Having defeated the black panther, Rei first calmed Nielson down before moving on to the obvious next step—dissection.
After going through the trouble of defeating a high-rank monster, it went without saying that he should begin breaking it down as quickly as possible.
First, draining the blood.
Fortunately, there were plenty of trees nearby. He tied a rope around the black panther's left hind leg, passed it over a branch, and hoisted the carcass up.
Since the panther had its throat destroyed in the final blow rather than losing its head entirely, blood flowed freely from the neck of the decapitated corpse.
Watching this, Rei began the dissection with the right hind leg.
That leg had also been left hanging by little more than skin after a strike from the Twilight Spear, but it had torn completely free when the panther—restrained by Nielson's magic—had desperately struggled to break loose.
The fact that it had endured the pain and refused to give up on life even in such a state—was that because it was a high-rank monster?
Precisely because it was the meat of such a monster, Rei could confidently expect it to be delicious.
(Panther meat... back when I was in Japan, I never had a chance to eat it. Bear and deer, on the other hand, I'd gotten from a hunter my dad knew and eaten those.)
Unfortunately, Rei had no idea how to cook panther meat.
But as long as it was high-rank monster meat, there was no doubt it would be delicious even if he just threw it on a fire.
Of course, if a proper cook prepared it, it would unquestionably taste even better.
"Hey, hey, Rei. That meat is delicious too, right? When are we eating it?"
Nielson, who had been complaining to Rei just moments ago, fixed him with an expectant gaze as he began the dissection.
Rei wanted to retort, "What happened to that attitude?" but making a comment like that here and now would only anger her again, rendering it pointless.
"Right. Let's have it for dinner tonight. But... if a lot of fairies show up to eat, there might not be any left for you, Nielson."
"I won't tell anyone!"
Nielson answered instantly.
It was undeniably delicious meat, so not being able to eat any herself was simply unacceptable.
That was likely what she wanted to say, and Rei agreed.
If Nielson had played no part in the fight, he probably wouldn't have minded if she missed out.
But during the battle with the black panther, despite being told to flee, Nielson had stayed behind. Not only that, she had used her magic to restrain the panther's movements and support Rei.
Given those contributions, Rei firmly believed that Nielson naturally had the right to eat this black panther meat as well.
"Right. Once I finish dissecting the rest over there, let's try a little of the meat from this leg. If we don't actually taste it, we won't know what kind of cooking it's suited for, or whether the texture is tough or tender. That sort of thing."
"Eh? Really!?"
Nielson shouted happily at Rei's proposal.
...In truth, the intent behind this was more of a reward for Nielson.
There was no doubt she wanted to try the meat. But while Rei enjoyed eating food, he wasn't particularly skilled at making it.
Given that, he understood that even if he checked the meat's texture, he still wouldn't know what kind of cooking it was suited for.
Even so, there was no mistaking that Rei himself also wanted to try the meat, so in that sense, it was for his own sake as well.
"Yeah. That said, just this leg."
"I know, I know. Besides, even just this leg is pretty big, isn't it? The two of us can't finish it all, you know?"
While not on par with Seto, the black panther had still been quite large.
This was the meat from the right leg of such a creature.
Naturally, there was a considerable amount of it.
Even if they were to eat it in earnest rather than just a taste test, finishing it all under normal circumstances would be difficult.
However, Rei ate an unbelievable amount for his appearance.
While he couldn't match Seto, finishing this much meat was not a difficult task.
(But... if it's just skewers with some salt sprinkled on top, I feel like I'd get tired of it.)
Rei wondered how he should prepare it.
Judging from the black panther's movements, it had been extremely agile.
In other words, it likely had almost no fat, meaning much of it would be what was known as lean meat.
In fact, inspecting the area around the right hind leg, it certainly appeared to be that kind of meat.
At the very least, it wouldn't have a high fat content like so-called A5-grade or branded beef.
It wasn't that Rei disliked lean meat.
In terms of feeling meaty while eating it, he actually preferred it over fatty cuts.
The problem was that this type of meat could become quite tough if the cooking method was mishandled.
And while Rei could cook, he was by no means skilled at it.
In that sense, there was a real possibility he could fail even a simple taste test.
"Well, if it doesn't work out, I can just ask Marina. There's a lot of meat, after all."
Muttering this, he swiftly broke down the right hind leg.
Since the black panther was a fairly large monster, the dissection took a reasonable amount of time.
However, he was fairly accustomed to the process itself, so it proceeded smoothly.
...Even so, both his speed and precision were inferior to those of adventurers who specialized in dissection.
He stripped the hide so that no meat was left behind, carved the flesh so it wouldn't stick to the bone, and removed tendons and thick blood vessels.
Then, he cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and skewered it.
He gathered fallen branches from the surrounding area, ignited them with simple magic, and sprinkled salt over the skewered meat. After checking the fire's position, he stabbed the skewers into the ground.
If they were too close to the flame, the meat would burn immediately; too far, and it wouldn't cook through no matter how much time passed.
Fire management required a fair amount of care.
"Alright. Nielson, watch the meat here. I'm going to go dissect the black panther's main body. The blood drainage seems mostly done, too."
Originally, when he had pierced the right hind leg—and above all, when he had pierced the throat—a significant amount of blood had already been lost.
Given that, it was certain that the time needed for blood drainage afterward would be shortened.
"Eh? W-wait, Rei!? I'm the one watching it!?"
While Rei dissected the black panther's main body, someone naturally needed to keep an eye on the meat.
