At Bistol's word — Guzutos — Rei turned his gaze toward him.
"You know this monster?"
"Only from what I've heard, really. I mean, a monster with such magnificent horns and pincers is quite rare, isn't it?"
"I won't deny that."
If it were a crustacean monster, having pincers wouldn't be particularly surprising. But a fish monster with pincers fell into a considerably rare category. On top of that, it possessed a magnificent horn like a Unicorn's — identifying what kind of monster it was based on that feature alone wasn't difficult.
...Of course, since he didn't have a comprehensive catalog of all monster species, he couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that it was something completely new.
"So? What kind of monster is this? Specifically, which parts sell as materials, whether it's edible — that sort of thing?"
"Hmm... like I said, this is my first time actually seeing one, so everything I know is secondhand. Is that alright?"
"Yeah. Better to have information, even secondhand, than to fumble around blindly."
With Rei putting it like that, Bistol — who had been brought all the way here through Rei's goodwill — couldn't very well refuse to explain.
"In terms of pure combat strength, it's not that strong. But because it's quite intelligent, it's classified as a D-Rank monster."
"Ah... I see. That makes sense."
Even when it had attacked Rei and Set, it had made full use of the sea — its preferred battlefield. Seeing that, one could hardly call it unintelligent.
"Though for something supposedly smart, it did attack Set."
"It's a sea monster. It probably figured that if things went south, it could just flee to the depths and be completely safe."
"Can't deny that."
In truth, if the Guzutos fled to the deep sea, catching it wouldn't be impossible for Rei and Set... but they would certainly struggle considerably. Either dive in to chase it, or use Rei's magic to boil the surrounding waters where it was hiding. Either way, compared to what they stood to gain, they would undoubtedly take losses — though perhaps not enough to call them serious.
"In any case, this monster is reasonably rare. From what I've heard, the horn can fetch a fairly high price as an alchemy material. ...Of course, it doesn't even come close to a true Unicorn horn."
"Well, that's true."
A Unicorn's horn was said to cure all illnesses — and in some cases, even bring the dead back to life. Rei wouldn't go so far as to fully believe such legends, but it was undeniably usable as a recovery potion of tremendous potency.
The Guzutos's horn, while not matching a Unicorn's, still possessed sufficient recovery effects.
"For now, I'll hold onto the horn rather than sell it — in case of emergencies. What else?"
"The pincer parts are quite hard, so they can apparently be used in armor. But they're even more popular as a food ingredient."
"Alright, then we're eating the pincers ourselves. The shells would just sit around with no use, so I'll sell those to the Guild."
"I'll warn you now — make sure you wash them thoroughly after eating the meat inside, alright? Otherwise, you'll get severely lowballed."
Having a hard-earned material bought cheap due to clumsy handling was apparently unbearable for Bistol as a merchant. The fact that he didn't ask Rei to sell to him instead was probably because Bistol didn't have a sales channel for Guzutos pincers.
"Got it. ...So, where's the Subjugation Proof Part?"
"Hmm... from what I've heard, there's a sharp spike at the tip of its tail that seems to serve that purpose. Oh, and by the way, that spike can apparently also be purchased as a material. Supposedly, if forged through a special method, it becomes a very durable sewing needle."
"...A sewing needle?"
If it were a Long Needle, it could potentially serve as a weapon for Byune. That was what Rei thought, but Bistol silently shook his head.
"Mm..."
Seeing Bistol's reaction, Byune — who had been listening nearby while petting Ielo — murmured with a faint hint of disappointment.
Anyone less familiar with Byune wouldn't have noticed anything different from her usual demeanor. But Rei had spent a fair amount of time with her. That was why, though not as well as Vihera, he could vaguely understand what Byune was feeling.
Seeing her looking slightly disappointed, Rei suddenly recalled a Magic Item he hadn't used much lately.
The Eye of Nebula, still attached to his belt.
Perhaps he could let Byune try using it. That was what crossed his mind.
"Byune, got a second?"
Setting aside the Guzutos explanation for the moment, Rei unfastened the Eye of Nebula from his belt and held it out to her.
"Want to try using this Eye of Nebula? Throwing Long Needles is your fighting style, but even Long Needles have a limited supply... well, that might not be the most fitting way to put it, but you do run out, right? With this, as long as you have magic power, you wouldn't have to worry about that."
"...Mm?"
Looking slightly puzzled, Byune accepted the Eye of Nebula.
Everyone else, including Bistol, watched Rei and Byune in silence. They all understood that interrupting in this situation would be tactless.
"This is a Magic Item called the Eye of Nebula... well, you've probably seen me using it."
"Mm."
Byune nodded. Seeing that, Rei decided no further explanation was needed and urged her to give it a try.
Following his prompting, Byune poured magic power into the Eye of Nebula... but nothing happened.
Normally, pouring magic power into the Eye of Nebula should produce an arrowhead. Since it was an arrowhead made of magic power, it would dissipate after a certain amount of time — but there was no sign of any arrowhead being generated at all.
"...Why? Sorry, Byune. Let me borrow it for a second."
Byune readily returned the Eye of Nebula. When Rei poured magic power into it, an arrowhead appeared as a matter of course.
