Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 56: Grade VI Explorer ①
At the dungeon entrance in the city.
Gauro-san looked suspiciously at Mineha-san, who was sitting on my shoulder acting all high and mighty.
“What?”
Mineha-san snapped, clearly annoyed by his look. Gauro-san chuckled wryly.
“…Well, if you’re paying the 600 ouro, then it’s fine by me.”
“Sorry about that.”
I paid 600 ouro and entered the dungeon.
“What’s up with that gatekeeper?”
“He’s not a bad person.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me.”
“Well, his face is a little…”
I gave a small, awkward laugh as we arrived at the garbage dump.
There were a few children around—not many, but not too few either.
Mineha-san looked around at the garbage piles in the dump with a surprised expression.
“…So basically, the idea is to find something valuable in all this?”
“That’s right. But Mineha-san, this isn’t your first time at a garbage dump dungeon, is it?”
“The dumps I’ve been to didn’t have this many garbage piles, and they weren’t this big either. This place is massive.”
“Is that so?”
“It takes up more than half the first floor of the dungeon. This garbage dump.”
“That much… huh.”
Now that she mentioned it, the garbage in the Death Graveyard dungeon had piles, but it wasn’t nearly this large.
Maybe it’s because garbage from surrounding dungeons gets dumped here too.
“So, where’s the spot that matches the drawing from the tower?”
“Over this way.”
“Na!”
“Dagaa, can you not chime in right now?”
“Na?”
“Knives shouldn’t be responding in conversation.”
“Na!”
Do they really understand what’s going on?
Well, then again, Dagaa Knife did change form once during the Generous incident.
It definitely looks more like a knife than it used to. Still warped in places, though.
“Oh, right. Mineha-san, do you know about the ‘Dragon Fang Ro’?”
“…I know them. Those guys.”
She immediately looked displeased.
As if expecting to get bitten, I told her about being attacked by the tall guy and the fat guy.
“Those guys are scum. The very bottom of Grade VI or Grade V.”
“Scum, huh…”
“Their leader and officers are womanizers. They specifically target cute or beautiful female explorers—just women, always.”
“That’s why they’re scum.”
“I usually go solo, but sometimes I form parties—with only women. Once, they tried to get aggressive with us.”
“And you beat them up?”
“They made the first move. Said things like, ‘Fairials sell for good coin to freaky noble collectors.’ I should’ve been grateful they didn’t try to kill me.”
“…Doesn’t the guild do anything about them?”
That clearly isn’t okay.
Mineha-san gave a bitter smile.
“Do you really think the guild’s going to do something, given the state of Coon Hunt? Their basic stance is that explorer disputes should be settled between explorers—as long as there’s no ‘real’ harm.”
“…So there hasn’t been any?”
“Who knows? If an explorer disappears, they just assume they’re still in a dungeon or dead.”
“So it makes targeting people easier, huh…”
A disturbing thought. Mineha-san answered with a conflicted look.
“Yeah. And honestly, some of it’s just because we’re women—they think we’re easy targets. There’s more of us now, and treatment has improved since the old days, but we’re still not treated equally to male explorers.”
“…I see.”
Maybe Mineha-san’s hostility toward men and her combative attitude is a form of self-protection.
But I immediately second-guessed that thought. No—that’s just how she is.
Still, there’s a lot I don’t know. I had no idea people like that existed.
I’m sure Pakira-san and Mineha-san have gone through all kinds of things.
I wish they’d talk to me about it—but then again, I haven’t told them everything either.
Eventually, we arrived.
The far western corner of the garbage dump. A dead end, with a pile of trash.
“Here?”
“Yes. Look over there.”
“…It’s dirty, but yeah… I can see some weird rings.”
Partially buried in garbage, a section was visible.
The rest was completely covered.
“……”
“What now? Use Spiral to carve it out?”
“……”
“Wof?”
“Na?”
“……I was thinking. Whether this place is really the sanctum.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little too big for that?”
“Now that you mention it…”
It’s hard to imagine this entire dump is the sanctum.
Then where is it? There should be a clue in the wall with the nine rings.
There has to be.
“……”
The wall is buried in garbage.
Oh, right. Just to be sure, I use the relic Wheel of Fortune.
The wall glows yellow. So, this is the place.
“First thing, we need to do something about the garbage covering the wall.”
“Yeah… you’re right.”
I use Threat Analysis. Most of the garbage on the wall glows red. Some even black.
No white at all—which means trying to clear it normally would be dangerous.
Too much trash for Vanish to work either. Hmm… what now?
“I’ll go in and investigate.”
“Huh?”
“I can squeeze into that gap.”
She’s right—Mineha-san probably can crawl in there.
“That’s dangerous.”
“I’m used to this. I’ll be fine.”
Saying that, she took off from my shoulder.
Looks like she’s going to investigate the center first.
She headed into the pile of trash.
To me, the trash appeared red. I was worried.
“Na?”
“You’re worried too?”
“Na?”
“…Which is it?”
“Wof. I found something. There’s a mark in the center ring where something fits in!”
“Is it a square? Also, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Uh, this thing is in the way though…”
At that moment, some trash collapsed and fell.
“Mineha-san!?”
“I—I’m fine. I just cut away what was in the way and it fell. What the heck is this, some ragged leather armor and a knife!?”
“A knife? There was a knife in there?”
“It almost stabbed me, so I hacked it up.”
“I see… I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“The mark in the middle of the ring is square-shaped. Looks like that thing you got would fit perfectly.”
“I thought so. Okay, please come back.”
“If you just pass it to me, I’ll slot it in myself, you know?”
“No, I want to think it through first.”
“Is that so?”
“I realized something.”
“Got it. I’ll come back now.”
After a moment, she crawled out from between the gaps in the trash.
She brushed the dust off her clothes and sat down on the scabbard of a nearby sword.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“So, you’re not going to insert it?”
“I thought about it. If we just go ahead and do it now, I think it could turn into a big deal.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We have no idea what could happen.”
That’s right—we really don’t know what could happen.
The garbage dump could even collapse.
“Also… is it really okay to keep going without knowing anything?”
“That too. I mean, who is this Haiyaan person? And there’s Abramelin too—it’s clearly not just some treasure hunt anymore.”
“Exactly. That’s why I think we should research more and think things through first.”
Besides, going to the twelfth floor of the city dungeon means passing through the First Tower.
But the dungeon is still closed.
Mineha-san stared intently at me. Then suddenly, she grew larger.
“Whoa! What happened?”
“Your canteen. You have tea, right?”
“I do, but…”
“Gimme.”
“O-okay.”
I handed her the crescent-shaped canteen.
When Mineha-san is in her larger form, I can’t think of her as younger than me.
Well, that’s usually the case anyway, but even more so now—her height, body, and face don’t look like someone who’s ten.
She brought the canteen to her lips, chugged it all, then handed it back to me.
“Phew! You’ve started thinking things through, huh?”
“You think so?”
“Let’s go home. Meat and sweets are waiting.”
“Na!”
“Okay.”
Once we’re back, I should try contacting the witch.
When we got home, a large black bird was perched in the courtyard.
That’s the witch’s familiar.
As soon as it saw me, it dropped a scroll tied to its leg with its beak.
Then it flew off. I picked up the scroll.
“What is it?”
“Uhh… it’s a letter from the Explorer’s Guild.”
“The guild? Addressed to Wof?”
“Yes. It says they want me to come to the guild tomorrow.”
“Come to think of it, you were part of that forest investigation, weren’t you?”
“Na!”
“Dagaa did well too, didn’t he?”
“Na!”
“Probably about that, I’d say.”
Well, I guess I’ll head over and see what it’s about.