"Is there anyone who wants to try extracting the magic stone from inside the Crystal Dragon's body?"
At Rei's words, the guild staff members all naturally volunteered at once.
Extracting the magic stone required climbing inside the Crystal Dragon's body and retrieving it from the heart—but crawling into a dragon's body didn't seem to be any particular issue for the guild staff members who specialized in dissection.
From Rei's perspective, he'd only asked if they wanted to try because he himself had no desire to crawl inside the Crystal Dragon... but seeing them show this much enthusiasm was unexpected.
"Hey, now. For something like this, I'm the one giving the dissection orders, so I need to see it through properly. You all understand that much, right? Step aside."
The man in his fifties who served as the leader of the guild staff—the man everyone called Foreman—told them to step aside for him.
However, while they might have done so under normal circumstances, at this particular moment, the guild staff members couldn't simply yield to the Foreman.
"That's not fair, Foreman. We're the ones actually dissecting the Crystal Dragon, so leave it to me."
The one who said that was the youngest man among the guild staff—the same one who had asked Rei to lend him Death Scythe.
Even though he was the one saying they were the ones doing the dissection, the fact that he was telling them to leave it to him showed he was being quite opportunistic.
"No, no. I'd be worried entrusting something like this to a young guy like you. And since the Foreman is the one calling the shots, the person actually doing the dissection should be the one to bring back the magic stone. ...In other words, that'd be me."
When one of the guild staff members said that, the others all began asserting that they should be the one, each pushing their own claim.
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't argue this much.
But the task at hand was retrieving the magic stone from the Crystal Dragon's heart.
Given such an important task, it was only natural that some would feel they absolutely couldn't yield it to anyone else.
As far as Rei was concerned, he just wanted someone to hurry up and bring the magic stone back.
"Do it as quickly as you can. It's a Crystal Dragon corpse and we're inside this warehouse, so thanks to the magic items, decay and such shouldn't be easy—but even so, the longer time passes, the more the corpse's freshness drops. That's a fact."
At Rei's words, the guild staff members quickly began conferring among themselves.
As people who performed dissections and as guild staff members, the thought of the Crystal Dragon corpse's freshness deteriorating was apparently more than they could bear.
"Quite the situation, isn't it?"
Worker called out to Rei, who was watching the guild staff members' exchange from a slight distance.
"Wouldn't it be faster if you just appointed who should do it?"
"That may be true, but it's also a good way to let them blow off some pent-up frustration, isn't it?"
Frustration? Rei directed a questioning gaze at Worker, and Worker looked at the guild staff members before speaking.
"Yes. With how busy things have been lately, they've probably built up quite a bit of stress."
According to Worker's explanation, the sudden surge in work from Gilm's expansion construction had resulted in many guild staff members being assigned paperwork duties.
This was essentially the same for those who usually performed monster dissections, and being made to do work they normally didn't do had apparently caused them considerable stress.
Even so, they had been diligently doing their jobs because they were guild staff members... but still, doing work that didn't suit them had clearly left them with feelings about the matter.
That was why Worker was letting them do as they pleased—as a way to let them release their accumulated stress.
With that explanation, Rei could only accept it.
After all, Daskar's decision to pursue the expansion construction was partly due to the existence of the Treant Forest... but equally, or perhaps even more so, it was because he had expectations for Rei's abilities.
And in fact, Rei had made tremendous contributions to the expansion construction by fully utilizing his Misty Ring and Set's mobility.
Thinking about it that way, in a sense, Rei was undeniably partly responsible for the fact that the guild staff members were this overwhelmed with paperwork... and various other tasks besides.
"I see. Then they do need a break now and then."
"That's right. Although... well, the outcome is already decided."
Just as Worker said that, a spirited shout of "All right!" echoed through the warehouse.
The one who let out that cry was the Foreman.
He had fully demonstrated what appeared to be the skills of a former adventurer, silencing the other guild staff members with sheer force.
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, as long as someone brings back the magic stone, that's fine with me."
"About that... would it be possible to have you leave the dragon's magic stone with us for a little while?"
"Huh? Why?"
Rei had been planning to use the Crystal Dragon's magic stone with Beast Magic right away, so he asked in a dissatisfied tone at Worker's words.
"By examining the magic stone, we can learn various information about that monster. You should know that much, given that you've been collecting magic stones yourself, Rei?"
Even with Worker phrasing it as though Rei should know—Rei was collecting magic stones purely for the sake of Beast Magic.
Still, since a magic stone was an extremely important object for a monster, being told that made him think that perhaps such a thing was indeed possible.
If Rei declared here that he wouldn't lend it to the Guild, Worker wouldn't force the issue.
After all, Worker's request to borrow the magic stone was just that—a request—and even a guild master couldn't force compliance.
Much less when the other party was Rei.
If Worker were to wield his authority as guild master, Rei would flatly refuse, and in the worst case, it could even escalate to a fight.
If that happened, Gilm would be in trouble far beyond anything involving the expansion construction—it might face annihilation... no, incineration.
Of course, if it were truly necessary, Worker would exercise his authority as guild master.
But this matter was framed purely as a request directed at Rei.
(Hmm, what should I do? If investigating the Crystal Dragon's magic stone could prevent other adventurers from dying, maybe it's better to lend it? Though adventurers who'd encounter a Crystal Dragon wouldn't be that many to begin with. And besides...)
