As the guild staff informed us, a certain number of people will appear at the demolition site of the gigant turtleneck almost noon.
　Some of them seem to be unhappy because it's still difficult to get here from the site of the extension.
　Originally, Gillum was large enough to be called a city.
　In the midst of all this, the one in the back of the guillem who is doing the extension work.
　Coming here from there is naturally time-consuming and exhausting.
　...but I still don't complain directly because I'm surprised to see the dismantled Gigant Turtle right in front of me, or, above all, because I know it was Ray who asked the guild to dismantle it.
　If you're going to complain in such a situation, let alone act tyrannically... Ray is definitely coming out.
　Or, if Ray hadn't been here, some might have directly expressed their dissatisfaction, but now there are still figures of Ray and Sett, Vichela and Bune... ...though Bune is not watching the demise of the Giant Turtle, but is fighting the Cobold -- a travail.

"Oh, thank you for coming. Now, I would like to ask you to break up and destroy them."

　Even if you complain to someone who says so, you can't do it as long as you're wearing a guild uniform.
　In the first place, many of the people here chose to kill the little-earned Cobolts rather than dismantle the underpaid gigant turtles.
　I don't have any money, and I can't pretend that I'm going to get a request from the guild, but I'm going to fight with the guild staff.

(Huh? But if you think twice... if you come to dismantle the gigant turtleneck, you'll divide the meat a little, and it's more reward-wise to sell it to a butcher or rich man, and besides, you don't have to fight unless you're a bodyguard for it.)

　Ray thought of it all too late, but in reality those who were involved in the subjugation of the Cobold decided that they would get more reward for defeating the Cobold in large quantities. ... Some of them could not bring themselves to the idea of course.

"If the number of people increases this much, isn't it going to end the demolition rather quickly?"
"I don't think there's much difference in the size of the gigant turtleneck."

　The word "water" is probably used at times like this.
　Thinking so, Ray answers Vihela... think about the case of Cobold.
　When I first heard of Cobold, I thought that if I put Cobold at the site of the extension work, I wouldn't be afraid of Cobold's attack.
　But Cobboldt, perhaps attracted by the smell of Gigant Turtle's blood, did not run away or frighten him when he was here.
　That bothers Ray.
　If you're an ordinary monster, you can run away as soon as you notice Sett's presence.
　Or is he too frightened to move?
　Nevertheless, Cobboldt, who came here, showed no sign of it.

(I'm sure it's not an ordinary Cobolt, but... not particularly strong for that.)

　Beyond Ray's gaze, there is a figure of Cobold who is easily killed by a white clouded Bune.
　The one-sided battle was beyond the realm of monsters... strong enough not to have to be frightened by Seto's presence.

"Well, Vihela fought against Cobold, too?"
"What? All of a sudden. ... Yeah, I fought. It was only a normal Cobolt."
"But why do you think he doesn't seem to run away at all when Seto is there?"
"...what?"

　With Ray's words, Vihela once again looks at Seto in a short distance.
　For Vihela too, Seto was a recognition that she was a party member, and that's why she didn't seem particularly concerned when she saw him doing this here.
　But that's only because it's Vihela, and it's not that you don't usually notice Seto's presence.
　What's more, if it's a monster, it's even better.

"Come to think of it... but there are monsters here other than Kobolt. Maybe they don't notice him because he's not serious enough, or maybe the smell of the blood in the gigant turtleneck is so attractive?"
"Well... well, I can't say it's impossible."

　If the blood stinks of a high-ranking monster of this size, other monsters who smell it can change their eyes.
　However, even though Ray understands it, he is not convinced.
　I know it's likely in theory, but there's still something subtle about it.

"Then why don't you take Seto to the place where he is doing the extension work?"
"I thought about that, too. But it's a great place for them to earn money to beat Cobold because they don't have enough money to go out and ask him to kill them, or because they don't have enough trouble moving around in the snowy open air.
"...I understand that, but what if it keeps going on like this? It's winter, so there's no extensions going on. But when spring comes a little later, the extensions will go on in earnest? If the Cobolt attacks continue as they do now, surely the construction will be delayed?"

　Vihela's words were undeniable facts.
　It's a fact that most of them are not adventurers or anything else who work in extension work, let alone adventurers who can protect themselves.
　It's unreasonable to ask such people to work where they don't know when the Cobold attack will take place.
　No, if you hear about Cobold before that, you'll refuse to work because your life is more important.
　Even an adventurer who can defeat the Cobold is attacked by the Cobold while he is building an extension... it is difficult to deal with if he is caught unawares.

