episode_0130

130. Recovery (3)

After the battle, I slept for 16 hours straight as if I had passed out, so the 8-hour magic stone recovery task wasn’t that difficult.

Rather, he had so much energy left that he was able to send both Sia and Lauren off to sleep and still be in good health.

Day 9 of exploration.

Today, we are doing the dismantling work again without fail.

The work speed is a little bit faster than yesterday, and progress is fast.

But when we got to the place where the corpses were set up like a barricade in the melee, the work slowed down a little.

“Cain~ Can’t I use this?”

“Ah, since I’m going to use my fingernails and toenails anyway, it doesn’t really matter if they break, sis.”

“Okay~ Claude, cheer up too!”

“Yeah, sis.”

Tanya, who had asked me a question, turns around and Claude and I exchange glances.

This time, Claude turns his head towards Roy and smiles, but Roy…

“Whew…”

He had an excited expression, as if he had seen a naked woman in front of him.

Roy’s eyes were slightly open when he ate breakfast, so I guess he took some medicine.

Claude was moaning loudly. Did Tanya tell you something?

And by the time I was almost done with my work today, I had cleaned up most of the lizard corpses, except for the one near where the champion and I fought.

“Everyone worked hard. It’ll be over by tomorrow morning.”

“”””Wow!!””◦””

Everyone looks excited, perhaps because the end is in sight.

If you sell the byproducts for about 60 silver, you’ll have some left over after covering the money you spend on equipment repairs, consumables, and food.

“Lauren, thank you for your hard work!!!”

“You worked hard, Tanya. You’re amazing for not being single.”

“Ah~ I told you to talk comfortably.”

“That…yeah, thank you for your hard work.”

“Hehehe. So cute.”

“Ugh!”

Tanya was being friendly with Lauren, who seemed to have something in common with me.

“Me too, unnie!”

Sia, who is captivated by Tanya’s basic sociability as well as her vixen and snake-like behavior, also wants to be praised and comes close to Tanya.

“You’ve worked hard, Ogu Sia. Wash your hands here.”

Slurp-

“Hehe, unnie, I’ll listen!”

“No, it’s okay, Sia.”

“Because you’re my mom. Don’t do anything difficult.”

Sia was showing a lot of interest in Tanya.

Perhaps because of the fact that she was pregnant, Lauren, Tanya, and Sia seemed to be getting closer as time went on.

I was quietly watching the three women chattering and talking like high school girls when Claude came up to me, wiping off his sweat.

“Thank you for your hard work, Claude.”

“Ugh. Hey, Cain.”

“Why?”

“…… Don’t… use it.”

Claude looks like he’s about to say something, then stops and touches his lips.

Are you hesitating whether or not to talk about Tana?

“Why are you talking nonsense?”

“Kekeke…! There is something like that.”

He opened his eyes to the sense of immorality of eating a woman who already has a partner, and he looked at me and hummed with a smug expression while wiping his hands.

Kid, I lent it to you, so don’t show off.

“You little shit. You’re so bland.”

“Whew… Are you going to have an after party when you get back?”

“Of course. I think it would be nice to do it at my sister and brother’s house.”

“? Do you have a house there?”

“I brought some with me when I came to the city, so I was looking to settle down.”

“Oh….”

Claude’s eyes are filled with anticipation. He seems to be thinking about how he will meet Tanya after the exploration is over. Maybe things won’t go as well as you think?

So I thought that the work of recovering the magic stone and materials would be completed without a hitch by tomorrow morning.

Day 10 of exploration.

It’s been three days since we started collecting magic stones and materials from the lizards’ corpses.

He approached the champion’s body.

At the time of the battle, I fought solely relying on the faint light of the glowstone, but now I brought a lantern and shined it on the bastard’s corpse.

Silver skin and scales, different from the dark green skin of lizards called khaki or army green… and an ornate necklace-like pattern carved into the skin around the neck.

Necklace pattern?

“This…this is!!!”

“Why are you like that, uncle?”

“Okay…just a minute.!”

“Ahjusshi?”

Mr. Hawk froze like a statue, as if he had forgotten to breathe.

And the shocked, wide-eyed pupils, trembling hands and disbelieving expressions.

The old man hurried to the body.

“Cain.”

“Yes.”

“Did you notice anything unusual when you fought this guy?”

The old man’s voice, which was calm and not his usual cheerful and frivolous tone, made me slowly recall the situation at the time.

“No. There was nothing…. Oh, he was laughing like a person when he saw me rolling around in the swamp after getting hit by the tail.”

“…..!!”

The pupils grow bigger again.

and.

“Cain… Sorry, I have to get my luggage.”

“Yes…? Why?”

“First, don’t touch this guy and do other work first.”

Despite the bewildered reaction, Mr. Hawk ignored it and hurriedly ran towards the passageway.

*

*

*

“Use…”

While Mr. Hawk went to get his luggage, I looked at the tattoo on the guy’s neck.

“Similar?”

Information I heard the other day about a prostitute having sex with someone at a brothel.

