I caught Juicy, who had somehow become a Fenrir.
"Um, woof. Woof. Um, um um, woof. Woof-woof. Master Wof!"
"Juicy. Why? Calm down, calm down."
"Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof-woof."
"It's no good. She's completely become a dog."
At least she's not licking my face. The way she wraps her legs around me and presses her chest against me hard is bliss, though.
Hmm? Is a Fenrir technically a dog? Well, whatever.
"Impressive, Wof. As expected from someone who beat Alveld."
"Agaro... isn't that supposed to be a secret?"
"Ah, crap. Well, just for today, cut me some slack."
"Sure."
Is that really okay? Well, it's not like he's been spreading it around.
Come to think of it, Agaro was there too, huh.
"Going all-out right from the start. Well, I guess it can't be helped when the opponent is that thing."
Narsis was unharmed too.
Agaro asked.
"What in the world was that? I thought I was going to die more than ever before."
"I don't know the details, but probably. It's Relic-class."
"Geh, seriously?"
As I thought.
Narcissus looked at Juicy.
"Still, Tasan. I can't believe it was a Fenrir."
"Um, yes. Woof."
"Why did you just bark?"
"Woof?"
"Na~"
Dagaa slumped over. He had collapsed from exhaustion.
Narcissus picked him up and cradled him.
"Are you okay?"
"Na~"
"Wof. This kid. Doesn't look good."
"Could you look after him for a while?"
"Sure. You. You turned into a knife, didn't you. A Relic with [Weaponization], maybe?"
"Na~"
"As I thought. What a coincidence. One of our Relics is [Weaponized] too."
So they'd been using [Weaponization] to turn [Banish] into a weapon.
Is [Weaponization] naturally a Relic that lets you do that kind of thing?
"Wof. Is the town safe now?"
"I'll go check."
Use the Relic [Danger Discernment].
A few red dots. No black.
"There are enemies. But no lethal danger."
"There are still enemies?"
"Scattered here and there."
"Probably. Zombies."
That's what it feels like.
But Juicy is still clinging to me in her [Fenrir] form.
And yet nobody's saying anything about it.
Maybe the two of them can only see a big, white dog?
"Um, um, Wof. That tickles."
"Ah, sorry."
I'd been unconsciously petting Juicy's head and ears.
When I stopped, Juicy let out a little whine.
"Um, it feels nice. So please don't stop."
"Hey. You two, save that for nighttime."
"Ah, yes."
No, not "yes."
"Let's go! Time to explore the town!"
"Juicy. Let's go."
"Um, yes. I understand."
Juicy reluctantly moved away.
I felt a little lonely, too.
The town was completely deserted, and we hadn't explored every part of it, but there was nothing inside.
The only enemies were zombies, and they didn't pose much trouble to defeat.
Even the zombies we were looking for weren't the three of us, which was a relief.
"Still, this is a strange town."
"Yeah. It's just a bunch of long, narrow buildings."
"Um, um, there are no towers, mansions, or castles either."
"Right."
"And there are no churches or temples."
"..."
The town was a cluster of buildings.
It was similar to memories of Manhattan or Tokyo from my past life.
Except it was far too decayed.
All we could see were strange buildings with no window glass and many holes in them.
Inside, maybe due to incomplete reconstruction or just rot, there was no furniture.
The roads were cracked and hard to walk on.
It was looking more and more like a shoddy open-world game.
It was quiet, with only our voices echoing back.
Not even the sound of wind.
As if this cluster of buildings were tombstones. A graveyard of a town.
That might be why something like that had been here.
No, but—I'd used the Wheel of Fortune.
The location of the purple light was—that was when Generous wore off.
That meant I now had a one-day cooldown as the price of Generous.
And on top of that, I'd entered a one-week cooldown for Rev Form.
In other words, I'd used up every trump card I had.
"By the way, Juicy, why are you in Fenril form?"
"W-well, I thought it would be better to become one, so..."
Some kind of wild instinct, maybe.
They probably would have died if they'd stayed in their normal form.
"It seems like there's nothing to it, just from the looks alone."
"...Yeah."
Narcissus looked bored, and Agaro was disappointed.
There was a growing possibility that all three of them were already dead.
If they'd been attacked by that thing back there, not even corpses would remain.
But my Relic, the Wheel of Fortune, was displaying a pillar of purple light.
It was coming from... ahead of us... a massive fissure.
"Whoa— what is this?"
"It's deep..."
And heaved upward at that. Something had pushed its way up from below and burst through.
I stopped there, a thought striking me. Maybe...
"Um, um, I can see something."
"What is it?"
I lowered the light orb into the crack.
There was a door off to the right.
"Hey. That door looks like we can get through."
"Agaro!?"
"Wait, Doom Sword!"
When the door was lit up, Agaro jumped down, with Narcissus following right after.
Then Juicy. I was the only one left behind.
"It's amazing how easily they can all climb down like that."
I'm just an ordinary person. I burned through all my [Lev Move] to reach the door.
A jumping technique combining parkour and acrobatics.
As my supply of usable talismans dwindled, a wry smile naturally crept onto my face.
Beyond the door was a corridor. Sterile, modern, with the emergency lights still functioning.
And the purple light was coming from further below.
"What is this place?"
