I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“…”

“Um, young lady?”

I called out, but the young lady was still turned away, facing the wall as if sulking.
What could have upset her so much to make her show such clear signs of distress?

Could it be because of Yuria?
No, but the young lady and I should just have an employer-employee relationship, right?

We did get a bit entangled while filming a survival show in the labyrinth, but if you ask if there was room for it to develop into anything more than that. Well. I think I clearly drew the line.

Of course, this might just be my own thinking too.
Just like how I deliberately ignored the fact that Yuria liked me.

“Young lady.”

“…What.”

“No, what do you mean ‘what’. You told me to come report that I survived. I came to greet you.”

“Mm..”

“Listen, young lady. Lady Lea.”

“Mmm..?”

“If you have any complaints, please tell me. If you keep sulking like this, we won’t be able to enter the labyrinth together.”

Finally, the young lady met my eyes.
Her gaze was full of resentment.

What could she be so resentful about?
I can’t fully understand her feelings.

I don’t know if her feelings for me are affection or possessiveness.
I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about anything until we have an honest conversation.

“Porter…”

“Yes.”

“You… really… got a girlfriend?”

“Yes. A friend named Yuria.”

“I know. The guild master’s daughter, right? A renowned beauty even in the labyrinth city. Talented too. Skilled enough to soon get a gold badge. I know all that.”

“That’s right. It’s her.”

I calmly acknowledged it.
She seemed to already know.

But apparently unsatisfied with my answer, the young lady started questioning me.

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“What’s your reason for dating her?”

“Young lady, what do you mean by that?”

“You said it yourself. That you didn’t like anyone who wasn’t a slave. That you had no intention of dating an adventurer. So why are you dating that woman, who’s not only an adventurer but a famous one? You said you’d marry a slave. You didn’t even give me a chance. Why?”

“…”

I broke out in a cold sweat.
Because the young lady was looking at me resentfully.

“In the end, you just wanted power, didn’t you? After realizing that nobles from outside the labyrinth city have no power in this city. You seduced that woman to make connections with someone powerful within the city, right? Or is that woman willing to be your slave? No way. There’s no way such a proud woman would do that. Porter. I’m disappointed. If I… if I had been more capable… I could have been the one chosen…”

“Uh.. well. That’s.”

How should I respond to this?

No, Yuria…
She did say she’d become my slave.

It seems there’s been some misunderstanding here.
Right now, the young lady is thinking:

She believes I chose Yuria, who is more capable, when she herself might have had a chance to be chosen.

She seemed upset, with feelings of inferiority and various other emotions mixed in.
Moreover, hearing her say she was disappointed in me, it seemed she thought I had taken Yuria for the sake of gaining power.

But that’s not it.
The young lady didn’t lose me to Yuria, nor did she miss her chance after liking me first.

Yuria was simply, literally, pure love.
She had been making advances on me for months.
When we were alone, she even promised she’d gladly become my slave.

She even said she’d consider allowing me to purchase a real slave to some extent.
Yuria is the person I ended up with due to these various complex factors building up.

But explaining this to the young lady is extremely difficult.
I mean, come on.

I can’t just say, ‘Yuria agreed to be my slave when we’re alone.’

It’s not like Yuria and I agreed on this beforehand.
To spontaneously reveal this fact to the young lady, I need to consider Yuria’s position too.

“First of all, young lady. I think there’s some misunderstanding here.”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding.”

“First, I’m not really interested in power. To begin with, I’m already on friendly terms with the guild master, so there’s no need to go through the trouble of seducing his daughter.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. And I’m not sure how much you’ve looked into, but Yuria… has been connected to me for months.”

“I knew that..”

“You knew?”

“..Yes.”

“Then this will go faster. I originally only intended to date slaves, but. Well, circumstances being what they are.. That’s how it ended up. You understand, right? I found there are no absolutes in life.”

“Right. There are no absolutes. Right?”

“Huh? Yes. That’s right.”

“Yes. There are no absolutes. That means there’s no absolute rule that you won’t date me either. Since there are no absolutes.”

“What?”

“You said there are no absolutes. There’s no law saying someone has to monopolize you alone.”

The young lady’s eyes gleamed with desire.
No, what is this. Why on earth is she acting like this towards me?

She’s not even a minor noble.
A story of a true pureblood noble lady falling for a mere porter.

Where did the plausibility of this go?
This isn’t right.

The young lady seems to be misunderstanding something about her own feelings right now.
No, it must be a misunderstanding.

I think this needs to be corrected quickly.

“W-wait a moment. Young lady. You’re, how should I put it. Right. You’re mistaking the swaying bridge effect for attraction to me.”

Yes, this must be a misunderstanding.
The young lady said she grew up so preciously that she hadn’t even properly held a man’s hand, let alone dated.

So she’s developed an strangely strong attraction to me, the first man she’s been close to.
The young lady is still a frog in a well, so she seems to have developed too deep an affection for me.

The world is vast. Once she meets someone better or more handsome than me, she’ll probably soon realize this is fake love.

“The swaying bridge effect?”

