Sword of Gluttony Queen - Chapter 29

Chapter 29 : Demon Snail’s Battle Bone

I tore the goblin’s abdomen with a dismantling knife and took out its battle bone.
Although the work of cutting the meat to search for the battle bone was tedious and seemed like there was no end of it, it wasn’t like there was no value in doing it.

Because the goblin’s and hobgoblin’s battle bone could be sold for 6,000 temis each and 30,000 temis respectively.
Since there’re two each, the total amount would be 72,000 temis.

That amount was comparable to a month’s payment for doing manual labors.
Moreover, if we added it with the amount from selling the Gold Maimai’s battle bone.
Yes…. The battle bone was also….!

「Eh…? Where is its battle bone?」

I was looking down at the Gold Mamai whose head got split apart by my sword.

「Let see… I’ve heard once before that the Mamai’s battle bone was located inside its body that was protected by their shell. It’s easier to find it by following along its spine. And its viscera is… a nightmare. 」

I-I guess I’ll find out the truth after I’ve dismantled this Gold Maimai huh?
No matter how used to dismantling jobs I get, I couldn’t get used to being smeared by a corpse’s intestinal fluids.
Dismantling randomly like this was something that I wanted to avoid at all costs.
But, I had no choice but to do this for the 100,000 temis.

「But… that golden whirl-shaped shell is a hindrance.」

My dismantling knife couldn’t even put a scratch on it.

「In that case, leave it to me. That shell might be hard enough since it’s protected by mana when this thing is still alive but… since it’s dead right now, it’s no different from any other mineral. I might be able to do something about it with my 《Alchemy》.」

「I-Is that so?」

「Yeah. Originally, the Maimai’s food was the soil itself, they needed that to strengthen their shells and fighting spirit. But, it began releasing a golden shine after its toughness reached a certain level. It’s a difficult material to work with but, it can be used for a magic vessel with high magic resistance.」

Mani said so with a delighted look on her face.
It seemed that she was so sure of this matter since that knowledge from before was related to smithing.

「The Gold Maimai shell’s name is Maimalgo [Demon Snail Metal]. It’s a rare metal, even in the blacksmith’s circle. We might be able to sell this for 50,000 temis but it’ll cost us three times that price to buy it back. 」

「S-Seriously!?」

「I guess it’s easier to understand if I say that metal is one rank higher than the black iron I used to make your 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》. How about you confirm it yourself with 《Imu》?」

Well since there was nothing to lose, I will try Mani’s suggestion.

【《Golden Vortex Shell [C]》】
【A maimai’s shell that is sparkling in a golden color.】
【The various minerals that are eaten by the maimai strengthens its shell that creates the metal called Maimalgo. It has boosted high resistance against the D-rank magic and below.】
【For this reason, even though it’s a highly sought material, very little blacksmiths are willing to work on it due to its magic resistance, even with 《Alchemy》.】

It was C-grade material huh.

「I want to take it along with us but… it’s rather bulky. There’s also its weight.」

「We might be able to bring it back if we decrease its size with alchemy. Let me try, I might not be able to make it into something better due to my poor 《Alchemy》’s level, however.」

I guess I’ve nothing to say since Mani seemed to be fired up too.
But, I don’t think we could do that in our current situation.

「… But, it’ll be too difficult for you, right? Let me prepare the reserve mana lam—」
「It’ll be alright as long as I carry it by hand. The mana lamp is also nothing but a hindrance for us, just throw it away. It’s just a second-hand item we bought for only 6,000 temis after all. The selling price of this processed Maimalgo is at least twenty times of that mana lamp.」

… I see now, Mani wanted to bring back its shell huh.
As a blacksmith, there was no way she would neglect a rare ore right in front of her eyes.

「Since I’m also a novice blacksmith for a while now, I had to build my own connections. If things go well, we might be able to process this ore with just 100,000 temis.」

Her eyes were clearly sparkling.

「… No, this shell would be yours if we bring it back with us. Although it’s true that I’m the one who killed it, I’ve been indebted to Mani for various things. Even the information about this Gold Maimai is also from Mani.」

「S-Seriously? Nay, this is a difficult matter though. I mean, both of us are penniless. The things that can be exchanged for money right now is….」

「H-How about we think about it on the way while we carry it back with us!?」

A while later… Mani finally tore off the shell, the《Golden Vortex Shell》.
While I was rummaging through the corpse of the Gold Maimai for its battle bone, Mani was doing her best to change the bulky 《Golden Vortex Shell》 into a more compact form with her 《Alchemy》.
I caught a glimpse of her stubborn nature seeing her working on the shell.

In the end, she managed to turn the Maimalgo into several long rectangular ingots.
Since it was all she could do in the current situation, it seemed she intended to refine it even further after we go back to her smithery.

As for me, I somehow managed to extract the Gold Maimai’s battle bone.
Though my 《Odo Perception・Low》 sensed several dangerous presences when we were chasing after the Gold Maimai’s trace, we somehow managed to get out of those dangerous situations in one piece.
I couldn’t say dismantling the Gold Maimai was a pleasant experience, but I did feel a sense of accomplishment when I found its battle bone.
As expected of a demon beast with “Gold” in its name, even its battle bone has a golden color.

「Now that we’ve finished with the dismantling job… Shall we go back above ground.」

『Hey, Dean. Can we… eat this Maimai?』

「…..」

One might think she was joking but her tone was dead serious.
I pacified her by saying 「There’s still a whole lot of delicious food out there, so please pardon me from that one.」, With that, we left 《Romburgh Underground Labyrinth》.