“I’ll keep an eye on things on my end as well, but luckily our branch manager is in the office today. You should probably report this to him.”

  “Thanks! I’ll do that.”

  ***

  “So that’s what seems to have happened.”

  Komugi had found the branch manager in the break area and gone with him over to the corner of an unused meeting room to explain the situation to him.

  One hand hooked into a pocket of his spotless but thread-worn lab coat as he listened to her story, the slightly hunched-over man ran his other hand through his thinning hair and replied in a tone of frustration.

  “Oh, Rokujo. I hate to have to say this, but part of the problem is the fact that you’ve been leaving objects of value strewn all over your desk.”

  “Ack...”

  Even though it was only a branch office, it was still a facility that handled gemstones, meaning it had more comprehensive security than the average business. Security cameras were set up at the entrance with no blind spots whatsoever, and there was also a gate that prevented any outsiders from getting in. And since their security measures hadn’t detected any anomalous activity, if it was indeed a theft, then the perpetrator had to have been someone on the inside.

  “Is it possible someone borrowed them, or perhaps there was some kind of misunderstanding?”

  “I honestly don’t think anyone would have borrowed them without asking me first.”

  Deeming this a theft might well cause considerable damage to their corporate reputation. After all, who would commission any work from a jewel appraisal company with a thief in their employ?

  “Very well. We’ll check the entry logs, then. Come find me in my office half an hour after lunch.”

  “Understood, sir.”

  ***

  The smoldering crimson ember inside it had begun to generate a tiny flickering flame. It was an emotion bordering on obsession—like some kind of instinct. Break everything down, then start creating what you’re supposed to, the flames were commanding.

  But that didn’t seem possible yet. It had already absorbed some materials that contained the needed substance and had just barely managed to reach the point where it could break things down, but it could hardly even move, much less create anything.

  That fact was making it incredibly frustrated.

  Last night, it had managed to ingest much more than it had the previous night. And now that its sensory apparatus had been sharpened, it had caught the scent of something downright entrancing.

  An irresistible emotion welled up within it, and before it realized, whatever form of consciousness it possessed had been overcome by a singular desire. Must have, must have, must have, must have, must have...

  And so it began to take action.

  ***

  “So I went ahead and checked the site entry logs for the dates you thought the thefts might have occurred...”

  The branch manager placed a stack of A4 papers down in front of Komugi and began playing footage from the security camera at the entrance to Appraisal Room 2 on the monitor nearby. The camera was mounted near the door, and had a clear view of anyone entering or exiting the room. The stack of papers contained two days of site entry logs and a list of everyone who had been inside the room.

  As she scanned over everything, Komugi raised her eyebrows at the conclusion the evidence seemed to lead to.

  “You’re kidding...”

  “Well, if we consider things logically based on this, it’s rather clear who the culprit must be, yes?”

  Turning over the final page, Komugi placed it on the desk, her hand trembling. There had almost always been multiple people in the room. The only person who had spent any time alone was—

  “Me?!”

  Appraisal Room 2 was just a bit smaller than the size of two school classrooms, with Komugi’s desk taking up one corner. Considering how many pieces had vanished, even if it had just been her and one other person in the room, it felt highly unlikely that anyone could’ve taken them all from around Komugi’s desk, right under her nose, without her noticing anything.

  “Incidentally, you were also the only one who brought in a bag large enough to hold so many rocks.”

  The branch manager had apparently fast-forwarded through the security footage, checking only the times people had been in the room. Just as he had said, the day the first few stones had gone missing, Komugi had come in carrying a bag she had taken into the dungeon earlier. She had stuffed it into the large drawer at the bottom of her desk and left it there.

  The only person who had come inside carrying a bag that could fit multiple rock samples was Komugi. Someone probably could’ve gotten away with shoving one or two into their pockets, but nobody had exhibited any strange behavior like walking in and out of the room repeatedly.

  In other words, judging by the entry logs alone, it was highly probable that the rocks were still inside the room, and everything had been staged by Komugi, who was the only one who had brought in a bag large enough to hide them all.

  The branch manager merely curled his lips into a frown and shrugged, as if to convey that there was nothing he could do.

  “Knowing you, I imagine you have similar specimens back at home, right?”

  If he was wondering whether she had more of the same types of rocks at home as the ones that had gone missing, she probably did.

  Mentally going through her personal collection, Komugi responded.

  “I do...”

  The branch manager spread his arms wide to indicate that any further discussion would be useless.

  “I presume you understand what would happen if we got the police involved at this point, yes?”

  In short, if they decided to report a theft, it would just lead to Komugi being implicated based on the entry logs, followed by a search of her home, where they would find the same types of rocks that had gone missing. It would be difficult to prove that they weren’t the same specimens, and they would likely end up deeming that Komugi had simply staged the whole thing.

