Day two of the demon realm's frontier development.
The tasks at hand were the same as before.
Rest left Viola and Primula behind and set out for the center of the plains with the same party as yesterday.
They simply had to retrace the route they'd already taken. This time, they arrived in even less time than on the first day.
"This is...!"
However, Rest and the others were forced to stop almost immediately.
Before them spread the same scene as yesterday.
The same scene as yesterday — in other words, a landscape of abnormally overgrown grass and trees so dense that the plains looked more like a forest.
"The grass I burned is back to normal... in just one night...?"
That was right — the grass Rest had burned with magic had grown back up to waist height.
Fast-growing weeds or not, this was clearly abnormal.
"So this is what the demon realm is like... This is absurd."
Rest let out a sigh.
Behind him, Lubeth and Isis were staring at the overgrown vegetation with troubled expressions, while Yuri cheerfully tore at the grass.
"What... do you intend to do about this, Count Clover?"
The knight Argil asked, his voice tinged with a sigh.
"At this rate, we won't be able to fulfill His Highness Andrew's orders. With this much overgrowth, both the survey and the culling of monsters will be obstructed."
Argil was right.
The orders given to Rest and his party were to survey the center of the plains and carry out the subjugation of monsters.
However, with this much grass growing, visibility was poor as well—neither the terrain nor any monsters could be seen clearly.
"Reporting this to the Prince aside... it seems we'll need to put in some extra effort."
"Is extra effort even going to make a difference? This looks like more of a pain than I expected."
Lubeth drew his sword and mowed down the weeds in a sweeping bundle.
From the severed cross-sections of the grass, golden grains of mana scattered and fell like crumbs.
"Look. The cut parts have already started to regrow. Give it a few hours and it'll be right back to how it was."
Lubeth looked down at the weeds he had just cut, furrowing his brow.
The cross-sections of the severed grass were slowly... at a speed you would never notice unless someone pointed it out, but repair had already begun.
Even if they burned it all away like yesterday, as long as even the slightest bit of root remained, it would regrow.
"Can't we just set up a barrier and drain the Dragon Vein's mana until there's nothing left?"
The cause of the weeds' abnormal growth was the immense mana gushing from the Dragon Vein.
The only way to suppress this mana was to erect a special barrier and bleed it dry.
On the contrary, once the barrier was in place, the city would become far less susceptible to plagues and disasters, and would surely flourish.
"Well, that might be true in the long run... but there is a way to handle short-term problems."
Rest raised his hand toward the overgrown weeds and cast his spell.
"
Fire Storm "
A raging inferno swept through the weeds and burned them all away in one sweep, leaving behind barren ground utterly devoid of any plant life.
So far, it was the same as yesterday. The trick was what came next.
「[Harden]」
He cast another magic toward the ground.
The earthen ground became solid, like pottery.
"Oh, it actually hardened!"
"Heh... You hardened the ground so the grass won't grow back?"
Yuri repeatedly stomped on the ground in amazement, and Isis wore an impressed expression.
There were probably weed roots buried in the ground that hadn't been completely burned away, but with the ground this solid, there was no way they could sprout.
"That said... I shouldn't underestimate the life force of plants. Let me seal the deal."
Rest cast yet another magic.
The next spell he used was called [Stone Wall]. True to its name, it conjured a wall of stone.
He toppled the stone wall onto the ground, paving the surface.
Weeds were so resilient they could sometimes burst through asphalt to sprout—but if he went this far, they surely wouldn't stand a chance.
"Certainly, with this, weeds shouldn't be able to grow... But are you sure about your mana?"
The one who spoke up was Rail, the priest trailing at the very back.
Rail had rarely had opportunities to contribute to the party and had faded into the background, but he timidly offered his opinion.
"I saw yesterday that Count Clover possesses an enormous amount of mana... but if you keep casting spell after spell in succession, won't your mana run dry no matter how much you have?"
"Ah... well, I should be fine. I'll just do what I can."
Rest vaguely deflected the question.
Rest's mana reserves were infinite, so it wasn't a problem at all.
"Well... please don't worry about the mana. However, I'd like to focus on my work here, so I'm counting on all of you to keep watch for monsters. I don't think I'll have the bandwidth to deal with anything else."
"...Well, if Count Clover says so."
Rail backed down.
He was the party's captain, and also a count.
He might voice his opinions, but he had no intention of going against the decision.
"No monster is getting past me. You can count on it."
"The vegetation may grow back, but dead monsters aren't coming back to life. It should be easier than yesterday."
Yuri puffed out his chest with a reassuring declaration, and Isis also began scanning the surrounding foliage for any monsters that might leap out.
"Hmph..."
Lubeth shrugged and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Argil and Rail stood a short distance from the young man, keeping watch over the surroundings.
"Then, please take care of things."
Once Rest confirmed that everyone had taken their positions, he set about burning away the weeds with fire.
It took more time due to the added steps, but even so, the number of monsters had decreased compared to the day before, just as Isis had pointed out.
Their progress was slow as a snail's crawl, but they were steadily pushing forward with the frontier development of the demon realm.