Kai walked deeper into the underground market, still trying to understand how something like this could even exist inside the dungeon. There were stalls everywhere, some made from pieces of wood while others were nothing more than blankets spread across the ground with items placed on top.
People were shouting prices and calling out to anyone who walked past, while others were busy arguing over the value of different dungeon materials. Kai saw glowing stones, strange herbs, monster bones, weapons, pieces of armor and even things that he couldn’t identify at all.
It almost felt like he had walked into a normal market back home, except every few steps he saw something that reminded him that this place was anything but normal.
"Is that a sword made from a monster’s bone?" Kai asked, staring at one of the stalls.
The seller proudly nodded before explaining that the weapon had been made from the bone of a monster found on one of the deeper levels. Kai didn’t stay for long, mostly because he had no idea what half the things around him were worth.
He continued walking while occasionally checking items with his Food Appraisal skill whenever something caught his attention. Most weren’t food, so the skill didn’t give him much information, but Kai still found the whole place fascinating.
Then he stopped.
At one stall, a man had several small glass containers lined up in front of him. Inside them were tiny spiders crawling around. Kai immediately recognised their appearance and felt his stomach drop slightly.
"Those are spider babies..." Kai said, staring at the containers.
The man selling them smiled as if he had just found another interested customer.
"Young dungeon spiders. Very useful if you know how to raise them." The man said.
Kai stared at the tiny creatures before quickly moving away. He didn’t want anything to do with spiders after nearly getting killed by one, especially not a bunch of baby versions of the same thing. As he continued through the market, he started noticing something else.
Some people seemed to have become surprisingly comfortable in the dungeon. They had set up proper stalls, traded materials and even created their own businesses. It made Kai wonder how long some of these people had already been here and how many levels they had managed to clear.
As he turned another corner, Kai suddenly noticed a familiar face.
A strange man was sitting behind a small stall filled with sticks.
Kai stopped and stared.
He recognised the man immediately. Back when everyone had first received the message about the dungeon game, this was one of the people who had been running around claiming that aliens had abducted humanity and were forcing them to participate in some kind of experiment. Kai hadn’t thought much about him at the time because everyone had assumed he was crazy.
"You’re the alien guy." Kai said, walking over.
"Ah! You survived!" The man said.
Kai glanced at the sticks spread across the man’s stall. Most of them looked completely ordinary, but a few had strange patterns carved into them.
"You’re selling sticks?" Kai asked, picking one up.
"Not just sticks. Dungeon wood." The man said proudly.
Kai turned the piece of wood around in his hands. It actually looked somewhat similar to the strong stick he had used to fight the spider, which made him curious, but he decided to leave that question for later. There was something more important he needed to ask.
"Have you seen a little boy?" Kai asked, pulling out his phone and showing him a picture of Hori. "His name is Hori. He’s about eight years old, Japanese, and he was wearing a school uniform."
The man’s expression changed as he looked at the picture. He rubbed his chin for a moment before pointing down one of the market paths.
"I think I’ve seen that kid." The man said.
Kai immediately leaned closer.
"You have?"
"Yeah. A woman was with him. She was wearing some kind of sailor costume, like that Sailor Moon thing from the old anime." The man said.
Kai blinked.
"A Sailor Moon costume?"
"Exactly. She had a kid with her who looked like the one in your picture. I can’t say for sure if it’s him, but the description matches." The man said.
Kai’s heart began beating faster. After spending so long searching through the dungeon without finding anything, this was the first real lead he had gotten. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
"Where did they go?" Kai asked quickly.
The man pointed farther into the market.
"I saw them heading that way earlier. They weren’t alone either. There were a few other people with them." He said.
Kai looked down the path before looking back at the man.
"Do you know who the woman was?"
The man shook his head.
"No idea. I only remember the costume. Hard to forget someone walking around a dungeon dressed like that." He said.
Kai almost laughed despite himself. It was definitely a strange description, but if the woman really had Hori, then he finally had somewhere to start looking.
"Thanks." Kai said, placing the stick back on the stall.
"Wait!" The man suddenly called out.
Kai turned around.
"Since you’re here, you should take one of these. You never know when the aliens might attack again." The man said seriously.
Kai stared at him for a moment before sighing.
"Right... aliens." Kai said, before turning back toward the path.
He wasn’t sure whether the man was actually crazy or whether he somehow knew more about the dungeon than everyone else, but Kai had no time to figure it out. If Hori was really somewhere in this underground market, he needed to find him before he disappeared again.
Kai tightened his grip around his phone and began walking deeper into the crowded market, following the direction the strange man had pointed.
For the first time since entering the dungeon, Kai felt like he was finally getting close to Hori.