"Monk, you had this trick up your sleeve all along?"

  "Well, as an adventurer, it's only natural to have a few hidden teiques, right?"

  ---

  The day after what felt more like a chase than a battle with the t.

  Holy, I was too exhausted to even think about ing, so the mansion remained a trash heap for the sed day in a row.

  I met up with Dent at the entrao the noble district, and we headed to t Clermont's mansion to plete the quest.

  And so began the great garbage up.

  "The square is piled high with trash!!"

  "Alright, Dent, do your thing and clear it out."

  "Sure, sure."

  Once again, the Mochi Dungeon proved to be a lifesaver.

  t Clermont's mansion had literally turned into a garbage dump.

  Most of it was worthless junk.

  But disposing of that junk was the hardest part of this quest.

  Even though it was worthless, the sheer volume was overwhelming.

  This must be what they mean by "too much trash to throw away."

  But here’s where the dungeon’s reset fun came in handy.

  That’s right—the Mochi Dungeon, created using the Key of the Weak, resets everything inside o’s cleared.

  It hurt that Dent found out about the reusable dungeohinking I had multiple, but it couldn’t be helped.

  The four of us spent the m s through the trash at the entraossing it into the dungeon, and the would dash i the Kagami Mochi, and escape.

  Sino one was left ihe dungeon would vanish, taking the trash with it.

  Then I’d wait for the recast time and gee the dungeon again.

  Rinse a.

  "Looks like the main hall is finally cleared out."

  "Though it’s still falling apart and rotting everywhere."

  "And it stinks."

  "Yeah, that er over there reeks."

  At least by mid-m, we could finally walk around without stepping on trash.

  "So far, we’ve found one gold , three rge silver s, two silver s, ten rge copper s, and about twenty copper s. Even in ruin, this is still a noble’s mansion. Even after falling into debt, they still had this much lying around. Not bad, huh?"

  "We’ll split that ter. For now, let’s decide which dire to dig through ."

  Thanks to thhly decluttering the entrance hall, we now had the option to either head upstairs or clear out the first floor.

  "Of course, we go where the treasure is!!"

  "If it were that easy, we wouldn’t be struggling, Nell."

  "Well, it’s pretty obvious, right? In mansions like this, the safe is usually he master’s room."

  "And the master’s room would be... upstairs?"

  "There’s a study up there, so probably."

  If we were relying on my game knowledge, I’d prefer to head toward the basement rather than the sed floor.

  But the main target—the treasure—is in the hidden safe iudy on the sed floor.

  "Alright! Let’s head to the sed floor!"

  "Yeaah!"

  "Man, kids are so eic. I’m gonna be sore tomorrow."

  "In a couple of days, we’ll get to drink that fancy wine we came here for."

  The stairs were, of course, also covered in trash.

  The only saving grace was that they were made of stone, so even if they were old, they wouldn’t colpse.

  I geed the dungeon at the bottom of the stairs and tossed the trash down from the top.

  Ohe first floor was full, Dent would dash in and clear it.

  We kept s and disposing of the trash like this until...

  "IT STINKS!!!"

  We hit a particurly foul-smelling room.

  "Oh dear, what was once a luxurious room is now unreizable."

  Nell ractically gagging, refusing to go anywhere he room.

  Amina was tearing up, shaking her head, saying it was impossible.

  As for me a, our noses had already gone numb, so we put on masks and charged in.

  "Did someoually live here?"

  "Probably. Look, that’s a bed over there."

  This room was a disaster.

  It was hard to tell what was what.

  There was something that vaguely resembled a bed, a table, a chair, and other things that you could only guess at.

  "Let’s at least check the drawers."

  "Everything else goes into the dungeon."

  The two of us men worked diligently to declutter.

  "Hey, Monk, I fot to ask earlier."

  "Yeah, what’s up?"

  S through trash and treasure while tossing it into the dungeon was quite the ordeal.

  So Dent’s attempt to make versation was a wele distra.

  We kept w, not looking at each other, just staying close while handling the trash.

  "Why didn’t you defeat the boss before luring the t into the dungeon? If you had, we could’ve just escaped right after."

  "Ah, about that..."

  The question he asked was something anyone would wonder after going through that process.

  "This dungeon-luring tactic actually has a dition for pulling in monsters."

  "A dition?"

  "Yeah, the dition is that the boss has to still be alive."