If he pushed himself, he could manage to dissect while grilling, but doing so would risk burning the meat too much, or keeping it too far from the fire so it didn't cook at all—or worse, there was no denying the possibility of monsters or animals stealing it.
Given that, someone still needed to take on the role of watching the meat.
"You want to eat delicious meat, right? Then I need you to help with the cooking, Nielson."
"W-well... that's... fine..."
In truth, if Rei didn't dissect the black panther's body, they wouldn't have anything to eat for dinner.
Moreover, if this grilled meat tasted good, he definitely wanted to eat a lot of it.
That was why Rei needed to properly dissect the panther.
Confirming that Nielson had accepted this, Rei began the dissection.
The first thing to dissect was not the body, but the head.
A monster's eyeballs and brains were often necessary for creating Magic Items and potions.
Also, the black panther's fangs would unquestionably serve as some kind of material.
Determining that the tongue might also be useful for something, he continued dissecting.
Dissecting the head was a more grotesque sight than working on the body, but that was something he was used to.
By repeatedly performing dissections, one naturally grew accustomed to it.
He swiftly broke down the head and placed the important parts into dedicated containers resembling glass jars so they wouldn't get dirty or spill.
The brain, in particular, was quite large, requiring a suitably sized container.
However, in Rei's case, he only needed to put it in his Misty Ring, which made things considerably easier.
Without a Misty Ring, whether carrying it by hand or transporting it by carriage, one would need to move with extreme caution.
Engaging in combat along the way would be absolutely out of the question.
"Alright, next is the main body. ...How's it going over there, Nielson?"
"No problems. But I think it's about time we could eat."
"Then let's have the first taste."
In the middle of dissecting the black panther's body, Rei had no desire to eat the meat while his hands were stained with blood and various bodily fluids.
Using the Jet-Black Dagger to wash his hands, he headed over to the campfire where Nielson was standing proudly.
Nielson puffed out her chest, as if to say she had grilled this meat.
Since that was actually true, Rei offered words of gratitude.
"It looks like it grilled nicely thanks to you, Nielson. ...Well then, let's eat. As a privilege for the one who cooked, you can eat first."
"Eh? Is that okay? Then I will!"
Nielson happily grabbed a skewer of meat at Rei's words.
She likely felt proud that she had grilled it herself.
That was precisely why it was only natural she wanted to eat the first piece.
Nielson promptly bit into the meat.
The seasoning was nothing more than salt, but a mouthful of meat was still more than enough to delight her.
"Fumyai!"
With her mouth stuffed full of meat, Rei couldn't understand what she was saying.
But seeing Nielson's happy demeanor, it wasn't hard to guess.
"I see. I'm glad it tastes good. In that case..."
Rei, who had been watching Nielson, reached out and picked up a skewer.
The first thing that surprised Rei when he bit into the meat was its springiness.
Since the black panther excelled at swift movement, he had assumed its meat would be tough.
And the meat was indeed tough.
But its toughness was not like the tough meat of the Old Chicken he had eaten back in Japan... not the kind of toughness called "shinne" in the dialect of the region where he had lived.
There was springiness against his biting teeth, but it wasn't an unpleasant resistance.
If he intended to bite through it, it snapped apart cleanly.
And then, an intensely strong meaty flavor spread throughout his mouth.
It was clearly different from premium beef with heavy marbling, but as he chewed, it was the kind of meat that let him truly feel he was eating meat.
After swallowing, it was the kind of meat that made him want to take another bite.
"This is... delicious."
"Right? Right? This meat is seriously amazing!"
Nielson said happily, hearing Rei's murmur.
She was probably surprised that the meat of a monster she had helped defeat was this delicious.
Even in the battle in the forest where the Smog Panthers lived, she had defeated her fair share of high-rank monsters.
She had defeated them, yes, but even so, defeating what was clearly a high-rank monster like this probably held significant meaning.
"When we fought, I didn't think it was that strong among B-Rank Monsters. For something that wandered into the Treant Forest by chance, in a way it was the perfect opponent for me."
And the magic stone, too.
Rei murmured that much without voicing it.
This black panther was clearly an unknown monster to Rei.
Given that, its magic stone held tremendous significance in terms of being usable for Beast Magic.
(Whether to give it to Seto or to Death Scythe. I should decide that after consulting with Seto.)
Since it was a black panther presumed to be a B-Rank Monster, Rei was certain it would allow him to acquire or enhance a Skill.
Because of that, he needed to thoroughly discuss it with Seto afterward and decide who would use it.
"But... why would a monster like this suddenly appear near the Fairy Dwelling?"
"We're in the frontier, and territories in the Treant Forest still aren't properly established, so isn't it probably that? Or maybe it just wanted to eat Orc meat."
"I hope that's all..."
"Is something worrying you?"
"Could it be... related to defilement?"
The black panther had come because of a connection to defilement.
Those words from Nielson were somewhat unexpected to Rei.
He didn't think there seemed to be any connection between defilement and the black panther.
At the very least, from what Rei had seen, there didn't appear to be any commonality between the two.
If that was the case, then it was reasonable to think the black panther had come for some other reason.
(Then again, it's also true that there's still much we don't understand about defilement. It's possible it attracts monsters in some unknown way.)
If it was beyond Rei's and Nielson's understanding, there was only one thing Rei could do.
"Should I try asking the Chief?"
At those words, Nielson wore a subtle expression, as if fearing she might end up being roped into helping out with something again.