by Ainana Hiro
"Since the master is dead, we cannot possibly pay you back. It's better to put aside water and medical treatment until after we get out of the labyrinth... um, well... isn't it..."
The incomprehensible words are converted to proper sentences in the brain. It's good isn't it?
Pochi and Tama untie the string that tied the simple clothes they were wearing and undress without hesitation to begin treating their wounds.
Liza-san seems to be the thoughtful type and hesitate a little, but I [Order] her not to mind so she also begin the treatment.
When their treatments are finished, I distribute the baked sweets to the three. I give them 3 palm-sized sweets each. It should be enough for now. The sweets are remainder from the time when I went to various stalls with Zena-san. It's not bitten leftovers though.
Pochi drools all over her face, everyone stare at the sweets, but no one is eating.
"There are no poison in it, so eat it well."
Are they not allowed to eat without orders? Slaves
sure are oppressed~ Pochi chokes on the food so I pass her the water bottle.
"I won't take it away, eat it slowly."
I feel like a baby-sitter for a bit...
◇
I confirm the map once again. It still only displays this room.
...Is the magic ineffective, or is it dispelled...
I open the menu and use the [All Map Exploration] magic. Even though this particular magic is easily usable~.
The whole picture of [Labyrinth of Demon] is displayed. Easy mode is too good!
This looks like an ant's nest, rather than a labyrinth.
The passage from here to the next room is diverged like a tree's root, from that room to the other the passages diverge again like before. In labyrinth-like fashion, there are also secret intertwined secret passage ways that connect rooms.
Searching through the map, there are 109 humans here. In which 7 are demi-human. The remaining 102 are human kins with around a quarter of them being slaves.
The handsome middle-aged Garleon priest is in a considerable remote position. If we can meet up with him, it'd be already near the exit huh? I personally don't want him to end up dead, being a capable person he is, though he probably won't die easily so I will consider it lucky if we can meet him.
I tried searching for the arm demon but I couldn't find him. There's a particular room located in the deepest part, he's probably there...
If I carelessly beat him, the labyrinth may collapse, let's leave him alone for now.
The enemies are around level 10-20 of insect monsters. There were around 20 when I first searched, but now, there are more than 100. Additionally, snake and frog monsters appear too.
Let's give the beastkin girls some weapons since it could be bad if we were sandwiched between the passage.
Okay, let's look for some hidden suitable location in the passage to take some spear and sword from the storage.
After deciding what to do, I tried to go toward the passage but I was stopped by the beastkin girls in a hurry.
"Please don't throw me away! I will do anything!"
"Please don't leave me behind!"
"Mister, I don't mind being a sacrifice but please take me along. Please."
They desperately tried to stop me. Still no one tried to pull my clothes, is it because their experience as slaves or training?
"Don't worry. I was just going to see the state of the passage. I won't abandon you, so please be at ease."
I'm talking as gently as possible. Though I don't think it will fully relieve them, it's better than not saying anything.
After the three girls finished eating, I take out out daggers and magic gun from the bag and equip them (to himself and the girls).
Only Liza who has combat related skill, [Spear]. Since I can't exactly take a spear out of the bag, I take out another dagger and give it to Liza. Probably because it's uncommon for slaves to have weapon, she hesitated but I pushed it to her.
I take the vanguard position, Liza is responsible for surprise attack from the back. Liza wanted to do the battle by herself but I asked her to be on the rear.
Since I have radar, there is no possibility of surprise attack, but I'm giving her the role to ease the girls' uneasiness a little.
The order is me, Tama, Pochi, and Liza. I [Order] them with a strong tone to not participate in battle. Since their level are only around 2-3, if they carelessly receive an attack they could die.
It's an escort mission for real.
◇
The floor on the passages become that of rocks. Since there aren't any paved stones that emit light anymore, it's dark. The fortunate thing? There are several shining stone pillars every few meters so, even though it looks eerie, at least we are able to walk.
The stone pillar is about a waist's height. Since the light only reach around our breast's area, the ceiling is pitch dark, it's unpleasant.
It was probably made so to fuel anxiety.
Such a detestable demon-like thing to do.
When someone got into a room the passages will turn pitch black to encage them inside, there are probably thing like that prepared.
"Tama, if you see anything in the passage ahead, tell me in low voice. Pochi, if you smell or hear anything strange, tell me about it. Liza, please be wary of the back. But please don't focus all your attention on the rear and be late to follow us."
"""Yes"""
I'm still a bit uneasy, but it's a good reply.
