Prize Money

Part 1

Player Name: Kaga Michio

Current Level and Equipment:

Explorer Lv.3

Hero Lv.2

Warrior Lv.1

Equipment:

Copper Sword

Leather Armor

Sandals

Taking a light power nap in my room I decided to take a short break from

grinding in the Labyrinth to walk around the town some more. I had some

time to think about my current situation, and I have to sadly conclude that

with the current amount of money I can obtain from my dungeon-crawling

expeditions, getting enough money to buy Roxanne will be impossible. The

exact amount of money I can make by grinding monsters on the Labyrinths

first floor for several hours is 200-300 Nar. At best I could earn a 1000 Nar,

but only if luck was on my side. But then I had to consider the amount of

money required to pay for an inn. It wasn't that much, but it's going to keep

piling up, hindering my finances even more.

In the end, it all boils down to getting more money. All for the sake of buying

Roxanne.

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Even if I decided to go down to the Labyrinth's deeper levels, it would be

foolish of me to expect that I'll ear 10 or 20 times more coin there. Maybe

my luck would turn for the better if I happened upon a treasure chest, but so

far I didn't stumble upon even one of those, making me feel like I shouldn't

count on finding them at all.

I should focus my efforts on making money outside of the Labyrinth after

all. There was one option that was available for me from the beginning, the

one that might net me the highest profit.

Bounty Hunting.

When it comes to searching for possible Bandits, I just so happen to have a

natural advantage in that field called Identify. With it, I can just take a casual

stroll around town and scan everyone within my sight to see if their Job will

point to them being a criminal. Making money just by looking at people and

reading the information about them, that really seems like a dream job!

To be honest, I am still kinda reluctant about this Bounty Hunter business,

but the fact that this line of work seemed to be made specifically for someone

with my abilities is a fact that absolutely cannot be denied.

There seems to be no Thieves or Bandits or any other scum like that walking

around Veil at the current moment, at least as far as I can tell. As expected,

no one suspicious would be mad enough to walk around town in broad

daylight. But if I want to increase my chances of finding someone like that,

then maybe I should make my way to the northern part of the city, where

Picker-san said the security was considerably weaker?

The center and the south of Veil were filled with big, beautiful-looking

buildings and structures, but the further I went to the north, the more the

quality and the size of the houses deteriorated. These have to be the quarters

where the poorer citizens live, but it didn't quite have the look of a typical

slum I was expecting to see. But just one step later…

… Yeah, it's a slum alright.

From where I was standing, I could see many more ruined buildings in the

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distance, and the smell of the air also worsened considerably. The same could

be told about the people and the overall atmosphere of this place. With each

step, the houses, became more and more dirty and unkept and the air grew

even more stagnant. Looks like some of the residents here didn't even have a

place of their own, because they were just sitting or laying on the streets.

There was even a small child standing in the middle of the road. It wasn't

doing anything in particular. It was just standing there, looking absentmindedly into space. It looked like it was sick for a very long time. I wonder

if it even knows what a medicine is?

Anyway, hanging around here for too long might be a bad idea. This place is

just too dangerous. Maybe it's because it's my first time being in a place like

this, but my sixth sense was screaming for me to get the fuck out of here the

entire time.

There's just something about the atmosphere of this place that just seems…

off somehow, and I don't like it one bit.

Compared to this dumphole and its inhabitants, delinquents crouching outside

of a convenience store with their bats and pipes in the dead of the night

almost seemed friendly to me now. Yup, I think the best thing to do will be a

tactical retreat. Yes, falling back to a safe place now!

Do I really have to go in there to find criminals? That place is just too

dangerous for someone like me! I mean, of course it is, and I knew it well.

Even in my old world, slums were never a place that was safe for proper,

upstanding citizens to be in. And even if I managed to track even a single

Bandit down without any major difficulties, there's no telling if his or her

buddies won't be laying in wait to shank me when their buddy will be in

danger. So for the time being, I retreated to the very edge of the slum area. If

I don't know the terrain, it'd be best not to go in too deep.

A little bit to the east there were women who looked like prostitutes standing

in front of the building that was most likely a brothel, because the men who

were walking past it kept casting glances towards it and the girls in front of it,

which wasn't all that weird because the outfits they were wearing were

rather… eye-catching, so to speak. Maybe I would have gone in and used

their services myself if I wasn't warned that each and every one of them was

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supposedly riddled with STD's according to both Picker-san's and Alan-san's

words. But putting the matter of their health aside, wouldn't you say that

brothels are the exact place that comes to mind when talking about hangout

spots for suspicious dudes?

Some distance away from the brothel, a crowd of people was forming up,

with lots and lots of slum dwellers gathering in one spot. I wonder if

something happened over there. Maybe I should go have a look at it myself?

While preparing to use Identify, I joined in with the rest of the crowd. Let's

see, what the hell is that whole commotion about?

The source of the growing uproar was a patch of dirty, cracked road where

someone has apparently fallen down. When I used Identify to appraise the

guy who was lying on the ground, the information that showed up was not the

person's name or Job, but the name of a piece of equipment: Leather Armor.

In other words, whoever that poor lad was, he was dead. How do I know this?

Because apparently corpses are no longer recognized as human beings, and

therefore they cannot be properly Identified.

「That's a filthy thief! That man was robbed I tell you!」

「How do you know that?」

At the back of the crowd, a merchant was talking with an older-looking

Adventurer. They were talking in Brahim, so I could understand everything

they were saying.

「Isn't that obvious?! Just look at his hands! See? The left one has been

chopped off!」

「Ah, now that I take a closer look, you're actually right.」

「Oh, looks like he's been offed less than half an hour ago.」

I couldn't see it properly from where I was standing, but it looks like the

corpse in the street was missing it's left hand. Maybe it was because the

culprit wanted to hide the victim's identity? After all, it takes up to 30

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minutes for the Intelligence Card to disappear naturally after death. But I

better not say that out loud. The last thing I want is to attract more

unnecessary trouble towards me.

「Make way! Make way I said! Let me through!」

Someone must have already reported that there was a crime, because the

knights from the guardhouse have already arrived on the scene, with the

beautiful female Knight from earlier leading them. So I guess that in this city

the knights act like the police, huh?

「A Bandit. Go and clean the body up. Once you do, dispose of it.」

「Yes, ma'am!」

The female Knight barely even glanced at the body before issuing her orders.

This was obviously a murder case, and they're going to do literally nothing

about it? That's cold.

「Our business here is done. Everyone, back to the guardhouse!」

She ordered her company to return to their station, climbed on top of her

stallion and headed back as well. Wait, is that it? Are they really going to

leave this case as it is?! And everyone is fine with that?

Apparently everyone was indeed fine with it, because as soon as the female

Knight left the crime scene the crowd naturally dissipated and everything

went back to normal as if nothing had happened.

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Part 2

Now that this mini-event has finished I just walked around the vicinity,

listening to the conversations that people around me were having in Brahim.

Out of all the people who were forming a fired-up crowd just a second ago,

no one seemed to be complaining about the knight's behaviour towards

handling the murder that apparently took place. Is that response considered to

be normal here? Does no one really care that much?

「The Bandits who have been driven out of town came back to exact their

revenge.」

I suddenly heard someone speaking behind my back.

Revenge? Someone was killed for such a petty reason?

I hurriedly looked over my shoulder. I have no idea who said that just now,

but it had to be someone who witnessed the gathering of the crowd and the

arrival of the group of knights. So if that mysterious voice is to be believed

there is a group of Bandits in the city that is out for blood. Without knowing

the source of that information it might not serve as enough of an evidence if I

chose to go to the town guard with it, but even so this is a matter that simply

cannot be overlooked. If what that beautiful Female Knight was saying was

true, the Bandits who attacked the village were originally from the slums of

this town. Maybe the ones who did this were their friends or acquaintances?

And most importantly, did only one of them wanted revenge, or were they all

hell-bent on it as well?

Suddenly I felt my stomach tying itself into multiple knots and a wave of

cold sweat rushing down my back. What… what if I'm one of the targets of

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their revenge?

No, nononono, that cannot be it. That's absolutely not possible. Think about

it calmly, you moron! Them being out for revenge probably has nothing to do

with me at all.

First and foremost, the most likely reason for their revenge is the fact that

they have been kicked out of the town, and I had nothing to do with it since I

literally wasn't even existing in this world until a few days ago.

Secondly, none of the Bandits who attacked the village survived. I have slain

all of them together with the rest of the villagers (although I did the lion's

share of the work).

Thirdly, even if some of them managed to survive the attack, finding

someone without having a nice long look at his face should be borderline

impossible in this technology=free world that probably never heard of

something as abstract as photographs.

But that does not mean that I can feel relieved just yet. Even if their goal is to

take revenge for being driven out of town, I cannot imagine a group of

Bandits willingly going against an entire Knight Order. It would be nothing

short of suicidal unless they'd have the advantage of both numbers and

equipment, which I'm sure they don't have right now. But if the grudge they

are holding against Veil is strong, Then I don't think a setback or two would

be enough to discourage them from pushing through with whatever it is they

might be planning. They might have even obtained information about me

through some illegal means unknown to me.

Whatever the Bandits intentions might be, I still can't rule out the possibility

that I might end up being targeted myself. Until I find and deal with them, I

won't be able to have a peaceful night's rest. With all that said, looks like my

decision to switch from dungeon crawling to Bandit hunting was the right

one after all.

I have spent the next two days exploring the town of Veil while avoiding

getting too close to the slums. I wasn't able to find any of the Bandits, but at

the very least I got the general feeling of the topography and the layout of the

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terrain in the slums. At the very least that's going to save me some MP I

would otherwise wasted on using warp to get around here.

