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The Otherworld Conquest Method of a Reincarnated Porter Chapter 51 Part 1

Arrival at Mahra

　Using body enhancement, I run along the road at a fast pace. Since my sword and helmet are stored in storage, my body is light and I can run with ease. Porters, who can use storage, have an overwhelming advantage in solo traveling, so this would not have been possible if I had chosen another job. In addition to a change of clothes and a set of equipment, I have more than 20 swords and shields each, eight barrels of honey, a bed, and a bathtub stored in the storage.

I am running along the highway to Mahra, but since I only have a rough map, there is a possibility that I will get lost, but that is also part of the journey.

The carriages I run across or overtake along the way tend to be quite wary of me, so there is a need to keep my distance. I have to be especially careful of adventurers escorting merchants or porters. If they mistake me for a bandit, it will invite nothing but unnecessary trouble. I am exhausted after running for a whole day. The sun has not yet set, but I decide to spend the night in a small town.

I am standing in the line to enter the town, but the line is not moving at all. I can hear the sound of people quarreling from the front row. It seems that a merchant is having trouble with the gatekeeper. After a long argument, it seems that the merchant has to pay a hefty amount of money to enter the town.

「Damn it! Looking down on me just because I run a private store.」

Is a small business that has only a single carriage the target of exploitation in this town? I have a feeling that if they bully the merchants too much, the distribution of goods will end up stagnating, though. Finally, the line moves smoothly.

「Next one, come in!」

Under the instruction of the gatekeeper, I receive an on-the-spot inspection. I show him my porter union card.

「Tch, a porter, huh? Five large copper coins. Next.」

I am able to enter the town so easily. It looks like the power of the porter union is strong, as expected. If they were to make enemies with the union, the distribution of goods would stagnate, after all.

I head to the adventurers’ association and ask them to refer me to an inn. The town has a population of about 1,000 people, but perhaps due to the proximity of the highway, there are a good number of inns. I decide to stay at a relatively expensive inn.

「Welcome.」

「One night, please. How much is it?」

「It’s one large silver coin, breakfast included. There first floor serves as a tavern, so enjoy your stay.」

It is still early in the evening, so I head to my room and wipe myself off. Due to how tired I am, when I lie down on the bed after changing my clothes, I end up falling asleep.

When I wake up, it is 8:00 pm. I am hungry, so I go to the tavern. It is full. Let’s go to another tavern.

「Ah, wait a minute, customer. Do you mind if you share a table with other customers? If you are not, I can show you the table right away.」

To be honest, I don’t want to get involved with the other customers, but the other restaurants might be full too, so I decide to eat here.

The table I am shown to is a round table for five, where a group of four adventurer-like people are eating. It is a harem party with only one man, and they seem to be having quite a lot of alcohol. As for their age, they seem to be in their mid-twenties or so.

「I’m sorry that you have to share your table with me. Let me buy you a drink each.」

「So you do get how things work.」

「I’ll accept it without reservation then.」

When I offer to buy them a drink, the four of them show no particular wariness and order beer and wine respectively. I order three servings of steak, pasta and salad. I have no particular desire to drink alcohol, and for precaution’s sake, I don’t drink alcohol either. Adventurers who turn into robbers at night are by no means uncommon, after all.

「Oh my, you eat three servings? I like men who eat well, you see.」

A magician-like woman sitting next to me starts a conversation with me. If they are adventurers, it is not a bad idea to gather information from them. Let’s have a talk with them for a bit.

「Yeah, I’m a porter, you see. Perhaps because of my auto recovery skill, I get hungry a lot. Are you guys an adventurer party, by some chance?」

「Heh~, you don’t look like a porter at all. That’s right, we are a party of adventurers from the same village. We are in the middle of changing our base of operation to Amberlius.」

「Amberlius, huh. Why there?」

「Because the labyrinth there is relatively safe, which will allow us to earn money more easily. I’ve had enough of dangerous labyrinths.」

There is some gloominess in the way she puts it. I wonder if someone lost their life in the labyrinth.

「I see. I’m on my way to deliver something to Mahra in Neurath territory.」

「Mahra, huh. Which means the Frog Labyrinth, right? It seems to be not very dangerous, but I don’t like how humid the place is, you see.」

「You seem to know a lot about labyrinths. What kind of labyrinths have you dived into thus far?」

「In addition to beginner’s labyrinths you can find anywhere, we have dived into the puppet labyrinth and the evil monkey labyrinth. It seems that in the past the puppet labyrinth was a good place to make money, but now not at all. And the evil monkey labyrinth is too exhausting, you see….」

Something seems to have happened at the evil monkey labyrinth. I am curious, but I get the feeling that if I pry into it too much, I would step on a minefield.

「You said the puppet labyrinth used to be a good place to make money, but is there something that has changed there?」

「Yes, it seems that in the past the labyrinth continued until a deep stratum where you could make a lot of money, but now they don’t know how to get there anymore, you see.」

「Is such a thing possible?」

「It seems that there was a period of time when people couldn’t get into the labyrinth for many years because of the political turmoil that continued on for many years. And it seems that those who knew the way to the deeper stratum all ended up passing away during that period of time. If you can find the way, you will be rewarded with a hundred large gold coins.」

That sounds interesting. I love exploring labyrinths, after all. After Mahra, let’s go and take a look at it, by all means.

「If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine, but can you tell me about the evil monkey labyrinth? I believe it’s way to the east, in the direction of the Evil Dragon Mountain range, right? I’d like to go there sometime, you see.」

「I guess… If you are a porter, I think you can make a lot of money in the evil monkey labyrinth. The labyrinth is flat, with forests at each level, and all the monsters are evil monkeys. More than a hundred evil monkeys appear at once, so the basic strategy is for several parties to group up and explore it together. To carry out the skins of the evil monkeys, a porter is necessary, so you can make a lot of money there, but danger is also everywhere. There are times when you don’t have enough hands to protect the porter, after all.」

「I see. I’d like to go there someday. Is the labyrinth lord strong?」

「Beats me. It is an unconquered labyrinth, so I don’t know. The stratum lords that have been confirmed alone are three in number, and they are too strong, you see. Even my boyfriend died there.」

「!….」

I have no words to say in return. The silver lining is that she has alcohol in her system.

「We’re from the same village and we started out as adventurers in a group of three guys and three girls, you see. When we were in a pinch, my boyfriend was the first to die as he used himself as a decoy. The next to die was the man who had the most talent with the sword. The one who survived in the end was that guy over there who was a coward and was always running away from the front line. I was lonely, you see, and when I let that man have my body, the party turned into his harem party. You, too, whenever danger looms over you, make sure to run away before anything else, even if others call you a coward, okay?」

The only man at the party is drunk as he holds the women on either side of him.

I guess so. In the end, the winner is the survivor. Pride and strength are worthless if you are dead. Even the women who are left behind end up getting stolen, after all.

As I have my dinner, I buy them second, and third glasses of drinks. The man is dead drunk, and he goes up to their room while being supported by the women.

「How’s it? Want to have some talk in my room?」

「Fufufu, fine by me. You’re a young and nice man, after all.」