Carelessness

Part 1

Kaga Michio

Current levels & equipment:

Explorer Lv.32

Hero Lv.29

Mage Lv.31

Monk Lv.30

Equipment:

Wand

Leather Helmet

Leather Armor

Leather Gloves

Leather shoes

In the morning after the night when we washed each other with the newlymade soap, I woke up with a squeaky-clean body feeling all refreshed. Who

would have thought that doing something so simple as washing yourself

properly was going to have that much of a positive effect on me, both

physically and mentally. But truth to be told, taking a proper bath was only

one of the reasons for me waking up feeling better than ever since I have

ended up here. As for the other reason…

Page 326 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

「Mmm… fuu… *kiss*…」

Certainly, last night has been quite refreshing, both to me and to Roxanne…

for a variety of reasons. Currently she is straddling me, allowing me to feel

the smoothness of her clean and polished lower body with my own lower

body. The feeling is so addicting that I want to do nothing else than to grab a

hold of her and hug her all day long without leaving the bed even for a

minute.

She kisses me on the lips, continuing our ritual of waking me up with kisses

every single day. Her lips are so soft that I feel like my tongue and the inside

of my mouth are going to be melted in an instant if she continues to do it

uninterrupted. It is so moist, and warm, and slimy and it slides across my own

tongue as if it had a will of its own… Huh? Do I realize that this has nothing

to do with soap, and that it is like that by itself? Well of course I do! It's just

that whenever I have an occasion to praise how good Roxanne is with her

tongue, I am going to take that chance, no questions asked.

「Good morning, master.」

「Good morning, to you as well, Roxanne. Just like you said yesterday, your

skin so pleasantly smooth to the touch.」

「Thank you for the nice words, but that would not be possible without the

soap that master created.」

「True. *Sigh* as much as I would like to stay like this and enjoy the feeling

of your skin beside me, I'm afraid we have to go back to Quratar's Labyrinth

in the morning. Are you all right with such course of action?」

「Of course. As long as it is something that master wants to do, I have no

reason not to follow your decision and go with you wherever they might lead

us.」

As much as I did not want to do it, I had no choice but to let go of Roxanne

and start to prepare myself for another long day of grinding for levels in

Veil's Labyrinth and hunting for Rabbit Furs in the Labyrinth of Quratar.

Page 327 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

In this world, it has been generally agreed that the time of day universally

known as "evening" arrives around 10:00 PM, or at least that is more or less

when the candles are being lit and lamps are filled with oil. These two things

are necessary if you don't want to spend the evening hours in complete

darkness, and while individually they might not be all that expensive, then

considering that candles and lamp oil both get used out rather quickly, so it is

more than certain that you are going to have to buy more than just one or two

of them, and that can be quite a costly undertaking when you take into

consideration that you would have to buy enough of them for at least a few

days, or perhaps even a week. Now, given our financial situation, try to guess

how much candles or lamp oil I would be willing to buy. That's right, you

guessed correctly: none whatsoever, since at least for the time being they are

not something that we absolutely need in order to function properly when it

gets dark, since in this world there is not much to do when the sun goes down

anyway, aside from hanging around taverns or having sex. Well, saying that

there is not much to do is not an entirely accurate thing, but so allow me to

rephrase what I just said a bit: there might or might not be much to do in the

evenings, depending on which "tier" of society you happen to belong to.

Since we have chosen to live our lives as Adventurers for the time being, our

main source of income is going to the Labyrinths and selling whatever we

managed to find in there or obtain from killing monsters, we have to take an

especially good care of our bodies and make sure that they are always going

to be in tip-top condition if we want to avoid running into any difficulties,

and I personally don't want Roxanne to overexert herself more than she has

to. The burdens that I am already placing on her shoulders are quite enough,

so if there is anything I can do in order to take even the smallest portion of

those burdens away, then I am going to do it, even if it is something as small

and insignificant as going to bed early to get as much sleep as we possibly

can, waking up when it is still pitch-black outside so that we could go to the

Labyrinths when there will be as few people inside them as possible.

Fighting away my drowsiness, I slowly got out of bed and looked for my

change of clothes to put on. When all of our preparations were finished, I

created a Warp portal to Quratar's Labyrinth, and thus another day of our

dungeon crawling began.

Page 328 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

Hunting Slow Rabbits on the seventh floor here sounds, and admittedly is, a

pretty repetitive undertaking, but we have no choice but to do this if we want

to complete one of the small goals that Roxanne and I set for ourselves:

obtain one hundred (Or even more than that, just to be safe) or more Rabbit

Fur's and sell them to the clothing store in Imperial City for profit. However,

one hundred pelts is quite a large number, and we want to bring all of them to

one of the more luxurious-looking establishments located on Imperial City's

main street, and I feel like arriving there with all of them in tow is going to

cause me quite a lot of nerves. On the bright side, thanks to my access to

Bonus Skills, selling such a large amount of Furs is going to be even more

profitable than it would normally be, because if there is a Bonus Skill that

grants a thirty percent discount when buying things, then there must also be a

Bonus Skill that does the same when selling things to others.

We entered the Labyrinth and headed towards the seventh floor, where the

Slow Rabbits dwelled. Instead of following the map of the floor, I allowed

Roxanne's nose to be our guide, since she is infinitely more reliable when it

comes to detecting enemies than some scrap of paper, giving us a much

higher Slow Rabbit encounter rate than every other Explorer or Adventurer

could ever dream of. Luckily for us, we do not have to worry about Slow

Rabbits not dropping their furs whenever they are defeated, because so far

every last one of them dropped it without fail, which means that a Rabbit Fur

must be their common Drop Item with one hundred percent chance to being

dropped. As a result of that, we managed to get more than a hundred Rabbit

Furs in no time and we will soon approach over two hundred Furs out of the

initial one hundred, so I think that we might as well try and go for three

hundred of them, because if we will keep up the pace at which we are

currently going, then we are going to get that much without any major

difficulties as well. If my Item Box was bigger we could have tried to get

more than three hundred, but regretfully, three hundred free spaces for items

is the maximum limit with the current levels of my Jobs.

「Ah! Master, look!」

Also, while going through the halls of the seventh floor, we made a surprising

discovery that made coming here this early in the morning well worth it.

「What is it, Roxanne? Did you find something?」

Page 329 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

「Yes! I believe there is a hidden passage here!」

「Really?! Let me see!」

Roxanne was right. Slightly off to the side of the main corridor there was a

hidden passage in the wall. When we entered it after Roxanne confirmed that

she can't smell any monsters lurking nearby, we found a most peculiar thing

some distance from the entrance to the secret corridor.

