So the next morning I was busy cooking again, preparing food before we entered the dungeon the following day . I was working hard to make as much food as possible since I was on a deadline, especially since I intended to go to the Adventurers Guild in the afternoon . Before I went to bed last night I minced a lot of meat to make hamburger and cabbage rolls . They're good food to have on hand to make other dishes with . I went to the Net Super and bought yet another half-size stockpot and a large can of chopped tomatoes along with instant soup powder and cheese too .
After forming some of the the ground meat into patties with my fingers I took half of them and separated them to make Cheese IN hamburgers while the rest were left as regular hamburgers . The rest of the minced meat was for cabbage rolls . I peeled off the outer leaves of the remaining cabbages I had bought in the shops in Doran to expose the tender inside leaves which I then boiled for a short time before wrapping them around a handful of ground meat and securing them in place with a toothpick . As an experiment I made some of them with Cheese IN as well .
I put the cabbage rolls side by side in the bottom of the new stockpot and added water and cans of chopped tomato until they were covered . I broke up the instant soup powder and sprinkled it on top and then added some ketchup to sweeten the sauce a little . I brought the mixture to a boil then turned the heat down and covered the top with aluminium foil, letting it simmer and bubble for thirty minutes or so . I cooked the hamburgers I had made while this went on, alternating the cooking process until noon and putting everything away in my Item Box . After I finished cleaning up we had lunch consisting of the rest of the ground meat with bean sprouts and sweet bell peppers in a spicy Chinese miso sauce before we all headed off to the Adventurers Guild .
* * * * *
We were directed straight to the warehouse by the receptionist at the Adventurers Guild, as apparently Elland-san was waiting there for us . Well, not "waiting", I presumed it was more like he had never actually left the warehouse in the past three days . When we entered the warehouse Elland-san was standing over in the area he had reserved for the dismantling of the Earth Dragon's body . Lined up on the workbench, was that all the Dragon materials?
"Ummm, Elland-san?" I said hesitantly but he didn't respond as he stared fixedly at a glass bottle containing a red liquid in his hand . I tried speaking louder .
"Ahem, Elland-san . . . . . . " Nope, no response . He was in a world of his own .
"Ahhh, this is truly the blood of a Dragon . This crimson colour is wonderful . I could stare into your depths forever . . . " Elland-san muttered as he held the bottle to his cheek, rubbing it against his ecstatic face . I worried that he might drop it the way he was trembling . Use both hands to hold it please, Elland-san, I thought to myself .
I waited a few more seconds, hoping Elland-san would come to his senses and notice we were here but he continued to ignore us, muttering under his breath to the bottle in his hand . He's the Guild Master of an important city's Adventurers Guild, he's the man, well the Elf I entrusted the Earth Dragon to for disassembly, had that really been a good idea after all? I finally gave up and spoke out loudly .
"Elland-san!"
"Oh, it's Mukouda-san, isn't it?" Elland-san finally noticed my existence . Yes, it is Mukouda-san, I thought to myself exasperatedly .
"Yes, I'm here about the Earth Dragon . . . "
"Yes yes yes, I started dismantling it without delay, as soon as you left in fact and it's all gone perfectly . " His expression changed . "This has been the most wonderful experience of this Elf's long life . " he sang . "I can't think of a better time . . . " he sighed . Really, Elland-san, disassembling an Earth Dragon is the number one experience of your hundreds of years of life? I decided it was best not to dwell on what he was saying too much and pressed on with business .
"Anyway, you were talking earlier about buying some of the Dragon materials?" I enquired . Elland-san's expression changed again, back to what I was starting to think of as his business-like "Guild Master" face, an expression I was really thankful to see .
"Well, this has given me the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my long Elf's life . " Yes, I know Elves have long lives, you don't have to keep mentioning it . "But, after wrestling with the problem for three days I finally came to a decision!" Elland-san said firmly, shaking his fist (not the one holding the bottle, I should add) .
"So, what parts of the Dragon are you wanting then?" Keep him engaged on business or he'll start singing, or worse, dancing, I thought to myself despairingly . Focus, man- uh, Elf, focus .
