“Yeah, that’s right. I know it’s my fault for going out drinking at a time like this.”

“No, that… huh?”

Wait, seriously? There’s stuff that valuable in my box?

“Really? Which ones should I sell?”

“These two?”

I take the stones out of the box and head to the nearby dungeon pawn shop.

Ever since dungeons started appearing around the world, more shops have popped up that buy items collected from them. This dungeon pawn shop is one of them.

Inside the shop is a small room with a lone counter. The clerk’s face is hidden, and the system works by placing items into a handover box.

I guess it’s a security measure against robbery or something. Thinking that, I go ahead and place the two items into the box.

“Here you go.”

“Please wait a moment.”

A young man’s voice responds, and the two stones I want to sell are pulled away.

I wonder how much they’ll go for. I wait nervously for the appraisal to finish.

I hear whispers—sounds like the clerks are discussing something.

“Manager… about these stones, they’re real.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“They’re the real deal…! It’s the blue ore.”

“What!? Wh-what are you saying! That can’t be… whaa!?”

“Y-y-y-yikes!”

Huh? What’s going on?

This is kind of scary. Are they being attacked by some kind of psychic phenomenon?

Just as I start feeling uneasy, a chime rings, signaling that appraisal has finished.

“Th-this is the price. Is that alright?”

“Uh…”

Next to the box, there’s a digital display like the ones at supermarket checkouts. The price shows up there… huh?

There are way more zeroes than I expected. No, definitely many more.

No no no, isn’t this way too much!?

“That’ll be one million and five thousand yen.”

“Huh? Seriously? Wait, which stone is the million for?”

“This one, the blue ore…”

“Then I’ll cash it in!”

“Thank you very much. By the way, which dungeon did this come from?”

“Oh, it’s from that regular dungeon a train ride away from here… I forget the name.”

“I-I see…”

The clerk responds like all the strength has just drained out of him. I mean, seriously? I just sold two stones and made this much money?

I head home in a daze. As soon as I arrive, the voice from the goggles speaks up.

“I’m home. And wow! I don’t have to worry about rent anymore. I can live normally for a while!”

“You really saved me. Thanks! Oh, and the shop clerk was totally shocked. He said something like, ‘You really found a rare one.’”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Oh, uh, thanks.”

A lot of viewers had asked me to do a casual chat stream, so I’ve decided to give it a try.

Still, I’m not that confident in my talking skills. As I’m thinking about that, Miria makes an intriguing suggestion.

“Oh, right. I can upgrade, can’t I?”

“I see. So I’ve already hit the cap.”

Still, can I really upgrade my explorer rarity? I did gather a ton of materials the other day, though.

“I don’t really get it, but can I ask you to go ahead?”

“Alrighty… huh? Uwaaaaah!”

In the next moment, I suddenly feel like I’m being hurled into the middle of space, and a strange and surreal experience begins.