Carelessness Part 2

Part 9

He might have been the guy with a slave going through the Labyrinths with a

reliable partner at his side, and I could have been a sad loser stuck on one

floor of the Labyrinth for two years, too underlevelled and poor to buy

myself slaves or be accepted by any other Party, destined to die on the day

when I finally mustered enough courage to try and change something in my

current, pathetic life.

He knew, He knew full well that Labyrinths are dangerous places; places

where your life can come to a swift end as soon as you lower your guard for

even a second. And yet, he still chose to go and challenge the Floor Boss of

the seventh floor, simply because he increased his level and expanded the

capacity of his Item Box, which gave him a boost in confidence so big that he

was certain that Lady Luck was on his side that day. Well, you can see how

much she had his back. She had his back so much that now he was nothing

more but food for the Labyrinth of Quratar and all of his items are now in my

possession, waiting to be sold for whatever sum of money I am going to be

offered for them.

So yeah, while I should not have been affected by this seemingly random

happening all that much, just knowing that it could have been me fills me

with worries and anxiety that I cannot seem to shake off of me no matter how

hard I try to do so.

When he was going through the door and turned back to say goodbye to us,

he had a light smile on his face. How can I know that I will not be doing the

exact same thing, maybe not tomorrow or in two days, but sometime in the

future, the one in which I fall to some Floor Boss unnoticed and not

remembered by anyone?

I just… I simply cannot believe that there might come a moment where all

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the hard work I have been doing up until now will be completely and utterly

shat on. Taking that Explorer as an example again: before coming to the

seventh floor where he got stuck for two years he had to clear the previous,

sixth floor along with its Floor Boss, and all the other floors and their Floor

Bosses before that. Even after encountering a seemingly unsurmountable

wall, he simply continued to do his best until he gained enough confidence to

try and break the impasse that was keeping him from taking a shot at the

possibility of changing something in his life for the better. And all of that,

just to get killed by a fucking red-colored rabbit? Talk about irony. Maybe

that is why I am seeing so many similarities between that guy and me? We

both tried to do our best while fighting alone, simply trying to get by from

one day to another hoping that tomorrow would bring some positive changes

with it… and we both could have it all end in an instant by trying to bite way

more than we could chew. I don't know how that guy managed to get through

all seven floors of the Quratar's Labyrinth while fighting by himself and

being armed in nothing more but Leather Armor, Gloves, Shoes and a Copper

Sword, but if not for my stat distribution, Bonus Skills and Durandal that I

got thanks to them, I am positive that I would have died a miserable death

sometime soon after arriving in this world. Maybe even during the Bandit

attack on the village?

Heh, it is so strange that I have never even put too much thought into things

like that before, even while going through the Labyrinths and fighting against

enemies that scared the living daylights out of me, but now here I am. I only

knew that guy for like what, five minutes at best and I did not even see him

actually die but I cannot sleep thinking about how his life might have went

down if only he managed to survive and get to the eight floor just like we

did? If I keep this up, then I will definitely go through the rest of the night

without getting any sleep at all, and in a place like Labyrinths that can be as

bad as coming inside them without any weapons or armor. The roads to them

are much like broken bridges: you can traverse them if you stay careful

enough, but one wrong step will send you plummeting into the dark depts

below that wait so that they could swallow you whole.

It is already bad that we have done next to nothing in the Veil Labyrinth

because of my moping, so allowing this sorry state of mine to drag onto

tomorrow simply because I thought too much is absolutely out of the

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question. However, if there is one thing all this thinking done right, it was

reminding me of the one, simple truth that I seemed to have oh-so conveniently forget: Labyrinths are dangerous death traps, where death might

be lurking literally around every corner.

That is my state of being after what we have been through today. As for how

Roxanne is holding up… I cannot say for sure. All this time she looked

perfectly fine and unfazed, but maybe that is because she is a native resident

of this world, so she is more used to being in the presence of death than

someone like me, who grew up relative safety and never had to worry about

getting hurt or dying. So it might be that she is perfectly fine, like I said, or

she might have also been affected but she is simply not showing it, trying to

put up a front for my sake. Whichever of those two it is, she accepted my

offer of having sex without any protests like usual, and did not speak a word

of complaint even when things got a little rougher after a few initial times,

and you can be damn sure that I used that acceptance of hers to the best of my

ability. We were going at it nonstop for a few hours straight, until our bodies

finally gave up and we collapsed on top of each other from exhaustion, our

consciousnesses drifting away into the dreamlands, leaving all the worries

behind.

On the morning of the next day, I was once again woken up by a hot kiss and

Roxanne's hot tongue entwining itself around my own. Ahh, I will never get

tired of the sweet feeling of drowning in Roxanne's kindness whenever she

does this to me.

「Good morning, Roxanne.」

「Good morning, master.」

「Did you sleep well?」

「Yes, as good as always, which is a little surprising considering how many

times we have done it yesterday. Speaking of that, are you not tired, master?

Maybe you should lie down and rest some more? Or at least drink some

water?」

「Thank you for being worried about me, but I am fine now. Or rather, I

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should be the one getting worried about you since I pushed you down so

hard.」

「Ah, O-Oh no, it's fine, really! I mean, I was a little surprised when you

suddenly became so forceful, but… but it didn't feel bad, so…」

「Oh… W-Well in that case I am glad that you enjoyed it. Okay, as for our

plans for today, in the morning we are going to go to Quratar's Labyrinth as

per the usual. Our target for today is to defeat more Slow Rabbits to get their

furs, and defeat the seventh floor's Floor Boss one more time. Is that all right

with you?」

「Yes, it shall be done as you wish, master.」

To be honest, it still feels as if something whacked me in the head pretty

hard, causing it to become numb and desensitized, but I cannot just stay home

and mope around in bed forever. Trips to the Labyrinth are our lifeblood

here, so we cannot allow ourselves to lose even a day of precious exploration.