I also understood why the slums were build in the northern part of the town.

Two rivers run through the city of Veil. Both of them enter the city from the

south and exit through the north. That water is used a well behind the inn I

am currently staying at, acting as the source of drinking water, and probably

bathwater for the customers as well, and all the inn's sewage is probably

drained to the sewers that run all the way beneath the city. The water that

enters the town from the south is clear, but the further it travels downstream

to the north the dirtier it gets. While I was making my way through the slums,

I could faintly smell the smell of bad, almost rotten water in the air.

Nobody would want to willingly live in such a place. The distinction seems

to be clear here: the southern part of the city is where the rich people and the

business canter dwells while the northern part is comprised entirely of slums

and the quarters of the poor and those who could not afford to live in the

southern part. I wonder if I didn't see any Bandits or other criminals because

they were being careful not to be spotted? I don't think that many people can

use Identify besides myself, but maybe they just don't want their faces to be

seen or they are only active in the middle of the night? Also, the possibility

that I won't even be able to meet them inside the slums at all was extremely

likely. If they were exiled from the town, they might as well have their base

of operations outside of it.

With nothing better to do at the current moment I made my way to the

Labyrinth. Instead of worrying about the things beyond my reach, I might as

well try to get myself a treasure chest. That, and I also might try to gain

myself some levels, just to be on the safe side if I really end up fighting

against the Bandits. I know that technically I don't have to worry about

anything as long as I have Durandal, but you know what they say: if the

wielder's shit, even the greatest of weapons will be shit as well.

I gained a few levels, so now using Warp should be that much easier for me.

Maybe I will even be able to use it two times in a row without exhausting my

MP pool? The number of available slots in my Item Box has also increased

accordingly. My current levels are as follows: Explorer Lv.6, Hero Lv.4 and

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Warrior Lv.4. Since Explorer has been set as my first Job, it should now

figure as my main Job on my Intelligence Card.

Usually labyrinth's often tend to have secret passages and hidden doors in

them, and this one was no exception from that rule. Way in the back of the

first floor there was a small room behind a hidden door. When you passed it,

you ended up in another small room similar to the one at the entrance. Just

like that one, it also had a number of branching pathways extending from it,

which created a truly magnificent maze. After checking every nook and

cranny at the first floor, I made my way over there. When I stopped in front

of one of the walls, a part of it made a rattling noise and then slowly slid

down, revealing the pathway I was looking for. I went through it to proceed

with my search. At first I didn't even realized that there was even a door

since all I did was going back and forth between the places I have already

explored. That was the safest method, but admittedly it was not very efficient,

so the discovery of that new hidden passage was truly a Godsend to me.

I might have not made any progress when it comes to the Bandit search, but

as a consolation prize the exploration of the Labyrinth entered a brand-new

stage!

Today my current excursion into the Labyrinth occurred towards the end of

the day, after I spend the daytime on another fruitless Bandit search in the

slums of Veil. I wanted to do so mainly to improve my mood as I waited for

the situation in the city to change.

I once again made my way to the end of the first floor and waited for the

portion of the wall to slide down, allowing me a passage to the hidden

section. I wanted to go inside immediately, but…

「...…」

But someone was already there.

Brown bodies with green heads. And not just two or three. There was so

many Needlewoods here that they could make an entire bush or a small forest

if they were to be placed beside each other, and they were all staring at me as

if they wanted to say 「What the fuck are you looking at?!」 , or 「You picked

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the wrong cave, fool!」.

「*Sigh*..... fuck.」

I said brandishing my Durandal as the enemies rushed towards me like an

army of green, spiky toddlers.

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Part 3

Even though the enemies had an overwhelming numbers advantage over me,

avoiding their attacks was nothing difficult. I avoided the ones coming at me

from the right by stepping to the side and pulling my right hand back, and

then I raised Durandal in front o f me to block the attacks that were coming at

me from the front. Then I spun around on my heel and sliced the monsters

around me in half from top to bottom.

At one point I thought about using Dungeon Walker to get myself some more

maneuvering space, but even with the complete chant the black portal on the

wall did not appear. I suspected that something like that might happen. Looks

like Dungeon walker cannot be used in the middle of combat. I should try

that again when there will be only one enemy, but for now let's ditch the

experiments and focus on the task at hand!

The number of enemies was much bigger than I have initially anticipated.

How many does that make now? A dozen? More than a dozen? Anyway,

there is just so many of them. I'm lucky that I began to fall back towards the

room's entrance, otherwise I would have been surrounded in no time.

Maybe I should really consider escaping? Unfortunately, that does not look

like a possibility here. With their numbers, even if I tried to make a run for it,

they would just come right after me and swarmed all over me. Nah, if I have

time to think about such what if's, then I should just divert the energy spent

for that towards cutting them all down.

I slashed at the Needlewood that came at me from the right. After that,

another Needlewood attacked me from the left, but I failed to block its attack

in time, which resulted in a sharp pain pulsating from my left shoulder.

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The entrance to the cave was small, but it will be impossible for me to keep

defending myself here all the time. If the battle goes any longer, then the

Needlewoods in here might call for reinforcements, causing me to be attacked

both from the front and the back. Maybe at the very least I should put my

back against the wall to protect it from a surprise attack?

I ignored the monsters to the left and moved to the right. I was wondering if I

should try using Overwhelming? No, I shouldn't do it just yet. If I end up

using all of my MP on ordinary mobs, I won't be able to cast Skills when I

will really need them.

I was beginning to get a little tired, but I did my best to push that feeling out

of my mind and continued to slash at the Needlewoods that tried to approach

me. I simply continued to hit the enemies before me with my Durandal. Next,

with my right foot planted firmly forward I started two-handing Durandal,

cutting down anything that dared to approach me, be it from the front, the

sides or the back. To be honest, it felt as if the time around me had slowed

down considerably.

As I continued to swing my arms I was moving fore=ward, step by step. All

this time I delivered painful attacks to the Needlewoods while sustaining very

little damage myself.

Finally I reached another small cavern. When I placed my back against the

wall, I have effectively reduced the monster's range of attack to only 180

degrees instead of 360. If I could freely move between all four corners of the

room that would allow me to reduce that range by another half, to 90 degrees,

but in my current situation such greed was probably ill-advised.

For a moment, my sudden movements were enough to disrupt the swarm of

enemies, but nothing I did was able to change the fact that they were still

coming in after me.

Soon there will be so many of them that they will completely fill up the cave,

leaving me no space to move myself.

I pulled back and fixed Durandal's position in my hands and blocked the

strike that was coming towards me from the left and whacked the

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Needlewood, but in return I was struck in my exposed right shoulder.

Guh!

Another slash took care of another two Needlewoods, but got me another hit,

this time on the left shoulder.

Gwaah!

Another monster was split diagonally from the shoulder, but its needles

pierced into my right side.

Damn this hurts like hell!

More and more of their attacks is hitting me. If this was still a one-on-one

fight I would not have been hit even once, but this is one vs. many here, with

me being at a clear disadvantage, so I do what I can, that is to say I swing

Durandal left and right, up and down. Thankfully Durandal has the MP

Absorption Skill, so if I wanted, I could have unleashed some of them just as

long as I'd have enough enemies left to replenish the MP I have spent. But

that goes only for MP. If I continue to get randomly hit like that, at some

point my HP is bound to get critically low to the point that not even HP

Absorption is going to recover it fast enough, and that is something that I

wanted to avoid at all costs.

*Sigh*… Alright, I guess it's time to pop Overwhelming. If using it can help

me get out of this sticky situation, then so be it!

Instead of expending all of Overwhelming's power in one strike, I tried to

suppress it so that I could use it continuously, and then slashed at the two

monsters that were the closest to me. When the Skill's effect ended, I have

slammed my back against the wall again. This might be working, but I still

have to be mindful of getting myself surrounded.

As I was moving along the wall to reach the room's corner on the right I

avoided another Needlewood that tried to slash me with its branches. Damn,

just when the Overwhelming's effects stopped working! And just 1

Needlewood won't be enough to get back the MP that I just used. As a result,

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I could feel my head being gradually filled with negative thoughts. Urgh, I

knew I should have used that damn Skill only when the MP bar has been

completely filled! Now I'll start acting more and more like an emo, and I

don't want that in the middle of the fucking combat! And the worst part here

is that if the negative thoughts begin to accumulate, they will have a huge

negative effect on my battle performance. On the other hand, even if it costs

me the mood swings, I should be using Overwhelming as much as I can to

cull the enemy's numbers as much as possible. Everything to come out on top

here.

Another attack came at me from the left so I deflected it, only to be struck in

the right shoulder again. For now HP Absorption manages to keep me afloat,

but I cannot feel relieved by that at all. If the barrage of enemy attacks

continues like that, the total damage should be enough to put me in the red

zone of my HP bar. I guess you could say that I'm balancing on a really,

reaaaally thin thread right now.

As it is now, the battle was going back and forth over and over again without

any clear sign that the impasse I have found myself at is going to be broken.

A certain thought has popped into my head. What if I die in here? Even

though this world is totally different from my old one, it is my new reality, so

being felled by monsters would spell the absolute, unavoidable death for me.

Death.

Death is close at hand. It's so close that I can practically feel its icy embrace

closing around me. It's scary, but at the same time it is not. I'm not shaking

in my boots, but I'm also not laughing about it either. Maybe that's because I

was in the middle of a battle? Is it always like that? Are warriors able to

calmly stare death right in the face and not feel a single thing?

The next few Needlewoods that came closer to me got sliced into pieces.

Even when some of their attacks manage to reach me and inflict damage I'm

letting it slide as long as I can reach them with my blade to get back the HP

that I lost. Little by little, this back and forth we're having is starting to create

a path that I can use to advance and move forward as I continue to slice &

dice the branches that aim for me and cut their owners with Durandal in

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return.

