"...What? A monster without a Magic Stone?"
Since he was scheduled to visit the lake that morning, Daskar had turned in a little early the night before and consequently woke up a little early as well. He was in the middle of sorting through some documents before breakfast when an adventurer arrived from the Birth Tower with a report. Daskar ended up hearing the story while eating his morning meal.
For the adventurer, who had been planning to grab breakfast at a good restaurant, this was a letdown. But since Daskar's cook possessed first-rate skills, this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.
Not that the man himself seemed to realize it.
His attention was probably entirely fixated on the prospect of eating at a shop or food stall of his own choosing.
Still, after taking a bite or two of the breakfast laid before him, his hands refused to stop, overwhelmed by how delicious it was.
As a skilled adventurer, he wasn't short on money and occasionally received hospitality, but even so, a meal this good was rare.
Suppressing the urge to scarf down the food, the adventurer nodded at Daskar's words.
"Yes. Although I don't think it's certain yet."
"Why not?"
"Well, when we defeated that Water Strider, Set crushed its head while it was skimming across the water. If the Water Strider did carry a Magic Stone in its head, then the stone was either shattered by the blow or simply sank into the water."
"...But Magic Stones are normally found in the heart, aren't they?"
"That's true. But it's still easier to assume it was in the head than to assume there's no Magic Stone at all."
So saying, the adventurer proceeded to report on what kind of monster the Water Strider was.
Naturally, what caught Daskar's interest was the acid attack.
The Water Strider—fragile in terms of defense but capable of spitting highly corrosive acid—was a fairly troublesome opponent.
Above all, the fact that it glided across the water's surface to move was the most problematic part.
If it were on land, one could at least run up and close the distance, but since it was on the water, that wasn't an option either.
"We'll need to prepare bows," Daskar muttered, sounding slightly irritated.
When dealing with an opponent that could move freely on water, bows were inevitably the quickest and most practical weapon of choice.
Those who possessed a means of flight were extremely few, and while mages existed, their numbers were not large.
That being the case, the most accessible means of attacking an enemy on the water was, inevitably, bows.
The biggest factor was, again, sheer numbers.
To put it in extreme terms, if dozens or even hundreds of people gathered and loosed arrows in unison, no matter how freely a Water Strider could move across the lake, with nowhere to dodge, killing it wouldn't be difficult.
...That said, doing so would cause the corpse to sink into the water, making recovery extremely difficult.
Since the Water Strider was an unknown monster, it was unclear which body parts could be used as materials.
Should I have the Guild look into it? ...No, but if the lake came from another world, the chances of them having that information are slim. Given the precedent of the Lizardmen, I can't rule it out entirely, but...
Even this excellent breakfast couldn't be fully savored, thanks to the problems cropping up first thing in the morning.
"So, what will you do? I heard you were heading to the lake this morning."
"The plan hasn't changed. I want to see the lake with my own eyes at least once. I can do paperwork in the carriage."
A look of dismay crossed the adventurer's face.
Adventurers were generally adept at physical activity, but many had no affinity for paperwork.
Since this man was exactly that type, being told that Daskar would be doing paperwork even inside the carriage naturally made him look displeased.
Then again, reading documents while the carriage is rocking is one thing, but can he even sign them? ...The fact that he's saying so probably means he can.
The adventurer decided that he, at least, had no desire to do such a thing, and reached for the still-warm bread.
"In any case, it's helpful that Rei secured one corpse, but I'd like one with a head if possible. I want to confirm whether it truly lacks a Magic Stone."
"Hmm, that might be a bit difficult. The Water Strider that actually appeared this morning was just that one. The lake is large, so if we search more thoroughly, there might be more, but..."
Even as he said this, the adventurer couldn't help but predict that they probably wouldn't find any.
He wasn't the only one who had scanned the lake that morning; the others must have done the same.
Despite that, no other Water Striders had been found.
Considering those circumstances, obtaining additional Water Strider corpses right away was indeed very difficult.
Ah, but Set can fly. If he searches from above the lake, maybe... though that's assuming the Water Strider doesn't normally stay underwater.
It had the ability to glide across the water's surface, but doing so would make it an irresistible target for any flying monster. If so, it wouldn't be surprising for it to spend most of its time submerged.
...Of course, that was merely the man's speculation, and its actual ecology remained unknown.
"Search for it. I've heard from Marina that she judged things to be safe for now, but..."
"Ah, you mean the Guild Master?"
Technically, she was the former Guild Master, but for a man who had worked as an adventurer in Gilm for a long time, the title "Guild Master" inevitably brought Marina to mind.
That said, enough time had passed since Marina's retirement that Daskar honestly wished people would start associating the title with Worker by now.
From Daskar's perspective, Marina was a highly reliable partner, but she was also someone who knew things from his childhood that he would rather consign to his dark history.
He didn't exactly dislike her or hate her, but she was undeniably someone he found difficult to deal with.
"Not Guild Master—Marina."
"Right... It's just that I've been calling her Guild Master for so long, I'm still not used to the change."
An ordinary adventurer would have few opportunities to meet Marina.
At most, it would be a chance encounter when she occasionally came down from the Office to the Guild's first floor for some reason.
However, a skilled adventurer would receive direct instructions and quest briefings from the Guild Master.
