The Heizen region. The Heizen Great Forest.
Forbidden ground. The treasure vault. A square white building beside the temple.
The inside was a pure white space, too.
Ground floor. Gold, silver, and treasures were piled up like mountains.
It looked like a junk heap, but this was a real mountain of treasure.
"So this is all tribute offered to me, huh."
Nekia murmured this as soon as she entered the vault.
More like offerings than tribute, but well, whatever.
For reference, she was wearing the pilot suit she'd received from Riv.
She had a jacket on, but the skin-tight suit boldly showed off her body's lines.
She already had a seductive, nice body to begin with, so it was... quite heart-pounding.
Also, I didn't know what had struck her fancy, but she seemed to be enjoying it.
"You've never seen one before?"
"No. I didn't even have any interest when it was the spider. But the citizens were happy about it."
"And now?"
"Hmm. Not really. As a human woman, as a queen, I think I should be more interested in things like rings, gems, accessories — that sort of thing. There were plenty of books about those kinds of things written, too. But even so, I'm way more interested in food."
Nekia smiled. That was so like her. I wanted her to stay just like this.
Though her recent favorite reading material had been things like palace romance dramas.
I was a little worried about that.
Meanwhile, the Witch was looking over the pile of tribute goods.
She had some kind of mischievous grin on her face, lightly flicking her three tails.
"Well, well — there are quite a few interesting ones in here."
"Witch. If there's anything you want, you can have it."
"Oh my, are you sure about that?"
"The Witch has been a tremendous help to us. Take whatever you like."
Nekia was just declaring things on her own like a queen, as usual.
Did the delver rule about ownership even apply in a situation like this?
If it did, then technically the finder gets to keep everything, but whatever. Not worth the hassle.
Oh, and the corpses of the guys Narcissus and the others had taken down here were completely gone without a trace.
The dungeon must have absorbed them. Their equipment would have ended up at the Junkyard, I guessed.
"Ah — but wait a moment! Could you check for Phantom Units first, please?"
"Right, right. I almost forgot about that."
The Witch smiled.
Though even if something went wrong, it probably wouldn't affect the Witch anyway.
Because my powers don't work on anyone of higher rank.
"All right, let's get started."
I used Fortune's Ring. I designated Phantom Units in the search parameters.
On the first floor of the Treasury, I could see scattered green and yellow lights. Those were the Phantom Units.
The green and yellow lights were probably the rarity of the items the Phantom Units were sealed in.
In other words, value. Though there's also the possibility it's the rarity of the Phantom Unit's soul.
And if it's rarity, my everyday use could easily lead to weird misidentifications.
Honestly, it's hard to tell apart.
I'd been thinking this ever since I first checked.
So I started exploring whether there was a way to do it in parallel with Banish.
When I say "a way to do it," what I mean is simply making things easier to understand.
In that case, I had just the right Relic for the job.
Danger Discernment. It tells me about threats to my safety using white, red, and black.
It also reveals hostile intent.
Phantom Units are enemies as far as I'm concerned.
But unlike mimics and such, they're sealed away, so they won't attack.
Still, I figured that if I could spot them and tell them apart, I might be able to recognize them as enemies.
Could I use Danger Discernment to display them as "enemies"?
So I had that idea and tried it out with a Phantom Unit.
The result was—when I used Danger Discernment, the green and yellow lights disappeared, and in their place, red dots appeared.
The red dots were scattered about, as if the whole thing had been overwritten.
"Well now, did you find some? Young Wof."
"Yep. Um, quite a few, actually."
"Then come, come on over. Old friends of strange fate, come and answer the call."
The witch's shadow rounded out, rose straight up, and became a woman in a black mourning dress.
— This is it, this is it. Relic[Widow Scythe]— making its appearance, it seems.
Long, loose, pitch-black hair both front and back. She wore a wide-brimmed black hat.
A sheer black veil covered her up to the nose, revealing lips painted with black lipstick and the line of her jaw.
Naturally, her features were refined, and even with only the lower half of her face visible, it was unmistakably, quite beautiful.
She elegantly held a black parasol with a black glove. A woman draped in black, almost frighteningly so.
However, how should I put this...
A black mourning dress, a black veil, black gloves, and a parasol.
What radiated from her entire being was
a decadent, demonic charm.
Or rather.
— Her shadow has become a widow.
