"Delicious! This is seriously delicious!"
The youngest man among the Guild Staff Members in the warehouse shouted those words.
In his hand was a soup packed with meat and vegetables.
It was not a soup meant as a side accompaniment to a meal, but rather a main dish — no, with this many toppings, one could easily get full on the soup alone.
The flavors of those toppings had dissolved into the broth, so it wasn't just the solid ingredients but the soup itself that carried a complex, rich taste, stimulating the stomachs of the Guild Staff Members who had just woken up and were starving.
(If I had to describe it, it's like a luxurious version of tonjiru... something like that? It even has Orc meat in it. But still, devouring tonjiru right after waking up is pretty impressive. Well, I don't mind eating meat right after waking up either.)
Some people made it a policy to skip breakfast, while others ate large quantities in the morning.
That sort of thing varied from person to person, but from the looks of it, every one of the Guild Staff Members was firmly in the camp of eating properly.
Perhaps they were truly hungry, because the soup in the pot steadily diminished.
"Didn't the Guild provide any food for you?"
"Nah, they did. They did, but what they gave us just wasn't enough."
One of the Guild Staff Members told him that while eating a leafy vegetable similar to cabbage.
"Is that so? I would think the Guild wouldn't have any problem preparing plenty of food."
What was taking place in this warehouse was the dissection of an A-Rank Monster.
And an unknown one at that.
Given that, the information would bring enormous profit to the Guild, and half of the materials were to be handled by the Guild as well.
Since those translated directly into the Guild's income, there was no point in the Guild skimping on the food they provided here.
No — rather than pointless, it would actually be a significant disadvantage for the Guild.
Thinking about it that way, the current situation was still hard to comprehend.
"The amount of food they brought was normal, but whoever arranged it probably didn't know our circumstances. We eat hearty because the work is demanding. Everyone here eats enough that you could call us big eaters by normal standards."
At those words, Rei finally understood.
Rei himself was a big eater despite his small stature.
If someone were to bring Rei a single meal's worth of food that a normal person would eat, it would definitely not be enough.
That was simply how things worked in this warehouse.
"In that case, should I leave more food behind?"
"Nah, you don't need to worry that much. It's not like the Guild's trying to make us work hungry. They said they'd bring enough to fill us all up properly from next time."
Told that, Rei accepted it with an "alright then."
Even while they were talking, the meal continued... and eventually, when the pot was emptied, the meal came to an end.
"Alright, back to work. ...Rei, you're taking half the materials, right?"
Rei nodded to the Foreman, who asked to confirm.
The Foreman then promptly divided the materials in half and compiled them into documents.
"Rei, could you cut the main trunk of this tree? Since it's going to be split in half, we need to do something about this one."
Asked by one of the Guild Staff Members, Rei took out Death Scythe, swung it once casually, and cut the tree.
Seeing that, the Guild Staff Members showed no signs of surprise.
...Naturally. Yesterday, Rei had done something like slicing through the Crystal Dragon's skin.
The very skin that even the Guild Staff Members, who specialized in dissection, had concluded was beyond their tools and required special implements.
Having watched Rei do that, seeing him cut through the Dark World Tree's body provoked no surprise — rather, they accepted it as only natural.
Once Rei cut the Dark World Tree, the Guild Staff Members divided those materials as well.
(Huh.)
Rei let out a small sound of surprise as he watched the Guild Staff Members.
That was because the materials gathered for Rei's share contained the better-conditioned parts of the Dark World Tree's materials.
For the Guild, the Dark World Tree was a monster they were handling for the first time.
To analyze it, it was naturally easier to work with materials in good condition.
Despite that, they were yielding the better-conditioned parts to Rei's side — that showed just how highly they valued him.
For Rei's part, having good-condition materials was certainly helpful.
...That said, when it came to considering what these materials could be used for, he would need to research them himself — or rather, have someone with the proper knowledge do it — just like the Guild.
Regardless, it was clear that the Foreman and his team had yielded the better parts to Rei as materials.
"Yeah, this is fine. ...Thanks."
"Hmph, quit your yapping and hurry up and store it in your Item Box, then bring out the next monster. Bee-type monsters are fairly common, so the dissection shouldn't be too difficult."
The Foreman told Rei that, his tone rough.
For a moment, Rei wondered if the man was in a bad mood, but judged that this was just how he normally was, and stored the materials in his Misty Ring.
"What about the materials over there? Won't they be in the way when dissecting the Queen Bee?"
"Someone from the Guild's coming to pick those up later, so don't worry about it."
These Adventurers were, naturally, individuals trusted deeply by the Guild, and they would never steal even a little bit when transporting materials.
Of course, even if someone tried, the Guild dispatched staff to supervise, so smuggling anything out would be virtually impossible.
"Don't worry about those materials, just bring out the next monster."
Prompted by the Foreman, Rei nodded.
It was true that the Dark World Tree's materials were in the way, but not so much that they couldn't move around.
The Guild Staff Members had carried the Dark World Tree materials over near the door, likely so they'd be easy to haul out.
Glancing at that, Rei took out the Queen Bee from his Misty Ring.
"Ohh..."
Voices of astonishment escaped from those transporting materials and those with free hands.