「Roxanne, what is that?」

Part 2

「This is a treasure chest, master!」

「A treasure… chest? This thing right here?」

「That's right!」

Roxanne rushed towards the treasure chest in excitement, but I still could not

understand what was she getting so fired up about… because the thing that

she described as a treasure chest looked like a simple mound of soil to me,

very similar to the ones that moles make whenever they stop digging through

the ground and want to come back to the surface.

It this really the famous treasure chests I have heard so much about, and not

just some kind of trap meant to lure in naïve people blinded by the prospect

of getting their hands on some easy loot? Also, according to Roxanne's

words, treasure chests contain the belongings of those who have died while

going through the Labyrinth, so it can be said that this is a pretty morbid take

on the typical system or randomly generated loot found in most RPG games,

but through the standards of this world, I guess its inhabitants will see

nothing wrong with it.

Back when we were only trekking through Veil's Labyrinth I have never seen

even a single one of those pop up, most likely because that Labyrinth is

practically deserted and almost no one goes there, or at least to its lower

floors. As a result there was no one who could have fallen prey to the

monsters living there, resulting in there being no treasure chests whatsoever.

As for Quratar, we have not seen treasure chests up to this point either, but

not because there was no people, oh no. Quratar's Labyrinth is always

teeming with Adventurers and Explorers alike so there are bound to be more

treasure chests here, but so far we were only sticking to the shortest possible

routes to the Boss Room, focusing very little of our time towards exploration

out side of the path dictated by the map. That is one reason., the other one

being that with so many people here at any given time of the day, even if

some treasure chests were to spawn, they would all be picked clean by the

time we have arrived at the scene. We were probably only able to find this

one because we came here unusually early even for us looking for the Slow

Rabbits to slay and snatch their Furs off of them.

Keeping a safe distance from the lump of soil, Roxanne poked it with her

Scimitar a few times, but nothing alarming has happened. Still, it does not

mean that we are in the clear just yet. This treasure chest might still be rigged

with the kinds of traps that we cannot even begin to imagine, so we should

still exercise extreme caution in interacting with it.

「Do you think it is safe to open this thing up just like that? What if it is a

trap?」

「It should be perfectly safe to open. And even if it was not and it turned out

that it was, for example, a Mimic (TL Note: I fucking knew there are

Mimics there!) masquerading as the treasure chest, all we would have to do

to claim the treasure is to defeat it, which should not be difficult with

master's strength.」

Talk about having absolute confidence in her reply. Seeing her being so sure

about that reassured me as well… but wait, what was that about Mimics?

They have Mimics here?! In that case, maybe I should stab this treasure chest

a few times to see it is going to suddenly come to life only to drop dead in

the very next second?

「Roxanne, maybe I should…」

But before I was able to suggest that to her, she already stabbed her Scimitar

into the mound of earth and lifted it up from the ground like a carpet. I see.

So, it looking like a mound of earth was a sort of camouflage, huh? In truth,

whatever this treasure chest was actually made of was more like skin, or a

piece of paper. I guess things like that are one of the reasons why even the

people native to this world cannot say for sure if the Labyrinths are truly

alive or not.

Back to the treasure chest before us, the item that it contained inside of it was

Leather Gloves. Just an ordinary set of Leather Gloves, without any Skills or

Skill Slots to it whatsoever. We are relatively close to the end of the seventh

floor now, so I guess the rumors that treasure chests contain the equipment of

those who tried to brave the Labyrinth's corridors is not just a baseless rumor

after all. I can definitely imagine people getting impaled by the Escape

Goat's horns or bitten to death by Slow Rabbits' fangs even though these are

not pleasant images at all. Well, these Leather Gloves are not a great piece of

equipment by any means so it probably will not be worth all that much, but

there is nothing we can do about it now besides selling it in the equipment

shop, which is good, because it will allow us to have that much more extra

Nars for whatever we would want to buy next. Who knows, maybe if the

person who was the original owner of those gloves invested in better gear he

would have still been alive instead of biting the dust and having his armor

and weapons serve as random prizes for other people who came here after

him? Let this be another reminder for all of you. Labyrinths are dangerous

places, and coming into them without proper and careful preparation will

only end up in catastrophe for you.

「Whoever you might have been, we will be gratefully taking this. Namu

amida butsu.」

「Namu amida…?」

While praying for the souls of the deceased Adventurer or Explorer who

dropped those, under Roxanne's questioning gaze, I picked up the Leather

Gloves from the treasure chest as the ground around it deflated and returned

to its perfectly flat shape.

After that surprising encounter with the treasure chest, we have returned

home before the sun fully rose to have breakfast. When we were done eating,

we had ourselves a short break, after which it was off to the Labyrinth with

us again. Since we explored Quratar Labyrinth's seventh floor earlier, it was

now the time for us to go to Veil Labyrinth's seventh floor for the purpose of

exploration and increasing our levels. Unfortunately, I cannot say that our run

there went all that well, mainly because the accursed Escape Goats continued

Page 333 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

to be a royal pain in the ass thanks to their pesky Escape Skill, which they

were using every time they were at death's door and when they were

conveniently too far away from me to reach them in time to kill them with

Durandal or my magic, which annoyed me to no end, because we did not earn

all that much EXP and did not get many items. But even so, we decided that

we won't go back to Quratar to hunt for more Rabbit Furs. We have

established that we will only do so in the mornings, and at this point it

became such a routine thing for us that we didn't even have to think about it,

so there is no point in changing that now just because we had a kind of a

shitty luck when it came to the enemy RNG this time.

But since we are on the subject of Quratar… there is one alteration that might

prove beneficial to us if we decide to implement it into our morning Quratar

Labyrinth runs: I would like to try and divide our time there between getting

Rabbit Furs and trying to take on the Floor Boss of Quratar Labyrinth's

seventh floor. But first thing's first, we have another thing that needs to be

done.

When we woke up the next day, we got dressed and went to Quratar's

Labyrinth to hunt some more Rabbit Furs as usual, and we managed to obtain

more than three hundred of them without any major incidents happening to us

along the way, meaning that we managed to achieve the goal we have set for

ourselves, so after we got back home in order to have breakfast, we knew

what our next stop before going to Veil's Labyrinth was going to be: we are

going to Imperial City's clothing store in order to sell all of those Rabbit

Furs. We warped to the Imperial City's Adventurer's Guild, made our way to

the store and walked through the entrance specified in the poster in front of

the store as the one meant for those who wished to sell Rabbit Furs. Once we

were inside, I noticed that this side part of the store was not divided from the

rest of it by any walls, doors or even curtains. It was a simple side entrance to

the store, from which you could see the inside of the entire store and go

anywhere you wanted without being stopped.

