Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)
Volume 2 - Ch 2.09

After that, I asked Roxanne to tell me about the Labyrinths in as much detail as possible, and in doing so, learned something that was quite strange. Namely, that in this world, the Labyrinths are apparently treated as living creatures (TL Note: So, like giant Mimics then? Dark Souls PTSD blasts in full force).

Whats up with that, you ask? That was exactly my reaction.

Anyway, as for the reason why Labyrinths are scattered is seemingly random places across the entire world is because the creatures that act as their cores live seemingly everywhere.

So basically they are like the larvae of flies inside of antlions, so to speak.

Ant lions? What is an antlion, master?

Nothing that we need to concern ourselves with, thankfully.

To borrow another analogy, the Labyrinths can be likened to Venus Fly Traps, only instead of luring flies, they lure humans inside them. They use monsters that spawn inside of them to defeat the adventurers so that they can absorb them and use the nutrients gained from them to grow larger and eventually multiply.

The creatures use magic to create Labyrinths around them, so I guess it can also be said that it acts as their shield, or barrier, or a protective shell, and that is also why they cannot be damaged or relocated by digging around or inside them. That might also explain why they are always going up instead of down.

The only known way to dispose of the Labyrinth for good is to climb up all the way to the topmost floor and defeat the Boss Monster, and exterminating the threat the Labyrinths possess is the responsibility of every Lord who governs an inhabited area the happened to spawn in.

Moreover, if you dispose of the Labyrinth in an area that was unable to be populated because of the threat of that very Labyrinth, you will obtain the right to becoming the Lord of that land yourself!

Roxannes explanation has gotten quite enthusiastic.

I see. I understand now. Thanks for explaining it so thoroughly for me.

Youre welcome!

Well, that should do it for the lessons about the Labyrinths for the time being. After we gathered our belongings, weve decided to go out once more.

By the way, how many days are in a year here? I want to know if there are any differences to the calendar we used back in my homeland.

Well, the entire year is three hundred and sixty days long, give or take a few days.

According to what Roxanne told me, the year is divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, each of them lasting for about ninety days, with one or two days off before the season switches each time, so I think it would be safe to assume that the year in this world is the same as the one back in my old world.

And do you know which day it is today?

We have just entered the early spring period if memory serves me correctly, but as for the exact date Im sorry, but I do not know.

She said that taxes are paid in winter, so we still have a long way to go before we enter another taxation period.

Our next destination was the Adventurers Guild to sell off the branches we were carrying in our backpacks. We managed to sell everything we had for a total of six silver coins and a few bronze coins, meaning that we got around six hundred Nars. One of the factors here was my 30% Increase in selling prices, which is as amazingly reliable as ever, but we never would have gotten that much if it wasnt for the other backpack packed with the branches we obtained thanks to Roxanne being in the Labyrinth with me. I know that Im probably sounding like a broken record now, but Roxanne is amazing.

Our next order of business will be the purchase of the Magic Crystals, just like Roxanne suggested during one of our earlier conversations.

I would like to buy two Magic Crystals.

I said to the lady at the reception counter.

Of course. Are Black Magic Crystals okay with you, sir?

Oi, Roxanne. Whats the deal with those Black Magic Crystals? Thats the first time Ive heard of them!

Uhm, that is how the Magic Crystals completely depleted of magic power are called.

Seeing my confused expression, she offered a fast explanation.

Two Black Magic Crystals then, please.

As you wish. Please wait a moment.

I will, thank you very much.

The lady took the branches we gave her from our backpacks and headed to the back of the building. As we waited for her to return, Roxanne seemed to be reading through various announcements posted on the nearby bulletin board. I gotta say, being able to actually read the letters yourself instead of having someone else do it for you all the time sure is convenient.

There you go, sir. That will be 10 Nars each.

Eh? 10 Nars each, as in, the original price? Huh? Why didnt my 30% discount work here?

Even though I made sure to change my Skills properly, the discount didnt work for whatever bizarre reason. Why? Im doing everything as I always did so far and the Skill is active, so why didnt I receive my 30 % discount? I honestly dont know what the deal with this Skill is anymore. Normally, when I bought more than one item it would work like a charm, so why did it choose now of all times to suddenly stop working? Im not sure, but I definitely dont like it.

There is nothing I can really do here now, so I just handed the twenty bronze coins to the lady. She took the first ten coins and handed me one Black Magic Crystal, and then she did the same with the other ten coins and Crystal, after which she carefully counted everything to check if there was no mistakes in the transaction.

As for the Crystals themselves, they were the oval gems about the size of a chicken egg. Just as their name implied, they were jet-black in color. Now that I look at them, I am 100 % positive that I havent seen something like that in the Labyrinth, be it as a monster drop or just laying around. Then again, maybe I really did overlook them due to their size?

Looks like I can perform Identify on it, so lets see hmm, the appraisal says that the name of this item is not Black Magic Crystal, but simply a Magic Crystal.

Sorry you had to wait, Roxanne, but we got what we came for: two Magic Crystals. Black ones, to be exact.

I showed Roxanne the Crystals that we got.

Youre right, they really are black indeed.

Is there any significance to their color, or is it a purely aesthetic thing?

The color of the Magic Crystals changes depending on the amount of magical energy that is being stored inside them. It will turn red when you slay ten monsters, purple when you kill one hundred, blue after one thousand, green after ten thousand, yellow after one hundred thousand and white, meaning that it will be full, after one million monsters have been defeated.

So the color changes indicate how full the Crystal is with magic power. Got it memorized.

Then, since it doesnt have any magic power stored in it, it is black, hence the name Black Magic Crystal, right?

Yes, exactly. One thing worthy of noting is that the price of the Magic Crystal changes along with its color. Normally people sell them the moment the color changes, since it is more profitable than holding onto it until it turns white. Most common selling colors are green or yellow.

So even if I were to kill anywhere between hundred and nine hundred monsters, because the color of the Magic Crystal would still be purple, meaning that the price for selling it wouldnt go up. And it takes one hundred thousand monsters to turn the crystal yellow and million monsters to make it white, then it becomes obvious why people are not waiting with selling them. Simply put, the amount of time and effort required to do it was just not worth it. Lets assume that it would take an entire day to slay a hundred monsters to turn the Crystal purple. Following that assumption, turning it yellow would require three years of continuous, day-today monster hunting, and turning it white a whooping thirty years! Effectively one third of your average human lifetime just to sell one item at the highest possible price? Now thats a turnoff if I ever saw one.

Okay then, now that our business here is done, shall we go to the Labyrinth again?

Umu!

And with that we have left the Adventurers Guild.