Ah, Nexia blurted it out.
Well, I was thinking the same. This woman who suddenly emerged from the witch's shadow.
From any angle, she was the very image of a widow.
If there were a textbook example of a widow, she would be it, without a doubt.
If she *wasn't* a widow, the world would be more than a little askew.
Come to think of it, "Widow" did mean widow, didn't it?
Hm? Am I imagining things? I feel like she's staring intently at[Widow Scythe].
Being stared at by a Relic... that feels kind of odd.
"…?"
What was that? For just a moment, the Blue Sacred Gauntlets flickered with a faint blue glow.
"Now now, young Wof. Care to show us which one's the phantom unit?"
"Oh, sure. That one first."
I steadied myself and pointed at a battered sword nearby.
In that instant, the shadow of the Widow Scythe spread in a wide circle, and translucent black tentacles reached out.
It snatched the tattered sword and, in the blink of an eye, dragged it down, sinking it into the shadow.
"Wait, what just happened?"
"Ohhh, amazing. That's amazing."
Nechia's eyes sparkled.
The witch looked pleased with herself.
"Hehe, hehe — this is the Relic Widow Scythe. See, the widow part on top is actually just a lure. The real body is that shadow. And technically, the Widow Scythe is classified as a slime — a Nightshade Slime, one of the rarest kinds."
"The widow part is a lure... a slime."
"How rare."
Widow. Lure. Slime. There was a lot to unpack there.
Its traits were all jammed together, kind of like Megadia.
Speaking of lures, it really was like an angler fish.
Come to think of it, in my past life's memories there was that...
The House That Eats People.
...where it existed.
It had lures — young ladies and maids and the like — and once you stepped inside the house, it'd gobble you right up.
There are also versions with a handsome baron and a butler.
But why on earth would they use a widow's appearance as bait?
Honestly, widow bait is way too niche.
Only serious enthusiasts or real daredevils would fall for it.
My uncle used to say that only those kinds of people go after widows.
He'd also say that if you're prepared to have both body and soul turn to ashes of the ruined city, then go right ahead.
Why would they use something so niche as bait?
I looked closer — dozens of semi-transparent black tentacles protruded from the shadow of the widow portion, swaying gently.
Ah, I see. The tentacles do have a slime-like texture.
Suddenly I noticed the widow portion was looking at me. Being stared at by bait — what a weird feeling.
"N-nice to meet you!"
I blurted out a greeting reflexively.
And to my surprise, the widow portion gave a polite bow with a little nod.
What's more, its crimson lips moved ever so slightly.
This is supposed to be bait, right? It moved so smoothly — since when does bait bow to you?
Anyway, from there I pulled myself together and finally got down to work.
The red dots... I started pointing out the phantom units.
The Widow Suhardu fed phantom units in one after another.
With pinpoint accuracy, it grabbed each one and popped them into the shadows.
And just like that, the first floor cleanup was done. Next up was basement level one.
"Mm-hmm. Unlike the first floor, everything's properly stored on shelves here, huh."
The basement level one
had rows upon rows of storage shelves,
with offertory items neatly arranged on them.
It was a far cry from the cluttered, haphazard first floor.
I immediately used Fortune's Ring to run a search.
Wow.
"…Phantom Units. There are overwhelmingly more of them down here."
When I overwrote it with Danger Discernment, basement level one turned deep red.
I had come to a place like this. Alone.
The realization that I'd been alone in what was basically a haunted house sent a chill down my spine.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. The knife I got down here was also a Phantom Unit."
Good thing I figured that out in that mysterious space.
The witch was fired up, barking orders.
"Alright then, let's just keep putting them in. Stuff 'em in fast! Widow Suhardu, you're up, dearie!"
With a whoosh, Widow Suhardu began pulling Phantom Units into the shadows.
It was going smoothly. At this rate, we'd finish ahead of schedule.
But that was exactly when something would happen.
When things were going well was precisely when you had to stay on guard.
I had completely forgotten about that.
The moment Widow Suhardu's semi-transparent black tentacles touched the small stone figurine.
It cracked.
It split cleanly in two, tumbled off the shelf, and shattered into pieces.
Right after—from within the fragments, something reddish-black and gooey appeared and spilled out.
"A phantom unit!?"
"Ohhh. So that's what that thing is."
Completely opposite to my shock, Nekea sounded entirely casual about it.