  "Huh? Why’s that?"

  "Because for monsters, there’s a be to potentially taking over the dungeon."

  "So it’s about whether they hijack the dungeon?"

  "Exactly."

  The ao that question is, in a way, simple.

  It’s less about the dition for luring monsters into the dungeon and more about why monsters would want to enter in the first pce.

  "For some reason, even if you prepare a dungeon after defeating the boss and force a monster ihey’ll just leave immediately."

  "To avoid getting caught in the colpsing dungeon?"

  "Yeah, I think it’s an instinctual survival meism."

  Even ba the game, I never figured out the exact reason.

  All I know is that whether the boss is alive or not drastically affects the success rate of this tactic.

  The analysis team back then also cluded that dungeon erosion was the most pusible theory, but it never went beyond specution.

  "So it’s just a theory?"

  "That’s all I say."

  "You were really walking on thihere. It could’ve easily failed."

  I had no choice but to accept Dent’s pint about risking our lives on sucertain information.

  "I’ll do better ime."

  "I hope so."

  With versations like that, we mao toss a lot of trash into the dungeon.

  "Wow, it’s looking much er now!"

  "er? More like there’s nothi."

  You’d expect a noble’s study to have paintings, jewels, or statues, but the bankruptcy wasn’t a lie—there was nothing of value left.

  "Now, the real prize is this."

  However, after removing all the furniture, we found the hidden safe.

  " you open it?"

  "There are locked treasure chests in dungeons too. This is my specialty."

  As a scout, opening this safe was right up Dent’s alley.

  He pulled out some lock-pig tools and started w on the keyhole.

  "I was worried it might be too rusted to open, but the inside seems fine."

  After a few minutes of tinkering...

  "Alright, that should do it."

  With a satisfying *click*, the safe opened, a gave us a proud look.

  Even through the mask, I could tell he was smug, so I cpped for him.

  "Alright, let’s see the treasure..."

  "Treasure!?"

  "What’s inside!?"

  "Calm down, girls. I’m opening it now."

  With my appuse and the room now cleared out, Nell and Amina came in and watched from behind us.

  After all that effort, it had to be something amazing, right?

  Even I, who already knew what was ihought it was impressive.

  "This is..."

  "Wow..."

  "So pretty..."

  Inside was a crystal vase, said to be crafted by elven artisans in the game.

  "Whoa..."

  The mystical aura it gave off was different from the game’s effects.

  The way it sparkled was genuinely mesmerizing.

  I’m no art expert, but this was undeniably beautiful.

  It would’ve bee if it had some special effect, but... it’s just a selble item.

  The fvor text only mentios elven craftsmanship and history.

  Pretty, but ultimately just a pretty treasure.

  "Well, no wohe t was so obsessed with this."

  "I get it. This is the kind of thing that captivates people."

  "Even I tell this is amazing!"

  But the three of them acted like this was the ultimate treasure, as if we could just pack up and leave now.

  "Uh, Dent, you’re not thinking of calling it quits now, are you? The quest isn’t over yet, right?"

  "What do you mean, Monk? We exorcised the t’s ghost and found the treasure. Mission aplished, right?"

  "That’s not enough for me! My goal isn’t here—it’s in the basement!!"

  Yeah, I had to nip that in the bud, or they’d just head bad let the kingdom take over.

  Close call.

  "The basement?"

  "What’s in the basement?"

  "There’s supposed to be a mage’s workshop down there."

  "What!? The t was a famous mage in his time. It wouldn’t be strange for his mansion to have a workshop underground. Monk, don’t tell me..."

  "Yep, what I’m after are the materials in that workshop."

  "You bastard! You knew about this from the start, didn’t you!?"

  "Guilty as charged. Dent, remember our deal. I get first dibs."

  The quickest route to pleting the quest was the dungeon-luring tactid heading straight to the study.

  But that way, you’d miss out on all the items buried uhe trash.

  If you just clear the quest normally, you get a hefty sum of money and that’s it.

  But if you take the detour and dig through the hidden passage to the basement, you’ll find t Clermont’s mage workshop.

  And there, you’ll find a treasure trove of items that are way above your current level.

  "Grrrr..."

  Dent was growling in frustration, but a deal’s a deal.

  "But the t squandered his wealth, selling off most of his assets and repg them with junk. There’s no way anything valuable is left."

