The Empire's Supply Preparations
Blood that looked more like thick, sticky green juice than anything that should come from a living creature splattered across the ground near the lake.
It never reached us where we stood at a safe distance, but the crazy girl who had just driven a blade into the griffin’s neck was completely drenched in the stuff.
"Eww, so dirty~ I stabbed without thinking and the blood just sprayed out like a fountain~"
Yet she treated it as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world. She wiped the green blood away with a handkerchief the same casual way someone might dab at sweat, and the sight was thoroughly grotesque. Even while performing something straight out of a zombie movie, she showed not the slightest agitation or confusion.
"What’s wrong~? Are you scared of these guys~? Still, it’s amazing you made it all the way in here~"
"Th-that’s not it… It’s just that the griffins seem a little strange…"
"The griffins~? Ah~ so that’s what it was~"
She glanced down at the griffin she was in the middle of dismantling and the second one still thrashing with a dagger buried in its neck. Only then did she seem to realize how terrifying her casual butchery must have looked. She pulled two enormous black cloths from the bag at her waist and draped them over both creatures.
Not that covering them actually hid the thrashing. If anything, not being able to see it made the whole scene even more unsettling.
Undeterred, she slipped a hand under the cloth and yanked the dagger free. Naturally, the blade was coated in thick green blood.
"Did I startle you~?"
"It wasn’t so much that you killed the monsters… more that the usually docile griffins were acting weird, so I was a little… yeah…"
Truthfully, killing monsters itself never bothered me. On the ship bound for the West Continent we had drained every drop of blood from the serpent dragons we caught and dismantled them completely. Monster dismantling was simply a skill any adventurer ought to possess. But watching these griffins remain utterly unfazed while their companions were being slaughtered… it stirred something primal. A raw, instinctive dread.
Still, she didn’t seem like a bad person. The moment she noticed Lumine and I were unsettled, she had covered the bodies so we wouldn’t have to look.
She finished a rough cleanup out of our sight, then stuffed the fully dismantled griffin into a pouch. After wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, she rose to her feet.
"Phew… Took longer than I expected~"
"You dismantled a griffin from start to finish by yourself… Your skill is incredible…"
"I may not look it, but I hold an A-license for monster dismantling~"
Those impossible hand movements and that blistering speed suddenly made perfect sense. An A-license. You needed at least twenty years of experience just to sit for the exam. Yet she didn’t look old at all—if anything she looked younger than us. Sixteen, maybe? Erna was fifteen, and this girl seemed about the same age.
"What’s wrong~?"
Had I been staring too hard? The still-nameless girl tilted her head.
"No… You look so young, yet you’ve earned an A-license. I was just surprised."
"Ehehe~ Even so, I’m forty this year~?"
"Forty?"
"Actually~ I’m a quarter-demon~"
That explained everything. Demons, like elves, were a long-lived race. Even a quarter-demon inherited enough of that blood to live for centuries. For the record, the “ma” in majok referred to mana, not devilry. They had once been shunned as demons, but these days such prejudice was rare. Besides, pure demons almost never left the Demon Continent.
"Since fate brought us together, shall we introduce ourselves~?"
I figured it would be fine. Even if she learned who I was, I doubted she would be frightened. I was still debating whether to speak first when she beat me to it.
"I’m Hestia, and I work at the Imperial Private Dismantling Workshop~ Nice to meet you~"
"I’m Esilly von Yggdrasil, currently active as an adventurer. And behind me is…"
"Lumine."
Lumine, who had been hiding behind me, bowed politely. She had never dismantled a monster in her life, so watching Hestia casually slit a creature’s throat must have been pure horror for her. Mmm… I understood completely. If some madwoman suddenly jammed a knife into the neck of a tiger-like beast in the middle of a savanna and twisted, anyone would be terrified.
"Oh my~? Esilly von Yggdrasil… aren’t you that… the Hero~?"
"Whether I’m a hero or not is secondary… Anyway, I’m Esilly. You know me?"
No matter where I went, finding someone who didn’t recognize me was the real challenge. Sometimes it felt like the entire world knew my name.
"Of course~ Thanks to you, Lady Esilly, the civil war in my homeland—the Demon Continent—came to an end~?"
Huh? What had I supposedly done? I had never done anything of the sort.
