This wasn't a garbage dump inside the dungeon. It was the Junkyard.
I called it garbage, but it was certainly junk and rubble.
Strictly speaking, nobody had thrown any of it away.
The garbage was broken swords. Broken spears.
Shattered axes. Staves snapped in two. Torn cloth.
Damaged leather armor. Pierced iron armor.
Pouches with holes in them. Worn-out robes.
Deteriorated potions.
Dried-up herbs. Charms and the like.
These were the equipment and items that delvers had been wearing when they died inside the dungeon.
They had gathered here in the depths of the first floor.
Nobody had picked them up and carried them here.
They seemed to accumulate here on their own, without anyone knowing.
And there were no corpses.
Only equipment and items were stockpiled here as garbage.
That was a relief.
If organic waste had been mixed in, it would have been the worst.
What happened to the corpses?
Some said they were eaten by monsters, others that the dungeon absorbed them. I thought both were probably right.
Sometimes bones turn up, so the former might be right.
Also, I have no money.
But those things occasionally come out of a monster's gut when you strip the corpse.
Some monsters seem to eat them, mistaking them for food.
They eat them even though they don't need to — must be the pseudo-personality's doing.
Dungeon monsters are different from regular monsters.
A crude base body generated by the dungeon is given something like a pseudo-personality.
They attack and eat, but they have no digestive organs, so there's no excretion.
When I say pseudo-personality, does that mean they're AI?
Whether they're alive or not, I really can't tell.
There are no small, glittering gems or anything either.
That said, there are accessories — rings, bracelets, necklaces, and the like.
At the Junkyard, there were already a few kids scavenging around.
Adults show up now and then too, but most of them are searching for belongings of someone they've lost.
Help them search and you'll get a reward, big or small, so it's actually a lucky break.
For as long as anyone can remember, a dungeon's Junkyard has been kids' territory.
Especially for kids who dream of becoming delvers.
Even paying the 300-oro entrance fee — which is by no means cheap — it's worth the visit.
And sometimes you make back more than you paid. The Junkyard is a mountain of treasure.
But the number of kids here is far from large.
That's because it's a place where your life is truly at risk.
"Ow!"
"Hey. Watch yourself."
"Why the heck is there a sword here of all places?"
Voices came from a bit further up. A few people were talking.
"How should I know? That's exactly why I told you to be careful."
"A copper sword with a broken tip. Lucky — looks like no poison on it."
"Copper, huh. Even broken, that'll sell."
"How's the cut?"
"Just a graze."
"Bandage it up anyway."
"Yeah..."
Right on cue, here was a perfect example.
Most of the junk here is weapons and armor from dead delvers.
Weapons especially — you never know where they're buried in this mountain of trash.
People die all the time from not paying attention, poking around carelessly, and getting impaled by a stray sword or spear.
Then there's the hygiene factor. Infection kills plenty of them too.
Four deaths this month. One fewer than last.
The rule is their bodies get stripped and removed from the Junkyard.
Outside the Junkyard, by the next morning they're completely gone without a trace.
The reason I strip them naked is that the bodies disappear faster that way.
Also, there's the meaning of "stripping" in the literal sense too.
Dead bodies don't need treasures.
The boys who had wounded others left the Junkyard with several broken copper swords in hand.
"..."
I carefully use the Relic, Danger Discernment.
My field of vision shifts, and "dangerous points" throughout the Junkyard come into view within my discernment.
The "dangerous points" are color-coded.
White means safe points.
Red means dangerous points.
Black means you'll definitely die.
Thanks to this, I've been able to wander the garbage mountain without getting hurt so far.
Incidentally, this Junkyard has accumulated garbage over a long stretch of time.
Directly beneath it is pitch black.
Is something deadly buried down there?
Or is it simply that the garbage is packed so tight you'd get crushed to death?
Well, worrying about it won't change anything.
I keep my awareness on the white points only and climb the garbage mountain.
The work here on this garbage mountain is simple.
Search for things that can be sold. Treasure hunting. That's all.
The copper swords those kids took earlier fall into that category too.
Copper sells. Scrap iron sells.
Under dungeon law, whoever picks up junk from the Junkyard owns it.
Find a golden sword, and it's yours.
But well, just because you have the right doesn't mean anyone's going to protect the person who holds it.
Still, the fact remains that there's treasure here, and the chance of finding some isn't zero.
So that makes it treasure hunting.
Alright, suppose I start looking for some treasure myself.
I use the Relic [Wheel of Fortune].
Immediately, a glow is added to the points already color-coded by [Danger Discernment].
Some of the points shine green and yellow.
Green means rare. Yellow means super rare.
And blue means the super ultra rare stuff you almost never find.
I search the white points for green and yellow lights.
I scan the surroundings. There.
Green lights. One. Two. Three. Four.
Yellow lights. One. Two.
No blue. Almost never shows up, so that figures.
Should I start with the nearest yellow light?
"As long as it's something I can sell."
The Relic, Wheel of Fortune, shows me the locations where rare items are.
But I can't tell what those items actually are.
Some rares are unsellable or difficult to sell.
I carefully search the white safe-zone for the spot emitting a yellow light.
I take the battered shield and remove the broken gauntlet.
Last, I pull out… a warped armor plate.
The yellow light is gradually shrinking.
My target is just a little further.
The yellow light converged to a single point—I find a small cloth pouch.
Inside the pouch were five rings.
Jackpot.