After purchasing a generous supply of preserved food—not iburigakko, but something similar—Rei and Elena headed out of Golts.
Since it wasn't even noon yet, the dissection of the Kelpies and the Garangiga was understandably still in progress. Even so, the real reason they'd gone outside the town was, predictably enough, the announcement message that had just echoed in Rei's mind.
Still, as he made his way toward the outskirts, Rei already had a fairly good idea of what had happened.
After all, there had been a previous occasion where a skill acquisition announcement had played while he and Set were operating separately.
In other words, while Set was away from Rei, it had likely fought some monster and eaten its Magic Stone, thereby gaining a new skill.
Understanding all of this, what concerned Rei slightly was the question of just what kind of monster Set had defeated.
The exact mechanism by which Beast Magic determined skill acquisition still eluded Rei's full comprehension.
But having acquired numerous skills over time, he had at least grasped the general pattern.
Though "general" was doing a lot of heavy lifting in that description.
The higher the rank of the monster—or the closer it was to a Rare Species—the more likely its Magic Stone was to trigger a skill acquisition.
Conversely, weak monsters' Magic Stones rarely produced new skills.
In other words, the fact that Set's Earth Arrow had leveled up meant it had most likely fought something with a fair amount of strength.
That was precisely why Rei and Elena had come outside Golts.
There was a chance Set might bring the monster's corpse back with it.
"Rei, is Set really coming?"
"Probably. ...If it does bring back a corpse, I'd like to get that dissected too while we're at it."
At Rei's words, Elena glanced toward the workers dissecting the Kelpies and Garangiga.
Many adventurers were still hard at work on the dissection.
One of the Kelpies, however, had already been fully processed. The second was nearly done as well—another twenty minutes at most would see it finished.
The Garangiga, on the other hand, was a different story. Its sheer size meant they were still in the middle of peeling off its scales.
That was only natural. Even the scales of an ordinary Garangiga could serve as alchemy or medicinal ingredients.
The same was true of the thorns hidden beneath those scales.
That meant each scale had to be removed one by one without so much as a scratch, and the thorns underneath extracted without breaking them.
The Garangiga on the dissection table was enormous. It was plain to anyone watching that the Kelpie work had been little more than a warm-up.
"Looking at how things are going with the Garangiga, I doubt they'll have anyone to spare."
"Seems that way."
Watching the adventurers carefully peel off scales and carry them to a collection area, Rei judged there was no way they could take on another monster's dissection right now.
Noticing the two of them, a female Guild Staff Member in her twenties who had been directing adventurers nearby walked over.
"Is something the matter? Do you have a request? If you're simply here to observe the dissection, that's no problem."
"Hm? Ah, no. It seems Set defeated a monster. There's a chance it might bring the corpse back, so I came to check whether it could be added to the queue..."
The Guild Staff Member looked puzzled at the mention of Set defeating a monster.
It was only natural. She had clearly seen Set fly off on its own earlier.
And yet, Rei seemed completely certain that Set had defeated something.
Well, given that Set was a Gryphon, it hunting monsters wasn't strange in itself.
She could understand that much. What puzzled her was why Rei was so certain—and on top of that, why he expected the corpse to be brought here.
Figuring she wouldn't get a straight answer even if she pressed for details, the Guild Staff Member simply concluded that as a Tamer, he must have some way of communicating with his beast, and spoke up.
"Let me think. It would depend on how large the monster in question is. If it's about the size of a Kelpie, there's no particular issue. But... that Garangiga, was it? If it's anywhere near that size, it would be a bit..."
"Yeah... that's what I figured."
Given the Garangiga's massive bulk, it was hard to imagine the team working on it had any room to spare.
As Rei nodded in agreement with the Guild Staff Member's assessment...
"Rei, it's here. Good."
At Elena's words, Rei turned his eyes to the sky.
Set was there, wings beating steadily.
And just as Rei had predicted, Set was carrying what appeared to be a monster's corpse in its front legs.
"Is that... a Bear? It has two tails, and the fur is yellow."
As far as Rei knew, Bears typically had brown or black fur.
There were white-furred Bears, like polar bears.
But yellow-furred Bears? Not that he knew of.
It also appeared slightly larger than Set, which put it at over three meters in length.
"That's a rare sight. That's an Argos Bear. To think there was one around here... Then again, given a Gryphon's travel speed, perhaps it actually hunted it somewhere far away."
The Guild Staff Member said this, but upon seeing the corpse of the monster she called an Argos Bear, an uneasy thought crossed Rei's mind.
Being a Bear-type monster, its natural habitat would be woodlands, forests, mountains, and the like.
But from what the Guild Staff Member had just said, it wasn't the kind of monster that inhabited this area.
And the fact that Set had acquired a skill meant it likely possessed at least a certain level of strength.
Putting all of that together, Rei arrived at a single conclusion...
(Don't tell me that was a monster from that dungeon?)
Goblins, Cobolts, and Orcs had fallen from the dungeon that formed along the cliff face and died.
The second floor of that dungeon had a forest, which meant the monsters were free to roam within it.
The residents of Golts had been scavenging materials, Subjugation Proof Parts, and Magic Stones from the monsters that fell from the dungeon and died. But there was no guarantee that every monster that fell from that height perished.
In other words, could this Argos Bear have been one that survived the fall?