"As expected of Lady Esilly…"
Lumine gazed at me with open admiration, as though such an achievement were only natural. No—I genuinely had no idea what they were talking about!
"Even if it was pure luck, we demons still owe you an enormous debt, Lady Esilly~"
"No, I honestly have no idea what you mean…"
"Oh right~ Seeing that you came all the way to Shaneport Forest, you must be here for the griffins~? Here, take this~"
She pulled the black cloth off the griffin in front of her. The creature that had been thrashing moments earlier now lay completely still—utterly dead. Brutal. It looked uncomfortably like the pet rabbit I once found cold and lifeless one morning.
"I’ve already drained all the blood, so if you dismantle it carefully you should be able to sell it as A-rank~ Well then, I have work to do, so I’ll be going~"
She bowed deeply and started walking away. I considered calling her back for a longer chat, but Lumine shook her head beside me.
"Lady Esilly. We should finish up and leave soon as well."
"Yeah… Since we only need the eyes, there’s no reason to stay."
No point stopping someone who said she was busy. Better to clean up and get out of here…
Somehow we finished dismantling the griffin and made it back to the city, then straight into the guild. Adventurers around us murmured at the sight of our clothes soaked in green blood, but none of the comments sounded hostile, so I ignored them and headed for the reception desk.
"Ah… young ladies! Don’t tell me you hunted griffins in Shaneport Forest and came back alive!?"
"That’s right."
The guildmaster I had met yesterday rushed over the moment we approached the counter, eyes wide with shock. I still didn’t know why, but at least he didn’t seem hostile. Covered head to toe in green blood, it was obvious what we had been hunting. Maybe he wanted to buy the materials.
"To enter Shaneport Forest at a time like this… and yet you walked out unharmed!"
"Is something going on?"
"You truly have no idea what happened!?"
"Of course we don’t."
"W-what exactly happened…?"
The guildmaster let out a heavy sigh at our blank, shoulder-shrugging faces. Apparently something major had occurred while we were gone.
"I’ll explain the details later! So? Did you catch any!?"
"We got one…"
"Ooooh!!"
The moment we produced the materials, the guildmaster roared with delight. The receptionists behind him and every adventurer within earshot reacted the same way. We hadn’t even hunted it ourselves—Hestia had gifted it to us—but we had dismantled it cleanly enough. My D-license meant the work wasn’t perfect, yet it was still good enough that the value wouldn’t drop into the negatives.
Were griffins really that rare in this city? The way everyone was acting, you’d think we had just slain some SSS-rank monster that had been terrorizing the place like the protagonist of a web novel.
"Would you be willing to sell!?"
"Everything except the eyes."
"Then the guild will buy every other part at double the market price! Please, sell them to us!"
"Double!?"
He held up two fingers for emphasis, eyes burning with desperate urgency. Double price? Of course I would sell. But what on earth was going on? Unless griffins had suddenly vanished from the market entirely, paying twice the usual rate for something this expensive made no sense.
"I’m begging you!!"
The guildmaster slammed his forehead onto the counter with a solid thud. I flinched at the sound, then quickly regained my composure and nodded.
"A-all right, just stop that."
"Ooooh! Thank you!! You there! These ladies wish to sell a full griffin—treat them with the utmost care!!"
At his command, guild staff swarmed us. Their faces were tight with a tension I hadn’t seen the day before.
"Yes, Guildmaster!"
"First, the baths! Prepare the baths so these ladies can wash thoroughly!"
"This way, please."
"We’ll escort you to the baths."
Before we could protest, the staff whisked us into a room at the far end of the guild. Inside, a bathhouse already billowed with thick steam. Lumine and I simply stood there, completely lost.
"What in the world is going on…?"
"I have no idea either—eek!"
Without warning they began stripping off our clothes and undergarments. Then, using cloths saturated with mana, they wiped every last drop of green blood from our skin at lightning speed. Griffin blood was a prized catalyst and dye ingredient; they clearly intended to waste not a single drop.
"We’ll launder your clothes and undergarments and return them."
"Then what are we supposed to wear…?"
"Please change into the garments prepared here."
Sure enough, fresh clothes were already waiting. I had never received treatment this extravagant even in the Labyrinth City!