Chapter 559: Handling the Dolls

The large building guarded by the Guardian Stone Golem ultimately appeared to be a mausoleum. Yet the level of technology found there—or rather, magical technology—was astonishing.

The technology used to keep the Guardian Stone Golems operating alone was clearly far beyond anything available in the present day.

“—Still, what a shame. With something like that Guardian Stone Golem standing guard, I really thought there’d be some unimaginable treasure inside.”

Jack, leader of Blue Thunder Beast, grumbled without touching on the subject of the technology behind the Guardian Stone Golems.

“It’s incredible that the Guardian Stone Golems were animated through magical technology, but they’re too large for us to carry back, and leaving them here could be dangerous. This is a problem.”

Fores, Blue Thunder Beast’s forest priest, healer, and strategist, was the one who finally raised the issue.

They still didn’t know why the group of Olog-Hai had targeted this place.

Had it simply been a chance encounter, or had they come seeking the Guardian Stone Golems’ technology? They didn’t want to believe monsters possessed that degree of intelligence, but Fores’s concern couldn’t be dismissed.

“Um… In that case, would it be all right if I took the broken Guardian Stone Golems?”

Seizing the opportunity, Tauro began negotiating to take the two collapsed Guardian Stone Golems lying in the plaza and near the entrance.

The first had been discovered by Blue Thunder Beast, which was leading the expedition, so Blue Thunder Beast held the primary claim to it.

Tauro had dealt the finishing blow, but that rule applied to monsters. For an object like this, priority of ownership went to the discoverer.

As for the second one, since everyone had seen it together, it was unclear who owned it.

“I’ve heard you have [Magic Storage], Tauro-kun, but can you really fit two four-meter masses of rock in there? Do you have enough capacity?”

Jack asked in surprise.

“Yes. It seems I still have plenty of room. If you’re willing to let me have them, I’d like to take them.”

Tauro already had sixteen Guardian Stone Golems stored in [Magic Storage], so it was a little late to worry about capacity.

“In that case, I’d like to say we’ll trade the two in the plaza and by the entrance for one of the undamaged units you recovered inside… but our own [Magic Storage] can’t transport them anyway, so we’d have to give up on them either way. How about this? If you also collect the Olog-Hai corpses and transport them back to the guild, we’ll transfer all rights to the Guardian Stone Golems to you.”

Jack made the proposal as a sort of trade-off.

The Olog-Hai corpses referred to were the dozens that had been slain by the Guardian Stone Golem.

This new species was still being studied, so even its corpses carried a high purchase reward. As the employer, Jack also wanted to secure the haul for Silver Twin Mages’ contribution to the expedition.

“If that’s all, I’ll collect as many as you like. As for the Guardian Stone Golems, if you’re fine with nonfunctional ones, I can carry one for each team in [Magic Storage] and hand them over once we return to the guild.”

Tauro replied generously.

“Personally, I’d be happy about that because they look valuable… but honestly, I’m not sure this Guardian Stone Golem technology should be made public.”

By “made public,” Jack meant that if they sold the golems to the guild, they would ordinarily be put up for auction.

They didn’t know who might buy them, but after witnessing their overwhelming power firsthand, the most dangerous outcome would be for that technology to fall into the hands of someone who would misuse it.

With that in mind, Jack made another proposal to Tauro.

“You can have our share of the Guardian Stone Golems. In exchange, promise you won’t pass this technology on to anyone else. If it were misused, it’d be dangerous. We have to prevent that.”

“…Understood. To be honest, I also thought it’d be dangerous to hand them over intact. That’s why I was planning to remove part of the mechanism before giving any of the Guardian Stone Golems to you.”

Tauro gave a wry smile and spoke without any reservations about what he had been secretly planning to do.

“Hahaha! So we were thinking the same thing. We’ll be entrusting everything to you, Tauro-kun… but are you really sure your [Magic Storage] has enough room?”

Even one Guardian Stone Golem had to weigh an enormous amount. Jack couldn’t help worrying that storing several of them would overwhelm Tauro’s [Magic Storage].

“So far, it seems fine. Then we have a deal.”

“Then shall we get dinner ready?”

Tauro said this to Aeris, and the two returned to where Ragune and the others were waiting nearby.