Flesh Golem of the Labyrinth City - Chapter 46



45. Just When I Was About to Rest

“Th-that… How does it taste..?”

“Oh, come on. I told you, it’s not about the taste.”

“Yes! R-right, you did.”

I sat in the guild workshop, chewing on a tail. It’s so convenient having a dismantler right next to me. All I have to do is eat whatever he cuts up for me.

It would be perfect if he didn’t keep misunderstanding things. Anyway, this will do.

“Aven? I heard you did something amazing on the 10th floor of the labyrinth?”

“Oh, Dalia. It just happened that way.”

“Are you close with Meyerbridge? So many people are helping you with your tasks.”

“Not at all. It just happened that I got some help.”

Dalia visited the workshop, probably just starting her shift. That bright smile never fades, even in the morning.

“You look beautiful this morning.”

“Uh, uh-huh.. Thank you, Aven. You too-“

“Here it is! This is the last part!”

“Oh, thank you.”

Crunch-

The dismantler handed me the last joint of the Lizardman’s tail, and I took it and ate it. Then Dalia’s expression?

“Huh..? A-Aven..? Why are you putting that in your mouth.. Why..?”

“Oh, this? It’s because of a skill.”

“Is that so…”

“Dahlia. You’ve worked hard since morning. I’m heading to the inn now.”

“Oh, really! You’ve worked hard. Go and rest quickly.”

“Yes. Well then, I’ll be off. I’ll come again later.”

After roughly finishing the greetings, I left the guild building and returned to the inn. The current time is 9 AM. Although I had been up since dawn, I wasn’t sleepy because I had been lying in the clinic.

Most of my equipment was lost or became unusable, and I need money to replenish them, but the payment won’t come until tomorrow morning.

It seems I should rest today by moving my body here and there. Although I have the muscles of an orc chief, most of my other muscles were overworked to the point where I couldn’t even walk.

And I still have a lot of personal experiments left to do. When I returned to the inn, Sera was not in the lobby, perhaps because she had woken up. The blanket was also neatly put away, and the incubator was still on the table, but Sera was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh. The egg is gone.”

When I looked inside the incubator, the egg was gone? I wondered what had happened, but the egg wasn’t rolling around anywhere nearby. The incubator wasn’t made in such a sloppy manner in the first place.

“Sera? Sera, are you here?”

When I stood in the lobby and called for Sera, I heard a response from somewhere.

—Yuan? Come quickly!

“Where are you?”

Following the direction of the voice, it seemed to be Sera’s room. I wondered if it was okay to enter a lady’s room, but since Sera told me to come in, it should be fine.

“Sera? I’m coming in?”

“Hurry!”

—Creak

When I opened the door and went inside, Sera and Tresha were lying side by side on the bed, staring intently at something.

“Tresha is here too.”

“Oppa! Look at this!”

“Huh? What is it?”

There was something wrapped in a blanket at the head of the bed. What could it be?

“Oh my. It was born.”

“Isn’t it adorable? It’s a baby bird!”

“Wow.. it’s so cute….”

Tresha and Sera were gazing at the baby red-feathered owl wrapped in the blanket with eyes dripping with sweetness. The little one couldn’t even open its eyes properly yet, and it was a fluffy ball, slightly bigger than a fist, quite large for a baby.

“How adorable. Have you given it a name?”

“A name?! How do we name it, Unnie?!”

“Right?! How should we name it..?”

“By the way, Oppa, do you know what kind of bird this is? Someone brought it over at dawn yesterday.”

“Yoo-eon sent it, right? Where did you get it from?”

“It’s a baby red-feathered owl.”

“Oh.”

At those words, Sera and Tresha paused for a moment. The legs that had been kicking around while lying side by side suddenly dropped, and they slowly got up from their lying positions and created some distance.

“Red-feathered owls… don’t they come from the labyrinth..?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“But, but… they’re powerful monsters that appear from the 8th floor onwards….”

“It’s the 7th floor. I think I brought this one from the 9th floor.”

Sera and Tresha hugged each other with serious expressions and looked at me.

“Wh-what if it grows and eats us..?”

“I don’t think that will happen.”

“Are you sure..? Is it really okay..?”

“Why are you so surprised? It’s still a baby. You know, birds think the first person they see is their mom. No matter what, would they eat their mom?”

“Really..?”

With that, Sarah and Tresha let out a sigh of relief.

“But only one of us can be the mom. There’s only one mom.”

“Then…”

“The one who doesn’t become the mom has to run away. There’s no other choice.”

“Gasp..!!”

It’s amusing to see them get so startled. They react to every single word.

“I’m just kidding. According to experts, if you raise them from a young age, they can be domesticated. Take good care of it.”

“Really! Stop teasing us, brother!”

“You’re so mean!”

Hearing that it’s okay, they go back to the blanket and smile again. That smile, it’s impossible not to be happy. Is it really that good?

