Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Treasure!
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The footsteps echoing through the darkness came to a halt.
As Lia, who had been leading the way, stopped in her tracks, everyone following behind froze in place.
"What's wrong?"
"It's a fork."
Lia turned around as she spoke.
Ian raised his lantern and held it out ahead, the light stretching a little farther to illuminate the passage before them.
Straight ahead lay the same endless corridor as always.
And just as Lia had said, a new passage branched off from one of the walls, leading in another direction.
It was the third fork they'd encountered since entering the labyrinth.
Everyone set down their packs in front of the fork, keeping watch on their surroundings as they took a brief rest.
They couldn't move on until the direction was decided, making it a natural break time.
"Which way?"
"Let me think for a sec..."
Everyone turned their eyes to Ian, awaiting his decision.
But even Ian couldn't know for sure which path was correct.
If he could, it wouldn't be called a labyrinth in the first place.
Ian quietly unfolded his map.
Since finishing the battle in the first room, they'd passed through several more, filling out the map a bit further.
After clashing with monsters like ghouls and skeletons a few times, everyone was starting to feel worn out.
It'd be great if a good rest spot showed up soon...
With that in mind, Ian chose their direction.
"How do you pick the paths? Got a method or something?"
Tanya asked, having watched him from the side.
Hearing her question sparked everyone's curiosity, and they all looked to Ian.
"Yeah, I've been wondering too."
"Where do you even learn that?"
It was something they'd all been quietly curious about.
Ian never hesitated much when choosing paths in situations like this.
He hadn't scouted ahead before, so he had no idea what lay waiting either.
But it felt like Ian had some kind of standard for picking paths.
And those choices usually turned out pretty decent.
What standard did he use? And where could someone learn it?
It was the kind of knowledge any mercenary would want.
Ian folded the map away and answered.
"I just go with my gut?"
"..."
His response left everyone exchanging baffled looks.
No way that was the real answer.
Maybe it was too tricky to explain, so he was dodging?
Rin ventured carefully.
"Is it some secret technique you can't share?"
"Nah, it's really just gut feeling..."
"..."
Everyone's gazes shifted to the fork Ian had just picked.
The mercenaries who'd have to head that way now wore oddly complicated expressions.
"So you're saying... it's been gut feeling the whole time?"
"And it's worked out great so far."
They'd all hoped for some special lore or secret art, but pathfinding really was just instinct.
Not that it was pure guesswork, though.
Do the same thing long enough, and patterns start popping up now and then.
Terrain that clusters together.
Shapes that stay fixed every time.
Features spaced at set intervals.
Layouts where the next room's a lock structurally.
And so on.
Overplay the same game to death, and you spot path patterns that theory can't quite pin down.
A hunch like, this is where it'll show up.
To anyone else, though? It just looked like random picks.
"If that's it, then I could've chosen!"
"...Rin, your picks are kinda..."
"What's wrong with my gut!"
Rin yelled, tussling with Mika.
"Bet on it then? What's down this way!"
A challenge to pit their instincts against each other.
Rin went first with her guess.
"Skeleton room for me!"
The sudden bet had everyone chiming in quietly one by one.
"Treasure room!"
"...Ghoul."
"Uh, same as me? Then... dead end."
And Ian wrapped it up last.
"Empty room."
With the path set, everyone grabbed their gear and stood.
Lanterns lit, they advanced cautiously, step by step, down the dark passage.
It wasn't long before they reached the corridor's end.
An empty room.
"Rest here."
"..."
Ian told the crew as he dropped his pack.
"No, for real..."
"How's he always right..."
Surely a method too tough to explain its origins, so he kept it close.
Everyone grumbled a bit as they dumped their packs in the room's center.
"Huu..."
Tanya eased her backpack down too.
Shed trimmed unneeded weight as much as possible, but it was still bulkier than usual.
You never knew how long it'd drag on or what might hit in a labyrinth.
The pack brimmed with only the barest essentials, mulled over long and hard.
Ian had stressed Tanya's role would be key inside the labyrinth, but she'd figured it for courtesy.
Now in the thick of it, though? She got it.
How long the expedition lasted hinged on the porter's performance, just like he'd said.
Tanya swiftly checked remaining supplies, darting between members to top up shortages.
"Fire's going."
"This area's squared away."
Meanwhile, the others finished securing the perimeter and prepped to rest.
A small campfire flickered as they gathered round, pulling out food.
Minimal packs meant mostly rations.
But subsisting solely on them wore down morale and recovery, so they'd carved space for basic cooking stuff.
Tanya whipped up a modest soup with it.
In the labyrinth's chill, undead's icy aura drifting through the gloom, that warmth soothed like balm for the soul.
"Huu..."
Ian eyed each member around the fire, one by one.
No real long break amid those fights had drained everyone's stamina.
Perfect timing for this spot, so Ian opted for more downtime.
"Crash here a while."
"Night watch then."
"Rin lost the bet—her shift?"
"H-Hey! You all whiffed too!"
"This covers it."
Ian pulled out prepared holy water.
[Holy Water]
- Consumable Item
- In combat vs. undead/demons: Applies Luck
- During camp: Prevents night raids for a set duration
Ian sprinkled holy water around the room's entrance.
No raid worries while they slept, so everyone dozed off peacefully for a stretch.
Ian methodically scouted ahead for a time, fleshing out the labyrinth map.
Checking each fork's terminus, clearing monsters as they went.
Supplies dwindled gradually, but growing familiar with labyrinth fights let them handle foes steadily.
Ian traversed a corridor toward a room at the map's fringe.
Isolated 'end rooms' like this often held something special.
Luck willing, the boss room might turn up right away.
The crew, heeding Ian, stayed extra vigilant—whatever came—and padded down the long hall.
"Think I see something?"
"Sparkly."
A small chamber at the corridor's end.
Beyond the lantern's glow, deep in that murk, something gleamed.
A suspicious sparkle smack in the room's middle.
Everyone tensed, squinting to make it out.
Inching closer warily, they finally ID'd the glinting object.
A treasure chest.
"Treasure...!"
Someone murmured on impulse; eyes bulged all around.
The labyrinth's treasure.
The stuff of rumors only.
Ian recognized it too, eyes widening likewise.
Gold-trimmed—the fabled 'gold chest'. No lock even.
Ian barked to the crew at once.
"Back up."
"Huh?"
Ian whipped out his map, slapping an X on the room they'd just left.
Rin, who'd watched him map plenty, knew the mark: no-go zone.
For now, they wheeled about per Ian and backtracked.
Rin, eyes still starry from the chest, quizzed Ian.
"Why... why though? It's treasure..."
The labyrinth's rule... risk and reward.
A dead simple law shaping the place.
Danger and trials brought payoffs.
Petty perils, petty prizes.
Monstrous menaces, monstrous gains.
Flip side held too, naturally.
A fat prize plunked in plain sight like this?
It screamed we're gonna slaughter you.
In this game, labyrinth party wipes? Top culprit wasn't beasts or traps or even bosses.
'Treasure rooms'.
Not just clueless rookies.
Even jaded vets yelling I got this!.
Claimed more than half the tally, all player tiers.
"Heard prime labyrinth swag fetches at least 100 gold a pop..."
"Rin. You rate this spot 100-gold dangerous?"
"Hm..."
Rin mulled Ian's question.
Sure, perilous. Grueling. No joke.
But 100-gold caliber? Bluntly, nah.
Even the monster wave that rocked them hardest fell short.
"Not quite."
"So, what kinda hell earns a 100-gold haul?"
"Hell worth 100 gold?"
Rin and the rest pondered in silence.
"...Just go."
Rin shuddered head to toe, shuffling off quietly.