Chapter 19

Broken Person9-11 minutes 22.05.2023

I sat on a pile of straw, I laid down on it, and I enjoyed my rest for as long as I could.
In my head, I even thought about how I could make this ‘best relaxation in a dungeon trap’ a reality.

As a result, a small mood lamp was set up on the wall next to me, and I had a glass of orange juice in my hand, made by the warrior.

I looked back at him, who was squeezing oranges at the table I’d brought out.

“Do you need anything else?”

He looked at Reg and Herrin in the queue in front of him, both of them staring at the orange in his hand.

“I think that will do.”

“Does Mohan like oranges?”

The warrior stares at me for a moment, then blushes slightly.

“It’s my favorite fruit.”

I neatly blew off the slight feeling that I might have caused him a nuisance.

Thank goodness.
The warrior loved oranges so much that he even liked to squeeze them.
I opened the subspace and took out another basket of oranges.
I was a little overwhelmed by the number of oranges.

After looking at the pile of oranges for a while, I realized that it wasn’t just oranges, so I took out some watermelons and apples.
It was a good thing that I had saved the fruit that Aunt Tomane had brought me, as she had said that it had made her farming successful in the past.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought of having a fruit juice party in the dungeon.

She said they grew in a nearby village to the south.
I was sipping on 100 per cent orange juice.
More precisely, the whole party had had a drink, and after washing his hands in the water created by the spirits, the warrior examined the watermelon with interest.

The treasure chest in the centre of the room rattled.

The watermelon split open with a snap as the warrior drew his sword.
A juicy fruity scent filled the room.

Rattle!

The treasure chest rattled loudly once more, and then pretended to be quiet again.
It seemed to be a master at pushing and pulling.
Each intermittent cringe only heightened the tension.

“…Mimic?”

Herrin muttered, more than a little curious.

-Ugh, who says Mimic?

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle!

His exasperated shout echoed through the cavernous depths.

A huge treasure chest tipped from side to side, straw flying.

“If it’s not a mimic, what is it…?”

I was puzzled that someone would be so angry at me for not being a mimic.

-Who just called me a mimic? Ah, the smell of magic! It must be a mage!

Sometimes, I felt like a walking perfume when I encountered people who smelled magic like this, a perfume that was either loved or hated.

It didn’t matter if you hated them or loved them, it was a familiar reaction.
But I hadn’t realized that mimic, the monster, also hated mages.
I hadn’t had a chance to study mimic, unless I’d been in the dungeon often enough to know.

I shrugged once, then took a sip of the remaining orange juice and popped it into my mouth.

Bang!

“Pfft!”

I spat it out.
I stared at the warrior, who had dazedly kicked mimic to the curb.
The room now vibrated with a sweet, sour scent.

Regs flicked the warrior’s shoulder, causing him to back away, and smashed his shield against Mimic’s head – presumably.

-Ack! Stop it, you bastards! Ack! Wait! I’m telling you!

Now Herrin made a giant droplet of water and trapped the mimic.
Countless air bubbles curled up under the lid that had a slight gap.
Then, when the air bubble almost disappeared, the droplet was collected, and when the mimic said anything, she locked it in the giant droplet again.

Herrin looked frightening.
Never, ever look hateful.

It was only when the box seemed to be sagging that the water torture stopped.

-….

Looking over at the silent mimic, Herrin turned brightly.

“Cylon, I did it!”

I smiled back at Herrin, who was grinning at me.
I had to look good.

“Come to think of it, I thought I heard that killing a mimic and spliting its belly could yield some real gold and silver treasure.”

The warrior spoke as if the silent mimic were a corpse, and the lid of the box shivered a little at that.

At this point, I wondered if it really was a mimic.
I had never heard of a mimic being such an intelligent monster.

“Wait, are you sure that’s a mimic?”

“Cylon, don’t worry.”

The warrior’s arm around my shoulders came around to meet my eyes clearly.

“Mimic or not, any creature that emerges from the dungeon needs to be killed.”

There was a hint of anger in his gaze.

