Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 5 - Ch 3.13

Size-wise, I think it is pretty close to how big Vale actually is. I wanted to draw some comparisons between this town and the Imperial City, but then I realized that there is actually nothing much to compare, because this is just a regular town, while the Imperial City, being the capital of the Entire Empire, is in a class of its own when it comes to sheer size of the city and the grandeur and splendor of each and every one of its buildings.

And as for Quratar, that city does not have any kind of walls and its buildings are all perfectly ordinary, or at the very least, nothing particularly eye-catching that would make you stop in your tracks in order to admire it, so I cannot really draw any comparisons of anything that is there to the things that I am seeing here. But here in Zabir, the one thing that I can definitely say with all certainty in the world is that its walls made out of reddish-brown bricks certainly do look splendid.And they are also pretty high, reaching up to about three meters high, I think?

But on the other hand. The gate that has been build in that was is.. actually, it is kind of small. It is a one-sided gate, about a meter high and a meter wide, and above that gate, a magnificent-looking watchtower has been build. It would seem that this is where the gatekeeper is residing throughout most of the day, keeping a careful and watchful eye over the people who were coming into the city and going out of it through its main gate.

However, I wonder if it is even okay to be calling that construct a gate, because from where I am standing, that main gateis looking more like a sloppily-made door than an actual gate, so whoever designed it should either give it a general makeover or dismantle it and build a new one entirely from scratch, because the way it is looking now, it does not look representative enough at all, and gives off a feeling of a side entrance to the city rather than a main one.

It is so small for a main gate that I think I might actually have to crouch in order to get through it. Yes, whoever thought that slapping something like that as the main entrance to the entire city was going to be a good idea should be fired immediately.

When I walked out of the gate (After bending forward a little instead of crouching, but still), the first thing that I have noticed was a field, which eventually turned into a forest. It is not a particularly dense one. It is the one that has many openings and free spaces between the individual trees, with a path that looked as if it was made by many people trampling over the ground over and over again. Is this perhaps the way that the Adventurer back in the Guild was talking about?

After walking for about five minutes, I found myself standing in front of the entrance to the Labyrinth. There is no one else at the entrance, which checks itself out with what the Adventurer at the Guild had said: that since this place is not under the management of any Explorers, there is going to be no one here. If there was an Explorer stationed here, I could immediately go to the higher floors of this Labyrinth, but since there is no one else but me here, I guess I really have to start the exploration of this Labyrinth from the first floor.

So I took Durandal out and entered the Labyrinth by myself for the first time in quite a while. Because Roxanne is not here with me, I have to wander around the halls looking for monsters by trial and error. I now understand the true value of Roxanne superior sense of smell that is an immense amount of help to us whenever we are in the Labyrinths, and it makes me appreciate her even more than before.

After that, I went to Vales Labyrinth, and then returned home. Since I have time to spare, then might as well use it to get a short nap to compensate for my sleep deprivation from last night, right?

Then, after I woke up I went to Vales Labyrinth to fully recover my MP, and then it was off to Palmasque with me, but through the route that looked in a following way: Quratar Vale Zabir Palmasque. Every time I arrived at the next checkpoint, I was recovering my MP bit by bit as needed, which made the entire journey that much more acceptable. And after a short wait at Palmasques Adventurers Guild, Roxanne and Sherry were finally back

But they do not seem to have brought the mirrors back with them. I wonder if they were unable to obtain them, or if they found some, but did not like any of them enough to buy them? Or maybe they did end up buying mirrors, but instead of the big ones they went for the smaller, pendant-like ones?

We are sorry to have kept you waiting, master.

It is quite alright. So, how did it go?

We would like to talk about that later.

Immediately wanted to know how did their shopping mission go so I asked them openly, but Sherry answered me back with a whisper. Looks like something quite serious must have happened. Well, I guess I will get to know that soon enough.

Shall we go home then?

Yes please.

Like that, we said goodbye to Palmasque for now. Since we did not have any mirrors with us, I was thinking if maybe I should use this opportunity to warp my entire Party from here to Quratar, but would there be any kind of merit to doing that? Even if we do not have mirrors with us, the presence of Roxanne and Sherry is still going to take quite a toll on my MP, so I should pick a safer but longer route in order to limit my MPs decrease as much as possible. Once we will have the mirrors with us, it is going to be hard to move from one relay point to another, so I should save going to Quratar directly only when we are going to have the mirrors with us. So this time, going the roundabout way should be fine.

