I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“I’ll retrieve the corpses and run to the location of the transfer stone. You all go to the building with the transfer stone first, kill the Hati pack, and wait for me.”

“No, you crazy bastard! How are you going to break through a group of High Orcs alone!”

“This. I’ll break through with this.”

I took out a glass bottle while trying to calm down the seemingly excited Yuria.
A potion I got for free from Raffnel’s atelier.

“If I drink this, I’ll probably turn into a mouse for about an hour. They said intelligence is maintained. I’ll drink this, sneak into the building where the corpses are hidden, retrieve everything with my spatial pocket, and then run to where the transfer stone is.”

“Listen, Sion. No. That’s too dangerous.”

Rohan shook his head and denied it when I said I would run into the Orc group alone.
He might have felt sorry from his position.

We came in to retrieve corpses, but he ended up with a concussion and I was carrying the log.

But I’m fine with it.

Rohan carried the log plenty when we rescued Rika and Erika.
This is mutual aid.

“Did such a drug actually exist in the first place?”

Hachi, who heard my plan from the side, asked.
He seemed unable to easily believe in the existence of a potion that turns you into a mouse.

“It could… exist..”

“Is that really true, Horaru?”

“Yeah. It’s possible if you use a secret technique that only the highest rank of druids who have mastered alchemy can use.”

The highest rank among druids.
Was Raffnel’s identity an alchemist druid?

“But Sion. Who made that medicine?”

“An elf living in the eastern red-light district of the labyrinth city.”

“Red-light district?”

“A courtesan from the red-light district made this?”

“No, how could a woman from a brothel… Could it be for semen collection? Or is she an eccentric alchemist obsessed with men?”

“Sion, do you go to places like that?”

“No! That’s not it. There’s a hole-in-the-wall shop in the neighborhood where brothels are gathered.”

“Hole…?”

“Not that kind of hole! And Yuria, I don’t go to those places, so don’t misunderstand.”

“Really? I’ll believe you…?”

Yuria sighed in relief.
I corrected her before she could form any strange misunderstandings.

“An elf. Hmm. Probably an elderly elf. Indeed, you’ve met a noble person.”

Regardless of the strange misunderstandings other companions were having, Horaru was just admiring the drug I was holding.

Then Rohan, who had been silent, opened his mouth again.

“I wonder if we’re entrusting too heavy a burden to you.”

He seemed to be feeling something akin to guilt.
I waved my hand at him, saying it was nothing.

“If you’re really sorry, give me 3 of the Hati corpses Rohan-ssi caught.”

“Huh?”

“I think that’s enough compensation for turning into a mouse.”

“Is that so. Hahahahaha! Alright. I’ll transfer the rights to all the monsters I caught during this labyrinth excursion to you.”

Rohan laughed heartily.

“Wait a minute. I have no intention of transferring my share because I got caught up in the atmosphere. Make sure to calculate properly.”

“Yes, of course.”

Louis quickly claimed his share, worried that everyone might get caught up in the atmosphere and end up donating money to me.

Right, this is how adventurers should be.
Rohan is being excessively generous.

“Well then, let’s get started.”

Before drinking the mouse-transforming potion, I downed two bottles of nutritional supplements at the same time.
I know it’s crazy, but I have no choice.

I can’t stop or collapse in the middle.
I had to maintain consciousness no matter what until my companions picked me up.

“Whew. I might faint, so please take care of me then.”

“I’m sorry for entrusting you with such a heavy duty.”

“It’s fine. Thanks to Rohan-ssi, I was able to get Erika and Rika out too. And anyway, the Young Lady will pay the compensation for this job. Don’t worry too much.”

The Young Lady said she’d pay the price of a life.
As soon as we go up and I get the money, I’ll just buy slaves right away…

“Be careful, Sion.”

“Huh? Yeah. Got it. I’ll be back.”

I was excited thinking about buying slaves when Yuria suddenly grabbed my hand.
This one, her skinship has become more intense since entering the labyrinth.

She expresses her emotions to me overtly.
She radiates her affection in a way that can’t be misunderstood.

Honestly, it was a bit burdensome.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I dislike Yuria.

I don’t dislike her.
Rather, I respect her as an adventurer and rationally have a good impression of her.

This is the problem.

‘I don’t intend to date adventurers.’

Moreover, Yuria wasn’t even my slave.
She’s an adventurer who could die at any time, and since she’s not a slave, I don’t know when she might cheat.

I’m sorry, but Yuria…
She wasn’t qualified to be my wife.

So I kept putting up walls.
Even when she openly showed signs of liking me, I kept pretending not to know until the end.

If I get caught up in her emotions too, I’ll end up having to date her in the end.
And then I really felt like I wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath.

Yeah, I’m a coward.
That’s why I kept avoiding Yuria.

‘But…’

I felt that it wasn’t courteous to the other person to keep pretending not to know and avoiding while knowing their feelings.

