On the way back from the rescue, I was suddenly hit with intense muscle pain.
It was so bad I couldn't stand — I'd torn a muscle. I hurriedly used an elixir.
"...What was that..."
No, I do remember. It was probably [Silent Move].
The next day.
I began my verification. Yes, it was [Silent Move].
When I'd first used it, the explanation that had flowed through my mind felt like something was different.
"Even so, you really are a weird one, you know that?"
"Am I?"
"Nya!"
Mineha, who was sitting on my shoulder, shifted her slender bare legs. She was dressed lightly for the occasion.
Dagaa had turned into a knife and was tucked away in my belt. Really whimsical, that one.
"Living somewhere like this even though you're not a delver, and then Dagaa, and a Relic, and now an OOPArt that adapts to that Relic — and a manufactured one at that. If none of that counts as weird, then Rel and her sisters must be totally normal."
"Nya?"
Mineha sighed.
When she put it that way, I had to admit she had a point, and I smiled bitterly.
Mineha was still illegally occupying the watchtower, but — well, I supposed she was more of a freeloader at this point.
Because of the Dagaa situation, I'd told her quite a bit about myself.
She already knew about [Still One]. So I told her about [Silent Move] too.
I also told her about Dagaa's knife enchantment.
As for the other Relics — at least [Banish], I planned to tell her about when the time was right.
But [Generous] and the [Sacred Egg of Elixir] I was keeping secret, naturally.
What about [Wheel of Fortune]...
I mocked myself for being such a hassle, wrapped up in so many secrets.
Hmm. Memories from my past life brought something like this to mind.
If you become rich, money gravitates toward you. That's because you already have a lot of money.
Could it be the same with secrets? When you carry them, do more secrets just accumulate?
"So what are you trying to do?"
"When it comes to precision, it's this."
"Nya!"
This was the room on the left side of our dwelling, used as a storage area, with wooden crates stacked up.
It was where I'd kept Dagaa for a time.
And on the table where Dagaa had been resting sat a wooden bowl and a plate.
Inside the bowl were many beans of various sizes, all washed clean.
They were thoroughly drained.
And then there were chopsticks. This world had chopsticks too.
Among them, I'd prepared a pair of long cooking chopsticks. And a roughly one-minute hourglass.
Ten minutes or five was too long. I wanted three minutes, but didn't have one. So, one minute it was.
Mineha glared at me.
"So what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Oh? You don't know?"
"Nya?"
"I'm going to quickly move the beans from this bowl onto the plate using chopsticks."
"Huh? With chopsticks?"
"And I'll be measuring how many I can move in one minute."
"Nya!"
"That sounds tedious. You'd get frustrated."
Mineha would probably just flip the bowl over in a few seconds.
"I'll be doing it with [Silent Move]."
"Hmm. Looks like I should get off your shoulder."
"Yes, please."
Mineha flew off with apparent disinterest and landed on a wooden crate.
"Dagaa. Come here."
"Nya!"
When Mineha called, Dagaa slipped out on its own, transformed, and went to her.
She settled onto the crate, and Mineha leaned against her, sitting down. Perhaps a dedicated cushion.
She'd gotten far better treatment than I ever gave it. I wondered who the real owner was.
Mineha crossed her legs with an exaggerated air of authority. Some mafia boss's wife, she looked like.
"Well? Start already."
"Yeah, yeah."
I became the [Still One], flipped the hourglass, and picked up the long chopsticks.
"[Silent Move]."
I activated [Silent Move] through the [Gauntlets of the Still Saint].
There was no need to chant, but I felt like this one, at least, should be spoken aloud.
The action was to move the beans from the bowl to the plate using the long chopsticks.
The moment I decided that, noise flickered and wavered before my eyes.
"Wof! Wof! Wof!!"
"—!?"
With a start at Mineha's voice, I came to — and all the beans in the bowl were gone.
A massive pile of beans sat on the plate beside it.
They'd all been moved.
The hourglass had run out.
"Don't tell me you completely ignored me!"
"I wasn't ignoring you — ouch...?"
