A grassland littered with goblin corpses stretching as far as the eye could see. There, gathered among the dead, were those who had been called out for this request — including Rei and Set.
The stench of goblin blood, viscera, and bodily fluids hung thick in the air. With the summer afternoon sun beating down, the heated air carried an overpowering stench that was nearly unbearable.
Had it been spring or autumn — or at the very least, a cool morning — the smell wouldn't have been nearly this bad.
Despite the reek, the adventurers stood their ground without seeming the least bit bothered.
Set, possessing the sharpest sense of smell among those present, let out a faint sound of displeasure — though even for him, it was still more tolerable than the stench of Undead like Zombies.
"So, about this mess... what's the plan?"
The first to break the silence was Rei — the youngest among those present, yet also the highest-ranked adventurer.
Under normal circumstances, having a teenage boy seize control of the discussion wouldn't sit well with a group of seasoned adventurers.
But the people standing here knew exactly what kind of existence Rei was. And even if someone didn't, they had all witnessed him raining Flame Magic and Set's Fire Breath down on the goblin horde from behind.
After seeing that display, no one could deny who stood at the top of the pecking order.
"What do you mean, what's the plan? We can't just leave them like this. They'll rot and reek, for starters. Monsters and scavengers will come drawn by the goblin meat. And more importantly — there's the risk of Undeadification."
At the hammer-wielding adventurer's words, the others nodded in clear agreement.
"Then let's burn them."
Everyone nodded again at Rei's suggestion.
The adventurers gathered here were all reasonably skilled.
They understood full well that stripping materials from goblin corpses would barely earn them anything relative to the effort involved.
"Since no one objects... oh, right. I'll be taking one of the Goblin Leaders' Magic Stones. That alright with everyone?"
Not a single person voiced any objection.
Everyone understood just how much Rei had contributed to the battle against the goblin horde.
"If it's just the Goblin Leaders' Magic Stones, no one's going to complain about Rei taking them," one adventurer said with a nod.
Rei then stored the corpses of several Goblin Leaders into his Misty Ring.
These would serve as proof of the request's completion when presented to the Guild.
"But are you sure just the Magic Stones are enough? Goblin Leaders yield a decent amount of usable materials, you know."
"Nah, the Magic Stones are fine. I'll leave the dismantling to you guys. The Guild reward is more than enough for me."
At Rei's words, the other adventurers seemed quietly pleased.
In truth, Rei had simply handed off the Goblin Leader corpses because he found dismantling them a hassle — but none of the others seemed to catch on.
"Alright, I've stored the Goblin Leader corpses. Now let's deal with the rest of the bodies. Anyone mind?"
After confirming that no one had any objections, Rei summoned Death Scythe and began to chant.
"O flames, feast upon my magic power and burn the dead to ash. Let their regrets be purified entirely by my fire. Grudges, grievances, envy, hatred — all are meaningless before my magic power. Flames that burn away even lingering resentment. Therefore, with my magic power, return them to the heavens."
Blue fire blossomed at the pommel of Death Scythe.
Rei drove the pommel into the ground — and the spell was complete.
Funeral Flames.
Blue flames raced across the ground, spreading outward and enveloping the goblin corpses. Within the fire, the bodies crumbled and dissolved away.
Watching the spectacle unfold, Rei felt an enormous drain on his magic power.
This spell originally possessed elements of the Holy Attribute in addition to the Flame Attribute.
Because of that, Rei — who only had aptitude for the Flame Attribute — was forcing the spell through sheer magical might, making the consumption tremendous.
In terms of raw magic power, Rei's reserves were virtually unmatched in this world, and yet a single casting of this spell devoured a significant fraction of his total capacity.
To put it in perspective: it was like a mage with the proper aptitude achieving a result with the flick of a finger, while Rei was accomplishing the same thing by running a nuclear power plant at maximum output.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
He exhaled raggedly, struggling to steady his breathing.
Seeing Rei in this state, Set pressed his face against him with a worried purr.
Are you okay? The griffon's body language seemed to ask.
The surrounding adventurers showed no sign of noticing Rei or Set's state — their eyes were locked entirely on the scene before them, captivated by the blue flames.
When one thought of fire, red was the natural assumption.
For these adventurers, blue flames were nothing short of extraordinary.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but the way the goblin corpses crumbled away within the fire almost looked... peaceful.
"H-hey... this is..."
One adventurer, who had been transfixed by the blue flames, finally managed to choke out those words.
His voice broke the spell holding the others in place.
"How do I even describe this... 'Fantastic' — even that word doesn't do it justice."
"Yeah."
Watching the goblin corpses vanish one after another, each of them let out a breath of pure awe.
The goblin horde had been led by several Goblin Leaders, each commanding their own pack.
With each pack numbering around a hundred, that meant hundreds of goblin corpses in total.
A handful of goblins had managed to flee, but their numbers were negligible.
In other words, the goblins being engulfed in blue flame and burning — no, being purified — before the adventurers' eyes numbered in the hundreds.
With that many burning in ethereal blue, calling the sight "fantastic" was by no means an exaggeration.
But even such a fantastical spectacle would fade once there was nothing left to burn.
When the blue flames finally died, not a single trace of a goblin corpse remained in the surroundings.
...Well, goblin weapons and armor lay scattered about, so saying nothing remained would be an overstatement.
