I had come quite a bit south from the area surrounding the capital.

Due to the convergence of several rivers, the river’s width had greatly increased.

If I went a little further south, I’d probably be able to see the village of Luban… but I figured I didn’t need to go that far and focused my investigation around here.

Unlike the morning and afternoon, it was getting close to sundown now, so there didn’t seem to be any ships on the river.

Thanks to that, I could fly around freely without worry.

So, I had been moving from place to place several times, but—something just wasn’t right…

“Fununununu…!”

After relocating to a new spot and focusing on the river below, I sensed the presence of a monster swimming lazily.

It wasn’t that strong, but underwater monsters are already a high hurdle for land-based ones…

So maybe this level of strength was enough.

In reality, I hadn’t seen any monsters near the river.

There were a few visible in the forest in the distance… but even after floating above the river for nearly an hour, I hadn’t seen a single monster approaching the riverbank.

There should be some fairly strong monsters out there too.

Maybe they understood the river area was dangerous.

But still…

“Nuun… Maybe I should’ve paid more attention to the river in normal times?”

Since I didn’t know what it usually looked like, I couldn’t tell if the current situation was abnormal.

At the very least, it didn’t seem like anything serious was happening…

Well, if something had happened, we would’ve received a report, and since there wasn’t one, I suppose it was fine.

“Funu…”

When I glanced to the west, the sky had started to turn red.

Maybe it was about time to head back?

I could go home, report what I saw today, and get further instructions then.

Alright… Time to head back!

◇

By the time I returned, the others who had been surveying around the city walls had already come back and finished reporting their findings.

The excavation work in the church district had only just begun, and it didn’t seem like there were any noticeable effects yet, but they were planning to conduct regular investigations during the construction period.

That was all going according to plan.

Then came my own report after acting separately.

I explained that nothing unusual had occurred along the eastern river, and apparently, that outcome had been anticipated.

Even though I could only give a half-baked report, they accepted it without issue.

Regardless of this particular situation, they’d originally instructed that any abnormalities should be reported immediately.

Since the river handles logistics from other regions, I guess they were always watching it closely.

However, when I asked a question, I was told to wait and ask later.

Maybe it was because we were in the office and surrounded by administrative officials?

◇

Now that night had fallen, the usual four of us were gathered in Seriana’s bedroom.

What we talked about wasn’t much different than usual.

Random chatter, work topics—it varied depending on the moment.

Fiora and Teresa were here too, so I figured I’d ask a little about today’s work. Come to think of it, even though Elena had already gone home, she somehow always seemed to know exactly what we talked about here.

And it’s not like anyone was taking meeting minutes…

When do they even talk?

Maybe I should ask her sometime.

“…Why are you tilting your head?”

At Seriana’s words, the other two looked over at me too.

“Hm? Oh, well, there’s something I wanted to ask about today’s investigation. You know, about what happened today…”

The conversation they were having reached a natural stopping point, so it was a good opportunity to bring up my question.

“Ah… That. There was a possibility that an unusually high concentration of mana might have flowed in through the waterways, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Normally, there are spots where the current stagnates, and if it flowed into one of those, it would become increasingly concentrated. When monsters or animals consume the water or water plants that have absorbed the mana, they can become aggressive. The underwater monsters aren’t that much of a concern, but the land monsters… There’s a magical region nearby, remember? There was a risk that they might go on a rampage there. Oh, and about your concern that your investigation might’ve been insufficient—don’t worry. If it was subtle enough that you couldn’t notice it at a glance, then there’s no problem.”

“…Hoh.”

So, to monsters, it’s kind of like getting high on drugs or something?

And if it’s not noticeable to me at a glance, then it hasn’t crossed that danger line.

That might be why Seriana’s instructions were a bit vague.

That explanation fits pretty well.

As I nodded along to Fiora’s explanation, Seriana chimed in again.

“There are adventurers and patrol soldiers in the forest, but we can’t exactly station people along the river, right? If we moved soldiers around too openly, it would cause a stir… So it was convenient that you went out instead.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

It hasn’t even been a month since the whole Undead incident, and if they suddenly started deploying troops again, people would get anxious.

At the same time, explaining every single thing in detail would also set a bad precedent if it became expected.

But if that’s the case, maybe my river patrols aren’t really needed?

I was planning to go for the next few days…

I wanted to get some exercise outside before winter really sets in, but I might not get the chance.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera ・Blessed Item・【Hideout】 +1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Garment】

Blessed Item・【Floating Orb】 +1【Shadow Sword】 +1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Lung of the Dragon】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Heavy Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards