"Hey, hey, hey, hey, what the hell is that!"
A guard processing arrivals at Gilm's Main Gate let out the exclamation, too startled to contain himself.
...Well, being able to voice it at all put him on the better end of things. The person who had been mid-passage through the entry procedure right beside him couldn't even manage that much, frozen in place, voiceless.
What they saw—what everyone standing before the Main Gate saw—was a flame suspended high in the sky.
Not just any flame. It was the kind of fire that seemed to herald death and destruction in its wake. The kind that, had it appeared right before your eyes, would have left you with no option but to quietly accept your end.
A massive orb of fire so immense that merely catching sight of it from afar was enough to instill that very thought.
And then, without warning, that colossal flame plummeted.
How devastating would the impact be? Would the shockwave reach them? The guard braced himself reflexively.
He wasn't alone. Many others did the same, steeling themselves for whatever was about to come.
But it never came. Despite their readiness, no shockwave arrived.
"An illusion?"
Someone's murmur reached the guard's ears, but no one echoed the sentiment. None of them had seen it up close, but the overwhelming, undeniable presence of something real lingered in that sight. Even the person who'd muttered "An illusion?" didn't truly believe it was one—it was simply all the words his throat could manage.
"So... hey. What do you think we should do?"
One guard turned to his comrade. He couldn't tell whether the giant flame in the sky fell under his jurisdiction or not, but having witnessed it, he figured reporting to their superior was the safe bet. The comrade nodded in agreement.
"We should let the higher-ups know. ...Though honestly, a flame that high up could probably have been seen from inside Gilm too."
With his colleague insisting they report it just in case, the guard who'd asked set off to do exactly that.
"What!?"
The moment Daskar heard his subordinate's report, he burst from his Office.
He headed outside—naturally.
But by the time he emerged into the open air, the flame that had hung in the sky was already gone.
"What happened? Where did this giant flame of yours go!?"
Daskar's demand, thrown out as he stepped into the garden, prompted the nearest Knight to snap back to himself with a shake of his head.
"I don't know, my lord. It appears to have fallen to the ground, but... there was no sound. No shockwave. Nothing at all."
Those words planted a seed of doubt in Daskar's mind. Had his subordinate merely seen an illusion?
As it happened, that was the very same question the guards at the Main Gate had grappled with—the same doubt shared by everyone who learned that a flame of such staggering proportions had fallen to earth without producing so much as a whisper of sound or tremor of impact.
But Daskar shook his head almost immediately. He had a lead on this one.
The flame had appeared in the direction of the Treant Forest... no. Given the bearing, it was where the Birth Tower stood—the very place he'd received a report about a massive lake having recently Teleported in.
And Daskar knew Rei was stationed there, serving as guard for the Birth Tower and, simultaneously, keeping watch over the lake.
Rei. A man who excelled at large-scale Flame Magic, capable of conjuring something on the order of a Flame Tornado. Daskar hadn't seen the phenomenon himself, but it wouldn't be the slightest bit strange for Rei to produce a flame so massive you'd be at a loss for words to describe it.
Well, under normal circumstances, no ordinary human could wield magic of that caliber, so in that sense it was extraordinary. Extraordinary, yes—but Daskar found himself accepting it with a simple, instinctive: Because it's Rei.
The fact that Rei was an exceptional mage to begin with was already fairly well-known. Of course, he personally fought wielding two long weapons—a scythe and a spear—simultaneously, an exceedingly unorthodox style that caught opponents off guard on first encounter. As a result, a fair number of people didn't immediately picture him as a mage.
Regardless, if Rei was the one who'd produced that flame, everything made sense.
(But why would he go so far as to create a flame that massive? Surely not because he was bored...)
Daskar had known Rei for quite some time, despite everything. That was precisely why he understood the extent of Rei's power—and why he refused to believe Rei would do something like this without cause.
(Which means there was an enemy he couldn't defeat without resorting to magic of that scale? An opponent Rei couldn't handle in a straight fight? Wait. Given the timing... could it have been whatever was in that lake?)
He'd had only partial information to begin with, and his reasoning was heavy on speculation. Still, arriving at the right answer was testament enough to Daskar's sharp instincts and keen intellect—proof of his competence as a lord.
"Someone ride out there and find out what happened! Rei is the one stationed there—there's nothing to fear!"
Because it's Rei.
The moment those words left Daskar's mouth, the tension in the nearby Knights didn't fully drain, but it eased considerably. Many of Daskar's subordinates had witnessed Rei's overwhelming power firsthand during the war with the Bestia Empire. Knowing Rei was involved was enough for them to accept the situation.
"Then I shall go. I have some degree of acquaintance with Rei."
It wasn't uncommon for Rei to visit the Lord's Manor, nor was it rare for him to work alongside Knights. As a result, a fair number of them had spoken with Rei at least a few times, and one immediately volunteered. ...And yet the fact that this Knight felt no fear toward Rei—or if he did, didn't let it show—was likely because he knew that even with all his power, Rei would never turn it against them without cause.
"Good. I'm counting on you. ...But whatever you see when you arrive, you report to me and no one else. Clear?"
"Eh? Ah, yes. That won't be a problem."
The Knight nodded, though Daskar's insistence struck him as odd. Having seen the giant flame himself, he had no intention of spreading word about whatever had transpired there regardless. So why emphasize it so strongly?
