"And I'll give a taste of that to anyone who wants to pick a fight with me. You may have slipped away back then, but most people aren't so lucky."
Suzu grinned. No matter how many times you beat her down, she'd always come back tenfold like some damn zombie. The ordeals she put me through had left me scarred for life.
"Say, why'd you go and run away that time? I worked real hard to put together that siege force. I was gonna decorate my office with a Blue animal."
Scary. I'd only gotten away that time thanks to the elite soldiers I'd brought with me, and even with them at my side, we'd sustained heavy losses.
"Anyway, I suggest you use Daemon mercenaries. You can get as many as you want, if you've got the scratch, and they're sharp cookies, so they're easy to handle."
"You said you were going to talk to some of them for me, earlier. How'd that go?"
"Oh, sorry about that. I tried asking the guys on my payroll, but they're all contracted by the local villages, not to mention me, so they're not really available for a long-distance gig."
So her mercenaries and hunters had put down roots in the area. Well, you'd have to be a fool to walk away from a steady source of income like that. Suzu's approach did lend a lot of stability to the region she operated in.
"Karumi, is Suzu's labyrinth far from here?"
"From Labyrinth #228, it's about sixty kilometers southeast as the crow flies. In the grand scheme of things, it's fairly close. But you have to bear in mind that everybody gets around here by walking, or at best riding a carriage."
"If it's sixty kilometers as the crow flies, then it's going to be even longer on the roads. Not an impossible distance to travel, but not something you could do casually."
The roads were almost certainly not flat, either. You were probably looking at a week of walking. If there were a well-maintained road it would be one thing, but when you considered the dangers of building and maintaining a road that passed through forests where monsters lurked, things got a bit more interesting.
"Suzu, what's the difference between a mercenary and a hunter, among Daemons?"
"Mercenaries fight people for pay. Daemons, humans, whatever. Hunters mostly fight monsters. That said, the boundaries are kinda blurry. Like, the mercenaries I hire also double as hunters, a lot of the time."
More or less what I expected. If you were a sword for hire, you probably weren't too picky about what you were sticking your sword in.
"Then it's probably not a good idea for me to hire too many Daemon mercenaries, right?"
"Huh? Why's that? Oh, wait, I get it. Your plan is to get hunters to challenge the labyrinth in the first place."
"Right. If I hired all the mercenaries, there wouldn't be enough people to challenge the labyrinth."
I didn't know how many people were actually going to show up, and I wanted to maximize my chances of success. Admittedly, I didn't want there to be too many intruders either, but too few would be the worst possible problem.
"Also, I bet they'd be annoyed to find one of their fellow hunters waiting to ambush them in the labyrinth."
"Yeah, I expect you're right about that. If something went wrong in your labyrinth, it would damage the reputation of the owner of the labyrinth. In other words, the Great Dark Lord."
That sounded like a career-limiting move. Lord knows Labyrinth #228 didn't need another scandal to add to the pile.
"Okay. So I have to watch out for both the number of visitors and the labyrinth's reputation. If we're targeting Daemons in this labyrinth, we have to handle it with tact."
Suzu pursed her lips.
"It's certainly easier to manage with the way you're luring intruders, but it does seem to complicate the situation somewhat."
"Okay, let's assume we're not using any Daemon mercenaries at all, for a minute, and see where that gets us."
If there were too many intruders to handle, or if some emergency arose, I could always reconsider.
"Then your next option is monsters. That said, you can't breed them without permission, and they're not exactly docile. Merchants stay well clear of labyrinths with monsters, and you wouldn't want one of the villagers to get injured."
Yeah. That all rang true. As the labyrinth manager, I'd feel absolutely awful if one of the monsters I brought in harmed one of the merchants or villagers.
"Just making the labyrinth good at luring and repelling intruders is hard enough, but when you consider it's supposed to have a positive effect on the surrounding community as well, things get so complicated. How am I going to set up trash mobs for this place?"
Suzu and I were both stumped.
"Kousaka, since it was my error which caused all this hassle, could I ask you to let me handle providing the beasts for your labyrinth?"
Karumi interrupted our reverie with a surprising offer. Incidentally, Karumi, this isn't a one-time thing, the way you're making it sound. Your screwups are pretty much the source of all my misfortune. But I couldn't very well say that to my superior, so I put on a fake smile and seethed inside like a good adult.
"Any help you can offer would be great, of course, but how exactly are you going to do that?"
