"Some of them are back!"
The day after Damran and his group joined up with Rei and the others, a short while after everyone had finished breakfast and gotten started on their respective tasks, Rei heard one of the sentries cry out.
Hearing that voice, Rei deflected a spear thrust toward him with the Twilight Spear and stopped moving just as he brought the blade of the Death Scythe to bear against his opponent.
"Looks like one of the units that went out on reconnaissance has returned. Mock battles are suspended for now."
At Rei's words, relief washed over the faces of the Centaurs who had been sparring with him.
Against Rei and... Vihera, there was simply no way they could win.
Against Rei and Vihera, who were each taking on multiple opponents at once, they couldn't even form a mental image of victory.
"Vihera, I'm going to go hear what they have to say. What about you?"
"I think I'll... stay here and keep doing mock battles a little longer."
You've gotta be kidding me! The Centaurs who had been sparring with Vihera didn't say it out loud, but anyone could see that was exactly what they wanted to scream.
And then... they cast envious looks at the Centaurs whom Rei had told to take a break.
No, "envious" alone wasn't enough to describe the look in their eyes.
It was something deeper, more intense — an expression that could accurately be called obsession or fixation.
Naturally, those on the receiving end of such gazes displayed a variety of reactions, from smugness to visible discomfort.
For the Centaurs, this training was critically important.
After all, to raise their chances of surviving a fight against the Dragonias even slightly, they had no choice but to become stronger.
Moreover, given the Centaur instinct to value strength above all else, there was no disagreement about the need to grow stronger.
But... even so, mock battles against absolute powerhouses like Rei and Vihera were threatening to break the Centaurs' spirits.
To draw a comparison, Rei and Vihera were walls.
The Centaurs had to destroy those walls, or climb over them, or leap beyond them — but the two walls named Rei and Vihera were not walls that could be dealt with so easily.
No matter how much stronger they became, those walls wouldn't budge in the slightest. With that being the case, they couldn't even recognize that they were getting stronger, and some even started to wonder whether combat training had any meaning at all.
...In reality, the skills of the Centaurs who had been repeatedly sparring with Rei and Vihera were unquestionably improving.
They were definitely stronger compared to when they had been at their settlements.
The chiefs of the settlements hadn't sent their true elites with the reconnaissance unit, but those undergoing combat training had grown strong enough that it wouldn't be surprising if they could now defeat even those elites.
Of course, they weren't at the level where they could take on multiple Dragonias single-handedly.
At any rate, because they had no basis for comparison, the Centaurs undergoing training weren't aware of just how much stronger they had become.
(Maybe that's something that needs to be addressed. Though even if they fought and beat someone they'd never met before, it'd still be hard to tell whether they'd actually gotten stronger. If there was a reliable way to confirm that... it would be going back to their own settlements and beating opponents they previously couldn't win against.)
Rei thought about this as he headed toward where the returning reconnaissance unit was... but immediately dismissed the idea.
In the first place, returning to their respective settlements just to confirm their strength would be a massive waste of time.
Rather than doing something like that, it was clearly better to focus on finding the Dragonias headquarters.
"More importantly, did the ones who came back find any clues... no, I guess not."
Even from a distance, he could see Centaurs who looked dejected.
If they had found the Dragonias headquarters or a base, they wouldn't be acting like that.
In other words, they hadn't obtained any clues of the sort.
That should have been the natural conclusion.
(Though for that, they did come back pretty fast.)
The basic arrangement was to advance for two days and return in two days.
Since they had gone out on reconnaissance under those terms, even if they found nothing, coming back early was to be expected.
With that in mind, Rei headed toward where the returned reconnaissance unit was speaking with Zai.
"You came back pretty fast. What happened?"
"Ah, Rei. ...It seems they encountered Dragonias."
"Well, that's to be expected, isn't it? We're searching for the Dragonias headquarters. ...If anything, encountering Dragonias means there could be a base or headquarters nearby."
Even as he said that, Rei knew that Dragonias traveled considerable distances from their bases.
If that was the case, then encountering Dragonias didn't necessarily mean there was a headquarters or base right next to them.
...Though he couldn't say for certain that there wasn't, either.
"If it were ordinary Dragonias, that'd be one thing. But... that Dragonias was different. It wasn't normal."
"...Not normal?"
"That's right. I'd never seen a Dragonias with silver scales before. Could it be related to the golden-scaled Dragonias that you killed, Rei?"
Hearing the Centaur's words, Rei understood why they had come back.
A silver-scaled Dragonias was an enemy strong enough to satisfy Vihera.
Of course, not every silver-scaled Dragonias necessarily possessed the same strength as the one Vihera had fought.
Rather, it was perfectly natural for strength to vary between individuals.
(A silver-scaled Dragonias... if that's the case, does the commander Dragonias split off from the headquarters or a large base like a queen ant or bee? If so, are the normal Dragonias like worker ants? Well, if you said they were similar... I suppose they are, aren't they?)
Rei could accept the notion that Dragonias resembled ants or bees to some extent.
That said, when it came to whether Dragonias were exactly like the ants and bees Rei knew of, he couldn't simply nod and agree.
