I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“Alright. I’ll follow the conditions you set.”

“It’s a promise.”

“I said I understand.”

I nodded while dipping bread in soup at a suitable restaurant.
The conditions I set for the young lady weren’t much.

Only enter the labyrinth when I say to enter.
Follow my instructions as much as possible inside the labyrinth.
Never date an adventurer no matter what.
And so on.

The reason for not dating an adventurer is none other than to protect the young lady’s mental state.

Because you never know when an adventurer might die.
If you pour out affection unnecessarily and they die, your mental state will break.

“By the way, I’m curious about something.”

“Yes. Ask away.”

“You said earlier that you’re going to buy a slave.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Perhaps… are you going to use them for that kind of thing?”

The young lady asked carefully, as if embarrassed.
By “that kind of thing”, she must mean lewd acts, right?

“Well. I was thinking of getting someone to support me domestically. I was considering it along with other things.”

“I see..”

Why are you making a gloomy expression?
What exactly does the young lady want to say?
I can’t quite understand her inner thoughts.

“Anyway, I understand. And thank you for your hard work. Thanks to you, we were all able to come out alive.”

“You’re exaggerating. I just worked as much as I was paid.”

“You’re so modest. By the way, when and where should we meet tomorrow?”

“I have things to do tomorrow too. For now, gather your companions and discuss future plans. There might be people who don’t want to enter the labyrinth.”

“I will. We’re going into the labyrinth again the day after tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right.”

At my calm answer, the young lady lightly grabbed my sleeve.
If someone saw, they might think she was holding back a departing boyfriend.

“Porter. Make sure to come say hello before we go in. Okay?”

“Yes. Well. If I have time tomorrow evening, I’ll come see you.”

“Okay. It’s a promise.”

She even offers her pinky finger, saying it’s a promise.
This world also makes promises by linking pinky fingers, just like Earth.

“Why are you making a promise with fingers for something like this?”

“I’m worried you might suddenly leave. Don’t you want to link fingers with me?”

“No. That’s not it.”

I linked pinky fingers with the young lady.
A much smaller finger than I expected.

The young lady smiled, her face slightly flushed.
At this point, even someone as dense as me can roughly guess.

Surely, this young lady. She doesn’t like me, does she?
No way. No matter what, why would a noble young lady have romantic feelings for a labyrinth city adventurer, and a porter at that?

It’s self-conceit to think the young lady would like me.

“Then let’s go back. I should go rest soon too.”

“Okay okay. Let’s do that. By the way, the air is cold in the evening. Can’t you hold my hand?”

“Are your hands cold? Should I take out some gloves for you?”

“No, not gloves. I’m asking you to hold my hand.”

If your hands are cold, you can just wear gloves.
I don’t understand why she wants me to hold her hand.
I’ll hold it since she’s asking, but still.

“Huh, well. Alright. But won’t your other hand still be cold?”

“Yes. It’s fine if just one hand is warm.”

“Well. If you’re satisfied with that.”

I held hands with the young lady and took her to her lodging.
Only after that could I go to the inn where I was staying.

‘My legs hurt.’

My steps become heavier.
Tomorrow I need to prepare to enter the underground city.
The day after tomorrow, I have to go straight into the underground city.

‘I wonder what state it will be in.’

The underground city is, true to its name, an extremely vast place.
In fact, the 5th floor underground city is wider and larger than the 1st to 4th floors combined, which are essentially the upper levels.

‘A place with huge spaces and buildings that for some reason no one lives in.’

There are plazas, and special facilities like towers.

You have to fight monsters that suddenly pop out while wandering through buildings tangled like a maze.

Not only undead and beast-type monsters.
The labyrinth’s ‘Ain’ also start crawling out.

‘The labyrinth’s native species with intelligence.’

High orcs and hop goblins rarely seen in nature, as well as dungeon trolls and werewolves, sometimes crawl out.

Among them, the worst is definitely the minotaur.

