Volume 7 - CH 1.02

Therefore, an excursion to the thirteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth shouldn’t be too much of a big deal. The only downside is that we’re going to have to make do without Strengthening Pills and Nourishment Pills for the time being, and they were our only restorative backup aside from the 「Medical Treatment」Skill of my Monk Job.

The same thing can be said for the MP Recovery Pills that I downed in order to regain all of my MP at the end of the battle against the Bandits; but thankfully these medicines are mostly just our emergency recovery items meant to be used only during the especially tough Floor Boss encounters. Most times we are capable of going through the battles with regular monsters on the Labyrinth’s floors without sustaining any kind of serious injuries that would be too much for my Skills to heal.

We also have a map of most of the floors of Quratar’s Labyrinth, so with the path to the Boss Room clearly indicated from the very beginning, we’ll be able to clear the thirteenth floor in no time. If it’s only for a short while, then I think that we can allow ourselves to take that small bit of risk by going without MP Recovery Pills.

The most important thing is that we don’t have to worry about encountering any Bandits at all in the Labyrinth of Quratar, since this is an especially busy place that is always crowded with people no matter what floor or time of day it is; and crowded places are what Bandits tend to avoid due to the risk of them getting discovered and their plans getting foiled. Thus, on the thirteenth floor of Quratar we’ll be able to fight the monsters at a slower, more relaxed pace, and we’ll be able to replenish our items as needed if need be.

Usually the lack of MP Recovery Pills would’ve been a problem, especially when it comes to the Floor Boss encounters, but in our case this type of medicine is not that much of a necessity – and it is all thanks to the fact that I have Durandal. With the 「MP Recovery Skill」it has, if we really want to maximize our efficiency and minimize the time that we’d have to spend on the thirteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth, then we can always use it to go along with a plan of storming through the thirteenth floor with as few rests as possible in order to clear the floor and defeat its Floor Boss in the shortest amount of time possible.

「All right, so I assume that everyone’s in favor of us going to the Labyrinth of Quratar this time? If so, then we’re going to head there at noon.」

「Understood!」Roxanne said.

「I do not think that the Labyrinth of Quratar is going to be as crowded on its upper levels as on the lower ones.」said Sherry.

「I hope so. Plus, it is still relatively dark outside.」

We had our encounter with the Bandits after we entered the Labyrinth early in the morning, and since not that much time has passed, it should still be relatively early.

「Miria, I want you to take the map. Can you do that for me?」said Roxanne.

「Yes, desu!」Miria nodded her head in response to Roxanne’s remarks.

Since Miria is a member of the Catkin tribe, a humanoid race that possesses cat-like features similar to how Roxanne’s Wolfkin tribe possesses characteristics of the wolves, she has the ability to see perfectly clearly even in the deepest darkness. If she’s going to be the one who’s going to be holding onto the map for us, then she’ll be able to guide us forward without the need for having a light even in the dimly lit corners and caves of the Labyrinth – which feels kind of like a cheat, if I am to be honest.

「Well, since we have the activities for later all planned out, then I think we can take it easy and rest for a while. But even so we have to make sure to enter the Labyrinth of Quratar at noon no matter what. Thank you in advance for agreeing to go with me.」

It might be because we just ended the battle with the ten Bandits, but I feel as if the tension running through my body is even bigger than usual, so I need to have some rest so that I won’t be feeling groggy and out of it when the time comes to go to the Labyrinth again. But for the time being, I think I am just going to lie down and close my eyes for a few minutes. Hooray for Miria’s cheat-like night-vision that made it all possible.

After breakfast, we entered the Labyrinth of Quratar. I turned to Sherry and said,「Sherry, I want you to put this Ring of Determination on.」

「Are you sure that it is alright for me to be wearing such a rare and precious item, master?」she asked.

「Yeah, definitely. It would be a waste if I were to use it, so giving it to someone who is going to benefit from it the most seems like the perfectly reasonable choice.」

With my encouragement, Sherry equips the Ring of Determination, one of the rare and supposedly legendary items that was left behind by one of the Bandits after I killed them all. And just like I told Sherry, this item would have been wasted on Roxanne or myself since we are already wearing Sacrificial Misangas on us, and they are, without a shadow of a doubt one of the most useful pieces of equipment that I have seen ever since I came to this world.

Even though I have received countless attacks from monsters by this point, none of those attacks managed to inflict enough damage upon me to guarantee the Sacrificial Misanga’s Skill: 「Sacrifice」, which is going to allow me to survive an otherwise fatal blow at the cost of the Sacrificial Misanga breaking and getting destroyed, and I can only be thankful that so far none of the monsters we have encountered, no matter how big or tough they seem to be, inflicted the kind of damage that would be critical enough to bring me to the point of actually needing that Skill to activate.

On the contrary, if I receive critical damage and on the off chance it fails to activate, I don’t even want to imagine the consequences; but since it is always better to have such a lifesaver around than not have it, I have already decided that as long as I am going to be going down to the Labyrinths, there is absolutely no way for me to ever take the Sacrificial Misanga off.

「Thank you very much, master. I thought that this item would be all worn out since that Bandit had been using it, but thankfully it looks like it is almost brand new, which is a nice and welcome surprise.」said Sherry.

Okay, I will pretend that I didn’t hear that. Instead…. 「Roxanne, what’s the situation? Are there any people around?」

「There are, but thankfully only a few of them, exactly like you would expect from the twelfth floor during the daytime, so we should be fine even if we decide to stay here for a while longer.」

According to what Roxanne said, it doesn’t look like the twelfth floor of Quratar is as crowded with people as its first few floors, so it checks itself out with the general rule that 「the higher in the Labyrinths you go, the less people you’re going to be dealing with」. That is all the better for us. In that case, we should be able to do what Roxanne said and stay here on the twelfth floor grinding, hunting, and exploring for an entire day without running into pretty much anyone. Right now it should be the time where most of the people in my old world would either be having or finishing their breakfasts; but in this world people are all pretty much early risers because they all go to sleep pretty early since there is not much in particular that they can do at night.

「All right then. Sorry to put you on the spot like that, but could you guide us around this floor in the usual way? Small groups of monsters without coming into contact with other people as much as possible?」I asked Roxanne after having confirmed that there are not many people around. Except for the Labyrinths in the Harz Duchy, people always take special notice of Magic, and that is the last thing that I need right now.」