Although Rei managed to destroy the dungeon core that he found inside the storage facility, slimes had already been produced by the dungeon core. Purple fog would be emitted by them whether they were left alone or destroyed. Rei went out of the storage facility to inform the guards about the danger of the mist when he saw the two guards fallen on the ground.

  「Tch-, is this fog poisonous after all!?」


  Rei rushed over to the two people who had collapsed and fallen to the ground……


  「……!?」


  One of the guards noticed him and turned his eyes towards Rei desperately.

  「This, this isn’t poison. ……Paralysis!?」


  He heard Rei’s words. Although he could hardly move his body, the guard somehow managed a small nod.

  (Damn it, this purple fog must have a paralysis effect. Why didn’t it have any effect on me or Set? Considering Magic Fever, is it still about the amount of magic power?. No, I have to take action instead of worrying right now.)

  Looking towards the storage facility he had just come out of, purple fog was overflowing out of every gap in the building, including the open doors.

  「Set!」


  「Gururu~!」


  Understanding what Rei wanted to say he gave a sharp cry and turn his back to Rei.

  Seeing that, Rei put both the guards he was carrying onto Set’s back before getting on himself.

  Normally, Set would only be able to fly with one person on him. But fortunately, there was no need to fly. If he was running along the ground, having two more people on his back wasn’t too big of an issue.

  「Let’s go. Any how, we have to meet up with Southernus!」


  「Gururururu~!」


  The two of them nodded at each other before leaving the storage facility.

  Fortunately for the residents of Baar, the dungeon core had appeared in a storage facility with few houses in the surrounding area. Because of that, the damage caused by the purple fog was much less than if it had appeared in the middle of the city. But.

  「Run away-! Coming in contact with that fog will paralyze you and you won’t be able to move!」


  To say that there were few houses, it meant that there were almost none. Because of that, Rei ran towards the city center where the guild and lord’s residence was while shouting.

  Whether the purple fog had any sort of will, unlike ordinary fog, after covering the storage facility, it started moving very, very slowly.

  For that reason, the residents in the area who heard Rei’s shouts also detected the abnormality and the vast majority managed to escape it.

  「What, what is that fog! Purple fog!? Such a thing, I’ve never heard or seen anything like it around here!」


  「Father, my father is still inside the house, ill with Magic Fever!」


  「Regrus, where are you, Regrus!?」


  A man shouted in a frenzy while a woman desperately tried to escape from the fog but was unable to help her family. A mother similarly looked for her child, who could not be seen.

  Seeing the state of the residents, Rei bit his lips before shouting again.

  「Head for the city center! If you stay here, you won’t be able to move inside the fog!」


  While shouting, Rei headed for the city center as he saw the people in the area begin to move.

  Meanwhile, a few residents just stood on the spot. Maybe their spirits were broken after seeing this phenomenon after the case of Magic Fever, but they just stared at the fog moving towards them.

  「Rei!」


  Rei arrived near the city center and stopped to take a breath when he suddenly heard someone call out to him. It went without saying who the voice belonged to, as Rei had been working with him since morning.

  「Southernus!」


  「What the hell is going on!? What is that purple fog!?」


  Southernus was also confused, grabbing Rei’s Dragon Robe at the chest before pulling him over and shouting.

  Fortunately, the speed of the fog was very slow and had not moved very far from the eastern storage facility. Because of that, most of the people who lived in the eastern side of the city had managed to gather at the city center, close to several hundred people. In such a situation, the reason why Southernus was able to find Rei immediately was probably because of Set, who as a Griffon was very conspicuous.

  「Calm down. You are the captain of the guards, the residents of the city will also feel uneasy. ……I will explain. But first of all I have to report to Diarog-san and the guild master. Please lead me there.」


  「……I understand.」


  Giving a small nod, Southernus quickly gave some instructions to the guards nearby to carry the guards on Set’s back before guiding them to the lord’s residence. Set went up to the roof of a nearby building at Rei’s request to monitor the fog for any changes.

  The guards had opened up the lord’s residence and was currently housing the elderly, children and the sick. While seeing all that, Rei passed through to Diarog’s office.

  Inside the office, aside from Diarog and Seis, there were several elderly and middle aged men and women. The moment Rei entered the room, several people tried to speak with expressions asking what he had done when Seis spoke up as if to warn the others

  「Ahh, you’ve come. Can you explain what’s going on?」


  「……Yes. In short, the dungeon core that Southernus and I found is probably the cause of Magic Fever.」


  Dungeon core. The rest of them had heard the story from Diarog when Southernus had gone outside. However, when those words of confirmation came from Rei, the people who were going to complain stopped to hear the rest of the story.

  「So, then can I assume that the purple fog that is raising havoc outside is caused by the dungeon core?」


  Rei nodded at Seis’s words. Of course, he continued his explanation when Southernus and the people in the surroundings continued to look at him.

  「With all that said, when something at the level of a dungeon core appeared, I didn’t want to make a decision on my own and sent Southernus to Diarog-san and Seis-san for further instructions. But……」


  「Mm. We were listening to Southernus when this incident happened.」


  「Yes. After Southernus ran out to report this, I was watching over the dungeon core to make sure nothing would happen. Fortunately, it seemed to had settled down and nothing was happening in particular ……」


  「Then something happened?」


  「Yes. The dungeon core started to pulse and suddenly released a countless number of irregularly shaped slimes.」


  「……Slimes」


  In the office, a middle aged man muttered in surprise.

