"This is... incredible..."
Having decided to head to Egginis after the Festival, Rei visited the Guild warehouse the following day.
After chatting with the adventurer standing guard at the door as usual, Rei stepped inside and saw the Giant Wolf's materials laid out before him.
The pelt had been cleanly removed, and the materials and meat were properly sorted.
The Foreman had previously said something about the Giant Wolf being impossible to dissect with the tools on hand, but apparently, with the proper specialized equipment, it could be dissected this cleanly.
"Hey, Rei. You're here. ...What do you think?"
The Foreman smiled proudly.
He had pulled off such an impressive dissection on a monster that notoriously difficult to take apart. Becoming proud over something like that was only natural.
Rei nodded in response.
"Yeah, this is plenty impressive. ...So, about the materials—"
With that, Rei immediately launched into discussions with the Foreman about how to divide the materials.
Since Rei held ownership, the negotiations naturally proceeded in his favor.
That said, he had no intention of using that right to claim everything for himself. There was no better policy than keeping his relationship with the Guild friendly.
Moreover, considering that Marina was the former Guild Master and that he accepted requests from the Guild for his work, Rei had no choice but to make some concessions.
...If the Guild Master were the type to use their authority as a shield to lowball materials, Rei wouldn't have held back either. But Worker—perhaps thanks to Marina's education—was fair and proper in that regard.
Given that, Rei needed to show appropriate consideration in return.
Even so, he didn't yield the useful parts like the pelt and fangs, and he kept about eighty percent of the claws. Conversely, the internal organs didn't seem particularly important, so he handed most of them over to the Guild. Internal organs often became useful materials, but there was also a high chance they were completely worthless. However, as an exception, both of the Giant Wolf's eyeballs went to Rei.
And as for the meat, Rei took ninety-nine percent.
He had heard that wolf meat was unpalatable on Earth, but here in Elgin, wolf meat was commonly eaten. Not to mention, with monsters, the flavor improved as their rank increased. Given that, the meat of an A-Rank Monster like the Giant Wolf... exactly how delicious it would be, he could only imagine.
Unlike Rei, the Guild didn't particularly need the meat. Of course, they would conduct some analysis, so they took small amounts of each cut.
...In reality, Rei had taken an adamant stance that he absolutely wouldn't yield the meat, so since the Guild didn't need it that badly, they settled for the bare minimum. Perhaps if this had been a Guild Staff Member skilled at negotiation, there might have been some room for bargaining... but the Foreman didn't particularly care about that. More precisely, since Rei was the one who had slain the monster, the outcome largely reflected Rei's wishes.
"Alright, that's everything."
After storing all of his share into his Misty Ring, Rei announced he was done.
Hearing that, the Guild Staff Members who had been listening showed genuine relief from the bottom of their hearts.
They had been called in by Worker, and though they had volunteered themselves, being confined to the warehouse for days on end was still fairly demanding. Of course, while dissecting monsters they could focus on the work, and once that was done, they could rest until Rei's next visit. If they asked the adventurers outside the door, they could have certain things brought in.
To the Guild Staff Members who spent all day—and sometimes even did overtime—processing paperwork at the Guild, if word got out about life in this warehouse, it wouldn't be surprising for them to be envied amid tears of blood and voices of resentment.
Despite all that, the Guild Staff Members were still genuinely happy to be free to step outside.
However... that was only for today. After all...
"Well then, rest up and recharge today. Starting tomorrow, we need to dissect the Crystal Dragon."
That's right—the Crystal Dragon's corpse, which would be displayed publicly at tomorrow's Festival, would once again be dissected by these same Guild Staff Members starting the day after.
"Do your best. I'm counting on you."
Rei said that, but it suddenly occurred to him that at this rate, going to Egginis as planned might be difficult.
Dragon materials, imbued with powerful magical energy, were resistant to decay even if left for long periods. But that was only resistant to decay—it didn't mean they wouldn't decay at all.
Rei hadn't yet decided specifically how long he would stay in Egginis. But with S-Rank Monster materials... and a new dragon species at that, people would likely seek to make contact with him for not just two or three days, but a week, two weeks, half a month... perhaps even a month. Depending on circumstances, there was even a possibility he wouldn't be able to return to Gilm until winter.
...That said, Rei had no intention of waiting that long. For one thing, once autumn arrived, it would be Gamelion season in Gilm. There was no way Rei would miss the annual Gamelion hunt.
Of course, his Misty Ring still contained a massive quantity of Gamelion meat, and even whole carcasses to some extent.
(Anyway, with the Crystal Dragon materials situation, I need to think a little about what to do.)
He couldn't stay in Egginis forever, but he couldn't stay in Gilm either. Finding that balance was quite difficult, and he decided that for now, he would consult with his companions over dinner tonight about what to do.
"Anyway, make sure to get a proper rest today. You'll all be busy with various things starting tomorrow."
Saying that, Rei left the Guild warehouse.
Hearing the Foreman calling out to the other Guild Staff Members behind him, Rei stepped outside and joined up with Set—who had been fawned over by a crowd in front of the Guild—before heading to Laurie Dissection Shop next.
In the Underground Warehouse, he received the materials, Magic Stones, meat, and various other items...
