Receiving a detailed report from his subordinate, Daskar couldn't hide the feeling that things had taken a troublesome turn. Half escaping reality, he turned his gaze toward the window.
Outside, the weather was spring-like. Warm sunlight poured down, bringing a scene that had been impossible to witness during the winter months.
The green of the trees in the garden was gentle on the eyes.
To Daskar, it felt as though the view had spread out before him specifically to soothe his weary heart.
Several minutes passed.
The man who had brought the report—who had actually seen the lake with his own eyes—knew full well that Daskar was overwhelmed with work day after day. Understanding this, he said nothing even as he watched Daskar in his current state.
Then, as if his reality-escaping breather had come to an end, Daskar turned his gaze back to the man.
"Sorry about that."
"No need to apologize."
After that brief exchange, the two returned their attention to the matter of the lake.
"So, aside from the Slime that Rei is burning, is there any other danger in the lake?"
"According to what Marina-sama investigated with Spirit Magic, there are no beings in the lake of similar size to that Slime."
"I see."
Daskar accepted those words without hesitation.
Having known Marina since childhood, he understood exactly how extraordinary her Spirit Magic was.
Daskar had served as a knight in the Royal Capital, but even among all those he had seen there, he had never encountered a Spirit Magic user on Marina's level.
...When he had first set out for the Royal Capital to become a knight, he had assumed that even without Marina's level of skill, Spirit Magic wouldn't be that far inferior. That misjudgment had led to a major incident.
Given that Marina possessed such outstandingly exceptional Spirit Magic skill, the fact that there were no other giant Slimes or beings of equivalent size in the lake was information that could be trusted without question.
Not that he would ever say so directly in front of Marina, of course.
If he did, there was no telling how she would tease him.
In that sense, Rei really is an incredible guy. You could even say he deserves respect, honestly.
Making Marina fall in love with him—making that Marina fall in love from the bottom of her heart—was not something that could be done easily.
That alone was a feat worthy of admiration.
Naturally, he had no intention of actually saying so out loud. If he did, Marina would undoubtedly expose his embarrassing past right then and there.
"For now, if Marina investigated it, then it should be fine. The problem is the Slime that Rei is burning."
"Actually, Lord Daskar. To be precise, it is not 'burned' but 'still burning' that would be correct."
"Ah, right. From what I heard, it was a flame so massive it could be seen even from Gilm."
Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—Daskar had not been able to witness the flame that Rei had produced with his magic.
But from hearing about it alone, he could understand just what kind of magic it had been.
Considering that it had taken such magic and was still burning without dying, it wouldn't be strange at all to wonder just what kind of monster it was.
"Should I lament that a dangerous lake inhabited by such a creature teleported here, or should I rejoice that Rei promptly dealt with such a dangerous monster? It's a dilemma."
"For now, that giant Slime is no longer a danger, and if we consider that there are no similar monsters in the lake, it should ultimately benefit Gilm. So perhaps it is fine to be pleased?"
"However, if that lake stays as it is... without water flow, the water will eventually stagnate. If we want to make proper use of it, we'll need to do something about that... but surely we don't have the leeway for a project on the scale of connecting the lake to a river."
"Ah, you need not worry about that. Marina-sama made sure to ask the Water Spirits about that as well. Apparently, new water is flowing in from somewhere unknown..."
"I see... That is something we can be happy about, correct?"
"Most likely."
If it were simply connected to a river or the like, Daskar could have rejoiced without any worry.
But with water flowing in from somewhere unknown, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it came from. In the worst case, the water could suddenly stop, which meant he couldn't feel completely at ease.
It was possible that water had been gushing forth for a long time—decades, even centuries. But conversely, there was also the possibility that it could stop as soon as tomorrow.
On top of that, if it were a river, he could directly confirm the volume of flowing water with his own eyes. But with water appearing from nowhere, verifying that would be extremely difficult.
Even so, the reason Daskar wasn't particularly worried was because he counted on Marina asking the Water Spirits about that aspect.
Water Spirits dwelling in a lake would naturally be well-versed in the water flow as well.
...And that wasn't actually wrong, either.
"I'll need to go and see the lake directly at least once. The problem is how to find the time for that."
He was already busy enough as it was.
On top of that, there had been contact from the King's Faction not long ago.
Considering the circumstances, honestly speaking, finding the time would be difficult.
Even so, given the current situation, the option of not confirming the lake with his own eyes simply didn't exist.
Or rather, had there been no contact from the King's Faction—from the hands of a Royal Family member's agent—he might have postponed the lake matter entirely.
But under the current conditions, unfortunately, he couldn't afford such a luxury.
I can at least process paperwork inside the carriage. Thinking of it that way, it's not actually that bad, is it? Of course, the escorts will need to work hard, though.
Daskar still possessed considerable strength even now.
Enough strength that there was hardly anyone in Gilm's Knight Order who could defeat him in a head-on fight.
The Knight Order of Gilm, located on the Frontier, was known by name as the elite of the elite.
The fact that nearly all the knights of that order couldn't defeat Daskar was proof of just how powerful he was.
