Zarust, walking alongside Rei and Set, let a hint of dissatisfaction show on his face.
Despite having made a promise the previous day, Rei had never shown up at the Guild, no matter how long he waited.
In the end, Zarust had been forced to go pick him up himself, making the trip all the way to Augusto's mansion — so his frustration was only natural.
Noticing this, Rei spoke up.
"My bad. I traveled all the way from Gilm to get here, you know. Isn't it natural to be tired?"
Since he had traveled on Set's back, barely any time had passed since departing Gilm. At the very least, compared to the time it would normally take to travel from Gilm to Solrein, the time Rei had spent in transit was astonishingly short.
Still, going to another country — this was only his second time after the Bestia Empire. And when it came to traveling not as part of a large group but purely as one person and one creature, this was in fact his first.
Even if he intended to act the same as always, it wouldn't have been strange for Rei to harbor a certain tension beneath the surface.
He had met Augusto and Zarust, but that first day they camped outdoors. Then the next day he ended up staying at Augusto's house, where he slept soundly.
"I understand being tired. But playing with Set after waking up — honestly, what am I supposed to think about that?"
"That's a fair point. I was about to start training with Set."
Running around to his heart's content with Set was nothing more than play for Rei, but for an ordinary person it was clearly the equivalent of serious training.
Zarust seemed to understand that as well. He let out a small sigh and didn't pursue the matter any further.
"Alright, enough. More importantly... how was yesterday?"
Rei tilted his head at the abrupt change of subject, but quickly realized what Zarust was getting at.
"You knew that couple was like that, didn't you?"
From those words alone, Zarust must have grasped what Rei had been through. He dropped his displeased expression and let a small smile form.
"I see. So you went through that baptism too."
"...Baptism, huh. Well, it's not like I don't understand."
The sight of Augusto and Cathy whispering words of love to each other right in front of him had tested Rei's patience to its limits in more ways than one.
(I guess that's what they mean by "sickeningly sweet.")
Recalling the previous night, a sigh escaped Rei's lips.
If the food had been bad, he might have packed up and switched to camping outdoors with his Magic Tent. But unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately — Cathy's cooking had been genuinely delicious.
"Anyone who gets involved with Augusto goes through the same thing. Just give up on that front. The cooking was good, at least, right?"
"Yeah. No complaints there. I never expected to eat fish in the middle of the desert, though."
The fact that fish could be caught from an oasis had been quite unexpected for Rei.
Seeing Rei still showing surprise even after a night had passed, Zarust was slightly taken aback before nodding in understanding.
Fish could be caught from the oasis, but naturally, in this desert, fish was an expensive ingredient. The surprise of serving such a luxury item, the desire to win Rei over to their side, and above all — likely the strongest reason — Augusto simply wanting to enjoy the meal himself.
"Really, you got to eat oasis fish...? I'm jealous."
Recalling the taste of fish he'd had before, Zarust swallowed quietly.
Zarust was a well-known adventurer regarded as a figure of influence in Gauche, but even so, he wasn't wealthy enough to eat fish whenever he pleased. If he cut back on his hobby of visiting brothels, it might be a different story.
But Rei, who could eat fish normally in Gilm — river fish, admittedly — while feeling Zarust's envious gaze upon him, couldn't truly grasp just how deep that envy ran.
(I still have a fair amount of seafood I bought in Emosion in the Misty Ring. It might be interesting to let them try some next time.)
Fish aside, how would the residents of Gauche react to seeing shellfish, squid, octopus, and other marine products? And how would they react when, after initially recoiling at the appearance, they actually tried eating them and discovered how delicious they were?
Even as he thought it was a bit mean-spirited of himself, Rei smiled at the idea as he made his way through the streets.
Walking along with these thoughts, they eventually arrived at the Guild he had visited the day before.
...However, Zarust headed not for the Guild's entrance, but for a building behind it.
Set, without Rei needing to say a word, moved to the space for tamed monsters and carriages and lay down.
"Huh, so this is how it's set up."
At Rei's muttered words, Zarust spoke up with a curious tone.
"Does the Kingdom of Mireana not have dismantling facilities?"
"No, they exist. They're just not Guild-operated, exactly. There were storage-type buildings, though."
Rei said this, recalling the time he had hauled in a massive quantity of Gamelion. That storage building was more than sufficient for dismantling monsters if one wanted to use it for that purpose. Also, many people in Gilm had their own personal dismantling buildings, and some even made a living by lending them out.
"There are facilities like that, sure, but it's generally more common to strip monsters outdoors, outside the city."
"...Envious. Around here, normal monsters are one thing, but for something like a Sand Serpent, outdoor dismantling is difficult unless conditions are really good."
"Conditions?"
"Yeah. Being a desert, the sunlight is intense, and more than anything, the sand gets in the way. Of course, depending on the material, you don't always have to worry about that — but when you want to preserve valuable materials, people often rent facilities like this one."
"You said this facility belongs to the Guild, but are there other similar facilities?"
"A fair number. But for something as large as a Sand Serpent... outside the Guild, the Elema Trading Company and other large trading companies of that caliber would have them, but..."
Anything beyond that would be difficult — Zarust conveyed without words.
As they talked and walked, Zarust eventually came to a stop.
"Here we are."
"...It's huge."
What Zarust indicated was a considerably large building. So large, in fact, that it seemed possibly bigger than the Guild itself.
"Well, there are monsters in the desert far larger than Sand Serpents. This is a facility the Guild maintains for dismantling those kinds of monsters."