-Wait, rewards! Don’t you want the dungeon reward? You need me to get the reward!

Mimic, who had been silent for a moment, shouted at the top of its lungs.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to kill you.”

Regs gave it a cold look.

-No! Don’t kill me! I’m a guide A.I.!

“A.I.? That’s a strange thing to say.
Is that mimic with the power to deceive….”

The way it ducked and stood, it looked like it was about to punch it in the torso.

I thought about drying my legs, but panic came first.

I hadn’t expected to hear the word ‘A.I.’ in a medieval-set fantasy, and I didn’t remember it appearing in any of the fantasy novels I’d read in my previous life.

The word ‘A.I.’, uttered by the unfamiliar mimic, confirmed that I was in a fantasy novel set in the 21st century, but it also raised the possibility that I was in a novel I hadn’t read.

-Thwack!

I stared at the treasure chest, which had been knocked over by Regs.

The world I’d been reincarnated into was so dumb.

I managed to hold on to my nervousness and dried my legs.
I straightened up and asked.

“An A.I., really?”

―I don’t have anything to say to a mage…!

It was an A.I.
that made hawks.
As I stared at it, thinking it was an A.I., it occurred to me that that could have been the input.
However, unlike me in the 21st century, it didn’t seem to matter to the three of them.

When things finally calmed down, Mimic asked me to unlock the treasure chest first.
Now I realized that the reason for the rattling was because the treasure chest was locked.

When I opened the lid, a round sphere popped out of it.

It was a sphere that looked like a machine.
It was lined with steel plates.
I could hear the humming and whirring of the wind inside the sphere.
I focused my magic on its eyes and saw that, like the golem, it was densely etched with magic circuits.

The reason this ancient object was still able to move was because of its unusually elaborate power circuitry.
Unlike the golem, which was powered by a supply of energy when conditions were met, this A.I.
was always on.

-Ah! What a relief to be outside, at last, out of the deep darkness!

The wandering sphere headed straight for the hole in the ceiling.

Reaching out, I cast a magic shield over the only exit in the ceiling.
The sphere bounced off the membrane, which glowed silver.
Again and again the sphere hit the force field, defying my expectations that it would give up and try to talk to me.

Pajik, Pajijik!

The sphere’s magic circuitry made the sound of overloading.

That A.I.
wasn’t meant to attack in the first place.
A full-body punch like that would only break it.
Besides, it had already taken some damage.

I moved the magic shield that had been blocking the ceiling and wrapped it around the sphere like a cloth, then pulled it towards me.

-….

“Keep your promise, A.I.”

-There is no reward in store for the mage.
Unless you’re one of the three.

“Yes, this or that.
Keep your word.”

I pulled out a long thread of magic and connected it to the magic shield surrounding the sphere.
It looked like a balloon.

I grabbed the end of the thread and stood up.
I was about to tell the party of heroes that it was time to go up.

My eyes locked with the warrior, who was staring at the sphere with a grim expression on his face.

His eyes switched between the sphere, the magic thread, and my hand holding the thread, and his eyes gradually filled with regret.
After studying me for a moment, his eyes darted down to look at his feet.

An unexplained sense of urgency swept over me.

There was something about the A.I.’s appearance that reminded me of my own, floating around with the magic thread tied to my ankle.

My eyes were drawn to the magic thread that was still connected to him.

It suddenly dawned on me that he had been hiding his abilities.
Did he know that I had been following him with a magic thread tied to his ankle?

Did he get the wrong idea from the way I was treating the A.I.? Did he think I was using him as a wayfinding A.I.?

The more I thought about it, the dizzier I got.
It was a party that was pointed out by the God and had to be stuck until the devil disappeared.
I didn’t know how many times worse the journey would be if I got caught by the leader of such a party.

I quickly untied the magic threads binding his ankles and gave him a very cautious, shy smile.

“Well, Warrior.
You know I trust you and, um, rely on you a lot, right?”

“…Yes.”

Despite his answer, the warrior’s expression grew grimmer.