The thick stench of blood and viscera hung in the air around them—a result of the Gamelion being cleaved in two.
Or perhaps saying it had been bisected top to bottom wasn't entirely accurate.
It had charged headfirst at Rei, so Death Scythe had split its face down the middle, and in that same motion, its body followed suit.
(A three-piece fillet... no, the bones were left intact, so was it a two-piece fillet? Something like that. Though even the bones didn't stay cleanly attached to either half of the body.)
If the weapon Rei had swung had been some ordinary longsword, he might have been able to carve the meat cleanly along the bones.
But Death Scythe's strike was simply too sharp.
Because of that razor-sharp edge, the Gamelion's body had ended up split top and bottom, with the bones still clinging to both halves.
"A Gamelion, huh. Still... isn't it a bit early for them?"
That the Gamelion was dead was obvious at a glance, so Daskar spoke casually as he approached.
As the lord of Gilm, Daskar was naturally well acquainted with the Gamelion—a seasonal staple from autumn through winter.
The amount of money that moved through Gamelion trading was substantial.
It varied each year depending on the haul, but the sum could rival the annual budget of a fairly large town—and in some cases, even that of a city.
Since that meant increased tax revenue flowing into Gilm, it was only natural that Daskar, as Gilm's lord, would be thoroughly knowledgeable about Gamelions.
"You're right. Still, on the way out of Gilm to get here, I spotted a few groups who looked like they were setting out to hunt Gamelions, so this year they probably appeared earlier than usual. Or..."
Rei paused there, glancing at the Gamelion with its viscera fully exposed through the split.
"Maybe just this one came out early."
While he was saying that, Seto eventually descended from the sky.
"Gruu."
Seto appeared slightly disgruntled.
According to the original plan, Seto was supposed to swoop in from the side and attack the Gamelion while Rei kept it occupied.
Instead, Rei had killed the Gamelion before Seto could do a thing.
For Seto, who had gone out of his way to circle wide so the Gamelion wouldn't notice him, the entire purpose of his maneuver had been nullified.
Even when it came to his beloved Rei, it was only natural to want to voice at least one complaint.
"Sorry. It just kind of happened in the flow of battle..."
"Grrrl, grrrl."
Seto still showed his displeasure at Rei's words, but forgave him immediately once the apology came.
Rei stroked Seto, conveying both apology and gratitude.
Seto had still looked a bit sullen at first, but the moment Rei's hand touched him, his mood improved right away.
"Incredible..."
The one who muttered that was one of Daskar's subordinates.
He too had been kept safe by Ara and Ielo, but after seeing the Gamelion killed, he had judged the situation secure and approached.
As a civil official, he knew about Gamelions and had even seen their meat on sale.
However, this was still his first time seeing a Gamelion in its raw, unprocessed state—albeit bisected—so he had considered it a rare opportunity and come over for a closer look.
But what the civil official witnessed there was Rei calming a disgruntled Seto with nothing more than a few strokes.
He knew that Seto served as something of a mascot in Gilm.
He knew that, but even so, watching Rei instantly soothe a displeased Seto was, from the civil official's perspective, nothing short of astonishing.
Truly befitting a tamer who had tamed a gryphon...
A tamer, a mage, a warrior, and an alias-holding Dragon Slayer to boot.
If Rei himself heard that such a person existed, it wouldn't be strange for him to quip that they had too many attributes stacked.
This was a fresh confirmation that Rei's abilities were the real deal.
"Is something the matter?"
Perhaps noticing the civil official's astonishment, Ara asked with genuine curiosity.
"No, it's just... I never expected a displeased Seto to be pacified so easily."
"Ah, I see."
It might have been astonishing to the civil official, but for Ara, who had many opportunities to interact with Rei and Seto—or more precisely, lived with them—it wasn't all that surprising.
This gap in perception was likely the difference between a civil official and Ara.
"Lord Rei and Seto are bound by a strong bond."
With that, Ara left the civil official where he stood and headed toward Rei.
"Lord Rei, thank you for your hard work. So, what shall we do about the Gamelion? Will you store it as is, or would you prefer to dissect it here to some extent?"
"Hm? Let's see..."
Rei hesitated slightly at Ara's words.
If possible, he wanted to eat this Gamelion soon—after all, it was the first catch of the year.
But dissecting a Gamelion this massive at Marina's house would be a chore.
Particularly the handling of the viscera and blood.
Considering all that, he would prefer to do the dissection right here.
However, this was outside Gilm.
There was no telling when a monster more powerful than this Gamelion might appear, and leaving Daskar exposed in such a place was not an option.
(In that case, should I have everyone including Lord Daskar return to Gilm first, then come back out to dissect the Gamelion? If so, the problem becomes finding a spot where we won't be seen by others.)
If the people he had spotted on the way here were, as Rei suspected, out hunting Gamelions... then letting them watch him dissect one right in front of them could invite jealousy.
Normally, it wouldn't be a problem even if such people tried something.
Among those who had been in Gilm for a while, many knew Rei, so those who would try to pick a fight were... not nonexistent, but certainly a minority.
However, right now Gilm was teeming with people.
Among them, there were surely many who didn't know Rei, or who knew the rumors of the Crimson but wouldn't recognize Rei as that person just by looking at him.
