Chapter 33: The Informant
Having returned, we visited the informant once more.
It was to report that I’d obtained the Item Box.
Also, I wanted to talk to him about part destruction.
“Welcome. Oh… it’s you. You’re back quite early. Do you need some information again?”
The old man at the information broker’s looked like he was about to make another profit.
However, this time, it wasn’t me buying information, but the informant himself.
“No, I’ve already obtained the Item Box. Thanks to your help, of course.”
“What…!? Y-You… are you serious…!? N-No way…”
When I showed him the Item Box, the old informant stood up from behind the counter and leaned forward.
Well, he probably didn’t expect me to get my hands on an Item Box this quickly.
“B-But… just… h-how did you…”
“You’ll buy the information, right…?”
“Y-Yeah…”
I’m not so nice as to give it away for free.
Since he’s an informant, he has to procure his information with money.
“This much, I suppose…”
The informant held up two fingers.
“Two million, huh… Well, that’s fine.”
“No… ten times that.”
“Eh…!?”
I hadn’t intended to extort that much from him…
At most, I was hoping to get back the five million I’d paid him initially.
“Th-That much…!?”
“What, as far as I’m concerned, I’d be willing to pay even more.”
“No, that’s enough. That’ll do.”
But why would he pay so much money?
Is information about the Item Box really that valuable?
“You obtained an Item Box in a single day. Information about someone like that… I’m dying to get my hands on it…”
“I see… In that case, I’ll talk.”
Well, it’s true… Including me, only four people have obtained an Item Box so far…
That’s right. First, to get an Item Box, you have to destroy the pouch of a formidable Pouch Troll.
Pouch Trolls have a habit of protecting their pouches, so that’s probably quite difficult.
In addition to that, you also have to be blessed with 0.01% luck.
It truly is a phantom item.
I told the informant that part destruction was a condition for obtaining the Item Box.
“I see… So there was such a condition… This is new information. It’s possible similar conditions exist for other monsters too… If you find out anything, I’ll buy that information from you then.”
“Yeah, I’ll come again then.”
Indeed, just as the informant said, I should probably try part destruction on various other monsters.
There might be many rare items yet to be discovered in this world.
“Still, you figured it out well… Or rather, just how lucky are you? There must be some secret to that too, right…?”
“Nah… Regarding my luck, even if I told you, no one could replicate it.”
For now, I’ll keep quiet about my Guaranteed Rare Drop skill.
It was then that, suddenly, I felt like the entire shop… no, the entire town, swayed slightly.
――BOOM!!!!
――Rumble, rumble, rumble…!
“An earthquake…?”
However, I felt something more ominous than that.
It’s more like… I can’t quite put it into words, but it feels as if something tremendous is about to happen…
A vague, bad premonition.
“The space-time must be distorting…”
The informant said, sounding knowledgeable.
“Space-time…?”
“Ah, you don’t know?”
It’s troubling when he makes a face like it’s common knowledge.
I’m a country bumpkin, and it’s true there are aspects of city common sense I’m still not used to.
But, a Space-time Distortion… what’s that…?
“It’s the 500-year cycle Space-time Distortion. You know, that whole Hero and Demon Lord business? Space is probably starting to warp around now.”
“What…!?”
“In other words… the Demon Realm and this world are starting to connect.”
“S-Such a thing…!?”
Certainly, I’ve heard stories like that in legends, but…
A 500-year cycle…!?
Are you saying now is that time…?
“Well, you’ll understand soon enough…”
“Is that so…?”
It’s kind of an eerie story.
But well, the Hero and all that, that guy will probably take care of it, right?
It might not have much to do with me.
Anyway, so that I’m prepared for whatever might happen…
I’ll just focus on getting stronger myself.
“However, you’re amazing. Even though you’ve just started as an adventurer, to get an Item Box like this. Loin Canberras.”
And then, the old informant suddenly said that.
“Huh…? Did I introduce myself…?”
I don’t remember saying my name since I came here.
I thought he might have overheard my conversation with Claris-san, but he wouldn’t know my full name from that…
“Hey, hey, I’m an informant, you know?”
“Haha… So you see through everything, huh…”
Some foolish busybody somewhere is probably diligently coming to sell information about me…
Well, I guess it means I’ve started to attract that much attention.
“Well then, I’ll come again…”
“Yeah… I wish you good luck.”
We left the informant’s shop.
At that time, we still didn’t know.
About the tremendous, major incident that lay ahead――.