"Yeah, with this we don't have to worry about them turning into Undead for now... If the Dragonias became Undead, they'd be quite a handful. We need to be thorough about this area."
Rei muttered as he surveyed the Dragonias corpses burned by his flames. Beside him, Dolfina had been watching the process and suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to him.
"Rei, Dragonias basically eat anything, but they don't eat the corpses of their own kind, right?"
"Their own kind's corpses? Let me think... I doubt they do. What about it?"
"Well, I was thinking—if we threw the Dragonias corpses into their base or somewhere similar and let them become Undead, we could use them as a fighting force on our side."
"That's... hmm, it's something I can kind of see the logic in, but also can't fully get behind... it's a delicate matter."
Undead corpses, as a general rule, would attack any living target regardless of who they were—even if they had been the same race in life, they would attack without hesitation.
...Naturally, the fact that they would attack anyone meant Rei and his party would be targeted as well. But if Dragonias corpses were tossed into a location and Rei's group wasn't there, it wouldn't be a problem at all.
And since Dragonias, even when driven by starvation, never resorted to cannibalism, an Undead Dragonias could potentially become a powerful asset.
Dolfina offered this suggestion, but Rei wore a troubled expression.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Even if Dragonias don't cannibalize, would they recognize an Undead as one of their own? It's entirely possible they'd see an Undead as a non-ally and tear it apart. Besides... I personally don't much care for using Undead."
This wasn't out of a sense of justice—it was a problem stemming from the sharpness of Rei's and Set's senses.
Both Rei and Set possessed senses far keener than those of an ordinary human.
Because of that, beings like Skeletons, which had no flesh, or Ghosts, which lacked physical bodies, were one thing. But when it came to Zombies—corpses in a state of decay shambling around as Undead—the stench of rot dealt a powerful blow to their olfactory senses.
What's more, Set's senses were considerably sharper than Rei's own, meaning the damage would be that much more intense for him.
...In fact, whenever they ventured onto floors with Undead in Dungeons, Set always whimpered sadly at the stench, and Rei was no different.
Since this was an open grassland rather than an enclosed space like a Dungeon, the stench of rot wouldn't linger... but even so, given the current situation, it was only natural that Rei found it unacceptable.
Beyond the stench, he also had reservations about the very nature of Undead as a whole.
The fact that Grimm—Rei's advisor, or rather, his backer—was himself an Undead likely factored into that judgment.
That said, if someone equated Grimm, who deserved the title of Lich Lord, with some random Zombie, even Grimm, who treated Rei with the doting affection of a grandfather, would undoubtedly take offense.
"I see... Well, I only brought it up because it came to mind, so don't worry about it."
Rei had dismissed his idea without hesitation, but Dolfina didn't seem particularly bothered.
As he had said himself, he had probably just mentioned it on a whim.
"In any case... the next question is how we go about excavating this settlement."
"Hah? Why would we do that?"
Dolfina stared at him, clearly unable to fathom why Rei would suddenly suggest such a thing.
It was a fair reaction. Right after rescuing the female Centaur who had fled the settlement, Rei was now talking about digging the place up.
"Because I think there's something here. In this settlement."
With that, Rei explained to Dolfina the points that had been bothering him.
"...I see. Now that you mention it, the grove's trees not being eaten by the Dragonias, and nearly a hundred of them showing up in a place like this, does feel off."
Once Rei laid it out, Dolfina could see the logic.
Normally, Dolfina—who had actually suffered at the hands of the Dragonias—should have been the one more likely to notice the abnormality...
(No, perhaps precisely because he had been a victim of the Dragonias, he failed to notice? A preconceived notion, so to speak.)
Precisely because he had been tormented by the Dragonias, that was the lens through which he had viewed things.
Looking at it that way, Rei could understand well enough.
"Anyway, that's why I figure if there's anything here, it's beneath this settlement. And if that's the case, we obviously need to dig it out, right? Well, with my skill I can manage to some extent."
Rei's—or more precisely, Death Scythe's—skill: Terrain Manipulation.
Currently at level four, Terrain Manipulation allowed him to control the ground within a seventy-meter radius, adjusting it by about one hundred and fifty centimeters.
Using that, he could handle at least some of the labor involved in excavating.
However, it also meant that anything deeper than one hundred and fifty centimeters would have to be dug out by hand.
Given the current situation, doing so would likely require the full mobilization of the reconnaissance unit.
Furthermore, if there truly was something here that the Dragonias sought, there was no guarantee that more wouldn't come looking for it.
Considering that they had dispatched nearly a hundred Dragonias, Rei found it hard to believe that whoever was commanding them would give up after a single failure.
(Well, even if Dragonias do attack, Set is waiting outside the grove. If I need him, I can have him fly in and help with the excavation. And if it comes to fighting, sending Vihera would settle it. Besides, the Centaurs have grown plenty strong through their mock battles with her.)
Looking around, he could see the Centaurs resting.
Most of them were probably exhausted from hauling the Dragonias corpses.
They had rested briefly after the battle and then immediately set about gathering the corpses, so fatigue was only natural.
