Ch.414Late-Arriving NPCs. (2)

# Chairman Torque Bigman of Aiti

To meet that man, I had to visit every craftsman in the city and complete menial tasks—in other words, clear all the sub-quests and raise that stupid reputation stat.

Having to do sub-quests to progress the main quest was incredibly frustrating for a salmon player like me.

But now, that very man is right in front of us. More precisely, he’s sitting on the central sofa in an opulent room inside a massive train, smiling benevolently as he welcomes us. My goodness, is this really him?

“Well, I should have been the one to visit and pay my respects to you. Since I’ve made you come all this way, it’s only right that we host you properly. Please, everyone, have a seat!”

Despite the fact that Rei, the Chikuyo Miho sisters, and I were clearly dressed as mere escorts, he had sofas prepared for us too. He began instructing people who actually looked like proper maids—unlike that rude maid from earlier—to prepare refreshments.

Seeing his generous and kind demeanor, Ira smiled brightly and was the first to sit on the sofa. Ragni sat beside Ira, and Green Stone took a seat next to her as well. Huh? Why are both of them sitting next to Ira? Well, anyway. I sat down on another sofa with our ladies, and he clapped his hands with satisfaction, taking documents from his bag and placing them in front of Ragni.

“The Behemoth hide and 30 tons of leg bones you mentioned earlier! We should be able to load all of that onto this engineering train, but seeing it up close, the size is truly no joke! I’m afraid we’ll easily exceed our initially planned timeframe of one week. By chance, have you already prepared any dismantled portions in Neiti?”

“We can help dismantle the hide in just a day. As for the leg bones, we’re having trouble with the dismantling process, so we were hoping Aiti’s craftsmen could stay on-site and work on it over a period of about two months.”

“I see! I see! So, you’d like the resident craftsmen to handle the restoration work as well?”

“No. Since we don’t know when the Behemoth’s corpse will start decomposing, we want that work to proceed quickly on its own track. We’d like to receive separate support for the restoration personnel. Our city restoration plan…”

“Ah! Let’s discuss that part later! For now, just about the Behemoth materials! Oh! I’m not saying I won’t discuss restoration at all! It’s just that even the material transaction alone seems like it will be quite in-depth, so I think it would be better to split our meeting over two days.”

“I see. Thank you for your consideration. Then, regarding the dismantling of materials…”

Seeing the swift business handling from someone who seemed to be the leader of those who had been acting like jerks until just now, Ragni’s words and calculations began to accelerate as well. Eventually, even Green Stone, the elder of Siltra who was known to have contributed the most troops in this war, joined the conversation. We were left floating in a daze, mindlessly eating and drinking the refreshments and tea while listening to the three people’s conversation. After about two hours…

*Rustle rustle rustle!*

“Well! This is a very satisfactory deal for me! So, once the leg bone work is completed before the corpse begins to decompose, we’ll start on the spine work as well, and you’ll exclude the cost of the dismantling craftsmen’s labor from the price?”

“Yes. We’re grateful for Aiti’s generous purchase. We’ll provide additional manpower where support is needed. Is that acceptable, Elder Green Stone?”

“Hmm. Since almost all beastmen and demon folk are already deployed for city restoration, we can certainly provide support for simple labor. However, we would like to request trade with Aiti in return for our support. We’re not looking for special favors, but if you could establish an official route to sell our forest resources in the future…”

“Ah! Siltra is famous for its millennial resin, isn’t it? I shouldn’t say this, but it’s been quite troublesome for Aiti as well that this sturdy wood has only been available through auctions in limited quantities! If you’re looking for trade routes related to that, we can certainly work on establishing legitimate channels and consider purchasing fixed quantities in the future! In return—though I hesitate to call it that—we’d like to send craftsmen to Siltra later to help with millennial resin processing. How does that sound?”

“Regarding that matter, I should first return to Siltra and discuss…”

The discussion concluded with quick document preparation, and they drafted additional contracts detailing what each party wanted. Haha, at some point I had just become a machine that chewed on snacks.

