Chapter 52 "Labyrinth"

　It's quiet.

　I turn around and Peggy is stretching out with a refreshed look on her face.

　Patrick is ...... wow. He's alive, but he looks terrible.

He's so swollen up, I can't tell what he used to look like.

　Let's just take his memory for now.

The information about Heidi...hey, it's completely up to someone else, isn't it?

At least, an order was given to take her to the mansion, but the current status is unknown.

If I check the mansion, I'll find out.

Well, now that I know what I want to know, I guess this guy is Savage's food.

"Hey. Chief."

　Peggy, who had been quiet for a while, came over to me.

　"Chief," she said, "you mean me?

"What?"

　"That. You'd better let him live."

　"Why? I don't think he deserves to live, right?"

Peggy exhales that I don't understand. Hey.

　That's quite an attitude you've got there.

"He's got money, and it'll be a lot easier down the road if you get some help, right?"

　Hmmm. You've got a point.

　Ah, I see. If I can manipulate this guy, I can get Heidi back smoothly.

Not good. I tend to kill people I don't like.

That's right. It's a waste if I don't use him for something he's worth.

　Peggy is right. I'm not thinking this through.

　Heidi doesn't say anything about that, so I have to be careful...

　Even if you're thinking it, you don't say it? Heidi is always looking at me, isn't she?

　I'm going to plant a "root" in Patrick for now.

　After finishing the preparation, I cast a recovery spell on Patrick and attached his legs using the "root."

I trimmed off the excess fat and smartly finished him up.

　Patrick stood up and bowed reverently to me, looking a little more refreshed and handsome.

　"Let's just get back to town and get Heidi released."

　"Yes, sir. Understood."

Well, I don't really need the rest of them, and the ones whose heads are still intact are Savage's food for the memory.

　What the hell is that lizard doing?

　I sent a thought through communication and immediately received a reply.

　''Are you serious?"

All the escapees were taken care of. So far, so good.

　But when he tried to go back, he ran into Heidi.

　You made it out on your own?

　What the hell am I doing here?

　I look at Peggy and Patrick.

　...Well, thank God it wasn't a complete waste of time.

After instructing Savage to bring her back, I sent Peggy and Patrick back to town in the carriage they came in, leaving me to wait alone.

After waiting around for a while, Savage and Heidi on horseback approached me.

　When Heidi saw me, she jumped down from her horse and ran to me.

Why does she look like she's about to cry?

"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?"

She said, touching my body. Stop it, you're bothering me.

I try to get rid of her hand, but she just keeps touching me.

　"I'm okay. I'm glad you're okay, too."

According to Heidi's story, they told her I was captured and they were going to do something to me, but she beat up the guy who came to threaten her and made him talk. The horse she rode was a borrowed horse from the guy who attacked her.

　I had guessed some of this from Patrick's memory.

　"...so? What happened to the guy who came to threaten you?"

I asked her a brief history of the incident, but it seems that she interrogated him mercilessly.

The way she did it was no different from mine.

"I couldn't spare the time, so I took off the joints of his remaining limbs and dumped him outside the city."

　That's pretty relentless, isn't it?

　"So, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I got his ass kicked, and I told Patrick where I got Savage, and that's it."

　I cheated with a story I had prepared. I told her that I had brought him into the negotiations with a show of force.

　I feel like I've done nothing but lie to Heidi. I'm a terrible person.

　"I'm glad things turned out the way they did. You might want to be careful with Savage from now on."

"I guess so. I'll think about that later, let's go back to the city. I'm tired."

　I'm not actually tired.

　"I get it. Let's go back to town, but what are you going to do tomorrow? After all this, I think we should leave town... what do you think?"

　...I guess.

　I'll think about it a bit. I haven't seen the morning and afternoon sections of the arena yet...

　Reminds me of the annoying people and Savage snacking during the day.

　I better get out. It's a little regrettable, but it can't be helped.

　"Tomorrow...well, tomorrow at dawn, we'll leave the city."

　There is nothing much to see in the city itself, and our next destination is not far away.

　There would be no need to make any preparations. Once that's decided, we can go back to the inn and get ready.

I poked Savage, who was eating the scattered corpses, and then mounted him.

　Savage looked at the rest of the bodies unexpectantly, but I ignored him.

　Heidi gets on her horse, too. I look at her and inwardly tilt my head.

　What? Heidi could ride a horse?

　"Speaking of which, could you handle a horse?"

　Heidi looks at me with a curious expression.

"What? Just let it run like a normal horse."

　Riding a horse is something that requires a lot of skill, but....

　I was a little saddened to see how easily she was able to ride without training, feeling the difference in talent.

　I let out a small sigh and motioned for Savage to return to town.

　Back in town, I tied the horse that Heidi rode to near Patrick's mansion and instructed him to retrieve it by communicating. Heidi was sent back to the inn first to prepare her luggage.　

　I look up at the sky and see that it is getting white. It must be dawn soon.

