I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“First, we need to find people who will go in with us.”

“Sh-should we go to the guild…?”

“The guild is too crowded right now. I think it’s better to look at the labyrinth entrance.”

Right now, the adventurers’ guild is even more chaotic than a marketplace.

I checked on the way to the aid station.
It would be crazy to try to find adventurers to help with the rescue operation there.
The labyrinth entrance, crowded with patients and adventurers, would be better at this point.

“For now, since I have a spatial pocket and Rien has the search tracking ability, if we explain well, there should be an adventurer party willing to go in with us.”

“Ah.. I see.. I.. don’t know much about these things.. so I’ll leave it all to you, porter…”

Rien, who glared at me when she was with the young lady, became extremely timid when we were alone.
It seems there’s a big difference depending on whether there’s a companion beside her or not.

She seems to be the type who acts a bit willfully when there’s someone to rely on, but becomes extremely weak when left alone.
This type becomes easier to handle the more awkward they feel.

“By the way, Rien.”

“Y-yes..?”

“You’ve been looking quite exhausted. Why don’t you drink one of these?”

“This is…”

“It’s a tonic. It’s good to drink when you’re in a hurry. There are some side effects, but…”

“Side effects…? What kind… Oh.”

“Yes. That kind of side effect.”

It’s the medicine I ate in the labyrinth that wouldn’t let my erection subside.
If we compare it to Earth, it’s like Vigra, but the Vigra of this world has a small side effect.

‘It causes an erection.’

For men, there’s the side effect of getting an erection.
For women, probably…

‘Did they say it makes the sense of touch more sensitive?’

It would be better to say it increases sensitivity.
It’s somewhat of an aphrodisiac-like side effect, but when you feel like you’re about to collapse, drinking one bottle gives you the strength to endure without fainting.

It’s good to drink when you’re in a hurry.

‘Rien has been awake for over a day. It wouldn’t be strange if she collapsed at any moment.’

She came back into the labyrinth right after escaping to save me and the young lady.
And now she’s going back into the labyrinth, shaving off her lifespan again to save the female knight and priestess.

Rien is surely pushing herself too hard right now.
So even if there are side effects, it would be better to borrow the power of medicine.

“Despite how it looks, the effect is certain. And it’s 10 silver per bottle. I’m recommending it without any other intentions because you look like you’re about to collapse. If you collapse in the labyrinth, who’s going to carry you around?”

“That’s.. true.. I can’t argue logically.. Alright..”

Rien carefully received the tonic I handed over.
It’s much better to endure with the medicine’s effect than to collapse.
Above all, the side effects will disappear after a few hours anyway.

Gulp.

Finally, Rien downed the tonic I handed her.
The effect of the labyrinth city’s special tonic was certain.

Rien’s half-closed eyes snapped open.

“Somehow.. my body feels hot…”

“That’s the medicine taking effect. You don’t feel any other strange symptoms, right?”

“It feels kind of.. tingly..? I don’t know how to describe it.”

Rien’s expression became slightly flushed.
She seems to have difficulty expressing the phenomenon occurring in her body properly.

It doesn’t seem bad.
She looks more satisfied than I expected?

“But… where do they sell this…? The Alchemy Association..?”

“No. There’s a hole-in-the-wall store I often go to. The female owner there is an alchemist. She made this.”

“What? Don’t tell me… this is an unofficial drug..!?”

“Even if it’s made with an unofficial formula, the effect is good. And if you try to buy something similar from the Alchemy Guild, you’d have to pay at least 30 silver. With that money, you could buy 3 bottles of this.”

“..Huh.. You’ve staked your life on cost-effectiveness.. To think I drank an uncertified potion..”

“Thanks to that, we survived.”

The hole-in-the-wall store, officially named Lafnel’s Atelier.
It’s a small general store in the east of the labyrinth city.

Few people visit, but the store’s items are reliable.
After all, they’re made by an elf of ‘unknown age’.

In terms of experience and years, she might even overwhelm the elders of the magic tower?

“N-next time… could you… introduce me..?”

“Huh? Well. Yes. Sure.”

What’s this? When did she go from distrusting it for being unofficial to asking for a separate introduction to the store?

Should I take her there separately after the commotion ends?
No, I thought I’d never see her again after this incident is over.