Forcing my groggy body to move, I somehow managed to get myself up.

The Explorer that I met yesterday is dead, that is most definitely an

undisputable fact. It is also a fact that I can end up the same way at any

moment. But if you think about it rationally, skipping on going into the

Labyrinths just because I am afraid of death is the worst possible thing I

could do right now. If I allow myself to skip it even for a day, then I will

most definitely skip it the day after as well, causing the spiral of skipping on

Labyrinth-going to propel itself forever, leaving me as the same weakling that

I am now just because I did not want monsters to harm me.

Part 10

So I have to take the risk of getting hurt by them and fight them, because that

is the only way for me to obtain more EXP to Level Up my Jobs and get

stronger, and when I will become stronger, that automatically means that I

will be that much safer. Not to mention that I also have Durandal, and my

ever-so-reliable Roxanne to back me up whenever I will find myself in

trouble.

That is why I decided to go the Quratar Labyrinth again. I have made my

decision to keep on going, and I cannot falter in it no matter what.

In order to enter the Labyrinth the day after tomorrow, you must first enter

the Labyrinth tomorrow, and to enter the labyrinth tomorrow, you must first

enter the Labyrinth today. No exceptions, no excuses, no complaining, this is

simply something that you have to do. Of course, going there after what I

have been hit with yesterday is scarier than it was before, but this is a purely

psychological problem of mine that I will have to overcome with the strength

of my will.

That's right. It is kind of like with balancing on a rope. It is easy to do this

when said rope is safely spread on the ground where no harm will come to

you even if you fall down from it, but walking on a rope that has actually

been suspended in the air? That is another matter entirely.

When it comes to people, there is not that much physical difference between

them (TL Note: Okay, calling bullshit on that one. Yes there are, and we

all know it.), but psychological differences are more diverse and frequent.

Some are more resistant to things like fear and traumas, while some are less

resistant to them, but you know what both of those types of people have in

common? The fact that sooner or later they will all have to confront them,

one way or another, so if I can choose when I will have to face mine, then I

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prefer to do it now instead of waiting for the right time to do so to come to

me first. Instead of being forced to traverse the rope while it is still in the air,

I will bring it to the ground myself!

For the first half of the dungeon, I just focused in hunting as many Slow

Rabbits as I could while following Roxanne's guidance. When it comes to the

actual battle, Slow Rabbits themselves are not that difficult of an opponent to

dispatch, even when they are all Lv.7. In that regard, nothing has changed

since yesterday, and it made me breathe a sigh of relief. It is okay so far. I can

definitely do it. I do not feel like my life is threatened so far. It does not

matter whether it is a Slow Rabbit, Mino, Escape Goat or any other monster.

They might be dangerous and only grow more dangerous the higher we will

climb, but as long as they will not use any Skills that I am not aware of or try

to take my by surprise, I will be able to handle anything they might be

throwing at me as long as I remain calm and analyze their movements

carefully. Like that, we have made our way through the second part of the

seventh floor, arriving in the Waiting Room before the Boss Room.

Okay, this is it. We will try to fight against the Rapid Rabbit for the second

time now. With all the things that we have learned about it from our fight

yesterday, hopefully this time things will go much smoother.

Just as I expected, the second time challenging the Rapid Rabbit was indeed

easier than the first, mostly because I now knew that the easiest way to

counter its speed was to use Overwhelming to slow it down. When we

defeated it and it disappeared in a puff of smoke, the thing that was left

behind was a piece of Rabbit Meat, just like yesterday. Part of me was hoping

for some kind of rare drop to go along with it, but no dice for now, we have

to make do with the meat alone.

This particular piece of Rabbit Meat looked like it could easily be enough for

two or three people to eat, so I think we can bring this piece here back to the

male clerk and keep the one from yesterday for our own usage.

「Okay, we got what we came here for. That man in the clothing store said

that he wanted a maximum of two pieces of Rabbit Meat, so I think he should

be pretty satisfied with what we got here for him, don't you think?」

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「Yes, he definitely should not have any qualms about both the quantity and

the quality of the meat.」

「Right, but here's a question, Roxanne. To my understanding, Rabbit Meat is

not a rare drop from Rapid Rabbit, but a common one, meaning that it will

always be dropped by it when it is defeated. But if that is the case, then why

is it treated like some kind of delicacy worth of requesting people to get it for

you when it should be the same just like any other meat you could find at a

butchers shop?」

「Well, you are right that it is not hard to get it, but unlike the other types of

meat, Rabbit Meat is pretty expensive. So much so in fact, that for regular

citizens each time they are able to get their hands on it, it is treated with a real

feast. I think it is also what the nobles tend to eat most of the time.」

So it would seem that this meat is valued by the commoners and nobles alike.

Understandable, since no matter where you go, people will always want to

eat delicious things whenever they have the chance. But here, since such a

good meat can only be aquired as a drop from a Floor Boss in the Labyrinth,

shops and the people are probably heavily dependent on its deliveries on

Adventurers and Explorers who would be willing to part with this meat,

hence the high price of it, since not every human is probably suited to became

someone who could go to the Labyrinths and hunt the monsters for their

materials themselves.

「Sounds pretty rough.」

「It is, but in my humble opinion, Rabbit Meat is well worth it, since It is very

delicious.」

「Would you like to try having it for breakfast then?」

If it really is as delicious as Roxanne describes it to be, then we should

definitely try it.

