“Yo, yo! Road maintenance today?”

Descending toward them, I called out to the guard.

Just in case, I scanned the surroundings—no monsters nearby. It should be fine to chat a bit.

“Yeah. Normally, we do it right after the rainy season, but this time, Sir Alec was away at war, right? So it got postponed until everyone came back.”

That tone… must be from the 2nd Unit.

In any case, I nodded at his words.

“I see, I see…”

It happens every year, but after the spring and autumn rainy seasons, soldiers patrol the territory to check for any damage.

However, like he said, since many of the territory’s troops had been deployed elsewhere this year, the patrol routes were slightly altered.

The patrols around the capital and the main roads were thorough, but remote areas where people rarely go were put off till later.

Before spring, those kinds of places are usually inspected during monster extermination campaigns within the territory. Besides, if people don’t normally go there, there’s no real issue.

Still, I hadn’t thought this road would fall into that category.

It’s on the eastern side of the territory, sure, but there’s also an outpost I’m heading to located there. If anything had happened around here, communication might’ve been cut off during winter… Then again, it’s mostly adventurers who travel back and forth in winter, and it’s not so far away that you couldn’t reach it quickly if needed. Maybe that’s the reason?

“Well… whatever. So, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Nah, nothing in particular. This area’s far from any water source, so we kinda figured the rain wouldn’t cause any problems anyway.”

He answered my question as if it were nothing.

He’s probably right, but still…

“Hmm, I guess so. But even so, it seems like an odd bunch. If it’s just a patrol, wouldn’t a standard mission suffice?”

In front of me stood a group of five—three foot soldiers and two men assigned to some kind of task.

Our troops usually work in groups of three, so that part’s not odd. But normally, road patrols are done by mounted soldiers.

Yet today, it’s three on foot.

On top of that, the two men doing the task didn’t look like soldiers at all.

They were probably some sort of craftsmen.

At the very least, this didn’t feel like your average rain damage inspection around the roads.

“We were only told about it yesterday too. We’re patrolling the roads, yeah, but we’re also escorting these craftsmen. After this, we’re heading further ahead and staying the night.”

He said that as he gestured toward the craftsmen, then pointed down the road.

“Come to think of it… they were ordered to inspect the trees along both sides of the road, round trip. But neither I nor they know exactly what they’re inspecting them for. Don’t you know anything, Vice-Captain? Sir Alec is on leave, so the order came from the lady, right?”

“Huh?”

Inspecting the trees growing along the road must be a preliminary survey for road expansion or something like that.

I don’t know how much they plan to widen it, but if they’re going to be cutting through kilometers of forest, they can’t just recklessly chop things down. That’s bound to cause problems.

At most, they’ll probably widen it just a few meters on each side, but even that could affect the local forest monsters in unpredictable ways.

Back when we opened the path to the eastern outpost, there wasn’t anything beyond the road, so we didn’t worry too much about it. We just focused on connecting it straight from the eastern gate of the capital and pushed through aggressively. But it’s different now.

Those craftsmen are probably checking the trees for signs of monster territory markings.

And the reason they’ve got foot soldiers instead of mounted ones as escorts is probably because they’re more maneuverable that way… Or maybe it’s just to match pace?

Anyway, I understand now what their mission is and why the formation is a bit unusual…

But they haven’t been told what the survey is for?

Expanding the road is probably meant to improve access to the eastern outpost to support its development.

That way, people and supplies can be sent in all at once.

Then development can proceed in full force.

But they haven’t been told about that?

A new town is going to spring up right next to the capital.

It’s in the middle of the frontier, and while it’s already somewhat established, it’s still a rough area. But if we can secure that land, it’ll be a huge advantage from a commercial standpoint.

Ambitious merchants will definitely aim for it. I have no issue with that in itself, but…

If that happens, a lot of adventurers might be pulled away to serve as escorts.

From the perspective of overall strength in the Riana Territory, it’s not ideal for forces to shift away from frontier exploration toward development sites.

Word about the development will get out eventually since it can’t be hidden forever, but they’re probably keeping it under wraps for now to avoid a mad civilian rush trying to get a head start.

Just another growing pain of the rising Riana.

So, with that in mind…

“Who knows? I haven’t heard anything from Lady Seria either… Maybe they’ll tell us if we ask?”

For now, I’ll just play dumb like usual.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera ・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’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 ・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

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

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