Chapter 131
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Labyrinth City
"Hypnotized?"
"Yeah."
Everyone wore puzzled expressions at Hawk's words.
"Even without any magical knowledge..."
Hawk continued.
The more you go in and out of the labyrinth in this city, the more your mind sinks into the idea that you have to keep exploring.
"If you've entered the labyrinth with strong willpower or some other reason and become an explorer, it's not a big problem. But most people who come to this city..."
"Are folks coming here for a much better life than as commoners or kingdom citizens."
"Right."
Hawk nodded at my words.
I'd asked Sia to cast Soothing's blessing on Claude too.
Claude, who had been tilting his head in confusion at not following the conversation, seemed to recall it just now, and his expression turned serious.
"How deep does this mental sinking go?"
"You start thinking of labyrinth exploration as just a natural thing. Like breathing."
"How long does it take?"
"The longer the exploration period, the more naturally it seems."
"Hmm... Based on that, the city itself isn't that dangerous..."
"The exchange rate."
"Ah."
This city's shitty double-layered exchange rate.
I'd just thought it was some scheme by the city's rulers obsessed with money.
"Yeah... Even if you want to leave the labyrinth, by the standards of nearby alliance cities, you'd need to exchange at least 30-40 gold per person to settle somewhere quiet."
I recalled that 3-4 gold in coinage could roughly cover a vegetable patch, a hut, and settling costs. Since the exchange rate is 10 to 1.
"Exactly. In that case, it'd be better to open a shop in the city or do something else instead of exploring."
"Ah..."
"That's how the city I've seen over the past ten years has been. It feels like someone... is luring people into the labyrinth. Like feeding it endlessly."
"..."
An awkward silence hung in the air.
Even Claude, who was always upbeat and positive except for girl problems, had a grave look.
"The whole city?"
"Yeah. The church, the guild, the security force... all of them."
Let's think about this.
First, the guild.
During the mentoring program explanation last time, Mion said the average survival rate for explorers was 15-20%.
This is based on all explorers who conducted explorations that year, regardless of level.
Which means without the mentoring program, newbie explorers would have survival rates in the gutter.
Now it seems the mentoring program was created to ensure a steady influx of people.
If too many die off in droves, no one would go to the labyrinth, and if there are just enough, they get screwed by various frame-ups.
"The mentoring program's survival rate exceeds 60%, right?"
"Yeah."
Roy, Robin, and Tanya were just unlucky. Normally, if you explore via the mentoring program and return, survival is comfortably over 60%.
No real reason for a mentor to kill newbie explorers in the labyrinth, unless it's over women sold at brothels.
But the underworld guys handle those selling women themselves.
So even less merit there.
Those guys are probably tied to the city too.
Mentors get decent support funds and high mana stone shares similar to tough requests or intense explorations, plus the program is designed to easily sink newbies into the fantasy of becoming mentors themselves.
"Fuck, that's seriously vicious."
Whether you break past the 4th floor, called the mid-layers, makes a huge difference in party fame and earnings.
So many parties wipe on the 3rd or 4th floors, and if you're lucky enough to survive alone, you take your dead comrades' leftover gear and party funds.
Even if you decide you can't explore anymore and try to leave the city... you lack the money and end up stuck here.
Most shop owners in the city aren't people who came here to do business from the start.
They're mostly folks at decent levels above 3, with some nicknames, rumored to have flown high once.
"Besides strong will, mental shocks can snap you out of the sinking too, it seems."
"Usually, yeah. And I've seen cases where people with mental blocks got them removed at the church and then snapped out."
"Ah..."
And the guild master's stats showing 100% with Hitomi's blessing... what's the deal there?
Can't access that yet, so table it for now.
Next, the church.
The divine power and authorities taken by blessings.
Even so, how a surviving church maintains influence here.
And Julius the money-grubbing priest warned me.
Feels like the empire is tangled with the city.
This... I'll have to approach it after somehow getting Sion to reveal her identity to me.
The security force and such... that's the city's will itself, no need to mention.
"Ugh... my head's gonna explode."
"Haha... Sounds like you've got a lot of suspicions."
"I'm the party brain, you know. I've seen and heard plenty."
"Sorry, Cain. I'm not getting it... Honestly, no clue what you're talking about."
"It's fine. Claude, I'll explain it super simply later."
"Thanks."
Even Claude, who usually left the thinking to me, was grunting to understand this time but ended up apologizing.
It's okay, Claude. That's the right attitude. At least he seems aware he's the party leader, so no need to intervene.
"I know Roy and Tanya have other goals, so no big issue there. Lauren wants to master swordsmanship too... so probably fine."
"But isn't it a hassle for Sia to cast the blessing every time?"
"...Hah... C-Cain... I-It's... f-fine..."
Is Soothing's blessing a channeling skill? Sia was sweating bullets, smiling at me, but light was still pouring from her hand.
What? Still casting the blessing?
It's supposed to be a one-shot, but maybe the curse or whatever blanketing the labyrinth and city keeps stacking, forcing the blessing to continue.
I quickly pulled out my notebook, jotted down everything from the talk with Hawk, and looked at Sia.
"Sia, you can stop now."
"Ung..."
Poof—
I caught Sia as she slumped and turned to Hawk.
"Now that we've got some suspicion, I think we're good."
"Yeah? That's a relief."
"So... that's why you were looking for that necklace, old man?"
"......Yeah."
Hawk's voice cracked at the end, full of regret.
"A family heirloom... something like that?"
"Huh?"
"Like an engagement ring given to your fiancée."
"Like a ring passed from grandma to mom to daughter-in-law?"
"Where'd you pick up that custom? Grahaha!"
He forced his usual laugh at my words, but his face was grim.
"After reaching level 3 in five years, the blessing I got was curse immunity."
"What?"
And then Hawk's tale continued.
"Told my fiancée about the suspicions, but she didn't believe me."
"Ah..."
"You saw the lizard champion using it? It's protective gear."
"Then...?"
"Protects the mind too."
Once Hawk had his fiancée wear the heirloom necklace, she noticed the oddities too.
But they couldn't leave the city right away.
Party members didn't understand their sudden decision to leave, and they'd mostly finished settling preparations.
While preparing to part from party members they'd grown attached to over five years, Hawk and his fiancée started digging into the suspicious parts of their experiences bit by bit.
Hawk, young and hot-blooded then, ignored his fiancée's pleas to at least figure out why before leaving.
"She tried to stop me at first, but I thought it'd be fine if we were super careful."
They got close to the truth but circled around; on the day Hawk, half-resigned, went into the labyrinth for a final exploration with his party.
"Portal breach."
"Ah..."
Accidentally—or intentionally—following another party into a portal.
Usually, security is posted in halls too, so intentional breaches are rare.
"My comrades collapsing, my fiancée... and as I fell, the last thing I saw was security force armor."
"......"
"Woke up alone in the floor transfer hall."
He spoke flatly, but the content was anything but.
"Cain, you know the rumors? Bodies or items of labyrinth dead sometimes found in other portals."
"Yeah."
"That rumor was ancient when I first came. So I've been here ten years. My body and mind wanted to bolt from this damned place immediately."
Hawk trembled, clutching the necklace, his voice shaking.
"If I couldn't even find th-this necklace, I'd..."
Everyone fell silent at his voice thick with anguish.
"Ha... damn, back then it was seven... now seven again."
Only Hawk's hollow voice echoed around us.