"Hmm... looking at it like this, we really didn't need a watch after all. Right?"
"Gruu?"
At Rei's words as he leaned against its body, Set purred as if to ask, "Really?"
The stars twinkling in the night sky, the moon pouring down its brilliant light, and the campfire burning in front of Rei—those were the only sources of light in the surroundings.
The grassland at night stretched endlessly, enveloped in a darkness so profound that one might think their very soul would be stolen if they stared at it too long.
But even in such darkness, Rei felt no particular unease as long as he was with Set.
...Perhaps that was because Rei, who possessed Night Vision to begin with, understood that the darkness spreading before him posed no real problem.
Under those circumstances, Rei murmured those words—likely because he was convinced that Set's commanding presence was effective even in this world.
Precisely because this was a different world from Elgin, Rei had thought that monsters or animals might attack despite Set's presence.
But neither the Centaurs who had stood watch before Rei nor Rei himself during his own watch had been attacked by anything at all.
Given that, it was reasonable to conclude that in the current situation, thanks to Set's presence, no creature would foolishly approach them.
(Though if Dragonias were here, that would be a different story.)
To the Dragonias, ruled by hunger, Set's very existence could only be perceived as prey.
Because of that, if Dragonias came here, there was no expecting them to stop in their tracks just from sensing Set's presence.
If anything, they would disregard whether they could win and gleefully charge at Set.
...No, that was not all.
Dragonias, dominated by hunger, would unquestionably attack the Centaurs sleeping in their tents as well, even if their opponent wasn't Set.
(Yeah, when it comes to the Dragonias, a watch is definitely essential after all.)
In the end, that was the conclusion he arrived at.
"Still... this really is a different world from Elgin, isn't it."
Rei didn't know every detail of the positions of the stars visible from Elgin.
Even so, the stars twinkling in the sky above this grassland simply could not seem like the same stars visible from Elgin.
"Grurru?"
Perhaps sensing something in Rei's words, Set gave him a look as if to ask, "Are you okay?"
In response, Rei stroked the body he was leaning against as if to say it was nothing, and spent the time until he swapped with the next watch.
"Alright, let's head out full of energy again today. All things considered, we covered quite a good distance yesterday."
Despite having departed immediately after the martial arts tournament ended, the fact that they had been able to keep running without their legs growing sluggish was a testament to the Centaurs, who were rightly called the lords of the grassland.
Furthermore, since they had been able to use the exact same tents they normally used, no one was carrying any lingering fatigue from yesterday.
There was someone skilled at cooking, so their meals were as good as usual... no, since Set had again caught prey that morning, they were able to eat a somewhat more lavish meal than when they were at the settlement, thanks to those abundant ingredients.
Not only the Centaurs' cooking, but the food stored in Rei's Misty Ring was naturally being shared by everyone as well.
In that sense, it had been a thoroughly satisfying camp.
At Rei's words, many of the Centaurs raised their voices loudly to rally their spirits.
...Among them was Dratt.
"Alright, four days remaining... no, at this pace we might be able to shorten it further, but just in case, keep your minds prepared for anything. ...Set."
"Grurru!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry and broke into a run.
Beside Set ran the Centaur who knew the location of the Dragonias base.
The other Centaurs ran across the grassland while remaining alert to their surroundings.
Having eaten plenty and slept well, the current party was brimming with vitality.
"Grurru!"
Several hours after departing in the early morning... just as Rei was thinking they should probably take a midday break, Set suddenly let out a sharp cry.
What had happened?
Thinking that, Rei looked in the direction Set was facing.
There, quite far away... at a distance where even with Rei's eyesight they appeared only the size of beans, he could see that a battle was taking place.
Even as he watched, Set continued racing toward that direction, and it became clear that one side of the combatants consisted of Dragonias with scales of various colors... and the other side was unmistakably Centaurs.
But the problem was that the Centaur side was at a disadvantage.
In a straightforward fight, Centaurs could not defeat Dragonias.
They couldn't win, but on average, Centaurs were faster on their feet than Dragonias.
Given that, even if they couldn't win in battle, they should have been able to flee.
However, in the battle taking place before Rei's eyes, they were making no attempt to escape and were fighting instead.
This was despite the fact that the Centaur side understood that in a head-on confrontation, they had virtually no chance of winning.
"Rei."
Living on the grassland as they did, Zai must also have possessed keen eyesight.
Coming up beside Rei, he called out.
From that single phrase, Rei understood what Zai was asking.
And he also saw the bitter expression on Zai's face.
From Zai's perspective, they were currently traveling to attack the Dragonias base.
In other words, wasting combat strength on a pointless battle here was foolish.
If their comrades suffered casualties in this fight, it wouldn't be strange for them to face a shortage of strength when attacking the Dragonias base.
It wouldn't be strange, and yet... Zai still could not bring himself to abandon his fellow Centaurs who were under attack. Let alone...
(Women, children, and the elderly... that explains their slow speed.)
As they drew closer, Rei was able to observe the Centaur side fighting the Dragonias in greater detail.
