"Well, this is a bit surprising," Rei muttered, watching the Wind of the Plains calmly lounging in the pasture where the livestock were kept.
With its two-headed goat appearance, the Wind of the Plains was extremely conspicuous.
Naturally, when he had first brought it into the settlement, many Centaurs were startled.
...There were even those who stared at Rei with expressions of disbelief for bringing the Wind of the Plains.
That was exactly why the fact that the Wind of the Plains didn't seem particularly bothered about being in the same place as the other livestock was so surprising.
"Gruu."
Watching that scene, Set looked just a little envious.
Set had overwhelmed the Wind of the Plains with his existence rank, but precisely because of that, when he was in the same place as other animals, they were generally frightened of him.
Given enough time together, they would eventually get used to him.
But that was slightly disappointing for Set.
It wasn't as though Set was planning to do anything to them.
He wasn't, but still, the fact that they were frightened of him was unavoidable as long as he was a gryphon.
For Set, as long as they weren't hostile, his honest feeling was that he wanted to be friends.
...That said, for ordinary horses, cows, goats, sheep, and the other animals Set had interacted with, his existence was overwhelmingly above them.
Given that, demanding they get used to Set immediately would be unreasonable.
In that sense, Goblins that still charged at Set on sight without a care were actually quite impressive.
"Now that's an unexpected sight," Zai, who had come this far with Rei, also voiced his surprise at seeing the Wind of the Plains peacefully coexisting with the other livestock.
Under normal circumstances, this was a scene that would be hard to believe.
"For now... calling it the Wind of the Plains is a bit much, so why don't we give it a proper name? It'd be easier to call, and the Wind of the Plains would settle into this settlement more easily too."
"Rei, are you serious?"
For Zai, the Wind of the Plains was a being to be revered.
To arbitrarily give such a being a name for their own convenience — he couldn't help but wonder whether it was truly acceptable to do such a thing.
...For Rei, it was simply that calling it the Wind of the Plains was a hassle.
This sort of difference likely had a lot to do with the worlds they grew up in.
"Yeah, I'm serious. If we do, the Wind of the Plains might... well, become a guardian of this settlement? Though I suppose that might not sit well with you and the others."
For the proud Centaurs, being unable to protect their own settlement with their own strength was nothing but humiliation.
But contrary to Rei's expectations, Zai nodded honestly.
"Understood. I'll take you at your word."
"...Are you sure? I figured you of all people would insist on protecting this settlement yourselves."
"What do you take me for, Rei? ...No, to be honest, I won't say I have no feelings about what you said. But I saw it. Not even their main camp, just one of their outposts, and yet how many Dragonias were there. And..."
Zai looked as though he was about to say more, but ultimately didn't put it into words and simply shook his head.
What he had originally intended to say was that watching Rei rampage through the Dragonias pack at the enemy outpost had nearly made him lose confidence in his own strength.
But he hadn't broken enough to voice that aloud.
This inner strength was probably why Zai was so respected by everyone in the settlement.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, never mind. Anyway, power is power. If it's to protect this settlement, I'll do whatever it takes."
Not long ago, such words wouldn't have come from Zai's mouth either.
But right now, many Centaurs were gathered in this settlement — women, children, and the elderly who had fled from Dragonias attacks.
Given that, the option of valuing only his own pride and refusing to rely on the strength of Rei, Vihera, Set, the Wind of the Plains, and others who could take on multiple Dragonias alone simply did not exist.
Of course, if asked whether it was frustrating or not, Zai would say it was.
But if his own frustration alone could protect many Centaurs — the ones who had fled here — then his frustration meant absolutely nothing.
Being able to let go in a positive way was, for better or worse, probably Rei's influence.
"I see. ...Then, fine. Do I need to explain what happened this time to Drum?"
"No, I'll handle letting him know. ...If you tell him, the Chief would probably be pretty shocked too."
"Wouldn't that be the same regardless of who tells him?"
Rei said that, dissatisfied with Zai's words, but Zai immediately shook his head.
In fact, even the Centaurs listening nearby were shaking their heads.
Faced with that unanimous attitude, Rei didn't say anything more.
...Well, having Zai take on the task of reporting to Drum was actually something to be glad about, so there was no doubt about that.
With the matter settled and Zai heading off right away to report to Dran, Rei watched him go and then continued through the settlement...
"Oh, Rei. I hear you brought an interesting monster?"
Brushing up her purple hair, Vihera, who had returned from patrol to the settlement without Rei noticing, smiled at him.
"You're back? ...So, were there any more Dragonias?"
"Unfortunately, no. The Dragonias that came earlier — I'd say they probably ended up here by chance rather than coming on some kind of order."
"An order."
The word "order" didn't seem to suit the Dragonias, Rei thought.
But having seen the golden-scaled Dragonias, Rei was certain that while the majority of Dragonias were driven by hunger and lacked the ability to think, there existed a separate minority — a mere handful compared to the entire Dragonias population, but still — higher-tier beings like the golden-scaled individual that could think clearly and even command other Dragonias.
