261 Circumstance and Prostration
"I got it now. Sorry 'bout that lad, ya even came all this way to look for this old bone."
The old man in front of me is the very picture of a dwarf. Barrel-like build, scraggy beard, as well as shaggy hair. Complete with hoarse voice. A dwarf no matter the angle you look at him, this is dwarf.
"Minya would have nowhere to go if you kicked the bucket, gramps. Don't think it's admirable to worry your grandkid like that either."
"Ya tell me 'bout it, 's all my fault for overlooking that."
Gramps believed me after I told him everything that transpired. Apparently what convinced him was my knowledge about their store's situation including debts.
"Still, I'll be damned knowing this was originally a golem. And yer' tellin' me ya beat it up by yerself? Looks be deceiving I tell ya."
"Eh never mind that. More importantly, I want to ask you a favor gramps, is that okay?"
"Nevermind? Just look at this thing! Ya said that Crystallized Mana thingy got sucked in golem's remains yeah?"
The gramps kept talking excitedly ignoring me. Nothing can stop him.
"By golly. Didja know mithril's originally iron eroded by highly dense mana? Creating even a fragment takes a stupidly unrealistic amount of mana. S'why naturally occurring mithril's highly prized. Ya can live lavishly for five years even just with a fist-sized mithril. And yet this thing here... well damn, just damn. Fumu, it must get absorbed cause the golem was created by the dungeon, its guardian so to say. How'd that work? Can this be mass produced? Hmmm?"
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
Those blue stripe lines running across the golem's body must have been some sort of 'Circuits'. I'm guessing the golem readily took in the Crystallized Mana because it was created by the crystal itself.
Which means this golem was a grade above Rock Golem, an Iron Golem.
You can infer that much from what the gramps said about iron turning into mithril.
Had it been a Rock Golem, that vibration wave would have pulverized the golem itself.
But none of that matters now, so I call out to gramps who's still rambling.
"Let's get outta this place. Now that this happened, you can't be sure this mine would hold up. Heck, the whole cave might come crashing down on us anytime. Let's go."
"Hold up, lad! This mithril is yers! However, I gotta have it! Will ya hand it over!? Just a handful will do! Just enough to smith a sword! Call me shameless, a disgrace! But I need cash to protect those important to me! I'mma follow yer' every whim for as long as I live! So please will ya!?"
The gramps threw his pickaxe before he started prostrating.
"Aah? Sure thing. It's all yours provided you're willing to do me a favor."
"I beg of ya! ...Eh? ...All mine?"
The prostrating gramps looked up with unfocused eyes at me.
I paid him no heed as I put my magic bag near the lump of mithril and got it inside.
"Oy, gramps. We'll talk later, first we gotta get out. Nothing else to do here. Come on, move it."
Thus, I retraced my way back in accordance to my memo, toward the end of this adventure.
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