Palmasque Part 2

I obtained a Mage Job for myself precisely because I used "Equivalent Exchange" on

that Bandit during the raid on Alan-san's Slave Shop, so if it is possible to become a

Mage by casting "Equivalent Exchange", then it has to be possible to also get the Mage

Job by using The Orb of Self Destruction.

If you can get lucky enough to survive the blast, that is, and children seem to be using

that method because the younger they are, the bigger their chance of actually not

dying from the blast that would have definitely killed a regular adult, and that is why

children in this world can become Mages from a very young age. Now, I wonder if this

is an intentional feature put into the game by the developers, or is it more likely that

this is actually a bug that they somehow forgot about or were too lazy to remove,

thinking that nothing is going to happen if they just leave it there as is.

Also, people in this world seem to be deeply fixated and oddly desperate on getting

the Mage Job as soon as possible, which seems kinda counterproductive to me if most

of the regular methods used to obtain it are the life threatening ones.

"And what about an Elixir?"

"It is a medicine that can be said to be the best type of panacea currently available, a

healing potion of the highest grade that no other healing salve or recovery medicine

can possibly compare to. When drank, it will immediately heal any injuries, get rid of

fatigue and remove any negative statuses that have been inflicted upon you."

"Wow, that really sounds like something that you would want to have on you at all

times no matter the circumstances. There was one more thing that Gozer said he

would want to buy from me if I had it. It was… What was the name of that thingy...

Clematis flowers, I think?"

"Yes, the thing that he mentioned were definitely Clematis flowers."

"Oh, okay. And… Why did he want me to give those away to him? Does he want to make

a bouquet of flowers for the Third Imperial Prince and his bride with them because of

their symbolic meaning or something?"

"No, I do not believe that those were his intentions at all. He was asking you about

Clematis flowers most likely because they are the raw ingredient from which the Elixir

is made."

Clematis flowers, huh? In short, that is another luxury item used as gifts among nobles

and royalty, and Gozer was asking me about it because he was willing to pay me for

them if I happened to have some on me so that he could then use these flowers to

order an Elixir be made for him.

"I see. Thank you for enlightening me."

After talking to Sherry, about all of the items that Gozer was asking me about, we

continued our trek through the Labyrinth.

We could also go back home and wait there so that I could use the shadow of our house

to tell the passage of time, instead of relying on Roxanne's internal clock, but I was not

in the mood for just sitting around and doing nothing.

As long as I have the chance to spend my time in an active manner while possibly

making some more money and gathering more Drop Items in the process, I will take

that option any day of the week, and I do not want to miss the next chance to go to

Palmasque from Zabir, since we only have three chances to do so per day and I already

missed the opportunity to go there in the morning, which means that I only have two

attempts left.

"Master, it is about time for us to leave."

Roxanne said that when I took a Slow Rabbit out with my Cook Job activated. And

while I am at it, I do have to wonder: Cook's Skill is increasing the odds of enemies

dropping rare items, but does that chance increase the more Levels the Job itself is

gaining, or does it stay the same no matter what? Because I do not know if it is just my

imagination or a real deal, but I think that Slow Rabbits have been dropping more

Rabbit Meat as of late.

"What, is it time already? It went by surprisingly fast."

"Yes, it has been about three hours since we came to the Labyrinth already."

Sherry says exactly the same thing, so it seems like the bill to go back home has been

passed by a two-third majority. However…

"Let us hunt down one more group of enemies before we go?"

"Hmm... okay, but only if it is going to be just one more group, all right, master?"

"Yeah, sure. Well then, I guess I will be troubling you with going along with my whims

one more time."

I equipped myself with Durandal again and told Roxanne go searching for another

group of monsters, and she quickly found the one consisting entirely of Slow Rabbits,

so I had an exceptionally easy time recovering all of the MP that I have expended

across the span of the last three hours, and once that was taken care of, I went to the

Zabir's Adventurer's Guild directly from Vale's Labyrinth. Although not completely, my

MP after this trip decreased to the extent where I could clearly tell and feel it. To be

even more specific, it decreased more than it did in the morning, so before we will be

going back, it would definitely do me good to stop by a Labyrinth first so I could

recover

On the way back, I had better go to the labyrinth first to recover my MP, and only then

head back home to completely eliminate the risk of me running out of MP. Bringing

Roxanne along with me for the ride this time was definitely the right idea. No, on

second thought, I am not really sure about that, but at least now I know why my MP

decreased more than it did in the morning. It is because Quratar was located farther

away from Zabir than Vale and its Labyrinth, so in a way, I guess you can say that it is

somewhat similar to a jet plane.

.

Why jet plane, you ask? Because it travels through the air slower of faster depending

on the flow of air and the currents that it would encounter along the way, so in that

sense whether I am warping to the east or to the west should not increase or decrease

the consumption rate of my MP.

