"Oh, that’s a surprise. Set isn't with you today?"
Rei nodded as he handed his Guild Card, pulled from his Misty Ring, to Ranga. The man was the captain of the guards at the main gate and had become a very familiar face.
"Yeah. He seemed a bit sleepy, so he’s probably fast asleep in the inn's stables right about now."
In principle, a Gryphon had little need for sleep, but that didn't mean they were incapable of it. It simply wasn't a necessity; they were perfectly capable of enjoying sleep for the sake of it. Set, in particular, was not a naturally born monster but a Gryphon created through Beast Magic, which seemed to give him a definite fondness for a good nap.
"I see. And are you with these three today?"
"Yeah. Though I'm not exactly questing with them. I'm the one hiring."
"Hiring?"
"I need some monsters I hunted dismantled. There are too many for me to handle alone, so I put a request through the guild. Since the volume is what it is, I figured it would be messy to do it inside the city walls. We're heading a bit further out."
"...Are you sure about that? If you go too far from the city, the scent of blood is going to draw monsters in," Ranga said, his face clouding with concern.
Rei offered him a reassuring smile.
"They’re all Rank D adventurers, so they should be able to handle anything that wanders this close to the city. Besides, I’ll be with them just in case."
Rei took his Guild Card back as he spoke.
I thought about just letting them handle everything while I did something else, Rei mused to himself, but this is actually a great chance to learn how to process monsters that aren't in my beginner's book. Luckily, Schola seems to know the dismantling methods for most of them.
He glanced over at the three members of Eternal Power, who were showing their own cards to the other guards.
"Fair enough. Just stay sharp. Oh, and I should mention—thanks for your help with yesterday's business."
Rei tilted his head at the sudden comment. "Yesterday's business?"
"The Azoth Firm. They’ve been making plenty of unreasonable demands of us for a while now. I’m just happy to know we won’t have to deal with that anymore."
Rei wondered for a moment how he knew, but then remembered the Knight Order was conducting the investigation. It wouldn't be difficult for a captain of the guard like Ranga to hear the details.
"It was mostly just how things played out, so don't worry about it. Can we head through?"
"Yeah, no problem. Good luck. Even for you, Rei-kun, it’s dangerous if you get careless."
With Ranga’s warning echoing behind them, Rei and Culotte’s group finished their paperwork and stepped out of the city.
A caravan was just entering Gilm as they left. Rei suspected that if that caravan had any dealings with the Azoth Firm regarding weapon trades, they were in for a massive shock today. He felt a small, dark smile tugging at his lips.
"So, we're outside. How far are we going?"
"Let's see... at the very least, somewhere where the people entering the main gate won't have to look at the blood."
Rei’s gaze shifted toward a small forest off the highway.
In a forest, they were bound to run into some monsters among the trees, but this close to the city, they would likely only be low-rank. Rei drew his Death Scythe as a precaution and led the way toward the woods.
"That forest over there. Even if the blood attracts something, it'll just be low-rank monsters or wild animals. And if we leave the useless scraps behind, they'll probably clean it up for us—though I do plan to dispose of the waste as best as I can."
"I guess we can handle anything in this area, even if we only have our spare gear right now," Schola said. "Arrogan, your magic sword has the highest output of the three of us, so we're counting on you if things get hairy."
"Hmph. My magic sword is wasted on the trash around here, but fine," Arrogan replied with a cocky grin, patting the sheath at his hip.
The grin vanished the moment Culotte spoke.
"Honestly, with Rei here, I doubt anything in these woods would even count as an enemy."
"...Culotte. Why do you always have to kill the mood like that?"
"Huh? Did I say something weird?"
"Forget it. That’s just who you are, I guess."
They spent about ten minutes trekking into the woods until they found a small watering hole—more of a narrow stream, really—and decided to set up shop.
"It’s midday now, so it’s not too bad, but it gets freezing toward evening this time of year," Schola noted. "Let's finish this as fast as we can."
"True," Culotte added. "There's nothing like a bowl of soup so hot it burns your tongue when it's cold out. I'm working hard for a good dinner tonight. Rei, let's see the goods."
"Right. Let's start with this. I've already taken the magic stone, so I need everything else."
With a thought, Rei manifested an Ogre corpse from the Misty Ring. Its head and right shoulder were already severed, and the blood draining was complete.
Schola nodded in approval.
"Wow, this is a big one. And since the blood is already drained, this should be easy. Arrogan, handle the skin. Culotte, take the head—get the Right Ear for the proof of subjugation part, and the skull can be sold as material. Oh, and the Ogre leg tendons are valuable for trade, so don't miss those. That’s about all the materials we can get from an Ogre, unfortunately. What about the meat? It’s Rank C, so it would sell for a decent price."
Rei had been watching with fascination as Arrogan began expertly skinning the hide and Culotte processed the head. Schola’s question snapped him back.
"Ah, right. Just cut the meat into manageable blocks. I have a monster to feed, so I’ll be using it for his meals."
