"Oh, hey. There it is."
They had been running across the plains for several hours now.
Had they been traveling with Set flying through the sky, it wouldn't have taken nearly as long. But covering the distance on foot meant that much time had already passed before Asdena finally made the call.
Rei turned his gaze in the direction Asdena indicated with his spear, and there it was—a settlement.
And one that was unmistakably familiar to Rei.
There was no mistaking it—this was Zai's settlement.
Even from a distance, the difference in scale between this settlement and Asdena's was readily apparent.
Looking out at it, Rei spoke up.
"We're back. ...Oh."
Rei muttered happily, but as he watched the rapidly approaching settlement, he suddenly noticed something.
Right next to it lay Dragonias corpses.
Not nearly a hundred like before, but far fewer. It looked like only about five, but what was there were unmistakably corpses.
"Veeeee."
Perhaps spotting the bodies as well, the Wind of the Plains let out a strange cry.
Hearing that cry, Asdena also discovered the corpses placed just outside the settlement and let out a gasp of surprise.
"Hey, Rei! Aren't those Dragonias corpses!? And that settlement is..."
"Probably got attacked while we were away. But as you can see from those bodies, they managed to take them down."
"No, but... those are Dragonias, you know?"
Words of sheer disbelief spilled from Asdena's mouth.
For someone from Asdena's settlement, even five Dragonias appearing would mean bracing for a serious fight.
Unlike Zai's settlement, theirs was smaller in scale, which inevitably meant fewer warriors.
On top of that, the warriors' skill level wasn't particularly high either.
These differences were a direct reflection of the settlement's size. With so few warriors to begin with, everyone's abilities tended to plateau at a mediocre level.
If even one person among them had possessed outstanding combat power, it wouldn't have been unusual for others to strive to catch up or surpass them. Asdena was the strongest in his settlement, but even his skills weren't truly exceptional.
When Rei had actually fought him in a mock battle, Asdena had ranked only around upper-middle—or perhaps lower-upper tier compared to the warriors in Zai's settlement.
Besides... Asdena was surprised, and he probably assumed it was the Centaurs in the settlement who had taken the Dragonias down. But Rei suspected otherwise.
Vihera—Vihera, who loved combat more than anything—would never have handed off the chance to fight Dragonias, monsters that never knew the meaning of giving up, to anyone else.
And sure enough, as they drew closer, it became apparent that the wounds weren't from longswords or spears. The bodies had been beaten to death, and in some cases showed no external injuries at all.
Granted, Vihera's Hand Gauntlets and Foot Guards could generate claws and blades using magic, so the wounds could just as easily have been slashing ones if she'd felt like it.
"Gruu."
"Hm? Ah, we've got a welcoming party too."
Set alerted them that several Centaurs were emerging from the settlement, and Rei nodded in understanding at the sight.
The faint sense of déjà vu was probably because things had played out much the same way at Asdena's settlement.
The key difference, though, was that this was Zai's settlement—where Rei's and Set's presence was already well understood.
Which was why they shouldn't have been met with the same wariness as when they'd first encountered Asdena... or so it should have been.
"Rei, is that... the Wind of the Plains? Why..."
Whether it was from training with Vihera or not, Zai looked thoroughly exhausted, and his voice carried genuine shock at the sight of the creature.
"Veeeee?"
The Wind of the Plains didn't seem the least bit bothered by the reaction. It simply surveyed its surroundings.
Watching it up close, Rei got the distinct impression that the creature was carefully confirming where it would be living.
Then again, it probably was doing exactly that. The question was how things would actually play out.
From Rei's perspective, the settlement had plenty of inhabitants, and there was nothing particularly unsuitable about it as a place for the Wind of the Plains to live.
If the creature happened to dislike noisy environments, that could pose a real problem. But from what Rei could see, it showed no such aversion.
"If you're asking why, all I can say is we captured it. Or more accurately, rescued it."
Both statements were, in a sense, true.
They had undeniably rescued the Wind of the Plains from a Dragonias attack. At the same time, it was equally true that they'd used Set's intimidation and Rei's own strength to make it acknowledge them.
Given that, either explanation was accurate.
After Rei explained the circumstances, Zai clutched his head.
Probably just exhaustion from Vihera's harsh training, Rei reasoned, shifting the blame in his mind. Then something occurred to him.
"Huh? Where's Vihera? She's the one who took down those Dragonias, right?"
"That's right. She was fighting with sheer delight. Honestly, some of the others are even scared of her when she gets like that."
"I can see why."
Even Rei could understand why some might feel that way.
Vihera's intense passion for battle—something that could aptly be called an obsession—was enough to terrify anyone unfamiliar with her. It wouldn't be strange at all for them to feel that way.
The reason it didn't bother Rei was largely a matter of compatibility. Or perhaps it was because he'd enjoyed plenty of manga, novels, anime, and games back in Japan, so characters with that kind of personality were nothing new to him.
"So, where is Vihera now?"
"Given that Dragonias attacked, she figured there might still be more in the area. She went out on patrol."
"Patrol? ...Well, hopefully she doesn't get lost."
You're one to talk.
Asdena's gaze seemed to say exactly that, but Rei ignored it.
