by Tôwa
“Of course. Thanks for joining. We might ask for your help as a Merchant, but we’ll look for ways to help you gain levels, too. The more skills you have, the better you’ll be able to assist us.”
“Yes, thank you so very much!” said Madoka, the little Merchant girl with her turban. I’d met her right after coming to the Labyrinth Country, and now we were in the same party. I thought it’d be a good idea to add more people who could do things in town, not just people who were good in a fight.
“All right, now that you’re convinced, I’d like to make a report. Arihito, I was able to steal this earlier,” said Elitia, handing over the dropped loot she got from Death from Above. It was a rose-colored rock, most likely a magic stone. I had some Novice Appraisal Scrolls from when Falma opened that Black Box for us, so I used one here. According to the scroll, this was a confusion stone.
Magic stones often reflect the special attacks of the monsters that have them. In other words, Death from Above had some special skill that inflicted Confusion… I wonder if it just doesn’t use it that often, and that’s why we were able to defeat it before it did. Anyway, we were lucky.
Confusion made it so that the affected person chose their target randomly, regardless of whether that target was an ally or an enemy. It was similar to when Elitia was under the effects of Berserk, but it’d be a horrendous situation if more than one of the party was Confused. There’d be no way we could avoid taking friendly fire.
But if you equipped your weapon with a confusion stone, you’d be able to use a hypnosis-type skill. Magic stones could be removed after they’d been put into a weapon, and you could even equip more than one, so I’d get two status ailments I could inflict if I had both the confusion stone and poison crystal on my slingshot.
I took a look at the Demi-Harpies, hoping they had something like a sleep stone, but I didn’t see any magic stone-like objects on their foreheads. Oh well—we could still have them trained and work together with them, so we’d be able to take advantage of their Lullaby on the battlefield if we summoned them. Also, neither Theresia nor Elitia had acquired new skills this time around, so we could at least use that to our advantage during the test.
“It looks like all the injured have been safely moved. Shall we go back to the Guild for a bit?” suggested Elitia.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” I replied. “We need to let Louisa know everything’s all right.”
Once we were back at the Guild, we saw Louisa running about checking on the amount of damage received with the other Guild workers. She ran over to us the moment she noticed we’d arrived and then bowed her head deeply. She was showing us that both the Guild workers and the other Seekers were grateful for us going out and fighting the monsters.
When Louisa finally lifted her head, she didn’t have her usual lovely smile; her expression was cool and tense.
“Mr. Atobe, you and your party have saved District Eight from danger. This may be overly forward of me, but as a representative of the Guild and as your caseworker, I wish to express our incredible gratitude… Thank you so much.”
“Things won’t be easy after all this, but I’m glad we were able to make it through,” I replied. “I hope all the injured make a speedy recovery.”
“Yes… Thank you for your kind words.” Tears welled up in her eyes now that she didn’t need to remain on alert. We were able to get rid of the stress and pressure she must have been under as the person responsible for handling the stampede. My friends were relieved, as was I.
The party went over to Louisa to cheer her up, except for Theresia, who stood next to me. Perhaps she didn’t join the circle around Louisa because of the lizard mask she wore. Her mouth didn’t show any expression, but the lizard mask eyes were looking at me. She also seemed relieved— But she was shaking slightly, maybe from the memory of the moment when I jumped off the building with the Demi-Harpy.
“We all need to get stronger so that we can keep battles under control. Me, you, everyone,” I said.
“……”
Theresia nodded and brought a hand to her chest, like she was trying to say that she wanted to draw out more of her own strength.
Part VI: Skipping a Grade
The damages in District Eight totaled approximately thirty destroyed buildings. Forty-six people suffered injuries, two of whom were severely wounded.
It wasn’t uncommon for stampedes to result in fatalities. Novices avoided the Sleeping Marshes, which was prone to monster swarms, so higher-level Seekers were regularly asked to clear it out as a preventative measure. This time, however, the labyrinth reached high alert much more quickly than normal, resulting in the events leading to the damages.
The guards didn’t enter the labyrinth and cull monsters because their priority lay in maintaining the city’s peace. They needed to be able to mobilize immediately if someone’s karma went up, yet their numbers weren’t very high, and neither were their levels. The District Eight garrison commander was level 5, and most Seekers within the district were only just below that.
That was one reason why it was so hard to gain levels…supposedly. But my party kept running into Named Monsters, which was how we leveled up faster than anyone would have thought possible. Elitia obviously wasn’t going to gain another level yet, but I looked at my license and saw that five of her experience bubbles were full. She could potentially gain another level if we defeated two more level-5 Named Monsters. We also hadn’t had any experience-point penalties since we’d been seeking without rest. I needed to figure out how much it went down if we did take a break.
The others waited outside for me again while I did my leader duties of reporting to Louisa about the battle.
“Right, please allow me to view your license… Ah, of course…,” said Louisa.
