A Mountain Of Junk (*Difference In Interpretation)

Having won the contest of wits (physical) against the Sphinx.

After removing the obstacle blocking the way, I proceeded down the passage that continued behind it.

“If there’s a gatekeeper, that means! There’s treasure sleeping here, right?!”

“In role-playing games, that is more or less the standard theory, report.”

This clunky robot says strange things sometimes.

Well, no matter what, if there is a gatekeeper, that means something important is sleeping here!

Which means!

There’s got to be soft stones here!

All excited and cheerful, I went onward, and what awaited me there was…

“…………”

“Woooow, it is just like the inside of a jewel box, y’all—report.”

Inside the fairly spacious room…

Glittering 【things】 had been placed here and there.

The first thing that stood out was piles made of gold dust.

Several of them had just been left there.

The next thing that caught my eye was weapons like swords and staves.

And necklaces studded with jewels.

“Master, that is wonderful. It is a mountain of treasure.”

“…………”

“Maaster? Report.”

“A mountain of… treasure? This… is treasure…?”

Haha.

Hehe…

“Y-”

“Y?”

“Don’t screw with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!”

I ended up shouting that without thinking!

No, seriously, whaaaaaaaaaaat is all this?!

“Don’t screw with you?”

“Of course not! What is this…?!”

Pointing sharply at it all, I declared,

“A mountain of juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk!”

This was just awful!

Because there was a gatekeeper and all, I had totally thought maybe there would be treasure sleeping here!

But when I finally opened the lid, it was just gold, silver, diamonds, and the like!

“I can make all this myself with alchemy, youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu idiot!”

“LOL. You really can make gold with alchemy easily, Master, and diamonds are simple too if you start from carbon.”

“Exactly! Every last thing here is stuff I can just whip up in no time at all, nothing but junk!”

“Ordinary people generally cannot make any of it, though, report.”

“I am not an ordinary person, I am an al! che! mist!”

Agh, seriously! What a waste of anticipation!

Gold and silver treasure, my foot! To me, who can make all of this, it is the same as pebbles! Goddammit!

“What exactly does Master mean by treasure?”

“Well, soft stones, obviously, phoenix tail feathers, and also drops from the World Tree.”

“They are all rare alchemy materials, report.”

“Of course they are. Things I cannot make with my own power. Those are treasure to an alchemist—namely, me. Or maybe magic tools that I cannot make myself.”

Sigh, what a letdown.

Cherge and I walked around the place.

“I don’t care about gold, silver, or jewels, so look for magic tools.”

“They can become traveling funds, so may I collect them, report?”

“No. Rare magic tools are more important than that! Priority!”

With the robo-maid sighing, “Yes, yes,” I searched the mountain of treasure (lol).

But I could not find any promising materials or magic tools.

It was not like there was nothing, but all of it was stuff I could make myself.

“This is no good. It’s a dud.”

“I think Master is the only one who could look at this dazzling mountain of riches and call it a dud.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“No, not at all, perish the thought.”

“You really are making fun of me, right?”

“No, surely not, that is impossible.”

“Cherge. Order. Tell me the truth.”

“You are foolish, report.”

I would scrap this robot later (sense of duty).

“Hm? What is this…?”

From the mountain of junk, I found it.

Cherge came closer and tilted her head.

“What is it, that piece of junk. Just a… rusty lump of iron?”

“F-fuhahahaha! Fuuuuuu-hahahahahaha!”

“Master has broken. Ah, just like always. Report.”

Thunk!

“That hurt, you know!”

“That is because you smacked a robot’s head with your hand, report.”

“Shut up. More importantly, look! This! It is a suuuper rare ore!”

Lucky! Tonight, we are having steak!

That thing I had just found, and which Cherge had called a rusty lump… was an ultra-rare item!

“No matter how I look at it, it is a rusty lump, though?”

“You idiot, this is 【Flight Stone】, you know.”

“Hishouseki? Not hikouseki?”

“Flight, flight. A very rare special ore that grants its owner the power of flight!”

“So such a grand item existed. At first glance it looks like junk, though, report.”

“Are your eyes just for decoration? You can tell just by looking at it!”

The robot tilted her head as if to say she could not tell at all.

Well, I suppose a robot would not understand. There are things only an alchemist can recognize.

“However, Master, can something this rusty still be used?”

“Hmm, true, maybe not in this state. The natural formula engraved on the surface is rusted over, so it is not conducting mana properly.”

“Then shall we scrap it as it is? Report.”

“As if. This is where my alchemy comes in.”

I placed my hand on the surface of the Flight Stone and used alchemy magic.

Alchemy—that is, the technique of breaking matter down to the atomic level, rearranging it, and turning it into a different substance.

If I cleanly break down and remove only the rusted parts with alchemy…

“And done! Got the Fliiiight Stooone! Wahaha! If I can get a rare item like this, then coming to this mountain of junk was totally worth it!”

“Junk, huh… report.”

Heh-heh, now then, I had obtained a rare item and all, so~?

“Now then, on to the real treasure! Let’s get going and find some soft stones!”

“If the Sphinx saw Master’s reaction to all this, it would be crying in its grave, report.”