I guess that's all there really is to it. Even if death is literally knocking at my

door, all I can do is to continue to fight. So as I continue for another corner of

the room, I'm trying to defeat as many monsters as possible. And before I

knew it, the number of Needlewoods between me and the right corner of the

room were reduced to only two.

That is my chance!

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Part 4

I unleashed Overwhelming once again. First I slaughtered the Needlewood

right in front of me and immediately followed with a diagonal slash to the

right. The Skills effects have diminished by that point, but despite that I still

followed the previous two attacks with a third one where I raised Durandal

high into the air and slammed it into the ground with all my strength, slashing

the third Needlewood cleanly in half.

I finally arrived in the corner that I wanted to reach so desperately, all the

while avoiding the attacks of the monsters who were still right on my tail.

With this, the angle they can attack me from has been reduced to about 90

degrees. Lowering Durandal to the level of my waist, I looked through the

room to assess my current situation.

First thing I noticed almost right away was the enemy's numbers were greatly

reduced. I only saw that now because I actually had the time to look around

calmly, without having to swing Durandal left and right to avoid being

overrun by the brownish-green abominations. Now there was only ten or so

of them left. This made me realize that one of my earlier statements was a big

fat lie: while I thought I was staring death in the face calmly, I was never

calm at all. All this time I was simply thrashing around like a scared child

oblivious to everything that's been going on around it. If I just took a damn

moment to actually observe what was happening around me maybe I

wouldn't be so obsessed with going from corner to corner like an idiot. Yup,

my observational skills are truly of the Godly levels it seems.

The next thing I noticed was the fact that my hands were sweaty as fuck. Like

seriously, they are like friggin waterfalls right now. That's why I have to be

extremely careful. If I end up dropping Durandal, even by accident, that's

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probably going to be a game over for me. So I did the only thing I could have

done in this situation: even if I knew I'm going to get attacked, I wiped my

sweaty hands in my pants. Several vines of the Needle woods attacked me

during that short while, but there was nothing I could do about it, since that

was more important to me. I gripped Durandal again, this time with sweatfree hands and run to the right.

First I dispatched the farthest Needlewood to the right. Now that so many

enemies have been dispatched, I should be able to move however I want, or

in other words: Go wild with my OP as shit holy sword!

I jumped forward, swinging Durandal all around me, ruthlessly decimating

the branches that were shot in my direction. They are being cut down as if

they were no more than the blades of wilted grass, and their owners soon

follow after them. Continuing the battle with the leftover enemies in such a

manner, I kept on pressing forward.

Another two Needlewoods came at me from the front, so I cut them down.

Another one tried to ambush me from the left with its branches, but I dodged

them and immediately countered with a slash that went upwards and to the

left, and used the created momentum to deliver another powerful downward

slash that instantly killed another Needlewood in front of me.

There are only three enemies remaining.

I am not going to run away now, and it looks like they are not going to run

away either. I invoked Overwhelming again, defeating two of them with a

single slash of my sword.

Only one enemy remaining now.

It rushed towards me head-on with its spiky army and vines, but before they

could so much as reach me, I strongly stepped down with my left foot and

swung Durandal from the last Needlewood's left shoulder all the way to its

right leg.

「Haaah…」

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When it was all over, I finally had the time to catch my breath in peace. That

should be all of them, right? I have defeated all of the monsters that

ambushed me back in that room, right? Apparently that has to be the case,

because when the last of the Needlewoods finally evaporated into a puff of

green smoke, there was no more of them coming out to get me. Even though

it was finally all over, it still took me a good while for my ragged breath to

return to normal.

Okay…now that that's taken care of… maybe I'll finally have a chance… to

look around the room I am currently in.

Characteristics-wise, it was the same small cave as all the other caves I have

passed through on this floor. Same walls, same ceiling and the same doorway

that you would find in the other parts of this Labyrinth, in other words:

everything here was perfectly ordinary, except that the floor was now littered

with the branches that all of the defeated Needlewoods left behind when they

perished by my sword.

Is there anything else here that's noteworthy? No, I don't think so. I mean, it

would be great if a treasure chest or a piece of some legendary equipment

were to appear before me right now, but come on, what are the odds of

something like that happening? But just in case…

As I went around the room collecting Needlewood Branches from the ground

I made sure to scan the entire area with my sight again, but regrettably I have

truly found one big pile of nothing. So was that simply a room filled with

monsters? Because if so, then that's truly a pity. That was the worst random

event I could have stumbled upon here. Let's face the facts here: if I didn't

have Durandal with its OP as fuck abilities with me, I would have been killed

like some random rookie Adventurer who wandered into the Dungeon

unprepared, underlevelled and underequipped because he thought that

everything's going to work out just fine because that's the first Dungeon in

the game, only to be brutally buttraped by reality (TL NOTE: Looking at

you, Goblin Slayer). This Labyrinth… I have to admit that it is much more

dangerous than I have initially anticipated.

Does that mean I should just ran away from here with my tail tucked between

my legs? Absolutely not! As long as I have Durandal and my Skills, I can

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still fight, even if the enemies might be stronger than me. I have already made

my decision to live in this world, so I cannot allow a minor setback such as

this to discourage me from going forward!

I finished gathering all the branches, and since there's nothing else here in

this room, I'd best be on my way. I already wasted enough time here as it is.

I brought up the Job Settings menu. My current levels are as follows:

Explorer Lv.8; Hero Lv. 5, Warrior Lv.6, Villager Lv.5, Merchant Lv.1 ,

Swordsman Lv.10. I also didn't get any new Jobs, which is strange, because I

was sure that singlehandedly defeating so many monsters was bound to get

me at least one new Job. Also, the levels of my Jobs start to look really nice.

Not to mention that when I used that last Overwhelming during the end of the

battle, I wasn't feeling depressed or swarmed by the dark thoughts. That was

probably due to the fact that my level had increased and my MP regenerated

at that moment. That would also explain why am I not experiencing that

gradual feeling of mental recovery that I used to feel whenever my MP was

going back to the certain amount.

It is a little bit early, but let's leave the Labyrinth for now. After a round of

walking around the town I returned to the inn. As expected, I caught no sign

of bandits at all. If I want to find them, I guess I'll have no other option but to

go deeper into the slums.

「I'd like to rent a room for another night. I'll also be having a dinner, and

after that, give me a some hot water and a lamp.」

「As you wish, kid. So a diner, hot water and a lamp… you know what, I'm

feeling generous today, so I'll be charging you only 245 Nar for all of that.」

The Innkeeper told me. A single batch of hot water costs 20 Nar, and If I'm

remembering correctly the rent for the lamp (an oil lamp, by the way) was

certainly 10 Nar. Curiously enough, when I bought the hot water yesterday

my 30% discount didn't work, but today it worked like a charm! Maybe the

discount is not taking effect if you're only buying a single item? That is a

possibility that I'll have to check later.

「Do I have to show you my Intelligence Card again?」

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「No need for that if you're renewing your stay. Your room is the same one as

before, do go ahead and enjoy our stay.」

And he offered me a familiar key, which I took upstairs, feeling glad that I

won't have to flash my Intelligence Card every time I'll be renewing my stay

here.

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Part 5

After I ate my meal and returned to my room to have a short rest, there was

this thought that stuck in my head and didn't want to leave no matter how

hard I tried to divert my attention away from it.

Whether it's my death or the death of a common Bandit or even an ordinary

citizen or members of the nobility, this world is the one where death is

incredibly cheap and easy to come across. And whether I like it or not, I have

to live in such a world now. This is one thing that is similar to my old world:

if someone is standing in your way, all you have to do to ruin that someone's

life it to make him a criminal in the eyes of the public, and that would be

enough for his reputation to be destroyed. As much as I want to say that it's

nice to see that some things do not change even in different worlds, this is

one thing that I would have gladly got ridden of.

And speaking of criminals, it would seem that I have no other option but to

go deeper into the slum area if I want to find where the Bandits are hiding.

What was that old saying again? "You won't catch the tiger's cub if you

won't enter its den" or something like that? Or was it actually "You won't get

a fetus unless you stick it in the hole"?

Anyway, after leaving the inn I made my way to the slums, but instead of

only lurking around its edges this time I actually went inside, making my way

to the north along the slums' "main road". Along the way, I saw that one of

the street corners was especially bright and lively. It was a building like any

other, about one story high with the entrance and the windows facing the

road, but that was most definitely a brothel. How can I be so sure of that?

Well for starters, the woman standing in front of the building had only the

bare minimum of clothing covering her body, and the other similarly dressed

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women were peeking from the windows on the first floor, seductively

beckoning any men who were passing by to come inside. I have to admit, it

all looked very inviting, totally different than it was during the daytime, and

if I wasn't warned about the dangers of such establishments before, maybe I

would have allowed myself to be swallowed up by that atmosphere and my

adolescent desires as well…

No! I didn't come here to visit brothels! I am on a much more important

mission! I won't be entering, but maybe, just maybe I could look at them

girls some more… oh man this is exciting. Just from looking at them

practically flashing all the goods out in the open like that my heart is racing

like crazy…

Wait. Dude, just stop, take a deep breath and calm yourself down! Remember

the warning you claimed to have known not even a minute ago. If you go

there, you will most certainly catch some nasty illness. You also might end

up ripped off and robbed. So what is the obvious solution to all those

problems? A very simple one: NOT GOING INSIDE! Besides, those

prostitutes might be attractive, but upon closer inspection none of them is as

beautiful as Roxanne, so even if I did entered the brothel I don't think I'd be

satisfied with any of the girls in there. So instead, I decided to keep my

distance and eavesdrop on the prostitutes in front of the building. Who

knows, maybe I'll be able to learn something interesting? Assuming that the

bustling of the main street will allow me to hear a damn thing.

