A Night in the Origin Stratum
After eating so much dinner that their stomachs seem fit to burst, the children have all settled down to sleep. We’re inside a cave you can’t see the sky from, so the distinction between night and morning tends to be vague, but it is apparently night right now.
Living here would probably throw off your sense of night and day.
At night, I could go into energy-saver mode, but my surroundings are just as bright, so I should be able to stay like this without problems.
Light is still coming from a window of the orphanage, the renovated former mansion; does that mean Miss Director or Lammis and Shui are still awake?
“Thanks for today, Boxxo. Everyone was super-happy and grateful and excited.”
Shui sits down next to me cross-legged, and she sways, as though using her entire body to express how happy she is.
As a vending machine, I’m honored that I was able to contribute to her happiness.
Her cheeks are somewhat flushed, probably because she guzzled the cocktail I provided for the table. She thought it was just juice, so she drank quite a lot.
“I bet today wasn’t cheap. I’ll definitely pay you back, so just wait a little while longer.”
“Too bad.”
“What? You don’t wanna wait?”
No, that’s not it. I wanted to say she doesn’t have to pay, but it sure is tough getting the subtler nuances across. Lammis and Hulemy are still the only ones I can have a smooth conversation with.
Besides, if I was going to demand money, it would be from the eatery owners. There’s no need whatsoever for Shui, who won me as the victory prize, to pay.
“Too bad. Thank you.”
“Um, do you mean I don’t have to pay?”
“Welcome.” I managed to get the point across. I’ll give her a cola as thanks for understanding me.
I drop a two-liter bottle of her favorite cola drink into my compartment. For someone who eats so much, she didn’t have a lot tonight for dinner, so she’s probably far from satisfied. She was giving her own portion to the kids, too, so I think she’s still got plenty of room left in her stomach.
“Ah, the fizzy drink! Thanks, I wasn’t quite full yet!”
She opens the lid, then puts the mouth to her lips and heartily gulps down the contents. It’s heavy on the carbonation, so if you drink it all at once like that, you’ll—
“Whewww! Hicc— Uuuurp.”
Her burp echoes far and wide in the dark of night. It seems to have embarrassed even her, and she looks down, her face red.
What should I say in order to soften the mood at times like this? Okay, I got it.
“Get one free with a winner.”
She blushes even harder. Must have been the wrong choice of words.
“A-anyway. Did you know that the Origin stratum is a place everyone always visits when they come into the dungeon?”
Oh, really? They were calling it the first stratum, so I’d figured it was the first floor of the dungeon.
“Too bad.”
“It’s set up so you have to enter this stratum first and get to the transfer circle at the end, or else you can’t move to other strata. Basically, people who can’t even make it past the Origin stratum don’t have the right to advance to other ones.”
I get it. I’d heard movement between strata via the transfer circles was free, but I guess when it comes to this one, that doesn’t fly. Wait… If that’s the case, does that mean innkeepers and businesspeople conquered the Origin stratum, too?
I wonder if there are hunters whose job it is to be bodyguards so other people can get through the Origin stratum.
“But if you reach the transfer circle at the end just once, you can jump to wherever you want next time.”
So you don’t have to get through the first stratum every time you go back to the surface? The attention to detail makes me feel like I understand the dungeon’s inner workings even less now.
“A lot of the folks who couldn’t make it to the transfer circle at the end of the first stratum decide to stay here in this settlement for some reason. The same goes for people who ended up having kids and couldn’t advance. The kids who are born without knowing the outside world, the ones who were abandoned because they were tying people down…end up here.”
So the kids at the orphanage don’t know of anything outside the dungeon. In fact, they’ve never even moved from this stratum, either, so they’ve been raised without experiencing the sky, or weather, or fresh air. Hmm. That seems like it would negatively affect a child’s growth.
Shouldn’t they feel, at least once, the sun’s light, the winds blowing around them—a world abundant with nature?
“My wish is to make everyone at the orphanage hap— Ah, I feel weirdly talkative today. Just forget I said that. I’m going to sleep! Good night!”
