Chapter 252: So When Are We Going Down the Labyrinth? (3)
Chapter 252: So When Are We Going Down the Labyrinth? (3)
The profession of an adventurer is, by nature, a solitary one.
Though they belong to a collective known as the Adventurer's Guild, it is merely a gathering of individuals acting as an interest group for their own benefit.
—Do you think the Infinite Labyrinth would even run properly without the Adventurer's Guild?!
—The continental economy is booming precisely because adventurers risk their lives fighting in the Infinite Labyrinth!
—What? War? We came here to conquer the Infinite Labyrinth, not to participate in some war!
No matter how much fantasy stories might glamorize adventurers as those who step up to protect villages from monster raids, the adventurers of this world turned a blind eye to Fermaton when war loomed.
And the price for that indifference was devastating.
"Ruji Fermaton has gone mad! He's declared all-out war on the Adventurer's Guild!"
"Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Look at this!"
An angry adventurer spread a poster he had ripped off a street wall onto a table.
"What's this? 'Recruiting knights for the conquest of the Infinite Labyrinth'...? Ha, they call them knights, but they're just adventurers, aren't they?"
"So what? Isn't Ruji Fermaton just trying to catch some new female monster to jerk off to?"
At first, those who heard the news didn't pay much attention.
"So, does he let us have free sex with succubi? Hehe."
No matter how many knights a man like Ruji Fermaton recruited, it wasn't a particularly important part of their lives.
"You idiot! It's not a day job! It's official employment!"
"...What?"
Now it was important.
It wasn't just a one-time mass hiring of adventurers for an event; 'employing' them as people of Fermaton was a completely different story.
"So you're saying Fermaton is officially gathering adventurers right now?"
Instead of just hiring adventurers as guides once in a while, Fermaton was going to hire people directly to explore the labyrinth?
"Th-this is insane! Fermaton is going to use adventurers directly? Crazy!"
"This can't happen! If Fermaton does the business themselves, what are we supposed to live on?!"
"They'll probably start monopolizing sectors in the Infinite Labyrinth! They'll take all the 'honey spots' for themselves and push us into the dangerous areas! The Infinite Labyrinth is already getting more dangerous, and now we're going to be forced into the death traps while they watch us die!"
The picture was clear.
They could see a future where adventurers belonging to Fermaton would act entitled and discriminate against those in the Adventurer's Guild.
"They'll definitely raise taxes, won't they? I bet they will. They'll implement discriminatory policies against anyone in the Adventurer's Guild!"
"Is that all? Later on, they'll probably discriminate at the very entrance! They'll make it so no one can even enter the Infinite Labyrinth unless they belong to Fermaton!"
"How is Fermaton even going to employ that many adventurers?"
"Who knows! They'll figure it out with the money they made selling succubi! Why are we worrying about Fermaton's wallet right now?! We should be worried about Fermaton trying to starve the Adventurer's Guild to death!!"
It was an emergency.
If they stayed still, they were at risk of losing the superior status the Adventurer's Guild had always enjoyed.
"S-surely they wouldn't go that far? Everyone, please calm down..."
"Calm down? Easy for you to say! You're a receptionist, so you could probably get a job at Fermaton immediately because you're a woman, but we're men!"
"Ugh... I wonder if they're recruiting sluts too? They wouldn't discriminate between virgins and non-virgins just because we're women, right?"
"God, this is driving me crazy. I don't know what kind of conditions that lunatic Ruji Fermaton is offering, but he's really making people lose their minds."
One might say they were overthinking it, but those who had witnessed Ruji Fermaton's eccentricities—or rather, his madness—couldn't bring themselves to dismiss his intentions.
"Where did Guild Leader Bernhard go?! Damn it, the thing we feared has finally happened!"
"Wait, what's the big deal? Isn't it a good thing for us if Fermaton hires adventurers officially?"
"You moron! Why would that be good? He's openly designing a way to kick us out!"
"Designing, my ass. He's probably just looking for virgins to deflower under the guise of recruiting adventurers."
The adventurers fell into chaos.
Some, looking at Ruji Fermaton's past track record, predicted it was just a means to sleep with female adventurers.
Others predicted he would swallow the Adventurer's Guild whole and then use the adventurers as soldiers to win wars against other territories.
And some interpreted it as an ambition to abolish the Adventurer's Guild entirely and have Fermaton handle the conquest of the Infinite Labyrinth directly.
"Either way, it's natural for the adventurers to be divided. Look at the weekly pay."
"What about the weekly pay? The weekly pay is... 10,000 Gold?!"
Not monthly, but weekly.
An incredible hospitality amounting to 10,000 Gold.
"Wow, he's actually paying that much?"
Considering a guard's monthly salary was slightly less than 20,000 Gold, a weekly pay of 10,000 Gold was a truly staggering allowance.