It had the exact same design as the necklace that Hawk had been searching for while wandering around the store.

“It’s such a unique design that there’s no way I’d mistake it, but what is this…”

And while I was observing the champion’s body for a while, Hawk returned.

“Wait…just step aside for a moment.”

“Yes.”

I looked at the hand of the old man who was holding something while panting. Was it a hammer? What was it?

The idea that all dwarves are blacksmiths is racist.

Although most of the people who flowed into this city and worked as blacksmiths were dwarves, there were also some who worked as explorers.

So I thought Mr. Hawk wasn’t particularly interested in blacksmithing, but when I saw him holding an old hammer that looked very old, I couldn’t help but use Hitomi Gaho.

‘Hitomi.’

[Hawk Iron Hand]

“Ha…”

“Why is that?”

“Oh, no.”

For the sake of the old man’s privacy, I didn’t check further, but this old man also has a last name.

What, why are there so many high-ranking people around me? It makes me sad to see ordinary people like that.

Zion, Mion, Lauren, and even Mr. Hawk.

Hawk, who had come back to the champion’s corpse, held the hammer with a pious look in his eyes and struck the part that looked like a necklace pattern.

Taang~!

Instead of a rough, dull sound, a clear sound rang out.

Rrrr!!!

“What is it?”

“After…”

The silvery steel scales that covered the champion’s body quickly disappeared, as if the nanosuit of the previous life’s Iron X had been removed, and replaced with skin and scales of the same color as the other lizards.

And where Mr. Hawk had struck the hammer, there lay a necklace.

“Mister, really?”

“Okay. Finally….”

Mr. Hawk, with a bitter expression, lifted the necklace and put it around his neck.

Woof-

And the necklace vibrates and sparkles faintly as if welcoming its owner.

“I have a lot to ask, but… let’s talk after I finish my work.”

“Yeah.”

The magic stone that came out of the lizard champion’s body was a low-grade magic stone.

It was surprising that the magic stone from the third floor came out of the guy’s body, but I hurried my work because it seemed like Mr. Hawk was going to tell me something.

Just after noon, the mining of the stones and by-products was finished and everyone returned to base camp.

We changed our clothes, had a quick lunch, and sat around the campfire.

Mr. Hawk, who had been quietly watching us like that, began to tell a story.

“Dwarves, you see, don’t have kings or emperors like humans.”

A brief tale of dwarves follows, and a system in which members of powerful families are tested for rulership instead of a king, and the most suitable one is chosen to rule.

It’s similar to the president, but it feels like a republic.

“My fiancee and I were rivals and lovers at the same time.”

It is said that Mr. Hawk was the successor to a family that had produced many rulers, and his fiancée was the second daughter of another family.

“Most dwarves who come to the city are considered citizens. Dwarves who are considered nobles by your human standards are given tasks to be elected as the next representative.”

It doesn’t matter if you create a huge weapon or artifact, or if you have high personal strength, or if you have political power through interactions with tribes in other mountain ranges or between these races.

In any case, it is said that if you have achieved achievements that are acknowledged by more than 70% of the National Assembly, you will be elected as a representative.

“My fiancee and I came to the city together to compete in good faith and protect each other’s life and death.”

The mountain range where the Hawk’s tribe is located is close to the Labyrinth City, so it is said that the decrease in status is small.

So I came to the city, but…

“When I came to my senses, five years had passed.”

“Yes?”

“Obviously, our original purpose in coming to the city was to build up military power fit for a ruler…”

Jjalgrak-

The old man, smiling bitterly, continued speaking calmly while looking at the necklace.

“You and your fiancée are both trying to settle down in the city.”

“That’s…”

As everyone was nodding, Mr. Hawk turned his head to me.

“Cain. Is there any blessing among Sia’s blessings that can lift the curse?”

“Oh… You did it…? Right, Sia.”

“Yeah! But I’ve never used it before.”

“Sia, try using your protection on Cain once.”

“Yes… do it!”

Hoooow-

A pure halo of light surrounds my body, sparkling and shining.

Mr. Hawk, who saw me like that, asked me again.

“Cain. Is there any reason why you have to keep entering the labyrinth in this city?”

“That’s…..”

for a moment.

The moment I was about to say to Mr. Hawk, “Of course!”, a question arose in my head.

Come to think of it… Sia followed Claude, and I followed Sia and Claude too.

After I became aware of it, I didn’t mind living like a swallow, sucking the lives of city women like in my previous life.

Actually, the number of women increased like that.

But… I felt awkward about my actions of constantly wandering around with the labyrinth in mind.

A strange feeling, like an impurity that has crept in between my thoughts.

“You don’t seem to have any particular reason.”

“What…what is this, sir..?”

At my question, Hawk looked around at his other colleagues.

“Everyone. Don’t tell anyone what you’re hearing now. If you want to save your life.”

“Gulp….”

Everyone swallowed their saliva and looked at the old man as the atmosphere became serious.

“This labyrinthine city itself… bewitches people.”