"Hey, Rei! You awake, Rei?!"
The moment he heard that voice, Rei leapt up half-reflexively.
Had this not been during a request—if he had been sleeping at an inn or Marina's house—he probably wouldn't have woken so quickly.
But since they were currently in the middle of a request, Rei, who had been sleeping on the bed inside the Magic Tent, immediately reacted to the voice calling from outside and checked his surroundings, ready for anything.
However, there was no sign of enemies nearby.
He could hear voices making some kind of commotion outside the Magic Tent, but it didn't sound like the uproar of a battle.
"Hey, Rei! I'm coming in."
With those words, one of the adventurers entered the Magic Tent.
While quickly getting dressed, Rei asked the adventurer, "What happened?"
"It's the Water Wolf. It showed up again just now."
"...Did it attack? No, that's not it. Right, come to think of it, I did tell it last night to come back today."
Ideally, he should have properly talked things through with the Water Wolf last night, but Rei had been quite exhausted.
He had destroyed multiple underworld organizations in Gilm's Slum District, returned here, had an unarmed mock battle with Gaga, and then the Water Wolf had suddenly attacked.
Even for Rei, who was confident in his stamina, it would have been unreasonable to expect him not to be tired after all that.
In the end, after reaching a ceasefire with the Water Wolf—though Rei wasn't sure if that was the right word for it—he had been exhausted both mentally and physically, fallen right to sleep, and slept soundly until being woken like this.
Fortunately, the restful sleep had left Rei's mind clear, with no lingering fatigue from the night before.
"The Water Wolf, huh... Come to think of it, I did tell it last night to come today, but that's pretty..."
He reconsidered midway, took out a mithril pocket watch from his Misty Ring, and checked the time.
A little past seven in the morning.
It wasn't actually as early as Rei had made it sound.
Well, to someone working a normal job, it might still be plenty early, but for an adventurer, it would be fair to call it late.
Gilm's gates opened at six in the morning, and it wasn't uncommon for adventurers who had already received requests to be waiting by the gate at that very hour.
"So I just overslept, plain and simple. What about the others?"
"A lot of them overslept too, what with everything that happened yesterday. Many just made do with preserved food for breakfast. ...Though there were some who caught fish and grilled them."
"How very them."
Rei muttered with a mix of admiration and exasperation.
He understood from past experience that the lake's fish were safe to eat.
But that only meant they didn't produce any immediate adverse effects, and more importantly, given last night's incident with the Water Wolf, it was surprising that anyone had the nerve to catch fish from the lake.
Had they not considered that doing so might anger the Water Wolf?
Then again, the Water Wolf Rei had dealt with yesterday was, initial hostility aside, a reasonable conversation partner.
With that in mind, Rei's expectation was that the Water Wolf wouldn't get angry over something like catching fish.
...Besides, they had been catching fish from the lake for quite a while now, so it was a moot point.
"So? Did you come to wake me because it's already this late?"
"No, that's not it. Like I said, the Water Wolf is here."
"Now that you mention it, you did say something like that. I thought it might be a bad joke to wake me up."
"Do you think I'd joke around in a situation like this?"
Rei had no choice but to accept the adventurer's words.
Before taking this Birth Tower guard request, most of them were people whose faces Rei had vaguely recognized, and some he had been seeing for the first time.
But even so, after sleeping and eating together for several days, they had naturally started talking and warming up to one another.
And the adventurer who came to wake Rei was, as far as he knew, not the type to tell stupid lies.
...More fundamentally, the adventurers here had been dispatched by the Guild after being recognized for both skill and character, so none of them were the type to tell pointless lies.
"For all that, it's pretty quiet."
Given it was only the day after, it wouldn't be strange for everyone to be on guard at the sight of the Water Wolf.
And yet, the adventurer standing before Rei didn't appear particularly panicked.
He was surprised, but he didn't seem that shaken.
"Yeah. The Water Wolf showed up much smaller than yesterday. ...At first we were wary, but even when it came close, it showed no sign of attacking us."
"That's... I see."
From yesterday's incident, Rei already knew that the Water Wolf was not a creature that simply rampaged on instinct like a Goblin, but a being with high intelligence.
Whether it had a mild temperament, however, was still something Rei couldn't say for certain.
It had attacked aggressively yesterday, but that should have been in response to his and Gaga's fight. ...To be precise, he hadn't confirmed this thoroughly, but from the flow of the conversation, Rei was certain that assessment wasn't wrong.
"Understood. Well then, let's go take a look. Ideally, I'd like things to work out peacefully with the Water Wolf."
The teleported lake was an unknown entity to the people of this world.
Considering the giant Slime incident alone, anything was possible.
That being the case, a creature with which communication was possible—and one that was friendly to the people of this world—was extremely valuable.
That was why his desire for it to be a friendly presence was so strong.
"I'd like to say it depends on your powers of persuasion, Rei, but... it's probably fine, don't you think?"
While feeling puzzled by the adventurer's inexplicable optimism, Rei stepped outside the Magic Tent.
Immediately, Set approached and rubbed his face against Rei as a morning greeting.
"Ah, good morning. Glad to see you're energetic as always today, Set."
Stroking Set's head, Rei looked around and spotted the Lizardmen and adventurers gathered a short distance away.
(The Water Wolf is probably over there.)
When he glanced at the adventurer who had come to wake him for confirmation, he got a nod in return.
Seeing that, Rei headed over with Set.
Naturally, those gathered noticed Rei and Set approaching and made room for them.
"Ah..."
