Arifa had disappeared behind the counter at some point, and now she was back.
"Here, here. It's from a while back, but these are spoils from when my foolish little brother wiped out a bandit gang."
"That's quite a lot."
I remembered how the knife she'd shown me before had also been a trophy from destroying a bandit gang.
Arifa set a wooden box on the counter with a wry smile.
"That idiot. There was a stretch where he was dead set on wiping out every bandit gang he could find. So there's plenty of stuff like this — things he gave me that I just left sitting around. And when I say spoils, most of it's junk that may or may not even sell."
The wooden box was filled with all sorts of things.
Sure enough... every item in there made me tilt my head wondering if it could even be called merchandise.
Actually, I couldn't even tell what most of it was.
Stone tablet fragments, gears, eerie little statues — what was he planning to use any of this for?
"This is a knife."
She pulled out a plain knife in a leather sheath.
No hand guard, and nothing notable about the handle or crossguard.
After asking if I could, I drew it... and the blade was nothing special either.
If I had to say something...
"That knife. It caught your eye?"
"Is this one sharpened?"
"Nope. It's been sitting untouched for years. I only just found out there was a knife in there, honestly."
"Still, for something that's been neglected that long, the blade is remarkably clean."
Have you never used it before?
Still, metal wears down over time. Even stored in a sheath, it degrades.
After sitting around for years, you'd expect at least a little rust.
But this knife's blade was gleaming as bright as if it were brand new.
"Taken a fancy to it?"
"How much would it be?"
"Let's see... sixteen hundred oro."
"Wait, that cheap? Seriously?!"
It did have a green glow, sure, but this knife looked like it should be worth ten or even twenty thousand oro.
Arifa smiled playfully at my surprise.
"It was originally a little keepsake from my idiot brother. If it sells at all, that's a bonus."
"Thank you. Oh—there's an inscription engraved on it."
"Oh? That's unusual."
"...'Blade of Truth'?"
"Hmm. Might be an OOPArt, actually. Though 'Truth' is a pretty ironic name for a trophy from a bandit gang. Ah, here it is. This one."
Arifa pulled out of a wooden box a stone that was... cloudy white in color.
It was palm-sized and almond-shaped.
"Is this the magic gemstone?"
"It's more like a rough stone, I suppose. Polish it up and it'll shine."
"How much?"
"Want it? It's yours — free with the knife."
"Are you sure?"
"Does it look like anyone's buying?"
When he put it that way... well, I guess someone would want it.
But yeah. If you didn't know what it was, it'd be a stone you wouldn't take even for free.
"Then I'll gratefully accept."
I slid the Blade of Truth into the knife belt.
The magic gemstone went into the pouch.
*Oh. This one's good!*
"Hm? Arifa. Did you say something just now?"
"Nope. Didn't say a word."
Must've been my imagination.
I said goodbye to Arifa and went looking for Riv and Isibara inside the shop.
The two of them were at the knife section.
They weren't studying the displays so much as just casually glancing things over.
When I got close, Riv noticed and turned around.
"Hm... boy... remember... don't remember...?"
"Come to think of it, this is where we first talked."
We actually first met inside the Hydrangea dungeon.
I still remember it vividly.
It was when I got the Sacred Elixir Egg at the Junkyard.
After a sudden earthquake, I was forcibly teleported to the dungeon's deepest floor.
That's where I found Torquetam, collapsed on the ground.
Looking back now, that's when it all started.
My steady, tick-tock, slightly-positive slow life plan started falling apart.
My social circle changed dramatically too.
The people I regularly talked to were pretty much just the witch, Burns, Arifa, and Gauro.
Now I'm involved with more people than I can count.
The catch is that most of them are women.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but, you know… that faintly wry feeling.
"…Hm… is the knife… fitting… you well now?"
"Yeah, you said an OOPArt knife didn't really suit me."
At the time, I thought that made some sense.
But then thing after thing started happening that were far more pressing.
"…Found it… the scent of the elixir… it's still… there."
"It is!?"
"It's soaked in…"
"Ahaha… Excuse me, but I'm curious about something — how did you know I wanted an OOPArt knife?"
"Hm… you were looking at this shelf… with a dissatisfied face…"
"Was it that obvious on my face?"
That's a little embarrassing.
"Hm... looked at the shelves... figured it out...
Th
th
is
shelf's
...
kni
-fe
...
...
...
is
still
an
O
O
P
Art
...
...
n
o
t
o
n
e
"…so I thought… I was dissatisfied…"
"I see…………"
Hm? Did I just hear something I shouldn't have let slide?
"Wof. What's that?"
Isibara tugs at my sleeve and points at something.
It's the taxidermied sabrelion priced at 666,666 oro.
It's been sitting in this shop for ages.
"It's taxidermy — they take out the insides and dry it into a display piece."
"…Humans really do strange things."
"True enough."
I stare at the majestic taxidermied sabrelion and think.
Back in the day, this would have seemed like an absurdly outrageous price.
But now, I can't help but think 666,666 oro is practically cheap.
This is no good. My sense of money is getting seriously warped.
After leaving Arifa's shop and heading home, Munieka was there.
"Master…"
"H-hi there."
Munieka looked surprised.
Seeing that kind of expression from her, who's always so cool, was honestly kind of refreshing.
Neatly styled short golden hair. Blue eyes.
A face so perfectly beautiful it looked like a finely crafted doll.
An ideal figure carrying an immaculate white-and-black maid outfit without a single crease.
She's not just a maid. She's a first-class delver—an auto-doll.
And her race is Edda. Those blue eyes are colored contacts.
"Welcome home, Master."
Munieka lightly pinched the hem of her skirt and gave a polite bow.
"I'm home."
"If you were coming home, I would have appreciated being contacted beforehand."
"S-sorry. Things just kind of happened all at once."
Honestly, it all happened so fast I barely know how to explain it.
"That is… Riv and… a monster?"
Munieka's eyes sharpened.
Deep within those blue eyes, a purple glow flickered to life.
"I'm called Isibara. The consciousness of the Heizen dungeon."
"The consciousness of a dungeon?"
"You've got the same look as those Charldina girls. A maid — is that what they call it?"
"Yes. I serve my master."
"Hmm... Munieka... that perverted rabbit... what is she... doing?"
Munieka let out a soft sigh.
"Perfect timing. I was actually planning to send a letter about that very matter."
"What exactly is she doing? Heiarn."
"In a word, she's gotten carried away. There's no major damage at the moment, but if this continues, Hydrangea could be — destroyed by the national army on suspicion of rebellion."
"...What?"
What the hell is that rabbit doing.