"...Was it really worth renting this out for a Sand Serpent?"
No matter how large a Sand Serpent was, in the end it was only about five meters in total length. Certainly far bigger than an ordinary monster, but even so, whether it warranted a facility of the size before Rei was questionable at best.
"I know. There's normally a place that would be just the right size. There is, but... the Elema Trading Company, you see."
From those words alone, Rei understood what Zarust meant.
Given the Elema Trading Company's strong influence in Gauche, they likely wanted nothing to do with Zarust, who was close to Augusto.
(Plus, maybe they also hold a grudge against me for taking the Sand Ship.)
So thought Rei, but that was reading far too much into it.
Having learned that Rei's true identity was the adventurer with the alias of Crimson, Daridora wanted to avoid antagonizing him at all costs.
Rather than risking Rei's resentment through harassment, it was better to hope that Rei's claim of merely stopping by was true and wait for him to leave Gauche. That was the best — no, the only — option available to him.
In reality, Rei had come here because Marina had suggested it. It was no coincidence, and he had no intention whatsoever of heading to another city.
Using Gauche as a base to hunt monsters found only in the desert and obtain their Magic Stones was his primary objective.
"Come on, let's go in. Everyone else has already gathered. All that's left is for you to arrive — or more precisely, for the Sand Serpent to arrive."
With that, Zarust led Rei into the facility.
"...Hm?"
Rei entered the facility and looked around without seeming to notice anything in particular, prompting Zarust to voice his question.
"Hey, Rei. Don't you find something a little strange?"
"...Huh? About what?"
From the bottom of his heart, Rei had no idea what was being asked of him. At Rei's tone of genuine confusion, Zarust tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Inside this warehouse, it's considerably cooler than outside, isn't it?"
"Hm? ...Oh, I see."
Rei, having lowered the hood covering his face, wore an expression of understanding.
Compared to the outside, where temperatures exceeded thirty degrees and approached forty, inside this warehouse it was only about twenty degrees. For the residents of Gauche, this was comfortable — no, it was cool enough to even feel slightly chilly.
Zarust couldn't comprehend how Rei could enter such a place without noticing the temperature change at all.
"This robe is a Magic Item. It has the ability to maintain a constant body temperature."
Since explaining it as an air conditioner-like function wouldn't be understood, that was the explanation Rei offered. But it was apparently sufficient for Zarust, who directed a gaze at Rei that was utterly envious — genuinely, from the bottom of his heart, envious.
Rei, subjected to that gaze, paid it no particular mind and turned his attention toward the interior of the facility.
"There's no point just standing here. Shall we head deeper in?"
"...Right, understood."
Though looking slightly dissatisfied, Zarust led Rei toward the back of the building.
There, nearly all of the adventurers who had served as guards for Augusto's caravan were assembled.
"A few are missing, but they already had work today, the day after we got back. Sorry, but they didn't have any time to spare."
"Well, being busy as an adventurer is a good thing."
Even as he replied to Zarust, Rei harbored a suspicion. Could the absent ones be individuals connected to the Elema Trading Company — specifically, the person who had been leaking information?
The possibility that someone among the merchants or the guards had been betraying Augusto was extremely high. That being the case, if there were people absent from here, he couldn't help but think exactly that.
"Come on, more importantly, we don't have much time... go ahead and bring out the Sand Serpent. At that size, dismantling it will take a while. ...Well, the head being missing should save some time at least."
Following Zarust's words, Rei retrieved the Sand Serpent's corpse from the Misty Ring.
At the sight, voices of commotion rose from the adventurers.
They had seen with their own eyes that Rei possessed an Item Box. They had witnessed him store the Sand Serpent after killing it, so that was only natural.
But even so, seeing a Sand Serpent's corpse emerge from empty space was still enough to overwhelm them with astonishment.
The first to recover, naturally, was Zarust.
"Alright, let's get started! Fortunately, the head — which is the hardest part to process — isn't here, so it shouldn't take as long! First, peel off the skin! Don't forget, these materials belong to our benefactor!"
Whether jolted back to their senses by his voice, everyone set to their respective tasks.
As Zarust had stated, the first order of business was peeling the Sand Serpent's skin. But with a Sand Serpent of this size, even skinning it took time.
If they could just hack away at it freely, it would be simple. However, Sand Serpent skin was popular both as armor and as material for clothing. Its cut resistance — enough to stop a half-hearted blade — and its visual beauty made it first-class material for leather armor and cloaks produced in Gauche.
They inserted the blade of a dismantling knife between the skin and the flesh, carefully peeling the skin away without damaging either.
Since this was difficult for those who had only recently become adventurers, the ones actually performing the dismantling work were only those with a certain level of skill. The rookie adventurers held the peeled sections of skin in place, keeping them from shifting and getting in the way of those doing the stripping.
With a large number of people, the speed of work naturally increased, and in less than an hour, the Sand Serpent's skin had been completely peeled away.
Since the skin was the most time-consuming part of stripping a Sand Serpent, once that was done, the rest went quickly.
The meat was cut into suitable blocks for Set and stored into the Misty Ring one after another. Next, the internal organs were processed, and the usable parts were stored in the Misty Ring alongside the skin.
Among the internal organs, the Magic Stone was naturally present as well — the item Rei had wanted most was finally in his hands.
And ultimately, the Sand Serpent was reduced to nothing but bones. Even those bones, being usable as Alchemy materials, Rei stored into the Misty Ring.