About thirty minutes had passed since they entered the Magic Tent.
Rei had nearly finished hearing about everything that had happened since Anastasia and the others came to this world, and had also finished explaining what his own group had been doing.
What surprised Rei the most during all of this was, unsurprisingly, the story of when Anastasia and the others encountered the deer.
"I can understand them running across the plains, since I saw that myself. But... even so, I always thought deer lived in the mountains."
"Really? There are quite a few deer that live on flatlands, you know?"
In Rei's case, it was probably due to the image he held from his time in Japan.
In reality, deer coming down to human settlements to eat crops was not uncommon. There were enough deer in the world that some hunters made a living specifically from deer hunting.
By contrast, Anastasia, being an elf, was a being born and raised in mountains and forests. Because of that, she knew a great deal about deer as well.
...Rei had also lived near the mountains in Japan, so he was more knowledgeable about deer than the average person, but compared to an elf, he inevitably fell short.
"So you rescued a herd of deer being attacked by Dragonias, and then two of them agreed to cooperate with you, huh... That's amazing."
If asked what had surprised him the most among everything Anastasia had told him, it was undoubtedly that incident.
He was surprised that a herd of deer living on the plains had survived this close to the Dragonias headquarters. But the fact that Anastasia and Fana had rescued that herd, and that the deer possessed enough intelligence to understand what had been done for them — that was nothing short of astonishing.
"Right. A fairly intelligent deer was leading the herd, so that's probably why."
"The deer you two were riding had fairly large antlers, too... If it was leading that herd, would its antlers be even larger?"
"Correct. The antlers on the deer leading the herd were quite impressive. Enough that I'd honestly like both you and Vihera to see them at least once."
Anastasia said this, but the one who truly wanted to see them again was undoubtedly herself.
(For Anastasia of all people to speak of something that highly... I'd like to see it, but it's probably impossible.)
When exactly the Dragonias came into existence in this world was unknown. But the fact that Dragonias had already reached Zai's settlement meant that a considerable amount of time must have passed.
In that amount of time, a deer herd surviving near the Dragonias headquarters would have become correspondingly cautious. Given that, finding the herd so easily would be difficult.
...In Rei's case, he had the option of searching from the sky on Set, so the possibility wasn't zero.
"Anyway... that covers what happened since you arrived here. The real issue is the Dragonias. The fact that you two were in this area means the headquarters is around here, right?"
Setting the deer topic aside for now, Rei got to the main point.
"Yes, I have a rough idea of the location.... If anything, I'm more curious about how you all managed to get here?"
At her words about having a rough idea, Rei showed a look of surprise mixed with understanding. Given Anastasia's abilities, that much wasn't strange at all.
"Do you know that Dragonias move together with a special Dragonias — a Commander? I figured that group was meant to establish a base. In other words, if I headed in the direction they came from, there'd be a base. Fortunately, two of the groups I'd scattered to survey the surroundings had spotted that group, so I drew a line between their two discovery points... and arrived here."
"Oh? Lucky for you, then.... No, from the perspective of those scouting parties, they ran into a Dragonias swarm, so maybe they were the unlucky ones."
"Considering they withdrew immediately after spotting the group, you could say they were lucky. Anyway, that's how we found this area.... That's how it was for us, but I'm impressed you managed to get here, Anastasia."
"It was the power of Spirit Magic. More precisely, I traced the presence of spirits, I suppose. For Fana and me, if we fought Dragonias... one or two, maybe. But against a group? We'd basically have no chance."
"Really? I thought you could manage somehow with Spirit Magic. When I found you, you were actually handling them with it."
At Rei's words, not only Anastasia, who had been doing most of the talking, but even Fana shook her head.
Anastasia, who could use Spirit Magic, was one thing, but Fana wore a mask and might appear at first glance to be somewhat capable in a fight. In terms of actual combat ability, however, self-defense was the best she could manage. And even that self-defense was limited to fighting opponents who weren't adventurers — town thugs, at best. There was no way she could handle Dragonias.
The most she could do was stay out of Anastasia's way during a fight. So if Anastasia had to fight multiple Dragonias, the only thing Fana could do was withdraw from the area so Anastasia could focus on the battle.
...Though given Fana's combat ability, the moment she encountered a Dragonias away from Anastasia, it would be game over.
"Listen, don't lump me in with you absurdly powerful, elite adventurers. I'm a researcher first and foremost. I'm not someone who's supposed to be fighting."
"Even so... there aren't many Spirit Magic users as skilled as you, are there?"
That wasn't flattery or anything of the sort — it was simply what Rei genuinely felt.
Even in Gilm, a frontier town where skilled adventurers gathered, mages were uncommon. And a Spirit Magic user was even rarer. For such a Spirit Mage, dealing with ordinary opponents wasn't a difficult matter.
That was what Rei had thought... but this was a perspective born from knowing Marina, a Spirit Mage with genuinely genius-level ability.