It can be considered one of the boss monsters of the underground city.
The worst existence that even gold badge adventurers struggle against.

It’s a type of monster called an adventurer hunter.
For some reason, I had a strong premonition that we would encounter it on this expedition.

“Haah.”

I can’t run away just because I’m scared.
I’ve already made a promise with Rohan.

If I don’t go down and bring out his companions,
Rohan will probably hold a grudge against me.

I don’t know what he might do.
Also, I wanted to repay his loyalty in my own way.

Rohan and Hachi really fought with their lives to save Rika and Erika.
If I betray such people, I’d have nothing to say even if I get stabbed in the back.

‘Judging by my physical condition, I should rest for at least a week.’

I’d like to just rest for a month if I could.
I want to match my equipment, go to a swordsmanship school to learn how to fight properly.
I wanted to properly research the underground city too.

There’s no time.
Rohan’s companions are probably rotting away somewhere in the underground city right now.

‘The biggest problem is that we don’t know how the underground city has changed after the Great Shift.’

Just the upper levels have had floor division occur on the 4th floor, and the monster spawn rate has increased exponentially.

If the beginner area of the upper levels has become like this, what about the underground city?

Ugh, let’s stop thinking about it.
It’s not a problem that will be solved by worrying.

For now, I just want to sleep comfortably today.
Mental management is important.

“I’m back.”

“So you’re alive.”

“Yes. As you can see, I’m fine.”

It’s Mr. Connor, the innkeeper.
We’ve known each other for about three months, and he says he’s a former adventurer.

“You’ve gotten stronger.”

“I went through mana adaptation one more time.”

“I see. Have you eaten?”

“I ate outside before coming in.”

“Alright. Wash up and rest.”

“Yes.”

He’s a man of few words and taciturn.
And unlike his appearance, he’s quite good at cooking.

“Haah.”

I washed my body at the well behind the inn.
I shook off the blood, sweat, ash, and dust.

When I splashed cold water on my body, I felt my muscles tighten up.
After wandering around the labyrinth non-stop for days, my legs and arms felt like they were going to fall off.

‘I need to buy new equipment too.’

I think I need to completely replace my equipment with the money I received from the young lady.

My shoes are in tatters.
The leather armor I was wearing is unusable too.

I need to replenish weapons as well.
I lost 3 swords, one axe, a javelin, and a kitchen knife during this labyrinth excursion.
Some broke during battle, and some I had to abandon because there was no time to retrieve them.

I need to visit the weapon shop and the hole-in-the-wall store after a long time.

“Ugh.. So stiff.”

When I lay down on the worn-out bed in the room, my whole body ached.
Now it feels like I’ve come home.

I covered myself with the blanket up to my neck and closed my eyes.
Sleep comes immediately.

“Ugh.”

The morning sunlight disturbed my eyes.
Is it morning already?

I want to sleep more, but I have to get up.
There’s a lot to prepare before entering the labyrinth.

If I don’t start the day early, I’ll have to work late again.

“Ow. My shoulder.”

When I forcibly raised my body, a very loud cracking sound came from my joints.
My muscles were trembling slightly too, feeling like I might get cramps if I didn’t stretch.

“Shit…”

I want to rest, but there’s no time to rest.
I put on casual clothes and headed to the Adventurers’ Guild while chewing on a sandwich I took out from my spatial pocket.

‘Wow, so many people.’

The Adventurers’ Guild was still crowded with people.
It feels like the people who gathered due to the Great Shift haven’t all left yet.

The inside was much noisier than usual, and people recruiting party members were flooding everywhere.
I pushed through the crowd and finally arrived in front of the receptionist I was familiar with.

“Oh! Sion! You’re safe!”

“Yes. I made it out alive.”

Edwin, the guild’s counter lady, immediately opened her eyes wide and grabbed my hand when she saw me.
She must have thought I was dead because there was no news.