Part 3

As expected, the counter was located at the far end of the shop, straight ahead

from the main entrance. I assume that this is where we will have to go in

order to get right down to business with selling the furs in our possession.

「Welcome. Since you have used the side entrance, then I assume you are here

to sell Rabbit Furs, correct?」

「Yes, that is correct. That is what we have come here to do.」

And old male clerk came up to us and offered us a polite greeting. When I

used Identify on him, I saw that his Job was that of a Merchant, so if I will

play things right, we might be able to get even more money from the selling

of those Furs than we have originally intended. Sweet.

「In that case, can I ask you to follow me to the counter?」

「Of course. Please, lead the way.」

The man bowed his head to us, turned around and walked towards the

counter, and we followed after him. To be honest, I was quite surprised at

how polite and professional this guy was towards someone who just came to

the store from the street. I thought that we will be taken to some kinda staff

room, but apparently no, everything is going to be handled in the main part of

the store like with any other client.

As we approached the counter, two other female clerks appeared seemingly

out of nowhere and rushed towards the male clerk, lining up at both of his

sides behind the counter. As expected of the personnel working at such a

luxury store (or perhaps it would be more accurate to call this place a

boutique?), they all look like they were so skilled in what they were doing

Page 335 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

that there was not even one wasted motion in their movements, and even

when they were standing still they had this aura of gracefulness around them,

especially the two onee-sans. They might have not quite been on Roxanne's

level when it came to beauty, but if I saw them out on the city during the day

I definitely would have turned over my shoulder when they would be passing

by me.

Since all three of them were Merchants and not Explorers or Adventurers, I

mumbled silently to myself, pretending that I was casting the spell for the

Item Box to appear, and when it materialized, I took out all of the Rabbit Furs

and placed them neatly on the counter one right next to another. As soon as I

was done, all three of them began taking and arranging them on their side of

the counter. Wow, just look at them go, it's almost like they were machines

programmed to do this kind of thing perfectly… oh, wait. They are NPCs in a

game, so I guess that makes them not all that different from machines, right?

Anyway, the were taking my randomly placed Rabbit Furs and organized

them in a few piles there they stacked them on top of each other by taking not

one, but several of them at a time. In no time flat, they made as much as

thirty piles of ten Rabbit Furs each. Seeing all of that unfold right before my

very eyes, I could not help it but to feel impressed, so much so that I

applauded them in my mind.

「We have finished counting. Overall, there are three hundred Rabbit Furs

here. Do you wish to sell all of them?」

The male clerk counted the number of fur hills on the counter and confirmed

the exact amount.

「Yes, I do.」

「As you wish. Please, if you could wait just a moment.」

He bowed politely and left the counter, presumably to get the money I was

going to receive for selling all of those furs, which should be quite a lot.

「We will be taking this then.」

One of the female clerks said to me as she took the piles of furs and followed

after the male clerk.

「Yes, thank you for your hard work.」

The other female clerk, the one who stayed behind at the counter with us. I

wonder why did she stay behind when the other went with the male clerk?

Maybe that is her programmed behavior, to stay at the counter if there is no

one else behind it in case that any other customers came to the shop? She also

bowed her head to us and smiled. Even if she is only meant to be staying

there like a mannequin, it is still amazing that the creators of this game

implemented her with such courtesy gestures. It might not be all that much,

but it really makes me feel appreciated as a customer. Though I cannot help

but to wonder, do they behave like that towards all the customers, or just

towards the ones who come in here in order to sell Rabbit Furs?

I don't think that just about any Explorer, Adventurer, mercenary or a person

doing odd jobs would even come to such a high-class clothing store in the

first place, but if they did, would they be treated the same way as anyone else

based on their appearance alone? After all, Roxanne told me that the coats

made from Rabbit Furs are very popular mainly among aristocratic women,

so maybe it would be more reasonable to expect such ladies of noble birth to

be frequenting stores like this one, even more so since this is the Imperial

City, so the percentage of the people of noble and aristocratic birth is bound

to be much higher here than in any other city in the empire. What I am trying

to say is that even though we have any reason to feel inferior to all the other

usual customers of this shop, a part of me still feels very out of place here,

instinctively knowing that commoners should not try to forcefully involve

themselves with the nobility and the establishments they are visiting, but this

is only a small voice sounding in the back of my head, so I do my best to

ignore it and continue to lift my head proudly.

In order to clear my head of such concerns, I tried to take a look around the

store, however, there was not all that many actual clothes placed on display.

There are mostly rolls and sheets of various types of fabric, so it is quite

Page 338 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

possible that instead of selling regular clothes, this store specializes more in

selling made-to-order goods.

As I continued my surveillance, the male clerk finally came back to the

counter, carrying a tray filled with coins with him. Indeed, there was a lot of

them crammed in there, so much so that I was afraid that they might start

spilling from the tray's sides at any moment now.

「I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, dear customers. Our usual price for one

Rabbit Fur is twenty Nars, but since you have brought quite a lot of them

with you, we are willing to offer you a special price of twenty Nars plus a

bonus of additional six Nars for each of the rabbit Furs you have sold us.」

So that is why there are so many silver coins in that tray. He said that it was a

special price, but I know that this is thanks to my thirty percent increase

Bonus Skill. Taking all of that money from the tray which has been placed on

the counter, I am putting them into my string bag rather casually and then off

to the backpack it goes after the string has been tied tightly enough. Normally

I would have taken my time to count every single coin to see whether they

tried to scam me or not, but in this case it would be too much of a pain in the

ass to do so, and this man has been so polite with me ever since I walked

through the door to the store that I think I can give him a little benefit of the

doubt. Besides, the math for this particular transaction is rather easy.

Normally, I would have gotten six thousand Nars for selling three hundred

Rabbit Furs worth twenty Nars each, but with my thirty percent bonus, I sold

three hundred Rabbit Furs for twenty-six Nars each, which gives me seven

thousand eight hundred Nars, paid with seventy-eight silver coins. See, no

reason for me to count them at all when it is all so transparent.

「Very well then, we gladly accept it.」

「Pardon me for asking this, Mr. Customer, but since you brought so many

Rabbit Furs with you during a single visit, I feel inclined to ask: are you and

your companion Adventurers, by any chance?」

The male clerk asked that of me when I finished putting the money in the

backpack.