The Guild Staff Members had, of course, seen the Queen Bee's form yesterday.
But yesterday, A-Rank Monster corpses kept appearing and disappearing one after another, and ultimately the S-Rank Monster Crystal Dragon came out, so the Guild Staff Members' impressions had been completely hijacked by that.
The Dark World Tree had at least remained in their memory to some extent since they had dissected it themselves... but amidst all that, the Queen Bee's corpse was brought out, so it was impossible not to be surprised.
A massive... truly monster-like monster.
In reality, the Dark World Tree was also a monster-like monster with countless tentacles growing from it that had heads sprouting from them, but those parts had been burned away during the battle, leaving only the wooden portions.
In that sense, what the Guild Staff Members had done was less like dissecting a monster and more like imitating Woodcutters.
That was precisely why they let out sounds of surprise upon seeing the Queen Bee.
"Alright, everyone ready! You know what happens if you make some half-assed mistake!"
The Foreman's voice echoed through the warehouse.
If this were some ordinary monster, making a few mistakes wouldn't result in getting chewed out so severely.
But what they were dissecting this time was the A-Rank Monster Queen Bee.
Naturally, it was another unknown monster that the Guild had no prior information on.
Because of that, failing the dissection was, for the Foreman, simply unacceptable.
To gather as much information as possible, they needed to dissect it thoroughly.
"So, when should I come next? Tomorrow, I assume?"
"Nah... like I said, bee-type monsters are something we're fairly used to dissecting. Based on that experience, the dissection should be done around evening."
So come back around that time.
Rei was told that, but hesitated slightly.
Evening was one of the most crowded times at the Guild, alongside morning.
Fortunately, getting to this warehouse didn't require going through the Guild building, so in that sense it was easy.
After thinking it over briefly, he nodded.
"Got it. I'll come back around evening. ...Oh, come to think of it, you've been in this warehouse since yesterday, right? Have you heard about the Festival?"
Rei, about to leave the warehouse, suddenly had a thought and asked.
The decision to hold a Festival was made yesterday... and only after Rei had left this warehouse and gone to the Lord's Manor.
Judging from how things looked, the Foreman and his team had been in this warehouse the entire time since yesterday.
The warehouse was set up to live in reasonably comfortably, with a toilet, water source, and a simple kitchen.
Time-consuming meal preparation was handled by food brought from outside, so there was no issue.
If that was the case, perhaps they didn't know about the Festival.
Or maybe they'd heard from the people who brought the food.
Rei asked with that in mind, but...
"What? A Festival? What Festival?"
The Foreman asked with a puzzled expression.
The word "Festival" apparently caught the attention of those who had been looking at the Queen Bee's corpse, as the other Guild Staff Members also turned their gazes toward Rei.
Just as he thought, they didn't know.
Thinking that, Rei explained the situation...
"Hmm... I see."
The Foreman muttered, looking somewhat displeased.
For the Foreman, he wanted to dissect the Crystal Dragon himself as early as possible.
Every Guild Staff Member currently in this warehouse possessed a certain level of dissection skill or higher.
Even such people, when it came to dissecting the Crystal Dragon, might get nervous and fail to perform at their full ability.
If they did something like putting the Crystal Dragon on public display, it would become virtually impossible to dissect it with just their own team.
The Foreman did not want dissection novices getting involved in the Crystal Dragon's dissection.
After all, if handled poorly, they could needlessly damage the Crystal Dragon's materials.
However, since Lord Daskar had already made that decision, the Foreman couldn't overturn it.
Therefore, in the end, he had no choice but to accept the Festival.
"But I see. A Festival, huh. ...When exactly will it be held?"
"Not sure. Lord Daskar said sometime soon, and since it's a Festival with a short preparation period, I don't think it'll be that large-scale. Thinking about it that way, I'd say in a few days."
"Hmm, I see. In that case... I'd like to finish dissecting the A-Rank Monsters Rei brought down before then if possible. But if we prioritize speed and the dissection gets sloppy, it defeats the purpose."
They might not compare to the Crystal Dragon, but every one of them was an A-Rank Monster... and an unknown one at that.
He had no intention whatsoever of dissecting them carelessly.
Of course, given the Foreman's personality, he would dissect any monster thoroughly no matter what kind it was, but still.
"I see. Then, do your best with the dissection. In that case... yeah, I'll at least leave this behind. So you can eat it when you get hungry."
Saying that, Rei took out several dried fruits from his Misty Ring.
At first, he considered chilled fruits or Fruit Water, but they'd get warm after a while.
Given that, he judged it better to leave something that could be snacked on regardless of temperature.
...Of course, even so, if left out for days in summer heat, they could certainly go bad, but if eaten today, there would be no problem.
"Hey, that helps. It's nice to have something sweet like that during breaks."
The Foreman said that, and the other Guild Staff Members — particularly those with a sweet tooth — directed genuinely delighted looks at Rei.
Sweet foods were somewhat of a luxury.
To have someone leave them behind so casually — there was no way the Guild Staff Members wouldn't be happy about that.
"Things might get tough in various ways, but good luck."
"You got it, leave it to us. Getting to dissect unknown monsters like this is something we're glad to do, too."
Finding the Foreman's masculine smile reassuring, Rei left the warehouse.