"Umm... what should I even say about this? ...Yeah, that's all I can say. It's gruesome."
At Vihera's words, everyone nodded... even Rei and Set, who had caused this gruesome scene.
But that was only natural. A monster about the same size as Set, pierced by a harpoon and unable to flee, had been forcibly dragged all the way here.
Naturally, a monster of that size couldn't hide its body in the sea once it reached the shallows, and its entire frame had been battered against the rocks along the way.
Scales scraped off, blood flowing, flesh exposed.
With injuries like that spread across its whole body, Vihera's assessment was inevitable.
"You say that, but there aren't many ways to cleanly finish off something in that situation. It couldn't be helped. ...So, is this a monster? Well, I expected as much."
Whether it was a fish or a monster... Rei couldn't tell while the thing was in the sea, but now that they'd hauled it up, it was clear.
"I had a feeling the moment it started shooting scales at us."
Thinking about it normally, a fish that shoots scales was hard to imagine.
No, on Earth there was the Archerfish, which spat sharp jets of water from its mouth to knock insects down and eat them, so Rei reconsidered — it wouldn't be strange for there to be a fish in Elgin that shot scales to catch prey.
"Still... I don't know this monster, naturally. Bistol, do you?"
Rei asked Bistol because Bistol had known about the Guzutos.
But Bistol, looking apologetic, shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but this is my first time seeing this monster too. With something this large, you'd think it would be well-known..."
Bistol was a merchant who operated around Gilm and the frontier — areas with no sea.
That was exactly why he had followed Rei and the others to catch sea fish.
Knowing about the Guzutos had been a simple coincidence.
"Hmm, in that case... Marina?"
"First time for me too."
"Elena?"
"Same here, I don't know."
"Vihera?"
"First time for me as well."
"...I'll ask just in case. Byune?"
"Mm."
In response to Rei's words, Byune murmured just one short word as usual.
But this time, Rei understood what she meant.
Because Byune was shaking her head.
Seeing that, it was crystal clear that Byune also didn't know about this monster.
"Alright then... I'll at least take the Magic Stone for now. Subjugation Proof Parts and such can come later."
No one objected to Rei's suggestion.
If they'd known what kind of monster this was, they could have dismantled it right here... but since they didn't, carelessly taking it apart and discarding parts that might turn out to be materials or Subjugation Proof Parts was a real possibility.
(Well, the edible portion is probably substantial. ...At a glance, it looks like a black sea bream.)
Rei looked at the monster again and thought this sincerely.
Yes, the true identity of the monster that had attacked Rei and Set was a black sea bream.
Of course, at three meters long and shooting scales as an attack, it wasn't an ordinary black sea bream.
It merely resembled a black sea bream among the fish Rei knew, and aside from size, there were many small differences in various details.
(Then again, it shot that many scales, yet the places where scales are missing from its body... well, I can't deny the possibility that the scales scraped off where it was battered against the rocks.)
Looking at the fish monster, Rei took out a knife to extract the Magic Stone.
Nearly half of the monster's body was still submerged in seawater, and perhaps drawn by the blood flowing from it, small fish and crabs were starting to gather.
Rei thought he'd rather not have the monster he'd gone to the trouble of defeating get eaten by fish and crabs... but then he remembered that while Set had been dragging the monster here, its massive body had been slammed against rocks countless times along the way, and he found himself oddly accepting of the situation.
(Well, if I think of it as them cleaning up the internal organs for me, having fish and crabs around isn't so bad.)
Among monster parts, internal organs were often sellable as materials, but a good portion of them had already scattered into the sea during the struggle to get here.
Given that, extracting the organs now seemed pointless, so Rei decided to just leave them as feed for the fish and crabs.
Thinking that they might gather around the organs and not go for the flesh.
"For a fish this large, it should be quite satisfying to eat. ...Though with Rei and Set, they'd probably finish it off in no time."
Looking at the fish again, Marina murmured.
"Gruu!"
As if he understood Marina's words, Set let out a happy cry, as if saying "leave it to me!"
...Incidentally, Set had been fed fish caught by Marina and the others, and was in quite a good mood.
"Anyway, if you're going to extract the Magic Stone, you'd better hurry. Look, quite a lot of fish and crabs are gathering..."
At Bistol's words, Rei looked out at the sea again... and there, compared to a short while ago, an overwhelmingly greater number of fish and crabs had gathered.
No, not only that — among them, there were even octopuses.
"They've really gathered, huh."
Muttering in exasperation, Rei hurriedly extracted the Magic Stone from inside the monster.
Since the belly had torn open on the way here, he managed to remove the Magic Stone without much difficulty.
After that, he stored the monster's corpse in his Misty Ring... and turned his gaze toward a net placed on a rock a short distance away.
The net there — or more precisely, the fish in the net — were the ones Rei had caught before being attacked by the monster.
Even during the fight with the monster, Rei had never let go of the net, holding it in the hand that wasn't carrying Death Scythe or the harpoon.
When he absolutely needed both hands, he'd even gone so far as to place it on Set's back.
...As a result, the fish in the net were safe... but in exchange, Set's back had become faintly fishy-smelling.