Part 4

Oh, what is this? Could this be some kind of hidden event? Might as well

check out what this is about then.

「We are, as a matter of fact. Why do you ask?」

「When you were hunting for the furs you just sold, did you happen to obtain

any other items from the monsters that dropped them, like Rabbit's Meat,

perhaps?」

Yup, this is definitely going to be one of those fetch-type quests, no doubts

about it.

「Rabbit Meat? No, I believe we did not happen upon any such item during

our hunts. But, forgive me if it sounds a bit rude…but what would you need

Rabbit Meat for in a clothing store?」

「Ah, yes, of course, about that… that is indeed not the type of goods that

would be sold in this kind of shop, rather… that would be something I would

like to aquire for my personal use.」

「And how much of that Rabbit Meat would you want?」

「I would gladly accept even a piece or two of it, as long as it would be by

tomorrow.」

「By tomorrow, huh? Roxanne, what are the chances of us obtaining some

Rabbit Meat by tomorrow?」

「I would say pretty good, because Rabbit Meat should be the Drop Item left

behind by the Floor Boss of the seventh floor of the Labyrinth in Quratar.」

Page 340 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

Roxanne gave me the information that I requested out of her. A Drop Item

from the seventh floor's Floor Boss, huh? Then it is no wonder that he would

only ask someone who looked like an Adventurer if they had some of it on

them or not.

「Yeah, so… as I already said, we do not have any Rabbit Meat on us right

now…」

「I understand. I'm sorry to have troubled you with my selfish request out of

the blue like that…」

The male clerk's eyes were filled with disappointment, like a little puppy that

was just said that he cannot get on the couch with its owner. He wants to get

his hands on that Rabbit Meat that badly that he is willing to ask complete

strangers for help with it? Honestly, seeing him like that makes me feel

incredibly uncomfortable, so…

「… but I don't think that getting it by tomorrow would be impossible. We

should be able to procure some of it for you.」

「Really?! You would really do me such kindness, even though we are

complete strangers?」

「Sure, why not? I mean, we were planning to go to the Labyrinth where we

will be able to get our hands on it, so obtaining a few extra pieces should be a

piece of cake for us.」

I said with absolute confidence in my words. After all, if we can handle the

normal enemies on the seventh floor, taking down its Floor Boss a few times

should not be all that difficult, right? Even though we have yet to clear that

floor ourselves and have no idea what the actual Floor Boss looks like and

what it can do, we have a map of the entire floor that we can use to follow

straight to the Boss Room, and it is certain that the boss is going to be some

kind of variation of the Slow Rabbit, so we should have no problems with

swiftly dispatching it.

「Then, can I ask you to bring me one or two pieces of Rabbit Meat by

tomorrow?! Please, it is very important for me!」

Page 341 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

The male clerk pleaded all the more vehemently.

「Wow, you really are hell-bent on getting your hands on it, are you not? Is

that thing really so valuable?」

Based on my previous experiences with ingredients that were dropped by

Floor Bosses, they were always a pretty common one that would not give you

much money if you tried to sell it.

「Obtaining it is not all that difficult, but since it is quite tasty, it can get pretty

expensive if you want to sell it at the butcher's shop. And since it is typically

eaten on several special occasions, that makes it all the more valuable and in

constant demand.」

「I see.」

Normally we would go to Quratar's Labyrinth and hunt Slow Rabbits and try

to take on the Floor Boss if possible, spending our time there until the

sunrise, then we would go back home to eat breakfast, after which we would

go to Veil's Labyrinth to grind levels and items from the monsters we

encountered there, but to be completely honest with you, Escape Goats and

that Escape Skill of their have really been getting on my nerves recently,

because of how they seem to abuse that Skill, our search of the Veil

Labyrinth's seventh floor has not been proceeding as smoothly as I would

have liked it to go. So, I feel like a little change of pace is exactly what we

need right now. Therefore, tomorrow we will go to Quratar's Labyrinth first

thing in the morning and stay there for a bit longer so that we could hunt as

much Rabbit Meat as possible!

「All right, we're going to bring you some Rabbit Meat. But just let me ask

you this: do you have any means of storing that meat once we give it to

you?」

「Unfortunately, since I am not an Explorer like you, I do not have access to

the Item Box where I could store all my items, but you do not have to worry

yourselves with that. However many Rabbit Meats you will bring me, I will

be very much content with that number.」

Page 342 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

Ingredients are the type of items that will not spoil or go rotten no matter how

long you will keep them in the Item Box, but since this man is a Merchant, he

does not have access to Item Box, so he will have to find other way of

preventing it from going bad, even if we do deliver the Rabbit Meat to him

while it will be at the height of its freshness. It is a good thing that he is

perfectly aware of that, because it eliminates the possibility of him blaming

us for the eventual spoiling of the meat.

「Okay. As long as you are fine with it, then so are we.」

But still, even though he needs this meat so badly, asking people you don't

even know still takes a lot of guts to pull off, and a crazy amount of good

fortune as well, but on the flipside that would also explain his unusual level

of politeness towards us: he was so nice because he wanted to ask us about

the Rabbit Meat, most likely ever since he saw us walking through the door.

For whatever reason, he is really adamant about obtaining the Rabbit Meat,

and since he cannot obtain it himself, he was forced to rely on the help of

Adventurers and Explorers who would have happened to come to the shop,

and apparently fate, or perhaps nothing but blind luck had decided that those

helpers would be us. And now, whether we like it or not we have to rise to his

expectations. It's a little stressful, but I also have to admit that having

someone rely on you with high hopes is not that bad of a feeling.

On the morning of the next day, we woke up slightly earlier than usual, put

on our clothes and equipment and headed out to Quratar's Labyrinth with a

map of the seventh floor in tow. Our target for today: reach the Boss Room

without making any unnecessary detours, defeat the Floor Boss, obtain

Rabbit Meat from it, and if possible, repeat that whole process two or more

times.

When we arrived on the seventh floor, we immediately found ourselves some

secluded corner, pulled out the map to see what route we would have to take

to arrive at the Boss Room in the shortest time possible, and added

Roxanne's nose into the mix.

「And? How is it? Are there many people around?」

「Not all that many, but still more than usual this early in the morning. Right

Page 343 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

now it might be a bit dangerous, but once we go a little bit further in, it

should be possible for you to start using magic without the risk of somebody

seeing us, master.」

「Great. All that's left now is to get to the Floor Boss and defeat it.」

Looking at the map myself, the road from the seventh floor's entrance room

to the Floor Boss room is relatively straightforward and does not have all that

many branching paths to it, so as long as we stat on track we should be able

to reach it in no time flat, excluding some unavoidable encounters with the

Slow Rabbits.