Thankfully, the noise of the surroundings wasn't the problem in the slightest,

but another obstacle has presented itself before me: I can't understand a word

of what that prostitute was saying. I heard her talking without any issue, but

she was not speaking in Brahim. She was using some language that was

totally unknown to me. In fact, none of the people around the brothel seemed

to be speaking in Brahim at all! I guess I wasn't paying attention to that little

detail up until this point because I could communicate with the Innkeeper and

the workers in the guilds just fine, but it looks like the linguistic situation is

the same here as it was back in the village: the people who are able to speak

Brahim appear to be a strict minority. Instead, they must be speaking with a

language, or perhaps a dialect used only by the locals. Well, if I search

around some more, then maybe I'll be able to find a prostitute who actually

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speaks Brahim, so that might be worth a shot.

I wandered around the slums until the light in my rented lantern went out, and

then decided to head back to the inn by using Warp. I could have returned

back on foot, but after concluding that strolling around the slums without any

light at such an hour might not be the best idea I decided against it. Besides,

even if I had to back on foot, I don't know if I could find my way around the

slums in complete darkness. I could probably get back to the brothel area

because it was not that far away from the main part of the city, but anything

other than that would just be plain risky.

In order not to attract any needles attention to myself I warped behind the inn

and then casually went to the front. After returning the lantern to the

Innkeeper, I went back to my room to catch some z's.

I woke up around midnight, went to the lobby, left the key at the counter and

headed for the slums one more time. The Innkeeper game me a glance, but

didn't ask any further questions. The streets were dark as all hell, but I

managed to go back to the brothel area without much difficulty. I wanted to

eavesdrop on the prostitutes again, but it looks like all of them either went to

sleep of retreated to the brothel's rooms with the customers they manage to

score for themselves. Welp, in that case, let's scan the surroundings with

Identify, maybe that is going to yield some results.

The information of a single person appeared before my eyes. So there is

someone here after all. Also, I already kinda knew it from my excursions to

the Labyrinth, but it looks like the ability to Identify something does not

depend on the light in your immediate surroundings, since Identify also

worked in the dim light of the caverns.

The person I detected was a lone 26 years old Villager woman. It looked like

she was some distance away from me, but in this darkness I couldn't tell

exactly how far it really was. But that is not important right now. The biggest

question tha has to be answered right now is: what the hell is she doing alone

in such a place at such an odd hour?

I tried to follow her while making as little noise as possible, but after a few

steps I had to duck behind one of the nearby house's walls because the corner

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of the building on the other side of the street has suddenly became very

bright. Looks like someone who was carrying a torch was coming in the

direction of the woman.

There were three men in total. And their designation… Bandits! All three of

them are labeled as Bandits! That is the first time I have actually found

Bandits ever since I've come to this town a few days ago. But their levels are

quite low. All of them had a single digits. Out of all the Bandits who attacked

the village, only two of them had decent prizes for their heads: the Bandit

Leader and the guy who looked like his second-in-command, in other words,

the only Bandits who had their levels consisting of two digits. By the looks of

it, if the Bandit does not have a level consisting of at least two digits, so

Lv.10 at minimum, the prize for slaying him will be so laughably miniscule

that hunting them almost seems like a waste of one's time.

The three Bandits began to move apart from one another, but close enough to

each other to stay withing the light of their torches and jump at the potential

prey should the need arose. Man, I already feel sorry for whoever is going to

stumble upon them. I was seriously contemplating if I should just get the fuck

out of there by using Warp when I heard someone scream. Alerted, the three

Bandits turned their heads sharply and headed for the scream's source. But

who could have been…

Oh no. Oh fuck. Oh fuck no.

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Part 6

As the three Bandits moved forward the light of their torches eventually

revealed the presence of the Villager woman to them. She tried run away, but

she tripped over her own legs and hit the ground pretty hard after only a few

meters.

[ X X X X! X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X!] [X X X! X X

X X X X X! X X X X X X X X X X!] [X X! X X X X X X! X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X!]

The Bandits caught up to her in no time. They slowly surrounded her while

screaming at her. I couldn't make up the exact words, but I was sure they

were mocking her.

[X X X X X X!!!]

After another scream, one of the Bandits kicked the woman in the stomach so

hard that she ended up coughing up blood. The other two followed after him

and joined in on the "fun", even though the woman was already on the verge

of losing consciousness after that first kick. Eventually the one who started

the beatdown, the guy who looked like he was the boss of the other two

grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her away into one of the back

alleyways.

[Now we're going to have some fun. And you can be sure that we'll take our

sweet time with you!]

The man, a Lv.9 Bandit spoke in Brahim. He and his comrades dragged the

woman behind another corner, and then the light of their torches slowly

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disappeared as they kept on getting farther and farther away.

After that incident, the area became silent again. Almost eerily so.

The Bandits are now gone, so I can probably leave my hiding spot. There's

no one here who would be alerted by my presence anymore, so I can stop

worrying about that. But what I have witnessed right now… that was a rather

unpleasant experience. I didn't like it one bit, and I'm not happy that I saw it.

Even though it was kinda her fault for walking alone around such dangerous

neighborhood this late at night, I don't think that girl was a whore. She was

probably just a regular citizen who happened to be at the wrong place at the

wrong time. If she was not a prostitute going back to her brothel from visiting

a customer, then maybe she was just visiting a friend and ended up staying at

their place too late? Whatever her reasons might have been, they are not

important now. What matters is that due to her misfortune she got beaten up,

and now she will probably become a plaything for those guys.

Of course, I'm not proud of myself for not helping her, but even if I tried to

do so, attacking those three blindly would have been a bad idea. That group

only consisted of three Bandits, but who knows if there are no other, larger

groups nearby. It's true that I want to find Bandits so I can take them down

and collect the prize money, but nothing good would come to me from

recklessly starting a war with them without any information about them.

At the very least, that encounter showed me that they are a violent bunch.

Maybe that violent tendencies were one of the reasons for their banishment

from the city? I also pretty much confirmed that they are present in the slums,

and that they are quite possibly ruling it from the shadows with an iron grip

of violence.

With the knowledge that I have obtained from this chance encounter, my

current plan of action will be as follows: wait until tomorrow night and go to

the part of the slams with the brothels (let's call it brothel district) around the

same hour as today. If I happened upon three random. Bandits by a complete

accident, then if I play my cards right I may be able to find the Bandits that

I'm looking for.

And just like that, after going back to the inn and sleeping until morning I've

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spent the majority of the day in the Labyrinth (making sure to avoid any

suspicious-looking pathways in order not to bring another ordeal like that

previous one down on myself, and after that I got back to my room and slept

until dinnertime.

And now, sometime after midnight, my mission to infiltrate the brothel

district in search of the source of the Bandits begins!

My first observation: even though the brothel district is quite busy, the

closing hours come relatively fast. I wonder if that is a principle that holds

true for all the brothels in this world, or is it a phenomenon unique only to the

ones in Veil? Well, I call them closing hours, but I'm sure that just means

that some of the richer customers simply stay in them overnight. Come to

think of it, that's actually a pretty valid strategy: get as many potential

customers right before the closing hours arrive and coerce them into staying

the entire night, adequately increased prices be damned.

The hour was late, the shops were closed, and no people to be seen walking

around on the streets. A perfect time for the Bandits to start appearing out of

nowhere, and they did. So my initial assumption was correct: they really do

come out during the nighttime, I just failed to nail the approximate hour

correctly. Now they were casually walking around the streets like they owned

the place, unafraid of being found out by the guards, because let's face it, no

guardsmen with his sanity still intact would willingly go on a patrol to the

slums in the dead of the night. Some of them simply walked around, and

some of them were entering bars and houses that I thought were long closed.

So it looks like that they have their own places for entertainment, hidden

away from the prying eyes of those who would seek to deliver them to

justice. If I hadn't decided to come here this late, I would have never learned

that valuable piece of information. But that is still not enough for me to just

go and randomly attack them.

For now I have to continue observing them from the safe distance.

Observation number 2: the Bandits who wander around the slums probably

do not belong to a single group, but must be divided into separate ones that

might be rivaling one another. I have arrived at that conclusion after

witnessing that some of the smaller groups of Bandits avoided making any

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kind of contact with certain other groups, and that not every group was going

to all the establishments opened for criminals. Maybe that has to something

with some kinda turf wars between them? Anyway I didn't bring any lanterns

with me this time, so as long as I stick to the shadows I probably won't have

to worry about being caught.

Some of the Bandits walked together and were chatting with each other, but

those were always the ones who were dressed in similarly looking attires of

possessing some article of clothing that made them distinguishingly different

from the others, and it would seem that those groups were going in circles

around specific areas while maintaining a safe distance from the other groups.

Maybe they really are patrolling their respective territories?

The ones I am tailing now wear the same clothes that that the Lv.9 guys I

have encountered yesterday wore, and the area that they are going around is

close to the place where they ganged up on that 26 years old Villager woman.

Is this their territory? If so, then it does not seem to be very wide.

After tailing them for a few more rounds, I had a stroke of luck, because the

guys I have been following actually met with the Bandit from yesterday who

could speak Brahim! Awaiting how the situation was going to develop, I

gently approached them while making sure that my presence was being

obscured by the darkness the entire time. Maybe their territory really is that

small, or maybe there is just not that many people patrolling it at the moment,

but this is definitely near the place I saw the Brahim speaking guy yesterday,

so could it be that their hideout is somewhere nearby? If that is the case, then

maybe their group really isn't that big after all. If so, then maybe I'd actually

have a fighting chance against them?

