The Hidden Ring
“Why the face?”
There are two metals in this space that I can’t eat.
“……Two? Not just one?”
So there was something else besides the Cup of the Golden Star. This place really wasn’t ordinary.
I was only indifferent because I was used to dragon lairs. Even by human standards, the sheer scale of this dungeon was absurd.
Its master could never have been an ordinary Spirit Master.
Seeing how casually those gems were scattered around, I wondered if there might be another treasure on par with the Cup of the Golden Star.
“Maybe a spirit stone?”
No. I could eat that, and it doesn’t feel like this anyway. This is on a completely different level.
“There are things even you can’t eat? What’s the difference?”
Usually I can’t absorb anything enchanted by magic cast by someone far stronger than Master. Since I can’t break the spell, I can’t eat it.
“Interesting.”
One over there, one at the far end. Two in total. I can’t tell which one is the Cup of the Golden Star, though.
“Then…… shall we check the closest one first?”
For the first time, I felt genuinely curious. This whole adventure had felt like someone else’s problem, so nothing had really excited me. But if the dungeon’s master was a Spirit Master, that changed everything.
“I hope it’s something useful for a Spirit Master.”
Was that too much to hope for?
Somehow, I found myself humming.
If any decent ancient treasure turned up, I was going to absorb it myself.
It would be a different kind of “gulp” from Rai’s, but at least we agreed on one thing: once it was in my hands, it was mine.
***
Dungeons came in many varieties, and this one was clearly functioning as a treasure vault.
Everywhere I looked, rare and valuable items filled the space. Yet the secluded area behind the pillar Rai led me to was different.
It looked like a dumping ground for things that weren’t gems.
Only junk, trash, and dust.
At the back was a small incinerator that hadn’t been used in a long time.
“Here?”
Absolutely!
“I’m not in the mood for games right now, you know?”
Even when I was feeling well I barely tolerated nonsense. If Rai started messing around while I was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, I might seriously have to consider becoming a demon.
Just so everyone would know how angelic I’d been until now.
I’m telling the truth! Go inside and press the blue brick.
My irritation was high from fatigue, but I did as told anyway.
Stepping over layers of ancient dust, I squeezed into the narrow space and crouched in front of the small incinerator.
After looking around, I asked again.
“There’s more than one or two blue bricks here.”
The one right in front of Master. The third brick from the right with the bird carving.
“This…… is this some kind of mechanism?”
Yes.
“Now that I think about it, a metal spirit would be perfect for finding mechanisms, huh? You found it way too easily.”
Specialists usually carried all sorts of tools to locate hidden devices, yet Rai had found it as naturally as breathing.
It was an ability any ruin excavation team would drool over.
Even if it’s a mechanism, it’s still made of metal, right? Finding where it is isn’t hard, and I just know what happens when you press what and where it connects.
“……Not bad.”
Ahem!
“Does that mean…… the two of us could clear every hidden dungeon on the continent?”
If Master would just fix that laziness first. I’m ready for anything! If Master sets your mind to it, we could even conquer the continent!
“Unfortunately, this is an incurable disease.”
If someone as capable as me also had overflowing motivation, the continental balance would shift.
For the sake of world peace, I needed to stay appropriately lazy.
Really. It wasn’t because I was lazy—it was all for world peace.
I pressed the blue brick Rai had pointed out, moving at a leisurely pace.
Next, the white one.
I felt something click inside, and as I followed Rai’s instructions and pressed the other bricks in order, even I could hear the faint sound of mechanisms turning.
The fifth brick, carved with a leaf, sank especially deep.
Once that was done, the floor of the incinerator slowly began to open, swallowing the ash and revealing a hidden space.
It looked just big enough to fit a hand.
“Oh.”
You thought it was worth it just now, didn’t you? See, Rai is the best, right?
Nodding, I reached into the darkness that had opened in the incinerator floor. When I pushed my arm in up to the shoulder, my fingers brushed against something square at the end.
“There’s something here?”
Hrk! Master!
“What?”
You really have no sense of danger! How can you just stick your hand in without knowing what’s there!
“Ah…… I guess so.”
I’d been so excited that I hadn’t hesitated.
Rai was right to worry—I really did lack any sense of caution.
Still, no trap had sprung to sever my hand, which was fortunate. And even if it had, I could just summon Endairon to reattach it!
That thought process is already wrong!
“……Stop reading my mind!”
It’s because Master thinks it doesn’t matter whether I hear it or not that I can hear it!
“Ugh! Shut up! I don’t want to hear nagging from you too! Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to have someone reading your thoughts twenty-four hours a day? My mental fortitude is being trained entirely because of you, you ungrateful brat!”
While bickering with Rai, I pulled the mysterious object out of the darkness.
I stared at it with wide eyes…… but under the light, it was just an ordinary wooden box.
Barely the size of a child’s fist, its only notable feature was how worn and shabby it looked.
“Hmm?”
Open it, Master! Hurry!
My own curiosity was just as strong, so I quickly opened the box.
My expectations were so high that my nose felt like it was flaring.
“A ring.”
A ring?
“An old ring.”
……What?
My nose shrank while my lips stuck out instead.
Rai and I both fell silent, staring intently at the unidentified object.
