"See you tomorrow, then."
"Umu. I know not what business you have, Rei, but be careful."
At Drum's words, Zai beside him nodded in agreement.
Several others had also come to see Rei and Set off, but perhaps because it was right after the feast had ended, many were drunk and already asleep.
Today's feast must have been that enjoyable for the settlement.
They had faced the Dragonias and achieved not a single casualty in repelling them—no, in annihilating them.
It would have been unreasonable to tell them not to rejoice.
That was why those who had participated in the feast must have celebrated their joy by drinking alcohol as if bathing in it, gorging themselves on food.
...This settlement currently had many Centaurs gathered, and their food situation was by no means good.
Even so, it wouldn't have been strange for everyone at today's feast to forget such circumstances and eat as much as they pleased.
Many had gotten drunk or stuffed themselves full and fallen asleep, so the number of people who came to see Rei and Set off as they left the settlement—now that the moon already hung in the sky—was by no means large.
(Set hasn't changed, huh.)
After finishing light greetings with Drum, Zai, and the others, Rei directed his gaze toward Set.
Set, who had bonded with everyone in this short time, was being told all sorts of things by them—requests to come back soon, to be careful, and the like.
If the Set Enthusiasts back in Gilm saw this—especially Mirene and Yohanna, who held representative positions among them—Rei felt slightly anxious about what would happen if they witnessed this scene.
This was another world, so there was no need to worry about Mirene and Yohanna coming here.
There wasn't, but... when it came to Set, those two often took extraordinary actions, so while he had no idea what means they might use, it wouldn't be strange if they somehow came to this world and showed up here.
He didn't think it was remotely possible, but as long as the possibility wasn't zero, there was always the chance that... maybe.
"Set."
"Gruu?"
Might Mirene and the others come?
Hiding such thoughts, Rei called out to Set.
Perhaps sensing something in Rei's voice, Set purred for the people petting him and then came over to Rei's side.
"Alright, let's go. I'll be back tomorrow, so please get the supplies ready."
"Leave it to me. But... will you be able to find your way back to this settlement? The grassland is quite vast."
"I'll manage that somehow, so don't worry."
There was a slight note of anxiety in Rei's words.
He was somewhat directionally challenged to begin with, so if possible, he would have liked Zai or someone to guide them back to the place where they had first met.
But if he was returning to Elgin, that would be impossible.
After all, he couldn't exactly bring Zai to Elgin.
Though he did feel like it might be somewhat interesting if it came to that.
Regardless, given the current situation, there was some anxiety, but Rei and Set still needed to manage reaching their destination on their own.
Fortunately, the hole connected to Elgin could be reached by heading in a straight line from this settlement.
That was because it was a grassland, but the question was whether Rei and Set could accurately gauge how far they had traveled.
Set had run along the ground from the location of the hole to this settlement.
There was a significant difference in sensation between flying through the sky and running along the ground.
Whether Rei and Set could firmly grasp that distance was a considerable challenge.
Still, Rei held an optimistic hope that it would probably be fine this time.
If it was Grimm, upon sensing Rei and Set approaching, it wouldn't be strange for him to indicate that he was here—that the hole was here.
"Well then, I'll see you... Set, let's go."
"Gruu!"
Confirming that Rei had climbed onto his back, Set gave a short cry to bid farewell to the Centaurs, then after a few running steps, flapped his wings and soared into the sky.
Many of the Centaurs watched Set's ascent with surprise.
For the Centaurs who had fought alongside Rei and Set, there were those who had already seen Set flying.
But most of those here now were women and children who had not participated in the battle.
That was why many were seeing Set fly for the first time.
Set didn't seem to particularly mind being watched from the ground, and Rei directed his gaze downward.
How the Centaurs perceived him was certainly a factor, but more than that, Rei's stronger priority was finding the hole that Grimm was maintaining.
"Set, I'll search too, but can you find the hole Grimm is maintaining?"
"Grururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry as if to say Leave it to me!
With sharper five senses than Rei, Set showed confidence that he could find the hole leading to Elgin.
Stroking Set's neck in gratitude, Rei likewise turned his eyes to the ground below.
Rei's five senses, while inferior to Set's, were overwhelmingly sharper than a normal human's.
Furthermore, since he had Night Vision, with the cloudless moonlight present now, confirming the situation on the ground was easy for Rei.
...The problem was that even if he could observe the ground, finding the hole concealed by Grimm would be difficult.
(Still can't find it, huh. Should I have stayed at Zai's settlement tonight and come to search in the morning?)
He thought so, but ultimately, if the hole was hidden, whether he could find it even in daylight was questionable.
"Maybe I should stab a spear or something into the ground nearby... no, if someone else finds it, they might take the spear. In that case, a broken spear?"
Rei muttered as he surveyed the ground, when suddenly Set let out a sharp cry.
"Gruu!"
"What is it?"
To Rei's question, Set directed his gaze toward a single spot on the grassland as if saying Over there.
But when Rei looked at where Set was staring, he couldn't see anything in particular.
It just looked like ordinary grassland stretching out before him.