Part 5

Although there are fewer people here on the seventh floor, I should probably

still use Durandal for most of this floor before switching to using magic, just

to be sure that I will avoid any potential problems that might stem from me

being seen by someone, even if by accident. After I recover my MP here for a

bit, it really should be fine for me to use magic all the way to the end of this

floor, where I will switch back to Durandal again to fight the Floor Boss.

Despite not being able to use magic until we were about halfway through it,

this floor was overall not that bad. Since the Slow Rabbits were rather…

well, slow on the attack and were simply hopping around for most of the

time, We had no difficulties with dispatching them, and soon we were a

stone's throw away from the Boss Room.

「The Boss Room should be a little more up ahead. *Sniff Sniff* Looks like

someone is already there.」

「Someone's there? Well that's new.」

Since there are people waiting outside of the Boss Room, then I would better

put my wand away in the Item Box. Would not want anyone to see it and

piece together that since I have it then I can probably use magic, which would

be pretty strange for someone who has Explorer listed as his Main Job now,

right? Yeah, taking Durandal out is definitely going to be the smart thing to

do here.

Overall, there were six people waiting in the Waiting Room out side of the

Boss Room. They were most likely here because that must have pretty much

the same idea we had: that if they decide to come to the Labyrinth so early in

the morning, there will be little to no competition for fighting monsters and

finding potential treasure chests. All right, that means I have to keep

Page 345 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

Durandal out of sight until they will enter the Boss Room to fight the Floor

Boss and we will be left alone. I am not risking anyone having as much as a

glance at it and figuring out what it actually is.

Shortly after we arrived in the waiting room, the door to the Boss Room

opened and five people entered. So it was not a full Party of six people? The

only one left behind was a lone Explorer-looking dude… and he had the

audacity to go and stare at Roxanne's chest! Look man, I know, okay? I

know that Roxanne's boobs are amazing… but they are mine! Mine and mine

alone, no one else'! So you can stare at them all you want, but staring is all

you can do. This magnificent rack shall forever remain out of your reach!

「Just the two of you?」

The guy talked to us while we were waiting in front of the Boss Room.

「That's right. What about you? You alone?」

To be honest, I feel an overwhelming urge to punch this guy in the dick for

oogling my Roxanne with his lecherous eyes, but it should be okay to talk to

him and display that I am above such petty grievances.

「Yeah. I am trying to save enough money so that I could buy myself more

Party members, but so far things have just not been working out very well for

me on that front. The thing is, no matter how much money I manage to save

up one way or another, I just can't seem to save up enough, because after you

take all the costs of buying food and daily necessities, it always ends up being

not enough to buy even a single Party member.」

Oh wow, he is talking so casually about something so shady as buying

himself some slaves because he cannot afford to find regular people who

would be willing to form a Party with him. I guess that pretty much solidifies

my belief that in this world slaves are a perfectly normal thing and it is not

taboo in any way to be talking about them or buying them for yourself. I

don't know about you, but I certainly would not want to start a conversation

with random guys met in a fucking dungeon with how much I want to get

myself some slave pussy, but maybe that is just my prime and proper

Japanese mentality speaking. Given enough time I should be able to adapt to

Page 346 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

how people in this world act and think, but for the time being some old

mannerisms are bound to be still rubbing off on me, so I have to be careful

not to do or say something unnecessary that might cause frictions between

me and the people I talk to.

Also, I wonder what the slaves themselves would have to say about such a

situation. I glanced back at Roxanne to see if she was uncomfortable with the

subject of slaves being brought up so openly, but she was simply standing

behind me with her eyes closed and a slight smile on her face. That makes

sense, since even though I am her master and she is my slave, our

relationship if quite a far cry from how it was usually portrayed in the history

books and media from my old world. But if we do not look like a typical

master and slave, then how are others seeing us? As a young couple, perhaps?

Then again, that might not be the case, because pretty much everyone would

definitely think that such a beautiful girl as Roxanne is way out of the league

of a plain-ass boring guy like me.

Okay, I have to stop thinking about such distracting things so much, because

right now it will lead me nowhere. Since we are waiting here though, might

as well allow this guy to talk some more and get his worries out of his

system. I am not particularly interested in his whining, but it is not like we

have anything better to do to pass the time.

「W-Well, I was in the same boat as you not that long ago, so I understand

how you feel.」

If I had not met Roxanne, I might have very well turned out like this guy

here, having to go through the Labyrinths all by myself.

「To be honest, I am afraid to be facing the Floor Boss since I am all by

myself, but unfortunately, I just cannot afford to go exploring any other

Labyrints.」

「You don't say.」

I can say from my own experiences: if you stumble into a Trap Room filled

with monsters all by yourself, you won't be in a big pinch, or royally

screwed. You will be fucked, with a capital F. But here in Quratar's

Page 347 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

Labyrinth there are always lots of people on most of the floors, so that risk is

greatly reduced. On the other hand though, more people means less chances

for monster encounters, and less monster encounters means less EXP needed

to level your Jobs up. And to top it off, unless you have access to cheat-like

Skills like my Warp that allows you to teleport to the Labyrinth from

practically anywhere in the world as long as you have the MP to do it, you

would have to pay the admission fee to even be allowed to enter Quratar's

Labyrinth every single time, and there is no way in hell that this would allow

you to save money. It is unfortunate, but that is just how the business rolls in

here.

「It has been two years since I entered the seventh floor, and throughout all

this time, I was unable to clear it. But now that my level and the capacity of

my Item Box have finally increased, I think I finally have a chance to go to

the next floor, so I am going to take that opportunity since it has presented

itself to me. 」

「Well, best of luck to you then. I hope you will be able to do it.」

「Thank you for your kind words. Even though I am all alone in this, I feel

like I will be able to pull through one way or the other. Call it blind optimism

if you want, but I feel like Lady Luck is on my side today.」

The Explorer dude entered the Boss Room with a light smile on his face

when the door opened a short while later. Two years spent on the seventh

floor alone? How fucked up is that? He looked like he was around my age or

perhaps a little older, so if he spent two years here, then how old was he

when he started going to the Labyrinths alone? Looks like the world of

Explorers is much more brutal and unforgiving to those who cannot find

themselves a Party than I initially thought.

Part 6

I do not really care about how other people are doing in the Labyrinths, but

now that I have Roxanne with me, I am grateful that I will never have to

tackle their challenges while having no one to back me up. She might be just

one person, but even so, the difference of having her here with me is a huge

one.

