The water spirits Marina controlled were wrapped around more than a dozen injured people.
Those with arm injuries had water clinging to their arms.
Those with leg injuries had water around their legs.
Those with torso injuries had water around their torsos.
Seeing water wrapped around various body parts like that would have startled anyone who knew nothing about healing magic.
Despite channeling that much Spirit Magic all at once, Marina showed no particular strain as she chatted with Rei.
Not the slightest sign of effort, either.
"Ah... yeah. I came because I had something to talk to you about, but from the looks of it, you've got plenty of room to spare."
"That's right. At this level, I can manage. Though that's also partly due to the nature of Spirit Magic itself."
"...Is that how it works?"
They were both mages, but Rei's Flame Magic and Marina's Spirit Magic were vastly different beasts.
That was why Rei simply nodded in understanding at her words.
"That's how it works. ...So, what do you need? You came all the way here, so you must have a reason."
"Yeah. The thing is, something happened at the Treant Forest—"
"Okay. Hold on a moment."
With that, Marina called on the wind spirits to keep their conversation from being overheard, then spoke again.
"So? What happened?"
"Actually, more Lizardmen teleported into the Treant Forest..."
Marina's brow furrowed slightly at Rei's words.
Lizardmen teleporting to the Treant Forest had happened many times already.
Every single day, in fact.
Even something abnormal became routine if it went on long enough.
Not much time had passed since Lizardmen and Green People first started appearing in the Treant Forest, but with teleportations occurring almost daily, it was already the equivalent of everyday life for Rei.
So why had he gone out of his way to come here—to see Marina directly while she was in the middle of work?
That was what Marina couldn't figure out.
"And?"
"Well... the thing is, among the Lizardmen who came through, there was Zozo's brother."
"Did it turn into another fight?"
Hearing "Zozo's brother," Marina recalled the Lizardman named Zaza that Rei had told her about over dinner.
The one who had refused to listen to a single word they said, attacked Zozo one-sidedly, and ended up getting thoroughly beaten in return.
Rei had mentioned he was now confined to the underground cell at the Lord's Manor.
Given that he was technically a member of the Imperial Family, the cell had reportedly been furnished with proper furniture and other amenities to make it as comfortable as possible.
"A fight definitely broke out, but unlike with Zaza, this time it was a proper mock battle between the two of them."
"...Rei, honestly. What do you think about challenging someone you've just met to a mock battle?"
"I didn't challenge him. Anyway, this brother of Zozo's—Gaga—is apparently the Third Prince of the Gran Dragonia Empire. I had the mock battle to get him to promise not to lay a hand on the Green People as long as he's in Gilm."
Since both of them had used live blades rather than wooden swords, it had been a mock battle with a very high degree of seriousness—but Rei kept that to himself.
He could only imagine what Marina would say if she found out.
Marina was wearing her usual Party Dress, and precisely because of that, her presence when angry was truly formidable.
Having no desire to be on the receiving end of that, Rei decided it was fine—he wasn't exactly lying, after all.
"Hmm. ...And?"
She clearly hadn't bought his words completely, but she made a show of accepting them for now while gesturing for him to continue.
Marina's gaze said it all: That's not everything, is it? Rei nodded.
"Right. So this Gaga—since we can't communicate verbally and we hit it off, he asked to stay at the same place as Zozo. Meaning... at your house, Marina."
"...Excuse me?"
Whatever Marina had expected to come out of Rei's mouth, that clearly wasn't it.
The atmosphere shifted in an instant, and she shot him a look that asked if he'd lost his mind.
But seeing from Rei's demeanor that this was no joke, she spoke with evident bewilderment.
"Just to be clear, this person is definitely royalty, right? The Third Prince you mentioned?"
"That's right. Zozo's brother. For reference, he's about twice my height."
Rei briefly hesitated over whether it was appropriate to call a Lizardman a "person," but since he was more accustomed to phrasing it that way, he let it pass without comment.
"...Twice your height? Is that actually a Lizardman?"
"He's a Lizardman, all right. And in our mock battle, he fought me at a fairly serious level. According to Zozo, he's one of the top five warriors in the entire Gran Dragonia Empire."
"That's... quite something."
Marina didn't finish the sentence, but Rei understood what she meant.
Full of character. Or perhaps, too colorful a personality. Too many attributes packed in.
Marina probably wouldn't grasp the latter two expressions, but if she did, she'd likely agree.
"So anyway, it looks like Gaga will be staying at your place, Marina. Are you okay with that?"
"Okay? How could I possibly be okay? Someone twice your height probably can't even fit through the front door, let alone use a bed or any kind of proper sleeping arrangement."
"Yeah. That's why he said your courtyard would be fine."
"...The Third Prince?"
"The Third Prince."
Marina stared at him, dumbfounded.
Even if it was a nation from another world, a prince was still a prince.
And not just any prince—the prince of a country with power roughly equal to the Kingdom of Mireana. Letting royalty like that sleep outside in a courtyard seemed unthinkable.
But Rei shook it off without hesitation.
"Gaga himself said the courtyard is fine, so that should settle it."
"Even so, isn't that a bit much?"
"According to Zozo, Gaga has always identified more as a warrior than a prince. So that kind of thing doesn't bother him."
"...Well, I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense. If he's strong enough to fight you, I can accept that explanation."
If anything, Marina would have been more surprised to learn that someone who treated combat training as a casual side hobby could fight on even footing with Rei.