  If turning this into an official case would land them no results besides dinging the company’s reputation, the branch manager sincerely wanted to avoid pursuing things if possible. All Komugi could do was nod her head reluctantly in understanding.

  “So what would you like to do?”

  Komugi thought it over for a moment, then asked him to go ahead and keep the incident under wraps, saying that she’d figure something out on her own.

  The branch manager gave a vague smile, then brought their meeting to an end.

  “Well, make sure to do it discreetly.”

  Komugi Rokujo as a person could be explained as follows: When God was handing out talent points, he ended up cramming all of hers into appraiser abilities, making her skills in that area almost supernatural. In exchange, though, she ended up being nothing short of abysmal in just about every other area.

  The branch manager hadn’t known Komugi for all that long. He didn’t have any real understanding of what made her tick; all he knew was what was written in her file. He had no idea that she had one other ability—one that nobody else could hope to match.

  He didn’t have a clue that she had a sheer inner drive that allowed her not only to travel to both the United Kingdom and the United States multiple times for certifications, but also to casually dive into dangerous dungeons for the mere possibility that she could find a few gorgeous gemstones.

  ***

  “Well, I guess that leaves me no choice!”

  As he eyed Komugi suspiciously after noticing how unusually fired up she was, Hatami felt compelled to speak to her.

  “You’re not planning on making any trouble, are you, Rokujo?”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, it’s just that you seem a little more...enthusiastic than usual.”

  When he had seen Komugi in a similar state a while back, the following day she had suddenly become an explorer and started diving into dungeons. The gems are waiting for her, so she’s gonna start dungeon diving, I think she said? I don’t know what anything is anymore. The understanding of common people did not extend outside the realm of common sense.

  Although it had seemed like a personal matter at first glance, the sudden loss of access to her skills at their workplace had significantly affected everyone around her—mainly in the realm of scheduling and shift work.

  “Oh? Really?”

  “Before you go and do anything funny, make sure to talk to me first, okay?”

  “I-I’m not gonna do anything funny! It’s just a little overtime.”

  “Overtime?”

  Work was almost over. However, their branch office generally didn’t have any overtime. They didn’t have a whole lot to do at the moment, and even if the new Mining skill started coming into serious play, it could apparently only produce a single kind of drop per floor. On the off chance something did need appraising, it would likely only be the very first drop.

  Anything that was extremely difficult to appraise or required submitting a formal certificate of appraisal was sent over to the main office, which was better equipped for such tasks. Their branch office, on the other hand, was just a place where they could quickly perform simple appraisals and calculate rough approximations of value. Nobody would want an official certificate of appraisal for a plain old pebble with no gemological value—especially if it came with the typical price tag.

  “Do we even have any work that needs doing?”

  “U-Um, I mean, well—”

  “Rokujo, don’t tell me...”

  “Look, it’ll be fine! I even got the branch manager’s permission!”

  Hatami could almost picture the branch manager standing there scowling, hands on his hips, asking when exactly she’d gotten his permission. Then again, knowing him, Hatami thought to himself, if she told him something like “I’ll figure something out on my own,” he probably just replied with “Make sure to do it discreetly.”

  Komugi then proceeded to explain that she had indeed gone the “I’ll figure something out on my own” route for permission.

  Her coworker let out an audible sigh.

  “Fine, I understand.”

  “Whew!”

  “But listen. Just don’t cause any disasters. Please.”

  “Wh-What kind of disaster could I possibly cause by doing overtime?”

  “Knowing you, Rokujo, I wouldn’t put it past you to blow out an entire floor of the building or something,” Hatami said, putting on a strained smile.

  “I would never do anything like that!” Komugi replied indignantly.

  ***

  Obeying its instincts, it began to move. Pulled in by the scent wafting up from directly below it like a tiny moth drawn to a flame, it crept ever closer to its target.

  Something in the intervening space was blocking the way. So it began to break down the obstacle. All of its previous thoughts—like making its body thin and stretching out in search of things—dissolved into a sea of instinct filled with pure desire, leaving not the faintest visible trace behind.

  ***

  Judging by the entry logs, the only person who was likely to have been the culprit was her. Only she wasn’t the culprit.

  With that in mind, Komugi jumped to the conclusion that someone had to have taken the rocks out during a period of time that hadn’t been covered by the entry logs. There was always a way to fool computers, but fooling an entire office full of people was more difficult. If she waited around for someone to show up after everyone else left for the day, she was certain that would lead her directly to the culprit.

  She began scurrying about, gathering equipment blankets and spreading them out over various surfaces in one corner of the room.

  Hatami, who had been about to leave for the day, noticed Komugi acting strange, and figured he might as well ask what was going on.

  “When did you become a hamster, Rokujo?”

  “Do you see my cheek pouches packed with sunflower seeds or something?” Komugi murmured. “Feel free to ignore me and head home—I’ve got that overtime to do. Have a great night!”

  “Right...”

