A massive flame descended from the sky, incinerating only the area where an even larger slime sat.
Unlike the first spell he had cast, there was no red dome. Even so, the enormous fire that rained down like a meteor produced no noticeable heat as long as one stood even slightly away from the slime's position.
"Rei, ●●●..."
Perhaps unable to believe that a flame of such magnitude produced absolutely no heat, Gaga turned to Rei with a dumbfounded expression and asked the question.
Gaga himself could use Fire Breath, so he was no stranger to fire. That being the case, it was only natural that he looked unconvinced, wondering how such a flame could possibly exist.
Even so, the only words Rei could offer in response were...
"It's magic."
Wait, that's strange. According to what I heard from Zozo, there are mages among the Lizardmen too. Thinking about it that way, wouldn't it be odd if he didn't understand that? There's no way Gaga doesn't know about magic, right?
So Rei thought — but if Gaga had known what was actually going through his head, it wouldn't have been surprising if he'd wanted to shout, "Are you kidding me!"
Mages did exist among the Lizardmen, but as far as Gaga knew, not a single one could use magic like this alone, let alone so effortlessly.
That didn't mean Lizardmen were inferior as mages. It was simply that Rei's magic was extraordinary.
"Grrrl?"
Set, who had been listening to the exchange between Rei and Gaga, purred as if asking what was wrong.
Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing and turned his gaze toward the still-burning slime.
This slime is definitely not an ordinary one. Which means it undoubtedly has a magic stone, but... wait. Do otherworldly monsters even have magic stones to begin with? Zozo and Gaga are Lizardmen, after all... I should ask about that later.
Gazing at the still-burning giant slime, Rei pondered.
"●●, ●●●●?"
Gaga asked Rei something, but he couldn't grasp the meaning.
During the battle with the slime, he had been able to understand what Gaga was trying to say, but...
Was it because we were in the middle of a fight that I could read his intent, or something like that?
As Rei tilted his head, genuinely puzzled, he spotted Zozo, the knight, and several adventurers walking toward him from a distance.
They had kept their distance during the fight with the slime because it was dangerous, but they must have decided the outcome was already settled after witnessing the outrageous flame Rei had unleashed.
In truth, while Rei hadn't completely let his guard down, he believed it was only a matter of time before the slime died.
In that sense, having Zozo arrive to interpret his conversation with Gaga was undeniably a relief.
"Rei, what the hell was that... that... that flame!"
Perhaps still not having fully shaken off the shock, one of the adventurers asked him.
Due to the Fire Whirlwind incident, the adventurers already understood that Rei excelled at Flame Magic. But even knowing that, the magic he had used this time was so far beyond "outrageous" that the word itself felt woefully inadequate.
A flame so massive one had to crane their neck to look up at it — a size none of them had ever seen before — born in midair and plunging down like a meteor. It was a sight that even these adventurers, who had taken on countless requests and traveled to countless places, who had been judged by Daskar and Gilm's upper leadership as capable and trustworthy enough to keep secrets, were witnessing for the very first time.
"I tried a little."
"A little...?"
Rei appeared genuinely only slightly boastful, exactly as his words suggested, leaving the adventurer man at a loss for how to respond. He shifted his gaze toward the still-burning slime.
Rei said "a little," but even someone not well-versed in magic could tell that the spell he had just cast couldn't be dismissed with a word like that.
And yet, Rei himself showed nothing but the demeanor of someone who had put in only a modest effort, so it was only natural that the adventurer was left dumbfounded, at a complete loss for words.
Perhaps taking pity on the man, the knight cut into the conversation.
"We're grateful you defeated that giant slime for us. But how long is that fire going to keep burning?"
"Hard to say. At least until the slime burns away, I'd imagine."
"...To have used such tremendous magic without a hint of arrogance."
"Ah... yeah. Well, I suppose so."
Looking somewhat uncomfortable, Rei scratched his head through his hood.
In truth, the magic Rei had used wasn't all that special in its composition. The structure of the spell itself was remarkably simple.
The only differences from his usual magic were that the area of effect was limited, and that even when Rei poured in excessive magic power, the spell's structure held firm without collapsing.
Beyond that, it was a truly straightforward spell — one that existed purely on the back of Rei's own magic power, a spell that seemed to proclaim that raw power was everything.
Granted, it was precisely because it was so simple that it was also so powerful.
Well, at the very least, there's no question that an ordinary mage can't cast it.
He forced himself to accept that reasoning.
For an ordinary mage to attempt the same spell, it wouldn't be a matter of technique — they would simply lack the magic power to cast it. Even if they somehow forced it to activate, since the flame's intensity depended entirely on Rei's extraordinary magic power, the resulting fire would be nothing impressive.
"Still, about this lake... I thought it would be perfect for getting fresh fish in Gilm, but with a slime like that around, we can't exactly fish carelessly. There's a chance that similar slimes are lurking at the bottom."
Rei said this to steer the conversation away from magic, but upon hearing it, the others wore expressions of genuine distaste.
Zozo and Gaga in particular, whose words were relayed through the Stone Tablet, wore expressions of strong alarm rather than mere displeasure — partly because the Birth Tower stood right next to the lake.
"So we find what we think is a source of fresh food, only to discover it's actually the lair of a terrifying monster. Not exactly a laughing matter."
