Basically, there are four dungeons around Hydrangea.
Plus smaller dungeons scattered in the surrounding area.
Among them, delvers and the occasional Relic come up for discussion under the common nickname "junk."
They all gather on the first floor of the city dungeon.
So other dungeons shouldn't have a Junkyard… in theory.
"I don't really know the details either, but it seems like not all the junk ends up in one place. More like scraps — junk that somehow doesn't make it to the city dungeon ends up piling in hidden Junkyards like this."
"I had no idea."
Scraps, huh. Thinking about it, that probably means junk in hard-to-reach places.
Other dungeons probably have them too.
"I only stumbled on this one by chance. At first I thought I'd found treasure."
"So this turned out to be a Junkyard."
"I still poked around for anything treasure-like, and I brought a few things that seemed promising to Arifa, but it only ever amounted to pocket change."
I gave a wry smile.
Even that pocket change was more than enough to live on day to day.
"So you want me to find something for you."
"Please and thank you."
"Got it."
I used the Relic, Wheel of Fortune.
But every piece of junk in this room was damp and rusted through.
Ugh, this leather armor is all moldy.
"Hmm. Everything's green."
"Green?"
"Meaning it's not worth much. Not like we can't sell it, but — oh."
There it was. Deep inside the farthest junk pile in the hidden Junkyard — a single yellow glow.
Yellow. Of course it's yellow. Great. Just great. It's getting to the point where yellow is triggering.
"What's wrong, boss?"
"Oh, I found it. It's buried deep in that pile in the back."
"...This one, boss?"
The farthest junk pile had dried coral and barnacles caked all over it.
Like someone had hauled it up from the ocean floor. The yellow glow was... somewhere underneath, deep in the pile.
"I'll handle it."
There was nothing else worth taking. I held Banish out in front of my fist and swung.
"Banish Knuckle!"
Wherever I punched, the pile crumbled away.
"Whoa, that's Banish, all right."
"Y-yes."
Bid already knew about it. Well, whatever.
I kept punching the junk pile, grinding it away piece by piece. Each blow brought an overwhelming smell of the sea.
Was this really from the bottom of the ocean? Can a water dungeon even have an ocean?
Meanwhile, Bid was collecting the green light I'd pointed out. "What a waste," he said.
"Banish Knuckle!"
I closed in on the treasure along the shortest path. I lost count of how many times I punched.
I finally reached it. That yellow light was a sword.
It had a rounded white grip, with no sword guard.
The scabbard was white too, and the blade was buried in other junk. I grabbed it and tried to pull it out, but—
"Guh!?"
What the—? The moment my hand closed around the sword, I felt an unbelievable weight.
So I quickly let go.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, no, it's this sword—"
"The treasure!?"
"Y-yes. This sword is the treasure, but—"
"Oh, it sure looks like it's worth something."
With that, Bid grabbed the sword's grip.
"Ah, that sword—!"
"It's still buried in there, but something like this I can handle!"
Bid put his strength into it and pulled the sword free. It was a straight blade.
I couldn't tell how long it had been buried, but the sword showed no signs of those years.
Bid drew the sword from its scabbard.
The blade caught the light — a rippled edge, faintly luminous, like a rough sea frozen mid-cast.
I murmured without thinking.
"It's beautiful."
"Wha— hey!? What about it!?"
"Bid...?"
Something was off about Bid now that he had the sword in hand.
He looked at me, confusion plain on his face, and spoke.
"Th-this is an OOPArt!"
"Really?"
"A-AND I just learned a new Relic!"
"Nice! What kind of— oh, sorry."
It's an unspoken rule. You don't casually ask someone about their Relics.
"Flash Step!"
"...That's a footwork-type skill, right?"
"Lemme show you!"
In the blink of an eye, Bid vanished and reappeared behind me.
"I pulled it off!"
Flash Step. I guess "footwork so fast it blinks" about covers it.
It was practically teleportation.
"Why are you behind me— whoa!"
Bid suddenly threw his arms around me.
"Wof, that's amazing! That's amazing! Thank you!"
"Wait, skip the thanks — the sword! The blade!"
Along with a soft, warm pressure, the unsheathed blade flickered in front of my eyes, and I felt death.
Realizing what he'd done, Bid hurriedly pulled away.
"S-sorry."
Bid fidgeted as he sheathed the sword. Then, as if to make up for it, he hugged me again.
I nearly toppled over.
After clinging to me for a while, apparently satisfied, he finally let go.
Beaming from ear to ear, he delivered the thanks he'd clearly been rehearsing in his head a dozen times over.
"Wof. Seriously, thank you!"
"W-well, it was a promise."
"This sword — apparently it's called the Flash Step Sword!"
"Nice name."
Seriously, so on-the-nose. Couldn't be more straightforward.
The reason I couldn't hold onto it was probably because it was an OOPArt. Yeah. That had to be it.
I checked the rest of the area too, but there were only a handful of green ones at the bottom of the mountain. No hidden walls or anything.
There was no reason to stay here anymore. The job was done, so we headed back outside.
Maybe he was just that happy, because Bid's energy was through the roof.
Every time a monster appeared, he used Flash Step to toy with it.
But Flash Stepping against water spirit soldiers and slashing at them with the "Flash Step Sword" was kind of... underwhelming.
It was just an ordinary sword, so all the cutting did was scatter water around — pointless. And even when he aimed for the core, he kept missing.
Plus, he said his Flash Step still wasn't stable enough to land where he intended.
"Still need more practice, huh?" he laughed.
Just like that, without any of the big happenings we'd had on the way in, we returned to the surface.
Well, since we didn't have anything in particular to do, Bid said he'd treat us to a meal, so we headed to the tavern at the fortress ruins.
We had ourselves a proper seafood feast.
After that, we naturally ended up heading back together, when I happened to notice the eaves of a junk shop.
Under the eaves sat a tub-shaped basket with a "SUPER SALE" sign stuck to it.
Inside were a bunch of swords.
Noticing my gaze, Bid said:
"Interested in the swords?"
"Well, sort of."
I approached the junk shop and gripped one of the swords in the tub.
"—!?"
The moment I did, just from gripping it, I felt an extraordinary weight.
The sword I'd grabbed looked like nothing more than an ordinary sword. From its appearance, only slightly heavier than a knife.
And yet I couldn't lift it at all. It was far, far too heavy.
"Wof?"
"Huh?"
"...Ah, no, it's nothing."
I let go of the sword.
"Most swords you'll find lying around aren't really worth using," he said.
Bid stroked the pommel of the Flash-Step Sword at his hip.
I gave a bitter, awkward laugh.
Night.
Somewhere far, far away, a voice called out.
Wof. Wof. Wake up, Wof...
"...?"
When I opened my eyes, I was in a space of pure white.
There stood a woman with silver hair, beautiful in a way that seemed to shimmer with a mystical, blade-like radiance.
"...The goddess of the knife...?"
The divine beauty smiled warmly.