13. Nocturnal of the Direwolf

“So many customers.”

Indeed, the presence of the signboard girl makes a huge difference. It seems like there are 1.5 times more customers than when Sera wasn’t here.

Look at Sera over there, carrying food in both hands and serving the tables. She looks like she might trip any moment.

“Sera. I’m back.”

“Welcome- Whoa!?”

Oh no, she’s really going to fall.

“Whoa, are you okay, Sera?”

“Oh my, when did you arrive? I was so busy I didn’t notice.”

I caught Sera as she was about to fall and managed to place the food that was flying through the air back onto the plates. My reaction speed has improved, so I can do things like this now.

“Ugh… Ewan, you smell really wild right now…”

Sera has a way with words. In a situation where she could have cursed me out, she just says I smell wild.

I placed the trendy plates, which had become dirty due to the current trend of dirty plating, on the customer’s table and went into the kitchen to greet the lady.

“Ma’am. I’m back. Can I help with anything?”

“Wash up first. Who would want to eat food prepared by someone in your state?”

“Oh, right.”

I changed into the clean clothes I had stored in my room at the inn, leaving my gambeson and other blood-soaked gear to be washed later, and threw them in the backyard. It’s a dirt yard, but it doesn’t matter since I’ll wash them anyway.

I then washed my body thoroughly with the now warm bathwater, cleaned my blood-matted hair, roughly dried it, and swept it back.

“Ma’am? Is there anything I can help with now?”

The lady was silently working in front of the fire, then glanced at me and spoke without turning her head.

“Go out for a walk in front of the house.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The smell of blood hasn’t completely gone. Go out and walk around for 10 minutes and then come back.”

“I see.”

The smell of spices is strong, but can she really smell the blood through that? She must have a very good nose. I went outside and moved around for about 10 minutes to get rid of the smell. Actually, I can’t really smell it, but maybe my nose has just gotten used to it?

I checked my body as I walked down the street. My strength has definitely increased, but since the type of muscle fibers themselves have changed, it doesn’t feel like the strength gained from exercise. I also tend to get tired quickly, so it’s not all good.

“Still, a 3-meter sergeant jump is crazy.”

In a less crowded alley, I tried a 100-meter dash from a crouching start in 3 seconds, and also tried jumping about 4 meters off the ground using as much muscle as possible. I’m still not used to the output of my muscles, so it feels a bit awkward.

I almost fell while running.

As the sun set and the moon rose, I walked down the atmospheric street. The sunstones hanging on the streetlights emit a warm red light, so even though the temperature has dropped slightly, it feels warm.

“Has the smell gone away?”

I raised my arm and brought my nose to it, but as before, I don’t really smell anything. This should be enough.

I went straight back to the inn and helped with the work. After that, a lot of customers came in, half of them women. Is Sera popular with women too?

“Hmm…”

Judging by the pout on her lips, she doesn’t seem to like being popular with women.

* * * * *

Around 1 AM. Sera and I finished the last of the cleaning and had a conversation.

“Ah, Sera. Did a woman come by any chance before I arrived?”

“Huh? There were a lot of female customers?”

“No, it’s the knight with the bright blonde hair and wearing shoulder guards.”

“Oh! Right. He came to deliver a message. When I asked whose message it was, he said he forgot the name… It was from Yuen, wasn’t it? I thought it might be.”

Is Rubica a bit of an airhead? How could she forget the name? Still, it’s a relief that she didn’t deliver it to another inn.

“Please wait a moment. He left something behind.”

Sera went into the kitchen and brought back a leather pouch. Inside were seven silver coins engraved with the number 5. Thirty-five silver coins? That’s incredibly expensive.

“Please give this to the lady.”

I took out twenty silver coins from the pouch and handed them to Sera. She looked at me with a puzzled expression, but I brushed it off, saying it was to repay a debt, and then headed to the appraisal office.

“It’s dawn, but I wonder if he’s still awake.”

—Creak

“Ravi? Are you in there, Ravi?”

“Ugh… Yuen..? Is that you…?”

“Yes. Please come out quickly. Something’s wrong with my body.”

Ravi, who had been sleeping on a bed without a blanket, clutching a few sheets of paper, got up with a few strands of hair in her mouth. She was wearing the wide-brimmed hat she had worn during the day like an eye mask… Was that bed hers at night?

“Eek?! Y-you! Your eyes are glowing!”

“Yes. That, and my body feels strange in many ways.”

