“Barbaroy, rise.”
“Huh!”
Jeong Yusin abruptly stood up. The daylight indicated it was morning.
“Was I asleep?”
“Aye, you were deep in slumber.”
“Huh, indeed.”
Jeong Yusin scratched his head once and took out some jerky from his bag.
Simuth also pulled out an apple from his cloak, showed it to Jeong Yusin briefly, and then bit into it.
“It was in the forest.”
“Yes.”
Jeong Yusin thought the old priest was unusually talkative today as he chewed on the jerky.
Simuth spoke again.
“Lady Karin has gone to the Grand Labyrinth.”
“I know. The squad leader mentioned it.”
“Where do you plan to go after visiting the Grand Labyrinth? What was your original destination?”
Jeong Yusin tilted his head.
It was as if Simuth’s tone of voice was hinting that Jeong Yusin wasn’t part of the group of slave hunters.
“I won’t go anywhere else. The Grand Labyrinth was my original destination anyway.”
“Is that so?”
Simuth slightly smiled.
They gathered their things and left the campsite.
On the last day of their journey, in the afternoon of the seventh day, Jeong Yusin arrived at his destination.
“Wow.”
From the high hill, the city looked immense.
As Simuth had mentioned the previous night, it wasn’t an exaggeration that this was the second capital of the Eastern Union.
Numerous highways leading to the city and crowds of people who looked like swarms of ants.
The city walls, built tall like modern buildings.
The large river from the north encircling the towering city walls and flowing towards the south.
It was completely different from other cities he had seen from afar while traveling along the highways.
“Such a large city indeed.”
Jeong Yusin’s admiration made Simuth smile.
“Have you not heard that you lack social skills?”
“I have, occasionally.”
“You really are similar.”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Simuth stepped forward first. He had even thought that they might spend a whole day at the city gates due to the massive crowd, but it turned out to be unfounded worry.
“Huh, Sir Simuth!”
The captain of the city gate guards called out when he saw Simuth. The bear centaur had a prominent scar cutting across his eye, giving him a fearsome appearance.
As the bear centaur approached, he bowed at a right angle towards Simuth.
“Welcome to the Labyrinth City. I’ll immediately report your visit to the council.”
“That’s unnecessary. I only plan to briefly see Lady Karin then leave.”
“Is that so!”
The bear centaur seemed disappointed, made an upset face, and twisted his body. Jeong Yusin thought he looked like a bear entertaining with honey.
“Then, who is this person?”
The bear centaur pointed at Jeong Yusin.
“There’s a matter related to this Barbaroy that Lady Karin needs to confirm.”
“Is it related to the slave hunters?”
“Yes.”
“Leave such troublesome matters to me.”
The bear centaur thumped his chest.
“You black-skinned human! What are you hiding? Speak immediately!”
As the massive bear centaur glared at Jeong Yusin and growled aggressively, people’s attention gathered. There was murmuring among the crowd, and a few guards with spears rushed over.
Simuth waved his hand.
“There’s no need for that. It’s something I’ve willingly undertaken.”
“Understood. Please come in.”
The bear centaur immediately changed his attitude. The inspection at the city gate proceeded smoothly. The inspection was managed by an elf wearing glasses, and the deep dark circles under her eyes indicated she was very tired.
“Barbaroy.”
The elf spoke.
“Yes.”
“Remember just one thing.”
The solemn tone of the elf made Jeong Yusin tense.
“Matrimonial hunting is prohibited in this city.”
“Excuse me?”
What did I just hear?
Grasping his confused mind, Jeong Yusin repeated the question.
“Don’t make that face as if the sky is falling. The culture of Barbaroy is respected, but actions causing disorder in the city are not allowed. Honestly, it’s not something that can be recommended as a virtue.”
The elf looked earnestly at Jeong Yusin, seeking agreement.
“Yes… Yes, that’s correct.”
The elf sighed deeply.
“For instance, don’t kidnap another’s wife, ravish her for three nights to the point of making her pickled in seminal fluid, and then say to her husband, ‘Hmm. Your wife lost consciousness during the act, so she’s unworthy to be my wife. I’ll return her to you.'”
Jeong Yusin clutched his bewildered head.
Barbaroy. What kind of insane people are these?
He finally managed to speak.
“Yes. I won’t do matrimonial hunting.”
“And another thing.”
There’s more?
“Having sexual relations without a woman’s explicit consent is forbidden.”
“Yes.”
Why is this elf stating the obvious?
“For example, don’t grab a passing woman, thrust yourself in, and say nonsense like ‘This female was wiggling her hips enticing me, so I couldn’t help myself.'”
“Yes. By the way, is that matrimonial hunting? It seems like just plain rape to me.”
The elf frowned.
“If translated word-for-word from Barbaroy, it would be ‘female hunting.’ But how would people who learned such crude words use them? Let’s use milder terms.”
“Yes. I won’t do female hunting.”
“Say matrimonial hunting. It appears to have more purpose than blind female hunting. You may go.”
Jeong Yusin left the checkpoint in a daze. Simuth was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Do you want to rest here for the day?”
“No. Let’s go quickly.”
“Maybe Lady Karin might not recognize you?”
Simuth’s calm tone sent shivers down Jeong Yusin’s spine.
Jeong Yusin shook his head.
“That Karin possesses my artefact.”
“Artefact?”
