It was a place like a warehouse, with enormous iron boxes stacked up like mountains.
It was dim, with red lights blinking here and there, and impossibly vast.
The stacked boxes weren't all iron. There were also boxes made of wood, copper, silver, gold, and minerals I'd never seen before.
Shelves lined up like a maze, with all manner of boxes arranged haphazardly on them.
Was this place a world of boxes?
Hyarn looked around and shouted.
"What is this place!?"
"Heh heh, heh heh, this here is the Black & Dark Store. There are actually quite a few things that even stacks of oro won't get you, but still, you can get a decent variety of things here."
"Uh, so in other words?"
"A store where you can get all sorts of things."
I understood it wasn't just an ordinary store.
Black & Dark Store... what a lame name.
But as for purchasing anything, the witch had already started walking, so we followed after her.
"So… this is where you buy a simple teleportation circle?"
"Mm-hmm. But that's not all."
The witch trailed off meaningfully.
This kind of situation never brings back good memories.
Hyarn, who was suddenly perched on top of my head, spoke up.
"What a wonderful view, Wof."
"Boxes everywhere, and this is it?"
"Don't be ridiculous. It's the witch's rear. Well, her tail. No, her rear."
What is she even looking at? I sighed, and the witch stopped.
She reached behind her and, as if hiding her backside through the tight skirt, turned around slightly.
Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. She heard them after all.
"Now now, Kon, don't be looking at that sort of thing. Wof, my boy."
"Why me!? The one who was looking was this rabbit!"
"Wof. If you're a boy, there's no point just gazing."
I'm going to wring this rabbit's neck.
The witch swished all three of her tails with deliberate flair and walked on.
She had let her tails droop lazily, making sure her backside wasn't visible.
"So, where are we heading?"
"The counter, of course. Just a little further — there it is."
And there, suddenly, a semicircular counter materialized out of nowhere.
Iron boxes were stacked around the counter as well.
A call bell sat on top of it. The witch rang it.
"Yoo-hoo~! Customer arrive— ugh, the witch."
A short figure wearing a yellow robe, hood pulled deep, appeared from below the counter.
It looked at the witch and let out a displeased squeak. Smaller than me. High-pitched voice too.
A child? No, probably not a child. It used a chair to peer over the counter.
"My, my, what wonderful customer service for a regular."
"Well, you know, shopping with a witch can be pretty scary—eeek, a boy!?"
"H-hello, nice to meet you."
"Whoaaa, the witch brought a boy!"
It leaned over the counter, gazing at me with amusement.
Deep within the hood—gleaming gray eyes.
Something was off. Those weren't human eyes.
"Now, now. You're Kon's apprentice, aren't you?"
"Whaaa, nobody told me the witch's apprentice was a boy!"
"Indeed, indeed—I never said, did I?"
"Oh my, the witch must be of age… wait, how old is the witch—hey, hey, stop it! I'm just joking! At least spare me the herbal tea—ahhh!!"
You should never ask a witch her age.
Before being forced to drink some terrifyingly thick herbal tea, I prostrated myself and was forgiven.
"Hah hah… my goodness, that's cruel. Oh, I'm Chaibe, the 'Sensible Beast.' I run the Dark & Black Store. Also, first-class delver. Nice to meet you~"
"F-first class…?"
The casual explanation left me bewildered.
Chaibe smiled and asked:
"That's right~ So, what's the name of the witch's apprentice?"
"Wof."
"Oh my, what a nice name~"
"H-hello there."
"I am Haiyarn."
"Whoa! You scared me! A rabbit is talking. Hmm. Haiyarn—like three eggs?"
"That's definitely it, isn't it!"
"Well, yes, it is—just please don't despair on top of my head."
Seriously, what does this rabbit think a person's head and shoulders are for?
"Quite the fun little group you've got going here, witch."
"Heh heh, heh heh, right? Now then, Chive. You want to go shopping, I hear."
"Mm, sure, I guess—but I've got a bad feeling about this."
"No need to worry, no need to worry. There are only two things I want. A simple teleportation circle, and a technician who can connect to it."
Chive stiffened slightly.
"Mm… what are you planning?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just a disciple entering a sealed dungeon, that's all."
"…Wof. What's that supposed to mean?"
Wof!? Ah—but those gray eyes are scary. No, they're more like a beast's.
Did Haiyarn sense it too? It was trembling on top of me.
A herbivore being glared at by a carnivore.
"I absolutely have to go."
I looked Chive straight in the eye and said it.
