114th
The Nymphs and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth
114 ? Nymph Cult and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth #12
After defeating the monster with the small head, the exploration of the labyrinth proceeded without any major twists and turns.
As I continued down the corridor, I came across a dead-end room. Surprisingly, there was nothing on the small platform inside.
Because even if you search through Pluto’s labyrinth, you don’t necessarily get treasure. That’s what I ended up doing. This labyrinth was a dud.
But the ice wizard seemed to have been secretly expecting a relic, and clicked his tongue in disappointment as he looked at the empty platform.
“It’s really disappointing. But it seems like a lot of strange magic and karma have accumulated in my body. I’ve gotten some results, though.”
“Then let’s go back.”
That was the end of my first labyrinth exploration as an adventurer. The rest was just a matter of going back the way I came.
“P, Pluto-sama, I’m sorry for searching the labyrinth. Goodbye.”
As he was about to leave the labyrinth, the convert Paranoy bowed his head toward the labyrinth entrance.
“I am sorry to say that I said.
Man, this is the first time I’ve seen a kid apologize to the Sval Labyrinth.
“Hey, then there’s no point in converting.”
“Is that so? Now that I hear it, it seems that way. It’s hard to get used to suddenly changing the faith I’ve been accustomed to since I was young…”
hmm.
When I listened to it, Paranoy’s words made sense. I don’t have a religion, so things like faith and conversion just feel like someone else’s story.
I wondered if it would be possible to tell a devout Christian to convert to Islam at some point in time.
Religion and faith were important enough areas to cause wars even in the 21st century when superstitions were being dispelled.
“More than that, Hassan, isn’t that heavy…?”
While I was lost in thought, the nymph Paranoy trembled as she looked at me. Her crimson eyes were directed directly at the huge axe on my shoulder.
This is the halberd that the cow monster was swinging around freely earlier.
Because the other guys couldn’t even think of bringing it up, I had no choice but to bring it up.
To be honest, it was heavy. It wasn’t so heavy that I couldn’t lift it with both hands. I wondered if my strength, which had increased to 9, was really working.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I could swing this around and slaughter my enemies. Even if I could, I’d probably lose all my strength after one or two swings.
How much would this weapon be worth in money?
While I was imagining such happy thoughts, Dwarf Didier, who was walking ahead through the reed field, added a few more words.
“The party leader, Hyung, is very strong. You should have seen how you guys fought the bull monster with your strength earlier. The bull grabbed his shoulder, but Hyung grabbed his wrist, and he collapsed in great pain!”
I grabbed the wrist and the little guy was in pain? I thought back to the battle earlier, wondering if something like that had happened.
Didier, who was lying on the ground, probably didn’t see me kick the bull’s groin with all my might. Depending on the angle, he might have thought I simply knocked him down with my strength.
“You even managed to take down a bull as big as a house! You really feel like a hero!”
Didier praised me so much that I didn’t know what expression to make on my face, perhaps because he thought of me as his benefactor.
“Hassan, you’re amazing! You were a really strong monster. I honestly didn’t think Hassan could hold up that well!”
Luna, who is wearing a giant skull on her head, also says a few words.
“It seems that Samaritans are born warriors!”
“I don’t think it was to that extent. What, what is it…?”
People who are used to receiving compliments, what do they say and what kind of expression do they make in such situations? I am confident in controlling my facial expressions when I am being scolded or criticized.
I have no idea how to react in front of people who are giving me a lift like this.
“Indeed, you’re so skilled that you beat me to become the party leader. At first, I thought it was just an exaggerated rumor, so I wasn’t very impressed. But it seems like it’s true that you caught a lion with your bare hands, right?”
“There are some circumstances there….”
“Hassan caught a swamp crocodile with his bare hands! Hassan is a monster who has been killing poisonous snakes since he was born!”
“That’s interesting.”
I just watched the reeds turning yellow in the sunset with an awkward face and hesitated.
At a time like this, my sister or mother would have said a few words confidently. But I am just like my father and am very shy.
“Huh, anyway, I thought I was going to die. What a fist as rocky as that. I think a few bones were broken.”
“I didn’t know my ice barrier could be broken so easily, this is the same level, Pluto’s Labyrinth is more dangerous than I thought.”
