Cries of surprise rose from the Centaurs seeing the deer for the first time.
That was how large and striking the deer's antlers were.
Naturally, Rei and Set had arrived before the deer entered the settlement, waiting at a spot far from where the deer were coming in.
Since the deer were terrified of Set, there was no choice but to do so.
...Set still looked disappointed that the deer feared him, but understanding that forcibly approaching them was meaningless given the current situation, he quietly kept his distance.
Rei stroked Set while watching Fana run toward the deer.
As for the other person close to the deer... Anastasia was currently spread out on a cloth laid over the ground, completely fast asleep.
For Anastasia, this was likely an attempt to recover even slightly the stamina, mental energy, and magical power... along with various other things depleted from the act of excavating the Spirit Egg from the ground.
Watching Fana stroke the deer's head while carefully avoiding its antlers as the animal happily rubbed against her, Rei found himself wondering whether Anastasia would truly be all right.
Before long, he would need to wake Anastasia and have her use the Spirit Egg's power to search for the Dragonias headquarters.
Yet given Anastasia's current state, it was hard to imagine she could accomplish such a thing.
(A potion... no, she's not injured, so using a potion wouldn't mean anything, would it?)
Among expensive potions, there were some with effects that stabilized the mind.
Using one might help—he couldn't help thinking that—but at the same time, he wondered whether it would actually have any real effect.
Perhaps it would be better for Anastasia to simply keep sleeping as she was rather than carelessly using some kind of potion.
"Thank you very much."
Rei had been gazing at the sleeping Anastasia when he suddenly heard that voice.
When he turned his gaze toward it, there was Fana, who had just been petting the deer.
She was bowing her head to Rei.
For Fana, there were nothing but words of gratitude for Rei, who had done everything he could for the sake of the deer.
At worst, the deer might have been eaten and killed by Dragonias, and he had saved them.
Or even if the deer had been outside the grove, they might have sensed the Dragonias coming, fled, and never returned.
Considering those circumstances, she truly had nothing but words of gratitude for Rei.
"Don't worry about it. With these deer around, it'll be easier for you all when you travel, right?"
Rei told her that, though in truth, if there had been absolutely no way to travel, they could have all three ridden on Set's back like in Elgin... or in some cases, had Centaurs carry them.
But there was no mistaking that having the deer carry them would be far better.
"Even so, thank you. The fact that these little ones returned to me safely is thanks to you, Rei-san."
Fana said, bowing her head once more.
From her demeanor, it was plain to see how dearly she loved the deer.
(Still, bringing these deer to Gilm... no, to Elgin... I wonder how that would work. Considering the issue with Dragonias corpses, it seems like there would be various problems between Elgin and this world.)
The fact that corpses became useless by the next day was unique to the Dragonias; other creatures could live without issue... or rather, as long as they weren't dead, they could live without any problems, so taking the deer to Elgin would have been possible.
Thinking that, Rei decided it would be better not to bring up the matter for now and nodded to Fana.
"Those deer fled from the grove because the Dragonias attacked, but ultimately they decided on their own to come back. Thinking about that, it goes without saying how much Anastasia and Fana are loved."
"...I was looking after them, you know..."
Rei's ears caught the voice of the Centaur who had been tending to the deer.
That said, since he had only muttered it under his breath, probably only Rei and Set had heard it.
(I'll splurge a little on the alcohol for him.)
Indeed, since the Centaur's efforts had been part of why the deer returned safely, Rei intended to reward him for his hard work.
Given that a fair number of Dragonias had attacked, the Centaur must have been terrified for his life when he realized it.
Considering that, there was no doubt he was one of the heroes of this endeavor.
...Though honestly, Rei would have preferred that when they fled, the Centaur had found some means of sending information back to the settlement.
"So, how is Anastasia doing? From the looks of it, she seems to be fast asleep."
"Peeh..."
One of the deer that had been listening to Rei's words began walking toward Anastasia.
Whether it understood the name Anastasia, or simply looked around and spotted her sleeping figure, Rei couldn't tell.
But regardless, once the deer moved to Anastasia's side, it sat down right there.
It would have been a problem if it woke Anastasia, but as long as it didn't disturb her sleep, Rei had no intention of doing anything about the deer.
"Looks like she's sleeping soundly."
"Yes... but we can't just let Anastasia-sama sleep forever, can we?"
Fana spoke with a serious air.
Since she wore a mask, there was no way to confirm Fana's expression.
But given the current situation, it was obvious she was thinking of Anastasia.
Rei understood that too, but even so, he couldn't just leave Anastasia to sleep until she woke naturally.
(I need to do something about that Spirit Egg situation, too.)
The Spirit Egg was placed a short distance away from Anastasia.
Even Rei, who lacked the ability to detect magical power or see spirits, could feel some kind of power emanating from the black sphere.
