Why Are They So Big!?

Kanie drew his sword from his back scabbard. Despite its size, it was surprisingly light. It started to glow when he held it in his hand.

He walked alongside Eric and the others, glancing at the towering trees that stood all around them.

“I’m sure glad the sun’s still out,” he said. “This place seems like it’d be WAY creepier at night.”

“Oh, it is,” Aurora replied. “We’ve been here at night once, and—yup. Once was more than enough, right guys?”

Her party members nodded in agreement.

“Would you mind if I asked a question real quick?” asked Kanie.

Aurora straightened her back and turned to face him.

“O-of course!” she said. “What do you want to know?”

“Once we’re done with the quest, how do we prove to the guild that we actually did it?”

“We have to bring some kind of proof back with us,” she said. “The easiest would be the crystal fragments the monsters leave behind when they’re defeated.”

Kanie’s face lit up.

“Ah,” he said, having an aha moment. “That makes sense.”

“By the way,” he continued. “Weren’t you just piss-drunk a little while back? How’d you manage to sober up so quickly?”

“She used purification magic to get all of it out of her system,” said one of her party members. It was the young man with brown hair—the one who had laughed at him back on the carriage.

“Hmhm~. I might be a hopeless, boyfriend-less drunkard, but I’m still not reckless enough to charge into a mission totally buzzed!” Aurora said.

Eric looked up at Kanie.

“Speaking of magic,” he said. “We still haven’t checked out the list of spells we have available.”

“Right, I totally forgot about that,” Kanie said. “—But wait, Albert told me that I could only use defense magic and self-buffs because I had a horrible magic stat.”

“Oh, well,” he remarked. “Can’t hurt to check.”

He clicked the ‘Spells’ icon displayed in front of him. Sure enough, there were only two spells available on the list that popped up—Shield and Self-buff. Upon clicking Self-buff, three variants appeared in a sub-menu—Self-buff: Strength, Self-buff: Endurance, and Self-buff: Agility.

“Guess that makes sense,” Kanie said. “I’m a swordsman, not a mage.”

“My turn,” Eric said. He tapped the ‘Spells’ icon. The moment he did, a list appeared. The list was so long that he had to scroll through it to continue viewing its contents—and even then, there was no end in sight.

Kanie was amazed.

“Dude, holy shit,” he remarked. “I guess your nickname ‘Infinity Mage’ is well-deserved.”

“… Hold on. Did you just say ‘Infinity Mage’?” asked the man with brown hair.

“Yeah,” Kanie replied. “What of it? —Woah, what the fuck!?”

His expression turned from nonchalant to ‘totally-freaked-out’ in an instant. The man had taken Eric’s hand in his.

“Yesterday, I heard rumors about a female adventurer being evaluated at S-rank over at the guild,” he said. “When I found out they were being called ‘Infinity Mage,’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, a fellow mage—and a girl, at that! I have to find out who they are!’ I never thought I’d actually meet you—and to think you’re also the legendary witch hero!?”

“We can only call this destiny~.”

Kanie was dumbfounded.

“Um, hate to break it to you, but that’s technically a du—,” he started before stopping himself.

Ah, fuck it, he thought. Just let the guy have his moment. Wouldn’t want to crush his spirit by telling him that ‘Erika’ here was six feet tall and a hundred eighty pounds with a deep-ass voice just yesterday.

The man continued pestering Eric.

“My name’s Kale,” he said. “What’s yours?”

“E-Erika,” Eric said.

“Erika! What a nice name!” Kale said. “So, Erika, do you have a boyfriend?”

I should’ve just taken dropping the soap, Eric mused to himself.

He pulled his hand away and was about to say something when something caught his attention.

“Do you guys feel that?” Eric asked. “It’s getting awfully hot around here.”

“Yeah, I do, actually,” Kanie said. “You and Kale here have that chemistry going on.”

“Idiot,” Eric said. “I’m talking about the temperature. The air around here is really heating up.”

“… Now that you mention it, you’re right,” Aurora said. “It must be the Fire Salamanders. I think all of the noise we’re making is drawing them to us.”

“Have you guys ever fought these guys before?” Kanie asked.

“A couple of times in other areas,” she responded. “They’re big—probably about waist-high when they’re crawling around—but they’re nothing to worry about. … Wait—!”

She paused when rumbles started to sound the area.

“… Something’s wrong here.”

The adventurers assumed battle stances. The tremors were growing louder—nearer.

Something was coming.

Whoosh!

The leaves and branches of surrounding trees burst into flames, filling the area with a black, milky smoke.

“Hey, hey, wait a second here—!” Kanie shouted, looking upward. Multiple pairs of yellow, glowing eyes with vertical slits appeared from all directions; the eyes sat several feet taller than his head.

“Aurora…” he panicked. “You SAID they were around waist-level! Why are they so goddamn big!?”