Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 5

Labyrinth City Life 

Satou here. Sometimes when you’re spending your days uneventfully, you’ll start vaguely imagining that something special might happen. But when you’ve experienced an out-of-the-ordinary life, you start to treasure ordinary days that much more. 

“I never wish to go to a tea party or banquet again.” 

When we returned to the mansion, Karina threw herself down on a sofa. 

“You’re a baron’s daughter, so you’ll have to keep dealing with high society, I’m afraid.” 

“Well, I don’t want to.” 

“Karinaaa?” 

“Tell Pochi your troubles, sir.” 

Tama and Pochi came over to Karina’s side. 

For some reason, Pochi seemed to be emitting the aura of a priest offering to hear a confession. 

“The noblewomen always tease me, and the men always stare.” 

It sounded like the dinner after the tea party had been pretty stressful for her. 

“Have some honeyed pastriiies.” 

“When times are tough, eat sweets and forget your troubles, sir. Sweets can even distract from the pain of no meat, sir. Meat, ah, Mr. Meat… The dripping fat of grilled meat, the tenderness and flavor of Mr. Hamburg, the simple yumminess of shabu-shabu… Aaah, meat…” 

Pochi tried to comfort Karina, but the second half of her speech ruined it with her longing for meat. 

“Pochi, drooool?” 

“Oopsie-daisy, sir.” 

Upon Tama’s observation, Pochi reached into her Fairy Pack, produced a handkerchief with a cartoon meat pattern, and wiped her mouth. 

Wow, she’s growing up. Not long ago, she would’ve just wiped it with her arm. 

As I was lost in thought, Pochi started sadly chewing on the meat pattern on her handkerchief. Considering that her no-meat punishment was ending the next evening, I wished she would hang in there a little longer. 

“I swear I’ll go to the labyrinth tomorrow!” Karina jumped up abruptly and exclaimed. 

She seemed peevish that Tama and Pochi had gotten distracted from reassuring her. 

“That won’t do, Lady Karina,” chided her lady-in-waiting Pina. “More importantly, you should be trying to seduce Sir Knight, since you’re all dressed up.” 

“Yes, she’s right! Try showing off that cleavage a little more!” 

One of Karina’s other maids, the newbie, chimed in. 

“H-her cleavage? How lewd!” the other maid, Erina, declared in a rare show of common sense. 

I couldn’t help briefly imagining a seductive Karina. 

At that moment, our eyes happened to meet. 

“Satou, you pervert!” 

With that, Karina ran out of the room. 

Tama chased after her, hastily followed by Pina and the other maids. 

I looked around awkwardly to cover up my slight blunder and found Pochi looking at me from below. 

“What’s the matter?” 

“Are you a pervert, sir?” 

How am I supposed to answer that? 

“Being a pervert isn’t good, sir.” 

With that, Pochi went stumbling after Karina and the others. 

“I think Pochi’s no-meat punishment might be affecting her a little too much.” 

“Yeah, maybe we should end it a little earl—” 

As I started to respond to Arisa’s concern, Mia tugged on my sleeve. 

“It’s okay.” 

Mia pointed at the entrance to the room. 

Glancing over, my eyes once again fell on Pochi, who was peeking at me from just past the door. 

Judging by the way she’d sped off immediately, she probably would be fine if we proceeded as planned. 

“That girl doesn’t know how to seal the deal,” Arisa murmured. 

I guess she must’ve put the idea in Pochi’s head to try to lighten the punishment out of pity. 

Arisa was the one who had insisted she needed to be punished properly, but it was probably her deep empathy and love that prevented her from sticking it out to the end. 

That night, I made equipment for Karina as promised and used the rest of the time before sunrise to work on experimenting with the Raka clones for Pochi and Tama. 

Too many all-nighters in a row is never a good idea, so I made sure to get a few hours of sleep at dawn. 

The morning after the viceroy’s wife’s tea party, I went to the labyrinth gates to see off Zena and the Labyrinth City Celivera’s Elite Training Corps. 

“Satou, you came to see us off?” 

“Yes, and to give you this.” 

I pulled out a small pouch from my Garage Bag and gave it to Zena. 

“It’s so cute… W-wait, Satou, don’t tell me this is—?!” 

I nodded at Zena, whose surprise only doubled. 

The pouch I gave her was a kind of Magic Bag. 

