[Ruined World: Once the Realm of Elves, Now Left in Decay]
What in the world is it?
Even with detailed appraisal, no further information shows up.
「Wow, it’s beautiful.」
「It’s definitely not Earth. The layout of the continents are totally different.」
「Could it be an ornament from another world?」
Milk and the others marveled at the object, their curiosity piqued, and she reached out toward the glass container.
「Milk, don’t touch it!」
「Eh? Is it dangerous to touch?」
「I don’t know, but it feels dangerous somehow… is this even an item?」
I stared at the world inside the glass.
Despite being called a ruined world, it was strangely beautiful.
「It’s a remnant of a world long gone… the leftovers after the world perished and collapsed, swept into the dungeon by the torrents of power, and eventually sealed within a D-Can.」
「A world that’s been destroyed… but why?」
Danpon, who viewed dungeons as resource generators, had always been at odds with Danpol, who saw dungeons as battlegrounds.
Danpol was dangerous, while Danpon worked to prevent his destruction.
Up to this point, none of that had anything to do with the end of a world.
At most, we were concerned about monsters overwhelming humanity and wiping out our civilization, which would essentially feel like the end of the world to us. But the idea of a world being reduced to something like a snow globe? That was never part of the equation.
And why did something like that come out of a D-Can?
「Was this Danpol’s doing?」
Hime asked.
「No, it wasn’t Danpol. And of course, it wasn’t me either… I can’t say much more than that. But this world, which once had a population of 9 million elves, along with all its flora and fauna, was annihilated, leaving behind only this fragment.」
So this was a real Ruined World.
Destroying a dungeon only to receive a shattered world… it sounded ridiculous. Yet, here it was, in front of us.
「Danpon, you said if I reached the depths of the dungeon, I might find answers. Is that true?」
Danpon nodded.
Danpol had said something similar—telling us to head deeper into the dungeon.
「Danpon, what should we do with this?」
「You can leave it with me or keep it in your inventory. Just don’t break it or treat it like a spectacle.」
「….. I think you should hold onto it.」
I wasn’t exactly eager to be responsible for a world fragment.
「Oh, and one more thing… Danpon, answer me this: Earth won’t end up like this too, will it?」
「Don’t worry, it won’t happen desu yo」
「Good.」
With that, I turned my attention back to the D-can database creation.
It wasn’t that I completely trusted Danpon, but we had so little information to go on.
I couldn’t help but wonder—how much do people like Gyuuzou-san, the top-ranking adventurers, know? What about Minister Uematsu? Or Takeuchi? Or King?
I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me as my mind wandered, and I decided to switch the subject to something more practical.
「Oh, that reminds me, Danpon. I meant to ask you—do you offer a service for storing monsters?」
「We do, but we won’t be taking in Kuro. That one’s become independent from the dungeon.」
「Not Kuro. There’s going to be a new item called a capture ball soon, which can tame monsters. I wanted to check on that.」
「Someone has figured out how to make capture balls!? This is going to keep us busy. I’ll let my companions know.」
With that, Danpon pulled out his own laptop and began working.
We continued our own tasks, and everyone silently agreed to avoid discussing the Ruined World any further.
-0-
After spending quite some time, we finally finished the D-Can database.
「I’m still curious about those rare and ultra-rare cans.」
Milk said.
I had been wondering about them too for a while.
There were eight rare cans and three ultra-rare cans among the data.
Clearly, those were guaranteed to be something special.
It felt like we had stumbled upon the equivalent of rainbow treasure chests or mystical orbs in a gacha game.
「To open it, you apparently need a magic can opener, but I haven’t seen one on auction sites for years.」
「Yeah, they used to go for over 10 million yen each.」
「And yet, the contents of a D-can aren’t usually worth that much…」
Why is a magic can opener so rare?
「Well, it’s because the magic can openers only come from treasure chests in the deeper floors. But the explorers who reach those depths can make a living by exchanging D-coins and mana stones, so they rarely sell magical tools for cash. Especially before the EPO corporation was established—back then, selling items meant getting hit hard with taxes.」
They only sell them when they need a large sum of money.
「Wait, so if they’re not selling them, are they using them themselves?」
「No, they trade them. Do you remember the Metal Slime?」
「Oh yeah, that small fry.」
「Everyone else considers them as powerful. Anyway, you need a special tool that dissolves metal with acid to take it down. It’s the same idea for any level beyond the 20th floor. The top explorers trade rare items to give themselves an edge in those battles.」
Trading, huh? I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense. Even Gyuuzou-san hoards a lot of items in his storage.
We also leave most of our dropped items either in our inventory or scattered around the first floor (which gets us scolded by Danpon).
「So, do we have anything that could be traded for a magic can opener? Anything top explorers might want?」
Substitute bracelets or experience potions wouldn’t be attractive for them.
When we fought the tengu, I learned that those bracelets only buy you a moment’s reprieve. If the enemy is determined to kill, re-equipping another bracelet leaves a fatal gap.
As for the Hero’s Elixir, I want to keep that one…..
「Oh, but we do have something. Right here.」
「Where?」
I asked, and Hime pulled out a capture ball.
Ah, right.
-0-
The next day, the Dungeon Bureau made an official announcement about the capture ball, and Japan—no, the entire world—was thrown into a frenzy.
I lay on my bed, scrolling through the message boards.
――――――――――――――――――――
【Dungeon General 892】
279: Anonymous Explorer
>>276
That one’s nata de coco flavor. To fish for a slime, you need panna cotta flavor.
-0-
280: Anonymous Explorer
The Dungeon Bureau just announced a new magic tool for sale.
They’re calling it a capture ball.
-0-
281: Anonymous Explorer
Sauce?
-0-
282: Anonymous Explorer
I checked it out.
They’re selling a magic tool that lets you tame monsters. It’s called a capture ball.
-0-
283: Anonymous Explorer
Have we come to the point where we have to have a monster battle and take money from bug catcher youngsters?
-0-
284: Anonymous Explorer
~Dungeon Bureau Announcement~
A domestic magic toolsmith has successfully developed a new magic tool called a capture ball.
By feeding this ball to a monster, it will allow for monster taming, which has been deemed impossible until now.
This item will be available for sale later this year, but in order to gather performance data, we will be offering a limited monitor sale to a few select individuals.
For more details, please click here (※this will open another page).
-0-
285: Anonymous Explorer
>>284
Thanks for the copy-paste.
-0-
286: Anonymous Explorer
What’s the success rate? Is it like feeding them basic bait or a super rare steak?
-0-
287: Anonymous Explorer
It’s called a ball, right? So it’s like Momotaro’s millet dumplings.
-0-
288: Anonymous Explorer
Even at the beta price, it’s expensive.
10 million yen for just two?
-0-
289: Anonymous Explorer
You can waive the 10 million yen fee if you have a magic can opener, which they seem to prioritize instead.
But what even is a magic can opener?
-0-
290: Anonymous Explorer
The trade recruitment has ended.
-0-
291: Anonymous Explorer
Already!? It hasn’t even been five minutes!
―――――――――――――――――――――
Wait, it’s already over?
Leave a Reply