Torquetam, whose soul had been launched off into space.
Bidd and Hoss looked at me with exasperated expressions.
"Wof. You went too far, didn't you."
"That's a bit much, honestly."
"Sorry."
I had gone overboard.
Actually, I had a couple more, but it was probably fine to save those for when they came back.
Torquetam managed to make it back from the far reaches of space a few minutes later.
"You..."
"That was not okay. That was absolutely not okay!"
"Hmm... there are things you should and shouldn't do..."
"I'm sorry."
I bowed down and apologized to the furious girls.
I really was sorry.
Pakira sighed and looked at the chunk of blue-green glowing crystal on the table.
I picked it up and took a closer look.
Lupinus and Riv did more or less the same.
"So, a blue-green crystal."
"It's a blue-green crystal."
"A blue-green crystal... huh."
It was indeed a blue-green crystal.
"Now where on earth did you get this?"
"The Full Moon Bazaar? No. But it wasn't exactly cheap, either."
"Hmm... could it be a find..."
"That came from a fish."
Bid gave a wry smile.
"What?!"
"?"
"Well, I got it as a thank-you gift from Gimnema, an S-rank delver."
"An actual... fish had it..."
"That fish-head's?"
"Why on earth would that fellow have had something like this?"
"I wouldn't know that much, I'm afraid."
"Hmm. So even a fish can be S-rank, then."
"An awfully unexpected way to acquire one... yes, truly."
"Oh, and this is for you, Lupinus."
I pulled out a flat, black, board-like object and held it out to Lupinus.
"What is it?"
"It's a Relic Plate I'm holding onto for Haiyan."
"A Relic Plate... did you say?"
"Yes. If you use it, you'll obtain the Relic [Battle Cry]."
Lupinus took the Relic Plate in hand.
"So this is what a Relic Plate looks like."
"First time I've seen one since that day, I reckon."
Right. Hoss had seen one before, then.
"... [Battle Cry], you say?"
"What kind of Relic is it?"
"It's crafted from the scream samples all of you collected."
Hearing that, Lupinus perked up.
"I remember now. If I'm not mistaken, it's the Relic that provokes enemies and draws their hostility. A tank's must-have Relic."
"Now that you mention it, we did collect those samples, didn't we."
"The ones where we gathered voices, right."
"Hmm... Lupinus's screams..."
"Please forget about that!"
[Battle Cry] — a Relic forged in the lab from scream samples of various monsters.
That was the day before we departed from Haiyan.
Haiyan had asked me to pass it to Lupinus.
I remember. That rabbit said, "With this, you can hear the young lady Lupinus's unbridled screams."
Well, I'd hung onto it for the time being.
"Thank you very much. Then I'll use it right away — 'Activate.'"
The Relic plate vanished in an instant.
"Oh, what about the Soul Vessel?"
"It's fine. I know the capacity of my own soul vessel. So this is Battle Cry... I see."
"Well then. Think you can use it?"
"It's certainly worth a try."
"Now then, the problem is this — whether we can actually buy it."
The three of them stared at the blue-green crystal.
"First, we should look into the market price."
Somehow this was turning into a purchase.
Personally, they'd done all sorts of things for me, and we were close enough that I wouldn't mind just handing it over.
But I had a feeling everyone would be mad at me if I did that.
Even between friends, there were manners.
Still, money was... Oh, right.
"About that, do you have any other crystals?"
"Other crystals, you say? Red, blue, green. Or blue-red, or red-green perhaps?"
"You do? Actually, I need red, blue-red, and red-green."
A barter. These three crystals were ones I absolutely had to have.
The three looked at each other, peered into their pouches, and discussed among themselves.
"I have three red, two blue-red, and one red-green."
"I have two reds, one blue-red, and four red-greens."
"Hm... heh... Riv has... zero."
Why is he looking so smug about it?
"Riv. I told you to save a little, didn't I?"
