"......I expected as much, but so Byune is the only real combat force among us?"
At the words that slipped from Rei's mouth with a sigh, Byune, who had been gouging out the Cyclops's single eye, puffed out her chest.
"Mn!"
Of course, Byune's chest—still that of a child—was far gentler in its slopes than not only Vihera's, which resembled a majestic mountain range, but even those of Mirene, Yohanna, and the others.
"Oh my, I can strip materials reasonably well, you know?"
"There's a whole lot of meat stuck to the Cyclops skin, though."
Rei's gaze was fixed on the Cyclops skin Vihera had peeled away as he said it. Just as his words described, a considerable amount of meat clung to the hide.
If they brought it to the Guild or a shop as-is, it was a certainty they'd be haggled down hard for the shoddy work.
(Then again, Vihera is the one who killed this Cyclops. I'm only getting the Magic Stone, and if she's going to work as an adventurer in Gilm from now on, getting some stripping practice in here might actually be a good thing. ......Though practicing on a Cyclops is an extravagant luxury.)
Back when Vihera was active in the Labyrinth City Exil, she had always worked alongside Byune. Byune was also the more skilled stripper of the two, so they had naturally divided the labor: Byune handled the materials while Vihera kept watch.
......Normally it was bandits who kept watch, but that was another matter entirely.
"W-well, Mirene and Yohanna's group said they'd come help us once they finished on their end, so there's no problem, right? We should just do what we can for now."
"......Mn."
Byune cast a glance at Vihera. No one else would have caught it, but Vihera, who had known Byune for years, detected the exasperation in that look.
Flustered by Byune's gaze—something rather unusual for her—Vihera snatched up her knife once more and ran the blade along the Cyclops's arm to cut away the skin.
Part of the problem was simply that Vihera's stripping skill left much to be desired, but the fact that she was working on a Cyclops certainly didn't help. The Cyclops, a creature that prided itself on brute strength, naturally had highly developed muscles that made the skin difficult to peel. As a result, when cutting away the hide, she failed to sever the muscle cleanly, and meat came away clinging to the skin.
"Well, I can't really talk about other people either."
The skin Rei had cut away also had some meat attached, though not as much as Vihera's.
He turned his gaze toward the other Cyclops—the one Mirene, Yohanna, and the others were dismantling—and saw the work proceeding at a pace that could only be described as "many hands make light work."
"They're fast over there."
"......Our only main combat force is Byune, so it can't be helped."
"I do practice stripping and stuff, for the record."
"Should I be doing it too?"
In the time it took Byune to efficiently extract the Cyclops's single eye, sever its horn, and peel away its skin, Rei and Vihera had only managed to remove one arm each.
It varied depending on the monster, but the hardest part of dismantling was always peeling the skin or hide. If done poorly—like with Vihera—meat would cling to it, requiring double or triple the effort to clean up. And if the meat wasn't separated cleanly at that point......
"Ah."
Just as Vihera had done, the skin ended up tearing.
"Mn!"
Byune let out a scolding sound at the sight.
Rei wasn't as bad at stripping as Vihera, but he was by no means skilled either.
As they continued dismantling the Cyclops in this fashion, the difference in numbers—and in individual skill—meant that Mirene, Yohanna, and the others finished their dismantling first.
"Rei, we're done over here, so we'll come help your side."
At Mirene's words, Yohanna and the others nodded and gathered around the Cyclops that Rei's group was still stripping.
"Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it. You saved our lives yesterday, so this is nothing. ......Besides, if we finish stripping faster, that means more time to play with Set-chan."
Given Mirene and Yohanna's usual behavior, there was no doubt whatsoever that the latter reason was their true motive.
"More importantly, leave the dismantling here to us. Rei, can you store the materials over there in your Item Box?"
The expression she had shown just seconds ago vanished instantly. In the direction Mirene looked, Cyclops materials dismantled as neatly as could be imagined were lined up in abundance.
