CHAPTER 1

Enhancement and Rest

Part I: The Alliance’s Leader

By the time we made it from the second floor of Silvanus’s Bedchamber back to the first floor, dawn had broken within the labyrinth, and a pleasant blue sky stretched out above us. Having won our last battle without serious injury, we all walked with more of a spring in our steps.

My party had a total of nine members, which was beyond the limit of eight, so I had Cion join Four Seasons’ party. Igarashi and Elitia were in the front line, followed by Theresia and Melissa in the midguard position, then me, Misaki, Suzuna, and Madoka in the rearguard position. I was at the tail end of our formation as we proceeded across the first floor. However, as long as we were still inside the labyrinth, we couldn’t afford to celebrate just because we’d defeated Silvanus the Enchanter’s Messenger.

“Grrroooaar!”

Three Aero Wolves suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked from behind. Before I could use my Rearguard General skill, however, everyone promptly reversed the battle formation. Suzuna and Four Seasons’ Anna and Ryouko used long-range attacks to control the enemy’s movements, giving our close-range attackers time to follow up and finish off the monsters.

“Now how many Aero Wolves have we defeated…? We’re going to get quite a lot of materials, aren’t we?” Igarashi asked Madoka, who checked her license.

“Between the two parties, we’ve defeated a total of twelve.”

Melissa put the monsters’ materials away using her Repository skill. Madoka told us how many we had in total; twelve seemed enough to be useful for something.

“Igarashi, you have a change of armor in the storage unit; do you want to change to that?” I offered. “Or we can consider fixing or modifying your current armor and using it again.”

“My spare armor doesn’t have the lightweight attribute, so I wouldn’t be able to move as quickly… Looks like it has good defense, though.”

“If you want to keep your speed, then you’re better off repairing or modifying your current armor,” advised Elitia. “We got a lot of materials in this expedition that could probably be used to alter armor, plus we still have some magic stones and runes. I think it’s a good idea for us to take some time after this to get our equipment in order.” We couldn’t afford to lose a single day as we progressed to our goal, but Elitia’s advice likely took the impending situation into consideration.

“You’re right… It’s a waste of our treasure if we don’t use our magic stones and runes effectively. No point in holding on to things without using them,” I said.

“Since I’m a Gambler, I’m gonna get waaay stronger, and then we’ll find tons of awesome magic stones, don’cha think? I just don’t feel like I helped that much on this expedition. Even my Fortune Roll was off.”

“That’s not true, Misaki. Even though we set the traps, there was no guarantee Silvanus’s Messenger was going to appear… If there were, anyone who hunted the Thunder Head before would’ve run into it.”

“You thiiink? Well, if you say so, Arihito, then I guess I’ll believe it. Hee-hee, thanks!”

I had another theory why Silvanus’s Messenger appeared. Its Horn of Pleasure skill inflicted women with the Charm status, meaning the Messenger appeared when a party had more than a certain number of women in it. That’s what I thought anyway.

“Arihito, ummm…”

“Hmm, what’s up?”

Suzuna was very hesitantly trying to talk to me. Perhaps I’d had a harsh expression because of what I was thinking about.

But actually, that didn’t seem to be the case. Suzuna’s cheeks turned a little red, and she slowed her pace until she fell back to walk beside me. She whispered quietly to me so the others couldn’t hear. Well, I say that, but anyone paying enough attention to us probably would have been able to hear.

“The monster we just fought made an ugly sound, which gave it control over Melissa…but Kyouka, the other members, and I weren’t affected. I was wondering why… Do you know, Arihito?”

“Uh…ummm, well…”

The higher the Trust Level between me and the other party members, the stronger their resistance to the Charm status. Still, I was a little hesitant to discuss it so openly. I could tell them it was because they all trusted me—Suzuna included—but I felt like there was a lot of room for misinterpretation.

“I have a guess. I was wondering if it was right…,” continued Suzuna. Did she see a similar display on her license? I didn’t think everyone checked their license since it was the middle of battle.

“A guess…such as?”

“W-well… I used Medium to let Ariadne possess me when we needed it that one time, and you both exchanged a lot of magic… I th-thought that might be connected.”

“W-well…I think it might be related at least. But if you think that process is weird, then it’s probably better to find a different way to increase our devotion with Ariadne.” I was concerned what might happen to Suzuna if we kept using the Energy Sync and Charge Assist combo because it raised Suzuna’s Trust Levels along with Ariadne’s devotion levels. Suzuna’s feelings were paramount here, however. I could explain that to Ariadne, and we’d find another way.

Just then, Suzuna spoke again.

“…I…felt like you were protecting me, and that’s what makes things okay… I—I know that everyone else feels the same, but I just…”

Even someone as slow as me could understand what she was getting at. She was so nervous because she was trying to thank me. And the fact that she was still so hesitant really did show that it took time to build a true trusting relationship. The Trust Level that you could see in numbers wasn’t the whole story.

“It seems the stronger the person’s ties to the party are, the more resistant they are to the Charm status. Melissa has been in the party the shortest—I think it’ll take some more time for her… But that makes it sound like someone just needs to be in the party; that’s probably not the case,” I said.

“…I’m not sure that’s true. Everyone always sees how hard you’re trying… Both Ellie and I are so glad we joined this party…” Elitia heard her name mentioned even though she was in the lead. She left Igarashi and Cion in charge of the front line and quickly came over. But she didn’t look annoyed; she seemed a little embarrassed if anything.

“…Sometimes I’m curious about what people are talking about in the back when I’m in the front,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s rude of me to talk about this when you’re not here,” said Suzuna.

“I don’t even know what you were talking about. Plus, you don’t need to worry about manners so much with me…”

“I know we’re still on an expedition, but with everyone from Four Seasons here, having a little chat once in a while makes it feel like we’re on a picnic. It’s niiice,” said Misaki.

“……”

Theresia also heard, apparently, since she was in the midguard position, and she never walked too far away from us. I didn’t know what kind of conversation she was interested in, but I knew she was always listening. It did seem, though, that her sensibilities were a little different from what I’d expect of a girl of the age I thought she was…but there was still very little that I understood about Theresia.

“We should make it so Theresia can talk again as soon as possible,” said Suzuna.

“…Yeah. I want to see what it’s like speaking with her,” I said.

“Arihito, what do you think she sounds like? I think she’d be surprisingly gentle and mild-mannered,” said Misaki.

“Well…I’m not sure.” I tried to imagine what it would sound like when I did finally hear her voice, but my weak imagination still couldn’t come up with anything concrete.

“……”

Based on how she fought, I had the impression she was fairly energetic, but that wasn’t necessarily true. If we could find someone who knew Theresia before she became a demi-human… But a sudden question crossed my mind. Where did Theresia come from? Was she a reincarnate or a native resident of the Labyrinth Country?

“The leader of that Alliance is going to have the contribution points necessary to move up to District Six soon…but they haven’t defeated enough Named Monsters yet, right?” asked Elitia.

“Yeah, that’s what some of their members said.”

“We can fulfill the requirements to move up to District Six without using the same method that they are. That said, encountering Named Monsters is really down to luck, so there’s a chance we could end up stuck here for months if things don’t go well… If the Alliance knew how to make a Named Monster appear but couldn’t defeat it, we could think about moving in and taking it down ourselves. Although considering how prolific the Alliance is, anything they couldn’t beat would be a serious threat to us, too…”

Twice we’d had to fight Named Monsters someone else had discovered: Redface and Juggernaut.

“They probably put surveillance on us because they want information on Named Monsters, too,” I said.

“That was definitely part of it. Anyway, should we gather some information when we return to town?” suggested Suzuna.

“Is there anyone in town who might broker us some intel? That one clothing store owner looked like he could be the type.”

“Misaki, that’s rude…,” Suzuna chided. But I’d been thinking the same thing, so I kept my mouth shut. I got the feeling that Luca hadn’t exactly been on the straight and narrow his whole life. I’d felt like I was in some Mafia movie when he came out with the gun in its silver case.

“It’ll take us a few days to have our equipment modified. How about we use that time to gather information in town?” I suggested.

“Oooh! Then Kyouka can get a massage to take all the stiffness out of her shoulders!” squealed Misaki.

“Wha…? What are you talking about?” shot back Igarashi. “All I’m doing here is keeping a close eye on things… Right, Cion?”

“Woof.”

Igarashi’s body had likely gotten much lighter since she’d become a Valkyrie, so I doubted if she even needed a massage. She could easily ask Louisa for one if she wanted, though.

As a former corporate slave, a day off sounded wonderful. Everyone else was probably burned-out from the continuous seeking as well. It’d be nice for us all to get a good rest.

“Mmm… That’s one job down. Feels nice to be done with it,” said Kaede.

“We were so on edge the whole time. Phew, I want to go straight to sleep without even taking a bath…,” said Ibuki.