“What is this! You’re saying this crappy ring is as good as the Cup of the Golden Star? What kind of magic is on it? What’s it made of!”
Uh…… I don’t know?
“Don’t try to brush it off with cuteness!”
Ah, just listen to the end! That’s exactly why it’s amazing! The fact that even I, a metal spirit, can’t identify the material means it’s a byproduct of something truly great!
“……So?”
It might be a gift from a god! And it’s clearly older than I am!
Put that way, it did sound impressive…… I examined the ring more carefully, having been about to toss it back into the darkness.
The body looked silver, but it wasn’t platinum. It wasn’t orichalcum or mithril either.
I considered myself something of an expert on metals, yet I couldn’t define what it was.
Of course, if Rai couldn’t tell, there was no way I would know.
“You saw it too, Rai?”
Yes. It’s shrinking.
The previous owner must have had fairly large hands—the ring was comically oversized no matter which finger I tried it on.
When I slipped it onto one anyway, it automatically adjusted until it fit perfectly.
“……Yeah, it does seem like something out of the ordinary.”
I couldn’t dismiss it just because it looked crude.
The oval gem set in the center was almost water-clear, and once on my finger, my skin tone showed through it plainly.
What do you think it is?
“Given that it was hidden here, maybe it’s a treasure from around the same era as the Cup of the Golden Star? Lox would probably know something like this……”
If I asked about an ancient treasure that was a ring with a silver body and a transparent gem, Lox was the kind of person who could identify it immediately.
This was exactly when an expert came in handy.
“But that guy’s sharp…… If I ask, he might figure out that I found it.”
Just kill him.
“……Even I wouldn’t kill someone over something like that.”
Doesn’t he get on your nerves all the time? If you kill Lox, Ash will be yours! Rivals are best when they’re dead!
“Tempting, but…… Ash would hate it, so I won’t.”
I muttered while turning the ring now on my finger.
Ash was my friend. I didn’t want to do anything that would make my friend sad. I didn’t have many friends, so Ash was precious to me.
“Once we reach a city, let’s visit a bookstore or library. That should work. If we look through an ancient treasure catalog, we’ll find out what this is.”
After fiddling with the ring a bit more, I put it back in the wooden box and tucked it safely into my pocket—effectively claiming it as my own.
Master…… Your words sound so smooth, but you just naturally stole your friend’s belonging, didn’t you?
“Hey! I told you not to read my mind so freely!”
It’s because you have no conscience that I can hear it so clearly.
“If anyone here has a problem with me taking this, speak up!”
I’m the only one here, so asking is pointless.
“I’ll take that as a no, then.”
I was completely shameless and felt not a shred of guilt.
I was the one who found this place, the one who opened the door. Without me, no one else could have gotten in. And no matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t the Cup of the Golden Star!
“I’m just collecting my service fee!”
“Hey! What are you pocketing over there!”
Whoops! I’d been caught. I had no choice but to kill him.
You said you wouldn’t kill anyone!
“We’ll just say Lox betrayed Ash!”
Even slapping a ridiculous false charge on him……
Thinking the voice was addressing me, I hurried out from behind the pillar, only to realize Chad was the one being scolded.
Chad had picked up a lavish crown and put it on, only to be caught red-handed by Lox, who was now confiscating it.
“Look at you people! We’re not grave robbers! Stop pocketing things! If anything, all the treasures here belong to Ash! Without the marker showing this was Ash’s family heirloom, do you think we could’ve even come here!”
“Please! Just this one!”
“Put it down!”
Lox spoke casually only to Ash and Chad. And Chad, despite being twice Lox’s size, was having everything he’d collected mercilessly taken away.
Watching from behind the pillar, I felt a sudden sense of crisis—my ring might be next if they decided to conduct a forced search.
Lox was a surprisingly persistent opponent. Once he latched onto something, he was incredibly annoying.
After some thought, I hid the pocket containing the ring between my breasts.
I’d seen busty older sisters hide money pouches there before and had always wanted to try it myself.
Plus, if anyone touched me there, I could legally kill Lox!
I really was a genius.
Master! The pocket is showing because your chest is too small!
“This brat really doesn’t know when to shut up!”
If you’re going to hide something, do it properly! Here!
Rai opened his large maw wide toward me.
The safest place to hide anything was indeed inside Rai’s stomach.
The two spirit stones Anelia had given me were also stored inside Rai’s belly for repair—they weren’t being “absorbed,” just kept.
It was a simple storage method using his metal body, so it only worked when he was in wolf form.
Only objects smaller than his wolf body could fit, and if he transformed into a snake while carrying something, the shapes would show through his body.
Like a wolf-shaped piggy bank, I supposed.
But it was also an invincible safe that no one but me could open.
“Hold on to it until we get out of here.”
Yes!
I was sneaking it out, but this wasn’t theft.
Because the others wouldn’t even notice anything was missing!
“This is what you’d call the perfect crime, right?”
It’s still a crime, though.
“You’re not actually on my side, are you?”
A true friend knows when not to say certain things out of courtesy!
Whose contracted spirit was he again? He was so annoying I could die.
“Everyone gather up! We’ll divide things fairly later! First, let’s find the Cup of the Golden Star! Please!”
Lox’s exasperated scream echoed through the dungeon, and the scattered party members finally began to reluctantly gather.