Chapter 40

"No, fuck off. You seem annoying," Nicole said bluntly. "Is that all you wanted?"

Despite the rejection, Merik continued to smile at her. "Of course not. Let’s move on. Villagers mentioned you have some kind of ability that no one has heard of before. Tell me more."

No point in hiding it since, as he said, many already saw it anyway. If not from me, he will just continue to ask others and find out most of it. "Right, look." Nicole raised a hand and made a small wooden brick. As soon as the squirrel guy saw it, he started writing something down in his notes. "Good. I assume that what you sold to Jathun was made this way, right?" Nicole simply nodded.

"Something else you can show me?" Merik’s bushy tail twitched excitedly. In response, the girl changed her arm into its bone version. "Oo, that’s something new as well. By the look of it, it looks like bones. Can you use other materials, or is it fixed to this one?"

He guessed it with just a glance? I may have underestimated this guy. "Most materials are usable, as long as I have enough of it." Nicole transformed her arm back to normal.

"Alright. Now about you—who are you? If you are not from any tribe, who are your parents? Why do you live in this village, out of all places?" Merik bombarded her with personal questions. Nicole explained everything, carefully omitting any details that she deemed too private or not important enough to share.

Now if he gives this information to everyone, maybe I won’t have to explain it again to everybody I meet.

"Perfect. Thank you for your cooperation. This is hard to believe, but after seeing you in person, it makes sense." Merik folded his notes and shoved them into the pocket of his pants.

"You’re done? Finally. Now I want you to answer this—who said I am a Bone Witch? And everything you know about it."

Merik scratched his head. "Um, I would say most of the locals call you that. I don’t really know much. Before we met, I thought it was your title or something."

He doesn’t look like he’s hiding anything. And I don’t think someone would pay him to lie. If I had to guess, someone probably saw my bone form and started calling me that. Nicole looked at Soi, but the catgirl shrugged. After a second, Nicole facepalmed. "Right. I forgot that many people saw my first-ever bone form during the battle with the Beast of the Chasm. That’s why the name—and probably some rumors—started spreading…" Also, by what Soi said back then, I now remember that the first version looked terrifying and different from the one I have now. I should look more into that later. "Great, that’s sorted out. But I have one more question. Have you ever heard of someone like me? Maybe someone saw a strange girl in the forest some time ago?" Nicole asked hopefully.

"Hmm, let me think…" Merik took a thick set of notes and started sorting through them before stopping at one and looking up at Nicole. "Maybe I have something that may interest you. But I am a professional and can’t just give information for free."

"What do you want? I really need to know."

"Hmm…" He rubbed his chin, and a smirk slowly appeared on his face. "I don’t even know~"

Ugh, I bet he will ask to fuck me.

"You probably don’t know this, but we Druvokai are known for being pretty naughty. Not permanently horny like bunnies, no—rather kinky and open-minded."

If he says they are even more sexually open than others, I have no idea how much more open they can be.

"And trying out a human woman excites me." At his words, Nicole’s eyes darted to his pants for a second, and she saw a pretty big bulge stretching the fabric. "So I will ask again. Wanna fuck?"

"If you promise to not only give me the current information but also help me with this case in the future, as long as I need your informator’s skills." Nicole crossed her arms under her chest.

"Back to bargaining? I thought you said it was important to you… Working on this case may take a lot of my time, and I’m not sure if it’s worth it." Merik pouted.

Shit, I can’t lose the opportunity now. "Alright, listen. Let’s do this—we fuck tonight, and you give me the information you have. And then, as long as you are helping me, we may have some good time together. You know, an occasional blowjob here and there or something."

Hearing her proposition, Merik smiled wider. "That’s better. Can’t wait to taste you. I’ll come for you later." He said as he walked away. Nicole looked at Soi. "You were strangely quiet just now. Everything okay?"

The catgirl brushed it off. "Oh, yeah. I was just curious how you would play it out."

"And what’s your opinion?"