“Me too. But I need to go have the work started on my racket… Haaah…” Anna stifled a yawn as Kaede and Ibuki stretched when we made it to the square outside the labyrinth.

Ryouko saw the three of them and looked embarrassed. “Sorry, these girls…switch gears too quickly.”

“You must be tired, too, Ryouko… Oh, are you all right without your coat?” I asked.

Igarashi had borrowed Ryouko’s boa coat because her armor had broken during battle—leaving Ryouko in just her bikini when we made it out of the labyrinth.

“Ah…I—I… You’re right; people will think I’m strange in this getup around town.”

“Uh… It doesn’t really match, but you can wear my suit jacket over it. You can give it back to me next time we meet,” I offered.

“…Are you sure? Thank you. You’re always doing so much…”

“I’m really sorry about this—I’m borrowing your precious coat. Thank you.” Igarashi expressed her gratitude, but for some reason, Ryouko looked at me and smiled. Igarashi secured the front of the boa coat around her even further.

“I really hope we all meet up again, whether it’s for seeking or something else,” said Ryouko. “You can give back the coat whenever.”

“Thank you, Ryouko.”

“It’s nothing… I should be thanking all of you. Atobe, are you sure I can borrow it?”

I had taken off my jacket and was holding it, then hung it over Ryouko’s shoulders. It didn’t really change much, though, because on top she was wearing a suit jacket and on the bottom she had her bathing suit. She still stood out quite a bit.

“…Must be nice… Aw crap, Arihito’s gonna be annoyed with me if I get all giggly,” said Kaede.

“His suit jacket is so baggy even on Ryouko…,” said Ibuki.

“And the sleeves are too long… They’d hang down so low if I wore it,” said Anna.

“Thank you, Atobe. I’ll make sure it’s nice and clean when I give it back. I’m quite skilled at doing the laundry,” said Ryouko.

I was about to tell her she could just return it without having to go to the trouble of washing it, but then I realized that had its own problems. That’s when Four Seasons left to return to their own home.

“If your suit was some super-awesome equipment, then you couldn’t have taken it off,” said Misaki.

“Not necessarily…but my suit doesn’t have any special effects anyway.”

“I feel like she’ll draw attention for a different reason if she walks around with a man’s jacket hanging on her shoulders…,” said Igarashi.

“Well then, maybe you should have worn the jacket, Kyouka,” said Elitia.

“Erk… Th-there’s a lot that has to happen for me to be mentally prepared for that…”

“My jacket would be far too baggy on you anyway, which would sort of defeat the purpose… What? What’s up with you guys?” Everyone was looking at me weirdly. Did I say something strange? The problem was that Igarashi’s armor was broken, but the collar of my jacket was too open, making it a potentially dangerous solution. That should have been an obvious concern.

“Arihito, since it’s become suddenly necessary, would you like to give me your spare suit to hold on to?” suggested Madoka.

“Suddenly necessary? What would it be used for…? Wait, Misaki’s equipment didn’t break or something, did it?”

“No, no. But everyone just said it was necessary.”

“Um… Let’s not take this conversation into a weird direction all of a sudden. We can sort out the suit thing later—let’s go report to the Guild.” Elitia shut down the strange topic and walked off to lead us toward the Upper Guild. I started to follow behind her.

“Igarashi, do you want to stop in the clothing store on the way?”

“Y-yeah… Even if Madoka did get some clothes for me out of storage, I can’t really do anything without a changing room. I’d appreciate it if we could stop.”

Igarashi changed from her armor into normal clothes for the time being, then we headed to the Upper Guild. When we entered the first-floor lobby of Green Hall, we saw a silver-haired man coming our way with a woman following closely behind. The woman looked like she might be pregnant.

“I’m sorry, Roland. It’s such an important time, too…,” said the woman.

“Don’t worry about it. This is a gift from the gods. You can let us handle the rest,” replied the man.

Roland…Roland Vorn? Louisa said he’s the leader of Beyond Liberty…

The man was in prime physical condition but nearing middle age. The woman with him, possibly his wife, looked quite a bit younger than him. Her name was Daniella, if I remembered correctly. She had a bit of an exotic flair to her, and she clung closely to Roland. They noticed us and stared at each of the party’s members in turn, their eyes finally falling on me at the rear. I stepped to the front, thinking that I should at least introduce us. Roland didn’t show any particular emotion that might indicate if the members of his Alliance had told him about us.

“…That’s a face I haven’t seen before. I heard there were some powerful rookies who’d just come to the Upper Guild… Is that you lot?” he asked.

“It’s nice to meet you. We started working at this Guild yesterday. My name is Arihito Atobe.” I knew about them, but they didn’t know about us. It seemed safe to assume that Gray had some plan in place if he hadn’t reported our information to Roland yet.

“I’m Roland Vorn, number-one ranked in District Seven and the leader of the Alliance Beyond Liberty.”

“I’m Daniella Vorn; I’m a member of Roland’s party.” She didn’t introduce herself as his wife. Maybe they had a rule between them that she didn’t when they were out together as a party. Daniella left Roland’s side and stared at me cautiously.

“A hot older guy and a bronzed beauty… They make a picture-perfect couple.”

“M-Misaki… Don’t say that; they’ll hear you…!”

Roland noticed Misaki and Suzuna talking behind me, and his brow creased slightly, but I was surprised when Daniella smiled.

“I thought you’d be ex-military or people with mercenary experience, but you seem like rookies without too much battle practice under your belts,” said Roland. “Things must’ve gone well for you to come this far. Did you get lucky enough to find a lot of folks with top-tier jobs?”

“We’ve managed to make it this far by working together. Luck definitely did play a part as well,” I replied.

“As long as you’re aware of your own limitations, I don’t think you’ll try to push yourselves too far. The Labyrinth Country isn’t a place where you can rely on luck alone to advance.”

“…What are you saying, Roland? It’s rude to lecture someone you’ve just met,” said Daniella.

“Mm… Well, I suppose…” Roland sounded like he wanted to say more, but Daniella cut it off. Their relationship apparently didn’t have the balance I thought it did. The wife was stronger in this case.

“I’m sorry—he’s always like this. Your name was Arihito, wasn’t it? Or would you prefer I call you Mr. Atobe?” asked Daniella.

“Either is fine. My family name is Atobe—my given is Arihito.”

“Okay, I’ll call you Arihito. I want to apologize. At the moment, we’re sort of hogging the best hunting grounds that the Upper Guild oversees, but it’s only temporary. I hope you’re not too angry at us about it.”

She seemed nice—not that it had anything to do with this conversation. At least she openly admitted they were taking over the hunting grounds.

“…Don’t think less of us for it,” added Roland. “You can’t get up to the higher districts on luck alone.”

“Of course… We’re curious about the Beach of the Setting Sun, but we can always find another way to reach the top.”

“I see. If that’s the case, I suppose…we should say thank you.”

“Aren’t you always saying the best thing possible would be if everyone could move up to District Six without getting hurt? That as long as there’s life, there’s hope?” Daniella pestered Roland, and he scratched his head uncomfortably.

But when he looked at me again, his eyes weren’t those of a person who’d been embarrassed in front of his wife. “Everyone has their own reasons for aiming for the top. If your party had come a little sooner, we would likely have invited you to join the Alliance…”

“We’ll find a way to do things on our own. You don’t need to worry about us.” If you guys get stuck, then we’ll go on ahead of you, I thought—but now wasn’t the time to be provoking him.

“This is what I’m talking about. If this guy wasn’t out fighting, he’d fill his time with drink and women. He’s in no position to be preaching to anyone. It’s okay, I’ve reined him in; the ladies don’t need to worry anymore,” said Daniella.

“What are you talking about…? You’re ruining my credibility. Stop making me sound like a dirty old man.”

“…Roland, I’d like to ask you something—I hope this doesn’t upset you,” I said. “I’ve heard that a man named Gray, a member of your organization, has been upsetting female Seekers…”

“What…? Is that true? Has Gray been doing something behind my back…?”

“I told you, you can’t put him in charge of recruitment,” chided Daniella. “I’ll ask everyone what’s going on.”

Aha… Gray was abusing his position. If Roland wasn’t aware of it before, he’ll probably crack down on the guy now.

If Gray was allowed to continue doing whatever he wanted, there was a chance it’d cause trouble. Talking to the Vorns turned out to be a good opportunity for us.

“Sounds like Gray’s been a bit of a thorn in your side. I’ll speak with him,” said Roland.

“And let’s both keep working hard, though I suppose we won’t have much opportunity to see you once we move up to District Six,” said Daniella.

The two of them left the building, and I heaved a heavy sigh. The encounter was much less antagonistic than I was expecting, but that didn’t change the fact that they were our competition.

“Mr. Atobe… Oh, perfect. I saw you speaking with them and wasn’t sure when I should start talking to you…,” Louisa said. Apparently, our conversation had put her on edge. Seeing me talking with the Vorns all of a sudden probably made her worry something had happened.