"The golden-scaled Dragonias."
Vihera murmured, as if reading Rei's thoughts.
She had thoroughly enjoyed her fight with the Dragonias, but if a stronger opponent existed, it was only natural she'd want to fight them.
(Indeed, the golden-scaled Dragonias was strong.)
When Rei fought it, he ultimately took it down through sheer brute force.
But it had managed to deflect the thrown Twilight Spear, even while having its scales chipped away — that spoke to its considerable skill.
While ordinary Dragonias were driven by hunger and fought on instinct alone, the golden-scaled Dragonias possessed higher physical abilities than normal, was not controlled by hunger, and wielded those abilities proficiently in battle.
Whether every Dragonias outpost had a golden-scaled Dragonias, or whether the one Rei fought just happened to be strong — Rei couldn't say for certain.
But one thing was clear: if Vihera fought one, it would be an opponent that could fully satisfy her.
"Next time we find an outpost, I get to fight, right?"
"Yeah. I'll leave it to you."
If the Dragonias had Magic Stones, then as a Beast Magic user, Rei or Set would have needed to fight them.
But since Dragonias corpses had no Magic Stones, there was no need for Rei to fight them himself.
...Even if they did have Magic Stones, whether Magic Stones from another world's monsters could serve as nourishment for Beast Magic was something Rei didn't know.
However, given that Beast Magic was created by the Zephyle Clan — a gathering of geniuses even among geniuses — it wouldn't be surprising if they could easily overcome something like the barrier between worlds.
After all, even the Grimm that Rei knew of had been unable to join the Zephyle Clan and could only admire them from afar.
Though, the current Grimm was the result of continued training even after becoming Undead, so his strength was vastly different from what it had been in Zephyle's time.
"Hehe, that's an absolute promise, you hear?"
Vihera flashed a radiant smile — one that could fittingly be described as sun-like — and Rei nodded without hesitation.
"It's yours."
As if finally satisfied by Rei's words, Vihera smiled once more and left.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Just going to get some exercise. There are still some I want to train."
She had been training the Centaurs, fought the Dragonias, gone on patrol looking for more Dragonias after that, and upon returning, immediately resumed training the Centaurs again.
By any normal standard, it would be reasonable to say she was overdoing it, but from Rei's perspective, Vihera showed no sign of fatigue... if anything, her skin was positively glowing.
Rei couldn't exactly ask Vihera if she wasn't tired... and noticing that the gazes of the Centaurs being trained were directed at him, he quietly looked away.
The Centaurs whose gazes were averted seemed quite shocked, some with their mouths hanging wide open.
Centaurs trained desperately to become stronger. They did... but when it came to training with Vihera, they couldn't help but have complicated feelings about it.
Even so, the fact that not training wasn't an option was probably because they were Centaurs.
Or perhaps it was because they were born and raised on these plains.
Whatever the reason, the Centaurs immediately chased after Vihera.
(Come to think of it, Set is... ah.)
Looking for Set, Rei found him playing with the Centaur children.
Originally, among the children in this settlement, many had fled their own settlements due to Dragonias attacks.
If these were adults it would be one thing, but the children had fled from heinous monsters like the Dragonias and come to live in a settlement they were visiting for the first time... or had only been to a few times before, so many of them felt lonely.
But right now, while playing with Set, they didn't have to feel that loneliness.
That was only a temporary reprieve, but it was definitely better than nothing.
(Though Set probably isn't thinking that deeply about it.)
Set could understand human speech, but this wasn't a case of him considering the Centaurs' current situation — he simply wanted to play with the children.
Set had always been extremely popular with children back in Gilm, too.
Thinking about that, this development was only natural.
"For now, I'll leave Set be... so what should I do?"
If Vihera hadn't been here, Rei could have trained the Centaurs himself.
But with Vihera present, that wasn't possible.
...Well, he could if he wanted to, but the Centaurs' stamina probably wouldn't hold up.
If that resulted in negative effects tomorrow, it would be pointless.
On the other hand, could he play with the children? The children in Gilm had gotten used to Rei while spending time with Set, but in this other world they'd only just arrived in, the children had gotten used to Set but not yet to him.
Normally, he would have eaten some good food, but with the settlement's population having swelled so suddenly, there wasn't exactly an abundance of food.
After all, when Rei and Set had encountered the Wind of the Plains, they had been searching for some animal or monster that could serve as food.
"I really have nothing to do. ...Oh."
The moment he muttered that, a single Centaur passed by Rei's side.
Rei recognized who it was.
It was the person the Centaurs called the Old Woman.
The only Centaur in this settlement, other than Drum, who could use magic.
And originally, Rei had promised to have the Old Woman show him her magic.
...In reality, before he could see her magic, a group of Dragonias had been approaching, and the whole thing had fallen through.
If he'd been short on time, that would be one thing, but right now he truly had nothing he needed to do.
Given that, this was the perfect time to have the Old Woman show him this world's magic... or rather, Centaur magic.
"Old Woman."
Rei called out to her.