Rei, Vihera, and the Centaur man emerged from the grove and immediately spotted Anastasia and Fana.
...The two of them were desperately trying to calm the deer, which were attempting to flee from a spot a short distance away from Set.
"Gruu..."
Seeing the two women and the pair of deer, Set let out a disappointed purr. The deer, however, still seemingly terrified of him, showed no signs of being willing to approach.
"Whoa..."
The Centaur who had come to tend to the deer let out the involuntary exclamation at the scene unfolding before him.
He had heard a brief account from Rei. But even so, he clearly hadn't expected the deer to be this blatantly frightened of Set.
Is this really going to be okay?
The Centaur harbored his doubts, but since a barrel of alcohol was on the line, giving anything less than his full effort wasn't an option.
"Ah, Rei. You took your time. ...And Vihera, it's been a while."
Anastasia spotted Rei and voiced her displeasure before offering Vihera a casual greeting.
Beside her, the masked Fana bowed her head to Rei and Vihera.
"Sorry about that. We needed time to explain things. Anyway, this guy will look after the deer while Anastasia and Fana are at the settlement. It'll be pretty hard for them to pass through this grove, so... is it fine if we figure out what to do with them later?"
"I suppose. Looking at that grove, I understand what you mean. It can't be helped."
Seeing the grove, Anastasia understood that while passing through wouldn't be impossible, it would be quite difficult for the deer. She nodded at Rei's words.
Fana, though looking somewhat reluctant, agreed without objection.
Anastasia and Fana likely understood that they needed to discuss various things with Rei and Vihera about what had happened since arriving in this world.
As the two women calmed the deer, instructing them to follow the Centaur, Rei called out to Set, who looked disappointed at being feared by the deer.
"Set, head on ahead to the settlement. If you stay here, you'll probably just scare the deer. We'll head through the grove and be right behind you."
"Gruu..."
Set purred in acknowledgment.
He would have liked to befriend the two deer, but being feared this much, he apparently understood that nothing he did would make a difference in the current situation.
...If they had spent a little more time together, the deer might have grown accustomed to Set's presence.
As Set took to the sky and headed for the settlement, perhaps because their greatest threat was gone, the two deer visibly calmed down — enough that even Rei could tell at a glance.
Set's presence must have been quite the source of stress for them. Honestly, I feel bad for him, but it can't be helped. If we had more time — like if we could put them in a stable together — they'd eventually get used to him naturally. But there's no stable here.
Pushing the thought aside, Rei shifted gears and spoke up.
"Anastasia, Fana, let's get going."
Rei called out to Anastasia, who had been chatting cheerfully with Vihera, and to Fana, who had been watching them.
At Rei's words, the two nodded in unison.
For the highly curious Anastasia — Fana aside — this grove was a place where she could exercise that curiosity to her heart's content. Since they were heading to the heart of it, there was no way she would refuse.
...The only concern had been the two deer that had carried them this far, but that was settled with the Centaur Rei had brought to look after them.
"...Still, why is he so full of motivation?"
He was only tending to the deer, but from what Anastasia could see, he wore an expression as if this were the gamble of a lifetime. It was only natural to find that questionable.
"Honestly, I didn't expect the alcohol to be this effective."
"Alcohol?"
Anastasia asked in response to Rei's murmur as they made their way through the trees of the grove. She apparently had no idea why alcohol had come up.
Rei explained the situation.
...Hearing this, Anastasia and Fana showed something resembling exasperation — whether directed at the Centaur's passion for alcohol, or at the fact that someone had gotten a hangover in what should be considered enemy territory.
"So then... it seems like it took quite a long time for you to get here. What were you doing all that time?"
Anastasia had been casting curious glances at the surrounding trees, but apparently deciding it would be better to exchange information first, she asked.
"Ah, right. I didn't know either, but apparently there's a time difference between this world and ours. Do you know Damran?"
"Damran? Yes, I met him at the Centaur settlement."
"Seems like it. I'm a bit curious about what happened there... but anyway. Thinking about it since we came to this world, there seems to be a time difference of roughly fifty days. That's just a rough estimate, though — I don't know the exact figure."
"Wait, isn't that a serious problem?"
Hearing about a fifty-day time difference, Anastasia showed visible signs of panic.
Rei tried to calm her down... and found himself at a loss for how to explain it.
There's no way I can mention Grimm.
Especially for someone as intensely curious as Anastasia. If she learned about Grimm, there was no need to even consider what kind of commotion she would cause. And if that happened, how Grimm would deal with Anastasia... that, too, required no imagination.
Grimm treated Rei as someone who had inherited the will and power of Zephyle, whom he admired — almost like a grandchild, even. ...Though he was Undead.
Toward Elena and the others close to Rei, Grimm was also considerably friendly, though not quite to the same extent as with Rei himself.