>[Leadership Skill Acquired]
>[Formation Skill Acquired]
Sign of the enemies are detected in the radar. It's quite a bit far ahead.
"I can smell blood from the other side of the passage, nanodesu."
Pochi said that.
It's a straight line from here, but it's still 500 meter away.
I praise Pochi while petting her head. This treatment is like what you're doing to a pet, but her tail flails around with pitter-patter, she's probably happy about it.
I investigate the enemy while walking closer. Level is 20, no special ability. Method of attack is ramming and biting. It seems that there are only one monster in the next room.
I just remember something and take a note of the current stat and abilites of the three, since they also have experience value column, I draw a plan... This really feels like a game.
Since the experience values are displayed as percentage, I don't know the concrete number, but it's still really convenient when gaining levels. Since I can't see the experience value of other person in the map, I wonder if this is restricted to party members? Or are there other conditions to follow?
I saw the light leaking from the room.
I instruct the three to wait and peek at the room. The insect-shaped enemy is single-mindedly eating [Something], paying no attention here. Like I said... I'm weak against gore you know.
I wait until the chewing sound stop, then shoot it with the magic gun.
The single shot blows through the hind leg's joint. The broken parts flies.
I'm not giving the huge cricket any room for counterattack, killing it in rapid-fire.
Good grief, why is this giant cricket appear in anywhere but a desert...
"Amazing, nanodesu."
"Amazing."
"Mister, are you a magician?"
Pochi and Tama are simply in high spirits, but Liza is having a question.
"This is a magic weapon you know. Don't tell this to anyone!"
I gave the warning while grinning badly. I didn't forget to pose with the magic gun.
Pochi and Liza nodded seriously, but Tama said "Ay", while looking so happy. I'm going to give another warning once we get out of the labyrinth.
The chain on the collar is obstructive. Tama is full with just holding the chain on her hand.
That's right, I can cut it with this.
I call Liza and ask her to pull the chain horizontally, then I shoot it with the magic gun.
I did the same thing to Tama and Pochi... but they were probably afraid, their ears were flat down.
I put the chain in the bag and give it to Pochi to hold.
Since the torn foot from the giant cricket was 2 meter long, I make an impromptu spear out of it.
I raised the weapon creation skill to level 1 first.
The nail parts on the toe are loose, so I fix it in place with a piece of wood and a leather strap. Since green fluids are oozing from the cut part, I wrap it with the used cloths from the treatment earlier.
When I'm going to give Liza the cricket spear... She is currently cutting the joint section of the cricket's head, working on something.
Is she hungry?
"Liza, if you eat that kind of thing, you'll have a stomachache."
"Y, You're mistaken. Since it's a monster, it should have a magic core inside, so I'm retrieving it..."
Magic core?
>Title [Insect Slayer] Acquired
2-9. Labyrinth of Demon (2)
* * *
Satou's here. I've given up on the idea that this is a dream, but now I'm thinking that this might not be a reality but inside a game instead, I'm having such doubt after being bewildered. If it's like that I would have preferred the world of eroge instead, Satou.
It's just my luck to have a cricket as the first enemy in the labyrinth, although I hope it makes getting out of the labyrinth alive easier.
Without attracting attention that is.
◇
"What is magic core?"
"Magic core can become money. If you give the things from a monster to a peddler, you can get various things."
Liza's answer isn't exactly wrong, but not what I wanted to hear, I guess expecting the jack-of-all-trades Nadi-san's bell-like reply is impossible.
Liza takes out a ball covered with green blood dirt from the monster. It's a red ball about half the size of a fist. Since the color is dull red, it's probably unusable as jewelries.
When she comes back, I pass a pouch from the bag to Liza. I also give her a bit dirty remaining cloth to wipe the clotted blood.
"Put the magic core inside this pouch. Also, use this spear."
I give the pouch to Pochi, and pass the cricket spear to Liza. The dagger which Liza had is handed over to Tama.
Exchanging equipments, truly RPG'stic huh~.
"Liza, for the next magic core retrieval, Tama and Pochi will help you, so teach them how to do it."
"Yes, I understand."
"Okay, nano desu."
"Ay~"
"Oh yeah, Pochi."
"Yes, nano desu."
"You don't have to force yourself to say nanodesu okay?"
"If I don't say it, I'll get spanked, nano desu."
I see, she was instilled to do it huh... Since I'm just a temporary master anyway, there's no need to correct it.
"Okay then, but I won't get mad even if you don't use it, so don't force yourself."
"Yes... nano desu."
We pray for whoever was the victim of the cricket and get out of the room. I wrote the name of the corpse in the memo.
I compared the girls' status before and after the battle, but beside their stamina, nothing has changed.
So they won't get experience just by being together?
Then, how do supply troops or priest raise their levels?
If I can raise the three's level then even if we meet more people in the way, it'd be no problem, however it's not that easy after all.
Since this world is game-like anyway, should I try a game-like approach?
"Tama, if you see a stone about as big as the magic core earlier on the ground pick it up."
"Ay!"
◇
We progress forward smoothly until the passage divides into branches.
They all lead to the same room, but one of the path has another room in the middle of the way. Either of them contains monster but the middle room has two level 10 caterpillar monster. And, there are also human there.... Let's help them.
"The road is branching~, nyan."
Just as the junction comes into our view, a report come in from Tama. You don't have to add strange words to establish your character, I said...
I praise Tama while patting her head. She seems ticklish.
Since Pochi looks at us enviously, I also pat her head gently.
Since both of them are about as tall as my chest, they're easy to pat. Are they about 120cm? Liza is a bit taller than me... around 165cm then.
"Let's go to the right passage."
We proceed further. There's something appearing in the radar but what is it?
"There are bugs up there~ nano desu."
Tama warned. This time she's imitating Pochi huh?
Now then, how do we beat invisible enemies?
Since I can grasp its rough position from radar, I look there.
I keep staring there.
AR display pops up with the monster's name and level.
I indiscriminately and repeatedly shoot at the place where the AR is.
Phew phew phew. Bota.
It seems that one of the shot hit, the caterpillar fall onto the ground.
"Tama, hit it with the stone."
Tama hits it for about 3 times. After two hit, the body of the caterpillar repels the stone. It seems that only one of the hit gives damage.
The caterpillar is approaching.
"Pochi, Tama, get back. Liza, come here. Hit it once from behind my back."
While holding back as much as I can, I kicked the caterpillar which was ramming here to gain time.
Liza attacks with the spear during that chance! The caterpillar's HP decreases for about 10%.
After confirming that, I shoot it twice until it die.
"Liza, Tama, I'll leave the recovery of the magic core to you. Pochi, follow me, there's another monster over there."
Tama hands over some stones to Pochi. How many did she pick?
There's the same caterpillar as earlier inside the room.
Furthermore, there are corpses of a young woman and a boy that looks like a slave on the ground. Unlike with the cricket earlier, they're not eaten.
"Pochi, when we get into the room, throw the stone at the monster from my side. When you run out of the stone, go back to Liza's place."
I casually enter the room and shoot the magic gun. As instructed, Pochi throw 2 stones from close range.
The caterpillar who got hit by the stone turn toward Pochi, spitting venom. In the nick of time, I kick the caterpillar's head shifting the direction. The caterpillar dies with just that kick.
Pochi who has finished throwing the stones runs back to the passage.
To the opposite passage that is.
Did she get flustered and mistook the way?
"Pochi, stop!"
I immediately chase after her. Detouring the caterpillar's corpse, I was a bit late.
"Uwa~~~ don't come, don't come here~~~!"
Huh? Who's that? It's not Pochi's voice. It's the man on passage!
I look at the radar. The position is dangerous.
"Pochi, stop!"
Okay, she can hear me properly now. Pochi is coming back here.
The man from earlier has disappeared from the radar.
Still, why did that young man run away?
Did he mistook Pochi for a monster?
Or did he feel guilty for leaving the two people in the earlier as sacrifices...
"Master! Are you alright?"
"You okay?"
Liza and Tama are coming here running.
"Ah, I'm okay. Let's go back to the room earlier to collect the magic core."
"I'm sorry, nano desu."
Pochi is apologizing with her ears falling flat. Her tail is also curling between her thigh.
"Pochi, it's fine to run away. But panicking is not okay. Do you understand?"
"..
.Yes."
I pat Pochi's head like, pom-pom.
When we got to the room, Liza and Tama are dismantling the caterpillar.
I write the two corpses name on the memo, I wonder if there's anything useful... I ask Pochi to examine them.
...Since well, you don't usually want to touch corpses, do you?
"Should I strip the clothes?"
Pochi asked, but we don't exactly need their clothes. I've only noticed just now, but the beastkin girls aren't wearing shoes.
"Take the footwears. Leave the clothes as it is."