The Centaurs desperately fighting the Dragonias aside, the group moving away from them consisted of those unfit for battle—women, as well as the elderly and children.
That was the reason for that group's slow movement speed.
"We're going to rescue them."
The decision Rei reached was to rescue them.
If only the Centaur men had been fighting and there were no women, children, or elderly present, Rei might have simply ignored them.
But given the current situation, he judged that it would be better to save them.
"But..."
As if to object to Rei's words, Dratt spoke up.
However, when Rei directed his gaze at Dratt, the latter fell silent.
He must have remembered what Rei had said before their departure.
...Even so, he still wore a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
For Dratt, avoiding anything that would consume their combat strength here was an absolute priority.
They were heading to the Dragonias base solely to protect their own settlement, not for the sake of people from other settlements.
It was a cold judgment, but one rooted in facing an inescapable reality.
In fact, there were Centaurs who agreed with Dratt's words.
In the first place, they had already sent word to nearby settlements that were still intact, urging them to join their own.
Out of pride, or because they didn't want to lose their vested interests by joining another group, or simply because they didn't like the other settlements... for various reasons, there were those who had refused to join.
It was highly likely that the ones currently fighting the Dragonias in the distance were from a settlement that had avoided joining them out of such selfish desires.
In normal circumstances that might be one thing, but rescuing such people right now, when they were heading out to strike the Dragonias base... it was only natural that many would feel this way.
Even so, in the end, if Rei said they would rescue them, they had no choice but to comply.
"Follow me and Set. Though the number of Dragonias isn't that large. Maybe the warriors of that settlement already took some down, or maybe few attacked the settlement to begin with, or perhaps Dragonias that had been scouting happened to spot them while they were on the move."
All of those were possible scenarios.
Though for the Centaurs being attacked, any of them would only bring the worst outcome.
"Anyway... if you don't hurry, I'll end up taking them all down myself. Set!"
"Grururru!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry and kicked off the ground.
The distance to the battlefield was actually quite far, so depending on the situation, flying through the air might have been faster.
But in order to draw the attention of the enemies—the Dragonias attacking the Centaurs—running along the ground made them easier to spot.
"Grurururururururururururururu!"
While running, Set let out a high, loud cry that echoed throughout the surroundings to draw the Dragonias' attention... no, a roar.
That roar, despite not using the King's Intimidation skill, announced Set's existence to everyone in the surrounding area and simultaneously made known just how high a being's rank he was.
...Rei and Set had intended to draw the Dragonias' attention toward themselves with that cry, but there was one unexpected thing... something that could be called fatal.
It was that those who understood the overwhelming difference in rank in an instant upon hearing Set's roar and stopped moving... were the Centaur women, children, and elderly.
If Set's roar could distinguish between friend and foe, that would be one thing, but there was no way it could do such a thing.
As a result, the very people who should have been the first to flee had stopped moving.
The silver lining was that the Dragonias set their sights on Set rather than the Centaurs before them.
Perhaps, even among the Dragonias ruled by hunger, they recognized that Set had better meat than the Centaurs.
The four Dragonias used the lower halves of their lizard-like bodies to close the distance to Set in a single burst.
...As they did so, they passed right next to the Centaur women, children, and elderly, but showed no sign of paying any attention to them.
(Good luck or bad luck... well, the Dragonias are completely coming this way, so let's call it good luck.)
Taking out Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring as usual, Rei dismounted from Set's back as the Dragonias approached.
Since there were four enemies, he could have fought perfectly well while still riding Set, but given that there were people nearby who needed protecting, he judged that he needed to take down the Dragonias as quickly as possible.
...That said, the ones the Dragonias had shown appetite toward were Set, not Rei.
Therefore, when Rei disappeared from Set's back, the four Dragonias showed no interest in him whatsoever and instead charged at Set.
Yes, with their backs turned to Rei.
"As expected, but still ridiculous!"
With those words, Rei swung Death Scythe and thrust with the Twilight Spear.
That alone was enough—one Dragonias had its neck severed, its head burst apart, and it crumbled to the ground.
Perhaps because they were dominated by hunger, the Dragonias' sense of pain was also extremely dull.
However, no matter how dull their pain sense was, having their neck severed or their head burst apart made it meaningless.
The remaining two Dragonias had their neck bones broken by Set's swinging front legs, extinguishing their Flame of Life.
A few seconds... no, in an instant, all four Dragonias were felled.
『...』
Silence spread throughout the surroundings.
The Centaurs who had been shielding the women, children, and elderly while barely managing to survive against the four Dragonias—since they had been completely occupied with just barely staying alive—probably never imagined that the Dragonias would be defeated so effortlessly.
They could do nothing but stare in blank astonishment.
The same was true for the fleeing women, children, and elderly; they too probably never imagined that the foes they had been desperately running from would be struck down so easily.
"Rei... you told us to follow you, and yet..."
The one who broke that silence was Zai, who had finally caught up, his words heavy with exasperation.
Having been told to come along, only to find upon arriving that all the Dragonias had been defeated before they got there—it was only natural.
"...Zai, is that you?"
One of the Centaurs who had been fighting the Dragonias moments ago called out to Zai.