Before it was finally our turn to face the Floor Boss, another Party came and

stood in line behind us, so I had to keep Durandal hidden from their eyes.

「OK, we are going in. You ready, Roxanne?」

「Yes. Let us go, master!」

While psyching ourselves up, we entered the Boss Room and I prepared

Durandal for battle. After the door closed behind us, I noticed that the Floor

Boss was already there, waiting for us. It was a red-colored Rapid Rabbit

Lv.7. So this is the Floor Boss of this floor, huh? I have to say, even though

its red coloring looks pretty menacing, overall this guy is looking pretty cute.

It even is the same size as the other Slow Rabbits.

「HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!!!!!!!」

Or not! This goddamn thing is not adorable at all! Also, this is the first time

when the Floor Boss was already waiting for us when we have entered its

chamber. So far, every time we entered the Boss Rooms, they were all

materializing from the green smoke that was gathering after the door closed

behind us, but this time there was nothing like that. The monster was already

waiting for us in the middle of the room, all ready for battle, so I hurriedly

assumed a battle stance with Durandal readied in front of me.

Page 349 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

As soon as the door completely closed behind Roxanne, who was following

after me, Rapid Rabbit began to move, dashing towards us with incredible

speed.

Fast! This thing is way faster than I ever could have imagined!

Rapid Rabbit approached us in the blink of an eye. To me, it looks like it is at

least three times faster than the usual Slow Rabbit! Could it be that this red

coloring of his is what is making all the difference? I raised Durandal into the

air and dropped it down onto the Rapid Rabbit as it was going for my leg

with its fangs bared, but it dodged my attack without losing any of its

amazing speed. I tried to predict where it would be going next and aim my

next attack a little bit further, but it also dodged it, this time by making a

sharp ninety degrees turn to the left! I swung Durandal in that direction

without even looking at it, but of course such a half-assed attack did not hit it,

missing the mark completely and utterly.

(Ugh! Why won't you just stay still so that I can hit you, you damned

rabbit?!)

Until now, the Floor Bosses were all giant monsters, so even if the had

somewhat fast attacks hitting them was not much of a problem due to their

sheer size, but since this bastard here is the same size as the small fries, its

speed and maneuverability is what is making this battle all the more difficult.

Unless we find a way to hinder its movement or create an opening so that we

could land a solid hit on it, this will go on forever until it will drain us out of

our strength!

Changing its course with the next charge, Rapid Rabbit targeted Roxanne. It

got as close to her as possible, and then jumped towards her upper body. At

this rate, it is going to hit her… or not, because when it was just about to sink

its fangs into Roxanne's neck, she swiftly moved to the side until she was out

of the way of the monster's attack, and then she used her momentum to

deliver a spinning slash right into the Rapid Rabbit's neck. Hah! How naïve

of you to think that you would be able to hit her, you stupid beast! Of course

my Roxanne would be much faster than you! Seeing that she could match the

Rapid Rabbit's movements and beat it at its own game filled me with a fresh

wave of confidence and determination. That's right, there is no need for me

Page 350 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

to be afraid of this boss when I have Roxanne by my side. Together, we can

definitely bring it down!

When it picked itself up from the ground, Rapid Rabbit once again changed

its tactics and went towards me for the second time. I tried to observe its

movements more carefully and adjust the speed of my own attacks, but it still

managed to evade them, even though this time they were much closer to

hitting home tha before. Still though, a miss is a miss. If I do not want the

entire battle to ride on Roxanne's shoulders once more, I have to figure out a

way to make my attacks connect. I am the main source of DPS in this Party,

so if I play this right, one or two attacks will be all that I would need for this

fight to be over with our victory!

「Don't be so full of yourself, monster! You're going down!」

Rapid Rabbit is heading for me again.When I was following it with my eyes,

I think I noticed something that looked like Leather Armor in the corner of

my eye, but since we are in the middle of a fight, I decided to ignore it for the

time being. Once we deal with this Floor Boss, there will be plenty of time to

check out our surroundings, but for now, handling the Rapid Rabbit requires

my full attention.

It was hopping back and forth between left and right to confuse me, making

aiming my attacks with Durandal exceptionally difficult. But nevertheless, I

have to aim Durandal and do something instead of staying in place like a

sitting duck or a damage sponge.A battle is always about being as far ahead

of your enemy as possible. I reading one of its movements ahead is not

enough, then I will just have to read two or three steps ahead!

Predicting the course of the Rapid Rabbit's assault, I adjusted Durandal in my

hands and swung it in the appropriate direction. I thought I nailed it this time,

but once again the boss altered its course of movement just before my blade

was able to reach him, escaping unscratched, all the while maintaining its

speed, until…

「Ghaaa!!!」

I felt a sharp pain in one of my sides. I guess that means that its attack

Page 351 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

managed to reach me after all. But even so, I have to power through the pain,

withstand the impact of the blow and follow the boss with my sight in order

to figure out what is it going to do next.

The fight is not over yet. Not by a long shot. As long as I have my will to go

on and refuse to give up, I will find the right moment to strike and beat it!

Rapid Rabbit headed for Roxanne at its astonishing pace. It moves lightly

from one side to another and jumps at her again at full speed, but she once

again spun around and repelled its assault with the strike of her Scimitar.

Looks like she already has the timing of its attacks down, and utilizes that

knowledge to her advantage. It's a shame that I am not like her and I cannot

do the same, but it is quite all right, because I have my own way of fighting. I

know full well that movement speed alone is not the decisive factor that

determines the outcome of a battles, because even those who are the swiftest

on their feet will not be able to achieve victory without possessing the

strength to back it up.

Once again, rapid Rabbit rushes in, targeting me. It must have determined

that Roxanne is too dangerous to fight since she can counter its attempts at

attacking her effectively. Choosing me as you priority target because you

think me inferior to her… I can only call that incredibly careless of you!

I waited until Rapid Rabbit was in my point-blank range, and then…

(Over… whelming!)

I unleashed Hero's Job Skill: Overwhelming. As soon as I did that, the

movements of the Rapid Rabbit, previously too fast for me to follow them

properly with my eyes, have slowed down significantly. Yes, now I can see it

clearly. I slowly turned sideways to move away from the trajectory of its

plunge attack, prepared Durandal and then turned back around on my heel….

And unleashed a flurry of attacks upon it.

Hahahaha! You feel that, you damned beast?! This is my way of fighting!

Now that I have used Overwhelming, I can get multiple attacks in at once

when there is nothing you can do about it!