Though for Ielo, Set's fishy-smelling back was either reassuring or stimulated its appetite... it had stayed contentedly on Set's back while Set happily ate fish.
"Kyu! Kyu!"
Rei had been feeling warm and fuzzy watching Set, but snapped back to reality when Byune tugged his Dragon Robe.
"What is it?"
"Mm!"
In response to Rei's question, Byune looked out at the sea — at the spot where the monster had been until just moments ago — and then held her hand out toward Rei.
Rei, unable to understand what that meant, simply tilted his head.
He'd known Byune for quite some time now, and had largely come to understand what she was trying to say.
But "largely" was not "completely."
As a result, Rei's gaze turned to Vihera — the only person who could fully understand what Byune wanted.
"Vihera, what is Byune trying to say?"
"She wants a net. Not the one with the fish in it — a scoop net."
Hearing that, Rei looked at the sea again.
There, moderately large fish and octopuses were competing to eat the monster's spilled innards.
Among them were fish that resembled moray eels, and the scene could honestly be described as a kind of fish paradise.
With that many fish and crabs gathered, it wasn't strange to want to catch them all at once with a net rather than bothering to fish.
"Got it, here."
Saying that, Rei handed Byune a scoop net he'd taken from his Misty Ring.
Byune, net in hand, looked at least somewhat pleased to Rei. ...Of course, Byune's expression hadn't changed from its usual state, so it would be more accurate to say he sensed an air of amusement about her.
Byune stood on a rock with the net in hand.
Her gaze as she watched the sea surface from atop the rock was serious from the bottom of her heart.
So serious that she wouldn't pale in comparison to a professional fisherman.
The attention of everyone around was drawn to Byune's focused demeanor... and then, Byune's hand holding the net moved swiftly.
The net she scooped up from the sea surface contained several fish... and even a moray eel-like fish.
"My, impressive, Byune-chan. That fish is supposedly quite ferocious and difficult to catch... but they say it tastes great? Though apparently its texture is closer to meat than fish."
At the word "meat," not only Byune... but even Set and Ielo looked toward Byune with interest.
It wasn't that they disliked fish, but they clearly liked meat as well.
Sensing the gazes of Set and Ielo, Byune gave off a slightly regretful air... and gently handed the moray eel-like fish to Set and Ielo.
Its surface was slippery, but Byune didn't seem to have any particular difficulty holding it.
Whether this was a skill from her days as a thief... or simply because Byune was used to handling such things, Rei couldn't say.
But regardless, it was certain that Byune had decided to give the moray eel-like fish to Set and Ielo.
...Though that was likely because there were still several more of the same fish in the sea.
"Gruu?"
Set asked with round eyes, as if saying "Are you sure?"
To Set, Byune silently nodded.
The moray eel-like fish that was handed over was carried in Set's beak to the ground... to a spot covered in countless small stones.
Ielo, who had been watching from Set's back, descended to the ground with its small wings and bit into the fish Set had placed down.
The moray eel-like fish wasn't particularly large.
If the two of them ate it together, it would be gone in no time.
(Well, Set aside, Ielo might not be able to eat its fill.)
Considering Ielo's body size, there was inevitably a difference in stomach capacity.
Thinking such thoughts, Rei processed the fish that had been in the net by snapping their necks in saba-ori fashion, storing them one after another into his Misty Ring.
...Perhaps because the internal organs of the giant black sea bream-like monster were still present, no ordinary fish drawn by the scent of blood from the caught fish came around.
About ten minutes passed...
"Kyu! Kyukyu! Kyuu!"
After finishing processing all the fish and storing them in the Misty Ring, Rei heard that cry.
He easily understood it was Ielo's cry... and turned his gaze in the direction it came from.
There, the same scene he'd seen before at the river was unfolding — Ielo was fighting a crab.
The difference... was the size of the crab Ielo was facing.
Compared to the marsh crab Ielo had fought at the river before, the crab Ielo was battling now was clearly larger.
A larger crab naturally meant a harder shell.
"Kyu!"
Ielo launched an attack at the crab, but the crab moved quickly... and to use the terrain to its advantage, hid itself in a crevice between rocks.
Once it hid like that, no matter how small Ielo was, it couldn't attack a crab inside a rock crevice.
"Kyu! Kyukyu! Kyuu!"
Ielo let out threatening cries as if demanding it come out, but the crab showed no sign of emerging from the gap.
(Unlike at the river, the crab isn't really engaging with Ielo, huh? ...Well, thinking about it normally, if there's somewhere to hide, there's no reason to fight Ielo.)
With the marsh crab, part of it was that the crab had been brave, but the fact that there was nowhere to hide had probably been a bigger factor.
Thinking this, Rei shifted his gaze to Set next.
Having finished eating the moray eel-like fish, Set was lying down without the slightest concern that the ground beneath him was covered in pebbles and rocks rather than soft dirt.
The gentle sunlight and refreshing sea breeze made for the perfect conditions for a post-meal nap for the satisfied Set.
"At this rate, we won't be able to head back out to the open sea for a while."
"Hmm, in that case, would you help me fish for a bit? Somehow, my bait keeps getting stolen."
At Elena's request, Rei nodded, figuring they had time to spare anyway, and enjoyed fishing together with Elena... and Marina and Vihera.