  Maybe she’s been shoving gems in there instead of sunflower seeds, Hatami quipped to himself, then responded with his own “Good night,” and left the room.

  With everyone else gone, a bizarre feeling of emptiness fell over Appraisal Room 2. At some point, the dark night outside the window seemed almost like it was creeping into the room itself. Starting to feel somewhat ill at ease, Komugi soon realized she had forgotten to bring anything to eat.

  “Oh no...”

  There was a vending machine with drinks outside the conference room, but there was no way she was going out to the convenience store at this point.

  Inside her pocket, she found two pieces of candy that a coworker had given her during lunch. With no better options, she popped one of the candies into her mouth.

  No sooner had she done so than the electricity on the empty floor suddenly cut off, and the emergency lighting blinked to life.

  “What the—?!”

  The building management had set things to switch into power saving mode at a set time every night—and that time had arrived.

  With the power in the rooms and hallways suddenly out, Komugi, still hiding in her little corner of Appraisal Room 2, stared up at the ceiling in shock.

  “Does it really just switch into power-saving mode even when people are still here?”

  Unfortunately, the power-saving mode in her building was just the automatic clock-based kind, and was not integrated with the security system that had been installed on the floor afterward. That meant that access management to the building and the power-saving mode weren’t linked in any way, and the latter function was always executed at the same time, whether employees were present or not.

  Of course, Komugi could have gotten around that issue simply by filing an overtime report—but at that moment she had no way of knowing that.

  With only a few tiny emergency lights for illumination, the room was incredibly dark, and frankly, she was starting to feel creeped out. The air conditioner seemed to have stopped as well, and it felt as though the cold outside air was starting to seep in through the windows.

  She let out a worried groan.

  “M-Maybe I should just go home after all...”

  Maybe it’s better to just let people call me a chicken than to actually have to deal with scary things, she had just started to think, when suddenly, a loud thump echoed across the room.

  “Eek!”

  Shrinking back instinctively, Komugi was struck by the sudden realization of just how dangerous her current situation actually was. It didn’t take much thought to remember she was a rather tiny, fragile woman. If the culprit was a big guy, he could probably pin her down in an instant.

  When she had been in the dungeon, Eri and Drudwyn had been with her, so she hadn’t felt afraid at all—but this was real life. Wait, technically dungeons are real life too, she reminded herself.

  “M-Maybe I’m letting my imagination run away with me here...?”

  With the temperature in the room steadily decreasing, and the feeling that something terrible was lurking in a dark corner increasing, Komugi began to tremble. It was a deep, primal fear of the dark. Even though rationally she knew that nobody was there, the feeling was inescapable. And of course, there might actually be something there.

  As if on cue, she heard another sound, a clunk, louder than the previous noise. It seemed to be coming from her desk.

  “I-Is it just a big ol’ rat or something?”

  Cautiously, she began to approach her desk, but found no signs of movement in the vicinity. Her eyes scanned the area, until she suddenly noticed some kind of liquid oozing out of the bottom of one of the drawers.

  “Wha...?”

  I don’t remember putting anything liquid inside of any drawers, she mused. What the heck is going on?

  Her desk was in a dark area where the emergency illumination barely reached. Gathering her courage, she nervously switched on her cell phone flashlight and pointed it at her target.

  “Hwaaaaaugh?!”

  Letting out an incomprehensible shriek at the sight she saw, she quickly dashed back over to her corner of the room, diving into the little secret hideout she had constructed out of equipment blankets using the narrow space between a small bunk bed and the wall.

  DESTROY

  “Ngh...”

  A short while after midnight, just as I was stretching and popping my neck in preparation for getting a little shut-eye, my phone started buzzing on the table. I took a peek to see whose name came up.

  “Rokujo?”

  At this time of night? I sure hope she didn’t run into trouble dungeon diving alone or something, I began to think—then remembered that there was no way she could’ve called me from inside the dungeon.

  “I wonder what’s going on?”

  When I picked up the phone, she sounded as though she was about to burst into tears.

  “Y-Yoshimura! Help me!”

  “Huh?” The unusually desperate-sounding SOS felt out of character for Rokujo, and I started to get a bit nervous, readjusting my grip on the phone. “What’s wrong? Where are you right now?”

  Noticing my serious tone, Miyoshi stopped as she was on her way upstairs and started listening in.

  According to Rokujo, she was at the GIJ office, and had ended up face-to-face with something she didn’t understand. If it had been someone trying to rob or murder her, that would’ve been a job for the police, but apparently it was something a lot smaller. The first thing that came to mind was maybe a rat or something.

  “That sounds like the kind of thing you should contact a security guard for,” I stated.

  “I already did!”

  Apparently they had just told her to get in touch with an exterminator.

  Not too surprising. As far as security was concerned, Rokujo was the only person present on her floor. Getting called out to investigate every last rat or cockroach she saw would drive the guards up the wall.

  “What exactly has you so panicked?”