"Hmm. So starting tomorrow, the people from the Slum District will be coming to help with the dissection too, huh?"
Vihera spoke with a tone of mild interest—though not enough to truly capture her attention—as she brought a forkful of Orc meat to her mouth. The meat had been roasted until moist and tender, then drizzled with a tart fruit sauce. To Rei, the dish looked like roast pork—or rather, roast Orc.
Incidentally, this roast Orc was something Marina had made using Rei's Magic Item oven, and it was one of her signature dishes.
Orcs lived in considerable numbers around Marina's home settlement of Dark Elves. That was precisely why the Dark Elves living there knew so many recipes for preparing Orc meat.
This roast Orc might look like an extremely simple dish at a glance, but the marinade applied before cooking, the choice of herbs, and above all, getting the roast just right were all very difficult. In that sense, the fruit-based sauce was actually the easier part.
Rei ate his share of the roast Orc while nodding in response to Vihera's words.
"Yeah. At this rate, the dissection won't progress much. Well, even with the Slum District residents helping out, I don't think we'll finish before winter's over."
Considering the sheer size of the Gigant Turtle, there was no way the dissection speed would increase that much with just ten or twenty more people. Even so, he had taken action on the principle that any increase in speed was worth pursuing.
It might be impossible this winter, but he hoped to finish the dissection by next winter at the latest. Thinking that, Rei's honest prediction was that it would still take quite a while regardless.
"The Slum District, huh... But is that really okay? Those people might be used to dissecting Cobolts, but Cobolts and the Gigant Turtle are completely different, right?"
Marina, who had been drinking her soup, made the point, and she was absolutely correct.
The people in the Slum District dissected Cobolt corpses almost every day, so they were no strangers to the work. But being accustomed to dissecting Cobolts was not the same as being prepared for a Gigant Turtle. The two monsters differed enormously in both shape and size.
"Probably true. But considering the size of the Gigant Turtle, this is bound to be a long-term job. They should already know the basics of dissection, so they'll naturally get the hang of it as they work."
Dissecting monsters naturally required a fair amount of knowledge. No matter how many Cobolt corpses were brought into the Slum District, it would be pointless if they ruined them through trial and error.
Pelts and similar materials, in particular, would be bought at a steep discount if they bore any cuts or damage. Though, for the adventurers who killed those Cobolts, since they had no intention of stripping the materials themselves, they didn't give such things a second thought when taking them down.
In any case, the question remained: how to dissect those valuable Cobolt corpses with as little damage as possible. Naturally, the best approach was to have someone with experience teach them.
And in the Slum District, there were quite a few former adventurers. By offering such people some form of compensation, they could be taught proper dissection techniques.
...Naturally, there were differences in both dissection skill and teaching ability depending on the instructor, so it would be pointless if they ended up with a dud. But in any case, it was safe to assume that most of the Slum District residents currently dissecting Cobolts possessed at least a baseline level of dissection skill.
If that were the case, Rei's assertion that they would naturally learn while working on the Gigant Turtle was by no means off the mark.
"If you say so, Rei, then I suppose it's fine... What did you think, Elena? You went to see the Gigant Turtle dissection site today, right?"
"Hm? Right. From what I saw, I'd say a small increase in personnel won't make much of a difference... That said, there's no doubt that even a slight improvement in dissection speed is worthwhile, so I don't think there's any problem."
With Elena's endorsement, Marina accepted the verdict and stopped pressing Rei any further.
The next morning, in front of the Main Gate. For Rei, it was a rare thing to be caught off guard by the sight before him. That was because—while they might not have reached a hundred—there were unmistakably more than fifty people gathered there.
"This is... honestly unexpected."
"Hehe, how about that? Didn't think I could pull together this many people, did you?" Suchee said proudly, reacting to Rei's surprise.
Rei nodded at her words but immediately spoke up again.
"I'll admit I was surprised. No doubt about that. But... do you remember the conditions I laid out yesterday? Gathering this many people is genuinely impressive, but if even one person among the crowd you brought does anything suspicious, it won't just affect everyone standing here—it'll bring trouble down on the rest of the Slum District residents too."
In truth, the Guild had told him they couldn't actually enforce that. But they had given him permission to use it as a bluff and a threat, which was exactly why Rei had said it.
"It's fine. Every single person here is someone I trust."
Suchee showed not the slightest sign of fear at Rei's words. She wasn't putting on a brave front, either—Rei could tell she was being completely sincere.
Could it be that Suchee has fairly wide connections or real influence in the Slum District? ...Though there are also quite a lot of children.
At first, Rei had been surprised by the sheer number of people. But when he looked more carefully at those standing near Suchee, many were clearly younger than her—including a good number of children around ten years old.
Of course, in this world, it wasn't all that unusual for children that young to work helping out at home. But this job was not something just any child could handle; it required a fair amount of specialized knowledge.
"It helps that you gathered this many people, but there seem to be a lot of children too. Can they actually do the dissection properly?"
At Rei's doubtful question, Suchee acted as though the answer was obvious and patted the head of a child standing beside her.