The hand holding the chopsticks ached as if cramped. My arm was spasming and tingling.
"You were moving really creepily, you know. What is that [Silent Move] of yours?"
"Creepy...? I don't remember a thing."
I remembered nothing from when the noise flickered before my eyes until she called out to me.
The back of my neck was drenched in sweat. Both my arm and hand ached from holding the chopsticks.
"That [Silent Move] is a Relic. An automatic-type Relic."
"A Relic...?"
"I heard about this from my master before. OOPArts that adapt to Relics generally fall into two types. Type A, like my spear, which amplifies a Relic's power or effects. And Type B, which lets you use an entirely new, related Relic — but only when you have that specific OOPArt equipped. Limited, but completely novel. Yours is Type B."
So, Type B.
"So [Silent Move] is... an automatic-type Relic?"
"Yes, exactly. Automatic-type Relics perform a specific action when activated. They're called [Auto Move]. I'm not too familiar with the details, but I believe they're divided into ones where you act with awareness and ones where you act without it. Yours is the latter."
"Right... was it really that creepy?"
The word "creepy" hit hard. Mineha chuckled.
"How should I put it? Your movements were jerky, almost like a puppet. I kept calling you and you wouldn't respond — I was getting so annoyed I almost used [Spiral] on you."
"Please don't. I'd die."
"How rude. I'd hold back just enough to keep you from dying."
"And *that's* with you holding back?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nya?"
Dagaa looked up at me, yawned, and turned away.
Completely uninterested, it seemed.
"Wof. Listen. That [Silent Move] of yours — it's fine for solo work, but when you're in a party with others, you should probably avoid using it."
"Agreed. I think so too."
Actually, I didn't want to use it solo either.
Even for regular use, it was hard to find the right moment. My hand and arm still spasmed and ached from holding the chopsticks.
That was it. The muscle soreness and the torn muscle from yesterday — both were probably from the reckless movements I'd made.
I'd use an elixir later.
Hmm? Mineha had her hand on her chin and was looking at me with a sharp gaze. What was this about?
"— Hey, you. I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say, but how long do you plan to keep scavenging at the Junkyard?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're not really planning to wait until next year to become a delver, are you?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Why don't you become a delver through the special exception?"
".........."
"With your abilities, you could easily qualify through the special exception."
"Easily is a bit much."
"Doesn't your master, the Witch, have anything to say about it?"
"Not particularly, no."
"Hmm. And what about you?"
What did I... think about it?
Becoming a delver — the old me would have smiled wryly and refused on the spot.
But now... I took a small breath and opened my mouth.
"I always... thought it would be fine to become a delver at fourteen. To me, being a delver was nothing more than a means to live — a job. I never had dreams of doing anything special with it or reaching Class I."
"Well, 'a means to live' is common enough. I'm not denying that."
"But after learning and experiencing and knowing what I know now, even if it's not at fourteen — if I can, I want to become a delver."
"What made you think that?"
"The biggest motivation is ownership rights."
"Ownership rights?"
"Only delvers have ownership rights over things obtained in a dungeon. That's what it comes down to."
"Come to think of it, Dagaa was like that too. I registered it under my name, but in your case, you'd probably keep bringing back one troublesome treasure after another."
"Haha, I can't deny that..."
"And the fact that you don't say anything about dreams or hopes — that's so like you. And you haven't told the Witch about this, have you?"
"No. This is the first time I've told anyone. Only you, Mineha."
"Nya!"
"Oh, Dagaa too, I guess."
Not that it was listening.
Mineha looked straight at me and said:
"Then go to the Witch right now and tell her you want to become one."
"I was planning to go anyway..."
"Then go immediately. And make sure to buy meat on the way back. Lots of it."
"Nya!"
I wished she'd eat vegetables once in a while. Well, I'd buy it anyway.
I glanced at Dagaa.
"Dagaa. You're not coming?"
"Nya?"
It turned away. Not coming, then. I knew it.
I'd need to verify Dagaa's enchantment sooner or later.
I prepared myself and headed for the Witch's forest.