"I gave great consideration to what you said but I was really really conflicted . " He gestured at the workbench . "Everything here is something I desperately wanted to keep, but . . . well, to start with I chose this, the Earth Dragon's blood . " Elland-san picked up another of the bottles containing red liquid lined up on the workbench .
"See, Dragon's blood, look, look!" He held out both bottles to me, his eyes gleaming . "It is a panacea of sorts because it is one of the ingredients for Elixir . If mixed with other medicines it will magnify their effectiveness immeasurably . Moreover a medicine made from Dragon's blood excels in its power as a preventative tonic . Indeed it is said that drinking one drop prevents any sort of illness for an entire year!"
Heeee~, that was amazing, but please calm down Elland-san .
"These are two bottles of Dragon's blood . " He looked down at the bottles in his hands, thankfully quieting down again . "I would like to purchase them, 150 gold coins per bottle . "
…………What? 1 bottle, 150 gold coins? Wait a moment . Looking at the bottle, it resembled a sake bottle with a cork in the top, maybe about a litre or so? I transferred my gaze to the workbench where the rest of the bottles were lined up . . . there had to be over a hundred bottles there-
"Incidentally, I got 160 bottles of Dragon's blood from the disassembly . " Elland-san said with a smile of satisfaction on his face .
Hu- A hundred and sixty bottles . . . Lessee, a bottle is 150 gold coins, there are 160 bottles, ummm, that's how much in total? I couldn't think, I started to count on my fingers and forced myself to stop . I felt faint . Elland-san continued, oblivious to my dazed expression .
"Next I would like to buy the Dragon's liver . This is a panacea like the blood but, it is said, several times more effective so it's something I wanted to possess at all costs . " Elland-san's face fell . "Sadly it's too expensive and we can't afford all of it . We'll buy half of the liver and pay you 1500 gold coins for that portion if you agree . "
Half of the Dragon's liver, they'll pay 1500 gold coins . . . Now my stomach was starting to ache . Help me, help me . . .
"Really, this Dragon was a splendid specimen, fully grown and unbelievably healthy . The liver is beautiful, large and with a nice colour . " Elland-san's voice was getting more and more enthusiastic as he discussed the creature's innards in glowing detail . "Realistically speaking Mukouda-san, this Dragon's liver was actually worth more than 3000 gold coins, being such a good specimen but if I bought all of it even at that price I'd not be able to afford anything else from the disassembly . "
3000 gold coins, 3000 gold coins, 3000 gold coins for one liver . . . I clamped down on my sudden desire to open up the Net Super and see what a beef liver would cost in my world . A single gold coin would buy ten prime beef livers, twenty, fifty . . . and, I reminded myself, that was a single organ . Johan-san, the Guild's disassembler back in Carerina had told me there was nothing that wasn't valuable in the disassembly of a Dragon, there must be other organs as well? How much was the whole thing worth? My stomach twinged again . I had thought the Dragon was like the other monsters I had brought in for disassembly and sale, I had underestimated just how valuable it was .
"The last item I've decided to purchase is a single fang . I'll pay 2000 gold coins for it . " Elland-san's gaze swept the workshop table covered with Dragon parts . "To tell the truth I was in two minds whether to buy the eyeballs or a fang but in the end I chose the fang . "
A- A single fang, two thousand gold coins . . . Ha~, I could only sigh now, my mind had gone blank . Numbers that big didn't mean anything to me any more .
"You see, there's a renowned blacksmith who works in this city and I've spoken to him about a sword I'm thinking of having him make for me which would incorporate the fang . It would be the sharpest sword ever, a sword any true swordsman would wish to wield just once before they die . A Dragon sword, the sword of my dreams muahahaha!" There was that Dragon word again . . .
What he had said worried me a little . The purchases were being made by the Adventurers Guild, right? But this sword he was eulogising seemed to be something he himself wanted, a "Dragon sword, the sword of my dreams" right? Was it OK for him to be spending the Guild's money on a personal desire? I asked him about this and after he calmed down (a little) he explained the sword he wanted made would belong to the Adventurers Guild, not himself personally . It would be a showpiece item .
