I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“Uhh.. Th-there..! Hnnng. Hiet.. Ssup… Haa… Haa. Haa…”

“Ah, stay still for a bit.”

“U, ueh…!!”

After dinner, Yuria kept demanding a massage, so I was kneading her calves..
She’s making some strange sounds.

Don’t tell me this bastard just came from a calf massage?
No way. Surely not.

“Ahem.”

“Huh…”

“Well. Cough.”

Louis, Hachi, and Rohan glanced at the trembling Yuria.
Horaru was absorbed in eating honey. Being a beastkin, he’s quite self-centered.

And the healer Yata..

“Um.. I’m.. I’m good at massages too.. I have a massage therapist license..”

“Yata-ssi, that’s not necessary.”

“Ah.. Okay.”

He was rejected.
Yuria shot him down immediately.

“No, Yuria. Wouldn’t it be better to get a massage from a professional?”

“It’s fine. The porter is enough for massages.”

“Porter discrimination?”

“No, it’s not discrimination. Just do it.”

“Huh…”

To be honest, Yuria is right.
Originally, in a typical party, the porter is in charge of odd jobs.

From cooking to all possible chores, that’s what a porter does.
Above all, in this battle, I just stood frozen while being protected by Hachi.

I feel like I couldn’t even do my part. Shamefully so.

Of course, no one expects combat ability from a porter, so the party members didn’t say anything.
How should I put it? I just feel a sense of inferiority on my own.

‘I didn’t know I’d be this powerless.’

I could fight to some extent in the upper levels.
Coming down to the underground city, I could clearly feel that I’m not yet fit to be a bronze badge adventurer.

The beasts all avoided the slingshot or were fine even when hit.
It was very difficult to pierce their skin with a knife, so I couldn’t inflict damage.

I clearly felt that I wasn’t properly exerting the potential I had.
I realized that I need to systematically learn how to properly use my muscles.

I felt a bit anxious watching Yuria slice through the Garums on her own.

‘I need to get stronger.’

Once this labyrinth excursion is over, I really need to register at a swordsmanship dojo or learn martial arts.

I can’t stay with the sense I had when roaming the upper levels forever.
The underground city was not easy enough to enter with such a complacent mindset.

‘I wish I’d get a combat-oriented ability instead.’

It’s somewhat disappointing that I only get abilities favorable for support for some reason.
Of course, it’s not that I dislike the spatial pocket.

“Sion, how many monster corpses did you manage to collect?”

“I picked up pretty much everything I could grab. I think I collected over 30 corpses. I haven’t properly checked the types of monsters yet, but. I tried to collect all the Hati corpses as much as possible. I think I got at least 10 of those.”

Garum, Hati, and Gulun.
I collected all the corpses of these that I could grab.
Especially the Hati corpses, I tried to collect them no matter what.

“I see. 10 Hati corpses is quite good.”

“Hooray for spatial pockets!”

Rohan nodded with satisfaction, and Horaru praised the coolness of spatial pockets.

The reason we need to collect Hati is simple.
Among the three types of beast monsters, Hati is the most expensive.

Hati’s fur is jet black, and it’s the rarest of the three monsters in the Plaza District, so its price is quite high.

In contrast, Garum, the wild dog, was the cheapest.
Its fur color is a mottled dung color, and they’re overwhelmingly numerous, so the supply is quite high, making them relatively cheap.

‘As for Gulun…’

Gulun are quite large and look ferocious.
If Garum has the typical appearance of a guard dog, and Hati is a handsome wolf, Gulun is a truly ugly canine monster.

We call them “wolves” using another word for wolf because there’s no proper term to describe them.
But in fact, it might be more accurate to say they have a large wolf’s body with a bulldog’s head attached.

Anyway, Gulun’s hide sells well too.
It’s just that it’s overshadowed because Hati’s hide is so high-quality.

“Come to think of it. Earlier, some of the Hati disappeared instantly. What was that?”

“Are you talking about shadow hiding?”

“Shadow hiding?”

“It’s Hati’s unique ability. The ability to hide in darkness. You need to be careful because you’re likely to be killed if you don’t know about it.”