"How should I know?"
"Um, um, woof. Ah!"
Juicy's [Fenrir] came undone.
"Why did you bark just now?"
"Woof?"
"Wof. Any enemies?"
"---No enemies for now."
No response.
At the far end of the corridor, there were doors closed at regular intervals.
No matter what we tried, they wouldn't open. Probably because no power was running to them.
"There might be something on the other side of these, though..."
Narcissus said, sounding frustrated.
Rest assured. There isn't. The Wheel of Fortune showed no reaction.
Only the purple light remained. Then Juicy leaned in and whispered to me.
"Um, um, Wof."
"What is it?"
"Um, is there really nothing?"
"Right. Only one reaction. Directly below us."
Juicy knows about the Wheel of Fortune.
Since I hadn't told the two of them, she came to ask in a whisper like this.
The reason I hadn't told them was that Narcissus would probably get carried away.
Well, but I had noticed that Agaro had stopped calling it "treasure" or anything like that, being considerate of my feelings.
I proceeded through the corridor relying on emergency lights and light orbs. It wasn't a single path — there were several branching points.
I found stairs going down and descended. Another corridor.
Along the way, there was a broken door that looked like it could open any moment. Looking closely, it was warped.
I wedged a "plain-handled, straight double-edged knife" into the gap of the door.
I tried a few, and this one was the perfect thickness.
I gripped the knife handle firmly and wiggled it.
"Hnngh!"
The entire door shook.
"Come on!!"
The entire door moved. This might work.
"There we gooo!!!"
Putting my strength into it, the entire door shook violently. Yes — keep going like thiiiis!
"All... the... waaaaay!!!!"
With a sharp crack, the door came free. It clattered to the ground.
With the knife blade along with it.
"............"
Clink, clatter — the broken blade fell.
Well, I had a feeling that might happen. I'd had that feeling all along.
Agaro looked apologetic.
"Sorry about that," Agaro said.
"Not at all."
"It was surprisingly fragile, huh?"
"Yeah, it was."
At the end of the day, it was just loot.
"Um, um, um, Master Wof! I'll buy you a new knife!"
"Thanks. But I still have one, so don't worry about it. I appreciate the thought, though."
That was more than enough. I'd feel terrible if I broke a knife someone bought for me.
Even when I break a knife I bought myself, my stomach hurts.
So with that, we took a rest break in the room.
The room was pretty bare — just a table, basically nothing else.
Agaro took out a spread of blankets and laid them on the floor.
I pulled out a chunk of dried meat and used a simple cooking set to make bean soup.
I put it into wooden bowls and handed them out.
Then I gave each person a small bottle.
Inside was the usual elixir.
"What's this?" Agaro asked.
"A healing potion."
"Huh. I'll take it."
Agaro had a complicated look on her face.
"…I've still got the ones I got last time, though."
"Um, um, uh, that makes three for me…"
"Oh, right?"
I'd been handing them out left and right, so I couldn't keep track.
Besides, small bottles were dirt cheap when you bought them in bulk at the general store.
The elixirs cost me nothing to begin with. My pouch was still full of them.
Right. Something just occurred to me. Once we got back, I ought to sort through the contents of my pouch.
"Well, I'll take one anyway."
"Um, um, uh, thank you very much."
You can never have too many, after all.
Then I distributed the herbal tea I'd brewed with the Crescent Moon Tea Leaves.
It was herbal tea, but not the witchy kind. The legitimate stuff.
I'd mixed it to help calm the mind.
"Not bad…"
"This is nice, too."
"Um, um, it warms my heart. Tingly. Tingly. Tingly tingly."
Juicy ate two more chunks of dried meat. The third one was absolutely not happening.
Narcissus was tearing off pieces of dried meat and dropping them into her bean soup.
A secret technique, of all things. I wondered if it actually tasted good.
"Is it good?"
"Naa~!"
"Eat slowly."
The way she fed Dagaa tiny bite after tiny bite looked like a mother spoon-feeding her infant.
An unexpected sight, but it suited her. Eating and drinking cut down on fatigue.
When the break was over, we continued down the corridor.
We found a staircase going down, and beyond that, an elevator.
Naturally. We got on.
I pressed the open button, then the lowest-floor button, then the close button.
The elevator moved. When it arrived and the doors opened, it was a corridor.
We were fed up.
But something was different.
"Wait, three red dots. They're heading toward the elevator!"
"What."
"Um, um, woof."
"Took you long enough. Hm. Why did you just bark now?"
"Wof?"
We picked up our weapons and readied ourselves, advancing slowly with caution.
Still, something felt off.
These three red dots. Their approach was too orderly for zombies.
Zombies wander, so they move in scattered patterns.
I thought it was a sahuagin, but sahuagin make chomping sounds.
So what was it? It had this strange tension to it.
At the bend in the corridor, we ran into it.
Agaro was the one who made the first move, swinging Flametongue.
"Haaaah!"
"Wha—!?"
Hmm? What had caught Agaro's strike was the shaft of a spear.
And gripping the long shaft with both hands was a male delver.
Not a zombie, from the look of it. Alive. So that meant...
"Y-You... Sieed!?"
"Agaro...!?"
They just stood there, staring at each other in genuine shock.
A survivor, of all things.
They were alive.