　Just because Ray is called a bandit eater doesn't mean that no one but Ray can defeat the thief.
　On the contrary, the robbers of threats to the general public are not the kind of people to struggle with adventurers.
　Of course, there are exceptions like wolves in the grass, but exceptions are made only because there are few.
　In order to ask Ray to hunt for thieves, noblemen of the royal faction... they did not expect the head of the royal faction himself to come to the home of the opposing neutral faction.

(If anything else is possible...)

　Ray wondered if there was anything, but his ability... specifically, he remembered death-size skills and topographical manipulation.
　I suspect that the ability to manipulate the ground will be of great use in flood control work.
　Ray can only be manipulated by topographical manipulation in about a meter.
　However, being able to operate the ground freely, even if it is only one meter long, would certainly save a lot of effort.
　It was certain that the flood control work would make considerable progress.

(But when I heard your request, he said he couldn't say no... if it was flood control work, wouldn't he?)

　There should have been nothing particularly troubling about my refusal after I had heard of the request for flood control work.
　Of course, when asked if he accepted the request after hearing it, Ray says no.
　At that time they were desperately looking for ways to bring Vihela back to consciousness.
　It could take about a month, two months, if you accept a request for flood control work... or even six months, one year, two years, if you don't do so.Not very much, but Ray couldn't afford to accept such a request.

(In addition, the reason why they were able to manipulate 1m by topographical manipulation was because they had captured the dungeon and destroyed the core of the dungeon. If that's the case, it wasn't going to work even if we received a request for flood control work at that time.)

　I don't know how much they understood Ray's topographical manipulation, but there was a possibility that they might have judged it useful for flood control work.

"... and anyway." I understand the relationship between the Viscount Marnino and the Speel Chamber, but how does Mayo's Chamber relate to it?"
"Actually, it's a little too much to say that we're invading Spiel's business now, but they seem to be trying to absorb or take over our business."
"Why did you do that again?"

　From Ray's point of view, it was doubtful why he would behave like that.

"There are many reasons. First of all, our business is firmly rooted in guillem, isn' Having been based in Guillum for many years, I have many advantages in doing something with Guillum."
"...but now that Tris has come to see me, the Spiel Trading Company is working in Guillum, I don't think you need to force yourself to do so."

　Mayo shakes his head to the muttering Ray.
　At that time, Ray could see the flesh of his cheeks shaking, but this incident must have made him tired. The tremor seemed less than it had been when we studied goblin meat together before.

(Well, if you think about your health, you'd better lose weight.)

　Ray worries about his health while watching Mayo look a little overweight.
　But Mayo continues, unaware of what he thinks.

"""We, who are based in Guilm, and the Spiel Trading Company that comes to Guilm to purchase." There's always a difference in that area."
"Is that the case?"

　Living as an adventurer, Ray is naturally unfamiliar with the world of merchants.
　I had a dispute with Azot, but it was a dispute between merchants and adventurers, not between merchants.
　I usually use it at a store, but that's all I can do.

(No, there was a time when he was hired as a bodyguard before the war with the Empire of Bestia. It was only a relationship as a bodyguard after all.)

　When I think about it that way, I think of the female adventurers who guarded me then.
　I was invited to a party, but in the end I refused... of the female adventurers I haven't seen since.
　Ray was completely unaware that he was in love with one of the adventurers.

"Since Ray is an adventurer, I understand that he doesn't know much about merchants. Anyway, my business is now... my father's business, but it's in the middle of a fierce battle with Spiel. It's not about violence, it's about business."
"Well, if it were violence or physical force, I could have helped."
"If that were the case, I would have been saved,"

　Mayo smiles bitterly at Ray's words.
　In fact, Spiel's business is probably aware that Mayo has a connection to Ray.
　As Mayo put it, there is little physical use when it comes to disputes between businesses.
　But it's not that there's very little left.
　No, in the sense that you can do it normally in order to prevent others from knowing you and then hire a gangster to take action...
　But... as far as the disturbance goes, that's not the case at all.
　Mayo expected this to be proof that Spiel knew the connection between Ray and Mayo and did not want to be intervened by Ray... and that he did not want to be hostile.
　However, Mayo must be very strong like a merchant, as he is thinking of making Ray feel bad about Spiel by informing him that their business is being invaded by Spiel.

"Anyway, that's why there's little progress in the study of goblin meat. I'm sorry."
"No, don't worry. If that's the case, it can't be helped. Here we are, and here we have been busy for some time."

　Do you understand Mayo's intentions or not?
　At any rate, Ray said so.