“We were just introducing ourselves. Louisa, could I submit a report immediately?” I asked.

“Of course… Oh, my heart has already started racing…”

I wondered how much this report would shock Louisa; in fact, I was kind of looking forward to it. I could tell the others felt the same when I exchanged glances with them.

Part II: Check

I parted ways with everyone in the lobby and headed farther into Green Hall’s first floor with Louisa. She guided me to the familiar black doors and welcomed me into the room, then left for a moment to make some tea.

“I apologize for the wait,” she said when she returned.

“Thank you for always doing so much for me, Louisa.”

“It’s my pleasure. Would you like to take a short break?”

“As long as it’s brief, since I can’t keep everyone waiting… Mm, very nice tea. It’s different from what you’ve made before.”

“It’s made from the assam leaf plant, which is found in the labyrinth. It’s quite similar to black tea. It was originally unidentified until a tea expert came to the Labyrinth Country, recorded its information, and named it. Apparently, the plant itself is completely different from a tree.”

There was nothing remarkable about its color, and the aroma was that of good quality tea. The only difference was that when I drank it, my head felt clearer.

“Apparently the tea has components that can be used to make potions if it’s concentrated enough. I feel like it has a calming effect…,” continued Louisa.

“It does… It’s quite effective. I feel calmer and more focused.” The effects weren’t expressed in numbers, but my shoulders relaxed, and I felt more comfortable. We had just gotten out of the labyrinth, though, so I started to feel a little sleepy.

Crap, I’m gonna start yawning…

“Hee-hee… Mr. Atobe, you don’t have to hold back. You must be very tired.”

“S-sorry…”

“How about I look at the report now, and you can check in with me later?”

“I’m all right. I want to get the things I need to do out of the way so I can relax… So if you don’t mind…”

“Of course. To be honest, part of the reason I made this tea was to calm myself, since I’m always so surprised by your reports I feel like my heart’s going to leap out of my chest.” Louisa was embarrassed, but she didn’t need to be. It really was best if the two of us could be relaxed with each other when reporting.

“All right, please allow me to view your results.” Louisa prepared her monocle, and I showed her my license with the expedition results displayed. There were indeed a few points through the list when Louisa seemed about to cry out at certain items.

♦Expedition Results♦

“…This is only your second expedition in District Seven, and you’ve already been given clearance. You and your party really are… You really are so incredible…” Louisa expressed nothing but admiration, and I could only scratch my cheek awkwardly.

“When you say clearance, you mean going up to the next district…right?”

“Yes. In terms of the amount of contribution points that you need to earn in District Seven, you’re still a little short…but you’ve earned over seven thousand in just two days. I think that must be a record among all Seekers.”

When we came up from District Eight, we skipped over the other Guilds and came straight to the Upper Guild, meaning we went into one of the more difficult labyrinths and were able to get these results. Even so, we were going into a labyrinth that was overseen by the Middle Guild and, as far as I was aware, it wasn’t the easiest place in District Seven to earn contribution points.

The Beach of the Setting Sun should be more efficient than this… The party leader has to earn a total of twenty thousand contribution points in one month, which is why the Alliance took it over to earn points.

I understood why they did it, but I didn’t have to like it. Roland said he didn’t have any connection to what Gray was doing, but Gray was using the fact that they’d taken over the best hunting grounds to his own benefit.

“Our total contribution points have passed ten thousand, and we’ve gone into labyrinths in District Seven twice. Have we met the requirements to be allowed into three-star labyrinths?”

“Indeed you have—congratulations. Now you will be able to seek in any of the District Seven labyrinths.” Louisa used my license to show me a screen that displayed our qualification for entering three-star labyrinths.

“Our next goals will be getting twenty thousand contribution points in one month and then defeat one more level-six or higher Named Monster. We’ll do everything we can to achieve them.”

I hoped we could move up to the next district even a little faster so we could accomplish our real goal of making it to District Five. Right now, we were doing it in about the shortest time imaginable, but we couldn’t let ourselves get stuck here.

“Mr. Atobe… The results from this expedition are as incredible as I think is possible. Looking at your work so far, you have set yourselves apart from the pack of even the most talented new Seekers in the low number of days of rest you have taken compared to the high number of powerful monsters, such as Named Monsters, that you have defeated. I believe you are capable of maintaining a high standard of results even if you don’t rush quite so much.”

I was aware of it myself. If I didn’t want to lose any party members when we encountered a powerful monster we hadn’t planned to fight, the obvious choice was to use the first battle for information-gathering purposes only, then go back as many times as necessary to defeat them. So far, we’d fought battles where our lives hung in the balance every time we ran into something powerful. I understood how much that must’ve worried Louisa.

“You’re right… I want us to climb the ranks as quickly as possible, but I want to make sure that’s not the only thing I think about.”

“I’m glad to hear it… Forgive me for pushing my advice on you. I resigned from seeking quite quickly, then become a Guild employee; I don’t have any right to be telling such promising Seekers what to do…”

“If you put it like that, it makes it sounds like bigwigs can say whatever they want. Louisa, your opinion always gives me something to think about, and it would be really helpful if you continued to give me advice.” I wasn’t about to say that slow and steady wins the race, but we should at least take it easy after finishing a big job. I didn’t know what it said about me that I was still learning what it took to be a good leader after I’d already become a leader, but I couldn’t rob my party members of their free time with my orders.

“Very well… Then from now on, I will simply tell you what I think. However, I’m not sure suggesting you take a break could be considered advice. It might just be me being overly worried, so I do apologize for that.”

“No, it’s nice to have people worry about you.”

“I’m not the only one. I think many of the people you met in District Eight think about you. If you’d like to let them know how things are going, I could introduce you to a Messenger so that you could send letters. If you have a special contract with someone, though, you can use your license to notify them of the situation at any time.”

“Special contract…? I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of that before.”

“The support member can pay a contracting fee to enter a contract with a Seeker, which provides a number of benefits, such as allowing them to accept requests for work in other locations when the Seeker moves to different districts. However, the support member can only be in a contract with one party. The Guild’s policy is that they would like the support member to focus on work in the district in which they live and normally operate.”

If they did have contracts with multiple parties, it would likely be difficult for them to get orders and have to keep moving all over the districts. The more jobs a craftsperson could get, the higher their income potential, but there was probably a lot of work where their shop was, too. I couldn’t decide if it was a good or bad thing that they could only contract with one party.

“I see… Thank you for the explanation. By the way, Louisa, do you know of someone in District Seven capable of opening Black Boxes?”

“There was one here until just recently. Apparently, they received an invitation to rejoin their old party, so they’ve returned to seeking for now. Their apprentice is currently running the shop.”

In order to safely open a Black Box, you needed Sleight of Hand 4 as well as accessories to increase your success rate of removing traps. I hadn’t encountered anyone with a skill level higher than 4, so that meant people like Falma, who had Sleight of Hand 4, and perhaps this other Chest Cracker who left District Seven were really quite valuable. Shiori had said she couldn’t open a Black Box, which meant that at this point in time, our only real option was to ask Falma.

“The Chest Cracker in District Eight is very skilled. Would you like to use her services again?” suggested Louisa.

“That’s a good idea. I plan to take some time off from seeking in order to prepare, which means I can travel back to District Eight.”

“It is also possible to contact a shop in a different district through the Guild to request they travel to your location instead. Whether they accept or not would depend on their own schedule, of course.”

Madoka was also a member of the Merchants Guild, so she could contact Falma as well, as long as Falma was also a member. But it’d be best to ask Louisa now if I wanted her to contact Falma for us. There were also some other people whose services I’d like to use again—for instance, Ceres from the Mistral Forge. I wanted to ask her to do some modifications using runes since she was a Runemaker.

“Louisa, this may be asking a bit much, but would you be able to contact a few people for me?”

“Yes, of course. It takes some time to receive a reply. However, if I write who the request is from, I should be able to let you know tonight when we get home whether they accept the job… Oh, are you going to eat out again for dinner tonight?”

Louisa lived in the same house as us, so it was probably best for us to coordinate whether we were going to be eating out or at home. But first, I had to think about what we were doing for lunch.

“I’ll ask everyone what they want to do. I’m sure they’ll want to go home and take it easy, though, and it’d be a lot of work to cook for yourself after taking a rest.”

There was a chance we’d get too dependent on Melissa and her Cooking skill, but I wanted to try to spread the housework… Actually, thinking about it, I remembered there was housing in District Eight that had Maids, which meant there were Seekers who we could maybe ask to help out with the chores. My very first step as a Seeker was to hire Theresia as a mercenary, so hiring people wasn’t a problem, but I shouldn’t go overboard. If the eight of us in the party worked together, we should be able to handle the chores at the moment.

“Mr. Atobe, you could also personally request a housekeeper for your lodging. Would you be interested?”

“Ah, I was actually just considering that myself… I think we can manage on our own if we spread out the work among the party, but it would be nice to ask someone to handle the cleaning while we’re out.”