What he found there left even Rei at a loss for words.
One of the adventurers was offering a grilled fish to the Water Wolf.
The Water Wolf took the fish in its mouth and swallowed it.
Thanks to the sun being out, the sight of the Water Wolf swallowing the grilled fish was clearly visible to everyone.
And once the fish reached what appeared to be its stomach, it gradually dissolved and was absorbed into the Water Wolf's body.
"...I see. No question that's a rare sight. Still..."
He muttered and looked at the Water Wolf once more.
Its size was completely different from last night.
It was larger than a normal wolf, but slightly smaller than Set.
However, compared to the Water Wolf Rei had fought yesterday, it was overwhelmingly smaller.
(I guess because its body is made of water, it can change its size freely? If so, that's pretty convenient.)
As Rei watched the Water Wolf and mulled this over, the creature that had eaten the grilled fish apparently noticed Rei and Set's presence.
It turned its gaze toward them and let out a small "Woof."
Its demeanor—size aside—made it impossible to believe this was the same creature that had attacked them last night.
"Umm, just to confirm, you're the Water Wolf, right?"
"Woof!"
The Water Wolf let out a bark as if to say 'obviously.'
The Water Wolf might have intended it as identifying itself, but from Rei's perspective, it was hard to believe this was the same opponent he had fought last night.
After all, last night's Water Wolf had leaped to a height of a hundred meters and tried to tear Set apart.
Yet now, here it was, showing no sign of caution whatsoever, accepting food from the adventurers.
(Well, being used to Set probably plays a big part too.)
Normally, telling someone not to panic when seeing a monster the size of Set up close would be asking the impossible.
But the residents of Gilm knew of Set's existence.
Since the Water Wolf was slightly smaller than Set and showed such friendliness, it was only natural that the adventurers would warm to it quickly.
Everyone here was a skilled adventurer, so they likely still maintained a degree of caution... but when it actually acted this affectionate, they probably found it cute even while harboring suspicions.
(Could it be that it observed Set's interactions with the others from the lake and is using that as a reference? ...No way, right?)
That question crossed his mind fleetingly, but if it had observed Set's behavior and learned to respond accordingly, it wasn't a bad thing for Rei.
The possibility that this was all to let down their guard and then attack when they were vulnerable wasn't entirely nonexistent, but considering his dealings with the Water Wolf yesterday, the likelihood of that seemed extremely low.
(Even so, I should probably explain that to everyone later, just in case. After hearing that, they can decide for themselves how to act.)
Having decided that, Rei turned his gaze back to the Water Wolf, which was watching him.
"You came because of what I said last night, right?"
"Woof."
The Water Wolf nodded at Rei's words.
(I thought this yesterday too, but it definitely understands our words completely. It's helpful on our end, so I don't mind. ...Still, I did tell it to come, but what exactly should I do? For that matter, am I even in a position to decide these things on my own?)
Naturally, the management of this lake was something that Daskar, as the lord of this land, should handle.
After all, the land where this lake existed was part of Margrave Larkus's Territory.
In that case, whether Rei—a mere adventurer in the eyes of others, though recognized by many as Daskar's right hand—had the right to decide the relationship between themselves and the Water Wolf in this place would, normally, be answered with a no.
Rei turned his gaze to the knight, who was the person in charge here, and spoke.
"We're about to settle various matters with the Water Wolf, but shouldn't the person in charge here handle the negotiation?"
"When you put it that way... well, the Water Wolf doesn't seem to attack others, but it chose you as its negotiation partner, didn't it? In that case, even if someone else tried to negotiate, I doubt it would go along with it."
"Woof."
As if affirming the knight's words, the Water Wolf let out a bark.
Hearing that bark, Rei suddenly wondered—now that he thought about it, Set had been pretty harsh toward the Water Wolf yesterday, hadn't he?—and glanced over, but Set showed no sign of caring about Rei's interaction with the Water Wolf and was happily eating grilled fish that the Lizardmen and adventurers had prepared.
What was yesterday's wariness all about? Rei couldn't help but wonder, but he concluded that since the Water Wolf had become smaller, Set must have dropped his guard.
"Rei, please."
Rei had been half-escaping reality, but the knight's words forcibly brought him back.
"...Understood. First of all, you don't mind us being here, right? Can I assume you have no intention of telling us to leave the lakeside or anything like that?"
"Woof."
Seeing the Water Wolf nod in response, Rei felt relieved for the time being.
The lakeside was also right next to the Birth Tower.
If the Water Wolf had insisted that they not remain near the lake, there was a high probability it would have led to another battle like yesterday's in the worst case.
The fact that it wouldn't come to that was extremely helpful for Rei.
With his biggest concern eliminated, he moved on to the next topic.
"We... or rather, those guys over there, have been catching and eating fish from the lake. Is that a problem?"
The Water Wolf let out a bark indicating that it was not.
From there, the conversation proceeded smoothly.
...Well, to be precise, it basically meant that as long as they did not take actions born of malice toward the lake, using it normally was not a problem.
However, when Anastasia, who had come out partway through, voiced her desire to examine the Water Wolf's body, that request was rejected.
"Is it really okay for you to make that many concessions to us?"
The Water Wolf made no demands, resulting in an exchange that was one-sidedly favorable to Rei's side.
Rei was happy about it, but what benefit the Water Wolf could possibly gain from such an arrangement was beyond his understanding.
Be that as it may... even so, being able to establish a friendly relationship with a powerful monster from the unknown lake was something of tremendous benefit to Rei and the others.