The next day.
As usual, I paid 300 oro at the dungeon entrance.
That's when Gauro, the gatekeeper, told me this.
"Wof. Three days from now, this dungeon is being shut down."
"...I see."
I'd figured something like that was coming.
The earthquake had hit, and Agaro came to subjugate the anomaly.
No telling what might happen in the meantime.
Shutting down the dungeon for safety reasons was only natural.
Gauro sighed.
"Sorry about that."
"No, it can't be helped."
I headed to the Junkyard. Today was the only day I could come.
At the very least, I wanted to find something good.
"Whoa..."
The sight of it made me groan involuntarily. The Junkyard had been completely reshaped by the earthquake.
Most of the trash heaps had collapsed, and I couldn't find anywhere walkable.
Even with the Relic Danger Discernment, the white safe zones were... few and far between.
"It's all red..."
Before, there hadn't been any, but now there were patches of black too.
Children's figures were still abundant as ever.
"Whoa."
When I activated the Relic Wheel of Fortune, there were tons of green lights.
And even more yellow ones than expected. But no blue.
Still, there was far too much danger all around.
Was there anywhere with white light and green and yellow lights nearby?
"Ouch!"
"Hey. You okay?"
"Just a scratch."
"Come on, let's head back. Can't find anything with all these injuries."
"Yeah."
A trio of boys trudged away dejectedly.
Behind them, two boys talked as they rummaged around.
These two.
I'd seen them before.
"Hey, what are you gonna do after three days?"
"You know Kuun Hunt is hiring live-in workers?"
"Ah, yeah, I heard something about that."
"Thinking of signing on there till the lockdown lifts. Pay's good."
"But it's Kuun Hunt. There are all sorts of dark rumors."
"That's why I'll quit right away if anything sketchy happens."
"Then maybe I'll give it a shot too. Can't be worse than mucking out horses."
Live-in workers, huh...
In my past life, I think they called that sort of thing "indentured labor."
Kuun Hunt.
Textbook black company move.
Those memories from my past life. The black company I used to work for.
After four all-nighters in a row, your vision starts going blank.
Going pitch-black like that was basically death.
Well, I quit before it came to that and got a job somewhere else.
Oh, this spot looks good.
A white safe-zone with green and yellow lights nearby.
"This thing's in the way."
A tattered leather armor piece. I cut along its seams.
I gripped my knife.
The one I'd splurged on for 40,000 oro.
I liked it because it had a similar shape to my old one.
"Wooooah!?"
"Th-that's insane!"
"You did it, big bro!"
"It's treasure... real treasure..."
What was that?
I looked toward the commotion. Halfway up a collapsed trash heap, about four people had gathered and were celebrating. All of them looked younger than me.
At the center, I caught only a glimpse, but there was an opulent treasure chest.
It gleamed with gold, studded with red and blue gems.
"...?"
Something felt off.
With a chest that fancy, there'd been no lights from that area at all.
"O-okay. Let's open it."
"Be careful."
"Rich! We're rich!"
"Big bro. I wanna eat tons of meat."
"Yeah, we can eat till our bellies burst."
"Hooray!"
Time to check it with the Relic Danger Discernment.
"!?"
Pure black. That treasure chest!
"Gyaaaaah!"
"This one's—guuuaaah!"
"Big bro! Uuuuaaah!"
"H-help!"
The Junkyard erupted in chaos.
Blood and flesh sprayed from the treasure chest. The chest chewed them. All four were devoured.
From the lid to every edge of the opulent chest, teeth bristled in dense rows.
They looked just like human teeth, arranged in double rows.
Disgusting. Why are human teeth so terrifying?
"It's a mimiiiiick!"
When someone screamed, the Junkyard descended into pandemonium.
Screaming, shouting, fleeing in every direction.
A mimic.
A dungeon monster that takes the form of a treasure chest.
They appeared to attack and prey on people, though no one really knew the truth.
There were two types of mimics as well.
Stationary and mobile.
"Why are there monsters in the junkyard?!"
"It—it got up!"
"Of all things, it's a mobile one?!"
"H-hey. The ground is moving."
From all around, mimics buried under trash began crawling out.
Treasure chests with multiple limbs sprouting from them started moving.
"Whoa, mimics?!"
"There are more?!"
"Ruuuun!"
"Guaaaaaah!"
"Gyiyaaaaah!"
"S-stop, stay away, aaaaaaah!"
"Uwah, uwah, uwaaaaaaaaah!"
Pandemonium.
Mimics came in various types, but even the weakest was mid-rank copper tier.
A Class V delver couldn't take one down solo, let alone alone.
Of course no child stood a chance against one.
And there were multiple of them. Why here, in the junkyard?
Had they been buried here all along?
No time to think about that. I needed to run too.
"Sis... where's sis...! Sis...!"
A small child was crying. A little girl. She'd been separated from her sister.
All that crying was bound to attract a mimic.
"Siiiiis!"
The mimic opened its chest-lid-turned-jaw wide.
And was about to swallow the bawling little girl—I couldn't just stand there and watch.
I shaved the mimic down with Banish.
Shrunk it to about the size of a basketball, traced an arc, and erased most of it.
"Sis...?"
The little girl stared, bewildered.
I managed a clumsy smile.
"No, but you should get out of here. It's dangerous."
"...O-okay. But my sister..."
That was when a trash heap exploded spectacularly.
An enormous treasure chest revealed itself.
A mimic.
But far too large for one of those.
"There's one of these too?"
"Ooh. Ooh. What the hell's gonna happen now?"
I heard a familiar voice from behind.
I turned to find a familiar drunkard standing there.
It was Agaro.
Jug in hand, looking up.