“Yes. It’s something like a flint.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No. She just took it.”
“Tsk, what a pity.”
Simuth stroked his chin. Does even this monstrous priest have a desire for artefacts? Jeong Yusin inwardly smiled upon discovering Simuth’s human side.
“Well, it’s not that incredible a magical tool, so I don’t particularly regret it.”
“No, not the magical tool.”
Huh?
“Then, what are you regretting… Ah!”
I realized.
Simuth smiled.
“If Lady Karin didn’t recognize you, I had planned to dispose of you.”
“Dispose of?”
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
“Even evil-doers like slave hunters can be reformed. I had planned a leisurely journey for the two of us towards reformation, penance, and obedience, but alas, so unfortunate.”
“…”
He wanted to quickly meet Karin and clear up the misunderstanding.
*
“Um, I don’t really understand?”
Karin’s indifferent words left Jeong Yusin’s mouth agape.
“No, wait a second!”
They had somehow made it to the front gate of the inner city where only prominent people stayed, after passing through the outer checkpoint. Karin was already waiting at the gate as if Simuth’s message had already arrived.
“You saw me back then, right? With three elves!”
Jeong Yusin spoke hastily.
“Hmm.”
Confident smiles and sharp eyes.
He hadn’t been able to see her clearly when he first met her, but now he could.
Her large size fitting her height had a heavy chest enclosed in a thin linen shirt that popped out, and her sturdy thighs made the leather pants stick snugly, revealing her lower body shape.
Her bushy tail with reddish hues swayed lightly.
It was like a flame.
Not just the tail, but overall.
“You took my artefact, the one that makes fire.”
Jeong Yusin suppressed the feeling of being entranced and spoke firmly.
“I don’t remember that at all?”
How could she not remember this? Did she suddenly get dementia?
“And is that the attitude of someone asking me to remember? Maybe you should kneel, then I might remember?”
Karin’s tail swayed leisurely, like a wolf playing with prey it had already caught.
Jeong Yusin gripped his lips tightly.
Pride?
I’ll abandon it. Rather than taking a journey with a middle-aged man towards reform, penance, and obedience, I’d rather dive headfirst into this situation.
He immediately knelt down and bowed his head.
“Shall I lick your feet?”
A cold gaze from above was felt.
“Alright. I thought you must have been something special since you were hiding your origins, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Boring. Sir Simuth, this person is not a slave hunter.”
Simuth clicked his tongue.
“Disappointing. He could’ve been a good companion on my journey. By the way, may we have a private conversation?”
Karin tilted her head.
“What do you mean?”
“I would like to discuss it in a place without people.”
“Alright. That Barbaroy, stand up and come along.”
Jeong Yusin stood up and bowed slightly.
“Yes. May you both have a pleasant time.”
“Pfft.”
‘Bastard.’
Karin’s taunting attitude made him feel bad, but he didn’t show it.
“Sir Simuth, have a pleasant journey.”
“Go well. It would be nice if we meet again.”
Jeong Yusin left the two of them behind at the inner gate. He intended to head to an inn he had noticed earlier in the outer district.
“Shit.”
After walking and looking around for quite a while, he couldn’t find the inn he had noticed earlier. He reluctantly entered a different inn nearby.
“We don’t take Barbaroys.”
The innkeeper’s cold refusal puzzled Jeong Yusin.
“Why?”
“Why? Tsk!”
The innkeeper, seeming to have much to say, untied his arms and placed his hands on his hips.
“At midnight, you break into a woman’s room, force yourself on her, and turn her into pickled in seminal fluid. There are no others who do such wild things except you Barbaroys. Every single black-haired savage who has come to my inn has done the same ten times out of ten. And then what? ‘If we’re happy together, isn’t that all that matters?’ Get out before I call the guards!”
Jeong Yusin was overwhelmed by the tirade.
‘These insane Barbaroys.’
Judging by the innkeeper’s expression, any explanation would be futile.
A rat centaur drinking nearby snickered.
“Ah, our innkeeper is in form, huh? Is this a young Barbaroy?”
“No. I merely believe in this city’s law and justice.”
As the innkeeper spoke, people drinking around him burst into laughter.
Jeong Yusin left the inn without a word.
The city was vast, and there were many inns, but none that welcomed Barbaroys.
After being rejected for the twentieth time, when he stepped out onto the street, it was already dark. Streetlights lit up, and people who had finished exploring the Labyrinth were loudly heading into taverns. A chilling thought occurred to him.
‘Am I screwed?’
He had anticipated that adapting in an unfamiliar world with shallow knowledge wouldn’t be easy, but reality exceeded his imagination.
Adaptation requires some bumps and bruises, but his appearance itself was preventing any chances of them. The terrible reputation built by these crazy Barbaroys had become a high wall blocking him.
“Still, it doesn’t make sense that there’s not even one inn among so many that would take me.”
Filled with hope, he scoured the streets. After the thirtieth rejection, Jeong Yusin slumped against a wall in despair as night deepened and people returned home.
‘This is my last try.’
Resigned to sleeping on the streets, he continued walking. Soon, he spotted a run-down inn at the corner of the street.
The sign read some characters he couldn’t decipher.
Upon reflection, it was strange.
How was he naturally speaking the language of this other world despite not knowing how to read it?
‘That’s not the issue now. I might end up homeless tonight.’
Jeong Yusin opened the wooden door and entered the inn.