  "Rumors say otherwise."

  We stored the vase ba the safe.

  Ba the hall, we resumed decluttering in the dire I wao go.

  Dent tried o desperate attempt to dissuade me, but I wasn’t having it.

  "Hey, Liberta. What’s in the pce we’re heading to now?"

  "A mage’s workshop is like a treasure vault fes. Rumor has it there’s mithril, scrolls, magical accessories, and more."

  "Mithril!? Really?"

  "Acc to rumors."

  My so-called "rumor" knowledge inpointing the location of the mage’s workshop.

  "Turn this dlestick here."

  "Why is it in a pce like this?"

  "Oh, and there’s a gold here."

  I remembered how to unlock the door to the mage’s workshop.

  You had to turn the dlesti the dining room.

  "Is it ihe firepce?"

  "Yeah, around here. Flip this relief the other way."

  I turhe relief on the firep the great hall.

  "Man, having Amina here is a big help."

  "Found it!"

  And finally, pressing a tile he ceiling ihroom...

  "It’s really here."

  "It wasn’t there before, right?"

  " wasn’t."

  The ter of the staircase to the sed floor opened up, revealing the entrao the basement.

  "Monk, where’d you hear these rumors?"

  "That’s a secret."

  "If you’ve got any ood info, spill it. If you do, I’ll make it worth your while!!"

  After showing such precise decluttering and unlog skills, Dent tried to butter me up, but whether it was women’s intuition or something else, Nell and Amina sensed he was trying to lead me somewhere I shouldn’t go and kicked his shins with all their might.

  *Thud*—it made a pretty satisfying sound.

  "Ow, ow, alright, alright, Monk. We’ll talk about this when it’s just the two of us."

  "No way!"

  "Yeah! No way!!"

  "Ahahaha, well then... sorry about that."

  With Nell and Amina ging to me from both sides, Dent’s pn was thwarted.

  "Alright, let’s get ba traell, Amina, let’s go."

  "Got it."

  "Wow, I’m so excited!"

  "Ow, hey, don’t leave the adult behind!"

  And so, we finally reached my destination.

  "It’s so here."

  "Even the t could keep this pce tidy."

  "Huh, there are some rare books here. These alone are worth a fortuhey’re i dition too. If he’d sold these, the t might’ve lived a bit longer."

  For a mage, this pce must’ve been incredibly important.

  It was a single room, about the size of eight tatami mats.

  One wall was entirely covered in bookshelves, and there was a table in the back.

  "But Monk, it’s a shame. These books are rare, but they’re not the treasure you were talking about... Wait, don’t tell me—"

  "Figured it out?"

  At first ghis looked like an ordinary study.

  But a mage’s workshop couldn’t possibly be this simple.

  "Pull out this book, repce it with that one, move this book over here, shift that ohere, and put this book in the empty spot."

  Only one wall was filled with bookshelves.

  Dent, being sharp, noticed the oddity.

  I used my knowledge to rearrahe books in the correct order.

  "A hidden door?"

  "The real prize is beyond this."

  The bookshelf slid open, revealing a rger space behind it.

  "Wow! This is amazing! And this too!?"

  "I’m impressed. If we’d been blinded by that vase earlier, we’d have regretted it for the rest of our lives."

  "What was he making here?"

  The workbench was lined with tools.

  It wasn’t hard to guess what he’d been doing here.

  "Magical artifacts. The t was a renowned craftsman of magical tools in his time. His works were masterpieces, highly sought after by many."

  But the owner of this pce had long since aba, ed by his obsession with colleg.

  "Monk, is this what you were after?"

  "Yes, the t’s final masterpiece."

  The items were exactly where I remembered them.

  Ign everything else, I headed straight for the magical artifact I wanted.

  "The Pendulum of Teleportation. The most ve magical tool I know of."

  A single magical artifact made with a sky-blue magic stone.

  Its abilities were dht broken.

  Thanks to this thing, my efficy skyrocketed.

  I carefully picked up the pendulum from its dispy stand.

  "With this, you teleport to any pce you’ve been before."

  There were some limitations o locations, but whether it was a remote forest, a mountain peak, or the depths of a cave, as long as you’d been there once, you could go back.

  I couldn’t help but smile. I’d just gotten my hands on a cheat-level item.

  "With this, I’m oep closer to being the stro."