The Magic Tower's Strange Investigation Quest #3
The Magic Tower's Strange Investigation Quest #3
A stream in Morris Forest.
Every living creature here had swollen to enormous sizes.
The sparsely growing trees were all gigantic, like centuries-old ancient timbers. The grass reached up to my thighs, as if it had been gorging on something strange, and mushrooms sprouting from tree trunks were the size of boulders.
"Whoa."
"Th-They're fucking huge!"
Rebecca and I couldn't keep our mouths shut as we surveyed the streambank.
I wondered if this was how a halfling felt, visiting the world of humans for the first time. The giantification phenomenon, seen in the flesh, was more astonishing than anything I'd imagined.
"Wow. The giantification's progressed way more than what I heard at the Magic Tower! It's a good thing we took the quest and came before it was too late."
Lili started chattering in an excited tone.
"I'm only a student, so I don't know everything... but I have heard about the fundamental cause of the magical phenomenon. It's mana contamination."
"Mana contamination?"
"The atmosphere of the Midgard Continent carries a mysterious energy called mana. You're a mage too, Luke, so you know about mana, right?"
"Yes, I know the basics."
"Mana normally has the property of circulating like air. But on rare occasions, mana can stagnate in one area. When that happens, the mana takes on impurities and begins to become contaminated. That contaminated mana causes magical phenomena across the continent. It's as if nature itself is casting magic—"
The circulating nature of mana.
Contamination occurs the moment it stagnates.
The explanation was making my head unnecessarily complicated. I decided to just file it away as: all of this shit is happening because of goddamn mana.
"Insane—."
The moment the explanation ended, a dragonfly buzzed right past my eyes. The sound of its wings was so loud I almost mistook it for a drone taking off.
Staring at a dragonfly the size of my forearm, someone suddenly came to mind.
A director from a AAA game I'd obsessively played in my past life.
'Todoki Hawado-san of Bethesda.'
Here is your giant bug, the one you love so much.
Seeing it in person, it's detailed as fuck.
"That's enough sightseeing for now. The goal of this investigation quest is to collect samples of the giantified flora and fauna. Cut off small pieces of the large things you see around you and bring them to me. For moving animals, drawing blood will do the trick."
Lili briskly handed out instructions to me and Rebecca. She had the style of someone who'd naturally take the team leader role in a group project. The three of us split up and started collecting samples of the giantified lifeforms.
Tree bark.
Mushroom epidermis.
Plant roots, things like that.
For animals, I found several raccoons while searching near the streambank. They were washing their food in the stream. Those raccoons had also swollen up to nearly the size of young wild boars.
"Kyarururururung. Kyarururururung!!"
The raccoons bared their teeth the moment they saw me and Rebecca.
True to their shitty personalities, they were shrieking at us with a sound like a motor revving.
But Rebecca and I, facing those obnoxious raccoons, were thoroughly motivated by greed. Thinking about the one silver we'd get for finishing this request, even nonexistent courage surged up inside us.
After all, an adventurer's drive always rises in proportion to the pay.
Rebecca and I made short work of the raccoons.
"Don't get cocky, you raccoon bastards!"
I vented my pent-up feelings by blasting mana spheres at the raccoons.
Every time a sphere hit, a raccoon's body burst open with a pop.
"Raccoon bastards...? What's that supposed to be?"
"A nickname we had for raccoons back in my hometown."
"A cute nickname—."
Rebecca and I gathered up the dead raccoons and brought them to Lili.
When we brought the bodies over, Lili took a glass jar out of the backpack she was carrying.
Then she drew blood from the raccoons into the glass jar.
"We're still short on sample variety with just this. Looks like we'll need to collect quite a bit more."
Lili's backpack, containing the samples, was only about half full.
From the look of things, I couldn't expect the work to end until that backpack was completely stuffed.
Around the time Lili finished drawing all the blood from the raccoons.
Rebecca suddenly spoke up, her voice almost thoughtful.
"Now that I think about it, I saw a weird flower in the forest."
"A weird flower?"
"A bright red flower was blooming on the dirt ground. It had a really grotesque shape. Usually when you think of flowers, they're mostly pretty, right? But that red flower, its petals looked like a human tongue... I nearly gagged looking at it."
"Petals like a human tongue? There's a flower like that in Morris Forest?"
Just as I furrowed my brow in confusion.
Lili suddenly drew close to Rebecca and spoke with an urgent voice.
"A red flower, you say? You really saw it?"
"Huh? Uh... I definitely saw it."
"A red flower with petals like a tongue! That's an invaluable sample we absolutely can't miss! Where exactly did you see that flower?"
"Up-upstream by the bank. I found it following the stream all the way up..."
"Let's go there right now! Pack your things and follow me!"
Lili, having Rebecca lead the way, hurried up the streambank toward the upper reaches. As it turned out, Rebecca hadn't been seeing things. In the upper reaches of the stream, a red flower bloomed atop a mound of dirt.
Its size was enormous, beyond any comparison with ordinary flowers.
To the eye, the diameter alone seemed to exceed five meters. I'd spent plenty of time in Morris Forest, but this red flower was a plant I'd never seen before.
The moment I stepped closer to the flower, I pinched my nose shut.
"Ugh..."
A horrific stench saturated the entire area.
A smell like rotting meat was wafting from the flower.
"That stench is fierce."
"This plant is called a Big Rafflesia. It's an unidentified flower that appears in regions where the giantification phenomenon is occurring. I've heard that the fragrance this flower emits further accelerates the giantification."
"Huh? So aren't we in danger right now? We won't just turn into giants from standing around, will we?"
"Relax. Just smelling it for a day or two won't cause any changes to your body. Though I have heard a ridiculous story. Something about how if you keep a Rafflesia by your side and live with it for a month, it has an effect that makes your chest grow bigger—."