...In fact, it seemed Rei wasn't the only one who sensed it; the Centaurs were also careful not to get too close to the Spirit Egg.
The sole exception among them was Dolfina.
At first, he had been frightened by the power radiating from the Spirit Egg, but once he learned that the Spirit Egg wasn't going to take any sort of hostile action, he began observing it with interest.
Even so, since there was no telling what would happen if the Spirit Egg were stimulated, he refrained from actually laying a hand on it and limited himself to observation.
"Zai, got a moment?"
"What is it?"
Deciding that the deer matter was settled for now, Rei thought about what needed to be done next and called out to Zai.
Zai seemed to understand naturally that he was being called, and approached Rei without any particular surprise.
He had probably been able to rest to some extent while Rei was outside the grove. Zai had his weapon in hand, ready to respond if the enemy attacked at any moment, and was vigilantly surveying the surroundings.
"Once Anastasia wakes, we're moving out immediately. While we wait, fold up the tents and make things easy for me to store."
"Understood... Honestly, I didn't think you were serious about settling this today."
"I'm serious, of course."
For Rei, there was a high probability that Dragonias would come in a frenzy now that the Spirit Egg had been excavated. That was exactly why he wanted to settle things today.
...Beyond that, the fact that a considerable amount of time had already passed since they came to this world was also a factor.
Considering the Expansion Construction in Gilm, now that they had found Anastasia and Fana, it was also true that he wanted to let them know as soon as possible.
"I see, understood. Then I'll get things moving on my end as well."
Whether he was convinced by Rei's words, or judged that saying any more wouldn't change Rei's mind—Rei himself couldn't tell—but in any case, Zai stepped away and called out to the Centaurs, informing them that they would be vacating the settlement they had been using as a campsite.
Several of them... particularly those who had been doing the excavation work, looked unhappy at Zai's sudden words, but with Rei having said so, the fact remained that they had no choice but to comply.
After all, the food and supplies were fundamentally stored in Rei's Misty Ring.
...Though more than that, the reason the Centaurs obediently followed Zai's instructions was likely the thought that if they went against Rei's orders here, they might lose the alcohol they were supposed to receive.
Thus they busily packed up the tents and tools used for the excavation work, then selected whatever usable items remained in the settlement.
The settlement survivors could have complained, and it wouldn't have been unreasonable—but since the settlement was already destroyed, they understood they couldn't stay here.
And naturally, when it came to where they would go, their only option was to go with Rei and his group.
Given that, it was only natural for them to think about improving their own treatment even slightly.
Moreover, since they wouldn't be returning here again, leaving anything behind would simply mean it would eventually become useless.
If so, it was only natural to hand things over to someone who could put them to good use.
That being the case, they began proactively helping out in order to raise their own value even a little.
"So, what do we do?"
Rei looked toward the grove at Vihera's words, spoken as she approached without him noticing.
"For now, keep watch. We just took down the Dragonias, so I don't think there's anything to worry about, but there's a chance more could show up."
"Is that so?... Well, if they come, they come. But if one does show up, I'd want it to be a golden-scaled Dragonias."
For Vihera, the silver-scaled Dragonias had certainly been a satisfying enough opponent in battle.
But since the golden-scaled Dragonias was stronger than the silver-scaled one, it was only natural that she would want to fight one of those instead.
"Even if you tell me that... Based on what I've seen so far, golden-scaled Dragonias seem to be quite rare. However, if we reach the headquarters, there could be golden-scaled Dragonias... no, possibly even more powerful individuals."
Indeed, since it was the enemy's headquarters, there would at the very least be a Dragonias boss.
And if there was a boss, there would surely be guards as well.
As for the boss's guards, it went without saying that they would be served by extremely powerful individuals among the Dragonias.
(Or rather than a boss... maybe "queen" would be more accurate.)
From what Rei had observed, the Dragonias' behavior seemed similar to that of ants or bees.
Given that, the being at the pinnacle of the Dragonias was likely something like a queen ant or queen bee... a creature that might be called a Queen Dragonias.
Of course, that was purely Rei's conjecture, not based on any evidence.
It was entirely possible that a completely different kind of being from what Rei imagined served as the boss in the headquarters.
"So in the end, all we can do now is wait... I'd like to do some combat training, but I suppose it's better not to."
"Yeah, better not to."
The ones who had been doing the excavation work were all uniformly exhausted.
They had rested somewhat, so they had recovered to a degree, but... if they were to undergo combat training with Vihera here, it could well push their stamina past its limits.
Those who had been on watch might still have some energy to spare, but... those on watch couldn't exactly go do combat training.
While Set was keeping a lookout around the area, that didn't mean the other Centaurs could stop standing watch.
"Jeez."
Even though she was the one who said it would be better to skip mock battles with those on watch, when Rei agreed with her, Vihera showed a slightly dissatisfied demeanor.
Smiling at Vihera's reaction, Rei turned his thoughts to what lay ahead.