arc1 · 015-ep15

Episode 15: The Little White Box and a Sigh

After the Iron Behemoth's bulk vanished without a trace, there on the bright stone chamber's floor sat a lone, ponderous magic stone the size of a person's head.

But what pinned every viewer's eyes on the far side of the screen wasn't that giant stone.

Right beside the stone, in space that should have held nothing, silver-white motes of light had gathered from who-knows-where, and a single 『little white box』 of intricate workmanship had taken shape, sitting all alone on the floor.

Iori had stopped short before the boss's magic stone, so the old body camera's lens at his chest caught the little box head-on, shedding its faint light.

『...eh, what is that?』

『What was that light just now!?』

『I'm still clutching my head over how the boss fight even ended, and now there's ANOTHER phenomenon I've never seen...』

『Eh, was there some mechanic where the lower-layer boss room spawns a treasure chest when cleared?』

『No—active explorer here—every lower-layer boss, anywhere, drops a magic stone and nothing else!』

『I mean, in this day and age, who's ever even heard of a box spawning in a dungeon』

『It's obviously a prop to drum up the stream—didn't she pull it out of that rucksack she set down?』

『The rucksack is still sitting by the entrance wall, and the footage just showed light gathering out of empty space, if you please!!』

Before an unknown phenomenon, skeptical voices and baffled voices ricocheted back and forth across the comment feed.

To this world's explorers, high-difficulty dungeons reaching the lower layer came with an iron rule of survival: challenge them as a multi-person party with divided roles. Not one soul had ever thought to clear one solo all the way to the deepest part—so this box, appearing only when that condition was met, existed in no record the Association kept.

Iori himself, though, showed not a flicker of surprise at the silver-white little box that had appeared at his feet.

――Yep. In a dungeon that goes all the way down to a lower layer, it shows up here too, just like that.

Iori walked up to the little box with the ease of long routine and crouched down on one knee.

Unfamiliar? Hardly—this was not the first time he had laid eyes on this box.

Back when he still lived in his old world, there was a rumor whispered among explorers like an urban legend.

In shallow dungeons with only upper and middle layers, nothing ever happened. But clear a proper dungeon—one reaching a lower layer—all the way to its deepest part, entirely alone, never borrowing a single hand, and only on the very first such clear in that dungeon would a special box appear, known as the 『Solo Bonus』—so the story went.

Raised by a grandfather—a retired explorer—and finding the business of getting stronger plain fun, Iori had perfected solo diving like it was a game. And one day, he conquered one of his old world's hardest dungeons alone, and really did draw that little white box.

And the moment he opened the lid, heart pounding over what on earth could be inside, his vision was swallowed by blinding white light—and when he came to, he had been flung into this unfamiliar world, where the gender ratio skewed to something like one to five.

――Man, that one really startled me back then.

Fingers hooked on the clasp of the silver-white box, Iori recalled it all with a private wry smile—a year and a half ago now.

That box, opened, had been what brought him here. So by the same logic, if he solo-cleared a dungeon of this world to its deepest part and opened the box, maybe this time what came out would be a way home, or a clue to one. That was his thinking, and over this past year and a half he had already solo-cleared several other dungeons to the deepest part and opened this box more than once.

Not that he had family waiting for him in his old world. The grandfather who raised him had already passed; he'd been alone in the world. And his one lingering attachment to that side amounted to, if anything, mild curiosity over how the manga he'd read eagerly every week had ended.

Life here suited him fine, apart from men being looked on as a slight rarity—and above all, there were still plenty of interesting dungeons he'd never dived. So rather than clawing his way home desperate and driven, he was trying his luck in the easy spirit of "open the box when a dive happens to take you to the bottom, and someday would be nice."

――Well then. What's in this one?

Iori flicked the clasp open with a click and lifted the silver-white box's lid slowly.

The camera at his crouched chest framed the box's opened contents at point-blank range.

