"Then we'll be taking our leave. ...Zai, we're counting on you regarding the Dragonias."
After lunch, one of the Centaurs who had traveled with Rei and the others bowed his head to Zai.
They had discussed the matter during the meal, and as a result, four of the ten Centaurs who had come with Rei were assigned to escort the fleeing Centaurs.
...That said, the discussion hadn't concluded immediately.
The Centaurs who had come this far were naturally brimming with fighting spirit, so it was unlikely they would have accepted the decision readily.
Even so, they quietly acquiesced—no doubt because they couldn't bring themselves to abandon their own kind to their deaths.
When they had actually seen the Centaurs under attack by the Dragonias—what would have happened if Rei and Set hadn't spotted them?
There were only four Dragonias, but even so, the Centaurs would have been wiped out.
The escorting warriors would have been annihilated first, and then the creatures would have descended upon the group of women, children, and elderly, wiping them out as well.
...It wasn't difficult to imagine such an outcome.
That was why four—nearly half of the ten who had come with Rei—were assigned as escorts.
That said, those four couldn't possibly stand against a large number of Dragonias on their own.
Even so, their odds of survival were still better than the current situation, and so they ultimately accepted.
"I'm counting on you. Whether the fleeing ones reach the settlement safely rests on your shoulders."
At Zai's words, the Centaurs parting ways here each nodded.
If it was to protect their comrades, they would do what needed to be done.
That was the sentiment behind their response.
"Rei, Set. ...Take care of the Dragonias for us."
One of the escorting Centaurs called this out to Rei, who was finishing cleanup after the meal and handing out extra portions of food from his Misty Ring, and to Set, who was eating late after taking some time to find prey and returning with a deer.
"Yeah, don't worry about things here. More importantly, make sure you all reach the settlement safely. ...For now, take this food with you. It's preserved food, so it won't taste great, but it's easy to carry."
If they brought raw meat or vegetables, it could spoil along the way, or in some cases give off a strong odor and attract animals or monsters.
But with preserved food, the smell wouldn't be as strong as raw meat or vegetables.
...Naturally, the flavor would also be inferior.
(Ah, but with preserved food—or rather, dried foods—some of them actually taste better than fresh, right?)
When he was in Japan, he had seen on TV that dried abalone cost tens of thousands of yen each... and the expensive ones went for nearly a hundred thousand yen.
That was just about price, but he did recall that on that same program, the stew made with rehydrated dried abalone had looked incredibly delicious.
And even short of that, if you used dried meat as a soup ingredient, it would definitely produce good dashi.
Considering all that, it wasn't that preserved food was inherently bad—it likely depended on cooking technique.
"Thank you very much."
The Centaur who had been escorting the women, children, and elderly bowed deeply as he accepted the food Rei handed over.
Given that many among them couldn't fight, gathering supplies must have been difficult.
If they were attacked by Dragonias while foraging—or even by some other monster—the casualties would be severe.
That was surely why the preserved food was so welcome.
"Yeah, I hope you make it there safely. ...Alright then, let's get going. We can't afford to spend too much time here."
At Rei's words, everyone began preparing to depart or exchanging words of farewell.
For the four Centaurs who had come all this way with Zai and the others, only to turn back as escorts for their own settlement, there was naturally a lot on their minds.
They cast envious looks at the Centaurs who would be traveling with Rei and said, "Take care of the Dragonias."
Those addressed, entrusted with the task of defeating the Dragonias, nodded with resolve.
Between Dragonias and Centaurs, the Centaurs were undeniably the weaker party.
Even with Rei's help, there was still a very real possibility of death.
A cunning person might well have volunteered for escort duty just to survive.
This was likely proof that Centaurs were a proud race.
The brief farewell ended, and Rei's group parted ways with those heading to the settlement.
Each heading in the opposite direction.
"So neither you nor Dratt went with them in the end. I figured at least one of you would."
As they made their way toward the Dragonias stronghold, Rei asked Zai, who was running beside Set.
Zai's response should naturally have been heard by Dratt, running a short distance away, but he made no move to react to Rei's words.
Having promised not to defy Rei's orders, he likely had no desire to engage with Rei on his own initiative.
"It's true that escorts are needed to bring them to the settlement, but the bigger problem is still the Dragonias. If we don't do something about them, we could very well face the worst possible outcome."
Zai asked with his eyes, Right? and Rei nodded, having no objection.
Indeed, for the Centaurs—no, for all creatures living on this grassland—the Dragonias were an enemy that needed to be destroyed as swiftly as possible.
If so, it was only natural that Zai, and Dratt alongside him as one of the settlement's leaders, would prioritize that front.
There was also the fact that defeating the Dragonias would factor into their influence within the settlement—an undeniable consideration.
(Zai aside, Dratt probably joined this raid with that sort of thing in mind.)
Both Zai and Dratt were frequently surrounded by companions, but the reason it only seemed that way with Dratt was likely that those around him were less comrades and more flunkies.