"So that's the situation. Gaga will be staying in your courtyard."
"Vihera will be thrilled."
For Vihera, who lived for the thrill of fighting powerful opponents, the arrival of someone who could hold his own against Rei would be nothing short of wonderful.
There were already strong fighters like Rei and Elena around, and she could battle them as much as she pleased.
But no matter how attractive those opponents were, even Vihera would eventually tire of fighting the same people day in and day out.
Even the most exquisite gourmet dish would lose its appeal if you ate it every single day.
In that sense, Zozo was undoubtedly a tempting opponent for Vihera as well.
Still, the more strong opponents, the better.
"Probably. Gaga seemed like the type who enjoys combat too, so I doubt he'd turn down mock battles with Vihera. Though I am a little worried he might get too carried away."
"True. I'm sure Vihera will be careful, but if she accidentally killed the Third Prince..."
Marina let the sentence trail off. Rei figured that as long as the Gran Dragonia Empire existed in another world, there wouldn't be any real diplomatic fallout even if something did happen to Gaga.
Of course, since Rei actually got along with Gaga, he'd prefer nothing of the sort came to pass.
"Even so, if he's sleeping outside, we should at least prepare something for him to cover himself with. And... what about food?"
"He's Zozo's brother, so I imagine he'll eat the same meals as the rest of us. Though with that build, he'll probably put away quite a lot."
Rei himself was a considerable eater, despite his appearance.
Byune also packed away a surprising amount for her small frame, and Set ate even more than Rei and the others combined—normally having to hold himself back considerably.
By that measure, Rei's group spent a significant sum on food.
Of course, with everyone except Byune being skilled adventurers, money troubles were essentially nonexistent.
But even so, if asked whether they could comfortably absorb Gaga's food expenses on top of everything else, the answer was a firm no.
"For the time being, I'll need to collect food expenses from Daskar."
Marina said it as a statement of fact, not a proposal.
It was a decision already made, and Rei could easily predict that Daskar would unquestionably find himself footing the bill.
"Ah... right. Uh, good luck with that."
Rei felt like cheering for Lord Daskar—do your best, really give it your all—but at the same time, if Marina's seizure of food funds meant his own meals would improve as well, he had absolutely no complaints.
No, rather, he'd welcome it with open arms.
So he had no intention of trying to stop her.
"Good. Anyway, that settles that. ...Oh, it looks like things are wrapping up over there too."
As the conversation with Rei reached its natural conclusion, Marina glanced toward her patients.
Following her gaze, Rei spotted one of the people who'd been receiving treatment from Water Spirit Magic—a male fox demi-human—happily examining his own arm with a wide smile.
Come to think of it, it's been a while now, but I really have gotten used to male Beastmen, haven't I.
The manga, anime, novels, and games he'd enjoyed back in Japan.
The Beastmen that appeared in those were almost always female.
It wasn't that male Beastmen never showed up, but still... seeing male fox, cat, and sometimes even rabbit Beastmen in this world had been something Rei found genuinely unfamiliar at first.
Though by now, he'd long since grown accustomed to it.
"Anyway, that covers everything I needed. There's another patient waiting, so if there's nothing else, we're done here."
"Yeah. ...Still, it's unusually crowded today. I've been here a few times before and passed by the front as well, but it never seemed this packed."
"Oh, that? Apparently, the stacked building materials collapsed. The people underneath and nearby were caught in it."
"...Wait, isn't that a pretty serious problem?"
That was the last thing Rei had expected to hear.
If it had been adventurers caught in something like that, plenty of them would have reacted instantly.
But the workers at the construction site were mostly amateurs—people who had come to Gilm looking for work.
If they'd been professionals like the carpenters brought in for the Expansion Construction, they might have been able to react quickly enough to avoid injury.
Instead, precisely because they were amateurs who couldn't respond in time, the casualty count had climbed.
Even so, there were no fatalities or truly critical injuries. Those with severe—genuinely severe—wounds had been treated as priority, and the people lined up here now were those whose injuries were not minor but couldn't be called life-threatening either.
After hearing the explanation from Marina, Rei nodded.
"Glad to hear there were no deaths or critical injuries. Well then, sticking around any longer would just be in the way, so I'll head back."
"You being here isn't in the way at all."
Marina replied with a slight smile.
In truth, she'd been conducting treatment with Water Spirit Magic the entire time she was talking to Rei, so she wasn't wrong.
From the patients' perspective, however, seeing Marina chat with Rei while treating them was bound to make some uneasy.
After all, the person healing them was focused on a conversation with someone else rather than on them.
Even so, no one voiced a complaint—surely because they understood just how extraordinary Marina's skill with Spirit Magic truly was.
For those who had been in Gilm for a while, that went without saying.
Even newcomers who had arrived for the Expansion Construction, upon watching Marina wield Spirit Magic, could easily grasp just how remarkable it was—knowledge of magic or not.
"I wouldn't mind sticking around a bit longer, but I've got a lot on my plate. I especially need to check the Treant Forest for any Green People who might have come through."
"Couldn't someone else handle that? There are plenty of skilled adventurers at the Treant Forest right now."
"Maybe, but given how vast the Treant Forest is, it'd be better to have Set."
"Fair enough. Do your best, then. Once things quiet down here, I'll head to the Lord's Manor and collect those food expenses from Daskar."
Collect? More like confiscate.
Thinking exactly that, but wisely deciding to keep it to himself, Rei left the clinic.