Chapter 28

First, we went around the city shops to get her gear ready.

Naturally, I used “Display” to check the quality of every item before buying. However, there aren’t many hidden gems in shops catering to the general public; it’s mostly mass-produced goods piled up at random.

I casually asked a shopkeeper about high-end weapons, but it seems those only appear at auctions or specialized shops associated with Huzya.

Still, since I was using a first-class weapon like the Heirloom Sword of House Alais I didn’t feel the need to go out of my way for something more expensive. I finished our shopping by buying Maria a manageable dagger and some light, durable armor to protect herself.

“Um… even this knife feels heavy…”

“You’ll get used to it soon, don’t worry.”

Dressed in leather armor and holding a dagger with both hands, Maria was wobbling.

It wasn’t that she’d “get used to it” in the traditional sense; I was planning on her Strength rising through level-ups.

With preparations complete, we now stood before the Labyrinth in peak condition.

I recalled the leveling plan I’d come up with this morning and moved to put it into action.

“Okay, Maria. Hop on.”

I crouched down and turned my back to her.

By the way, I had positioned the scabbard of my sword so it could act as a sort of seat.

“Eh?”

Maria let out a dazed sound.

I couldn’t blame her. If a master asked for a piggyback ride right as they were about to risk their lives in the Labyrinth, I’d doubt his sanity too.

“I’m serious. Trust me and get on my back.”

“…Hah?”

To show I wasn’t joking, I made the request again in a dignified tone.

Even so, Maria only gave a half-hearted response.

“For now, I’m planning to skip straight to the 5th floor. It’s faster if I run than if you do, so I want you to ride along. Also, it’s easier to protect you if you’re on my back.”

“A-Ah. I see… Wait, NO! No, no, no! I’ve never heard of someone entering the Labyrinth for a piggyback ride!”

For the record, my goal was the 5th floor—a depth where I figured Maria wouldn’t be killed instantly. I wasn’t entirely confident, as I was only basing this on my own shallow combat experience.

Maria nodded as she processed the explanation… then immediately shook her head.

So close.

But this was at the top of my list of things to test. I wasn’t going to back down easily.

“I’ve never heard of it either. But I want to try it. Just for a bit… just a little bit. Please.”

If my calculations were correct, it was possible.

A veteran explorer—specifically a large swordsman—has a Strength stat of around 5. Their Stamina is about the same. In comparison, my Strength and Stamina have already reached 6.

In other words, I possess physical power equivalent to a two-meter-tall giant who has trained his body to the limit.

I wanted to experiment with how much effort it would take to carry a girl weighing about forty kilograms with these stats. My hypothesis was that I could carry her to the 5th floor with ease.

“I-I suppose I have no choice…”

Maria reluctantly and bashfully climbed onto my back.

I felt her weight settle against the scabbard and stood up.

The weight on my arms felt… strangely light.

To the “me” from my original world, this would have been an impossible sensation. The lightness confirmed that my hypothesis was correct.

“Alright. I’m going to run a bit, so hold on tight.”

“Yes…”

After confirming that Maria had a firm grip on my shoulders, I deployed “Dimension” and took off.

“—Eek!?”

Accompanied by Maria’s scream, we flew down the Labyrinth’s “Main Path.”

My Speed stat is 10.

I don’t actually know how fast that is compared to this world’s standards. After all, I’ve had no one to compare myself to.

“—W-w-wait! Please wait!”

Maria immediately called for a halt.

I slowed down and spoke to her.

“…Is it too much after all?”

Maria was out of breath even though she hadn’t run a step. Apparently, just clinging on took a considerable amount of physical energy.

“N-no… I was just shocked by what a monster you are, Master. My posture was just bad… Next time, I’ll be fine.”

With that, Maria wrapped her arms fully around my neck and clung to me.

Since we were pressed tightly together, I could feel my own face turning red. To make sure she didn’t see, I didn’t look back as I checked in.

“Ready to run?”

“Yes, give it your best shot.”

I started running again without holding back.

The faster I ran, the tighter Maria’s grip became.

On the way, we passed other explorers.

They were understandably shocked by the sight, but I left them all in the dust.

Moving at such an abnormal speed, it was unlikely they could clearly see our faces. Still, there was no denying we were standing out, and no guarantee we wouldn’t be recognized.

