Chapter 98: Let's Dismantle a Dragon
“Well then, let’s start the Black Dragon Dismantling Course once again.”
After that, with the high-ranking adventurers and a girl named Ryune who joined us spontaneously, we resumed dismantling the dragons.
“However, since dismantling a Black Dragon right away wouldn’t be good practice, we will use a Green Dragon as teaching material.”
“U-Use a dragon as teaching material!?”
“I-Is that really okay!? Dragon materials are worth a fortune, you know!?”
Hmm? I think using a Green Dragon as teaching material is normal, though.
“Yes. The Black Dragon is a higher species of the Green and Blue Dragons, and like a Material Dragon, it’s a normal dragon that doesn’t require special care when harvesting. Therefore, I decided it was appropriate to use a Green Dragon, which has a similar basic structure, as a practice subject for dismantling.”
“A Black Dragon is normal? It’s a monster that can destroy a country, you know!?”
A Black Dragon destroying a country? Are you perhaps confusing it with a Darkness Dragon because they’re both black? The magnitude of strength is about two digits different, you know?
“To think we’d be provided with a real dragon as dismantling material for 200 gold coins. Taking this course was definitely the right choice. If anything, 200 gold coins is cheap.”
“That’s right. If we ever have the opportunity to participate in a joint dragon subjugation in the future, our party will receive preferential treatment in the distribution of shares for having dragon dismantling experience.”
“Moreover, it’s an excellent chance to investigate the structure of a dragon as a living creature. It’ll also serve as a reference for where to aim when fighting.”
The adventurers who paid 200 gold coins to participate in the dismantling course seem to be participating not just for a simple dragon dismantling opportunity, but with other objectives as well. As expected of experienced adventurers, they’re shrewd.
“Do you all have no experience fighting dragons?”
I spoke to the adventurers who were excited in front of the dragon.
“Yeah, our main source of income is scale gathering.”
“Scale gathering?”
What’s that?
“There’s a standing request to search for scales that dragons flying near the Dragon Peak occasionally drop. Adventurers who mainly undertake that are called Scale Gatherers. Since we operate near dragon territory, it’s very dangerous, but if we can get our hands on dragon materials in good condition, it’s quite profitable. There probably isn’t a single adventurer around here who hasn’t done scale gathering.”
Heh, so there was such a standing request. Picking up dropped scales is an interesting request.
Ah, maybe it’s a request to collect materials from the fast-fleeing Lightning Dragon or the Protect Dragon with special defensive abilities?
Since those are hard to defeat and few in number, you get scolded if you hunt them. They say to just take the regenerating materials and let them go because they’re precious dragons.
I see. Just like with Material Dragons, after I died in my previous life, a ban on hunting precious dragons was issued, and instead, requests to collect shed scales like scale gathering started appearing.
However, even if dragons drop scales occasionally, since Green Dragons or Blue Dragons are the most common at Dragon Peak, it doesn’t seem like a very lucrative job. After all, falling from the sky would damage them, and if a dragon drops them, they’re scales scratched off during grooming—or rather, scale-grooming.
“But just because we’re Scale Gatherers doesn’t mean we’re weak. The monsters around here are powerful and troublesome beings capable of securing territory even with dragons nearby, and there are plenty of bandits called Scale Strippers who target scales obtained by others. Unless you’re an adventurer with a certain level of skill, scale gathering is more life-threatening than anything.”
I see. It seems scale gathering is positioned as a get-rich-quick scheme for rookies and a steady way to earn pocket money for veterans. Adventurers who can approach closer to the Dragon Peak and obtain scales in good condition are considered veterans, making it something like a gateway to success for adventurers around here.
“Though, to someone who hunts the dragons themselves, it’s probably no big deal.”
“No, no, most of what we hunted were the weakest Green Dragons. Any experienced adventurer could defeat them.”
Bahamut, who was reasonably strong, suddenly ran away, and as for the Golden Dragon, it was just a child. Surely these people are aiming for materials from precious dragons that shouldn’t be killed.
“…Because they’re the weakest, huh. As expected, an adventurer who uses a dragon as teaching material says things differently.”
“Then let’s return to dismantling. First, please try dismantling it normally. It’s fine to do it as if you were dismantling a huge lizard.”
“No, dragons and lizards are completely different…”
One of the dismantlers said that, but the person who taught me dismantling said, ‘Dragon dismantling isn’t much different from anything else. If you insert the blade along the flow of the material, you can cut anything.’ Well, actually, once I got used to it, dismantling the weakest Green Dragon didn’t feel much different from lizard-type monsters.
“Sorry, we’ve never dismantled a dragon. So first, we’d like you to show us your dismantling as a model.”
The ones who said that were the adventurers from earlier.
I see. Indeed, I can understand hesitating at the first dismantling. I was nervous during my first dismantling too. Though I got used to it after dismantling 20 or 30 of them.
“Show us too. We didn’t see your dismantling directly yesterday.”
Since the other dismantlers also asked to see a model, I decided to dismantle one Green Dragon to show them. Yep, yep, it’s great that everyone is full of motivation.