[X X X X X Hugo X X X X X.]

Well that's something new. Another Bandit from a different group has

appeared, and he started talking with my Lv.9 target, but not in Brahim so I

obviously couldn't understand a word they were saying and that was driving

me nuts! Just what are you bastards talking about?! I didn't come this far to

be cockblocked at the point of entry now!

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Part 7

Huh? Did I just hear that correctly? I could swear that in the middle of the

sentence that I couldn't make heads or tails of. I heard a single word that I

was able to understand: Hugo. Or was it just my imagination? Hugo. Hmm…

If I remember correctly, that was the name of the Bandit Leader who attacked

the village together with his people. There could be no doubt about it,

because back when we were making appraisals after the battle ended that was

the name that was present on the Bandit Leader's Intelligence Card. Why did

his name come up now of all times? And another question: is the leader of

those Lv.9 Bandits also one of the criminals who were cast out of the city, or

is he perhaps just someone related to them, but not directly involved?

A few hours later, just before dawn when it was still dark I went to the back

of the brothel district again. But this time instead of walking all the way there

I used Warp to teleport there in an instant. Apparently as long as it was a

place that you saw with your own eyes, you could use Warp to get there

without any issues. In other words, it's like I have my very own fast travel

system.

I warped to the back of the building that was at the opposite side of the street

to the brothel. It was the perfect observation spot, since even during the day

most of that building was hidden in the pitch black shade. The only part of it

that was a little brighter was the eastern part. While camping there, I patiently

waited for the sun to rise and for the people to leave the brothel after the night

they had spent there.

Most of the people who were leaving the building were labeled as Male

Villagers. Wow, who knew that so many of them were using such

establishments? Then again, seeing as how this world is modeled after the

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middle ages, perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised. Most of them were

carrying lanterns in one of their hands, most probably the one they brought

with them yesterday night. Understandably, I didn't brought my own with me

again in order to avoid gaining too much attention. When the men were

leaving the brothel, almost all of them were making their way towards the

exit from the slums. The lights of the lanterns they were carrying around with

them were a real hindrance, making it difficult to get a good look at their

faces, and that makes my investigation that much more difficult. If I could

just see the faces of the customers who were leaving the brothel, then maybe

I could spot someone suspicious or someone whose face practically screams

"Hey, I'm a criminal!". Not to mention that the Bandits might be hiding their

Bandit Job in the same way I have kept my Thief Job hidden from everyone.

That's why for the current moment the visual clues might be my best bet, but

as I have already said, those pesky lanterns are not exactly making my job

any easier! Ugh, if only they didn't have as many of them! Why did they

even bother with setting the light in them again when the sun is going to be

illuminating the entire slum any minute now?! Sigh, now when my initial

plan has officially gone out the window, I guess there's no reason for me to

stay here in this corner anymore, so I left my hiding spot and proceeded to

walk along the street, just like everybody else around me. Using the

increasing stream of people to blend into the surroundings of the slums I

made my way across the brothel district, but before I go anywhere else I have

to check that alleyway where the Villager woman has been dragged by the

Bandits.

The alley itself was a rather short one, and at the and of it was a perfectly

ordinary one story house. This clearly isn't a brothel. Maybe this is the

Bandit's hideout? It certainly doesn't look like it, but it is exactly that quality

that makes that option all the more viable. I can't just stand outside of it and

stare mindlessly, so I will just pass it by without stopping or glancing in its

general direction.

I just noticed it right now, but in the morning the brothel district looks like a

perfectly normal town, all things considered. It certainly doesn't feel like a

part of the slums. I guess it has to do so, because if it reeked like the rest of

the slums then no one would want to visit it, since normal citizens want

nothing to do with the poorer parts of the city at all. I hanged around the

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slums for a bit more and then once again headed back to the inn. I went out

there again during the proper daytime, but I couldn't spot any thieves at all.

As expected, they must be holed up in their hideouts throughout the day.

[One night with dinner, hot water after the meal.] [As you wish. One night

stay with dinner and hot water. And since you've been behaving so far and

you're not stirring any trouble, then I'll give you a special discount. 238 Nar

please.]

That was the exchange I had with the Innkeeper as soon as I returned to the

inn in the evening. This time I got a discount even without asking him to

borrow the lamp. Looks like the only time when my 30% discount is not

kicking in is when I ask him for just the hot water and nothing else.

[You know, a few days ago there was a murder not that far away from here.]

Under the guise of striking a casual conversation I wanted to see if I could get

some useful information out of him.

[Ahh, that incident, huh? You don't have to worry about anything as long as

you're staying here since this place is one of the safest in the entire city, even

more so if you're staying away from the slums and its brothels.] [How can

you be so sure of that?]

He really seems to know something. If that's the case, then I want him to spill

as much beans as possible. The knowledge he is privy to might be the exact

thing needed for the continuous peaceful existence of this inn and it's guests,

and who knows, maybe even the inns and their guests around the entire city?

[That was a part of a battle for the influence between the criminals nesting in

the slums. ] [Really? Well I heard something entirely different. From what I

have heard, the victim was killed as a part of the vendetta the Bandits of the

slums are carrying out against those who banished them from the city.] [Oh,

so you know that much, huh? Okay, just between you and me, that is a load

of horse shit. A hoax.]

The innkeeper said to me, leaning over the counter and lowering his voice to

a barely audible whisper.

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So that murder wasn't for revenge?

[Uhm, could you perhaps… go into a little bit more detail about that?] [So

basically some time ago, the slums were divided between the two groups who

fought with each other for dominance. As the result of that conflict, the

faction that lost got cast out of the town by the one that bested them. And in

order to vent their frustration over losing what they believed will always

belong to them, the banished faction attacked some small village outside near

Veil.]

Small village? Bandit attack? Uh-huh, looks like the pieces of the puzzle are

slowly falling into the right places. He must be taking about the group that I

killed when I first arrived in this world.

[So then…] [Yup, the poor sap that got offed the other day belonged to the

group that emerged victorious from that turf war. I know that rumors state

that he was killed in revenge, but to me that seems very unlikely and

suspicious. My money's on the bet that one of the other groups is responsible

for it. Worst case scenario, we might even be on the precipice of another turf

war in the slums. But enough digressing. To answer your question: no, that

murder does not look like the work of the Bandits who were cast out.]

Well I'll be damned if that conflict between Bandits is not complicated as

hell.

[Is that conflict still going on?] [Nobody knows for sure. But as messy as the

slums may be, no one from them would dare to cause trouble for the city in

broad daylight with the Knights watching them. That's why we are all safe

here, kid.]

I'm sure that's his catchphrase when he's trying to get himself new

customers, but it was still reassuring to hear. With all the things that he

knows, maybe he'll finally be the one who will point me in the right direction

when it comes to finding the Bandits.

[If the Knights have an eye on the slums, then wouldn't it be better for them

to go and kill all the Bandits that are hiding in town? Because I was under the

impression that they want to totally annihilate them.] [Oh, they will surely

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annihilate them, kiddo. Right after they're done with throwing everyone

who's littering behind bars and ridding the city of its rat problem. See?

Simplicity itself!]

And the Innkeeper laughed through his nose. So I guess the Knights are

unable to do anything of importance when it comes to the Bandit problem,

and it's the open secret among the citizens of Veil. Kinda like the police back

in Japan, actually.

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Part 8

Putting the matter of the usefulness of the Knights aside, if what the Bandits

are after is not revenge for being cast out from the city, then wouldn't that

mean that I'm going to be targeted as the one who killed the group that

attacked the village after all?

The next day, I went to the slums a little earlier, sometime before midnight.

The promised day of my payment to the Slave Merchant is almost upon me,

so I have to do something about the rest of the money for Roxanne's

purchase today.

Once again I went out without borrowing a lantern, and observed my

surroundings while blending in with the darkness around me.

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It took me some time, but I finally found him near the house in the alley I

discovered yesterday: The Lv.9 Bandit who dragged that woman away, the

one who was able to speak Brahim. He was leaning against the house's door,

probably standing on guard duty, but luckily for me it doesn't look like he's

got company. Assuming that we're alone in here, I called out to him.

「Have a minute to spare?」

「Who the fuck are you?」

「No one in particular. And certainly no one suspicious.」

Yeah, that's the most suspicious line in the book. You can't get any more

suspicious than that even if you tried.

「The fuck do you want?」

The Bandit lifted the lantern he was holding in one hand to illuminate me. I

on the other hand could not see his face at all, since he was weraing a hooded

cloak that covered the entirety of his face.

「I want you to tell me something. But not for free of course. I assume you

know what this is?」

I reached under my own cloak and produced the Bandit Bandana from under

it.

「This is…!」

「Tell me what I want to know, and I'll be willing to part with it for as little as

one gold coin.」

「Just one coin, huh? Alright, what do you want to hear?」

「Tell me about Hugo.」

As I suspected, just showing the Bandit Bandana to this guy loosened his lips

immidiately. Offering it to him at such a dirt-cheap price was a nice finishing

blow on my part as well. After all, if what I learned about the Bandit Bandana

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is true, meaning that it amplifies the abilities of whoever is wearing it as long

as he or she has one of the criminal Jobs, I'm willing to bet that he would pay

every amount of money to get his hands on it, even if I wanted 10,000 or 20,

000 Nar for it.

「It would seem that Hugo Boss got killed. (TL Note: the term used here is

"Aniki", a word used to describe a Yakuza of older, or senior rank

within the family, and is said as a title of respect from a lower ranking

family member to a higher, therefore the word "Boss" is used here

instead.)」

「I see, so he's dead, huh? Could you go into more details about that? I'm

afraid I didn't hear the full story of how it happened.」

After feigning feeling sorry for the dead Bandit, I asked the one in front of

me to continue. So the Hugo who got killed must be the same one that I heard

him being mentioned last time in that conversation I have been eveasdroping

on. That must be the name of the Bandit Chief whom I have killed during the

attack on the village. Since this guy called him Boss then I guess he was

either on friendly terms with him or respected him a great deal. If he was a

member of one of the factions opposed to the one this Bandit in front of me

belonged to then he wouldn't be talking about his death with such sorrowful

voice. So in order to get on this guy's good side, let's keep the act of me

feeling sorry for his loss a bit more.

「Sounds good to me. I'm keeping the dough in my room, so we're going to

continue our talk there. What do you say to that?」

「No objections here.」

I nodded in agreement. The man started walking, and I followed after him as

he entered the house. So that really is a Bandit's hideout then? I had my

suspicions about it, but I thought it would be too convenient to actually be

true. But hey, if life's handing me an easy solution to my current problems

then of course I'll take it without a second thought! This is so convenient for

me, and worked out better than I expected. As I follow the bandit inside the

house, I'm darting left and right with my eyes to check my surroundings and

keep my sword arm steady. If I get a good look at this place, I will be able to

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add it as one more location I can warp to should the need for that ever arises.

「Wait here for a bit. I'll go get the money.」

「'Kay.」

The man told me to wait as we proceeded down the hallway. We stopped in

front of the door at the very end when he told me to wait outside. He then

opened the door and entered inside. Before he closed the door behind him,

the light of his lantern illuminated the inside of the room just enough so that I

could also have a good look at it. The more spots for me to warp to in case of

an emergency, the better.

「Sorry about that. That was the leader's room. Today's my turn to keep

watch, so I also have to check up on him every once in a while. Good thing

that he's a super heavy sleeper. He also knew Hugo Boss, you know? Want

to greet him later?」

He told me when he came back to me. The faction he belongs to really must

not be a hostile one.

「That would be nice.」

After that, I followed the Bandit without saying anything. Arriving in one of

the other rooms, the Bandit laid down the lantern and looked back at me. His

lantern was shaped like a square without a lid. When I peeked at it from

above, I could see the small flame as it flickered about. I guess this has to be

this guy's room. Other than a simple bed there was pretty much nothing else

in here. Now this is a one bleak room. Compared to this one, even my room

back at the inn has more things in it.

「Before I give you the money, I want to confirm that this is really a Bandit

Bandana and not some kinda fake. You don't mind that, do you?」

「Sure. Just a second.」

I reached under my cloak to take the Bandit Bandana out…

「Kuh…!」

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Suddenly, the guy swung his fist towards me! I dodged the blow at the last

possible moment, but as a result, the Scimitar I was carrying on my waistbelt

was now being held by the Bandit. He must've snatched it away from me

when I was busy avoiding his punch.

「That Hugo really was a moron. I assume you know about the turf war that

happened some time ago, right? The one who was supposed to emerge

victorious from it was supposed to be him, so my faction joined forces with

another to get rid of that pest! We only wanted him out of the city so that he

wouldn't get in our way anymore, but imagine my surprise when I heard that

he tried to raid some random village and failed, actually getting offed in the

process! I swear, I thought I was going to laugh my balls of when I heard

that!」

「I see.」

「That I'm going to get my hands on the Bandit Bandana, I will become a

force to be reckoned with! But I'm not just going to stop at taking control of

the slums, oh no! My ambitions are bigger than that! Much, much bigger! It's

no use trying to escape, kid. Nobody else is here beside us, nobody saw us

coming in here, and nobody is going to come to your rescue. Now, hand over

the Bandit Bandana and don't try to do anything stupid, or else.」

Now that he mentions it, I really haven't seen anyone else since we entered

the house.

What this guy said just now matched with my own information. I also think it

is safe to assume that his aim was to steal the Bandit Bandana from me this

entire time. That is why he has brought me here to this secluded place away

from the eyes of other people. He can rob me of my item here and then kill

me, and no one would ever noticed that anything happened here at all. He

probably didn't even bring any money for that little act of his. But if he

thinks he's got me cornered, than boy do I have news for him!

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Part 9

「Well, I thought you might try to pull something like that off since you kept

glancing at my waist as if you knew that I am carrying a weapon there.」

「Oh really? And how is that going to help you now that you don't have any

weapon on you? Or are you saying that you're going to fight me barehanded?」

「I'm not that suicidal yet. I'll give you the Bandit Bandana.」

I placed my right hand under the mantle again in search of the Bandit

Bandana while hiding my left hand behind my waist in such a way that he

wouldn't notice. As far as this guy is concerned, I'm just rummaging through

my belongings in search of the item he wanted. Good, let the poor dimwit

think that, because unbeknownst to him, I do have another weapon on me, I

just don't have it equipped yet.

Keeping the Bandit Bandana in my right hand, I showed it to the Bandit who

reached out for it. But before he could claim his prize, I threw the Bandana

into the lantern's flame.

「WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!」

And he rushed towards the lantern to try and salvage the Bandit Bandana

before the flames consumed it. That was his final mistake.

「.....! Gh…aaaaaa….」

He didn't even realize what was going on until he looked at his own chest,

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out of which the Durandal's blade was now protruding. That's right, when he

was overcome with panic at the prospect of losing the Bandit Bandana and

showed his back to me, I used that moment to summon Durandal into my left

hand and stab him in the back. I wasn't putting much attention to where I was

stabbing him, but I think I either got him straight through the heart, or

somewhere around it. I killed him when there was no one around to witness

it, just like he wanted to do with me. Turns out that we both had the same

idea in our minds.

Soiled with his own blood, the Bandit's body fell to the ground with a silent

*thud*. Bandit Bandana was also consumed by the flames, but I didn't

consider that to be that much of a loss. I wasn't going to wear it myself

because of the stigma it would have inevitably brought down on me, and

selling it at a high price would be extremely difficult too. But I gotta say,

using it as Bait to upset this guy so much that he would drop down his guard

was a brilliant idea on my side. I was worried that this little provocation

might fail, but apparently the Bandit Bandana is of such a high value to the

criminals that they are willing to risk their goddamn lives to get their hands

on it. And speaking of hands, I picked up the Scimitar that the dead Bandit

dropped and cut off his left hand with it. Next, I wrapped a piece of the

bedsheet around the wound to stop it from bleeding and then placed the

Bandit's body in the bed and covered it with the sheets. Now it's looking like

he's just sleeping, so that should delay the discovery of his body for at least

some time. I waited until the Bandit bandana Burned completely and then put

out the lantern's flame. Now I can warp to the room where the big cheese is

supposed to be sleeping.

The room was pitch black, making it impossible to see farther than my

outstretched hand. There was no light source in my immediate vicinity, and

nothing was making any sound. No, wait, actually, I do hear something if I

listen calmly. It's the sound of the breathing of someone who is asleep.

Someone is here with me after all! I used Identify to carefully apprise my

surroundings. Man, I am thankful to whoever it was who designed the

Identify in such a way that it can be used even without any light around the

user.

There was a total of four people in here: Lv.11, Lv.14, Lv.35 and Lv.38

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Bandits. A little surprising, but it shouldn't be anything that I wouldn't be

able to handle with my Durandal. The levels of the Bandits are not that high,

but they should be enough to fetch me a nice prize money after I'll dispose of

them. Now, the room itself may be bathed in darkness, but thanks to Identify

I also know where the enemies are in relation to my own position. Two of

them, Lv.38 and Lv.14 are in the back, and lv.11 and lv.35 are in the front of

the room. They are sleeping in two male/female pairs. Oh, la la, looks like

somebody was enjoying themselves last night.

Okay, there's no telling when any of them might wake up, so I'll have to

move as quietly as possible. Slowly but surely, one foot in front of the other

to avoid tripping over them like some kinda idiot.

First, I made my way towards the Lv.35 and Lv.11 pair. I crouched next to

their bed and poked them lightly with my fingers to determine if I am at their

feet side or head side. Yup, those are their feet. Moving to the other side it is

then. When I got to the right side, I confirmed the position of the Bandit's

neck and placed Durandal on it. All that is left to do now is to pull the blade

towards me as strongly and quietly as possible.

*SLIIIIIIIIIIIIT!*

The sound of the skin being cut open was so silent that I was the only one

who could hear it. The Bandit died without uttering as much as a single word

because I cleanly cut all of the arteries in his neck. With hat out of the way, I

proceeded to cut off his left hand. I mustn't forget why I'm here. Not to

defeat the Bandits, but to claim their Intelligence Cards. With the second

wrist in tow I opened the Item Box and placed it in the same slot as the first

wrist, and wrapped the body in the sheets. Since this Bandit was Lv.35, I'm

bound to get a nice sum of money for his Intelligence Card, I'm sure of it.

Now to collect the Card of that other Bandit. And if something unexpected

happens, I can always run away with Warp. I moved to the other side of the

bed and placed Durandal's blade at the Lv.11 female Bandit's neck. This time

I pulled it diagonally upwards.

「Gu...!」

The female Bandit moaned weakly. Looks like I overdid it this time because I

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pushed the hip of the blade further than I have originally intended and

misjudged the distance. The second Bandit is dead, but there are still two of

them remaining. And with that moan just now, there's no telling if they won't

wake up, so I grabbed the third wrist and made my way to the other bed as

fast and quietly as possible…

「Ugh… who's there…?」

The other woman's voice echoed throughout the room. Fuck, so she woke up

after all! I confirmed her exact position with Identify, and cut off her head

with one swing of Durandal. The head fell onto the bed without making any

sound, but even so I heard that something was moving hurriedly across the

bed. That must be the Lv.38 Bandit attempting to escape. He rolled of the bed

and hit the ground pretty hard, but seconds after that I heard the sound of

something being picked up and swung around. Looks like my current enemy

equipped himself with a Copper Sword. It must have been hidden under the

bed. Dude, I understand that you might be confused, but who in their right

mind would be grabbing a sword first thing after being awoken?! Were you

assuming that you might get attacked in your sleep?! Anyway, this puts me at

a disadvantage here. I don't know the exact layout of the room, so the wisest

option is to fall back to the corridor where I will have more space to move

around. So, I warped there without a second thought and waited outside the

door. Just like the room, the corridor was now pitch black. I readied my

sword, assumed the stance and braced myself.

