Chapter 16: 16. I Just Got Here... ხომ?

I never imagined that, in all my life, a fully grown woman would cling to me like this.

Her eyes trembled, snot ran disgracefully from her nose, her face was bright red, and her strong hand gripped my pants.

"Ryu-o! Five gold coins! Every day! I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of!"

I was honestly tempted, but I reminded myself of my goal.

"I have to go."

"Bwaaaah, no, you bastard! Fine! If you’re leaving, step over me first!"

The proprietor had treated me well, but seeing her lying in the hallway throwing a tantrum was a little... well.

She was the one who had stopped me as I left the room after putting Cheon Hwayeong to bed.

The proprietor was shouting in such an unsightly state that it was enough to sweep away all the good memories I had of her.

"Step on me, now! If you’re going to do it, step on my neck, Ryu-o! That way, won’t I die?!"

"Aren’t you being a little dramatic? Sheesh... I’ll stop by now and then on days I’m not going to the labyrinth, so please get up already."

Anyone would think the shop was going under without me...

When I took the proprietor’s hand and gently helped her up, she rose while shooting me a sidelong glance.

"Really? If it’s just that much, I can somehow manage..."

"You have plenty of staff, so why are you acting like this? I need to go buy supplies, so please give me today’s wages quickly."

With trembling hands, the proprietor pulled a letter and three gold coins from her clothes.

"Ryu-o... will you deliver this to Arin?"

It was not a difficult favor, so I nodded.

"Of course. Don’t worry."

As though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, the proprietor sighed, tightly grasped my hand, and spoke.

"You’ve worked hard all this time, Ryu-o... If the labyrinth gets too difficult, it’s all right to come back anytime."

It seemed as though refusing would only drag things out, so I merely smiled and nodded.



"Rations, waterskin, clothes, bandages, potions, sleeping bag, medicinal herbs, torches, oil... Hm. Is there anything else I should pack?"

I spent forty silver coins buying all sorts of supplies, just as Master had taught me.

I might have bought a little too much, but it was better than not having enough.

I had wanted to buy armor too, but...

[Armor? Have you ever seen an Easterner walking around in armor? There are some, sure, but you’re much better off buying it in the Central District.]

I nodded at those words.

This was the East, a miniature martial world.

Even in my mind, a martial artist walking around in armor felt somehow wrong.

Even if I could pick up armor separately near the labyrinth, I wanted to buy at least a sword before going.

I had plenty of capital, so wouldn’t it be better to buy something of decent quality?

The inside of my subspace storage was probably glittering with the light reflected off all those gold coins right now.

With a contented smile on my face, I headed into the blacksmith shop Master had told me about.

"Welcome, customer! Welcome to Yacheolbang!"

...Wasn’t the standard in this kind of subculture supposed to be a drunken dwarf greeting you with a gruff line?

I was dumbfounded by this blacksmith shop, which had no cobweb-covered workshop, no drunk blacksmith, and no famous swords carelessly strewn across boxes.

No wonder the outside of the store had looked so neat...

As I stood there blankly looking around the interior, a male clerk tilted his head and called out to me.

"Customer? Is there something you’re looking for?"

He did not scan me and sneer. Instead, he was polite like a salesperson at some high-end boutique, so I told him what I wanted.

"Do you happen to have a sword about this long? I’d like it to be sturdy. My budget is around two gold coins?"

The clerk slightly bowed his head, then brought over a measuring tape and measured the distance between my hands.

"A sword between three and four ja in length, for two gold coins... Please wait a moment. I’ll bring some over right away!"

"Th-thank you."

"Not at all."

H-he’s so kind...

As I looked around the spotless shop interior, the clerk returned carrying three wooden boxes and set them down before me one by one.

"The first sword is Yacheolbang’s pride: our standard iron sword. It has the most well-balanced center of gravity, and the cord wrapped around the grip has been treated with the bodily fluids of a man-eating spider. Many adventurers use it without issue up to the fifteenth floor of the labyrinth, and Sword Demon Yang Haeyeon, a raid member who reached the fifty-second floor, also favored this weapon in her early days, exactly as you see it here..."

S-so detailed...

"If you would like to try it out, we can provide a straw dummy for one silver coin. Would you need one?"

"Yes..."

"Then I’ll show you inside, customer."

They even had that service...

In the end, as if bewitched, I chose the first sword.

"An excellent choice! Please wait just a moment, customer!"

I asked the clerk as he carried the sword deeper inside.

"Um, why are you taking it away?"

The clerk smiled as he answered.

"This one is for display, so I’ll bring you one meant for sale, customer!"

...

I do not remember what happened after that.

By the time I walked out of the shop, a sword wrapped in a sturdy leather scabbard was hanging from my waist...

"...? Shopping is fun."

That was how I went home in a daze.

All while fiddling with the grip that fit so comfortably in my hand.



Before I knew it, I had arrived home. As always, Master welcomed me with a bright smile.

"Did you have a good trip, dear?"

"Yes, Master. I bought everything you told me to get, and I bought a sword as well. The armor here wasn’t very good, so I’ll buy that near the labyrinth."

"Good, well done. I’ll tell you what to watch out for on the lower floors while we eat."

Just as I was about to head inside, I remembered the letter the proprietor had given me.

"Ah, Master. The proprietor gave me a letter to pass on to you."