“Then first, I’ll peel off the Green Dragon’s scales. At the base of the Green Dragon’s scales, the part connected to the skin, there’s a spot where a knife enters easily. If you thrust the knife here, it goes in easily and peels off like this.”
Saying that, I lightly lifted a Green Dragon scale and thrust the knife between the scale and the skin. Then the scale peeled off easily.
“Ooh!? Amazing, such a large scale peeled off in an instant!?”
Well, this is a matter of knack. I repeatedly peeled off scales to show them until a certain area of skin was exposed.
“Here? No, that’s not it.”
“Everywhere is hard? How did the knife go in so smoothly?”
Everyone tried peeling scales using their own dragons, but it didn’t seem to go well. Well, you get the knack for this by doing it repeatedly, so for now, I’ll show the next step.
“Next, we cut the skin. If you look at the skin with the scales peeled off like this, you can see the places where the knife enters easily, so thrust the knife there.”
Saying that, I thrust the knife into the Green Dragon’s skin.
“He thrust the knife into the dragon’s skin effortlessly!?”
“No way!? Even putting a blade into an Iron Lizard’s skin is tough!?”
Eh? Iron Lizard? That lizard monster that’s ‘Iron’ in name only and not hard at all? Yeah, well, maybe it’s just my imagination.
“Everyone, please try inserting your knives too. There are still several places where you can thrust a knife.”
Saying that, I pointed to the Green Dragon with peeled scales and took a step back.
“A-Alright, I’ll do it!”
“No, me first!”
Everyone rushed to the Green Dragon, scrambling to be first.
“Yes, yes, in order, in order. One thrust per person.”
Immediately, Liliera gathered the dismantlers and formed a line. Ah, when someone does things I don’t notice at times like this, I truly feel glad I formed a party.
“Damn, no good.”
“Woah, it’s hard!?”
“Is this really skin!? It’s soft but the blade won’t go through!?”
“It looked so easy…”
The participating adventurers also thrust their knives into the Green Dragon’s skin, but it didn’t seem to go well.
Just then, a cheer went up in the dismantling area.
“U-Um, it went through…”
The one who said that was the girl who applied to join the dismantling course at the last minute earlier. I think her name was Ryune.
“Ooh, not bad, Missy!”
“You managed to thrust it in well.”
The dismantlers praised Ryune for thrusting the knife into the Green Dragon’s skin.
“Th-Thank you very much!”
Ryune thanked them while being confused by the dismantlers’ praise. What a heartwarming scene.
Now then, let’s continue dismantling. I switched places with Ryune and gripped the knife I had thrust in earlier.
“Once you’ve thrust the knife in, slide the blade along the flow of the skin.”
I ran the knife caressingly so as not to go against the flow of the fibers.
“O-Ooh!? What a clean cut!?”
“Wonderful, as expected, the scene I saw yesterday wasn’t a hallucination…”
“Is this the divine dismantling that made the Boss call it the return of the Dismantling King… Indeed, it is.”
“Ah, in decades of dismantling work, I’ve never seen such beautiful dismantling. It’s truly art.”
No, no, I’m just dismantling normally along the flow.
“Umm, if you look closely at any material, there’s a place that’s easy to cut. So if you thrust the knife there, you can slide the blade smoothly afterwards. Like this scale, for example.”
Having finished skinning the Green Dragon, I explained while thrusting the knife into a Green Dragon scale I picked up.
“Woah!? A dragon scale split with one thrust!?”
“Seriously!? Dragon scales are harder than iron, right!?”
Well, it’s only harder than iron, after all. Besides, if a craftsman gets serious, they can forge iron that’s harder and more flexible than dragon scales.
At that moment, I felt an exceptionally strong gaze. That said, I didn’t sense hostility in the gaze. Without moving my eyes, I searched for the owner of the gaze from the scene in my peripheral vision and found the person immediately. It’s Ryune. Without hiding her gaze, she was staring at me with a look of immense excitement. Is there something bothering her?
“Now everyone, please try up to the point of skinning the dragon. If there’s anything you don’t understand, I’ll teach you as we go.”
“Show us peeling the scales from closer up!”
“Show us how to identify the easy-to-thrust spots on the skin again!”
“Teach us how to cut the scales.”
The moment I said I’d teach, everyone rushed forward, but Liliera and Mina stopped them.
“Okay, stop! Rex said to try it first. Questions come after it doesn’t go well!”
“B-But hey, it’s dragon material, you know? If we mess up how we insert the knife, the material will be ruined.”
One of the dismantlers muttered, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
“It’s fine. There are still plenty of Green Dragon materials, so I don’t mind if you fail as much as you want.”
“A-As much as we want!?”
At my declaration that failure was acceptable, the dismantlers’ faces looked shocked.
“Yes, as much as you want. There’s a mountain of them!”
“…C-Come to think of it, they were piled up casually in that corner.”
The dismantlers looked at the spot where the dragon materials were piled up yesterday. Well, right now, we’ve retrieved them into the magic bag, so there’s only one Green Dragon placed there for teaching material.
“Hey, you lot! Don’t do anything shameful and steel yourselves!”
The one who said that was the Boss of the dismantling area.