Chive turned to the witch, troubled.
"Your disciple is — boldly announcing he'll commit illegal acts with those sparkly, determined eyes — what's going on here, this is seriously creepy."
"Yep, yep. Well, that's about the size of it. He'll pay up properly."
"Ugh — you didn't answer a single question — what is with you two?"
"Please!"
I bowed my head.
Chive fell silent, seemingly mulling it over.
"No choice. Those sparkly eyes are too blinding. Ah, fine, whatever. I won't ask the reason — there are things better left unknown. Business comes first, though. A simple transfer circle runs 5 million oro each. The connecting technician is me, right? So you were planning to make me handle the link design too?"
"Yep, yep. I'm counting on you."
"Ugh — from where to where?"
"Hmm, hmm. From floor 1 to floor 12."
"Hmm — well then — even so — if there's a spot on floor 1 or thereabouts where I could set up a simple transfer circle, maybe..."
"Hmm, hmm. So there's no way to connect from outside?"
"Nope, nope — it has to be installed inside the dungeon, or it's no good. No way around it."
"Hmm hmm hmm. Tricky."
Haiyan asked me what the two of them were talking about.
Even the legendary alchemist couldn't tell, huh.
In that case, I wouldn't understand either — no wait, I sort of did.
I had memories from my past life that were something like this.
And that's when a question popped into my head.
"Can't you hack into an existing transfer circle?"
"Hehhh, hacking?"
"Yeah, well, I was wondering if we could pull off an unauthorized connection."
"Ah, it's possible, but it leaves traces. If we get caught, we're done for—so the thing is, connecting two basic transfer circles together would be better. Since the circles vanish, even the traces—gone. That's the idea."
"Um... how would we even set something like that up?"
Having heard the explanation, I still couldn't figure out how we'd go about placing basic transfer circles inside the dungeon.
Let's say we set one up while on the move.
But how would we decide where that basic transfer circle leads? I thought about it, and it hit me.
"...Use the transfer circles already in place? No—take advantage of them."
My muttering made Chibe's eyes go wide. Huh? What?
"Witch—witch! Your student Wof is amazing, right? Pretty amazing, huh?"
"Mhm, mhm. Kon's student really is something, isn't he?"
For some reason, the witch was wearing the smuggest face she'd shown all day. Kind of embarrassing.
Chibe spoke up in a wheedling tone.
"So—Wof. Gimme one."
"Huh!?"
"Ha ha, ha ha. I'd prefer it if you saved that kind of thing for when you're actually sleeping."
The witch laughed. Her eyes weren't smiling at all.
"Ahaha! Ahaha! It's a joke! It's a joke, so please put that herbal tea away right this instant. No, seriously, put it away!"
The witch chased after Chibe, herbal tea in hand, as Chibe fled.
As I watched this heartwarming chase unfold, Hiyaan asked me.
"What did that back there mean?"
"You do understand that the only way to get into a sealed dungeon is via a transfer array, right?"
"Yeah, I get that."
She wiggled her ears.
"Every dungeon floor has a transfer array installed. Mainly for escape."
"I get that too. Those transfer arrays are legendary, right?"
"Right. Simple transfer arrays are Legacy. If you hack one — basically connect to it illegally — apparently it leaves traces of use and you get found out."
"Hmm. Not my area, but I follow the reasoning."
"Simple transfer arrays are disposable, so there's no worry about traces."
"I-I see. That does make sense. But then, how would you even set one up?"
"Exactly. That's the problem. You wouldn't know how to install one, and you wouldn't know where it transfers to."
"So what do we do?"
"You use a transfer array that's already been installed."
"But the illegal connection—"
"
Sim-
ple
trans-
fer
array
to
con-
-nect
the
trans-
-fer
ar-
-ray
to
it
you
see.
And then use a simple transfer array.
— What...!? That's... s-so I see. In that case, you can tell where you transferred to, and the connection traces disappear too?
— Probably. I think that's about right.
In truth, I have no idea what a transfer array actually is.
But well, I took a guess that it was probably something like this.
It looks like that was the right answer.
Yep. Well, no matter how you look at it, it's an exploit.
Even so, I...
«Hmm. Wof.»
«What is it?»
«No, it's just that the pouch just now... maybe I imagined it.»
«?»
Eventually, the two of them returned and resumed their shopping and trading.
In this way, preparations were made for the illegal act of infiltrating a sealed dungeon.
All while having absolutely no idea what awaited them there.