I’d acquired several of them when we traveled the southern seas; this one was a small-capacity model that I’d just updated a little, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. 

“There are potions inside. With this bag, outside impact won’t affect the contents, which means you don’t need to worry about them breaking while you’re exploring—it’s very convenient.” 

“Yes, it certainly is, but—” 

The potions inside included five intermediate magic recovery and five stamina recovery potions, five all-purpose antidotes made from White Dragon Stone, and others including paralysis cures and a good deal of two varieties of watered-down potions. 

I also included one cure-all from the labyrinth, just in case. You never know what might happen in a labyrinth, after all. 

“You may not need them, since your force has its own stock of potions, but please use them freely if you end up running out.” 

Zena’s eyes widened at the abundance of intermediate-grade potions. 

I’d written instructions and warnings on the labels, so I suggested that she glance them over later. 

“But I can’t accept something so valuable.” 

“Miss Zena, you could always return them if you don’t use them.” 

Zena hesitated, but Iona helpfully encouraged her to accept. 

“So I guess I wasn’t really able to show you around Labyrinth City before.” 

“I’m sorry; it’s my fault—” 

I wasn’t trying to blame Zena, so I interrupted her apology to finish my statement. 

“…So I’ll have to show you around when you get back from the labyrinth, if that’s all right.” 

At that, Zena broke into a smile. 

“Once you return, I’ll bring you to a really good restaurant, so please look forward to it.” 

“…I will!” 

Zena responded with the look of a maiden in love, which made the nearby spectators watch with sparkling eyes. I wasn’t even remotely trying to romantically court Zena with my offer, but I guess it seemed that way to the people around us. I guess I should be more careful about how I phrased my invitations. 

“Zenacchi, looks like we’re about to head out.” 

Lilio pointed behind us, where members of the explorers’ party Silverlight were marching over, clad in silver body armor. The ones in the rear were wearing chain mail instead. 

This group was unique in that they rarely used equipment made from monster materials, and the members were all noblewomen; despite its large size, at least a quarter of them had crimson badges. 

“Everyone here? The Silverlights are joining us, so we’re heading in!” 

A young knight who seemed to be the commanding officer called out orders, and Zena’s comrades began gathering their things and walking toward the west gate. 

“All right, Satou. We’re off.” 

“Have a safe trip, Zena. Please be careful not to get hurt.” 

I wished I could go along with her, but I held off because having an outsider follow her on a mission into the labyrinth for military training might be bad for Zena’s reputation. 

The Silverlights were veterans, and I doubted they’d go anywhere too dangerous, so it would probably be fine. 

“Don’t worry. I’ve always had good luck.” 

Don’t say things that sound like obvious flags, please. 

I kept this thought in my head as I waved to Zena until she disappeared through the west gate. 

I’d forgotten to ask when they were getting back, but since I doubted they would spend a long time in the labyrinth on their first excursion, I decided to just make reservations at the restaurant for every day until I was supposed to leave for the royal capital. 

On the days I couldn’t go eat there, I could just send staff like Kajiro, Ayaume, or Miteruna as thanks for their hard work. 

Come to think of it… 

It occurred to me later that saying, “Once you return, I’ll bring you to a really good restaurant,” was a pretty ominous flag in itself. 

There was probably nothing to worry about, but I decided to check in on her occasionally with the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance just in case. 

“I’m back.” 

“Welcome hooome.” 

“Welcome back, sir!” 

When I returned from seeing Zena off, I found Tama and Pochi playing a variation on the classic Japanese game of Look Over There! with Miss Karina. 

Erina was the only maid guard in the room, with Pina and the newbie nowhere to be found. 

“Welcome back, Satou.” 

Karina greeted me with her head hanging gloomily, having just lost to Tama. 

“Karina’s baaad?” 

“That won’t do, sir! Watch Pochi and me battle, sir!” 

Tama and Pochi started playing Look Over There! 

The usual rules were to look in a different direction than the other person pointed, but since these two instinctively looked wherever someone pointed, our house rules for Look Over There! were that whoever couldn’t follow the other’s finger would lose. 

“Satou, I’m terribly bored.” 

Unable to follow the pair with her eyes, Karina looked up at me and frowned. 

“Then would you like to try harvesting hopping potatoes and walking beans in the labyrinth with Tama and Pochi?” 

“Yes, I’d love to!” 

At that, Karina jumped to her feet. 