“I’ll make the necessary arrangements so that you can request a Guild Maid to cover that if they have any availability. They very strictly follow regulations, meaning you can feel comfortable leaving them in charge of the home while you’re away.”

Guild Maids? It sounded like the Guild had a variety of different departments like the Guild Saviors. Well, we didn’t need a Maid this very moment, though we should consider it if our household got any bigger.

“I wouldn’t mind a little help with the housework,” I said.

“Of course, don’t hesitate to use their services. You will have to pay different amounts depending on the exact nature of the work, but the Guild covers eighty percent of the costs. The system is in place so that Seekers can focus on seeking without worrying about other issues.”

It would mean coming home after a seek to a perfectly cleaned home and freshly made beds. Just thinking about it made me feel more at ease. It was a huge change from the house I’d used only as a place to sleep in during my days as a corporate slave.

I asked Louisa to contact Falma and the Mistral Forge for me and then went outside. When I did, my party came back from where they were killing time waiting for me.

“Nice work, Atobe. No surprise we racked up a ton of contribution points from beating such a powerful monster… Our ranks skyrocketed, and now everyone’s super happy.”

“My ranking is in District Five so that doesn’t change much if I earn points in District Seven. Did you make it to the double digits, Arihito?” asked Elitia.

“Yeah, I’m at fifty-five now. Our earnings from this one expedition were really high, which brings up talk about our total contribution points, and our rank has gotten pretty high.”

Louisa had told me that the Alliance had a total of twenty-four members, which meant there was a chance every one of them, even in their decent-sized group, was higher in rank than me, including Roland of course. Even so, we’d already gotten to a point where it seemed possible we could move up to District Six. I needed about another thirteen hundred contribution points in District Seven to meet the requirements, which meant we couldn’t rest too much or my contribution points would fall. We’d also need a few more expeditions in the labyrinths.

However, there were surprisingly few parties earning contribution points with the goal of moving up to District Six. Yukari had told us this district was the “real beginning of the Labyrinth Country” when we’d first arrived, but perhaps that just meant it had vastly different requirements for moving up and far more powerful monsters.

“……”

“Ah…Theresia, what’s—?” Theresia walked up to me silently, and as I started to ask her what was wrong, I heard her empty stomach gurgling. “Sorry, you’ve been waiting to eat for a while now, huh? True, the flow of time might feel different in the labyrinth compared to outside, but we did fight through the night.”

Theresia stared at me, which I assumed probably meant she agreed. She pressed her stomach where it was visible from the slit in her bodysuit. It looked like she was quietly trying to show her hunger.

“Hey, Arihito, how ’bout we have an early lunch?” suggested Misaki. “Pretty sure I’m just gonna take a bath and pass out once we get home. Stuffing my face is a big no-no on a diet.”

“You might as well eat a full meal whenever you can, though,” said Elitia. “And it’s not like you’re hurting for exercise opportunities. Besides, I don’t think dieting’s something you need to worry about at your age…”

“That’s not true at all! A girl’s always thinking about losing another half a pound.”

“Lately, I just fall apart if I don’t eat right away… Same for you, right, Ellie?” asked Igarashi.

“It’s because we’re close-range fighters. And Theresia has Accel Dash. She’s faster because she uses a skill, but it still counts as exercise. I imagine it burns a lot of energy.”

I suddenly understood why I felt like Theresia was always hungry. It made a lot of sense once you thought about how much she ran around in battle.

“Arihito, these restaurants here are the ones nearby that would let us eat with Cion,” said Madoka.

“Woof!”

The two of them came over, and she showed me her license. There were a few restaurants near Green Hall: Labyrinth Country cuisine, Thai food, and a café.

“Wow, there’s Thai…,” I marveled. “They probably use a lot of different herbs and spices—but then there’s Labyrinth Country cuisine, too…”

“That restaurant is open in the evening. They seem to focus more on dinner,” said Elitia.

“…Oh, Labyrinth Country cuisine,” said Melissa. “I want to try some traditional District Seven dishes. Then I can tell Dad about it.”

“Yeah, if Rikerton comes here, I wanna be able to recommend him some good places,” I replied. “Okay, let’s try that one, then.” We all headed south of Green Hall. When we arrived at the location shown on the map, we saw a sign reading, HOUSE OF SEVEN SPICES.

Part III: The Craftspeople

We looked at the brunch menu written on a board outside, and everyone chatted happily as they chose what they wanted to eat. I decided to go with the “Spiced Soldier Moose Sauté.” I guessed this moose thing was some kind of deer. Theresia appeared interested, too, so we decided to order her the same thing. But since that probably wouldn’t be enough for her, I had her pick another two or three small dishes.

“Arihito, do you think this ‘Spicy Sand Crab Stew’ is…?” started Misaki.

“That’s probably the crab in the area the Alliance has taken over. Seems there’s high demand for it as a cooking ingredient.”

“It’s one of the chef’s recommendations,” said Igarashi. “I am curious, but I feel like it’d taste better if we ate things we hunted ourselves as a sort of celebration.”

She was right. Once the crabs’ hunting grounds were free, we could hunt our own and eat them. It would probably taste better that way.

“We could also just go into other labyrinths to earn the contribution points we need. Four Seasons is still up for more seeking, and we should at least try not to meddle too much with the Alliance and their hunting grounds…,” continued Elitia.

“Yeah. It’s wise to avoid causing trouble if we can… But even if what the Alliance is doing isn’t against the rules, that doesn’t mean other Seekers have to go along with it. Anyone has a right to hunt those crabs,” I said.

There was a huge demand for them as food and materials, and they were easy to defeat. That would of course mean there’s a lot of Seekers who’d want to hunt them, but they thought twice about it because of the Alliance’s monopoly. It likely left a lot of people fuming.

“I know you all probably saw it, too, but the leader of the Alliance didn’t seem like a completely unreasonable person. If we do get a chance to go into the Beach of the Setting Sun, we can see exactly what the situation is with their monopoly of these crabs. If there really is no way for other Seekers to get in there, I think we can try to negotiate with him. Maybe we can get them to divide hunting times,” I said.

“It wasn’t just Four Seasons—even the Guild was aware of a problem. It sounded like the Alliance was constantly monitoring the area for crabs popping up…”

The fact that they’d go to that extreme must mean that Roland had his own reason for wanting to make it to District Six. It’s possible that his experience of falling to the lowest rank in District Seven was related as well.

“No matter what we do, we need to make the party stronger. I was also thinking about our seeking pace in the future, and that we should aim for two days’ rest every week,” I said.

“I think that’s a good idea, but I’m not even sure I’d know what to do with one day off,” said Igarashi.

“We could go shopping or just sit around. Oh, Ellie said there was a theater, too, right?” said Misaki.

“Yeah, there is. People with acting experience put on the performances, so I think it’s worth seeing.” While Elitia had given Misaki the suggestion, she herself didn’t seem that interested in going. Perhaps she couldn’t justify spending time on entertainment when her friend had been captured by the Shining Simian Lord.

“I think we should start putting our breaks to better use. As long as everyone is together, we can find a lot of different ways to have fun in our normal everyday lives,” said Suzuna.

“I know, riiight? I never get tired of just watching Arihito. I’ll probably spend my days off chasing him around everywhere,” said Misaki.

“I m-mean, I know I’m not quite an old fart, but…is it really fun watching someone as old as me all day long?” I said.

“Woof, woof.” Cion’s bark made me think she approved of how I’d spend my days off…or she probably wanted to go for a walk.

“……”

“Cion seems to agree, but I also don’t think Theresia has any problem with spending her days off like that,” said Igarashi.

“…I’m fine with that, too. I also like sleeping,” said Melissa.

“M-me too… I also think it’d be nice just to spend time with everyone at home taking it easy,” said Madoka.

“Yeah, I’d also like to relax. Well, I say that, but I’ll probably be running around on errands the whole time. Everyone else should think about how they want to spend their days off,” I said.

“Yes, I know. I’ll make sure I’m ready to leave anytime, so let me know if you need me to come along,” said Igarashi.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. We could get a schedule board, and whenever we’re going our separate ways, we could write where and when on the board. What do you think?” Everyone agreed with Misaki’s suggestion. It brought back memories of the white board at work and how even my days off had business trip written on them. Igarashi smiled a little apologetically toward me; she must have remembered the same thing.

Once we finished eating, we decided to go back home and rest. When we arrived, we saw some familiar faces waiting for us outside. There was a small girl wearing a magician-looking robe. I say girl, but she was a race native to the Labyrinth Country who lived very long, and she was actually older than me.

“Ah, where have you been? I got your request, so I closed the shop for the afternoon and rushed here.”

“You’ve been on Master’s mind since you last visited. Oh, you do remember me, don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course. Ceres, Steiner, Falma—I’m sorry for contacting you out of the blue.”

