Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)
Volume 3 - Ch 2.07

Making my proposition, I lightly hugged Roxanne from behind after I briefly played with her tail.

U-Uhm, y-yes I I think it would be best if we did that mhnn!

As soon as Roxanne agreed to my suggestion, I closed her mouth with my own. I then gently slid my tongue into her mouth to meet hers, and since she did not resist any of my actions, this has to mean that she was perfectly okay with whatever I wanted to do to her because she knew that I would not hurt her.

Like that, we laid on the bed in order to check its functionality. As expected, the feeling of sinking into a really soft mattress was truly, absolutely the best. After a period of only sleeping in a hard mattress, it felt amazing to be embraced by the one so soft that I legitimately thought I was going to sink into it. That is one of those feelings that you wont realize how much you missed them until you actually get it taken away from you. And of course, sharing that sensation with Roxanne was absolutely the best. I hope that this bed will see lots of action and her sweet moaning voice in the near future.

After we finished checking the beds usability (and we were very thorough in our investigation, you can take my word on that) we went out into the city in order to by the ingredients for dinner.

It might be a little late to ask that, but what kind of food are you good at making, Roxanne?

I dont want to sound like I am bragging, but I am quite good at making pot-au-feu (TL Note: Literally Pot on the Fire in French, is a French stew of boiled beef and vegatables, widely regarded as the quintessence of French family quisine), so if you would be kind enough to trust me on this, I would be more than happy to make it tonight.

Pot-au-feu, huh? I dont know what language is that from, but it sounds like something that will leave you feeling stuffed, and judging by the ingredients we have bought: beef and various vegetables, I am guessing that it will have something to do with combining all of those into a single dish.

If you are so confident then I will leave it all to you.

Thank you very much. It would be even better if we had a bouquet garni (TL Note: garnished bouquet in French, a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock, casseroles and various stews. On a side note, this is supposed to be a world different to ours, so how in the hell Roxanne knows French cooking terms. Ahh, sweet suspension of disbelief) but I guess we can do without it for now.

Bouquet garni?

Another term that I am not familiar with, but if she needs it for pot-au-feu, then it probably is something that goes well with it? Maybe shes talking about herbs to spice it up?

Yes. It is great for spicing up any kind of stew, so when we finally start cultivating our own herbs in the garden, obtaining them will not be a problem anymore!

Man, she really is fired up about making todays dinner, isnt she?

So we need to buy meat and vegetables, but is that all we need to make dinner today?

Yes, that should be all but if I may speak honestly, then I have to ask: are you really fine with having meat for dinner, master? Wouldnt something lighter be more to your liking?

Yeah. As long as its something prepared by you, then I am fine with whatever.

Understood. In that case, since we dont have any herbs that we can use, then I think it would be best if we bought salted or smoked beef rather than simply getting the raw one. That way we could eat it right away after boiling or grilling it.

Its great that there are so many ways to prepare and preserve meat. Back in Japan things like beef or lamb were treated like a delicacy that could not be eaten on a daily basis unless you had a wallet that was literally bulging with money, but in this new world meat is one of the essential ingredients of pretty much every meal, so I couldnt imagine not being able to eat it now that I have gotten so used to it.

With all of that in mind, we bought the necessary ingredients in accordance with Roxannes advice and then we went back home. And when we were preparing dinner, the what ensued between us was a following conversation:

You know Roxanne, when I went inside Quratars Labyrinth I noticed that there were many more people there than in Veils Labyrinth, but I could not figure out why would that be at the time. Do you have any idea about that? What are they all searching for?

Roxanne stopped cutting the vegetables for a moment to think before she answered me.

Well, Quratars Labyrinth is more crowded than the others because it is a pretty popular place, and obtaining the map that will show you how to move around every floor is relatively easy, since anyone can buy themselves a copy al long as they have enough money, the same way as you did with that booklet you brought back, master. Since there are so many people as a result, the risk of happening upon a Trap Room where you can be ambushed by monsters is significantly smaller. Now, if there are many people wandering the halls of the Labyrinth on a daily basis, the natural consequence of that would be that the monsters are defeated at an accelerated rate, and the more of them are defeated, the more Magic Crystals and Skill Crystals will drop from them. Treasure chests also seem to be popping up there more often than not, so even though you normally have to pay each time you want to go there, then with just a bit of luck the potential benefits of a single expedition far outweight the demerits, making it a worthy investment.

I understand that Magic Crystals are crystals made from the crystalized magical energy that makes up the bodies of monsters, so when many people defeat many monsters, it would stand to reason that there would be many Magic Crystals just lying around, but what about those Skill Crystals? That is a completely new term for me, so I wonder if the same logic thats behind /Magic Crystals and their origin can be applied to Skill Crystals as well?

Also, that does not explain why there would be more treasure chests in Quratars Labyrinth than they are in Veils Labyrinth. Actually, I have yet to see any treasure chest spawn there, even though we have spent so much time hunting monsters in there.

Okay, now I get why there would be so many Crystals in Labyrinths, but what about treasure chests? Why do they pop up so often?

Because it is said that the contents of the treasure chests are actually the equipment and weapons worn by the Adventurers who were unfortunate enough to be defeated by the monsters roaming the Labyrinths.

Ugh, why did she had to be so blunt about this matter in particular?

Anyway, that sound all kinds of terrible in my opinion, but it also makes a lot of sense. After all, I never saw any actual corpse while going through the first three floors of the Veils Labyrinth. Now I know that it was because the Labyrinths themselves are taking care of the bodies that litter them by turning them into treasure chests because even though they are said to be living organisms, they apparently cannot digest human bodies in any other way.

That would also explain why there is always something inside of them, and why the contents might differ in both the quantity and the quality of the goods inside of them. But then in games I never thought about it, because the equipment from the treasure chests is always treated as something brand new that is randomly generated by the games code, but to think hat the reality is that by claiming the contents of the treasure chests you are actually reusing somebody elses stuff thats pretty grim in its own right. So the more people enter the Labyrinth, the bigger the chances that a lot of them are going to be defeated by monsters, and when they die, they get processed into a treasure chests so that their weapons and armor could be used by other people, who are drawn to the Labyrinths by the promise of replaceing valuable loot inside them. Talk about a twisted microcosm of life.