"This is what we held onto for you—the monster materials... or rather, the meat."
Inside the Guild's warehouse, the Guild Staff Member bowed as he spoke.
What lay in Rei's line of sight was meat, meat, and more meat.
Masses of flesh from various monsters.
A short while ago, Rei had entrusted a massive quantity of monsters to the Guild. The vast amount of meat obtained from dissecting them was piled right there.
Several other rare materials were to be claimed by Rei, but all remaining materials and Magic Stones would be purchased by the Guild.
For the Guild, purchasing such an enormous quantity of materials all at once naturally entailed considerable expenditure. But since selling those materials would yield more funds than what they paid Rei, there was no reason for them to complain.
"But, um... are you sure about the Magic Stones? I've heard you collect them, Rei-san."
"Yeah, I already have the Magic Stones from the monsters I handed over. Don't worry about that."
The monsters Rei had given to the Guild were ones he had already tested with Beast Magic. Given that, honestly, receiving those Magic Stones would just be a hassle.
Of course, among the Magic Items Rei possessed, there were some that used Magic Stones as a power source—serving a battery-like role, so to speak—so it wasn't as though he had no need for them at all. However, for that level of Magic Stone, he could simply have the Guild process the massive number of monster corpses still stored in his Misty Ring, so it wasn't as though he'd be in any immediate trouble without them.
...The sole exception was the Magic Stone of the Gigant Turtle that had emerged from the Treant Forest.
"So, what will happen about the Gigant Turtle's dissection?"
"That is... I'm sorry, but with you not here, Rei-san, there's really nothing we can do..."
The Guild Staff Member faltered in response to Rei's question. That said, Rei had no intention of blaming him.
The Gigant Turtle's size was such that it could easily trample Gilm. Dissecting a monster that enormous was naturally not something that could be done inside the town. In other words, they would need to do it outside Gilm.
And if they were dissecting a monster out in the open, monsters drawn by the scent of blood would inevitably come, meaning they'd need guards to protect the workers.
(At the very least, the saving grace is that the dissection will be done in winter. Animals, insects, and birds are far fewer than from spring through autumn.)
So Rei thought, but monsters that only appeared in winter tended to be vicious, so guarding against them would undoubtedly demand considerable skill.
Moreover, dissecting a creature that massive would never be finished in a single day. If that meant leaving the Gigant Turtle's corpse outside Gilm at night, they would need to keep hiring a large number of adventurers. To avoid that, having Rei store the remaining corpse in his Misty Ring posed no problems cost-wise.
In particular, the wages for the adventurers hired to dissect the monsters, including the Gigant Turtle, were being paid not by Rei but by the Guild and Daskar. Considering those circumstances, it was only natural to recognize that having Rei present was a near-absolute condition for the Gigant Turtle's dissection.
"In that case, it'll have to wait until after the new year, when I get back from Duke Kerebel's Territory."
"It'll come to that, huh. I figured."
The slight lack of confidence was likely because whether the Gigant Turtle's dissection could be completed between the start of the new year and spring was a precarious question. Once spring arrived, many adventurers would resume their activities, so the number of people willing to help with the dissection would decrease as well. Above all, spring meant warmer weather, which meant there was even a risk that the Gigant Turtle's corpse would rot before the dissection could be finished.
In that case, the dissection might end up being postponed until the following winter at worst.
No—in fact, given that the Expansion Construction would continue for several years, the Guild and Daskar as the lord might actually welcome that outcome, in the sense of providing work for adventurers.
Rei understood those circumstances on the higher level. He had heard about such matters from Marina, who was a former Guild Master and an old acquaintance of the lord Daskar.
As long as the Gigant Turtle's Magic Stone was extracted and given to him during this winter, Rei had no particular complaints about that either.
...Of course, with adventurers, one never knew what might happen or what kind of trouble they could get caught up in. Even if he planned for the next winter now, there was no guarantee things would go accordingly.
Much less here in Gilm, the sole frontier of the Kingdom of Mireana.
"Regarding the Gigant Turtle's dissection, as long as you can extract the Magic Stone this winter, take your time with everything else. Don't worry about it."
"Really!? Th-thank you very much!"
The Guild Staff Member must have been extremely pleased by Rei's words, as he bowed deeply. For Rei, as long as the bare minimum—extracting the Magic Stone—was handled, there was no particular issue. But for the Guild Staff Member, that was apparently something he had been seriously concerned about.
"What? Did you think I was going to tell you to finish the whole dissection this winter?"
"Ah... well, there are some who suggested that might be the better approach."
"If you started now and kept going nonstop until winter ended, it might be possible... no, still impossible?"
"I'm not sure. I think it would depend on how many people we can mobilize."
With that, the conversation ended, and Rei began storing the monster meat—piled literally like a mountain in the warehouse—into his Misty Ring one batch after another.
It was enough meat to last an ordinary household for years, and it vanished into the Misty Ring in steady succession. The sight was truly spectacular, and the Guild Staff Member watching could not hide his astonishment.
Before their eyes, the mountain of meat disappeared. After storing the other types of materials as well, Rei's next action was to produce undissected monster corpses from his Misty Ring once more.
Facing a scene that completely defied his common sense, the Guild Staff Member could only stare in dumbfounded silence.
