"Well, then. I ordered this one."
"Yes. ... but I envy you to remain in the Tower of Birth and return to Mr. Ray's brother."

　At Ray's words, Zozo tells me so, even though he's a little upset.
　To Zozo, if he can live with Ray, he must have the feeling that he is.
　However, since only Zozo could use the lithograph, it was absolutely necessary to leave Zozo here.

"Now put up with it. Some of the lizardmen are learning words and letters little by little. They'll communicate here instead of Zozo."
'I understand,'

　an unwilling look
　For Zozo, he was loyal to Ray and didn't want to leave if possible.
　But he was persuaded that loyalty was more than just on Ray's side, and as a result he was left in the Tower of Birth.
　As a prince of the Grand Dragonian Empire... well, as a Lizardman man, I understood it was necessary to protect the Tower of Birth, but it is no wonder that Gaga would be dissatisfied with the fact that she would sleep here with Ray.

"I expect a carriage to pick her up in the evening, so I've asked her to be a charm."
'Gaga's charm... That sounds like a lot of course.'
"There are adventurers other than me, and new knights are coming, so I don't think there's any problem about that."

　Tell him so, Ray rides on Seto's back.
　Seto couldn't fly when he was with Zozo, but not now.
　Seto, carrying only Ray, runs up into the sky, flapping his wings only a few steps away.
　It was refreshing, let alone uncomfortable, to see the figures of those who remained on the ground dwindling.
　The tower of birth is, as the name suggests, a tower, but it is not so tall.
　If the rate of rise of the set is the rate of increase, too.

(Yes, it feels good to fly like this.)

　The tower of birth seen from above during the day, not at night, has a different atmosphere.
　Thinking this way, Ray heads for Gilm with Seto.
　That being said, it's not running on the ground, it's flying through the sky.
　Not surprisingly, Ray and Sett arrived at Gilm in less than minutes.
　that, though he had left later than the knight carrying the mercenaries in his carriage, he had arrived at Gillum by far the sooner.
　If you go through the process of entering the guillem, you can go straight through the city.
　It's not the lord's house... it's the guild.
　The report against Dusker was over, and there was a reason why the knight should report on the mercenaries who had attacked the tower of birth.
　Rather than that, we decided that it would be our first priority to gather information on how the Guild now recognizes the Tower of Birth.
　It's not that the guild has no information about the tower, given that adventurers have come to guard the tower.
　I wanted to hear about it in the guild, and at the same time I wanted to hear how the guild would deal with the tower of birth.
　The Tower of Birth is undoubtedly an important object for Dusker, but is it the same for the guild?

(Well, since it's Mr. Dusker, I think that's already been done.)

　Thinking this way, Ray breaks up with Sett at the entrance and enters the guild.
　The guild is as bustling as ever.
　During this time of day there were few people before the extension work.
　However, after the construction of an extension work, the number of people, even during the day, increases.
　...and yet there are certainly fewer people than there are in the morning and in the evening.
　In the midst of many adventurers, Ray stitches his way through the gap.
　Some of them recognized Ray as Ray and made way for themselves.

"Oh, Ray. This way!"

　Kenny, who finds Ray approaching the guild's counter, waves joyfully.
　There is no adventurer in front of the counter.
　Not sure if it was a coincidence or if he had left the adventurer to someone else, but since Lenora is not in charge of Ray, Ray heads to Kenny's place.

"What about Lenora?"
"Lenora is out on a little errand. She'll be back in a little while..."

　Ray shakes his head when Kenny asks him what to do.
　I had only come here to hear information about the Tower of Birth, and I had decided that Lenora would have heard from me, but if I had only heard information, I would have asked Kenny without Lenora.

"Have you heard of the tower moving next to the forest of Trent?"
"Why did Ray... No, it's Ray? Isn't it strange when you think about it?"

　After seeing Kenny's surprise, I could understand that the information about the Tower of Birth had not yet spread that much...or that the Guild was trying to spread it as little as possible.

"Don't be so. Or, since Sett sensed that the tower of birth had been transferred at midnight yesterday, I think I was the first person to see it in Gilm."

　Ray manages to mislead the world, which I almost call this world.
　Kenny doesn't seem to notice Ray like that, but instead shows honest acceptance.

"Seto-chan would understand such unreasonable things, but he would understand them."

　a murmuring Kenny
　That's how much you understand that Seto's existence is unreasonable.
　...however, it's not a disparaging remark, but a compliment.
　The mention of the Tower of Birth does not show Kenny's surprise, so he understands that he has already been informed of the name, and goes on.

"Don't be so... and? May I ask you what the guild is going to do with the Tower of Birth?"
"To be honest, if I were to hear that, I think I should ask the guildmaster, not me."

　Kenny, looking troubled, still happy to talk to Ray, opens his mouth in despair.
　However, to keep out of the ears of the adventurers around him, keep his mouth close to Ray's ear and whisper.
　Such conduct naturally stands out in the guild.
　Many adventurers in the guild cast envious glances on Ray.
　Kenny, a sensational beauty, is probably as popular as ever with adventurers.

"Basically, I think it will be in line with Mr. Dusker's wishes, but some adventurers may want to see what's going on, so they want to hide it if they can. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I have not seen it in person, but it seems to be difficult to hide it from everybody."

