"I think the goblin leader used this as his treasure room," I say.
Monty grabs something from a shelf and tosses it at me. I catch it, and he says, "I wouldn’t call this a treasure room, but there will probably be something in here we can use."
I look down at what he threw and find a Furby staring right back at me. Without hesitation, I head to the door and throw it down into the atrium before returning to search through the goblins' so-called treasure room.
Inside, we find various broken firearms, clothes, backpacks, and a saber. After looking through a couple of boxes, we finally find something useful—a couple of boxes of 5.56 ammo.
We keep searching and uncover some electronics, like a VHS player and a cassette player. In a wardrobe, we find weapons identical to those carried by the lizardmen.
"I guess they don’t like each other," I say, "but it's good for us—bronze is useful for making machine parts."
At the back of the room, we find several compressed gas tanks—one propane, two acetylene, and two oxygen.
Monty scoffs. "These goblins will really take anything, even if they don’t know what it is." He pauses, glancing at something in his hand. "Between the trash down in the atrium, I found a ten-ounce bar of silver, and here they are thinking some gas tanks are better than precious metals."
I turn to him. "In all fairness, what would they do with silver down here? It’s not like there’s a store where they can buy stuff."
Silver, in here, is really just a brick of metal—too soft for making weapons. But then again, if I found a bar of silver, I’d probably take it too.
We set aside the useful items and leave the rest for when we unseal the storage room. As we exit the makeshift trophy room, Monty grabs the goblin leader’s mattress and throws it down into the atrium.
"I’ll take the second officer’s quarters, and you can take the third," he says.
I nod and go downstairs to retrieve my bags from the generator room. The trash pile is even taller now that we’ve cleared the second floor, making it harder to wade through.
I grab my duffle bag and backpack, take them upstairs, and start putting away the few things I’ve collected.
- The 20mm bullet and diamond engagement ring go on the desk.
- The copper kettle sits on a shelf alongside a disposable camera.
- My old shoes—from before we were summoned—go near the door. I wear combat boots most of the time now.
- The large Kevlar shield from the orc boss leans against my desk.
The rest of the items are for both of us, so I place my bags next to the bed and head to Monty’s room.
Stolen novel; please report.
Inside, I see he’s done the same—placing his few belongings around the room. I spot a wristwatch on the desk, a bottle of wine from the garage, and a couple of books from the house we rested in.
Monty himself is lying on the bed.
"These beds are surprisingly comfortable," he says. "But when we go exploring, I’m taking some more pillows. Now, are you ready to clean up the atrium?"
I nod. "Yeah. The sooner it’s in the recycler, the better. I don’t think I could stand sleeping with that smell."
Monty stands, and we both head downstairs to the atrium, where we start shoveling trash into cans. Every now and then, we find something that might be worth disassembling by hand instead of just throwing it in the recycler.
While we work, Monty asks, "Do you think we’ll see the others again? The dungeon told us it would wake them up when they’re ready, but we don’t know if they’re already out there or still in a coma."
I keep shoveling. "I doubt we’ll see them anytime soon. The dungeon is always changing, so I guess it’s up to it if we come across them. I do miss Mike, but I think if anyone from our class will be fine, it’ll be him."
Monty chuckles. "Yeah." He goes quiet for a second before laughing.
"Imagine Mia’s face the first time she has to sleep on the floor. I think she’d actually make it to the dungeon’s core just to complain about it."
I laugh at the thought, but deep down, I hope the others are okay.
I turn to Monty. "Should we stay on this floor for a while? We might get lucky and find someone from our class."
Monty keeps shoveling. "We could wait as long as necessary. There doesn’t seem to be a penalty for staying on the same floor—at least, that’s the impression I got when we met the woman and kid. The guy I killed died five or six years ago on Earth, so we could wait for a while."
I nod. "So, we’ll stay on this floor for a few months. But for now, let’s take a break and eat something."
I grab a can of beef stew and corn from my bag and head to the kitchen. I find a cooking pot, pour the stew in, then open the canned corn, drain the liquid, and add it to the mix. I let it heat up on the stove before bringing it to Monty.
I hand him a small mixing bowl and pour his portion in. He gives me a weird look.
"I couldn’t find the plates," I explain.
Monty nods, not questioning it further as he takes a fork and starts eating.
Once we’re finished, Monty asks, "How long will it take to clean the last part of the atrium?"
"Not that long," I say. "Maybe an hour or two if we take our time."
Monty, however, has other plans. He starts working hard, determined to finish faster. Forty minutes later, the atrium is finally trash-free. The floor is still sticky and stained, but at least the smell is fading as the air filtration system does its job.
Monty turns to me. "Grant, how bad is the sublevel? I haven’t been down there yet."
"It’s not that bad," I tell him. "The two sealed rooms are just blocked by some fallen shelves. I think the goblins took most of the food up here. The sublevel has a small amount of standing water—I think the drain is clogged."
Monty frowns. "How did it flood?"
"The freezer door is damaged," I explain. "It won’t stay closed and probably built up a lot of ice. When the generator turned off, it must have all melted."
Monty sighs. "Well, guess that’s our next project."
I nod, already dreading it.