Upon entering the underground space, the sight of numerous shop clerks each performing monster dissection came into view.
They looked extremely busy.
"Well now. You're certainly thriving."
In response to Rei's murmur, Laurie, who stood beside him, nodded before speaking.
"The Guild is busy right now, after all. They're not taking on dissection work. ...No, perhaps it's better to say they're fundamentally not accepting it?"
She had said "fundamentally" because she likely knew that the monsters Rei slew in the Forest of Magic — A-Rank monsters — were being dissected at the Guild.
"Yeah. The Guild is busy right now, too."
"...If it's a high-rank monster, we'd be happy to dissect it here, you know?"
"Unfortunately, that's not possible. It's already been arranged for the Guild to handle that."
"I see."
She gave Rei a short reply, but a note of regret colored her words.
For Laurie, she probably wanted to dissect monsters from the Forest of Magic — especially A-Rank monsters.
The monsters Rei was requesting this time were also from the Forest of Magic.
Strictly speaking, the bull monster was slain outside the forest, so not all of them were creatures that inhabited the Forest of Magic itself.
Even so, since they were monsters slain near the Forest of Magic, perhaps there was no issue in that sense.
"Besides, looking at this situation, you're pretty busy, right? Even if I brought a massive number of Forest of Magic monsters here, I don't think you'd be able to process them all."
Originally, Laurie had said she couldn't dissect a large quantity of monsters.
In that sense, her stance had reversed upon his arrival.
"Well, that matter is fine as is. ...So, what kind of monsters do you want dissected?"
"For now, these three."
So saying, Rei produced two bull monsters and one Orc Naga.
"These are..."
She had probably heard about the Misty Ring Rei carried.
She showed a somewhat surprised expression, but what captured her interest more were the three monsters Rei had brought out.
"Have you seen them before?"
"...Both are firsts for me. Especially this one..."
Laurie's gaze was directed not at the bull, but at the Orc Naga.
For Rei, the Orc Naga wasn't bad in the sense that its meat was tasty, but purely in terms of deliciousness, the bull was superior.
Because of that, he was slightly surprised that Laurie focused on the Orc Naga.
"An Orc Naga?"
"Orc Naga... is that what you call it?"
"No, I don't know the official name. It wasn't listed in the Monster Encyclopedia I have, and since its upper body is an Orc and its lower body is a snake, I just named it Orc Naga. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about monsters would know the accurate name. ...Do you know?"
With a tentative air, Rei asked Laurie.
As the manager of the Laurie Dissection Shop, a reputable establishment, she must have dissected a great number of monsters.
If so, perhaps — that was what he thought when asking.
That said, considering Laurie herself had asked "An Orc Naga?" it was clear from that reaction alone that she had no knowledge of them.
"First time seeing one. ...What about its abilities?"
"It uses simple magic."
"Magic? Is this particular individual special, or something like that?"
"Yeah. All of them do, as a group. Also, whether because Orc Nagas have strong Orc habits, or simply because they're on the weaker side within the Forest of Magic, they operated in groups of a certain size."
"Magic-using monsters in groups!?"
At the information from Rei's mouth, Laurie let out a cry of surprise.
That said, it was only natural.
Even if they were weak as individuals, and could only use simple magic, the fact that individuals capable of using magic acted in groups made them an extremely troublesome enemy.
Because it was Rei and Set, they had won without any real damage, but if an ordinary adventurer encountered a group of Orc Nagas, it would be extremely dangerous.
For adventurers in Gilm, if it were just one or two spells, they could evade or defend against them — and skilled adventurers who had magic swords or the like could even slash them away.
However, that was only in the case of small numbers.
When the enemy numbers reached ten, twenty, thirty, and all of them used attack magic, those defending or evading would reach their limits, even if they could manage a few shots.
In Elgin, it was not unheard of for quality to surpass quantity, but even so, not everyone could pull off such a feat.
No, rather, those who could were exceedingly few.
In that sense, Orc Nagas were not particularly strong as individuals, but when acting as a group, their difficulty rose dramatically.
Given that, it was natural for Laurie to ask about the Orc Naga's ecology and be surprised.
"Yeah. Though I say that, they only use rudimentary magic, so for adventurers in Gilm, it might not be that difficult to handle."
"No, no, many adventurers in Gilm are strong, but not everyone has that level of skill. There are bound to be plenty of low-rank adventurers too, you know."
"...In the first place, I don't think low-rank adventurers would go to the Forest of Magic where Orc Nagas live."
If a low-rank adventurer headed for the Forest of Magic, the probability of being killed by monsters before even arriving was higher.
In fact, when Rei had headed to the Forest of Magic, Set was with him so no unnecessary battles occurred, but that was only because Set was there.
If one tried to head to the Forest of Magic normally, there would certainly be many battles with monsters along the way.
Laurie didn't object to Rei's opinion either.
She didn't object, but she also couldn't completely accept it.
"If it were only low-rank adventurers, they wouldn't try to go to the Forest of Magic on their own unless they were absolute fools. But there's the possibility of high-rank adventurers bringing them along as porters, don't you think?"
"If we're talking about whether it happens or not, sure it does. But telling someone to look after them that far is unreasonable. If an adventurer decided to go as a porter, they made that decision themselves."