The adventurer man muttered as he stared at the still-burning slime.
The endlessly burning flames also served as proof that the slime being continuously incinerated was somehow still alive.
"Come to think of it, the Lizardman children were playing in that lake. It was fine because they were in the shallows, but when I think about what could have happened if they'd wandered into deeper water..."
Glancing toward the Birth Tower where the children were now hiding, Rei let out a quiet sigh. Then he called out to Zozo and Gaga, who were talking a short distance away.
"Zozo, got a moment?"
"Yes, what is it?"
Zozo, having more or less forcibly cut short his conversation with Gaga, responded to Rei's call.
"In your wor—... no, in your country, do giant slimes like that exist?"
Rei had nearly said "world," but remembering that Zozo and the others coming from another world was supposed to be a secret, he hastily corrected himself.
Zozo noticed the slip but made no attempt to point it out. He simply shook his head in denial.
"No, I have neither seen nor heard of such a giant slime. If anyone had, it would undoubtedly have become a rumor. ...Though that assumes whoever saw it survived."
"Figured as much."
Rei nodded, deeply convinced.
In his case, he had been attacked while riding Set, so he'd had some ability to flee. That, and the fact that initially only tentacles had extended outward, so he hadn't realized the opponent was a slime.
It was only when the slime, realizing it couldn't capture them with tentacles, surfaced from the bottom of the lake that Rei finally understood what he was dealing with.
What would have happened if someone had been swimming in the lake, knowing nothing, and a tentacle had suddenly shot up from the bottom and wrapped around their leg?
Rei and Set had fortunately never experienced those effects firsthand, but given how brittle the tentacles were, there was no question they possessed some kind of special property.
"Still, that would mean..."
Gazing at the slime that continued to burn with no sign of the flames weakening, Rei thought it through.
If neither Zozo nor Gaga knew of it, then this lake might indeed have been teleported from a world different from their own.
Of course, there was also the possibility that it had been teleported from a nation other than the Gran Dragonia Empire, or that it had existed in some completely unknown, uncharted region within the empire's own territory.
"There is no doubt that the giant slime was a formidable enemy, but since it is being burned by Lord Rei's magic, it seems there is no longer any danger. ...At least from that slime, that is."
From those words, it was clear Zozo was also thinking that more slimes might still be lurking at the bottom of the lake. He had been worried about it ever since talking with Rei, the knight, and the adventurers earlier.
"True. As long as we intend to use this lake, we need to find some way to confirm whether it's safe or not, but— ah."
Rei, who had been racking his brain for a way to check whether monsters lurked at the bottom of the lake, spotted a carriage approaching — no, more precisely, he let out a sound upon seeing the woman sitting on the carriage's driver's seat, wearing a party dress that was entirely out of place.
As far as Rei knew — though there weren't many people he knew well enough to say this about — Marina was the finest Spirit Magic user alive.
And since Marina was a Dark Elf, she had excellent affinity with all spirits except fire, and could enlist their cooperation.
While her compatibility with fire spirits was poor, it wasn't as though she couldn't use them at all in Spirit Magic.
Regardless, Marina's strong affinity for water, wind, and earth spirits made her the perfect person to investigate the lake, now that she was here.
"The perfect person just showed up, so I'll have Marina look into it. ...Ah."
The same sound escaped Rei's lips as before.
It was only natural. After all, behind Marina's carriage, another familiar carriage had come into view.
Rei had ridden in that carriage several times, so there was no mistaking it — it was unmistakably Elena's.
Above all, the sight of Ara sitting on the driver's seat left no room for doubt.
After Marina, even Elena and Ara came? At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if Vihera and Byune showed up too.
Rei's prediction was confirmed effortlessly when Elena's carriage stopped and Vihera and Byune emerged alongside Elena.
"Why did you come in a separate carriage, Marina?"
Rei asked Marina, who had also stepped down from a different carriage.
Marina looked toward the lake and let her surprise show, but quickly composed herself and spoke with a smile.
"It's not like we all came together. I came here directly from the clinic, and I imagine Elena and Vihera's group did the same."
She said this while watching Ielo, which had disembarked from the carriage, fly straight toward Set.
"That's right. We did run into Elena's carriage just as we were leaving Gilm — that much is true. Thanks to that, we didn't have to find our own carriage, which made things easier. ...Still, that lake aside, what about that flame over there? Was that Rei's magic after all? Even from Gilm, we could see that enormous fire."
"We came because we saw that flame. There's no doubt Gilm is in quite an uproar by now."
Elena, who had followed Vihera out, continued, and everyone nodded in agreement.
The knight, having overheard that the flame had been visible from Gilm, instinctively looked up at the sky.
The fire that had hung there until moments ago — he had known it would be visible from Gilm. He had known that. But even so, he had clung to the optimistic hope that perhaps it wouldn't be.
That hope had been shattered.
And given that a flame of that magnitude had been visible from the middle of town, it was certain that no small number of people would come flocking to this lake.
When that happened, the Birth Tower — which stood right beside the lake — would naturally catch their attention as well. Thinking about what lay ahead, the knight felt his stomach churn just imagining it.
He had already been busy enough with everything that had happened during the Treant Forest incident, and now he was undoubtedly going to be even busier than before.