"Heave ho!"
With that call, the scaled skin of the Sand Lizardman peeled away.
Being scaled, the skin of a Sand Lizardman could sell for a decent price.
Rei was not particularly short on money, but he had no intention of discarding income he could obtain — and since there was also the matter of practicing his dismantling technique, he peeled the skin off the Sand Lizardman.
"Gurururu"
Catching the scent of flowing blood and the sight of exposed Sand Lizardman meat, Set let out a cry indicating it was hungry.
It had just eaten a block of Orc meat moments ago, but for Set watching the dismantling process, that was apparently irrelevant.
(Normally, watching a dismantling would make an inexperienced person want to throw up...)
While advancing the knife between the skin and the meat, Rei recalled scenes he had witnessed several times before.
For those who had grown up in rural farming villages, slaughtering livestock was not uncommon, so many of them were relatively accustomed to facing monster corpses.
However, when those who had grown up in so-called cities became adventurers, dismantling monsters came as a profound shock.
(They probably just have no sense of reality... Come to think of it, I remember reading or hearing somewhere that even in Japan, there are people who believe fish swim around as fillets.)
Rei briefly reminisced about his time in Japan, but in that instant he felt the Sand Lizardman's skin tear more than intended, and he hurriedly refocused.
"It's difficult, isn't it. Especially with humanoid ones."
Monsters came in a wide variety of forms.
Some had the exact appearance of animals like boars or horses, but those with shapes unlike anything one had ever seen were by no means rare either.
The Sand Lizardman Rei was now dismantling was one such example. Roughly humanoid in shape, yet covered in scales with a face that was purely reptilian — a bizarre creature in many respects.
Still, when it came to humanoid monsters, this was not Rei's first experience; he had dealt with Orcs and similar creatures before.
Because of that, he continued progressing through the dismantling one after another, despite struggling somewhat.
Originally, water was essential for the act of dismantling a monster and harvesting its materials.
Water was important for washing away blood and fat, and for removing odors. ...Though there were some bold souls who managed with desert sand.
In that sense, the locations for dismantling in Gauche were generally predetermined, but in Rei's case, he had the Dagger of Flowing Water, which could produce water.
It was precisely because Rei never had to worry about water that he was able to carry out the dismantling within the grounds of Augusto's mansion.
Peeling the skin, processing the internal organs, cutting the meat... in less than two hours, he finished dismantling two Sand Lizardmen.
"The hardest part really is peeling the skin, isn't it."
"Gururu"
At Rei's words, Set, who had been lying down a short distance away, nodded as if in agreement.
At first, Set had watched Rei's dismantling work, but after nearly two hours, it must have grown tired of silently observing, and so it was now lying down beside Rei.
Even so, being able to stay by Rei's side was probably pleasing to it. Set let out quite cheerful cries.
"...Here, eat this for now at least."
When Rei handed Set the Sand Lizardman's right arm, it stood up happily purring and began pecking at it with its beak.
Thinking that was very Gryphon-like behavior, Rei stored the other parts and the skin into his Misty Ring.
Naturally, the tail tip, which served as the Subjugation Proof Part, had been cut off before dismantling.
"Gururururu"
While watching Set happily pecking at the Sand Lizardman arm meat, Rei performed the final step — or rather, in a sense the main event — washing the dirt off the Magic Stone with the Dagger of Flowing Water.
"Well, I suppose the dismantling is done for now."
There were still nearly ten more Sand Lizardmen remaining, but Rei had no intention of dismantling more than the two in front of him right now.
If his sole purpose was to obtain Magic Stones, the process of dismantling and harvesting materials was unnecessary.
After all, he could simply slash open the chest of a Sand Lizardman corpse and extract the Magic Stone from there.
The reason he did not do so was, as expected, for the practice of dismantling and skinning.
Several years had already passed since Rei came to Elgin, but he was still poor at those tasks.
"Would I be better at it if I were more dexterous? ...Well, whatever. If I keep at it like this, I'll get used to it eventually. ...Set."
"Guru?"
Set was in the middle of eating the Sand Lizardman meat, but it responded obediently to Rei's call.
The sight of it looking at Rei with round eyes, as if asking "What is it?", was extremely adorable — but seeing blood and fragments of meat around its beak made for a somewhat complicated feeling.
(I'm sure I drained the blood thoroughly enough, though...)
Wondering whether he should have drained the blood more carefully, Rei wiped Set's beak.
Whether that pleased it or not, Set purred happily and began rubbing its face against Rei.
While petting Set, who was rubbing against him as if to say "Play with me, pay attention to me," Rei spoke.
"Set, is there anyone nearby watching what we're doing?"
"Guru? ...Gurururu!"
At Rei's words, Set sharply scanned the surroundings.
It surveyed the area not only with its five senses — hearing, sight, smell — but also using its ability to detect magical power... and eventually, its movement stopped with a twitch.
"Gururu!"
Not its usual cheerful cry, but a sharp one.
What that meant, Rei — who had been with Set long enough to know — understood immediately.
Even so, he did not panic and look around frantically; instead, he probed the surrounding presences while stroking Set.
Then, in less than a few seconds, he detected a presence lurking at a slight distance.
Rei and Set were at a mansion located on the outskirts of Gauche, so naturally there were fewer people around compared to the central area.
Given those circumstances, even if someone was standing outside the grounds of Augusto's estate, they would not be questioned.
Günter was there as the gatekeeper, but Günter was not particularly skilled.
Of course, as a gatekeeper he was probably skilled enough, but to sense who was where on these vast grounds — let alone whether someone was lurking outside — would be impossible for most people.
