21-40 · 021
Chapter 20: Anomaly
Several days after obtaining the Ring of Subspace.
My shut-in life in the tower apartment had evolved into something extremely comfortable and efficient.
I holed up in my room, keeping ‘True Appraisal’ activated on my laptop screen, and bought up junk items listed by explorers across the country one after another. My budget was the roughly 1.6 billion yen sitting in my account. But the items listed were things like "mysterious stones," "broken swords," and "cursed armor"-trash worth anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand yen. No matter how much I bought, my funds hardly decreased.
I tossed the mountains of delivered cardboard boxes into my item box to keep the room tidy, and immersed myself in restoration work, going back and forth between the kitchen and the bathroom.
A “dirty wooden branch (300 yen)” turned out to be the [Great Sage’s Staff] that doubled magic power. There were so many hidden gems that it was very rewarding.
“…Phew. That should be it for now.”
After finishing a round of work, I sank deep into the plush sofa and took out my phone. I opened the contact app D-Chat and sent a message to Rin Sakai, whom I’d ordered to wait at home.
『Work. Can you come over now?』
A few minutes later.
『Understood. I’ll be there right away.』
Oh, quick to read and reply. As expected.
◇
Ding-dong.
About thirty minutes after sending the message, the doorbell rang. I checked the monitor; Rin Sakai stood there in a crisp, fitted suit, her expression stiff with tension.
“Come in. It’s unlocked.”
“P-Pardon me…!”
“You can act normally. It’s weird.”
“R-Right?”
She opened the door with a click and entered the living room. There was not a trace of her previous condescending attitude toward me.
“So? How’s that list of overseas buyers coming along?”
“Y-Yes, of course. I’ve picked out several dozen big spenders, from Arab royalty to major European guild masters, who said they’d pay whatever price for a new Master_Eye piece. I also have distribution routes for lower-priced items to expand our market channels.”
“Fast work. As expected.”
“O-Of course! Who do you think I am? Even with a 2% margin, I’m going to earn 10 billion yen…!”
Rin struck a strange victory pose. Given her innate greed, her motivation to earn was at least reliable.
“But… the thing is, you don’t have any items to sell. When are you going to source from the dungeon…”
“Ah, sourcing is already done.”
“Huh?”
I got up from the sofa and held up the ring on my left hand toward the empty living room floor.
“Deploy.”
—Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter!!
The subspace gate opened, and the items I’d bought up online and finished restoring over the past few days poured out like a waterfall onto the floor.
Twin swords wreathed in flames. Mithril heavy armor. A cloak imbued with invisibility magic. And the Great Sage’s Staff I’d just restored in the bath. All of them were A-Rank to S-Rank class items. About twenty in total. Reflecting the living room lights, the pile of treasure shone brilliantly.
“…Huh?”
Rin nearly dropped her tablet. Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, and she looked back and forth between me and the pile of treasure with an expression of disbelief.
“W-Where did that come from!? And this pile of items… all of them are giving off national treasure-level magical waves!?”
“I sourced them cheap online and washed them in the bathroom.”
“Bathroom!? Online!? That doesn’t make any sense! If you sold all of this, it would easily exceed 10 billion yen!”
Rin touched the ‘Great Sage’s Staff’ with a trembling hand, let out a short squeak, and stumbled back. In her mind, my abnormality had apparently jumped up another level.
“T-Toru-kun… who are you, really?”
“Just an F-Rank appraiser. You know that well. That’s why I hired you, to sell these safely and at a high price.”
“…………”
Rin plopped down on the spot and let out a deep, deep sigh.
“…I was really an idiot. With this, it would have been better to cozy up to you normally than to exploit you.”
Looking as if she had given up on something (or perhaps seen the light), she stood up and picked up her fallen tablet. A gleam of fierce desire lit up in her eyes.
“Alright. I’ll take responsibility and sell all of these at the ‘highest price in the world.’ Whether it’s an Arab oil tycoon or an American military corporation, I’ll make them bid against each other in auctions!”
“That’s reassuring. I’m counting on you.”
As Rin began furiously operating her tablet to photograph and number the items, she suddenly stopped.
“…Oh, speaking of which. Toru-kun, there’s one piece of information that’s been bothering me.”
“Hmm? What?”
“It’s a rumor on the guild’s back channels. It seems the middle layers of Shinjuku Dungeon have been acting strange lately.”
Rin’s face grew slightly serious as she looked at me.
“Powerful monsters that should be in the deep layers are apparently fleeing up to the middle and upper layers. Because of that, the difficulty in the middle layers has skyrocketed, and the guild is offering special rewards for subjugation requests. That’s good for us because it increases demand for these weapons, though.”
“Monsters from the deep layers in the upper layers? …That doesn’t sound good.”
I frowned, and Rin shrugged casually.
“And here’s the funny part. …It seems some stupid party, blinded by the special rewards and not knowing their own limits, accepted a subjugation quest for a mid-layer boss.”
“A stupid party?”
“Yeah. A penniless party with a greatsword-wielding leader and only crappy gear. …You can guess who, right?”
I caught my breath. Goda and the others. After I’d bought the Ring of Subspace for 10,000 yen, they’d gotten a small financial boost, and now they’d gone and taken on a mid-layer quest far beyond their means.
“Are they trying to die?”
“Their own fault. Without me, they must have been desperate for money. …You’re not thinking of helping them, are you?”
Rin looked at me as if testing me. I was silent for a moment, then shook my head.
“Explorers’ rule: you reap what you sow.”
As much as I resented Goda and the others, I had no obligation to risk myself going to save them when they were walking into danger of their own accord.
“Right. Let’s just hope they become fertilizer for the dungeon.”
Rin laughed coldly and returned to photographing the items.