First day back at work.

When I was signing the thank-you letters, the people working in the office were still the usual faces, but as noon approached, the atmosphere gradually began to change.

The staff working here includes not only civil officials from the capital of the domain and clerical staff from the Knight Order, but also personnel dispatched from various guilds.

Technically, they’re civilians, but each guild functions as a semi-public institution, and they’re indispensable for running the city and the domain.

So, having their staff working here is natural—but today, even the branch heads and division leaders from the guilds have shown up.

It must be for the meeting about the vacant space in the Church District.

They’ve gathered in the lounge at the back of the office and have been in discussion all morning.

And it’s still going on—even after the lunch break, they haven’t stopped.

“…They seem pretty fired up.”

“No surprise there.”

For lunch, all the bigwigs from that meeting, including us, ate together in the dining hall. The branch heads of the various guilds were among them too.

They were relatively quiet during the meal, but once it was over, they immediately resumed the debate.

Since Seriana is here, no one’s shouting or getting angry, but it’s still intense enough that we can hear them clearly.

Others around us are also lowering their voices, quietly listening in on the discussion.

I’m no different.

I had a vague idea of who wanted the land opening up in the Church District, but I didn’t know the details—thanks to their conversation, I finally understand the situation.

First up is the Adventurer Guild.

In our dungeon, members of the Knight Order are stationed inside, and they regularly bring the corpses of dungeon monsters back to the surface.

Since monster parts from the dungeon can be reliably obtained, they need space to handle them. Apparently, their current space is getting too cramped.

They already have a massive headquarters just across the district, but now they want to set up a new facility specializing in processing monsters from outside the dungeon.

Other guilds argue that if it’s for outside monsters, they should build it outside the city. But in response, the Adventurer Guild insists that having it in the city is more convenient—especially for commercial use of materials.

Well, I can understand both perspectives.

Next is the Merchant Guild.

Their request is straightforward—they want a large building near their headquarters.

This city will see many visiting merchants in the future, and some of them might be big shots who’ll need escorts.

We do have inns that cater to VIPs, but those kinds of merchants only come during major events like the Festival of Commemoration, and even then, their visits tend to overlap.

That’s why the Merchant Guild wants a facility that can host business meetings and also accommodate VIPs.

The area around the central plaza is safe and perfect for business discussions, and that location is ideal.

Their reasoning is also sound.

On top of that, the Merchant Guild’s head of craftsmen wants something like an exhibition hall, and the Hunting Guild wants to build a dismantling and processing facility near the Merchant Guild.

Each request comes with its own valid justification, which makes it hard to decide on just one.

This city will probably develop a bit more, but it’ll eventually settle down. When that happens, we won’t be able to do any large-scale construction, let alone city-wide rezoning.

Everyone knows that if we miss this chance, it’ll be difficult to secure a sizable prime piece of land again, which is why everyone’s so serious.

“Isn’t there a way to combine all of it into one?”

From the sound of it, the Adventurer Guild and Merchant Guild headquarters have the upper hand, and it looks like it’ll end up going to those two—but can’t they just combine everything somehow?

They’re all going to end up working together with the Merchant Guild in one way or another anyway. It seems like they could manage if they set it up like a department store or something…

But when Seriana heard me, she shook her head.

I thought it was a good idea…

“If we combine everything, they’ll definitely fight over who gets to take charge. Maybe decades down the road, when there are more people from the lord’s family around, we could put one of them in charge. But right now? Impossible.”

“Ah…”

So there’s no one suitable to take the top spot in a multi-guild complex.

Like Seriana said, if more time passes and the lord’s family expands, the story might change—but the youth of the Riana Domain is showing here.

“Well, your proposal has already been submitted, and besides, there’s no need to rush the decision. Let’s see… If we can settle something by spring, that’ll be good enough. Anyway… let’s get back to the office ahead of them. Sera, work in the Church District is scheduled to start within a few days. You should read over the documents and at least familiarize yourself with the procedures.”

Saying that, Seriana stood and began walking toward the dining hall doors.

“Ugh… okaay.”

Looking to the back of the dining hall, the important old men are still glaring at each other while continuing their discussion.

That issue is important too, but it’s not urgent. For now, we should focus on the upcoming work in the Church District.

It’s not like I’m going to be doing anything myself, but like Seriana said, it’s probably best to at least understand what’s going to be happening.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Water’s Garment】 Blessed Item・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards