Volume 6 - CH 1.4

Mino are dropping Leather, which is used for Sherry’s smithing purposes, and they appear on the eleventh floor. We will also have no problems with the Green Caterpillars, for we have upgraded our equipment sufficiently.

However, in order to start exploring Tare’s Labyrinth from the eleventh floor, I would first have to pay that Explorer so that he would take me to the eleventh floor.

Should I just pay him and move directly to the eleventh floor and start the exploration from there? Or, and I do not want to sound stingy here, but hear me out on this, maybe we should actually go and start exploring all the way from the first floor? Damn, now It makes me  wish that we knew about Tare’s Labyrinth sooner, because then we could have focused our efforts on clearing it all the way to the eleventh floor and simply start from there now.

Alternatively, we could also wait until the exploration of Bode’s Labyrinth reaches all the way to the its eleventh floor…or we could just go there ourselves and explore it from the first floor onwards, getting all of the rewards for cleaning all of the floors ourselves.

「By the way, exactly how much is the reward for clearing  the floors of a Labyrinth?」

「Umm… if we are talking about a newly discovered Labyrinth, then it should be a silver coin per cleared floor.」

「What?! That is way too cheaper considering the effort that needs to put in order to clear just a single floor! What the hell?!」

If the reward is really as cheap as one silver coin per floor of the Labyrinth, then that means that we would only get eleven silver coins for clearing eleven floors of the Labyrinth! At this point, can something like that be even called a reward?

Because I do not think that it even qualifies as a bonus, or even a spare change at this point, so I think that we are not going to be aiming for any of that, because that is just not worth the trouble. One silver coin per floor, can you believe it?! With such a low rate like that, we could have cleared even fifty floors of the Labyrinth in a row and it still would not be enough! If that is how things are standing, then I think our only remaining option is to really wait and go to the other Labyrinths until the exploration of Bode’s Labyrinth progresses to the eleventh floor.

But if we do that and go back to our usual routine of going to the Labyrinths in Quratar and Vale, that would essentially be the same as if I went back on my word that I have given to the Duke. Well, it is not like he is going to ever find out if we do that anyway…. But I cannot stop thinking about what is going to happen to us if he somehow does find out and exposes us for it.



…….

………..

Okay, I have decided. For the time being, we are going to stay on the eleventh floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth until we get used to the monsters that are appearing there. And besides, it would be too bothersome to actually go and start from the first floor, so I have no choice but to cough up some dough so that this ball could start to seriously roll. Or maybe we could start from one floor lower, the tenth floor, just to make the whole process just a little bit easier for ourselves?

If we go from there, the strength of monsters should not be all that vastly different from the tenth floors in other Labyrinths. The only difference will be the number of people in the Labyrinth, which may or may not prolong our exploration, but yeah, overall, I think that thing are going to be about the same as they were in the Labyrinths of Quratar and Vale….

But that does not change the fact that having to pay for going to the tenth or eleventh floor is still going to be such a waste. Not to mention that there is still going to be our good old problem to worry about: the problem of people seeing me use either Durandal or my magic.

Well, even if there are indeed going to be more people on the eleventh floor, it will not be a problem because we have Roxanne with her superior smell, so she can always guide us towards the smaller groups of monsters in places that are going to be secluded and removed from the places that other Adventurers and Explorers are going to be frequenting.

All right, I guess that cements the eleventh floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth as the next target of our exploration, so after we have finished eating breakfast, I ordered Roxanne and Sherry to stay at home while I left for the Haruba’s Labyrinth by myself. I will be taking them to the eleventh floor later, but that moment has not yet come. Earlier, after I parted ways with the Duke and Cassia, I warped from Haruba’s Labyrinth to home just like that, so it would be awkward to bring Roxanne and Sherry with me this time.

When I move out of the small starting room on the first floor, I found out that Gozer was already there.

「Oh, if it is not Lord Michio. I see you have decided to enter the Labyrinth early as well?」

He noticed me almost immediately and called out to me, asking me a pretty obvious question. Normally I would have started cursing at the fates for making it so that I have to be in one room with such a good-looking, charisma oozing fellow, but just this once, I was actually happy that something like that happened, because this timing was perfect.

Yes, that is right. He is correct in thinking that it was my intention to come to Haruba’s Labyrinth as early as possible, and now that he has seen me actually coming here, he will be able to confirm that I have indeed entered one of the Labyrinths on the territory of Hartz Duchy, exactly like the Duke wanted me to do.

No, I might not be in the clear just yet. There is always a possibility that I might get accused of just wandering around here without actually intending to do any exploration even though the Duke asked me to, and there is also a matter that some people might have seen me at Tare’s and Bode’s Labyrinths which may lead to inconsistency in my statements if I were to be questioned about it.

Or rather, that is how it could have been, if only we were still back on earth in the modern times, where there were photo-taking and video-recording technologies. But since this world is the one that is not going to have such thing for a good while longer, I do not have to be worried about anything! As far as everyone is going to be concerned, Gozer is the only eyewitness here, and he personally saw me entering Haruba’s Labyrinth early in the morning, so my cover-up is perfect!

「And I see that you decided to come to this Labyrinth as well, Lord Gozer. Is there any specific reason for it?」

「Yes, there is. We have just broken through the fourty first floor.」

「That is great to hear.」

Woah! They have already broken trough the fourty first floor?! That is amazing! As I thought, a Grand Wizard Lv.61 is in completely different league than me, who is just a regular old Mage. If power levels could be measured in this world, then his power level would surely be over one million. In that case, these people who are accompanying Gozer have to be the members of his Party. Together, they are probably the team that is representing the Knight Order of Harz Duchy and leads the exploration of the Labyrinths. Now, let me see, who do we have here…… Two Paladins, a Monk, and a single Shramana. Shramana? What the hell is a Shramana? Okay, whatever, I will just have to ask Sherry about it later when I will have a moment of spare time on my hands. Regardless of whether I recognize that last Job or not, it needs to be stated that all of the members of Gozer’s Party are high-leveled individuals, the Monk in particular. I do not know how he managed to do it, but his level easily exceeds Lv.90!