“Thank goodness. You didn’t come, so. I thought something might have happened.”

“I half-died and came back to life. And I perfectly took care of the noble party too.”

Come to think of it, I entered the labyrinth with the young lady’s party on Edwin’s recommendation.
That’s already become something that happened more than two days ago.

“Oh! Did all those noble party members come out alive too? The guild situation is like this, so. We couldn’t confirm all the detailed news.”

Edwin seemed sorry that she couldn’t properly check on us after sending us into the labyrinth because of the Great Shift.
I don’t particularly mind. She’s not my exclusive counter girl. She can’t pay attention to everything.

“You must be busy. I understand. To report, one team member died, but the count’s young lady is safe.”

“As expected, parties with Sion have a very high survival rate. Indeed, a top-class porter!”

Edwin clapped her hands and rejoiced.
I told her that floor division occurred on the 4th floor, and the monster spawn rate in the labyrinth was too high.

“Floor division on the 4th floor and increased monster numbers. Everyone is giving similar reports. It seems there are definitely abnormal phenomena occurring. Thank you for the report, Sion.”

Other adventurers have already reported too, huh.
Well, it’s something experienced in the upper levels. Reports would have come in quickly.

“Then to celebrate your safe return. I’ll give you your reward.”

Soon she took out a small reward from behind the counter and handed it to me.
I was supposed to receive compensation for acting as a guide for the young lady’s party from the beginning.

Now that the young lady’s party has returned safely, it’s time to receive the reward.

“3 gold coins and a mid-grade healing potion. And your reputation points will increase quite a bit too.”

“Wow! 3 gold coins!”

I didn’t expect to receive 3 gold coins just for acting as a guide for a beginner party.
If it weren’t for the Great Shift, it would have been a job where I could earn 3 gold coins in just one day.

This is quite good. And I really like the mid-grade healing potion too.
This is something that would cost between 1 to 2 gold coins if bought with money.

It’s essentially like earning 5 gold coins.
They really give amazing rewards for taking care of a noble family’s child.

“Are you going into the labyrinth today too? If you’re looking for a party, over there…”

“No. I already have party members. I came to post a recruitment notice for a conquest team today.”

“A conquest team recruitment notice? Don’t tell me..”

“I’m thinking of going down to the underground city. There are a few adventurers I need to retrieve.”

“If it’s the underground city.. Sion. Have you gone through mana adaptation 6 times?”

“Yes. I’ve become able to go down to the underground city.”

“I understand. I’ll relay this to the guild master.”

Edwin left the counter and went up to the guild’s second floor.

Forming a conquest team.
Conventionally, only gold badge or higher adventurers can apply to the guild for this.

But I’m a bit different.
I receive various special privileges from the guild.

Because I’m the owner of a spatial pocket.

‘As far as it’s known in the labyrinth city, there were only three spatial pocket owners including me.’

One of the three is the owner of a large trading company, so he hardly enters the labyrinth.
One of the remaining two is a platinum badge adventurer who rarely comes out of the labyrinth.

There’s a high possibility that he has gone down to the depths of the labyrinth and completely assimilated with it.
He hasn’t come up for several months now.

Then essentially, I’m the only available spatial pocket owner for the guild.
It’s natural to receive special privileges, and they’d be desperate to make me a guild member somehow.

Of course, I refused.
If I become a guild member, I’d get more privileges, but I’d also have to handle the tasks given by the guild obligatorily.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
In the end, they’re just thinking of using me.

It’s only because the labyrinth city has a culture of considering individual adventurers’ circumstances as much as possible that they don’t bother me anymore. If it wasn’t the labyrinth city, I would have been kidnapped as a transport mule long ago.

This is why I don’t want to leave the labyrinth city.
If you don’t have power, you never know when and where your human rights might be violated.

That’s the reason for growing stronger.

“Sion. The guild master is calling for you.”

“Okay.”

Here it comes.

I followed Edwin up to the second floor.