"……"
The guild staff members stared at the Crystal Dragon that had emerged from Rei's Misty Ring, utterly speechless.
They felt as though uttering even a single word might cause something to shatter.
The Crystal Dragon's corpse lay in the spacious warehouse, and the only other thing present was silence.
Worker, the Guild Master, was equally speechless, able only to stare dumbfounded at the Crystal Dragon that had appeared before him.
Rei alone, perhaps because he had been the one to slay it, was not overwhelmed by the sight of the Crystal Dragon unlike everyone else present.
That said, even he felt something upon looking at the Crystal Dragon's corpse again like this.
(The severed tail, neck, and right arm... was that a waste? No, more importantly, the internal organs. Actually, before that, the blood.)
Recalling his battle with the Crystal Dragon, Rei judged that a flawless dissection would likely be impossible. Meanwhile, he collected the blood flowing from the severed neck into an empty barrel.
The Crystal Breath that the Crystal Dragon employed was a skill of vicious power—one that encased whatever it struck in crystal and ultimately shattered it into pieces.
It was the kind of attack that, without a doubt, would have inflicted massive damage even on Rei or Set had it connected.
To prevent that, the quickest and most effective method had been to burn Deep Flame—a technique usable through the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—inside the Crystal Dragon's body.
Even having done so, they had taken considerable damage before finally managing to bring it down.
Thinking back on it, if the Crystal Dragon had been free to use Crystal Breath without Rei employing Deep Flame, there was no question that he and Set would have found themselves in grave danger.
...The fact that he still never considered losing, however, was a testament to Rei's strong self-confidence.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Suddenly, a voice erupted from the guild staff members.
It likely began with one person, but the others quickly followed suit until finally, what could only be called a collective scream from all the staff echoed throughout the warehouse.
Rei grew slightly concerned that the sound might carry outside, but this warehouse was special in more ways than one.
Naturally, its soundproofing was thorough.
They had gone so far as to employ Magic Items to ensure that, so even shouting at the top of their lungs would not leak outside.
"This is... really..."
Though nearly drowned out by the staff's voices, Worker also murmured in astonishment.
He had heard Rei's account of the Crystal Dragon.
Additionally, Worker had worked at the Guild for years and had seen a dragon corpse once before.
However, while it was indeed a dragon, it was one that ranked higher than a Wyvern but still lacked the intelligence to speak.
...In terms of lacking the intelligence to speak, the Crystal Dragon was actually the same.
Even so, the dragon Worker had previously seen was what could only be called a lower subspecies among B-Rank dragons.
Compared to that, the Crystal Dragon before him possessed an overwhelming presence even in death.
He had heard from Rei that its body was covered in a crystal-like armor, but he hadn't fully grasped what kind of creature it actually was.
Seeing is believing.
As the saying went, seeing the Crystal Dragon's corpse before him—far beyond what he had imagined from Rei's words—allowed him to fully comprehend what Rei had been trying to convey.
(This is... yes, there's no mistaking that Rei judged it an S-Rank monster.)
After a brief passage of time, Worker finally calmed down and thought this anew as he gazed at the Crystal Dragon's corpse.
The Queen Bee and Chimera had been the same, but Rei's rank assessments for monsters were, though he himself seemed unaware of it, quite strict.
Viewed objectively, both the Queen Bee and the Chimera were monsters that could easily be classified as A-Rank.
And this Crystal Dragon was what such a Rei had definitively declared an S-Rank monster.
(That said, the question is how exactly to dissect this Crystal Dragon.)
The Chimera Rei had produced last also had tough fur, but there was no doubt it could be dissected if the staff properly used their tools.
However, with this Crystal Dragon, one could understand just by looking that dissection would be no easy feat.
The guild staff members must have shared Worker's doubt.
Coming back to their senses, they began discussing how to go about dissecting it.
"Hey, didn't you say you bought a Mithril Knife a while back? How about using that?"
"Huh? I did buy one, but... this is what we're dealing with, you know? I seriously doubt it'll make any dent—literally."
Tink.
When a guild staff member lightly flicked the Crystal Dragon's skin with a finger, that sound rang out through the surroundings.
It had the feel of crystal armor.
Not crystal in a mineralogical sense, but crystal as though a dragon had generated it itself—that kind of crystal.
The staff member who had been asked about the Mithril Knife calmly considered whether his purchased blade could handle the dissection, then dismissed the idea.
He simply said "Mithril Knife," but their capabilities varied greatly depending on the individual.
The purity of the mithril ore, the smelting method, who forged it into a knife, and the Alchemist's skill when converting it into a Magic Item all played a role.
Even then, its performance could change based on how it was stored.
Rei's Mithril Knife was, in that sense, a very high-performance item.
And high-performance Mithril Knives were extremely expensive, so whether a guild staff member could purchase one so easily was questionable.
Their salaries were fairly substantial, but they still couldn't earn vast sums like skilled Adventurers could.
"Rei, this Crystal Dragon... the head, right arm, and tail are cut off. Did you do that?"
One of the staff members, finally noticing the state of the Crystal Dragon, asked.
Normally, with the neck, right arm, and tail severed, it wouldn't have been strange for them to notice much sooner.