"Alright, Set. We're heading to the Treant Forest today. First, the lake."
"Guruu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred happily. For Set, being able to fly freely through the sky was a joy.
...That said, from Gilm to the Treant Forest, the lake, and the Birth Tower, with Set's wings it was a distance that would take maybe a few minutes at most. Traveling on foot would take a fair amount of time, but by air it was nothing.
Rei was once again impressed by Set's mobility.
Riding on Set's back as it flew through the sky, Rei looked at the lake ahead.
It hadn't been that long since he last came to this lake. But even so, looking at it again like this, he felt as though it had been quite a while. For Rei, he didn't have a particularly strong emotional attachment to the lake itself.
(Ah, but the glowing jellyfish at night were quite beautiful. Thinking about it that way, maybe you could say I do have an attachment? ...More importantly, I need to do something about that slime.)
The lake coming into view naturally meant the enormous slime, still burning beside the water, was visible too.
Rei thought he couldn't let the slime keep burning forever. That said, since it was burning through his own magic, the person who had cast that spell couldn't recklessly interfere with it. If he did something like that, there was a chance the slime might behave strangely.
Or perhaps, if the slime had a Magic Stone, Rei would have considered dealing with it more seriously. But the monsters in the lake, teleported from another world, didn't possess Magic Stones. That was precisely why Rei, who used Beast Magic, couldn't help but lack interest in the lake's monsters.
For the scholars who were still frequently conducting research at the lake, an otherworldly lake was more than enough to captivate their interest. In fact, even with Rei's eyes, he could make out several figures—presumably people—moving around the lake's vicinity. If that was the case even with Rei's eyes, Set, with sharper senses, was naturally seeing an even more detailed scene.
"Gurururuu!"
Suddenly, Set let out a purr. It wasn't the happy cry from before—the sound carried a strong note of caution.
What's wrong?
With that thought, Rei looked toward the lake... and suddenly noticed a huge shadow of some creature moving from the center of the lake toward the shore.
From the sky, he couldn't tell whether it was a monster or perhaps something like a fish, but regardless, he couldn't determine exactly what kind of entity that shadow was.
However, given the current situation, it was clearly dangerous.
After all, the scholars still active near the lake showed no sign of noticing the approaching shadow. The adventurers serving as guards were the same.
Rei and Set had noticed it a step earlier only because they were flying through the sky.
"Set, hurry to the ground. I don't know if that shadow will actually come all the way to shore, but if it does, it's dangerous."
"Guruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a sharp cry, flapped its wings, and dove toward the ground.
(A shadow that huge. Given that, it wouldn't be surprising if it got stuck where the water becomes shallow... but if it has a means of moving through shallow water without issue like the slime, that's troublesome.)
In the slime's case, its body was semi-liquid in nature, so it could pass through shallow water or anywhere else without issue. ...If it were a slime from this world, even with a semi-liquid body, it couldn't move through spaces its Magic Stone couldn't fit through. But the monsters inhabiting the lake from another world didn't have Magic Stones.
In other words, theoretically, as long as there was a gap the size of a needle's eye, even a giant burning slime could pass through. In practice, moving through such spaces would naturally take time proportional to its mass. Given that, it would almost certainly be spotted mid-transit.
Regardless, since the lake's monsters lacked Magic Stones, there was a high possibility that the shadow currently moving through the water would approach the same way as the slime.
(That said, from the look of it... it's not exactly a fish's shadow, but it doesn't seem like a shapeless entity like the slime either.)
It was an impression from the sky, but he was probably not mistaken.
"Set, take us down. Put me on the shore and we'll meet it head-on."
"Guruu? Guru."
Aren't we fighting like this? Set asked while descending toward the ground.
In truth, riding Set, they could freely attack from the air, and with Rei's magic and throwing spears at their disposal, dealing with an opponent in the water wouldn't be difficult. It wouldn't be difficult, but with the enemy submerged, the water would undoubtedly act as a barrier, weakening the power of their attacks.
In that case, rather than fighting an enemy in the water, it would be better to let it come ashore and fight on land.
There was a possibility the enemy was a monster like a fish that could only move in water, but in that case, it wasn't as if there would be no way to deal with it. No, rather, in such a scenario, there might not even be a need to deal with it at all.
Still, given the current situation, it was better to assume the worst-case scenario—that the shadow could also operate on land.
They truly still knew nothing about that lake. In other words, anything could happen.
Because of that, Rei judged that he couldn't be too cautious... and at that moment, Set landed on the ground.
"Rei!? Set!?"
An adventurer who had been guarding the scholars let out a surprised voice, seeing Rei and Set suddenly descend from the sky.
He had initially readied his weapon, thinking them enemies—which showed he had the skill to be trusted by the Guild with guarding this location. And his judgment in quickly recognizing them as Rei and Set and lowering his weapon was equally commendable.
...With a less composed adventurer, the moment they judged something was falling from the sky, they might have identified it as an enemy and swung their weapon half-reflexively, and that wouldn't have been surprising.
To that adventurer, Rei called out sharply.
"Enemy! A giant enemy is coming from the lake!"
His voice rang out across the surroundings.