"Alright then, Rei. Thanks for everything. Appreciate it."
After finishing their farewells to Zai and Rei, the Centaurs offered those words of gratitude and headed back to their own settlements.
Several days had passed since the Queen's defeat. The Reconnaissance Unit members had been stopping at each settlement along the way, parting with companions who peeled off to return home.
Among them were survivors from the settlement where the Spirit Egg had been buried — those who had originally been headed for Zai's settlement.
Why they had deviated from the original plan and gone to a different settlement instead... the most likely reason was simply that one of them had gotten involved with a man from the Reconnaissance Unit in a romantic sense.
Isn't that moving a little fast? Rei thought to himself, but when told that such things weren't particularly unusual among Centaurs, he had no choice but to accept it.
Naturally, several settlements had asked them to stop by, but Zai generally declined.
His actions were driven by the desire to return the Centaurs who had joined the Reconnaissance Unit to their own settlements as quickly as possible.
Of course, when they arrived at a settlement in the evening or at night, they did stay there, since setting up camp under those conditions would have been more trouble than it was worth.
"Still, the numbers have really thinned out, huh."
"Yeah... the incident the other day was pretty memorable, so maybe that makes it feel even more noticeable."
Rei understood immediately what Vihera, riding behind him, was getting at.
...No, it probably wasn't just Rei who caught on right away.
Anastasia, the person at the center of it all, had a faint blush on her cheeks.
It had happened near Damran's settlement. Before making contact with Rei's group, Anastasia and Fana had visited other Centaur settlements and resolved a rather high-difficulty problem for them. In gratitude, many of the settlement's residents had come out and begged Anastasia to visit.
Damran and his subordinates had been in tears at the thought of parting with their benefactor.
What on earth had she done to inspire such devoted adoration? Rei had wondered, and he had actually asked her about it, but the reason remained a mystery.
That said, Rei felt that pressing Anastasia too hard on the matter would be inappropriate, so he let it drop.
"Enough about that. More importantly, we're heading to the next place, right? Look, if we spend too much time here, we'll end up camping again... though with Rei around, that's hardly a concern."
Her last words carried a note of mild exasperation.
Anastasia felt that way, and the others were no different.
When Rei buried the Dragonias corpses in front of the Underground Space, many had cried out in astonishment at the Terrain Manipulation he used.
But even more striking was the first time they made camp — everyone gasped at the earth wall and moat created by Terrain Manipulation.
The effect had been strengthened to a degree that made the phrase "orders of magnitude different" feel appropriate compared to his previous uses of the skill.
For the time being, Rei explained that his skill had been enhanced as a result of defeating the Queen.
...And since Terrain Manipulation had indeed leveled up from destroying the core she left behind, that explanation was by no means false.
That was precisely why so many found it convincing.
The fact that they had seen the glass-ified ground themselves also lent the explanation considerable weight — that much was undeniable.
"Zai, we're still moving on today, right?"
"Of course. It's only just past noon."
Zai stated it plainly in response to Rei's question.
As far as Zai was concerned, the Reconnaissance Unit had fulfilled its purpose.
Given that, he wanted to return the participating members to their home settlements as quickly as possible.
After all, while the Queen of the Dragonias — the root cause of this entire incident — had been defeated, that didn't mean everything was resolved.
Several settlements had been annihilated, and those who had fled to other settlements or been taken in were by no means few in number.
That was why, with the Dragonias incident resolved, every settlement would need as many hands as it could get.
And the same held true for Zai's settlement.
As fortune would have it, Zai's settlement was large, and with Centaurs from surrounding settlements joining or seeking refuge there, it had grown even bigger than before.
Food consumption had increased sharply, but having more people also meant greater strength.
Zai didn't know what would become of the settlement going forward — whether it would remain at its current scale as a single settlement, or whether the newcomers would be allowed to establish an independent one.
Regardless of the outcome, as the settlement's strongest warrior, Zai needed to return as soon as possible.
"Let's go."
At Zai's word, the Reconnaissance Unit — now significantly smaller than when they had fought the Queen — set off again.
"I'd like to stop by one or two more settlements today if possible."
Zai murmured it with unmistakable sincerity.
Rei nodded and began moving toward the next settlement.
"Hey, Rei."
"What is it?"
Rei replied to Vihera, who had called out from behind him.
"We'll be heading back to the other side soon, but it sounds like things are going to get busy again once we do."
"Huh? Well, yeah, I figure so."
The words that came out of Vihera's mouth caught Rei off guard.
Of course, she wasn't wrong.
Once they returned to Elgin, Rei would undoubtedly be swamped.
While he had been away, even felling trees in the Treant Forest required carriages to transport the lumber.
Naturally, just loading felled trees onto a custom carriage bed required a considerable number of workers, and when moving by carriage, they had to be mindful of other travelers on the road since they were hauling lumber.
Even after entering Gilm, transporting the lumber to where the alchemists worked was no easy task within the city — and even if they managed to get there, they still had to unload everything.
Compared to Rei doing it alone — or more accurately, one person and one creature, since he rode Set — it wasn't hard to imagine just how much labor was involved.
And Rei's role in the Expansion Construction wasn't limited to hauling Treant Forest lumber. He also served as a caretaker for the teleported Lizardmen and used his Misty Ring to deliver supplies wherever they were needed. There was no shortage of things to do.
Ah, thinking about it like that, I'm starting to not want to go back.
