Chapter 148 – Beyond the 10th Floor
Rebecca is back.
She glanced at the bloody adventurer’s gear and a corpse with her head stuck in front of her as if apologizing, and immediately reported the results of the torture.
“Miners are one of the merchant union’s hidden money sources?”
“Yes. Sir, do you know that the guild has restricted the miners from selling the minerals they collect to themselves first?”
No, I didn’t know.
“As you know, the guild’s goal is to completely destroy the labyrinth. Naturally, from their perspective, miners who collected minerals in one place without going up to the upper floors did not look good. However, it is also true that collecting minerals is necessary to conquer the labyrinth.”
If you make weapons or magic tools with minerals found in the labyrinth, you will get something much better than if you use materials collected from the ground.
For that reason, not only adventurers but also various organizations searched for minerals from Labyrinth Mountain to strengthen their power.
Even if you use Labyrinth Mountain minerals, things do not permanently break or break, so the demand for Labyrinth Mountain minerals only increased, never decreased.
“In order to meet the demand, they must have tolerated the existence of miners and imposed such restrictions in return. Of course, the miners would have been dissatisfied with the restrictions.”
“I got it right. At first, it was okay because the guild purchased minerals at a high price, but as the number of miners increased, they lowered the price of minerals using various excuses, which led to increased dissatisfaction.”
It may have been unfair from the miner’s perspective, but from a third party’s perspective, the guild’s actions were appropriate.
Why do adventurers risk their lives to venture into the labyrinth? Needless to say, it is to obtain wealth and power.
In the meantime, what if you could just collect minerals and make a lot of money without having to risk your life fighting monsters?
Who would risk their lives to fight monsters? Grab a pickaxe and gather minerals.
‘Well, there’s no way the miners would consider such a situation.’
That’s what it means to be human.
Even if you know that there are unavoidable circumstances, if you are at a slight disadvantage, you don’t care and end up dissatisfied.
Even though the miners are still earning a lot of money, they couldn’t help but be dissatisfied as they remember the past when they earned much more than they do now.
“So you joined the Merchant Union?”
“In the past, minerals were bought and sold secretly behind the scenes, but it is said that the scale has recently increased. It is said that the work leader is a bodyguard and liaison assigned by the Merchants’ Union so that the miners can concentrate on collecting.”
For some reason, it was the only blue level.
Jun glanced at the corpse of another foreman, half of whom was missing, and asked Rebecca what she was most curious about.
“Are there any miners around here who aren’t murderers?”
“No, there is none. It is said that the coalition only collaborated with those who had thoroughly disgraced those behind them. This is probably to prevent people from reporting collaboration to the guild due to their conscience.”
“… Good. “I have no hesitation.”
The Merchant Union is the enemy.
Once I discovered one of the enemy’s secret money lines, I couldn’t just pass by.
Especially if they are wild cats that crave the blood and flesh of adventurers who are in their prime of development.
“Por, Dohwa. Transform into battle mode.”
The miners would see the two in battle mode, but it didn’t matter.
From today, they will be buried forever and no one will be able to tell about it.
――――――
“… That’s strange.”
“Class president, why are you like that?”
“I haven’t received a return call from the next group. The time has come.”
“Ah, the kids who said they were going to work. Don’t worry. At least I’m having fun.”
“A light place with pretty girls. I’m jealous, won’t you share it with me? It’s been so long since I’ve had it removed that the lower part of my body feels heavy, but it’s still too heavy.”
“It’s been a long time since I took it out. Just recently, they captured a year and took it away.”
“That’s right. “No matter how much I take, my vagina becomes soggy that I don’t even feel like I’m taking it in.”
Haha!
The miners laughed and chatted carefree.
Talking about a topic that would make you so angry that if other people heard it, you would draw your weapon.
For them, it was everyday life.
It was the same for the work foreman.
But strangely enough, the longer the topic continued, the more uncomfortable my feelings became and the more ominous I became.
His anxiety,
Plod trudge
He quickly grew in size at the faint sound of footsteps coming from the darkness.
“Huh? What is it? Are you really coming to share it?”
“What are these greedy people doing?”
“What is the importance of the reason? “I’ll just give it a go and see.”
A miner raised his hexagon and leapt into the darkness where he could hear the sound of footsteps.
Then the other miners followed him one by one.
“Now, wait!”
The foreman quickly stretched out his hand to stop them, but they did not come back.
To the ears of the foreman who was left alone under the torchlight,
Pop! Pop!
I heard the sound of something breaking.
However, it was only a moment, and only the sound of footsteps continued to echo quietly in the tunnel.
Exciting! Exciting!
The heart is pounding like a broken pump, and the ominous feeling grows bigger.
The work foreman, who had prided himself on having excellent intuition, started running without even looking back.
“Uh? Hey! What’s going on!”
“Something is going on!”
“For a moment! Who the hell are you! Wow! “Wow!”
“Uh, enemy. Enemy!…”
Colleagues and miners in other groups noticed something strange and asked questions. My intuition told me to ignore it. He had no choice but to cover his ears with both hands.
But how can this happen?
The reason why I can clearly hear the screams and the sound of something breaking coming from behind is because I am covering my ears with both hands.
Something hot flowed down my cheek.