  It was a matter of course. Even though they were worrying about an event that could destroy the city, they were told the cause was slimes. To the man, he only see it as a joke. It was the same for everyone else, except for three people. Only Diarog, Seis and Southernus saw differently. Seis knew how much magic power Rei had. For Diarog, Rei was dispatched by Marina, his former party member, and Seis, his good friend, also vouched for his ability. And more than anything, as a former adventurer, Diarog could feel Rei’s ability. Similarly, Southernus could also tell Rei’s strength to a certain level.

  「Was it just slimes?」


  Seis spoke up to interrupt the middle aged man who was about to continue speaking.

  He did that because now wasn’t the time to argue about who was to blame

  Rei gave a brief nod at Seis before continuing to explain.

  「Yes. They started to emit purple fog from their bodies. I judged that they were dangerous and attacked them, but when they received fatal damage, they would disappear and turn their entire body into purple fog.」


  「Purple fog. ……I see. So that is the cause of the fog in the east right now. On that note, do you know the effect of the fog?」


  At Seis’s question, what came to Rei’s mind were the appearances of the two guards who watched over the eastern storage facility.

  Although he didn’t examine their symptoms in detail, it was obvious that their bodies were paralyzed and couldn’t move. At the same time, even if Rei breathed in the purple fog, they could still move.

  「What know is that if you inhale or come in contact with the fog, it will paralyze you. That is what happened to the two guards who were at the front of the eastern storage facility. However, that is only the immediate effect, there is a possibility there are still other effects. And……」


  「And?」


  「Set and I were able to move normally in the fog. In particular I killed a lot of slimes that created a lot of fog. Nevertheless, I don’t feel any paralysis in my body. ……I think, the same as with Magic Fever, if you have a certain level of magic power, you won’t be affected by it.」


  If you had enough magic power, you could ignore the effects of the fog. The people in the office gave a sigh of relief, knowing that they could deal with it somehow.

  However, there was someone who didn’t feel good about what was said. It was Southernus, who had been listening to Rei’s story in the room.

  「Rei, please wait a moment. Just to double check, but the guards who were at the front of the storage facility were paralyzed? Were they the guards we talked to when we entered the storage area?」


  「Mm? Ah. That is correct.」


  Seeing Rei nod, he frowned slightly and gave a sigh before speeaking.

  「In that case……for Diarog-san, Seis-can, and everyone else. This might be a bit dangerous.」


  「……I see.」


  At Southernus’s words, Rei realised what he meant. Seis also had a bitter expression on his face.

  Next to him, Diarog also had a frown on his face.

  「What’s the matter? If you can move around in that fog, is there a way to deal with it?」


  At the doubtful question from one of the influential people in the city, Southernus shook his head and spook up again.

  「The eastern storage facility. ……Or rather, all the guards that were on duty today were ones who had enough magic power to not be taken down by the Magic Fever that spread recently. In other words, in order to ignore the effects of the fog, you need to have more magic power than was needed to ignore the effects of Magic Fever.」


  「Do you know exactly how much is required?」


  「Unfortunately, no. According to Seis-san, Rei has an enormous amount of magic power, so I think his body just ignored any effects from the fog.」


  「Then, do we have to entrust the fate of this city. the destruction of the dungeon core, to that Rei over there!?」


  Did they have to entrust the fate of the city to an adventurer from another city and not their own? Not including the fact that Rei still looked like a kid. Although a middle aged man knocked his fist against his knee in indignation, Rei interrupted there.

  「Southernus. I forgot to mention, but the dungeon core has already been destroyed. It kept producing those fog creating slimes, so although I wanted to hear from you what the decision about the dungeon core was, I had to take emergency measures. 」


  『……』


  The surrounding went silent at Rei’s words.

  Of course it wasn’t silence due to despair. It was silence due to simple shock.

  After all, when they were all worried about how to destroy the dungeon core that was producing the paralyzing purple fog, they were told that the cause of it all had already been destroyed.

  「……By any chance, was the decision to turn the city into a labyrinth city?」


  Although Rei asked with a bad feeling due to the silence in the surroundings, his worries were unfounded.

  The next moment, the faces of those in the office shined with hope.

  Diarog, the leader in the room, approached Rei with an excited expression and clapped Rei’s should heavily several times.

  With Diarog’s strength, Rei might actually have been hurt if he had worn an ordinary robe instead of the Dragon Robe.

  「You’ve done well. Certainly, destroying the dungeon core is regrettable, but it’s not that big of an issue if it will hurt the city. The only thing I’m in charge of is protecting the safety of the city’s residents. No, you’ve done really well. Seis!」


  After praising Rei, he called out to Seis.

  His expression was already no longer full of excitement as it was a moment ago but instead was the expression of his position as the acting lord of the city. The speed at which he could change his mood demonstrated his excellence.

  And Seis, having been with Diarog for a long time, immediately nodded back.