“What will you name it?”

“Name..?”

“If you don’t give it a pretty name, it might grow up and eat you. Think carefully.”

Tresha, holding the blanket like a baby, looked up at me.

“You’re kidding, right..?”

From noble mtl dot com

“…”

“Ah, I told you not to do that..!”

“…”

“Oppa..?”

“Just kidding.”

“Go away!”

* * * * *

“Do you think this is your house? You can’t just bring anything in here.”

“Hahaha, sorry. But they both like it, don’t they? They’ll do fine.”

“Oh, you sly fox. If we take in another one like you, this inn will be a mess.”

The lady pours the stir-fried meat onto my plate, swinging the ladle threateningly.

“Oh dear, are you planning to pick up another one? Please be satisfied with me.”

“Enough, you rascal. If you’re done eating, go throw the trash into the pit.”

“Hey, ma’am. Are you still not making Tresha do that?”

With that, the lady gives me a hard flick on the head. It stings.

“You rascal. You’re so big, and you want to make a little kid do that?”

“Oh come on, I’m just kidding. I’ll do it, don’t worry. I’m the best at throwing away food waste in this labyrinth city.”

“Ugh, if only you could keep your mouth shut.”

Finished eating, finished the chores, and it’s a quiet 11 AM with no customers.

“Ouch, that hurts.”

I was lying in bed, groaning in pain, while Tresha and Sera were busy feeding the bird beside me, having brought a chair over.

“Wow, it’s eating so well~”

“Oh, so good. Should we get more food, sister?”

“Shall we? Should we give it more food?”

That thing might not be an owl. Is it a person? It’s living in luxury from the moment it was born.

“So, have you named it?”

“Valter! How is it? Isn’t it a cool name?”

“Is it a male?”

“Um… I’m not sure?”

Valter? If it’s a male, it’s not a bad name. If it’s a female, it’s a bit unfortunate. Watching the baby bird all day, giggling and laughing, my muscles are barely recovering. I’m losing my mind.

When I asked why they were here doing this, they just said, “Just because.” How can this be? I’m a patient… I just hate the world!

“Oh dear. I should get up.”

“Oh, Yoon. Weren’t you sick?”

“It’s complicated. I could be sick, or not.”

“Uh-huh, really? Where are you going?”

“I’m going to move my body a bit in the backyard. Stay here.”

In the end, I was driven out of my room and moved my body a bit in the backyard. It feels like the unused muscles are gradually recovering. Or maybe not.

Can they recover even when not in use? I don’t know. But I keep feeling like I’m getting better, so I’ll have to check it out properly later.

First, let’s see if I can extend my tail. The bones inside the tail are all different sizes, but if I fit them together in order, it shouldn’t be a problem. The cartilage is a bit of an issue, though.

“It works.”

It sticks well without any trouble. I don’t know how strong it will be since I forcibly extended the short tail, but now I can worry a little less about that.

It’s a highly versatile ability, capable of creating new organs that humans didn’t have. Adding tendons that weren’t originally on muscle fibers is no big deal.

There are plenty of tendons that I couldn’t use before because I couldn’t properly understand their structure. I thought that if I connected them to the wrong place, it could ruin my body since it was difficult to distinguish between muscles and tendons.

‘If it’s a tail, that part isn’t a problem.’

The tail has a simple muscle direction. If I connect it straight, it can exert much greater force.

I stuffed the tendons of the creatures I’ve eaten so far into the long tail, about 1.7 meters, and moved them around to remove connections that hindered movement or changed their positions.

Finally, if I appropriately distribute the thigh bones of Ursus, which have high bone density and are extremely hard, to supplement the strength of the tail…

“Amazing.”

I can exert enough force with my tail to support my body. The length has increased, so there are more muscles, and the force that can be exerted at the end has also increased. The power of tendons is truly incredible.

Swae-aek-

The end of the tail, swung with all my might, cuts through the air like a whip and advances.

I haven’t been hit by it, but I could feel its power through the savage sound. If I add the power increase through Bleeding Berserk to this? If night falls and I receive the awakening effect of the Direwolf, and I pour water to manifest the characteristics of the Lizardman…?

“They’re all dead.”

I’m extremely hungry from moving my body and using my brain all day. I don’t know how time has passed like this, but the sun is already starting to set.

As I store the tail and lie down on the ground looking up at the sky, I see something white flying in the distant sky.

‘A pigeon? A magpie…? No, it can’t be. Is there such a white bird?’

It’s too far to see well. What is that? It seems to be coming this way?

“Uh-oh.”

The white something that was circling in the sky suddenly performs a vertical drop right above my head.

“Wait, that…”

Thud-

A light, white object falls on my forehead.

“Come run an errand.”

As expected, it was a paper airplane sent by Albresto.

“I wondered why you didn’t call.”

I was trying to rest, but I guess I have no choice.