"I know of one excellent option which is commonly used in fully functional labyrinths. Let's see... a dozen of these two-meter-tall humanoid battle golems should do. They follow orders meticulously, incur no maintenance at all, and are incredibly easy to use. I'll pay for them myself, of course, so you can rest easy on that front."
Honestly, golems would be perfect. I'd seen them for sale on Tundra, and I knew they would provide what I needed, but the price was so high that I had dismissed them out of hand.
"I'd be grateful, but are you sure?"
"Yes. Let me do my part to make this right."
The price of golems varied depending on quality, but even the cheapest one cost about as much as a used car.
"Could you show me what type of golem you'd like?"
I opened the labyrinth manager window and navigated to the Tundra catalog, where I pulled up the battle golem page and sorted by price.
Autonomous Patrol and Battle Humanoid Golem (Garta) == 600,000 DL
Seller: Manager, Labyrinth #89
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Reviewer: Manager, Labyri nth #32
- Works even in harsh desert terrain, and its durability is amazing!
Even though there's sandstorms all the time, these babies never fail me. Like the name says, they're good at patrolling, but they're not that strong, so I'd recommend against using them for anything heavy-duty. The quality is about what you'd expect from the price. Don't expect them to do much aside from keeping watch.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Reviewer: Manager, Labyrinth #201
- These are heavy golems, so don't try to use them in marshland.
When I took them out on patrol, they sank into the swamp, and it took me forever to get them out. Seems like I can't use them around most of my place. I've got them standing guard in front of my treasure warehouse, but I kinda doubt they'd even deter an intruder.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Reviewer: Manager, Labyrinth #13
- Pretty well made and reliable, but there's no heart in them!
The price is reasonable, and they perform okay, but that's it. If they were gonna make humanoid golems, you'd think they'd have gone to the trouble to make it so the golems could walk properly, instead of only in a perfectly straight line! Plus, those hideous rods they call arms and legs are just unsightly. This thing sucks!
"That won't do at all."
Karumi slid her finger across the screen, flipping pages in the catalog.
"Ah, here we are. This is what I had in mind."
She stopped many pages after the one I'd shown her.
Autonomous Armor-Type Golem Soldier (Big D, Mark II) == 4,800,000 DL
Seller: Manager, Labyrinth #477
Rating: ★★★★☆
Reviewer: Manager, Labyrinth #552
- Just like the price, you have to see them to believe them.
They can fight barehanded, but they're pre-programmed to be able to handle any weapon you give them as well. They're poetry in motion. Those smooth moves are out of this world. The only problem is that high price tag. With humanoid golems like these, you'll just keep wanting more of them, but they'll put a huge strain on your finances.
Rating: ★★★★★
Reviewer: Manager, Labyrinth #16
- Very efficient.
They obey orders perfectly, especially combat orders, and the way they carry them out is a sight to behold. Their maintenance needs are minimal, and they'll likely keep doing exactly what you tell them to until they stop working. Everyday use? Look, don't buy a high-end battle golem if you want a robo-maid.
"Shall I buy a dozen?"
Forget a used car, each of these was like buying a brand new luxury sports car. I knew Karumi was the Great Dark Lord's daughter, but she had to be filthy rich.
"Well, aren't you Mr. Lucky! Battle golems are sturdy, and they don't get tired or need refueling. What's more, if you give them a directive not to kill, they can reliably take down human invaders without killing them in the process, even if they have to rough 'em up a bit. Hey, come on, let me have just one of 'em!"
"Not a chance. Karumi, you're really going to buy these for me?"
"Of course. Leave everything to me."
Karumi gave me a dazzling smile. Hmm. Perhaps Karumi was the type of woman who liked it when people relied on her? Nah, I was probably overthinking it.
◇
Okay, so we had a boss and we had trash mobs. Now all that was left was the easy part: building an entire labyrinth.
"Something on your mind? You won't get anywhere puzzling it over alone."
I was glad I had Suzu looking out for me. She may have looked like a little girl, but she was a real adult on the inside where it counted.
"Hold it. Were you just thinking something dirty?"
"Please, let's keep this serious. I'm just considering how one builds a labyrinth."
Actually, that was kind of a dirty thought, but she wouldn't realize it if I played it cool. I wasn't at my best when it came to dealing with women, but there were more girls playing online games these days than there used to be, so it wasn't like you didn't interact with them. If you were part of an active guild or clan and didn't how to at least talk to women, you were in for a rough time.
"I mean, you just kinda do it."