With all of that in mind, I think it is safe to say that the consumption rate of MP

probably depends on the number of people who are actually going through the portal

that you have created, and I can tell the difference in that exactly because I have

covered the same distance before while Warping alone. So if the number of people

who are warping along with you really does increase the amount of MP that has to be

extended in order to travel from one point to another, then bringing Roxanne and

Sherry along with me for this ride was actually a bad call on my part.

Oh, well, what can you do? They are already here with me, so it is not like I am going

to tell them to go back now, right? That would have been a real dick move on my part,

so instead, I just approached the same Adventurer who stood in the same place as he

had a few hours ago and I asked him:

"Would it be possible for me to go to Palmasque now? I hope I have not come too late

again?"

"Ah, you're that one lad from earlier. Do not worry, you managed to make it in time this

time. And I see that you have also brought company, since there are now three of you.

You are in luck, because aside from you, there does not seem to be any other people

who would want to go to Palmasque at this hour, not yet at least. Now listen carefully;

the bell heralding the coming of noon is going to sound any minute now, and we are

going to be departing for Palmasque when the bell stops ringing."

We are three people while a full Party can consist of up to six people, so just like the

guy said, we are definitely in luck, since if we count the one who is going to initiate the

teleportation process, then up to six people could travel to Palmasque at once.

If we were unlucky enough that there would be other people wanting to go there at

this hour as well, then we would have to either call the trip off and wait until evening

while hoping that there would be no more people wanting to go, or I would have to

leave either Roxanne, Sherry or both of them behind. But now that there are four of us

in total, it means that two more people can join us without any problems. I wonder

what they are doing if there is more than six people who want to go to Palmasque at

any given window of opportunity, like say… Twelve people, for example?

If such a thing happens, are they going to make two trips back and forth between Zabir

and Palmasque, or are they going to take only five people and tell the rest to buzz off

and wait for the next available window for teleportation?

Probably not, because that would have been outright rude, incredibly unprofessional

and bad for their business as a whole Adventurer's Guild, but it does not really matter

for now, because they are not going to be having such problems with us. If it really is

only five people at one teleportation round, then there is going to be no problem,

because:

"It is true that I came here with the members of my Party, but they are going to be

staying here. I will be the one travelling to Palmasque."

That is what we have agreed on while we were on our way to the safe room in the

Labyrinth of Vale. Since the transport fee for a single person is five silver coins, then I

would have to pay fifteen silver coins just to have all three of us go to Palmasque, and

since we have no idea how much the Palmasque mirror is going to cost us, it would be

better to save up as much money for its purchase as we possibly can. Hence I will be

the one to go and take care of everything while Roxanne and Sherry are going to be

waiting for me here.

"Very well, as you wish."

After that, I disbanded my Party while confirming with Roxanne and Sherry that they

are free to spend their time however they see fit, just as long as they are not going to

wonder off too far from the Guild building. They both nodded their heads, and then

Sherry walked towards the Guild's message board in order to read through all of the

ads and posters that have been placed there. It is a very good thing that she is an

intellectual type who enjoys reading through every poster or book that happens to

end up within her reach, because at the very least that means that unlike Roxanne, she

is going to have something to keep herself occupied and kill time.

And then the bell signaling the coming of noon finally rang.

"Those of you who want to go to Palmasque, please gather here. The charge for the

teleportation is five silver coins per person!"

I paid the transport fee of the five silver coins, and then it was off to Palmasque with

me.

"Welcome to the city of Palmasque. Here in this city, all of the buildings aside form the

Adventurer's Guild are made with the use of Shield Cement as the main building

material, so the only destination in the entire city where it is possible for you to use

"Field Walker" is the Adventurer's Guild!"

As soon as we finished the teleportation process, we were approached by an

Adventurer from the Palmasque Adventurer's Guild, who began giving us all sorts of

instructions. To be honest, that was not what I was expecting to hear as literally the

first thing after coming here, but without much of an alternative, I had no choice but

to listen to what this guy had to say.

"Please be advised that when entering the town from the Adventurer's Guild, you are

going to have to show your Intelligence Card for an inspection by the Knight Order

serving directly under the Palmasque City Council! During the Intelligence Card

inspection, you will also be required to pay the City Entrance Tax, which is one silver

coin! Palmasque is a city that anyone can enter freely, but it is prohibited to be taking

any of the city's residents outside of the city walls! Should you happen upon any

individuals who would express a desire to leave the city, you are to report such

individuals to the members of the Knight Order under the City Council immediately,

and remember that helping such individuals achieve their goal of leaving the city is

going to be treated as a grave violation of the Palmasque City Law, and is going to be

punished accordingly! While in Palmasque, you are allowed buy local products and

items as well as to sell the items that you own to the city's merchants, but do bear in

mind that you are only going to be needing copper coins in order to do so!"