But if it were Anastasia — merely an acquaintance, not someone that close to Rei — how would that play out? That was something Rei would prefer not to find out.
At a loss, Rei ultimately hid the matter about Grimm and fell back on his usual cover story.
"My master used magic to stabilize the spatial connection between this world and ours, so there's no need to worry for now."
"Your master?"
"Yeah. The master who raised me. He's a country bumpkin who calls magic 'sorcery,' but his skill is first-rate."
Anastasia stopped walking and turned an astonished gaze toward Rei. Knowing full well just how great Rei's skill as a mage was, she couldn't help but be surprised.
"Is that... true?"
"Yeah."
Vihera cast a somewhat exasperated glance at Rei as he answered Anastasia. Knowing of Grimm's existence, she likely couldn't help the reaction. That said, since Rei couldn't tell Anastasia about Grimm, he'd had no other choice.
For now, I can assume Anastasia doesn't know about Grimm.
He felt relieved. Since the Abnormality with the Wisp, Rei had wondered whether Anastasia and Grimm might have had an opportunity to make contact during the time between then and when he visited the Underground Space beneath the Treant Forest.
Grimm had told him not to worry, of course. But considering the worst-case scenario, he had wanted to confirm it just in case — so he had asked.
"So there's no further time difference. You don't need to worry. I even went back over there once. ...Lord Daskar was worried about you, Anastasia."
"Ahahaha. ...I figured?"
Anastasia probably understood that her own actions had been reckless. But even so, she hadn't been able to suppress the curiosity within her, and as a result, she had joined up with Rei like this.
Whether that was a good thing or not was something only she could judge. From Rei's perspective, it didn't seem like Anastasia regretted jumping into the hole that had opened between worlds. She simply hadn't been able to endure the curiosity welling up inside her.
"Lord Daskar knows your personality too, so he seemed to accept it couldn't be helped. For now, once the Dragonias matter is settled, go back to Gilm and show your face to him properly."
The fact that he wasn't telling her to do so immediately was Rei's mercy.
...Though Rei himself had no intention of returning to his world without settling the Dragonias matter.
"Right. I'll do that. It'll be after this matter is resolved, though."
Being told by Rei that she was making Daskar worry, Anastasia naturally had feelings about it. After all, Anastasia and Daskar's relationship went back a long way — clearly longer than Rei and Daskar's.
"So then... ah, no. Anyway, the detailed talk can come after we investigate this settlement. First, we should deal with things here. Not knowing what we're dealing with is a hassle."
There were many, many things he wanted to discuss, but seeing that they would soon emerge from the grove and arrive at the settlement, Rei cut the conversation short with a note of regret.
Anastasia likely wanted to hear all about what Rei and the others had experienced, too. However... her sense of disappointment lasted only until they reached the settlement.
"This is... having Spirits this thick here... is unusual."
"Spirits are... thick?"
The moment she saw the settlement, Anastasia murmured this, and Vihera, who had been listening, voiced her question.
She could understand an expression like there being many Spirits, but Spirits being thick — even Vihera, who had a fair acquaintance with Marina, had never heard such phrasing. Neither had Rei.
Rei likewise had never encountered the expression that Spirits were thick.
"Yes. The Earth Spirit is quite thick. Enough to make me wonder how this settlement has survived unscathed until now."
"That much? When I leave Dragonias corpses in this grove, they weather away by the next day — does that have something to do with the Earth Spirit?"
"Probably so. I think nutrients are being drained from wherever they touch the ground. The feeling that something was off about the trees growing in the grove is likely because of that, too."
Rei had absolutely no idea what Anastasia was talking about. He didn't understand it, but he could still surmise that the secret of this settlement — and what the Dragonias were after — was likely related to it.
"I never expected it to be this clear. Or rather... the excavation work seems to have been mostly wasted, hasn't it..."
"Oh, it might not have been wasted, you know? Perhaps because the excavation was done, Anastasia was able to detect the abnormality in the Earth Spirit."
"Right. Let's go with that for now. As for the rest... just give them a bit more alcohol and that'll resolve it."
At Rei trying to brush it off with alcohol, Vihera smiled...
"Lady Anastasia! Lady Fana."
With that call, Damran and several Centaurs approached. They were from the same settlement as Damran — meaning they likely owed a debt of gratitude to Anastasia.
"My... it's been a while. Have you been well?"
Unlike Damran and his group, whose faces brimmed with gratitude and emotion, Anastasia didn't feel quite as strongly about the reunion. That said, it wasn't as if she found Damran and the others a nuisance.
"Yes. Thanks to you, Lady Anastasia, our settlement has escaped crisis. ...You mentioned you might head to the Dragonias headquarters, but to think we would actually meet you here..."
"I debated where to go, but... I'm glad I came here. Thanks to that, I was able to find this strange place."
At Damran's questioning expression — a strange place? — Anastasia indicated with her gaze that she meant this very location.