What Dratt himself thought about that, Rei had no way of knowing.
"In any case, we took more time for lunch than planned. We have some margin to work with, but let's pick up the pace."
Originally, the midday break was supposed to last about an hour.
But since Set had gone hunting, and more importantly, the fleeing Centaurs needed proper rest, the break had stretched to over two hours.
That being the case, they had inevitably exceeded their planned rest time.
To make up for it, Set was now running at a pace that pushed the Centaurs forward.
"Is there anywhere we might be able to rest tonight?"
"Even if you ask that... I'm not really sure."
The guide Centaur gave Rei a troubled look.
If asked whether there were any good spots, or places where they could rest, a few did come to mind.
"I see. ...Then let's just find a suitable spot and camp there for tonight."
At Rei's words, the Centaur nodded.
Granted, this was a grassland.
As such, they could rest anywhere they pleased if they set their minds to it.
That said, lighting a campfire in the middle of the grassland at night would naturally draw attention.
Rei didn't know how monsters, animals, bandits... or even Dragonias might react upon seeing that fire.
(Monsters aside, do animals avoid campfires when they see them? Ah, but I saw on TV that in jungles and such, animals are curious, so they actually approach campfires... Then again, in this world, Centaurs light campfires all the time.)
Animals approaching campfires was purely out of curiosity.
As long as they had learned from experience that approaching a Centaur's campfire could get them killed, they might not come close.
"In any case, we'll push as far as we can today. Of course, if exhaustion carries over to tomorrow, that'll be trouble, so we'll rest by evening."
"Even without rushing that much, we're already well ahead of schedule, so wouldn't it be fine?"
Several others nodded at Zai's words.
In fact, they were originally supposed to stay at Zai's settlement last night and depart today.
In that sense, they were definitely well ahead of their original schedule.
Those words seemed to bring Rei back to his senses somewhat.
He looked away, turning his gaze toward the grassland.
The grassland that Set and the Centaurs were currently running across was an endless green carpet stretching as far as the eye could see.
The grass swaying in the wind could be called not just a green carpet, but a green sea without exaggeration.
"An endless grassland is really something."
"Isn't it?"
Hearing Rei's murmured words, which he hadn't even realized he'd spoken aloud, Zai replied briefly with pride.
To Zai, this grassland was the place where he was born and raised.
Because of that, Rei's murmur probably sounded like praise for his homeland.
"Yeah. Though if we don't take care of the Dragonias, I don't think we'll be able to enjoy this scenery much longer. ...Oh, that reminds me."
Rei, who had been gazing at the grassland, suddenly turned to Zai as if something had just occurred to him.
Zai prompted him to speak, wondering what it was.
"No, it's really... truly late to be bringing this up, but I just realized that there were hardly any warriors older than you and the others in your settlement."
Of course, it wasn't that there were none at all.
But their numbers were not large.
Zai and Dratt were in their mid-twenties to thirties, on the cusp of entering the veteran category as warriors.
But warriors in their mid-thirties and older, while not entirely absent, were noticeably few.
On the other hand, Centaurs old enough to be called middle-aged or elderly were present in fairly large numbers.
"Our settlement hasn't been without battles with the Dragonias."
Zai told him in a bitter tone.
Seeing Zai's demeanor, Rei could understand the reason without hearing the rest.
In other words, most of the veteran warriors had died fighting the Dragonias—no, had been devoured alive.
From the Dragonias' perspective, Centaurs were undoubtedly a satisfying meal.
(Ah, but when it comes to the toughness of the meat, wouldn't younger Centaur meat actually taste better?)
When Rei lived in Japan, his family had kept chickens.
Those chickens were either for egg-laying or for his father's hobby of cockfighting.
The cockfighting birds, once they could no longer win, were slaughtered and served at the dinner table. But the laying hens too, once they stopped producing eggs and became what was called old hens, would similarly end up on the table.
Old hens were fine for making dashi, but the meat was tough.
Comparing chickens to Centaurs was questionable, but even so, it was common knowledge to Rei that younger animals had more tender meat.
Since this world, like Elgin, was a so-called fantasy world of swords and magic, there was a real possibility that some exception existed.
"In any case, if we deal with the Dragonias, most of our problems will be solved... is it safe to think that?"
"I wouldn't go that far. Even before the Dragonias came, it wasn't as if we had no problems. Conflicts between settlements, for instance. Disputes over places where high-quality grazing grass grew, or over water sources, were frequent."
Those words, for some reason, deeply convinced Rei.
He hadn't thought that everything would be resolved just by defeating the Dragonias, but it was reassuring to understand that he had been correct.
Not that he was happy to hear there were more troubles.
"In any case, all we need to do right now is defeat the Dragonias, huh."
Half—no, entirely by force, Rei crammed the situation into that conclusion.
Since defeating the Dragonias would resolve their most pressing problem, it wasn't an entirely unreasonable conclusion.