"Well, the goblin business is wrapped up. Shall we head back to Gilm? We need to report to the Guild, and there's a chance other packs are closing in on the city."
The adventurers, apparently jolted back to reality by Rei's voice, scrambled to prepare for departure and hurried toward their carriages.
"Rei-san, you're... right, you don't need a carriage."
One adventurer glanced over at Rei, who was stroking Set, and answered his own question after a moment.
After all, he had seen with his own eyes that Rei could ride Set.
"Yeah, go on ahead. Set and I will head back separately."
Just as he said that, Hester crossed his mind.
(He hated goblins so much — wouldn't have been strange for him to take this request. Though I suppose it's daytime, so he was probably on his own assignment.)
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing. Forget it. If anyone wants to hang from Set, I can give you a lift back. What do you say?"
"...Huh? Hang? You don't mean ride?"
The man's face had briefly lit up at the prospect of riding Set — until he realized the word Rei had used was "hang," not "ride."
"Yeah. Unfortunately, Set doesn't let anyone but me ride on his back. What he can do is grab your shoulders with his front legs and carry you that way."
"Ah... no, I'll stick with the carriage."
"Really? Well, I won't twist your arm about it."
If it meant properly riding on Set's back, that would have been one thing. But being dangled from the griffon's front legs during transport was apparently more than the adventurer was willing to endure, and he said so without hesitation.
The other adventurers who had overheard the exchange had been casting hopeful glances, wondering if they too might get to ride Set — but they also wanted no part of being suspended in midair by the front legs.
One by one, they climbed into the carriages.
Once everyone was aboard, they called out their thanks to Rei and departed.
Watching them go, Rei stroked Set with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"I still think being carried by your front legs is perfectly fine. Don't you agree?"
"Guruu?"
Set tilted his head as if to say, Do you really think so?
For Set, carrying people was something he could do, but if he didn't have to, he was perfectly content not to.
"Whatever. Vihera's probably back by now anyway. Let's head home."
"Guruu!"
The goblin packs that had been approaching Gilm weren't limited to the one Rei and the others had just fought.
That much was obvious, given that several Goblin Leaders had been slain — each having led its own pack.
Vihera, whose combat power far exceeded that of an ordinary adventurer — much like Rei's — had been dispatched to deal with a different goblin pack entirely.
She had originally intended to accompany Rei to the same target, but since she couldn't ride Set, she would have had to travel by carriage, and the Guild didn't have any to spare.
Moreover, with Rei already heading to one pack, its annihilation was virtually guaranteed. Sending additional forces there would only create redundant combat power.
This was, of course, an official Guild request, and Daskar as lord had dispatched the Knight Order as well.
With combat power more than sufficient, Vihera could have borrowed a horse and ridden alone to Rei's location — but she decided that was unnecessary and instead quietly headed off to a different goblin pack.
And as far as Rei was concerned, he couldn't imagine Vihera having the slightest trouble with a goblin pack — which was exactly why he figured she would have already returned to Gilm by now.
"Alright, let's go."
With that, Rei swung himself onto Set's back.
Set purred happily and, after a few bounding strides, launched himself skyward.
(Come to think of it, the goblin corpses from the battle with Hester were left behind. Should I be worried about that? ...Well, Pump was in danger, so there wasn't much choice. I can only hope the beasts or other monsters got to them.)
Besides, since it had been in the forest, even if they had risen as Undead, Gilm itself wouldn't be affected.
More than likely, a higher-ranking monster would destroy them first — or so Rei reasoned.
"They'll manage on their end. ...Oh, there it is."
Set, soaring through the sky, naturally arrived at Gilm far faster than any carriage.
After touching down a short distance from the main gate, guards came jogging out to meet him.
Under normal circumstances, the guards would simply wait at the gate. The fact that they had come out to meet him spoke volumes about their interest in Rei's exploits — or more specifically, in the goblin packs that had been closing in on Gilm.
"Rei's back — that means the goblin pack is dealt with, right? How'd it go?"
The guard's tone carried absolute certainty that Rei could never lose to goblins, pack or no pack.
Well, for someone who understood Rei's capabilities, that confidence was only natural.
If anything, fighting an undisciplined horde of weak enemies was Rei's specialty.
"Several Goblin Leaders each led their own packs, and they'd banded together. I brought the Goblin Leader corpses as proof, but I burned all the goblin corpses."
Strictly speaking, he had burned them to prevent Undeadification — but Rei didn't feel the need to go into that level of detail.
If he were reporting to the Guild, that would be one thing. For a gate guard, this was more than enough.
"Y-you burned them... I heard there were a fair number of them... You really live up to that alias of yours, Crimson."
The guard was momentarily stunned by the revelation, but understanding quickly replaced his surprise.
Given Rei's power, it was exactly what you'd expect.
"Still, a goblin pack, huh. If it were one big horde, that'd actually be easier to handle. But having a bunch of small packs pop up like this — that's a headache."
Rei nodded in agreement.
If there were a single large army out there somewhere, they could simply send Rei to annihilate it in one fell swoop.
But with several small groups each running wild as they pleased, they'd have to track down and destroy each pack individually.
They call it the folly of dividing one's forces — but as a tactic, it's a genuinely nasty move.
Mulling this over as he spoke with the guard, Rei completed his entry procedures into Gilm.