Volume 6 - CH 1

The entrance to the Labyrinth of No Return seemed to be booming today, with adventurers making preparations all around.

"Alright you guys, walk in two lines so you don't bother anyone else. Hey don't fight, over there!"

How could they start a fight in less than five minutes?

I sighed inwardly.

As you can imagine, it's hard to move around when 32 people are at the bottom of the pile.

If this is the case, Japanese elementary school students would be better off.

If it hadn't been for the slave crest, we would have been in trouble.

"How many layers are we going to go to today, Boss?"

A man with a scar on his face, one of the thirty-two, asked me, but it gave off too much of a vibe.

"Don't call me that, my name is Alec, and you can call me Alec-sama."

"Okay, so, Alec-sama, how many layer are we going?"

"Today we're going to the first layer. Don't worry, I won't take you to a level you're not capable of."

"Ohh."

The others seemed to be worried about that as well, and showed relief.

"However, you'll have to earn enough money for lodging and food."

"That's too much trouble."

"How much do I have to earn?"

"I have a pain in my back... ouch!"

Why did he give such a dashing reply to Jouga, but not to me?

I looked at the guy who said his back hurt with [Appraisal Lv5], but he had a temporary illness.

That's not good.

When Janatha handed him over to me, Fianna and Serina had already taken care of his injuries and illnesses.

There are some people who have real back pain that is difficult to treat, and I will take that into consideration, but not for a temporary illness.

I'm going to have to use my skills.

【Leathership　Lv 5】　New！

【Demon Sergeant　Lv５】　New！

I took a skill that looked good for a total of 403 points.

"Listen up! You maggots! Whether you will continue to be used pathetically as slaves or become full-fledged adventurers and win your freedom depends on what you do from today!"

Anyone who earns more than 10 gold a day for lodging and 6 gold for food, for a total of 16 gold, may use it as their own savings!

Once you've saved 10,000 gold, your contract with me is over, and you're free to do whatever you want!　If you want to take a nap, you can nap all you want, if you want to fight, you can fight all you want. You don't even have to dive in the dungeon!

The thirty-two slaves quieted down.

"We can't afford 10,000 gold."

One of them chuckled.

"Well, it's not going to happen anytime soon, but I'm sure one of you will make it in a year. No, even if they don't, I'll give the one who makes the most money a bonus of 10,000 gold after a year. That way, the top earner will be free."

"Is it really?"

"I don't know."

"I'll trust you in a year. In the meantime, you'd better learn the names and faces of your friends. You'll get a special bonus for the first one."

The carrots were dangled, but if they could all move briskly with that, no one would have any trouble. I'm sure there are many people who are in their current positions due to circumstances beyond their control.

Let's move on.

"Now, let's divide into groups. There will be six people per group, five in all. Since we have two extra people, we'll make two groups of seven. That's one party, okay?"

If we were to go into a dungeon with this many people, we would not be able to take advantage of our strength in numbers. In the narrow passages, three vanguards would be too many, and these guys don't have many rearguards. Janatga didn't seem to be able to get rid of the personnel who could provide dexterous support in the rear guard.

There are a few exceptions, but for some reason or another, they were deemed unworthy to Janatha, so it's doubtful that they can serve as leaders.

But at this point, the only way I can judge them is by appraisal.

With this many people, I can't be bothered with interviews.

"The team leaders are tentative, in order of level. We'll replace them with suitable ones based on their wishes and the evaluations of others. Matheus, Clyde, Isaac, Freed, Zeed, Ash, spread out a bit and raise your hands."

A few of the six shrugged their shoulders and scattered unmotivated, then raised their hands on the spot as I instructed.

Matheus, a white-haired dwarf, was the highest level of the group.

He's higher than me, level 31, but he's quite old and has back pain. He will probably be forced to retire in a few years as a warrior. At the very least, he won't be able to perform to his level.

However, he's old enough to be a suitable leader.

The way he wears his gear and his calm demeanor, he's probably very familiar with adventuring, so I don't have to teach him every single thing.

Each leader will be working separately from me, so experience in adventuring and dungeons is important.

The second and lower leaders are younger, but their levels are below 24, and some of them look restless and some of their equipment doesn't look right.

Well, it's too much trouble to replace them, and they all look alike, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

We'll start with the first layer and see how it goes.

"All right, then, gather under the leader you think looks good. The sooner the better. If we run out, I'll coordinate."

Surprisingly, not many people gathered under Matheus. In the meantime, more than ten people gathered at the fifth leader, the cheerful and smiling Zeed.

"All right, adjustment, you and you go to Matheus."

"What?"

"Oh, no."

"I told you. The sooner the better. That's what happens when you don't listen carefully to my instructions. Next time, if you don't want to lose money, you'd better listen to me carefully and move briskly."

For the time being, this was a good imitation of a party.

I've already updated their equipment to something better, so there shouldn't be any sudden deaths in the first layer.

"Let's go!"

The seven parties moved in a line.

"Alec, I've heard about you. I heard you bought a lot of Janatha slaves."

The soldier guarding the entrance called out to me. I've been down there so many times, I'm already familiar with it.

"Yeah. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"Of course. But what are you going to do with so many of them?"

"Well..."

I didn't buy them for any particular reason. I just thought it would be nice to be a slave trader in a different way.

If my way of doing things takes off, Janatha probably won't be able to keep his mouth shut.

I'll have to try it to find out.

Well, it's not nice to see someone working without lodging and without enough bread to eat, so as long as the atmosphere around me improves, I'm fine with it.

In the first layer, we tried to fight the goblin hordes one by one, but the adventurers who had fought here before were able to defeat them without any problems, although their coordination was not brilliant.

"All right, then, each group should follow the leader's instructions to earn money on the first layer. When it gets dark, you can go back to the inn. That's all."

I won't go into the details. These guys have the brains to think, so they'll talk it out.

We left the party of slaves there and headed for the third layer.

"Will they be okay?"

Serina turned around, worried, but I had given them some medicinal herbs, and there are places in this labyrinth where medicinal herbs grow, so they should be fine.

They've got enough people at the party that it shouldn't be too crazy.

They're on the first layer. It's not their first adventure.