"......Huh?"
At first, Daskar had no idea what his subordinate was talking about.
He even wondered if the man had been overworked to the point of exhaustion.
Reflecting that he himself had been quite busy lately, he thought how nice it would be to relax somewhere—but steeled himself to face reality and brought the cold Fruit Water to his lips.
"Sorry, could you say that again? I think I missed it."
Seeing Daskar's demeanor, the man realized his words weren't being taken seriously and felt slightly stung, but quickly accepted that it was only natural.
After all, even he didn't truly believe it himself.
It was only because the ones bringing the report—an Adventurer entrusted with transporting supplies to the Birth Tower, and a Knight serving Daskar—had both come forward with the same account that he had finally accepted it.
Even so, suspecting a mass hallucination was only natural.
However, both men insisted otherwise, claiming that what they had seen was real—that a massive lake had teleported right next to the Birth Tower.
When they insisted that strongly, the man had felt compelled to report it to Daskar, though he still harbored doubts—about eighty percent, to be precise.
Besides, if they were hallucinating or, incredibly enough, lying for some reason, sending someone to the Birth Tower would settle the matter.
That was precisely why he had come to deliver this report.
......The result being that Daskar was now inwardly worrying about whether the man was overworked.
"Yes. I imagine Lord Daskar finds it hard to believe as well, and honestly, I couldn't readily believe it myself when I first heard it. But according to those who brought the report, there is no mistake—a massive lake has teleported right next to the Birth Tower, in an area outside the Treant Forest."
"......Teleportation. Teleportation, huh. The Birth Tower teleporting here alone was surprising enough...... why do these incidents keep coming one after another? Well, I suppose if someone pointed out that teleportation incidents just keep happening, they wouldn't be wrong."
Haa, he sighed.
Daskar drank the Fruit Water again.
The refreshing acidity and faint sweetness moistened his mouth.
Honestly, Daskar was exhausted from the recent string of incidents.
He was already busy as it was, and the teleportation events had been occurring in rapid succession.
"That's true, isn't it...... At any rate, how about dispatching someone? That way we can determine whether a lake has actually teleported here."
"Right. And if it's true, I should probably go see it for myself."
"Huh?"
Perhaps because Daskar's words were so unexpected, his subordinate let out a sound that even he thought was rather vacuous.
For Daskar, who was currently swamped with work, leaving Gilm just to see a lake would be problematic in many ways.
Even if it were only for a few hours, work would undoubtedly pile up considerably.
The subordinate understood this, which was exactly why he let out that startled, empty sound.
"Does that seem strange? I've heard the Birth Tower teleported here, but I haven't seen it myself yet. And now a lake has teleported here as well. As the lord of Gilm, wouldn't you agree I need to see these things for myself?"
"If you're asking whether I think you should or shouldn't, I do think it would be better to see them...... but even so, considering Lord Daskar's current situation, wouldn't it be difficult?"
"Thinking it's difficult is what makes it difficult. If you set your mind to it, it can be done. Rei said it once on some occasion, didn't he? 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' The question is whether you actually have the will to do it."
It was slightly different from what Rei had originally intended, but the gist of what Daskar was saying wasn't fundamentally wrong.
Hearing this, the subordinate judged that he couldn't stop him any further—and at the same time, he could understand that it would serve as a good change of pace for Daskar.
"Understood. It won't be immediately, but I'll arrange for you to visit the lake and the Birth Tower as soon as possible. That said, I can't manage it alone, so we'll need to get others to help."
He was a subordinate of Daskar, but not one with particularly high standing among them.
There were subordinates of higher rank than himself, so if Daskar were to leave Gilm, he would need to coordinate with them.
"I see."
Seeing Daskar float a pleased smile, the subordinate felt a slight twinge of regret, sensing that things would be quite hectic for a short while.
That said, Daskar had been busy lately.
It was also true that a change of pace should be taken while the opportunity existed.
"Setting aside the matter of Lord Daskar's inspection, we first need to confirm whether a lake has actually teleported here. Also, while it's said to be a lake of considerable size, we need to investigate exactly how large it is."
"Right. First we need to send someone. But...... in the current situation, is there anyone with time to spare?"
Even when asked, the subordinate couldn't answer immediately.
Naturally. Daskar, the lord of Gilm, was this busy.
His subordinates were naturally just as busy.
In some cases, they were even busier than Daskar himself.
The Knights had at least some—truly, just a little—leeway, but what was needed this time was the dispatch of a Civil Official.
That made finding someone with spare capacity difficult. Difficult, but...... right now, the subordinate who knew the circumstances was standing right before Daskar.
Faced with Daskar's steady gaze, the man maintained his silence.
He had come to deliver this report, but it wasn't as if he had nothing else to do.
In fact, when he returned to his room, there was still plenty of work waiting for him.
He did have the desire to step outside and clear his head, but if he took such an action here, it would without a doubt mean overtime.
To avoid that, he couldn't accept this assignment—and yet......
"......Understood. I'll go."
Considering that if someone else went, they would have to be briefed on the circumstances from scratch, he judged it better to simply go himself and accepted the task.
Overtime was now a certainty, but overtime had its perks as well.
First and foremost, his pay would increase.
Also, while Alcohol wasn't served, being able to eat meals of a higher quality than what an ordinary town eatery offered was a significant perk.
