"Phew. It's gotten quite nice."

I don't know why, but I kept cleaning the second layer.

At first, it was out of pity for the Grapeflood—though that was only the initial reason. The real satisfaction came from simply seeing the labyrinth becoming cleaner and cleaner.

I'd become quite familiar with the structure of the second layer of the labyrinth, "The Hungry Beasts' Underground Prison."

Though the second layer is quite spacious, one wouldn't get lost even without a map.

There are large rooms where monsters gather, water sources that resemble baths with clean flowing water, and areas resembling gardens—places treated like an outer courtyard. These are at least as large as the first layer.

Cleaning up space of that magnitude was nearly a hobby in itself. The Shadow Bag prevented its contents from becoming disorganized, allowing basic items to be managed individually. Once it reached a certain capacity, I stacked them in the more accessible compartment within the two layers. I wasn't sure where to discard them, but as long as the cat-like creature didn't get injured, that was enough.

From the shelf, the rank(level) of the Shadow Bag had risen, seemingly by chance.

I thought I'd seen all the monsters that appeared.

The small goblin-like creatures were apparently called goblins— I'd heard the explorers refer to them that way during combat.

The humanoid dog-like creatures were known as kobolds.

The large man with a club was an ogre.

The large monster that looks like a half-pig, half-human is an orc.

Though each one bears a name that seems familiar, it might just be due to translation choices—localized for Earth humans watching, as is common.

Conversely, I have no way of knowing the original "otherworldly" names before localization. Automatic translation is incredibly convenient, but since everything gets automatically translated into Japanese, I can't learn the original version.

If, by some divine whim, automatic translation were to stop working, I’d suddenly become someone incapable of understanding or being understood, just like in the Tower of Babel.

…Well, maybe it wouldn’t matter much in my current lifestyle.

Incidentally, the strongest monsters aren’t orcs or ogres, but rare, dangerous ones that appear only once in a while.

I’ve only seen one twice myself.

(Probably just a swing and a miss today...)

It's probably a good thing there's no corpse, but it's a crisis for my daily life.

And yet, I can't think of any other way to survive.

In the end, I might just have to accept it and fight monsters, but I'd rather wait until the spotlight dims a bit, until people forget about me and viewership drops drastically.

The other transferees are probably drawing in audiences with exciting lives and adventures.

That way, my little battle with a monster won't even register with anyone.

—That's how it should be, right?

So until then, I'll just keep living like this for now.

(……Huh? Was there a door here all along?)

As I moved through the second layer, blending into the darkness as usual, a faintly glowing door suddenly appeared right in front of me.

The dungeon beneath the starving beast was truly a massive prison, with countless small rooms akin to cells without iron bars, yet no doors existed.

At least, there were no doors within the range I had seen.

Yet suddenly, a door emitting a suspicious glow appeared before my eyes.

(What…?)

It’s a mystery.

Utterly suspicious.

Still, leaving it alone felt like a waste.

It’s a suspicious door… but I feel like I want to open it.

(…Should I use it?)

Having already used a potion on Grapeflour, I’d started to think it was okay to use crystals too.

The viewer count was slowly decreasing, a fact that slightly lightened my heart.

The number of messages kept growing, with over 3,000 still unread.

He had erased its existence from his mind and chosen not to see it.

Using one crystal, he performed an item鉴定 on the door.

Whether the door would be recognized as an item was a gamble, but it worked out.

"Treasure Vault Door: A door placed for explorers whom the divine beast Lilimuf has favored, to gift them something. Only the recipient of the gift can perceive and enter the door. Removing the jewel-like(orb) from within causes the door to vanish. Transferring the jewel incurs the wrath of the divine beast. Please be cautious at all times."

"So this is what the treasure was all about!"

A little while ago, a cat-like humanoid( named Links) had mentioned something similar from the grapefruit.

I had assumed it was just a treasure chest lying around somewhere, but that wasn’t the case.

Having read the description and feeling reassured, I stepped inside the door.

Inside was a simple private room, with a ball about the size of a clenched fist resting on a central pedestal.

(I thought it might be like a gem... but it felt more like a glass sphere.)

At this stage, the contents remained unknown.

In other words, this object itself was likely the "treasure chest." It could only be opened once taken outside the labyrinth.

"……That's really kind of them."

For me, broke as I am, anything inside would be a treasure, no matter what.

Maybe the divine beast that had watched me cleaning the maze was giving me a reward.

I couldn't even imagine what might come out, but I hoped it would bring some relief to my life.

(It's such a precious treasure. Maybe I should take it outside once.)

Though it was still early, I decided to go out of the labyrinth once.

The stairs leading down to the first level were nearby.

I couldn't wait to see what was inside.

――Kiiin!

—Gakinn!

—Run! You all run away!

The sound of clashing blades and desperate cries reached us shortly after that.

—Smoke bomb?!

—That was the last one!

—No stink bags left! W-what should we do now?

—Kiiin! Gyarinn!

—Run! Quickly! It won’t last much longer—

—But—

(—Close!)

In that instant, I turned my feet toward the scene.

The Second Layer, the Famine Beasts' Underground Prison, was vast and intricately branched, making encounters with other explorers fighting monsters rare.

Even when I did come across them, I avoided getting too near, fearing they’d spot me.

Darkness is strong in terms of stealth, but once spotted, there's nothing that can be done.

My own combat ability is nearly zero.

Still, I went to the scene because the voice I heard was too urgent.

Maybe there's something I can do, just like during the Grapeflue incident.

I found it strange that I'd naturally think that way.

After all, I can't even handle my own situation properly.