The explanation about what we can and cannot do in Palmasque was quite lengthy

and filled with a lot of pompous-sounding big words, and this Adventurer just talked

on and on and on and it looked like he was not going to shut up any time soon. I know

that this is his job and that he has to give us all of the rules to ensure that none of the

people who are coming here are going to be causing trouble for the local authorities,

but come, the fuck, on! There has to be a way to give us all of the rules in a much more

acceptable manner than through that diarrhea of the mouth that is leaking out of him

now, which makes seem unbearable and reminds me of all these dialogues of the NPC's

that exist just for the purpose of showing exposition and infodumps down your throat,

which I always hated.

Anyway, now that I have acquired a fast travel point in Palmasque's Adventurer's

Guild, I went back from there to the Adventurer's Guild in Zabir by myself.

Normally, they would have probably start gathering the next batch of customers who

wanted to go to Palmasque so that they could take them all there, but the Adventurer

who was responsible for taking me to Palmasque was not doing any of that, because

now that the noon window for the transportation to Palmasque was over, he

apparently went on a oh-so-well-deserved break.

.

A break where he is probably going to just laze around doing nothing but sipping beer

in the tavern until the time for the evening teleportation arrives, but that actually

works to my advantage here, because if he were to see me being back from Palmasque

so soon, literally moments after I just got there, he might start getting suspicious and

ask a lot of questions that I would not be comfortable answering at all, so now that he

is nowhere to be seen, it would be best for me to get to know about everything that I

have to know and then skedaddle the hell away from here.

As for my MP, it decreased so much that I could clearly feel it, because I noticed that

my mood worsened slightly. Zabir is closer to Palmasque than Quratar, but even with

that being the case, moving between Palmasque and Quratar via Zabir still seems like

it is going to be quite a daunting and problematic task. However, moving between

Palmasque and Quratar directly is going to be even more problematic, since I have to

take not only myself, but my entire Party into account.

When I got back to Zabir's Adventurer's Guild, Roxanne and Sherry immediately

approached me and welcomed me back, and I added them back into my Party, and

then I proceeded to wait until someone who looked like an Adventurer finally came

out of one of the portals that opened up on the Guild's wall. It looked like he was alone,

which means that there was no one-way comers who came form Palmasque to Zabir

with him. I had a question that I wanted to ask him, so I immediately approached him.

"Excuse me, sir!"

"Yes? What is it?"

"I am sorry to be troubling you, but would you happen to know how much does a

Palmasque Mirror cost?"

I asked my question while hoping that the answer was not going to literally knock me

off my feet.

"A Palmasque Mirror? That depends on its size. How big are you looking for?"

"About this much, I would say."

I then used both my hands to show him the size that I was thinking of: from the top of

my head down to my chest.

"Is it going to be a costly purchase after all?"

"Now, as I said, the exact price depends on the size, but when it comes to the

Palmasque Mirrors, most of the ones that are being sold are the ones with expensive

decorations made from jewels added to them, and these are the thing that can really

ramp up the price of the final product. As for the smaller ones, there are hand mirrors

that are crafted to function as pendants, but since most of the craftsmen tend to create

them from silver or gold, then you should prepare yourself to pay for such a mirror

with gold coins."

The Adventurer replied to me, sharing what he knew about the prices of Palmasque

Mirrors. When it comes to the decorated mirrors, I have to admit that I do not know

how they look like, because back on earth I only ever saw the regular ones.

But if they are supposed to be decorated with gemstones, then they have to be

decorated on the outer rim, because if the decorations were to be placed on the surface

of the mirror itself, then that would make it extraordinarily difficult to use them for

their intended purpose. And if the decorations are to be placed on the mirror's frame,

then I guess that frame has to be made from at least silver or gold, just like the

Adventurer mentioned. In Palmasque, the business of creating mirrors has to consist

not only of the artisans of glass working on creating the actual mirror that is going to

reflect the image of whoever looks into it back at them, but it must also consist of the

craftsmen knowing full well what to do and where to place the jewels that are going

to be used for decoration in order to increase the value of the finished product in order

to elevate its price to the highest possible degree.

And in order to pull something like that off, you would definitely need not only mirror

makers themselves, but also the help of the metal and jewelry workers, and all of them

would have to be highly trained in their respective fields. Has this world never even

heard of such a thing as free competition, or is it perhaps too modern of a concept for

them to even wrap their heads around?

I took Roxanne and Sherry and moved away into one of the corners of the Guild

building so that we could talk in a slightly more private manner.

"Sherry, open your Item Box."

"Of course, master."

I asked Sherry to open her Item Box for me, and then I handed her some silver coins.

One entire column worth ten items was reserved strictly for the Anti Poison Pills,

which means that she should still have nine columns worth ten items still free. So I

handed both Roxanne and Sherry a silver coin that they would need to pay for their

City Entrance Tax.

