"Hm... mmm...?"
Noticing that he was enveloped in something warm, he opened his eyes.
What came into view was the dawn glow.
...It was warm, yes, but deciding that the brightness more than anything had woken him, Rei understood his current situation and reflexively sat up.
"Gruu!?"
A voice suddenly echoed around him.
Naturally, Rei understood whose voice it was.
Since Set was here, he figured he was safe for the time being and calmly surveyed his surroundings.
"This is... sleeping outdoors? A grassland? Wait, I was sure I was..."
He wondered why he was lying here without even a Magic Tent, but given his current situation, he quickly recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness.
"Right. I defeated the Queen, got on Set's back... and then passed out."
Looking around once more, he saw several Centaurs sleeping.
...Not in Centaur tents, but right on the grassland.
Some had spread cloth beneath them, but most were lying directly on the ground.
It was behavior befitting a people who lived on the grasslands.
"My mana... doesn't look like it's fully recovered yet."
He had used the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—which consumed vast amounts of mana, though still less than the Overlord's Armor—for several hours straight, and in the end had burned through what little mana he had left, and even something like his life force, to finally defeat the Queen.
Honestly, this was the first time he had depleted his mana this thoroughly since obtaining this body.
And yet, Rei felt surprisingly good.
It was like waking up the day after pushing his body to its limits and sleeping soundly. ...Except, without the muscle soreness.
"Hmm... I learned a lot from this one. There was also that strange phenomenon."
"Gruu?"
At Rei's murmur, Set purred as if asking what had happened.
While stroking Set, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Hey, Set. Did you... not get a message in your head about Death Scythe acquiring a skill?"
Until now, whenever Death Scythe acquired a skill, an announcement message would play in Set's head as well, and whenever Set acquired a skill, an announcement message would play in Rei's head.
That was why Rei figured Set must have learned about it too when Terrain Manipulation reached level five.
However, Set merely purred in puzzlement.
Which meant that when Terrain Manipulation leveled up, no announcement message had played for Set.
(What's going on? Because we were separated... no, that's not it. Previously, when I was taking the Rank Up Exam and Set and I were operating separately, a message still played in my head when Set acquired a skill. In other words, this time is an irregularity? It's possible, but...)
In the first place, this Terrain Manipulation level up hadn't come from destroying a Magic Stone—it had come from destroying the Queen's core.
Given that Beast Magic was developed with the premise of being used in Elgin, acquiring a skill here in another world was nothing short of an irregularity.
"It seems like when I cut the Queen's core... something similar to a Magic Stone, Terrain Manipulation leveled up. ...And by an extraordinary amount."
In fact, the enhanced abilities at level five were truly worthy of the word "extraordinary."
Skills had always been enhanced upon reaching level five, but even compared to those, this was a dramatic leap.
"I can't right now, but I'll show you later."
"Gurururu."
Gurururururururu.
As if responding to Set's cry, Rei's stomach suddenly rumbled.
No, "resounded" would be a more fitting description than "rumbled."
And that was only natural. Yesterday, he had exhausted his mana to the very limit and had been sleeping ever since without eating a single meal.
While not on the same level as Set, Rei consumed an amount of food disproportionate to his small frame, so under such circumstances, it was impossible not to be hungry.
"...I'm starving. Want to eat something?"
"Gruu."
Set purred in agreement, apparently concurring with Rei's words.
After all, since arriving at this campsite yesterday evening, Set had barely moved, wanting to let Rei rest as much as possible, and hadn't eaten or drunk anything.
He had worried that eating or drinking would cause him to shift his body, which might disturb the sleep of Rei, who was leaning against him.
The sleeping Rei hadn't known about Set's consideration, but naturally, upon realizing they were both hungry, he thought they should eat something together.
"I worked hard yesterday... so a little indulgence today is fine, right?"
Saying that, what Rei produced from the Misty Ring was... Gamelion roast with a sauce made from tart berries and walnuts.
Gamelion was normally only available in autumn, but with Rei's Misty Ring, he could eat it anytime.
What's more, it was stored in freshly cooked condition, so he could enjoy it freshly made whenever he wanted.
"Gururururu."
Seeing the dish Rei produced, Set let out a happy cry.
That cry echoing through the surroundings, combined with the appetite-stimulating aroma beginning to drift from the food, was more than enough to wake the sleeping Centaurs.
After all, last night they hadn't been able to eat a proper meal with the food Rei had left behind just in case.
Since they didn't know when Rei would wake up, it was only natural that they wanted to conserve as much food as possible.
"Hey, what's that smell!?"
The first to react were not the sleeping Centaurs, but the ones who had been on watch and were already awake.
They had been thinking that Rei might have woken up when they heard Set's cry, but when an aroma that stimulated their appetite wafted over as well, it was impossible not to react.
They were already hungry while standing watch, after all.
Since they had made camp centered around Rei's location, the Centaurs who emerged drawn by the smell of the food were not just one or two.
Many Centaurs who had been keeping watch all around appeared in large numbers.
