The Scorching Hell showed no sign of subsiding even after the Necro Golem had been completely annihilated—incinerated.
"Guruu."
Seto landed beside Rei with a purr as the two of them watched the distant inferno.
Judging by Seto's demeanor, he looked quite refreshed. He had probably vented all the stress that had been building up against the Necro Golem by attacking it to his heart's content. Rei's magic had been extremely effective against the creature as well, but even so, the whole experience must have been satisfying enough for Seto.
That said, the very measures they had taken to destroy the Necro Golem had birthed a Scorching Hell in the surrounding area, and its heat showed no sign of fading.
"Well, what do you think we should do about this? We managed to defeat the Necro Golem, but we can't just leave things as they are."
If it sustained even a slight wound, it would leak rot fluid, and wherever that rot fluid touched, poison smoke would rise. To prevent the surroundings from being damaged by such rot fluid and poison smoke, burning the substances themselves away had been the quickest solution.
Burning liquids and gases was a strange way to phrase it, but Rei's magic made even such reckless feats possible. That was why he had unleashed his magic—not just once, but four consecutive spells. As a result, they had managed to destroy the Necro Golem, but the side effect was that the surrounding temperature had risen considerably.
Rei did not know it at this very moment, but even in Egginis, the temperature had risen by nearly ten degrees. The heat had only just settled down and the season had turned to autumn, yet now it felt as though they had been thrust back into the height of summer. No—with a rise of nearly ten degrees, it was undoubtedly even hotter than summer.
"Gurururu, gururu, gurururururu."
Seto purred in response to Rei's words. Rei understood him to be saying that there was nothing they could do about this situation, so they should hurry back to Egginis.
In truth, he wasn't wrong. In this current situation, there was no point in Rei trying to do anything himself. Well, in reality, there were things they could do if they tried—Seto could use ice or water attribute skills like Ice Arrow or Water Ball, or Rei could attempt to extinguish the fire with water created by the Jet-Black Dagger.
However, Rei still could not be certain whether the Necro Golem that had burned away inside the Scorching Hell was truly dead. After taking that much magic, the chances of it still being alive were quite slim. But the problem was that the enemy was not a living creature like a monster—it was a Necro Golem. It was not a living creature but a golem... an existence close to a kind of Magic Item. On top of that, the Necro Golem was an entity born from Dailas absorbing corpses. Given such a special existence, the possibility that it was still surviving even inside that Scorching Hell could not be denied.
Even so, I don't think it's actually lively or anything. Even if it is alive, inside that Scorching Hell, there's a good chance it'll die given enough time. As for matters around here, it's better to leave them to people like Robel and Dwanda rather than me fretting over it.
After glancing at the Scorching Hell, Rei called out to Seto.
"Well, we can't stay here forever. It's about time we headed back. You don't want to stay in a hot place for too long either, right, Seto?"
"Guruu!"
Seto purred as if to say "of course." For Seto, the heat was endurable, but that didn't mean he wanted to stay in a hot place by choice. It was only natural for him to prefer somewhere more comfortable.
Hearing Seto's cry, Rei straddled his back.
"Alright, let's go. The objective of defeating the Necro Golem is done. We're heading back to Egginis!"
"Gururururu!"
Seto let out a happy cry and, with a few running steps, flapped his wings and took flight toward Egginis.
"Whoa... well, I suppose this was to be expected."
What Rei saw upon returning to Egginis was the sight of people clearing away the collapsed main gate—or more precisely, the remains of its frame. The main gate was a place of authority for Egginis. Given that, they could not leave it destroyed with rubble piled up as it was.
One of the people clearing the rubble suddenly noticed Seto flying in the sky. Once one person spotted him, others followed, and many people became aware of Seto's presence. When they saw Rei and Seto leisurely flying through the sky, those who understood the meaning of it raised voices of joy.
"Uwooooooh! Look, look! It's Rei and Seto! It's Rei and Seto! It's Rei and Seto!"
"The Necro Golem didn't come back, and Rei and Seto did... that means they defeated the Necro Golem! In other words, Egginis survived! We survived!"
People began making a commotion. In Egginis, Rei and Seto's names had not been all that widely known. They were known to some extent as the adventurer with the alias of Crimson, but those who actually knew his face outside of adventurers were not that many. However, during the battle against the Necro Golem that had occurred in Egginis, that name had spread explosively. There were also those who had seen him walking through the city with Seto and remembered Rei's face.
By now, many people knew Rei's name and recognized his face. Above all, since he was accompanied by Gryphon Seto, there was no one but Rei who would have such a companion. It was no mistake that many people identified him as such.
With those gazes directed at him, Rei asked Seto to descend toward the ground. Looking up close, he could see that many of the workers were sweating heavily. The reason they were sweating was undoubtedly the magic Rei had used to defeat the Necro Golem.
Should I apologize about the magic? ...No, I don't think apologizing for that would help. Saying anything here would probably just confuse them. In that case...
