From what Rei could see, the injuries of the newly joined Centaurs weren't all that severe.
As Zai had said, a few had chunks of flesh torn away, but fortunately the wounds weren't large. The recovery medicine the Centaurs normally carried was more than enough to handle them—Rei didn't even need to bring out his potions.
Since he didn't know what kind of side effects his potions might have on Centaurs, this came as a relief.
...This world shared quite a few commonalities with Elgin, so he figured it would probably be fine to use them. But still, better safe than sorry.
"Thank you. We're saved thanks to you. I appreciate it."
A man who appeared to be in his thirties, seemingly the one leading the newly arrived group, bowed deeply to Rei and expressed his gratitude.
Rei was surprised by this Centaur's reaction.
Up until now, the majority of Centaurs had cared to some degree or another about the fact that he walked on two legs.
By now, Rei understood their temperament—they considered the number of legs important—so he had mostly stopped letting it bother him.
That was largely because, while many might initially belittle him for having two legs, a significant number of them dropped the attitude once he demonstrated his power.
So even though he felt slightly offended at first, after visiting several settlements and interacting with countless Centaurs, he had grown accustomed to it whether he liked it or not.
He had expected more of the same this time. But the Centaurs before him were different.
Even knowing Rei had two legs, they showed no sign of caring as they offered their words of gratitude.
Honestly, that came as a genuine surprise.
Was it because of the recovery medicine? But... the recovery medicine itself isn't really anything special...
Harboring that question, he spoke up.
"No, don't worry about it. If you fought against the Dragonias, then it concerns us too. ...More importantly—"
As he spoke with the man, Rei noticed that a few of the others—Centaurs who had finished their treatment with the recovery medicine—were directing curious gazes his way.
Were they curious because he had two legs? He wondered. But even so, many of the looks the Centaurs were giving him were friendly.
"Hey, do you guys not care about me having two legs? I've visited several settlements up to now, and most of the time, when they find out I've only got two, they've got something to say about it."
"Hm? Ah, that. ...It seems my companions were being rude with their stares. I apologize."
The Adventurer Party Leader followed Rei's gaze, and realizing it was his companions at the end of that look, offered words of apology.
He seemed slightly embarrassed—probably because he found his companions' behavior shameful.
"No, they're giving me friendly looks, so it's not like I was offended or anything. I just thought it was rare for Centaurs to be this friendly toward someone with two legs."
"Our settlement wasn't always this friendly toward two-legged folk either. But two two-legged women came by before and helped us with a problem we were struggling with. Because of that, even those with two legs—"
"Hold on a moment."
The Adventurer Party Leader had been about to continue, but Rei cut him off.
The man seemed to be wondering why Rei had stopped him mid-sentence, but for Rei, there was a part of that explanation he absolutely could not let slide.
"You just said 'two-legged women,' right? When was that?"
"When, you ask... let's see. About fifty days ago, I suppose."
"...Fifty days?"
Those words caught Rei completely off guard.
He wasn't sure how to even interpret that.
On these plains, two-legged women were extremely rare.
That much was obvious from how the Centaurs reacted to Rei and Vihera.
That was why, when he heard that someone had helped their settlement with a problem, he had assumed it was Anastasia and Fana...
No, if that's the case, I just need to ask for their names.
Deciding that, Rei asked with a serious expression.
"By the way, was one of those women named Anastasia? And was there another woman wearing a mask named Fana with her?"
"!?"
Upon hearing Rei's words, the Centaur's face filled with shock.
That reaction alone made it clear his guess had been right. However...
Fifty days? What is that?
That single point was what puzzled Rei.
And while he harbored that doubt, some of the newly joined Centaurs directed wary gazes toward him.
A person who knew their benefactors.
And not a Centaur who lived on these plains, but a two-legged man, the same as Anastasia and the others.
With that, it was impossible for them not to be on guard.
However... before Rei could say anything to those Centaurs, the Adventurer Party Leader spoke.
"Stop."
His voice wasn't particularly loud, but it carried enough authority to halt the others in their tracks.
"Lord Damran, why are you stopping them!? Those two are benefactors to our settlement! If so—"
"Calm down."
When the Adventurer Party Leader called Damran murmured again, the man who had been about to argue back fell silent.
"He's the one who prepared medicine for us. What's more... this man is strong. Even if we all attacked him at once, we wouldn't stand a chance. Of course, if he intended to harm Lady Anastasia and the others, we would fear no death... but at the very least, he doesn't appear to me to be that kind of person."
Am I wrong?
Rei, meeting that gaze, honestly agreed.
"That's right. We came to bring Anastasia and Fana back. ...Honestly, a lot of things were unexpected, but..."
The most unexpected thing of all was that nearly fifty days had passed since Anastasia and Fana had arrived in this world.
There might be some slight discrepancy in the exact timing, but still—fifty days. Nearly two months. It was only natural to wonder what exactly had happened to make that possible.
The most likely explanation is the time between when a hole opened in the Underground Space beneath the Treant Forest, Anastasia and Fana came through to this world, and when Grimm stabilized the hole?
