"Do you misunderstand this place as some kind of hangout? ...Well, it's true that I'd be troubled if I didn't get a report, though."
The Wise Man complained, yet he drank the tea Furi had made with apparent pleasure and sighed contentedly. Ren and her party were certainly increasing their level of caretaking, but this man looked like he might die of starvation if not for the food they brought.
At any rate, Ren, who had been asked to "become my Master" in the corner of a bookstore, decided to move the entire group to the Wise Man's house for discussion. The girl was clearly not "Race: Human," and Ren believed her response should be cautious. As expected, the elders were involved in this matter.
"You were earlier than I thought. I had predicted it would take another two or three days."
"We happened to meet early, so I judged this to be a good opportunity," the girl said.
Her refined features remained unchanged. Compared to the expressive and approachable Iris, she had a somewhat distant aura, which made Ren think she might be the most beautiful of all of them.
As Ren looked at the girl sitting next to her, Furi, who was standing behind Ren (due to a lack of chairs), let out a low "Hmph."
"So, the Wise Man put her up to this?"
"What's wrong, Furi? You're unusually belligerent."
"Because she said 'Master'! Isn't tying up and hitting people a bit too soon for high schoolers?"
Surely, Furi's perception was a bit too biased.
The innocent Iris gasped at this.
"Huh? I thought she meant she wanted to marry Ren-san..."
Though less common lately, a woman sometimes refers to her husband as shujin ("master" or "husband"). This interpretation was certainly more conventional and likely.
"But still, getting married means getting to do lewd things as much as you want, so doesn't the meaning hardly change?" Furi countered.
"There's a huge difference between a spouse and a casual partner!" Ren argued.
Besides, this didn't feel like a conversation to have in front of the girls. To prevent the conversation from derailing, Ren turned her attention back to the girl.
"Could you explain what you mean by 'Master'?"
"Your understanding that I will fully entrust my person to you is correct. If you can promise the guarantee of my life and the creation of children in the future, you may do as you please with the rest."
"See, I told you so!" Furi exclaimed.
"No, so many things are wrong with this!" Ren insisted.
Why would a girl Ren had just met ask him to "become her Master"?
"Hey, Wise Man, did you introduce me to her?"
"Indeed. As you can see, she is not human. Furthermore, she desires to participate in dungeon exploration, so I judged it appropriate to entrust her to your party."
Iris gaining the status display ability sparked hope for the children's dungeon exploration efforts. The Wise Man had since consulted with other veteran Transferees and seemed to have decided on a policy of "being more flexible than before" for the time being. They planned to gradually allow children to explore the dungeon while observing the situation.
As a pioneer, they introduced another non-human girl to Ren's party, which Iris was already a part of.
"I see. And what is your race?"
"I am a Golem. I inherited this race from my mother."
In simple terms, based on game and manga knowledge, a Golem is a "moving doll." They are often made of earth or stone and have a simple humanoid shape. Their size varies from human-sized to larger, and they are usually beings whose purpose is to perform simple tasks under their master's command.
In contrast, this girl looked completely human at first glance and could respond and converse normally, making her strangely high-spec.
"But is 'Golem' even a race...?" Ren wondered.
"Her mother is 'Race: Golem.' As she is at least a life form in the broad sense and an intelligent being, it is perfectly fine to call it a race."
"She has a mother. ...Wait, but why 'Golem' and not 'Half-Golem'?" Iris asked.
"Golems do not reproduce through biological means. We receive life force from our father and accumulate it to create a new 'Core,' which becomes the child," the girl said, placing her hand on her left chest.
"Consider her and her mother to be unique among Golems. If the core at the location of her heart is destroyed, her life activity ceases, and she requires an act similar to eating for life maintenance. As you can see, her conversation and thought processes are on the same level as ours."
"Does 'eating' mean eating regular food?" Furi asked.
"No. We ingest stone and metal through the core to serve as material for our bodies. We consume material for deterioration, damage, and self-enhancement, so regular replenishment is necessary."
So she eats stone and metal.
"...It sounds like her food costs will be higher than ours?" Iris commented.
"That is why the dungeon is necessary. There is plenty of stone there, is there not?" the Wise Man replied.
"Do you mean the walls and the floor?" Ren asked, surprised.
The idea of smashing the walls and floor had not occurred to them. Since dropped items sometimes include the enemies' weapons and armor, she could also get metal, killing two birds with one stone.
"But how are we supposed to break the walls?" Ren asked.
"You can ask Mariabell," the Wise Man answered with unbelievable ease.
Ren thought Mariabell wouldn't be able to do it, but when she went home and asked,
"No problem," Mariabell answered with unbelievable ease.
Well, the power of high levels was nothing new, so Ren dismissed it as that's just how it is. The rest of the conversation became clear. Golems have high food costs. Also, they need a life force provider to create a child, which leads to the idea of accompanying a human going into the dungeon as their "Master." The wording was extreme, but it was essentially an employment contract.
"Is the life force provision similar to my Energy Drain?" Ren asked.
"No. It is not so flexible. Absorption takes time, and during the provision, I become defenseless. Since it does not recover HP or MP, using it during a dungeon crawl would be impractical," the girl explained.
"I see."
She also mentioned that she needed a certain amount of sleep for mental rest and physical maintenance. Essentially, she was to be treated mostly like a human.
Her body, aside from faint seams in key areas and a remarkably smooth texture up close, was otherwise unnoticeable. Since she had declared her intent to obey Ren, she probably wasn't a selfish type.
"Are your parents aware of this?" Ren asked.
"My mother actively encourages it. My father also takes a position of passive agreement, so there is no problem. It seems Golems instinctively seek a Master, so in that sense, it is a necessary action anyway," the girl replied.