We returned to the temple of Ceres and boarded the chariot.
Only when the horses started to run on the bumpy road did they finally feel at ease and each began to express their feelings.
“I heard that the party leader has quite a bit of experience raiding dungeons. How difficult do you think this one will be?”
When Didier, sitting next to me, asked me a question, I recalled the process of the mimics appearing and then the monster with the cow’s head jumping out at the end.
“Just average…?”
Elfriede probably wouldn’t have had much trouble with that monster. I think Hippolyte would have been able to conquer the labyrinth easily as well.
Thinking about it that way, I really felt the gap between them and me. Sval, I still have a long way to go.
Still, Hassan, a slave who saved 5 coppers by rolling around on the dirt floor and collected 30 silver coins, became free. Instead of running away, he fought the giant monster and won.
This is fucking amazing, even I think it was a miracle! Honestly, I think it’s something I can brag about while handing out rice cakes to the neighbors!
But Didier seems quite shocked by my honest feelings and lets out a small sigh, “Ugh.”
“I’ve decided. I guess I should stop eating rice with a knife.”
“Are you quitting your job as an adventurer?”
“That’s right. I think there’s a limit to continuing my adventures on one leg. Rather than dying somewhere like this, I think it would be better to start out as a street vendor, even if I can’t open a store.”
Didier must have accumulated a lot of achievements and skills as an adventurer to the point where he was considered a promising prospect even within the guild. However, it seems that his experience in the labyrinth was not very good for him.
To be honest, unless you are quite ambitious for money and fame, it is a burdensome thing to go into those deep ruins.
“I realized that what I really wanted to do was not swing an axe, but swing a cleaver at ingredients. This time, I realized it for sure.”
We didn’t say anything to Didier when he said he was quitting.
I can’t say it’s okay, and we’re not close enough to stop him from quitting.
But even though we finally became acquainted, I felt a sense of regret at the thought that I would never see this red-bearded dwarf in the guild again.
I didn’t know, but it seems like we became attached in that short period of time.
But that’s just how life is in this world. We meet easily and part ways easily. There’s no time to form feelings.
That is why it is even more difficult to let go of an attachment that has already become too strong.
“Skull. You’ll make a great warder.”
My eyes turned to Luna, who was fiddling with the large skull. Now that I think about it, didn’t the owner of that skull say something about Nox’s child?
Up until now, I just tried to ignore it and let it be.
I became more and more curious about who and what that pink-haired girl was.
* * *
We arrived in Sodomora the next day.
After being hunched over in a carriage all day, we all stretched out as soon as we set foot in that stinking city.
“Sval, no matter how expensive it is, the carriage won’t last long. Are we there now?”
At first, I just thought it was a strange and mean city, but after coming and going a few times, it started to feel like home.
“I should go to the infirmary. I’ll leave the list of items to be disposed of along with a notice in front of the guild.”
Didier got off the carriage and left first to treat the injuries he received while fighting off thieves and monsters.
He continued to groan even inside the carriage. He didn’t seem to be seriously injured, but it would be better to go to the hospital sooner rather than later. If you hold it in for no reason, you might get a more serious illness.
“Then, Party Leader, I will also leave first. I would like to meditate to deal with my newly acquired karma.”
Even the ice wizard Velmina disappeared into the crowd of people after a brief greeting, perhaps because she had something to say.
In the end, all that’s left are me, Luna, and the nymph convert Paranoy.
“What is this? It’s just the three of us left. It’s more fun when we all eat and drink together. The guys I meet these days don’t seem to want to hang out.”
Luna looked at the alleys where people had disappeared, her lips licking her lips as if she was regretting it. However, the people who had already left would not return.
Eventually, only Luna, me, and Paranoy, who was in a very bad state after seeing the brazier, went to the Nymph Wing Inn and ordered meat and alcohol.
“Would you mind giving me my share? Thank you, Hassan…”
The nymph Paranoy, who had not said a word the whole way back in the carriage, carefully opened her mouth only after accepting the glass of wine. So I also decided to say what I had been mumbling in my mouth.
“How can you not use formal language? It’s so suspicious when you suddenly do that.”
“Joe, are you speaking politely? But the believers of Vesta….”
“Hassan, originally, Vesta’s followers were supposed to use this kind of polite language. The polite language is proof that the conversion of Paranoi is taking place properly.”