Steiner was, as always, clad in their heavy armor, and Falma was wearing her apron even though she wasn’t in her shop. It’d only been a few days since I last saw them, but their unchanged appearances brought back memories.

“Mr. Atobe, I’m just happy I’m able to still work for you. It’s been a while since I’ve been to District Seven. It’s changed a little,” said Falma.

“Oh, that’s right. You would have come here in your previous position.”

“Yes, when I was seeking with my husband in our party… I don’t know anything about any higher districts, but I can show you around this one a little bit. Although you contacted me for work, which means I can only stay for a little while.”

“Mm, we don’t have much time,” said Ceres. “We need to make sure we finish our work. Though, they are sometimes flexible about allowing more time if we meet certain conditions.” Those conditions must have something to do with the special contracts Louisa told me about before. I didn’t want to spring that topic on the three of them since they’d only just arrived, though. First I’d ask them to handle the jobs I had.

I needed to think about where we should put the magic stones and runes once we got our new equipment. We’d start with Melissa dissecting the monsters, then checking whether we could use the materials on our equipment, then—

“…Ah.” Melissa made a small sound, and I looked up to see a man coming up the sloped road leading along the rows of terraced houses. It was Rikerton.

“Ah, Mr. Atobe,” he called. “Good, I managed to not get lost.”

“…Is the shop okay?” asked Melissa. “We called you here out of the blue.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I finished the orders I had before noon, then came over.”

It had seemed like Melissa handled most of the dissection, but I knew that Rikerton’s skills were just as good. Anyway, it was Melissa who had requested his support, and he seemed happy to come and help his daughter.

“Rikerton, did you come through the dividing wall? It wasn’t too much trouble, was it?” I asked.

“The Guild let me use one of their teleportation doors, which is much faster than walking. But you’re living in quite a nice place, aren’t you? I’m always surrounded by the smell of blood; the air in a high-class neighborhood like this is so fresh compared to it.”

“…I miss the air in the shop. But I think it grossed out Arihito a bit,” said Melissa. It was true that I’d been surprised the first time I went to Rikerton’s shop and saw Melissa dissecting, but it didn’t bother me now. Maybe I’d gotten braver—or more confident.

“We also came using the Guild’s teleportation doors, with Louisa’s permission,” said Ceres.

“I did as well. The children and my mother came to see me off… Mom told me to make sure I do a good job, and the kids wanted me to say hello to Cion and everyone for them,” said Falma.

Cion, who was originally Falma’s dog, was sitting and wagging her tail excitedly. She was looking at me, though, and seemed a little hesitant.

“Cion, it’s a good chance to say hi, isn’t it? Your tail gives away how happy you are.” Igarashi loved dogs and could apparently understand what Cion was thinking just by watching her tail. How fond she was of dogs was so different from the strict manager I’d known before.

“Woof,” Cion replied and walked to Falma, who leaned down and started petting Cion all over her head and body. Igarashi seemed to find the situation emotional, and even I felt a tug at my heartstrings.

“Your fur is very healthy. I can tell they’re taking good care of you… Thank you, everyone,” said Falma.

“It’s nothing; Cion’s the one who helps us out all the time. She’s good at listening to commands, and she’s so brave,” I said.

“I’m sure she’s happy to hear such kind praise about her, too… Cion, make sure you keep listening to what Mr. Atobe says.” Falma spent a moment enjoying their reunion, then reluctantly pulled away from Cion. “I was told…that you called me this time because of a Black Box.”

“What…? A Black Box…? I had assumed your previous rune had come from a rare box, too, but… What kind of monsters are you lot fighting…?” asked Ceres.

“One of our party members brings us good luck. That, along with a few chance encounters, has meant we’ve had quite a few opportunities to fight Named Monsters…,” I said.

“Luck alone doesn’t explain it all… There’s supposed to be Named Monsters you can’t find unless you know how to make them appear. I have heard that some of those will appear and attack many Seekers, but it’s generally considered lucky to come across one Named Monster a month.”

“Master, I understand your shock, but our job is to make good equipment for Mr. Atobe and his party. If they have a Black Box, there is likely to be excellent materials or equipment contained within.”

“Hmm… I suppose it is no good to sit around marveling. Arihito, I assume you called us because you have found a new rune? Or would you like the magia rune…? What’s this, you’re using a katana in addition to your black slingshot?” Ceres went around behind me and looked at Murakumo with curiosity. I couldn’t easily tell her about Ariadne or Murakumo, but it didn’t seem like a big problem to let Ceres and Steiner see Murakumo and talk about it just a little. “What a fine blade… But it has a strange presence. I’ve never seen a katana this beautiful.”

“I don’t think you can upgrade this katana right now, but if we do find some materials that could be used to do so, I’d like to ask for your skills to do it. Then there’s the runes. We’ve found two more, and I’d like to use them to strengthen our equipment,” I said.

“…What did you say?” Ceres suddenly seemed disturbed, but I wanted her to tell us what kind of runes we had to begin with, so I guided them toward a nearby teleportation door, and we went to the storage unit.

When we walked through the door, Ceres saw the two runes we’d found in the Black Box that held Murakumo as well as a number of unused magic stones, and her entire body started to tremble. “…How…wasteful…”

“Uh…aah!”

Ceres violently turned around and rushed up to me, so fast I couldn’t follow what was happening.

“You…agh! You have to use runes and magic stones more effectively! Leaving them to rot in storage is so terrible it’d justify a vengeful spirit coming to haunt you!”

“I—I thought the same thing… That it really was wasteful…”

“Hmph… Well, I suppose you’re aware. There’s only one Runemaker in District Seven, and they likely are full up on work. Though, if it’s like District Eight where few runes are found, they probably have more time than they know what to do with, like me.”

“Master, if Mr. Atobe continues providing us with his patronage, it may be a good idea to enter a special contract with him. If we do, we can always be in charge of working with runes or modifying equipment for him. Yes, I think that would be good!” Steiner spoke with some excitement, as if they’d come upon a wonderful idea. It really would be a great help to us if they wanted to do that, but it would all depend on how Ceres felt.

“…It’s been so long I’d forgotten about special contracts. But I remember now—such a system does exist. When I heard you’d moved up to District Seven, I thought I wouldn’t ever see you again. When you called us to work here, did that mean you would become a regular client of ours?” Ceres spoke a bit jokingly. As a jade, she with her flax-colored hair was far older than I, but she looked exactly like a mischievous young girl.

I had assumed that my connections with the people of District Eight would become weaker the higher up the districts I went, but that wasn’t necessarily true with the help of a special contract.

“I was thinking I’d like to ask you that. Ceres, Steiner…and you as well, Falma, if possible. Would you be interested in entering into a special contract with me?”

“Yes, I would be honored. That’s such good news… I get almost no difficult chests to open in District Eight, and there’s plenty of other Chest Crackers who can open wooden and red chests. Ah…I’m so happy I’ll be able to open another Black Box so soon…” The idea excited Falma, and her voice took on a sensual tone as usual. But I looked a little too much, and the others’ glares stung.

Rikerton and Melissa had already headed to her storage and started working on dissecting. I of course wanted to talk to him about setting up a special contract as well afterward. That’s as long as he wasn’t already in one, though.

“By the way, Leila from the Mercenary Office seems concerned about you lot. She was asking about you when I arrived at the Guild. You’ve probably got a letter delivered from her,” said Ceres.

“Oh, really? Thank you for letting us know. Theresia, we might have a letter from Leila,” I said.

“……”

Theresia nodded. I owed Leila for introducing me to Theresia, and it looked like our relationship wasn’t cut off, either. I felt even more grateful toward Ceres for telling me about Leila.

Was Ribault still helping novice Seekers at the Field of Dawn? I also wondered about Polaris. I decided I would try to ask Louisa to see if she could let me know how they were doing. Knowing they were doing well would be a huge boost to keep us going.

Part IV: Mountains of Treasure

Apparently, it was an everyday occurrence for craftspeople from other districts to get called over, so there were workshops they could borrow to perform their work. Madoka made the necessary arrangements to borrow one near our house, and Ceres and Steiner started preparing for their work.

We had a lot of things to do, first of which was to choose an order. To decide how to use the materials from the monsters, we needed to open the Black Box and see what was inside.

“Falma, could I ask you to open the chest quickly?” I said.

“Yes, I’d be happy to. Mr. Atobe, have you used the services of any Chest Crackers since coming to District Seven? I’d like to ask them if I could borrow their teleportation door to go to a chest-opening room…”

“There’s one called Shichimuan. They’ve opened a few chests for us. I can ask the owner there.”

“Oh… What a classy-sounding name. It didn’t exist when I came last time, so it must be fairly new… I’d love to make more friends in the industry. Thank you for introducing me to a new one.” Falma was eager to get going, so I decided to ask Madoka to contact Shiori at Shichimuan for us.

We went to Shichimuan, and both Shiori and her brother, Takuma, greeted us. Apparently Shiori wanted to observe a Black Box being opened.