Rei wasn't opposed to the Expansion Construction in Gilm.
Far from it. Gilm was the first place he had visited upon arriving in this world, and despite the various troubles since, he even thought of it as something of a hometown.
There was no way he'd oppose Gilm being expanded from a town to the scale of a city.
...Of course, Gilm was located in the only frontier of the Kingdom of Mireana, and the number of people gathered there already exceeded the scale of a town, making it something that could be called a quasi-city.
For Gilm to officially become a city was undeniably cause for celebration.
But still, the thought of how much would be waiting for him when he returned made it all feel like a hassle.
Once he actually got started, he wouldn't feel that way anymore.
"...Rei, what's wrong?"
"Nah, I was just thinking that once we get back to Gilm, things are going to be... really, really busy."
"You don't want to go?"
"It's not that I don't want to. I just can't say I never wish for an easier job."
"Then how about doing patrols with me? ...That's pretty tough in its own way, though."
"Probably."
In the current Gilm, perhaps due to the Expansion Construction, many people had come seeking work.
Among them were quite a few rough, strong-willed individuals — the kind for whom a minor bump in the city, a dispute over who bumped into whom or who was watching whom, could easily escalate into a brawl.
Of course, not everyone who came to Gilm seeking work was like that, but the ones causing large disturbances stood out.
Those types, without exception, couldn't read their opponent's strength and would pick fights with skilled adventurers who had been in Gilm long before them — ones they couldn't possibly beat.
No, the ones who got off with just a beating were the lucky ones. The truly unfortunate would wander into the Slum District and end up dead.
Dealing with such people was originally the Guards' job.
But with the population swelling that much, the finite number of Guards naturally fell short.
That was where the people who patrolled the city came in — serving as a supplementary force.
Vihera's work was essentially that.
...The fact that her reason for taking the job was "because I get to fight people who go on rampages" had deeply convinced Rei and the others.
"I'm sure that's interesting in its own way, but... at the end of the day, if I don't do my part, the Expansion Construction drags on that much longer."
Normally, for a construction project on Gilm's scale, adding a single person wouldn't make it finish any faster or slower.
But in Elgin, quality surpassed quantity.
And that applied not only to combat power but equally to matters like the Expansion Construction.
Rei's abilities — more accurately, the existence of the Misty Ring that could store an unlimited amount of goods and Set, who provided high mobility — let him accomplish what sheer numbers couldn't, even in construction work.
That was precisely why Rei not doing his part would delay the completion of the Expansion Construction... and in the current situation, he couldn't afford to let that happen.
Which means I just shouldn't complain from the start, I suppose.
Rei retorted at himself internally.
Still, feeling the urge to gripe a little under the circumstances wasn't entirely unreasonable.
With those thoughts, they continued racing across the grassland, and before long — just as Zai had said — they reached another settlement. Since it was already evening, they decided to stay the night.
However, even staying at the settlement meant they had to set up their own tents and provide their own food.
...Well, to be precise, the settlement's Chief had offered to hold a feast, but this settlement couldn't be called well-supplied by any stretch of the imagination.
That was surely why Zai had declined.
At Zai's words, the Chief wore an expression of both disappointment and relief — something Rei, watching from the side, could easily read.
If that was the case, Rei thought, the Chief probably shouldn't have offered in the first place. But as the settlement's leader, even if provisions were tight, he likely couldn't bring himself to do anything less for the heroes who had defeated the Dragonias and saved them.
And so, the Reconnaissance Unit members pitched their tents right beside the settlement, and Rei retrieved his Magic Tent from the Misty Ring. And then... the next thing he did was—
"Terrain Manipulation."
At those words, Death Scythe's skill activated.
A five-meter earth wall rose to enclose the campsite, and simultaneously a five-meter moat formed along its base.
Since the campsite was immediately adjacent to the settlement, however, the section connecting the two was left open.
"Oooooooooooooh!"
Unlike the Reconnaissance Unit members, those seeing Terrain Manipulation for the first time cried out in sheer astonishment.
It was only natural. An earth wall with such imposing defensive capability had appeared right next to their settlement without warning.
"They're surprised... We were just as shocked the first time we saw it, so it's to be expected."
Asdena offered with a smile at the voices carrying over from the other side of the wall.
"Looking at this, they might move the settlement over here once we're gone."
Another Centaur remarked, but Rei, hearing it, thought that would be unlikely.
By now, the Reconnaissance Unit members had grown accustomed to the earth walls that nearly enclosed their campsites — but that was only because they had repeated the process countless times, and above all, because the threat of the Dragonias had loomed over them.
With the Queen dead, whether any survivors remained was uncertain, but the threat was definitely diminished compared to before.
Given that, moving an entire settlement into a space enclosed by earth walls with only designated entry and exit points would be a hard sell.
"That part doesn't really matter. If the settlement wants to use them, I'll leave them as is. If not, I can just restore everything to normal before we leave tomorrow."
The others nodded in agreement, and that night they passed the hours in comfortable leisure.
Then, the next day... since the walls and moat might prove useful after all, they were left intact as the Reconnaissance Unit members set off running across the grassland, but—
"Grrrrrl!"
Mid-journey, Set suddenly let out a growl.
Rei wondered what had triggered that warning-laden cry, but... the answer became apparent almost immediately.
A settlement — quite far away, but clearly visible from their position — was under attack by Dragonias.