"A toast to Rei and his companions, who crushed the Dragonias stronghold, defeated their leader, and single-handedly slew the Dragonias that attacked the settlement... cheers!"
"Cheers!"
At Zai's words, everyone raised their cups and joined in the toast.
Rei raised his cup along with the others and downed its contents—though in his case, it was tea rather than alcohol.
Once everyone had finished their drinks, they naturally turned to the food.
Normally, they wouldn't slaughter livestock in this season.
But today was different.
The stronghold of the Dragonias—the embodiment of malice... no, of hunger—that had tormented this settlement and the Centaurs so thoroughly had been destroyed. The golden-scaled Dragonias that had ruled over its kind had been defeated. It was a deeply auspicious day.
Slaughtering livestock and serving it as a feast dish was only natural.
Above all, both Rei and Vihera had come to the aid of a settlement that had originally been no concern of theirs. A banquet of this scale was the least they could offer to express their gratitude.
"Here, please. This is the choicest cut."
The plate handed to him with those words held a dish of steamed pork packed generously with herbs and various other ingredients. It was the appetite-stimulating aroma that had drifted over while Rei and Vihera were talking in the tent—the source of that fragrance was this very pork dish.
"It's delicious."
Thanks to the steaming, the pork came out quite tender. And perhaps because they were on the plains, a generous amount of herbs had been used. Even so, the herbs had been carefully measured so as not to overwhelm the dish, elevating the flavor a notch above ordinary cooking. At the very least, more time and effort had clearly gone into it than the food served when Rei had first visited this settlement. It was, without a doubt, delicious.
(Herbs... come to think of it, what's the difference between spices and herbs?)
The tender steamed dish, wafting its appetite-stimulating herbal fragrance, prompted the sudden question as Rei enjoyed his meal.
Spices—things like pepper would be the common example. Herbs—what were commonly referred to as such. Someone knowledgeable about cooking would probably understand the various fine distinctions between them. But when it came to cooking, Rei was essentially a pure eater, and he couldn't begin to grasp those nuances.
(Things like pepper are dried, so maybe dried ones are spices? ...Well, whatever. As long as it tastes good, it doesn't matter.)
That was the conclusion he reached, and he went back to enjoying the flavor of the dish. Whether it was spices or herbs, as long as it tasted good, Rei didn't much care. ...Though in terms of monetary value, spices were certainly the more valuable of the two.
"What do you think of our traditional dish?"
The one who appeared before Rei as he enjoyed his meal was a single Centaur—an old woman, to be precise, leaning on a cane.
...Rei wondered whether even a four-legged Centaur needed a cane as they grew old. That said, it was plain to see from the reactions of those around her that this person was no ordinary individual. Rei couldn't imagine that someone like her had come over solely to ask about the taste of the food.
"I think it's quite delicious. It uses plenty of herbs, but they're not overpowering, which I appreciate."
No matter how delicious a seasoning or spice might be, using too much would never make a dish tasty. And yet, despite the generous amount of herbs in the pork dish Rei was eating, it was undeniably delicious. That meant the herbs had been used at the absolute perfect limit—a precise judgment of exactly how much to add.
How much skill did that require? Even Rei could tell it demanded a remarkably high level of technique.
"Fohofo. I'm glad to hear you say so. Tonight's banquet is steeped in our gratitude toward Lord Rei and Lady Vihera. Please enjoy it to your heart's content."
"I'll do just that. So—"
"Grandma!"
Before Rei could say anything more, Zai's voice rang out. Looking visibly startled, he pushed through the crowd toward the person he'd called Grandma—the old woman who had been speaking with Rei.
(Grandma? Come to think of it...)
Rei recalled the day he had first arrived in this world. Zai had been quite surprised when he learned Rei could use magic. He had also mentioned that only two people in the settlement could use magic. One was Drum, the chief of the settlement, and the other was the old woman.
Remembering those words, Rei was satisfied that this must be the very person Zai had spoken of. ...Not that there was any doubt, given that Zai himself had just called her Grandma.
"Zai, is this the person you mentioned? The one who can use magic?"
"Yes. ...However, as you can see, Grandma is old. So much so that she can't get around easily."
"Foho. It's nothing to fuss over. Besides, this is a banquet for the two who saved our settlement."
The old woman said this with a warm smile. Her expression radiated genuine joy. As someone who lived in this settlement, she undoubtedly felt deep gratitude toward Rei and Vihera for protecting the Centaurs.
"The two of you truly saved us. I am filled with gratitude as well. I only wish there were something I could do to repay you..."
"Even so, I'm already set to receive proper compensation from Drum, so you really don't need to worry about it."
"Please, don't say that. Isn't there something? I'll do anything within my power."
In truth, through Drum's power and influence, Rei had already secured a promise to search for Anastasia and Fana. Even without that, he had obtained the corpse of a Dragonias—not just any Dragonias, but one that appeared to be their leader, the golden-scaled Dragonias. Honestly, that alone was more than sufficient compensation.
...He had also managed to conduct what amounted to an experiment: deploying ten Fire Whirlwinds simultaneously. Through that, he was able to convince himself that his skill in wide-area attack magic had clearly improved compared to before.
Given all that, he had received more than enough compensation for this endeavor.
(Ah, but...)