Even while feeling that gaze, Rei continued pulling monster corpses from his Misty Ring. Eventually, in place of the mountain of meat that had been there before, an even greater number of monsters filled the warehouse.
"Whoa..."
It would not have been strange for the watching Guild Staff Member to let out such a sound. But Rei, without paying him any mind, pulled out fifty percent more monsters than last time.
The reason he increased the amount was that it was nearly time for Rei to head to Duke Kerebel's Territory with Elena. While Rei was away, replenishing monsters for dissection would naturally be impossible. That was why he had prepared more this time.
...In truth, he could have prepared even more, but doing so would cause the corpses to rot even in winter. The Guild's warehouse had implemented various measures with that in mind, including Magic Items and other ingenuities, but even so, it did not stop the passage of time like an Item Box.
"I'll leave this to you, then."
"Ah, yes. I'll post the request on the Request Board now, so I expect the dissection can begin this afternoon."
"I'll leave that side of things to you. Just... make sure the materials and Magic Stones don't get stolen."
"That won't be a problem. Last time, there were a few adventurers who tried to steal some, but we caught them properly."
"...I see."
It occurred to Rei that wasn't it already a failure at the point they tried to steal? And weren't there likely some who weren't caught? But he didn't voice those thoughts now. After all, he was leaving all of that entirely in the Guild's hands.
Of course, if Rei dissected the monsters himself or supervised other adventurers doing the work, the risk of theft would decrease further. But doing so would cut into his free time... and to put it bluntly, that was probably just a necessary expense.
Finishing his conversation with the Guild Staff Member, Rei stepped out of the warehouse.
...And the moment he stepped outside, he saw something white scattering through the air.
Yes—snow.
(The first snow, huh. If I were still a kid, I'd probably be happy about this.)
Watching a scene where "snow dancing" rather than "snow falling" was the more accurate description, Rei thought to himself.
In Gilm, snow fell and accumulated every year. Since snow shoveling was listed among the requests for adventurers short on money, one could imagine just how much piled up.
"What's wrong? ...Whoa, snow..."
The Guild Staff Member, who had followed Rei out of the warehouse, wore a genuinely displeased expression upon seeing the snow. That said, Rei had no intention of blaming him. As someone who had grown up in the rural Tohoku countryside, Rei had been plagued by snow every year himself.
When he was around elementary school age, he could have been happy to see snow falling. But once he reached middle school, he had to help out with snow shoveling in earnest. The middle school Rei attended was a wooden building that was quite old, so it was not uncommon for snow blowing in through gaps in the windows to pile up in the hallways.
There was nothing like an air conditioner in the classrooms; oil stoves were installed. But since they were inside the classroom—and right next to the podium—they couldn't warm the entire room. The back corners near the hallway were cold, and sitting near the stove was hot—no, burning hot.
Also, when walking on the roads, one had to be careful not to slip, and riding a bicycle became impossible.
Elementary schoolers might delight in playing in the snow, but by middle and high school, snow was nothing but a nuisance.
Even so, the reason Rei didn't feel all that unpleasant looking at the snow now was probably because he was staying at the Wheat Inn at Twilight, a high-class inn, and had no need to do any snow shoveling himself.
The reason the Guild Staff Member was looking so displeased was likely because shoveling the snow in front of the Guild fell to him.
"Good luck with the shoveling."
"...At least let it not accumulate yet."
In response to Rei's words, the Guild Staff Member looked up at the sky as if praying. From an onlooker's perspective, it might have looked like he was wishing for even more snow to fall—an ironic twist for the Guild Staff Member.
Leaving the man praying to the heavens behind, Rei entered the Guild and received the payment for the materials sold from the warehouse.
"Please be careful, Rei-san. I hear there have been thieves around here recently.... Though I suppose there's no need to worry with you, Rei-san."
Lenora handed Rei a cloth bag containing Platinum Coins and Gold Coins and urged caution, but before Rei could respond, Kenny, standing next to her, chimed in.
"He'll be fine. If there's a thief stupid enough to go after Rei-kun, the only thing you could call them is delusional."
"I know that, but it's better to be safe."
Not encountering a thief was certainly preferable. Of course, if a thief did encounter Rei, they would definitely be caught, so for the sake of Gilm's safety, it might actually be better to pray that Rei would be the one targeted.
"Well, running into a thief would definitely be a hassle, so I'd rather not encounter one either."
From Rei's perspective, even if he caught a thief, he would just hand them over to the Guards—nothing particularly special would come of it. He might receive a small reward, but that would be a modest amount at best.
(Compared to thieves, bandits are far more profitable.)
For Rei, who had come to be called the Bandit Eater among bandits, bandits were a far more welcome opponent than thieves. If captured alive, bandits could be sold as Criminal Slaves. Furthermore, all the treasure they had hoarded would belong entirely to whoever defeated them. In every sense, bandit hunting was a highly rewarding endeavor for Rei.
Of course, that was strictly under the assumption that Rei had the strength to defeat them alone... or with Set.
"Well, with your skills, Rei-kun, a mere thief is nothing.... But the person doing it is probably someone who came for the Expansion Construction, so be careful anyway."
Kenny said this, and Rei, thinking it sounded exactly like a flag, nodded in response.