Fighting Floor Bosses in the Labyrinths can be much more dangerous than

fighting regular enemies, but it is something that cannot be avoided. They are

nothing more than beasts who can only blindly follow their instincts and

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stepping stones that those who wish to advance further through the

Labyrinths have to traverse, proving that their instinct of survival and

intellect are vastly superior to the animalistic urges of monsters, and that we

are rightfully the species that deserves to eat better and lead more

comfortable lives than them.

「Yes, I would very much like to try it.」

「All right, that settles it then. Before we go back to the Imperial City, we are

going to defeat some more Rapid Rabbits and get their meat for ourselves.」

「Roger!」

We left the Boss Room and then went back to the seventh floor's Waiting

Room in order to challenge the rapid Rabbit again. The strategy for this next

battle is much the same as in the previous two encounters with it: wait until it

gets close to me, use Overwhelming, hit it while it gets slowed until it dies

and profit off of it.

In comparison to the other Floor Bosses I had to face both in Veil's Labyrinth

and in Quratar's Labyrinth, Rapid Rabbit is, without a shade of a doubt, the

most dangerous of the bunch so far. But after fighting it two times now, I can

say have began to recognize the patterns in which it was attacking, decreasing

the danger and the risk of sustaining an injury in a battle against it by quite a

large margin. Combine that with the knowledge of the strength gap between

us, and the danger will decrease even further.

All that is left to do now is to use all of that to my advantage. Because that is

what we humans do. We exploit the weaknesses of others for our own

benefit, so why would such logic not be applicable here in the Labyrinths

when it comes to fighting monsters? I can fight the Labyrinth and its

monsters steadily and calmly, carefully judging and analyzing the strengths

and weaknesses of every enemy.

Part 11

The most important thing is to not allow what's happening around me to get

to my head too much. That's the safest thing to do after all. Do that, and

nothing will be able to stand in your way, inconvenience you or upset you.

Rapid Rabbit jumped towards me with it teeth bared, but I just slashed it

diagonally with Durandal. See? If you take the calm and collected approach

to the fight, there will be nothing that will be able to stand in my way, even

allowing me to seize victory without having to rely on Overwhelming too

much.

After suffering a direct hit from me, the monster changed the course of its

actions and this time opted for charging towards Roxanne, but even that

attempt has failed, because she shifted her upper body slightly to avoid the

incoming attack and then immediately countered with a fast spinning slash.

That attack alone was enough to send the Rapid Rabbit flying backwards.

Needless to say, its attack did not even reach her. I always thought that

Roxanne should be kept as far away from the frontlines as possible since she

does not have my levels of DPS, but even against a Floor Boss wielding

overwhelming speed, she was still able to hold her ground. It is not that she is

in danger here, she is the dangerous one! With her in the front and me in the

back, this guy is already as good as dead!

「GHYYYYYYYIIIIII!!!!!」

It screamed as it took another hit from Roxanne's Scimitar and switching its

attention back to me. Sorry buddy, but now that you have taken so many hits,

this next one is bound to be the last, so prepare yourself!

I used Overwhelming to slow the Rapid Rabbit down, and then unleashed a

flurry of attacks on it while it was completely defenseless and at my mercy,

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or rather, the lack of it. There can be only one conclusion to it then: it falls

onto the ground and disappears in a puff of green smoke, leaving behind

another piece of Rabbit Meat.

「Now this should take care of all the ingredients we need, right, master? I am

so looking forward to our breakfast today.」

「Same here. By the way, how exactly should we cook the Rabbit Meat to get

the most out of its flavor?」

I asked Roxanne as she picked up the leftover Rabbit Meat from the boss.

「Rabbit Meat is pretty versatile in that regard, being able to be prepared in a

variety of ways, so the more appropriate question here would be: how would

master like it to be prepared?」

「Well…」 Even though she asked that of me, I cannot really answer that since

I have never cooked rabbit meat before. She says that there is a myriad of

ways po prepare it, but which one would be the correct one? You might think

that this is a pretty trivial matter, but to me it is actually rather important. My

mother died when I was a very young lad, so throughout the most of my life I

had to learn how to cook, since my father was an asshole who could not

prepare even the simplest of meals even if his life depended on it.

At first most of my attempts always ended in a culinary disaster one way or

the other, but gradually, throughout the systematic process of continuous trial

and error, I finally learned how to prepare pretty decent meals. But that was

back on earth, where I had the modern technology that made the entire

process that much easier, as well as a virtually limitless pool of ingredients I

could choose from. But here, things are going to be a tad bit more difficult.

Not only do I not have access to all the tools I was so getting used to

handling, but the supply of ingredients is also heavily limited, meaning that if

I want to make something truly tasty or exquisite, I will have to rack my

brain pretty hard to achieve the desired results. The only saving grace is that

this time around I am sharing my house with someone who also is able to

cook, and she is more than willing to help me prepare the meals, so at the

very least the entire work will not be riding solely on my shoulders.

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That being said, throughout all those years where I had to cook for myself, I

never once had to cook rabbit meat, or any kind of Japanese wild game for

that matter. I know that it is generally said that pretty much all kinds of meat

can be prepared in the same way but with different tweaks to them, but since

this will be my first time doing something like that, I would like to know for

sure how should I prepare it in order not to let a perfectly good piece of meat

to go to waste or become heavily underutilized, forcing us to throw some of it

out.

「Hmm. In that case, how about preparing in in a Shema-yaki style?」

「Shema-yaki style?」

Since she used the word "yaki", then I am assuming this will have something

to do with frying the meat?

「Yes.」

「And… how exactly does that work?」

「Basically, you just slice the Rabbit Meat and wrap it in Shema leaves before

frying them.」

「Okay, sounds easy enough. What about those leaves? Are we going to have

to buy them?」

「I think that will not be necessary. The Shema plants we planted in our herb

garden should be sprouting about now, and there should be enough of its

properly developed leaves to be harvested.」

Roxanne explained to me. Recently, I noticed that she has been taking more

initiative when she was talking with me, not limiting herself to only offer

explanations for the myriad of questions that I was throwing her way on a

daily basis. It is a very good thing, and I sincerely hope that she will continue

to do so even more in the future.

