What Lurks in the Darkness
Satou here. “If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you” is a pretty famous quote, but not as many people know the warning that precedes it: “He who fights with monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster.”
“S-sorry to keep you waiting, Lord Kuro.”
Eluterina, the blond noblewoman and manager of the Echigoya Company, looked and sounded uncharacteristically nervous as she greeted me.
But having just arrived in the Echigoya headquarters in the royal capital by way of the Return spell, I was so taken aback by the unexpected sight that greeted me that her nerves were the last thing on my mind.
The top staff of the Echigoya Company were all gathered before me.
That much made sense; I was the one who had summoned them, telling them I had a special task for them.
…But why are they all half-naked?
Miss Manager was wearing a sheer nightgown, with the most important areas just barely covered by layers of lace, but still skimpy enough that it might easily reveal everything if she made one wrong move.
The other girls behind her wore similarly revealing clothing, albeit a bit more mature than Eluterina’s.
Polina, who I had transferred to the royal capital office as the future factory manager, was wearing somewhat more reasonable clothing than the others, but the thin and delicate-looking one-piece dress still clearly highlighted her figure; it definitely didn’t look like an outfit one would wear to work.
The small-statured noblewoman who was always riding around on a stone wolf was wearing a two-piece getup that looked like modern pajamas. It wouldn’t normally be a particularly alluring look, but the current context gave it a certain eroticism.
Tifaleeza… Well, I couldn’t quite look at her directly.
Her usually icy features were flushed red, and she was covering herself up in an embarrassed way that was ridiculously tantalizing. If she pulled something like this while we were alone in a room, I’d have a difficult time not buying whatever she was selling.
Honestly, sometimes this world seems like a ridiculous adults-only dating sim.
I cleared my throat uncomfortably.
…Calm down, Satou. I mean, Kuro.
I’ve been bravely sticking with an abstinent existence, but if I were to get caught up in this unexpected atmosphere and lay a hand on my employees, I’d be ashamed to look my beloved high elf Miss Aaze in the face.
“Miss Manager, you’re all very…boldly dressed today.”
“O-of course. Since you asked for us, we all put on our best.”
…I did what now?
I racked my brains at Miss Manager’s statement.
If I remembered right, I first told them about this “special task” the same day Zena and company started their training.
I thought back to our exchange at the time.
Yes, I believe I wrapped up my business at the Echigoya Company and gathered the top staff girls before I went home…
“Listen carefully, ladies. I’m giving you a special task tomorrow night.”
A murmur ran through the room at that, but for some reason they all fell dead silent as I continued.
“We’ll start at the first cycle of night and wrap up by the second, but there’s a good chance you won’t be able to work the next day. Try to finish up your duties for that day early. If any of you won’t be able to make it that night, let me know, and we’ll make other plans.”
The first cycle of night is about three hours after sundown.
It felt cruel to give them late-night duties after warning them not to overwork themselves beforehand, but they didn’t seem too bothered by it. In fact, they seemed almost pleased.
Honestly, what a bunch of workaholics.
Miss Manager asked what sort of clothing would be best for the occasion, so I told them that whatever they wanted to wear was fine.
They usually wore fairly standard clothing at work, so it seemed strange to ask. Power leveling in the labyrinth might sound intense, but it was really just a matter of pulling a trigger from a safe place; their normal work clothes would be fine.
At the time, Arisa called me away with the Space Magic spell World Phone, so I left the Echigoya Company after that.
Once I remembered all this, I realized I may have forgotten to mention that the special task was power leveling in the labyrinth.
Apparently, they’d taken this to mean that the special task was referring to certain nighttime services, and that my warning they might not be able to work the next day because of level-up sickness meant they would be too exhausted to move afterward.
“E-erm…Lord Kuro?”
Miss Manager nervously addressed me.
I felt bad letting them go on worrying, so I tried to resolve the misunderstanding right away.
“…It seems I wasn’t clear enough. I would never force any of you to join me in the bedroom. The special task is something different. Go change into more normal clothing, please. And wear shoes that are easy to walk in.”
Miss Manager and company looked incredibly embarrassed, so I left to check on the progress of the Echigoya airship building yard and the factory we’d bought from a company that was closing its doors.
“A-are we in the labyrinth?!”
“That’s right. This is an unexplored section of the Upper Stratum.”
When I answered Miss Manager, everyone’s faces froze.
I can’t blame them for being frightened about being deep in the labyrinth without proper equipment at around level 10 or less.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already gotten rid of any dangerous monsters.”
Once I reassured them, all of them collapsed to the ground.
I guess their legs gave out from the shock. I should probably stop surprising them like this.
“I’m going to have you shoot the monsters in these breeding pits to raise your levels.”
As I spoke, I peered through one of the windows I’d built into the covers of the pits.
At the bottom, the maze cockroaches I’d thrown in for breeding purposes were devouring the monster corpses I’d tossed down as bait.
Honestly, it was the stuff of nightmares.
