Chapter 13: The Nocturnality of the Direwolf
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13: The Nocturnality of the Direwolf
“Place is packed.”
I guess the presence of a poster girl really does make a difference. There seemed to be at least fifty percent more customers than when Sera wasn't here.
Just look at her, weaving through the tables with food in both hands. One slip and she’s going to have a nasty fall.
“Sera. I’m back.”
“Welcome—Whoa!?”
Whoops, she really was about to fall.
“Steady there. You okay, Sera?”
“Oh my, when did you get here? I didn't see you because it’s been so busy.”
I caught Sera before she hit the ground and, timed perfectly with the food flying through the air, I settled the dishes back onto her tray. Now that my reaction speed had improved, I could pull off stunts like this.
“Ugh... Yoo Eon, you smell incredibly... wild right now.”
Sera certainly had a way with words. Given my current state, she could have rightfully let out a string of curses, yet she settled for calling it a 'wild smell.'
I placed the trendy dish—which had accidentally become an example of the 'dirty plating' style—onto a customer’s table and headed into the kitchen to greet the owner.
“Auntie, I’m back. Want some help?”
“Go wash up first. Who’s going to have an appetite if you serve food looking like that?”
“Ah, right.”
I changed into the clean clothes I kept in my room. I tossed the gambeson and my other blood-soaked gear in the backyard to be washed later. It was just a dirt patch, but I was going to wash them anyway, so it didn't matter.
I scrubbed myself clean with bathwater that had finally warmed up, washed the blood out of my matted hair, dried it roughly, and swept it back.
“Auntie? Anything I can do?”
Auntie worked silently in front of the stove. She glanced at me and spoke without even turning her head.
“Go take a walk outside for a bit.”
“Huh? Why?”
“The smell of blood hasn't fully faded. Go wander around for ten minutes and then come back.”
“I see.”
The kitchen was thick with the scent of spices, yet she could still smell the blood? She had an incredible nose. I stepped back outside for about ten minutes, moving around to air myself out. Honestly, I couldn't smell anything, but maybe I had just grown used to it.
I checked my condition as I walked the streets. My strength had definitely increased, but since the very nature of my muscle fibers had changed, it didn't feel like the kind of strength gained from working out. I also tended to tire more easily; it wasn't all perks.
“Still, a three-meter vertical leap is insane.”
In a secluded alleyway, I tried a crouching start and cleared a hundred meters in about three seconds. I also used as much power as I could to jump about four meters off the ground. Since I wasn't yet used to the output my muscles were producing, it felt a bit awkward.
I almost tripped while running, too.
The sun had set and the moon had risen, casting an atmospheric glow over the streets. The sunstones hanging from the streetlights emitted a cozy red light, making the cooling air feel warm.
“Did the smell fade a bit?”
I lifted my arm and sniffed. Just like before, I couldn't smell much of anything. This should be enough.
I headed straight back to the inn and helped out. Plenty of customers kept pouring in, and half of them were women. Was Sera popular with women, too?
“Hmph...”
Judging by the way she was pouting, she didn't seem to enjoy being popular with the ladies.
* * *
Around 1:00 AM. I chatted with Sera as we finished the final cleanup.
“Oh, Sera. Did a woman come by before I arrived?”
“Huh? We had tons of female customers.”
“No, I mean... a knight with bright blonde hair and pauldrons.”
“Ah! Right. She came by to check on someone. I asked who, but she said she forgot the name... So you were the one who sent her, Yoo Eon? I figured as much.”
Is Rubica an airhead? How do you forget a name? At least she didn't go to the wrong inn.
“Wait a moment. She left something for you.”
Sera went into the kitchen and brought out a leather pouch. Inside were seven silver coins engraved with the number 5. Thirty-five silver coins? That’s incredibly expensive.
“Give this to Auntie.”
I took twenty silver coins out of the pouch and handed them to Sera. She looked at me with a confused expression, but I just brushed it off as paying back a debt. Once the cleanup was done, I headed to the appraisal office.
“I wonder if she’s still awake this late.”
—Creeeeak.
“Ravi? Ravi, are you in there?”
“Ugh... Yoo Eon...? Is that you...?”
“Yeah. Come out here for a second. My body feels weird.”
Ravi had been sleeping pitifully on a bed without even a blanket, clutching a few sheets of paper to her chest. She sat up with a few strands of hair caught in her mouth. She had been using the wide-brimmed hat she wore during the day as an eye mask... I guess she used that cot as her bed at night.
“Hieek?! Y-you! Your eyes are glowing!”