“I’ve heard the name Falma Arthur from my clients more than once. I’ve heard you’re great at what you do, and you’re an incredibly skilled Trap Master…,” said Shiori.

“Oh, come now, that’s not… Now I’m blushing. Shiori, what you’re wearing is called a kimono, isn’t it? May I ask where you bought it?”

“I bought it from a fabric store. They normally only have shops in the upper districts, but they open a store in the market a few times a year.”

“If you don’t mind, would you let me know the next time this market opens? …Oh, that’s not proper of me. I’m here on business for a client; I shouldn’t be using the time for personal things…”

“Ah, um, you can send purchased items to other districts if you follow the procedure in the Merchants Guild,” said Madoka.

“Oh really? How could an adult like me who’s been running my store in the Labyrinth Country for so long not know about all this? How embarrassing!”

Madoka was always thinking about how to use the things she could do to help others. It impressed me. She was quite hesitant to jump into a conversation between two adults, but she did her best. She’d never seemed timid in front of adults when she was running her own stall before.

I thought about that while we went down the stairs behind the hanging scroll and came upon the teleportation door. The number displayed on the door was 35. A random room for opening chests was assigned, but just like before, I couldn’t tell them apart merely by their appearance. The white stone floor was softly lit, allowing us to see in the room, but I couldn’t see the ceiling if I looked up. The walls faded into darkness.

“This room feels as weird as eeeever. It’s so big, and there aren’t any lights, but it’s lit up,” said Misaki.

It was safe to assume that if we were under the Labyrinth Country, we were quite far down considering how horrific the damage could be when someone accidentally activated a trap on a Black Box. Either that, or they’d used some method for making sure what happens in this space doesn’t affect anything outside of it.

“Arihito, what do we do if another Hidden God part comes out like last time? We can’t win a battle like that if we don’t have Seraphina.” Elitia was right to be concerned. The only reason we beat Murakumo was thanks to Seraphina’s defense. If something with similar attack capabilities came at us now with our current party, someone could end up getting hurt—or if things were really bad, they could die with one attack. We may have managed to come this far without anything serious happening, but I didn’t want one moment of carelessness to ruin everything. But I had an idea.

“Shiori, can you check what traps are on the Black Box using Assess 3?”

“Yes. I can’t remove them, but I can confirm what they do without any risk.”

“Amazing… Your Assess skill level is that high? I’ve focused on disarming traps, so I’ve only acquired up to Assess 1,” said Falma.

Melissa also had a skill called Assess 1, so it was safe to assume she could determine what traps were on a chest if she increased the skill’s level. I didn’t know if she could increase that skill that far, though. The different jobs might have different caps on how high, or they might have to learn it at different levels.

“I haven’t really taken many skills for disarming traps… I decided it was unlikely I’d have a chance to go up a level, so I put my points into Assess instead,” said Shiori.

“I see… I went toward increasing my success rate for disarming traps instead of increasing Assess. We’re both Chest Crackers, but we lean different ways.”

“If we can know what the trap is in advance and if it’s going to be a monster, we can wait to open it and ask for assistance from someone who’s helped when opening chests before,” I said.

“Yes, that makes sense. Well then, please allow me to assess this quickly.” Shiori gracefully pulled a folding fan out of the sleeve of her kimono once I placed the Black Box on the floor, then activated her skill with a dance-like wave of her arms.

♦Current Status♦

“Treasure labyrinth…?”

“Teleportation traps can be on wood and red chests as well…but this is a different name from a normal labyrinth. I’ve never seen a treasure labyrinth come up before.”

This type of trap was new to both Shiori and Falma. Elitia was the only one who knew what the display meant.

“This is one of the ways in which Black Boxes are very different from wooden and red chests…,” she explained. “Sometimes there’s a labyrinth within the Black Box itself. Apparently, you can’t get out if you don’t have a Return Scroll, but you’re supposed to be able to find far more treasure than what was in the chest.”

“…That’s risky. If there are monsters in there, too, and if they’re so powerful you can’t do any trial runs against them, you might not be able to get out safely…,” I said.

“But the treasure we’ve gotten from Black Boxes so far has helped us a lot, right? I think we might as well take a look inside rather than just give up… Actually, I understand if you want to take the safer path. We should discuss it as a group,” said Igarashi.

Being teleported to another labyrinth did feel like a trap, but there’d be things there we couldn’t understand unless we went. It was the same when we met Ariadne.

“It’s a three-star labyrinth, so it’s about the same difficulty as the labyrinths we can go in. I don’t know how stars are decided, but it shouldn’t be way out of our league as long as we prepare first, right?” said Misaki.

“I think so, too. If we make equipment and acquire new skills, then we can see what this labyrinth is like… I think it’s dangerous to intentionally set off a trap, but it seems like there’s a lot to gain,” said Suzuna. They were both for moving forward on this. We had just gotten the qualifications necessary to go into three-star labyrinths, meaning it could be risky to go into this abnormal one first. But I still wanted to give it a try. We could go in so long as we left quickly if things got dangerous.

“While I’m undoing the Dimensional Barrier Lock, I can take off the trap by itself… Would you like me to try that? That way you can get everything in the box safely, other than what’s in the trap,” said Falma.

“You can do that? …In that case, would you mind?” I asked. Falma nodded. She then placed her hand over the Black Box, and the magic circle expanded with the hologram-like Dimensional Barrier Lock. The previous ones had been cubes, but this one was a sort of octahedron.

The lock was woven into a three-dimensional maze path. Falma would send her magic down the path, which would unlock it. Every time I saw it, I admired how Falma did something so calmly that we would never be able to even try to do.

“This is the first time I’ve done one this difficult… It’s such an important job, I will carefully finish it… Okay, here I go!” she said.

“And I will observe the work of such a famed Trap Master.” Shiori watched Falma and her work with utmost seriousness as Falma sent her magic down the path. Even the smallest mistake would cause this to fail, but Falma tackled it with impassioned gestures and hand movements.

We sat in suspense as we watched Falma undo the lock, but our vision went blank when the chest opened and light flooded out. The next moment, the floor was covered in a layer of gold and equipment. Everyone present was thrilled.

It had taken Falma a whole fifteen minutes to unlock the chest, and she was now drenched in sweat from concentrating so hard the whole time, but Shiori went to help her recover. The rest of us also tried to go help, but Shiori insisted she do it because she’d been so impressed by the performance. She gave Falma a pillow to sit on with tears in her eyes.

“Huff…huff… I’m sorry it took so long… If I keep opening difficult traps like this, I’ll be able to increase my Sleight of Hand someday…”

“Yes… If anyone can do it, it’s you, Falma. I too will continue improving my craft, until I’m worthy of standing in your shadow.”

I realized that Shiori seemed to respect Falma even more than before. Perhaps she had been so impressed because they had similar jobs.

“Look at all this gold and silverrr! And there’s tons of women’s equipment… Uhhh, is that because of that thing…?” said Misaki.

“Yeah…it’s because Silvanus the Enchanter’s Messenger targeted female Seekers,” I said.

“You shouldn’t think too much about where a chest’s contents come from. If you focus on it too much, you might find yourself not using anything you find in the labyrinth,” said Igarashi.

“Right. I want to use anything we find that seems useful. Just this much gold, though, is pretty nice.”

If this gold also came from the labyrinth’s levels, then the more victims the monster had, the greater the contents of the chest it left behind. I wasn’t sure it was a good thing to think about, considering how many chests we’d opened, but I couldn’t help feeling guilty.

“Atobe, what should we do? Should we gather everything that looks usable first?” asked Igarashi.

“Yes please. Falma, what happened to the trap you took off?”

“That magic item over there on the ground is the trap I took off. You can learn the details about how to activate it with an appraisal scroll; you should use one to check it out.” Falma sat up and pointed to the magic item. I tried not to step on all the gold scattered around my feet and went up to it.

“Madoka, can you try appraising it?” I asked.

“Yes, I got ready for that in case you asked me to.” Madoka gathered gold in a sack as she made her way over to me. The magic item was small enough to sit in the palm of my hand. It looked like a crystal cube set in a metal frame. I picked it up carefully and passed it to Madoka.

♦Trap Cube: Teleportation Circle♦

So…does that mean we can set a teleportation circle? We can’t set it in housing we rent, so I’ll have to ask Louisa where we could use it…

“Thank you, Madoka. Now I understand what it is,” I said.

“You’re welcome. It’s a very pretty item. It looks like a magic circle floating inside clear glass.”

It appeared more like a decoration for a room than a trap turned into an item. Either way, it was obvious it had special value.

Removing the trap seemed to have been a lot of work for Falma, because she looked more tired than in the past. I had thought that we could ask her to turn future traps into items as well because they could be useful, but it might be best to try not to think about that as an option.

The fact that there was so much equipment that women could use was quite a boon considering the makeup of my party. Even so, I thought we’d be really lucky if we could swap two or three pieces of equipment, but we ended up finding way more usable items than I had expected.

