The day had arrived. Near evening.
It was getting noisy and bustling.
The upper level.
The VIP area. Second floor of the Moving Palace.
A wooden sign was placed over the door to hide the number "216."
Room 216 — more precisely, the Witch's Workshop, Full Moon Bazaar branch.
A witch's shop open for just one night.
"Alright, let's give it our all. Anna Kreuzen!"
"……!"
Anna Kreuzen nodded vigorously, bobbing her head up and down.
Cute.
"You're really getting into it,"
Mineha said flatly.
As usual she sounded detached, but I could tell.
She was a little excited too.
And she was in her fairial form.
"What about the witch?"
"The manager stepped out for a moment."
Manager. That was technically true, but...
Already playing shop clerk, are they? They looked like they were having a great time.
"Wof. Let's go."
"R-right. Well then, I'm heading out."
"Vice Manager, have a great trip!"
"..."
Vice Manager? Must be because I'm an apprentice.
The two of them saw us off, and Mineha settled onto my shoulder.
It's been a while since this happened.
We left the room and headed down to the first floor. Quite a crowd had gathered.
Men and women of all races, wearing all sorts of different outfits.
The qualified people in the VIP area. But I didn't have the slightest interest in any of them.
No wait, let me take that back. Something I found extremely interesting appeared in an instant.
"What is that?"
Miruha murmured in astonishment as well.
Its head was a crab... why a crab? And a pond crab at that.
A single pond crab made up its entire head... a person? There was one with a human shape.
And it was pulling off a suit, which somehow made it even more... freaky.
So, same deal as Gimunema, right?
Are there actually races like that in this world?
Come to think of it, she's chatting with a witch.
She knows that crab. Well, she's a witch, so I guess that's not surprising.
If she found out, she'd introduce me, so I hurried to the transfer room.
I slipped out through the back entrance of Pomponko-Tei.
"Just because there are fish doesn't mean—crabs? You've got to be kidding."
"Y-yeah, true."
I agreed with Mineha, who was irritated for some reason.
"Now, Wof. Do it."
"Sure, sure."
I used the Relic [Wheel of Fortune] and selected "Spear."
The grade was only blue, as I'd been told beforehand.
"Were there any?"
"There were, but there aren't that many blue ones around here."
"Then let's get going already."
I just hope she'll be pleased with it.
How long had it been since then?
Against the starry sky, the magnificent
Queen of the Night
was
with the princesses,
floating there.
"...I suppose this is the last of them."
"Sigh, I figured it would only be the VIP area."
We'd gone through every blue light spear in the middle and lower layers.
The blue lights were scattered all over, so we'd worn ourselves out chasing them around.
None of the spears resonated with Mineha's sensibilities.
Since they were blue light, I was pretty sure they were all masterwork OOPArts.
Maybe that was exactly why. Even when Mineha held them in her hands, nothing happened.
Mineha's Relic, the Spiral, was itself a rare Relic.
Finding a spear that matched it... I doubted there was one.
"...Maybe we'd have to have one made, like that Spectral Star Spear."
"Yeah..."
Mineha's reply came without any energy. She was feeling deflated.
For the time being, I kept using the Wheel of Fortune.
The Full Moon Bazaar venue was huge. There could easily be something we'd missed.
Even so, the Wheel of Fortune, huh.
Originally the Wheel of Fortune was convenient, but now it was even easier to use.
It could sort by rarity and even pick out specific rarities... Hm? Wait?
"...?"
What was that. This light.
That position, that direction... the outer edge.
"Miss Mineha. There's something I've been curious about."
"Do what you want."
"Got it. Let's go then."
From the lower level to the outer edge.
The tents were packed so tightly that even the full moon's light couldn't get through.
Since it was pitch dark, countless glowing orbs floated in the air.
So even during the real thing, they didn't overlook crime out here on the outer edge, huh.
Several guards were patrolling around.
"This way, I think. Found it. This shop."
"...A shop?"
It stood out even among the outer edge.
The largest tent around, its surface a patchwork of age and countless repairs.
Inside was, of all things, a towering pile of garbage.
Garbage — in other words, weapons, armor, and miscellaneous goods.
"Welcome. Oh my, how rare. A young customer, eh."
The shopkeeper cheerfully called out to me.