“The Master said we could ruin this dragon as much as we like as teaching material! Then accept that goodwill obediently and dismantle it! We’re here to have the Master’s techniques transmitted to us! Obey the Master’s orders absolutely! That’s the rule of the workshop!”
“Boss…”
“Besides, the Master went out of his way to prepare this to teach us the technique to dismantle that Black Dragon. That implicitly means that even dismantling it until it’s tattered isn’t nearly enough!”
“!!!?”
At the Boss’s words, the dismantlers gasped.
“Technique isn’t something you can fully learn in a day or two. By using a real dragon as teaching material, the Master is saying to engrave it into our bodies while maintaining maximum tension!”
Eh? What’s that? I didn’t mean that at all?
“I see, as expected of the Boss!”
“I didn’t think of that at all!”
Umm, I didn’t think of it either. Or rather, I just provided it because we had extra materials.
“So you lot! To answer the Master’s expectations, dismantle like your life depends on it!”
“Yes, sir!”
Umm, somehow, piling misunderstanding upon misunderstanding, the dismantlers began to devote themselves to dismantling the Green Dragon.
“I see, providing Green Dragon materials with that much thought. As expected, an adventurer capable of hunting dragons has a different scale of thinking.”
Ah, the adventurers are also having some strange misunderstanding. U-Umm… should I consider it a lucky break?
“Man, as expected of Big Bro. To think you thought that far ahead!”
No, I didn’t think that, Jairo. Don’t misunderstand, really.
“But well, isn’t it better for them to be serious than to waste materials by working timidly?”
Mina followed up for me.
“Well, that might be true.”
Yeah, if they get serious, that’s good.
“Ufufu, with this, the dismantling fee for the dragon materials becomes free.”
Meguri was staring at the dismantlers with a grin on her face. Yeah, most of the Green Dragons provided this time were defeated by Liliera and Jairo‘s group, the Dragon Slayers.
This morning, when I was about to go hunt 20 or 30 Green Dragons at Dragon Peak to use as teaching material for this dismantling course, Meguri proposed using their dragons.
I thought using dragons Jairo and the others defeated for the first time as practice dummies for others was questionable, but Meguri said it would be fine if they made the dismantling fee free instead. I confirmed with Jairo and the others too, but they seemed to have been persuaded by Meguri and gave their OK easily. Yeah, she prepares well.
And this offer was accepted immediately by the Guild side as well, saying it was exactly what they wished for. So, what’s being dismantled now are the dragons Jairo and the others defeated.
“If everyone is dismantling a dragon for the first time, it wouldn’t make much difference even if we requested dismantling normally. Rather, since they are dismantling under Rex‘s guidance, the condition will be much better than dismantling with barely any knowledge. And it’s free! This is a big wave we have to ride!”
Wow, Meguri is speaking in long, fast sentences unthinkable for her usual self.
“That girl gets talkative when money is involved.”
I see, I vaguely realized it, but Meguri is a money-loving girl, huh.
$diamond$
“Alright! Dismantling finished!”
“Here too!”
“W-Wait a minute! I’ll be done soon!”
One after another, the dismantlers reported they had finished skinning. Those not yet done were close.
I went around to the dismantlers who finished skinning and checked the condition of the dismantled materials.
“Hmm, hmm…”
“H-How is it?”
The dismantlers asked with half-expectation. Why half? Looking at the cut surface of the skin explained it instantly.
“The cut surface is quite rough.”
“…I knew it.”
They probably knew they’d be told that. The dismantlers looked at the skins they peeled with frustration.
“Damn, what’s wrong!? I intended to peel it the same way!?”
Indeed, no matter what, this cut is too poor. Both the dismantlers and the adventurers have similarly messy cuts.
“Um, I finished…”
Just then, Ryune brought the skin she had peeled.
“Yes, let me check.”
I checked the skin Ryune dismantled.
“…Oh? It’s pretty clean.”
“What!?”
Reacting to my words, the dismantlers rushed over.
“It’s true! The cut is cleaner than our skins!?”
“How is this possible!? Is the young lady a dismantler!?”
The dismantlers pressed Ryune.
“N-No. I’m an ordinary adventurer.”
“Are you saying an ordinary adventurer dismantled better than us!?”
This is surprising. Indeed, it’s surprising that Ryune, who is younger than the Guild’s employed dismantlers, could cut the skin more cleanly. I checked the difference between the skins peeled by the dismantlers and the skin peeled by Ryune again.
“Hmm?”
And I arrived at one conclusion.
“I see, so that was it.”
“Did you figure something out!?”
The dismantlers sharply picked up my mutter.
“Yes, it was a very simple thing.”
“What was the cause!?”
“Explaining it is simple, but experiencing it would be best. I’ll explain it tomorrow at noon, so today’s course ends here.”
Leaving the dismantlers, who were still asking for an explanation, to Liliera and the others, I asked the Boss about the location of a certain shop.
“Boss, is there a shop that can do this kind of thing?”
“Ah, if it’s that, go out of the Guild and turn right; it’s a little way down.”
“Thank you very much.”
Alright, I know the location, so let’s go prepare for tomorrow right away!
