Breakfast, with Rei serving the food, passed in a lively atmosphere.
Many ate the dishes Rei had brought out with evident relish, while those still asleep also began to stir one after another, lured awake by the aroma before joining the meal.
With breakfast over and everyone's hunger sated, the question turned to what to do next.
"So, what's the plan? Given the situation, should we just head straight back to the settlement?"
"No, I want to properly confirm the Dragonias headquarters. Besides, if the Dragonias that gathered last night are still around, I'd like to deal with them if possible."
For Zai, who led the Reconnaissance Unit, even knowing the Queen was dead likely wasn't enough—he would want to see her remains with his own eyes.
...Though in reality, Rei's attack had burned the Queen away without leaving so much as ash behind.
"Even if we go to the headquarters, the Queen's body won't be there anymore, you know? There'll be charred remains and ash from the other Dragonias, but that's about it."
"I don't mind. Having come this far as the Reconnaissance Unit, I want to at least confirm the Queen's final resting place with my own eyes. Besides... Anastasia won't be satisfied like this either, will she?"
At the end of Zai's gaze was Anastasia, who had been in a foul mood ever since being told that Rei had burned the Queen's body entirely.
Even though she knew Rei had defeated the Queen, she had apparently expected at least some fragments of flesh to remain.
However, the Queen's body had been completely incinerated from within by the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
Since not even ash remained, there was nothing that could be done for Anastasia's curiosity in this situation.
"Just to be clear, even if we head to the Underground Space, all that'll be left there is charcoal and ash from ordinary Dragonias. Well, I can't deny the possibility that flesh fragments from Dragonias other than the Queen might be lying around."
Strictly speaking, inside Rei's Misty Ring were the corpses of several seven-colored scaled Dragonias—the beings that stood at the apex of all Dragonias except the Queen, who was an exceptional existence.
But precisely because they were such valuable specimens, if Anastasia learned of their existence, she would undoubtedly try to claim them.
While there were multiple seven-colored scaled Dragonias corpses, the real problem was that Dragonias corpses couldn't be used as Magic Item materials in their current state.
At the very least, ordinary Dragonias corpses left as-is would become unusable by the next day.
Without solving that issue, even if Anastasia received the seven-colored scaled Dragonias corpses, they would be useless before she could even begin researching them.
(If I had dozens of corpses, it would be a different story.)
Considering the rarity of the seven-colored scaled Dragonias, Rei could easily imagine Anastasia gleefully throwing herself into research... only for the specimens to become useless by the following day.
To keep Anastasia at bay on that front, it would be best to head to the Underground Space after all.
Making that judgment, Rei looked away from Zai and turned his gaze toward Anastasia.
Anastasia had been watching the situation from beside the Spirit Egg, but she must have noticed Rei's gaze. She began walking toward Rei and Zai.
...Meanwhile, some distance away from Anastasia, several Centaurs were in the midst of mock battles with Vihera.
Vihera had also fought continuously in the Underground Space yesterday, but her fatigue appeared to have been completely cured by a full night's sleep.
In that sense, it could be said that Rei and Vihera were quite similar.
"What is it?"
While Rei had been watching the mock battles between Vihera and the Centaurs, Anastasia had made her way to his side and posed the question.
"I was thinking about what to do next. The opinion came up that we should go to yesterday's Underground Space. What do you think?"
"Of course I'm going."
Anastasia answered Rei's question instantly, without showing even a second's hesitation.
It seemed almost like a reflexive response, but she wasn't actually wrong.
...That said, it was exactly what one would expect from Anastasia.
"Ah... right. Got it. Zai, what about the Centaurs?"
"The same. We've been fighting Dragonias all this time. I can't say we were winning by any stretch. But precisely because of that, we want to at least see the Dragonias headquarters that was destroyed at the end."
With not just Anastasia but Zai saying so as well, Rei couldn't refuse their request.
(Besides, apparently Dragonias attacked near the Underground Space yesterday after all. With the Queen gone, I might be able to find out what's happening with the surviving Dragonias.)
Yesterday, he had lost consciousness—no, fallen asleep from extreme exhaustion—on Set's back before even leaving the Underground Space.
From Rei's perspective, one moment he was riding on Set, and the next he was at this campsite.
That was why he wanted to see the place connected to the Underground Space.
(Also, since a large number of corpses were left behind, we should do something about those too.)
Zai had told him at breakfast not to worry about it, but with that many corpses, they could become a breeding ground for disease.
Since it was right next to the Underground Space, there was a chance it wouldn't affect the Centaurs... but that wasn't an absolute certainty, either.
As long as there was a possibility of disease spreading through animals or birds as vectors, it was naturally better to burn them.
"Understood. Then let's depart right away. The last thing to do here is confirm the Dragonias headquarters. In that sense, you could call it a fitting task for us."
"Huh? ...Huh?"
Hearing Rei's words, Anastasia first let out a sound as if she couldn't understand what he was saying, and then, a few seconds later, asked repeatedly if Rei was serious.
For Anastasia, while the Dragonias matter in this world had been settled, this was still an unknown world different from Elgin, and there should have been no shortage of things to stimulate her curiosity.
