"Whoa... it's already evening. I'd better pick up the pace."
"Gururu."
Seto let out a cry as if to agree.
In the end, Rei had fallen asleep while taking a break by the river, and by the time he woke, it was already well into the afternoon.
What surprised him most, though, was the fish pen that had been set up a short distance from where he'd been sleeping—a very simple one, but a fish pen nonetheless.
Seto had dug a hole in the ground, carved a simple channel to let river water flow in, and once enough water had accumulated to keep the fish from escaping, had placed stones from the vicinity into the channel to block it off. That was the extent of it.
Since Rei had dozed off right after Seto caught the fish, he hadn't been able to clean them and store them in the Misty Ring.
Left on the ground as they were, the fish would die.
But Seto hadn't wanted to wake Rei, who was sleeping soundly.
So Seto had hurriedly built the fish pen.
With a gryphon's high physical capabilities, throwing together a fish pen before the catch died was easy enough.
...He did fire a few Water Balls at the ground with their power dialed all the way down, and splashed water on the fish and things like that.
When Rei woke about an hour later, a proper fish pen was waiting there.
Surprised, Rei checked that fish were indeed inside, then praised Seto.
Then, figuring they might as well make a more proper one, they worked on it together.
He even went so far as to use Terrain Manipulation, a skill from Death Scythe.
The result was a considerably more substantial fish pen... but naturally, building something like that in the middle of the mountains where no one would ever come served no purpose. Coming to his senses, he ultimately reconnected the pen to the river so the fish could find their way back, albeit by a roundabout route.
Naturally, Rei cleaned the fish Seto had caught while he slept and stored them in the Misty Ring.
In any case, what was supposed to be a midday break had stretched to nearly evening, and after that he hurriedly climbed onto Seto and headed toward the Treant Forest.
(That said, even factoring in Seto's speed, it looks like we'll arrive at the Treant Forest quite late. In that case, maybe I should camp out somewhere for the night and get there tomorrow instead.)
The Treant Forest didn't have rules like Gilm, where the Main Gate closed at night to shut out visitors.
Even so, if Rei and Seto suddenly showed up in the middle of the night, it would leave a bad impression.
At the very least, Rei could only regard someone who showed up unannounced while he was sleeping as inconsiderate, and he wouldn't look favorably on them.
If the reason for the visit were an emergency, that would be another matter.
For that reason, Rei didn't want to leave a bad impression on the Fairy Chief, who would be crafting a Magic Item for him.
After all, Magic Items made by fairies were higher in performance and far rarer than those made by alchemists.
For Rei, who collected Magic Items as a hobby, maintaining a good relationship with such fairies was important.
"If there were a village or town nearby, I'd want to rent a room at an inn. Seto, let me know if you spot anything like that."
"Gurururu!"
Seto let out a cry that seemed to say "leave it to me."
Camping out was fine as a last resort, but wanting to sleep at an inn if possible was only natural for Rei.
Then again, Rei had a Magic Tent, and its interior was better equipped and more comfortable than some cheap inn.
In that sense, there were plenty of cases where the Magic Tent was actually the better option.
Seto flapped its wings and took to the sky.
Riding on Seto's back, Rei found himself captivated by the scenery all around, dyed deep red by the setting sun... and in that moment, something suddenly felt off.
"Hm? What is it?"
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what had triggered the feeling.
He couldn't identify it, but he understood that since he had sensed something, there must be something about this landscape.
"Guru?"
Seeing Rei staring at the sunset-dyed scenery, Seto must have sensed he had noticed something.
Seto purred toward Rei on its back, as if asking "what's wrong?"
Stroking the back of Seto's neck, Rei spoke with a slightly troubled expression.
"This view... it's beautiful from up here, but something feels off. Can you tell what's causing that feeling, Seto?"
"Guru? ...Gurururu."
Hearing Rei's words, Seto surveyed the ground below, bathed in red.
Rei possessed far sharper senses than an ordinary person, but Seto's senses were even sharper than his.
Being Seto, it studied the ground at Rei's words... and before long, let out a sharp cry.
"Guru!"
As if to say "Found it!" Rei followed Seto's gaze and stared intently in that direction.
At first he couldn't tell, but eventually he made out one particular patch of the sunset-dyed landscape shimmering waveringly.
Like the way heat rising from concrete on a midsummer day makes distant scenery shimmer... a kind of mirage, perhaps? He thought so, but it was now early autumn and not that hot.
If this were yesterday's Egginis, a similar phenomenon might have occurred due to the effects of Rei's magic... but this place was far from Egginis.
He couldn't imagine a mirage-like phenomenon occurring here.
If that was the case, then what lay ahead of Rei's gaze was something else entirely... but exactly what it was, unfortunately, even Rei didn't know.
(There's also the possibility that it just looks like that because of the sunset...)
It was a fairly well-known fact that nature sometimes produced completely unexpected, unbelievable sights.
What's more, compared to Japan... or Earth, this world had magic and mana.
Given that, perhaps it was some kind of natural phenomenon? He thought so, but the sight bothered him, so he asked Seto.
"That spot where it looks like there's a mirage... could you take me there? I'm curious, so let me check it out."
If Rei had been in a hurry, he wouldn't have had the luxury to do something like this.