Knowledge of the Teleported lake was still confined to a very small circle. This Knight, naturally, knew nothing about it—and the possibility that a giant Slime had emerged from those waters never even crossed his mind. Given that this was the Frontier, he simply assumed a High-Rank Monster had appeared.
And since Rei had deployed magic on that scale, concluding that the battle was already over was the only natural judgment for the Knight to make. That was how deeply he trusted in Rei's ability.
"Alright. Go."
Bowing to Daskar's order, the Knight hurried off to ready a horse.
"How disappointing. Truly disappointing. I'm disappointed from the bottom of my heart."
Walking through streets that still hummed with commotion, Vihera looked every bit as devastated as her words suggested.
The giant flame Rei had produced was, of course, visible to Vihera as well—she'd been patrolling the town when it appeared. It had hung higher than the walls encircling Gilm, which meant it was probably visible from anywhere in the city.
And precisely because she'd seen it, Vihera understood it was Rei's doing. She understood that he had fought an enemy requiring that magnitude of fire to bring down. She understood—and deeply regretted it.
For someone like Vihera, who lived for battle, the realization that she'd missed a fight of that caliber was infuriating.
"Nn."
To Vihera, who had been muttering with visible frustration and irritation, Byune—walking nearby—gently reached out and murmured the quiet sound.
The others accompanying them had been startled by the flame, but they'd also taken one look at Vihera's mood and decided that approaching her was out of the question. Among them all, only Byune showed no hesitation. Rather than hesitate, she'd reached out to calm her.
The Adventurer Man who'd been paired with Vihera for patrol duty for the first time today instinctively moved to scold Byune—What do you think you're doing!?—but in the next instant, the other adventurers who understood the situation grabbed his arm and stopped him.
Vihera was aware of the exchange happening behind her, but she exhaled a deep, long breath at Byune's touch.
"You're right. I'm sorry. It was so sudden—I overreacted. As for what Rei fought... I'll have him tell me everything tonight. In thorough detail."
Gulp.
When those suggestive words slipped from Vihera's lips—she was clad in thin, revealing garments like those worn by Prostitutes or Dancers—it wasn't just the men who caught their breath. Even the Female Adventurer among them flushed red.
Whether the person responsible for creating that atmosphere didn't notice, or noticed and simply didn't care, she continued speaking without pause.
"Anyway, I'm curious, so I'd like to go see Rei... but it's still a little while until break, right?"
"Nn."
Byune nodded. In truth, there was still a fair amount of time before their break, but judging from Vihera's state, Byune decided that saying it was only a little while was the wiser course.
Once break came, they'd be free to move about as they pleased—and it took no imagination at all to guess where Vihera would go.
Catching Byune's drift, Vihera smiled and settled in to wait, eagerly anticipating the moment break would arrive.
"Ara, what do you think?"
"I believe it is exactly as Lady Elena is thinking."
Elena and Ara caught sight of the giant flame during a lull in her noble meetings, while they were enjoying tea in Marina's garden.
As always, the tea Ara brewed was superb. Elena had been savoring the aroma, thinking now then, a sip— when she spotted the colossal flame suspended in the sky.
The stroke of fortune in that moment was that Elena hadn't yet taken the tea into her mouth. Had she, a rainbow-hued spray of tea might have arced across Marina's garden.
Catastrophe averted, Elena asked Ara about the flame's source, and the reply was precisely what she'd already concluded.
But of course it was. In the first place, there weren't many beings capable of producing a flame of that magnitude. As far as Elena knew, there was only Rei.
...Well, if it were a ritual-style spell requiring the cooperative efforts of many people, she could think of a few candidates. But what lay in the direction the flame had appeared was the Birth Tower—and the only one there was Rei.
If so, the answer was already decided.
"However... something that would require Rei to produce a flame of that scale, hm. I see. Ara, what is our schedule for the remainder of the day?"
"There are a few more nobles requesting audiences, but none with pressing business. We can either decline or ask them to reschedule for tomorrow. ...Particularly given the matter with Lord Rei's flame."
Between Elena and Ara, the flame had already been settled as Rei's doing.
"Hm. Then let us go and assess the situation. A battle of that scale—there may still be enemies about."
"Understood. I will have the Carriage ready at once."
At Elena's word, Ara set off to make preparations—not merely to depart, but to prepare for what was, in essence, a sortie.
"Oh my? The Spirits are acting strangely restless..."
Marina, who had finished treating patients at the clinic and finally found a moment's respite, noticed that the Spirits around her were more unsettled than usual.
She'd been so absorbed in treatment that she hadn't had the capacity to pay them any mind, but with a little breathing room, the anomaly finally registered.
"I'm stepping outside for a bit. Call me if I'm needed."
Leaving those words with the staff working nearby, Marina stepped out of the clinic—and found a crowd gathered outside, most of them staring in one direction, buzzing with agitation.
"What's going on?"
"Eh? Ah—Marina-sama!? Um, well... a giant flame suddenly appeared in the sky, over that way."
"A giant flame...?"
The moment she heard those words, Marina's thoughts went, as naturally as breathing, to Rei.
The direction the man pointed was where the Treant Forest and the Birth Tower lay. Given that Rei excelled at Flame Magic, it required no great leap to picture him at the center of it.
(I should go as well. Fortunately, the patient load doesn't seem too heavy today.)
With that decided, Marina immediately set about preparing to depart.