"They aren't exactly selling handy dandy instant labyrinth kits on Tundra."
"So, you probably don't have anybody with construction experience on your team, but like, that just means you need to hire some contractors, y'know?"
Outside help? But the only other person who came here was Deneb, and all she did was bring food from the village every once in a while.
"..."
I glanced over at Karumi, who was looking the other way with her hands over her ears, blushing. That was cute and all, but I was still annoyed.
"So far, I've built everything here myself. Are you saying it'd be okay for me to hire someone else to work on it, like the people in the village?"
"I don't know what to say. This is so pathetic it's depressing to even watch."
Suzu looked pretty upset about my situation, but it was just another day in the life, as far as I was concerned. I didn't know what kind of privileged environment the other labyrinths had, because I'd never even had a labyrinth at all.
"Look, just hire people, okay? We've got a deadline, and we're not going to make it if you're the only one building."
"True. I'll hire as many villagers as I can."
In retrospect, it had taken Ann and I two months of backbreaking labor just to make those stairs.
"Hey Suzu, so I was thinking we should do something relatively simple. Do you know of any way to build an underground structure without breaking the bank?"
"So that's how you wanna do it. One thing to keep in mind is, the deeper you build it, the more it's gonna cost, and it'll take longer to boot. For starters, maybe only aim for a single-story labyrinth."
"Got it, stick close to the surface. Oh, actually, wait a minute."
I raised my hand and summoned the labyrinth manager UI window, opening the
"That shovel just appeared out of thin air!"
"Yeah, he can make tools like that. I don't really know much about it, but apparently it's some magic he got from the Great Dark Lord."
"Ohhh, I see. Magic. That makes sense."
...People around here were way too accepting of that explanation.
I stuck my shovel into the ground, and a cross-shaped rift opened up around the spot where it sunk in. I applied a little force, pushing the shovel deeper into the ground.
"And... there we go."
A cubical chunk of ground, maybe ten centimeters in all dimensions, popped out of the ground with a satisfying plop. Seeing my tools producing perfectly-shaped materials never got old. I brushed aside the moss and grass that had tumbled into the hole and watched it carefully.
"Figured as much. There's water seeping in already."
Muddy water gradually filled the now-empty cube of land. There was water everywhere in this ravine, so I'd kind of expected this.
"Whatcha doin' over there, Aoi?"
"Confirming the terrain. At least in this area, if we try to build underground, the construction is either going to give out because of the soft soil or flood with water."
"Lousy starting conditions, eh? Looks about the same everywhere that I can see. You think your whole ravine is gonna be like that?"
"Yeah. If we need to build an underground labyrinth, we're going to have to do something about the land first."
It'd have to be drastic, too, like building a dam to hold back the flow of water, or even reversing the flow. Doing that in a world without heavy construction machinery would be a nightmarishly complex project that could easily take decades.
"You can see the water seeping out of the sides of the ravine easily enough, but there's groundwater too. Digging isn't going to get us anywhere."
"Looks like you're caught between a rock and a wet place."
"What's more, we can't just go destroying the ecosystem here. This ravine is a treasure trove of medicinal herbs."
The vegetation here was too valuable. In game terms, the mosses and herbs were SR-class materials. More importantly, the magic potions I concocted with them were my main source of income. If we wiped that out, I'd have to find a new way to make money, or I'd end up broke, fast. Maybe I could start cultivating them, but I was certain that damaging the environment here would be tying the rope around my neck.
"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting how you're the one making those top-class potions that pop up on Tundra."
"Yep, and I need all these herbs to make them. If we build the labyrinth here, I bet we'll disrupt the ecosystem. Talk about a kick in the teeth."
"This isn't something to joke about!"
So the bottom of the ravine was out, and obviously we weren't going to carve into the stone sides. Maybe we could use the area up above?
"Karumi, would the labyrinth still be officially recognized if we built it up there?"
I was worried about going outside the ravine, even if it was just on the edge of the cliff. If we did all that work up on the surface and then didn't get any credit for it, that'd be the worst.
"Just a moment, let me double-check the terms. Let's see, Labyrinth #228..."
She navigated the UI thoughtfully. I was frankly terrified of trusting Karumi with anything at this point, so I was glad to see she was being careful.
"Ahh, here we go. These are the formal requirements regarding location. As long as the structure is within half a kilometer of the Great Saredo Rift, it will be recognized as Labyrinth #2
28.
Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2 Page 9
