We arrived at a spot that had suddenly opened up.
Caves often had spaces like this.
"…Mm… boy…"
"Yes? What is it?"
"…Mm… I'll rest… for a bit…"
Riv said that, looked around, and sat down on a rock that seemed easy to sit on.
This sort of thing was common in caves too.
She took something out from her waist. It was dried meat.
"…"
"…Mm… boy, too… eat…"
It seemed my staring had caught her attention.
Riv tore off a piece with her teeth and held out the piece in her hand.
"Ah, no, I—"
"…Mm… you don't want it…"
"It's really fine."
"…Mm…"
Riv ate the dried meat she'd offered, then moistened her throat with her canteen.
I drank water too. I wasn't hungry.
After finishing the dried meat, Riv rinsed her mouth with the canteen.
Dried meat was often made intentionally salty.
There were various preserved foods, but none of them considered taste.
As long as you could eat the bare minimum, that was enough.
"What's wrong?"
Riv was looking down, seemingly sad for some reason.
"…Mm… Riv… is still hungry…"
"Huh? Then, uh, would you like my dried meat?"
"…Mm… is that okay…"
"Please, go ahead."
I handed her a parchment-wrapped package from my pouch.
Riv took it and opened the wrapping.
"…Mm… the color is pretty…"
"R-really?"
Riv grabbed the dried meat and bit into it.
She was wild about it.
"Mmnh… it… it's delicious…!"
Her red eyes lit up.
That was the first time she'd shown me that expression, and it made my heart skip.
"G-glad you like it."
My dried meat had a solid saltiness to it.
Riv chewed and chewed, drank water, and chewed more.
"Mmnh… th-this is really… really good…"
She wolfed it down in the blink of an eye.
It had been a decently sized chunk of meat, too.
"…You're quite the hearty eater."
"…Mm… hearty…"
"Er, I'm glad the flavor suited you."
"…Mm… boy. Thanks… where did you buy it…?"
"I bought the meat, but I made the dried meat myself."
"…Mm… you did…"
"Yeah."
The knowledge from my past life wasn't anything special.
But it wasn't all useless, either.
I'd been into smoking as a hobby for a while.
It wasn't comprehensive—just fragments—but it came in handy.
Of course, I'd failed plenty of times.
There were moments I nearly gave up.
In this world, there were actually quite a few foods that were delicious when cooked.
Even so, there were flavors I couldn't replicate, no matter what.
Dried meat was one of them.
I wanted to get even a little closer to the taste memories of my past life.
And so, I'd eventually produced some reasonably decent dried meat.
"…………"
"? What is it?"
She was staring at me intently.
Then she gave a small shudder.
"…Mm. Picking flowers… I'm going."
"Ah, y-yes."
Riv stood up, and the light sphere stayed in place as she headed into the darkness.
After a short wait, she came back.
"…Mm. Break's over…"
"Y-yeah."
"…Mm. Let's go."
How much time had passed since then?
We'd taken down at least thirty goblins.
By Riv, that was. I hadn't done anything.
As expected of Riv. She was strong, and it wasn't just because of her equipment.
She had the skills and the body to wield them.
She must have trained for that. And she was still continuing that training.
I found myself thinking.
Riv's true nature might be less that of a delver and more that of a soldier.
She might have actually been a soldier.
As I mused on that, we arrived.
The lowest level of the cave.
Since it was a natural cave, there was no door.
But somehow, from the air and the atmosphere, I could tell this was the bottom.
"It's spacious, isn't it?"
"…Mm."
It was a dome-shaped, expansive chamber.
Barrels and wooden crates lay scattered around the perimeter, and in the back sat a goblin.
It was a goblin with a larger build than normal.
Its jet-black eyes were unnerving.
"…A hobgoblin…"
"That one…"
So this was the boss of this lair.
I used the Relic, Danger Discernment.
The hobgoblin registered pure red. Dangerous, but not black.
It wielded a thick saber with a large chip in its blade.
Thicker and bigger than a butcher's cleaver. Stained with blood and blooming with rust.
"…Mm… boy. Stay back…"
"Y-yes. Got it."
This was a time to obey without question.
As I retreated, Riv turned her black blade.
At the same time, the hobgoblin raised its saber, and an unnatural gust of wind blew.
"An attribute… Relic…"
A wind-attribute Relic, then.
Wild wind coiled around the hobgoblin's saber.
Riv struck first.
She closed the distance swiftly, swinging her blade in from a diagonal angle.
The hobgoblin caught it effortlessly and released a blast of wind.
Riv dodged and fell back.
"…
Space…
Pleiades…
…Maia Blade…"
The blade glowed red, and Riv charged.
The hobgoblin swung its saber, sending countless blades of wind flying.
Riv skillfully cut through the wind blades with her blade and pressed closer to the hobgoblin.
And she slashed the hobgoblin with her blade.
No—wrong. The wind pressure from the saber had blocked it.
That saber. Something was off.
"…Mm… could it be an OOPArt…"
Riv leaped back.
An OOPArt.
When paired with a compatible Relic, it amplified the Relic's power.
That saber was an OOPArt that synergized with the hobgoblin's wind Relic…
A chill ran down my spine. Danger Discernment had turned black.
"…Mm… boy…"
"Y-yeah…"
"…Run… of course… I'll defeat it… but… I don't know what might happen… it's dangerous… so… Riv… will create an opening…"
"Riv…"
I could feel the tension rising in her expression.
Come to think of it, the witch had told me about this.
A monster that wielded Relics was on a completely different level of danger from ordinary monsters.
And if that monster also used an OOPArt, its strength shifted into another dimension entirely.
That was because monsters were more compatible with Relics and OOPArts than human races were.
Even for an advanced delver… a monster using an OOPArt was not to be underestimated.
The hobgoblin let out a low growl and generated a vortex of wind centered on its saber.
It was crude and rough, but it was a small tornado.
Riv casually picked up a stone and threw it.
The stone was sucked into the miniature tornado around the saber, shredded, and ground to powder.
What devastating power.
So this was what a monster with an OOPArt was like.
This was going to be a tough fight.