He had a thoroughly suspicious look about him, to say the least.
He reminded me of those fake Chinese people from my past life's memories. His speech patterns had that "al" ending too.
"G-good evening. What is this place?"
"It's a garbage heap shop, al."
"Huh? A dungeon?"
"It's a mountain of junk gathered from all over, aru-ne. This shop lets you maybe score treasure from this junk mountain. That's what kind of shop it is, aru-ne."
"I... see..."
"Hmm."
Mineha seemed to gain a tiny bit of interest.
"It's only 1000 oro per try, aru. Want to give it a shot, aru?"
"So you're saying each piece of junk costs 1000 oro?"
Mineha asked with a flat stare.
"You could put it that way, aru."
"That's... way too much of a gamble."
She added that it was ridiculous.
"I'll do it."
"Wof, wait—?!"
"Much obliged, aru."
I paid 1000 oro to the shopkeeper.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
I circled the junk mountain. Right, there it was.
"There was a light."
"A blue light? Here?"
"Well, not exactly. It was a blue-yellow light."
"Huh? Blue and yellow?"
"Yes. I'd never seen it before."
I kept climbing the garbage heap as we talked.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know, but it caught my eye."
I used Danger Discernment and picked my way up carefully.
Mineha was clinging to the collar of my jacket.
Without any trouble, we reached the midsection of the heap—right where the blue-yellow glow was coming from.
What we found there was… pitch-black, slender, and rectangular. What was it?
A shape made of four black rectangles, with thin board-like pieces layered over each other in a complex pattern.
And the center was hollowed out into a round gap.
This was the handle part, wasn't it?
If it didn't have that, was this a spear?
There was some kind of pattern drawn on the center, but I couldn't make it out clearly.
It was stuck diagonally into the garbage heap.
"…What is it?"
"It looks like a spear…"
"No way. That's definitely not one."
Mineha's cold gaze and her words stabbed into me.
Um… well, anyway.
"I bought it, so I'm claiming it."
I pulled it out like it was heavy, but... huh, it was lighter than it looked.
I expected the tip to be sharp, at least, but it was shaped like a ballpoint pen and snapped off.
Even the tip is like this? Is this really a spear?
Well... I did spend 1000 oro on it. I'll put it in my pouch.
"You look like an idiot. Buying junk like that."
Mineha grumbled in disappointment.
I couldn't say a word. I climbed down from the pile of trash to the shopkeeper.
"Find anything good, aru?"
"Yeah, well..."
I gave a vague smile. The shopkeeper happily said "That's good, that's good, aru."
Mineha didn't say a thing.
"What would you like to do?"
"...I don't care."
"Then shall we head back?"
From the outer rim down to the lower levels.
On the way from there back to the mid-levels—
"Oh, Wof!"
"Hey, Wof!"
"Wow, Wof!"
The ones who called my name in unison were a trio from Kerberostern.
They were walking around eating what looked like crepes.
Must be nice. I wonder where they sell those.
VIP Area — Moving Palace.
??? Room.
"Phew. Made it in safe and sound, I did. So this is the place, huh."
I hid myself in the designated spot.
It's a little cramped, but can't be helped.
"............."
I grip my trusty halberd tight.
When he shows up, I'm cutting him down clean.
And then... Ruma can finally be happy.
Oh? Someone's coming? What's with that pale orc-looking guy?
Huh!? Could that be Baro? Man... he's really changed, hasn't he.
Looking like that, there's no way he could be a Slayer.
The Jinryu family is a Slayer bloodline. A martial clan that rose to power through Slayers.
And if the next head looks like that, well, either way they were done for.
Alright... he's alone now. This is my chance.
Hmm? A knock at the door?
Someone's coming in.
Huh!? That guy's face... Wait, he stabbed Barrow, and Barrow collapsed.
The man with that face just left. What... what the heck was that all about?
"...What's going on here?"
I don't have a clue. Barrow, the one I was about to kill, got killed by someone else.
Is this... a good thing, then?
Hm? Someone else is coming.
"Oh my, oh my, my my—now that's a rare corpse and sword you've got there."
Huh... that person is...!?
Ah—they took the body. Humming a little tune on their way out... apparently.
"....................."
What in the world just happened?
I stood there in a bit of a daze for a while, then stepped out of the room.
Where the heck is Luma?