Part 7

Now that I have delivered so many blows to it that it could not have survived

that even if it possessed zombie mode, all I have to do is to retreat a safe

distance away just to be on the safe side, and wait for Overwhelming's effect

to end while being out of the harm's way. Now, just be a good little Rabbit

and turn into my meat so that I can finish the quest for that dude in the

clothing store, and don't you dare make me use Overwhelming more than I

have to!

As soon as Overwhelming's duration ended, time has begun to move at a

normal pace again. Because of that, it looked as if Rapid Rabbit has been

suspended in the air by some invisible force that begun to slash away at it at

the same time. It was a gruesome spectacle, but of an incredibly satisfying

kind. Just like I ordered it to, the boss, or rather what was now left of it, fell

onto the floor and rolled over to the side. Thanks to Overwhelming, the

victory was now ours. Subsequently, Rapid Rabbit disappeared in a cloud of

green smoke, leaving behind its Drop Item: a piece of Rabbit Meat.

Rabbit Meat. I guess this is the item we were asked to bring to that male clerk

at the clothing store back in Imperial City. He asked for at least two pieces of

it, so that means we are halfway through fulfilling his request. But first, we

will have to wash it thoroughly once we get back home, since I do not believe

that laying on the ground would be good for the meat's sanitary values, and

the last thing we need would be the client declining to accept it because it is

dirty or aht it possibly caught some nasty bacteria from being on the ground

too long.

「Amazing, master! That was amazing! Simply amazing! I have never seen

you ove in such a way before!」

While I was carefully picking the Rabbit Meat up from the ground, Roxanne

Page 353 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

spared me no amount of praises.

「W-Well thank you.」

「Your movements just now were so amazingly fast that I have nearly lost

sight of you for a moment!」

"Nearly lost sight of you for a moment", huh? So Roxanne was able to see my

movements after I activated Overwhelming after all? It's actually pretty

amazing of her that she only "nearly" lost sight of me instead of losing it

completely. But don't get too excited about it, Michio! She is only impressed

because of Overwhelming's speed, although for me instead of giving me an

increase in my own speed it simply looked like everything around me slowed

down almost to a standstill.

「Anyway, there is something that I want to check out.」

「Yes, what is it, master?」

「While we were fighting the Rapid Rabbit, I think I saw some equipment in

one of the corners in this room, so I would like to check out what it was. I

think it was right around… here.」

In addition to the Leather Armor, the equipment that we found in the room

included a pair of Leather Gloves and Leather Shoes. I also picked up a

Single Copper Sword. Overall, we will not be able to sell all of those items

for that much money, but an extra income is an extra income, so you will not

find me complaining about it. I simply took all of them and placed them in

my Item Box.

「You said that sometimes equipment is dropped in the Boss Room as well as

the Floor Boss' Drop Item, right?」

「Umu. To be more exact, I think the equipment drops every time that the

previous Party that challenged the Floor Boss gets defeated by it.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. It should be even more apparent since the Floor Boss was already in

Page 354 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

the room when we entered it.」

I thought that it was pretty strange that the Floor Boss was already here when

we entered, since it was the first time something like that ever happened to

us. Up until now, every Floor Boss we have encountered appeared in the

room only after we reached the center of it by materializing from a gathering

cloud of green smoke. At first I thought that this was some kind of rare

encounter pattern occurring, but thinking about it carefully… Roxanne did

say that whenever the Floor Boss defeats the Party that tried to challenge it, it

would be waiting for the next one to arrive, but I always assume that they

will despawn first and then spawn again between encounters and not literally

stand there waiting for their next opponents to arrive. But since it was already

here… then… then that means that the equipment I just took must have

belonged to the Explorer dude who went to fight Rapid Rabbit before us,

right?! I… I see. So he got killed by the Rapid Rabbit after all that talk about

feeling like Lady Luck was on his side today, huh?

I stood up and took another look at the room to see if there was anything else

worthy of interest left here, and just when I thought that there was nothing…

*Blink*

(Huh? What's that?)

After examining the ground where I found the equipment once more, I

noticed something shining laying amidst the dust. It was a Black Magic

Crystal. Could it be another one of that Explorer's possessions? If so, then he

really must have no idea how to handle it properly if it was still black after

two years of him staying on the seventh floor of the Quratar's Labyrinth

alone. The order of colors, depending on how much magic power they have

stored within them goes black = = > red = = > purple = = > blue = = > green

= = > yellow = = > white, so if I were to take a guess I would say that he

must have been keeping that one is his Item Box the entire time believing that

it would still be gathering magical energy from defeated monsters, while in

reality it is the exact opposite. In order to gather energy and change colors,

Magic Crystals have to be present somewhere on their owner's body or else

the only thing they will gather is jack shit. If he understood that, he would

have had at least red, or maybe even a purple one on him. Or maybe he

already sold the one that was filled and obtained a new, empty one. In that

case all of the money he got for it were probably stored in his Item Box, and

after an Explorer dies, I do not think there is any way of retrieving the

contents of the Item Box that belonged to him. Shame.

Last time when I checked it, the Magic Crystal I had on me had already

turned green, so maybe it is about time to go and sell it to the Adventurers

Guild. Based on what Roxanne told me about them, turning a Yellow Magic

Crystal into White Magic Crystal would take too much time, so usually

people sell their Magic Crystals when they turn green or yellow. Maybe I

should also do the same sometime soon?

「Ah, master! You found a Black Magic Crystal! As expected of you, your

luck never stops to amaze me!」

「Yeah… except it just happen to be laying here…」

「Black Magic Crystals are usually harder to find if they are on the ground

because they do not shine as bright as the other ones, which makes them

harder to spot, so even if it was just sheer luck, it is still amazing that you

were able to spot it. You should be proud of yourself, master!」

「Yeah… certainly, you are right…」

So that's how it is, huh? Certainly, that Black Magic Crystal did not shine in

the same way that my own Magic Crystals did. Compared to them, it looked

almost matte and lifeless, so I would not be surprised if someone were to

mistake it for just another ordinary pebble in the Labyrinth's corridors, that's

how difficult to spot it was. If not for that one weak accidental blink, I would

have probably missed it entirely as well, and I would never have even noticed

it. The same goes for the equipment of that Explorer who walked here before

us. Without Identify, I would have probably dismissed all those pieces of

equipment in the corner of the room as just another element of the

background to be glossed over. Maybe I should make it a habit to scan my

surroundings with Identify even if there is seemingly nothing to be found

around me? That way, I will have absolute certainty that I am not missing any

potential loot.