The single eyes were properly placed in dedicated containers. The sellable parts—horn, bone, tendon, meat, skin, and organs—were all sorted into groups, while the unusable portions had been tossed into a dug hole.
They had accomplished all this while Rei's group was still struggling to strip their Cyclops. The difference in stripping speed—and the care taken during the process—was vividly apparent.
"That's impressive. As expected of a C-Rank party."
Rei, a B-Rank adventurer, murmured in admiration.
He decided the incineration of the remains in the hole could wait until the other Cyclops were processed, then touched the materials and began storing them into the Misty Ring.
Since they were materials from a Cyclops roughly four meters tall, the meat and bone portions were particularly abundant. Even so, storing them in the Misty Ring required only a touch, so it took less than a few minutes to store everything.
"Done. ......Wait, you've made a lot of progress."
Rei had only taken his eyes off the Cyclops for a few minutes, but before he knew it, the stripping of the creature he and Vihera had been struggling with had advanced significantly in that short time.
"Of course. The first Cyclops was our first time stripping one, so we were a bit slow. But this is our second one in a row. Plus, Rei-san, Vihera-sama, and Byune had already made considerable progress for us."
A man from the Former Mobile Unit told him this while extracting a tendon from the leg with his knife. Since they had started stripping without performing bloodletting first, blood was splattered across his cheek—an eerie sight to anyone watching from the outside.
(Should I leave the stripping to Mirene's group and focus on bloodletting? That would probably get everything done faster in the end.)
Scattered fragments of meat littered the ground, and the intense metallic scent of blood hung in the air.
Rei had watched the butchering of chickens, rabbits, and even deer and bears brought down by hunters since he was a child back in Japan, so he had a natural tolerance for it. On top of that, Zephyle had adjusted his senses to the Elgin standard, so it didn't bother him in particular.
But if a Japanese person with no knowledge of this world were here, there was no doubt they would scream at the sight.
To an outsider, it was that kind of spectacle—but for adventurers, stripping monsters was an everyday occurrence. Even Byune, still a child, showed no sign of fear at the sight. No—rather, driven by the expectation that rare materials would fetch a high price, she plunged her knife into the Cyclops's body with gleeful enthusiasm. It was hard to tell from the outside, but it was there.
Vihera, it seemed, had already been benched from dismantling duty and was carrying the meat and bones that Mirene and Yohanna had cut apart, gathering them in one place. Some might have questioned whether it was acceptable to make a former princess of the Bestia Empire do such work, but Vihera herself showed no particular concern as she went about her task.
In Exil, carrying the monster materials that Byune had dismantled was not uncommon for her, so she was used to it—though there was no reason the members of the Former Mobile Unit would know that.
"For now, I'll pull out the next Cyclops and do the bloodletting, so I need a few people to come help me over here."
"Ah, then I'll help."
Ekril, who had been extracting the Cyclops's organs, spoke up, and several others also moved toward Rei.
They had judged that if they continued stripping without performing bloodletting, their bodies would be even more soaked in blood than they already were.
This was supposed to be a material stripping session, but even so, since they were outside Gilm, many of them were wearing some form of armor. If blood got on that armor, it would take time to wash off. Given that, it was only natural they wanted to avoid creating extra work for themselves.
"All right, then...... let's see. Hmm, that's right. Let's use that tree over there."
There were several methods for bloodletting, but the simplest was to hang the corpse upside down and let the blood drain naturally.
However, what they were stripping this time was a Cyclops nearly four meters tall, so it couldn't be done as easily as bleeding a bird caught in the wild. Since they needed to hang it from a branch higher than the Cyclops itself, the thickness of the branch was also a factor.
(Ideally, severing the carotid artery right after killing it would make bloodletting easiest. Or since there's a river nearby, submerging it in flowing water could work too. ......Well, Cyclops are monsters, not ordinary animals, so my half-baked knowledge might not always apply.)