(But that's only how it appears to me. If Set found it, then probably...)
Making that judgment, Rei asked Set to land.
Set immediately obeyed Rei's words and began descending toward the ground.
Since they were simply flying through the sky, landing was not difficult.
Within seconds, Set's feet touched the ground.
"This area... I might have seen it before, or maybe not..."
Since this entire region was grassland, unless there was something remarkably distinctive, everything looked the same no matter where one looked.
If one were like the Centaurs, born and raised on this grassland, they might be able to spot subtle differences, but unfortunately, Rei lacked such ability.
(Wait? But Zai's settlement isn't always in one place, right. I heard they basically move around following their livestock.)
When the livestock finished eating the surrounding grass, or if the terrain became dangerous, the settlement would relocate.
In fact, the tents used in the Centaur settlement were similar to what Rei knew as gers—tents that could be easily moved and were comfortable to live in.
Also, considering the Dragonias situation, perhaps they had only recently come to this area.
Thinking about this belatedly while surveying the surroundings...
"Grimm?"
He called out.
Several seconds passed after the name left his lips.
...No, more than ten seconds elapsed, and just when Rei began to feel slightly anxious that perhaps the magical power Set had sensed wasn't Grimm's...
"Rei, is that you?"
Hearing Grimm's voice, Rei spoke with relief.
"Yeah. Things over here are mostly sorted out for now. I have souvenirs too."
"Oh?"
With those words, the hole connecting to Elgin revealed itself.
The effect of Grimm's magic must have faded.
Maintaining a continuous spell was difficult, but Grimm did it effortlessly—as expected of him.
Though when it came to maintaining magic, Rei was doing something similar by keeping the giant Slime burning.
However, while Grimm's magic required truly continuous use of magic, Rei's case was simply that the magic he had used to burn the Slime was still burning on its own; he wasn't actually continuously casting a spell.
"Anyway, we can talk about everything once we're back in the other world, right?"
"I do not mind. What kind of world this is... 'tis most intriguing indeed."
With that, Rei and Set passed through the hole and returned to the Underground Space where the Wisp resided.
Strangely, upon returning to that Underground Space, Rei felt a sort of nostalgic fondness.
Feeling that way upon returning to Gilm was one thing, but he never expected to feel such an emotion in an Underground Space like this.
(I suppose it means that, despite everything, I've grown accustomed to this world.)
Feeling glad about that, he surveyed the interior of the Underground Space.
The hole connecting to the other world remained open, but other than that, there was no change from before.
Learning that no one had apparently come to this Underground Space yet, Rei felt slightly relieved.
Those who knew about this Underground Space were not many.
But if the Abnormality Rei had sensed at the lake was reported to Daskar, it wouldn't be strange for people to be dispatched here.
And if those dispatched were people like Elena who knew of this place and Grimm, that would be fine, but if someone completely ignorant of the situation was sent, it was certain to become troublesome.
He needed to explain this matter before such a thing happened, but...
"Hey, Grimm. What do you think I should do about this whole situation?"
"Hmm, I am not sure what to tell thee if asked. How about simply pretending nothing happened?"
"No, that's too much of a stretch. If Anastasia and Fana were safe, I might consider doing just that."
With the opening of a hole connecting to another world, the biggest problem was still that the whereabouts of Anastasia and Fana remained unknown.
He had at least secured the cooperation of the Centaurs, but from what he could tell flying through the sky on Set, the grassland possessed a vastness that truly deserved the description.
Searching for two women in such a place was exceedingly difficult.
(Captured by Dragonias... no, Dragonias lack anything resembling intelligence, so they probably don't have concepts like prisoners. Given their nature, if they captured someone, they'd probably devour them on the spot.)
The possibility of them being Dragonias prisoners crossed his mind for a moment, but that was already a dismissed notion.
After all, he had heard the relevant details from Zai.
"Rei? What is the matter?"
"No, it's just that in the end, I couldn't find Anastasia and Fana. It's a bit frustrating... Anyway..."
Pausing there, Rei took out a Dragonias corpse from his Misty Ring... one that wasn't too badly damaged.
"Oh."
As expected, even Grimm was seeing a Dragonias corpse for the first time, and a voice of surprise escaped him.
Even as an Undead, Grimm was extremely curious, and a monster from another world that he had never seen before would naturally be of great interest to him.
Since his head was a skull, his expression couldn't be read, but even so, Rei could understand that Grimm was radiating a joyful aura.
"Hmm, Rei. May I have this?"
"Huh? Yeah, if this is fine. Should I bring out a few more? Though there aren't many intact corpses."
The Twilight Spear aside, Dragonias killed by Death Scythe were generally missing some body part.
Many of the Dragonias killed by a single blow from Set were reduced to chunks of meat.
The Dragonias slain by the Centaurs also had numerous wounds on their corpses, likely from fighting against overwhelming odds.
In that sense, undamaged Dragonias corpses were indeed rare.
"These are monsters called Dragonias, but they had enough fire resistance to endure my magic."
"...What?"
Knowing full well how much destructive power Rei's magic could unleash, Grimm's words were filled with strong surprise.