Today she was wearing a loose shirt from a premade clothing boutique, so the bouncing of her chest was especially dynamic to watch. 

The potatoes and beans would serve both as materials for the private orphanage kids to practice kitchen prep and ingredients for their dinner. 

“All right, but please go and change first. I had your new armor sent to the guesthouse.” 

“Very well. Erina, assist me, will you?” 

“Yes’m!” 

Karina and Erina dashed out of the room. 

While we waited for Karina to get back, Pochi and Tama continued their Look Over There! battle at a speed too fast to follow with the naked eye. 

“This light broadsword is perfect!” 

Going through the weapon storehouse I’d established for the explorers’ school, Karina chose a broadsword made from the blade arm of a war mantis. 

It was considerably light for its large size, with a dense and sturdy blade that was perfect for practice. 

Noticing that her guardian maids Erina and the newbie, who were accompanying her into the labyrinth, looked like they wanted new weapons, too, I gave them swords made from the blade arms of guardian ants. 

Karina’s lady-in-waiting Pina was staying behind, as she wasn’t as skilled in battle as the other two. 

“Raka, please make sure Lady Karina doesn’t swing that around in the middle of town.” 

“Understood.” 

Karina could be even more careless than Pochi, so I asked her Intelligent Item to keep an eye on her. 

Most people would complain about that, but Karina didn’t seem particularly bothered. 

“Master, are you training Lady Karina?” 

As we left the explorers’ school, we happened to spot Liza, who was coming back from her jog around the Labyrinth City perimeter. 

“Not exactly. I asked for her help on a little mission, that’s all.” 

As I chatted with Liza, Tama and Pochi ran over from the mansion all prepared. 

Since they weren’t going anywhere very dangerous, they were only wearing simple armor and wooden carrying racks strapped to their backs. 

“Now, let us set forth!” 

“Aye-aye.” 

“Roger! SIR!!” 

At Karina’s cry, Tama responded with her usual laid-back manner, but Pochi was much louder than usual. 

She’d been saying “sir” even more than usual, too. Maybe the stress of having no meat was getting to her? 

I guess I really should save this no-meat punishment for only extreme cases in the future. 

“I’ll make a full-course meat extravaganza for dinner tonight, so do your best in there.” 

“GWAH! Yes, sir!” 

The light returned to Pochi’s eyes, and she pumped her fists with renewed energy. 

“Full cooourse?” 

“That’s right. We’ll have three kinds of roast beef for the appetizers, then shabu-shabu, deep-fried chicken, teriyaki, beef stew, and a niiice thick steak. And of course, seven different flavors of hamburg steak. There’ll be some light shrimp and crab in between; then we’ll wrap it all up with sukiyaki.” 

With every dish I named, Pochi’s tail wagged faster and faster. 

“Aah… I’m so excited, I might go crazy, sir.” 

“I can’t waaait.” 

“That certainly sounds wonderful. I’ll have to fight especially hard against my challengers today to work up an appetite.” 

Pochi and Tama began spinning around to express their happiness, while Liza’s tail also began slapping against the floor. 

Do you guys really like meat that much? 

“Good luck,” I said with a wave to the excited beastfolk girls. 

Karina and her maids seemed a little taken aback, but I assured them that they’d be invited to the meat fest, too, and encouraged them to do their best. 

On my way back from seeing off Karina and company, I stopped by the orphanage and saw Mia in the garden teaching the kids how to play instruments. 

Attracted by her music, little birds were sitting contentedly on Mia’s head and shoulders. 

“Aah, what a delicate song.” 

“I want to paint a picture of Lady Mia playing her music.” 

“Then I’ll write a poem about her.” 

Some young fairyfolk boys and girls were hovering around Mia in admiration. Her only response to their showering praises was an indifferent “mm.” 

If anything, she seemed to enjoy teaching the kids instruments much more. 

“Satou.” 

“Hey, Mia. Are you teaching the kids how to play music?” 

Since Mia had spotted me, I ambled over to say hello. 

“Instruments.” 

Mia nodded toward the kids. 

“Are you saying you’d like more instruments so the children can practice?” 

“Mm.” 

She nodded, so I agreed to provide some. 

I could ask Miss Miteruna to order them later. 

“Yes, very good. Straighten your blade a little more, sonny. It takes less strength to hold it that way.” 

Near Mia and company, a few elderly folks were teaching some kids woodworking and carving. 