Despite being in such a situation, returning to Elgin immediately was something she simply couldn't accept.
"Hold on a moment."
"No, you hold on. I understand what you're trying to say. There are still many unknown beings in this world, so you don't want to go back, right?"
Rei's words, interrupting Anastasia, apparently struck at her true feelings. Anastasia fell silent.
"I've said this before, but Lord Daskar is worried about you regarding this matter."
Told that, Anastasia could no longer argue against Rei's words.
Since her coming to this world was an irregular occurrence, she could understand that Daskar was undoubtedly worried about her in this incident.
Knowing that she was causing worry for Daskar, an old acquaintance, even someone with Anastasia's overwhelming curiosity couldn't possibly ignore that so easily.
"If you go back over there for now, persuade Lord Daskar, and then come back here again, I won't say anything about it."
He had said "over there" rather than "this world" because Zai and the other Centaurs were present around them.
He couldn't reveal to Zai and the others where they had come from.
...Though whether the Centaurs living on these grasslands could even comprehend the concept of another world, Rei didn't know.
"........................Got it."
After thinking for a full minute, Anastasia gave Rei her answer.
Her curiosity and her sense of obligation toward Daskar—those two had clashed, and in the end, her sense of obligation had barely won out.
Some distance away from Anastasia, the masked Fana was visibly relieved.
Fana, who was traveling alongside Anastasia, essentially served as her brake.
However, serving as the brake for Anastasia in a completely unknown world like this was, naturally enough, an extremely difficult task.
If they returned to Elgin for now, perhaps Anastasia's current excitement would subside at least somewhat.
And perhaps someone other than herself would be assigned as Anastasia's assistant.
It was only natural for Fana to hope for that.
However, while the former was plausible, the likelihood of the latter being realized was low.
After all, being able to travel to another world was something Daskar, given his position, would naturally want to keep as secret as possible.
Given that, he wouldn't want to carelessly increase the number of people who knew about this world.
In that case, when Anastasia wanted to come to this world again, the ones who could be dispatched as assistants would be... Rei and his companions, who already knew the circumstances.
However, while Rei was currently in this world, once he returned to Elgin, he would play a major role in Gilm's Expansion Construction.
Vihera was also a powerful deterrent in terms of patrolling Gilm, and since Byune was poor at interacting with people, she could serve as Anastasia's guard but would struggle in the role of an assistant-slash-brake.
Marina was making contributions befitting the ace of the Treatment Center through her Spirit Magic.
That left Elena and Ara, but... while Elena was Rei's companion, in terms of factions, she was a member of the Noble's Faction.
She was currently in Gilm to serve as a watchkeeper, ensuring that Noble's Faction members didn't cause unnecessary trouble during the Expansion Construction.
Given Ara's personality of being utterly devoted to Elena, she would likely refuse outright.
In that case, ultimately, there was no one.
Fana was experiencing such despair, but perhaps because she was wearing a mask, Rei didn't notice and opened his mouth to speak.
"Well then, let's head to the Underground Space soon. We can't just keep taking it easy here forever."
At Rei's words, many began cleaning up.
And even more than those cleaning up, the ones who were truly pleased by Rei's words were probably Vihera and the Centaurs who had been sparring with her.
Yesterday, she had fought the Queen just like Rei, yet unlike Rei, who had apparently exhausted all his stamina and mana, Vihera was brimming with energy.
If anything, the fact that she could hold mock battles the very day after yesterday was nothing short of astonishing.
...In reality, Vihera had also felt anxious while Rei was sleeping, and she was holding mock battles precisely because she was relieved that Rei had awakened, channeling that sense of relief into action.
But for those dragged along, it was not an easy time.
However, if asked whether everyone truly disliked it, the answer would be no.
Mock battles with Vihera were harsh, and with such an overwhelming difference in skill, there was no way they could win, but holding mock battles endlessly with such a powerful opponent naturally meant that the strength of those fighting would grow.
Especially after yesterday's battle against the Dragonias and... the many battles against Dragonias that had taken place even before that, the Centaurs had objectively been proven to have grown stronger than before.
But even so, while it was true that one grew stronger from mock battles, whether one could actually enjoy endlessly continuing mock battles with an opponent as powerful as Vihera was naturally a no.
It was a case of "too much is as bad as too little"—no matter how much one could grow stronger, holding mock battles right after finishing breakfast was not exactly a welcome prospect for the Centaurs.
That was why, when Rei told Vihera it was time to depart, the Centaurs who heard it felt deep gratitude toward Rei.
They had witnessed Rei defeat Dragonias countless times before, but just as much... or perhaps even more, they were grateful to him for stopping Vihera.
He himself seemed completely unaware that he was thought of in such a way, though.
"We're already going? ...No, I want to see the Underground Space too, so that's fine."
At the mention of heading to the Underground Space, Vihera initially seemed slightly displeased, but she quickly got into the spirit of it.
In the battle against the Queen, there was no doubt that Vihera had also fought quite hard.
However, the fact remained that she had withdrawn from the battle midway through... and that was likely why she wanted to properly confirm the state of the Underground Space.