Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, in recent games, urgent quests that have time-limits always cause me stress. Yet, somehow, urgent quests in real life feel more like bothersome work that’s been forced onto me, I wonder why that is.”

 

It’s been 3 days since I eliminated the Fiend Drug users. Besso and the Adventurer, both of whom were in possession of Fiend Drug, have been captured by the Guild and there have been no more surprise attacks by assassins.

 

The day after the attack on the Guild, by the Guildmistress’s request, we went down to the Lost Thieves’ hideouts and the fields; but they were all deserted.

 

Of course, I’m the one who made them deserted.

 

The Guild Member who came with us collected the Ruin Weed and Decay Stems as evidence, and we went back to Labyrinth City.

 

“Then, the field that you found has been emptied?” The Guildmistress asked.

 

“Yes. Since the food and any daily necessities are also gone, so they may have moved to another place.”

 

“We also searched for hidden rooms, but there were none, just like the Chevalier said. They weren’t moved by the mastermind behind the Lost Thieves, since there was unharvested Ruin Weed and Decay Stems--maybe they ran away by themselves?” The Guild Member supplemented my report.

 

“That so? Well, thank you for your hard work.”

 

“Shouldn’t we dispatch Adventurers again, to search for the abducted girls?” The Guild Staff member asked the Guildmistress.

 

“Think of the place…The only ones who would be able to deep Area of the Labyrinth would be the Red Iron bunch. Even if they ran away on their own, they have probably been eaten by Monsters already.”

 

It seems that the Guildmistress has decided to give up on searching for, or rescuing the abducted women.

 

“They might have unexpectedly been saved by some Adventurers, and returned to the surface.” I keep my face straight as I say this to the Guildmistress.

 

“That would be nice.” She looked back at me with a raised eyebrow, “Though I pray that the rescued women aren’t any of the ones who have Compounding or Alchemy Skills.”

 

“What, is it bad if it was one of them?”

 

“Yeah, it’s bad. Someone who has the Alchemy Skill must be involved in the creation of Fiend Drug; even if it was only one with the Compounding Skill, they would be able to prepare the ingredients for the Fiend Drug. They will most certainly be forced into becoming slaves, so that they couldn’t divulge the method to create Fiend Drug--then they will be confined in one of the Kingdom’s Research Facilities for their whole lives.”

 

“Are the other people who were abducted be alright if they got rescued?”

 

“Yeah, there should be no problems.”

 

Alright, so it means that I can release the girls without Compounding or Alchemy.

 

Then the Guild Staff member, who I almost forgot was in the room, interjected, “Umm--May I?”

 

“What?” The Guildmistress’s eyes flicked over to the staff member.

 

“People normally don’t think of breaking through the Labyrinth, through Human-eating Monsters and away from a Safe Room. I think the only ones that the idea would occur to, would be you, Guildmaster and Chevalier--because you’re so strong.”

 

“So, in other words, there must be secret hideouts nearby where they can move to in safety.” The Guildmistress completes the Staff Member’s thoughts.

 

The Guildmistress begins thinking and waves the Staff Member and I out of the room--beginning to mutter about torturing Rudaman.

 

***

I quickly talk to the women who are currently being sheltered in the Mansion of Ivy, telling them that they will likely be killed by the mastermind behind the Lost Thieves. Strangely, there are only a handful who wanted to return to Labyrinth City--even when it became safe; I tell them to wait for 10 days or so, since that’s how long I expected it to take.

 

I also remember to mention that I can only release the people who don’t have the Alchemy or Compounding Skills.

 

Since they have all seen the Mansion of Ivy, I tell them that it is unlikely I will release them in Labyrinth City, so I suggest bringing them to populated places near either the Royal or Duchy Capitals. I will supply them a new name, and ID.

 

***

“Do you want to become an Adventurer!?”

“““Yes!”””

 

Amplified by Mia’s Magic, Arisa’s voice is echoing around the Labyrinth City’s outer wall.

 

We are currently in a temporary tent right outside Labyrinth City.

 

100 Baggage Carriers, who all aspire to become Adventurers, have gathered before Arisa. From this group, we are going to get some apprentices for Iruna and Gena, from Beautiful Wing.

 

There are 70 boys and 30 girls, they’re children who have gathered after hearing Iruna and Gena making public speeches over the past three days.

 

Well, I said children, but the age range is between 10 and 18.

 

The mean age is around 12 - 14.