"It's not broken. ...Which means..."
"Rei, could you let me try?"
Marina said this to Rei, who was tilting his head while holding the Eye of Nebula, and took it from him. She poured magic power into it... and upon seeing an arrowhead generated, wore an expression of understanding.
"This thing requires a considerable amount of magic power just to create a single arrowhead, you know? Unfortunately, with Byune's magic power, I don't think she'd be able to use it at all."
Hearing that, Rei recalled when he had the Eye of Nebula made in the Bestia Empire. Hadn't the craftsman who created it said that activating the Eye of Nebula required a great deal of magic power?
Even in its original quiver form, generating arrows had required a substantial amount of magic power. But by converting it into a different Magic Item — the Eye of Nebula — it now required even more magic power consumption to produce arrowheads.
In other words, this was a Magic Item that could not be wielded by anyone who didn't possess a large amount of magic power.
...Of course, within the Crimson Lotus Wings, both Vihera and Marina possessed high magic power, and Marina had just successfully activated the Eye of Nebula. Which meant that within the Crimson Lotus Wings, Byune was the only one who couldn't use it.
"...Sorry."
"Mm."
At Rei's words, Byune shook her head to indicate he shouldn't worry about it.
In truth, for Byune, the Eye of Nebula was convenient to have but not absolutely essential. ...Of course, as a valuable Magic Item, she would have wanted it if offered — that was her honest feeling.
"Come on, more importantly — what about the Guzutos? Aren't you going to dismantle it?"
"No, I am. ...Come to think of it, you said the pincer meat is tasty, but what about the body?"
"Of course it's delicious. It's a monster of a certain rank, so that's only natural. ...Though I haven't actually eaten it myself either, so there's a chance it might not taste good."
As a general rule, monster meat became tastier the higher its rank. This was because magic power was tied to the flavor of the meat. Of course, there were exceptions to everything. The most famous example would be Orcs. They were by no means a High-Rank Monster, yet their meat was equal to — and sometimes surpassed — the meat of high-rank monsters.
(Guzutos is also a D-Rank monster, the same rank as Orcs. I wonder how it compares. ...Though Orc is meat and Guzutos is fish. Judging a clear difference in quality between them would probably be difficult.)
Looking at the Guzutos, Rei took out a dismantling knife.
"Are there any parts of the internal organs that can be used as materials?"
"Hmm... I'm not really sure about that. If you're worried, you could always store them in some kind of container, right? With your Item Box, the organs wouldn't spoil or anything, would they?"
"Right."
Internal organs were generally perishable. But with Rei's Misty Ring, bringing them back was no difficult matter.
"These kinds of organs make good bait for attracting fish. But since I don't know what materials they might become, I'll save all of them for now."
No one objected. If it were a monster listed in the Monster Encyclopedia, he could check for himself whether the internal organs were usable as materials. But since it wasn't listed, they couldn't make that judgment themselves. If they carelessly discarded the organs here and it turned out they were actually quite rare materials... that would be no laughing matter.
"That's true. I think that would be for the best."
At Bistol's words — which sounded like he was praising a well-behaved child — Rei shot him an displeased glance. It wasn't that he disliked Bistol, but for some reason he felt like he was being treated oddly like a child. ...In truth, for Bistol — who could only be described as a heavily muscled large man — it wasn't unreasonable for him to see Rei as a child.
"Anyway, I'll do the rest of the dismantling tonight. Right now, I need to catch as many fish as possible."
He took that action precisely because he felt that staying here any longer might lead Bistol to get the wrong idea.
Storing the Guzutos in his Misty Ring, he reattached the Eye of Nebula — received back from Marina — to his belt, and approached Set, who was being petted by Byune while playing with Ielo.
"Gruu?"
Set let out a cry that seemed to ask whether they were going to the sea again. Rei nodded while stroking him.
"Next time, I want to catch fish, not a monster."
"Grururu!"
Set liked fish too, so it purred in agreement with Rei's words.
"We're catching a fair number of fish here too. Rather than heading out to open water, why don't you try fishing, Rei?"
"As tempting as Elena's invitation is, thinking about when we get back, I need to catch as many fish as possible. Not small ones that come close to shore like this — big ones like what we caught yesterday."
Ideally, Rei wanted to catch large numbers of massive fish like bluefin tuna, rather than shark-like fish. Just as in Japan before freezing technology had developed, tuna in this world was generally treated as a low-grade fish.
Of course, Rei was only calling it tuna because it resembled a fish he had seen on TV — he didn't actually know whether it truly was tuna. However, when he had eaten it in Emosion, he had been convinced it was undoubtedly tuna. That was why he was now pursuing tuna together with Set.
Of course, he didn't even know whether tuna actually swam in these waters, so it was more of an act of hope — if they were here, great.
"Set, take us up."
"Grurururu!"
At Rei's words as he leapt onto its back, Set let out a cry and, with a few running steps, beat its wings and launched itself skyward.
Even on rocky ground, Set's speed was unchanged. With Set's legs, carelessly stepping on a rock wouldn't cause any injury.
"If we catch big fish, you'll get to eat your fill too, Set."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred happily as it headed toward the open sea.