「Sounds good. Let us prepare it in this Shema-yaki style then.」

「All right!」

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This is the first time I have ever heard of such a dish, but since it is

something recommended by Roxanne herself, then there is no way for it to be

bad, so I agreed to her suggestion before she changed her mind. Personally I

enjoy eating grilled meat to a great degree, so I cannot wait if this Shemayaki is going to be on par with what I used to know in Japan. Well, of course

it will not, but who knows, maybe I am in for a pretty pleasant surprise?

After we finished hunting for the Slow Rabbits, we briefly went to the town

to buy bread and some vegetable that would be served together with the meat

for our breakfast, and then we went back home.

While Roxanne went to the garden to gather all of the herbs we would need, I

took it upon myself to do some preparations with the meat. First things first, I

took the Kobold Knife that dropped from one of the Kobold Kampfers as a

rare drop and whacked the meat with its blunt side for a minute or two. I do

not know if rabbit meat is the kind of meat that has to be tenderized before it

is actually cooked, but this method seems to be working for other kinds of

meat like chicken, beef or pork, so it should probably be fine. When I was

just about done with that task, Roxanne went through the door, carrying the

herbs in her hands.

「Done gathering herbs from the garden?」

「Yes. Thankfully, Shema is a type of herb that sprouts pretty quickly, so I

had no trouble gathering as much as four servings worth of it. But I think that

we should still wait with harvesting its roots and other things we planted, just

to make sure that they all had enough time to mature properly.」

「Oh, so we can eat the roots as well?」

Looking at these Shema leaves from up close, they kinda look like giant

ginger leaves. Who would have thought that we are going to have herbs like

that in our garden? So, based on what Roxanne told me earlier, we are going

to be wrapping those leaves around the meat and then fry them, correct?

「Yes, the roots of the Shema herbs are primarily used for the purpose of

masking the meat's bad smell. It is one of the most commonly-used herbs

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around here. Ah, and before I forget, I also happened to sharpen some

skewers while I had a moment of free time. We can use them to hold the

leaves wrapped around the meat together and prevent them from falling apart

when the meat begins to fry.」

Part 12

「 Ohh, how clever!」

I am guessing that those roots must be similar to garlic then. Man, this Shema

is turning out to be a pretty useful herb.

Next, I used the knife to crush and grind Kobold Salt and Black Pepper into

as small of a powder as possible and seasoned the tenderized Rabbit Meat

with them. After that, it was time to wrap the seasoned meat in the leaves,

and pierce it with skewers that are going to be holding this "packaging" in

place. After that, we poured some olive oil into the wok, where we then threw

the meat when it got all hot and sizzling, fried all of them until they looked

just about ready, and…

Ta-dah!!! Chief Roxanne's Shema-yaki style Rabbit Meat has been finished!

Nothing else left to do but to have a bite to see how it tastes, so don't mind if

I do. Time to dig in!

「*Munch Munch*…. This is pretty good!」

「*Munch Munch*… *Munch Munch*… spicy, and yet so tasty!」

Despite having some degree of spiciness to it (maybe because Shema leaves

are similar in taste to leaf pepper?), this dish tasted quite good, and the

mixture of its flavors was quite rich and exquisite. It was like a symphony in

my mouth that went on and on without stopping. It was like these herbs were

made specifically so that they could compliment the mellow taste of the meat

itself.

「Delicious! It is as if the meat was melting right in my mouth! I never knew

that Rabbit Meat could be this good!」

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「I know, right?! Maybe it became like that because of the tenderizing I

subjected it to?」

「Tenderizing? What exactly did you do to tenderize it, master?」

「Oh, nothing that complicated, really. I just went and whacked it a few times

with the blunt side of the Kobold Knife so that it would not be so hard, and

that must have done the trick.」

「I see. I never knew that meat could be tenderized in such an intricate way.」

「Well, you know now. As they say, you learn something new every day.」

「Yes, certainly!」

Judging by how the whole dish turned out and how Roxanne reacted to it, I

dare say that this has been a huge success. And the best thing is that since the

ingredients are all relatively easy to procure, then we might just be able make

this dish whenever the fancy for it strikes us.

We can get Olive Oil as a drop from Naïve Olives who can be encountered

either on the sixth floor of Veil's Labyrinth or the second floor of Quratar's

Labyrinth. Kobold Salt can be obtained from Kobolds, which can be found

on the third floor of Veil's Labyrinth or the first floor or Quratar's Labyrinth.

Black Pepper drops from Spice Spider, the Floor Boss of the third floor of the

Quratar Labyrintth, and finally, we can get Rabbit Meat from Rapid Rabbit,

Floor Boss of Quratar Labyrinth's seventh floor, the one where we currently

are.

After breakfast, we have returned to the Labyrinth to hunt some more Slow

Rabbits for their Rabbit Fur and Rapid Rabbits for their meat. I have to

admit, now that I have gotten the taste of how good Rabbit Meat is, I might

have gotten addicted to it, I definitely want to eat more of it, and since items

don't go bad in the Item Box no matter how long they are kept there, we can

always save some of it for later instead of eating it all at once. When we were

done after a few attempts, we warped to the Imperial City. We have more

than enough Rabbit Meat on us, so we might as well fulfill the request of the

male clerk at that clothing store while selling the additional Rabbit Furs we

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have accumulated.

This time, instead of going to the side one, we entered the store through the

front entrance, because our business here is not about selling the Rabbit Furs.

No, today, we are here to deliver the Rabbit Meat to the male clerk that

apparently runs the show here.

