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There was a strange smell in the room. It was a sour smell that stung the eyes.

Seletina wrinkled the bridge of her nose and looked at Gabutu as she revealed her displeasure. He, too, had no tolerance for this pungent odor. His face was wrinkled, and tears were welling up at the corners of his eyes.

The room was small.

In several large barrels, frogs the size of fists were piled tightly together, and several men could be seen opening their bellies with knives with great dexterity. The insides of the frogs’ guts were taken out of the open bellies and tossed into a nearby handbasket… That process was repeated over and over again.

“Handling Nigabuli Frogs…”

Gabutu nodded as Seletina muttered while stopping to breathe through her nose.

“I’m surprised you know what they are. Then you should know what the guys here are doing, right?” Gabutu asked, with a hint of mischievousness.

Nigabuli Frogs’ livers were essential for making Potions.

The meat and other internal organs smelled terrible and were neither poisonous nor medicinal, but the liver was different. The value of each one was not that high, but since they were numerous and could be spotted anywhere, adventurers of the world had first learned how to handle Nigabuli Frogs… and how to remove the liver.

Seletina figured that the plan was to mass-produce Potion in advance of the Ulbdor escape. Even if a perfect product could not be made, a run-of-the-mill alchemist could make a degraded product that imitated it.

It was certainly way more productive to use the Nigabuli Frogs here than to discard them. But… that was a task no one wanted to do. A Nigabuli Frog’s flesh began to rot the moment a blade pierced it, releasing a strange stench. It was a truly strong smell.

The smell was so nerve-wracking and dulled the senses that even among adventurers, there was a rule not to cut them during the course of a subjugation request.

The whole room was filled with a foul stench.

Gabutu, who was about to be knocked unconscious, quickly put on a mask and handed the same to Seletina. Seletina took one look at the mask and put it on, just like Gabutu, but the smell persisted. It was so pungent that it could easily penetrate a thick piece of cloth.

“Good luck.”

Gabutu said curtly.

He wanted to force Seletina to do a job that no one else wanted to do. It was a small scheme to lower Vivicy’s opinion of Tieck by him making some kind of blunder in an unfamiliar job, and also because Gabutu thought that the handsome boy, who, though he hated to admit it, was apparently favored by Vivicy, had never done this kind of dirty work before.

“Here’s an apron and a knife.”
“Isn’t there ventilation here?”
“No. The whole room is under a Purity Spell. If the smell leaks outside it will be outside of the spell’s range. Despite how it seems, the air in this room is quite pure.”
“I see…”

Seletina kept a scowl on her face. Gabutu chuckled inwardly at the expression on her face.

(You can refuse if you don’t want to do it.) Gabutu thought but didn’t show it.

He simply smiled and slapped Seletina’s bottom.

“It’s all you. If you have difficulty just ask the guys here for help.”
“What about you?”
“I work somewhere else. I’ll come check on you in an hour.”

Gabutu said that and left the room in high spirits. He felt like he’d won a medal of sorts, the feeling was so great that he thought of even sharing it with the other men. Gabutu was eagerly looking forward to the next hour.

◇◇◇

In exactly an hour, Gabutu made his way to the room in high spirits.

It was enough to make him want to hum.

It was heartbreaking to think that the boy, Tieck, was probably crying now. Gabutu was only 14 years old. His ambition and mischievousness were still adorable, but they were not something to be trifled with.

“Huh?” He muttered after noticing something unusual. There was something strange about the room. The place was filled with unusual enthusiasm and cheers. It was difficult to imagine such noises coming from a room intended for genuine corpse work.

“What’s going on…” Gabutu muttered as he opened the door.
“Yeaaa! Amazing!!! The brat’s speed is unreal. He’s toe to toe with Gen!”
“Gen is renowned as being the fastest in the universe at dissecting Nigabuli Frogs. To think he’d be matching him! Amazing!”
“Whoa! I can’t tell who’s faster!”
“I’m betting on the boy!”
“Nah, there’s no way Gen would lose! I’m betting a silver on him!”

A frenzy beyond imagination awaited Gabutu.

Seletina and Gen were working next to each other to process the insides of the Nigabuli Frogs. When they ran a knife through the meat, it unraveled as if a frayed thread was being pulled. The hearts were piled into a bucket nearby, and the pile grew taller and taller.

Dissecting Nigabuli Frogs was no easy matter, especially at such speed.

“What the…” Gabutu couldn’t hold back his surprise.

Who could have imagined that a beautiful boy who looked like he had never even dirtied his hands would dissect frogs with such skill that even the craftsmen were amazed.

Seletina’s eyes met Gabutu’s, and she smiled softly.

“Did an hour pass already?”
“Y-Yeah… Y-You’re quite fast at this…”

Gabutu admired Seletina’s skillful handling of the frogs.

“Thank you. It’s a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s quick.”
“I see, so you’ve dissected before…”
“Yes, it’s really nostalgic.”

Seletina showed a wide smile when she said so.

This was before she became a hero, and by extension, a knight, in her previous life. She’d first been an adventurer, and a poor one at that, giving her a lot of opportunities to dissect Nigabuli Frogs. Besides, wild frogs and other animals were a valuable source of protein.

She missed the days when she used to catch, peel, and eat them.

Gabutu, who had no way of knowing about her background, was simply astonished. He was also slightly taken aback by the sight of a beautiful boy with the appearance of a prince handling frogs one after another.