"As always, Rei's Terrain Manipulation is impressive."
Zai muttered in admiration.
Rei wondered for a moment whether it was flattery, but there was nothing of the sort in Zai's gaze.
...And looking around at the area they had chosen as their campsite, it was clear that Zai's words were by no means mere flattery.
Rei had been using the skill relatively often lately, so he was a little surprised to hear it praised this highly. In practice, though, Terrain Manipulation was extremely valuable when it came to countering Dragonias.
After all, the trenches and walls constructed around the campsite prevented Dragonias from easily attacking them, so it was only natural.
Of course, the walls were merely created by raising the ground, and weren't exactly formidable fortifications.
At the very least, it would not be impossible for the golden-scaled Dragonias to destroy them, not to mention the silver-scaled Dragonias or... even the mottled Dragonias.
(In that sense, it's only half a comfort. If we were further away, that comfort would be somewhat more effective.)
If it were ordinary Dragonias, driven by hunger, there was a possibility they wouldn't even realize Rei and the others were inside the area surrounded by earth walls. And even if they did, it was uncertain whether they could break through.
But... that only applied to ordinary Dragonias. If a Commander Dragonias was present, the story changed entirely.
And since Rei's group was undoubtedly approaching the Dragonias headquarters, the Dragonias patrolling this area were likely to have Commanders mixed in among them.
"Rei, I'd like to have dinner soon... is that alright?"
"Yeah, no problem on my end."
The setting sun that had been visible moments ago had already sunk more than halfway below the horizon.
Eat while it was still light, have everyone except the watchmen sleep early, and move out as quickly as possible tomorrow.
Rei had no particular objection to Zai's reasoning.
Given that they were near the Dragonias headquarters, it was an undeniable fact that they should avoid staying in one place for any longer than necessary.
"Then I'll have everyone get ready, so Rei, bring out the ingredients. Originally, we should stick to preserved foods like dried meat, but..."
If they were to sauté or stew meat and vegetables, the smell would naturally drift through the surrounding area.
And not just any smell, but one that stimulated the appetite.
Given that, what would happen if Dragonias, driven by hunger, caught wind of it... it went without saying.
Even so, if they ate nothing but preserved foods like dried meat, it would inevitably affect morale.
...In practice, only Rei and Vihera were expected to fight, so in that sense, there was no real need to worry about morale.
"Understood. We should reach the Dragonias headquarters tomorrow... or the day after at the latest, so it's better to have a proper, good meal tonight. There are probably plenty of people worn out from the excavation work, too."
They had excavated the Spirit Egg, and on top of that, there had been a Dragonias attack.
The latter didn't actually involve the Centaurs fighting the Dragonias, but simply knowing an attack had occurred was enough to cause significant mental fatigue.
To help heal that exhaustion, Rei chose to make dinner a lavish one.
"What about the alcohol? You did make that promise, right?"
"That's right. But in this situation, drinking is out of the question. It wouldn't be strange for Dragonias to attack at any moment. In that sense, the alcohol comes after we crush the Dragonias headquarters."
The one who wore a despairing expression at Rei's words was the Centaur who had been caring for the deer.
He had looked after the deer lured by the promise of alcohol, and now he still couldn't drink...
Zai immediately noticed the Centaur's state and spoke up.
"Once we annihilate the Dragonias headquarters, Rei will bring out some exceptional alcohol for us. Especially you—you followed Rei's direct orders, so you should be getting a premium drink. ...Right?"
The one at the end of Zai's gaze was, naturally, Rei.
Rei thought for a moment before nodding at Zai's words.
"That's right. I don't know which alcohols taste how good, so I can't speak to that, but... at the very least, I'll promise to give you expensive alcohol. ...However, whether that alcohol is truly delicious... no, whether it'll suit your palate, I can't say."
As he'd said himself, Rei didn't really understand the taste of alcohol.
But even so, he at least knew that people's preferences varied greatly.
Even if it was extremely expensive alcohol, whether a Centaur would drink it and find it delicious was another matter entirely.
Of course, he had made the Centaur take care of the deer... in other words, he had put him in a position where he witnessed the Dragonias attack up close, so Rei did feel he wanted to let him drink something satisfying.
"Of course I'll be satisfied with that!"
At Rei's words, perhaps because it had been decided that he would receive alcohol—and not just the same alcohol as everyone else, but something exceptional—the Centaur shouted with genuine joy from the bottom of his heart.
"Hey, don't shout so much. You never know if Dragonias might hear that."
Rei told him, half-joking.
In reality, if a Dragonias actually came close to this walled campsite, Set would immediately sense it and alert everyone.
Those who had been listening in on the conversation between Rei and the Centaur also seemed to understand his intent, and none of them made any particular retort.
"Anyway, don't worry about the alcohol."
Making a show of it, Rei said so once more.
With that, the others proceeded with preparing the meal.
"Anastasia, get plenty of rest today. I'll need to rely on you again tomorrow."
"Yes, I'll do that. I really wanted to examine the Spirit Egg, though."
Haa...
At Rei's words, she said this, sounding disappointed—truly, from the bottom of her heart, disappointed.
