"This is..."
Rei muttered under his breath as he took in the scene stretching out before him.
He'd more or less thrown himself into the hole in space on impulse, but he didn't personally consider the act to be fatally reckless, even if it was somewhat unreasonable.
After all, his current body had been created through the full collective effort of the Zephyle Clan's technology.
Given that, he judged that doing something like this wouldn't pose any real problem.
"A grassland, huh," he murmured, gazing out at the landscape.
He'd known it was a grassland even when he'd first seen it through the hole in the Underground Space.
He couldn't say he didn't feel it was a bit pointless to state the obvious under the circumstances, but there was no mistaking that this was a grassland with nothing else in it.
...Yes, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but grassland.
"...Where are Anastasia and Fana?"
Anastasia hadn't been in the Underground Space.
That was precisely why Rei had thought she might have come to this world, and he'd entered the hole that appeared to lead to another world—but here, where there was nothing but grassland as far as the eye could see, there was no sign of Anastasia or Fana anywhere.
"Or rather... is this really another world?"
With nothing but grassland in every direction, Rei couldn't tell whether this was truly another world or actually just somewhere else in Elgin.
"For now—"
"What will you do?"
"Whoa!"
A startled yelp slipped from Rei's mouth at the voice that suddenly rang out.
He hastily looked around and found Grimm peering through the hole from the other side into this world.
"Grimm, huh. So we can actually have a conversation through this hole."
"Umu, it seems so. Hmm, fascinating. I don't know what exactly happened to make this possible, but... is it possible that this is the same world where those Lizardmen are from?"
"That's... well, that possibility is certainly there."
If the Wisp had teleported Lizardmen like Zozo and Gaga from another world, then this could very well be the world they came from.
Alternatively, it could be the world the Water Wolf came from.
"In any case, do you think Anastasia and Fana are in this world?"
"Going by circumstantial evidence, that would be the case. After all, they are not in the Underground Space."
"...But as far as I can see, Anastasia and Fana are nowhere to be found."
From where Rei stood, this area was a fairly vast grassland with a modest number of trees scattered here and there. If Anastasia or Fana were anywhere nearby, there was no way he'd miss them.
And yet, as far as he could tell, neither of them was visible anywhere.
From the time Rei—or more precisely, Set and the Water Wolf—had detected the Wisp's abnormality, until Rei arrived at the Underground Space, a fair amount of time had passed.
But even so, whether they could have crossed this wide grassland to a distance far enough to vanish from sight—the answer to that was no.
Especially if a spatial hole suddenly connected to what appeared to be another world, it wouldn't be strange for them to be extremely cautious.
(Well, Anastasia might get swept up by curiosity and head into another world without a second thought.)
Considering Anastasia's personality, it wouldn't be strange at all for her to prioritize her curiosity over her own safety or Fana's.
It was precisely because of that intense curiosity that Anastasia had become an excellent researcher.
"Rei? What is the matter?"
"No, from where I'm standing, I can't figure out where Anastasia is. Grimm, could you come over here for a bit? I can't do it myself, but you might be able to sense something."
"...That would be difficult."
"Huh?"
Rei was caught off guard by those words.
Knowing Grimm, he'd expected the old man to come over to this world immediately and help search for Anastasia and the others.
That expectation had been completely wrong.
"Why?"
"You ask why, but it is because I am the one maintaining this space. If I go over to your side, there would be no one to maintain this hole, and in the worst case, it could close."
"...In other words, you can't move from there?"
Grimm shook his head at Rei's question.
"No, that is not it. What I cannot do is go over to your world. In this world, I can move freely... or rather, not quite freely, but I can still move around to a certain extent."
Grimm's explanation did bring Rei some reassurance.
"That's fine, then. But you still can't move around as freely as before, right?"
"Unfortunately, that is so. However, while I cannot move as freely as before, I can still move to a certain extent. Fortunately, my laboratory is connected to this Underground Space."
From Grimm's demeanor, Rei could tell he wasn't lying, and felt relieved.
"Well, that's fine then. Still, that means it'll be hard to notify anyone else. The only ones we could tell would be people who already know about you."
The fact that only a limited number of people knew about this Underground Space to begin with was fortunate in this situation.
At any rate, the spatial hole needed to be maintained until Anastasia and the others were brought back.
And currently, only Grimm could do that.
Of course, there might be others somewhere in the world capable of the same feat, but finding such a person would take a great deal of time.
Furthermore, bringing in such a rare individual would naturally require commensurate compensation.
Considering all of that, having Grimm handle it was undoubtedly the right choice.
(The only problem is keeping it from being known that Grimm is maintaining this space, as much as possible. The fact that something abnormal happened in the Underground Space will be obvious from the behavior of me, Set, and the Water Wolf, so a report will probably reach Lord Daskar as well.)
The Goblin settlement incident and the researcher incident were the same—fundamentally, the knight should be submitting reports on a daily basis.
Considering that, Rei couldn't imagine the knight wouldn't report the abnormality Set and the Water Wolf had sensed... and furthermore, the fact that Rei had flown on Set to the location of the abnormality.
