Flesh Golem of the Labyrinth City - Chapter 49



48. Where does it come from?

ㅡCreak

As I opened the door adorned with intricate patterns and stepped inside, I saw armors, shields, and weapons made from the materials of unknown monsters.

The stocks that haven’t been put on display yet are neatly organized.

“Miss Theodora, welcome.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

An elderly beastman with graying hair, dressed in a neat suit, greeted me politely as he introduced the interior to the beastman lady leading me.

The beastwoman with golden fur is named Theodora Lymane.

She is the young owner of Auction Lymane and the only daughter of Aleria Lymane, the head of the merchant guild ‘Golden Glove’ located in the northwest of Kalax.

“Hey, Direwolf.”

“Calling a person Direwolf, really?”

“Then you should just tell me your name.”

“Aven. Call me Aven.”

“Hey, why are you speaking informally?”

“And you?”

“I’m the owner of this place.”

“You’re not my master.”

“Well… that’s true.”

I was about to leave Auction Rymain since there wasn’t anything worth buying, but suddenly this young owner got irritated by my muttering and asked what I wanted to buy.

Is it really such a blow to his pride? Is he small-minded, or just kind?

“What exactly do you want to buy? There’s nothing you can’t find at Auction Rymain. Of course, we have what you want.”

“The material I want to buy isn’t ordinary, so I’m not sure if you have it here.”

“Are you looking down on me?”

“No, it’s not that. I just want something unusual.”

“So what is it!”

Well, the conditions for what I want are a bit complicated. First of all, it has to be a raw material with no chemical changes. I can’t use leather that has been tanned with lye or tannin.

Of course, it can’t be something that’s been cooked or processed with heat. Naturally decayed materials are also difficult to use. It might be okay if I can restore it while using it to some extent, but fresh is best.

It should be small enough to fit in my mouth, or strong enough to be bitten with human jaw strength.

As a single material, it should have a certain level of usefulness when it acts on my body, but not so powerful that it’s overwhelming.

When I first used the muscle of the direwolf leader, it put a strain on other organs. Among the things I’ve eaten so far, the muscle fibers of Ursus and the muscle of the orc chief have the most power per volume.

I’m managing to control it now, but muscles that produce more power than I can control put a strain on my skeleton. It would be nice if I could eat bones, but would you do that for me?

“Why do you need such conditions? At our auction house, Rhymeine, the best craftsmen in Kalax process the finest materials in the most perfect way. If you want raw materials, you should go to a dismantler.”

“I thought you had everything here. That’s why I said I would just leave.”

“Answer the question. What do you need it for? High-quality raw materials? Are you planning to take them to another labyrinth city for sale?”

“No way. I use them all myself.”

Wait, there are other labyrinth cities? I’ve been in this world for two months, and this is the first I’ve heard of it.

Anyway, Rhymeine doesn’t sell completely unprocessed raw materials.

And it seems a bit different from what I want. Here, they mostly sell materials like hides, scales, and leather with high strength and special properties for making weapons or armor.

Of course, I could use hides or scales if I ate and swallowed them, but my throat isn’t that wide. It’s a shame.

“Can you make weapons or armor from monster muscles or internal organs?”

“That’s not how they’re used.”

“Then what? You don’t eat them, do you?”

“For eating.”

“Wait, what..? Eating?!”

Most of the monster’s eyes, hearts, internal organs, muscles, and blood are discarded unless used as ingredients for food or alchemy.

Most people have no way to use the muscles and internal organs of creatures, but it’s different for me.

“At the processing plant that collaborates with Rhymeine, dozens of tons of such things are thrown away as trash every month. They are mostly ground up to make feed for livestock monsters or, if there’s no problem, spread as fertilizer in the fields.”

“What a waste. Can’t I get them cheaply?”

“But what do you do with them? Did you get a curse of eating strange things?”

“Not really. I got a skill that allows me to use them effectively.”

“How?”

“Watch closely.”

I approached Theodora and pulled down my right lower eyelid to show her. Then, I replaced it with the eyeball of the Umbra Valkyrie. Theodora, who had been watching intently, was startled and perked up her ears.

She stretched out both hands, grabbed my cheeks, brought me closer, and stared intently.

“Umbra Valkyrie..! That eye! What happened!?”

“It’s a skill. I can use what I eat. If I eat muscles, I can use the monster’s muscles in my body. Remember I said I smelled like a direwolf? I once ate the direwolf leader.”

“What..! You weren’t a beastman!?”

“No, no matter how you look at it, I’m not a beastman. I don’t have ears or a tail.”

“I, I thought you made them invisible with magic!”

“You thought I was the same kind of beastman?”

