"……So it's you. What do you have today?"

The shop was located in a fairly diverse corner even among the alleyways.

When I first arrived in this town, I found this place almost by accident, but ever since, I've been coming here whenever I had something to sell.

Probably a place frequented by those with wounds on their legs.

My father never asked questions and just bought whatever I brought—very convenient.

The price he offered was, of course, what you'd expect, but since I don't know the market value, I don't really care.

I'd casually call it a black market, though I'm not even sure if it's truly black or not.

"This time it's a bit more"

I said, laying out the items I'd stolen from the explorer's corpse the previous night.

One longsword, two short swords, a leather chest guard, a leather cap, and crude gloves.

From past experience, I'd say every explorer who died in the second layer was wearing similar gear.

It felt like those who shouldn't have even reached the second layer were forcing their way in, only to die.

That was the impression I had.

"Hmph... Even with this gear, there's still demand among beginners. I'll buy it, but I'll offer thirty copper coins total."

"That's fine."

Ten copper coins per person.

The price of a life, quite pitiful.

Incidentally, a copper coin is roughly worth eight of them to make one silver coin. In daily life, silver coins are too valuable to use often—only for big purchases. But with copper and silver coins, you can manage just fine.

"…And also… this one…"

After receiving thirty small silver coins, I placed the spirit stone left behind by the corpse on the buyback counter.

I'd always brought back stones left by corpses before, but this was the first time I'd offered one for buyback.

In this world where I'm not exactly bright, I don't understand the meaning of this "stone left behind by the dead."

I should've asked Grapeflour yesterday, but I forgot.

So I decided to wait and see how my father would handle it.

"Stone? Tiny thing. Is this a skeleton's stone?"

"……No, it's not. It's something left by an explorer. I don't know what to do with it."

I decided to be honest.

I suppose it's not illegal to bring back a dead person's stone, but maybe there's some custom requiring it to be buried in a proper place. That wouldn't be surprising.

"Ah, a traveler, huh... You're probably just starting out. Well, no problem. I'll buy it from you."

"You sure there's no issue?"

"The person's already agreed, after all. Travelers like you are always in business."

"What about if their parents come to take it back, or bury the stone in their grave?"

"Hmm... There are cases like that, sure. But travelers don't need to worry about things like that. Especially not those who die on the first or second floor—they're not going anywhere anyway."

A difference in worldview.

For example, in Japan, cremation is nearly universal, so people don't question it. But in the West, some find it shocking to burn a body.

Either way, the body is buried.

So I thought that in this world, spirit stones taken from corpses would be buried in graves or otherwise dealt with in some way, but it seems that's not the case.

"Even if it's this size, it won't do much, but as long as it's used as power and circulates throughout the world, the soul within it gets purified. ...Well, that's just what I've heard from others."

"I see..."

"You're the one who's weird for worrying about such things. This town's full of outsiders, but you're the ultimate one. Still, you're a good customer from my point of view."

　

Saying that, he laughed and placed a small silver coin on the table.

"Back when you brought in one of that size, even an uncorrupted stone would've been worth a decent amount. But today's stone? That's all you're getting."

"Can a human's spirit stone change size too?"

"Challenging a labyrinth means gradually transforming yourself into a monster or beast."

"I see... The price is fine like that."

"As always."

I refrained from asking too many questions, but I grasped the essential point.

In the end, there's no distinction between humans and monsters when it comes to spirit stones. At least, there's no visible difference. Perhaps in this world, both humans and monsters are regarded as similar kinds of beings.

The spirit stone that once was human was casually tossed into a bag by my father.

(Small spirit stones, especially transparent ones, have low value... It takes defeating ten skeletons just to earn a single small silver coin... I see now why people aim for the second floor, since it's impossible to make money on the first level.)

"By the way, if you'd brought the explorer's gear, you'd have had a recognition tag. What happened to that one?"

"Recognition tag...? Oh, you mean this?"

I pulled out several blueish metal name tags from my pocket.

These were necklaces usually found near the spirit stones of dead explorers, clearly serving as identifiers for their affiliation and individual identities.

I'd almost overlooked them had my father not pointed it out—

"That's right. You can sell them to the guild. Well, the bronze tags won't fetch much, not even a few copper coins."

So the guild must be the organization behind those explorers.

Either way, I don't really want to get close to them.

"Then, how about this one too? I'll take whatever price you offer, even if it's cheap."

"Ah? Hmm, you seem to have quite a story too, huh. Anyway, fine. Just give me one silver coin after taking your fee."

"That's a relief."

Honestly, if identification tags are worth money, I'll start just tossing them near the entrance from now on. That way, someone else will pick them up and take them to the guild.

Anyway, with this, I've secured lodging for a while.

I headed to a secluded spot, stashed the cash in my Shadow Bag, and then made my way into the labyrinth.

It's a quiet, dim life.

But right now, that's exactly the kind of life I find comforting.