In addition to that, I filled Sherry's Item Box with a generous amount of silver coins

and a number of gold coins. I could have given her ten gold coins because that is the

maximum amount that could be fitted into her current Item Box, but to be honest, I

hesitated from giving her such a small fortune when she probably is not going to need

as much of it for what I was going to ask her to do in a moment.

"We are going to go to Palmasque now, and you are going to be buying two mirrors

there, the money that I have given you should be enough."

"Two mirrors, master?"

Sherry asked while tilting her head to the side, unsure of how she should react to what

I just told her.

"Yeah, two mirrors, one for Gozer and one for us to use at back at home. And since you

and Roxanne are going to be the ones who will be primarily using that mirror, make

sure to pick up the one that the two of you are definitely going to like. Do not buy

anything decorated or ornamental, just plain old regular Palmasque Mirror, and the

price should not go beyond what I have just given you. In case that it is going to not be

enough for the two of the same kind of mirrors, buy a large one for Gozer and a small,

pendant-like one for us. The City Entrance Tax that you are going to have to pay is

going to be one silver coin."

"Are you not going with us to do this, master?"

"Yeah, I guess you can kinda say that."

Roxanne asked me doubtfully, to which I have chosen to answer with some vague,

unspecified words. But that is simply how it has to be.

Since I am not an Adventurer, then I probably will not be able to enter Palmasque

through Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, because I would not pass Intelligence Card's

inspection, and if the Knights who are supposedly belonging to the Knight Order that

answers directly to the city council would have caught wind of an Explorer who is

using Adventurer's Guild's wall to travel for some bizarre reason, there would be no

end to the questioning that I would have been subjected too, or perhaps fate would

have even worse things in store for me. Therefore, I am going to be entrusting the

mission of buying the mirrors to the two of them.

"Are you sure you want me to handle such a large amount of money, master? I mean,

you have given me so many of your gold coins…"

"Everything is going to be fine, Sherry. I fully trust you, so I have no problems with

that."

Sherry had a good point though. Under normal circumstances, I would have never

given her such a large amount of money, but this time, however, I feel as if the fates

had forced my hand and left me with no other choice. However, if I was a type of guy

who would have chosen to continue to live according to the rule that I would never

want to spent gold coins for the purpose of shopping, then my own stinginess with

money would have resulted in me not being able to buy good weapons and pieces of

armor.

"Y-Yes, master! I understand!"

"Now, as for how much time this should take you… How about one hour? Yeah, that

sounds like more then enough time. Unless of course you will not be able to find any

mirrors that would suit the criteria that I have given you. If that happens, be sure to

go back the Adventurer's Guild's Building immediately. As I will make sure not to

disband our Party for the next hour, I will immediately know when you are back."

.

I cannot stay in Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild for too long, or I may start looking

suspicious, so I should better relocate myself to some other place that is not here, and

fast, preferably to somewhere where I will be able to spend time actively, because even

if this is only going to be an hour, I would definitely die of boredom if I just sat around

doing absolutely nothing. I just need to find myself something to do to keep myself

occupied long enough for Sherry to be done with her task, and once she is going to be

done and on her way back to Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, I will definitely know

about it, since as a Party Leader who established his own Party, one of the Party's

Settings functions allows me to know the general location of any of the Party Members

that I am going to focus my attention on.

I warped us through the wall of Zabir's Adventurer's Guild to Palmasque's

Adventurer's Guild, as a result of which my MP has really went into the red zone,

decreasing more than it did when I returned from Palmasque earlier.

It decreased considerably. It decreased so much that my mood is getting worse… Oh

fuck, it decreased almost completely! I knew it! So the consumption rate of MP does

increase when the number of people that are teleporting together with you increases!

I should have known! And I should have also known that it was a bad idea to take

Roxanne and Sherry with me! If only I had not taken them with me, I would have still

had enough MP not to descend into depression like that! Then again, there is also a

possibility that there might be yet another thing at fault here: it might be possible that

the consumption rate of MP is increasing while going eastward, which would make it

the exact opposite of the jet airflow of the earth.

Yet another, even more likely possibility is that my own abilities are simply too lacking

to allow me to save enough MP while travelling across wide distances, but I would

rather believe in the former than openly admit that I am so incompetent despite

possessing so many Jobs and Bonus Skills!

"Okay, I guess I better get going then."

Just now, when Roxanne and Sherry left Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, I almost

ended up following after them subconsciously. Yes, I know that it is because of how

much my MP has decreased and affected my mind and thinking processes, so you can

stop looking at me with that condescending eyesight as if I had done something

incredibly cringeworthy already! I will get around to fixing that real soon, so just give

me a moment, jesus! This is exactly why I hate having my MP drop down to the red

zone so much: it affects my thinking to such an extent that I do not even realize what

am I doing until it is way too late to do anything about it without me either making a

fool of myself or making myself look suspicious as heck!

