Chapter 34 Golem's Golem Museum

This young tiger-woman was about twenty years old and very beautiful; she looked more like a gentle kitten than a tiger-woman.

He had captivating eyes, arched eyebrows, and a few long, thin white whiskers softer than wool. A leather belt with silk tassels and bronze beads hung from his waist. A brooch, as large as the embellishment on a shield, adorned his low-cut collar. His skin was more radiant than cast gold coins.

When she saw the guests, she felt quite embarrassed, shyly appearing like a light little bird.

"Are you here to see Constance?" Tiger Woman asked.

"We need to have a golem custom-made."

"Come with me."

Tiger Girl's boots were strapped high on her legs, and she walked like a little darling who was going to marry any nobleman or gentleman.

She led her customers through a stone chamber lined with murals on both sides, the murals being brown, matching the color of her socks.

The murals depict scenes of ancient subjects serving their king, and how a small city-state was built into the largest human dynasty of its time—the ancient Podroleth.

The mural depicts ancient humans learning golem techniques from a strangely shaped dwarf. Their king chooses to send his subjects to ancient battlefields, where soldiers with swords and shields gather beneath a fortress filled with thunder and storms to fight against seemingly demonic creatures.

Upon reaching the third stone chamber, the figures in these portraits underwent another astonishing transformation. In order to fight against the powerful ancient race, the king of Gupodrot used black magic to turn his subjects into immortal skeletal people. The cursed subjects eventually perished along with their city.

Because the mural-making techniques at the time were not very advanced, and due to the erosion of time, much of the content has not been preserved.

It is conceivable that the ancient Podrolite dynasty perished in the ancient battlefields, along with other groups, including the dwarfs we saw earlier.

The Billies kept counting the number of chambers and steps in their minds. They passed through a total of eight chambers and over a thousand steps, but still did not reach the Golem's Golem.

Despite the absence of candlelight, the environment grew increasingly brighter as they ventured deeper into the underground city.

All this brightness comes from the glowing springs. There are one to three such pools in the middle of each stone chamber, and each pool is about the size of a well.

When it emits a still and melodious flow of water, it appears red; when it is silent, it appears yellow; and when it rises to the surface with a compassionate sound from the abyss, it appears blue.

If three different colors appear in the light pool at the same time, it can illuminate the stone tablets underfoot.

This is clearly the wisdom of the ancient Podrolod humans; they set up this stone monument as a barrier to protect something deep underground.

At this moment, the tiger girl turned around, smiled, and said softly, "We're almost there."

It was those simple words, "almost there," that made the Billies realize she wasn't a reincarnated person.

Soon they arrived at the last stone chamber, where the ancient Podrolites had set up another obstacle. On the wall was an old jigsaw puzzle, with stones clinging to it like magnets.

Each time she went out, the puzzle would be randomly shuffled, and the twenty-four stones needed to be put back in their original positions. Tiger Girl quickly rearranged the stones into a piece of ancient text.

The stone gate opened, revealing a shapeless bridge behind it, flanked by bottomless abysses, with bright phosphorescent lights occasionally appearing from the bridge piers.

Wherever the tiger woman goes, the bridge follows. If you don't catch up with her in time, the bridge will throw the guests into the abyss.

This was probably the most outrageous thing the Billies had ever seen. It was astonishing that someone would open a golem museum in such a grotesque place; it meant that person had a truly bizarre mind.

At the end of the bridge, there is a floating, glowing head with firefly-like wings. When the tiger woman appears, the head reveals its true form.

It is the Pixie who partnered with the tiger-man alchemist.

Pixie can transform into any shape at will, and most will go wherever they imagine, but they certainly don't want to go to crowded places, because they are the species that hates interacting with outsiders the most.

When the elf Pixie saw the two strange visitors, he didn't know how to introduce himself. He flew around the dark cliff crevice and finally returned here.

"Oh my goodness! We really have a guest! Constance!"

The sprite flew around the dark cliff again, calling out Constance's name as he flew, as if the person he was calling out to lived in some crevice.

"Damn it, Constance must have gone out shopping. Who knows what day it is? He'll be beaming with joy when he sees his customers."

He's probably the most playful of all the Pixies, always eager to sing for guests, but his voice always seems to appear when it's not needed and disappear when it is.

The Billies could tell that this Pike elf, like the Tiger Girl, was also not a reincarnated being.

Could it be that Constance was not a reincarnated individual?

The Billies had no choice but to wait for him to return in Constance's room.

Constance's room was not fundamentally different from the other stone chambers, except that there was a large iron pot in the middle of the three pools of light. The fire burning in the pot emitted a green light and never went out, with three-inch-long tongues of flame leaping out.

On the left side of the room was a square table with an old-fashioned jukebox on it. Pixie wanted to request a song for the guest, but he didn't seem to be used to it.

On the right side of the room was a pile of scrap metal. Even when sitting, this scrap metal was taller than a human, with arms that clearly exceeded the length of its body. It also had some kind of catapult installed inside, and its two legs were like an elephant's. If it wanted to walk and attack an enemy, it could easily crush the enemy to death.

It might just be an old, outdated golem.

Just as Billis turned on the old-fashioned record player, and the sprite Pix was about to serve water to the guests, a series of knocking and banging sounds suddenly came from inside the scrap metal!

A tiger-like man wearing a beret, a craftsman's apron, and holding a wrench poked his head out from the pile of scrap metal.

"Constons! I thought you went out!"

Why go out?

"Will supplies fall from the sky if we don't go out?"

Why do we need material things?

"In case a customer comes to buy the golem."

"But we haven't seen any guests in a long time."

"Aren't we getting a customer?"

When Constance saw the guest, he nervously licked his paws, trying to clean his fur, but there was too much engine oil on his body, so it probably wouldn't be able to clean it all off in one go.

The tiger girl then stepped forward and licked him.

When the Billies saw them like this, it was like seeing two felines cuddling together, even though they are indeed felines.

Constance's fur was uglier than Tiger's; it was short and coarse. In contrast, Tiger's fur was neat and soft, and she knew how to comb her different colored fur in different directions.

Pixie suddenly said, "Aren't you ashamed? Doing this in front of guests!"

Constance asked, "Isn't it okay if it's just grooming?"

"It is forbidden to groom one's fur in front of strangers; this is a tradition of the Tiger People."

"Oh, I had completely forgotten about that."

When Constance crawled out of the scrap metal belly, one of the golem's eyes flashed, the clockwork on its chest clicked, and the other eye quickly lit up as well. However, it remained seated, its two thick legs seemingly nailed to stone, and neither of its arms raised. Yet, it looked as if it really wanted to stand up again.

Constance said to the sprite, "I'm too big. Even if I squat down, I'm still way above the top control panel, so I need to ask this customer to come in and help me out."

"You expect customers to do your work on the very first meeting? No wonder you can't make any money!"

Constance had no intention of listening to Pixnet and continued, "I'll shorten the wiring on the control panel and lower the spring lock a bit, but there's a limit. The spring isn't long enough, and the cockpit is old. I'm afraid my head will fall off when I start it up."

At this point, Billy also started to get restless. He replied, "I don't understand what you're saying at all, but it sounds very interesting."

"You must have played games in arcades, right?"

"Are you teaching me how to use the joystick?"

"Inside this toy's body is actually a cockpit consisting of a control panel and four levers. The control panel is used to start the machine and the ejection device, and the four levers are used to control the hands and feet respectively. That's the gist. Because the levers are too short and the old-fashioned spring can't be re-secured, I can't start the machine. But I think the height of a human is just right to match the height of the control panel, so maybe I can climb in and try."