I guess it would be better to make things clear by taking some time.

“Yuria.”

“Yes?”

“When this labyrinth excursion is over. Let’s have a serious talk.”

“A serious talk?”

“Yeah. A serious talk.”

“But, but making such a serious expression in that state… Pfft.”

“Huh? Ah. Damn it.”

Yuria laughed looking at my lower body.
I had an erection.
It’s a side effect of the nutritional supplements.

“Damn it.”

“S-Sion.. Don’t tell me you have… that kind of perverted inclination that enjoys crisis situations?”

“No! No, I don’t! It’s a side effect of the nutritional supplements! Stop slandering me from earlier, Louis!”

I wanted to explain more about the drug’s effects…
But explaining the reason for my erection seemed too pathetic.

Let’s just get out quickly. I need to get out of this rotten labyrinth.
I feel like I’m going crazy from being in the labyrinth for too long.

“Ah, whatever. I’ll be back soon, so just keep the transfer stone open!”

I drank the mouse-transforming potion.
It tasted like sweet melon soda.

“Squeak..!?”

Soon my body rapidly shrank.
There was a strange sound like muscles and bones breaking, and my field of vision became very low.

It’s real magic.
I turned into a mouse just by drinking one bottle of potion.

Come to think of it, this drug has immediate effects.
If used well, it seems like you could feed it to enemies and turn them into little mice.

For example, what if you threw it into a dragon’s mouth?
Couldn’t you turn a dragon into a little mouse? Is that not possible?
But they said this had side effects.
I can’t really tell right now.

It seems to be the type where side effects appear after the drug’s effects wear off.

“Squeak!”

I put my scattered clothes and belongings on the floor into my spatial pocket.
The clothes I was wearing became too big when I turned into a mouse and all fell off.

‘I can still use abilities even in mouse form.’

Mapping is still active too. Good.
I lost my language ability, but I didn’t need it anyway since I was going to run alone.

“Squeeeak!”

“He really turned into a mouse..!”

“Let’s start before Sion’s drug effects wear off!”

Rohan opened the entrance of the building.
They run towards where the transfer stone is.
I ran towards where the corpses are.

‘The scenery looks different with such a low viewpoint.’

Even the senses were a bit strange.
Antennae? Whiskers? Yeah, must be whiskers.

The whiskers near my snout sensitively detected air currents and the presence of monsters.
It seems night vision is applied to some extent too.

I felt no discomfort running in the darkness.
Like that, I ran to the building Rohan mentioned, avoiding monsters.

‘Is it that building?’

Soon I reached the building where the corpses should be hidden.
Nearby, Orcs were making a fire and tearing into beast meat.

If we had come together as a group, we would have definitely been noticed by the Orcs.
I carefully looked for a mouse hole and entered the building without being noticed by the Orcs.

‘Somewhere here… Found it!’

I discovered them.
Six corpses buried in a pile of dirt.

I quickly crawled over and put them into my inventory.
The decay didn’t seem too severe yet.

At this level, they should be able to be resurrected.

‘Done!’

With this, corpse retrieval successful.
Now I just need to run towards where the transfer stone is.

‘Now nothing else will happen, right? This is really the end, right? Stop the bad luck.’

Please. We’ve rolled enough by now.
I think rolling any more than this is a bit much.

‘Huff.. Huff…’

I kept running while coaxing and soothing the labyrinth in my mind.
Being a mouse made me very fast, but my stamina was depleting just as quickly.

“Squeak.. Squeak!”

I took out dried fruit from my inventory and chewed on it.
If I didn’t consume something intermittently, I felt like my heart would burst and I’d die.

‘I really feel like I’m going to die.’

My erection subsided.
The effects of the nutritional supplements are wearing off.
Even though I drank two bottles, my eyes were already closing.

Probably because Shaka used up a tremendous amount of my life force.
Damn labyrinth. If I get out this time, I’m going to rest for at least… really at least two months.

‘So hang in there. Just a little further…’

I forced myself to run.
With my eyes half-closed, relying on instinct and senses.

I ran and ran.

“Oh! There! I sense the presence of a small animal!”

“Sion! Over here!”

Soon I saw my companions waiting for me in front of the transfer stone.
Corpses of Hati were piled up in one corner.

“Squeak..!”

I ran towards the corpses.
As the small mouse hand quickly swept over the corpses, all the piled up Hati corpses entered my spatial pocket.

“Hehh. Hehh….”

With this, my mission was really completely over.
Wouldn’t this make me the best corpse retriever in the labyrinth city?

“Sion!”

“This guy is exhausted! Let’s quickly take him up! Monsters will be swarming soon!”

Someone picked me up.
Now I can really faint, right?

Soon I felt my body crossing the gate.
Consciousness gradually faded away.

When I open my eyes again, I hope it’s outside the labyrinth.