A fish with giant fangs was unusual even for Rei.
At the very least, the fish currently in his line of sight was one he had never seen before.
At roughly two meters in total length, it was larger than Rei himself.
One might expect a slender, elongated fish like a saury, but this was not the case — if anything, it resembled a tuna.
...Granted, the resemblance to a tuna was only in its overall shape. Tuna did not possess fangs, after all.
Large fangs like those of a saber-toothed tiger, which Rei had seen in a book or something back when he lived in Japan, jutted from the fish's mouth.
The difference from a saber-toothed tiger lay in the number of those fangs.
The saber-toothed tiger's defining feature was the two fangs growing from its upper jaw, but the fish before Rei had fangs sprouting from both the upper and lower jaws.
Yet they were arranged so as not to collide with each other — likely an adaptation for sinking its teeth into prey.
"Impressive, right?" one of the adventurers said proudly, but Rei couldn't simply share in the enthusiasm.
The fish was certainly impressive. Impressive, yes, but the fact that such a fish could be caught here — that it had come close enough to the shallows — was by no means welcome news for those camping beside the lake.
At the same time, the fact that it was an unknown monster inhabiting the lake yet yielded no Magic Stone for use in Beast Magic was another reason for disappointment.
Magic Stones used in Beast Magic couldn't be just any stone. Even if the damage dealt was minimal, one had to participate in the battle and fight the opponent directly.
"Yeah, it's impressive, I'll give you that. ...But how did you take this monster down? Given its size, it couldn't have come close to the shore, right?"
Considering the fish's size, there was no way it could have approached the shore. If it had forced its way into shallow water, the combination of its bulk and the shallow depth would have left it unable to move.
(Ah, maybe that's when they killed it — when it got stuck? If so, this fish was nothing short of stupid.)
As Rei gazed at the fish with that thought, the boastful adventurer smiled and spoke up.
"You can tell if you look at this dorsal fin — we saw it approaching through the water. So we went into the lake ourselves to take it down. If it had been in deeper water, it might've been tough. But since it was in the shallows, we managed somehow."
"Ah, so it came to the disadvantageous shallows on its own. This fish really is stupid. ...Well, that works out for us, though."
As someone who fought monsters, having a stupid opponent certainly made things easier — there was no denying that.
That said, the consequence of that stupidity was that the fish had been defeated before Rei and Set returned, which made it hard for Rei to offer wholehearted congratulations.
"Right? You've been preparing meals for us all this time, but today let's cook this fish and eat up."
"Ah... yeah. Sure. The fish from this lake don't seem to cause any problems when eaten."
When the lake had first teleported in, the adventurers had caught fish from it and grilled them to eat. Rei had been half-convinced that the lake was an entity from another world, so he hadn't eaten any himself. But the adventurers who did eat the lake's fish showed no signs of stomach pain or anything of the sort — they appeared perfectly healthy.
From that, one could reasonably conclude that the lake's fish were safe to eat. Of course, there might be creatures like pufferfish where the fish itself carried poison, so complete peace of mind was impossible.
Still, if one were to be that vigilant about everything, nothing would ever get done.
Besides, Rei told himself, this body created by Zephyle and his companions wouldn't be done in by some ordinary fish's poison.
"Alright then, today it's a party with Cerberus meat and this fish. ...Though with this many people, I'd really like to get some more ingredients."
Saying that, the adventurer cast an expectant look toward Rei.
Rei understood full well what that look meant, but he deliberately said something else.
"Got it. Then Set and I will go catch more of those fanged fish."
Naturally, Rei said this because he wanted Magic Stones.
The Magic Stones from monsters the adventurers had killed couldn't be used in Beast Magic, so he'd need to obtain new ones himself — or so he thought, before recalling, as he really should have known by now, that the monsters emerging from the lake had no Magic Stones.
"Before that, I want to check whether this fish has a Magic Stone. Considering that the Water Strider and the Dragon Lizards didn't have them, the odds are higher that this fish doesn't either. But maybe... just maybe, it could have one."
"Ah... I see."
From Rei's words, the adventurer realized why Rei had wanted to hunt these fanged fish as new prey.
"Rei, if this fish has a Magic Stone, I'll give it to you. Would that be enough?"
"No, the Magic Stones I collect have to be from battles that I or Set participated in, or they won't work."
To someone who knew nothing about it, this was undeniably an incomprehensible fixation. But since that was the condition for acquiring skills through Beast Magic, Rei or Set participating in the fight was an absolute requirement.
"Haa. Well, if you say so, I guess it can't be helped."
Perhaps judging that any further discussion would be pointless, the adventurer sighed in resignation. He probably understood that certain types of collectors held fixations others simply couldn't comprehend.
Rei was saved by that understanding — there was no longer any need to keep making excuses.
And so, they decided to start by dismantling the giant fish.
Other adventurers who had been listening nearby, as well as the Lizardmen who had watched to see what was going on, all cooperated to carry the giant fanged fish away.
...If it was just a matter of transporting it, Rei could have stored it in his Misty Ring and been done with it in an instant.
Regardless, they moved the fish while remaining vigilant — ensuring that blood didn't spill into the lake and that no monsters with sharp senses of smell, like sharks, would be drawn by the scent — and began the dismantling at once.
"First, it's gotta be these fangs, right? Given how sharp and hard they are, I feel like you could use them as a weapon as-is."