Part 8

Then again, being overly cautious like that will probably make me look like

some sort of idiot who does so because he has nothing better to do with his

time, not to mention that keeping an eye on literally everything around me

also seem like something quite impossible to do.

Now, the question is: what should I do with this Black Magic Crystal?

Hmm…

「Well, this Magic Crystal is black, so it means that it is pretty much useless

to us right now, right? All we can do with it now is to either sell it or keep it

with us until it accumulates more magic power within it.」

「Uhm… or we could just fuse master's Magic Crystal together with this

one…」

Roxanne told that to me.

「Fuse them… together?」

「Yes. If you press two Magic Crystals together, they will be combined into

one Magic Crystal.」

「But won't the magic power stored in the Magic Crystal with less magic

power stored get lost in this way?」

「It is okay, master, magic power will not get wasted, so you do not have to

worry about that. As I said, when fusing two Magic Crystals together, you

combine two of them into one, but it works not just for their physical shell,

but for the magic power stored within them as well.」

I was thinking it would be nice to have a spare Magic Crystal on me, but

Page 357 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

since Roxanne recommends fusing them together so much, then I guess there

is no harm in trying it out. And besides, even if it somehow ends up in

failure, it will be all right, because a Black Magic Crystal is only worth ten

Nars at best, so it is not like losing it is going to impact me in any particular

way.

I took out a Green Magic Crystal from my backpack. Even in the dim light of

the Labyrinth, it was still shining beautifully in comparison to the Black

Magic Crystal in my other hand. I would definitely be able to spot something

like that even if it was on the ground, because that shine is pretty distinct.

「Eh? Master's Magic Crystal is already green? But was it not red not that

long ago?!」

「It was, but now it has become like that. Pretty shocking, huh?」

I tried to play it off as casually as I could.

「Yes, that is amazing! How did you do it, master?!」

「That's a secret.」

I cannot tell her that my Magic Crystal has already become green because I

have a Bonus Skill called Crystal Acceleration which drastically increases the

speed of gathering the magic power form defeated monsters by multiplying

its obtained amount, right? Roxanne would definitely freak out even more if

she found that out. But while we are still on the subject of Magic Crystals and

how they shine… since the last stage of filling the Magic Crystal is the White

Magic Crystal, I wonder how brightly that would shine in the dark? Maybe in

the same way like a flashlight, or perhaps a streetlight? Anyway, I bet that

finding it is going to be so much easier if it ever happens.

I then placed my own Green Magic Crystal in the palm of my right hand, and

the newly-found Black Magic Crystal in my left hand, and then I pressed the

two of them together, just like Roxanne showed me. As a result, the Black

Magic Crystal sunk into the Green Magic Crystal without any kind of

resistance. It was a strange feeling, combining the two solid objects like they

were neither hard nor soft like that, but it was also kinda addicting, like

Page 358 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

popping each individual bubble on a roll of bubble wrap. I think I could get

used to doing this, that's how oddly satisfying it felt.

「So, will this do?」

「Yes, that is literally all there is to the entire process of fusing Magic Crystals

together.」

「So they can become one just like that, huh?」

When the entire process has been completed, the only thing that remained

was my Green Magic Crystal. Since its color did not change even after fusing

it together with that Black Magic Crystal, I guess it means that it did not have

all that much magical energy stored within it, and it does not surprise me,

since the requirement for changing the color of the Magic Crystal from green

to yellow was to accumulate the magical energy of a total of ten thousand

monsters. With my Crystal Acceleration Bonus Skill it will definitely go

faster than that, but I have no doubt that the amount needed will still be quite

big.

I placed the Green Magic Crystal back in my backpack, and with that

business concluded, there was no more reasons for us to be staying in this

Boss Room anymore, so we moved on unto the eight floor.

「Roxanne, can you smell if there are any monsters nearby?」

「As you wish, master… *Sniff Sniff* *Sniff Sniff* … hmm, I smell a single

Needlewood nearby, but that is it. I do not sense any other monsters in our

near vicinity. Do you want me to guide you to that monster now?」

「There's no need for you to do that now. I was not planning on fighting

anything on the eight floor, even if we managed to get here. That battle

against the Rapid Rabbit was pretty tough, so there is no need to be pushing

ourselves too far just for the sake of going a little further ahead.」

I stopped Roxanne from going in the direction where she sensed the presence

of the monster. Looks like the eighth floor of the Quratar Labyrinth is

occupied by Needlewoods, but even though I already know them and their

Page 359 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

attack patterns like the back of my own hand, I have not felt like fighting

them right now at all.

「I see. In that case, should we go back and face the Floor Boss of the seventh

floor again?」

「No, since we know that there might be other Parties waiting to face the

Rapid Rabbit, going back to the seventh floor and waiting in queue to the

Boss Room would only bring us more unwanted trouble. Instead of

proceeding with the eight floor here, let us go to the Veil's Labyrinth, since

we have yet to break through the seventh floor there. We can always come

back here tomorrow if we won't have luck with the seventh floor's Waiting

Room being empty.」

「Understood.」

I don't know why, but somehow I do not feel like going for a rematch with

the Rapid Rabbit just now, so I came up with whatever reason for postponing

the second battle with it until tomorrow. Could it be that the death of that

friendly Explorer guy has shaken me more than I realizing it? Probably so,

because with each step I took, I felt more and more like I didn't want to do

anything at all, falling deeper into the embrace of apathy.

Needless to say, even though we went to Veil's Labyrinth to do some

exploration and monster hunting, this particular bout there did not go very

well and we haven't gotten much further, because everything I did was done

mechanically, without me actually putting my backbone into it like I was

supposed to be doing. I just lost all the motivation, like a tire that has been

deflated after being pierced with a sharp piece of glass lying on the road. The

only thing that kept me from collapsing under my own weight which was

crushing down upon was the knowledge that Roxanne was right next to me,

so I could not allow myself to show any weakness in order not to make her

worry any more than she already was.

That night, I did it with Roxanne… over, and over, and over again. And

unlike all the other times we did it with each other, this time… it was pretty

rough and violent. I probably did that in order to slip away from the grasp of

death that I felt around me stronger than ever (TL Note: Curious words

Page 360 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com

coming from someone who literally wanted to off himself two volumes

ago) and in order to prove to myself that I am here and I am alive, and to find

a reason to keep on living.

Yes, now I can say that for sure. The death of that random Explorer hit me

pretty hard. It's not that I grew fond of him, because that would be strange

after only meeting once and exchanging like, what, only a few sentences? No,

it was not about that. The death of that guy came as such a shock to me most

likely because if the events went differently, then we might have as well

switched places.