Watching their exchange, Zai seemed to piece together why Asdena was here. He gave Rei a glance of exasperation, then expressed his gratitude to Asdena.
"Thanks for bringing Rei back."
"No, when I first saw him carrying the Wind of the Plains, I thought he was an enemy, but... despite being two-legged, he's strong."
Rei had told him several times that having two legs had nothing to do with strength, but for Asdena, it was clearly something he couldn't let go.
Zai nodded in understanding. He had been friendly from the start, but it wasn't as though he'd had zero reservations about the two-legged Rei. Of course, Rei's strength had far exceeded anything he could have imagined.
"Mm. I can understand that. At any rate, please come into the settlement. We can't just send off someone who helped our benefactor empty-handed."
Zai's settlement was by no means overflowing with food. If anything, it was precisely because of those concerns that Rei had gone out hunting with Set in the first place.
In the end, they hadn't found any prey. Instead, they'd found the Wind of the Plains.
But for Zai, this was actually a cause for celebration. To those who lived on these plains, the Wind of the Plains was a creature to be revered.
For such a being to come to their settlement, it would have been more unreasonable to tell them not to rejoice.
That said, there was also the question of how to feed it.
As if reading Zai's thoughts, Asdena shook his head.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Zai, but I need to get back to my settlement quickly. Especially after seeing Dragonias corpses like this."
With that, Zai couldn't press the matter any further. He would have done the same thing in Asdena's position.
Understanding that, he gave a short nod.
"Understood. Then I pray for your settlement's safety. If anything happens, please contact me."
Asdena was from a relatively nearby settlement, and he was the one who had brought Rei—Zai's settlement's benefactor—to them. Given that, if anything happened, specifically if they were attacked by Dragonias, Zai fully intended to help if Asdena reached out.
Of course, even if Asdena's settlement was close, that was only from the perspective of the plains. In reality, it was a neighboring settlement that still took several hours to reach.
If they had wings to fly like Set, it might be a different story, but even for Centaurs, reaching Asdena's settlement wasn't easy.
Furthermore, Centaur settlements were fundamentally built with mobility in mind. There were no walls or ramparts like in Gilm, meaning Dragonias could enter from anywhere.
On the flip side, that also meant they could flee from anywhere if attacked.
At any rate, being that kind of settlement, there was no denying they'd be helpless if Dragonias struck.
Even so, Zai held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe.
Honestly, Zai wanted Asdena's settlement to merge with theirs, even if only temporarily.
But he had already proposed that before and been refused, so it wasn't something to bring up here.
"Then, farewell."
"Yeah. See you."
The two exchanged brief words, and as Asdena moved to leave, Rei called out to him as well.
"Thanks for guiding us here."
"Gruu!"
As if following Rei's lead, Set let out a cry too.
The Wind of the Plains, on the other hand, showed no interest whatsoever in Asdena, both heads looking elsewhere entirely.
Unlike Set, who could fully understand human speech, Rei had no way of knowing whether the Wind of the Plains could actually comprehend words, so it didn't particularly bother him.
"Yeah, come visit us sometime too. Just don't get lost next time."
With that, Asdena broke into a run and disappeared from the spot.
Rei wanted to fire something back, but in a place where nothing but plains stretched out in every direction, where they hadn't been born or raised, and where there were no roads or paths of any kind, telling Rei and Set not to get lost was simply unreasonable.
"Rei, for now... what about the Wind of the Plains? Honestly, if we let it in and it goes on a rampage, that'd be a real problem."
As someone who lived on these plains, Zai naturally knew just how powerful the Wind of the Plains was.
Its running speed was faster than that of the Centaurs, who had been called Rulers of the Plains before Dragonias appeared.
Given such a creature, it was only natural for Zai to worry about what would happen if they let it into the settlement and it went berserk.
"As for the Wind of the Plains, I don't think you need to worry about that."
"Why's that?"
Zai asked, a questioning look on his face directed at Rei's confident tone.
Many had tried to capture—or defeat—the Wind of the Plains before now. Every single attempt had ended in failure.
That was entirely due to the creature's own abilities, and that was why even while talking to Rei, Zai couldn't simply accept it at face value.
But Rei just glanced at Set and spoke.
"Even though it's a fellow monster, it was thoroughly made to understand the difference in existence rank."
At those words, Zai... and the Centaurs who had come with him without uttering a single word until now, all turned their eyes to Set.
A moment later, they nodded in understanding, though their expressions were complicated.
Every warrior in this settlement knew exactly how powerful Set was.
Those who had succumbed to Set's cuteness might have had different thoughts, of course.
They knew Set's strength. But as beings who lived on these plains, the Wind of the Plains was something to revere—and in some cases, even aspire to be.
To hear that such a creature had been effortlessly subdued by Set's existence rank—though from Rei's perspective, it looked more like friendship than subjugation—it was only natural for their expressions to grow complicated.
"Wind of the Plains."
"Vee?"
In response to Rei's voice, it turned one of its heads toward him.
It certainly seemed to understand words. But since it didn't appear to comprehend what other people were saying, Rei figured that "Wind of the Plains" probably just served as its name.
At any rate, they decided to start by bringing the Wind of the Plains into the settlement.