"Right, that Set creature. People in town talk about him a lot."
Living as adventurers in Gilm, it was only natural they had heard the rumors about Rei and his companion.
Schola muttered as he began skinning the severed right arm with his own knife. Rei watched their movements closely, memorizing the most efficient ways to strip the hide and which parts were worth selling.
"The size is what it is," Rei remarked. "A monster that big needs a lot of food."
"...I'll bet," Schola agreed, before falling into a focused silence.
The only sound was the wet slicing of knives. Rei kept a watchful eye on the surroundings, but he was genuinely impressed to see them finish dismantling the massive Ogre in under thirty minutes.
They dug a pit to discard the unusable remains—mostly organs and bone fragments—and prepared for the next one.
"Next... well, they aren't high rank, but there are a lot of them."
Rei pulled the Water Monkeys from the Misty Ring.
The members of Eternal Power stood in stunned silence as a literal mountain of corpses appeared before them. It took Schola a few moments to find his voice.
"Whoa... okay. I wasn't expecting this many. These are Water Monkeys, right? We need the water-resistant fur and the Right Ear for the bounty. I think that’s it."
Rei frowned. "According to the book I have, the eyeballs are marketable materials too."
"What? Hang on... no, in my experience, the eyes aren't used. Can I see that book of yours, Rei? Culotte, Arrogan, get started on the blood draining."
"On it. Eyeballs or not, I'm taking the ears," Culotte said. "Rei, what about the magic stones?"
Rei pulled a book from his ring and nodded. "Unlike the Ogre, I haven't taken the magic stones from these. I’ll need you to recover them."
"Got it. Still... this is an insane count. You really killed all of these yourself?"
Culotte muttered as she began tying the Water Monkeys' ankles with rope. Arrogan looked miserable at the sheer volume of work, but he started hanging them from nearby trees and slashing their throats to drain the blood.
"Seriously... normally you can't carry this many carcasses, and they’d rot before you got them back. Must be nice being an Item Box user..."
Rei ignored the envious comment and showed Schola the Water Monkey page in his book.
"Look, it says right here that the eyeballs are sold as materials."
"...Hmm. You're right. But my book doesn't mention them at all. It's probably an error in one of the hand-copied manuscripts. Someone probably wrote down the wrong thing when transcribing."
Schola sighed. In Elgin, where printing didn't exist, every book was a manuscript. Differences between copies were a common headache.
"So, what's the call?"
"We'll take them," Rei decided. "With this many, it would be a huge loss if it turns out my book was the right one. I’d rather have them and not need them."
"Fair enough. You have preservation containers?"
"Naturally."
The Misty Ring was an absurdly convenient magic item. Knowing he would be processing a massive amount of loot from the dungeon, Rei had stocked up on plenty of consumables. He began stacking eyeball preservation containers on the ground.
"Then let's get to it. Eyeballs need a delicate touch, so I'll handle those and the ears. Culotte, you're on skinning. Arrogan, you cut the meat and pull the stones."
Following Schola's lead, they fell into a rhythmic assembly line. Their speed was incredible—far beyond what Rei, who had only recently started getting the hang of material stripping, could manage.
Rei spent his time storing the eyeballs, fur, magic stones, and meat into the Misty Ring as they were finished. The waste was dumped into the pit.
While each Water Monkey was barely the size of an Ogre's knee, there were over fifty of them. It took nearly two hours to finish the entire pile.
"Finally... finished!" Culotte shouted, dropping her knife.
It was understandable; the monotony of dismantling the same monster fifty times was draining. They all headed to the stream to wash the blood from their hands.
"Good work, everyone. Let’s take a breather. Drink this."
Rei produced bowls of freshly made vegetable and bacon soup from the Misty Ring and handed them out. Even Arrogan, despite his pride, was too tired to complain. He took his bowl and drank greedily.
"I have to say," Culotte said between spoonfuls, her eyes locked on the ring on Rei's arm, "having an Item Box is just unfair."
"Tell me about it," Schola added. "Never having to worry about meat rotting, and not having to worry about being jumped by monsters while you're processing a kill because you can just take the whole thing home... it’s a dream."
"It’s convenient, I’ll give you that," Rei replied. "But it also draws a lot of unwanted attention from people who want to steal it."
The image of Boruntar flashed through his mind.
They had finally captured the man after midnight. That meant the curse he had placed on him—the Flame of Condemnation—wouldn't start its work until tonight.
I wonder if you'll be able to withstand the pain of your own sins burning you from the inside out? Rei thought coldly. Well, not that it matters. You won't die from it, so you'll just have to suffer.
"Rei, you've got a really nasty look on your face," Culotte noted.
Rei realized he had been smirking at the thought of Boruntar's suffering and quickly busied himself with clearing the empty bowls.
"Right. Next are the Harpies. There are a few of them, but not nearly as many as the monkeys, so don't worry."
He proceeded to pull out the next batch of monsters, including several he hadn't even found in the dungeon, and kept the team working.