A beautiful girl. Hence, a pretty girl.
But that phrase — "pretty girl" — was from my past life.
Around here, that kind of phrasing apparently came from something called "Gabella's Nectar Blossoms."
Honestly, saying it that way was even more embarrassing.
"Mm... what?"
"Oh, no, it's just—"
She looked familiar. Well, more like — there was no way I could forget.
She was a member of the Rank III delver party Torquetam, the one I'd helped out.
Peach-white. Short-cropped hair that shone with a peach-white glow. A beautiful girl with short peach-white hair.
It glowed naturally, without any artificial quality — but no matter how you looked at it, she wasn't human.
Or maybe she was some kind of android, or something along those lines.
Come to think of it, this world had golems, dolls, and puppets as dungeon monsters.
That put her in a different classification from mineral monsters like kobolds, kobels, and Berkmenlines.
Or perhaps, judging by that space-opera look of hers—
Was she an unknown intelligent life form absent from this world? In other words, some kind of alien?
But from where I stood, beastkin, elves, and Fawns—
And even fairials and Edda, which I'd never seen but were pretty much the same kind of thing.
Anyway, her large red eyes had a sleepy look to them.
Furthermore, her skin was pale. And her eyes were red.
She even gave off a bit of a vampire vibe.
This world had vampires too.
If there were undead like skeletons and ghosts roaming around, it wouldn't be out of the question for vampires to exist as well.
They were classified as monsters, but not the kind that came from dungeons.
"............"
Her black jacket with red piping, on closer inspection, wasn't from this world.
It was the same kind of thing as the ultra-high-tech white bodysuit she wore underneath.
That white bodysuit clung tight against her skin.
Blue lines, geometric patterns, marks, and numbers.
It had some texture to it, so it wasn't exactly a second skin.
But even so, her body lines were completely visible.
Her chest wasn't particularly large, but her lower body was on the bigger side.
She was wearing jeans-like pants, though, so I couldn't be entirely sure.
And at her waist hung a single unified black blade.
The only reason I could tell it was black was because there was no scabbard. She probably didn't need one.
The blade's guard formed a circle, and blue lines ran along the handle.
Something about it—just a gut feeling, nothing more—told me it was military.
It definitely gave off the vibe of some kind of special operations unit, that sort of thing.
"Mm... something... is... missing... I think."
The girl spoke in a flat, cold tone.
"That's... kind of the feeling I get."
"...Why I feel that way... Riv. I understand."
Riv. So that was her name, probably.
"What exactly do you mean—"
"...It's because these knives... hmm. They're not OOPArts... so."
"Huh?"
"Hmm... because they're not OOPArts... something's missing."
What was she talking about? But maybe that actually made sense.
"Because they're not OOPArts, huh."
Now that she said it, that kind of clicked into place.
So that was what was missing.
"...That's what 'missing' means, then..."
"But OOPArts aren't exactly something you stumble across."
Even if one did turn up, I wouldn't stand a chance of getting my hands on it.
I wasn't a delver, so I couldn't exactly go claim one from a dungeon either.
If there was any way to find one, it'd be at the Junkyard.
But an OOPArt would definitely be super ultra rare. There'd be a blue glow, no question.
So far, the only thing I'd found with a blue glow was the elixir.
"...Strange."
"Huh?"
"Hm... you smell like something."
"S-smell?"
What did that mean? Like I stink?
No, I definitely bathed yesterday.
"Riv? Where are you? Riv? Riv?"
A voice suddenly called out for her.
Calling her name over and over, searching.
"...Pakira's calling... so... goodnight."
With that quiet murmur, she promptly left.
"What was that about?"
I couldn't decide which of us was stranger.
Also, so it turned out I hadn't been exposed after all.
I felt a small wave of relief.
But still — an OOPArt.
At the time, I didn't even find it odd.
Needing an OOPArt meant she possessed a Relic.
In other words, Riv had seen right through me. She knew I had a Relic.
I didn't realize that until I got home.
"...Guess I'll grab some meat on the way back."
In the end, I didn't find any knife worth buying, so I said goodbye to Arifa and left the shop.
"Meat and bread and..."
"Hey."
On my way to the butcher.
A voice called out, and three boys appeared, blocking my path.
All three had swords drawn. Crude ones, but still.
"?"
"That's the guy."
"O-oh, just stay put."
"What do you want?"
What was this about? Not to brag, but I didn't have any friends.
Partly because I didn't need them, but mainly because kids were basically my enemies, so I just never made any.
But I recognized the one in front.
He was the guy who'd gotten himself hurt with that broken copper sword at the Junkyard.
"Money. Hand it over."
The one who'd gotten hurt pointed his sword at me as he said it.
"I don't have any."
"Don't play dumb. You've got hundreds of thousands on you."
"Hand it over if you don't want to get hurt!"
Hundreds of thousands... ah, right. So that's what this was about.
These guys. They'd been at the antique shop. I let out a sigh.
"I don't have that much on me."
"The hell you don't!"
"You little shit. You know who hired us?"
They grinned nastily.
So that's how it was. Hired goons.
"Nah, no idea."
Didn't care either.
"Lord Bobbis — a Fourth-Rank delver!"
"Fourth-Rank!"
"Come on, if you get it, hand it over already!"
Bobbis? I didn't actually know all that many delvers.
But still.
"Bobbis...? That's,how do I put it — sorry, that's a pretty awful name."
"You little—! Put 'Lord' on it!"
"You defying us?!"
"We'll kill you!"
The three of them flew into a rage without warning, drawing their swords and charging.
If I'm being blunt, thinking you can win just by holding a sword is... well, generally not wrong.
Against someone unarmed, a weapon lets you swing to intimidate, then cut in the opening that creates.
People are afraid of weapons. That much I knew.
I know that if it cuts you and you're unlucky, you die.
But that only applies when your opponent is an amateur.
I step into the first one's sword swing to dodge it and drive a heavy fist into his gut.
"Gah!"
The second one swings his blade as I'm backing away, so I kick upward at his chin.
"Bwah!"
I circle around the third one's wide saber arc and twist his neck over his shoulder.
"Kgh!"
There. Done. Well, not quite done yet.
Still, this is the first time I've been attacked.
"Well then, what should I do?"
That's obvious. I'll just leave them as they are.
They'll come looking for a resolution soon enough anyway.
Two days later.
"Hey."
As I was cutting through a back alley, those three showed up behind me.
Grinning like creeps.
And a middle-aged man was blocking my path from the front.
Slightly portly, with thinning hair.
I already knew, but he wasn't exactly a looker either.
Sorry, but... he reeks of small-timer.
"You're Wof, ain't ya?"
"That's right. Something the matter?"
"Something the matter? I'm Bobbis, a Fourth-Class Delver, got it?"
Just as I figured. Here we go.