The instant the lid rose, golden and silver-white mana light—far more dazzling than the ceiling's crystal stones—welled softly up out of the box.

Nestled inside was a single dagger, large for its kind. Intricate patterns shimmered along the silver-white scabbard, and from the blue gem set into the grip pulsed a mana so vast and so keen that even through the camera lens, the very air seemed to tremble.

To any eye, at one glance: no mere weapon, but a masterpiece blade that looked fit to walk straight out of myth and legend.

『Uwaaaa, I'm blinded!!』

『What is that dagger and why is it glowing like THAT!!』

『Whoa whoa, something absolutely absurd just came out of that box...!』

『I truly thought my eyes would give out! What IS that weapon—it looks like a museum piece!?』

『Honestly, isn't it glowing TOO much—looks more like a toy sword? There's an LED in there lol』

『No LED on earth makes an effect like a whirlpool of mana!』

『Wait, so this is a genuine unknown artifact straight out of a dungeon!? It looks insanely powerful even on looks alone!!』

The comment feed, past three thousand five hundred now, boiled over in raw excitement at the divine weapon that had appeared out of nowhere.

Considering the items Iori had drawn from other dungeons' boxes before, this dagger, too, was surely a first-rate piece hiding some serious power.

But Iori, peering into the box, confirmed there was neither transport light nor clue home packed inside, let his brows dip ever so slightly in disappointment, and let out a small sigh.

"...A dud, huh."

The soft, deflated voice rang out alone through the silent stone chamber.

As the emptied silver-white box dissolved away into motes of light, Iori scooped up the divine dagger left behind in one hand and stood with all the ceremony of a man handling a twig picked up off the roadside.

At that single, utterly outrageous remark, the viewers on the far side of the screen toppled over in a body.

『..........huh?』

『Eh, did she just say "a dud"!?』

『One moment, if you please!? WHERE in that halo-radiant dagger do you find a dud——!?』

『Onee-sama, what possible standard are you living by that THIS counts as a dud...』

『Maybe, since she's a one-handed sword user, she means she won't use a dagger? STILL, that delivery!!』

『Don't pull a legendary-grade masterpiece and then hit us with a GENUINELY disappointed sigh lmao』

Dagger dangling from one hand, Iori walked back to where the big rucksack waited against the entrance wall.

Then he loosened the rucksack's drawstring and dropped the still-radiant dagger in as it was—no wrapping, no padding—straight on top of the road-harvested magic stones; next he hauled the Iron Behemoth's giant stone over from the stone chamber's center and heaved it, "heave-ho," into the remaining space.

Closing the rucksack's mouth at last and shouldering it anew, he tested the satisfying extra heft with a nod, then sauntered—without once checking his terminal—straight into the little chamber opening at the very back of the room: the return spot's magic circle, bound for the vicinity of the surface entrance.

『HEY!! Do NOT stuff a divine dagger into your rucksack stark naked like that!!』

『Did you bag a supermarket daikon while you were at it lmao』

『What if it chips against the great-ape's magic stone you picked up earlier!? I will BUY it from you, so handle it with care!!』

『Um, she just stepped straight onto the return spot!?』

『Wait wait, no closing remarks or sign-off at the end!?』

『At LEAST tell us what that box and dagger even were!!』

『Shows up, rampages, pulls a divine sword out of a mystery box, calls it a dud, and leaves—this woman is way too much of a natural disaster lmao』

Back from the little chamber's magic circle to the surface return lobby, Iori at once set a finger on the camera switch at his chest and cut the recording.

Each time he crossed the afternoon sunlight streaming into the lobby, the silver-white scabbard of the dagger—stuffed in raw at the bottom of his big rucksack—knocked against the boss's magic stone with a dull thunk, and the golden mana light leaked faintly through even the thick canvas. Its owner, for his part, paid not one thought to the glow at his back, idly planning instead where on his room's shelf to line up today's haul of magic stones once he sorted them.