"Hah? ...I don't have time for jokes. I don't care if it's you, Marina—pick the right time and place before you say things like that."
Daskar delivered those words with clear displeasure to Marina, who sat on the sofa in his office.
He was already swamped dealing with the massive amount of criminal evidence surfacing in what could only be called the upscale residential district surrounding the Noble District.
On top of that, there was the Underground Space incident and the matter of handling Javis, who had orchestrated it all.
A host of other problems had cropped up as well, and what made it worse was that they were all chained together, each one needlessly multiplying his workload.
Into the middle of all this came Marina, telling him she had a way to deal with the tentacles in the Underground Space—whether already present or soon to be summoned. It was only natural that Daskar wanted to tell her enough with the jokes.
But Marina simply kept her smile, took a sip of the tea the maid had poured, and then spoke.
"I'll have you know, this isn't a joke. I came here in earnest."
"...You mean you can handle it with Spirit Magic?"
Daskar had known Marina for a long time—they'd been acquainted since childhood, after all—so he knew full well that she was a Spirit Magic user of extraordinary caliber.
As a pure practitioner of Spirit Magic, he genuinely believed she ranked among the finest in the Kingdom of Mireana, and perhaps even top-class in the entire world.
...Not that he'd ever say so to her face. She would undoubtedly tease him about it.
And that was exactly why it was only natural for him to think that maybe, just maybe, Marina's Spirit Magic could find a way.
In terms of raw ability, Rei was also a candidate, but Daskar's honest assessment was that Rei's magic might end up destroying the entire Underground Space along with everything in it.
He had asked the question practically grasping at straws, but Marina shook her head. Not vertically—horizontally.
"Unfortunately, handling this matter with Spirit Magic would be difficult."
"Then how do you intend to resolve this? Don't tell me you're going to have Rei create a Flame Tornado and burn down that Underground Space... you're not going to say that, are you?"
"Close."
"Hey!"
Daskar had said that half in jest, and he clearly hadn't expected such a word to come out of Marina's mouth.
Looking thoroughly flustered, he pressed on.
"Set off a Flame Tornado in the middle of the city and it'll unquestionably cause collateral damage!? No—more than that, the devastation could reach the Noble District itself! Your own house is in the Noble District, so you should know that perfectly well!"
"Calm down. I never said we'd actually use a Flame Tornado. I said you were close, not correct."
At Marina's soothing tone, Daskar exhaled heavily to steady himself before speaking again.
"Fine, I'm calm. So? How exactly do you plan to resolve the Underground Space situation?"
"Actually, yesterday Rei's shishou visited my home."
"...What?"
The words that left Marina's mouth were entirely unexpected.
He had asked how she intended to deal with the Underground Space incident—so where did Rei's shishou come into it?
For one thing, it was winter, and the number of visitors to Gilm was by no means large.
Under those circumstances, if someone claiming to be Rei's shishou had arrived, a report should have reached Daskar immediately.
Yet he had received no such report—which was only to be expected.
Of course, there was a chance that yesterday's chaos had caused some breakdown in the chain, resulting in the report never reaching his desk. Even so, this was not something that could be overlooked.
"I'll ask just to be certain—this isn't a joke, is it?"
Daskar asked to confirm, and Marina nodded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's right. Though it seems he didn't come through the official channels. ...When you think about it, that's only natural. This person is Rei's shishou. In other words, it wouldn't be strange at all if they were someone who possessed even greater ability than Rei."
"Well... I suppose..."
When framed as Rei's shishou, it was easy enough to accept.
And Daskar surely wasn't the only one who would feel that way.
Given how absurd Rei himself was, it would have been stranger if most people didn't find it convincing.
"And since we happened to be discussing the tentacles in the Underground Space at just the right time, I asked if he might be willing to lend a hand."
"...For the record, I'd rather you not go around telling people about that matter."
Daskar said it half in exasperation, but there was no real reproach toward Marina in his voice.
The hope that if it was Rei's shishou, they might actually be able to pull this off far outweighed any annoyance.
Naturally, this was a cover story concocted by Rei and the others, who couldn't afford to reveal that they were relying on Grimm.
"It's fine, isn't it? Thanks to that, it looks like this matter will be resolved. ...However, since I was asking for something quite difficult, I was naturally hit with some harsh conditions."
"Harsh conditions? This person is Rei's shishou, right? Wouldn't they—"
Not impose such things. That was what Daskar had been about to say, but Marina shook her head.
"No. If anything, it's precisely because he's his shishou. As part of Rei's training, he won't permit anyone other than Rei and us—the Crimson Lotus Wings, plus Elena and Ara for combat power—to participate in the battle. Also, while he'll hand over materials that serve as proof of subjugating the tentacles, all other materials go to Rei's shishou."
"Isn't that a little too greedy?"
"But it's also a fact that we have no other option besides relying on him. ...The plan was to use sacrifices to buy time, but will things really work out during that window?"
When she put it that way, Daskar couldn't say either way.
He had, for the time being, ordered the mages, alchemists, and scholars to come up with a solution, but simply giving the order didn't mean an answer would materialize overnight.
If that was the case, then they truly had no choice but to rely on Rei's shishou for this incident.
"...Understood. Then we'll rely on Rei's shishou. Set up a meeting."
