Chapter 158: Hartdom City Labyrinth

POV Cornelius

The next day, we prepared to go into the local labyrinth. To do so, we needed permission. Like everyone else, we got it from one of the mercenary guilds. For reasons I didn't know, there was no adventurers' guild here. Instead, there were numerous others, such as mercenaries, hunters, and explorers. Each of these guilds was further divided into sub-guilds. And the Iron Serpents mercenary guild had the rights to use the labyrinth.

Apparently, there were no official adventurers in Hartdom City either. As I later learned, there were adventurers and guilds in other cities of the city-states. The tasks that were performed by adventurers in our empire were performed here in Hartdom City by mercenaries, etc. Mercenaries, of all people. My experiences with them in various role-playing games had been largely negative, so I didn't think much of them. And now I was dependent on them. That could only go wrong.

The guild building was erected directly above the labyrinth and also served as its entrance. The city itself was built around the labyrinth. Accordingly, a large part of the city's economy depended on the labyrinth.

We entered a large hall, almost like a market hall. Inside, there were several shops on the left side of the hall, while on the right side there were several counters with people standing behind them. The shops sold weapons, armor, alchemical potions, herbs, or carried out repairs. Shields hung above the three long counters. The first counter bought monster parts and mana cores. The second counter indicated that you could have entire monster bodies disassembled if you hadn't done it yourself in the labyrinth.

The third counter, located at the back of the hall, was relevant to us. The entrance to the labyrinth was next to the counter. Several people stood guard around the entrance.

The hall was bustling with activity. In addition to the usual rumors and gossip, yesterday's fights in the Colosseum were another topic of conversation. The Mad Angels' fight in particular was the subject of heated discussion. No one had expected them to win, especially not with such dominance. Likewise, no one knew the identity of the mysterious new member. Even their gender was unknown. However, the unanimous opinion was that they must be a strong person. We had a big advantage here because we knew the personal details of their status thanks to Javier.

“Did you see that yesterday? It was quite scary.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“Something’s not right about that. Where did that person come from all of a sudden? Someone that strong must be known to us.”

“No idea. He must be new here.”

“Maybe he's a hunter or explorer. We don't have any data on them in the guild.”

“Why do you think it's a man? The figure looked very slender to me. It must be a woman.”

“Quite possible.”

I left the people to their speculations and turned to the receptionist.

“We're passing through and want to visit the labyrinth before continuing our journey. What do we need to do?” <Cornelius>

“Admission is 1 silver per person per day. If you buy a 5-day pass, you get the 6th day for free.” <Receptionist>

“How difficult is the labyrinth and how long does it usually take to reach the end?” <Cornelius>

“In our experience, you need 3 to 4 people between levels 45 and 50 to defeat the final boss. It is possible with fewer people, but the party should be larger or more experienced. The labyrinth has 20 floors, and depending on how thoroughly you explore, it will take you different amounts of time. According to our records, the fastest exploration took 3 days.” <Receptionist>

“What reward do we get if we defeat the final boss?” <Cornelius>

“We know of various rewards. Equipment items and monster materials are available with each run. You can also acquire a special skill.” <Receptionist>

“What skills are we talking about here?” <Cornelius>

"We know of various skills that are possible. Some of them are weapon-related, while others relate to other skills. Some give the owner a special ability. Weapon-related skills include increased hit chance against slow opponents or increased damage against opponents without armor." <Receptionist>

“I can learn that right now! What kind of crap is that?” <Ansgar>

"That's correct. Most of these skills are basic skills and can also be learned in other ways if you have an expert weapon skill. You don't need a teacher for this and you don't have to pay them. Another advantage is that anyone can learn the skills, even if they don't have the corresponding expert skill, but only the advanced skill. One more piece of information about these skills. Unfortunately, the improved skills cannot be learned in this labyrinth. The difficulty level is not high enough for that." <Receptionist>

“We're not interested in these skills. What else can we learn?” <Cornelius>

"The most interesting skill, apart from Sales Talent I, is probably Linguistic Talent I. Sales Talent I offers a 10% bonus on negotiation. This allows you to get better prices when buying and selling. There are similar skills for most other skills that you have at expert level or higher.

