32. A Strange Person

“Why are you suddenly telling me to eat this?”

“Don’t want to?”

“No, it’s not about whether I like it or not.”

“Because I’m curious.”

This person is no ordinary madman. Of course, from a wizard’s perspective, my skills might seem a bit unique and interesting, but still. Suddenly handing me an eyeball to eat?

“Are you getting paid for this?”

“I don’t need money.”

It’s the eyeball of a monster called Umbra Valkyrie, found on the 44th floor of the labyrinth. Giving away such a rare material out of curiosity, wizards must be really wealthy.

“Well, alright then.”

It’s honest to accept when given. Honestly, I’m not even sure if this is an eyeball, it looks like a perfectly round marble.

“Hmm…”

The sensation of gripping it confirms it’s an eyeball. It feels like a tough water balloon, exactly the texture an eyeball would have. The lady owner watched me with interest, resting her chin on her hand, as she alternated her gaze between the Umbra Valkyrie’s eyeball in my hand and me.

Crunch-

“Ugh..?!”

As soon as I bit into the eyeball in my mouth, something strange flowed out from inside. A scorching hot jelly-like substance flowed out, and feeling like my oral cavity was about to burn, I hurriedly changed my palate and esophagus to that of a direwolf.

“Is it okay to chew and swallow this?”

I nodded in response since I had the eyeball in my mouth. As always, the taste is like a legendary disaster. I forced down the eyeball and opened the canteen hanging from my waist to gulp down water.

An indescribable pain swept through my mouth. Even after rinsing with water and changing my esophagus and palate back to human, the stinging sensation remained.

Only after emptying the entire canteen did I feel a bit calmer.

“Oh, really. It’s horrible.”

“Tastes bad?”

“Of course. Haven’t you tried it?”

“I’ve tasted it.”

“Well, who would eat this… Huh? Why did you eat that?”

What is with this person? They look perfectly normal, so why are they eating something like a monster’s eyeball? Of course, I can’t really talk, but I have a reasonable excuse because of my skill.

“Just, because I was curious.”

A person who chews on a monster’s eyeball out of mere curiosity, truly an astonishing person.

“I thought my mouth was on fire. I’ve never experienced anything like this before, what kind of sensation is this…?”

“It must be because of the magic of the Umbra Valkyrie.”

“Is its magic different in some way?”

“It feels like burning. When it touches organic matter.”

“What the heck, then you’d die.”

“But you didn’t die, fortunately.”

“That’s… true.”

Is this person missing a screw somewhere? Judging by the state of their esophagus, it doesn’t seem to burn strongly enough to evaporate on contact, but still. It’s fortunate that it only ended with a tingling sensation. The major injury is probably on the direwolf’s esophagus side.

“Hmm, it doesn’t change?”

“It only changes if I want it to. It doesn’t change just because I ate it.”

“Change it for me.”

“Yes, I’ll try.”

Well, since I ate it, I should at least try to use it. I don’t really know what kind of monster this Umbra Valkyrie is, but it’s a great being that appears on the very high 44th floor.

I focused my mind and tightly closed my eyes. I tried to change my left eyeball to the one I just ate from the Umbra Valkyrie…

“Ugh, ah..! My eye..!!”

“Hang in there. You’ll get used to it.”

“You’ve never done this before..!!”

It feels like my left eye socket is on fire. The pain I felt just now in my esophagus and mouth is exactly the same. Damn, it hurts like crazy, probably because it’s close to my brain.

Kagak-

“Ugh..?!”

“Stay still. The pain is fake. It’s just made to feel painful.”

A black chain emerged from the air and wrapped around my forearm, restraining me. The lady owner, who used magic without a staff, chanted a spell in front of me, and soon another spell surged towards me.

When she said ‘it feels like burning,’ did she mean it feels like burning, not that it’s actually burning..!

“It’s a pain relief spell. Focus and feel it, overcome the fake pain.”

“Damn..! You call this fake..?!”

Drrrk-

A chair flew from behind and hit the back of my knees, forcing me to sit. As I sat there, clutching my eye socket and screaming for a while, the pain gradually subsided.

“Hah, I feel like I’m going to die.”

“How is it? Feeling better now?”

“Oh, yes. It was quite an experience.”

The pain hasn’t completely gone away yet, so I can’t open my eyes. It feels like shattered glass is pouring into my eyeball that I pried open with my hand. Of course, I can’t open my eyes.

Tears are streaming from my left eye socket, and it seems like all the water I just drank is flowing out here.

“Want to try opening your eyes?”

“Just a moment. It’s still a bit difficult.”

“You’re so picky.”

“No.”

He is a cold-blooded person who cannot empathize with the pain of others. Even though he caused that pain himself. If his face were a little less pretty, I would have just flipped the store upside down.

Of course, I’m just kidding, I’m not that reckless.

“Phew, let’s give it a try.”

“Yes. Please.”

I slowly tried to open my left eyelid. Tears were streaming down, and it wasn’t easy at all.

After struggling with the terrible foreign sensation for a few more minutes, I finally managed to open my eyes. But then…

“What… am I seeing right now…?”

“How would I know?”

“No, what is this… what?”

The world is in black and white. It doesn’t feel like an old camera at all. It’s like a high-resolution photo taken with an incredibly powerful camera, with most of it blurred out and only certain parts left intact.

The intact parts are incredibly detailed, to the point where I can see the wood grain of the bookshelf made of wood in the distance.