"It's a Dragon sword after all . It will be a sword comparable to any cursed sword from the deepest level of any dungeon anywhere . " Elland-san explained . "Such a sword is sure to be a big attraction for this Guild . Since there is a dungeon here Adventurers gather in this city . If the Guild possesses a Dragon sword it will attract more Adventurers . A Dragon sword is a legendary sword for those who wield swords . "
Adventurers are interested in fine weapons, not surprisingly so if they heard rumors of a Dragon sword it meant that they would flock to this city to catch a glimpse of it . Once they're here there's the dungeon too, another reason to stay . Now he had laid out his thinking I understood what Elland-san's intentions were regarding this Dragon sword he intended to have made . It was just that "Dragon" word and Elland-san's, ummm, enthusiasms still left me with a lingering suspicion of his motives . He was stunningly handsome but I had seen him being absolutely deplorable about anything to do with Dragons and I couldn't totally believe his professed reasons for buying the fang were truly why he had made that choice . Ah well, let it go and move on .
"Well then can I take all the rest?" I pointed to the Dragon materials which covered most the workbench . An astonishingly huge manastone in the middle, presumably from the Dragon, caught my eye but I was getting tired and just wanted to leave as soon as possible, to go back to my room to rest . Dealing with Elland-san was a tiring business .
"Yes, all the materials on this table are to be returned to you . " Elland-san put the two bottles of Dragon's blood he had been holding all this time on a small table nearby, beside a large clear jar filled with a large lump of brownish-grey material, half of the Dragon's liver I presumed, and a very large heavy fang .
"Those items on the table here will be purchased by the Guild . " Elland-san had made preparations for my visit, obviously . "I will pay you the purchase price . Since it's a large amount of money I'll give it to you in large gold coins . " Ah, I remembered, large gold coins were worth ten regular gold coins . I had been paid for the Wyvern subjugation and the Mithril Lizard affair back in Carerina in large gold coins .
"The price is 3800 gold coins for the two bottles of blood, half the liver and the fang so here are 380 large gold coins . " Elland-san handed me a very heavy hemp bag with the payment inside . I didn't bother to count the coins inside, I had become blase about such matters and I had grown to trust the Adventurers Guild about payments like this . I still looked inside the bag though, just to see . . .
"Oh, that's right, how much did the disassembly cost me?" I asked . Disassembling something as large and complex as a Dragon must require a large fee-
"No no, there's no charge for the dismantling . " Elland-san reassured me, a dangerously familiar gleam in his eye . "Rather I should have paid you for giving me the opportunity to disassemble the Dragon . " His lustful gaze swept the table overflowing with Dragon parts . "I have had a wonderful time over the past three days, it was a dream come true for me . " He lifted his slim strong hands before his eyes . "I had the privilege of disassembling a Dragon, a DRAGON! with these hands . . . "
Oh, oh, I see . Well if you don't want to be paid for your work then I will go along with that . Thank you . I started transferring the Earth Dragon's material from the workbench in my Item Box, counting them off as Elland-san watched over me, taking in the last sight of the creature he had disassembled . There were 158 bottles containing Dragon blood, a jar containing eyeballs and other jars with assorted organs all filled with some kind of liquid . When I asked Elland-san about it he explained it was a preservative fluid . As the name suggested it would keep the various body parts fresh . The preserving fluid had been made by Elland-san personally, a result of knowledge gained during his studies as a pharmacist . It was uncommon for Adventurers to learn such skills but not unknown . As he explained though, he had learned that Dragon was an essential component of Elixir and that had driven him to learn pharmacy against the day he'd get to disassemble a Dragon . Such dedication, I thought to myself, or obsession or crazy fixation or . . . I kept my hands moving, packing away the various Dragon parts on the worktable . The last items I tucked away were the remaining fang and finally the Dragon's huge hide, rolled up neatly into a bundle .
"The Earth Dragon's hide is beautiful, isn't it~?" Elland-san sighed as it disappeared out of sight into my Item Box . "As expected it was too expensive for me to purchase but I could stare at its gleaming scales for days on end . " I recalled him rubbing his cheek on the Dragon's skin when I left it with him to disassemble earlier but quickly tore my thoughts away . "However we don't have 10,000 gold coins to spare to buy it from you . " he finished .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? Did I hear that right? "Uh, just now, how many gold coins did you just say?"
"10,000 gold coins, I think I said?" Elland-san replied with a smile .