This was a matter that could escalate into a full-blown crisis for Gilm. Entrusting the Underground Space incident to someone required him to look the person in the eye and judge what kind of individual they were—it was only natural.
But Marina shook her head at Daskar's request.
Since the one they were relying on was Grimm, she couldn't possibly let Daskar meet him.
"Unfortunately, it seems Rei's shishou is bound by magical constraints that prevent him from meeting most people."
"Then how did you get to meet him?"
"Us... more precisely, the three of us—myself, Elena, and Vihera—possess a certain level of strength, so apparently we're exempt from that constraint. He also mentioned having some sort of connection with Rei."
The explanation was one Daskar could sort of accept, yet not entirely.
"And you're telling me to believe that?"
"Believe it or not, the honest truth is you have no choice but to believe it. Besides, like I said earlier—does Daskar have any other options right now?"
"..."
At Marina's words, Daskar had no choice but to fall silent.
At this point, if asked whether any alternative means existed, he would have to answer no.
Given that their only recourse was to use sacrifices to buy time, the options available to him were binary: believe Marina, who was clearly hiding something—or go through with the sacrifices.
"...What happens if you fail? I've read the reports on those tentacles, and I've heard firsthand accounts from people who saw them directly. Given all that, you can't possibly think they'll be easy to defeat?"
"Perhaps not. But Rei's shishou can forcibly teleport his opponent, so there's no doubt we'll be able to use magic and attack methods that were impossible in the Underground Space. Plus, since we won't be in the Underground Space, Set can participate in the battle. Same for Elena and me. ...Do you still think we'd lack combat power?"
Daskar wanted to nod.
In fact, if anyone else had said that, he probably would have.
But looking at the fighting force Marina had just listed, it was a gathering of truly formidable individuals.
Whatever happens, they'll be fine.
He couldn't help but think that, likely because he knew the abilities of Rei and his group so well.
"...........................Understood."
After a full few minutes of silence, Daskar finally spoke—heavily, and with a trace of bitterness.
"I'll leave this matter in your hands. And I accept that Rei's shishou can't meet anyone besides your group. But just in case—truly just in case—I'll station Gilm's forces around the perimeter of the battlefield. If things spiral beyond your control, they'll be deployed immediately. That's my condition."
He'd been told that Rei and his group alone would fight the tentacles as part of Rei's training, but as the lord of Gilm, Daskar still needed to take precautions for worst-case scenarios.
Marina understood Daskar's position as well, and she nodded without any particular resistance.
"That's fine. However, make sure they stand by with the full understanding that I, Rei, Set, and Elena will be in combat. If they get caught in the fallout from our attacks and complain about it, there'll be nothing we can do."
Herself, Rei, Set, Elena—the names Marina listed were all people who possessed large-scale attack methods.
Marina had Spirit Magic, Rei had Flame Magic, Set had his Breath, and Elena had Dragon Language Magic.
Vihera's name didn't come up, but that was likely because Vihera's combat style was built for fighting individuals rather than crowds.
Don't station forces next to where people like that are fighting and then complain about getting caught in the crossfire.
At Marina's words, this time it was Daskar who nodded.
"I know. I'm not about to do something as reckless as putting forces within striking distance of where monsters like that are fighting."
Daskar also felt that if forces of that caliber were fighting, they could handle themselves against the tentacles one way or another.
Even so, preparing for emergencies was the duty of a lord.
"So—when exactly will the battle against the tentacles take place? We have our own preparations to handle, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't say right this minute."
"Let's see. Rei's shishou said he'd accommodate us to a certain extent, so taking that into consideration... how about tomorrow?"
For just a moment, a bitter expression flickered across Marina's face as she said it.
Fighting the tentacles tomorrow meant that, as with yesterday, they would need to feed sacrifices to the tentacles once more.
Even if they were criminals, offering living people as sacrifices was not something Marina took lightly.
Daskar could more or less read what she was thinking from her expression, but he didn't voice it.
That matter had already been decided. Getting into an argument with Marina over it here would serve no purpose whatsoever—he understood that well enough.
"Tomorrow, then. Understood. What time specifically?"
"Let's see. Ideally while it's still light out. Fighting in the dark is naturally disadvantageous. Well, quite a few people have Night Vision, so it could be managed either way—but even so, daytime is still preferable."
"I see. ...In that case, the Gigant Turtle dissection Rei is overseeing—should we call that off tomorrow as well? It's being held outside Gilm, so if it somehow got caught in the battle's fallout, that would be disastrous."
"I'll tell Rei. But could you talk to the Guild on your end? Rather than Rei being the one to call it off, having it come from above would be more appropriate in this kind of situation."
Exactly where the tentacle subjugation would take place hadn't been decided yet.
Still, as a bare minimum, it was certain to be in a location far enough away that Rei and the others' battle wouldn't cause collateral damage to the surroundings.
That being the case, there was virtually no chance the Gigant Turtle dissection—conducted right outside Gilm—would suffer any impact... but even so, "virtually" wasn't the same as "certainly."
If, by some minuscule chance, damage did occur, the large crowd of workers at the dissection site could be caught in it. Halting the dissection was the only safe choice.
Daskar seemed to understand that as well, nodding immediately.
"Understood. I'll handle that on my end."
And so, the discussion between Marina and Daskar toward the tentacle subjugation moved forward.