Seconds later, the door to the room where the Bandits slept seemed to have

opened with a *click* sound. The real question is: what should I do now? If I

allow the is Lv.38 Bandit to leave the room, he's surely going to try and call

for help, assuming that there are still more people in here. If I allow him to do

it, I will learn their location, which will in tur allow me to take their

Intelligence Cards if their levels will be high enough. But that option might

as well backfire against me if the numbers of the enemies will be too great for

me to handle by myself. No, that is a risk that I absolutely cannot take.

Alright then, I'm offing this guy as soon as he walks out of that door.

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Part 10

I waited until the last possible second and thrusted Durandal forward the

moment the Bandit's silhouette appeared out of the door. Durandal's blade

pierced the guy's chest as if it was made of melted butter instead of flesh and

bone. But when it came to getting it out of there, I felt a good amount of

resistance before I finally succeeded. The lv.38 Bandit's body hits the

ground. I cut of his left wrist and placed the body back in the room. With the

Bandit's wrist in tow I went back to the corridor.

I could hear noises coming from the outside. I should have seen it coming

that defeating the four Bandits in a not-exactly-stealthy manner is going to

attracts unwanted attention sooner rather than later. Perhaps some of the

Bandits outside heard the commotion we were making and they were now

rushing in to check what has happened? I looked around the corridor with

Identify. It showed that there was no more Bandits around in my immediate

surroundings. The only thing my Identity shown was the Copper Sword

laying on the ground where the Lv.38 Bandit dropped it.

Initially I wanted to have a look around the house in hopes of finding some

Bandit treasure, but it looks like doing that might prove to be a tad difficult

under the current circumstances, so I just grabbed the last wrist firmly and

warped to the safest place I could think of right now where no one would

come looking for me: the Labyrinth.

I did it.

That was the first thing that sprung into my mind.

No, it's not like that. No matter what might be the reason behind it, murder

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should never be a case for rejoicing. Oh, hell no, I can already feel the effects

of using too much MP kicking in. It might not be the same kind of moody trip

I had when I used Overwhelming or Warp for the first time, but it's still

going to be inconvenient, not that I could do anything about it. After all, I

ended up using Warp three times in quick succession: first to move from that

Bandit's move to the room where his boss was sleeping, second to get out of

that room into the corridor and third to escape from the house in the slums to

the Labyrinth here. I did it all so I could finally achieve my goal of getting

enough money to buy Roxanne, but even so I felt like crap for killing those

Bandits. Good thing that guilt is only induced by my MP dropping too much,

because those guys were most certainly the worst scum there was, so

dispatching them on a one-way trip to the afterlife should not be all that big

of a deal. Okay so now, in order to improve my mental state, let's kill some

Needlewoods to regain my lost MP. Michio, you need to remind yourself

once again that this is how things are done in this world. This is not modernday Japan. If you want to see something done, you have to haul ass and do it

yourself, whether that something would be killing monsters to improve your

mental stability or murdering Bandits to trade their ID's for money. There is

no police force here to do your dirty work for you, and law and human rights

seem to be more like guidelines than a thing to be upheld at all times.

After killing a bunch of Needlewoods I have regained my confidence and

stability. It good that I didn't have to do it longer, because exploring the

Labyrinth, even if it was a floor I was fairly familiar with now might not have

been a good idea in the mentally impaired state. Before I returned to normal I

had some slight difficulties with moving around due to the waves of the

anxiety attacks that were constantly washing over me, basically I only fought

the ones that tried to stop me from reaching the Labyrinth's exit.

After getting my shit together I walked out of the Labyrinth. I got the

Intelligence Cards from the hands that I managed to snatch and threw the

remaining left hands and bloodied rags into the nearby bushes, and ditched

my bloodied mantle in a separate location. If nobody will see me walking

around in clothes that are dirty with blood, then nobody will suspect me of

anything, which will in turn allow me to avoid troublesome questions. When

I finished disposing of the evidence of my involvement in the battle with the

Bandits, I just casually returned to my room at the inn where I washed my

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hands and face with warm water, and then lay on the bed after hiding the

Scimitar under my pillow as a precautionary measure. At first, I was having

trouble with closing my eyes due to adrenaline still rushing through my veins,

but eventually I managed to drift off to sleep. And this time, I woke up only

after the sun has completely risen. Maybe it was because last night I slept

very little before I went to deal with the Bandits, but today I slept better than

I expected. I was in high spirits after reminding myself of what I managed to

pull off just a few hours ago, but even more than that, I felt relieved.

Right now, in this moment, obtaining Roxanne for myself no longer feels like

an impossible dream to achieve. Of course, I cannot be sure of anything until

I'll go claim the prize money for the Bandits, but for now I guess I've done

all that I could. So if it turns up that after all my efforts I still won't have

enough money, I guess I can't be helped anymore. For now, all that I have

left to decide is where I am going to redeem those Intelligence Cards. That

was what I was thinking about even as I was well on my way to the land of

dreams. The specific problem that I was mulling over was if I should go do it

at the Knight's outpost here in Veil, or should I go somewhere else with it?

Also, I can't help but to wonder how much of a stir my little stunt is going to

cause throughout the slums? I guess I just have to wait and see, but if they

know what's good for them, they'd better sit quietly. Or maybe they won't

make any kinda fuss at all, since murders in the slums are an everyday

occurrence, so they might treat it as not that big of a deal.

Still, I've already cashed in some bounties for the Bandits five days ago. If I

go claim another prize for myself in such a short amount of time, I will be

bound to get some unwanted attention to myself. If I go to other towns, the

possibility of that happening could be greatly reduced, but if I go for it, I have

no guarantee if I'm not going to get scammed since I don't know if the

system of converting bounty to cold hard cash is the same in every city in this

world, or if every town has its own separate systems. There is still too much

that I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, it might be that a bounty that's

valid in one town will not be valid in another, because one town does not care

about the problems of another. It is also quite possible that the money may

not be paid on the same day the inquiry will be made, and that would be quite

a problem since today is the day when I agreed to get the money for

Roxanne's purchase to the Slave Merchant.

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Another thing that I have to look out for is the unwanted spreading of the

information that another group of Bandits has been defeated. I didn't say

much when we were at the station to claim the prizes from the attack at the

village, but I don't now if Picker-san didn't come back for some additional

questioning. It also might be possible that the Knights and the merchants who

come to do business in Veil are well acquainted with one another, or maybe

they are working with each other behind the scenes? It wouldn't be that

strange, since as the only merchant in the village he'd be a perfect source of

information on everything that's happening there. But if that was the case,

then the more probable scenario would be that the Knights would have

alerted the village that they might get attacked, and he'd report back to them

right after the attack instead of waiting until his next shopping trip. Or maybe

that's because he's actually a double agent, working with both Bandits and

the Knights without them knowing?! Nah, now you're just picking at straws

here you idiot! There's no way something like that would be true!

What I'm getting so paranoid about is essentially this: will I be questioned

again with regards to the circumstances of obtaining those Intelligence

Cards? Cause if I bring them to Another town where I'll get to be interviewed

by someone who's too inquisitive about the details then it will be rather

troublesome for me. And if I told my interviewer that I cannot share any

details such as where I defeated the Bandits because they would want to

investigate the site that would only make me look distrustful and would

induce further questions, like [If you defeated Bandits in Veil, then why didn't

you bring those Intelligence Cards to them?], and I wouldn't want that to

happen. So considering all of the above, I guess it's going to be the safest for

me to claim the prize money from the Knights here in Veil after all.

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Part 11

After finishing my breakfast in the morning, I left the inn and made my way

to the building opposite of it, the Knight Order guardhouse. After I walked

inside, I noticed that the Knight who questioned me before and the beautiful

Female Knight were nowhere to be found. Well, what should I do then? I

guess it works out for me because it eliminates the possibility of the Knights

being extra suspicious of me, but now that I think about it, the whole process

would be a lot smoother if I could report to someone who's actually well

aware of the situation in the city instead of just some pencil pusher who

couldn't give two shits about it. In that respect, being recognizable might be

to my advantage in the future, so I better make a mental note of it now so that

I won't forget about it.

For the time being, I'll just have a walk at the brothel district to see how's the

situation there. According to the information I have gathered the Knights

should have a duty rotation around noon, so I'll wait until then and come

back to see if any familiar faces showed up.

I walked around the slums for two hours and then some, but from what I saw

it does not look to be any different from the usual. Maybe they have yet to

find the bodies of the Bandits with their left hands cut off, or maybe the

residents of the slums really just don't give a fuck about gang wars happening

in their immediate neighborhood? Anyway, if the situation here is stable,

then I guess there's no need for me to be here anymore. Enough time should

have passed, so let's make my way back to the guardhouse. Waiting turned

out to a good decision, because when I came back, I saw a familiar-looking

Apprentice Knight behind one of the desks.

「Hello there. Working as hard as ever I see.」

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I called out to the Apprentice Knight

「Ah, yes, welcome.」

When I looked at him with Identify, I saw that he is still an Apprentice

Knight, but now he was lv.5. Last time I was here he was only Lv.4, so that

means that in the last five days he managed to Level Up his Job once.