Among Daskar's subordinates, there were even some who took on extra work and piled up overtime specifically for those meals.
That was how skilled the Cook Daskar employed was.
Of course, Daskar wasn't normally that extravagant.
It was precisely because everyone was busy right now that good food served as a means to boost work efficiency.
With his overtime now decided, the man figured that if he could at least eat well, then so be it. He bowed to Daskar and left the Office to confirm the lake.
Daskar watched him go, then brought the Fruit Water to his lips once more.
(A lake...... a lake, huh. If it's a lake, would Fish and the like exist there? It would depend on how large it is, but if things go well, it could bring a new development to Gilm's food situation.)
The current food situation in Gilm was by no means poor.
Even with the population growing due to the Expansion Construction, there was no food shortage, and many were satisfied with the quality.
However, the scarcity of seafood was also a fact.
Those raised in Gilm didn't have particularly strong attachments to Fish, but Gilm was a place where adventurers gathered from all over.
What's more, with the Expansion Construction currently underway, even more people had flocked from various places seeking work than before.
Among such people, many came from areas near seas, rivers, lakes, or marshes, and for them, Fish was a staple ingredient that appeared in their daily meals as a matter of course.
But in Gilm, Fish was more expensive than meat due to its inland location, and what came in was mostly preserved food like salted Fish.
For those accustomed to eating fresh Fish daily, the food situation was far from good.
In that sense, a lake had the potential to positively impact Gilm's food situation.
......Thinking about it in terms of benefits for Gilm was, in truth, the only way to keep going.
"Well, let me get back to the paperwork for now."
Escaping reality wouldn't reduce the number of documents.
If anything, the paperwork would increase by however long he spent avoiding it.
Knowing that, Daskar resumed his work to reduce the pile even slightly.
"This is...... something else......"
The male Civil Official who had come to the lake by Carriage was dumbfounded by the sight spreading before him.
To be precise, the lake had been visible while traveling by Carriage, but standing directly at the water's edge made the impact all the greater.
"Did something like this really teleport here?"
"Of course it did. Otherwise, why would a lake exist here?"
The one who called out to the Civil Official was Rei.
Beside Rei stood Set, carrying Lizardman Children on his back.
"Rei."
"You're one of Lord Daskar's subordinates, right? Your name was...... Amonai, wasn't it?"
"Yes, that's correct."
As one of Daskar's subordinates, Amonai had interacted with Rei several times before.
He didn't find it particularly strange that Rei remembered his name, and gave a light nod in lieu of a greeting.
"So, what do you think?"
"What do I think? I can do nothing but be amazed, really...... When I first heard about this, I assumed it was some kind of hallucination. Or rather, it's more accurate to say I wanted it to be."
"I figured. You can't believe something that easily without seeing it with your own eyes."
"Gururu."
As if agreeing with Rei's words, Set let out a cry.
......The Lizardman Children who had climbed down from Set's back had moved to the water's edge and were playing there.
The lake that had suddenly appeared in the grassland came fully equipped, complete with a sandy beach along its shoreline.
It wasn't the sea, but playing at the water's edge was certainly possible.
The problem was that almost nothing had been investigated about the lake yet, so what kind of creatures or monsters inhabited it remained unknown.
From what Rei could see from atop Set in the sky, he had confirmed the presence of what appeared to be unfamiliar animal-like creatures.
For one thing, the lake itself was extremely vast.
Rei and Set had only viewed it from above briefly, so investigating everything was impossible.
The depth of the lake hadn't been determined yet, either.
Given that, playing near the lake carelessly wasn't without danger...... but at the same time, Rei also thought that if dangerous creatures existed, they would likely be in deeper waters rather than such shallow areas.
What's more, this lake was quite large.
Large enough that thousands of ordinary school pools could fit inside it.
Given that scale, Rei's prediction was that dangerous creatures probably didn't inhabit areas near the shore.
......Of course, that was based purely on Rei's common sense, and how things actually were could only be determined through investigation.
(Besides, it's doubtful whether this lake even came from Zozo's world.)
When Rei asked Zozo and Gaga, they said that no such lake existed within the Gran Dragonia Empire.
Given that the Gran Dragonia Empire itself was a large nation, roughly the same scale as the Kingdom of Mireana, it wouldn't be strange for there to be a lake somewhere that neither Zozo nor Gaga knew about.
At the very least, both Zozo and Gaga had declared they had no knowledge of it.
For a lake this large, it would be odd if at least one of them didn't know about it.
"Judging by how things look, at least the shallow areas seem safe for now...... though of course, we can't judge everything just from what we're seeing here."
"Right. Besides, even small creatures can carry potent venom. I'd prefer it if none of those were here, though."
Jellyfish, lizards, spiders, shellfish.
Among them were creatures that were small yet possessed vicious venom.
Of course, since this was a lake, there was probably no need to worry about jellyfish.
......But considering that this wasn't Earth but a different world, and further that this lake had teleported from yet another world even from that world's perspective, it wouldn't be strange for jellyfish-like creatures to inhabit it.
"At any rate, this lake should be formally investigated as soon as possible. If things go well, it could bring significant benefits to Gilm."
At the Civil Official's words, Rei nodded while watching the Lizardman Children playing at the water's edge.