If Seto was with him, he might not need to worry about that so much—but.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
Perhaps wondering why Rei was standing there looking troubled while staring at the Gamelion, Daskar spoke up.
From Daskar's perspective, he probably couldn't fathom why Rei was deep in thought under these circumstances.
"Actually, I was wondering what to do about this Gamelion. Even if I take it to Marina's house, I couldn't exactly dissect it there. If possible, doing it here would be best, but then there's the danger to you, Lord Daskar..."
"Ah, I see."
Daskar understood what Rei was getting at.
Given his current position, he couldn't have them dissecting a Gamelion out here in the open.
At the same time, he understood that Rei probably wanted to eat this Gamelion meat as soon as possible.
"Understood. I don't mind, so go ahead and dissect it here. However, since it's a valuable Gamelion, I'd like you to share some of the meat with me."
"That's... I don't particularly mind, but are you sure?"
For those words to come from Daskar's mouth was unexpected even for Rei.
Thinking about it normally, the safety of Daskar, the lord of Gilm, was supposed to be prioritized above all else.
And yet, for him to grant permission to dissect the Gamelion right here... what exactly had led to that?
"I don't mind. Besides, Lady Elena and Seto are here. Whatever happens, it won't be so easy for something to go wrong."
"That's... well, I suppose so."
With Elena and Seto present as powerful combat forces, it wasn't as if someone could easily get to Daskar even if they tried.
Above all, if such a dangerous situation arose, Rei would grab his weapons and rush over immediately.
In that sense, Daskar's safety was essentially half-guaranteed even if they dissected the Gamelion on the spot.
"See? Then there's no need to overthink it. Dissect the Gamelion here. ...To be honest, I'd like to see what it looks like when a Gamelion gets dissected."
Those last words were undoubtedly his true motive.
For Rei, he couldn't quite understand wanting to go out of one's way to watch a dissection.
"I hear Lord Daskar was originally a knight, so in that sense, dissection shouldn't be all that unusual for you, should it?"
"Are you misunderstanding something about knights? Well, it's not that knights never have the opportunity to dissect things... but even so, compared to adventurers, it's not that common."
"So you want to watch the dissection? ...I don't mind, but..."
Even as he said that, Rei's gaze was directed not at Daskar but at his subordinates.
He had expected Daskar's subordinates to object to Daskar permitting a dissection outside Gilm like this.
But surprisingly, they showed no sign of opposition.
If anything, regarding this particular matter, Daskar's subordinates seemed thoroughly fascinated.
(I thought they'd be averse to this sort of thing since they're civil officials, but...)
Rei had assumed as much, but reality proved otherwise.
Even as civil officials, they were evidently worthy of serving under Daskar.
Or perhaps that had little to do with it, and they simply felt that way out of pure personal interest.
When the civil officials met Rei's gaze, each of them nodded.
As if to convey that they, too, wanted to watch the Gamelion dissection, just like Daskar.
Seeing that, Rei judged the matter was settled and nodded toward Daskar.
"Understood. Then I'll dissect it here. I'll have Seto keep watch on the surroundings just in case, so I don't think there'll be any problem."
"Please do."
"Elena, what about you? Will you keep watch on the perimeter, or would you rather observe the dissection?"
"Mm, me? Let's see... Since Seto is watching the perimeter, it should be safe enough, so I'll have you show me your dissection. I've seen monster dissections plenty of times, but I haven't often had the chance to watch Rei do one himself."
If she were an ordinary noble's daughter, it wouldn't be strange for her to faint at the sight of a monster being dissected.
But Elena was known by the alias Princess General.
It was not uncommon for her to march into battle, and her opponents ranged from foreign nations to hostile lords—and naturally, monsters were included among them.
And when monsters were defeated, Elena herself wouldn't perform the dissection, but the subordinates under her command would butcher the creatures for food, or sell the materials and magic stones to merchants.
In that sense, Elena was quite accustomed to monster dissections themselves.
"What about you, Ara?"
"I'll stand guard."
That was unusual.
Rei found himself thinking so at Ara's words.
If she had said she would guard Elena, Rei wouldn't have been all that surprised.
That was only natural for Ara, after all.
But this time, the one Ara had named as her charge was Daskar.
For Rei, having her guard Daskar was certainly helpful.
Helpful, but unfortunately, he had no idea why Ara had suddenly decided to do so.
Since she was prioritizing Daskar over Elena, he figured there must be a good reason, but...
(I have a feeling it's simply because Elena is stronger than Ara, and Seto is here too. Or maybe, by guarding Lord Daskar, she's easing Elena's mind?)
Exactly what Ara was thinking was, unfortunately, beyond Rei's grasp.
He didn't know, but considering the current situation, he judged it wasn't his place to interject, and set about dissecting the Gamelion.
He stored away Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, then took out the knife he always used for dissection.
The first order of business was extracting the viscera from the carcass that had been split into a two-piece fillet.
Normally, he would need to pluck the fur or peel the hide first, but having killed it in this manner, the viscera had to be dealt with before anything else.
Even so, the very first task was retrieving the magic stone from the heart.
However, since both Death Scythe and Seto had already used Gamelion magic stones, keeping this one served no purpose.
It would most likely end up sold to the Guild.
With that thought, Rei continued the dissection.