The Junkyard

The Junkyard (ゴミ場, gomiba) is a vast refuse field deep in the first floor of the dungeon beneath the city of Hydrangea, and it is the protagonist Wof's workplace from the very first chapter. The text is careful to distinguish it from an ordinary garbage dump (ゴミ捨て場): nobody carries trash here. Instead, the equipment and belongings of explorers who die in the dungeon mysteriously gather at the far end of the first floor on their own accord. The junk consists of broken swords, spears and axes, snapped staves, torn cloth, punctured armor, degraded potions, dried herbs, charms, and jewelry such as rings and bracelets. Notably there are no corpses, no coins, and no loose gems, because bodies are absorbed by the dungeon (or eaten by monsters) and money surfaces only inside slain monsters.

For generations the Junkyard has been the working ground of children, especially orphans, waiting children whose explorer parents have not returned, and youngsters aspiring to become explorers. Under 'dungeon law,' whatever one picks up belongs to the finder, so the field is regarded as a treasure mountain (宝の山) worth the 300-oro entry fee. It is also lethally dangerous: broken blades hide in the piles, injuries fester into tetanus, and the mounds collapse. Several children die there each month. Wof survives and thrives because his Relic Crisis Discernment marks safe (white), dangerous (red), and lethal (black) points, while his Relic Wheel of Fortune highlights valuable finds as green (rare), yellow (super-rare), and blue/purple (ultra-rare) lights.

The Junkyard is enormous in scale, said to occupy more than half of the dungeon's entire first floor, far larger than the junkyards of other dungeons; garbage from surrounding and even lower-tier dungeons is believed to collect here as well. Its depths are pitch-black to Crisis Discernment, meaning something deadly lies buried below, and nobody knows what rests at the very bottom. The Witch Narcissus muses that, since Hydrangea's dungeon predates the city by thousands of years, the Junkyard should long ago have filled up, implying that a hidden 'secret junkyard' somewhere is quietly consuming or transporting the excess refuse.

The location anchors several major events. In an early chapter an earthquake collapses the mounds and mimics that had been buried in the trash erupt to attack the scavengers. After a dungeon anomaly the Junkyard is sealed, then specially reopened (the 'Reopened Junkyard' arc) partly to keep destitute children out of the clutches of the exploitative clan Kuunhunt, which had been working orphans like slaves. Collapsed piles from Agaro's battle scar the field, and it is here that Wof discovers an anomalous purple-light mimic buried beneath the garbage. Later the story reveals other junkyards, including the eerily silent 'Death Tomb Junkyard.' To Wof the place is 'the source of my livelihood, my playground, and a beloved and precious place,' which he must leave behind once he becomes a full explorer.