...Seeing that even the Centaurs who had been upwind showed up, it went without saying how much the aroma of Rei's dish had stimulated their appetites.
The night watch in particular was exhausted, both mentally and physically.
The Queen had called in massive reinforcements, which meant there was no telling when Dragonias might attack this campsite.
Fortunately, there hadn't been a single attack last night, but remaining vigilant against Dragonias—opponents who could strike at any moment—was taxing both mentally and physically.
Under such circumstances, the meager meal they'd had last night naturally wasn't enough.
...Even those hungry Centaurs were surprised to see Rei.
"Hey, what happened after that? The fact that I was sleeping here like this means there weren't any problems, right?"
"Y-yeah."
At Rei's words... or rather, while staring at the dish Rei was holding, one of the Centaurs nodded.
Receiving that look from the Centaur, Rei decided that filling his stomach should come first, and produced several more portions of the same dish from the Misty Ring.
"As a celebration of defeating the Queen... this is a little modest, I suppose. Well, we can have a proper victory party later, so for now, how about we just eat with the people here?"
At Rei's words, the Centaurs nodded earnestly.
They were already starving, and the food before them looked incredibly delicious, so it was only natural.
Gamelion meat was fairly rare, but Rei had a large quantity stored in his Misty Ring, so he served it to the Centaurs without any particular concern.
"Delicious!"
A Centaur who had taken one bite of the meat shouted.
The Centaurs traveled the grasslands while raising livestock, so they had accumulated considerable skill in meat cookery.
Furthermore, each settlement had slightly different culinary characteristics, but the dish Rei produced was delicious enough to make anyone shout, regardless of which settlement they came from.
And because everyone was exclaiming how good it was, naturally even those who had still been sleeping began to wake up, drawn by the smell of the food.
Among them was Zai, who led the Reconnaissance Unit.
"Rei, you're... awake."
Zai muttered with strong relief.
For Zai, since Rei was holding nearly all of their supplies, even if Rei had dealt with the Dragonias threat by defeating the Queen, whether they could make it back to their own settlement while Rei remained asleep was questionable. ...No, it was quite difficult, to say the least.
That was how happy he was that Rei had awakened.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I used up a tremendous amount of mana defeating the Queen. It seems I'd reached my physical limit too."
"...You really did defeat the Queen, didn't you?"
He had expected as much, and given the situation, there was no doubt that Rei had defeated the Queen.
But hearing it directly from Rei's mouth was what finally allowed him to feel truly at ease.
The Centaurs had been driven into a corner by the Dragonias.
So much so that they had begun to think that every Centaur on the grasslands might be devoured by the Dragonias if things continued as they were.
In fact, that was by no means an overreaction.
If Rei and his group hadn't come to this world, there was a very real possibility that the Centaurs would have been wiped out eventually.
That was why, given the current situation, they wanted to hear a clear answer from Rei's own lips.
"Yeah, I defeated her. She was completely burned from the inside out. I doubt there's anything left in the Underground Space except ashes. There was something like a core, though."
Even being told it was "like a core," since monsters in this world didn't have Magic Stones, Zai apparently couldn't grasp the concept.
Seeing Zai's puzzled expression, Rei decided that saying more about this matter was pointless, and then... a thought occurred to him.
(If monsters in this world don't have something like a Magic Stone, then the Queen's core... wait. In other words, the Queen isn't a native of this world, just like us?)
That was a thought born from the fact that Rei and his group had come from a different world... from Elgin.
Since they themselves had come from another world, perhaps the Dragonias had also come from a different one.
It wasn't unreasonable for Rei to think so.
For some reason, their world had become connected to this one... the Wisp was probably involved somehow.
Rei had thought it was pure coincidence... an impossibly unlikely coincidence that had connected him to this world, but if it wasn't a coincidence, and there was some meaning behind it.
If the Dragonias had come to this world before Rei and his group did...
(In the first place, the Dragonias are a special existence in many ways as living creatures. If something like them had been here all along, it wouldn't be strange if all the creatures in this world had suffered... critically so.)
The Queen in particular... was an extremely troublesome opponent.
Not strong, but troublesome.
With a regeneration ability powerful enough to be described as tenacious, she would have been impossible to defeat through normal combat alone.
In game terms, she was like a boss enemy with extremely high max HP and an ability that determined automatic recovery based on that max HP.
Even with a regeneration ability, if her main body hadn't been so enormous, there would have been more ways to deal with her.
"Rei?"
"Oh, no. It's nothing. I was just thinking about how difficult it was to defeat the Queen."
"So how did you end up defeating her?"
The one who cut into the conversation between Rei and Zai was Vihera, who had been sleeping a short distance away from Rei.
She had actually woken up a bit earlier, but had been savoring the joy of Rei's recovery.
Now that she had finally settled down, she was able to speak to him.
"Anyway, her regeneration ability was a nuisance, just like the black-scaled Dragonias. ...In the end, I dug my way through her body and activated the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor at full power inside her."
"Uwaa..."
Vihera knew exactly what kind of skill the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was, which was why she let out such a sound.