Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)
Volume 1 - Ch 5.10

I waited until the last possible second and thrusted Durandal forward the moment the Bandits silhouette appeared out of the door. Durandals blade pierced the guys chest as if it was made of melted butter instead of flesh and bone. But when it came to getting it out of there, I felt a good amount of resistance before I finally succeeded. The lv.38 Bandits body hits the ground. I cut of his left wrist and placed the body back in the room. With the Bandits wrist in tow I went back to the corridor.

I could hear noises coming from the outside. I should have seen it coming that defeating the four Bandits in a not-exactly-stealthy manner is going to attracts unwanted attention sooner rather than later. Perhaps some of the Bandits outside heard the commotion we were making and they were now rushing in to check what has happened? I looked around the corridor with Identify. It showed that there was no more Bandits around in my immediate surroundings. The only thing my Identity shown was the Copper Sword laying on the ground where the Lv.38 Bandit dropped it.

Initially I wanted to have a look around the house in hopes of replaceing some Bandit treasure, but it looks like doing that might prove to be a tad difficult under the current circumstances, so I just grabbed the last wrist firmly and warped to the safest place I could think of right now where no one would come looking for me: the Labyrinth.

I did it.

That was the first thing that sprung into my mind.

No, its not like that. No matter what might be the reason behind it, murder should never be a case for rejoicing. Oh, hell no, I can already feel the effects of using too much MP kicking in. It might not be the same kind of moody trip I had when I used Overwhelming or Warp for the first time, but its still going to be inconvenient, not that I could do anything about it. After all, I ended up using Warp three times in quick succession: first to move from that Bandits move to the room where his boss was sleeping, second to get out of that room into the corridor and third to escape from the house in the slums to the Labyrinth here. I did it all so I could finally achieve my goal of getting enough money to buy Roxanne, but even so I felt like crap for killing those Bandits. Good thing that guilt is only induced by my MP dropping too much, because those guys were most certainly the worst scum there was, so dispatching them on a one-way trip to the afterlife should not be all that big of a deal. Okay so now, in order to improve my mental state, lets kill some Needlewoods to regain my lost MP. Michio, you need to remind yourself once again that this is how things are done in this world. This is not modern-day Japan. If you want to see something done, you have to haul ass and do it yourself, whether that something would be killing monsters to improve your mental stability or murdering Bandits to trade their IDs for money. There is no police force here to do your dirty work for you, and law and human rights seem to be more like guidelines than a thing to be upheld at all times.

After killing a bunch of Needlewoods I have regained my confidence and stability. It good that I didnt have to do it longer, because exploring the Labyrinth, even if it was a floor I was fairly familiar with now might not have been a good idea in the mentally impaired state. Before I returned to normal I had some slight difficulties with moving around due to the waves of the anxiety attacks that were constantly washing over me, basically I only fought the ones that tried to stop me from reaching the Labyrinths exit.

After getting my shit together I walked out of the Labyrinth. I got the Intelligence Cards from the hands that I managed to snatch and threw the remaining left hands and bloodied rags into the nearby bushes, and ditched my bloodied mantle in a separate location. If nobody will see me walking around in clothes that are dirty with blood, then nobody will suspect me of anything, which will in turn allow me to avoid troublesome questions. When I finished disposing of the evidence of my involvement in the battle with the Bandits, I just casually returned to my room at the inn where I washed my hands and face with warm water, and then lay on the bed after hiding the Scimitar under my pillow as a precautionary measure. At first, I was having trouble with closing my eyes due to adrenaline still rushing through my veins, but eventually I managed to drift off to sleep. And this time, I woke up only after the sun has completely risen. Maybe it was because last night I slept very little before I went to deal with the Bandits, but today I slept better than I expected. I was in high spirits after reminding myself of what I managed to pull off just a few hours ago, but even more than that, I felt relieved.

Right now, in this moment, obtaining Roxanne for myself no longer feels like an impossible dream to achieve. Of course, I cannot be sure of anything until Ill go claim the prize money for the Bandits, but for now I guess Ive done all that I could. So if it turns up that after all my efforts I still wont have enough money, I guess I cant be helped anymore. For now, all that I have left to decide is where I am going to redeem those Intelligence Cards. That was what I was thinking about even as I was well on my way to the land of dreams. The specific problem that I was mulling over was if I should go do it at the Knights outpost here in Veil, or should I go somewhere else with it? Also, I cant help but to wonder how much of a stir my little stunt is going to cause throughout the slums? I guess I just have to wait and see, but if they know whats good for them, theyd better sit quietly. Or maybe they wont make any kinda fuss at all, since murders in the slums are an everyday occurrence, so they might treat it as not that big of a deal.

Still, Ive already cashed in some bounties for the Bandits five days ago. If I go claim another prize for myself in such a short amount of time, I will be bound to get some unwanted attention to myself. If I go to other towns, the possibility of that happening could be greatly reduced, but if I go for it, I have no guarantee if Im not going to get scammed since I dont know if the system of converting bounty to cold hard cash is the same in every city in this world, or if every town has its own separate systems. There is still too much that I dont know. As far as Im concerned, it might be that a bounty thats valid in one town will not be valid in another, because one town does not care about the problems of another. It is also quite possible that the money may not be paid on the same day the inquiry will be made, and that would be quite a problem since today is the day when I agreed to get the money for Roxannes purchase to the Slave Merchant.

Another thing that I have to look out for is the unwanted spreading of the information that another group of Bandits has been defeated. I didnt say much when we were at the station to claim the prizes from the attack at the village, but I dont now if Picker-san didnt come back for some additional questioning. It also might be possible that the Knights and the merchants who come to do business in Veil are well acquainted with one another, or maybe they are working with each other behind the scenes? It wouldnt be that strange, since as the only merchant in the village hed be a perfect source of information on everything thats happening there. But if that was the case, then the more probable scenario would be that the Knights would have alerted the village that they might get attacked, and hed report back to them right after the attack instead of waiting until his next shopping trip. Or maybe thats because hes actually a double agent, working with both Bandits and the Knights without them knowing?! Nah, now youre just picking at straws here you idiot! Theres no way something like that would be true!

What Im getting so paranoid about is essentially this: will I be questioned again with regards to the circumstances of obtaining those Intelligence Cards? Cause if I bring them to Another town where Ill get to be interviewed by someone whos too inquisitive about the details then it will be rather troublesome for me. And if I told my interviewer that I cannot share any details such as where I defeated the Bandits because they would want to investigate the site that would only make me look distrustful and would induce further questions, like [If you defeated Bandits in Veil, then why didnt you bring those Intelligence Cards to them?], and I wouldnt want that to happen. So considering all of the above, I guess its going to be the safest for me to claim the prize money from the Knights here in Veil after all.