「Welcome, how can I be of service… oh, you are the pair of Explorers from

yesterday. Since you are here, then does that mean…?」

「Yes it does indeed. Two pieces of fresh Rabbit Meat coming right up,

exactly like you requested.」

「Thank you so much for doing this for me. Please, if you would be so kind as

to come with me, I shall prepare your reward right away.」

After receiving a rather enthusiastic greeting, the male clerk beckoned us to

follow him to the counter in the back of the shop, just like he did it yesterday

when we entered the shop through the side entrance. On our way there, I

"chanted" the incantation for the Item Box to appear, and then I took two

large pieces of Rabbit Meat from it.

「Here you go.」

Even if we hand those two pieces of Rabbit Meat away to him, we will still

have enough left for ourselves, and in case we will run out of it, all we have

to do is to travel back to Quratar Labyrinth's seventh floor and defeat the

Rapid Rabbit to obtain more of it.

「Once again, thank you, I am truly indebted to you. Normally I would pay

one hundred and sixty Nars for one piece of Rabbit Meat, however, you and

your companion have amicably accepted my selfish request even though you

had no obligation to do so, so in order to show you my appreciation, I will

give you a special price of four hundred and twenty six Nars for these two

pieces of Rabbit Meat.」

You say it is a special price, but I know that is just a thirty percent increase in

price thanks to my Bonus Skill. It is so obvious at this point that I do not even

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feel like mentioning that I am using it anymore. Why did you think I decided

to give you two of them in the first place, huh? Precisely because I knew that

the Skill would activate that way, allowing me to claim bigger profit. You

might say that this is incredibly shrewd of me, but that is how it works in

those kinds of games: if you have the Skill that can be used to give you an

advantage, then you are using them without fretting about the small stuff.

I brought two of them to increase the percentage by 30%, but although it was

exactly what I was aiming for, I is not surprised. I do not feel as happy as I

usually would be. Maybe I am getting too used to it?

「Sure enough, that is fine with me.」

「Very well. Then, if you could be so kind as to wait here for just a moment. .

. . . . . . .」

The male clerk took the plate and disappeared into the room behind the

counter.

「May we take a look inside the store while we wait?」

I talked to the remaining female clerks. Since we have to wait for the male

clerk to come back anyway, might as well kill the time in a proactive manner

instead of standing around all awkwardly.

「Yes, of course. I can give you a quick tour if you so desire, dear customer.」

「Very well then, please do.」

And so we took a look at what exactly this store had to offer, although pretty

much nothing has changed since we were here yesterday, reinforcing my

belief that this clothing store must be dealing mostly in ready-made goods.

However, that does not mean that there were no clothes present on the

displays at all. Even though they were not that many, they all still looked

beautiful, shining with the glossy luster typical to high-quality fabrics. As

expected of the clothes targeted mostly at the women of the noble state. Even

the thin shoulder straps on the dresses looked as if a great deal of time and

detail were put into making them.

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Out of all of those women's clothes, one item in particular caught my

attention: a camisole that looked like it was made out of silk, or perhaps satin,

and was very similar to the ones from my old world. It was not completely

see-through, but just thin enough that it would probably leave nothing left to

the imagination if Roxanne were to put it on. When I too it in my hands to

see how it looked in its entirety, I noticed that it was quite long, and that its

lower hem was gradually opening up the lower it went, to finally split apart

around the crotch area, so rather than calling it a simple camisole, it would be

better to call it a camisole dress.

Part 13

「This item is very popular as both sleepwear and an innerwear among

aristocratic women.」

The female clerk, who followed closely behind us, explained with a very

professional voice while keeping her eyes closed all the time. I am thankful

that she did not scold me for holding and eyeing such an item even though I

am a man, meaning someone who is not supposed to be wearing clothes like

these, but nevertheless I hurriedly put it back where I took it from in order to

avoid making any unnecessary misunderstandings.

「How is it, Roxanne? Do you like it?」

I asked Roxanne about her opinion on that camisole dress.

「Uhm, well… I think it is a little…」

「Personally I think that it is quite nice and that it would look great on you.

How much is it?」

Light clothing like that would definitely suit Roxanne. If you wear this over

your bare skin. Oh I can already picturehow she wears it over her bare skin,

and it is… hue, huehuehue…!

「We are selling them at an affordable price of eight hundred Nars per piece.」

Even though she just said that this price is affordable, I do not know the

market value of Nars as currency, but I do know one thing: it is expensive.

Just this one article of clothing is more expensive than all of the causal

clothes that I am wearing combined, except for the equipment parts of it. At

the very least I can understand why it costs so much. After all, things made

from silk are never cheap, but thankfully it just so happens that I have a

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Bonus Skill that will take care of that particular setback, even if only

partially.

「Okay, we will be buying two of those then.」

「Uhm… are you really sure about that, master?」

「Yes, as sure as I can possibly be, so go ahead and pick up a second camisole

for yourself. Do not mind me, just go ahead and take whichever one you like

the most.」

I nodded at Roxanne and allowed her to choose the second item. Even though

it will cost quite a lot of money, it is going to be all worth it as long as it

makes Roxanne happy and give me some additional eye candy to look at

while we will be staying at home. However, me allowing her to choose for

herself had one significant downside: since this is a really high-end store,

there are a lot of different colors to choose from, and because of that,

Roxanne is taking her sweet time making the selection. And by taking her

time, I mean really, really taking her sweet time.

I tried to offer my input to help her make the choice, but at the end of the day

I do not know if it will be of any good, because my vision of what is looking

good might greatly differ from what she considers to be good.

Red one do not suit her, and like they could make her look plumper than she

actually is; green is a nice and calm color, same as yellow, which looks

refreshing on her, but I think that the ones that would suit her the most are

black and pink.

