Spaceship Salvage

Time to explore, explore the ancient ruins (sci-fi style) deep inside the dungeon!

Alto and I set off in search of something storage-room-like.

"If it's safe, wouldn't it be better to split up?"

"There's no guarantee it's safe, yo? A defective cartridge might explode, for instance. If that happens, I'd want you nearby to help, yo."

"Fair enough."

"If Penpen weren't logged in as Gin-chan right now, I'd have brought her along to appraise everything, yo."

"Well, Miitei-chan can appraise too. Let's split up and look around."

So the three of us, Miitei-chan included, headed out to explore. Nika-chan stayed behind with Gin-chan to babysit the prince.

"Spirit-samaaa, can I eat this trash?"

Trash is trash, but it's trash from an ancient super-science civilization. Part of me wants to let her eat it, but another part feels like that'd be a waste. I mean, this is a relic of an ancient super-civilization, you know?

Well, I want her to try as many things as possible, so one piece of trash is fine, I guess.

"Check with me before you eat anything. It'd be a problem if it turned out to be something important. …Hmm… ah. For starters, try eating two or three of those rings, the ones we used on the prince."

"Got iiit."

"And anything that isn't trash, we're hauling all of it home, yo!"

"Naturally. I'd love to bring back enough loot to burst my inventory."

So before exploring further, I handed Miitei-chan some of the rings we'd grabbed from the infirmary earlier.

But…

"Munch munch munch… munch… munch… Hey, I can't eat this. It's not dissolving at all～?"

"So that's how it is, huh. As expected of an ancient civilization's relic."

"Waterproof, acid-proof, full Slime countermeasures, that's what it means, yo… Well, it'd be a problem if your halo dissolved mid-combat. Of course they made them sturdy, yo."

"Wonder if smashing one would let her eat it?"

"Take it apart, yo!"

We wrestled with a halo for a while, but it wouldn't break and didn't seem like it could be taken apart either. Apparently this ring, being a relic of the ancient civilization, is an indestructible object.

If that was the case, fussing over it was a waste of time, so we gave up and quietly returned to our original ruin exploration.

"If there are cartridges anywhere, it'd be the 'Armory' or the 'Warehouse,' yo～"

We started checking rooms near the infirmary. Luckily, the script written above each entrance was readable, so we didn't need to bother with places like the 'Toilet.'

"…"

"Alto? Why are you peeking into the toilet?"

"No, see… handgun bullets sometimes get dropped in toilets, yo? We should explore the toilet too, yo."

"…You're right!!"

Worst case, a new gun could be sitting somewhere with a "why is it there?" feel to it. The high-probability spots are still the 'Armory' or 'Warehouse,' but we mustn't forget to check toilets and the like. That was her point.

"But the ancient civilization's guns don't use bullets."

"Oh, right, yo! Then we should hit the higher-probability rooms first, yo～"

"Weapons in a toilet would be a pretty rare case, after all."

"Spirit-samaaa. I found a map of this floor and stuff～"

Well done, Miitei-chan, checking the floor map is way faster than examining every entrance script one by one!

So we checked the map and walked straight to the 'Warehouse' without getting lost.

The map also showed places like a 'Power Room' and 'Bridge,' so this ancient ruin was very likely something like a spaceship.

Why it was buried deep in a dungeon was a mystery, but, well, ancient ruins being weird like that is just par for the course, I guess.

"And since it's a spaceship's warehouse, there's a solid chance weapons and their expansion parts are stored there too, yo!!"

"All right, time to dig in!! With any luck, I'll get my hands on a gun too!"

"I want to give one to Penpen, yo. And to Gin-chan… for an assassin maid, it has to be a derringer, yo. A palm-sized gun she can keep concealed, yo!"

"That, exactly! The kind of girl who says, 'A woman has all sorts of places to hide things, you know'!"

We rummaged through the warehouse. …Found preserved food. I broke the seal: long, thin block cookies, calorie-bar style. They've held their shape, huh… Impressive.

Could it be these are still edible…?

"Quick question, Miitei-chan, want to try this? Poison doesn't affect you, so it probably won't even upset your stomach."

"I'll eat it～!"

I handed the block cookie to Miitei-chan. Without any hesitation, she popped it into her mouth.

"Munch munch… bleh, it's gross～"

"So they were past their expiration date, huh… or were they always this bad? Which is it? I've heard preserved food is sometimes made unappetizing on purpose, so people don't eat too much of it during peacetime."

That said, that's old-school thinking. These days, since it's supposed to boost your morale in emergencies, they apparently make it taste good. About on par with the retort-pouch meals we eat normally.

"Spirit-sama, won't you understand if you try it yourself?"

"Mm, Tria-chan doesn't have Poison Absorption, you know."

"Not like that. What if you ate it as me?"

There was that option! Smart!

Then I'll switch control over to Miitei-chan…

"Right, let's give it a taste. Itadakimaaasu… yep, it's gross!"

A flavorless, dry, dirt-like texture. Chewing it turns it claylike. Going down it's like sand… yeah, with our pampered palates from Penpen's home cooking, this is a little rough on the tongue. Whether it was originally bad or not, I couldn't say.

And there's a sense that Poison Absorption is kicking in too, so Tria-chan definitely couldn't eat this. It looks fine on the outside, but this thing's spoiled…

So please, Tria-chan, drop the "I'd like to try too" face. This stuff is super gross.

"Yo! It's a gun storage box, yo! The lock is… open, yo. It's empty, yo…"

"Now that you mention it, the prince did say other Spirit-Possessed had already explored here. Which means… the good stuff's already been collected too?"

"Wha!? Now that you say it, yeah, yo!?"

The warehouse especially had to have been picked over already.

Rummaging through toilets and individual rooms in the living quarters seemed more likely to turn up useful items.