These folks were retired artisans and regular attendees of Mia’s lakeside concerts. 

“Good afternoon.” 

“Why, if it isn’t the young master.” 

“Thank you very much for obliging my request.” 

“Pah, no need to thank us.” 

“We’re just payin’ the lassie back for her concerts.” 

“How could we say no to Lady Mia?” 

Through Mia, I had requested that they start offering training or DIY workshops for the kids to give them more options for future employment. 

They were doing it as volunteers, but I was planning to thank them with sake, pastries, and so on. 

Past the workshops, Lulu was teaching cooking classes. 

“Have you gotten the hang of using the knife? I’ll show you how to break down a hopping potato next.” 

Lulu and some of the maids from the mansion were teaching the kids how to prepare hopping potatoes. 

Most of the students were girls, but there was a fair amount of boys, too. 

All of them looked very serious. 

“Master!” 

As she finished up her demonstration, Lulu noticed me and broke into a shining smile. 

“Do you need anything for the classes?” 

“We’re fine, thank you.” 

Once I confirmed this with her, I praised the kids for their seriousness about the class, and… 

“When I grow up, I’m gonna be a chef like Lady Lulu!” 

“I’m gonna start with a food cart and own a restaurant one day!” 

…for some reason, they started telling me their dreams. 

I was impressed that they already had such clear aspirations at their young age. Their futures were looking bright. 

“Nanaaa!” 

“C’mon, say larvae.” 

“Nana, let’s play with building blocks!” 

Once I left Lulu’s class and went into the orphanage, I found Nana inside surrounded by her beloved “larvae.” 

Despite her straight face, she seemed to be having great fun, so I carefully made my way around to proceed through the hallway without interrupting. 

In one corner of the shared space where Nana and the kids were playing, some sort of line had formed. 

On investigation, I learned that they were waiting to charge the electric fan–style magic tool I’d given them. 

“Hee-hee, my turn.” 

The kids seemed to enjoy channeling their magic power into the tool. 

It looked like spinning around rhythmically like an electric fan was becoming a fad, too. 

Since they were apparently charging the fan with magic power as a game, I had noticed recently that more of the kids were starting to get the “Magic Manipulation” skill. 

Since that was a very useful skill, I also supplied the orphanage and explorers’ school with lamp magic tools, easy-to-charge wooden swords, and so on, hoping that even more of them would gain it. 

“Goat!” 

Another group of kids was playing with practice cards in the hallway, using the benches as tables. 

“Nope, that one’s ‘goat meat.’” 

“What?! Then ‘goat’ is totally right!” 

“But Pochi and Tama called it ‘goat meat’!” 

It was cute to watch, but I worried about them committing the wrong thing to memory, so I politely informed them that “goat” by itself was correct. 

When the child who’d believed Pochi and Tama looked teary-eyed, I added, “If you see Pochi or Tama, you can tell them they were wrong.” 

On another bench nearby, an older kid was slowly reading a picture book to a younger one. 

Clearly, education at the orphanage was going well. 

“Gimme it! I wanna read it!” 

“Cut it out. I’m not done yet!” 

Hearing some children arguing, I peered into a room and saw two older kids quarreling over a book in the library. 

“Stop it, both of you!” 

A familiar voice interrupted the fight: Arisa. 

“The rule is a half hour per person, remember? Hamuna, give the book to Ralin.” 

“Fiiine.” 

“Yaaay, thanks, Arisa!” 

As the boy called Ralin happily took the book, I noticed the cover. 

It was a children’s introductory spell book that I’d made with Arisa and Mia. 

I’d written it in the style of the instruction books often seen in modern-day Japanese bookstores, like Learn Spreadsheets in Two Weeks, so it was businesslike and succinct with frequent illustrations and diagrams on each page. 

It was a very practical basic textbook. I limited theory and principles to optional little boxes so that the main text was solely for learning to use magic. 

Noticing me, the kids murmured among themselves. 

“Why, if it isn’t master.” 

Arisa beckoned to me, and I entered the library. 

“Say, master. Do you think we could mass-produce this textbook?” 

“We could probably transcribe more copies, sure.” 

I had a feeling I could make a printing spell in theory, but I’d learned during the Doghead incident that there was a god who forbade printing presses, so I wasn’t planning on crossing that line at the moment. 

“But if we do that, then it might get copied and leak to the public.” 