But the presence emanating from the Crystal Dragon was so overwhelming that they hadn't been able to register such details.
"Yeah. ...Oh, sorry. Hold on a moment."
Noticing that the empty barrel he had been using to collect blood from the severed neck when he first took out the corpse was about to fill up, Rei prepared a new one.
"Hey! Blood's flowing from other places too! Come on, forget worrying about dissection for now—let's make sure we don't waste the Crystal Dragon's blood!"
At the words of the man who served as leader among the staff, everyone immediately got to work.
They had been dumbfounded before multiple A-Rank monsters and the Crystal Dragon, an S-Rank monster—existences they would normally never even get to see. But they were, after all, people entrusted with dissection at the Guild.
Moreover, since Worker had specifically called upon them, they were all individuals with high dissection skills.
Because of that, once they came back to their senses, they moved quickly.
...Rather, it was the fact that Rei had produced a succession of monster corpses capable of leaving even such skilled individuals dumbfounded that was extraordinary.
Rei had been collecting blood from the severed neck in a barrel, but a fair amount was also flowing from the right arm and tail.
The staff swiftly gathered that blood.
"Dragon blood! Throwing this away would be a waste! This will definitely become a first-rate material!"
"No, not first-rate—top-grade!"
Such arguments could be heard, but even so, the way they worked was highly efficient.
"Rei, the blood flowing from the neck should be stored in this container. In your case, you have an Item Box where time doesn't flow, so it might not be an issue, but since it's dragon blood, you should take every possible precaution."
Told this, Rei received a pot specially treated with Alchemy from the Adventurer Party Leader.
Materials, not just blood, would degrade if not properly preserved.
Since this was the blood of a dragon—an S-Rank monster—it probably wouldn't degrade so easily, but it was still unquestionably better to store it properly.
Moreover, it was an S-Rank monster and an unknown dragon at that.
Which parts could be used as what kind of materials was something that could only be determined through actual examination.
"Still, Rei, you've been Crimson up until now, but you might end up being called by the alias Dragon Slayer."
Having finished preparations for collecting blood, one of the staff members said this.
The ground around them was stained with blood that had flowed from the tail and right shoulder, and the smell of blood filled the air.
But the people here were personnel Worker had selected for their high dissection skills.
As such, they were accustomed to dissection work and to the smell of blood.
Worker, too, having experienced many things, didn't seem particularly bothered by the blood's scent wafting through the air.
"Crimson and Dragon Slayer... in that case, which one will I be called? Or would it be something like Crimson Dragon Slayer?"
If that happened, it seemed like his aliases would keep multiplying, which he was subtly not thrilled about.
Harboring such thoughts, Rei spoke up.
"Hahaha. Don't worry, nobody's going to call you that. You'll definitely still be called Crimson as usual. And when something comes up—especially when a dragon-related problem occurs—you'll be valued as a Dragon Slayer."
"Then that's fine."
For Rei, dragons were high-rank monsters, making them an extremely welcome existence.
Fangs, claws, eyeballs... aside from those, much of the hide and internal organs could serve as materials, and the meat was, naturally for a high-rank monster, incredibly delicious.
Saying there was nothing to discard might have been a slight exaggeration, but there were definitely numerous usable parts, and above all, the existence of magic stones was immensely appreciated by both Rei and Set.
It was unknown exactly how many types of dragons existed, but ones belonging to the same species as Wyverns were not common.
In that sense, finding a dragon meant obtaining a magic stone, and since it was an S-Rank monster, acquiring a skill was guaranteed.
There was no way he wouldn't be happy about that.
(That said, when it comes to Dragon Slayer... I'm a bit worried about how Ielo would feel.)
Ielo, Elena's familiar, was a Child of the Black Dragon.
Though still small, it possessed enough intelligence to understand human speech, as befitting a dragon.
Given that, if Rei—his companion—were known as a Dragon Slayer, Ielo probably wouldn't feel good about it.
It would be like asking whether a human would want to be around someone called and praised as a murderer—the usual answer would be no.
(But I can't exactly go around telling people not to call me a Dragon Slayer. I should probably have Elena handle that later.)
Thinking such thoughts, Rei voiced a more immediate topic.
"Like Worker said earlier, the dissection of this Crystal Dragon will come after the other A-Rank monsters are finished, so keep that in mind."
"Ugh..." the listeners groaned at Rei's words.
What Rei was saying was perfectly reasonable, but with a dragon corpse right in front of them, it was only natural that as craftsmen, they would want to dissect it.
Moreover, until moments ago, they had only heard about it from Worker—it had been just talk.
But now the real thing was right before their eyes.
Wanting to dissect it was only natural.
That said...
"From what I've been hearing, you don't have the tools to dissect the Crystal Dragon, right?"
When Rei pointed that out, they couldn't argue back.
"I'll store the Crystal Dragon's corpse in my Misty Ring, so it won't deteriorate. After that, once the A-Rank monster dissections are done and the tools are ready, let me know. I'll bring the corpse out then. ...Oh, but right. I want to strip out the magic stone at least, so I'll take care of that now."
So saying, Rei took out the Death Scythe.