Now, what should I really do?
Usually, I'd head to the dungeon's Junkyard, but it's been shut down.
The lockdown will continue until Arifa's younger brother, Agaro, defeats the dungeon's anomaly.
I wonder how long that'll take.
He's probably getting drunk at the tavern again today.
That's how it's been ever since the lockdown started.
According to Arifa, he's waiting for companions to help with the anomaly.
Even for a Rank II delver, soloing a dungeon anomaly is extremely difficult.
The ones who can take on an anomaly alone are probably...
...only the Rank I delvers. There are just 27 of them in this whole world.
So he's just sitting around, getting drunk and doing nothing.
Honestly, it's a sorry state of affairs.
Where did the cool Agaro from the day of the lockdown disappear to?
Also, not every dungeon around Hydrangea has been shut down.
Only the Central Dungeon inside the city has been closed.
So most delvers are just maintaining the status quo.
The Central Dungeon has always been deep with lots of strong monsters but slim pickings.
That's why you mostly see Rank IV and Rank III delvers there. Rank VI and Rank V are a rare sight.
But those five dungeons don't have a Junkyard. The Junkyard is only in the Central Dungeon.
Honestly, I get that there are reasons, but I really wish they'd lift the closure sooner.
For now, I can still get by for another two months.
Any longer than that and things get dicey.
I can't make a living on the witch's commissions alone.
That said, the witch's commissions do pay well.
I know that if I work things out with her, I could probably scrape by somehow.
But the witch is a handful, and I'd really rather not take them on.
She's the explosive, emotionally heavy type.
"…Maybe I really should look into it after all."
I sigh.
It's not exactly a great option, and it's dangerous.
But the payoff outweighs both of those things.
I look at the crescent-shaped vessel.
"…………"
This is a vessel that, depending on how you use it, could generate a ridiculous amount of money.
It's way too valuable to just be given as a reward for some gathering commission.
It's a legendary, for starters — there's no way that adds up.
What is that witch thinking?
I'll skip the details, but the witch is the only person who found out about my Banish.
And Danger Discernment, I guess.
I don't know anything about the Wheel of Fortune or the fourth Relic.
It's probably best to assume she has some kind of scheme.
I don't know what it is, but... there's no point thinking about it.
She's a witch.
But her profit method requires certain things — items to seek out.
I equipped my knife and left the house.
The things I'm looking for aren't very common in this world.
They're in circulation, but not popular yet. Still rare.
But coming from my past life, the idea that these are considered rare makes me smile wryly.
The reason they're treated as rare... it's a matter of education, or rather, upbringing.
One of the causes is the low literacy rate.
Because this isn't a world where everyone can receive an education.
So not everyone can read and write.
I can read and write because my uncle taught me.
Though my past-life memories did help me improve faster.
I arrived at the general store. The thing I'm looking for is in one corner of this shop.
It's a narrow space, with only about one shelf's worth of room.
Those things hardly ever sell.
Actually, just having them sitting there is the better outcome.
"Hey. How many you buying?"
"Yeah. Old man. Five potions."
"Right you are. The usual."
"Ah man, seriously, what a mess."
"It's those guys, right? The ones with that 4th-rank Green Bamboo Sword, isn't it?"
The ones talking were delvers.
The shopkeeper chimed in with some small talk.
"Something happen? We've been stocking the Green Bamboo Sword too, you know. Had some loyal customers over it."
"Yeah, it's rough. Old man, those guys — they went into that forest."
"That forest!? Well, that's..."
"Lately there's been more and more delvers who only work the city heading into the woods."
"Because the dungeon's been closed and there's hardly any commissions left."
"And on top of that, every other dungeon is getting swarmed."
"I've been hearing the same story over here too. But I've been wondering about this for a while — how do you even know they went into the forest?"
"Ah, apparently there's a legendary flute kept at the Guild. When it sounds, they can tell someone's entered the forest."
"A flute?"
"There've been reports of the flute's sound actually being heard near the forest too."
"Might be related somehow."
"Is that so. Right you are. Five potions."
With the dungeon closed, it sounded like delvers were taking damage in all sorts of ways.
I felt for them, but setting that aside, what I needed to find was a book.
I was looking for a herb encyclopedia and a recovery medicine dictionary.
Or something close to them. Or similar.
If they had both—well, that'd be rare. There was a visitor ahead of me. A girl, no less.
She stood before the bookshelf, staring hard at the top shelf and reaching up.
But she couldn't reach it. She jumped, and still couldn't reach it.
Her two white tails—one long, one short—were tangled together in an irritable sway.
"Hmph."
"Is this what you're looking for?"
With a little hop, I plucked the fourth book from the right on the top shelf.
"O-oh. My apologies."
She looked up at me as she said thanks. This girl.
There was something familiar about her.
A beautiful cat-beastkin girl with pale green hair streaked with white.
She wore a black robe with the hood up, one eye hidden behind her hair.
The hood bulged up into the shape of cat ears.
A wooden staff hung at her waist, and two white tails—one long, one short—swayed behind her.
Oh, I remembered.
She was a Rank III delver, same as Riv.
A member of Torquetam, the all-women party.
But her name... I didn't know it.
"No, I actually need something from this bookshelf too."
"Oh my. You can read, can you?"
"Well, yes, more or less."
"That's commendable. Someone as young as you... Wait. You. Haven't we met somewhere before?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure?"
We had definitely met before.
But back then, she was on the verge of death — there was no way she'd remember me.
She tilted her head slightly.
"Hmm? Perhaps I'm imagining things."
"I think you probably are."
"...If that's the case, I apologize. I came across like a bad pickup artist, didn't I?"
"Huh? Now that you mention it, yeah, a little."
I let out a wry laugh. She froze and panicked.
"No no, I would never do something as shameless as picking someone up!"
"Right, right, of course. I know that."
"V-very well then. I'll be going."
She bustled off, book in hand, presumably heading toward the counter.
I gave a resigned sigh and looked over the bookshelf once more.
I scanned every shelf, searching — but the book I wanted wasn't there.
"Most of these are storybooks and poetry collections."
Most of the bookshelf was taken up by entertainment.
In the corner sat an old cookbook and a travel journal with worn covers.
Both were faded. How many years had they been there?
The cookbook caught my interest. I picked it up and leafed through it.
'...So there are this many ways to cook bread-beans.'
This might be worth buying.
What about the price?
Books were expensive. They weren't as common as scrolls.
But this was an old book.
Maybe I could haggle it down... though I'm not great at bargaining.
'Looks like you found what you were looking for.'
'Huh?'
She was there. Her mismatched white tails swished contentedly.
What was going on?