The only available means of production in this world was copying by hand, meaning there was no real concept of copyright in most nations. 

“Then we can just outsource the illustrations. I don’t think anyone will figure things out from the pictures alone.” 

If it was just writing, I could easily make copies using a combination of “Parallel Thoughts” and Magic Hand. 

Pictures were probably possible, too, but they would be more of a pain than the writing, so I didn’t really want to do it myself. 

“I’ll put in a request to an art studio for just the illustrations, then. How many copies do you want?” 

“Thank you, master. Ten would be plenty for here, but I’d like to put some at the explorers’ school and stuff, too. Could we do twenty to be safe?” 

I readily agreed, since ten or twenty didn’t make much of a difference. 

“Arisa, practice chants with me.” 

“Me too!” 

“O-oh, and me!” 

Once we finished up our conversation, the kids gathered around Arisa. 

“We’d distract people who are trying to read in here, so let’s do it outside. Care to join us, master?” 

Not wanting to pass up her invitation, I joined in on the chant practice with the kids. 

In the process, I somehow ended up promising to do my usual morning and evening practice with the kids starting the next day. 

“Ooh, I’m so happy, it’s scary, sir.” 

That evening, when the girls came back from the labyrinth, I treated them to the full-course meat festival I’d promised Pochi. 

“So fuuull.” 

“What a spectacular feast.” 

Tama and Liza had been going light on the meat out of sympathy for Pochi the past few days, so they were almost as pleased as she was to indulge in meat again. 

The three of them had their bellies bulging like something out of a manga and were lying around contentedly in the living room. 

They looked extremely happy and relaxed. 

Mia and I had given up after one round, but the beastfolk girls kept fighting the good fight against round after round of meat dishes. 

“That was delicious but way more meat than anyone should eat in a single day.” 

“Mm.” 

Despite her words, Arisa had hung in there until the third round and had been groaning that she was going to die of overeating until I gave her some stomach medicine. 

“Ahhh, what a delight.” 

“The fried chicken was so good.” 

“I could just melt…” 

Karina, Erina, and the newbie were also lying around happily on the sofa. 

However, Pina was scolding the other two maids for not being more mindful of their station. 

Once they’d eaten their fill, Nana and Lulu went to deliver the “accidental” extra portions to the orphanage and the explorers’ school. 

“Master, you ate more than usual today yourself.” 

“I guess.” 

I nodded. 

Pochi and the girls were so adorable as they blissfully ate the meat that I couldn’t resist joining them in filling up. 

From now on, I swore to avoid any food-related punishments, even if I had to punish the kids for something in the future. 

Meals tasted better when everyone could enjoy them together, after all. 

I was too full after dinner to want to do much, but I still worked on the Raka clones a bit before I went to sleep. 

I had finished selecting the magic circuits but determined that my equipment and the Ivy Manor machines couldn’t produce them at a small-enough size to be conveniently portable. 

Currently, I was stuck on whether to ask the elves of Bolenan Forest for help or store a larger machine in a subspace like I’d done for Lulu’s Acceleration Gun. 

“Looks like they’re working pretty hard.” 

The next morning, after I saw off Miss Karina and company as they went to train in section 1 of the labyrinth and put in an order for the illustrations to make the textbook copies Arisa had requested, I went to stop by the explorers’ school. 

In the courtyard, Gerits and the noble kids were working up a sweat practicing with the first and second generation of students. 

Hmm? 

Across the way, I saw the first-generation students returning from their final graduation test. 

They were a little earlier than I expected, but judging by their proud, cheerful expressions, it looked like the kids had managed to pass the test. 

“““Hey, mister!””” 

Noticing me, the first-generation kids came running over. 

“We did it! We beat the test!” 

Usasa grinned at me proudly. 

After praising them all for their efforts, I told them to wash up so we could have a graduation ceremony after lunch. 

I contacted my group with the Space Magic spell Telephone and told them about the graduation ceremony, then went to ask Miss Miteruna and the other maids to start making the preparations. 

Since it was a sudden plan, we would probably have to get most of the food delivered from dining halls or restaurants. 

Before long, many of the involved parties were gathered in the courtyard of the explorers’ school. 

Since Erina and the newbie had returned from Karina’s labyrinth exploration looking deathly pale, they went back to the mansion. 

I gathered that they had fought a ton of goblins, since they were darkly muttering things like “C’mon, please, no more goblins” and “The shadows, the ceiling, they’re everywhere!” 