Linguistic Talent I, on the other hand, works differently. As you may have noticed, the same language is not spoken everywhere. People everywhere speak the standard language. At least, that applies to the inhabitants of the city-states, the empire, and smaller kingdoms in the immediate vicinity. The pirates of the south also speak this language. Linguistic Talent I makes it easier to learn unknown languages spoken by intelligent beings and enables immediate intuitive understanding. This includes non-humans in particular, but not animals. Monsters in labyrinths and dungeons also do not speak an understandable language." <Receptionist>

"Ha, that sounds uninteresting. Why do I need that? At least we'll gain experience when we go into the labyrinth." <Ansgar>

“Hmm, I'm definitely interested. But we should all be able to complete 20 floors. If the fastest so far has been 3 days, let's take the 5 days with the extra day. If we're faster, we can still decide what to do.” <Javier>

“That sounds reasonable. All right, we'll take 5 days for 4 people.” <Cornelius>

"Very well. That will be 2 large silver coins. As soon as you enter the labyrinth, report here at the counter and we will note your entry. As soon as you return, report back here. Then we will remove you from the list. You should know that we will send out a search party if you exceed the time you have specified. For a fee, of course. Ah, and an advice. Don't touch the dungeon core if you are victorious against the last boss. A normal person will suffer greatly from the recoil. And the labyrinth will shut down for a long time. This will result in a hefty compensation." <Receptionist>

I handed her the money and we left the guild. Now that we knew how long we would need, we could prepare ourselves. We packed food for 6 days and went back to the hall.

Unlike the well-known dungeons, where no one knew where the entrance portal would teleport you to, the entire vault of the labyrinth was located beneath the city. Therefore, the entrance was permanently guarded, as there was always the chance that monsters could escape from inside into the city. Such events were rare, but they did happen. As long as the monster population was kept low by mercenaries and others, the city was safe.

The entrance was sealed with a heavy door, through which two smaller doors led. The right door was used to enter the labyrinth and the left door to exit. At that time, there was already a long line, which we ignored as usual and walked past. Immediately, many angry exclamations were heard.

“Get in line like everyone else.”

“How rude. Who do you think you are?”

“Always these arrogant newbies.”

Irritated, I turned to them.

“We are the heroes of the Empire. We are in a hurry.” <Cornelius>

“We are in a hurry too.”

“Even if you are the Emperor himself, your titles mean nothing here.”

“We are not in the Empire here, you morons.”

“Didn’t you learn any manners?”

“What’s going on here? What’s all the commotion about?” <Woman>

A woman in her thirties came out of a building to the side of the entrance. She was dressed in a uniform like the ones I had seen before in the guild.

“They just pushed their way to the front. They should go to the back and line up like everyone else.” <Man>

"We are the heroes of the Empire. We want to go to the labyrinth to train for our mission." <Cornelius>

“We as a guild know about you, but most mercenaries have never heard of you. But they're right, your titles from the empire won't get you anywhere here. Only when you've reached a certain rank as a mercenary, hunter, or explorer will they show you respect.” <Woman>

"We should become mercenaries? Why? It's a waste of time." <Ansgar>

“Hmm, just out of interest, what rank would that be?” <Javier>

“Most mercenaries here in the city are rank D or below. However, unless you reach at least rank C, or better still B, nothing will change. But be warned, reaching rank B usually takes many years and only a few ever achieve it.” <Woman>

“Is there nothing you can do to get your turn sooner?” <Cornelius>

“There are only three options. Either the others let you go ahead of them, but that's not the case. Then you can come here early in the morning, just before the doors open. That's at sunrise, at 7 a.m. at the latest. Or you can buy a special ticket. Then the guards will let you in immediately.” <Woman>

“How much is the special ticket?” <Cornelius>

“One gold coin per person.” <Woman>

“One gold coin? That's 100 times more than normal!” <Cornelius>

“But this ticket is valid for five days. Those are your only options. Keep in mind, though, that this won't win you any sympathy from the others here.” <Woman>

"It's okay, we understand. We'll stand at the back." <Cornelius>

We accepted the local rules and went to the back to queue up normally. I decided it wasn't worth paying the extra gold. Nor did we want to ruin our relationship with the guild here. Who knows when that might benefit us, even though I didn't like mercenaries any more after this than I did before.