In the end, Rei had the Golems help him and successfully harvested all of the red fruit.
...Yes, the Golems.
Not just the one that had guided him to the fruit-bearing tree, but several others came over to help as well.
As expected of earth Golems, even those only about half Rei's height extended their earthen arms to reach fruit growing high above.
For fruit in places too high for a single Golem to reach, several would fuse together, growing larger and extending their reach even further to harvest it—a sight that genuinely surprised Rei.
"Thanks. But... is it really okay for me to take all of this fruit?"
"Pi!"
The Golem replied that there was no problem.
Though, Rei thought that was perhaps only natural.
Inside this barrier, there were no animals, no birds, and no monsters—only Golems.
...Golems were generally treated as monsters too, so in that sense, one could perhaps say monsters did exist there.
At any rate, Golems didn't eat.
In a place like this, even if there was fruit, no one would consume it and it would simply rot.
In that case, it was better to have Rei, who could actually eat it, take the fruit.
Moreover, normally if someone received a large quantity of fruit, it would end up rotting—but Rei had his Misty Ring.
If he stored the fruit inside it, there was practically no chance of spoilage.
So having Rei take the fruit was undoubtedly the best option.
"Thank you."
Perhaps because they had worked together to harvest the fruit, Rei had lost all sense of caution toward the Golems.
"Pi!"
At Rei's words, the Golems let out what seemed like a happy cry... and then the ones that had helped him harvest the fruit went their separate ways.
They were probably returning to their own tasks.
"Well then, what should I do now?"
Eating a piece of fruit, Rei gazed at his surroundings.
He understood that the Golems were friendly. Should he head back to the lake and swim with Set?
Thinking that, he turned his gaze toward where the lake should be... and his eyes stopped on the waterfall flowing into it.
"A waterfall, huh."
The water flowing from that waterfall was what supplied the lake.
Perhaps there was a place deep in the lake where groundwater sprang up, but at least as far as Rei could see, the waterfall was the sole source.
Looking at that sight, it would be impossible not to take interest in the waterfall—or more precisely, in what lay upstream above it on the elevated terrain.
Now that the Golems had proven friendly, Rei set aside his concerns about them and began walking toward the waterfall.
Perhaps because the area was maintained by the Golems, though the ground wasn't paved with stones, the trodden earth naturally served as a path.
He proceeded along it without any particular difficulty... and before long, arrived at the waterfall.
"There's a path here too, huh."
The Golems were probably using it.
Before Rei lay stairs leading up to the area with the waterfall.
Perhaps because the Golems also moved carefully in this area, the stairs even had handrails.
Using them, Rei began to climb.
Because the stairs were near the cliff edge, they were wet with water, and in some places, moss had grown.
Without a handrail, some people would likely slip.
It was nearly fifty meters to the top of the cliff.
From that height, if someone slipped on the upper stairs and fell, it wouldn't be surprising if they died.
Of course, since the only beings inside this barrier were earth Golems, even if someone did fall, it might not actually be a problem.
Climbing the stairs carefully so as not to fall, Rei found himself wondering if he should have just called Set and flown instead.
Then again, since he could see Set happily swimming in the lake even from the stairs, he didn't entirely feel like interrupting.
(Though if there were fish or something, he'd probably chase them around and play. But with no fish at all, what on earth is he swimming so happily about?)
There was a pastime called scuba diving to enjoy underwater scenery—perhaps Set was doing exactly that in the lake.
Thinking such thoughts as he continued climbing, Rei eventually reached the top of the cliff... and was struck speechless at the sight that spread before him.
"..."
It was a giant crystal—roughly five meters in diameter.
No, perhaps it wasn't actually a crystal, but to Rei's eyes, it could only be perceived as one.
Specifically, it looked like the kind of round crystal that fortune tellers used, simply enlarged to an enormous scale.
That crystal was floating in midair, and from it, water ceaselessly flowed.
The water poured from the crystal into a small pool beneath it, and from that pool, the water reached the waterfall, from which it cascaded down into the lake.
It was an overwhelmingly fantastical sight.
"Amazing..."
Several minutes passed since he had first laid eyes on the floating crystal, and Rei was finally able to speak.
Even so, faced with the spectacle before him, he could only manage a single word.
He stared intently at the crystal endlessly producing water, and a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Because it produces water... crystal? Well, in that case, I wouldn't know what the 'crystal' part means, though."
Muttering, Rei finally returned to his usual self.
Looking around once more, he noticed that various flowers were blooming around the pool that caught the water produced by the floating crystal.
Given the crystal as well, he even began to think that this place was nothing short of paradise.
"It keeps producing water, but what kind of magic item is it? Is it connected to some water source, or does the crystal simply produce water through some method?"
Even looking at the water flowing from the crystal, Rei couldn't understand specifically how it was being produced.
Still, he wasn't particularly discouraged.
From the facts that it existed in the Forest of Magic, that they had been able to enter the barrier, and that the Golems were friendly... considering all of those things, there was no doubt that the interior of this barrier was the work of the Zephyle Clan.