10,000 gold coins . . . 10,000 gold coins . . . 10,000 gold coins . . . my stomach lurched again . What could I buy with 10,000 gold coins? I couldn't imagine anything worth that much . Was there anything in this world that actually cost 10,000 gold pieces? I didn't know .
"I have to ask, is there anyone who would actually pay 10,000 gold coins for this skin?"
Elland-san thought for a moment . "Well, it would be difficult even for very rich nobles to afford it . Hmmm, maybe the Duke of Beauven in the south could manage to pay for it somehow . I can't think of anyone in this country other than him . "
The skin is so expensive, its price is so high that virtually no-one can afford to buy it and so it's effectively worthless . Strange . Going around saying "Buy this please . " would be a hard sell . No matter, I'd just let it rest for the time being beside Orthros-san and Chimaera-san in my Item Box . I'd do the same with the other Dragon parts I had already stored away, leave them be until I needed them or I found buyers for them elsewhere . The blood, other Guilds might buy some, I didn't know . I'd ask Elland-san about that later .
"The Dragon meat is being kept in an ice storehouse over here . " Elland-san led the way to a heavily-insulated door in the far wall of the warehouse . When he opened it cold air flooded out . I peered in, noticing the floor of the small thick-walled room had long grooves cut in it and filled with ice . Elland-san explained that an ice magic user came by regularly to refresh the ice channels .
"Since the body wouldn't fit in here in one piece I cut it into three sections . " Elland-san explained . I nodded, surveying the piles of meat which just about filled the ice room . Right, to work . I quickly packed the Dragon meat away in my Item Box and Elland-san closed the door again . He looked hesitant as we returned to the centre of the warehouse floor again, then he coughed and spoke .
"Mukouda-san, we talked earlier about Dragon meat and you agreed, didn't you that . . . ummm . . . " Oh, THAT discussion, back in Elland-san's office the day I arrived in Doran .
"Eeh, I remember we discussed it, yes . " I was trying to politely make my excuses and leave when Elland-san continued excitedly .
"Really? Then let's go!"
"Uh, where is it that we're going?" I asked, confused again .
"We're going to eat Dragon meat, what else?" Elland-san asked loudly . That wasn't a good thing to say around the Gluttonous Trio who were, of course, accompanying me and well within hearing distance .
"Nuu, have you finally finished here? Then it's time to eat some Dragon meat . " Fer said, already heading for the door . No it's not time to eat yet Fer, I told him telepathically but he wasn't listening .
"Meat? Are we going to eat meat? Meat meat~" Dora-chan had picked up on Fer's enthusiasm . No, Dora-chan, it's not time for meat meat . Slow down, you two! but they were already at the warehouse door .
"Mukouda-san will do the cooking, right? So let's go to my house . " Elland-san babbled on, his excitement almost palpable . "You don't know what sort of folks might turn up and interrupt if you cook Dragon meat somewhere else . My house, it's the best place to sit down calmly and and eat Dragon meat in peace . I can lock and bar the doors and-" He had me by the arm and was dragging me mindlessly towards the warehouse door despite my best efforts to hold back .
"But you're working, you're the Guild Master here, you must be very busy right now-" I said, trying to distract him . If I could only get a solid grip on the worktable, even he wouldn't be able to drag such a large sturdy piece of furniture like that around, would he?
"Busy? What are you talking about Mukouda-san?" His eyes were filled with excitement and, dare I say it, lust . "There is nothing more important right now than tasting the meat of this Dragon!" He waved his arm around the room, encompassing the entire Guild building . "Besides, in a Guild this size we have an assistant Guild Master who can run things and deal with any problems if I'm not here so it's fine if I take some time off . " Oh, are you saying that you value your job here as less important than eating Dragon meat? That's deplorable, Guild Master Elland-san . Do your job like you should and don't just dump it all on your poor suffering assistant .
"Right, let's go!" My attempt to hold onto the worktable was to no avail and I left, well I was dragged from the Adventurers Guild by Elland-san . As the front door closed behind me I caught a glimpse of the stunned expression on the florid face of a rather overweight fellow standing by the reception desk . He was probably the assistant Guild Master, I decided as I was pulled along the street uncaringly by his boss . I felt some sympathy for him for having to work under the truly deplorable Elland-san .
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