Ragni seemed satisfied as she reviewed the documents and tucked them away, and Elder Green Stone nodded with approval after reading the papers twice and putting them away. Wow, I never expected this man to come in person. Things wrapped up faster than I thought—

“Well then, I’ve kept you waiting. Shall we get to the main point?”

*Flinch*

As if the two hours of discussion so far had been merely an appetizer, his gaze toward Ragni, Green Stone, and me changed. But, main point? What main point? What else is there to discuss besides the Behemoth…

“Hehehe! What else could it be? The ‘golem restoration’ you mentioned in your previous crystal ball communication—isn’t that the true purpose that ‘all of you’ desire?”

“……”

He wasn’t viewing me and our party as mere escorts.

His pointed remark caught even Ragni off guard, causing her to briefly show an expression of being outmaneuvered, and we all broke out in cold sweat despite the warm tea we’d just consumed. My goodness, when I met him as an NPC, I just thought he was a talkative guy. But in reality, he makes me break out in cold sweat.

I quietly looked at Ragni, and she closed her eyes for about two seconds before opening them and slowly beginning to speak—

“Regarding that matter—”

“Yes. It’s our family. We want to restore the golem. Can you do it?”

“Oho…?”

Ira’s voice cut off what Ragni was calculating and about to say, causing my eyes and those of everyone in our party to widen like saucers.

Oh dear, Ira. This conversation should have been left entirely to Ragni!!

Before the situation could develop into one where our opponent might see our desperation and make unreasonable demands, Ragni started to move to pass Ira to me. However, Torque Bigman stopped Ragni’s action with a laugh and began to look at Ira seriously. This doesn’t look good…!!

“Young lady, is the golem your family?”

“Yes.”

“Is it precious to you?”

“Yes.”

“How precious is it?”

“It’s so precious that money can’t buy it.”

“Hehe, is that so.”

“Um, Ira…?”

Ragni grabbed Ira’s hand, sweating profusely as if everything had gone wrong, but Ira’s purple eyes remained fixed on the chairman, not moving to look at Ragni or me. Ah, Green Stone!! Why did you let her sit there!! You should have passed her to me before she sat down!!

Though it wasn’t his fault, I found myself inwardly screaming and begging Ira to stop. Meanwhile, Torque Bigman, unlike his earlier benevolent appearance, now leaned his large body completely against the sofa and looked down at Ira as if he had gained the upper hand.

“Young lady. Golem restoration is expensive. If it was strong enough to be destroyed while fighting the Behemoth, it must have been quite powerful, right? For such a strong golem that’s as precious as family, do you have enough money?”

“How much do we need?”

“How much indeed. To be frank, matching your honesty, the cost to restore a ‘completely destroyed golem’ would be about equivalent to the price of the Behemoth’s hide.”

The price of the Behemoth’s hide. Though I was only half-listening earlier, I’m certain Ragni had quoted around 20 billion cans. And that was already a fire-sale price. It’s obvious that he’s quoting such a high figure because he thinks he’s got us cornered. Damn it, at this rate…!!

“Ira, that’s enough…!!”

“200 billion—I don’t have it right now, but I can get it!”

“Oh? How?”

“We’ll clear the dungeon in your town!”

“……”

No, even clearing Aiti’s dungeon won’t yield 200 billion cans.

Realistically, getting 500 million cans would be considered a jackpot. Did our family’s discussion about the next dungeon somehow convince Ira that it would provide an enormous reward? Ira spoke with sparkling eyes and confidence, and seeing her, Torque Bigman’s face contorted and—

“Pfft, hahahahaha!! Our city’s dungeon!! Wow, you got me again!! Hahahahaha!!!”

“….?”

He burst out laughing by himself. Is he going to mock her as a foolish child after laughing like that? Hoping Ira wouldn’t get hurt, I stood up and pulled her into my arms, but the chairman continued laughing as if he didn’t even notice my action.