Also significant was the fact that Anastasia—to whom Daskar felt a sense of obligation—had gone missing.
There was no way they could keep Anastasia's disappearance from Daskar forever.
After all, Anastasia and Fana returned to the campsite every night.
If that was the case, then if they didn't return today of all days, the knight... no, everyone at the campsite would find it strange.
Anastasia in particular was highly popular among the campsite members due to her beauty.
If she didn't return after the incident with Set and the Water Wolf, it would be unreasonable to expect people not to question it.
"I'm going to search for Anastasia and the others in this world, but is it tough to maintain that hole?"
"Let me see. It is not that difficult. I can manage it with one hand, so to speak."
"...You make it sound so easy."
To Rei, maintaining a hole connected to another world seemed like something that would require considerable skill.
Even Rei, with his absurd magical power, couldn't do such a thing since he only had an aptitude for Flame Magic.
If Grimm said so, Rei had no choice but to believe him.
After all, the other party was Grimm, who had existed—not continued living, but existed—since the era when Zephyle was alive.
It wouldn't be strange for him to possess that level of skill.
"In any case, leave the maintenance of this hole to me. You go search for the missing two."
"...You're quite attached to Anastasia and Fana, aren't you?"
Rei never had the option of not going to search for Anastasia and Fana to begin with.
But for Grimm to be so proactive about urging Rei to find them was nothing short of unexpected.
Since Grimm doted on Rei like a grandchild, it wouldn't be strange for him to say such things if someone close to Rei—like Elena, Marina, or Vihera—had gone missing.
"Hmm, let me see. I have observed that elf Anastasia and the masked one conducting their research several times."
"Well... I guess Grimm wouldn't get caught, but Anastasia is a Spirit Magic user."
In Rei's mind, Spirit Magic carried a strong image of being a powerful and versatile magic.
Naturally, that was because Marina used it.
...Rei did understand that Marina's Spirit Magic was not average and that she was a highly skilled Spirit Mage, but even so, the impression was overwhelmingly strong.
"At the very least, I have not been discovered, so you can rest assured."
"That's a given for you. So, did you grow fond of them while watching?"
"Something like that. Anastasia is an excellent researcher. Even from my perspective."
"Ah... yeah. I figured. I can sort of understand that too."
He'd heard from Daskar that she was an excellent researcher.
That was why he could strongly relate to Grimm's words.
"I see. As a fellow researcher, then."
"Indeed. Furthermore, I could not understand how that Wisp connected to another world. But Anastasia, whether by chance or calculation, has succeeded in connecting to another world like this."
There was pure respect in Grimm's words.
Even though Anastasia was an elf and her lifespan was longer than that of humans, Beastmen, or Dwarves, compared to Grimm the Undead, the difference was so absurdly vast that comparing them was laughable.
Whether Grimm was even "alive" was a separate matter entirely.
At any rate, Anastasia had accomplished what even Grimm, with his overwhelmingly greater experience as a researcher, could not.
It was only natural for Grimm to feel respect for that.
"Got it. Then I'll go find Anastasia and Fana. That said, looking around, this grassland just stretches on endlessly. If I had Set, I could fly through the sky."
"Hmm, wait a moment."
After a brief statement, Grimm quickly chanted a spell, and Set suddenly appeared in the Underground Space.
"Grr!?"
Set, who should have been on the surface, was startled to find itself suddenly in the Underground Space and began scanning its surroundings vigilantly.
(Ah... yeah. I figured.)
Rei had asked Grimm to use teleportation magic for him a few times before.
For Grimm, teleporting Set from the surface to this Underground Space was probably easy.
"Grr... Grr! Grrrrr!"
While vigilantly checking its surroundings, Set noticed Rei on the other side of the hole in space.
Grimm was also right there beside the hole, but for Set right now, Rei clearly took priority over Grimm.
Letting out a happy cry, Set charged toward the hole leading to another world.
"Whoa!"
Rei tried to catch Set as it charged toward him, but Set was about three meters long.
There was no way Rei could fully catch a body that size, and he ended up half-pinned to the ground by Set.
"Grrrr, grr, grrrrr."
With Rei on the ground, Set happily rubbed its face against him.
From Set's perspective, it had let Rei go off into an unknown, dangerous place.
That was why, when it was suddenly teleported somewhere and found Rei right there, telling Set not to rejoice would have been impossible.
Still, after letting it have its way for a few minutes, Set eventually seemed satisfied from doting on Rei and pulled away, looking around... only to realize once again that it had no idea where it was.
"Set."
"Grr?"
Set, which had been scanning the surroundings, finally came back to itself when Rei called out, and asked Rei where this was.
"This is another world. Well, it doesn't seem to be Earth, though."
Strictly speaking, Rei didn't know exactly where this other world was either.
But still, he had a vague sense that this was not Earth.
(Earth... if I were looking at this kind of endless grassland in Japan, it'd be somewhere like Hokkaido? Or if it were a foreign country, places like this might exist.)
While thinking that and looking around, Rei suddenly spotted horses—and not just horses, but several riders. Cavalrymen, it seemed, carrying what appeared to be human figures on their backs.