"Grr..."
Outside the grove where Rei and the others had entered, Set kept watch for enemies, just as Rei had instructed.
That said, Set was currently lying down with his eyes closed, watching for enemies the same way he did at camp, so to an outside observer, it probably wouldn't look like he was on alert at all.
Even so, there was no doubt that this was the easiest vigilance posture for Set.
If the enemy was already visible, he could have adopted a different approach to keeping watch.
But when it came to standing guard in a situation like this one, where there was no telling when an enemy might appear, this stance was without question the least taxing.
And yet, it was by no means a poor way to stay alert.
Even lying down as he was now, if an enemy approached, he would detect them immediately through hearing and smell.
...And that was exactly why Set was able to instantly sense someone approaching from the grove without warning, and at the same time, quickly realize that the approaching figure was someone he knew well.
"Gru!"
At first glance, Set had appeared to be sleeping, but the moment he sensed that person's approach, he immediately sprang up and looked toward the grove happily.
His tail wagging vigorously made him look almost like a dog.
In reality, Set was a gryphon with the lower body of a lion and the upper body of an eagle, so if one were to force a classification, he would fall under the feline family.
As Set stared happily at the grove... before long, a single figure emerged from within it.
Who that person was, Set already understood at this point.
That is... Rei.
"Grrrrru!"
Letting out a happy cry, Set bounded toward Rei.
It hadn't been all that long since Set and Rei had been apart... but even so, for the clingy Set, reuniting with Rei was apparently a joyous occasion.
Rei, in turn, caught Set as he charged over.
...When a gryphon over three meters in length came barreling at him, even without intent, the impact was actually quite considerable.
Even so, Rei firmly caught Set.
Set had no intention of bowling Rei over and simply wanted to be affectionate, so the impact itself wasn't all that great, which made a big difference in this case.
"Sorry for leaving you out here, Set. ...Looks like no enemies showed up, though."
While stroking Set, who was nuzzling his head against him, Rei surveyed the surroundings.
There wasn't a single monster corpse to be found, Dragonias included. It was clear that Set had stayed put right here as instructed.
If Dragonias or other monsters had come, it wouldn't have been strange for their remains to still be here.
...Alternatively, if it had been a small monster like a squirrel, depending on the circumstances, there was a possibility Set might have swallowed it whole.
Once he had finished petting Set and the gryphon had settled down, Rei explained why he was here.
He needed to dig up the ground of the settlement and wanted Set's help with it.
Set had no intention of refusing a request from Rei. He purred happily and accepted.
From Set's perspective, there was generally no reason to turn down Rei's requests.
Moreover, heading to the settlement in the grove meant he would be acting alongside Rei there.
For Set, turning down such an ideal arrangement was unthinkable.
"Alright. There's a fairly open space inside the settlement, so if we fly, we should be able to get there in no time. Let's go."
"Gru!"
Hearing Rei's words, Set happily lowered himself.
As Rei straddled Set's back, Set took a few running steps and, flapping his wings, bounded up into the sky.
Once they reached the airspace above the grove, spotting the Centaur settlement at its center... or rather, its ruins, was not difficult.
"Looking at it like this, the grove is pretty large after all."
From the sky, the settlement could be seen sitting almost exactly in the center of the grove.
That meant no matter where one entered the grove from, the time to reach the settlement would be the same.
The grove itself was quite expansive, and Rei once again found himself questioning why the Dragonias had come all the way to where this settlement was located within it.
Given the high likelihood that something lay buried beneath the settlement, the chances of the Dragonias coming again in pursuit of it were high.
"Grru?"
Set rumbled as if asking, Can I land now?
Flying through the sky was fun, but if there was work to be done, he figured it would be better to get it out of the way quickly.
Rei, likewise, didn't refuse Set's prompting and asked him to descend toward the settlement.
As Set glided down toward the settlement, the group gathered there naturally noticed him descending from above.
At first, several Centaurs who couldn't identify what it was caused a stir, but another Centaur nearby quickly explained that it was Rei and Set, and they were surprised but accepted it.
For Centaurs, flying was something they were instinctively averse to.
Of course, there were exceptions like Dolfina, but fundamentally, those who felt revulsion toward the idea of flying, like Zai, were more common.
Under those circumstances, with Set suddenly dropping from the sky, it would be unreasonable to expect them not to be startled.
Then again, Set, who was actually flying through the air... and Rei, riding on Set's back, didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
In any case, once Set landed on the ground, he looked around with evident interest.
He had been able to observe the settlement from the sky, but seeing it from the ground was likely a different experience altogether.
"Grru... gru."
Sniffing the scent lingering in the air, he seemed to grasp what had happened here and rumbled softly.
Then, as Rei dismounted from Set's back, he noticed Zai hurrying over.
"Rei, I... arranged the bodies from this settlement. They're lined up over there. Please purify them."
"Understood."
Originally, Rei had considered using the Flames of Mourning to burn all the corpses—the Dragonias and Centaur corpses alike... every dead body present in this settlement.
But in reality, the women from this settlement had pleaded with him not to treat the Centaur corpses the same as the Dragonias corpses.