"If you don't spend your money before the day is over, you'll die, you know."
"How did you end up with zero? You had quite a bit."
"Hm... spend it... it's gone... that's the truth."
"That's exactly why I kept telling you to plan ahead."
"I'm reinstating the allowance system."
"...Ngh..."
Riv slumps over.
"Still awful with money, huh."
"Can't really argue with that."
"So, will you do the barter with just what we have?"
"An exchange for that many?"
"It's not a fair deal."
"Hm... this isn't... an equal exchange..."
"Yeah, that's a no from me."
We got completely shot down.
"Still, the value of things is different for everyone."
"Mr. Hoss"
A lifesaver. Thank goodness.
"If Wof says that much is good enough, then that's good enough as far as I'm concerned. And if you still can't swallow it, just take that amount as an advance payment."
"...Hmm."
"That does make sense."
The atmosphere shifted. Thank you, Hoss.
Lupinus asks.
"By the way, what do you need it for?"
"It's the usage condition for a Constraint Relic."
"A Constr— you have one?"
"Yes. I do."
Constraint Relic: Dimension Crack
Effect: Vibrates space-time and slices through it.
Usage conditions:
[Vibration]
'Red Crystal'
'Blue-Red Crystal'
'Red-Green Crystal'
Number of uses: 6.
Crystals are consumed one per use.
Once you use it up, [Dimation Crack] vanishes.
That usage limit is why you can't deploy it carelessly.
And each use consumes one crystal of each color.
That's three crystals burned per activation.
Terrible fuel efficiency. But I guess that's the price of that kind of power.
There's no question it'll be our trump card against this dungeon's anomaly.
But spiders. Spiders swarm.
I had a nasty run-in with a spider swarm once.
"To think it runs by consuming crystals — that's quite surprising."
"By the way, do you mine the crystals in the Great Forest?"
"No, they come from monsters. There are several that drop crystals. For Red, Blue, or Green, you'd hunt the Earth Spirit warriors."
"Blue-Red and Red-Green come from Crystal Beasts. They're beasts made of crystal — wolves, deer, boar, cattle, bears, and the like. Though which one appears is random."
Gacha, then.
Why is everything crystal-related a gacha?
"The exception is the Blue-Green Crystal. That one can only be extracted from the High Crystal Gacha Rock Turtle. And the drop rate is absurdly low."
"Hn... extraction rate... way too harsh..."
"Even though I've been hunting them for quite some time now, not a single one has dropped."
"And they're terribly hard, too. Without my Constraint Relic, you couldn't bring one down."
That thing. The MAP weapon.
"That tough?!"
Actually, was it really okay to use that MAP weapon inside a forest?
"High Crystal Gacha Rock Turtle... that brings back memories, 'y'know."
Hoss nodded wistfully.
He's probably got gacha experience.
"So anyway, I was hoping you could trade me for them."
"Well now. Trading for just this much is asking a bit much, 'y'know."
"Quite right."
"The thing is, I'd like eighteen of them. Six each from three crystals."
Exactly the right number to use them all up.
Lupinus looked crestfallen.
"That is woefully insufficient."
"Then perhaps we could earn some through the Forest Wave, 'y'know."
"Hmm... Crystal Beasts... hunting... so..."
"But Crystal Beasts don't spawn on the First, 'y'know."
"Is that so?"
"The First has goblins and orcs and the like."
"So it'd be the Second, huh?"
"That it would."
Either way, that's how it was going to turn out.
Torquetam was absolutely raring to go hunting.
"Oh, there's one more thing I forgot to mention."
"What is it? There's more?"
"What is it?"
"Hmm... ready... done."
"Actually, Hiarn's original body has been found."
I had almost forgotten to mention it.
The three of them froze, staring at me.
"...Hmm?"
"The original body."
"...My... body."
Their reaction was very underwhelming.
It was like the joke completely bombed.
Damn rabbit.