Let me see, how exactly did I arrive in this peculiar situation again? First I went from

Vale to Zabir, and then moved between Zabir and Palmasque twice. By doing just those

things alone, I have ended up using most of my MP. This is definitely a lesson for me:

if I do not want to lose too much of my MP too quickly, I absolutely cannot do long

distance warping in quick succession, or at least not without having MP Recovery

Medicine on me. Which reminds me...

I drank a Mana Recovery Medicine as soon as I parted ways with Roxanne and Sherry.

I am sure that to whoever was looking at me from the side now, I probably looked like

a good-for-nothing husband who has been abandoned by his wife and their daughter,

but I do not care about that. All that I am interested in is watching over them until they

are going to leave Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild to see if there is not going to be any

problems while they will be going through Intelligence Card check, but from what I

am seeing, nothing like that is happening. Roxanne and Sherry simply approached the

checkpoint at the entrance to Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, handed their silver

coins to pay the City Entrance Tax, had their Intelligence Cards looked over and were

allowed to move forward without any incidents, after which they turned around and

waved goodbye at me. I guess that is my confirmation that even those who are

officially somebody's slaves can enter Palmasque without any major issues, and that

is one less thing to worry about off my mind. Well, the Adventurer who gave us all of

those long-ass instructions before did say that anyone was free to enter Palmasque

without any kind of restrictions, but to be honest, I did not believe his words and

thought that there has to be a catch somewhere, but apparently there is none.

But… But if anyone can go there freely… Then does that not mean that the girls have

no reason to come back to me anymore?

Yes, there is absolutely no reason for them to do that. No reason whatsoever. I mean,

how could there ever be any kind of valid reason for them to do that? No, there… There

really is no reason.

They probably hate me for being such a terrible pervert of a master who wants to do

nothing but screw them until they pass out every single day, and because they hate me

with a passion for it, that might want to leave me for good and seek refuge here in

Palmasque. They probably figured out why I was so reluctant to go through the

Intelligence Card inspection and concluded that this is going to be an ideal place to

run away from me! This possibility is so true that it is scaring me shitless right now!

There is no reason for Roxanne and Sherry to follow me forever. Roxanne herself even

mentioned before that there is a certain trick to switching masters that slaves could

use.

I know I am not an able master because I do not know anything about this world. Hell,

I doubt if I ever acted like a proper slave master for even a single moment. Most likely

not, since all that I do is to randomly speak whatever comes to my mind, because of

which I always end up getting myself in all sorts of awkward situations.

I am always paranoid about everything, and whenever we are faced with a difficult or

unfavorable situations, the first thing that I am always thinking about is to tuck my tail

between my legs and run away from them, so it is a given that they would lose all

semblance of respect that they initially might have had for such a failure of a master

as myself.

God fucking damn it, I feel so useless now!

I am overwhelmed with negative thoughts and they are starting to go in a very, very

wrong direction, so I took another gulp of the MP Recovery Medicine. Such a waste of

good resources for a shit bag like myself, but it cannot be helped! I have to do it to

replenish all of the MP that I have lost. And thanks to that, my mind calmed down and

became more clear now.

Now that I have calmed down, I know there is no reason for them to not come back to

me, and I have faith that both Roxanne and Sherry will come back after they finish the

mission that I have entrusted them with. There is no problem at all, and everything is

going to be perfectly fine.

Having calmed myself down, I exhaled deeply, and took a look outside of the

Adventurer's Guild. From where I am standing right now, the city feels very exotic, but

it also has that… artificial feeling to it, probably because pretty much all of the city's

buildings were colored the same shade of white, without any exceptions to that rule,

and they were also quite small and build at identical intervals and fixed distances from

one another. The reason for all of them being identically white is probably because of

the use of the Shield Cement in the process of their creation.

It is quite different from the Imperial City and Quratar, and certainly unlike anything

that I have seen in Japan.

The closest thing to it that I can think of is that one Greek city on an island off the coast

of the Aegean Sea, or perhaps an oasis in the middle of a desert. But even though I said

that, there is nothing green in this city. No trees, no forests, no grass, no nothing.

However, that does not mean that this place is a complete desert, because there are

still weeds growing in vacant spaces between buildings.

.

It felt strange, but then a realization hit me while I was thinking about it: were all of

the trees cut down? They have to be, because if there were some of them remaining,

then it would have been possible to use "Field Walker" to get to Palmasque from the

outside world. That might have been a hindrance to the city's rulers that would

invalidate their efforts of building every building in town with Shield Cement, so that

is probably why they had all of the trees removed. I have no idea what was their reason

for doing this, but it does not bother me in the slightest since I can use "Warp" even in

the buildings made out of Shield Cement.

But just because I can do it does not mean that I am actually going to do it, not in the

broad daylight at least. I mean, what if I get caught red-handed? If I am going to ever

use "Warp" here, it would have to be in the dead of the night. Even if I would not have

to worry about being seen by anyone during the night, it would still be a huge hassle

to wait until the morning. If I do not find myself a safe point to which I could warp here

in Palmasque, then I would have to wait until nightfall again.