“I see.”

So it was Hati’s ability.
No wonder I was surprised when they suddenly disappeared from sight.

“And Gulun’s heads are harder than rocks, so if you get hit, it’s over. Remember that too.”

“I already know that..”

“Hey! Even if you know, can’t you just say thanks for telling you! How embarrassing.”

“Sorry?”

“Ugh. Forget it.”

As Yuria said, Gulun’s heads are extremely hard.
They’re monsters whose heads can’t be cracked with a stone throw.
I couldn’t kill them even by hitting their heads with a sling shot.

It would be most effective to aim for the heart instead of the head, or to stab vital points like the mouth or eyes.

“I think High Orcs might start appearing soon.”

“High Orcs often tame and use Garums. If we get close, we’re likely to be detected first. It would be really troublesome if the Orcs swarm out.”

“Judging by the numbers we’re seeing now, it looks like Orcs might crawl out in large numbers too.”

“Haah.. This is maddening.”

“But they’re hostile to Hati and Gulun. If we use that well, we might be able to make them fight each other.”

As Louis said, High Orcs engage in territorial disputes with the other two monsters except for Garums.
To use this well, the role of Horaru the druid was extremely important.

“Horaru.”

“Woo?”

“We need your help again.”

“Mm. Understood. But porter.”

“Yes?”

“Honey. Do you have one more bottle..?”

“Ah. Yes.. I do have one… But we’ll have to deduct this separately when calculating compensation later.”

“Alright. Everyone agrees, right?”

“It can’t be helped. The druid’s role is important.”

“Honey is expensive. I agree.”

“S-sorry.. You can deduct it from my compensation..”

“It’s fine. We’ll deduct it from the party’s shared funds. Just eat as much as you want without worry, Horaru.”

“Hehe..”

Honey is a luxury item.
There is a beekeeper living near the labyrinth city, but honey is still expensive.

‘Rohan is really fair and square in these aspects.’

He might not be good at managing team members’ mental states, but he’s thorough when it comes to dividing compensation.

Horaru plays a very important role in the party.
We used honey to protect his mental state, so it’s right to deduct the cost from the party’s shared funds, not personal expenses.

“Anyway, to continue our discussion. Our goal is ultimately to retrieve the corpses of our hidden companions, so we don’t need to fight the Orcs unnecessarily.”

Rohan’s words meant that we should use the Garums that Horaru succeeded in empathizing with to lure the Hati or Gulun packs and attack the High Orcs first.

If we dealt with the Orc bastards one by one, we’d reach our physical limits, and if they called for their companions, there was a high possibility we’d be completely annihilated.

The labyrinth is now in an unprecedented monster boom period.
So we needed to use the druid’s ability to reduce their forces first and avoid fights or gain an advantage.

Looking at it this way, this is really a proper Plaza District conquest team.
Including a druid who can take advantage of the high number of beasts and an earth mage who’s good at blocking entrances in the party was a genius move.

It’s just that there are too many monsters for them to shine properly.

“Honestly, it seems like there are more now than right after the Great Shift.”

“Certainly. It wasn’t this bad even right after the Great Shift. It feels like they’ve increased rapidly in just a few days.”

“Surely a new leader specimen hasn’t been born?”

“Ugh. Louis. Don’t say such chilling nonsense. It’s good to assume the worst in the labyrinth, but… Ugh. It’s terrible just imagining it.”

Rohan shuddered.
It’s hard enough as it is, and now a new boss monster?

“But judging by how seriously the monsters have increased, maybe a large-scale subjugation operation will begin after the conquest team’s underground city exploration is over.”

“You mean the unlimited monster hunting period?”

“Yeah. The unconditional purchase festival.”

Subjugation operation.
Also known as the unlimited monster hunting period.

It refers to a period when the guild unconditionally buys at maximum prices without considering market prices.

Since monster parts ultimately fluctuate in price according to market conditions, adventurers tend not to hunt certain monsters during periods when they don’t sell well.

However, if the Adventurers’ Guild, with the Merchants’ Union and the Temple in the middle, sets unconditional purchases at maximum prices, there’s no need to consider market prices, so adventurers set out to hunt.

