Chapter 185

As we lined up at the labyrinth entrance, the completely blank, star-struck glazes of countless adventurers cascaded over us.

And it was a completely natural reaction… while this world was by no means lacking in handsome men and beautiful women, a unique event where this kind of endgame-tier, exotic, non-human beauties gathered in a single spot was a once-in-a-lifetime sight, after all.

It was an absolute blessing that Shia was wearing her Concealment Artifact earring and Disis was wearing a mask; if not, a genuinely catastrophic uproar explicitly would have broken out.

“Insane…”

“Wow, holy shit. Unreal. Just unreal…”

“Who are they…?”

“I’ve never seen those people in my entire life.”

“Are they a named party that descended from Central or the Imperial Capital?”

“Could it be the Celestial Rose?”

“That’s a nine-member party. Isn’t it the Elysian Blaze?”

“I’ve seen those guys before in the Imperial Capital… No. Skill aside, when it comes to pure beauty, Elysian or whatever doesn’t even belong in the same league, it’s not even a game.”

“…What’s with the guy?”

“…Isn’t he just a random third party?”

“…Yeah. He must be entirely unrelated. There’s no way a foreign substance like that would be embedded in a flower bed of that caliber.”

“…He’s probably a porter. He looks sturdy enough; he’s the perfect build for a porter.”

Hearing the jealousy-filled murmuring of the male adventurers, a few female adventurers let out snorts of derision.

“Oh, come on. It’s clear as day they’re close just by looking, right? They’re exchanging words.”

“…One can still be on speaking terms with a porter.”

“Holy shit. That single coat of his probably costs more than my entire house. Is he perhaps a young master from some grand noble family—Count level or higher? He looks handsome and carries an aura of nobility; it’s clear at a glance that the man is the party leader and the rest of the women are following his lead.”

“…No. It can’t be. There’s no way.”

“I can literally see honey dripping from the women’s eyes, you know?”

“…M-Maybe they’re glaring at him.”

“Ah, she locked arms with him. Good grief. Look at them pushing in from both sides.”

“…Th-They must be supporting him because he stumbled.”

“Y-Yeah. For a mere porter, his body must be quite weak.”

“Ugh, you sore losers. Look at that blond woman’s attire. It’s a maid uniform. A maid uniform. Why would someone coming to a labyrinth wear that explicit outfit? She’s wearing it because the man commanded her to, obviously. Wow… his tastes are truly gentlemanly.”

“…M-Maybe she’s just working dual jobs as an adventurer and a maid.”

“Ah, the maid just launched a surprise kiss on his cheek. Wow, a fight broke out. The women drew their blades. Holy shit, look at that murderous intent. It’s genuinely blood-curdling, isn’t it?”

As undeniable evidence unfolded continuous times right before their eyes, despairing cries filled with pure malice ultimately erupted from the men.

“Stop it!!”

“I refuse to accept this! A ridiculous harem like that! As if a thing like that could actually exist in this world!!”

“Holy shit! Did he save the Celestial Realm in his past life…!?”

“No. Only his outward appearance is plausible; his inside is bound to be completely rotten. If he’s some minor noble piece of trash, he must have been far too busy fooling around all over the place and ruining his body.”

“Indubitably. Shells can be torn down and remodeled if you spend enough coin on a divine power shower, but the contents cannot. Honestly, how could a minor noble young master possibly perform properly in bed?”

“True, true. Besides, he’s explicitly a human. Most humans are small (?).”

“In the first place, humans are a short-lived species. Even if it looks plausible, it lasts ten years at best. A little bit of time passes, they age and wither away, and they’ll be walking around with a cane, won’t they? Minor noble or whatever, they’re completely done for then.”

At those words, a dragonkin woman with a long scar across her cheek let out a faint cackle.

Standing at an imposing height verging on 180 centimeters, with a massive three-meter-long great axe slung across her back… she was a woman of intense features who looked like she could hold her own with a blade, or rather, an axe.

“Tsk, tsk. What a load of crap.”

Sure enough, the exact moment she stepped forward, the adventurers flinched and took a collective step backward.

“Vivisha… it’s Vivisha of Platinum…”

“She’s an overtly famous person herself… What brings the Axe Mage here of all places?”

“Platinum or whatever… are your eyeballs all goblin eyeballs? In what world is that a body that’s only plausible on the outside? That’s a physique overtly packed tight with practical muscle. Weak? Small? Wither away in ten years? Don’t make me laugh. That thing is a machine. A machine made of steel in the name of muscle. Bedwork? I guarantee you, if he sets his mind to it, he can thump along like a machine 365 days a year without a single moment of rest.”