She swings her arms and, with an unsteady gait, disappears behind the door. Thanks to the alcohol, I was able to learn quite a lot.
All sorts of people are living their lives, with as many problems as there are Origin stratum residents. It’s stating the obvious, but lately, I haven’t thought about anything except my business as a vending machine and my own points.
I mean, I think that’s the proper stance for a vending machine to take, but I can’t quite grasp how much consideration to give. If I provide things at cheap prices or offer gratuitous service, then the eatery owners will be in a bind, and I won’t get any more points. I’ll have to keep the difference between business and volunteer work in mind.
*****
“Hey, is it here?”
“Yeah, bro. Word on the street is there’s a rare magic item here.”
I hear the voices of men who sound unmistakably like hooligans. To appear with an explanation that revealed their motive in a single sentence—they don’t leave anything to the imagination, do they?
There may not be many people around, but I certainly can’t call this stratum lawful, even as a kindness. We must have been too rowdy. We should have kept it down a little more.
For the first time in a while, I’ve encountered potential thieves. I’m kind of interested in what sort of action they’ll take. Before I can see them, I put out my lights and change coloring to blend in with the dark.
“You sure? It gives you food for free?”
“Yeah. One of my guys said he saw it with his own eyes, bro.”
I peel my eyes to look at the figures steadily growing closer. There are four men, big and brawny like pro wrestlers. They seem prepared to carry me—they even brought a handcart.
I’m known pretty much all over Clearflow Lake, but I’m a no-name in this stratum. Of course they’d come after me.
These men could likely carry me, too. What shall I do? If I shout and wake up Lammis and the others, they’ll probably run away. But that might put the girls in danger. I’ll handle things myself this time. Let’s pick useful-seeming features from the ones I already have.
This one, and this—and this will be useful. I’ve got both Force Field and a high toughness stat. As long as nothing crazy happens, I don’t think I’ll be kidnapped like last time.
First, I change into a dry-ice vending machine and spread piles of dry ice on the ground near me. Next, I turn into a pressure washer and scatter water all around. When the water hits the dry ice, it creates a white mist that covers the ground in a thin layer.
After that, I turn into a jukebox and start the music.
“Hey, anyone else’s feet feel awfully cold?”
“What’s that sound I hear…?”
“Strange music…”
I play a song commonly heard in horror movies, and the men restlessly look around. Combined with this stratum’s dimness, the atmosphere is perfect.
What should I do now? Spreading kerosene and starting a fire would obviously be going too far. If I just need to make them retreat, what would be best?
They came to kidnap—rather, steal me, so they didn’t bring any light. They might be able to see in the dark, but probably not very far. In that case, I think I’ll manage if I threaten them.
This time, I turn into a coin-operated, fully automatic washer-dryer combo, and with my door open, I put water into the chamber and start spinning it.
“Boss, you hear the sound of roaring wind and water?”
“There’s no rivers or springs near here, is there? And there’s no wind here. It’s your imagination.”
I provide them with some of the water in the tub by pushing it with Force Field.
“Bffwah! What, what?!”
“W-water? Where could water be coming fr—?”
“Jackpot.”
They’re up in hysterics, and the entire scene is pretty hilarious. Ah, I’m starting to have fun. I’ll go with this one next.
I turn into an egg vending machine. My appearance changes to look like a glass-paned locker. I open all the doors and fire a volley of eggs at them with Force Field.
The eggs are packaged in nets of ten, and I fire over twenty at once, so several strike the men in spectacular fashion.
You might be mad at me for wasting food, but I’m trying to settle things peacefully here, so I’d appreciate it if you overlooked this offense.
“Ow! What’s this? It’s slimy!”
“B-boss, l-let’s get outta here! Someone’s after us!”
“Damn, they’re making fools of us! We’re going home for today!”
They seem to have withdrawn, so I send them off with firefly light.
Considering their behavior, they probably haven’t repented yet. They’ll be back. Once they know I’m not here, they could wreck the inside of the orphanage, too. Tomorrow morning when I see Lammis, I’ll talk to her about how to proceed.