"Not bad. Druvokai are cunning and slick, but most problems with them can be solved by sex—as you already noticed. In the end, both of you will get what you want, so no, it’s perfect."

Tiredness in the back of her mind told her to sit and rest, but Nicole resisted and stood up, grabbing part of her freshly acquired materials. "Let’s bring this home—no time to be lazy."

When they came back, Nicole started sorting through everything. First of all, she absorbed the golden slab. I can give it to Iloe later. Next was the box with various materials. Nicole opened it and simply turned the container upside down, making everything fall out onto the table. Among the different ores and minerals, there were a few emeralds, rubies, and one orange-white crystal that she couldn’t identify, still encased in stone. Hehe, I hid those underneath so Jathun thought there was nothing really valuable in there. I don’t think he’ll mind, especially if he just leaves his stuff in the open like that.

Nicole placed the colorful gems into her storage, which automatically and perfectly separated the stone from them. Though now that I think about it, except for some figurines or things for sale, I don’t really know what to do with them. All I know is that on Earth, diamonds were used to coat saws to cut things in factories or something like that. But I doubt I’ll be able to properly make something like that here. At least not right now.

After absorbing the rest of the materials from the box, Nicole turned to the crate of iron. At first, she wanted to store it inside herself as well, but after getting one-third of it, her ability refused to take more. Okay, not so fast. But I hope it will be enough to turn iron.

As usual, she closed her eyes and tried to do the trick. But when she looked at herself, nothing changed. Huh? The only time that happened was when I didn’t have enough of the chosen material. It seems I miscalculated. Then let’s try this.

Nicole tried changing only her arm. After a second, she felt her limb becoming incredibly heavy—just a little less than when she tried the same with stone. Studying her new form, she noticed it was similar to some kind of mechanism, with iron balls serving as joints inside her elbow and fingers. Cool. That’s more or less what I expected it to look like.

Moving such a heavy arm quickly made her shoulder and back feel sore, so Nicole changed it back to her human one. Next, she made a long iron pole, identical to the bone one she used for her spear. She tried swinging and thrusting it around, imagining it was her weapon. If I make it a bit thinner to decrease the weight, it should be better than the current one. Iron is definitely harder than bone.

In the middle of forming the new pole, Nicole realized one thing— The spear generates electricity. Iron conducts it. I’ll just electrocute myself every time I try to use its power! Ugh, I am so dumb!

It was about lunchtime, so Nicole took a break and went to eat. At the village’s shared tables, Voru’kai guests sat with everyone else, though grouped together. Jathun was on one edge of the row, next to the village elders.

After eating, Nicole’s mood lifted a little, and she was soon back home. What else should I do with the iron? After some thinking, Nicole remembered she had the AI tool. Tora will be able to think of way more and better things than I can! Grabbing and turning the pen on, Nicole simulated her situation to the AI, asking for ideas.

In less than a minute, Tora had a list of answers—a knife or machete, fishing hooks, nails, a saw blade, and more. Hmm, most of it isn’t important right now, but a short sword could be useful.

It didn’t take long for Nicole to make a full-metal, half-meter-long sword and a smaller knife, wrapping the handles in leather straps she found lying around. After consulting Tora, she made part of the knife’s edge serrated, in case she needed it. Lastly, she made wooden sheaths for her new weapons and tied them to her belt.

Turned out pretty good, I have to admit. But now it made me realize I have three weapons, and none of them have good range… Right, I wanted to make throwing knives and also teach Mignon to use them! I totally forgot about that. She glanced at her pet, currently sleeping on the bed.

But before she had time to ask the AI for advice on her new idea, someone knocked on the door. Opening it, Nicole saw Merik. Oh, right. I already forgot about the deal.

"Hi. So what’s the plan? Do we do it here, or do you have a better place in mind?" Nicole asked.

"Ha, you seem more eager than earlier. And don’t worry about anything—just follow me, baby." The guy smiled charmingly and grabbed her hand. "Are you ready?"

Nicole nodded.