And if the foremost authority on magic items within the Zephyle Clan was involved, then it was unquestionably Esta Nor, called the greatest alchemist in history.
The Dragon Robe and the Misty Ring—numerous magic items that were now essential to Rei—were Esta Nor's creations.
Rei also had a strong interest in magic items and made a hobby of collecting practical ones rather than ornamental pieces.
Because of that, while he would be inferior to alchemists who actually created magic items, he had enough confidence to consider himself a decent judge of them.
However... even for Rei, he couldn't understand what kind of magic item the giant crystal before him was.
He understood that it possessed the ability to produce water, but he couldn't grasp the principle behind it, and above all, he couldn't figure out how the magical power animating this crystal was being supplied.
Normally, a magic item operated using magical power as its energy source.
In that sense, this crystal had been running at the very least since it was first installed, and how that was possible was beyond Rei's comprehension.
"Are the Golems infusing it with magical power? No, but then there's also the question of how the Golems themselves are moving in the first place."
If they were golem monsters, that would be one thing, but the Golems inside this barrier were all identical in shape.
That was impossible for monsters, which meant these Golems were beings created through alchemy or earth magic and the like.
Naturally, since they weren't monsters, the Golems required magical power.
"Or perhaps they have some ability to absorb the magical power drifting in the air?"
It was common knowledge in this world that the air contained at least a small amount of magical power.
It was precisely because such magical power gathered for various reasons to form magic power pools that monsters were sometimes created from them.
In other words, in theory, if one could use the magical power in the air, magic items could be operated without limit.
However, that was merely theoretical.
Given that the magical power drifting in the air was truly minute, activating a magic item with it was difficult.
At the very least, Rei couldn't imagine it being enough to operate multiple high-performance Golems and, above all, to activate this crystal.
"Probably Esta Nor's... or perhaps the Zephyle Clan's unique technology."
In this case, it wasn't the disgraceful kind of unique technology where one country stole from another and insisted it was their own, but rather unique technology in the truest sense—something only the Zephyle Clan possessed.
"In that case, I should probably give up on taking this crystal with me."
Rei had been thinking that he would like to take it if possible.
After all, it was a crystal that unconditionally continued to produce water.
There were countless uses for it.
However, if one of the conditions for activating the crystal was that it had to be inside this barrier, then taking it would be meaningless.
Aside from that, since the Golems existed to maintain the environment within this barrier, if Rei tried to take the crystal, even the currently friendly Golems would surely resist.
Rei had no desire to fight the Zephyle Clan's own Golems... and not just one or two of them, either.
Furthermore, just as they had given him fruit, and just as they hadn't gotten angry when Set dove into the lake, the Golems were well-disposed toward Rei and Set.
Stealing a crystal that such beings were tending was something even Rei couldn't bring himself to do.
"Besides... if I steal this crystal, this scenery would undoubtedly be destroyed."
The fantastical environment atop this cliff was maintained by the crystal.
If Rei stole it, naturally, that environment would be destroyed.
Moreover, the water produced by the crystal became the river in the Forest of Magic, sustaining the lives of many creatures—animals, birds, and monsters alike.
If Rei took the crystal, the water flowing into the river would naturally disappear and the river would dry up.
If that happened, there was no doubt that a major disturbance would occur in the Forest of Magic.
Depending on the circumstances, monsters could overflow from the forest in search of water and head for the nearest town... Gilm.
Even the low-rank monsters of the Forest of Magic possessed considerable power.
Under such circumstances, if A-rank monsters like the Giant Wolf... or even S-rank monsters like the Crystal Dragon all surged toward Gilm, what would happen?
Because Gilm was a frontier, it also had many high-rank adventurers.
There were quite a number of alias holders like Rei as well.
In that case, they might ultimately be able to defeat the monsters that attacked Gilm, but at present, many people had gathered in Gilm seeking work for the expansion construction.
The majority of them were low-rank adventurers, or people who weren't even adventurers... and what would happen if such people encountered the monsters of the Forest of Magic was painfully obvious without even thinking about it.
Rei absolutely wanted to avoid pulling the trigger on that kind of major disturbance.
Moreover, it was widely known in Gilm that Rei was currently in the Forest of Magic taking his promotion exam.
After all, it had even become the subject of a bet.
"Yeah, this crystal is tempting, but no."
Rei made that judgment without hesitation, and upon abandoning the idea of taking the crystal, he looked at the surrounding scenery once more.
No matter how many times he looked, he never grew tired of it—a sight that made him feel as though he could keep gazing at it forever.
Taking in that scenery, Rei felt deeply that he was glad he had come to the Forest of Magic for this promotion exam.
During this exam, he had acquired and strengthened skills more than ever before.
And he had been able to come to a place like this as well, so the overall results were surely positive.
...Though he couldn't entirely dismiss the thought that fighting a being like the Crystal Dragon with just himself and Set had been questionable.