He couldn’t tell if it was sweat or tears.
“Sigh! Sigh! Finally!”
By the time I was choking, and a hoarse sound came out of my throat, I had reached the size of the pupil.
It was a campsite where replacement members rested.
Roaring Roaring Roaring
Perhaps the screams had been heard all the way up here, but many of the co-workers and miners who would have been sleeping inside the tents were outside the tents.
The work leader shouted at them.
No, the moment you open your mouth wide to shout,
Trap!
I heard footsteps.
It’s much bigger and clearer than before.
Just! Just! Just! Rattling
My teeth and body began to tremble mercilessly from an unknown fear.
I was so afraid. I wanted to jump among my colleagues right now.
But my feet didn’t listen. Mok ignored the work leader’s will and turned his head towards the back.
Extremely deep and cold blue pupils, like the depths of the sea.
Inside, another pure white pupil reminiscent of that of a reptile.
It reminded me of a being that I had only heard about in stories and that existed only in legends.
The name of that being!
“D, drae”
Suddenly! Tap!
Something black passes through my throat before I can finish speaking.
The head of the work crew rolled around on the floor in vain.
“Why do you keep calling normal people dragon and dragon? It makes people who listen feel bad.”
“… What are you doing. Hurry up and attack!”
Immediately after, the work leader’s eyes widened as if he was sorry for not being able to finish his sentence, and he saw his colleagues being slaughtered by dragons, angels, divine beasts, and dark elves.
――――――
“… He’s not coming back? Even though the scheduled return date has passed?”
“Yes, yes. Yes, that’s right.”
A trembling voice.
Normally, he would have criticized me for being crazy, but David, the representative of the Merchants’ Union, did not do so because he was lost in thought.
Just when his secretary, the cat beast, was about to sigh in relief,
“Guy. “Didn’t you say that the people who left to catch him haven’t returned yet?”
David remembered something and opened his mouth.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Even though he did not specifically say who ‘the guy’ was, the secretary was able to tell right away who he was referring to.
How can you not notice?
Recently, there was only one person in the Merchant Union and the Western Guild that would grit their teeth and refer to him as ‘the guy.’
‘Adventurer Jun.’
A super rookie who reached the 10th floor despite only becoming an adventurer for 6 months.
A monster that has reached a green level that only mid-level adventurers can reach at a young age that has just completed its coming-of-age ceremony.
And the crazy guy who dared to indiscriminately bomb the Western Guild managed by the Merchant Union.
There was no evidence that he was the culprit of the bombing, but the leaders of the Merchants’ Union, including the secretary, were convinced that he was the culprit.
Other than him, there was no one in the world who could carry out a bombing attack like this without leaving any evidence.
Quick!
My teeth were ground.
Just thinking about him made the secretary feel a thousand dollars inside.
Of course, because of his bombing, the Merchant Union had to suffer great humiliation.
All the people under my command were already half-crazy and didn’t listen to orders, but after that incident, they didn’t even think about listening.
Small business owners who normally couldn’t complain no matter how unequal the conditions were, are now openly snorting,
Groups that were receiving kickbacks offered to dispatch troops as if they were attacking beggars.
What could be the reason for their attitude?
You think you’ve lost your strength. The Merchant Union of the World.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have hired a few more mercenaries instead of digging into my pockets to save the budget.’
I should have definitely killed him five years ago, when he was still weak. Maybe that was the only opportunity to kill him without causing too much damage.
“It’s truly unique.”
“… Do you think it was his fault that the miners did not return?”
“Do you think of anyone else other than him? No matter how much I think about it, the only thing that comes to mind is him.”
“I think so too. This is impossible according to common sense. It’s only been three days since he entered the labyrinth. No matter how great his abilities are, he won’t be able to find the boss room in three days.”
“… If you lied. “What if you actually beat the boss room, but you lied to us and said you were still on the 10th floor?”
It was a story with plenty of potential.
This guy acted like an adult, not like a child, and by his side was Carol, who was called the witch of the guild.
But the secretary shook her head.
“It’s a very plausible hypothesis, but it also doesn’t make sense based on common sense. The people mobilized to kill him were 6 green-level adventurers and 3 yellow-level skilled people brought by the representative. No matter how monstrous his skills are, he cannot defeat them all.”
If you use the Advent contained in its stigmata, it will be possible to defeat it, but the sacred law will not be activated near powerful people that the representative sometimes summons.
This means that Advent could not have been activated.
‘I don’t know how that’s possible.’
The secretary lightly shook her hair to erase the rising doubts and discomfort.
She didn’t care where she was or what she was doing as long as she got a decent salary.
“… Okay. “You are right.”
“If you’re anxious, should I ask the combatants to investigate the 10th and 11th floors?”
“No, that’s enough. Rather, did you install everything I asked you to install?”
“If you mean totem… Sorry, not yet. According to the combatants, the guild combatants keep watching, so the timing for installation is difficult.”
“Tell them to install it as quickly as possible. Before the warrior and the saint return to the academy.”
David ordered and stood in front of the window.
The guild headquarters shines brightly even in the middle of the night. His eyes flashed with anticipation and joy as he looked at it.
Only he, his Pope, and his Demon Lord knew why he had those eyes.
