033. Dance Joyfully, Rise and
Rise and the centaurs finished preparing the meal. We sat around the fire pit, starting our meal and continuing the conversation.
The Jo-ryeokja helpers' curiosities were relayed through her as well. Of course, not by me, but by the clown.
[Kiririk. Got it.]
The clown read my thoughts with telepathy and relayed Pruru's chat to the Centauride.
[Centaur! How'd your mom and horse dad mate?]
The Centauride swallowed the meat she was chewing and replied.
[Hmm. You don't know how mating works, do you? How should I explain this...]
[Kiririk?]
The Centauride's gaze turned to me. She boldly extended her hand and proposed.
[Explorer, if it's alright with you, would you mate with me right here?]
What the hell kind of nonsense was this out of nowhere? I stared at her with a rotten expression.
The Centauride cleared her throat and added an explanation.
[Ahem! It seems there's a misunderstanding. I didn't mean mating in a weird way. I just wanted to show you what mating is like. It's easier to understand by seeing it directly than explaining with words.]
She clearly hadn't grasped the question's intent. To make it clearer for her—how her mother could connect emotionally with monsters to mate, if she had something like a charm ability, etc.—I fleshed out the details for the clown's relay.
The Centauride finally understood.
[Ah, I get it now. I misunderstood a bit. Sorry.]
Once the misunderstanding cleared, the centaurs lowered their voices and whispered among themselves.
[Our little sister's type is that kind of guy, huh.]
[Honestly, he's pretty appealing. The explorer's muscles are just as impressive as ours.]
[What a shame. I thought our little sis was finally losing her virginity.]
[Yeah. It was the first time she's proposed mating to someone first...]
Pretending I didn't hear that. I focused on the Centauride's answer.
[My great-great-grandfather said he fell in love at first sight with my grandmother. He courted her first, too. So they mated without any issues.]
An unimaginable reason. A monster falling for an explorer first. That female explorer wasn't unlucky after all.
[Kiririk. Got it.]
The clown relayed Pruru's question again.
[Centaur. Did the other monsters fall for your mom and propose mating too?]
[No. My great-great-grandfather was the only one who fell for her from the start. The rest opened their hearts after being tamed.]
[Kiririk. Then how'd you tame the others?]
[My great-great-grandfather knocked them out and offered them to my grandmother. She tamed them by raping the unconscious ones.]
We decided to pause the Q&A. The food was starting to lose its appeal.
The centaurs had offered to help me. Specifically, what kind of help? After finishing the meal, I asked, and they answered.
[Originally, we planned to protect you from other explorers. If more Helper Trait explorers appeared, we'd help foster friendly relations.]
But that help wasn't needed. I was the only explorer of this generation.
Did that mean I couldn't receive their help? Not at all.
[There's this thing called a vending machine in the labyrinth. Only those with the Helper Trait can use it. For reference, Domination Trait users use something else.]
The centaur drew a square on the ground with his hoof, assuming I wouldn't know about vending machines since I'd only recently become an explorer.
"I've used a vending machine once. Got lucky and found one."
[Ah, I see. No need to explain in detail then.]
The centaur smoothly erased the drawing with his hoof and continued.
[Anyway. We'll patrol the labyrinth, and if we spot a vending machine or crocodile, we'll rush to you and report the location.]
The crocodile referred to the neutral monster selling items beyond tickets.
[No other race can help as much as us here. Among all creatures in this labyrinth, we're in the top ten for speed.]
She brimmed with pride. Fair enough. Regular centaurs were insanely fast, and actual S-grade threat centaurs would be even more so.
"Thanks. But how will you find me? Should I tell you my base?"
[No need.]
The centaur turned his head to look at the Centauride and beckoned her over with a gesture.
[We have the ability to track our kin's locations. So just keep our little one with you.]
[Please take good care of me from now on.]
The Centauride approached and bowed her head.
[Explorer. Tame me first. You might worry about betrayal if I just tag along.]
I nodded. I'd already spotted her red spot—on her horse's rear.
[...Why the butt? Are you proposing mating right now?]
"No. To tame, I have to touch the red spot only I can see, and yours is right there."
[Ahh. So it's not anywhere—it has to be the specific spot.]
"Yeah. And it doesn't happen instantly. It takes time depending on the target."
[Does strong hostility make it take longer?]
"How'd you know?"
[Figured. My mother had to mate multiple times with hostile ones to tame them.]
While chatting, I checked the spot's color change. Her low hostility made it turn green quickly.
"But looks like you can't tame monsters already tamed?"
I asked while taming. I couldn't spot red spots on the other centaurs. At first, I thought it was because they weren't native labyrinth monsters—born here but mixed with explorer blood. But they weren't treated as drifters either. Noticing the oddity, I looked closer and found the Centauride's spot on her rear. Realizing they were fully recognized as labyrinth beings.
[Correct. Tamed ones never betray their explorer. Even if the explorer dies.]
The Centauride glanced at the other centaurs and continued.
[My mother judged even her children could betray her. So she tamed my brothers by mating with them. I'm probably untamed because I'm a girl.]
"Guess same gender can't be tamed."
[Not certain. Mother had no taste for same-sex mating, so she never tested.]
By the time our chat wrapped up, the spot had turned fully green. I lifted my hand from her rear and stepped back.
[Feels good. So this is what it feels like to be tamed...]
The now-tamed Centauride stared at me intently. Maybe it was my imagination, but her eyes brimmed with affection.
[Explorer.]
"Yeah?"
[Now that we're even closer, no thoughts of mating?]
"None."
[What a shame.]
Tonight, I decided to sleep inside the magma slime. Felt uneasy otherwise.
Day 5.
After parting with the centaurs, we set out early morning to track drifters. For reference, the Centauride was with us. She was now my personal mount. No need to ride, but she insisted, so I was on her back.
The ride wasn't bad. After about four hours, we entered a reed field.
[Kiririk. They're close.]
The Psycho Clown suddenly stopped. Drifters nearby, apparently.
[Follow me.]
The Psycho Clown led in a low voice. We pushed through the giant reeds behind him. After three minutes...
[Doomba!]
[Doo- doomba!]
We reached the end of the reeds, emerging into a small clearing. Countless monsters were wiggling their hips with weird chants.
[Doomba! Get hyped!]
[Doomba! Shout it!]
[Dance joyfully! Doomba!]
In front of them.
[Shake those hips more passionately-yot!]
A plain-looking hedgehog was barking orders, while...
"Doomba... get hyped..."
"Doomba... shout it...!"
Familiar-looking Oarak kin were sniffling along.
"Doomba... doo- doomba..."
"Sniff, why am I in this mess..."
No doubt. They were the drifters we sought—Rise's kin exactly. Even had 『Drifter』 floating over their heads.
[Your voices are too quiet-yot!]
"DOOOMBA!!!!"
"Joyfully! Dance!!!"
No idea why, but Rise's kin were dancing zealously with the monsters. They didn't look thrilled.