♦Expedition Results♦
> Suppressed stampede from a 1− labyrinth: 1,000 points
> ARIHITO grew to level 5: 50 points
> THERESIA grew to level 5: 50 points
> KYOUKA grew to level 4: 40 points
> SUZUNA grew to level 4: 40 points
> CION grew to level 4: 40 points
> MISAKI grew to level 3: 20 points
> Defeated 32 FLYING DOOMS: 480 points
> Defeated 5 SWEET BIRDS: 80 points
> Defeated 3 DEMI-HARPIES : 240 points
> Defeated 1 bounty DEATH FROM ABOVE: 1,600 points
> Party members’ Trust Levels increased: 300 points
> Rescued a total of 32 people: 960 points
> Rescued RIBAULT: 100 points
> Rescued MADOKA: 100 points
Seeker Contribution: 5,100 points
District Eight Career Contribution Ranking: 1
District Seven Contribution Ranking: 332
Louisa checked the numbers using her monocle and let out an admiring sigh. We’d run around town, defeating every monster we came across, but we received far more contribution points from quelling the stampede, defeating Death from Above, and saving the injured than we did from all the other monsters combined.
“Louisa, what do you mean by of course?” I asked.
“Since you earned so many contribution points in such a short time, the Guild has already put you into the District Seven ranking, without you having to take the test. Congratulations, you will be able to use the mid-tier lodging in District Seven right from the beginning.”
“Middle-class housing… Does that mean we’ll be able to rent a house?”
“Yes, it’ll be a town house. There are quite a few, though, who prefer communal living and instead choose to live in an apartment.”
“To each their own.”
We’d be renting for the time being, and we’d be able to rest fine as long as the property was nice, but we’d eventually need to think about finding a place in one of the districts to make our permanent base.
“Actually, I’m a little sad about not having to take the test,” I admitted. “There’s a party called Polaris staying in the same building as us, and they’
re already waiting for their exam. I was kind of hoping we could take it together.”
“Polaris… Oh! If you’re talking about who I think you are, they left this morning for the Shrieking Wood to take their test,” said Louisa.
“That explains why I didn’t see them around town. Does the test sometimes take a few days to complete?”
“Yes. Starting in District Seven, you’ll need to set up camp within the labyrinth, so the test doubles as practice for that. Monsters occasionally attack during the night, and the test will include how to deal with such situations.”
“That would be good practice. I’ll have to double-check with my party, but would it be possible for us to still take the test tomorrow?”
“Yes, I will prepare the test if you like. Now then, I have a meeting to attend concerning the city’s recovery efforts, so if you would please excuse me.”
“Rebuilding will take a lot of money, I imagine. If it’s too much, then maybe I can help—”
“No, that won’t be necessary. The residents of the city prepare funds for cases like this, so it’s a general rule that no one person should pay out of pocket for repairs. I do appreciate the thought, though.”
“Oh, all right… I feel better, then. The Mercenary Office had been mostly destroyed, so I thought it would be hard to rebuild, and then there’s the other buildings that were damaged when we were fighting.”
“Even so, the damages were relatively small. There have been times when a type of monster that goes around destroying everything in its path appears, resulting in extensive damages to both the city and its residents… We need to make sure to keep stampede risks low at all times in order to prevent something like that happening.”
I’d felt like Louisa was slowly starting to let loose around me, but her formality in answering my questions gave me the impression that she felt personally responsible for what happened in the stampede.
“We also felt that these particular monsters were dangerous, so I understand why people tend to avoid that labyrinth. Is there some way to seal whatever the source of the monsters is away?” I asked.
“Well… There are certain conditions that lead to monster spawning, and if we come to understand those conditions, we can keep them from appearing. Monster Researchers have only published information on a select number of monsters; the vast majority of the information is generally unknown.”
“Which means you can only respond when things get more dangerous. Please let us know if you do hear anything. If we have a good countermeasure, then we should be able to cut the monsters’ numbers down efficiently.”
“Once a stampede occurs, it’s days before another one can happen as long as there’s a swift response. That’s why I want to rework the monster culling schedule so that we can prevent it from happening again.”
There were likely other labyrinths in other districts like the Sleeping Marshes that people just avoided, making the risk of stampede greater for those labyrinths. The Guild Saviors or the guards probably had to deal with those.
Scariest of all would be if a stampede originated from a labyrinth in the higher districts. That was because even though people were trying, they couldn’t manage to keep the monster numbers down. If District Eight could end up taking this much damage, that kind of stampede could lead to extensive damages from just one small mistake.
I suppose another Seeker duty was to venture into the labyrinths that were suited to their strength in order to defeat monsters and prevent stampedes from happening in the districts. But not everyone worked hard or continued to fight and risk their lives.
“…Are you perhaps starting to get the sense that the labyrinths are quite a hassle?” asked Louisa.
“I do, to be perfectly honest. They’re burdensome and mysterious, and if you’re not careful, a stampede can happen. It makes me wonder why in the world there are so many of them concentrated in this country… And that’s part of the reason why I plan to keep climbing the ranks, so I can learn about these things.”
“Mr. Atobe…”
“Ah… S-sorry, I didn’t mean to put on airs. It’s just that I don’t mind doing what I need to do as a Seeker. A part of that is because I have so many friends supporting me.”
“No… I think it’s a wonderful goal. I’m impressed. I want to do everything I can as your caseworker to help. I hope you’ll continue to help me do that.”
“I’m the one who should be asking for your help.”
We stood and shook hands. I remembered I’d been so nervous the first time I met this beautiful woman; I couldn’t believe I’d gotten to a point where I could be this calm with her… Perhaps I’d grown a little since coming to the Labyrinth Country.
Part VII: The Merchants Guild
Once I finished reporting to Louisa, I stopped at the nearby Healer clinic to check on how Ribault and his party were doing. Apparently, their magic user wouldn’t wake up for a few days, but their condition was stable.
“Thanks for comin’ all this way to see us. You must be tired yourself,” said Ribault.
“Yeah, I’m always a bit worn down after a fight, but it’s not too much of a load on me since I have the party,” I replied.
“You really are somethin’ else. It’s only been four days since you started, and lookit how you’ve built a name for yourself since. I bet you won’t even spend much time in this district. I’m glad I got the chance to meet a rookie like yourself. You oughta come visit District Eight every once in a while; I’ll get lonely otherwise.” Ribault had met his fair share of rookies—and seen plenty of them off, too. It was nothing short of an honor to know I’d left that much of an impression on him.
“Thank you, Arihito. It’s because of you that our friends are all still here,” remarked Ribault’s companion with the shield.
“We owe Ribault a lot. He saved us when we were seeking in one of the beginner labyrinths…,” said the woman with the bow.
“All the more reason you should keep going into the labyrinths, find incredible weapons, and aim for the top,” added Ribault. “That’s why you’re such a marvel to us. We’re just gonna do what we can. This might sound overly dramatic, but I want you to fulfill our dream.”
“…All right. I’ll go as far as I can. But honestly, I believe you’re capable of rekindling that dream whenever you want,” I replied. They could pass on their work of looking after the junior Seekers to someone else and go back to seeking. That was an option that any party was free to choose.
“…Yeah. You’re right… What am I talking about? Like we’ve given up. Arihito, you’re just too…,” said Ribault.
“I still wanna go toe to toe with some strong foe I’ve never seen before. I know that sounds weird coming from the guy who lent his only shield to Ribault, but…,” said the man.
“I was so scared; I couldn’t do anything to that super-brightly colored thing. But to give in would just shatter my very core… So I’m going to keep trying—do everything I can,” vowed the archer.
“I get anxious before every fight, too, but I have my friends with me. They’re the reason I just about manage to not run away and get something done,” I said. If we ever met a challenge we couldn’t overcome, we’d work together, or someone in the party would get a new skill, and we’d find a way to get over it.
Rearguard was a job that could cover all sorts of support, so I sometimes felt like there was no limit to what my skills could do, but they also worked together with my party’s skills, and that’d helped us on many occasions.
Ribault and his party seemed to have a new gleam in their eyes, a renewed ambition for seeking. I felt we could likely run into each other someday in another district. That was one thing to look forward to as I continued my life here in the Labyrinth Country, since there were only so many parties among all the ones in the Labyrinth Country that we’d make a connection with.
I left Ribault and his party and headed back toward the square in front of the Guild. Cion came to meet me, too, and she’d
brought Falma and Astarte with her.
“Oh… Well done today, Mr. Atobe. I’d like to thank you as one of the city’s residents for saving the city,” said Falma.
“Well, I’m a resident myself. I like to see the city peaceful as well,” I replied. Falma smiled elegantly, then looked at Cion, who was sitting down while Igarashi petted her head.
“I got a real understanding of how Cion feels after everything that happened today. Mr. Atobe… If it’s not too much trouble, would you please take Cion with you? As a member of your party.”
“Huh? …B-but she’s so fluffy and huge and cute—are you sure you won’t mind us taking her?” asked Igarashi.
“…Woof!” barked Cion.
I didn’t understand why Igarashi was so flustered by the idea; I would’ve thought she’d be ecstatic to have Cion as a party member. Cion had saved us with her Covering skill so many times, and I was sure she’d be a great asset to us. Theresia no longer seemed afraid of her, and if she could work as a vanguard with Elitia, our party would become even more impenetrable.
“Thank you, Falma. If you insist, then we’ll be happy to borrow her… Or do you mean you’d allow us to officially add her to our party?” I asked.
“Yes, gladly. It would make her very happy, too… See, look at her tail go!” Cion was still sitting, but her fluffy tail was wagging back and forth—a gentle wagging, not like when she used Tail Counter.
“Astarte, if Cion goes with Mr. Atobe, she’ll come back an even stronger guard dog. You don’t need to worry,” Falma reassured Astarte, who quietly returned her gaze before going over to Cion and beginning to clean the fur behind her daughter’s ear. Once she finished, Cion pushed her head into her mom’s fuzzy chest for a moment, then separated. Astarte narrowed her eyes, then came over in front of me and lay on the ground.
“She’s saying, ‘Please take care of her.’ Would you please pet Astarte? It would let her know you understand,” explained Falma.
“Of course… I’ll make sure Cion comes home safe. I know you might miss her, so we’ll come back to visit regularly,” I said and rubbed Astarte’s head. She closed her eyes, either in a show of obedience or perhaps a sign that she trusted me.