Being a curious person by nature, Anastasia wanted nothing more than to thoroughly examine the Spirit Egg if at all possible.
But the current Anastasia was quite exhausted, and she simply didn't have the leeway to examine the Spirit Egg.
She had used Spirit Magic to excavate the Spirit Egg from the ground and make it transportable.
Given that, she was naturally considerably drained.
"There's nothing to be done about that. In this situation, you being unable to move would be fatal for us, too."
To be precise, since they were heading toward the Dragonias headquarters, if they continued straight in the direction they had traveled today, there was a high probability they would reach their destination.
If it were just Rei and Set, there was a fair chance their heading would drift as they moved, but right now they had the Centaurs who had lived on this grassland alongside Rei's group.
While not all of the Centaurs were originally from this area, since it was the same grassland, their sense of direction should be reliable to a certain extent.
But... even so, considering the worst-case scenario, having Anastasia—who knew the exact location of the enemy's headquarters through the power of Spirit Magic—guide them was naturally the best option.
"It's not like the Spirit Egg is going to disappear by tomorrow, is it? Why don't you just rest today?"
"...Vihera, if you were told there's a powerful enemy nearby but to rest today and fight tomorrow, would you accept that right away?"
"That's..."
Vihera had intended to back Rei up, but being told that, she couldn't honestly nod in agreement.
After all, when she heard from Rei that the golden-scaled Dragonias had been here and had fled without fighting, she had genuinely thought it was a shame.
Given that, she couldn't argue with Anastasia's words.
...No, it wasn't that she couldn't argue if she tried.
After all, Anastasia and Vihera held different positions.
In the current situation, the only one who could find the Dragonias headquarters was Anastasia, who could utilize the Spirit Egg's power to some extent.
Compared to her, Vihera was extremely powerful as combat strength, but there were perfectly good replacements for her in Rei and Set.
"Enough, leave it there. Anyway, Anastasia needs to recover even a little, so go to sleep. Even if Dragonias attack, you don't need to wake up."
Thinking about it normally, being told you didn't need to wake up even when enemies were attacking would seem like an implicit statement that they didn't care whether you lived or died. ...That is, if it were anyone other than Rei.
When Rei said something like that, it meant he genuinely believed that even if Dragonias actually attacked, they could handle it on their own... or rather, that he alone could manage it.
And Rei possessed enough ability to say such a thing without it being presumptuous.
"Understood. Then, as Rei recommends, I'll sleep soundly until tomorrow."
Anastasia said so, and together with Fana, who hadn't spoken a single word the entire time, headed toward the tent assigned to her.
...As they moved slightly away from Rei and the others—more precisely, from Set—two deer followed after them.
Compared to during the day, Rei felt the distance between them and Set had narrowed slightly, but since they were still keeping quite a distance, it was unclear how long it would take for them to truly warm up to Set.
"You certainly have a way with words."
"...Huh? With what?"
What came out of Vihera's mouth was something even Rei couldn't understand.
It wasn't a joke or anything; he truly had no idea why he'd been told he had a way with words.
"You're saying it's fine to sleep even if Dragonias come, right? That essentially means that even if Dragonias attack, Rei will absolutely protect everyone. Can you really say you don't have a way with words after that? In a way, it wouldn't be strange for it to be taken as a seduction line."
"That's..."
Rei was at a loss for words.
In reality, he hadn't said it with that intention at all; he had purely said it hoping that the exhausted Anastasia would fully recover.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Listen, whether you meant it that way or not is completely irrelevant right now."
Even though it was his own words, being told he had nothing to do with it left Rei feeling dissatisfied.
However, Vihera's expression wasn't teasing; she appeared to be expressing her opinion in earnest, so considering that, Rei couldn't simply dismiss what she was saying.
"What matters in this case is how the person hearing it—this time, Anastasia—felt about it. Fortunately, it seems Anastasia didn't take it as Rei trying to seduce her."
Saying that much, Vihera let out a small sigh.
"If Elena learns about this, it will definitely get interesting. Ah, though 'interesting' would only be from my perspective."
Elena did not object to Rei taking multiple lovers or wives.
But even so, unless they genuinely loved Rei... if it were just a casual fling, she would never accept it.
That was why, if Rei's casually spoken words led to something like that, it was certain that things would get rather interesting, as Vihera had put it.
At Vihera's subtle warning, Rei seemed to vaguely understand. He nodded with a serious expression.
"Understood. I'll be careful."
Rei said so, but when it came to this sort of behavior, it was one thing if the person did it intentionally, but it was often done unconsciously.
In such cases, no matter how careful Rei was, it would be meaningless. That much was certain.
Vihera understood that as well.
After all, he had just said something in front of her that could easily be taken as a seduction line to Anastasia.
Still, if Rei keeps that awareness... it will probably improve at least somewhat, I suppose.
Thinking that, Vihera looked around.
...For some reason, several of the Centaurs averted their gazes as if they had seen something they shouldn't have, but Vihera didn't understand why.
"Anyway... shall we sleep soon? We don't know when something might happen, so it's best to recover our stamina while we can."
Still harboring questions about the Centaurs' gazes, Vihera said so.