"Grrrrrrr"
Set emerged from the forest with a low rumble.
The people nearby—those still eating lunch and those who had already finished—turned expectant gazes toward it, but unfortunately, Set was not carrying any sort of prey in its beak.
Of course, if Set had been carrying something, it could have cleared its throat, but it wouldn't have been able to cry out like that.
In that sense, the fact that Set had returned empty-handed was exactly what Rei had expected.
"Ah... no meat today, huh?"
"Hey now, it's meat. But you've already finished lunch. Even if some showed up right now..."
"Look, have you never heard this saying? Meat goes in a separate stomach."
"...Can't say I have."
Overhearing that exchange between the adventurers as they watched Set, Rei suddenly thought of Byune.
Meat goes in a separate stomach.
Normally, that would elicit a "What are you talking about?" but in Byune's case, one could almost accept the claim at face value.
"Alright then, Rei. I'll be heading out soon," the bovine beastman called out, waving from the coachman's seat of his carriage.
Rei waved back, gesturing for him to take care of it.
He hoped they could manage to prepare books for the Lizardman children to use, but he couldn't exactly force the issue.
It would be nice if Daskar or the bovine beastman's superior could arrange the books, but how they would judge that matter was beyond Rei's knowledge.
"Well, lunch break's about over... Now it's just a question of what the afternoon will bring. What do you think, Rei?"
One of the adventurers asked, but Rei turned his gaze toward the Treant Forest before answering.
"I don't know what will happen yet. But I need to haul the felled logs from the Treant Forest, so if something comes up, I'll be counting on you guys."
"Us? Well, hearing that from you doesn't feel bad, at least."
Being relied on by an alias-holding adventurer was something that would make any ordinary adventurer extremely happy.
It would be no surprise if they even took pride in it.
...Of course, whether Rei was saying that with full awareness was another question entirely, and the answer was no.
Be that as it may, having finished his conversation with the adventurers, Rei was about to head toward a slightly distant spot in the Treant Forest to fell trees for building materials—at that very moment, Set, who had been carrying Lizardman children on its back, suddenly froze with a jolt.
As if it had sensed something.
It quickly swept its gaze across the surroundings, a sharp, vigilant look entering its eyes.
Set's usual round eyes made it easy to mistake for a pet.
But in that instant when it sensed something, it revealed its true nature as a monster on par with an S-Rank.
"Grrr... Grrrrrrrr!"
Its cry echoed through the surroundings.
That was, without a doubt, a warning call directed at everyone present, including Rei, to be on alert.
"Zozo, take the children to the Birth Tower!"
At Rei's sharp shout, Zozo consulted the Stone Tablet and sprang into action immediately.
The swiftness of his response was undoubtedly a result of having spent no small amount of time around Rei.
The other adventurers, the knight, and above all the most numerous group—the Lizardmen—saw Zozo's actions and immediately followed suit.
They bore grim expressions that made it seem like a lie that they had been enjoying a break just minutes ago, and they readied their weapons so they could counterattack at a moment's notice, no matter what came at them.
"What should I do? Should I let Gilm know something abnormal happened? Or should I confirm what the abnormality is first before heading to Gilm?"
The bovine beastman, too, had abandoned his earlier leisurely tone, bringing his nature as an adventurer to the forefront as he asked Rei.
It gave the impression of a dairy cow transforming into a fighting bull.
Had he still been under his wife's thumb in his usual state, it would have been better to send him back to Gilm right away.
But given his current bull-like demeanor, Rei thought it would be better to have him stay and observe the situation a bit longer so he could send solid information back to Gilm.
"The latter, please. However, if it looks like the carriage might sustain any damage, set off immediately. Judging from Set's behavior, it seems like something incredible is about to happen again. Everyone, stay on guard!"
"Rei, something is definitely going to happen, right!?"
One of the adventurers called out sharply.
What lay behind those words was only the will to confirm the truth.
In reality, there was still no omen of any kind—there was only Set's cry.
Watching several Lizardmen, following Zozo's orders, carry the crying children—frightened by Set's sudden roar—toward the Birth Tower, Rei nodded.
"That's right. Set was able to sense the omens both when the Birth Tower teleported here and when the Lizardmen and Green People teleported in."
At Rei's words, the adventurer nodded and broke into a run, shouting as he went.
"Understood! I'll inform the woodcutters and tell them to evacuate!"
"Please!"
Depending on how things unfolded, there might be some who would feel danger and flee the scene.
However, at present, since no detectable abnormality had yet been found, the woodcutters and their knight and adventurer escorts would not be able to sense any portent either.
Given that Set was this wary of its surroundings, it was certain that something would happen.
Rei was convinced of that.
If so, it was only natural to act to ensure that the people in the Treant Forest were not caught up in whatever was coming.
The adventurer who had heard Rei's words tried to mount a nearby horse, but upon seeing that it was frozen in place—paralyzed by Set's roar, which could almost be taken as a battle cry—he clicked his tongue and ran on his own two feet toward the woodcutters.
Seeing that, Rei happened to glance at the horses pulling the bovine beastman's carriage and noticed that they, too, had cowered and frozen in fear from Set's cry, just like the other horses.
Rei had told the bovine beastman to wait here for a moment, but given how things looked, even if he had ordered him to head to Gilm immediately, he probably would not have been able to comply.