“Yes. Developing attraction to someone you were with in a moment of crisis. Something like that. In my opinion, your current feelings are closer to comradeship than love.”

“Comradeship. Hmm.”

“Right. Comradeship. You know, that thing where comrades who went through the same battlefield together develop a deep friendship.”

“This feeling. Is just simple friendship?”

“Yes. It’s friendship. Comradeship. It’s not love.”

It can’t be love.
Because she’s not a slave?
Because she’s an adventurer?

No, those aren’t the reasons.
I’ve already put aside those two reasons to some extent since deciding to date Yuria.

The real problem is something else.

‘Her family background and doting father.. and probably her brother who’s almost certainly a siscon.’

I fear the men in that family.
99.9% chance they’ll try to kill me.

They might secretly send assassins to the labyrinth city to murder me inside the labyrinth.
Of course, I know that’s an extreme scenario, but nobles tend to be extreme.

‘It’s scary.’

To be honest, of course I’d be happy that such a pretty person likes me.

Setting everything else aside, the young lady is beautiful.
She has the will to grow and she’s rich too.

But those things aren’t more precious or important than my life.

“A misunderstanding. This is my misunderstanding?”

“That’s right. There are many other handsome and cool people in the labyrinth city besides me. If you interact with various people, you’ll eventually find true love, young lady.”

“True love, huh. Hmm. Is that so?”

“Yes! That’s how it is.”

“What if it’s not?”

“Huh?”

“What if it’s not a misunderstanding? What if it’s not just friendship or comradeship? What if there’s no man who makes my heart race more than you?”

“Th-that’s…”

The young lady smiled.
It’s the first smile she’s shown since we started talking today.

A smile like a chess player who’s seen the end of the game.
Why does that smile, so sure of victory, make me so uneasy?

I felt like I’d fallen into a trap.

“Hey, porter.”

“Yes, young lady.”

“Shall we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Yes. A bet. You’re trying to keep pushing me away for some reason, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Whether it’s because of that Yuria woman or whatever, I don’t care. I’ll go along with it. But, if I keep liking you, then you lose. If my feelings cool off, then you win. How about it?”

It wasn’t a bet about trying to win love.
She was literally saying she wanted to find out if her current feelings were real or not.

“If, as you say, these feelings are a misunderstanding. If it’s fake love. Then I’ll cleanly let go of my obsession with you. But.”

Gulp.

“If I keep liking you from now on. If I become certain these feelings are real. Then you’ll have to accept me too.”

“B-but I’m already spoken for…”

“Practice polygamy.”

“What?”

“A truly charming man should be able to have about three wives, I think.”

What an open-minded way of thinking.
This young lady’s thinking is quite detached from typical noble thinking.

Just looking at how positively she accepts the Elixir of Resurrection, which is considered social death, shows how open-minded a noble she is.

I didn’t expect it to be to this extent.
Or is it because she’s a noble that she can think this way?

“Even if I practice polygamy. The status difference between you and me is too big…”

“Get a platinum badge.”

“What? A platinum badge?”

“Yes. If you get a platinum badge, who could say anything to you? It means you’re a national-level powerhouse. You’re sharp, so you must have noticed why empires and kingdoms don’t invade this small labyrinth city.”

The biggest reason world powers leave the labyrinth city alone.

The existence of platinum badge holders.
A platinum badge is no different from calling someone a one-man army.

Even just a gold badge is considered to have stepped into the realm of superhumans.
A platinum badge, which is above gold, is literally a monster.

You could call them living war deterrents.

It would be easy to bring a large army and sweep through the labyrinth city.
But preventing assassination attempts by rampaging platinum badge holders is another matter.

“Even a gold badge would be fine. It’s proof you can be recognized outside the labyrinth city regardless of whether you’re noble or not.”

The young lady says to at least get a gold badge if a platinum badge is impossible.

“No, that’s not an easy thing to- Ow!”

“Hey, look at me properly.”

As I kept trying to refuse, the young lady grabbed my face.
We get close enough that our breaths mingle. Her eyes draw nearer.

The young lady’s lips brush past mine.

“Are you going to let me go? Wouldn’t you regret it? I’ll persuade Yuria myself. You just focus on improving your skills.”

“…”

“Buy slaves too. I won’t touch them. But. If my feelings don’t change in the next 6 months. You have to accept me unconditionally.”

“May I ask… why 6 months specifically?”

“It probably took that Yuria woman 6 months to win you over. So I’m confirming my feelings in the same amount of time. How about it? Will you accept quietly? If you keep refusing. It won’t be fun.”

Is this noble pressure?
I glimpsed the noble stubbornness and obsession of obtaining whatever they want by any means necessary.

“If you don’t accept the bet…”

“I’ll threaten you. I’ll spread rumors so everyone in the world knows I like you. I’ll make sure it reaches my father’s and brother’s ears too.”

“Wh-what madness!”

I was threatened by the young lady.
A threat to self-destruct if I don’t accept the bet.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone else.”

“We’ll have to see about that. Hehehe.”

I couldn’t refuse the bet.
Within the next 6 months, I have to get rid of the young lady’s attraction to me.