“It might not sit well with your pride from when some of you were explorers, but it’s necessary to strengthen your physical health. If anyone absolutely doesn’t want to do it, though, you can sit out. Just say the word.”
I produced weapons from my Item Box and handed them to Miss Manager, Tifaleeza, and Polina.
“What’s this? A staff…?”
“It’s sort of like a Thunder Rod, but you use it a bit differently. All you have to do is charge it with magic and pull the trigger, and it will shoot out lightning in a straight line.”
“Like this?”
“No, point the thin end at the enemy. Think of it like you would a rifle… I mean, a crossbow.”
They probably didn’t have any familiarity with rifles, so I switched my example and gave a demonstration.
I was calling this magic tool a projection gun; it looked sort of like a shotgun with a shorter barrel.
It shot iron powder electrified with small lightning stones, propelling them straight forward with wind produced by wind stones.
I deliberately kept the ammo loose so that it would spray out the electrified iron powder in a wider range, making it easy for even a beginner to hit the mark.
I developed it for power leveling, so its lethality was incredibly low.
It might be handy for mob suppression, too.
“I’ll have each of you fire into the center of the pit, one at a time. Once you’ve fired, step to the back of the line.”
“““Yes, sir!”””
With surprisingly enthusiastic responses, the girls accepted their projection guns and held them at the ready as I instructed.
I opened the small window in the lid of the pit, using Magic Hand to ensure the cockroaches wouldn’t try to come flying up from the pit.
The girls who had once been explorers or carriers, like Polina and some of the other noblewomen, didn’t react to the sight of the cockroaches with much more than a wrinkled nose. Tifaleeza had no experience with the labyrinth or monsters, though, so she turned pale and trembled.
“Lord Kuro, it doesn’t appear to be doing much.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s fine.”
I gestured for Miss Manager to step back and allow the next person to take over.
Before they started firing, I had each of them put a hand in my Item Box. It would be a lucky break if any of them managed to get the skill, but there was no harm in trying.
For the handful of girls who had practice with magic, I also let them use some of my extra spell scrolls.
Maybe they would even learn attack spells and the corresponding magic skills.
“Lord Kuro, we’ve all had a turn.”
“All right. This’ll be dangerous, so everyone step back a little.”
Once I confirmed that they all had backed away, I held up the fake artifact that I used for Kuro’s teleporting magic and spoke the Hallowed Language words for ice and wind while I unleashed some magic.
I used Icicle, an Ice Magic spell we often used to cool off, to encase the cockroaches in a pillar of ice, then used the Wind Magic spell Wind Shot to break them up into powder.
Wind Shot is a lesser attack spell I got in a scroll from the old capital, but it rarely sees the light of day because it’s not very user-friendly.
“Wh-what incredible ice and wind…”
“Was that greater magic?”
Ignoring the exclamations of the staff for now, I opened my map and checked all their statuses.
…Shoot, I overdid it.
Each of the maze cockroaches was only level 7 or so, so I assumed it’d be fine even though there were a lot of them, but their numbers must have increased more than I realized.
The boost in power leveling was lessened a little, since there was such a large group of staff members, but they had still all reached close to level 20.
“…I feel a bit woozy.”
“Yes, I feel strange, too…”
Tifaleeza was the lowest level to start, so she was the first to comment that she felt ill, but the others still followed.
Well, of course they would get level-up sickness from leveling up that much in one training session.
Using Magic Hand, I supported the girls who looked like they might collapse, and then I used Return several times until we were back in the royal capital’s Echigoya headquarters.
“Good work. That’s it for today’s special training.”
“Lord Kuro, my body feels strange…”
“That’s just level-up sickness. You’ll be back to normal after a good night’s rest.”
The smallest noblewoman sounded energetic despite her frown.
“S-so level-up sickness isn’t just a tall tale drunkards tell…”
“Then…does that mean we got all the way up to level fifteen or so?”
“No, surely not…right?”
The other top staff looked exhausted too, but they couldn’t hide their excitement about leveling up.
If we did this a few more times, they would reach around level 30. At that point, even a bit of hard work over the course of several days shouldn’t affect their health much.
Five of the leveled-up girls learned magic skills, and one even got the “Item Box” skill. These results were even better than I could’ve hoped for. Even at level 50, none of my girls had managed to learn “Item Box” yet, so having one worker who did was a stroke of luck.
I couldn’t just leave the girls alone when they could barely move, so I ended up carrying each of them upstairs to their rooms.
For some reason, they all wanted to be carried bridal-style, so I obliged. I’m not sure why they were acting so eager, though. Is being carried bridal-style really all that exciting?
Finally, I carried Tifaleeza, who’d been lucky enough to learn “Item Box,” up to her room, and our work was done for the day.
“…Lord Kuro…”
Tifaleeza murmured in her sleep as I put her to bed and left the room.
“…you spineless coward.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up a strange mutter on my way out, but I pretended not to hear it and headed back to my mansion in Labyrinth City.
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