Given the fate this settlement had suffered, the woman's words were perfectly understandable, so Rei accepted their request.
To the survivors of the settlement, mixing together those who had died defending their home with those who had attacked it was something they simply could't accept.
Furthermore, even though the corpses would be burned by the Flames of Purification, they apparently had feelings about leaving the bodies scattered on the ground as they were burned. The settlement's survivors... and those who had fortunately not been caught up in Vihera's training, gathered the corpses in the plaza at the center of the settlement.
With those preparations complete, they had asked him to burn them.
Rei had no objections, so he headed to the center of the settlement together with Set.
There, gathered alongside the surviving Centaurs of this settlement, were the members of the Reconnaissance Unit.
(Come to think of it, I don't know anything about Centaur funerals or their views on life and death... well, I suppose there's no need to force myself to learn.)
Rei thought this as he gazed at the place where the bodies... or more accurately, the remains left behind after the Dragonias had fed on them, were gathered.
The fact that some showed signs of being unaccustomed to this was likely because funeral customs and views on life and death differed between settlements.
Though ultimately, since they were all Centaurs, he didn't think the differences would be all that significant.
"Please."
So saying, the Centaur woman bowed her head.
Rei nodded at her words, took out Death Scythe, and began chanting a spell.
"Thank you so much. With this, none of them should appear as Undead."
Seeing the purified corpses—most of which had been torn apart by Dragonias—vanish, the woman bowed deeply to Rei.
For her, simply knowing that her companions, the ones she had lived alongside, would not become Undead was enough to bring her joy.
She probably would have liked to give them a proper memorial service... but unfortunately, in the current situation, that was impossible.
That was why she had no choice but to be satisfied with the purification through Rei's magic.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. They fought to protect this settlement. I wouldn't want to see people like that become Undead either."
If they were intelligent Undead like Grimm, that would be one thing, but Undead with that level of intelligence were exceedingly rare.
That alone made it only natural for Rei to ensure the Centaurs were properly burned with the Flames of Purification.
Even so, the woman continued to gaze at him with gratitude.
Right beside her was the girl whom Rei and Vihera had rescued from beneath the tent earlier.
"Um... thank you so much for finding me!"
So saying, the girl bowed deeply.
Being a child who might not even be ten years old yet, there was something endearing about the gesture.
But at the same time, it was an unmistakable fact that she wasn't just being endearing—she was genuinely expressing her gratitude to Rei.
Rei was at a loss for what to say to the girl.
In this incident, the girl had lost her parents... and many others close to her.
And they hadn't simply been killed—they had been devoured by Dragonias.
Whether the girl had seen the sight of them being devoured with her own eyes, even Rei didn't know.
He could only hope that she hadn't witnessed her parents' final moments.
"Yeah. At least I'm glad you're safe. ...Anyway, let's set up camp here for now and decide how we're going to dig."
"My, in that case, wouldn't it be better to decide how we're digging before setting up camp?"
Rei had brought up making camp to hide his embarrassment at being thanked by the girl, but Vihera floated a smile and said as much to him.
"...You're right."
Rei couldn't exactly argue with her opinion, so that was all he could say.
In fact, if they had followed Rei's words and set up camp before preparing to excavate the settlement, there was a very real possibility that the tents and such at the campsite would get in the way.
"As for the excavation, I can dig down to a certain depth using my skill. If nothing turns up even after that, we'll just have to dig in earnest, all of us working together."
Rei had more or less forcibly steered the conversation back to the excavation work, but the Centaurs who heard him all wore serious expressions as they considered and discussed what to do next.
At the center of it all was, as expected, Zai, who led the Reconnaissance Unit.
Beside Zai, the survivors of this settlement were being consulted for various opinions and answering them.
Since they were going to dig up this settlement, the input of those who had lived here was proving useful in many ways.
"Hehe, you got lucky, didn't you?"
"Come on..."
Rei hesitated over what to say to Vihera, who spoke in a teasing tone.
Whatever he said here would only sound like sour grapes.
She probably understood that.
Rei understood it too, which was why he found himself unable to say anything.
"You've been thanked before, haven't you, Rei? So I don't think it's something you need to be that embarrassed about."
Vihera's words were also an undeniable truth.
Rei had indeed been thanked by many people before, and among them had been children the same age as this girl.
Even so, the reason Rei had felt embarrassed this time... honestly, even he didn't know why.
"Hmm, I wonder why."
At Rei's murmur, Vihera offered an exasperated smile.
It wasn't her usual battle-hungry, ferocious smile, but the smile she reserved for the man she loved.
"Anyway, I just hope investigating this settlement turns something up."
"You do... But you're convinced there's something here, aren't you?"
"I won't deny it. Looking at the Dragonias' behavior, I can't imagine they would send that many unless there was something here."
"You're right... But in that case... it really did come from the Dragonias headquarters, I suppose."
"Given that the Dragonias headquarters is somewhere nearby... or at least in this direction, I think that possibility exists. But I can't rule out the possibility that it was just an outpost, either."
While Zai and the others discussed among themselves, Rei and Vihera continued their conversation.