I waited until I was completely calm again, and then I went to Vale's labyrinth again,

because I must test whether I can warp again without any problems or not.

My MP decreased considerably yet again. It will not be exaggeration to I say that it has

completely run out this time. So, the consumption rate of MP is high when going

westward just as much as it was while traveling eastward? In that case, I guess

distance is what truly matters here.

I definitely cannot make a return trip the way that I am now. The distance between

Palmasque and Vale is just too great to efficiently cover it in just one trip. And to be

honest with you, I do not want to do it, and I do not even want to think about it!

I wonder whether MP goes into the negative value if it is decreased beyond its

lowermost limit? It might be possible.

See? That is how much "Warp" is worth. Just as useless as I am. A worthless piece of

trash Bonus Skill masquerading as something unique and useful, quite befitting of me,

its user, who is also a worthless piece of trash of a human being who could not even

live his life properly without fucking up literally everything that he touched!

No! These are not my honest thoughts! I do not think like that at all! I only think that

because of the MP deficit! I have to go replenish it quickly!

I then recovered my MP in Vale's labyrinth using Durandal. I am going to be fine. I only

need to recover MP and I will go back to being fine. But it would have been disastrous

if Roxanne and Sherry were here with me right now. So for my own sake, I have to

make a checkpoint somewhere along the way if I do not want to continuously run out

of MP and brood like I did just now.

After that, I returned to Zabir's Adventurer's Guild.

"Are there any Labyrinths around here?"

I asked the Adventurer who was stationed there.

"Err… what kind of Labyrinth are you looking for?"

"I have no particular preference, so I would say: whichever one happens to be the

closest to here."

"Closest one, eh? All right. If you really need to go to the nearest Labyrinth, then one

should be just off a little distance from the town's east gate. One word of advice, if I

may: even if you do decide to go to that Labyrinth, you will soon find out that it is not

managed by any Explorers, so there is going to be no one who would be able to take

you to the higher floors, which means that you would have to start exploring if from

the first floor where the weakest monsters are. Now, knowing this, are you still

interested in going there?"

"I would not be asking about it if I was not interested in it, do you not think?"

"Well, that is true enough I guess. Even though it is not in the immediate vicinity of the

town, there are still people who use it regularly, so the exact road should be perfectly

visible and there is no way for you to get lost on your way there, but it is branching up

into multiple branches somewhere along the middle. You will find the Labyrinth as

long as you will take the left branch and follow it through all the way. Luckily for you

and everyone else in this town, even if you do not have access to "Field Walker" on you

or you do not have anyone whom you could pay to take you there, the Labyrinth is still

in a reasonable walking distance from here."

So it would seem that the Labyrinth of Zabir is also located pretty close to the town of

Zabir, just like the Labyrinth of Vale was located a short distance away from the town

of Vale. However, in terms of convenience for the Adventurers and Explorers, I guess

nothing is going to beat Quratar, a city that has been literally build around the

Labyrinth, with it acting as the city's very center.

I thought that I would have no other choice but to pay one of the Adventurers in here

two silver coins so that they could get me there, but if the Labyrinth is really close buy

just like this guy is saying, then I guess I can entertain myself with a little walk since I

have time to kill anyway. Also, I have to say that this guy right here is a pretty all right

fellow.

Even though he could have withheld the information about the Labyrinth being so

close to the town and instead told me that the only way for me to get there is through

"Field Walker", thus forcing me into having to pay the two silver coins for the trip

because there was no way for me to know whether he was telling the truth about the

Labyrinth's distance from the city, he ultimately did not choose to do than, and instead

he decided to be perfectly honest with me. I respect that.

He is like a total opposite of that receptionist from Dohona who was trying to scam me

to pay more money than I actually had to in order to go to Doburo! Ugh, thinking about

that shitty scammer is still making my blood boil even now. I know that I should not

be saying things like that because you should never wish misfortune upon others

unless you want karma to get back at you really fucking fast…

But I wish every misfortune possible in the world upon that guy! It does not have to

be anything serious or life-threatening, but I just wish that something would happen

to him to make him seriously rethink all of his life choices. Go and take a page out of

this guy's book! He is not crafty, but honest! I wish that more of the people working at

the receptions of various Guilds of this world could be more like this guy, even if this

is just my wishful thinking that is never going to come true.

Anyway, I thanked the guy for his assistance, and then I promptly left the Zabir's

Adventurer's Guild's building. While I was going through the town, I could not help it

but to notice that, in contrast to Palmasque, Zabir was actually quite a quaint, serene

and peaceful town.

The scenery of the townscape was rich with greenery that goes quite well with the red

brick that was the main element with which all of the buildings of the town were build.