Good thing he had him stay.
Thinking that, Rei turned his gaze toward Set, which had come right up beside him without him noticing.
There, as expected, Set was vigilantly watching its surroundings, confirming that something was definitely about to happen.
The question was, how large in scale would that something be?
Was it on the level of a few Lizardmen or Green People teleporting in, or would it be dozens? Or perhaps hundreds?
Or, like the Birth Tower, would a building from the Imperial Capital of the Gran Dragonia Empire teleport in? Or perhaps the Imperial Capital itself?
Or... something else entirely?
(Based on past experience, nothing truly surprising would happen unless something quite extraordinary occurred.)
Retrieving Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring, he readied himself to respond immediately, just like the others.
And then—boom. Space wavered.
No, it was far more than that.
"Guh!"
The wavering of space was understandable as a precursor to teleportation.
But because the spatial distortion was far more violent than anything before it, the shockwave generated by that wavering was released indiscriminately into the surrounding area.
What was fortunate was that the shockwave had not been intentionally generated by someone as an attack.
For those above a certain level of skill, the only effect was potentially losing one's balance while standing.
...Which meant that those below that level of skill would be knocked to the ground, but there was no one here whose abilities fell that short.
If one had to be named, it would be the Lizardman children and the women caring for them, but since they were currently inside the Birth Tower, there was no problem.
For a brief moment, Rei wondered if the eggs were safe, but given the current situation, he decided that staying vigilant against the spatial wavering took priority and shifted his thoughts.
The shockwaves generated by the wavering of space were not limited to the first strike—several more were fired in succession.
Still, unlike the first one, which had been something of a surprise, if one knew they were coming, weathering them was not difficult.
Enduring the irregular yet ceaseless shockwaves, Rei could clearly understand that what was teleporting in was not just a few Green People or Lizardmen.
Rei had seen Green People and Lizardmen teleport in before.
At that time, there had been no shockwaves like these anywhere.
(If that's the case, then while I didn't know because I was at Marina's house, perhaps this was what it was like when the Birth Tower teleported in—shockwaves radiating outward into the surroundings.)
Rei had been checking the situation around him when he noticed the shockwaves were gradually weakening... and then they suddenly vanished.
And before he knew it, it was there.
Yes, without Rei or anyone else noticing at all, it was simply there.
On the opposite side of the Birth Tower from the Treant Forest, a massive... yes, a truly massive lake stretched out before them.
"Hey... you've gotta... be kidding..."
Rei didn't know who had muttered that, but he strongly wanted to agree with the sentiment.
Green People or Lizardmen teleporting in—he could somewhat understand.
The Birth Tower teleporting in—he could somewhat comprehend.
But what had teleported in this time was a lake.
And not a small lake, but one of considerable size.
A lake so vast that it might even be wider than Gilm had been before the expansion construction began.
While the fact that a lake had teleported in was itself somewhat comprehensible, where had the land that originally existed where the lake now sat gone?
The scene spreading before them—including Rei—was a complex thing: something they could see and yet could not truly comprehend.
"Grrrr"
'!?'
Set's cry snapped back those whose eyes had been captivated by the lake.
At any rate, needing to know exactly how vast this lake was, Rei roused himself from his stunned state and approached Set.
"I'm going to ride Set and check from above how wide this lake is. You all stay ready to respond immediately if anything happens."
Saying only that, Rei climbed onto Set's back.
Set, without needing to be told, understood what Rei wanted and, with a few running steps, soared into the sky.
"This is..."
Seen from the sky, the lake was clearly far vaster than it had appeared from the ground.
When he had been in Japan, Rei had seen Lake Towada when he went with his family on an overnight trip to gather bamboo shoots—not the thick kind like Mosochiku, but rather the Nemagaritake variety—and he felt this lake might be even wider than that.
Of course, the Lake Towada he had seen then was from the ground; he had never seen it from the sky like this.
"Grrr"
At Rei's words, Set rumbled its throat.
Amazing. So vast. There was no doubt that was what Set was thinking.
Rei agreed with that assessment.
"There seem to be some pretty big fish, too..."
Even from this altitude, shadows of fish were visible in the lake.
Even if Rei's eyesight was sharper than that of a normal human, the fact that they could be made out from the altitude Set was currently flying at meant that the fish were undoubtedly quite large.
And where there were large fish, it was certain that the smaller fish and other creatures that served as their prey existed as well, which meant the lake was rich in natural life.
(For now, having a lake this large appear right next to Gilm isn't a bad thing, considering we can eat fish... right?)
He was aware that he was engaging in something of an escape from reality, but even so, Rei thought that way.
Still, even if it was escapism, it was also an undeniable fact.
As for the fish brought into Gilm, saltwater fish were almost exclusively processed into preserved foods like salt-cured or dried, given how far Gilm was from the sea.
Fresh fish brought in was essentially limited to river fish.
However, even river fish were not that plentiful, and being rare goods, they commanded high prices.
In that sense, having a lake appear nearby and increasing the availability of fish as an ingredient was not a bad thing for Gilm.
...Of course, it was equally certain that various troubles would arise beyond matters of food.
Since that was not something Rei could resolve himself, he decided to dump the entire matter on Daskar, the lord who governed this land.