“Is that so?”
A religion that uses honorifics as its doctrine.
When I first heard that it was a religion that worshipped bonfires and the goddess who guarded them, I felt a warm feeling. It seems that even in this twisted world, there is a religion that is surprisingly worthy of being called a religion.
But he doesn’t seem that strong. He’s a god who guards the bonfire.
If you are a god of this world, you should at least be able to display brutality, such as protecting swords and battles or striking down lightning, to feel powerful.
“Here, here’s the food. Brother, I heard you were chosen as the leader of the dungeon exploration party. You came back earlier than expected! And what about that beast skull?”
The innkeeper placed the tray on our table as usual and added a few words. Was it rumors about the dungeon exploration?
“What is this-”
Luna bragged about how she had fought against thieves and what monsters she had faced in the labyrinth. The innkeeper, who was listening to her story, burst into laughter.
“Hey, is that so? You don’t seem to have any injuries. You’re getting better day by day. Isn’t that because you eat the food from our restaurant?”
The eyes that had been smiling with great satisfaction as if they had succeeded in their exploration soon glanced around our table and then turned to the nymph Paranoy with short scarlet hair.
“Thank you, Vesta, for giving me this daily meal… . I’m also grateful to Hassan, who bought me food… .”
Paranoy is mumbling a strange prayer while looking at the food in front of him. If he is sincere, he is sincere.
“This is a rare nymph girl in this day and age. My wife would be happy to see her.”
“Is the owner’s wife a nymph?”
Paranoy, who was about to start eating, opened his already large eyes even wider at the innkeeper’s words. The innkeeper nodded in response.
“It’s over there.”
“Other nymphs… .”
Paranoy’s gaze slowly began to move somewhere, and soon his expression itself became greatly colored with shock.
“You… nymph…?”
“Hey, Echo. Come here! Here’s your sister!”
“Oh my, there are other nymphs besides me-.”
Echo, a mature nymph, soon appeared at our table. I was dazzled by the maturity she exuded, unlike any other woman I had ever met.
It seems that it is not an exaggeration to say that there are guests who come to see the madam.
“Hehehe, what a cute nymph girl.”
It’s so deadly. It feels like it’s getting riper every time I meet it.
Could it be that this maturity was also felt by Paranoy, who was also a nymph?
“Are you a nymph? How on earth…?”
“Ah-. That’s a secret-. I am Echo, the nymph of the deep spring. And you are…?”
“I am a nymph of the ditch, Paranoi… .”
Swish.
Soon Echo lowered her head and placed her forehead against Paranoy’s. For a moment I thought they were going to kiss, and I was really freaking surprised.
“Hey, Luna. What are you two doing right now?”
“I’ve heard that nymphs exchange magical powers like that. This is my first time seeing it myself. It’s amazing…!”
“My wife is a nymph, but this is the first time I’ve seen anything like this. Echo, have you found out anything?”
Echo lifts her forehead from Paranoy’s and responds with a thin smile to the innkeeper’s fatherly smile.
“As expected, Ditchwater. She’s a small girl, just like you see. She’s only been born about twenty years ago. But she has a strange karma. It’s proof that she’s suffered. Poor thing.”
“Madam, when was your birth date…?”
“Shut up. Ohohoho. Nymphs are always fairies of youth. Remember that.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Anyway, seeing the same nymph makes me feel like I’m back home. Please come visit often from now on.”
“yes….”
Even while answering like that, Paranoy’s eyes were fixed on the large breasts of the married woman Echo. Paranoy’s breasts were small, as if they had just begun to swell.
I wondered why a nymph like her had such large breasts.
“Anyway, enjoy your meal.”
The innkeeper and Echo stepped aside to take orders from those calling out.
However, the innkeeper secretly hands me something like a small note that only I can notice.
I unfolded the small note from under the table without Luna or Paranoy noticing. There was only one sentence written on it.
The Baron is waiting.
[Work Review]
The labyrinth part that took quite a while is over..!!
Starting tomorrow, I will resume the stories that I had put off..!!
And there are a few lines about Luna added to the settings window, so if you’re bored, you can take a look….
By the way, there are a lot of speculations about Hassan’s true identity. Oh my… It’s exactly as I expected…