Thinking along those lines, Rei activated his Sleipnir boots and kicked off the air toward a tree branch.
Those seeing the Sleipnir boots for the first time let out gasps of surprise, but Rei paid them no particular mind. Reaching a branch about five meters up, he judged it sturdy enough to support the Cyclops's weight and pulled a rope from his Misty Ring.
He hooked it over the branch and descended back to the ground.
"Give me a hand."
He pulled a Cyclops corpse from his Misty Ring and called out to Ekril and the others. They wound the rope multiple times around the Cyclops's feet and tied it securely so it wouldn't slip.
That task also finished in a few minutes, and everyone pulled the rope together to haul the Cyclops up and hang it upside down.
Finally, when he slashed the Cyclops's carotid artery with his knife, blood spurted violently from the wound the very next moment.
(Just as I thought. It's been quite a while since it died, and the heart should have stopped, yet the blood gushes out this forcefully—that's impossible with a wild animal. It goes without saying, but monsters apparently have very unusual bodies.)
While pondering the difference between monsters and wild animals, Rei scanned his surroundings for a thick, high branch to bloodlet the next Cyclops......
"Grrrrrrrl!"
Set's cry suddenly rang out through the area.
Everyone present understood that this was not the usual affectionate cry. After all, Set wasn't playing right now—it was on watch.
"Stay alert around the perimeter!"
Rei's voice rang out, and everyone instantly shifted into a combat-ready stance. This was where their experience as adventurers showed.
Rei initially reached for his usual Death Scythe from the Misty Ring, but after surveying the surroundings—seeing Mirene, Yohanna, and the others present—he switched to the Thorn Spear instead.
If he were fighting alone or with just Set, he would have used the Death Scythe. But with many allies around him and the space here far from spacious, a weapon whose primary attack was a sweeping slash had too many drawbacks for this situation.
When he considered what weapon would be appropriate, a spear was the first thing that came to mind. The fact that he gravitated toward a long-shafted weapon rather than a longsword or short dagger probably had to do with his own preferences and compatibility as well.
"Who is it, at a time like this? Surnin, guard our materials."
Mirene drew the long sword that had been set a short distance away so as not to interfere with the stripping and issued orders to Surnin.
Surnin picked up his staff, which had also been placed some distance away, gave a small nod, and headed toward the spot where the Cyclops materials they had just finished stripping were gathered.
Surnin being a mage who could barely manage close combat, staying in one spot and casting magic from there suited him perfectly. Several archers among Ekril and the Former Mobile Unit members also fell in at his side.
As if shielding those rear-guard members, Mirene and Yohanna each took up a forward position. Naturally, Rei and Vihera were among them as well.
Several seconds passed. Eventually, the sound of brush being roughly shoved aside reached their ears, and everyone pointed their weapons toward the source of the noise......
"Hah, hah, hah. Damn it! Why is this happening?! This was supposed to be just a Cobolt subjugation request!"
"How should I know?! Come on, just run! They're chasing us from behind!"
Along with those voices, two men suddenly burst out from the bushes.
The leather armor they wore was covered in countless scratches large and small. While they had no deep wounds on their limbs or faces, there were several small cuts of the slashing variety.
The two men froze for a moment at the sight of Rei and the others suddenly appearing before them...... but upon judging that they were not monsters, their relief spilled over as they shouted.
"P-please help us! We're being attacked by monsters!"
"They're Cobolts, but they're not normal Cobolts! ......They're here!"
The men shouted as they burst from the bushes, hurrying closer to Rei's group while still yelling.
As if to prove their words, several Cobolts leapt out from the brush behind them...... but Rei's eyes were drawn to the weapon one of them carried.
Distinctly different from the weapons the other Cobolts held, it was a long sword in pristine, brand-new condition.
If that were all, it could have been explained away as a weapon stolen from a traveler or adventurer.
But...... the moment he saw that long sword, what flashed through Rei's mind was the magic item hammer the Cyclops had been carrying.