It oozed out like a gathering puddle of sludge, looking for all the world like a reddish-black bog.
However, it shifted like clay, and as it hardened, it took the form of a reddish-black alligator with purple eyes.
Wait—why an alligator?
"SHRAAAAAAH!"
The reddish-black alligator opened its maw wide in a threatening display.
"It's an alligator."
"Ho ho. Sure is an alligator."
"Why an alligator— Ah!"
In the blink of an eye, Widow Suhardu's semi-transparent black tentacles had the reddish-black alligator restrained.
But the alligator's shape collapsed into reddish-black muck, and it slipped free with a slick squelch.
Then it reformed into a reddish-black alligator once again.
It didn't seem to be amorphous at all—its alligator shape appeared to be the true form of this phantom unit.
The soul takes the shape of an alligator? Ah, but the one in that mysterious space was a wolf.
I guess that's different from the self-proclaimed king of Edda, since that one was possessing someone.
"SHRAAAAAARGH!"
It opens its massive jaws and lunges forward in a threat display, looking furious.
"Hmm, hmm. So because it's a soul, physical things won't work on it. I see."
"Yeah. Just as I thought. I'm sensing something close to Kuro—the one from back when I was a spider."
Kuro.
When Neecia's former body—the Spider Queen—became the dungeon anomaly, there had been two souls.
The white soul that is now Neecia, and the black soul that was the source of the dungeon anomaly.
The Phantom Unit apparently resembled that black one.
Well, I get it. It was something like that.
"SHRAAAAAARGH!"
The reddish-black alligator snaps its massive jaws open and shut and slams its tail against the floor.
It seems angry, yet it doesn't lunge at me.
It just paces back and forth in the same spot, staying on guard.
It almost looks like it's struggling to figure out how to handle this. If so, now's my chance.
I pull three small elixir vials from my pouch and toss the first one at the alligator.
It nimbly dodges. Surprisingly quick.
So I hurl the second one—it dodges that easily too—but the moment I release the third, I sprint forward.
In an instant, I close the distance to zero with One Step and draw the elixir knife.
The instant the red-black crocodile dodged the third elixir vial, I lunged through the opening and stabbed its head.
I drove the Skull Guard pirate elixir knife in with everything I had.
"Gwaaaaaaahhh!"
The unbreakable blade pierced the crocodile's head, and it was purified—dissolving into motes of light.
"Haaah…"
"Well done! Well done!"
Nekia clapped enthusiastically, watching me with a delighted expression.
That proud, almost blissful smile made my heart skip a beat. Darn it all.
But the clapping—that was odd. I could hear it from somewhere else too.
Must be the witch. No, that's not right.
The witch was silent, watching us with a satisfied grin.
She had that look—like she was standing in the back with her arms crossed, ready to say "I raised him."
Then who was—wait, what?
"Huh…"
The Widow part of the Widow Schahdu was elegantly clapping its hands.
It was facing me, applauding.
"Th-thanks."
I blushed, flustered by the widow part's applause.
Wait—could a decoy even clap?
"Mm, mm. As I thought, some things really do degrade over time."
The witch picked up a fragment of the cracked stone statue and examined it between her fingers.
"It can't be helped. It's been left abandoned for so long."
There was no one to look after them, and visitors were few and far between.
Nekia, for some reason, looked a little dejected.
"All I did was reign as queen, so I had no idea the treasury had fallen into this state."
"Nekia, that's just how it is. No one is to blame."
"Right."
"Witch. Widow Sthardoo. Let's be careful and collect the rest from now on."
"Hmm hmm, that's true. I'd like to be careful, but the problem is that nearly everything breaks easily."
That's right. The offerings on the first basement level were nothing but fragile things — figurines, pots, plates, stone statues.
Depending on the degree of decay, some would break from a mere touch. The stone head statue just now was exactly like that.
So if something broke, well, it'd be a hassle, but we'd just have to fight it again.
That was all there was to it. Still, I'd really rather not fight if I could help it.
As it turned out, we ended up fighting phantom units several times.
We just couldn't beat the ravages of time. Alas.
Every phantom unit took the form of an animal with purple eyes.
And then
Red
Black
—
M
A
N
TIS
Purifying the mantis cleanly, floor 1 recovery is complete.
Wait. A mantis?
"............"
An animal?