The dungeon entrance in the city.
Gauro looked at Mineha, who was perched on my shoulder with an air of superiority, with a doubtful expression.
"What's your problem?"
Mineha snapped when she was displeased. Gauro gave a wry smile.
"...Well, if you're paying 600 oro, it's fine by me."
"Sorry about that."
I paid 600 oro and entered the dungeon.
"What's with that gatekeeper?"
"He's not a bad person."
"He doesn't look it."
"His face is definitely..."
I smiled wryly and arrived at the Junkyard. There were a few children scattered around. Not many, but not few either.
Mineha surveyed the mountain of junk in the Junkyard with a surprised expression.
"...So, what you're saying is we're supposed to find sellable stuff from all this?"
"That's right, but Mineha, this isn't your first time at a Junkyard, is it?"
"The Junkyards in the dungeons I know don't have this many junk piles, and they aren't this wide. This place is too big."
"Is that so?"
"It takes up more than half of the first floor of the dungeon. This Junkyard."
"Is it... that much?"
But even the Junkyard in the Tomb of Death had a trash heap, though... it wasn't all that wide.
Maybe that's because trash from surrounding dungeons piles up here too.
"So, the place from the picture of the tower. Where is it?"
"It's this way."
"Nah!"
"Can't you keep quiet, Dagaa?"
"Nah?"
"You can't just answer for the knife."
"Nah!"
Does it really understand?
Well, but maybe it's because Dagaa Knife's shape did change once during the Generous phase.
Overall, it became more knife-like than before. Though it's still a bit warped in places.
"Oh right. Mineha. Do you know about the Dragon Fang Gang?"
"...I know of them. Those people."
She immediately soured.
Since I'd nearly been attacked, I told her about being accosted by Noppo and the fat guy.
"Those people are the lowest of the low — a despicable group from Floors VI or V."
"Despicable..."
"Their executives and boss are womanizers. Cute female delvers, beautiful female delvers — they target women, any women."
"So that's what makes them despicable."
"I solo sometimes, but occasionally I team up. Women only. There was this one time when some guy wouldn't leave us alone."
"You beat him up, didn't you?"
"He started it. They figured they could sell a fairial to some perverted noble collector. You should be grateful I didn't kill him."
"...What does the Guild do about that?"
It clearly wasn't okay.
Mineha gave a wry smile.
"Do you really think the Guild would do anything about Kuun Hunt's current state? Their general stance is that disputes between delvers should be settled by the people involved. As long as there's no actual harm done."
"...Is there no harm?"
"Hard to say. When delvers disappear, people just assume they're still exploring the dungeon or that they're dead."
"So that's what makes them easy targets."
What an unpleasant thing to hear. Mineha answered with a complicated expression.
"Right. And on top of that, there's the simple fact that they underestimate women. Compared to the old days, treatment has improved and more women are joining, but that doesn't mean they're on equal footing with male delvers."
"...I see."
Maybe Mineha's hostility toward men and her aggressive attitude were actually self-defense, after all.
I caught that thought and corrected it immediately. No, that wasn't it with her. That was just who she was.
But there was so much I didn't know. I hadn't even been aware that people like that existed.
Pakira and Mineha probably had to deal with all sorts of other hardships too, come to think of it.
I wished they'd tell me about it, but then again, that was a two-way street.
And then we arrived.
The western corner of the Junkyard. It was a dead end, piled up with garbage.
"Here?"
"Yes. Look over there."
"...It's definitely dirty, but I can see some strange circles."
Buried under garbage, sure enough, parts of them were visible.
The rest was completely buried.
"............"
"What do we do? Shave it down with Spiral?"
"..."
"Wof?"
"Hm?"
"—I was wondering. Whether this is the holy chamber or not."
"It's not the holy chamber?"
"If it is, isn't it way too big?"
"That's true too."
I found it hard to believe that this entire junkyard was the holy chamber.
If not, then where was the holy chamber? The clue had to be on this wall with nine circles drawn on it.
It had to be.
"..."
The wall was buried under garbage, though.
Oh, right. Just to be sure, I'd use the Relic — Wheel of Fortune.
The wall had glowed yellow. It seemed like I'd been right.
"First, we need to do something about the garbage on the wall."
"...Yeah."
I used Danger Discernment. Almost all of the garbage on the wall was red. Black was mixed in as well.
Gloriously, there was no white. In other words, trying to remove it normally would get you hurt.
There was far too much garbage to clear with Banish. Hmm. What to do about this.
"I'll take a look."
"Huh?"
"I can slip through those gaps."
Mineha could definitely fit through those gaps, she was right.
"It's dangerous."
"I'm fine. I'm used to it."
With that, she launched off my shoulder. She looked like she was going to start by checking the center.
She ventured into the pile of garbage. To me, all of it glowed red. I was worried.
"Nya?"
"You're worried too, huh?"
"Nya?"
"...Make up your mind."
"Wof! I found something! In the center ring — there are marks where something was slotted in!"
"Are those marks square? And are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Let me see... this thing's in the way."
That's when the junk collapsed and tumbled down.
"Mineha!?"
"I-I'm fine. I cut away the stuff that was blocking things and it all came crashing down. What is this rusted leather armor doing with a knife?!"
"A knife? There was a knife in there?"
"It nearly stabbed me, so I cut it away."
"I see... I'm glad you're okay..."
"The mark in the center of the ring is square. The thing you picked up looks like it'd fit right in."
"Just as I thought. Then please come back."
"If you hand it over to me, I can slot it in."
"No. I want to think about it first."
"Oh?"
"I noticed something."
"Got it. I'm heading back now."
A short while later, she emerged from a gap in the pile of junk.
She brushed the dust off her clothes and sat down on the scabbard of a nearby sword.
"Thanks for the hard work."
"Hey. You're not going to slot it in?"
"I've been thinking about it. If I just go ahead and do this, I think it'll probably turn into something big."
"That's true. There's no telling what might happen."
Right. You never know what might happen.
The Junkyard could collapse.
"Besides... I'm not sure we should just keep going without knowing anything."
"That too. Who even is Haiyarn? There might be a connection to Abramilin and the others—this isn't just some simple treasure hunt."
"Yes. That's why I think it'd be better to look into things and think it over first."
And on top of that, we'd have to go from the First Tower to the twelfth floor of the city dungeon.
But the dungeon is still closed.
Mineha stared at me. Then suddenly she grew larger.
"Whoa, what happened?!"
"My water flask. You have tea, right?"
"I do, but—"
"Give it to me."
"O-okay."
I handed over the crescent-shaped container.
The enlarged Mineha was hard to think of as younger than me.
That was always true to some extent, but even more so now—her height, her build, her face... she didn't look ten years old.
Mineha pressed the flask to her lips, drained it, and handed it back to me.
"Pwahh, you've actually started thinking things through, haven't you?"
"Have I?"
"Let's go home. Meat and sweets are waiting."
"Naa!"
"Yeah."
I'd try contacting the witch when I got home, I figured.
When I got back, a large black bird was perched in the courtyard.
That was the witch's familiar.
When it saw me, it dropped the scroll tied to its leg with its beak.
Then it flew off. I picked up the scroll.
"What is it?"
"Um... it's a letter from the Delvers' Guild."
"The Guild? Addressed to me?"
"Yes. They're asking you to come to the Guild tomorrow."
"Come to think of it, you did participate in that forest investigation, didn't you?"
"Naa!"
"Dagaar put on quite a show too, huh."
"Naa!"
"Probably. That's likely what it's about."
Well, I might as well go check it out.