It occurred to him that if the Centaur before him could use magic, it might be worth asking her to demonstrate what kind of magic it was. However, thinking it would be tactless to bring that up in the middle of a banquet, Rei considered it briefly before speaking.
"In that case... you're one of only two people in this settlement who can use magic, along with Drum... would you mind if I called you Grandma too?"
Seeing the old woman nod to indicate she didn't mind, Rei continued.
"I heard that only you and Drum can use magic. If it's not too much trouble today, I'd appreciate it if you could show me your magic sometime around tomorrow."
What kind of magic did the Centaur tribe use? And since this world was entirely separate from Elgin, there was a chance he might see magic he'd never encountered before. Beyond that, Rei didn't typically use existing magic; he created new spells through his own intuition. In that sense, the possibility that the old woman's magic could serve as inspiration for a new spell of his own couldn't be dismissed.
"Magic? If that's what you'd like, I don't mind..."
Perhaps caught off guard by Rei's words, the old woman nodded despite her evident surprise.
Honestly speaking, receiving jewels or whatever else—or even livestock from this settlement—would only be a burden to Rei. If he could receive dishes made with plenty of herbs, that would be a different story.
(But even today's feast must have stretched their resources. Given they've already suffered heavy losses due to the Dragonias, asking them to part with more livestock would be... difficult.)
This settlement had already taken in refugees fleeing from Dragonias attacks. The population had swelled as a result, but among the Centaurs who had arrived, those who brought livestock with them were few and far between. Given those circumstances, whether they would have enough food come winter was a genuine concern.
Despite that situation, they had slaughtered livestock for Rei and his group and served dishes made from the meat. That was how much they wanted to express their gratitude.
"Then I'll ask you sometime tomorrow. Today... seems like it would be difficult."
The old woman nodded at Rei's words. Showing her magic was truly no trouble at all. If anything, she felt it was far from enough to express her gratitude for protecting the settlement.
"Come on, Grandma. Rei said that's fine, so wouldn't it be better for you to rest today?"
"The banquet is still going, so may I stay a little longer? I won't overexert myself, of course."
From Rei's perspective, the exchange resembled one between a grandmother and her grandson. But according to what Rei had heard from Zai in passing, the two of them were not actually blood relatives. ...Though within this settlement, the majority of people were connected by blood to one degree or another. It was only because refugees from various settlements had gathered here that the number of unrelated individuals had grown.
"Watching something like that warms your heart, doesn't it."
Rei nodded in agreement with Vihera's words as she ate.
"Yeah, it does. Anyway—"
"Grrrrrrl!"
The moment Rei was about to say something, Set, who had been running around with the Centaur children, suddenly let out a cry. It was no ordinary cry—it was a sound that instilled a sense of alarm in anyone who heard it.
For Rei and Vihera, it was enough to make them spring into action immediately, moving on pure reflex.
Rei shot up from his seated position and pulled Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring. Beside him, Vihera had risen as well, prepared to react at a moment's notice to whatever might come.
"So... what do you think is coming?"
"Who knows? Unfortunately, I have no idea. You took care of the Dragonias, didn't you? So... something else?"
"Hard to say. I guess we'll just have to go see for ourselves. Set!"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's call, Set, who had come right up beside him, gave a throaty growl.
"An enemy is here... that's certain, right?"
In response to Rei's question, Set gave another throaty growl, confirming it with certainty.
Both Rei and Vihera knew just how sharp Set's senses were. Seeing him like this, they didn't dismiss it as some kind of misunderstanding. If anything, they took it as certain—when Set said so, there was no room for doubt.
"Rei!"
And they weren't the only ones who knew the extent of Set's abilities. They hadn't spent that much time together, but Set had served as lookout during the encampment on the way to the Dragonias stronghold. It wasn't difficult for Zai and the others to read the situation from Set's current demeanor.
"Yeah, it's definitely an enemy. I'll ask just in case, but does anything besides Dragonias ever attack Centaurs?"
"No."
Seeing Zai shake his head immediately, Rei accepted the answer. It made sense.
In the first place, before the Dragonias had appeared, the Centaur tribe had been called Rulers of the Plains. They had been overwhelmed by the Dragonias's sheer individual strength and, above all, by the sheer abnormality of their hunger-driven instinct—not metaphorically, but literally—to devour and kill. But that was only because their opponent had been Dragonias.
Against any other enemy, the Centaurs displayed strength worthy of the title Ruler of the Plains, given their position on the grassland. He couldn't imagine anything else that would dare attack a Centaur settlement—especially one as large as this.
(In that case...)
A bad feeling crept over Rei.
It was simple arithmetic. The only force that could assault the Centaur tribe was the Dragonias. So wasn't it possible that what was attacking was, in fact, Dragonias?
As a conjecture, it wasn't wrong at all.
...Provided, of course, that Rei and his group hadn't already annihilated the Dragonias stronghold.
Even so, there had been a lingering premonition in the back of Rei's mind.
The golden-scaled Dragonias had undoubtedly been strong. But... even so, Rei—who had fought it with his own hands—had harbored a question.
Was this Dragonias truly the final enemy?
And... Rei's premonition proved correct.
"Dragonias! A horde of Dragonias is heading this way!"
One of the Centaurs who had come running from outside shouted with every ounce of strength he had.