It had a much better, more welcoming and friendly atmosphere in comparison to

Palmasque and its white, dull looking structures and a complete lack of trees and

anything that was even remotely green aside from the occasional weeds. That being

said, maybe I should not be so quick to make judgements. If there is anything that I

have learned from my time spend here in this world so far, it is that appearances can

and definitely will be deceiving.

This place may look calmer and comforting in comparison to Palmasque, but that

might be nothing more but a façade meant for keeping something much more

disturbing hidden from the eyes of those who are not meant to see it. But even if that

is what is going on in this place, I have to say that so far I am not seeing anything out

of the ordinary, and this is looking like a perfectly normal, peaceful town.

.

Size-wise, I think it is pretty close to how big Vale actually is. I wanted to draw some

comparisons between this town and the Imperial City, but then I realized that there is

actually nothing much to compare, because this is just a regular town, while the

Imperial City, being the capital of the Entire Empire, is in a class of its own when it

comes to sheer size of the city and the grandeur and splendor of each and every one

of its buildings.

And as for Quratar, that city does not have any kind of walls and its buildings are all

perfectly ordinary, or at the very least, nothing particularly eye-catching that would

make you stop in your tracks in order to admire it, so I cannot really draw any

comparisons of anything that is there to the things that I am seeing here. But here in

Zabir, the one thing that I can definitely say with all certainty in the world is that its

walls made out of reddish-brown bricks certainly do look splendid. And they are also

pretty high, reaching up to about three meters high, I think?

But on the other hand… The gate that has been build in that was is… actually, it is kind

of small. It is a one-sided gate, about a meter high and a meter wide, and above that

gate, a magnificent-looking watchtower has been build. It would seem that this is

where the gatekeeper is residing throughout most of the day, keeping a careful and

watchful eye over the people who were coming into the city and going out of it through

its main gate.

However, I wonder if it is even okay to be calling that construct a gate, because from

where I am standing, that "main gate" is looking more like a sloppily-made door than

an actual gate, so whoever designed it should either give it a general makeover or

dismantle it and build a new one entirely from scratch, because the way it is looking

now, it does not look representative enough at all, and gives off a feeling of a side

entrance to the city rather than a main one.

It is so small for a main gate that I think I might actually have to crouch in order to get

through it. Yes, whoever thought that slapping something like that as the main

entrance to the entire city was going to be a good idea should be fired immediately.

When I walked out of the gate (After bending forward a little instead of crouching, but

still), the first thing that I have noticed was a field, which eventually turned into a

forest. It is not a particularly dense one. It is the one that has many openings and free

spaces between the individual trees, with a path that looked as if it was made by many

people trampling over the ground over and over again. Is this perhaps the way that

the Adventurer back in the Guild was talking about?

After walking for about five minutes, I found myself standing in front of the entrance

to the Labyrinth. There is no one else at the entrance, which checks itself out with

what the Adventurer at the Guild had said: that since this place is not under the

management of any Explorers, there is going to be no one here. If there was an

Explorer stationed here, I could immediately go to the higher floors of this Labyrinth,

but since there is no one else but me here, I guess I really have to start the exploration

of this Labyrinth from the first floor.

So I took Durandal out and entered the Labyrinth by myself for the first time in quite

a while. Because Roxanne is not here with me, I have to wander around the halls

looking for monsters by trial and error. I now understand the true value of Roxanne's

superior sense of smell that is of immense help to us whenever we are in the

Labyrinths, and it makes me appreciate her even more than before.

After that, I went to Vale's Labyrinth, and then returned home. Since I have time to

spare, then I might as well use it to get a short nap to compensate for my sleep

deprivation from last night, right?

Then, after I woke up I went to Vale's Labyrinth to fully recover my MP, and then it was

off to Palmasque with me, but through the route that looked in a following way:

Quratar to Vale to Zabir to Palmasque. Every time I arrived at the next checkpoint, I

was recovering my MP bit by bit as needed, which made the entire journey that much

more acceptable. And after a short wait at Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, Roxanne

and Sherry were finally back…

But they do not seem to have brought the mirrors back with them. I wonder if they

were unable to obtain them, or if they found some, but did not like any of them enough

to buy them? Or maybe they did end up buying mirrors, but instead of the big ones

they went for the smaller, pendant-like ones?

"We are sorry to have kept you waiting, master."

"It is quite alright. So, how did it go?"

"We would like to talk about that later."

Immediately wanted to know how did their shopping mission go so I asked them

openly, but Sherry answered me back with a whisper. Looks like something quite

serious must have happened. Well, I guess I will get to know that soon enough.

"Shall we go home then?"

"Yes please."

Like that, we said goodbye to Palmasque for now. Since we did not have any mirrors

with us, I was thinking if maybe I should use this opportunity to warp my entire Party

from here to Quratar, but would there be any kind of merit to doing that? Even if we

do not have mirrors with us, the presence of Roxanne and Sherry is still going to take

quite a toll on my MP, so I should pick a safer but longer route in order to limit my MP's

decrease as much as possible. Once we will have the mirrors with us, it is going to be

hard to move from one relay point to another, so I should save going to Quratar directly

only when we are going to have the mirrors with us. So this time, going the roundabout

way should be fine.