After nearly a minute of continuous laughter, he gulped down the cold tea in front of him as if his throat had gone dry.

“Our town’s dungeon is much more dangerous and powerful than you might think. Are you willing to risk such danger for the golem?”

“No problem! I’m strong! And my brother is much stronger!! And for Gor’s sake, I can do that much!!”

“Is that so? What about you, brother?”

“Well, that…”

Clearing a dungeon wouldn’t be a problem. I could even destroy the dungeon boss if asked. But it’s obvious to anyone that this wouldn’t come close to the price he quoted.

“Hehehe! Not just the young sister, but the brother too. You have the look of someone who could easily clear a dungeon for the sake of a golem.”

“Um, Chairman. Actually…”

Since Ira had already spilled everything, Ragni continued the explanation while sweating nervously, trying to keep things as smooth as possible. A golem destroyed in the battle with the Behemoth. Fragments that didn’t even retain the original form. What we wanted was no ordinary golem—a body on the level of a [Mime Golem], far superior to mere Iron Golems. After hearing the full story, the chairman said:

“…Interesting. A Mime Golem. You had one of those legendary golems? Well, it must have been that powerful to be used in the battle against the Behemoth. Kukuk, isn’t that fascinating. But from what I hear, you want to restore the golem. If almost no fragments or core remain, how roughly did you use it…”

“Well…”

As Ragni quietly presented the blueprint of Gor and continued her explanation, the chairman’s expression completely changed, and he began to focus intently on the content. Huh? What’s this? I’m getting an eerie feeling…

“…so actually, rather than restoration, we’d like to create a golem stronger than the original. If necessary, we’re considering using materials from the Behemoth…”

“Ohhh!!! This, this is truly brilliant and amazing!!!”

“Eh?”

We all froze in confusion as he jumped up, holding the blueprint and shouting after listening to Ragni’s explanation. He paid no attention to our bewildered expressions and started laughing again. What’s going on? Why do I keep getting this chilling sensation down my spine?

“Who is the owner of this golem, no—who created this Mime Golem?! I’d like to meet them right away!!!”

“Uh, ah. T-the golem’s tamer would be Jack here…”

“Ah!! It was you, the brother?!!”

“What? Ah, yes. B-but…?!!!”

Despite me holding Ira, he grabbed my shoulders forcefully and started spinning me around. Surprised by the chairman’s strength, I was at a loss as he began raising his voice like an excited child.

“Hahaha!! To think, to think someone would be this passionate about golems!! Such beautiful design! Such dedicated aesthetics pursued in a golem!! In my nearly 60 years of life, I’ve never seen such a magnificent golem design!! No wonder you call it family!! It’s not strange at all that the sister thinks of it as an older sister!!!”

“Ugh, wait a moment…?!!”

When I shouted at him to put me down, he set me down safely as if I were light, then took Ira’s small hand and began to make an affectionate expression. What on earth is happening…!!

“Young lady. Let’s go with what you suggested earlier. Reaching the lowest level of the city’s dungeon—I’ll set that as the condition for restoring the golem.”

“Uh, really?!!”

“Yes! Absolutely!! I never intended to refuse a request from a golem enthusiast from the beginning. If you had wanted a powerful combat golem, or some strange golem with multiple limbs just to serve and obey, I, Torque Bigman, wouldn’t have accepted even if offered not 200 billion but 2 trillion. But!!”

*Grip!*

This time he grabbed my hand instead of Ira’s, his eyes shining brightly, and that chilling sensation down my spine intensified. Wait, damn it, I know this feeling…!!

*Slurp*

“To find a kindred spirit passionate about golems, and moreover, with such beautiful design! Of course you’d want to restore it!! Wouldn’t you agree! My comrade!!!”

‘…T-this guy. He’s a genuine stone-head!!!’

That eerie feeling I had when I first met Ragni and Rei—when I encountered those perverts—I realized it far too late.