"Ha. Who can live on 10,000 Gold?"
For those who hoped to find a stable job, it was one thing.
"We're people who can easily make 100,000 Gold in a single run through the Infinite Labyrinth. Why would we join Fermaton and work for a measly 10,000 Gold a week?"
For the high-tier adventurers who were already making more than what Fermaton offered, there wasn't much of an incentive.
Unless Fermaton offered at least double or triple that amount, becoming a Fermaton adventurer was essentially no different from donating one's talent and life.
"Listen, if I just do a quick run below the 30th floor, I can easily make 10,000 Gold in a day. And what? Weekly pay? Tell him to go suck on his mama's tits."
"Whose? The Countess's?"
"Hey, you'll get arrested if you say things like that these days, you know?"
"Did I say anything wrong? Hahaha!"
Most of them ignored the conditions Ruji Fermaton had set.
"...I'm stuck on the 10th floor, so it's a different story for me. I wonder if ability doesn't matter?"
"Isn't this a jackpot even for people lingering in the mining areas? It means he'll give 10,000 Gold a week even if you're just a miner."
"As if he'd pay 10,000 Gold just to make you mine. He'll make you do other things too."
"Still, isn't it a win to earn 10,000 Gold doing that?"
And there were some who began to seriously calculate the profit and loss.
"This won't do. Let's go to Fermaton right now and talk!"
In the end, to settle this chaos, they had to go to Fermaton Castle and speak directly—
"Are you going to go? You know the pimps went to Fermaton and had their entire red-light district slaughtered that same day, right?"
"Ruji Fermaton is a guy who has a fit if you even slightly annoy him. He's a lunatic steeped in madness."
"Maybe this is a high-level tactic to create a pretext for the Adventurer's Guild to attack? He's trying to bait one of us into picking a fight with him."
No one dared to actually visit Fermaton Castle.
"Damn it. Is this guy doing this because he's sulking that the adventurers didn't help him during the territorial war?"
The moment someone muttered that to themselves and everyone else tilted their heads, thinking 'maybe'...
Creeeeak.
The main gate of the Adventurer's Guild opened.
At the entrance stood Bernhard, his face the same as always, looking puzzled at the frozen atmosphere inside the guild.
"Oh, you're here, Guild Leader. Don't you think so too?"
"Think what?"
"This thing about recruiting knights to conquer the Infinite Labyrinth. Isn't it ridiculous?"
"...Hmm."
Bernhard, having returned to the guild, stood still for a long time, clutching the poster in his hand.
"Conquering the Infinite Labyrinth...?"
As if contemplating something, he fell into deep thought, even closing his eyes.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Are you angry after all? That's our Guild Leader. No matter if it's Fermaton, this is crossing the line. Right? An act like this, dividing the Adventurer's Guild..."
"Conquering the Infinite Labyrinth."
"...Guild Leader?"
The adventurers began to feel uneasy.
"Conquering... conquering..."
Everyone watching realized the situation was unusual and cautiously approached the Guild Leader. He gripped the poster tightly and headed toward the Guild Leader's office.
"Guild Leader?! What are you doing?!"
He then reached out and personally ripped his own nameplate off the door of the office.
"No, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Retiring as an adventurer."
Crack!
Bernhard crushed his own nameplate with his bare hand and reached inside the wall.
Rumble.
The moment he reached for something shining between the wooden walls and pulled back, the false wall shattered, and a massive double-edged axe revealed itself.
"Just when I thought I was wasting away and dying of old age, something interesting happens. Hahaha."
"W-wait a minute. Guild Leader...? You're not seriously thinking of becoming one of Fermaton's people, are you?"
"It's been a long time since my blood as an adventurer has boiled like this. I can't just sit still."
Bernhard shouldered the double-edged axe and turned his gaze toward the main gate.
"Hmm..."
"Hey, look at that!"
Ten armored knights were walking down the street.
Five Black Light-Armor Knights and five White Heavy-Armor Knights boasted a sophisticated beauty.
"Is that... the new armor Fermaton's knights are wearing...?"
"It might be... a little amazing?"
"Hmph. What's so good about armor that doesn't even look practical?"
The moment people's eyes were drawn to the armor.
The knights patrolling the streets suddenly thumped their fists against their chests.
Whirrrr.
"What...?"
"Light... from the armor?"
Flash!
Light began to twinkle on the black and white armor respectively.
That light was unmistakably the glow of mana.
"Crazy. They... hammered magic stones into the armor?"
"It seems Fermaton has finished its full-scale preparations."
Bernhard stepped out of the Adventurer's Guild and struck a pose with a slightly awkward expression.
"I, Bernhard, shall become a knight of Fermaton!"
A day later.
Knight Bernhard began to roam the streets, personally wearing the glowing armor.