What worried Rei slightly was that if he didn't lend the magic stone now... and in the future, the Guild asked to borrow it for some reason, it would be impossible.
He didn't know whether the Crystal Dragon's magic stone would be used by Set or by Death Scythe.
But once it had been consumed through Beast Magic, even if they asked to borrow it, it would no longer be on hand.
That applied not only to the Crystal Dragon's magic stone, but to the A-rank monsters he had defeated this time... no, to other monsters as well.
The Forest of Magic was, fundamentally, off-limits.
Because of that, information about the monsters in the Forest of Magic was inevitably scarce.
However, during this promotion exam, Rei had spent two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic and secured numerous monsters.
Many of those monsters were, Rei believed, endemic species of the Forest of Magic.
At the very least, only a few had been the kind of monsters recorded in the Monster Encyclopedia he possessed.
Given monsters like these, for the Guild, the magic stones of such monsters... and of course the corpses as well, could be called a treasure trove.
That was how valuable the Forest of Magic monster corpses Rei had were.
(Besides, if I lend the magic stone... no, if they investigate the other monsters' corpses too, that would naturally count as my achievement. If so, then maybe—just maybe—I might be able to go to the Forest of Magic freely.)
Even without permission, Rei had intended to visit the Forest of Magic anyway.
Even going without permission wouldn't result in any exposure, since there were no guards or barriers or the like, so it wouldn't come to light in the first place.
But if official permission were granted, he wouldn't need to hide his trips to the Forest of Magic at all.
He could go to the Forest of Magic openly.
That would have a fairly significant effect on Rei's mental stability as well.
In that case, the conclusion was that it would be better to straightforwardly lend the Crystal Dragon's magic stone.
"Fine, I'll lend it. But... I'm only lending it. Not selling or transferring it. Don't forget that."
For a high-rank monster... moreover, an S-rank monster like the Crystal Dragon, its magic stone could fetch just about any price.
Furthermore, the Guild currently had large numbers of reinforcements from other guilds.
Among such people, it wouldn't be surprising if there were some who would abandon their ethics for the sake of money.
Or rather, if it were something like a Goblin's magic stone, no one would throw away a well-paying job as a guild staff member for something of that caliber—but for an S-rank monster's magic stone, and one from an unknown dragon at that, or even an A-rank monster's magic stone from a monster that existed in the Forest of Magic, it wouldn't be strange for there to be those who couldn't resist the temptation to steal it.
That was exactly why Rei had emphasized that point in response to Worker's request to borrow the magic stone.
As long as Worker was the guild master, he understood what Rei was trying to say.
In the current situation, expending effort to tighten security within the Guild would be quite difficult given the Guild's current workload.
However, considering the benefits of analyzing the magic stone to obtain monster information, this was undoubtedly a place worth pushing for.
"I promise."
Worker spoke a single word—short, and precisely because of that, laden with strong resolve.
"I got it out!"
As Worker nodded, the Foreman emerged from within the Crystal Dragon's belly, magic stone in hand.
His entire body was soaked in the Crystal Dragon's bodily fluids, glistening wetly, but he didn't seem bothered.
The Foreman normally had a face that could accurately be described as intimidating, but holding the Crystal Dragon's magic stone must have made him incredibly happy. A full smile spread across his face.
...Though, depending on who was looking, that smile could easily be called frightening.
"It's huge."
Rei had seen magic stones from giant monsters before.
But most monsters generally didn't differ much in magic stone size.
Or rather, it varied to some extent depending on the monster, but it would be more accurate to say they never exceeded a certain size.
In fact, the magic stone of the Vampire, an A-rank monster, and that of the Water Bear hadn't differed much in size.
And yet, the Crystal Dragon's magic stone was large enough for the Foreman to cradle with both hands.
(Then again, at that size... Set, would you even be able to swallow it?)
He even found himself worrying about that.
Rei had planned to use the Crystal Dragon's magic stone on Set.
That was because he had confirmed that the Crystal Breath the Crystal Dragon used was extremely powerful.
Fortunately, the magic stones from the monsters he had wiped out all at once with the Flame Wall while escaping the Forest of Magic had already raised Crystal Breath to Level 2.
Rei's prediction was that using the Crystal Dragon's magic stone would raise Crystal Breath's level.
...If possible, Rei wanted Set to acquire an even more powerful skill.
Something like King's Intimidation, for instance.
When he thought about how long it would take for Crystal Breath to reach the same level of power as the one the Crystal Dragon had used, it was only natural to feel that way.
That said, Crystal Breath was currently at Level 2, so using this magic stone—if he could use it, that is—would bring it to Level 3.
And since skills became dramatically more powerful at Level 5, Rei predicted that by the time it reached Level 5, even if it wasn't identical, Crystal Breath would likely become something similar to what the Crystal Dragon had used.
Though that was all assuming Set could actually use that magic stone.
"Now then, Rei. We'll be taking that magic stone into our custody for the time being. We'll store it under strict security and return it immediately once the investigation is complete."
"Do that."
With those words to Worker, Rei headed back toward the guild staff members.
"Sorry to interrupt while you're all excited, but I'm storing the Crystal Dragon's corpse away. The dissection order for the A-rank monsters was Dark World Tree, Queen Bee, Chimera, then Giant Wolf, right?"
Storing the Crystal Dragon's corpse in his Misty Ring, Rei asked the guild staff members to confirm.