And my vision is instinctively very assertive. This is like…

“I can see… your weaknesses.”

“Nipples?”

“What the…”

“Isn’t it?”

“No, not that. I mean biological weaknesses. I can also see magical weaknesses. And that drawer over there, the second shelf from the bottom is too heavy. You need to remove that weird black skull thing. It will collapse within a month.”

“Thank you.”

In the world tinged with blurry black and white, certain parts stand out brightly to be clearly visible. It’s like a sniper scope, zooming in on vulnerabilities with arrows pointing them out here and there.

But that zoom exists in dozens within my field of vision. The single pupil splits into dozens of branches, trying to focus. In an instant, my head starts throbbing, and my brain goes into overload.

“Ugh, I’m dizzy.”

I reverted my eyeballs back to those of the direwolf. Phew, being colorblind is a blessing compared to this. What kind of dog-like vision is this?

“Good job. Now, give it back.”

“What?”

I was momentarily stunned. What kind of crazy talk is this person spouting? Is he asking me to return the eyeball I just ate?

“The eyeball. Give it back.”

“No. Is that even possible?”

“Can’t you?”

“Of course not. How can something I ate just pop out of my hand?”

“It comes out of your eye socket, doesn’t it?”

“So, you’re asking me to pluck it out and give it to you?”

“Yes.”

“Good grief. This is driving me crazy.”

Still not understanding, he tilted his head and stood up, looking at me. Do I really need to understand this? Logically, something I ate can’t crawl back out. Or can it?

No, the phenomenon caused by the skill is entirely illogical. This unreasonable person is asking me to pluck out my eyeball. Is that something you say to someone who just experienced the burning pain of their mouth and eye socket being on fire?

“Listen. Did I eat that eyeball because I wanted to? You told me to eat it.”

“Yes. I told you to eat it, so if I ask you to return it, you should return it.”

“What kind of nonsensical logic is that? It’s impossible.”

The owner sat back down in the chair, propped his chin on his hand, and pouted at me. Should I just flip this table? But I don’t think I can win against this person.

The magic you just used on me, no matter how I look at it, you’re quite a high-ranking wizard.

“What should I do? That’s expensive.”

“If I knew you were going to ask for it back, I wouldn’t have eaten it. You said you wouldn’t take money.”

“I don’t need money. Just give me back the eyeball.”

“No, ha…”

This person has completely lost it. I’m a bit outmatched in terms of strength, and I can’t persuade him because he doesn’t understand what I’m saying. What should I do in this situation?

“Ah, then give me the information value. The sight of the Umbra Valkyrie. It’s information you can’t get anywhere else.”

“So I gave it to you. Here, I replaced the magic crystal.”

“That’s worth 1.5 gold coins. The information I gave you is at least… hmm, yes. It’s worth 5 gold coins.”

How about that? Information worth five gold coins. It’s the only skill that has been reported so far, so it’s okay to charge this much.

“Yes, I see.”

The owner surprisingly agrees to the information value without haggling.

“By the way, how much is the eyeball I just ate?”

“I bought it for seventeen gold coins. And eighty silver coins.”

“Oh.”

This is crazy. It’s almost eighteen gold coins. Should I have asked for more for the information? I’m screwed. How on earth can I earn that kind of money? Should I summon it back into my eye socket and pull it out again?

Am I really going to have to use unwanted private loans just two months after reincarnating in another world? Is the world abandoning me?

“Ha, I don’t have that kind of money right now. Can’t we do something about it?”

“Hmm.”

The owner’s eyes narrowed. The look in his eyes is like that of a loan shark looking at a debtor without money. It’s even accurate.

“Just a simple errand. Or you could help with an experiment.”

“An experiment… Is it a human experiment?”

“Maybe.”

“I have a normal life, you know. It would be a problem if it interferes.”

“It won’t.”

“Really?”

“Maybe.”

This person is unbelievable.

Anyway, I’m really glad I don’t have to gouge out my eyes or repay 13 gold coins. I’ve gouged out other people’s eyes before, but I’ve never gouged out my own.

Besides, weren’t all the ones I gouged already dead? I was just looting within a very humane limit.

“So, do I have to keep coming here for errands or experiments?”

“I can call you.”

“How?”

She extended her index finger and made a circle in the air. A piece of paper floated up, folded into the shape of an airplane, and flew towards my forehead.

Thud-

The paper lost its strength and fluttered down onto the desk, spreading open to reveal the writing inside.

‘Errand.’

“Like this.”

“Is that so? Then please write down the details of the errands on paper and send them to me.”

“I’ll do that.”

Finally, she placed the ring with the replaced amethyst on the cushion and pushed it forward. The gemstone, which was originally a faint blue, had turned red.

The base was the same silver metal ring, but while it had a slightly dirty feel before, now it looked a bit cleaner.

“Ah, what’s your name, shopkeeper?”

The shopkeeper began to ponder my question. For almost three minutes? It might feel short, but what on earth is there to think about for three minutes when someone asks for your name?

Maybe she’s thinking of a decent alias.

“Iris. Iris Alvresto.”

“Is that so.”

“And you?”

“Me, you mean.”

Iris nodded. What should I say here?

“Aven.”

“Aven, Aven it is. Well, goodbye, Aven.”

As I stood up, she magically moved the chair and opened the door.

“Hmm.”

What a strange person.

—Click

Inside the shop after the customer left. Iris stared at the closed door for a moment, then leaned back in her chair.

“Cute.”