Chapter 178
“Then, replacing Seimu-sama, the new contract will be with Shizuma-sama and Melt-sama, correct? We can also accommodate a room change… How would you like to proceed?”
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you very much for accommodating us on such short notice.” (Shizuma)
“Not at all. In that case, we wish you the best of luck in your dungeon exploration.”
After finishing the new contract at the hotel and getting ready to head to the market, Melt closed her eyes and nodded repeatedly, looking rather impressed.
“Melt, what’s wrong?” (Shizuma)
“Fufu, I can tell the difference now. This hotel…it’s top-class! The receptionist just now was incredibly polite. Their consideration and wording were unmistakably first-rate.” (Melt)
“Yeah, it really was first-rate service.” (Shizuma)
“Huh, you can tell too, Shizuma?” (Melt)
“Of course. It feels good to be treated like that.” (Shizuma)
“…So you’re someone who understands the difference too, Shizuma…” (Melt) What brought this on? Did she happen to read some kind of customer service manual somewhere?
In any case, she seemed to be happily making a new discovery, so all is well. She probably completely erased any unpleasant experiences from her memory by now.
“Then let’s go to the market, okay? You know, there’s a big market over by where the dungeon and the camps are. People coming back from the dungeon sell things there, and foreign merchants and shops dealing in overseas items gather there too, like they’re joining in. I’ve only ever seen it briefly while on patrol, but it looked really fun.” (Melt)
“That does sound fun. And…hehehe, actually, when I’m in my Shizuma form… I can look up detailed information about items to some extent.” (Shizuma)
“Huh, really? Then…if you looked at medicine, would you be able to tell what ingredients are in it?” (Melt)
“Hmm, I probably could.” (Shizuma)
I feel like it would show me the information I wanted to know, so I figured I probably could.
At that, Melt took out a book from her tool pouch and opened it to a certain page, showing it to me.
“Shizuma, Shizuma…could you memorize the names and pictures of these two materials on this page? If you find any items related to them, I’d like you to tell me…” (Melt)
On the page Melt showed me were two materials listed: Drops of the Azure Sky and Tears of the Crimson Sea.
One was a blue gemstone, the other a red one; both of them clearly not ordinary materials even to an amateur like me.
Reading their descriptions…
[Drops of the Azure Sky]
It is said that rocks which once fell from a floating continent eventually transformed into what is now known as the Sacred Peak Reandenium.
A gemstone that rarely forms at the summit of Reandenium, sometimes theorized to be the crystallization of human longing.
A mysterious substance described as a mixture of physical properties and a crystallized, intangible force.
This was probably something Melt’s grandmother had written.
Compared to the information I read with [Divine Eye], it was a much more human-style description.
[Tears of the Crimson Sea]
Jewels that sank into the sea alongside the blood of tens of thousands during the accursed incident known as The Man-Eating Sea of Forhighwell.
Negative emotions such as resentment and hatred accumulated within the jewels, believed to have been purified by the sea over many long years.
A kind of cursed object, containing a large amount of energy for a gemstone, with faint remnants of sorrow and regret still lingering.
It appears to have no harmful effects on people, but it is recommended to store it in a sacred container if possible.
…They were rather ominous…no, downright heavy materials.
They felt both precious and deeply influenced by specific emotions.
And yet…for some reason, I felt like I had seen the names of these two materials somewhere before.
“Melt, these two names… I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before. Probably in the description of some tool or medicine…” (Shizuma)
“R-Really!? If we have that, I think we could extract just the components, which means we’d effectively obtain two precious materials! Where, where did you see them!?” (Melt)
Holding back Melt as she lunged at me, I dug through my memory.
Where… If it was in a book her grandmother wrote, then she must have obtained the materials.
Then, when we went to Melt’s house…maybe…?
“…Right, Melt’s house. They were used in something I looked up there… I think I was checking the fruit wines at the time…?” (Shizuma)
“Yes, that’s right. I remember you checking the alcohol. And you found some strange liquor too… Something in a mysterious bottle that I couldn’t see.” (Melt)
“That’s it! That liquor…when I checked its composition, I’m pretty sure those two ingredients were in it.” (Shizuma)
“Oh! T-Then, do you have that liquor with you!?” (Melt)
“Yeah, I do. Want me to take it out now?” (Shizuma)
“Wait! It’s extremely precious, so…if possible, I want you to take it out after we get back to our home, when we can do it calmly. I’ll be using it for a very, very important experiment…” (Melt)
“I see… Got it. I’ll hand it over once we’re back in Lindblum.” (Shizuma)
“To think you had it, Shizuma… Now I can run the experiment…” (Melt)
It really must have been important. Melt murmured that with an unusually tense expression.
If it wasn’t for her own body, then maybe there was someone close to her who needed medicine, someone she judged required it.
Either way, I hope her experiment succeeds.
“By the way, if you’ve got everything you need, doesn’t that mean there’s no need to go to the market anymore?” (Shizuma)
“Eeh? Even aside from that, I still want to go together!” (Melt)
“Hahaha, fair enough. Then let’s go, Melt.” (Shizuma)
“Yay! I want to see weird materials and incomprehensible dungeon items!” (Melt)
“…You’re not planning to buy another strange tool like that ‘worm-summoning stick,’ are you?” (Shizuma)
“…There might be a stick that attracts shrimp this time…!” (Melt)
There’s no such thing…probably.
—————–
“Wow… This is my first time going this far inside. Usually when there’s trouble, everyone gets pushed to the outskirts before any fighting happens.” (Melt)
“I-Is that so? …It feels like everyone’s staring at you, and kind of afraid too.” (Shizuma)
“Huh? What? That’s not true, is it?” (Melt)
No, it is true. Whenever Melt turned around, everyone instantly averted their gaze.
How dare they be afraid of our cute little fox girl!
“Melt, you were in charge of security here, right? Maybe everyone remembers what that was like.” (Shizuma)
“Hmm… I only ever caught bad people, though?” (Melt)
“Maybe it was just too overwhelming.” (Shizuma)
“Hm, maybe…?” (Melt)
She might have lost to Angares, but I never heard of her getting injured otherwise. In fact, I remember that ever since she started covering this area, the number of people being apprehended skyrocketed.
She probably subdued and arrested every single one without letting anyone escape.
“Look, over there! Explorers are selling things they brought back from the dungeon!” (Melt)
“Oh, that’s interesting.” (Shizuma)
I remember that items from what seemed like our world could sometimes be found in dungeons.
They even offered sacrifices to the Dungeon Master to summon us, so dungeons must be places that easily connect to other worlds.
Approaching the stalls, they were larger than the ones in the port town, with a pretty impressive selection and scale.
They also handled dungeon-made weapons and accessories, and there were several intriguing items mixed in.
—————–
A weapon that was once lost by its owner in a dungeon and swallowed by it, then reconstructed.
It was fortunate enough to merge with other swallowed materials and weapons, increasing its grade.
A famous blade with lasting sharpness and a lightweight blade.
A pendant containing the remnants of a soul from someone who died in a different world.
It carries the wish for the wearer’s good fortune.
It may bring small blessings and minor coincidences in moments of danger.
—————–
Even from the bits of information I saw, it seemed that dungeons really did produce many special items like these.
Items lost here and mixed with the dungeon’s mysterious power, or things that wandered in from other worlds… Interesting things were apparently unearthed from time to time.
Yeah, there’s definitely a sense of romance to it, and striking it rich wasn’t just a dream…
For reference, both of these items were priced at seven large gold coins… A hefty sum.
“Wow! There are so many interesting things! Oh, what’s on that shelf over there?” (Melt)
Melt cheerfully began browsing the shelf next to it.
The stall’s owner crept closer as I watched her fondly.
“H-Hey, mister…is that young lady with you?”
“Yes, she is. A party member…my partner, you could say.” (Shizuma)
“I-Is that so… Then I guess there won’t be any trouble today…”
“…Did she do something?” (Shizuma)
The owner kept a wary eye on Melt’s movements, his tone clearly tinged with fear, which annoyed me a little.
Please don’t look at our fox girl like that.
“That young lady…she shows no mercy. If any trouble starts nearby, she drags people off without question. Even a minor dispute over payment…no mercy at all. Of course, some people resist or talk back, but all of them, even renowned explorers, all of them got completely beaten down by that one young lady and taken away. Thanks to that, security improved, but the liveliness really dropped.”
“…Well, that just means the people who got arrested were in the wrong.” (Shizuma)
“I know that, but…she’s just too strong and too fast. No one can escape, so everyone’s scared.”
“She was only temporary security, so she probably won’t be participating from today onward.” (Shizuma)
“R-Really!? Is that so!? I mean, we all know she’s not a bad kid. But when explorers stop coming, we can’t get new merchandise…”
“Don’t worry. Before long, she and I will be exploring together. Next time, we’ll go deep, and we’ll bring valuable items back to this market.” (Shizuma)
“Oh! Really!? With such a strong young lady, there’s no doubt you’ll bring back something amazing! I’ve got to let the others know!”
I need to restore Melt’s reputation…
She was probably appreciated by other customers, but feared by sellers and anyone who’d been arrested before.
…She must have just gotten carried away, happy to be helpful.
“Shizumaaa! I found something interesting!” (Melt)
“Oh? What did you find?” (Shizuma)
When I went over to Melt, who was becoming a bit of a walking terror, she was holding some strange-looking junk.
Hm, this is…
“Shopkeeper, is this an otherworld item excavated from the dungeon?” (Shizuma)
“Hm? Yeah, probably. I think it’s some kind of folk craft, but I don’t know how to use it.”
“I see. Then can I buy it?” (Shizuma)
“Sure. Three copper coins.”
I bought it for about three hundred yen.
Melt rubbed it between her hands in a slightly incorrect way, spinning it around.
“When you do this, it makes wind. I think it’s related to a folding fan.” (Melt)
“No, that’s not it. There are too many people here, so let’s move somewhere else.” (Shizuma)
What Melt had found and was playing with was an old folk craft and toy from Japan on Earth, a bamboo-copter.
A short distance from the market, I took the bamboo-copter from Melt.
“Melt, watch closely. This is an old toy from the country I lived in.” (Shizuma)
“Ooh! How do you play with it?” (Melt)
“Like this!” (Shizuma)
I tossed the bamboo-copter up into the sky.
Spinning as it flew toward the blue sky flooded with dazzling sunlight, I watched it slowly drift back down, thinking what a picturesque sight it was.
“Waaaaah!!! It flew! It flew! Wait for me!” (Melt)
Watching Melt chase after it happily, I found myself thinking, I wish everything that came out of dungeons was this peaceful.
“Shizuma, I’m back! I picked it up! This is amazing! It flew! Even though it’s just a wooden stick! Whoooosh! Totally different from the worm-summoning stick!” (Melt)
“Hahaha, right? …Though I still think summoning worms is impressive enough.” (Shizuma)
A brief holiday like this…a peaceful day spent as Shizuma for the first time in a while.
Well then, how about the two of us do a bit of dungeon diving tomorrow, just to get some practice in, until we reunite with Killcrawler?
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