A few days later.

What awaited me when I stepped down from the rattling, shaking old horse carriage was a sight beyond anything I had imagined.

“……Wah, this is awful.”

The place was Dead End, the lord’s residence built within the White Bone Tree Sea.

Or so it was called, but in truth, the building was a complete ruin, with the roof collapsed through.

What hit my nose was a strong, harsh smell of seawater, mixed with a rotten, sour stink like something had gone bad.

The yard was swallowed by weeds as tall as a person, and everywhere there were rusted swords, broken armor, and rotten furniture dumped illegally.

The nearby villagers, who had gathered after hearing I arrived, were thin and worn out. They stood at a distance, whispering while staring at me.

“Another new lord, huh……”
“He’s just a kid. They threw him away to reduce mouths to feed. Poor thing.”
“He’ll die soon anyway. No one can live in land full of trash like this.”

Yes, normally, anyone would despair.

But what I saw was completely different.

“This is amaziiing……it’s all ‘resources’!”

So nobody could watch me, I went around to the back of the mansion.

At my feet, a short sword lay on the ground, covered in rust and chipped along the blade.

With my small hands, I picked it up. The heavy weight of iron sank into my palm.

When I focused my mind, a half-transparent window floated up in my vision.

～～～～～～～

【Unique Skill: Recycle Shop】

▼Current Status
　Manager: Rion Saihaden (8 years old)
　Owned RP: 0 RP

▼Target object detected. Please choose a process.
　①【Buy (Sell)】: Make the target vanish and turn it into points.
　②【Stock (Store)】: Store it in the warehouse. (Current Capacity: Level 1 / Four-and-a-half tatami mats)

～～～～～～～

“I see, so I can choose.”

I put a hand to my chin and thought.

If I put it into 【Stock】, I could take it out later, fix it, and use it.

But my warehouse level was 1 right now. The capacity was only “four-and-a-half tatami mats,” apparently. If I picked up everything, it would fill up fast.

“This sword is fully rusted, so points first.”

I gripped the rusted sword tight and chose in my mind.

――Option ①【Buy (Sell)】.

Shun!

The scrap iron in my hand turned into particles of light and vanished as if it were being sucked away.

At the same time, a pleasant cash-register sound rang in my head.

‘Chirin♪ You obtained 15 RP Recycle Points.’

The points on the window increased from ‘0’ to ‘15.’

“Ahaha, it really sold! I can clean up trash and get money points too, this is the best!”

Excited, I touched the huge piece of bulky trash in front of me, the half-destroyed remains of a carriage.

It was the kind of nuisance that would take a lot of people just to remove.

Something that big would never fit in a four-and-a-half tatami warehouse. So my choice was only one.

“【Buy】!”

Shubababa!!

In an instant, the carriage wreck vanished completely, and bare ground appeared where it had been.

‘Bought large bulky trash. You obtained 350 RP.’

“So cool! No cleaning, no carrying needed. I just touch it and ‘sell,’ and boom, the environment is clean!”

After that, I ran around the yard, squealing with joy.

I sold the rotten fence, sold the cracked pots, and even sold the weeds, ripping them out by the roots and “selling” them all.

A mountain of trash that everyone hated was, to me, a mountain of treasure, nothing more than a toy box.

One hour later.

The front of the mansion, which had been wild and ruined, was now sparkling clean, like a brand-new building site.

And my points had swollen all the way up to 【5800 RP】.

“Phew, good sweat. ……Alright, next, I’ll ‘shop’ with these saved points.”

Wiping my forehead, I took out a single dagger I had picked up earlier.

This one, I had not sold. I kept it on purpose.

It was rusted so badly it would not even come out of its sheath, a total piece of junk.

But I knew. If you polish it, it shines.

I opened the 【Sell (Buy)】 tab on the window.

There, a “service list” appeared, things I could exchange for with my points.

①【Market Research】
②【Item Repair】
③【Spec Change Remake】

“Obviously, I’m choosing ② ‘Item Repair’!”

When I selected the dagger, an estimate appeared.

【Repair Cost: 300 RP】
【Execute? YES / NO】

Without hesitation, I tapped YES.

Right away, the dagger was wrapped in a soft green light.

――Viiiiin……Pikaa!

When the light faded, what remained was no longer a rusty lump of metal.

A perfectly clear silver blade. A sharply honed edge. Even the leather on the handle looked firm and new.

It looked like a “brand-new item,” just shipped from a workshop in the Royal Capital.

“……Yep, perfect. Not just like-new, it’s fully fixed.”

I swung the revived dagger and enjoyed the hyun sound as it cut the air.

Even with the strength of an eight-year-old, I might be able to fight with this.

Pick up trash (sell it), earn points.

With those points, revive junk into treasure (repair it).

Starting money: zero. Risk: zero.

All I had was endless resource-trash, and a territory I could shape however I liked.

“This isn’t an exile……it’s basically a ‘bonus stage (ticket to paradise),’ isn’t it?”

I let out a nishishi, a naughty little grin, and reached my finger toward the next menu.

Cleaning my base and securing a weapon were done.

Next was ①【Market Research】.

With excitement, I tapped ①【Market Research】 on the window.

The search condition was: ‘Promising discarded items (talent) lying around nearby.’

Piron!

Along with a light notification sound, a nearby 3D map unfolded in front of me like a hologram.

Then, along the shoreline of the ‘Sea of Extinction’ behind the mansion, only one signal, a violently bright red light point, was blinking.

‘Detection complete. Found a discarded item of rarity 【SSR】.’

“Huh, SSR!? That’s a jackpot right away!”

Without thinking, I started hopping in place.

Something like SSR, Super Special Rare, was the kind of thing you hardly ever saw even in the mobile games of my past life.

“Wait for me, my SSR!”

Unable to hold back my excitement, I ran with my small feet toward the sea.