The amount of light in town increases, making the Origin stratum interior seem like it’s brightened a bit. This must be morning here.
I’ve already erased the dry ice and scattered eggshells in the yard. Now the kids in the orphanage won’t ever know what happened yesterday.
“Good morning, Boxxo.”
“Mornin’.”
The two of them appear, already energetic this morning. They’re similar in a lot of respects; in this past day, they’ve turned into birds of a feather.
Lammis has few hunter acquaintances, so it’s a relief that she made another female friend who’s close to her age. The Menagerie of Fools is a source of some unease, but Shui herself is a good-natured girl, so I’m not particularly on my guard with her.
“Good morning, everyone. You two are up early.”
From behind them appears Miss Director. She greets us with her usual mild expression.
“Thank you.”
I’ve been using “Welcome” in place of “Good morning,” but for her, it feels like this would be a better response, so I switched it up a bit.
Oh, that’s right. If the children aren’t around, then this is good timing. I have to tell them what happened yesterday.
“Huh? There’s a board where the items should be. Is this the thing that showed us the map?”
That’s right, Lammis. It’s one of my many features—the LCD panel. If I use this to play the video I recorded last night, it should call up their attention.
As I play everything from when the thugs appeared to when they retreated, everyone watches with close interest.
“This happened last night? They’re former hunters who set up in a hideout nearby.”
“Looks like it. Such bad children, quitting hunting and turning to a life of crime. And to think they’d dare lay hands on a guest of the orphanage…”
Do they know them? I figured we’d bring this video as evidence to town guards or the Hunters Association and have them catch the criminals, but they failed their attempt. I stopped them before they really did anything, so all we’d be doing is reporting it.
Maybe detaining them was a little much to ask.
“Shui, I have to head out for a bit. Can I ask you to watch the children?”
“Sure, but…hang on, Miss Director…”
Huh? Shui’s cheeks are drawn back, and a bead of sweat just fell from her forehead. Miss Director goes into the orphanage and comes back out a moment later, but now a large bow is in her hands. She has a quiver on her back.
“I will return shortly,” she says, bowing to us before leaving.
The moment played out so naturally that no one thought to stop her. Is Miss Director going to silence them through the use of force?
Wait, that’s too dangerous. One lady who looks like she’s pushing sixty couldn’t possibly do anything by herself. We have to go stop her.
“Ahh, it’s been a long time since I saw Miss Director get seriously mad. Oh, you two seem to be worried about her, but she’ll be fine. She used to be a really skilled hunter, and she trained me in the bow. In her day, she stormed through this labyrinth together with Director Bear; she’s so strong that Captain Kerioyl knows she’s better than him even now. Otherwise, she couldn’t manage an orphanage in a place with such bad security. Plus, she’s got connections to people in power, like Director Bear.”
I… I see. I can’t imagine that with her slender arms and general mood, but considering that Shui and the children aren’t disturbed in the slightest, she must be so skilled it would be ridiculous to even worry. I should believe in her and wait.
An hour passes after that, and just as the kids are finishing their breakfast, Miss Director returns. She looks the same as when she left— Wait, looking closely, there are bloodstains on the hem of her garment, and several arrows are missing from her quiver.
“Mr. Boxxo, I’ve reasoned with them, and they happily acquiesced. They will never bother you again.”
“Th…ank you.”
My instincts, not my reasoning, told me to thank her immediately. She’s still wearing that smile dripping with affection, but you can’t blame me for feeling slightly intimidated by it, where I hadn’t before.
A-anyway, I’m just glad this quarrel with them has been resolved. As thanks, I’ll leave a week’s worth of food and drink for them.
I immediately judge that she is not the type of person I want as an enemy. I wonder if Shui will become like Miss Director someday, too.
Her bow skills are amazing even now, but I don’t know if the day will come when she masters that sort of power. With how happily she always eats her food, I can’t imagine her being like that.
“Huh? It’s feels like I’m being watched.”
I watch Shui as she shrugs awkwardly, as if she sensed my gaze, and I accidentally say, “Too bad.”
