I was caught off guard by her attitude.
I wished she'd ease up a little.
"Oh, so you're willing to meet halfway?"
"I am. But going without a Relic? That's out of the question."
"Why?"
"Look, let me be blunt — I think it's a burden on everyone when someone becomes a delver without a Relic."
"A burden? That's a terrible way to put it."
I scowled.
Calling someone a burden just because they don't have a Relic — that's harsh.
"They're doing just fine as delvers. Like I said before, they have the experience and track record you'd call exemplary."
"Exemplary? Experience? Track record? So what? Relics are supernatural power. Most dungeons can't be handled without supernatural power — because dungeons themselves are supernatural. No matter how exemplary your skills and experience are, can they stand against the power of a Relic or a dungeon? Can you compete?"
"That's..."
"Surely you can figure that out."
"...I can't. I've never gone into a dungeon."
I was lying. I'd just gotten inexplicably angry.
"Oh, right."
Mineha backed off smoothly.
Maybe she'd figured there was no point talking to someone she barely knew.
"The first floor of a dungeon is about as dangerous as the Junkyard."
"The Junkyard? You mean where all the dungeon junk piles up?"
That reaction. She'd never scavenged the Junkyard before.
"I pick through it and turn it into money."
"There's actually stuff that sells?"
"Left behind by dead delvers. Equipment and such ends up in the Junkyard too."
"Ah, I see. You have it rough too, huh."
"More or less."
It was rough, but there was fun in it too.
That's why I wanted them to succeed at clearing the anomaly for sure.
And Paki—no… I wanted all of them to come back alive.
"Anyway. So not having a Relic is honestly a hindrance. Dead weight. If I die in the dungeon, it'll definitely be because of them."
I thought it was a pretty extreme thing to say, but she was dead serious.
The fact that she wasn't joking made it even worse.
"…I get what you're saying, but… please, absolutely never say that to their faces."
It would definitely turn into a bloodbath.
"I know that. I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything."
I managed a faint, wry smile.
She didn't look like someone who wasn't trying to pick a fight.
"Then why not try meeting them halfway?"
"Because there are things I still can't back down on or give up."
"So that's a Relic?"
"That's right."
Impossible. This was completely impossible.
Her resolve was ironclad. Not a shred of willingness to compromise.
"That's enough. Conversation's over. I hate it when warm food goes cold. Let's eat."
"............"
Mineha turned toward the food.
She said what she wanted to say and then unilaterally shut things down.
Honestly, it rubbed me the wrong way — but it was also a relief.
I had no intention of getting into an argument with her here, either.
Because it would definitely affect tomorrow's dungeon exploration.
Honestly, at this point, Mineha wasn't just someone I found difficult — I actively disliked her.
She was a textbook Relic supremacist.
I could understand why Relic holders developed a chosen-one mentality.
There was a clear difference between having one and not having one.
Especially among delvers who wielded Relics, that tendency had been strong since ancient times.
That was why Relic supremacism was even more deeply entrenched than racial discrimination.
But I had never met an extremist that far gone before.
No matter how you looked at it, her views were terrible.
Whether or not someone had a Relic had nothing to do with their worth as a person.
And what would that make me... No, never mind.
"…………"
Also, while eating, I noticed something.
She was clearly drawing a line between me and Axe and the others.
Part of that might just be that I'm a boy and they're grown men.
But she shouldn't know whether I have a Relic or not.
Yet for some reason, she was separating me from Axe and the others based on that too.
I wanted to believe I was imagining it, but... that rare flicker of hope vanished in the next instant.
"Huh?"
The food was gone.
Wait, no—three heaping plates of the meat dish were already empty.
"What?"
She spoke with her cheeks stuffed full of a meatball far bigger than her head.
"Wait, the food?"
"Obviously I'm eating it."
"!?"
The meatball vanished. Huh? Right in front of me just now... to her, that chunk of meat.
That speed was clearly, physically impossible.
In this world, was physics... could it be a Relic?
That's right. It had to be.
Big eating with Relics? Or maybe binge eating?
Either interpretation wouldn't be strange — that's what Relics are.
And then all eight plates of food were gone.
"Maybe that's what they call eating until you're about eighty percent full."
"…………"
I glanced at her stomach. No change whatsoever.
Our eyes met with a start.
"What are you looking at, you pervert."
"S-sorry."
I wanted to deny the pervert part.
But it was a fact that I'd been looking, so I apologized.
"Oh well. Can't help being captivated by this enchanting body, right?"
"Huh, ah, yeah."
"What's with that reaction? Anyway — I've been hearing weird sounds from the next room for a while now."
"Huh, weird sounds?"
"Yeah. Like 'ahhh' and 'ohhh'."
"Okay! Let's get out of here already!"
I scrambled to my feet.
Ignoring Mineha's "Hey, wait—" calls, I left the VIP room.
I pray that I never have to use this place again.
Left the Cider House. Now I needed to get ready for tomorrow.
"See you tomorrow then."
"Hey, wait!"
"What?"
"You haven't even told me anything."
"Told you what?"
"Where we're meeting, or something like that."
Right, we'd parted on bad terms and I just walked off.
"Early tomorrow morning. In front of the east gate."
"Early morning?"
"From when the morning bell rings until the next one sounds."
Hydrangea had several bell towers.
Whether they were accurate or not, the time between bells was roughly one hour.
The bell would ring once, then twice at the next, then three times—increasing by one each time, stopping in the evening.
At midnight it would ring just once, and that was the end of the day.
"I already know all that. So the east gate?"
"That way."
I pointed in the direction. But Mineha gave me a look that said she wasn't convinced.
"How would I know? I just got to this city today."
"Even if you say that..."
"You. You're my errand boy and caretaker, right?"
"That's what I am."
"Well then, you're putting me up at your place."
"No."
Naturally, I said it.