Chapter 222: Trace of the Ghoul

Rurik was hiding out in a tavern to dodge his debts, but that didn't stop Ron and his party from finding the miner at the mine's entrance.

Then Ron understood why Rurik had only needed to hire one person.

"Lor...d?" The massive Hill Giant was leaning against the mine entrance, dozing off. When he heard approaching footsteps, he thought the debt-dodging Dwarf had returned. The giant was about to erupt in anger, but then he caught sight of Sera next to Ron, and his complaints vanished in an instant.

"I... I wasn't slacking off, just resting!" the Hill Giant said, gesticulating. Normally, his employer's employer wouldn't be his boss, but as a member of a race with a special social hierarchy, the giant still showed Ron a considerable degree of respect.

However, he didn't dare ask Ron for the payment the Dwarf owed him.

"What did Rurik promise you?" Ron didn't waste time on pleasantries. There was no point in observing etiquette with a Hill Giant; it made more sense to spend that effort on providing extra meat.

"Uh, ten sheep and five horses. But he only gave me the ten sheep." The Hill Giant counted on his fingers. Perhaps to accommodate the giant's limited math skills, Rurik's promised payment conveniently used numbers that were easy to count on one or two hands.

"He promised you horses, too?" Aive sighed. "Rurik has some nerve. Delusional Land is hardly a ranch; even pack horses are expensive."

"It's a good thing he didn't promise to pay in cattle," Silvia said. "Otherwise, we might as well go kidnap Buni and Lady Lavinia."

"Half-Elves?" At this, the Hill Giant's ears perked up, and his mouth immediately began to water.

Although goblins were considered a Hill Giant's dessert, just like Half-Elves, he didn't dare mess with them after witnessing Delaford's strength.

"No, no, no, there are no Half-Elves," Ron quickly cut in. "But could we use a different form of payment? We can't pay with horses; we need them ourselves right now."

"Then five more sheep! Mutton is tasty! Tastes good!" The Hill Giant clearly wasn't hung up on the numbers and quickly offered an alternative. In fact, as a giant who had spent his life surviving in the deep mountains, he had likely only tasted domesticated sheep for the first time recently.

What did horse taste like? Was it better than mutton? He didn't know, and he didn't care.

"That's no problem. Give me two days and I can get them," Ron said, sighing in relief. "Now that we've settled the matter of your payment, would you mind showing us where you've been mining?"

"Rurik mentioned it to me, but I'd like to see the situation for myself."

"Mining?" The Hill Giant slurped back his drool and took a moment to process. "You mean digging for stones? Can do!"

Some sections of the mine had clearly been crudely widened by the giant, while the Dwarf had added some reinforcements to the weaker spots. The rough workmanship made the long-abandoned mine look like it could collapse at any moment.

Still, Ron figured he should trust the Dwarf-and-giant duo. 'A highly experienced Dwarf wouldn't leave the mine so fragile, and if it did collapse, the giant probably wouldn't be in any real danger of being buried.'

"This is the place." On the third level down, the giant led them into a recently dug tunnel. A massive Mining Pickaxe lay inside. On the rock walls, numerous special ores were exposed—the same kind Rurik had shown Ron the other day.

"So much for his promises not to forge anything," Sera sneered, struggling to lift the Mining Pickaxe, which was far too big for her to handle. "I fail to see what's so 'artistic' about this. It's worse than the axe I used to use!"

Her own giant axe was currently strapped to the Hill Giant's belt, making for a very easy comparison.

"Maybe it's Fauvism?" Aive said with a helpless shrug as everyone turned to look at her. "Don't look at me, I have no idea. I just heard about it from Constance. Apparently, it's a very trendy new art form."

"But by the time she left Rose City, it was only widely accepted among the Beastmen. Any other nobles who claimed to like it were just jumping on the bandwagon."

"I highly doubt a blacksmith could grasp such an advanced technique," Ron snorted. "Looks like we'll have to find some work for our 'master' from now on."

'After all, when it comes to crossing a line, there's no such thing as 'just once.' It's either never, or countless times. A 'never again' is pure fantasy.'

"Lord," the giant suddenly rumbled, hesitating just as Ron's party was busy badmouthing the Dwarf. "Actually, I've run into some trouble while digging for stones lately. Could you help me with something?"

'A Hill Giant actually asking for help? That was a first.'

"You all killed the creatures here before, but lately, for some reason, a lot more have popped up," the giant said, scratching his head. "And they're not very interested in my food now. They've started stealing the stones I've dug up."

"I caught one of them and killed it—it's over there."

The giant pointed. The mangled corpse of a Ghoul was piled unceremoniously in a nearby corner. More than half of its head had been chewed off; it was entirely possible this was the result of the giant taking a sample.

"Whoa, you even eat Ghouls?!" Delaford exclaimed, aghast. "Just the smell makes me want to puke!"

A goblin might not be a picky eater, but even they have their limits. And after spending so much time with Ron and the others, this particular type of "meat" was now permanently off Delaford's list of edible things.

"It didn't taste good," the Hill Giant rumbled with a laugh.

"Ghouls can indeed resurrect their own kind, but I thought we exterminated all of them here?" Victoria frowned. "We even killed that Demon Ghost. How is this still happening?"

"Maybe a few slipped through the cracks?" Silvia mused. "We can't completely rule out the possibility. After all, we don't have a Paladin with us, so our Perception of Evil Creatures isn't as sharp."

"Silvia, are you seriously suggesting we need a Paladin?" Victoria stared blankly at the Vampire Mage. "Oh, I'm sure his Divine Perception would be working perfectly fine around here!"

"Come on, it's only half my bloodline. Would a Paladin really be that sensitive?"