Published: August 31, 2025
This is Satou speaking. I thought this was going to be a city adventure, but it suddenly turned into a dungeon attack story, and I just can’t keep up.
It’s good that the labyrinth was made so easily, but is the exit really in the middle of the town?
Maybe an adventurer’s guild will spring up there in a few years.
◇
I check the map, but it only shows “Demon’s Labyrinth, Bottom Floor” — the corridors aren’t displayed.
…No way it’s going to be that convenient.
The beast girls look uneasy.
First, let’s start here.
“I’m Satou, a traveling merchant.”
“I’m Nya,” says the catgirl.
“I’m Inu,” says the dog girl.
“I’m Liz,” the lizard girl adds.
Both the dog girl and catgirl stammer when speaking. The lizard girl has some hissing sounds mixed into her speech.
Apparently, not only the current Slave Master but previous owners also called them that. The dog girl and catgirl have been slaves since childhood, but the lizard girl became a slave only after becoming an adult and had a proper name — though it was long and difficult to pronounce because of the hissing sounds.
In the end, they asked me to give them easier-to-call names, so I named them “Pochi,” “Tama,” and “Liza.” I might get scolded for treating them like pets, but I’m confident I’d mix up normal names, so I’ll stick with these until we get out of the labyrinth.
Liza’s name isn’t from “lizard” but just the first two letters of her real name cut off.
Well then, before escaping, let’s start treating the beast girls.
I pull cloth, a water bottle, and ointment from my bag. The ointment is one of the sample finished products from the alchemy set. There isn’t much since it’s a sample, but it should be enough if I use it all.
“Use this cloth and the water from the bottle to wash and disinfect your wounds. After that, apply the ointment and wrap the cloth around. Don’t use the cloth you used for disinfecting, okay?”
The beast girls look perplexed at being handed fresh cloth and such.
Oh right, at first I was speaking normally, but they looked confused every time I didn’t use a commanding tone, so I ended up talking like this. It feels like when I used to babysit my little relatives as a kid.
“What’s wrong? I’ll turn my back while I’m treating you, so don’t worry.”
It seems that it’s not embarrassment, but rather that giving slaves such high-grade cloth and medicine is itself rare.
“Thank you very much. No need to turn your back.”
“Such clean cloth. I’m so happy~”
“Our former master has died, so we can’t pay. But maybe it’s better to keep medicine and water for escaping the labyrinth… umm… right?”
I mentally convert any hard-to-understand words on the fly. That’s okay, right?
Pochi and Tama untie the hemp twine binding their tunics and without hesitation strip naked to start the treatment.
Liza seems to hesitate, maybe the thinking type, but when I ‘ordered’ her to use it without worry, she began the treatment just like the other two.
When the treatment is done, I hand out baked pastries to the three. They are palm-sized, three per person — enough to fill their stomachs. They’re leftovers from when Zena and I went food tasting. Not half-eaten.
Pochi stares drooling, but no one eats.
“There’s no poison, so eat.”
They only eat after permission? Slaves really are oppressed.
When Pochi chokes, I hand over the water bottle.
“I won’t take it, so eat slowly.”
I’m feeling oddly like a babysitter…
◇
I check the map again. Still, only this room is displayed.
…Is magic not working, or has the effect worn off?
I open the menu and use the “full map exploration” magic. This magic is easy to use—come on.
The entire layout of the “Demon’s Labyrinth” appears.
Easy mode sure is nice!
It looks less like a labyrinth and more like an ant colony.
There are corridors branching like tree roots that lead to rooms, which then branch again like tree roots. There are overpasses, connections to other rooms, and detours, so it still feels like a labyrinth.