Unlike Karina, the two of them didn’t have Raka’s protection, so I was sure it was a lot more harrowing for them. 

“I apologize for my lateness, master.” 

Liza arrived last, carrying a bag full of money that she said was her winnings from the day’s battles. 

“This seems like more than usual.” 

“Yes, some famous warriors came from the royal capital today.” 

“You’ll have to tell me about how they fought after the ceremony.” 

“Yes, master!” 

I changed the money she gave me into gold coins, then paid it back to her as a “reward.” 

She wouldn’t like it if I just had her keep it from the start. 

When Arisa came over to get me, I went on the stage that had been set up in the courtyard. 

“Congratulations on graduating, everyone…” 

A long speech would just make everyone sleepy, so I briefly praised them for working hard at the explorers’ school and reminded them to prioritize their survival above all else. 

Next, the principal, Mr. Kajiro, Arisa, and a few other speakers offered their congratulations, and in the end we gave them their equivalent of diplomas. 

“…Now, we’ll award each of you cloaks as proof of graduation.” 

I called up the graduates by name one at a time and put a blue cloak on each of them. 

Since the cloaks were made out of highly shock-resistant hydra membrane and cut-resistant wyvern leather, they could probably continue wearing them until at least level 40 or so. 

On the back, they were dyed with a variation of my house crest. 

“It is a bit different from thy crest, no?” 

Princess Meetia looked at the cloaks with interest. 

Arisa had helped me come up with the crest, which was the silhouette of a chubby-looking dragon plush raising both arms, with a spear-like pen on its shoulders. 

“Since it’s a cutesier version, maybe we should call it ‘Pendra.’” 

Somehow, Arisa’s muttered words quickly spread among the students, and soon the graduates were saying “Pendra” to one another with completely straight faces. 

Little did I know that Pendra would eventually become the nickname for graduates of the explorers’ school throughout Labyrinth City. 

After that, we had a simple celebration with carbonated juice and party food, then wrapped things up. 

Afterward, the graduates and teachers were going to the leisure quarter to celebrate. They invited me along, so I figured I’d pop in later. 

“““Mister!””” 

As I was leaving the explorers’ school, some kids from the orphanage flagged me down. 

They’d been watching the graduation ceremony from the other side of the hedge. 

“I wanna join the explorers’ school, too!” 

“Me too!” 

“I’m good with a sword!” 

The kids all clamored for permission to enroll in the school. 

Since I was sure they had thought about this seriously, it would be cruel to just shut them down with a Maybe when you’re older. 

“I understand your requests, but I’m afraid it’s not possible right away. There’s a limit to how many students we can take on at once.” 

“Exactly! You’ve got to at least pass the selection test or you wouldn’t last a minute in the labyrinth.” 

The kids grumbled at my and Arisa’s words. “But Arisa gets to do it…” 

Since they spent so much time with my kids, they had probably gotten the mistaken idea that they should be able to be explorers, too, since they were around the same age. 

“I’m not telling you to give up, though, okay?” 

I patted the kids’ heads. 

“Mister?” 

“I said ‘not right away,’ not ‘never.’ I’ll arrange for a teacher for you soon.” 

At that, the kids all broke into smiles. 

In true childlike fashion, they started asking things like “How soon is soon? Tomorrow?” but I just responded, “Soon just means soon,” even as I started planning how to put my promise into action. 

At the next soup kitchen, I could look for some retired explorers or soldiers and see if I could hire someone to teach the kids self-defense and basic training techniques. 

After the graduation party that night, I left the girls in the care of their former teacher Iruna and took the guys around to some hostess spots and bars. It was pretty fun how each place was very different from the next. 

“Now then…” 

We ended up drinking almost until dawn, but I still made my way to a depopulated area in the Upper Stratum. 

It wasn’t just empty of explorers—there were hardly any monsters left, either. 

I was planning to make a facility here to power level the Echigoya executive staff. 

“First, I’ll make some enclosures to keep in the monsters.” 

I used the Earth Magic spell Pitfall to make evenly spaced shafts about thirty feet deep and wide. 

Once the shafts were formed, I used the Earth Magic spell Wall to make the sides of the pits slanted, with a slippery overhang at the top. 

“Next, the lids…” 

It’d be a pain to make grates out of metal to cover each hole, so I produced a few big boulders from Storage and used “Spellblade” on my fingertip to slice them into pieces about three feet thick. 