"I see. I understand the situation. In that case, I don't know whether that silver-scaled Dragonias is trying to establish a base or attempting something else entirely, but either way, we can't just let it do as it pleases."
"That's what I thought too, so we came back."
"...Then why do you look so disappointed and frustrated?"
"If possible, we wanted to take down the silver-scaled Dragonias ourselves. But we couldn't. Once we realized that, we had no choice but to come back."
I see, Rei thought, accepting the Centaur's words.
Given that Centaurs valued strength above all else, the thought that there were opponents they could never match must have been deeply frustrating for the Centaurs standing before him.
(Come to think of it, this Centaur group's settlement hadn't had any contact with Dragonias yet. That's exactly why they never imagined they would lose to Dragonias. ...Something along those lines.)
But that reckless confidence had been shattered by the silver-scaled Dragonias they had witnessed.
As a Dragonias that possessed enough power to satisfy Vihera, that assessment was by no means wrong.
(But a silver-scaled Dragonias, huh. ...Then what exactly was the golden-scaled Dragonias that I fought? Silver... gold... could it be that when a base grows large enough, the scales change from silver to gold? No, that can't be right.)
Rei speculated that a silver-scaled Dragonias might establish a base, and if that base grew massive, its scales would change from silver to gold. But he immediately questioned whether it would really be that straightforward and dismissed the idea.
"For the time being, we should probably take down that silver-scaled Dragonias. We're already destroying Dragonias bases as it is, so we shouldn't let them increase their numbers."
No one voiced any objection to Rei's words.
After all, everyone present desired the annihilation of the Dragonias.
The question was who exactly would go to defeat the silver-scaled Dragonias.
Even with ordinary Dragonias, multiple Centaurs were needed to bring one down.
And the strength of a silver-scaled Dragonias was, without even needing to think about it, greater than that of a normal Dragonias.
In the current situation, if there was anyone who could defeat one, it would be Rei, Vihera, and Set — two people and one creature.
"Rei... can I ask you to handle this?"
Zai, who had been listening to the conversation, had evidently arrived at the same conclusion as Rei.
He made the request.
It hadn't been long since Rei had returned to the campsite.
But if Rei's group was the only one capable of doing it, then they would actually have to go.
...There was also the option of sending Vihera alone, but naturally, Rei never even considered such an approach.
He believed Vihera could fight without any problems, but thinking about worst-case scenarios, he couldn't bring himself to do something like that.
If Rei were to propose it, she would probably go off to kill it gleefully, though.
"Right. But since the enemy is on the move, finding them will be difficult. That's the issue."
Given that they had split off and were traveling as a group, it went without saying that by the time anyone went to the location where the returning Centaurs had spotted them, the enemy would already be gone.
"Just to be sure, you haven't been tailing the silver-scaled Dragonias group, have you?"
"No. If the number of Dragonias had been small, we might have been able to. But even for tailing, there were too many of them. If we did something like that and got spotted, we'd definitely be eaten alive. I couldn't give that order. ...Sorry."
The Centaur who apologized must have understood that they should have pursued the group led by the silver-scaled Dragonias.
But considering the danger of being discovered by the Dragonias, he couldn't order his comrades to do it.
(They organized by settlement to account for coordination and teamwork, but this is a failure case of that approach. Because they care about their comrades, they couldn't properly fulfill their role as scouts.)
Discovering a silver-scaled Dragonias leading a group of Dragonias on the move was a significant achievement.
But without knowing where they were actually heading... if Rei were to give a score, it would be about sixty points... and no matter how generously he graded, it wouldn't reach seventy.
Then again, when members from completely different settlements were mixed together, the unspoken rules that existed within each settlement could clash with one another.
If there had been time, that might have been fine, but in the current situation, such a thing was impossible.
"Then I suppose after getting a general idea of the location, it'd be best for just me, Set, and Vihera to head out."
As if hearing Rei's murmur, Zai nodded in resignation.
"If possible, I'd like you to bring along those who weren't able to observe the assault on the previous base, but would that be difficult?"
"It would. The enemy is on the move this time, so we can't afford to casually run along the ground."
At Rei's words, several Centaurs displayed expressions of dissatisfaction.
They had once been called Rulers of the Plains, and even now, pressed by the Dragonias, they still held the upper hand in running speed.
So being told they were too "casual" was naturally unpleasant for the Centaurs.
...Though from Rei's perspective, no matter how fast they ran across the ground, it was a step or two below Set flying through the air.
Even so, the act of running across the plains was a matter of pride for the Centaurs.
That was why they were about to say something — but before they could, Rei spoke.
"We'll be flying to reach the Dragonias. ...If anyone wants to come with us, they'd be using the Set Basket. If there's anyone who thinks they wouldn't mind flying, they're welcome to join us... but what do you say?"
"......"
At Rei's words, every single Centaur fell silent.
Naturally, Zai was among those who went quiet as well.
(So flying really is something Centaurs absolutely can't accept, huh. ...If Dolfina were here, it might have been a different story, though.)
Coming from a settlement skilled in magic among the Centaurs, Dolfina had been quite curious.
So much so that if someone mentioned flying, it wouldn't have been strange for him to say he wanted to try it himself.
"Looks like there's no one who wants to come along. So it'll just be us."
No one could voice any objection to Rei's words.