"I see. It's all right now, but can't we just stay where we are now? Then..."

　So once Ray pauses, he calls out to the guild staff at a distance... ...who are in charge of the dismantling of the Giant Turtle.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?"

　You may have heard the voice. Guild officials give instructions to some of their men nearby and rush towards Ray.

"Yes, what is it?"
"I'm sorry to bother you when you're busy. I'd like to ask you something about the Cobold attack."
"Huh? Ah, that's fine,"

　You must have thought you'd hear something about the dismantling of the Giant Turtle. A guild official with a slightly unexpected look on his face soon quits the surprise and waits for questions from Ray's mouth.

"Cobold is now attacking Gilm every day, every night, but isn't that bad when you think of the spring?"
"It tastes bad,"

　a guild official who says so without a moment's hesitation
　That attitude shows that the current situation is far from good.
　The reason why we still don't seem desperate is probably because we still have a certain amount of time until spring.
　The hopeful observation is that this matter will be solved by spring
　However, most of Gilm's adventurers deserve to be called skilled.
　At present, there are many people who are difficult to call skilled in the extension work, but it is safe to think that if the adventurer of Gilm were serious about this case, he would be able to solve it without any problems.

"I think it's better to think about it now, lest I should be in a hurry for the time being. ...Someone should blame me... Wait a minute."

　Having said that, Ray suddenly realizes.
　The latest incident has so far been a delight for moneyless adventurers.
　But if this is objectively caused by some kind of artificial reason, then this is definitely an act of sabotage against Gillum...or an act of hostility.
　It's only natural, though it's a cobolt, since they're calling a lot of monsters into the guillem.

"What's the matter?"

　A guild official asks Ray strangely when he suddenly stops talking.
　Ray asks such guild staff just in case.

"I'll just ask you, do you have any means, rituals, magic items, magic, etc.
"What? Let's see..."Ray's sudden question makes the guild staff think a little.
　Guillerm's guild staff... and this man, as he was entrusted with this case, holds a reasonably high position in Guillerm's guild.
　You could call it Lenora or Kenny's boss.
　That's why I know a lot of information that even Lenora and Kenny don't know... and shake their heads right away.

"No, I'm afraid I've never heard of such a thing. It's clear that even the guilds have checked that area under the direction of Mr. Dusker since the start of this incident."

　In the remote guild alone, the guild has more knowledge than ordinary guilds.
　I was told by Dusker that I was not confident in Ray's question, as almost all the guild officials examined it.
　The guild official continued, however...

"There could be techniques and magic and magic items in the world, and there could be alchemists who created them, let alone dungeons, which we don't understand."
"... I guess so. If this is an artificial incident, you don't even know exactly how it is happening."
"I'm afraid so. And... there are not as many as ten or twenty people who have a grudge against Gilm."

　Ray cannot help but agree with the explanation.
　Gillum is located on the frontier, so rare materials, ores, magical stones... are readily available.
　They envy it, the city of Dusker, the leader of the Neutralists... and now they're building extensions, and they're trying to expand the scale.
　Considering that, the number of people who have a grudge against Gillum or want the extension work to fail, as the guild staff said, could be in the order of 10, 20, or 200 people.

"If it's not man-made, there can be some higher or rare species, but there isn't one, is there?"
"Yes, so far I have not received any reports of that kind. I have had some adventurers who are very capable of searching."

　Guild officials shake their heads.
　In that case, Ray has no choice but to think of artificial methods rather than superior or rare species.

(Or are there any superior or rare species that have the ability to look like Seto's optical camouflage? ... Personally, that would be more helpful.)

　If you have a monster with optical camouflage capabilities, knock it down and get a magical stone, and the level of Seto's optical camouflage will rise.
　Optical camouflage has a great effect on combat, because of the battles I've experienced so far, Ray knows, and there's no doubt that it's a skill that's easy to use outside of combat.

"For the time being, I suppose it's not true that the aristocracy is obstructing me."

　It is tantamount to suicide to do this in a situation where Elena is directly in Gilm.
　It is, however, only if Elena knows it, and if she does so, nothing can be done about it unless Elena knows about it.

"Other than that..."

　Thinking so, Ray suddenly remembers the people who kept making a fuss in Guillum before going to Anesis.

"Come to think of it, what's the matter with those red cloths who had caused trouble before I went to Anesis? I've never heard of them since they came back here."

　Yes, I was going to ask.