It feels strange to keep getting entangled like this.
Was I trying to cut ties too coldly?

“For now, let’s start looking for team members.”

“Okay.. Got it.”

Before entering the labyrinth, Rien and I had to find mid-level or higher adventurers willing to go in with us.

I’m originally a porter so my combat power is low, and Rien in her current state shouldn’t be expected to do more than guide us.

The important thing is that most mid-level and above adventurers have already received orders from the guild and entered the labyrinth for rescue operations.

So those remaining at the labyrinth entrance now are either those who were just rescued or those who escaped on their own.

Those capable of normal thinking would have already gone to the guild or aid station, so those still at the labyrinth entrance must be those who have some lingering attachment to the labyrinth.

If we persuade someone suitable among them well, we might be able to bring them in.
It seems like we could say if they help us rescue the female knight and priestess, we’ll help rescue their team members they left behind.

“Are you planning to enter the sewers by any chance?”

“No… We’re… finished… It’s all over.. Damn… Damn…. I want to die….”

“Ah.”

There are a lot of people with broken spirits.

The labyrinth entrance was crowded with people like the guild, but among them, there were extremely few willing to go into the sewers with us to find missing team members.

With most of the rescue teams already gone inside, finding new people to go in was as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.

Above all, when mental strength becomes too low in the labyrinth, people’s spirits break, and such people show abnormal behavior like this until they regain their composure outside the labyrinth.

Going into the labyrinth with people showing abnormal behavior is suicidal.

‘Miss. Miss here too. Damn it. We don’t have time.’

As expected, quickly assembling team members for a labyrinth excursion wasn’t easy.
Everyone seems a bit off somehow.

Should we wait for the rescue team to come out of the labyrinth?
Going in with the rescue team when they come out with patients is one option.

But we don’t know when the rescue team will come out.
We can’t afford to waste time sitting and waiting for them to come out at the labyrinth entrance.

Every minute and second counts in the labyrinth.
We can’t waste time idly.

Just as I was considering putting up money and making a request, someone approached us.

“Wait, did you say you have a spatial pocket?”

A dejected adventurer.
A blonde warrior whose spirit seemed half-broken.

But looking at his eyes, he wasn’t completely gone.
He just seemed a bit desperate, not gone enough to show abnormal behavior.

“Yes. I have a spatial pocket. And this person has an ability called search tracking.”

“Can you bring back corpses in the spatial pocket too?”

“Of course.”

“Then… can you find the location of the dead with that search tracking ability?”

“I… I think it might be possible…”

“Good. I’ll go down with you to rescue the people you want to save. In exchange.. cooperate with me in going into the underground city and bringing out our team members’ corpses. If you do that, I’ll go in with you right now.”

He was an adventurer with a silver badge.

He would naturally be weaker than gold badge adventurers who can go below the underground city, but a silver badge means he’s strong enough to roam around the underground city.

He should be able to move around the upper levels without any problems.
If we don’t get screwed over, we should be able to rescue the female knight and priestess.

The problem is the condition this guy set.

‘Going down to the underground city? Crazy.’

It’s impossible right now.
Both Rien and I are in too strained a state.

“If you’re thinking of going down to the underground city today, it’s impossible for us. Both I and the witch here have reached our physical limits. And while I might be okay, this witch has only gone through mana adaptation once. The underground city is impossible for her.”

“Is that so..”

The man pondered for a moment and then opened his mouth again.
He seems to have compromised with himself somewhat.

“Alright. We don’t have to go in today. Tomorrow is fine too. The important thing is to recover the bodies, even if they’re corpses.”

If it’s okay to go in tomorrow, it’s acceptable.
It’s a relatively simple mission to just bring up the corpses with an experienced person who has roamed the underground city.

And tomorrow, there will be less chaos than today, so we should be able to find more people to go in with us.
This is important. If we gather more people to go in tomorrow and start the corpse recovery operation, we can significantly increase our reputation with the guild.

“And we don’t need that witch lady’s search tracking. I roughly know where the corpses might be. But it was impossible to bring them out.”

He rubbed his face once.
He seemed to be regretting something.

“I need a spatial pocket. We need to bring up six corpses. It’s impossible for just me and this friend. Even the rescue team won’t help with corpse transport.”