"In that case, I have no particular reason to object," Ren decided.
It aligned with Ren's desire to help the native generation and girls in need.
The girl nodded.
"My body can be reconstructed as needed, so if you command me, I can remake it into your preferred shape. I heard you were formerly male; would you prefer a larger chest size?"
"Are you serious?" Ren exclaimed.
"...Ren?" Furi narrowed her eyes.
"...Ren-san?" Iris looked accusingly at her.
Glared at by the two, Ren saw Mariabell look down at herself.
"Is this insufficient?"
"I'm sorry," Ren apologized sincerely.
She then addressed everyone.
"Seriously, if she wants to explore the dungeon, I want to help her. What do you think?"
"I think it's a good idea. I think it's strange if I'm the only one who gets special treatment..." Iris said.
"I don't mind. Until now, I've only fulfilled a role as a baggage carrier, so having more work is a good thing," Mariabell agreed.
That left Furi.
"It's fine, I guess," the girl answered, turning away awkwardly.
"Is it really okay?" Ren asked.
"It's fine. ...It's not like I seriously object. And you're not planning to do anything lewd with this girl, are you, Ren?"
"Of course not! How could I!" Ren cried.
If she went around propositioning every young girl, she would be no different from Takuma. Well, their situations differed greatly because Furi and the others had consented, but still, she wanted to at least get to know the girl first.
Ren turned back to the girl.
"So, if you're okay with our party, you're welcome to join us."
"Truly? It is more than I could wish for to be accepted as your comrade."
The addition of a new party member was confirmed.
"By the way, we haven't asked for your name, have we? What should we call you?" Ren asked.
"My name is Mei Hyodo. Please call me Mei, Master."
"...Can we do something about the 'Master' part?" Ren asked again.
"? A Master is a Master, is he not?" Mei asked in return.
Mei was thirteen years old. She was, this time, a genuinely younger junior.
--------------------
THWACK!
When Mariabell's boot-clad foot struck the wall, a satisfying sound accompanied the crumbling stone fragments. Mariabell, who had smashed the stone with the casual force one might use to repel a groper, calmly composed herself and asked Mei, "How is that?"
Even upon second look, her legs were beautiful, yet her foot hardly looked like a lethal weapon.
Mei, poker-faced, simply bowed and said, "Thank you."
"If you would be so kind as to repeat it two or three more times? That should be exactly the right amount."
"Understood."
The stone fragments scattered on the ground were picked up one by one.
"Um, are you going to swallow those?" Iris asked, dropping her honorifics due to Mei's young age.
"No," Mei replied curtly.
Mei unbuttoned the short-sleeved blouse (paired with shorts) she wore for dungeon exploration, calmly exposing a chest that looked larger than Furi's and Iris's.
"H-hey, what are you doing!?" Furi exclaimed.
"? I have no one here I would be embarrassed to be seen by, do I?" Mei asked.
It was a good thing they were an all-female party. As Ren, the former male, averted his eyes, Furi and Iris let out small cheers.
"Wow...!"
"Huh, what happened? ...Oh, I see, so that's how it works."
Like her face, Mei's bare skin was that of a beautiful girl, except for the fine lines in key areas. The girl carried the stone fragments to her left chest. The stone pressed against it seemingly melted and dissolved, eventually disappearing without a trace.
Right, the core was located where the heart should be.
"Does that count as 'eating'?" Ren asked.
"Yes. I can stock a certain amount, so this should be enough to maintain my body for a while."
Although she didn't pick up the tiny fragments, the absorbed stone amounted to roughly the same volume as Mei's body. The Golem girl calmly re-buttoned her blouse.
"If any metal is dropped by the enemies, I would be grateful if you would share it with me. You may keep all other items."
"Are you sure? You need money too, Mei. To buy equipment and such."
Ren and her party were on the first floor of the dungeon, right down the stairs. With the addition of the beginner Mei, they were back in the goblin stronghold, but Ren needed to raise her class level, so that was actually convenient.
However, Mei was very lightly equipped for a dungeon explorer. Not only was her clothing revealing, but she didn't even have a weapon. She didn't need food or water, so her pack was mostly empty, carrying only Iris's spare arrows.
According to Mei, this wasn't because she lacked money or hadn't had time to prepare.
"I do not require a weapon. My weapon is this body."
The meaning of her statement became clear in the ensuing combat.
Two goblins appeared. Iris was somewhat nervous about the initial fight, but Mei showed no signs of hesitation against the attacking enemies. Instead, she stepped forward.
"I see, so this is a monster."
She smashed her right fist into one!
Though certainly not as powerful as Mariabell's kick, the goblin that was punched flew backward with a loud impact. As Ren and the others watched in astonishment, Mei literally blocked the attack from the second goblin with the palm of her left hand.
A solid, hard sound accompanied the staff being repelled. Where a human's wrist would have made a nasty crack sound, Mei just said,
"As long as I pay attention to core damage, there is no problem."
The second goblin was sent flying, just like the first, from a punch by her right fist. Iris shot an arrow to finish it off, but honestly, it felt like Mei could have handled it alone.
Even Furi, who had been slightly against the idea, was stunned.
"Mei-chan, you're strong!"
"Not particularly," Mei replied with a deadpan expression.
"Magic is the power source for Golems like my mother and I, so we cannot use it. The reason I can be aggressive towards weapons is that I can self-repair—that is, heal—as long as I have material. Goblins are not a problem, but body reinforcement will be necessary in the future."
"No, that's already amazing!" Ren exclaimed.
This was exactly the kind of person Ren and her party had been looking for.
"If we have a front-liner, the dungeon crawl will be much easier...!" Iris agreed.
Even accounting for the trouble of having to clear out the goblins again, it seemed like they had hit the jackpot.
============
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