“Yeah. There’s that, and my body feels strange in several ways.”
Inside the dark building, there were no light sources since the streetlights didn't reach inside, but my left field of vision clearly illuminated her. I saw Ravi’s startled expression as she looked into my eyes.
Her feet didn't reach the floor from the bed, so she had to awkwardly shimmy down. I saw her face without her glasses, and watched her stumble over to the desk to find them.
“Ah, could you bring in the lamp hanging outside?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I brought in the lamp that had been hanging out to catch the sunlight and placed it on the desk. The room instantly brightened.
“Whoa... Your pupils just... shloop... closed up.”
“They’re wolf pupils. I can see well even when it’s dark.”
“Even that function! As expected, you’re taking on the characteristics of a wolf’s eye!”
“Yeah, yeah. Stop eating your hair and come over here.”
“Ugh... I get it...”
Ravi pulled the strands of hair out of her mouth and wiped her lips with her sleeve. Had she been working at a construction site or something? Why did she look so scruffy after just a few days?
“Hmm...? Did you get a little taller...?”
“You just shrank, Ravi.”
“T-that can’t happen...!?”
“I’m joking. My condition gets better at night, and I need you to figure out why.”
“Mmm... I have a few guesses...”
Ravi took the sunstone lamp and scanned her bookshelf before pulling out a volume and placing it on the desk.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a record of the characteristics of monsters that appear from the 1st to the 10th floors of the Labyrinth. If you look at the 2nd floor here...”
Direwolves begin appearing on the 2nd floor and become more numerous on the 3rd. I guess the table of contents was organized by the floor where they first appeared.
Ravi began scanning the book, her small finger eventually pointing to a specific spot.
“Here it is! The nocturnal traits of the Direwolf!”
“Let me see.”
As is typical, wolves are nocturnal. The contents of the book mostly matched what I knew about normal wolves, but there was one peculiar point.
The nocturnality of a Direwolf wasn't just a physical trait like having good night vision.
“The mana possessed by a Direwolf... is activated by moonlight...?”
“Exactly. Direwolves are monsters that possess mana. The mana they hold has a tendency to fluctuate much more violently at night.”
According to the book, a Direwolf’s activity range increases at night, and the amount of strength per unit of muscle fiber increases significantly. Because of this, they might appear slightly larger or more muscular, even if the difference is subtle.
“Wait, are you saying I have the mana of a Direwolf just because I mixed in some of their blood?”
“Surprisingly, the way mana flows through the body follows the vascular system. So that’s likely the case...”
“This is driving me crazy. Does that mean you’d become like this at night too if you drank Direwolf blood, Ravi?”
“N-no, of course not. Blood and the mana it contains that enters through the mouth and esophagus is lost without being absorbed by the body. The Direwolf blood would lose its original state once it mixes with stomach acid...”
In the end, because the blood I drank was circulating through my body while maintaining its original state, the mana was absorbed as well.
“Wait a second, isn't it mixed with human blood, though?”
“The form of 'blood' is what’s important. Though, if you were to inject Direwolf blood directly into a normal person’s veins, they’d just die.”
So the conclusion was that I had become stronger at night because of the Direwolf blood.
Functionally, it was a pass. Emotionally, it was a fail.
Failed as a human, passed as a beast. Who knows if the blood flowing through those creatures crawling with parasites is clean or filthy? Of course, I was the weird one for drinking it willingly, but people do desperate things when they’re about to die.
“J-just in case, would you mind... taking off your shirt...?”
“I don't see why not.”
It was probably best to check my body properly. I could definitely feel my clothes tightening as I took them off; my body had grown. Was it a muscle pump? That was quite surprising.
“Ravi. Take a look.”
“I-I am... looking...”
“Well? You saw my body before. Has it gotten bigger?”
“Eeeek...”
What kind of reaction was that? Was she sick?
“Hey. Ravi? Do you have a cold? Your face is really red.”
“W-wait! Stay back!”
I tried to check if she had a fever, but Ravi suddenly scrambled backward, tripped over her own feet, and started to fall.
She’s falling.
My body sensed the danger, and I reached out, grabbing the back of her robe.
“Ack...”
“Ah, sorry.”
I set Ravi down on the floor after she dangled in the air for a moment. Only then did she straighten her clothes and let out a couple of fake coughs.
My body reacted on its own just now.
Her body was so thin it felt like it might break if I handled her wrong, so I felt a bit bad. That aside, she was incredibly light.
“What was that just now...?”
“That’s what I came here to find out.”
“Ah. Right.”