　When I returned to the inn, Heidi had strapped my luggage to Savage.

　"Are you ready to go?"

　"Yeah, I'm ready."

　Heidi climbed on top of Savage and rode behind me.

　"Where are we going next?"

　"Lightrap in the southeast. I'm interested in dungeons, and I have business with the Adventurers' Guild."

　"If you're registering, why don't we just get it done here?"

　I kicked Savage lightly in the stomach and started walking slowly.

　I certainly want to register. It would be troublesome if I lose the plate.

　But unfortunately, I can't do it here.

　"No, there is no guild at Strata."

　"Is that so?"

　"Well, there's usually one guild in the territory. Two at the most."

　Well, there are some places that don't have one, but in the case of Delord, there is only Light Rap.

　There are no guilds in Oratorium, by the way.

　"What? But the Oratorium has..."

　"......, it's a small territory."

　".........I see..."

　The air is a little awkward.

　"Shall we hurry on?"

　"Yes, I think so."

　Savage accelerated just outside of the city.

The distance isn't that far, so it's about two days with Savage's speed.

　Light Rap.

　It is the largest town in Delord and has a labyrinth, "The Host of Dreams," on the outskirts.

The town was purposely built near the dangerous labyrinth to guard against monsters coming out of the labyrinth.

In the past, monsters have crawled out of the labyrinth several times, and a considerable number of people have been killed each time.

　For this reason, Delord has built a town nearby and continues to monitor the area, while at the same time attracting adventurers to conquer the labyrinth.

　Even now, no one has conquered the labyrinth, and those who do so are promised huge rewards and honors, and it is said that adventurers are plunging into hell today, abandoning their lives to get rich.

　"The atmosphere is similar to that of Strata."

　That was Heidi's first comment upon arrival.

　I agree with her. There are all these adventurers, heavily armed and spirited.

　"Join us in the labyrinth and win rewards and honors!"

　"We seek as many like-minded souls as possible to share in the glory!"

　"Come join us!"

I looked toward where I heard the voices and saw adventurers calling out for comrades in the town square.

　Three of them, two men and a woman. Looking at the plate hanging from them, the man in the middle, who looked like the leader, was in red, and the rest were in blue.

　They look like they have a big mouth. The woman is not very enthusiastic.

　Well, I can see what they are trying to do. They want ammo repellent, right?

The more people you have, the better your chances of survival, and even if you do manage to conquer it, there won't be many of them left, so you won't have to worry about how many you take with you.

Heidi glanced at me to see if I was interested, but I ignored her and headed for the Adventurers' Guild.

　Incidentally, I parted ways with Savage near the town. I told him to stay out of sight, just in case.

　I hope he'll be okay.

　After entering the Adventurers' Guild and registering, I checked the requests posted there.

　As expected, most of them were related to the labyrinth.

Collecting the carcasses of monsters from the labyrinth. Rewards are doubled if captured alive.

Exploration escort to make the labyrinth map.

Conquer the labyrinth! We need comrades!　Are these the guys in the plaza?

Other activities include the standard gathering of medicinal herbs, exterminating monsters, cleaning up the arena, and investigating new species of monsters.

　A new species? And the investigation is in the neighboring Tirani territory, isn't it? Is this a request to be done here?

　To be honest, I'm not interested.

　"There really are a lot of labyrinth-related requests, aren't there?"

　"Oh, yeah."

　"Are you going into the labyrinth ......?"

"..........I'm not sure"

If I want to go there, I can go there, but as long as the conquerors haven't appeared yet, I'd better not go there casually. If it's just me, I won't die so easily, but overconfidence is not a good thing.

　"I need to know what to expect."

　"If that's the case, I'll go check it out when we decide on a place to stay!"

　Heidi was filled with a mysterious motivation.

　And I was hesitant to interfere, so I decided to leave it to her.

　Heidi's work was very fast, as if she was used to this kind of work.

　Well, she's got the looks.

A little flirtatious smile and the fool would fall for her and talk about what he knows.

　The host of dreams.

　Since this is a labyrinth with no conquerors, there are many unknowns about its internal structure.

　The impression of the interior is of a cave covered in vegetation and ivy.

The monsters inhabiting the cave also seem to be of the plant type.

The level of credibility of this story is not so high, as it is only what is heard.

　The reason the details inside are vague is because there are so few survivors.

According to what I have heard, it is common for 100 people to go in and not even 10 return....

　Less than 10% survivors? That's outrageous.

Even those who are lucky enough to survive have returned to their hometowns with mental illness or ended up like Dusty in the arena.

　No... this is impossible, right? To be honest, it's a level of fucked-upness I'm not comfortable with.

I imagined a place where goblins and other monsters appeared at each level of the dungeon, and rare items were found in the treasure chests dropped at the bottom level after defeating the boss monster... but it just looks like a horrible place.

Whether or not I go in, let's just take a look from the outside for the time being.