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“Let’s hurry up and check it out, nya.”
“Yeah.”

Once we’d calmed down, we resumed exploring. Maybe part of it was the hope that we’d find a room we could actually rest in.

So far, it had been nothing but dust-filled rooms and piles of rubble. The whole metal structure was tilted, and even an empty room wasn’t exactly relaxing.

…Still, probably better than the rat-infested tunnels underground.

We’d already checked four out of eight rooms, so only half remained. The rooms themselves weren’t that big, and there didn’t seem to be any traps. Working together, we got through them quickly.

And so, we ended up in the third room—the cleanest one so far, completely empty—checking over our spoils.

“Hmm…”

I laid the items out in the indentations of the tilted floor and wall. …Yeah, the slant really makes it hard to feel at ease.

First off: the gun that shoots beams, and its bullets. I did a quick examination, but the material and its true nature are still unknown.

Alchemy has arrays that let you infuse your magic into a material and analyze its structure, but it didn’t work at all on this. Which meant no reproducing or repairing it.

Even Earth’s cutting-edge science had failed to figure it out, guess that’s Unknowns for you.

Out of the three we found, two were completely broken, so this is the last one.

As for the bullets, we recovered seven. But since I used one up to take down the weasel, who was now just a clear stone, that leaves six usable ones.

These guns had some complicated names attached to them, but of course I don’t remember. I’ll give this one a new name later.

Naming your weapon boosts your spirits, and in battle, spirit is everything. Captain always said it’s a good thing to give a cherished weapon a special name.

Sometimes, putting on a bit of airs is important—if only to fire yourself up.

And then… in the other rooms we found two more Unknowns—or rather, in this world’s terms, magic items.

Fortunately, they were both ones I knew of, and both extremely useful. I’d even helped with experiments and investigations before, so I knew exactly how they worked and what they did.

The first was “Apartment 404,” a disk-cylinder key with a transparent crystal cone attached. When you use this key on a door with a matching lock, it opens into an apartment unit—basically a teleportation-type item.

The destination was a 3LDK¹ apartment in Tokyo. It was discovered after a string of incidents where people living in that unit vanished within a month, only to later be found dead under suspicious circumstances elsewhere.

If you entered using the key, there was no problem. But if you got in by any other means and tried living in this apartment room there, something would take you away. Those who entered the apartment through other means and those who used the key couldn’t meet up inside, so it was suspected that the space existed in either different dimensions or phases of reality.

The institution miraculously recovered a recording from one missing field agent—but it only contained the sound of a horrific death scream.

Strangely enough, the key worked in any disk-cylinder lock. And as long as you entered using the key, you could stay for extended periods without danger. It was even used as a rest stop for agents traveling long distances.

Inside, it only had a modest amount of furniture, but oddly, gas, water, and electricity all functioned.

Considering our current situation, it was an unbelievably fortunate find. The main drawback was that you needed a door with a disk-cylinder lock to go in or out. And if that external door was destroyed, you’d be forcibly ejected to the area near the doorway, which made it unreliable as a safe zone.

…Disk-cylinder locks… how were they structured again?

I’ll figure it out later. For now, let’s set it aside.

The second item was the “Amazing Black Pocket.” It looked like a half-moon–shaped black pouch, felt like textile to the touch, but the actual material was unknown. The inside connected to a different dimension, though it rejected living things placed inside.²　

In game terms, it was basically an item box. The capacity was unknown, but tests confirmed you could fit quite a lot. Time flowed normally inside, and since the pouch was extremely elastic, it could easily hold things much larger than its appearance suggested.

The drawback was that whether putting things in or taking them out, you generally had to use your own hands to handle it. For better or worse, it was best thought of as a bag with absurdly huge storage.

Apparently, it had been recovered from a magician who’d been using it for their show.

These were the only items successfully recovered. The rest were either broken, emptied, or abandoned.

I checked, but the pocket’s contents had also been cleared out.

It really did feel like someone’s hand was at work here. Whether they were helping or toying with us, I couldn’t say—but I had to at least be thankful they’d given us a chance to survive.

With alchemy I sealed the entrance, then in the darkness I looked at the tools lined up along the wall. Behind me, the three others had somehow managed to sleep on the slanted floor.

What we’d found amounted to junk, trash, something that looked like an ordinary key, and an empty pocket.³　

The pocket had certainly caught their interest as something amazing, but it didn’t leave as strong an impression as the gun. Exhaustion won out, and they fell asleep with their bodies still dirty.

Considering the battle we’d just survived, I couldn’t blame them. I sealed the entrance so no rats could get in and limited myself to checking over what we’d gathered.

There were still plenty of problems ahead, but at least hope was starting to take shape. The biggest factor was this lantern—it might very well be a first-rate alchemical tool.

That said, I was worn out too. I stored everything except the lantern inside the pocket, then pressed the pocket directly against my stomach so it clung to me. Thanks to its adhesive quality, it could be easily stuck on or peeled off.

I nestled down beside Sufi, who had tried to stay awake with me but succumbed to fatigue, and closed my eyes. Seems I was even more tired than I realized—my consciousness sank quickly into darkness.

And of course, when I woke up, I was burning with a high fever.