Ultimately, an adventurer had to make all their own decisions.
In that sense, demanding someone take responsibility because of what another person did was unreasonable.
"...You're right. I got a little ahead of myself. Sorry about that."
Perhaps understanding from Rei's words that she had gotten ahead of herself, Laurie offered an apology.
"No, don't worry about it. More importantly, can you handle the dissection?"
"Yeah, just these three is no problem. ...But, I know I shouldn't say this, but are you really sure it's just three? We have a bit more room, you know?"
"This time, there's a significant meaning in learning what level of dissection skill this place has. The only dissection professionals I know of are at the Guild, after all. I want to check how much of a difference there is compared to the Guild."
"Being compared to the Guild..."
Laurie wore an uneasy expression.
Those who performed dissections at the Guild possessed high skill.
Because she understood that, she must have worn such an expression.
On top of that, for Rei, the Guild was the standard, so there was no doubt he would be extra attentive about the dissection.
"Well, even if I say I'm comparing to the Guild, I won't mind as long as it's not terrible, so rest easy."
"...Hmph."
Rei had said that with the intention of asking her to work at ease, but what came from Laurie's mouth was a displeased-sounding voice.
Did I say something wrong?
Rei thought so, but words once spoken couldn't be taken back.
As he decided to gauge Laurie's response for the time being...
"Everyone, listen up!"
Laurie, who was beside Rei, shouted, and her voice echoed throughout the warehouse.
The warehouse was quite large, but Laurie's voice reverberated to every corner.
Those performing dissections, since it was their employer's voice, naturally stopped their work and turned their gazes toward the source.
It was only then that some finally noticed Rei's presence, but right now they needed to focus on Laurie rather than Rei.
"You know who Rei is, don't you? He just returned yesterday from the Forest of Magic where he took his promotion exam, and he's come to ask us to handle the dissection of the monsters he slew there."
At those words, the staff of the Laurie Dissection Shop... no, the craftsmen wore various expressions.
Those looking pleased were the ones who believed they could dissect monsters from the Forest of Magic — monsters that normally would be far beyond their ability.
Those showing displeasure were ones who had been so busy with dissection work lately that they wanted to decline large jobs if possible.
Among them, there were also some wearing expressions of resignation, as if it couldn't be helped.
At that sight, Laurie opened her mouth again.
"But the monsters Rei brought for us to dissect are just three! Do you understand what this means?"
Among those who understood the meaning of Laurie's words, several directed sharp glares toward Rei.
Because they had strong pride in their skills, they likely couldn't stomach the words that had come from Laurie's mouth.
"When Rei doesn't dissect monsters himself, he has the Guild do it, apparently. In that situation, he came to request us, and yet only three monsters for dissection. In other words, he thinks our dissection skills are lower than the Guild's — he wants to see our technique!"
With those words, the craftsmen who hadn't understood the meaning of Laurie's earlier words also apparently grasped why Rei had only requested three monsters.
Rather than just the several from before, everyone turned their gazes toward Rei as if accepting a challenge and standing to meet it.
"I've become the complete villain here, haven't I."
"Sorry about that. But we have our pride as a dissection shop too. Especially this time, being compared to the Guild is significant. And also... because we've been busy lately, some people's concentration had been slightly lacking, so in that sense..."
It was perfect timing.
From Laurie's words, Rei understood that he had been used as a pretext.
That said, since he was the one who said he wanted to see their skill, he figured he could accept that much.
"Well, I understand the situation this time. In that case, let's have you dissect them right away. Since both are unknown monsters, it'll be difficult in various ways, but I'm counting on you."
"Yes. What about the materials? If they're unknown monsters, we'd like to purchase them, of course."
Hearing "materials," Rei suddenly recalled something.
After leaving the Forest of Magic, so many things — truly so many things — had happened that he had completely forgotten, but for the bulls, the magic stone had already been extracted from the first one he slew, and Set was using it. The second one, however, still had its magic stone unextracted.
As for the Orc Naga, the magic stone had already been used by Set and Death Scythe, so there was no concern there.
"For now, we'll take all materials and meat. But... right. The meat of that bull monster is quite delicious, and I'll be putting you all through a lot, so I'll hand over a decent amount. Cook it and restore your spirits. Also... sorry, but could you extract the magic stone from that bull right away?"
At Rei's words, not only Laurie but the other craftsmen as well broke into happy smiles.
It was hard to believe they had been directing aggressive glares at Rei just moments ago.
"So he says. Then, shall we show him even a little of our skill... Short sword."
When Laurie said that, one of the craftsmen handed his short sword to her.
Receiving the short sword, Laurie approached the bull Rei had produced — the carcass that still had its magic stone unextracted.
The bull had a massive build, and compared to it, the Dwarf Laurie was small in stature.
The difference in size between the two was overwhelming, but... the moment Laurie approached the carcass, she swiftly slashed the short sword in a single stroke.
In Rei's case, when dissecting, he worked carefully so as not to damage the internal organs.
But Laurie slashed without hesitation, avoiding the organs and cutting through only the skin and muscle.
That level of skill was sufficient to convince Rei that it lived up to Marina's recommendation.