「May I take a moment or perhaps now is not a good time?」

「Oh no, by all means, please, do have a seat.」

And I did just that.

「So, what can I help you with today?」

「Actually, last night when I was out on the town, I had a run in with some

pretty shady guys. I think they might have been Bandits.」

I took out the Intelligence Cards of the Bandits I defeated and handed them

over to the apprentice Knight.

「Bandits, you say?」

「Yes. They were the ones who attacked me first so I had no choice but to

defend myself. They probably took me for an easy prey since I'm still

relatively new to the city, but I managed to turn the tables on them.」

I exclaimed somewhat proudly. That was my plan here: to make myself look

like a capable guy who could stand his ground even when faced with the

enemies such as Bandits. As to whether or not this plan will work, I guess we

shall see, but judging by the fact that the Apprentice Knight smiled faintly

when he heard me say that, I think he successfully bought my story. Or at

least that's what I want to believe.

「I understand. Can I see your Intelligence Card?」

「O course. Here you go.」

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I placed my left hand in front of the knight. After he confirmed my identity,

he said that he's going to run a check on the Cards belonging to the Bandits

and told me to wait for a few minutes as he disappeared deeper into the

building. And he did so without asking pretty much any questions at all,

which is a huge success in and out of itself. Alright, so far, so good. Now

let's just wait and see if we can keep it up. Eventually the Apprentice Knight

came back with a pouch of coins. The beautiful Female Knight came together

with him.

「We've confirmed everything we needed to confirm. The owners of those

Intelligence Cards were Bandits without a shadow of a doubt. Two of them

had a bounty placed on their heads, so you'll be getting the prize money for

getting rid of them.」

Without any further comments he handed me the money pouch, so I took it

and left the guardhouse. They didn't even want to hear about the details such

as where the battle took place, what happened to the rest of the bodies. It was

exactly the same as the last time: confirmation, handing of the money and

that's it. I was once again reminded just how horrible the treatment of the

outlaws seems to be in this town, and who knows if it's not like that in this

entire world? But since I can't do anything to change that (and I don't even

know if I'd want to change that) I guess there's no use thinking about it.

What I can do now, is to go and count how much of the prize money I have

obtained, and be glad that this whole event went much smoother than I have

initially expected it to go. I quickly moved to some shaded place and looked

inside the pouch. How much gold and silver coins have I got this time?

After confirming that the pouch contained more than seven gold coins, I felt a

sense of satisfaction and unconstrained joy surging in my chest. If I add those

to the 33 gold and 228 silver coins that are already in my possession, it will

be more than enough for me to finally buy Roxanne!

Returning back to the main street, I made my way towards the Slave

Merchant's shop with incredibly light steps. These last five days have been

filled with nothing but stress, tension and uncertainty, but soon it will be all

over. But the closer I got to the shop, the more my heart was being filled with

nervousness and anticipation. You cannot feel relax just yet, Michio! There is

still one last hurdle for you to jump over. I have to make sure that this whole

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transaction is legit, and Alan the Slave Merchant won't just run away with

my money after I hand it over to him.

「It's Michio. I'd like to have a word with mister Alan. Could you please get

him for me?」

Finally, I arrived at the shop and asked the clerk who opened the door to get

Alan-san for me.

「Please wait here. Master Alan will be with you shortly.」

I passed through the room next to the entrance sat in the waiting room. I also

summoned Durandal and placed it on my waist. Normally I would have kept

it hidden, but in this case, it might be better to present myself with the most

expensive looking equipment got so that the Slave Merchant will know that I

absolutely mean business, even if I can't exactly tell if Durandal is all that

gorgeous-looking. Also, its going to be my countermeasure against any

attempts at robbing me of my hard-earned 40,000 Nar. But for the time being,

let's try to improve his image of me as much as possible, and maybe I'll get

on the list of his best customers, or something along those lines. To that end,

maybe I should have worn something a little more extravagant than a simple

Leather Armor?

「I'm sorry for the wait, oh most esteemed customer!」

Alan -san has finally come to greet me.

「No worries.」

「Since you've come here, then am I correct in assuming that you have all of

the necessary funds?」

「Of course.」

「Then please, come with me.」

「Alright.」

And so, he guided me to the room I have visited twice in the past. This will

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be my moment of truth.

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Part 12

I sat on the sofa and drank the herbal tea that was brought to me by a female

servant who was not Roxanne.

「Please enjoy your drink, dear customer.」

When she left, the Slave Merchant urged me to drink. So I placed the cup at

my mouth and pretended to drink the tea. If he wanted to take me out and

take my money, the fastest way to do so would be to slip some poison into

my drink, so in order to prevent that I'm just not going to drink any of it. I

took the backpack off my back and removed the drawstring bag from it. I

removed all of my silver coins from it first. All 228 of them.

「I hope you don't mind so many silver coins?」

「Of course not. Such an amount was well within my range of expectations.」

Then I also took out the 40 gold coins.

「This should be enough, right?」

That is all the money that I so desperately collected. I don't know what I'll do

if it still ends up not being enough.

「Most certainly, that's all the money we agreed upon. Dear Roxanne will be

here in just a moment, so please wait patiently for her, alright?」

After diligently checking the number of coins, the Slave Merchant placed

them all on a table in neatly arranged piles and had another servant take them

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away. I'm actually impressed that he managed to count all of them up so fast

and that he remained so calm and collected, because what I did was

essentially pulling an equivalent of paying a multi-yen bill with 5-yen coins.

Worst case scenario, you could even get sued for harassment. While we

waited for Roxanne to arrive, I continued to fake-drink my herbal tea.

And then she finally came.

We heard a quiet knocking on the door, so Alan the Slave Merchant stood up

to open them for her. She was wearing a simple yellow tunic and the pants of

a matching color. She entered the room and timidly hid behind the Slave

Merchant. Aww, that' s so cute, but it's alright. I'm not going to do anything

to you, so there's no need for you to hide. Then she stretched her neck and

looked at me shyly from behind Alan-san's back. Ahh, her face is still

beautiful. She is a beautiful girl through and through! I was afraid that the last

time I saw her I might have beautified her in my mind due to how horny I

was, but thankfully that was not the case at all! If anything, the real thing was

even more beautiful than I remembered!

「I'm sorry for making you wait. Thank you for purchasing me. I will be in

your care from now on.」

Roxanne looks at me, but when our eyes met, she immediately averted them

back. Her dog ears also shook due to the motion she did with her head. Those

ears are so uber cute! I want to touch them! I want to pet them! She could be

a little less shy, but I guess there will come a time for us to work on that. I

also don't think I did anything she should be thanking me for, but then again,

that might be just common courtesy, so it would be best to respond to her in

kind.

「Likewise. I hope we will get along together just fine. I'll be looking forward

to it.」

「I am looking forward to it as well, but first, allow me to express my heartfelt

apologies to you!」

And she bowed her head down low. Why is she doing that? Could it be that

she's apologizing to me for the Slave Merchant who wanted to screw me over

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by not giving her to me and running away with the money?

「Can you… explain?」

I gently asked her.

「Master, even though I told you I would wait those five days for you, to

come buy me, I doubted if you will be able to get all the money needed for

that! I thought you will be incapable of doing that, and that you would not

come back for me! I beg you to forgive me for my lack of faith in you, and I

will understand if you will no longer be willing to have me as your slave!」

Sweet rock'n rolling Jesus on a fish stick girl! If I could, I would have

changed your name to Moexanne without a second thought!

「Roxanne my dear, this is all so very touching, but I think our customer is

dead-set on going through with the purchase. To that end, let us finalize the

deal by signing an official contract. Michio-sama, your Intelligence Card, if

you would?」

「Ah, okay.」

「Roxanne, you as well.」

「Y-Yes.」

I walked up to the Slave Merchant and placed my left hand in front of him,

and Roxanne did the same after a bit of initial hesitation. So apparently, she

doubted if I will ever come back to actually buy her, and that's why she felt

the need to apologize to me. Honestly, after hearing how much the Slave

Merchant wanted for her, I had every right to do just that: forget about buying

her, turn my back on her and never come back to this shop. But how could I

have done something as cruel as that after witnessing how beautiful she was?

Slave Merchant placed his own hand in front of ours and casted as spell, after

which our Intelligence Cards emerged from our wrists. So not only authority

figures, knights and innkeepers can manifest it, but merchants are capable of

doing so as well. Then he murmured something that I did not understand.

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「And that concludes your contract. Please check your Intelligence Cards to

see if everything is in order.」

「Understood.」

Roxanne showed her own Card to me.

Roxanne: Female, 16 years old, Beast Warrior.

Owned by: Kaga Michio

「I see. And with that, the master-slave pack between you has been officially

made.」

Roxanne's Intelligence Card now lists me as her owner. So I guess the Slave

Merchant wasn't a scammer after all. But I don't regret being distrustful of

him. One cannot be too cautious when it comes to the well being of his

money after all.

Anyway, since all the formalities have now been completed, I made the best

smile I could muster and showed her my own Card.

「Uhm, are you really sure about that?」

Roxanne's beautiful eyes peeked at me when she asked me if I was fine with

her inspecting my Intelligence Card.

「If it's you, then I have no problems with it being seen.」

「!!! …. Yes!」

And she took it in her small, gentle hands. When I l glanced at it as she did

so, I noticed that it has been rewritten indeed. The contents were now as

follows:

Kaga Michio: Male, 17 years old

Job: Explorer, Free Citizen

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Owner of: Roxanne

The Job that was displayed as my first one was still the Explorer. But now, it

also listed that I am Roxanne's owner.

I can't wait to see what life in this new strange world is going to have in store

for us from now on.