(Did they know that and decide to observe us from there? Besides, if they were inside Augusto's mansion grounds that would be one thing, but since they're outside the grounds, I can't really fault them for it.)
Even if he captured whoever was spying on them in this current situation, it would constitute no crime.
They were simply standing in a place that was neither private property nor anything of the sort, so that was only natural.
(In that case, should I absorb the Magic Stones inside the stable? ...No, I can't deny the possibility that they're watching what we're doing through some method I don't know about, can I?)
Rei did not know of any Magic Items that could see through walls to peer inside, or that could remotely view distant locations through some means.
But if he were to use that logic, he also had not known about the Magic Item called a Sand Ship until he came to the country of Solrein.
And Daridora, who headed the Elema Trading Company — the very organization opposed to Augusto, who was hosting Rei — gathered high-rank adventurers from surrounding cities and countries by throwing money at them.
The Sand Ship that Rei had taken from the Sand Bandits had originally been Daridora's property.
Considering that, it would not be strange for him to possess a Magic Item for spying on someone's activities.
(Well, if they really had a Magic Item that could observe me from far away, there would be no need to lurk nearby like this... No, what if the effective range of the Magic Item is small?)
Magic Items were, in many ways, things that exceeded Rei's expectations.
The items Rei wore — the Misty Ring, the Dragon Robe, the Death Scythe, the Sleipnir boots — all possessed extraordinary abilities, so it would not be strange for there to be other Magic Items beyond Rei's imagination.
(In that case, I should stop absorbing Magic Stones. ...Still, when I first stayed at Augusto's mansion, there was no one keeping watch. Why today of all days? Did Daridora change his thinking somehow?)
While pondering this, he briefly wavered between practicing the Twin Spear Style since he could not absorb Magic Stones, or playing with Set — but unable to resist Set looking up at him with round eyes begging to play, he ended up playing with Set for a while.
"What is the meaning of this!"
A shout echoed through the room.
If anyone who knew the person heard that shout, most of them would cower in fear.
The one shouting was Daridora, the head of the Elema Trading Company, and if he were serious, he had enough influence to deal with most opponents.
However... the person being shouted at by Daridora right now was one of the few exceptions.
"Is that the first thing you say after bursting in? For someone who's always going on about etiquette, that's unusual for you."
The person in the room replied without any particular sign of surprise.
While the outside temperature was close to forty degrees, this room maintained a temperature below thirty.
That was only possible thanks to a cooling Magic Item, but the reason it was feasible at all was because the master of this room — the person who had just spoken — was the lord of Gauche.
A man in his forties with a medium build. His facial features were neither so ugly as to draw attention nor so striking as to captivate.
The aura he gave off lacked the dominating presence of a noble family head; he was an utterly ordinary, hard-to-remember sort of person.
Count Lyubrand Salmas. The lord of Gauche and the head of House Salmas.
Of course, even for a count's family, Solrein was a small country. Under normal circumstances, he would not have the financial means to easily purchase a cooling Magic Item, but Lyubrand was able to enjoy this luxury because of Daridora's existence.
Sitting at his desk and looking over documents, Lyubrand wore a wry smile as he regarded Daridora, who had practically stormed into the room.
Whether one saw it as a composed attitude or an empty-headed one probably depended on the person, but in Daridora's eyes — compounded by the report that had driven him to storm in here — it must have looked like the latter.
"I told you not to lay a hand on Rei! And yet, why are you doing something like surveilling him!"
"Hm, I heard about that. However, I am the lord of Gauche and a noble. No matter if he's an Alias Holder adventurer, there's no way he could do anything to me."
Lyubrand stated this plainly, showing no sign of panic whatsoever.
It was neither a bluff nor bravado; he genuinely believed that an adventurer could not do anything to him... no, that one would never even attempt to.
"Wh... th-that's... didn't I tell you? That man called Rei will readily lay hands even on nobles if they oppose him."
"About that, I think the rumors may have been exaggerated. Nobles are special beings, after all. I'm sure this Rei person understands that too."
Daridora looked up at the ceiling, deeply furrowing his already nervous-looking face.
He could think of nothing else to do.
Lyubrand was completely convinced that he, as a noble, would not be done in by anyone.
If that were all, he would appear to be nothing more than an arrogant noble.
However, he governed Gauche adequately — committing no tyrannical acts such as unreasonable tax collection or forcibly abducting women.
Viewed objectively, he should undoubtedly be classified as a good noble.
That was precisely why Daridora had paid large sums to Lyubrand and cooperated with him for the development of Gauche.
And yet, Lyubrand revealed this naive side of himself from time to time, and because of it, Daridora had been forced to clean up after him on countless occasions. ...Yes, exactly like now.
"The rumors might be exaggerated. But there's no guarantee that they are. I believe the possibility that he truly did lay hands on a noble cannot be denied."
The reason Daridora had rushed to Lyubrand in such a hurry was because of a report from his subordinate.
Namely, that agents of Count Salmas appeared to be watching Augusto's mansion.
Knowing of Rei's abilities through rumors, and having been warned by his own bodyguards that Rei must never be made an enemy, Daridora had naturally turned pale.
Realizing this was bad, he had first ordered his subordinates to forcibly pull away whoever was watching Augusto's mansion, and then had come to the lord's mansion.
However, without showing any sign of understanding Daridora's troubles, Lyubrand spoke.
"I hear that this Rei person or whatever has a Gryphon under his command. I would love to see a Gryphon up close sometime... would that be a problem?"
Hearing those words, Daridora could do nothing but look up at the ceiling once again.