...Incidentally, those children were slightly intimidated, partly because of the large number of adventurers present. The adults from the Slum District, unlike the children, showed no signs of fear—but remarkably, none of them were picking fights with the adventurers, either.
Not every adult living in the Slum District harbored resentment or jealousy toward those who lived outside it. In that sense too, the Slum District adults before him could be called rational.
"Don't worry about that. These kids have been dissecting Cobolts almost every day, so they're used to the work itself."
"Is that so? ...Well, Cobolts aren't that large, so I suppose children could handle dissecting them once they get the hang of it."
It was common knowledge that handing a child a bladed tool was dangerous. But children around ten years old sometimes helped with cooking as part of their family duties. Rei himself had experience cooking in a home economics class during elementary school, so he half-convinced himself that it wasn't all that unusual.
"Yes, it's fine. Actually, these kids' dissection skills are quite good... They did get hurt a bit at first, though."
"...Understood. If you take responsibility for these people, I won't say anything more. Can I leave the rest to you?"
"Yes."
The Guild Staff Member, who had received Rei's glance, smiled and nodded. He hadn't expected this many Slum District residents to show up either; he was surprised inwardly, but he didn't let it show on his face.
"Then, regarding the arrangements for the Slum District residents, I'll explain the terms."
As he said that and began speaking with Suchee, the Guards were simultaneously processing the exit procedures for leaving Gilm.
Fortunately, the terms were exactly as Rei had told Suchee beforehand—or rather, even better. The discussion regarding compensation wrapped up without any issues, and through the Guild's mediation, the Slum District residents would be allowed to enter and leave the city free of charge for the duration of the Gigant Turtle dissection work.
Normally, adventurers could enter the city for free simply by showing their Guild Card, but Slum District residents, naturally, did not possess adventurer cards. So it was specially permitted for the duration of this job. Since non-adventurers were also being brought in as dissection labor, applying the same exemption to them was a straightforward matter.
Still, the number of people has really grown.
Rei's impression came not just from the Slum District residents, but from the adventurers and general volunteers present as well.
The pay itself was low, but being allowed to take home Gigant Turtle meat as a souvenir was apparently enough to draw a large crowd. In this season, where there were few forms of entertainment, food naturally became a major source of enjoyment. And among all that, they could eat delicious meat that even royalty and nobles rarely had the chance to taste, even if only a small amount. On top of receiving such meat, they would also earn a modest wage.
It was only natural that anyone with dissection skills, even if they weren't an adventurer, would want to participate.
While Rei was mulling this over, the discussion of terms between the Guild Staff Member and Suchee concluded. The Guards finished their paperwork, and the group headed outside.
Since it was still dim, there weren't as many spectators as during the day—though the fact that any were present at all spoke to just how many people were starved for entertainment.
Once outside Gilm... though it was dark, Set sensed several monsters approaching. A few seconds later, Rei sensed them too.
"Monsters! They're coming this way! Prepare for combat!"
At Rei's shout, the adventurers hired as guards within the group, as well as those who had taken the dissection request but were adventurers by trade, responded instantly.
But in stark contrast to those people, many of the volunteers who had joined solely for their dissection skills—including the Slum District residents participating for the first time today—had never experienced combat. They panicked, and some even tried to rush back inside Gilm, but...
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrw!"
Set's roar echoed across the surrounding area.
It was King's Intimidation.
This time, Set had used it with reduced power, so no one who heard it fainted. Those with a certain level of strength or above suffered only minor effects. However, among the monsters charging toward Rei's group, a certain percentage stopped dead in their tracks—something even Rei and Set hadn't expected.
Sure enough, the ones that stopped are the Goblins.
It was still dim out, but with Rei's Night Vision, he could clearly see the Goblins freezing up even from a distance. The Orcs and wolf-type monsters, on the other hand, only slowed slightly, showing no sign of stopping entirely.
Even though Set is here? ...Could it be the effect of yesterday's dissection?
Given the possibility that the scent of the Gigant Turtle's blood hadn't completely dissipated overnight, that guess was by no means far-fetched.
Even as he considered this, Rei drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring.
The approaching monsters were by no means powerful. Even so, with so many people behind him who had never been in a fight, he needed to dispatch them quickly.
"Those who lack confidence in combat, please gather in the back and stay out of the way! Leave the fighting to the experts and you'll be fine! With Rei-san, Bearer of the Crimson Moniker here, a fight against monsters of that caliber is no problem at all!"
Hearing the Guild Staff Member shouting behind him, Rei stepped forward.
A single swing of Death Scythe bisected an Orc's torso.
Meanwhile, Set circled behind the enemy to cut off their escape and began slaughtering the Goblins that had been immobilized by King's Intimidation.
For Set, low-rank monsters like Goblins were not opponents to fight but to trample.
...If Rare Species or High-ranking Species had been among them, they might have been able to offer at least some resistance. But no such creatures were present in the group. They were effortlessly trampled by Set, and every last remaining monster was struck down.