“Ooh, magic cards! Sounds like something for meeee! I wonder if there had been a person with Magician as a job,” said Misaki.

“Seems like it. We also found a silk top hat…but I don’t think anyone in the party can equip that, so perhaps we should set it aside for now. Or maybe you want to try it on, Atobe? It might just suit you,” said Igarashi.

“N-no… I don’t think it would go well with my other equipment. And the effects…hmm?”

♦Spider Silk Top Hat +2♦

Reading the effects again, I found that it had several different kinds. There wasn’t anyone in the party at the moment who should equip it, but there were a few things interesting about it.

“This equipment is job specific… It looks like a Magician asked a craftsperson to make it on special request. There’s some effects that would work for anyone, but it’s definitely meant for a Magician,” said Igarashi.

“I see. It’d be nice if we could make it usable for a different job… Anyway, I don’t really get the impression it’d be useful for battle even if we had the full set,” I said.

“There’s spider in the name. Perhaps it’s part of a set with the torn tights we found earlier… Since they’re for a Magician, it’s like a costume you’d wear when putting on a show or something.” Igarashi smiled wryly, but it did mean that if we got the set, we might have someone equip it because it could have fairly strong effects.

“If I equipped just the top hat and the torn tights… Oh, come on, I get it! You don’t need to actually pull away in disgust like that; I am actually a girl with a sense of modesty. It hurts when you do that,” said Misaki.

“Anyway, there’s no point making you wear them—they’re for a Magician. Is there anything else usable?”

“There isn’t anything better than what I currently have… There’s a limit to how many accessories you can equip. I didn’t find anything, but the others found things they can use,” said Elitia.

Like Elitia said, we got a lot of equipment, but for some reason there wasn’t a single rune or magic stone. Up until now, we’d found some in every chest we opened, but apparently that wasn’t always the case.

“I didn’t think we’d find any Shrine Maiden equipment… But some things do have effects,” said Suzuna.

“There was some head equipment for me, and I found a weapon for Cion that has a star in the name. It doesn’t even have any dangerous effects, so she’ll be able to do even more now,” said Igarashi.

“Woof!” Cion barked happily. She wasn’t wearing her new equipment yet, but Igarashi was holding a set of gauntlet-type things with claws attached. That must be what she was talking about. We quickly ran through and appraised everything, ending up with this list of new equipment:

♦New Equipment – KYOUKA♦

♦New Equipment – MISAKI♦

♦New Equipment – SUZUNA♦

♦New Equipment – CION♦

♦New Equipment – MADOKA♦

♦New Equipment – MELISSA♦

One thing worth noting was that we found a piece of equipment made of glow gold, which had come up in conversation before. Another interesting thing was that we found a necklace that made it harder for equipment to break, so we decided Igarashi should wear that considering how often her armor had broken. One thing I did notice, though, was that it only made it slightly more difficult for equipment to break.

I thought it’d be nice if there was some new equipment for me, too, but Silvanus the Enchanter’s Messenger must have completely avoided attacking male Seekers. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a single piece of equipment for me. If I could get the magic gun from Luca, though, I’d at least be able to change out my weapon.

“……”

And we couldn’t forget about Theresia’s equipment. From the collection of weapons we found, there was one that Theresia could use, and we also found her some armor.

♦New Equipment – THERESIA♦

“…Atobe, I was under the impression that Theresia could change out any equipment other than the stuff she can’t take off, but changing for this skin-tight full bodysuit…is a bit of a problem, isn’t it?” asked Igarashi.

“W-well, it’s not like I want to make her wear that by itself. The suit has a property that prevents light from passing through it. I thought it might work as a lining for the bodysuit that uses the camouflage stone…”

“I bet the original owner wore something over it. They were probably a Stuntman or a Diver or something.” Elitia was right. The material was so thin that if someone wore this without something over it, it would reveal all of their curves. It wasn’t like I hadn’t considered that, though. If I wasn’t thinking of using it as a lining for something, I probably would have decided to just put it in storage for now.

“……”

“Yeah, we’ll take the magic stone off the sword you’re using now and put it on your new one. Does that sound good, Theresia?” I asked Theresia since she was standing there staring at her current sword and the gaze stone in it. She responded with a quick nod. Her new sword was also a short sword, but it was made from elluminate and had a +3. Perhaps that’s why it was a different shape and looked more powerful.

In addition to the equipment, we found 7,583 gold coins, 5,874 silver coins, and 6,960 copper coins. It was enough that it didn’t seem like we’d run out of money any time soon, but together it was fairly heavy, so we sent it off to the bank. We called some Carriers to come and take care of the equipment we had no use for, and Madoka haggled a price for it with them.

Shiori was still shocked, perhaps since it had been the first time she’d seen a Black Box opened. Falma appreciated that we let her relax and recover while we worked.

“You’ve all been working so hard. I hope what you found from this chest will help you in your seeking,” she said.

“Thank you, Falma. I was hoping I could offer you an additional payment on top of your normal fee,” I said.

“It’s enough knowing I’ll get the opportunity to travel to the upper districts for work when you need me…”

“You opening Black Boxes for us is the reason we’ve been able to make it this far. And Cion’s been such a huge help to us. I’d just like to thank you for that.”

“But Cion is so energetic these days because of you; I’m the one who should be offering thanks… She’s getting to see the world.”

“Well, then… Since Cion can’t spend her share of our money, please accept that at least. I feel like Cion would be happier knowing it went toward buying Eyck and Plum some nice treats rather than sitting around.”

Falma finally accepted a gift of two hundred gold, though it was only thanks to Cion. She was incredibly hesitant to accept, but I felt like it wasn’t nearly enough.

“Mr. Atobe, I am so grateful for this already, but…could I possibly ask you a favor as well?”

“Of course, you can ask anything you like.”

Falma and Shiori looked at each other and smiled. The two had apparently been talking while Falma rested.

“Well…I took two days for this business trip, meaning I’ll be spending tomorrow in District Seven as well. I plan to spend tomorrow picking up some souvenirs for the kids, but I haven’t actually decided where I’ll be staying tonight…”

In other words, she was hoping she could stay in our house. Everyone else agreed without a moment’s hesitation, and I decided I should be ready to sleep on the couch if we didn’t have enough beds.

Part V: A Magic Gun

Falma wanted to stay at Shichimuan and chat with Shiori more, so we decided to come and pick her up when we were heading home. Our next stop was Boutique Corleone. Luca, the store owner, flashed me a wink while he wrapped up what he was doing with some other customers.

“I thought it would take you longer, but you really are a new star to keep an eye on. Either that or you wanted to come see me again so much you worked really hard,” he said.

“Well, that might have been part of it, but a lot of things just fell into place. It’s all thanks to the hard work of my party and the party we fought alongside.”

“There you go again being so humble. You’re as honest as they come.”

I did get carried away sometimes, but I needed to always remember that what we managed to do in battle was all a result of cooperation.

“Right… Can I have you come with me, Arihito? Perhaps the girls can have a gander at some of what we have to offer. It’s not really large enough back there for everyone to fit.”

“Well, if that’s what you’re going to do, we can buy some of the things we couldn’t last time… Ooooh, it doesn’t look like they get bathing suits in that often,” said Misaki.

“It’s just a timing problem. Let’s buy what we need and try not to waste anything.” Igarashi turned to me and nodded as she chided Misaki. Luca attended to them before leading me into the back of the store.

The boutique’s interior was bright and homey, but Luca’s room for business discussion was dimly lit and furnished with leather seats and a table made of glossy black stone; it looked exactly like a room from a Mafia movie. It also smelled of musk, but maybe that was how Luca liked it.

“You’re probably thinking this room is really used for secret conversations. Everyone’s surprised at first. The shopworkers have gotten so used to it, they’ll even come in here for a cup of tea while they gossip on their breaks.”

“N-no… It definitely has a certain flair to it, but the decoration’s spot on. It looks like something you’d see in a movie.”

Luca smiled vaguely at my comparison but didn’t respond. But it really wasn’t like he was trying to pull me into a criminal underworld. That was obvious; there was karma, which meant you couldn’t do anything really bad.

“This is where I went to get it before, the magic gun. It’s in a hidden safe,” said Luca. Hanging on the wall was a taxidermy monster that looked like a buck, but it was actually a hidden switch. Luca slipped his hand into the creature’s mouth, and a painting on the wall slowly slid to the side. Behind it was a safe.

Uh… The recess where the safe is looks like it has burn marks around it…

“Magic items are so useful, aren’t they? You can do quite a few things with them that you wouldn’t be able to without electricity.”

“It’d be exciting to have a device like that in my house.”