Rei didn't know exactly how much time had passed between those events.
But when it came to a hole connecting two entire worlds, it wouldn't be strange for something beyond common sense to occur.
That was why he reasoned that a time discrepancy must have occurred—and by the time Grimm fixed the hole in place, nearly fifty days had already elapsed on this side.
It was a stretch, but thinking of it that way, it wasn't entirely impossible to accept.
"To bring them back? But a lot of time has passed for that, hasn't it?"
"A lot happened. Specifically, in a magical sense. If you know Anastasia, then you know she's a Spirit Magic user, right? She failed an experiment with Spirit Magic... and that's how she ended up here. And that's also why it took us longer to follow."
It was a fairly nonsensical story, but Rei couldn't exactly tell them the truth about coming from another world.
Given that, fabricating some plausible explanation was essential.
...Besides, the fact that Anastasia was a Spirit Mage with boundless curiosity wasn't wrong either.
That was exactly why she had entered the hole connecting to another world and come to this one in the first place.
So Rei's words weren't entirely fabricated.
"...I see."
Perhaps because Damran had interacted with Anastasia before, there were parts of Rei's explanation he found convincing.
Seeing that reaction, Rei figured that Anastasia had probably exercised her trademark curiosity at Damran's settlement and caused trouble for Fana in the process.
"At any rate, are Anastasia and Fana currently at your settlement?"
"No, they stayed for a few days before leaving."
Rei could tell from looking into Damran's eyes that those words were no lie.
"I see. ...Did they happen to say where they were headed?"
"Hmm. They expressed interest in the many countries that exist beyond the plains, so they might have gone that way. ...But they were also interested in the Dragonias, so I couldn't really say which direction they went."
Hearing Damran's words, Rei fell into thought.
For Rei, defeating the Dragonias was partly motivated by a desire to reduce even slightly the chance of harm coming to Anastasia and Fana.
To hear that those same two women had been interested in the Dragonias... in a way, he had expected as much. Having that prediction confirmed just wasn't particularly pleasant.
"Regardless of how Anastasia and Fana act, we need to find and annihilate the Dragonias headquarters as quickly as possible. ...Honestly, I'd been considering falling back and returning later if finding and destroying the headquarters proved too difficult."
In the first place, technically—and it really was just technically—the official designation of this unit was a reconnaissance unit.
Normally, a reconnaissance unit didn't wipe out an enemy stronghold after finding one.
There were exceptions like armed reconnaissance, where troops actively engaged and killed enemies they encountered, but even that kind of reconnaissance rarely went so far as to annihilate an enemy stronghold.
In that sense, Zai's reconnaissance unit, despite its name, was essentially an annihilation unit in all but title.
But still, since it was nominally a reconnaissance unit, the plan had been to locate the Dragonias headquarters and, if destroying it proved too difficult, fall back and gather more combat power.
The Centaurs participating in this unit were those who could be called elite within their respective settlements, but even so, many truly skilled fighters had stayed behind.
Given that a Dragonias attack could come at any time, that was perhaps only natural.
However... considering the situation with Anastasia and Fana, Rei couldn't just leave things as they were.
Making that call, he resolved to destroy the Dragonias headquarters during this operation.
Even if I intend to destroy the headquarters, finding it first is the prerequisite.
Thinking that... Rei suddenly turned his gaze to Damran.
"You came out here for reconnaissance, so I doubt you know—but I'll ask just in case. Do you have any idea where the Dragonias headquarters is?"
He asked the question fully expecting the man didn't know.
After all, Rei figured that if Damran knew where the headquarters was, he wouldn't have bothered going out on reconnaissance in the first place.
Granted, there was a possibility that the Dragonias headquarters existed near his settlement and he had set out to find a place to evacuate to. But Rei considered that extremely unlikely.
If the headquarters was near their settlement, they would have needed to flee immediately.
Given the Dragonias's hunger, it wouldn't be strange for every living creature in the settlement to be devoured.
And... just as Rei expected, Damran shook his head.
"No, sorry, but I don't. If I did, I could move the settlement somewhere safer. ...My apologies."
Since Rei had only asked expecting as much, he didn't blame Damran for not knowing.
"Don't worry about it. I just thought it'd be nice if you did, so I could save myself the trouble. ...By the way, do you know of any bases? Not the headquarters, just regular bases."
"I don't know that either. Actually, I only learned earlier today that Dragonias even set up bases."
"I see. ...In that case, I guess we'll have to leave finding the headquarters to the others still out on reconnaissance. Would be a big help if they turned something up this time around."
Rei said that, but then he noticed an appetite-stimulating scent drifting in on the wind.
"Dinner's ready!"
The shout of the Centaur who had been preparing the meal carried over to them.
Hearing that voice, many of the Centaurs headed toward the center of the campsite, where the food had been made.
"Come on, you guys too. If you want to heal those wounds, you need to eat properly."
"Eh? You mean it's okay for us to...?"
In response to Damran's bewildered words, Rei turned his gaze to Zai... and Zai nodded at that look as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.