part2 · 092-ep92

Episode 92: Selling Magic Stones

Lunch over, they returned to Mizuki's house.

Putting away the clothes he'd just bought, Ren looked around the room.

It was different from yesterday. His belongings were gradually increasing.

Ten years. Ren had lived with almost nothing.

But now, he had ordinary clothes. He had shoes, too.

And—

"...That reminds me."

Ren spoke up, suddenly.

"Hm?"

Mizuki turned around.

"...Magic stones sell, right?"

"Ah, yeah. You can have the adventurers' guild buy them."

"...I see."

Ren thought for a moment.

"...Then, would you go sell them for me?"

"Me?"

"...Yeah."

"I don't mind, but..."

Mizuki looked at Ren, a little puzzled.

"You have magic stones?"

"...I do."

"How many?"

"...I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"...Because there are a lot."

"......"

Mizuki went quiet for a moment.

"A lot... how much is a lot?"

"...About this much."

Ren held out his hand.

The next moment—

A single magic stone appeared. Then two. Three. Ten. Twenty. A hundred.

Even then, it didn't stop.

"...Huh?"

Mizuki's expression stiffened little by little. The magic stones kept increasing. The floor was gradually being buried.

"W-wait a second...!"

Mizuki raised her voice in a panic. But Ren didn't stop his hand.

"...?"

"Enough! That's plenty already!"

At last, Ren's hand stopped.

He looked at the floor.

There—

More than a thousand magic stones were lined up.

"......"

Mizuki was speechless. Ren looked at her and tilted his head, puzzled.

"...There's more, you know?"

"There's more!?"

Mizuki's voice cracked.

"...Yeah."

Ren answered as if it were nothing.

"...Should I take out more?"

"Don't!"

Mizuki stopped him instantly.

"That's plenty! Put them all away for now!"

"...Okay."

Ren held his hand over them.

The next moment. Every magic stone that had filled the floor vanished.

The room returned to how it had been.

"......"

For a while, Mizuki stared at the now-empty floor.

Over a thousand magic stones. Even that alone was more than enough, and yet— to Ren, it still wasn't "everything."

Rather—

It seemed there were still more left.

"...Carrying this much at once would be a real hassle, huh."

"...Yeah."

Mizuki thought for a moment.

"First, show me just one."

"...One?"

"Yeah. Because I want to check how much it's worth first."

"...Okay."

"Then lend me just one."

"...Yeah."

Ren took one magic stone out of his 《Item Box》 and handed it to Mizuki.

Mizuki looked at the magic stone she'd received.

That instant.

"...Is this a magic stone from a boss?"

"...No."

"Huh?"

"...It's a magic stone from a monster that was just wandering around."

Mizuki looked at the magic stone once more.

Monsters that roamed floor ninety and beyond. That by no means meant "ordinary monsters."

The monsters on those floors were powerful enough to surpass the boss of floor eighty.

So—

Every magic stone taken from them was abnormal, one and all.

Their magic content. Their magic purity.

And—

And the sheer size of the magic stones themselves.

Clearly different from any magic stone Mizuki had seen before.

"...This is a magic stone from a monster that was just wandering around..."

Mizuki stared at the magic stone anew.

And then—

"...Then."

Mizuki said, half to herself.

"I wonder what a boss's magic stone would be like."

"...This?"

"Huh?"

Ren reached toward his 《Item Box》.

"If it's a boss's magic stone, I have one."

"......"

Mizuki froze.

The next moment.

A single magic stone appeared in Ren's hand.

Mizuki looked at it.

"......"

That was the instant.

Mizuki's body trembled.

"...What is this..."

Her breathing turned shallow.

She wasn't touching it. Ren was only holding it.

And yet—

The magic she sensed from the stone was clearly wrong. It wasn't simply dense.

An outrageous amount of magic was condensed into the stone itself. Just looking at it was enough to tell.

"...Kh."

Her chest constricted. A fierce pressure, as if her whole body were being held down.

She couldn't breathe. Mizuki's trembling grew worse and worse.

Sweat ran down her forehead. Down her neck. Down her back. Down her arms.

Sweat oozed from every part of her.

Ren looked at Mizuki, who was clearly not herself.

"...Mizuki?"

No reply.

"...Are you okay?"

"......"

Even so, Mizuki couldn't answer.

Ren knitted his brow slightly.

And then—

He looked at the magic stone in his hand.

"...So it's this."

Ren immediately put the magic stone back in his 《Item Box》.

—That instant.

The pressure disappeared.

"...Kh."

Mizuki drew a deep breath. Air flowed into her lungs. Just that made her trembling gradually weaken.

"...Hah..."

Mizuki pressed a hand to her chest. The sweat still wouldn't stop.

Ren looked at Mizuki with worry.

"...Are you okay?"

"......"

Mizuki couldn't answer. Just steadying her breathing was all she could manage.

After a while—

Mizuki's breathing finally settled.

"......"

Mizuki looked at Ren. Then, in a trembling voice, she spoke.

"...Ren."

"...?"

"This..."

Mizuki steadied her breath once.

"...What kind of magic stone is it?"

Ren thought for just a moment before answering.

"...An Ancient Dragon."

"......"

Mizuki was left speechless.

A dragon. That, she knew. Any adventurer knew of them.

But—

"...Ancient Dragon...?"

That word, she had never heard.

What it was. How great a being it was. Mizuki didn't know.

Only—

A magic stone possessing more magic than she had ever felt.

And the name of the being that had produced it—

Ancient Dragon.

That single fact somehow felt terribly heavy.

For a while, Mizuki couldn't say a word.

Only—

In what kind of place the Ren before her had survived these ten years.

That alone was slowly taking on a sense of reality.