As the first stop, I teleported us to the Labyrinth of Zabir that I just discovered. My MP

decreased in such a way that I could clearly see it after moving from Palmasque to

Zabir, so try to imagine what would have happened if I went straight for Quratar with

my current group. Yeah, that would be pretty scary.

"Roxanne, look for the nearest group of monsters please. So Sherry, how was the

mirror purchasing?"

"The mirrors themselves have been placed up for sale just as we expected, but they all

had these tacky, nouveau riche decorations that seemed a bit too much for us. Not to

mention that they were ridiculously expensive."

So they also have this word functioning in this world as well, huh? Well, it is not

surprising seeing as how people can quickly get rich here if only they decide to go to

the Labyrinths and hunt monsters actively, just like I was doing right now.

"Just like Sherry said! Such thing can be used by aristocrats and master, but us

common people have no use for them whatsoever!"

So I am getting lumped together with aristocrats and nouveau riche? I do not know if

I should be happy or mad about it.

"Well, it was just supposed to be a decoration, so do not worry about it too much."

"When we asked the shopkeepers if they had some more ordinary, they were all saying

that they prefer them to be more ornate and decorative. They also said that the higher

the original price, the higher the resale value, and it is for that reason that they are

adding things like gold and silver to the mirror's frame…"

"Ahh, in other words, this is their strategy to add to the mirror's value."

"Add… value?"

It seems that Sherry does not know what it means to add to the value of the product,

which is no surprise, since this is a term strictly from modern days of business

strategies.

"Since Palmasque craftsmen have a monopoly on mirror creation, it is a process that

would allow them to sell not only mirrors, but also their other products at the same

time."

"I see. Certainly, many things can only be found in Palmasque, such as glassworks,

mirrorworks, clockworks, goldworks, silverworks, jewelworks... Palmasque truly

has no equal when it comes to these things."

"There are clocks there too?"

I had no idea there were clocks in this world. I have never seen one before, or even

heard anyone talking about them.

"Yes, because Palmasque is the home of glassworks."

"Are clocks made of glass here?"

"They have to be, because otherwise you would not be able to see the grains of sand

inside of them."

So not a classic clock, but an Hourglass huh? Yeah, in that case they really have to be

made out of glass, there is no doubt about it. An hourglass that is not made out of glass

would not be capable of serving its purpose at all.

"Well, they have some talented people there, it seems."

"Palmasque as a whole is an island of very talented people."

Indeed, there were no mountains or anything of the sort as far as I could see from

inside of the Adventurer's Guild.

"Heeee…"

"Because it is an island, craftsmen and artisans cannot easily run away from there. And

that is why the arts and crafts of Palmasque stay in Palmasque."

"By the way, there is a check of the Intelligence Cards when leaving and entering the

Adventurer's Guild, and it is for the purpose of strictly confirming whether you are the

same person who entered the city or not."

"They are going that far, huh?"

Sherry nodded at Roxanne's remarks as we moved forward. Is that why "Field Walker"

is not allowed outside the Adventurer's Guild? To ensure that their techniques are not

leaked to the outside? Sounds like a terrible place where there is no freedom for

craftsmen and artisans alike.

"And because it is an island, there is no Labyrinth there either?"

"It would seem so, yes."

Sherry nodded to my question. So unfortunately, it seems that we will not be able to

make a relay point in Palmasque.

"I asked if there was a possibility to make a mirror without such decorations, but no

craftsmen even wanted to hear about it. It was the same when we went directly to the

workshops where the mirrors were made. Nobody wanted to sell us the ones without

decorations."

"So even the workshops directly refused you, huh?"

If they agreed to sell undecorated mirrors directly from the workshops it would ruin

the business strategy of decorating and selling mirrors at higher prices, so it is no

wonder that Roxanne and Sherry's requests got refused.

"However, the craftsmen also said that while they cannot sell such mirrors normally,

they could do it if it was through a commission made by an aristocrat."

"A commission, huh?"

"That is why we came back without buying anything today. You know the leader of the

Knight Order of Hartz Duchy, right, master?"

Yeah, Gozer. Sherry and Roxanne also met him at the Quratar Merchant's Guild. Is she

suggesting that I am going to buy the mirror that we want if I do it at the request of

the Duke of Hartz? Can we really use our connection to that handsome guy like that?

"So you are saying that we should rely on him on this one?"

"Even if he is an Elf, you should always use everything and anyone at your disposal to

make your own life easier. And after we use him for all that he is worth, we can just

throw him out from our lives like a pair of used Sandals."

That metaphor just now was pretty damn scary. I hope that Sherry is not going to start

advocating the policy "The Only Good Elf is a Dead Elf" anytime soon!