But Rei wasn't particularly pressed for time.
If he had to name something, it would be finding a village or town to secure a place to sleep for the night... but even that no longer required desperate searching. The mirage-like phenomenon had seized his attention instead.
Seto, too, must have been intrigued by the shimmering landscape in response to Rei's words.
It turned toward it, flapping its wings and descending.
Naturally, given Seto's speed, they arrived in no time.
The place they landed was... right in front of where the mirage-like scenery appeared.
Even Seto couldn't plunge straight into the mirage in a situation like this.
There was probably concern about what might happen if it did.
Rei understood Seto's worry and dismounted.
It was only natural to wonder what this mirage was, or what lay beyond it.
"Alright, there's no telling what's ahead. Or maybe there's nothing at all, but with something this obviously like a mirage... or rather, an illusion? sitting right here, I think it's safe to assume there's something beyond. I don't think it's the fairies' doing, though."
Right when they were about to visit the fairies' dwelling in the Treant Forest, an illusion that looked like a fairy's prank had appeared.
Thinking that was a bit too convenient wasn't something only Rei would do.
Of course, there was also a very real possibility that this wasn't a fairy's prank... no, that possibility was actually overwhelmingly higher.
What lay ahead could only be determined by actually going and seeing for themselves.
And it might not be a fairy's prank at all—the possibility of some kind of monster being present couldn't be ruled out either.
This wasn't the frontier, so the likelihood of powerful monsters being here was low.
Even so, considering the worst case, letting down his guard wasn't an option.
Ready for anything, Rei retrieved Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from the Misty Ring.
Then, Rei and Seto took a step forward into the area where the scenery warped like a mirage.
And... beyond it, a perfectly ordinary landscape stretched out.
For a moment—had he made some kind of mistake?
Rei thought so, but beside him, Seto was staring intently at one particular spot.
Noticing Seto's gaze, Rei turned his attention that way, wondering what it was looking at... and at the end of that gaze, he saw something impossible.
No, not impossible.
He had seen one before in another town.
"A dungeon... core?"
Yes, what lay at the end of Rei's gaze was a dungeon core.
However, it seemed considerably weaker than any dungeon core he had seen before.
An exposed dungeon core had also existed in Baal, where he had gone during the Magic Fever incident, but the dungeon core currently before Rei had concealed its appearance using a mirage—though that was the only thing it was doing.
(The most likely explanation is that it's still in a state before it's fully started functioning as a dungeon... something like that. In a way, I guess you could call it lucky?)
The place where Rei and Seto currently were was far off the main road.
Normally, no one would travel through such a place, but for Rei, who had Seto to fly through the sky, traveling off the road wasn't difficult.
...Though it did mean he often got lost.
Regardless, finding a dungeon core in a place like this, far from the main road, before it fully developed into a dungeon was, in a way, fate.
Rei held Death Scythe and approached the dungeon core.
As if to intimidate him, the dungeon core began to blink with light.
But mere blinking couldn't possibly do anything to Rei...
"Sorry."
With that single word, he swung Death Scythe.
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Terrain Manipulation Lv.6']
An announcement echoed in his mind.
Just as before, destroying the dungeon core with Death Scythe had raised the level of Terrain Manipulation.
(So Terrain Manipulation is now Level 6. That means I've destroyed six dungeon cores. Come to think of it, haven't I actually cleared quite a few dungeons? ...Well, I destroyed every single one of those dungeon cores with Death Scythe. Oh wait, the one that got me to Level 5 wasn't a dungeon core, it was the Dragonias Queen. But even so, the fact remains that I've destroyed five dungeon cores.)
As he was thinking along those lines, Seto rubbed its body against Rei with a purr.
The announcement message that echoed in Rei's mind was, naturally, also heard by Seto, who was connected to him through mana.
Conversely, when Seto absorbed a magic stone and acquired a skill, a similar announcement would play in Rei's mind as well.
"Thanks, Seto. Anyway... there's no one here, so this is perfect. Let's test out Terrain Manipulation."
This wasn't limited to Terrain Manipulation—every skill became dramatically more powerful upon reaching Level 5.
In the case of Terrain Manipulation, at Level 4, Rei could raise or lower the ground within a 70-meter radius centered on himself by 150 centimeters. At Level 5, that range expanded to a 1-kilometer radius with 5 meters of vertical change.
Given that, it was only natural to want to test just how powerful the now Level 6 Terrain Manipulation was.
"Alright, here we go, Seto. I think it'll probably be fine, but stay alert just in case."
"Gurururu!"
Seto purred as if to say "leave it to me" in response.
After confirming Seto was ready, Rei planted the butt end of Death Scythe into the ground...
"Terrain Manipulation!"
The moment he shouted those words, the ground shifted dramatically.
"Whoa!"
The movement was far greater than expected, and despite being the one who had caused it, a voice of dismay slipped from Rei's mouth.
But... that was only natural.
After all, he could now raise or lower the ground within a 2-kilometer radius by approximately 10 meters.
It would take a little more time before Rei noticed that the effect was exactly double what it had been at Level 5.
And once he did, he found himself wondering—would the effect double with each additional level from here on? Should he be happy about that? Surprised? Or perhaps troubled? He wasn't quite sure what to feel.