　Ray nods in Kenny's words.
　For adventurers, the Tower of Birth is undoubtedly of great interest.
　Some will judge it to be money, just as a mercenary hired by someone attacked the tower of birth.
　And in fact, there was no doubt that things like Lizard's children and eggs that hadn't hatched yet would turn into money.
　Knowing this, the guild probably wants to hide as much information as possible about the tower of birth.

"Then will the guild be able to guide the adventurers, or manipulate information?"
"I think so. But I don't think it's going to be that big."

　Kenny makes a little apologetic face to Ray, telling him so.
　I guess they are sorry that they can manipulate information, but from the guild's point of view, they can't make it that big.
　But Ray shakes his head at such Kenny.

"Don't worry. You can reduce the number of people a little. Besides, if you go to see them out of curiosity, you'll get your deserts."

　Among the lizard men who are now protecting the Tower of Birth is Gaga, who, if not all, is capable of even fighting Ray.
　That's what an adventurer of the neighborhood would be able to defeat.
　There are also Zozo who are inferior to Gaga but stronger than ordinary Lizardmen, and other Lizardmen are well-trained soldiers.
　Ray predicts that even Gillum's adventurers cannot sneak into the Tower of Birth so easily.
　ましてや、増築工事の為にギルムにやって来た冒険者程度では、それこそガガやゾゾ達の防御を乗り越えるのはほぼ不可能であるのは間違いなかった.
　勿論、冒険者の中には名前が売れていないが、実は腕利きという者もいるので、絶対確実とは言えないが.

「あら、そう？　レイ君がそう言うのなら、これ以上は何も言わないけど……とにかくそんな訳で、情報操作の方はあまり期待しないでちょうだい. 正直なところ、ギルドマスターが立ち入り禁止区域とかに指定した方が問題は少なくなると思うんだけどね」

　ケニーの提案は、レイにとっても納得出来るものだった.
　少なくても、立ち入り禁止区域に指定された場合は、特別な許可があるものでなければそこに近づくことは出来なくなる.

「何で駄目なんだ？　それが一番いいのなら、ワーカーもギルドマスターとして、そうすればいいんじゃないか？」
「私もそう思うけど、何か色々とあるみたいよ？」

　そう言われても微妙に納得は出来ないが、それでも不満を口にしなかったのは、ワーカーがギルドの為に身を粉にして働いているのを知っているからだろう.
　……冒険者の中にはワーカーが何か妙なことを企んでいるのでは？　と考えている者がいるのも知ってはいたが、レイはその辺りに関して疑ったことはない.
　何だかんだとワーカーともそれなりに付き合いは長いし、何よりもワーカーが本当に妙なことを考えていた場合、間違いなく前ギルドマスターのマリーナが何らかの行動に出ると分かっているからだ.
　ワーカーも、当然それが分かっているだろうから、万が一にも何か妙なことを考えたとしても、それを実行に移すとは思えなかった.

「なら、取りあえず生誕の塔についての話はこれで終わるけど……トレントの森の木材の方、どうなってるか分かるか？　取りあえず今日の伐採は休みになったから、建築資材の方が足りなくなるんじゃないか？」
「そうでしょうね. 樵の人達も仕事が出来ないのは困るでしょうし」
「そっちの問題もあったな」

　レイがダスカーからの要望で、セト籠を使って集めてきた樵達.
　それ以外にも、自分でギルムにやって来た樵達もいる.
　そのような樵達は、あくまでも出稼ぎの為にギルムにやって来ているのであって、仕事が出来なければ食費や宿代のような滞在費を無駄に消費するだけだ.
　ましてや、少し前までは増築工事で幾らでもトレントの森の木が必要だったので、ダスカーは少しでも多くの樵を集めようとしていた.
　こうしている今も、ギルムに仕事を求めて少なくない数の樵が向かっている.
　幾らかギルムで働いて資金に余裕のある樵はともかく、来たばかりで仕事がない樵というのは資金的に非常に辛い.
　勿論、樵だからといって樵の仕事だけをしなければならない訳ではなく、増築工事の仕事であれば幾らでもあるのだが.
　だが、樵もそうだが、何らかの専門職に就いている者はその仕事にプライドを持っている者も多い.
　それだけに、樵としてやって来たのに別の仕事をやれと言われても、それを許容出来ない者もいる.

「とはいえ、その辺は自分で判断するべきなんだろうな. 無理に別の仕事をやらずに、伐採の再開を待つという方法もあるんだし」
「その辺はギルドにもどうしようもないわね. 自分達で決めたことなんだから. ……でも、建築資材不足の件を考えると、伐採の再開はそれなりに早くなりそうよ？　トレントの森の木は、建築資材としては凄く優秀だから、今回の増築工事でも重要視されてるらしいし」
「詳しいな」
「あら、この程度はギルドで働いていれば、自然と耳に入ってくるわよ？」

　特に自慢をするでもなく、本当に何でもないように言うケニー.
　受付嬢という仕事である以上、得られる情報は結果として多くなるのだろう.
　そんなことを理解しつつも、レイはケニーとこれからのギルムやトレントの森、リザードマンや緑人についての話をするのだった.