“Not really, but….”

Theodora’s ears noticeably drooped.

“Anyway…. You said you’d prepare the necessary materials. Is there anything you want?”

“I want to look around a bit. I want to visit the workshop you mentioned. You said we could collaborate?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’d like to get some of the things that are thrown away as trash.”

Every month, dozens of tons of upper-level monster muscles, intestines, and other parts that are useless to others are discarded.

It might be difficult to use everything, but even a little would be a great help to me. There will be limits, though.

To use stronger muscles, I need to do something about the bones. I need to eat enough bones to reconstruct the entire skeleton as quickly as possible. This is not easy.

“For free?”

“Huh, a rich girl can do some charity work.”

“Hmph. Are you an idiot? Rich people never do charity work, you know?”

“Is that so? What do you want? It’s not like you don’t have money.”

Theodora approached me and scrutinized my body from head to toe. She reached out and fiddled with my side, then grabbed my forearm with both hands to measure its circumference, before finally speaking.

“You, come to the labyrinth with me.”

“The labyrinth..? Why all of a sudden?”

“I need a partner. I want to see the labyrinth with my own eyes. But, none of the people around here appeal to me.”

“Sorry, but I’m not that strong of an explorer. I can’t give you the results you want. It’ll be full of inconveniences, and we might not even be able to eat properly.”

“I don’t care. If you’re too strong, you won’t get the proper labyrinth experience, and that’s something I want to avoid.”

“Hmm…”

Do I really need to go to the labyrinth with someone I just met?

“What do you like about me?”

“Uh, that… Anyway! Are you in or not? Hurry up and tell me!”

“Are you strong?”

“I’m not weak. I won’t be a hindrance to the labyrinth exploration.”

If that’s the case, I don’t see any harm. If I can get the muscles of powerful monsters just by accompanying her to the labyrinth, then why not?

“When do you plan to go?”

“I have a schedule. It’s difficult until the day after tomorrow, but come here tomorrow instead.”

Theodora handed me a piece of paper. It was a white sheet I hadn’t seen in a long time, with the address and a brief map of a monster dismantling facility affiliated with Golden Glove and collaborating with Rhyme Main.

“When?”

“Around 4 PM, I guess. I have a schedule before that.”

“Well, alright.”

In the end, I couldn’t really buy anything at the Auction Limein. Instead, I secured a route to easily obtain high-quality materials from top-tier monsters, thanks to a strong-willed lady party member.

“Hey, but are you really not a beastman?”

“I told you, I’m human.”

“Hmm… Alright. Go on.”

“Oh, but this one looks pretty good. How much is this?”

Even during the conversation, I kept wandering around the warehouse, looking at various items. Then, a sword caught my eye. I really liked its appearance.

The blade was made of some material that didn’t let in any light, pitch black, and it was a fairly long double-edged sword.

“That? It’s a sword made of black adamant. It should be around 200 gold.”

“Oh.”

From noble mtl dot com

“How is it? It’s much cheaper compared to the level of craftsmanship, right?”

“Hmm… Is that so.”

Is 200 gold an amount that can coexist with the word ‘cheap’? Even 1 gold is a lot of money.

Is 200 gold for a single sword even reasonable?

“What? Are you saying I’m overcharging?”

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t have that kind of money.”

“How much is your budget?”

“Roughly… around 30 gold.”

“…What did you come to buy?”

“I told you, materials…”

* * * * *

“Don’t be late tomorrow. Time is gold. My time is rare metal.”

“Okay.”

Whatever happened, there was a harvest. Dozens of tons of high-level monster innards. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.

“I should buy some snacks for the lady and the kids.”

Lately, I’ve been out and about, not helping with the inn work. More than anything, I haven’t apologized to Sera yet.

Sera herself seems to be kind-hearted and doesn’t seem to mind, but still.

Or not? I gave her a baby bird, didn’t I? She seemed to like it a lot.

“Still, I should buy something.”

Since I came all the way to the northwest, I think they’ll like it if I bring back a delicious dessert.

“It’s cold.”

It seems like it will be a while before it gets warm at night.

“Thank you.”

“Take care.”

Holding a delicious-looking dessert in my hand, I headed to the inn. The sun was almost set, and it was around 6:30 PM.

The lights were brightly lit in the first-floor restaurant, and it seemed like there were a few dinner guests, judging by the noise.

“Ma’am, I’m back.”

“Oh, welcome! This is the Gisuemso Inn!”

“What?”

A woman’s voice, which I heard for the first time, greeted me energetically.

“Who is this?”

“Ah, you are..!”

“No, this is…”

It’s the archer I met in the labyrinth back then.

Why do people keep popping up out of nowhere?