Leaving Grimm behind to connect one of his research laboratories to the underground space, Rei made his way back through the underground passage and emerged above ground.
"Gruu!"
Set let out a happy cry and trotted over to greet him.
Rei stroked the approaching Set's head as he spoke.
"I found the cause of the teleportations."
"Gururururu!?"
Set's reaction made it clear he was asking, "Really!?"
He had expected the cause to be somewhere in the location Grimm identified, but actually finding it was still a surprise.
Reading Set's expression, Rei smiled and stroked his head again.
"Yeah, really. ...But I won't be reporting to Lord Daskar until tomorrow."
"Gruu?"
Set let out a questioning sound—Why?—and Rei explained that Grimm had mentioned connecting the underground space to his laboratory.
He'd heard the work itself wouldn't take all that long, but better safe than sorry. That was his reasoning.
Then, as an aside, he shared Grimm's assessment of the Wisp that had caused the whole situation.
"So that's where things stand. For now, we're heading back to the Birth Tower. Tomorrow, I'll go report to Lord Daskar."
Set barked in acknowledgment, and the pair—one person, one creature—made their way back.
Along the way, Rei recalled the Slime that was still burning. He decided to set that matter aside for now, figuring Grimm had enough on his plate as it was.
"Hm? Oh, it's Rei. That was a pretty long walk for a stroll."
An Adventurer on watch noticed Rei and Set returning and let go of his weapon as he called out to them.
Given that they had approached without warning, being on guard was only natural.
The other Adventurers present followed suit, each releasing their weapons.
"Yeah. Something came up."
"...Something?"
Rei's tone made it sound like he was dodging the question, but the Adventurer who had spoken didn't press any further.
Rei had gone out of his way to be vague. Pressing him on it risked getting dragged into something troublesome. The smart move was to let it drop.
If they'd been freshly minted Adventurers, curiosity might have gotten the better of them.
"Yeah. Something. I'll let Lord Daskar know about it tomorrow. There's a good chance things will get busy, so keep that in mind, alright?"
"Ugh."
The Adventurer groaned. When it came to work, easier was always better than busy.
"So, did those glowing jellyfish show up today?"
"Nah, they didn't. Wish they had, though. Too bad."
The Adventurer sighed, and the others murmured in agreement.
The sight of glowing jellyfish drifting through the night sky was genuinely worth seeing—enough so that, under the right circumstances, they could even become a tourist attraction.
...Though it was hard to imagine there were many people eccentric enough to venture outside Gilm at night on the frontier.
"Those jellyfish probably don't come out every single night, right? Lighting up their bodies from the inside, swimming through the water, flying through the air—that's bound to drain their stamina and magic."
"Probably not. ...Hey, once word gets out about those jellyfish, don't you think someone will try to capture one and keep it as a pet?"
Another nearby Adventurer chimed in.
The concern was far from unfounded. The jellyfish were completely non-aggressive, and on top of that, they put on a fantastical light show every night. Once people learned such creatures existed, it wouldn't be surprising for someone to try obtaining one out of sheer vanity.
That said, these were jellyfish from another world. Their ecology needed to be thoroughly studied before anyone could say they were safe.
There was a very real possibility that someone would capture a jellyfish without bothering to research whether it could attack, and end up getting hurt as a result.
That was why Rei was worried. If someone did get attacked, it wouldn't be strange for people to start demanding all the jellyfish be killed.
"Even so, we don't know whether those jellyfish can survive outside this lake."
Since this lake had been teleported from another world, there was a real possibility the jellyfish survived by absorbing some nutrient or special type of magic found only in this lake's water. If that were the case, removing them from the lake could easily prove fatal—or at the very least, cause them to weaken.
"Hey, Rei. Can't anything be done about that?"
"Not really. Honestly, even if you ask me, I'm stuck. I might be an Alias Holder, but at the end of the day, I'm just an Adventurer. ...Still, I'm meeting with Lord Daskar about this matter tomorrow, so I'll mention it to him. Casually, at least."
The Adventurers on watch all looked relieved.
Waving to them, Rei headed toward the Magic Tent that served as his sleeping quarters.
"WHAT!?"
A booming voice—one that could only be called a shout—echoed through Daskar's room.
Rei half-expected someone to come running at the sound, but fortunately, no one seemed to be approaching. Perhaps because it was still early morning, everyone was busy with their own duties.
Taking a sip of tea, Rei told Daskar to calm down.
"Lord Daskar, if you suddenly raise your voice like that, someone might get the wrong idea and come rushing over."
"Mmh? ...My apologies. But surely you can understand why I would raise my voice like that?"
Rei did understand. He had just told Daskar that the cause behind the teleportations from another world—a phenomenon they had previously known nothing about—had been identified.