「I like the color of this pink one with frilly designs on it.」

I said, pointing at the light pink camisole, the first one that I noticed. It was

not the bright variant of pink, but rather a pale one, which looked like it could

make a nice combination with the natural color of her skin.

「This pink one right here? I understand.」

Roxanne nods and choose that one. Phew, tha is one camisole down, another

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one to go.

「I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I am ready to give you your payment.」

Eventually, when the male clerk returned with our coins, Roxanne was still in

the middle of deciding what to take, unable to make the choice. I know that

she was doing this because she wanted to make sure to make the best

selection possible, but a part of me wished that she would not take so much

time every time she was to decide on what to buy.

「Roxanne, go ahead and choose the other one, okay? I will handle the

payment for the meat in the meantime.」

I went back to the counter and received the money the male clerk has

prepared and placed them in the drawstring back taken out of my backpack. It

was fourty silver coins, so keeping that much in the bag without hiding it in

the Item Box should still be fine.

「At first glance it looks like it will easily tear apart, but upon closer

inspection it is rather durable.」

「Yes, that is because all of the camisoles here are being manufactured from

exceptionally good materials.」

「I see. And how do I wash something so delicate?」

「All you have to do is to wash it gently in warm water with the addition of

mashed Kochi fruit.」

Roxanne continues to choose her clothes while listening to the female clerk's

explanations. At this rate, I am afraid that it might be nighttime before she

finally picks up something she will find to her liking.

It took a considerable amount of time, but ultimately Roxanne decided a pair

ow white and light pink camisoles. In my honest opinion, both of them were

a jackpot. Using my Bonus Skill to get a discount, I paid one thousand one

hundred and twenty Nars instead of one thousand six hundred Nars for the

both of them. If this was not a game world where pulling such stunts was

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perfectly legitimate I would have probably been accused of trying to scam

that shop, but because of my thirty percent discount no one even bat an eye,

even though we paid less than they initially thought we would have to pay.

Most of the shops in the modern day would do everything they could in order

to mitigate the benefits of customers using discounts to their advantage,

simply because that would mean they would be getting less money on their

end. But here is the world of this game, such a concept does not seem to exist

at all, most likely because typical NPCs living in the cities have not been

made to be inherently evil towards the players. It might not look like much,

but in my opinion it is a pretty honorable thing to do, because normally you

would have to go to many lengths just to obtain the right for a discount, like

being a regular customer of a given shop, or collecting enough stamps on a

special card, which might not be an ideal solution to regular Adventurers or

Explorers who cannot afford buying things from high-end establishments all

the time. If I was someone who would only have to make-do with cheap

accessories or only with buying the cheapest stuff kept in the corner of the

shops or the discounted products near the cash register, I would have

probably felt the same way. Well, it would have been like that if the shops

here were anything like the ones I have known, but thanks to the fact that

they are not, I was able to snatch myself a pretty sweet deal.

My feelings of having made an outstandingly good purchase have only been

strengthened when we got back home and I saw Roxanne wearing the pink

camisole dress. Oh yeah baby, buying this for her was a bullseye indeed!

Then, in the evening after we came back home from our short trip to the

clothing store in the Imperial City…

「W-Well? What do you think, master? Does it look good on me? Does it not

look strange?」

「Oh no, not in the slightest! It's amazing! It looks very good on you!」

「T-Thank you… very much.」

The pale pink color looked great combined with Roxanne's skin, just as I

expected. The silk camisole looked elegant and supple as it was shimmering

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and sticking closely to her body, accentuating the lines of her curves at just

the right places.

The parts of her that are highlighted especially well are the two massive

mounds on her chest that are pushing up against the fabric of the camisole

from the inside, as well as the two small bulges resting on top of those

mounds, looking like a pair of rare fruits just waiting for me to pick them up

and partake of them.

Normally, just seeing Roxanne's naked breasts is one hell of a visual

experience for me, but seeing them covered by this camisole is an entirely

different experience altogether, as if I was gazing at something even more

powerful, even though it should not have been possible.

Part 14

As I thought, I am really glad that I bought this camisole for her. It is

impossible for me to hold myself back against it after I was exposed to the

combined softness of the silk and the luster of Roxanne's skin.

I guess that in terms of temptation, this was a pretty bad purchase. Now that

she is wearing something as erotic as that, there is absolutely no way that I

will be able to stop myself from lusting after her whenever we will be alone.

Fuck, this is really bad…

「Roxanne…」

「Yes, master?」

「You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.」

「Uh, t-thank you for the kind words, mas…. Mmmpff…!」

I sealed Roxanne's mouth with a kiss before she was able to say anything

else.

Tonight, I am going to have myself some real good time, and it is going to be

the best. Night. Ever.

The next day we also went inside the Labyrinths in both Veil and Quratar,

spending time in them from early morning to the early evening. Nothing

eventful happened, it was our usual routine of grinding for items and

levelling our Jobs, and in the evening it was bath time and sexy time with the

negligee-wearing Roxanne. So far, we have not stumbled into any more

problems in the Labyrinth, but now that we have been on the seventh floors

for a while and we were finally ready to take on the eight floors, it was high

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time for me to start thinking what our next move should be.

Starting from the eighth floor and upwards, we will have to face against

groups of up to four monsters at once, meaning that I will have to fight

against two enemies at once while Roxanne will be taking care of the other

two. Up until now we were managing just fine against groups of three

monsters, but I wonder if more of them to fight at the same time is going to

put a bigger strain on us than before?

For the time being we were having it relatively easy on the eighth floor and

Roxanne also looked like she was still doing fine, but I want to focus more on

my magic.

