The four of us were heading back from the dungeon. I took the lead, but Cas kept giving directions from behind, her eyes scanning the corridor like she’d been born down here.
This dungeon was a massive multi-floor field dungeon, and we were currently on the second floor. According to Cas, each floor had two return teleportation circles placed in different spots. You couldn’t just clear the entire thing from the first floor every single time.
Actually, there was a theory that dungeons in this world treated adventurers well – better item drops, easier exploration – because they wanted to attract more people. Once you’d visited a floor, you could teleport back to its return circle anytime. The nearest circle was about thirty minutes away, and we didn’t run into any monsters on the way, so it ended up being closer than I expected.
Aina and her two companions had recently been promoted to F-rank adventurers, which let them access the second floor.
”We only got the clearance last week,” Aina said, adjusting her pack straps. “Still feels a bit unreal, honestly.”
We stepped onto the transfer circle and teleported to the dungeon entrance. That’s when I heard it again – the ‘Mysterious Voice’ echoing in my head after so long.
[Individual Alpha has experienced the use of a return teleportation circle. [Transfer Magic] has been acquired.]
That voice… I’d almost missed it. But using a return circle to acquire [Transfer Magic]? That didn’t quite add up. I wanted to test it out, but Aina and the others were right there, so I held off for now.
The dungeon was managed by the lord of a nearby town called Oden. It was about an hour’s walk from the entrance to the town gates. I checked my wristwatch – 4:15 PM. The way the sun was dipping toward the horizon felt almost the same as back in Japan.
”Same sun, different world,” I muttered to myself.
On the road to Oden Town, we ran into three big boars. These things were monsters – about ten feet long and six and a half feet tall at the shoulder, like giant wild boars with razor-sharp tusks and a nasty charging attack. Honestly, the sheer size of them caught me off guard. They were about the size of a two-ton truck.
When one charged at me, I panicked for a second, but I sidestepped right and swung my hammer – wrapped in Gaia energy – straight into its hind leg. After it went down, I brought the hammer down between its eyes, and that finished it. They were supposedly D-rank monsters, but I took all three down easily.
”Bloody hell, Yu, that was fast,” Cas said, letting out a low whistle. “Three D-ranks in one go, no trouble at all – you sure you’re not hiding something from us?”
Strangely enough, monsters inside the dungeon dissolved into black mist when defeated and left behind only dropped items. But monsters outside the dungeon stayed dead – their whole bodies became materials you could harvest.
I disguised my backpack as a magic tool and stashed the boars into [Subspace Storage]. That got some big reactions from the girls.
”Yu-san, you have a magic bag?!” Aina’s eyes went wide.
”Three whole big boars fit in there? What’s the capacity on that thing?!” Lisa asked, leaning in too close.
”I’m single, by the way,” Cas said, completely deadpan.
They questioned me intensely, but I gave them vague answers and brushed it off. The third comment? Yeah, I ignored that one completely. All three of them were staring at me like I was fresh meat – creepy. Wolves, honestly.
As we walked, I asked about the currency in this country.
One copper coin could buy a single skewer of grilled meat, or three loaves of bread. I figured that was roughly equivalent to five hundred yen – around five bucks in US money.
- 10 copper coins = 1 large copper coin (about $50)
- 10 large copper coins = 1 silver coin (about $500)
- 10 silver coins = 1 large silver coin (about $5,000)
- 10 large silver coins = 1 gold coin (about $50,000)
- 10 gold coins = 1 large gold coin (about $500,000)
- 10 large gold coins = 1 white gold coin (about $5,000,000)
Apparently there were higher denominations too, but those were only used in trades between nations or among high nobles – nothing a regular person ever touched. Most common folk only ever handled copper up to silver coins.
”So you’re completely broke, then?” Cas asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s gonna be a problem at the gate, mate.”
I was completely broke, so I had no way to pay the town entry fee. We worked out a deal: I’d sell one of the big boars to the girls. They offered me three silver coins per boar – apparently the guild would buy them for five or six, but they’d helped me out a lot already, so I agreed.
”Three silver’s a bit low, if I’m honest,” Lisa said hesitantly. “Are you sure about that?”
”Fine by me,” I said. “You’ve helped me out more than once.”
The three of them covered my entrance fee, and we’d settle the balance after the guild bought the boars.
Summary:
The party successfully exits the dungeon using a return teleportation circle, during which the protagonist acquires [Transfer Magic]. While traveling to Oden Town, they encounter and defeat three D-rank big boars, and the protagonist reveals his [Subspace Storage] ability. Upon reaching town, the protagonist negotiates selling a boar to cover his entry fee, though the guild’s buyout price remains unresolved.
Trivia:
- Dungeon floors have two return teleportation circles each, allowing adventurers to skip re-clearing lower floors.
- Monsters inside dungeons dissolve into black mist and leave only dropped items, while outside monsters leave full corpses for harvesting.
- The currency system scales exponentially: 1 white gold coin equals approximately $5,000,000 USD.
- The guild buys big boars for 5-6 silver coins, but the protagonist accepted 3 silver coins as a favor to his companions.
- Cas is a thief-class adventurer who provides tactical navigation and has a deadpan, flirtatious sense of humor.
- Oden Town is about an hour’s walk from the dungeon entrance and is governed by a local lord.