"A weapon? How would you use it like that? Hold it in your hand and stab the enemy?"
"Tie it to the tip of a wooden pole or something and use it as a spear?"
"...This fang?"
The fangs stripped from the fish's mouth were about the same size as a spearhead — perhaps even slightly larger.
However, being fangs, they weren't perfectly straight; each one curved slightly. If used as a spearhead as-is, it might work for a hooking style of attack, but as an ordinary spear? The answer to that was no.
Once that was pointed out, the one who had advocated using them as spearheads couldn't argue any further.
"Anyway, these fangs look like they could serve as some kind of material, or at the very least as Subjugation Proof Parts, so we should hang onto them. ...Rei, hold onto them for us."
Prompted by one of the adventurers who had been doing the dismantling, Rei received the four fangs — two upper and two lower.
To the touch, they felt slightly metallic, different from ordinary teeth.
What specific use these fangs might have was something the Guild would figure out. The Dragon Lizard materials had been the same — first, those who worked with monster materials, such as Alchemists, Blacksmiths, and Pharmacists, would be contacted, and the materials shown to them to confirm whether they could be used.
That said, there were many people of those professions in Gilm, so they couldn't summon all of them. In such cases, those who had contributed to the Guild over the years or those with proven skill would be selected.
Through this process, they would investigate how various monster materials could be used, and if deemed usable, the materials would be traded as clearly valuable resources.
(When it comes down to it, just these fangs won't be enough. ...Even among similar fangs, the effects might differ depending on which part of the body they grew from.)
As a result, Rei concluded that many more fangs would likely be needed, and he marked each one to identify which part of the body it came from before storing them in his Misty Ring.
"Whoa!"
At that moment, a voice of astonishment rose.
Using the Misty Ring is enough to cause a commotion at this point? Rei thought, even as he turned his gaze toward the source of the voice — where one of the adventurers had begun dismantling the giant fish with magnificent swordsmanship.
Rei couldn't tell exactly what technique had been used, but the fish's scales had already been cleanly peeled away. The earlier exclamation must have been when the scales came off.
Severing the head from the fin section, the man thrust the tip of his longsword into the severed head and twisted his wrist, pulling out the gills within. With one flick of the longsword, the impaled gills fell to the ground.
Next, he made an incision along the belly to remove the internal organs... but in that instant, a foul stench began to permeate the surroundings.
It was the smell of fish viscera. For someone who only knew fish from what was sold at supermarkets, it wouldn't have been strange to retch.
However, that was only the case for someone living in Japan. In this world, animal dismantling was an everyday occurrence, so while people might frown at the stench, no one screamed or panicked.
For that matter, many monsters had internal organs that served as materials, so the extracted organs were quickly processed and handed to Rei, who stored them in his Misty Ring.
While that was happening, the man rinsed the gutted belly with lake water and then began cutting along the backbone. After cutting the belly side along the backbone, he next cut from the back side toward the backbone as well, until the incisions eventually met.
Then, with one forceful slash of the longsword, he split it all the way to the tail, and did the same on the opposite side — and in the blink of an eye, the giant fish was dismantled into three pieces.
What was commonly known as a three-piece fillet cut.
"Whoaaaa!"
Once again, voices of astonishment rose from those watching — not just the adventurers, but the Lizardmen as well.
The sight of the fish being dismantled was truly worthy of the phrase "in the blink of an eye."
(Then again, if he can dismantle a fish this quickly and skillfully, shouldn't he just become a cook? ...Well, there's no doubt that being an adventurer pays better. Especially when you're entrusted with guarding a place like this.)
The compensation for a skilled adventurer was naturally substantial. That said, not everyone who became an adventurer did it for the money.
"All that's left is to separate the flesh from the skin... but that's tough work too. Especially with a fish this big, I can't do it alone. Anyone here have cooking... no, experience filleting fish?"
The man asked as he swung his longsword to shake off the fat and bodily fluids, but no one raised their hand.
Rei had often caught river fish like Yamame, Iwana, Ayu, and Kajika back in Japan, but most of the time he simply grilled them whole. On the occasions they did need to be filleted, he had left it to his parents.
That was precisely why — grilling aside — he couldn't fillet a fish himself.
The other adventurers were in the same boat... but amid all this, someone spoke up.
"I cannot, but she is apparently skilled at preparing fish."
The one who said that — or more precisely, whose words appeared on the Stone Tablet — was Zozo.
And Zozo's gaze was directed toward a female Lizardman who had been caring for eggs and children at the Birth Tower.
"Huh? Lizardmen cook?"
"You idiot. The Lizardmen ate the same meals we did, didn't they? Then of course they cook."
Such was the exchange among the adventurers.
The adventurer who had been doing the dismantling felt somewhat uneasy, but since he couldn't do it alone and this was better than entrusting the task to someone who had never filleted a fish, he decided to ask the female Lizardman for help.
Of course, since they couldn't communicate directly, it would be through Zozo's translation.
"Alright? I'm going to slide my blade along the flesh of this fish, so you pull the skin in time with my movements. ...Got it?"
The female Lizardman, hearing those words through Zozo's translation, nodded and reached for the fish's skin.
Seeing that, the adventurer apparently judged he could proceed with peace of mind for the time being.
He focused his concentration... and, timing it with a glance toward the female Lizardman, slid the longsword between the skin and the flesh.