「Haah… okay, let us return home and take a bath.」

As usual, we went back home and I started making preparations for us to take

a bath, where…

「Roxanne, I am sorry to be asking this of you, but would you mind helping

me with MP restoration at Quratar's Labyrinth? I used too much of it trying

to keep the water at optimal temperature.」

「Of course. Since we are already going, then shall we rent some equipment

before heading to the Labyrinth proper?」

「Sure, I don't see why not.」

I feel kinda bad asking her to come with me, but filling up the bath and

keeping the water warm still takes quite a lot from me MP-wise, so there is

nothing I can do about it. We just have to go and finish up our business as

soon as possible so that we could go back.

For the purpose of restoring my MP, we went to the seventh floor of the

Quratar Labyrinth. Lower floors would have been better for it level-wise, but

with the Slow Rabbits of this floor, we can also gather some additional

Rabbit Furs while I continued to whack them around with Durandal, getting

back bits of MP with every strike that successfully connected with them.

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Following after Roxanne's guidance, we found a group of monsters

consisting of two Minos and a single Slow Rabbit.

「Master, I will be going on ahead!」

「Right! Just remember: don't do anything careless!」

Roxanne charged towards the enemies with her Wooden Shield raised to her

chest and her Scimitar already brandished. This is nothing new to us at this

point, so as long as we keep a steady pace, we should be perfectly fine.

With the way things are shaping up, it looks like Roxanne will fight against a

Mino and Slow Rabbit, so I will have to deal with the other Mino, which is

going to be a piece of cake. All I have to do is to keep my guard up and wait

until it initiates its charge attack just like it is doing now… and then I have to

wait for the very last moment to duck to the side… and the deliver the first

strike! Now wait until it repeats that attack, not being able to comprehend that

the outcome is just going to be the same as before… aaand done! With the

second diagonal strike from Durandal, the first Mino fell to the ground and

disappeared. Now that this one has been taken care of, the only ones left

should be the Slow Rabbit and the other Mino which should be heading

towards Roxanne right about now…

(Huh…?!)

Or at least that is how I thought it was going to go down, but I was mistaken.

Roxanne was engaging the Slow Rabbit, that much was true, but instead of

focusing its attention on her, the second Mino was charging towards me

instead!

(Going for me instead, huh? Well, go ahead, do your worst!!!)

I shook Durandal at it, aiming to cut its head cleanly in half since I knew that

at this rate I will not have enough time to dodge its attack properly. My strike

managed to hit the Mino, but because the impact of it was quite strong, it

made Durandal's edge vibrate and caused the fingers of my left hand, which

were gripping onto its handle tightly to slip up a bit. Not nearly enough to

make me let go of the weapon, but unfortunately just enough for my fingers

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to get stuck, as a result of which the Mino's horn managed to pierce my index

finger.

「khhhh. . . . . . . . . . .!!!!!」

Oh… my… FUCK!!! What the hell is this?!!! It pierced only one of my

fingers, but it hurts so much that I cannot help it but to tear up. Did it crack

the bone of my index finger? Or perhaps broke it or downright shattered it?!

「G. . . . . . . . . . . . . g-guh. . . . . . . . . .!!!」

At first I thought that maybe this wound will not be a serious one, but the

more time passed, the sharper the pain that was echoing from my finger

throughout my entire body was becoming.

In retaliation, I slashed the Mino with all my might, killing it. But even

though I have emerged victorious, the damage has already been done,

because I was not careful enough. I did not wear my Leather Gloves because

I assumed we will only be hunting for a little bit and so I will not be needing

them. And you know what's even better? That I ordered Roxanne to wear her

Leather Mittens regardless.

The Magic Crystal is still in my Item Box for now. This can't be helped,

because when using Durandal, I have to get rid of the other Skills such as

Crystal Acceleration and the one increasing the value of the magic power it

obtains from each slain monster. I didn't know the exact specifications of

how exactly that second Bonus Skill would work, so I just tried not to mess

with it as much as possible unless it would be absolutely necessary.

Thinking about it now, let's say you defeat 20 monsters and raise your level

by one as a result. If you use the Bonus Skill that lowers the required EXP

value to 1/10th, you could raise your level by defeating only two monsters

instead. Then, what happens when one monster is defeated without the

required experience value Skill, and another monster is defeated with one

tenth of the required experience value Skill active? It will not be as effective

as when you would slay both of them with the Skill in effect.

On the contrary, if you defeat one monster with that Bonus Skill active and

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then ten monsters without it, will your level still rise? Maybe, but I never had

the time nor the opportunity to verify this so rigorously.

Not all monsters give the same amount of EXP, and it is not possible to

completely match the types and numbers of monsters to suit your levelling

needs every time you fight. If you mess up, you might end up hunting dozens

of monsters without that grind being productive. And since I sometimes have

to juggle from using Durandal to using magic, that process of grinding would

take even more time, and I still cannot manage my Skills so effectively as to

fit all of the ones I need into a single OP build. I wonder if I will ever be able

to pull that off?

For the time being considering the possibility of waste, it is okay for me to

not mess with the Magic Crystal and EXP related Bonus Skills.

Part 15

When all of the monsters have finally been defeated and my MP has been

sufficiently restored, we immediately returned home. With the injury I have

sustained, I did not want to do anything else right now.

Even though we were sitting in hot water for a while now, I feel like my

finger still hurts without showing any signs of getting better. And here I

thought that using Durandal would make it feel better in an instant.

Apparently that is not the case here. I guess I just got too used to thinking that

Durandal's HP Absorption Skill can heal every little injury that I will sustain.

Just another reminder for me not to underestimate the Labyrinths unless I

want them to tear me a new asshole.

「Are you okay, master? If you are feeling lightheaded, then maybe you

should get out of the bath and cool off for a bit?」

Roxanne looked over at my hand with a worried expression on her face.

