The chonky Gaa had given me a headache, but oh well.
—Whoa! Daga!
…So you were here.
Hyarn was a little surprised.
Yeah, it was here.
I hadn't noticed it either, honestly.
Um, um, um, Daga. You're kinda heavy.
Juicy picked it up and hugged it.
Na?
It was only for a second, so the voice came out normal.
Juicy. Can I leave Daga with you for a bit?
Um, woof. Understood, Master Wof.
That takes care of that.
Now, the first blue light was somewhere not too far from here.
When I headed over, there was a glass display case.
What's this?
Clocks, it looks like.
What?
Wristwatches were lined up on the glass display case.
The blue light was one of them. Rounded and silver, it had an LCD screen.
"A watch?"
In this world, when you think of a clock you hold in your hand, it's a pocket watch.
I've got a pocket watch Munieka gave me in my pouch, too.
I use it once in a while to check the time.
I know that wristwatches sometimes turn up in dungeons.
"Were there wristwatches in the Heyarn era?"
"Don't make fun of me. There were. But not anything like this."
I've wondered for a while now — what kind of technology did the Heyarn era actually have?
I used to think it was roughly on par with the present day from my past life's memories.
But lately, I've started to feel like I'm not so sure anymore.
"So what are we gonna do?"
"It's a blue light, so it's quite the find, Bido. Do you want it?"
"Huh? Me... I dunno, I don't really get it."
Bido gave a slight, wry smile.
Juicy tilted her head to the side, too.
"I'm interested to see what it is."
"Then shall I bring it along?"
I placed my hand against the glass.
I was planning to just open a hole in it with Banish, though.
"…………"
My hand stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just... this feels like stealing. I'm having a bit of a moral crisis."
It honestly felt like I was committing robbery.
"Ah... when you put it that way, I guess so."
"Um, I've actually been thinking the same thing."
Bid and Juicy felt the same way too.
Right. It wasn't just me.
But Hiarn tilted her head.
"It's a dungeon, isn't it?"
"It is, but with a display this impressive... is it really okay?"
At the shop, Riv had paid for everything, so it hadn't felt as bad.
And back at the base there was hardly anything, so... well, there had been a twinge of guilt even then.
But actually reaching in to take the display items behind glass like this... it just felt off.
Like I was doing something wrong.
Even if this was a dungeon—no. I pulled my hand away from the glass.
"Changing your mind?"
"Yeah. If there were treasure chests and the items were inside those, I wouldn't hesitate. But this is... even if it's technically fine... I just can't do it."
If there'd been a treasure chest here with the items inside, I could've taken them without a second thought.
Bid let out a complicated smile.
"Um, I get it!"
"Huh?"
"Y-you know, when something's this impressive, it really does feel like stealing!"
"Right?"
"Is that so?"
Haiyarn didn't seem to understand.
Hmm, this rabbit.
"I get it, I do. There really are items in dungeon ruins where it just feels wrong to take them, y'know? Even when they'd be worth money, I've passed."
So that's why Bid's mood had been off this whole time.
I'd been wondering why she was acting so unlike herself.
She'd probably been expecting treasure chests or something.
And Haiyarn still didn't seem convinced.
"If this were a regular shop, sure, taking things would be stealing. But this is a dungeon. I don't think there's anything wrong with it."
"Then why don't you take them, Haiyarn?"
"Now that you mention it, I'm not sure I can either."
What is with this rabbit.
"S-so, um, what should we do, Master Wof?"
"Let's see..."
I find myself thinking.
If this were a zombie apocalypse story, could I just take whatever I wanted without a second thought?
Because right now I had plenty of supplies and plenty of room, there was this lingering sense of guilt about it.
Well, that was probably what it all boiled down to, wasn't it?
At least, that was how I felt about it.
Right. The goal was different.
What I was looking for in this dungeon city wasn't rare items.
What I wanted was... an adventure.
Yeah, adventure.
I wanted to explore this dungeon as a delver.
That was the reason I'd come here.
"Wofchi?"
"...Let's head to the second floor for now, shall we? Since we went through the trouble of getting here, I'd like to take a look around."
"Sounds good, ssu."
The home center had both stairs and an elevator.
Eight floors at most. Each floor had a guide map posted by the staircase.
"...P.O.?"
The second floor was labeled as the P.O. section.
"Whatcha think it issu?"
"Hmm. Not sure."
"Wof?"
"Hm?"
Well, I'd go take a look.
And so I made my way to the second floor... and there... huh? A light orb?
Tons of light orbs were floating around.
This is the PO? Yeah, no matter how you looked at it, those were definitely just light orbs.
There was a pale blue pedestal, and engraved on its metal plate were the words:
≪Personal Orb≫
Personal Orb. So that's PO.