The Silent One ⑤
The exploration continued.
My current objective was to find Rell-san and Hoss-san and escape.
And since there was no way up, we had no choice but to keep heading down.
For now, all we could do was press onward.
Putting that aside, I used the Relic [The Silent One] multiple times.
I used it discreetly even outside of combat. Doing so led me to a realization.
The Relic [The Silent One] can read people’s minds.
What an unbelievable Relic.
(Woff probably hasn’t noticed.)
I heard Ax-san’s inner voice. Eh? Noticed what?
(His eye color turned blue again.)
This time, Mineha-san’s inner voice?
What does she mean, my eye color is blue?
(When he uses [The Silent One], his eyes turn blue, you know.)
Wh-!? Was that it? There was no way I could have noticed that.
Does that mean it’s completely obvious when I’m using the Relic [The Silent One]?
A sharp pang of guilt hit me.
Even if they noticed I was using it, they would never know I was reading their minds.
Still, the fact that I knew weighed heavily on my conscience.
It felt like telling a cruel lie without batting an eye. No, that’s exactly what it was.
But that didn’t mean I could possibly tell them.
A Relic that can read minds is extremely dangerous.
It wouldn’t be strange if I got killed for it.
Still, blue eyes, huh?
It wasn’t particularly rare, but I couldn’t help but remember the Black Knight’s azure eyes.
Come to think of it, I heard a voice back then.
A voice that echoed inside my mind, just like now…
And I think Mineha-san said something about my eyes then, too.
(Such beautiful, glowing blue eyes. Like jewels.)
I see. So that’s what these blue eyes were.
“Hey, that wall. Isn’t it strange?”
Mineha-san whispered to me from my shoulder.
She was pointing at a pure white stone wall.
“Strange?”
“You there. Look closely.”
“What’s wrong, you two?”
Ax-san noticed.
“Mineha-san said that wall is strange.”
“…It’s a white wall.”
“You don’t see it either? That wall. There’s a hole in it.”
“A hole?”
“At the very bottom.”
“Oh, you’re right. There’s one right at the bottom.”
“Ah… You’re right.”
At the very base of the white wall, there was a crack forming a hole.
It would be really hard to notice this normally.
Maybe she noticed because she’s closest to the ground in height?
Mineha-san hopped off me. She poked the crack with her spear.
“This is unnatural. I’m breaking it. Haaaaahhh, sei!”
A square hole opened up.
“What’s this? A weirdly shaped hole just opened up.”
“About the size of a single brick block?”
“This isn’t a natural hole.”
Breaking it and having a perfect square hole appear was just too unnatural.
Mineha-san approached the hole.
“I can fit.”
“Oi. It could be dangerous.”
“That’s what Woff is for, right?”
I used the Relic [Danger Detection].
“It’s white. There’s no danger.”
“Then I’m going.”
Mineha-san jumped down and entered the hole.
Ax-san gave a wry smile.
“She’s got guts.”
“I agree. Um, does this kind of thing happen often?”
“Well, sometimes we find holes like this. But since it’s just a hole like this, we might find it strange, but we usually ignore it.”
“I see. The fact that you can pass through it is unexpected, right?”
“I don’t think ‘passable’ is necessarily the right way to think about it, but only weirdos get that interested. Most Seekers prioritize moving forward. It’s more profitable outside of requests that way.”
“Earnings outside of requests?”
That was news to me. So that was a thing.
“It’s mostly just pocket money, but for example, there’s a bonus for reaching a new floor. A bonus for discovering a new Monster. A bonus for finding a hidden room. A bonus for rescuing someone. Bonuses for recovering belongings or tags before they go to the Junkyard, things like that.”
“There are all sorts of things, huh?”
“Yeah, and then there are OOPArts discovery bonuses. Legacy discovery bonuses. Legendary discovery bonuses. They’re rare, but those exist too.”
“If you achieved all of those, it seems like it would add up to a considerable amount.”
“Well… yeah. There’s also a dungeon conquest bonus.”
“Conquest?”
Ax-san said, as if suddenly remembering.
“Yeah, recently, there was That Forest.”
“…That Forest, you mean that one?”
“It’s just a rumor, but apparently, it was conquered.”
“That Forest was?”
“It’s just a rumor. There hasn’t been an official announcement from the Guild.”
“I see.”
It was good to know that information, even just rumors, about it being conquered was circulating.
They won’t find out, right? They haven’t found out, right?
Just then, with a clunk, a part of the wall cracked open.
“A Hidden Door!”
“A hidden room?”
While we were surprised, Mineha-san flew out from inside.
She was grinning from ear to ear for some reason. What was it?
“You two, I found something amazing!”
“Did something happen?”
“Wh-what is it?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Invited like that, we entered.
Inside, a Treasure Chest sat upon a stone pedestal.
It was a red Treasure Chest.
Gold trim adorned its sides, and the lid was decorated with silver trim.
Characters were carved onto the front and back surfaces.
Wavy characters. Square characters. Dotted characters. I couldn’t read them.
But this was the first time I’d seen such a mystical Treasure Chest.
“Is this the whole room?”
“I looked around too, but it seems like it.”
Other than the stone pedestal and the Treasure Chest, there was nothing.
It was a small room surrounded by white walls, with a black floor. That was all.
Next, I checked the Treasure Chest with [Danger Detection].
Red. No, a blackish-red. A Mimic!?
“No.”
“What?”
“What is it?”
No. Something was different. I used [Wheel of Fortune].
Seeing the color within the Treasure Chest, I trembled.
Blue. It was blue.
Blue, huh?
“Blue!?”
Super Ultra Rare!?
“Blue? What?”
“What’s wrong, Woff? O-oi.”
I approached the Treasure Chest. And touched it.
It didn’t attack. It wasn’t a Mimic.
Then this blackish-red reaction… I see.
“So that’s what it is.”
“What’s been up with you?”
“Woff. That Treasure Chest. Does your Relic tell you something about it?”
“Yes. This Treasure Chest has a trap.”
“Your Relic. It can even tell you things like that?”
“And this trap is lethal.”
My words made both of their expressions darken.
“The worst.”
“A Death Trap, huh? This is bad. Rell is usually good with these things.”
“What about Mineha-san?”
“Woff. People have things they’re good at and things they’re not.”
Meaning she wasn’t good at it.
“Um, I have something I’d like to discuss with you two.”
“What is it?”
“What?”
“If I open the Treasure Chest, can I have the contents?”
“Fine by me.”
“You’re going to open it? If you open it, the contents… well, fine, but are you sure you can?”
“Thank you very much. The Witch taught me how to pick locks.”
“I-Is that so? You are The Witch’s apprentice, after all.”
I lied. I had no lockpicking skills.
I used [The Silent One] and focused on the Treasure Chest’s keyhole. I pushed a small [Vanish] into it.
I erased the entire keyhole mechanism and the trap system with [Vanish].
It became just a simple box, so it opened.
“It really opened.”
“Amazing.”
“Th-this is…”
Inside the Treasure Chest was… what is this?
I took the contents into my hand.
“Huh? What is that?”
“What is that thing?”
When I showed it to them, they both tilted their heads.
That reaction makes sense.
So this is the treasure?