Great, look at what you have done now, Michio, you got Roxanne all

worried. Heh, serves you right for ignoring her advice that you should

always, ALWAYS wear full set of armor when going into the Labyrinth,

even for a brief trek through it. But no, I had to act like I knew better and did

not wear any hand-protecting gear thinking that this will be a quick trip to

recover MP and immediately go back.

「Yeah, I feel fine. It is just that I am feeling a little lightheaded from the

shock of sustaining that wound in that battle earlier.」

「This is not good then! Are you really sure you are fine?」

Yes Roxanne, I am fine. In the first place, it is entirely my fault that I got

wounded like that because I was being too careless, even after I constantly

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mock the enemies for charging blindly at us and that experience with that

dead Explorer guy which should have told me that in the Labyrinths there is

no such thing as being too careful. So yeah, this particular L is entirely on

me, no doubts about it.

「Oh, I know what I can do to make you feel better, master?」

「Really? What do you have in mind?」

「I heard that in the past, in times well before our current era, licking the

wounded place and applying saliva on it were one of the most reliable

methods of helping the injuries heal faster.」

「Licking the wounded place, you say…?」

She just gave me a nice idea. Let me see if this will work…

I raised my hand and placed my index finger right in front of Roxanne's face.

「You know what, Roxanne? You might be right. Maybe my injured finger

really will heal faster if you lick it for me.」.

「E-Eh?! Uhm. . . . . I . . . . I do not think that I will have to lick master's

entire finger. . . if I remember correctly, that is not exactly how it works but. .

. . if it is for the sake of helping you recover faster, then. . . . 」

Roxanne seemed confused at first, but when I mentioned that we are only

trying to see if this will help in accelerating the recovery process of my

injury, she did not look like she was particularly opposed to the idea of doing

it for me. Good, very good indeed. That is exactly the reaction I was waiting

for.

Taking a hold of my hand with her own hands, she brought my finger closer

to her mouth.

「Uhm… this will be my first time doing something like this . . . .so be sure to

tell me if it hurts or not, okay?」

「Okay, got it.」

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Roxanne started to open her mouth just a little bit, her pale pink lips slowly

widened the gap between them with every second, exposing the inside of her

mouth to my eyes.

Her bright red tongue is so glossy and wet. . . I cannot wait to feel it all over

me.

Roxanne brought her face closer to my finger and closed her lips around it,

wrapping my index finger in a heavenly fluffy feeling.

The inside of her mouth feels pleasantly warm, soft and moist as her thick,

slimy tongue enveloped itself gently around my entire finger.

Roxanne closes her eyes and slowly sucks on my finger. (TL Note: Yeah,

this is totally not suggestive. . .yup, not at all.) While she is doing so,

strands of her ling hair tickle the sides of my hand. Even though she is a

Wolfkin possessing some werewolf qualities, her hair, much like the fur on

her tail and back, are quite nice to the touch. What she is doing to me right

now is brilliantly bewitching, radiating the charm and allure of an adult

woman, even though we are roughly the same age.

I tried not to move it at all so that I would not hit her teeth by accident, and

simply allowed her to go at it at her own pace.

For someone who claims to be doing something like this for the first time in

her life, she is doing it rather skillfully. It feels unbelievably good.

Roxanne's soft tongue wraps itself around my finger many times, and each

time she pulls back away from it, a white thread of saliva appears between

my finger and her lips, connecting them in an unquestionably seductive way,

only for it to disappear when she was closing in on me again, putting my

finger back into her mouth, gently rubbing it against the inner walls of her

puffy cheeks

It felt as if her benevolent, soft mouth was going to heal my wounded finger

in no time.

Her crimson lips opened up again, showing me the inside of her mouth in all

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of its crimson glory. When it trapped my finger inside of it once more, I

could feel all of Roxanne's saliva washing over me as her tongue resumed its

licking motions. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. . . by using

those bobbing motions, she was making it really hard for me to control

myself and not move an inch so that I would not accidentally hit her in the

back of her throat. . . . but a part of me wants to do it oh so badly, just so that

I could see how she would react to it. Maybe someday, one day, but

definitely not today though.

All in all however, that was an amazing healing session.

「Well? H-How was it, master?」

She asked, swallowing down her saliva when she was done licking my finger

clean. M-My god, that was erotic as hell!!!

「It felt great. The pain is all gone and my finger does not hurt anymore.

Thank you for your diligent service, Roxanne.」

「That is good to hear. I am always happy to help you, master, but. . .?」

「But. . . ?」

Roxanne turned her face away rather shyly before continuing.

「Does my mouth really possess such healing properties? Perhaps this is some

kind of Skill that I possess without even realizing it?」

「No, I do not think that is the case here.」

「But it has to be! The way you described it, it would seem that it has healing

effects on par with those of Healing Magic!」

「I have indeed said that, but trust me, it really is nothing of the sort. That

being said, it does not change the fact that it was absolutely amazing. If

something happens to me in the future, I will be looking forward to having

you heal me in this way again.」

「Ah. . . yes, I will gladly do so again.」

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I complimented the way Roxanne sucked me off, which made her promise

that this was not a one-time gig only, but rather something that is going to

keep on happening whenever the situation is going to demand it. Great job,

me. That was some clever coercion if I ever saw one. Who knows, maybe I

really do have a silver tongue when it comes to talking with girls (TL Note:

Uh-huh, someone is getting incredibly full of himself I see)

Anyway, if getting hurt means that I could ask Roxanne to do such amazing

things for me more often, then suddenly the Labyrinth is not looking like

such a scary place anymore. Maybe I will even try faking some injuries just

so she could "heal" me like she did just now again?

Having regained my strength both in the physical and mental sense, I have

gotten a new surge of motivation to take on the challenges of the Labyrinth

once more.