Finally, I used Create Stone Object to beef them up to about triple the thickness for extra safety. 

“Maybe there should be a window, too?” 

I created three manhole-size openings in each lid, then fused panes of crystal into them. While I was at it, I carved Holy Stone magic circuits into the crystal windows. 

“Whew, I’m beat.” 

All that was left was one last push. 

Finally, I tossed in some monster corpses in Storage that I had no use for, along with some maze rats and cockroaches that I’d gathered for this purpose, throwing a few into each hole. 

Now, if I just left this for a few weeks, there should be enough monsters for some good power leveling. 

It’d be trouble if they ate one another and reduced the numbers too much, though, so I would check in on them with Clairvoyance every few days. 

Stifling a yawn, I teleported back to the mansion aboveground. 

After breakfast, as I was in the study checking my plans for the day, Karina came bursting into the room excitedly. 

“Today I’d like to hunt frogs so we can have some tasty fried frog legs!” 

Since I had pulled another all-nighter, her cheerful shout hurt my head. 

“Niiice.” 

“That’s a very, very good idea, sir.” 

Tama and Pochi came in behind her, looking at me for permission with sparkling eyes. 

As long as Karina had Raka, a frog probably couldn’t hurt her, but… 

“No, no frogs.” 

If I gave them permission, Karina would almost certainly end up getting dragged into the pond and soaking her clothes. 

I couldn’t let a young woman expose such a sight in front of a bunch of boorish explorers. 

Even if I personally would love to see it. 

“If you’re going to hunt, go to the maze ant territory near section four.” 

Maze ants had soft carapaces, and their only special attack was spitting formic acid. The acid could melt through cloth and leather, but Raka’s protection should hold up to it just fine. 

“Nectar feverrr?” 

“There are balls of sweet nectar inside the ants’ nests, sir!” 

Tama and Pochi grinned and squished their cheeks together. 

Karina looked excited, too, but I had to put my foot down again. 

“No going into the maze ants’ nest, you two.” 

“Nyooo.” 

“Why not, sir?” 

“If you drag her into the nest, Lady Karina would be in danger.” 

Even with Raka’s defenses, Karina didn’t have enough magic or stamina to fight off a whole swarm of ants in their nest. 

“At the very least, she ought to be level twenty or so first.” 

“That sounds terribly far away…” 

Karina slumped. She was still only level 9. 

“Gooo, Karinaaa?” 

“That’s right, sir! One step forward, two steps back, sir!” 

Pochi, that’s not right. Arisa had probably taught her this old saying, but in this case, that meant Karina would never get anywhere. 

“Very well. I shall take it one step at a time!” 

Well, I guess it’s fine if it cheered Karina up anyway. 

“Sir Satou, we’ve prepared some explorer clothes for Lady Karina. Which do you think would be best?” 

Karina’s lady-in-waiting Pina and her two guard maids came into the room, each wearing oddly revealing explorer-style outfits. They all seemed very loose in the chest area since they were made for Miss Karina. 

“Pina! I thought I told you I wouldn’t wear such an embarrassing outfit!” 

Lady Karina’s golden curls shook in rage. 

The clothes would’ve looked right at home in some old games or anime, but she would probably die of embarrassment if she wore them in public. 

There were some fairly cold places in the labyrinth, so I politely advised against wearing overly revealing clothes for exploring. 

“Very well. But wouldn’t you like to see Lady Karina wear such clothes as these?” 

Pina was a little red-faced as she said this. I guess she was embarrassed, too. 

Of course I wouldn’t mind seeing Karina’s ridiculously curvy figure in skimpy clothes, but… 

The second this thought ran through my mind, the door burst open, and the iron-wall pair of Mia and Arisa came charging into the room. 

“Guilty.” 

“My perv sensor was going off, and sure enough! You’re in here making maids wear clothes that’re too big in the chest for them and smirking! If that’s what you’re into, I’m always telling you to ask your beloved Arisa!” 

Arisa started to reach for her top button, but Mia bopped her on the head. 

“Calm down.” 

“C’mooon.” 

“This is a misunderstanding. Pina and the others were modeling new clothes for Lady Karina, but I was just telling them that they’re not appropriate attire for the labyrinth.” 

Karina and the maids nodded when Arisa looked at them, so she believed my explanation. 

“Retreat.” 