 

Iruna explains the Selection Test to the children, “We will choose 15 from among you. First we will choose 5 children with the fastest running speed. It’s important to be able to run quickly when scouting, or luring Monsters. Begin to run when you hear this flute as the signal. The first 5 children who make it around Selbira’s outer wall, pass.”

 

When Arisa blew a strange note on the flute, causing Mia to wince, the children begin run. Some of which trip over their own feet, or the feet of the children near them, but they soon get up and keep running.

 

I used Clairvoyance along the way, to see if there were any children that had fallen and couldn’t get up. Nana was patrolling, riding a horse, and I would contact her by Telephone if I saw any injured “Young Organisms”.

 

For some reason, Pochi and Tama began to run as well. They must have thought it looked fun--and they were always quite hyper-active. Pochi actually won by a wide margin, causing Tama to become worked up and challenger her again.

 

When the two had finished running to their heart’s content, I looked back at the winning children, who had been lapped quite a few times.

 

“Damn, to lose to a Dogkin and Catkin--it’s a disgrace for a Rabbitkin.”

“I didn’t expect to lose to anyone other than Uusa…”

 

The first and second place looked at Pochi and Tama, frustration plain on their faces. They were a 14 year old Rabbitkin boy and girl, both of which were the same age as Tama and Pochi. Though they complained, they were quite a distance from third place, who was a Ratkin, the fourth and fifth place were Human boys.

 

There are 10 who didn’t even manage to make it all the way around, and they are now doing physical exercises, lead by Lulu, to build their Stamina.

 

The second test will begin after a short break, with supplied sandwiches.

 

During the break, we also distributed water for re-hydration as well. It would be troubling if they were to faint from hunger, or heatstroke.

 

“Next is an endurance run. The first 5 children who make it five laps around the outer wall pass. Lunch will be waiting for the children who make it two complete laps. Do your best.”

 

“ “ “Yes!” ” ”

 

Of course, I intended to let them all eat this time, since we had meals for 100 people already prepared. But, since it works so well as a carrot to dangle in front of them, I didn’t intercede.

 

The boys did well in the endurance marathon as well, since there were three boys and two girls. This time, the Human children did the best. Among the five children, three boys and girls who also had dark skin like Roji were particularly strong. They looked calm enough to run several more laps.

 

The remaining five children will be chosen after the meal break.

 

***

“Well then, let’s begin the last test. Use the small branch that was distributed to each of you earlier like you would a sword. While holding it out, keep your elbows stretched out, and keep that posture--the ones who keep their arms up the longest pass.”

 

This selection chose the the five children with the most will-power.

 

The majority of them fell in the first hour, but it was quite long for the remaining seven. It took three hours for the final five to be finally chosen.

 

Now all of the children have been chosen. It is 11 boys and 4 girls.

 

Our plan is to have Iruna and Gena teach these children the basics for 10 days on the surface, then five of them will be taken alternately in three turns into the Labyrinth, each group spend five days. 15 days in total, and they will be leveled up to level 10.

 

Since the contract with Iruna and Gena is for three months, the children who fail the test this time, still have two more chances.

 

“Everyone, thank you for coming today! We will open the test again next month, so the ones who have failed this time, please don’t give up.”

 

With Arisa’s closing words, the disqualified children go back to the West Gate in groups of twos and threes.

 

***

Iruna and Gena explain the plan to the children who have passed. There are shouts of joy, particularly when they heard that they were going to be provided with three meals every day, and can even ask for seconds.

 

The children are going to be taught in the vacant lot nearby, which I’ve borrowed.

 

I was going to give Ant armour to the children, but Arisa strongly objected, warning me that I shouldn’t give cheat equipment to anyone going to become independent Adventurers, unless I was planning on making them into my retainers.

 

Iruna and Gena also interjected; their reason was a little different, however. They said that if they have amour that protect them that well from injury, they would neglect avoiding attacks.

 

When I asked Iruna and Gena about what they think would be the right equipment for the children, they recommended armour made from leather and bone plates. However, they did say that simple iron short-swords, and daggers, would be fine.

 

By the way, the two women currently use equipment made from the Mantis exoskeleton and weapons constructed from the modified scythes of the Hunter Mantises. I gave these equipment to the two girls as a reward for reaching level 25.

 

Apparently, Mantis-Type equipment is proof of a veteran, in Labyrinth City.

 

Now then, I need to get permission from the Marchioness and Guildmistress to hold regular food distribution, like those in the Duchy Capital.