Even so, I didn’t stop.

Up until now, I had gone out of my way to avoid standing out.

However, ever since I sold Tiida’s Magic Stone to Wald, I’ve started to give up on that. Part of it is that I’ve reached a level of strength that is becoming impossible to hide, but another reason is that with this strength, I can escape from most problems anyway.

“Amazing! It’s so fast! It’s like riding an Arauna!”

Having grown accustomed to the speed, Maria was frolicking excitedly.

I wonder if “Arauna” is the name of some animal. Perhaps due to her experience riding them, Maria seemed perfectly composed even at this pace.

If I recall, Maria had a skill called “Hunting.” Before she became a slave, she might have made a living hunting while mounted on a horse-like creature.

“You shouldn’t talk too much. You might bite your tongue.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

I gave her a warning and increased my speed even further.

Eventually, we reached the 5th floor.

It had taken about thirty minutes.

“A-Amazing! Master, we really made it!!”

“Wheeze… wheeze…! Haa… haa… haa…!!”

The price of that speed, however, was steep.

According to my plan, thirty minutes of movement shouldn’t have been this agonizing. Apparently, even with a Stamina stat of 6, I couldn’t endure a full thirty-minute sprint.

It’s possible that “Stamina” in this world doesn’t translate directly to “Endurance” as I know it from my world. The nuances are close, but they are definitely not identical.

“Um, are you okay…?”

“Haa… haa… Yeah, I’m fine now…”

Seeing me doubled over with my hands on my knees, gasping for air, Maria timidly expressed her concern.

I nodded back firmly.

Some results matched my predictions, while others didn’t go as planned. Still, discovering that I could run while carrying Maria was a major gain. Now I had the guarantee that I could retreat with her in case of an emergency.

I caught my breath and let Maria down. Then, with my arms finally free, I drew my sword and began walking away from the Main Path.

“Are we going already? Shouldn’t we rest a bit longer?”

“No, time is precious. Even if I’m out of breath, I won’t lose to monsters on the 5th floor.”

“I see. From what I’ve heard, the 5th floor is an area where even mid-tier explorers lose their lives, but…”

“So they say. But I’ll be fine.”

“No, I mean I’m the one in danger…”

Maria’s voice began to tremble.

She had been excited earlier while riding the “Kanami Rollercoaster,” but she seemed to have suddenly remembered that she had been brought to a terrifying place.

Because I understood my own strength and the scouting capabilities of “Dimension,” I was confident that I wouldn’t let Maria get hurt on a floor like this. However, to Maria, who didn’t know the extent of my power, it probably felt like she could die at any second.

“It’s okay. I wouldn’t bring you here if I wasn’t certain. I will absolutely protect you.”

“…Hmph, is that so? But you seem like the type of person who would mess up at a crucial moment, so I’m worried.”

Maria hesitated at my confident claim, but she quickly pulled herself together to lecture me. Perhaps because of her skill, she has a knack for cutting straight to the core of things.

I took her warning to heart and nodded.

“Understood. I’ll pay the utmost attention.”

I expanded the range of “Dimension.”

I wasn’t worried about MP. After all, at Level 10, my MP was nearly double what it had been the last time I explored the 5th floor.

Then, I began to memorize the “areas where monsters are likely crowded” and “areas with high-experience boss monsters”—essentially, I was mapping out the “high-efficiency leveling zones.”

Northeast.

A few hundred meters ahead.

There was a monster-dense zone.

Seeing that it was the closest area that met my criteria, I urged Maria to move.

“Alright, let’s head this way.”

We moved about several dozen meters and took up a position in an area with good visibility.

Next, I re-confirmed the target monsters within a few hundred meters. This was also to ensure Maria wouldn’t be attacked while I was hunting.

With this, preparations were complete.

Finally, the experiment could begin.

“Maria, wait here. I’m going to go hunt some monsters.”

“Eh? No, no, no, wait! You’re planning to leave me here alone?”

“It’s fine. I have a skill that allows me to sense the location of monsters, so if you’re in danger, I’ll be back immediately. …Well, if you do happen to encounter one, just run in the opposite direction.”

“I mean, obviously I’ll run… but if I’m cornered, it’s over!”