“Understood. If you help us today, we’ll help transport your team members’ corpses tomorrow.”

“Good. Good. Deal.”

It’s not a bad condition.
If we can farm monster corpses or other adventurers’ corpses in the 5th floor underground city during the rescue operation, we might be able to earn quite a bit.

Honestly, the compensation the young lady will give later is already more than enough to enter the underground city and have some left over.
The young lady will take care of my value, so I just need to go in and bring out the corpses.

“Only us two survived from the team. The rest are all down there. By the way, I’m a warrior and this one’s a monk. The two of us are enough to roam the upper levels.”

A warrior whose spirit seems broken after losing his companions in the labyrinth.
And a bald, squinty-eyed monk who seems to have a story.

As he said, they looked more than capable of roaming the upper levels.
There’s no healer, but we have first aid supplies, so we can make do with those for now.

Since we’re not going down to the underground city today, we can find a healer again when we go down to the underground city tomorrow.

“Let’s go in. Before it’s too late.”

We’ve already gathered everything we need.
All that’s left is to rescue the two people before it’s too late.

The four of us entered the labyrinth again.
Deep darkness greeted us.

“Rika. Rika, please answer me. Rika..?”

The priestess called out the name of her companion female knight pitifully.

…

But there was no answer.

Only silence lingered.
The scent of death was thick.

The smell of blood pierced the priestess’s nose, but.
She called out the female knight’s name once more.

“Rika. Please answer me. Rika… Don’t leave me alone. Please.”

Still, the female knight gave no answer.

Of course not.
She had already become a cold corpse.

“Ah.. Aah….”

When no answer came back, Erika despaired once more.
Her faith wavered. The wick of her heart was about to break.

Hope had already disappeared long ago.
And thick darkness began to fill its place.

The malice of the labyrinth embraced Erika’s body.
Gradually, mana poison filled her lungs.

The ending that had been postponed for a moment came up to her throat and whispered to her.

It’s time to give up now.
No one will answer no matter how much you pray.

[There is no goddess here.]

So just give up and become one with the labyrinth.

Such whispers kept coming to Erika’s ears.

“No. No. No. It’s not true. No.”

The priestess covered her face with her hands.

She couldn’t save the female knight who was dying from her wounds.
She tasted deep guilt, self-hatred, and frustration at the fact that she was about to die without being able to do anything.

Her mind was cracking.
Her mental state was on the verge of collapse.

She asked herself.

Was her holy power insufficient?
Or was her faith lacking?

No, everything was lacking.

She could only beg the goddess for mercy and salvation.
Begging and begging again. Begging for her life to one who wouldn’t listen no matter how much she begged.

There are things approaching, drawn by the smell of death.
If they delay any longer, monsters will be drawn to the death resonance flowing from the female knight’s body.

This is the 4th floor of the sewer area in the upper levels of the labyrinth.
The place with the most corpse-eating creatures.
A place known for having such a low corpse recovery rate that resurrection is impossible if you’re wiped out here.

Rats, slimes, and even sewer insects.
They’ll all come swarming, drawn by the female knight’s death scent.

They’ll eat the corpse and kick away the chance for resurrection.

This was a place without gods.
The priestess cries silently.

Because if she can’t preserve the corpse properly, even resurrection will be impossible.

Resurrection is not an absolute power.

It’s a crude process of forcibly pulling back the soul and cramming it back into a relatively intact body.
For that, the corpse needed to be properly preserved.

A corpse torn apart and mangled at will by monsters cannot be revived by any method.

“Please, God. Grant us salvation.”

The priestess, who had lost her strength, could no longer even cast Holy Light.
In the labyrinth where she couldn’t see an inch in front of her, she couldn’t even properly check the female knight’s condition.

The porter had the torch.
There were no tools to produce light.

There is no light, no hope.
What’s coming is death by suffocation due to mana poisoning.
Or death by the monsters that will soon arrive.

Her breath is gradually being cut off.

Clank! Clank!!

The entrance to the room where the dead female knight and the dying priestess were hiding started clanking.

They’ve come.
The monsters have come to eat the corpse, drawn by the smell of death.

“Ah..”

Terror froze in the priestess’s eyes.
She gathered her last remaining strength and offered a prayer.

Soon, the room’s entrance burst open.

The things outside the door came pouring in.