As the first stop, I teleported us to the Labyrinth of Zabir that I just discovered. My MP decreased in such a way that I could clearly see it after moving from Palmasque to Zabir, so try to imagine what would have happened if I went straight for Quratar with my current group. Yeah, that would be pretty scary.

Roxanne, look for the nearest group of monsters please. So Sherry, how was the mirror purchasing?

The mirrors themselves have been placed up for sale just as we expected, but they all had these tacky, nouveau riche decorations that seemed a bit too much for us. Not to mention that they were ridiculously expensive.

So they also have this word functioning in this world as well, huh? Well, it is not surprising seeing as how people can quickly get rich here if only they decide to go to the Labyrinths and hunt monsters actively, just like I was doing right now.

Just like Sherry said! Such thing can be used by aristocrats and master, but us common people have no use for them whatsoever!

So I am getting lumped together with aristocrats and nouveau riche? I do not know if I should be happy or mad about it.

Well, it was just supposed to be a decoration, so do not worry about it too much.

When we asked the shopkeepers if they had some more ordinary, they were all saying that they prefer them to be more ornate and decorative. They also said that the higher the original price, the higher the resale value, and it is for that reason that they are adding things like gold and silver to the mirrors frame

Ahh, in other words, this is their strategy to add to the mirrors value.

Add value?

It seems that Sherry does not know what it means to add to the value of the product, which is no surprise, since this is a term strictly from modern days of business strategies.

Since Palmasque craftsmen have a monopoly on mirror creation, it is a process that would allow them to sell not only mirrors, but also their other products at the same time.

I see. Certainly, many things can only be found in Palmasque, such as glassworks, mirrorworks, clockworks, goldworks, silverworks, jewelworks.. Palmasque truly has no equal when it comes to these things.

There are clocks there too?

I had no idea there were clocks in this world. I have never seen one before, or even heard anyone talking about them.

Yes, because Palmasque is the home of glassworks.

Are clocks made of glass here?

They have to be, because otherwise you would not be able to see the grains of sand inside of them.

So not a classic clock, but an Hourglass huh? Yeah, in that case they really have to be made out of glass, there is no doubt about it. An hourglass that is not made out of glass would not be capable of serving its purpose at all.

Well, they have some talented people there, it seems.

Palmasque as a whole is an island of very talented people.

Indeed, there were no mountains or anything of the sort as far as I could see from inside of the Adventurers Guild.

Heeee.

Because it is an island, craftsmen and artisans cannot easily run away from there. And that is why the arts and crafts of Palmasque stay in Palmasque.

By the way, there is a check of the Intelligence Cards when leaving and entering the Adventurers Guild, and it is for the purpose of strictly confirming whether you are the same person who entered the city or not.

They are going that far, huh?

Sherry nodded at Roxannes remarks as we moved forward. Is that why Field Walker is not allowed outside the Adventurers Guild? To ensure that their techniques are not leaked to the outside? Sounds like a terrible place where there is no freedom for craftsmen and artisans alike.

And because it is an island, there is no Labyrinth there either?

It would seem so, yes.

Sherry nodded to my question. So unfortunately, it seems that we will not be able to make a relay point in Palmasque.

I asked if there was a possibility to make a mirror without such decorations, but no craftsmen even wanted to hear about it. It was the same when we went directly to the workshops where the mirrors were made. Nobody wanted to sell us the ones without decorations.

So even the workshops directly refused you, huh?

If they agreed to sell undecorated mirrors directly from the workshops it would ruin the business strategy of decorating and selling mirrors at higher prices, so it is no wonder that Roxanne and Sherrys requests got refused.

However, the craftsmen also said that while they cannot sell such mirrors normally, they could do it if it was through a commission made by an aristocrat.

A commission, huh?

That is why we came back without buying anything today. You know the leader of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy, right, master?

Yeah, Gozer. Sherry and Roxanne also met him at the Quratar Merchants Guild. Is she suggesting that I am going to buy the mirror that we want if I do it at the request of the Duke of Hartz? Can we really use our connection to that handsome guy like that?

So you are saying that we should rely on him on this one?

Even if he is an Elf, you should always use everything and anyone at your disposal to make your own life easier. And after we use him for all that he is worth, we can just throw him out from our lives like a pair of used Sandals.

That metaphor just now was pretty damn scarry. I hope that Sherry is not going to start advocating the policy The Only Good Elf is a Dead Elf anytime soon!