Instead of apologizing, Rei said something else.
"I defeated the Necro Golem. Far away from here, it burned to ash and vanished. The place where I burned it is still quite hot, so no one can approach to check, but after enough time passes, you should be able to confirm the remains. Actually, it's more likely it burned so thoroughly that there won't even be any remains, so I don't think you'll find anything even if you go to where it burned."
The people who heard Rei's words initially seemed not to understand and harbored doubts. But in the next moment, they raised a cheer.
"Wuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The cheer, loud enough to echo throughout the surrounding area, was perfectly audible not only to those clearing rubble near the main gate but also to those working inside Egginis. At the sudden outcry, some people were initially shaken, wondering if some other golem or monster, or perhaps bandits from the mountains, had come. But when they realized the voices were not screams but cheers, they didn't understand what had happened, but judged that it was at least not something bad for them.
Upon making that judgment, they naturally became curious about what had happened. As the gazes of the people inside Egginis turned toward the remains of the main gate, Rei and Seto appeared from there. At that point, many people were naturally able to understand the reason for the cheering at the gate. Rei and Seto had returned, and the Necro Golem was gone. That explained everything.
Cheers went up once more, and the workers clearing rubble inside Egginis who heard them had doubts... and so the cheers spread, until eventually it seemed as though all of Egginis was raising a cheer.
I guess it shows just how much of a threat the Necro Golem was... but in this situation, what am I supposed to do?
Thinking about it normally, defeating the Necro Golem was something that needed to be reported to Egginis's top authorities. And since Dailas had betrayed them and Lusitania had died, that meant reporting to Robel and Dwanda. However, in the current situation in Egginis, Rei did not even know where Robel and the others were, and he had been wondering where to go from here...
"Rei, it seems you are safe."
"Brother Rei, glad to see you're safe, ssu."
At the suddenly heard familiar voices, Rei turned his gaze. At the end of his gaze were Maruka and Nicky. Seeing them there as though nothing had happened, looking the same as always, one might almost wonder if the main street that the Necro Golem had passed through suffering major damage was some kind of mistake. That said, looking around at the surroundings again, he could understand that was not the case.
"Yeah, there were various problems, but I managed. So, why are you two in a place like this?"
"It should be obvious that we came to meet you. I have heard there were various circumstances, but you could have told me and Nicky, could you not?"
At Maruka's words, Rei thought about when the last time he had seen her was. In reality, not that many days had passed since he last parted with Maruka, but so many things had happened in that time that it felt as though it had been a very long time since he had seen Maruka and Nicky.
"Sorry, a lot happened on my end too. But you're right. I should have contacted you sooner. So, you said you came to meet me, but whose errand are you running? Or rather, is it even appropriate for someone in Maruka's position to do something like that?"
Maruka was chatting casually with Rei, but her family was Duke Quento's House. It was a house that held strong influence within the King's Faction, one of the Three Great Factions of the Mireana Kingdom. A ducal house was an existence with a rank second only to the Royal Family. Whether a daughter of such a ducal house should be running errands like a messenger—in a sense, it was only natural for Rei to wonder.
"Normally, there would be various problems... but given the current situation in Egginis, one could hardly call it normal, could they? In that case, I too should do what I can."
"That's the gist of it, ssu. Though, in this situation, there's nothing for the young lady to do, ssu."
"Haa," Nicky let out a big, ostentatious sigh. If monsters or bandits or the like were attacking Egginis right now, then Maruka, who possessed power, and her guard Nicky would have had a turn to deal with them. But currently, there were no enemies to speak of. The Necro Golem, the one and greatest enemy, had been incinerated by Rei and Seto. Or perhaps, when it came to dealing with building debris all at once, Maruka's magic might have been useful, but unfortunately, there was no such request at the moment.
"Well, that's fine. So, Maruka, are you working in cooperation with Robel and the others?"
"Indeed. Various things happened even while you were away, Rei. There were even those who meaninglessly blamed the people of this city, but for the time being, that has somehow been managed."
Somehow managed?
For a moment, Rei wondered about that, but he decided he didn't particularly need to ask. To begin with, he felt that even if he asked, it would not be an entertaining topic for him by any means. That was why, rather than asking about such things, he simply went along with being guided by Maruka.
It never even crossed his mind that Maruka might be connected to the Dolan Workshop or Dailas. As far as Rei was concerned, he knew Maruka's personality well enough. There was no way she would be in a cooperative relationship with the Dolan Workshop or Dailas—that should have been the last thing he needed to consider.
"Alright, then I'll leave the guiding to you. Where are we going? The place where the Holy Four Assembly was held was completely destroyed by the Necro Golem."
"The building that is effectively running Egginis."
In this case, "effectively" did not mean that Robel and Dwanda were figurehead authorities, but rather referred to the place where the clerical workers were working—a place similar to a government office.
Rei understood that from Maruka's explanation and obediently followed along. And so, Rei proceeded down the main street of Egginis, chatting with Maruka and Nicky as they went.