“If you’re cornered… I guess we’ll just have to give up then.”

“D-Don’t give up on me!”

“Giving up was a joke. Don’t worry, I really can tell where every living thing in the Labyrinth is.”

Maria protested loudly, but I pushed my opinion through and forced her to agree. Although “agree” might be the wrong word; she was muttering things like, “Sigh… I guess I’m going to die after all. Eaten by a monster. Picked up by a stupid master only to die by predation. That’s right behind being tortured to death or burned to death on my list of ways I didn’t want to go,” so “resigned” might be more accurate.

“Well, I’m off.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and abandon me.”

Maria waved her hand with an exasperated look as she saw me off.

I hurried toward the monster-dense zone.

The possibility Maria mentioned wasn’t zero. Even with the Main Path behind her, there could be a case where she was surrounded and I couldn’t make it back in time. I set about annihilating the monsters at the highest speed possible.

“Hah—!”

I slashed through enemies with the sword I was keeping for Dia.

Generally, this area is populated by beast and insect-type monsters. Occasionally, special monsters like “Hang Shadows” appear—monsters that are resistant to physical attacks—but I just handled them the same way I did during the Tiida fight: freezing them solid with magic and smashing them to pieces.

Mostly, they were one-hit kills.

With the Heirloom Sword of House Alais augmenting my attack power, my strength was far beyond the standards of the 5th floor. I cut through every monster as if I were slicing paper.

By the way, I made it a policy not to pick up any drops other than Magic Stones from boss monsters. Since I still had nearly ten gold coins in savings, prioritizing time and experience was better than picking up stones that would only fetch a few copper coins.

Above all, this hunt was more of an experiment than a practical run.

First, I needed to see just how easy it was to raise Maria’s level. Depending on the result, I might focus on leveling others rather than just exploring the Labyrinth myself. The strategy of raising people and sending them into the Labyrinth isn’t impossible.

It was also important to measure the distance at which the “Party” remained functional. If the distance was long enough, I could just have Maria wait on the Main Path indefinitely. I knew it wouldn’t work if she were as far away as the surface—otherwise, Dia, who was sleeping in the hospital, would be gaining experience right now.

“—Alright. …Phew. This should be enough.”

After hunting for about thirty minutes, I decided to head back to Maria.

I walked back, steadying my ragged breathing.

Seeing my casual return, Maria screamed.

“You should be dashing! You should be dashing back here!?”

“I’m back.”

A haggard Maria desperately lodged her complaints. In just these thirty minutes, she had clearly reached her limit.

Come to think of it, when I was Level 1, I felt like I was going to go insane just walking through the Labyrinth. It wasn’t even that long ago, yet for some reason, it feels like an ancient memory.

“Haa, haa… To be honest, I’m really scared. Even I…”

“Yeah, looks like it. I underestimated you, thinking you’d be fine, Maria.”

“I-I’m obviously not fine… What did you think I was? I’m just a fragile child…”

After firing off a litany of complaints, Maria slumped in dejection.

I felt bad, but I didn’t intend to stop the experiment. I immediately pulled up her Status to see if her experience had increased.

Even at a distance of 100 meters, the experience points were being added properly.

“Okay, next, wait on the ‘Main Path’.”

“H-Hah? The ‘Main Path’? Well, that’s better than here, I guess… but is there even any point in me coming along for this?”

“There is. You’re being a huge help.”

“I don’t understand how.”

Despite her grumbling, Maria followed my instructions.

She likely knew that the Main Path had a barrier against monsters. She began walking with a look of relative relief.

Near the Main Path, I scouted for monster positions again.

The key was the distance between the Main Path and the monster zone.

This time, I’ll try 300 meters. If experience points still come in at that distance, it means I can level up allies while they stay safe on the Main Path.

“Experiment resumed—”

And so, the entire morning was spent on experimentation.

Maria, who was left alone in various locations, ended up with teary eyes, but since I was confident in my “Dimension” protection, I ignored her complaints.

After several hours, I had confirmed the following:

1. Experience distribution is split equally regardless of level difference.
2. The maximum distance for distribution is around 100 meters.
3. As a special condition, areas with barriers like the Main Path cause the distance limit to fluctuate.

I had successfully solidified this data.