"Indeed. I'm well aware of your murderous workload, Lord Daskar. However... once you hear this, you may find yourself even busier than you are now. Do you still want to hear it?"
"Of course. I'd rather know even a little about the situation now than be left in the dark. So, why does this phenomenon of teleportation from another world occur?"
"To put it simply, there's a fairly large underground space beneath the center of the Treant Forest. Inside it is a monster that has been teleporting beings from another world—Lizardmen, the Green People, the Birth Tower, the lake."
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. That's a lot of information at once. I can't keep up."
Daskar took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking again.
"First of all. What made you think there was such a space beneath the Treant Forest?"
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I was out flying with Set under the night sky when my master showed up. The topic came up during our conversation."
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait."
Daskar repeated the exact same words as before. He held his head as if suffering from a splitting headache and looked at Rei.
"How did any of that happen? Your master came to Gilm?"
"Yes. He was passing through the area, noticed something slightly off about the space around here, and while he was investigating, we happened to run into each other."
Naturally, this was the Cover Story, but given that he couldn't explain the details about Grimm, it couldn't be helped.
"Ah... What in the world is going on. Well, never mind that. In any case, you and your master investigated the cause of the otherworldly teleportations together?"
"That's right."
Rei explained how his master—Grimm—had used search magic to detect that the cause of the otherworldly teleportations lay underground, then used magic to carve out a passage leading below. They had descended through it and found the Wisp.
Hearing this, Daskar's face registered sheer astonishment.
It was only natural. Daskar had originally been a Knight, had delved into Dungeons, and above all, as the lord of a frontier, he possessed extensive knowledge of monsters. Even for someone like him, it was impossible to believe a Wisp could possess such abilities.
"A Wisp has that kind of power?"
"Not an ordinary one. But the Wisp in that underground space, given its size, was clearly anything but ordinary. A Rare Species or a High-ranking Species... something along those lines."
"...I understand the situation for now. So? You defeated the Wisp, right? Then it's safe to assume there won't be any more teleportations from another world?"
Daskar spoke as though he were certain Rei had already dealt with it, but Rei shook his head.
It took Daskar a moment to process what that gesture meant.
"Wait. Why? The Wisp was right there—why didn't you destroy it? That Wisp was the one teleporting things from another world, wasn't it? It wouldn't have been strange for you to kill it."
"Honestly, that was my intention at first. But according to my master, killing the Wisp would trigger a final teleportation—one that could summon something catastrophic from another world."
"What did you say?"
"The Wisp is currently weakened, likely from the strain of teleporting the lake. ...Despite that, it somehow teleported more Lizardmen yesterday, but that aside. Precisely because it's weakened, it would unleash one last, violent flare-up of teleportation."
"In other words... you can't kill it?"
Daskar fixed Rei with a questioning look, but Rei shook his head again.
"Given the Wisp's ecology, whether 'kill' is the right word is debatable, but if you ask whether it can be defeated, then yes. However, doing so could teleport something that would make that lake look trivial by comparison—something potentially even larger than the Kingdom of Mireana itself. So if you're fine with that, then by all means."
"What... did you... say..."
Grimm had asked Rei to steer things toward keeping the Wisp alive, so Rei had exaggerated the scale of what it might summon. But while it was an exaggeration, it was by no means a lie. If what Grimm had told him was true, then such an outcome was entirely possible.
For Daskar, the contents of Rei's explanation were completely unexpected. Unable to even form words from the shock, he could only stare at the person sitting across from him.
Still, befitting the lord of Gilm, he managed to collect himself in a matter of minutes.
"Is that true?"
"My master said so, and I believe him. At the very least, I couldn't ignore his words and choose to destroy the Wisp on my own. That's exactly why I'm here reporting to you."
Rei's words carried sufficient weight. Daskar wore a deeply troubled expression.
If Rei's—no, Rei's master's—words were true, then the option of defeating the Wisp simply did not exist.
But that meant...
"In other words, we maintain the status quo?"
"That would be correct."
Daskar muttered bitterly, and Rei answered without hesitation. For him, there was no doubt this was the best choice.
However, thinking that Daskar wouldn't have a moment's peace at this rate, Rei decided to play one of the cards he had on hand to ease the man's mind.
"According to my master, though, the Wisp has nothing resembling an ego. It's essentially a single system connecting another world to this one—a being closer to a Magic Item, he said. If that's the case, then learning to control the Wisp would mean we could freely connect this world to another."
That single statement was enough to stop Daskar in his tracks.
Even now, Gilm had already reaped considerable benefits from another world. The Green People, the Lizardmen, the lake. If they could freely connect to another world and teleport whatever they wished, what would happen then?
"Rei... could you introduce me to your master?"
After mulling over Rei's words for a few minutes, Daskar asked just that.