Marina's Spirit Magic was something that could be called nearly omnipotent. Because of that, Rei had assumed that any Spirit Mage like Marina could manage somehow against Dragonias... but for Anastasia, that was quite the unwanted comparison.
Anastasia had said herself that she wasn't very confident in combat, but in truth, she did believe she could fight reasonably well. However... that was only to a certain extent, and she was utterly incapable of the kind of fighting Rei expected. If she tried to fight the way Marina did, she would ultimately end up dead.
"Let me be clear — my Spirit Magic skill is only decent at best. Don't group me with someone like Marina, who's completely beyond common sense."
As if to agree with Anastasia's words, Fana nodded vigorously. She likely understood that if Anastasia got caught in a fierce battle, she herself would probably be drawn into it as well.
Hearing Anastasia say she didn't want to be lumped together with Spirit Mages, Rei accepted with an "I suppose that's true."
For example, martial artists — those who defeated enemies with bare-handed combat rather than weapons like longswords or spears — were not numerous. But even those rare individuals probably wouldn't want to be grouped together with Vihera.
...That said, when it came to Rei himself, the situation was a little different.
Bearing the alias of Crimson, and as his alias and exploits spread, there had been a few who tried to use scythes as weapons. For such people, being compared to the Rei they admired might have an aspect that troubled them... but it would also have a side that pleased them.
Of course, a scythe, despite its imposing appearance, was a very difficult weapon to wield. The number of people who could actually use a scythe to a proficient level was undoubtedly small.
Moreover, Rei's current fighting style was the Twin Spear Style with Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear. Even if someone tried to imitate this, it would be impossible with normal physical ability. Fundamentally, a scythe was a heavy weapon meant to be wielded with both hands. Wielding one with a single hand required an absurd level of physical ability.
"Well, let's leave the Spirit Magic topic there. Let's get back to the Dragonias issue.... So, do you have any idea where the Dragonias headquarters is specifically?"
"Hmm... pinpointing an exact location is a bit difficult, but I think I can narrow down the range to some extent. And if we can secure whatever it is related to the Earth Spirit that's buried beneath this settlement, the accuracy would improve further."
"...Something related to the Earth Spirit, huh. For that matter, why do the Dragonias even want something like that? The Centaurs who lived in this settlement had moved here a fair amount of time ago. So why hadn't the Dragonias made a move until now... that's what concerns me."
Rei had encountered this settlement's survivors by chance, so in practice, it hadn't been much of a problem. But... if the Dragonias had attacked this settlement even ten days earlier, Rei and his group would never have encountered the survivors.
Given that, it was only natural to wonder why, of all times, now was when the situation had escalated as they approached.
However, Anastasia casually shook her head at Rei's concern.
"Who knows? Honestly, I have no idea why that happened either. Dragonias are fundamentally driven by the instinct of hunger, after all.... The Commander individuals possess intelligence, but the fact that we can't communicate with them makes it hard to learn anything."
Rei had no choice but to accept Anastasia's explanation. At the same time as accepting it, he also harbored a question.
(We can communicate with the Centaurs. But we can't with the Dragonias.... At first I thought the Dragonias simply didn't have language, but considering there are Commander individuals... plus, the copper-scaled Dragonias seemed quite intelligent. In that case... it wouldn't be strange for them to have language.)
For that matter, the fact that the language Rei and the others used was the same as the language the Centaurs used was strange in itself. He had considered the possibility that some force had made their words mutually intelligible upon coming to another world... but that was far too convenient.
"Anyway, once we annihilate the Dragonias headquarters... we're going back to our world."
At Rei's words, Anastasia wore a displeased expression. Given her strong curiosity, it was only natural that she had a deep interest in this other world.
Even looking at the Dragonias, they were a fascinating existence. Being able to study them was welcome, but there should have been many other intriguing things in this world. Just as Rei and Vihera had repeatedly been called "two-legged ones," this world had two-legged beings as well. Anastasia likely wanted to visit such places.
It wasn't as if Rei had no interest in that himself. But... there was also the question of how long the spatial connection between this world and Elgin would last.
Of course, since Grimm was the one maintaining that space, Rei had thought it would be fine indefinitely. But even so, there was always the possibility of an emergency. While Grimm's abilities were certainly reassuring, at the same time, nothing was ever absolute.
Given that, it was only natural for Rei to feel they should return to Elgin as soon as possible.
...Of course, quite a number of days had already passed since Rei came to this world. Given that, even thinking such things felt somewhat like closing the barn door after the horse had bolted.
"Anyway, Lord Daskar is definitely worried, so even if you plan to come back here, you should return there at least once."
Told this again by Rei, Anastasia had no choice but to nod.
It was true that she had come to this world through a chain of coincidences, and this world had many things that satisfied her curiosity. Even so, being told that Daskar — who had employed her — was worried meant she couldn't just leave it at that.
"Fine. But once I show my face, I'm coming back here. Also, I'd like to greet your master, so I'd appreciate it if you could introduce us."
At the word "master," Rei fretted, remembering that this particular problem existed.