“Ah, you get it. It’s important to never lose your childlike fascination, no matter how old you get.” Luca twirled the dial on the safe to open it, and inside was the attaché case he had shown me before. I took out my license and pulled up the proof that we defeated the sheep monsters that seemed like they’d be a source of high-quality cloth. Luca activated the mechanism again, and the painting slid back into its original position. He set the case on the table, sat in a chair across from me, and folded his hands. There was a tension between us that said I’d get shot quickly if I let him down.

“Right… Arihito, do you have what I asked for?”

“It’s currently being dissected. I believe we should have the materials in the next few days. Would materials from these monsters make a good suit?”

Luca examined the type and number of monsters my license showed we defeated, and his eyes went wide. He let out a shaky breath, took a cigar that was sitting on the table, and started to light it—but stopped as he looked at me with a wry smile.

“I’m amazed… I can’t believe you’d go this far past what I hoped for. Fiber from a sheep’s coat, wool, is considered the best material for cloth that you can find in District Seven. On top of that, these monsters… If I can use material from a Named Monster’s body, I’ll be able to make the best suit I’ve ever made.”

“I’m glad… Wool is definitely a material used for suits, though I imagine it’ll shrink if you don’t have it dry-cleaned.”

“Any clothing will get damaged someday. You can increase its life with proper care, though… I have a feeling your party will move up to the next district surprisingly fast. I’ll do everything to repair and care for your clothing while you are here.”

I’d bought clothing in District Eight as well, but it wasn’t often that you met a craftsperson like Luca—someone who was mysterious but easy to get along with, who I could talk with about so much, and who worked so hard to make clothes for me. It was one of those strange twists of fate.

“Luca, I imagine you’re already in a contract with someone, but if not, I was wondering if I might be able to have an exclusive contract with you. It would include maintenance of my suits of course, but I’d also like to talk to you about everyone else’s clothes as well.”

It wasn’t that unheard of to continue using the services of an establishment that made you a suit once, but Luca looked like he didn’t know what to say. He seemed confused, but he didn’t outright reject the offer.

“…Right. I can’t be certain how strong the equipment will be without seeing the materials first, but since my apprentice is working on making other clothing, I can commit myself to your suit. I’ll finish it within a week. Why don’t you reevaluate my work once its complete?”

“One week… That’s amazing. I wouldn’t be surprised for a custom-order suit to take over a month to make.”

“With all my years of experience, I should be able to make it work. We normally have a lot in the shop, but there’s all sorts of equipment that can’t be mass-produced just like suits. There’s a lot of crude items out there, too, so I’m not about to tell you to treasure your average leather armor or buckler.”

A craftsperson had made every single piece of equipment. Thinking about it made me want to find someone to look at all the equipment we’d found in a chest.

“First, I’ll use the Thunder Head wool for the lining; that will give it lightning resistance. Then there’s these Darkness Blitzes… They’re incredibly rare, and their wool is perfect for a suit since it’s dyed from the start. Normally, I’d dye Stray Sheep wool, but the color is completely different.”

“Really… The suit I’m wearing now feels pretty comfortable, but it doesn’t have any special effects. It’d be nice if I could have that as well.”

“One problem with wool is its breathability, but I can fix that with materials I have on hand. Since you wear armor over your suit, it’s probably best to think of it as a sort of gambeson you’d normally wear under armor.” Luca’s eyes shone as he started talking about the suit’s details. It was that childlike fascination he was saying you should never lose. “Were you thinking that an adult like me shouldn’t get so carried away?”

“No, I was happy that you’d be this excited to make my suit. I wore a suit every day before I reincarnated, but I didn’t have a single one that had that much put into it. It’s a nice change.”

“I appreciate you saying that. I’m normally making ready-made clothes; it’s rare that I get a chance to make something one of a kind like this.”

The clothing options in the boutique were all excellent, but I suppose as a fashion designer, that wasn’t enough. I was thinking that when Luca opened the case on the table. Apparently we’d reached that point in the conversation. Inside was a gun made of black metal that shone dully. Since it was a magic gun, though, loading and using it was likely very different from a normal gun.

“This magic gun… How do you use it to fight?” I asked.

“I can tell you that it comes at a high cost. If you can equip the gun, you can shoot it by ‘charging’ it with magic stones.”

“Charge… I see. But if that’s the case, how is it different from applying a magic stone to a weapon and using a special attack?”

Luca smiled as if I’d asked a good question, then picked up a clear magic stone that was inside the case and showed it to me.

“Arihito, do you know what magic stones are made of?”

“They appear to be produced by the labyrinths. They grow in the labyrinths, then monsters carry them around either in chests they have or somewhere on their bodies, I guess.”

“That’s right, but also slightly wrong. Whenever a skill is used inside the labyrinth, the energy seems to disappear, but apparently, it’s actually gathered into the labyrinth. For example, regardless of whether its friend or foe, if something keeps using skills with a water attribute inside a labyrinth, a lot of water-related magic stones will be produced. There are magic stone deposits as well, but they’re completely different from gemstone deposits.”

I was very interested in what Luca was telling me, and he seemed to like that because he smiled as I listened intently.

“I make myself sound like an expert, but this is all information you can learn if you do some research in the Guild’s data repository.”

“I have heard that there’s one in District Seven. I haven’t had a chance to go yet…”

“You can even manage to get a little information about District Six and higher in District Seven. There is a limit on what you can access in the data repository based on what district you’ve made it to, which is pretty annoying. Some people spend a lot of time in the repositories, but I can only recommend you go when you need to… And I think that’s enough off-the-topic chitchat.”

“It was very useful information, though. So then, this magic stone…”

Luca handed me the magic stone. Inside the clear stone was what appeared to be a white mist. When I stared closely at it, it looked like it was swirling slightly.

“This has no fire or wind or whatever attribute; it’s an attribute-less magic stone. There are a few floors in a labyrinth where all the monsters use attribute-less attacks. Based on the monsters’ level, you can find this kind of magic stone. This is the lowest grade ‘white crystal’ there is… You can check out the specifics on your license.”

♦White Crystal (3)♦

“It seems like it’d be incredibly hard to get a magic stone like this, or something like the magic gun, in District Seven…,” I said.

“If you understand their value, then go ahead and use it as you like. I’d prefer for the Seekers I like to stay alive for a long time to come.” Luca tried to say it lightly, but there was a somberness to his tone he couldn’t hide.

Supporters worked with a lot of Seekers. It wasn’t surprising that some of them would lose their lives. It was supporters, not Seekers, who encountered people’s deaths most often.

“If you want this white crystal, you’ll have to agree to my conditions for how you seek in the labyrinth. If you don’t, you can make friends with a magic stone salesman. These stones are in high demand, so they tend to get sold in the higher districts,” said Luca.

“Do you mean they’re like potions…? They sell out in the higher districts so they’re expensive and hard to find?” When I said the word potion, Luca got a distant look in his eyes that I could have missed had I blinked.

“…Let me say one thing. Even if you find yourself in a difficult situation, don’t do something that’ll have negative consequences later down the line.”

“Of course… Well, I hope I can keep that one. I tend to get reckless when I’m in the heat of things. I need to be more careful about that.”

“It’s good to keep a level head. I don’t get the impression that you’re reckless just because you want the fame of having accomplished something, Arihito.” Luca seemed to want to express something during the time that we spoke. I finally understood what that was. Luca had used this magic gun when he’d been a Seeker in the past. By accepting it and using it, I was carrying on with his goals.

♦Light Mithril Revolver +3♦

The gun itself actually gave you the Magic Stone Operation 2 skill. That meant that even I could use it without a problem.

“If you charge and fire this magic gun with a normal magic stone, the attack is more powerful than it would be if you put that magic stone into equipment and activated a special attack. And if you can use that white crystal, well, you’ll find a lot more situations you can break through. There are some magic stones that are easily used as ammunition, so you could use those instead. When you find yourself in a real bind, you can use rare magic stones to get yourself out of there.”

“So that’s what you meant when you said it came at a high cost. It has its risks, but it seems like it’ll work well as a trump card.”

“Yeah, it’ll do you well if you keep it concealed. Sometimes I miss the smell of lead bullets and gunpowder, though… Yeah right!” Luca said it jokingly, but he definitely wasn’t a normal guy before he’d reincarnated. I decided to just leave that to my imagination.

Now, Luca ran an outstanding tailoring business, and soon I’d be the one evaluating his work. I was certain that no matter what suit he made, it would be a fine piece that I could wear and know it was worth it.

“The gun won’t stand out if you put it in the inside pocket of your suit. A man should always have a whiff of danger about him… Right, I should start taking your measurements now.” Luca pulled a tailor’s measuring tape from his pocket, stretched it out, and showed me. I didn’t think they’d have something like that in the Labyrinth Country originally; perhaps Luca made it himself or received it from somewhere.

“…By the way, Arihito, I had my reasons, but did you notice that I’ve used that gun in this room?” he said. As the very last thing, he pointed out the secret. How exactly had the holes in the wall that hid the safe gotten there? They weren’t small holes. If the gun had made them, I had a feeling it would become very useful in future battles.