Master tilted her head and began opening the letter.

"Hm? Geuchi sent me a letter? Let’s see..."

Master’s expression darkened in real time as she held the letter.

"Dear, did anything happen today?"

Her grave, low voice rang in my ears.

The atmosphere made it seem like she would grab a sword and rush out if I told her I had served a nightmare customer, so I explained it as mildly as possible.

"No, I just served one customer and came right out."

"I see... Dear, skip your morning training and go to the labyrinth. That would be much better."

The mood made it seem as though something serious was about to happen, so I asked Master.

"Did something happen? Is there something in the letter..."

Master looked up, smiled brightly, and took my hand to lead me along.

"No, dear. You must be hungry. Let’s hurry inside."

"Yes..."

There was a certain firmness to her tone. I simply closed my mouth and went inside.



"Dear, with your skill, you can easily make it to the fifth floor alone... But do not let your guard down. Form a party whenever possible, and if things really seem bad, request rescue. And just because you find an essence, don’t go picking it up and eating it without thinking..."

I smiled and took hold of Master’s shoulders as she shifted restlessly from foot to foot.

"Master, I’m off."

Master stopped moving, then let out a small laugh.

"Right. I should trust my disciple. But there is just one more thing I have to say."

Her eyes suddenly turned serious.

Master spoke words that were far too chilling in an utterly matter-of-fact tone.

"Do not trust people too easily. Always be suspicious. And when you have to kill, do not hesitate."

Outside the Labyrinth City, things were run by laws, more or less.

It was not as if there was no crime, but compared to inside the labyrinth, it was practically clean.

I was about to enter a lawless land.

Reality was far too cold to rely on my Luck stat.

"I’ll keep that in mind."



I walked for quite a while with complicated feelings swirling inside me.

Regardless of my resolve that I could handle it, I could not help feeling nervous.

As I walked forward without looking anywhere else, the architectural style of the buildings around me began to change.

The warm feeling of wooden buildings gave way to stone structures that looked like something out of the Middle Ages.

As if announcing that this was where the Central District began, the buildings gradually changed, like a gradient, easing my tension.

‘Yes, this is the fantasy I had in mind!’

For the first time since coming to the Labyrinth City, I felt like I was truly seeing it.

The scenery had changed without even a border between them. It felt as if I had entered another dimension.

When I looked around like a country mouse visiting the city for the first time, whispers started rising around me.

"Did you see him?"

"Slurp!"

"As expected, men from the East are..."

"That body is fucking... wow..."

"And his face looks so obedient, it’s just... Hehehe!"

I felt a strange sense of familiarity and looked around, but the sticky gazes showed no sign of leaving me alone.

This had hardly ever happened in the East. They must have realized I was a country bumpkin.

I decided to run before I got taken advantage of.

Whoosh!

As my footsteps picked up speed, the people around me began staring blankly.

"That was close... Why do Easterners look so young?"

"Don’t make eye contact..."

"In the East, watch out for men, children, and the elderly."

Without hearing any of the voices around me, I ran toward the most conspicuous building in the East.



The Guild Master’s office inside the Adventurers’ Guild was filled with hazy smoke.

"How can it make sense that we don’t have a single available person?! It’s only the fifth floor! The fifth floor!"

A long-eared woman with short silver hair was angrily blowing smoke from her mouth and nose.

At her shout, a horned woman with curly hair, thoroughly intimidated, spoke timidly.

"There are plenty of people... but after hearing the details of the request, every one of them refused..."

The short-haired woman took a deep pull from her steaming pipe and spoke without even exhaling the smoke.

"Why the hell? What’s the problem? Twenty gold coins, damn it! Isn’t twenty gold for the fifth floor easy money?"

It was an enormous sum for an adventurer capable of reaching the fifth floor.

But after hearing the curly-haired woman’s reason, there was no choice but to understand.

"The House of Duke Velatus has an awful reputation... They figure that even if they rescue them, something will go wrong and they’ll lose their heads, so they’d rather pretend they know nothing..."

"Hiss!Phew... We’re fucked..."

With veins bulging on her forehead, the short-haired woman sharply flicked away the ash from her pipe and threw the window wide open to clear out the hazy smoke.

"Fuck, get ready, Meidel. I’ll go myself... Hm?"

The silver-haired woman’s eyes widened at the movement of air she felt from beyond the window.

What she saw was a breathtakingly handsome man with black hair and black eyes.

But that handsome man was running toward the Guild without even touching his feet to the ground... Flying? Whatever it was, he was coming this way.

Tap! Whoooosh!

The gust that erupted beneath the man as he landed in front of the Guild made his bangs flutter softly.

A person she had never seen before. An Eastern expert, anyone could tell at a glance.

One out of every hundred people who came from the East possessed such outstanding skill.

How had he grown so strong without any essence...?

Guild Master Sylvia ran down to the first floor with her eyes wide open.

"Hey, Master! What’s going—"

"Get the fuck out of my way, you bastards!!!"

Everyone stared at the Guild Master in utter bewilderment...

Bang!

When the Guild Master hurriedly flung open the door, the strikingly handsome man was standing there blankly, holding out his hand.

Overcome with emotion, the Guild Master seized the man’s hand and cried out.

"Welcome to the Adventurers’ Guild! I’ll show you upstairs right away."

"...What?"

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