The Merchants’ Union might take a loss, but if they feel the labyrinth needs cleaning in the long term, they were willing to make sacrifices.
After all, they can only make money if there are adventurers to enter the labyrinth.

And if the Temple has any shame, they should chip in some money.
Nowhere else welcomes the elixir of resurrection except the labyrinth city.
To continue doing business in the labyrinth city, they needed to manage their image a bit.

‘Above all, it’s impossible to estimate how much margin they make from the elixir of resurrection.’

The reason the elixir of resurrection is expensive is not because the ingredient costs are high or anything like that.
It’s simply because the Goddess Church is the only group that has such a ‘near-perfect resurrection technique’.

It’s highly likely that they set the price as they please because they have a technological singularity.

‘Wasn’t 100 gold coins the upper limit of the amount an adventurer could produce after pouring in several years, which they calculated and quoted?’

They try to collect money by any means.
And if they think there’s no way to collect money, that’s when they sell to slave traders.

In the end, slaves are clearance items discarded by the Temple.
So I think they probably sell them cheaper than the minimum resurrection price of 100 gold coins.

‘Thanks to that, most of those who come to slave traders are…’

Either those who have absolutely no relatives who can repay the money for them.
Or those who have physical defects too severe to be sent to the mines.
Most of them don’t even have the skills to roam the upper levels of the labyrinth.

‘Those at silver or gold badge level will try to repay the resurrection costs and get out of the debt relationship somehow.’

Those who roll down to slave traders are mostly novice adventurers below that level.
Or those who don’t even have the skills to enter the labyrinth.

Moreover, since men almost always go straight to the mines, the proportion of women is quite high among slaves.
The Temple finds uses for men because there are many places to use them, but they just release women with no abilities as slaves.

It’s not official, but this is my judgment.
It’s the brain juice of a porter with 6 months in this world, but it’s probably correct.

“Let’s decide the night watch order soon. Everyone looks tired.”

“Alright.”

It’s about time to sleep.
Since there are many people, there will be many on night watch, so it seems we can sleep for quite a long time.

“Mmm….?”

I woke up feeling something tight on my chest, and something was hugging me.
It’s very soft, warm, and squishy. No way.. Horaru???

With this terrible imagination, I immediately opened my eyes and checked who was hugging me.

‘Ah, what. It was just Yuria.’

Yuria, with her mouth slightly open, drooling and even snoring.
She was sleeping in a completely carefree and unguarded state. I didn’t know she could be this defenseless.

“Ugh. Hey. Move over.”

“Mmm.. Siro..”

When I tried to push her away, Yuria hugged me even more tightly.

Her body scent was certainly good.
Was it an odor removal ability she mentioned?

Anyway, even though we rolled around in the labyrinth, there wasn’t even a smell of sweat.
Well, there wasn’t any bad smell when I was massaging her calves earlier either.

“Are you awake..?”

“Ah, Yata-ssi.”

Yata was on the last shift of the night watch.
It means it’s about time for everyone to wake up.

As I raised my head while being hugged by Yuria, Yata’s face turned red when our eyes met.

“Th-the guild master’s daughter.. This is the first time I’ve seen her act so familiarly with someone…”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.. I, I’ve been on a few labyrinth excursions with her too.. Hehe.. But she doesn’t remember me well…”

“I see.”

This guy, Yata.
Does he really like Yuria?

“W-well.. I’ve been saved by her a few times. Sh-should I say I admire her..”

“Is that so.”

“Yes.. She’s cool. Yuria-ssi. She looks so energetic when fighting…”

He really seems to like her.
This is, well, I don’t know what to say.

I know Yuria likes energetic types.
But Yata-ssi is too timid and lacks masculinity.

He’s rather delicate like a woman.

“Ah, time’s up.. We should wake everyone up soon…”

“Yes. Come on, everyone wake up.”

I woke up the group along with Yata.
It’s time to head back into the labyrinth.

We should be able to retrieve the corpses today.
So far, there hasn’t been any unexpected trouble except for the excessive number of monsters.

I hoped the retrieval operation would end without any problems till the end.