"Alright. I'll go to see the lake tomorrow morning. If I load the documents into the carriage, the travel time won't go to waste either."
The majority of Daskar's work was, without question, processing paperwork.
But in reality, there were also various other small tasks that needed attention.
If he set those aside for now... it would be possible to make time to visit the lake tomorrow morning.
Even doing that much, he still wouldn't be able to spend an hour or two at the lake itself.
"Understood. I will have the preparations ready."
"Please do. The question is whether the Slime that Rei is burning will still be burning by tomorrow... what do you think about that?"
"I am not well-versed in magic, so I cannot say for certain. Based purely on appearance, though, I suspect that flame will not go out in a day or two."
He stated this with conviction.
He truly wasn't knowledgeable about magic, but even so, looking at the burning Slime, he hadn't gotten the impression it would go out anytime soon.
"I see... But what if it rains? Even if it's a flame produced by Rei's magic, it's still a flame, isn't it? Then wouldn't it go out in the rain?"
"That is... I'm not sure. I do not know."
The past few days had been clear, but there had been a passing shower at night, and spring was a season where the weather could change easily.
Given that, it wasn't unreasonable to worry that even a flame produced by Rei's magic could be extinguished by such weather—setting free the Slime that was being kept burning.
In reality, since the flame was sustained by Rei's magical power, a little rain wouldn't weaken its intensity, let alone extinguish it.
Unfortunately, Daskar had not seen the flame directly, and the Civil Official was not knowledgeable about magic, so they couldn't know that much.
"I'll ask about that too when I go to the lake tomorrow... no, depending on the situation, there's a chance the flame could go out even tonight. Sorry, but send someone to Rei immediately to hear what he has to say. If a Slime that Rei considers dangerous were moving around freely, that would be nothing short of a worst-case scenario."
"Understood. I will send someone right away. Also, regarding the fact that Lord Daskar will be visiting the lake tomorrow morning..."
"You may tell him that as well."
Daskar had no intention of hiding it, so there was no problem even if Rei learned of it.
Seeing Daskar's demeanor, the Civil Official bowed and left the Office.
After seeing him off, Daskar returned to sorting his paperwork.
"Sorry I'm... a little... no, I suppose I'm quite late?"
"Nn."
Byune followed after Vihera's words, offering her own apology for being late.
But those who had been doing patrol work together with Vihera and Byune welcomed them without making anything of it.
"Don't worry about it. So, um... that flame, what was it in the end?"
"That was our Rei's doing."
To be precise, a lake had teleported in, a giant Slime had emerged from it, and Rei had used magic to defeat it—but they had been told to keep quiet about the lake.
So inevitably, they ended up giving an abbreviated account.
Even so, Rei was famous in Gilm, and given that it was the Frontier in the first place, it wasn't strange for powerful monsters to appear.
In reality, he had used magic far beyond that level, but since they couldn't tell that from what they could see from here, they accepted Vihera's words without issue.
"A really powerful monster must have shown up, huh."
She murmured thoughtfully.
Being a C-Rank Adventurer, the woman had defeated many different monsters over the years.
Even so, she had never encountered a monster that required such powerful magic to defeat.
"As expected of Rei."
The man who had been listening muttered in understanding.
Others who were patrolling together chimed in... and before they knew it, the story had morphed into Rei defeating an A-Rank Monster that had appeared near the Treant Forest with magic.
"Nn?"
Is that okay? Byune turned her gaze toward Vihera.
"It's fine to say that."
It was a rumor that had somehow taken shape on its own, but it was by no means wrong.
The giant Slime that had actually come out of the lake could easily be classified as a High-Rank Monster if one were to assign a rank to it.
Normally, a Slime was generally considered weaker than even a Goblin.
Even so, once it grew to the size of a mountain or a hill, it would possess strength that a Goblin couldn't even compare to.
What was being discussed among them was not incorrect. It wasn't incorrect, but... even so, the lingering sense that something was slightly off was also an undeniable fact.
That said, since they couldn't exactly tell the truth, there was nothing more they could say.
It's not like anyone is saying anything wrong... so it's fine, right?
Vihera half-forced herself to accept that and decided not to touch on the topic any further for now.
Thinking that as long as they kept quiet, the story wouldn't spread any further.
"More importantly, were there any particular problems while we were away?"
It was a blatant change of subject, but since patrolling the town was their assignment today, asking about it wasn't particularly strange.
At Vihera's words, the Female Adventurer smiled and nodded.
"Yes. Fortunately... though I'm not sure if that's the right way to put it, everyone was so distracted by Rei's flame that they had no room to cause trouble, to be accurate. Thanks to that, a few people got slightly lost, but it was nothing more than that."
"I only came to Gilm recently, but it's amazing how the residents didn't panic even seeing a flame like that."
"I can only say it's because it's Gilm. Normally, it wouldn't be strange for people to panic the moment they saw a flame like that, but Gilm's residents don't let it bother them that much. And usually, even if someone does panic, when the people around them are calm, they naturally settle down too."
"...Gilm is amazing."
As the male adventurer muttered thoughtfully, the other adventurers—who themselves had become only mildly surprised by something of that level—wore somewhat complicated expressions.