...After all, each individual Dragonias was larger than a Centaur and considerably heavier.
Gathering such creatures in one place required more exertion than a mediocre battle.
"Did the survivors of this settlement agree to the excavation?"
"No."
Rei shook his head in response to Dolfina's question.
The female survivor of this settlement—the Centaur woman who had been speaking with Rei and Zai—had not yet given her consent.
But given the circumstances, Rei had no intention of leaving this settlement unexcavated.
"I don't know what's down there, but it likely holds significant meaning. In that case, there's no reason not to go after it."
Dolfina apparently agreed, offering a nod.
And then... when Dolfina spoke again, the seriousness was gone from his voice—or rather, it was serious in the sense that it concerned magic, but he wasn't asking about the Dragonias anymore.
"So, Rei. I've seen it a few times now, but that magic you use to burn corpses—is there really no way to reduce the mana consumption?"
"Don't ask for the impossible. Truly the impossible. I believe I've told you before, but when I use 'Mourning Flames,' a holy attribute element gets mixed in no matter what. Normally that would make it unusable, but in my case I burn through a massive amount of mana to force the activation. If I tried to reduce the mana consumption, I wouldn't be able to cast it at all."
"Hmm, I understand that, but still... doesn't it feel, I don't know... wasteful?"
"Wasteful?"
"Yes. Of course, it's wonderful that you can activate that spell. But that's precisely because it's you, Rei, isn't it? You said an ordinary person couldn't do it, didn't you?"
"That's right."
It was precisely because Rei possessed vast mana reserves that he could force the spell to activate by burning through it.
If an ordinary mage tried to use magic the same way Rei did, it would be utterly impossible.
And that was what dissatisfied Dolfina.
If he could freely use magic of attributes he couldn't normally access—what would that mean?
For Dolfina in particular, there were countless spells he wanted to try and new magic he wanted to develop.
That was why Rei's magic fascinated him so deeply... and why it seemed such a shame that it could only be used because of Rei's enormous mana reserves.
"That's exactly why. If you could use any magic you wanted with minimal mana consumption, the way you do, wouldn't that be incredible?"
"I mean, I agree it would be incredible, but... it's simply not possible, is it? If it were, other mages would have done it long ago."
Methods to use magic of attributes one didn't possess had naturally been researched by mages for a long time.
Yet not a single success had ever been reported.
Or perhaps there were those who had succeeded but chose to keep it to themselves rather than share it with others.
"Of course, I understand it's difficult. But giving up without even trying... don't you think that's wrong?"
"I understand how you feel, Dolfina, but I can't stay in this grassland forever. I'm here to find two acquaintances of mine, nothing more. I'm fighting the Dragonias to ensure the people I'm searching for don't fall victim to them."
In other words, once he found Anastasia and Fana, he would leave this grassland.
Dolfina had heard as much several times before, and while Rei's words stirred complicated feelings in him, he didn't voice them.
Whatever he said in the current situation would be meaningless—probably because he knew it wouldn't change Rei's resolve.
"So for that reason, I can't help with full-scale magic research. Besides, I use magic largely by instinct, so I'm not suited for research and the like."
If Rei were someone who used magic theoretically, it would be far easier to involve him in research.
But someone like Rei, who cast spells largely by feel, was inevitably at a disadvantage compared to theoretically-minded mages.
Not that this meant intuition-based mages were inferior to theoretical ones.
In actual combat, it was far from uncommon for the intuition-based fighter to come out on top.
"That's..."
Dolfina, unable to immediately counter Rei's argument, fell silent...
"Rei!"
As if he had been waiting for Dolfina to go quiet, a voice called out to Rei.
Rei turned toward the sound and found Zai standing there—and beside him was the Centaur woman who had escaped from the settlement and encountered Rei's group.
Seeing the two of them together, Rei turned his gaze to the woman, silently asking if she had made her decision.
He had already discussed the possibility that something might be buried beneath the settlement with Zai while they were disposing of the Dragonias corpses.
That was why, seeing Zai and the Centaur woman arrive side by side, Rei assumed she had made up her mind.
"The two of you together—does that mean you've decided?"
"Yes. I spoke with my companions... we agreed on the condition that whatever lies beneath this settlement could serve as a weapon against the Dragonias."
The expression she wore as she spoke made it easy for Rei to imagine the conflicting emotions behind it.
"Understood. Then let's start digging right away. The problem, though, is that we have no idea where the target is located. On top of that, we don't know how deep it's buried."
Even with Terrain Manipulation, Rei could only dig down one hundred and fifty centimeters.
If it lay deeper than that, they would have to excavate the rest by hand.
"I should call Set."
While moving through the dense grove would be impossible, Set could fly in from outside and land here.
And Set's strength would be more than sufficient for digging up the ground.
"For now, if we're going to dig, we should bring Set here. Also... until we find something, we'll likely be camping here for a while, so we should prepare for that. We'll need lookouts too."
"Yeah, I know. We've already been giving out orders on that front. Everyone who trained with Vihera jumped right into the preparations."
"...I'd expect as much."
As far as Rei was concerned, that was all he could say in response to Zai's words.