(The question is whether something could survive a drop from that height... It's not like it has wings like a Yellow Bird. Hmm? Yellow Bird... yellow? The Argos Bear's fur is yellow too. ...Is that just a coincidence?)
Rei pondered this, but before he could reach an answer, Set began its descent toward the ground.
Naturally, those taking a break from dissecting the Garangiga noticed the Gryphon's approach...
"Uwooooh... o? Eh? Huh?"
"Whoa, the Gryphon's carrying a Bear monster. ...Wait, carrying it? How is it even carrying that thing? It's about the same size, isn't it?"
"Hey, wait! I don't care about that right now, hold your end down properly! The scales are going to peel off wrong! There are thorns too—it's dangerous!"
Everyone gasped in surprise at Set's sudden appearance. ...Though some were more concerned about it disrupting the Garangiga dissection.
"So, that Argos Bear, was it? Are you adding that one to the dissection queue too?"
"Understood. Leave it to us."
Rei shot a surprised look at the Guild Staff Member, who had agreed without a moment's hesitation.
This was additional work, yet she hadn't shown the slightest hesitation. She hadn't even consulted her superiors before giving a ready nod.
"It's not really my place to say this as the one making the request, but are you sure? If you'd like, I could check with Vanilas first..."
"No need. The Guild Master has instructed us to accommodate Rei-san's party's requests as much as possible. So it's no problem at all."
The Guild Staff Member smiled as she said this.
That smile carried unmistakable goodwill toward Rei and his party.
A dungeon had suddenly appeared near Golts. Until Rei's party actually entered it, no one could be entirely certain it was a dungeon, even if they strongly suspected it.
But it had indeed been a dungeon—and one that was far too developed to have only just formed.
It was a place where Golts adventurers, and even ordinary citizens who weren't adventurers, had been gathering near to collect materials from monsters that fell from the dungeon and died.
Fortunately—truly fortunately—no major incidents had occurred while Golts residents visited the dungeon's vicinity.
There had been the Yellow Bird situation, but that too had been resolved the very same day, thanks in large part to Rei's party's presence.
That was why Vanilas felt deeply grateful to them, and had made sure the Guild Staff understood the full circumstances.
A request from a party like theirs meant that one or two extra monsters to dissect was hardly an imposition.
Though a monster on the same scale as the Garangiga might have been pushing things, fortunately the Argos Bear Set brought back wasn't quite that large.
In reality, it was roughly the same size as Set—over three meters long—but having already laid eyes on the Garangiga, the sheer contrast likely made the Argos Bear seem manageable by comparison.
"Are you sure? Alright then, I'll leave it to you. Set!"
"Gurururururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a happy cry and descended toward the ground.
Midway down, it released the Argos Bear, sending it plummeting to the earth with a heavy thud that echoed across the area.
The workers who had paused their Garangiga dissection to watch Set's arrival collectively held their breath at what could only be described as an aerial bombing run—the ground was actually dented from the impact—but Set paid no mind to any of that. It simply trotted over to Rei and rubbed its face against him.
Rei stroked Set's head, praising it for taking down the Argos Bear.
"Good work. Yeah, that's my Set. Strong as always."
At Rei's praise, Set purred with unmistakable pride.
From an outsider's perspective, a Gryphon exceeding three meters in length was a nightmarishly ferocious monster. But seeing it fawn over Rei like this, it looked downright adorable.
That sheer contrast left the adventurers working on the Garangiga completely speechless.
Were they supposed to be terrified of Set, or charmed by how cute it was acting around Rei?
Conflicting emotions warred within them.
The one who broke the awkward silence was the Guild Staff Member who had been speaking with Rei moments earlier.
"Alright, we have additional work. That Argos Bear over there has been added to the dissection queue. I doubt anyone's completely free, but I need about five of you to move over and start on that one. If you're unsure about the dissection procedure or which parts count as materials, ask a Guild Staff Member. And whatever you do, do not make unilateral decisions based on your own judgment."
"Yeah, I get that, but... this is an Argos Bear, right? There's a massive wound right in the chest—a fatal one. What's going on with the internal organs and everything in there?"
"Guru?"
Whether it caught the adventurer's words or not, Set, which had been narrowing its eyes contentedly under Rei's stroking, turned its gaze toward the Argos Bear.
The Adventurer Man found himself locking eyes with Set and reflexively stumbled back a few paces—but that was all.
For someone not accustomed to Set, the man clearly had nerve.
"W-What?"
The slight tremor in his voice was only natural—he understood exactly what kind of creature a Gryphon was.
If Set stayed in Golts a while longer, people might eventually stop seeing it as a monstrous Gryphon and start recognizing it simply as Set, the endearing creature it was. Unfortunately, Rei's party had only been in Golts for a handful of days.
And most of those days had been spent outside the town, primarily in the dungeon.
Under those circumstances, expecting anyone here to be as comfortable around Set as the residents of Gilm were would be asking too much.
Set understood this too. Even so, for the naturally sociable creature, being feared by someone who wasn't an enemy was more than a little disheartening.
"Ah, don't worry about that. Set probably already extracted the Magic Stone. It'd be a big help if you could dissect the Argos Bear without expecting one to be inside."
As he spoke, Rei continued stroking Set, who still looked faintly disappointed.