"An effect that makes your chest bigger! Whoa!"
So just smelling this flower could produce big breasts?
It was a treasure of a flower for those who prefer huge tits.
Big tits overflowing with maternal love.
If big tits became more common, it would be a benefit to everyone.
The babies she'd give birth to, of course, but also the partner sharing her bed.
"This is no time to plug your nose, Rebecca."
I subtly poked Rebecca in the side.
"They say smelling the flower makes your chest bigger. Don't hold your breath, take it all in. Suck up all the air with diaphragmatic breathing!"
"You crazy bastard."
Rebecca turned her head away with an incredulous look.
Seeing her still pinching her nose with her fingers, I let out a sigh. Personally, I preferred big tits, after all. As far as I was concerned, the bigger the chest, the better.
Fortunately, what Lili said next allowed me to shake off my lingering attachment.
"No need to be too interested. It's just a baseless rumor floating around the Magic Tower. No one's actually experimented with such a foolish claim, after all."
Lili tore off a piece of a petal and stashed it away, then gave me and Rebecca our next instructions.
"This much should be enough for a flower sample... But we can't just leave the Rafflesia here. If we abandon this flower, the giantification will accelerate. It needs to be dealt with here and now, the moment we've found it."
"Can't we just cut it down?"
"No—. To dispose of it reliably, the flower needs to be burned. Do either of you happen to have a tool that can start a fire?"
At Lili's question, Rebecca and I exchanged a look.
I didn't have any fire-starting tools, and it seemed Rebecca didn't have one either.
Adventurers usually carry a flint with them to start fires. A specially-made flint sold for adventurers at the city blacksmiths. But since it's a consumable and pricey, I'd never gotten around to buying one.
"Looks like neither of us has one. A fire-starting tool, I mean."
"Is that so... That's a problem. As a mage of the Magic Tower, I can't just leave such an ominous flower and walk away..."
Lili, lost in thought, suddenly snapped her fingers a moment later as if something had occurred to her.
For some reason, Lili's eyes were fixed straight on me.
"Luke, you might be able to solve this!"
"Who? Me?"
"Attack spells include a type of magic that creates a small flame, right? Fire Magic! It's a spell taught to elemental mages—you can use it too, can't you, Luke?"
I was at a loss for words at the unexpected question.
Because I had never imagined this girl would ask for a spell other than Magic Missile.
I thought all I had to do was roughly hurl spheres around and act as an escort, but getting a request to use fire magic was something else entirely.
Beside me, Rebecca whispered in a small voice.
"...What do we do? You can't use fire magic, right?"
"Yeah."
"Just be honest and admit you don't know it. The only magic you've learned is magic spheres and water magic."
Rebecca had a point.
In this situation, I should just be honest with the client.
But the moment she pointed that out, I felt a sharp pang in my chest.
A mage who can't even conjure up a tiny flame.
It made me look so incompetent.
"No, scratch that."
I felt my pride surge up.
Pride that wouldn't let me admit my own incompetence here.
"Actually, I can use it. Fire magic."
"Wha, what? You're serious?"
"Fire magic is nothing, it's easy. Miss Lili. Did you say you need a fire?"
"Yes. You can use it, right? Fire magic?"
"Of course. But I need a tool to cast the magic. Please wait here while I go prepare it."
"Take all the time you need! It seems you require a catalyst for your magic."
I scrounged around the streambank and picked up a thick piece of wood. Using my dagger, I split the wood to make a flat, thin board, and carved a long stick from the leftover piece.
Soon, I laid the board on the ground and gripped the stick in my hand.
"What did you make a stick and a board for?"
At Rebecca's question, Lili put on a knowledgeable air.
Lili snapped her fingers as she opened her mouth.
"In my opinion, Luke, I think you're planning to draw a Magic Circle! You're going to scratch the ground with the stick and draw a Magic Circle, right? If it's magic that activates by constructing a Magic Circle, then it's Rune Magic!"
"Rune Magic. That's a cool-sounding name."
"Yes! It's a method of casting magic by arranging a language imbued with mysterious power! This is truly astonishing. Even the professors find Rune Magic to be a highly difficult magical system to master. How is it that a wandering mage can use Rune Magic—?"
"Hmm. Impressive. I'm seeing you in a new light, Luke."
Rebecca and Lili looked at me with faces full of expectation.
There was a hint of respect in Rebecca's voice.
It was nice that they were hyping me up, but their chatter was grating on my nerves.
I raised my index finger to my lips in a shushing gesture.
"Shh—."
"Ah, understood. I'll just watch."
"Hurry up and show us the Rune Magic."
The two women clamped their mouths shut, their gazes focused on me.
Only then could I finally concentrate and begin my work.
"Fire."
Spinning round and round.
I rotated the stick atop the flat wooden board.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape!!
All you need to start a fire is stamina and grit.
"Luke...?"
Lili called my name, but I kept rubbing the stick without answering. At this point, I could no longer stop.
If I stopped here, I'd be a fool. If I succeeded, I'd be a hero.
"Hryaaaaaaap—!!"
Ten minutes.
That was how long I kept rubbing the stick without stopping.
During that time, I put my faith in nothing but my own muscles.
"Fire—!!!!"
The moment I chanted the spell's name with a majestic voice, smoke began to rise from the flat board.
The instant I saw the smoke, I spun the stick with every last ounce of my strength.
FWOOSH—!!
Then a miracle occurred.
At long last, a tiny flame flickered to life atop the board!
"As you requested, I have started the fire."
I raised the burning wooden board into the air with great dignity.
Lili stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Weren't you supposed to be a mage? Why are you starting a fire like a caveman?"
"I'm Luke, the Physical Mage."