We ended up staying at the Etranger.
The residential area had originally been part of the witch's giant horse-drawn carriage, the Skia Coffin Ele.
So my room was still there.
Pakira, Riv, and Bidd all stayed because they were curious about the rings.
After getting out of the bath and dealing with various things, I was now back in my room.
I sat on my bed, drinking tea I'd brewed with the "Crescent Vessel."
Strong green tea. I don't usually drink it much, but today I just felt like having some.
"Phew..."
It was quiet. Very quiet.
Which really drove home just how hectic my recent days had been.
"What a nice, quiet night."
The door burst open with a bang.
What the—? Bidd?
"S-s-s-something terrible happened!"
"Something terrible?"
"Never mind that, just come on!"
"Whoa—"
My arm was grabbed.
I was dragged somewhere nearby. The kitchen— wha—?
"Huh?"
The kitchen was flooded with rings. You could practically call it occupied.
"When I got here, it looked like this — it's bad!"
"Wh-why did it come to this..."
One per hour. That's all it should increase by. This is clearly way too many, right?
"Wh-what should we do?"
"L-let's stop it first. Find a bucket and pull the rings out of the water."
"I don't know where the bucket is!"
"Then—!"
I condensed [Banish] into a sphere and lodged it in my fist.
With [Banish Knuckle], I plunged my hand into the mountain of rings.
I banished, and banished, and banished, and banished, and banished, and kept banishing.
Among the vanishing rings, I spotted the bucket.
I banished the bucket just like that.
"How is it?"
"That should do it... we're fine."
Just to be safe, I carefully banished the spot where the bucket had been.
If any moisture remained, the rings could start multiplying from there again.
Actually, there were way too many rings, so I [Banish]ed most of them.
"That Relic of yours. As useful as ever."
"Ahahaha… this should be enough, right?"
I got rid of all the rings.
Part of me felt it was a waste, but safety came first.
"That's a pretty dangerous ring, huh…"
"I never thought it could be this dangerous."
Whoever made these clearly didn't think things through.
If one of these fell into the ocean… it could probably destroy the world.
"Kind of makes you hesitant to use one."
Bid gave a slight, wry smile as he held out the ring to me.
"Yeah…"
So this is it. What should I do with it? Hand it over to the witch and ask for her advice?
After parting ways with Bid, I went back to my room, put the ring in my pouch, and went to sleep.
Morning.
I got up, ate breakfast, made various preparations, and then went to find the witch.
The witch was on the second floor of Etrange. Right under the lantern, so to speak.
I went straight to her about the ring.
"Mm-hmm. I see, I see."
The witch took the ring in hand and studied it intently.
"Hmm. Hmm. First, we'll need to figure out how it multiplies, won't we."
"Is that what we need to do?"
"Well, let's make sure it's safe first, hmm?"
The Witch pulled out something resembling a beaker and filled it with liquid.
Then she dropped the ring in.
One hour later. There were two rings.
"Oho. It grew."
"It seems to multiply by splitting."
"Hmm, hmm. Splitting... something about that rings a bell..."
"Witch?"
"Well, let's keep going, shall we?"
"Y-yes."
"Well now, this might actually turn out interesting."
Two hours later. There were four rings.
"Wha— th-that's why there were so many!"
Exponential growth — no wonder it went through the roof.
In my past life memories, there was that story about the buns that keep multiplying the same way.
And then there's Draupnir from Norse mythology, the arm ring that multiplies to nine copies in a single night.
"Oho. Oho. I see, I see."
The Witch pulled the rings out of the liquid and carefully wiped each one with a handkerchief.
At her prompting, I used Banish to dispel the three rings.
"Can you do something with them?"
"Well, well, now. Young Wof. Where did you get these?"
"I bought them from a street vendor who sold bracelets. He said he made them himself."
"Oh my, oh my. A self-made piece from a street vendor — that's quite impressive. This is a top-tier Legendary. The constraint Relic [Division] has been embedded in this ring. The condition is immersion in water. And with such a simple trigger, the ring multiplies once every hour. However, the multiplied rings also multiply... It's a tremendously successful work, but at the same time, a wildly reckless failure. The street vendor who made this probably didn't think that far ahead."
"Right..."
"So then, so then. By 'do something,' you mean... yes. It's possible to prevent the [Division] from activating. But if you do, this ring loses all its value."
"...Is that how it works?"
Hmm. If that's the case... we're in trouble.
The ideal outcome would be for all the rings to stop dividing, with only the original still multiplying.
That would considerably reduce the danger.
"If only we could find the street vendor who made this."
"If you could get the original creator, they might be able to do something about it."
"Oh my, oh my — that's just how it works with creators. Though it's not guaranteed. Even if the creator can't do anything, then you'd have to give up on this ring."
The Witch handed the ring back to me.
Ugh, this is a headache. Where on earth is that street vendor?
Should I just give up on the ring?
Late that night.
I suddenly woke up.
I was standing in a mysterious white space, with mist swirling beneath a night sky.
"..........?"
In that mysterious space, slender black pillars were installed at equal intervals.
And there was Pakira.
No, that wasn't right.
"……ZzzzZZzz…… Sleepy……"
Light green hair streaked with black. One eye hidden behind her hair, black cat ears poking out.
She was wearing a translucent white nightdress, sloppy and loose.
Two black tails of different lengths swayed gently back and forth.
She looked just like her.
But it wasn't Pakira's alternate color variant. It was the dungeon goddess, Lady Yomido.
— Wof. You came here. So — King of the Wind of Death. Were you found?
— Ah… well, actually, that's not really the situation right now…
— You weren't found. You were summoned. That's odd. What happened?
Well, yeah. She's a goddess, after all.
Maybe I should just ask her for advice.
— Actually—
I told Yomido the whole story.
— That ring. Show me.
I took it out of my pouch.
Yomido took the ring in her hand and examined it.
— I see. That explains it. Wof, who wasn't summoned, came here. Now I understand.
— Huh?
"This ring. The scent of the Death King. There are two of them."
"Huh!?"
"One is the Water Death King. The other is the Fire Death King."
"Wh-why..."
"So that means. I understand. I'll call them."
"Call? Call who?"
"I've called them. Well then, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight... ZzzzZ..."
"Hey, at least explain!"
My vision warped and vanished, and I woke up.
I shot upright without thinking.
"...Explain... what's going on."
She hung her head low and let out a sigh.
And just like that, six days passed in the blink of an eye.
A number of candidates for a simple terminal came up, but nothing fit besides the ring.
And so time passed, almost as if it were playing a joke on me.
Today, I was in Hydrangea.
That day, I ate my usual oversized serving of butter rice at Cider-tei.
On the way back. That's when I took the shortcut home.
Come to think of it, at the corner ahead, I remembered that I'd met that street vendor.
Well, they're probably not there.
As I rounded the corner, a self-deprecating thought crossed my mind.
"Oh, hello."
He was there.
That street vendor was actually there.
"…Wh… why…?"
I never actually thought he’d be real.
It was the street vendor with the turban wrapped around his head.
That was definitely him.
"That guy was summoned, you know."
"Summoned?"
"By Lord Yomido."
"Huh…? Why would Lord Yomido…?"
"Because I am the King of Fire Death."
What on earth was this person talking about all of a sudden?