Meeting Marina alongside a few others was manageable, but facing her alone was nearly a trial.
She radiated an intensely feminine charm, wrapping her curvaceous, crowd-pleasing figure in a Party Dress with a deeply plunging neckline.
Calling it torture might have been a slight exaggeration, but there had been many times he genuinely felt that way—and it was no joke.
In that sense, now that she had found herself a man named Rei—or at least, that was how things appeared from the outside—Marina's feminine wiles were directed at Rei, and he no longer had to endure such ordeals.
Thanks to that, the money he spent on Prostitutes hadn't dropped to zero... but it had certainly decreased considerably.
"I see. Well, you'll get used to it in time. In any case, from what Marina gathered, she determined there wasn't that much danger, correct?"
"I don't know the details, but I heard there were no monsters as large as the Slime Rei defeated. Though the Water Spirits in the lake are apparently somewhat difficult to communicate with."
"...I see."
At the adventurer's words, Daskar concluded that the lake must have indeed come from another world...
Wait.
Suddenly, the otherworldly origin and the Water Strider incident connected in his mind. ...No—failed to connect was more accurate.
I don't know whether the Green People have Magic Stones, but Lizardmen are definitely monsters. As such, the probability of them having Magic Stones is high. Highly probable, but... could it be that they don't? This matter is quite important, so asking the Green People directly would be problematic.
He would ask Rei, or perhaps Zozo, once he arrived at the lake.
From Daskar's perspective, this entire affair had already become quite troublesome.
And if the Water Strider lacked a Magic Stone, and by extension the Lizardmen did possess them...
In other words, that lake came from neither this world nor the world where the Gran Dragonia Empire exists, but from a third world?
It was a conclusion Rei had reached thanks to his various special circumstances, but Daskar arrived at nearly the same deduction almost entirely on his own.
At the same time, he understood from the very bottom of his heart that this had become an exceedingly troublesome situation.
The King's Faction's meddling might actually be a blessing in disguise at this point.
For Daskar, the King's Faction's interference was a tremendous nuisance.
Especially when a member of the Royal Family—technically, their agent—had stepped forward directly, there was no other word for it but troublesome.
However, given the current situation, the thought that he might as well foist this mess onto the King's Faction wasn't entirely absent from his mind.
"Lord Daskar? Is something wrong?"
Noticing that Daskar had drifted into thought in the middle of breakfast, the adventurer called out to him.
Daskar shook his head, indicating it was nothing, and returned to his meal.
"Are you sure? You could come along to the lake in this carriage, you know."
After breakfast, Daskar had immediately finished his preparations and set out for the lake, but the adventurer who had brought the report declined the offer.
Since it was the carriage that Daskar himself rode in, it was an exceptionally comfortable ride—which was exactly why the adventurer's refusal puzzled him.
But the adventurer shook his head.
"No, I still have things to do. I need to report to the Guild as well. Especially regarding that Water Strider—we need to research it thoroughly."
"I see. ...Monster business, I suppose. Well then, good luck."
With that, the carriage carrying Daskar departed from the Lord's Manor.
"Phew."
The adventurer who had seen him off finally let out a breath.
There was no question that he needed to report to the Guild, but if he were going to make a report, bringing along the Water Strider corpse that Rei had secured would allow him to convey the facts far more accurately.
The reason he hadn't done so was simply because he didn't want to ride in the same carriage as Daskar.
Not that he disliked the man.
He respected Daskar for admirably governing Gilm, and harbored no ill will whatsoever.
Even so, the reason he declined was that, by Daskar's order, a massive pile of documents had been loaded into the carriage.
The prospect of watching Daskar do paperwork nonstop during the entire journey to the Treant Forest would be stifling for an adventurer, and there was no way the trip would be a comfortable one.
If asked whether he preferred sitting in that oppressive atmosphere or traveling on his own, choosing the latter was a given.
"Well, maybe I'll buy something light to snack on for the road."
He had just eaten breakfast, but he hadn't stuffed himself to the point of being unable to eat another bite.
Daskar's cook had made a delicious breakfast, but sharing a meal with someone as important as the lord still carried a certain mental fatigue.
As if sensing this, the adventurer set out into town to buy something he could eat casually.
...The Village Gatekeeper gave him a strange look—half sympathy, half surprise. The sympathy was for his near-miss with getting roped into paperwork duty. The surprise was...
Well, who knows. It's not like I come to the Lord's Manor often enough to count, so I guess it's not strange he'd react that way.
Deciding that further thought was pointless, the man headed into town.
It was still morning... or rather, because it was morning, many people were out and about.
Weaving through the crowd, he turned his ears toward his surroundings to gather information.
This wasn't something he did with any particular objective; it was more of a habit.
He understood that to make it as a skilled adventurer, information was vital.
Even when operating as a party rather than solo, gathering intelligence wasn't something he could leave entirely to others—he needed to take the initiative himself.
That was what he was thinking as he walked, but what reached his ears was, unsurprisingly, mostly chatter about the Flame Magic Rei had unleashed the day before.
For the residents of the frontier town of Gilm, that enormous pillar of flame must have been a truly astonishing sight.
Of course, present-day Gilm was home not only to its original residents, but also to many who had come seeking work because of the Expansion Construction.