“We can’t have master losing control. Just hurry up and change, please.” 

Mia and Arisa ushered the maids out of the room. 

“I told you! Lady Karina’s charm is in little gaps and her defenselessness, not in straightforward sex appeal.” 

My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on the newbie grumbling to Pina and Erina. 

The two of them were looking much less pale after a good night’s sleep. If anything, they seemed to be in good spirits after getting money for selling the cores from their hunt. 

“Let’s hunt even more prey today!” 

Once they got prepared and set out for the labyrinth, Karina raised her fists excitedly. 

“Ay, ay.” 

“Ohhh! Sir!” 

Raising a cheer they must’ve learned from Arisa, Tama and Pochi formed the letters A-A-O as they shouted. It was adorable. 

Come to think of it, I felt like I’d seen a cheer like that in an old shojo manga. 

“I’d like to do it, too!” 

…“Ooh,” indeed. 

The A-A-O poses were just cute when the kids did them, but with Karina’s proportions, they came across very sexy. Making the first A with her arms was normal enough, but things got spicy when she raised them and bent back for the second A, then formed an O in a way that made her chest jiggle absurdly. 

“See? Like I said, her lack of defenses is Lady Karina’s charm.” 

“Grrr… You’re right, but that smug face still bugs me, dang it!” 

Behind her, the newbie and Erina murmured among themselves. 

“Hey, mister! You going to the labyrinth today, too?” 

“Hello, Miss Neru. No, I’m just here to see them off.” 

Neru came over to say hello, leaving a younger girl in charge of the food cart. 

“By the way, I haven’t seen that noble kid lately. He sick or something?” 

“You mean Sir Luram?” 

“That’s the one!” 

Neru struck an exaggerated pose when I guessed the name correctly. 

Luram, one of Gerits’s friends, was a regular customer of Neru’s cart, which was probably how they’d gotten friendly. 

“He’s actually hard at work with his friends at the explorers’ school.” 

“Oh yeah? If he’s not comin’ for a while, I guess we better stop preppin’ his special set for now. It wastes way too many ingredients.” 

At first, I had wondered if this was the beginning of a romance, but I guess that wasn’t why she’d asked. 

“Sir Knight, I think they’re headin’ out.” 

Erina came over to get me. 

“This another one of your pals comin’ over, mister?” 

“Who’s this chick? She better not be mockin’ me.” 

Come to think of it, Neru and Erina had similar manners of speaking. 

“Now, now, don’t fight.” 

I clapped my hands to interrupt the argument, and the two of them relented. 

Their personalities were similar, too, not just their speech, so I had a feeling they might make good friends if they had a chance. 

I pushed Erina along toward the west gate, where we saw off Karina and company as they entered the labyrinth. 

“We have four scrolls from the Overgrown Labyrinth: Cherry Blossom Shower, Mowing, Grass Spin, and Binding Grass. As for the price…” 

This time, the weaselfolk merchants with the scrolls were massively overcharging at ten gold coins per scroll. 

“That’s fine.” 

The scrolls were being held at the west guild, where I paid the price and accepted them. 

“Their categories are unknown. Would you like the guild to analyze them?” 

“No, it’s all right. I just collect them as a hobby.” 

According to my AR, Cherry Blossom Shower and Mowing were Practical Magic, while Grass Spin and Binding Grass were Earth Magic. 

“We’ve also received word of two more scrolls that these merchants would like to show you. They’ll be in the royal capital through the beginning of next year. If you’re in a hurry, I can give you their contact information.” 

I wasn’t sure why they kept these scrolls separate from the other four, but I accepted the information because I was curious what they were. 

It should work out perfectly, since I would be in the royal capital around New Year’s, too. 

As I left the west guild, I spotted an armored party covered in wounds. 

It must be a party made up of mostly nobles and knights. These kinds of chain mail and full-body armor were extremely expensive, so Labyrinth City explorers didn’t normally have them. 

For some reason, there was a strangely bloodthirsty mood in the air. 

Maybe something happened? 

“Hey!” 

Oh, it’s Lilio. 

That must mean that this was the Labyrinth Elite from Seiryuu City. 

I hadn’t noticed because Zena’s marker wasn’t there. 

…Hmm? Wait, then where is she? 

Lilio came running over. 

“It’s Zenacchi! Zenacchi…!” 

As if to confirm my fears, Lilio grabbed on to me and repeated Zena’s nickname.