Inside the dark building, with no light from the street lamps, there was no light source, but my left eye brightly illuminated her figure. Ravi’s face, looking at me with a surprised expression.

On the bed, her feet didn’t touch the ground, so she awkwardly turned her body and climbed down. Her face without glasses, walking clumsily to find her glasses on the desk.

“Ah, could you please bring the lamp hanging outside?”

“Yes. Sure.”

I brought the lamp that had been hung to receive sunlight and placed it on the desk, and the room quickly brightened.

“Wow… Just now, your eyes went *swoosh* and closed.”

“It’s because of the wolf’s pupils. I can see well even in the dark.”

“Such a feature! As expected, it follows the characteristics of a wolf’s eyes!”

“Yes, stop eating your hair and come over here.”

“Ugh.. I got it….”

Ravi pulled a few strands of hair out of his mouth, grabbed his sleeve, and wiped his lips a few times. What, did he go to a construction site or something? Why has he become so scruffy in just a few days?

“Huh…? Did you grow a bit taller…?”

“Ravi shrank.”

“T-That can’t be..?!”

“Just kidding. I feel better at night, but can you figure out what’s going on?”

“U-Um.. I have a few guesses….”

Ravi picked up a sunstone lamp, looked through his bookshelf a few times, and then took out a book and placed it on the desk.

“What is this?”

“It’s a book that records the characteristics of the monsters that appear from the 1st to the 10th floor of the labyrinth. If you look at the 2nd floor here….”

Direwolves start appearing on the 2nd floor of the labyrinth, and their numbers increase on the 3rd floor. It seems the table of contents is divided according to the floor they first appear on.

Ravi began to read the book, fumbling through it, and pointed to a spot with his tiny finger.

“This is it! The nocturnal characteristic of the direwolf!”

“Let me see.”

As usual, wolves are nocturnal. The content written in the book was at the level of the wolves I knew, but there was one peculiar point.

The nocturnal nature of the direwolf is not due to good night vision or such physical characteristics.

“The direwolf’s magic… is activated by moonlight…?”

“That’s right. Direwolves are magical creatures. Their magic tends to surge more strongly at night.”

According to the book, direwolves at night have an increased range of activity and significantly greater muscle strength per unit of muscle fiber weight. As a result, they may appear slightly larger and their muscles seem more developed.

“Wait, are you saying that because I mixed some blood, I now have the magic of a direwolf?”

“Surprisingly, the way magic flows through the body follows the blood vessels. So, it seems likely…”

“This is driving me crazy. So, if Ravi drinks direwolf blood, will he become like this at night too?”

“No, that’s not the case. The magic contained in the blood that enters through the mouth and esophagus is not absorbed by the body and disappears. The direwolf’s blood loses its original state when mixed with stomach acid…”

So, the blood I drank is circulating through my body in its original state, and the magic is being absorbed as well.

“Wait a minute, but isn’t it mixed with human blood?”

“The form of the blood is important. If you inject direwolf blood directly into a human’s veins, an ordinary person would die.”

So, the conclusion is that I became a bit stronger at night because of the direwolf blood.

Functionally, it’s a pass. Emotionally, it’s a fail.

Human disqualified, beast qualified. How can I know if the blood flowing through those parasite-ridden creatures is clean or dirty? Of course, it’s strange that I drank it willingly, but when you’re on the brink of death, you’ll do anything.

“Uh, just in case, could you take off your shirt… if that’s okay…?”

“I guess it’s fine.”

It’s best to check my body properly. Sure enough, even when taking off my clothes, I can feel that my body is a bit tighter, indicating that my body size has increased. Are my muscles pumping? This is quite surprising.

“Ravi. Look at me.”

“Uh, I’m looking…”

“How is it? You’ve seen my body before. Has it gotten bigger?”

“Ugh…”

What kind of reaction is this? Are you sick?

“Hey, Ravi? Do you have a cold? Your face is really red.”

“Wa-wait! Please stay away!”

I was about to check if he had a fever on his forehead, but Ravi suddenly stepped back and started to trip over my foot.

‘He’s falling.’

My body sensed the danger and reached out to grab the back of Ravi’s robe.

“Ugh…”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

When I put Ravi, who was dangling in the air, down on the floor, he finally straightened his clothes and cleared his throat a couple of times.

‘It seems like my body reacted first just now.’

His body is so thin that it might actually break if I’m not careful, so I feel a bit sorry. But isn’t he too light?

“What was that just now…?”

“I came to find out about that.”

“Oh, I see.”