Chapter 252: Entering the Labyrinth
「Alright, we’ll do this like we talked about yesterday. 」
「Alright. 」
Frighteningly enough, the ‘witness’ from the Adventurer’s Guild was no other than the Deputy Guild Master of the branch here. According to Retze, even if he was a fan, he was not the type to go gaga over his idol, and who knows whether he might even have an ulterior motive. Because of that, our discussion was quite heated last night.
— Did he tag along because we’re being suspected? Somebody finally commented, and that instantly quieted us down.
Dean, Chris and Dinosso, being a rank above the duo, were the ones who went to the counter to report. The rest of us waited at a distance.
Well, we did wait, but Khan’s physique was way too conspicuous, and the deputy guild master here could even See spirits, apparently. Yeah, we couldn’t refute that our group was really suspicious…!
I didn’t speak a word to him so it would probably be fine even if I were to withdraw from here, but the rest of the group would become the target of groundless suspicion if they were to back out, since the deputy already saw their faces. And so, we decided that everyone will participate.
I pulled out a coat just in case, but since wearing such heavy robes while walking around town in the midst of this sweltering heat would be too conspicuous I was still dressed normally for the meantime.
It gets colder the deeper you go into the Labyrinth, so the coat is prepared for that time.
I also showed the coat to everyone and told them that I intend to wear it.
No need to worry, it’s not the same robe I wore while playing Ruf. This new coat has magic circles drawn on the lining; the cooling ones were around the shoulder while the warming ones were around the waist.
We got sandwiches with meat for lunch at the inn, then we set out.
「That’s the 『Supreme Bliss of Heaven』 where the hero is staying! 」
「The rumored hero’s brothel, huh. 」
The building itself was kinda white and with tons of carvings on it. This particular street seemed to be teeming with brothels, but there were also strange-looking buildings on it.
I watched the brothels from the corner of my eye as we passed by, me towards the plaza while the rest of the group was headed toward the guild. Everyone would pass through the plaza on their way to the gates, so I would wait for them here.
There was a market in the plaza, and they also had stalls selling bread and cheese. Ah, no, it’s more like a bazaar with lots of miscellaneous merchandise being sold.
The wheat harvested in the seventh month was already being circulated here, so it’s the season when bread is baked using fresh wheat.
The harvested wheat is first collected and lumped together temporarily, then it would be divided into three groups based on the size of the grain, color, density and composition.
The top tier grade wheat will then be distributed to the houses of the nobles and influential bigwig citizens as well the bakeries in the city. The mid-grade wheat, which is also the most common, is bought in large quantities by local bakeries, innkeepers and also merchants who made bread for their servants. The poorest families would be the ones to buy the low grade wheat. They wouldn’t bother removing the hard parts and would just make the entire thing into whole wheat bread.
Wheat flour is usually left to age and oxidize for several days. Flour has lower water absorption and they’re hard to knead into sticky dough. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why folks think best isn’t always the best in this world, unlike in Japan where the staple food is rice. Bread made from wheat harvested in early summer will be available this fall.
And so, I bought some freshly baked bread.
We explored the area with shops targeted for adventurers last night, but there are actually all sorts of stalls and shops facing the plaza. I’ve heard that the fortress city is famous for various tree saps, sugars, and syrups. We plan to stop by again on the way back, but you know how plans are only plans until executed, so I decided to get some now while I could.
Although there’s still enough time because it would take a while before the group gets to the guild, I didn’t spend too much time choosing. I hurriedly bought three varieties — six pouches in total — and chucked them all into 【Storage】. The affluent folks treat them as some sort of souvenirs since the pouches are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but they’re quite nicely made. I’m going to give them to Dinosso’s family, since they’re staying at home.
Alright, the next thing to do would be wandering around the stalls near the gate. I might lose track of time if I spend too much time looking around the marketplace after all.
I spotted Dean and the others, pretended to blend in inconspicuously with other adventurers and got into the same carriage bound to the Labyrinth. Since many people are headed to the Labyrinth, a separate permission to ride horses was needed, so riding a carriage was a more convenient option.
By the way, The deputy guild master is a glasses-wearing guy that looked like he’s the type to say “Hey there, I’m a mage, but I can cast Heal too, you know.” He’s also possessed by a spirit and even though he looks like he’s in his early twenties, he’s already over forty, they said.
I quietly stole a Glance at him — a beautiful white snake spirit encircled him from his waist and across his back, with its head peeking over his shoulder. A closer Look revealed that it wasn’t snow white, but had a faint golden hue on its body. Wonder what attribute it was? Maybe light or perhaps wind?
Chris’ spirit was still happily rubbing its finger on his chin. It was a peaceful ride.
After we arrived, we went through the necessary procedures and paid the entrance fee at the building in front of the Labyrinth. The entrance was your classic cave. Might be a little bit cliche in stories, but in this world, other entrances can suddenly appear in the middle of a forest, or even inside a building, apparently.
After all, the definition of the Labyrinth is that there are many monsters and they easily get agitated, plus there is a high probability that they carry magic stones, and the spatial configuration is impossible to define.
There are quite a few people in the shallow part of the labyrinth. There’s a map of this particular area available so we checked the path leading down. Just like when we surveyed the forest, there were designated rest areas, and we were told to go there if we got separated.
The plan was to quickly get through the shallow layers and go down as soon as possible, hunt monsters on the layers deeper than the twentieth and bring back materials harvested from them. There were also some minor details other than that, but that’s the general idea.
Once the other adventurers’ figures disappeared from my sight one by one until only Khan’s back remained in my field of vision, I started naming the spirits under my breath while following him. Earth spirit, limestone spirit, echo spirit were named as cave labyrinth number one, cave labyrinth number two, and so on.
The first thing I asked for was to keep the contract a secret, especially from the glasses-wearing adventurer leading the way.
So far, we haven’t encountered any monsters; apparently those in the area had already been hunted down.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
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