“A m-machine…”

“A b-bedwork machine…?”

“Without rest, 365 days a year…?”

“W-With those beauties…?”

These were words so profoundly unjust that Go Geom-shin, a lifelong solo, would have vomited blood from sheer grievance had he heard them…

But to these uneducated, ignorant middle-ages fantasy adventurers who took it for granted that when a man and a woman are together, A and B happen followed by C, the words of the dragonkin named Vivisha had no choice but to be accepted as absolute fact.

“No! It cannot be…!!”

“Kuaaaaah! Do not shatter our dreams…!”

“It’s not true! It must not be true!!”

“I resent you, Father…! Why did you sire me with a face like this… Urgh…!”

“Let’s die. Let’s just go die.”

“No, wait. Let’s kill him. Let’s kill him.”

“Because a bastard like that monopolizes all the beauties, guys like us can’t even get married and are stuck like this…”

“Because of that bastard, that exact bastard, families are collapsing, society is collapsing, the nation is ruined…”

“I didn’t live for 170 years just to witness a sight like this…”

“Sigh… Now that the Goddess has made me realize my visage is an orc and not a human, what is the point of living any longer…!”

However, right at that exact moment, while the men were shedding tears of blood composed of 90 percent jealousy and 10 percent self-deprecation—
A large-scale party consisting of ten individuals strode purposefully from a distance toward the girls.

“Huh…? It’s the ‘Gedra Party.’”

“Weren’t they stationed at the Nailton Viscounty? When did they cross over to Seol?”

“They probably entered last week. This is their first time in Seol in about two years, right?”

“Ah, shit, if one encounters those monster-loving bastards while wandering around the mid floors, they’re completely fucked… Should I take a break for a couple of months?”

“Ptui!! Talk about terrible luck, seeing those goddamn thug bastards right from broad daylight.”

At the crowd’s harsh reaction, confusion surfaced on the expressions of several novice adventurers and those who had recently crossed over to Seol.

“Who are those guys to warrant a reaction like this?”

“Vile bastards who camp out in the mid floors to hunt other adventurers.”

“Labyrinth bandits? You mean hyena bastards?”

“Yeah.”

“Why does the guild just leave them be?”

“They have suspicions, but no physical evidence. Their heads spin exceptionally well.”

“Even so…”

“Above all, those bastards ride the line perfectly. They rarely touch small fry. They moderately skim off the expensive targets, and the moment they feel it’s getting dangerous, they smoothly jump over to a different labyrinth. They say they rarely spend more than two months in a single labyrinth.”

“Ah…”

“Since their skill is nothing to scoff at either, from the guild’s perspective, rather than digging into it, they just turn a blind eye and let it slide for a month or two.”

“If the guild explicitly worries about the fallout, it means their skill is truly formidable…”

“Three Blasters. One 6th-level mage. The rest are all formidable bastards as well. It means they are guys more than capable of barely touching the deep floors (21st floor and below) whenever they want. Yet with that skill, they camp out around the 15th floor to hunt humans instead of monsters… They are genuinely fucked-up bastards.”

“If the guild won’t move, can’t the adventurers just form an alliance? Why don’t they?”

“Well… since the labyrinth is inherently vast, some guys figure they won’t cross paths… and above all, that guy Gedra, the party leader… is the sixth cousin of Marquis Kesra.”

“…What?”

“He’s a relative of ‘Marquis Baltrak Kesra.’ He’s a mere gentry at best, but… well, I don’t need to mouthing the rest, right?”

“Ah…”

Hearing the explanation, the adventurer let out a lamentation as if he had understood everything completely at the mention of him being Marquis Kesra’s relative.

“They can’t touch him.”

“Exactly.”

“Then those women… aren’t they in danger? It’s clear as day they’re approaching to lay some hands on them… if they’re bastards that unhinged…”

“Would they seriously ambush them in broad daylight with this many eyes watching? They’ll just mock and harass them a bit before stopping. Don’t go thinking of meddling unnecessarily and just watch.”

“Mmm…”

“Ah, the man might see some rough treatment, though. That guy Gedra’s personality makes it so he can absolutely never tolerate a bastard who looks better than him. But, well… it’s not like we need to give a crap about that hotshot guy anyway, right?”

“That’s… true, I suppose?”

“Wooooow… holy shit, what kind of insane composition is this? Every single one of your visages is completely out of this world, huh? What do you say, ladies?”

Our group, who had been trying to enter the labyrinth with a swift pace, knit our brows significantly as we looked at the unfamiliar men blocking the labyrinth entrance.