Chapter 4
“Barbaroi, wake up.”
“Gasp!”
Jeong Yushin sprang to his feet. It was morning, judging by the daylight.
“Was I asleep?”
“Yes. You slept soundly.”
“Good grief.”
Jeong Yushin scratched his head, then took some jerky from his bag.
Seamus also took an apple from inside his robes, held it up for Yushin to see, and began chomping on it.
“I was in the forest.”
“Yes.”
Thinking that the old priest was unusually talkative today, he chewed on his jerky.
Seamus spoke again.
“Lady Karin has gone to the Great Labyrinth.”
“I know. The squad leader told me.”
“Where do you plan to go after visiting the Great Labyrinth? What was your original destination?”
Jeong Yushin tilted his head.
His tone suggested that he was certain Yushin was not an accomplice of the slave hunters.
“I’m not going anywhere. The Great Labyrinth is my original destination anyway.”
“Is that so.”
Seamus smiled faintly.
The two gathered their belongings and left the ruined site.
On the afternoon of the seventh and final day of the journey, Jeong Yushin arrived at his destination.
“Wow.”
The city he saw from the high hill was enormous.
As Seamus had mentioned last night, calling it the Eastern Union’s second capital was no exaggeration.
Countless roads led toward the city, and countless crowds moved along them like swarms of ants.
Its walls rose as high as modern buildings.
A river flowing majestically from the north encircled the enormous walls before continuing southward.
It was on an entirely different scale from the cities he had glimpsed from afar while traveling along the main roads.
“What a huge city.”
Seamus laughed at Jeong Yushin’s admiration.
“Don’t people around you say you’re not much of a conversationalist?”
“I hear that sometimes.”
“You really are alike.”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind. Let’s go.”
Seamus took the lead. Yushin had even thought they might be stuck at the gate for half a day because of the enormous crowd, but that worry proved unfounded.
“Oh, Seamus!”
The captain of the gate guards shouted when the captain saw Seamus. The guard captain was a bear beastkin, and a large scar ran across the eyes, giving the captain a fierce appearance.
The bear beastkin ran over and bowed deeply at a right angle toward Seamus.
“Welcome to Labyrinth City. I’ll report to the Committee immediately.”
“There’s no need for that. I only intend to see Karin briefly before leaving.”
“What a shame!”
The bear beastkin twisted their body with a sorrowful expression. Seeing this, Jeong Yushin thought the guard looked like a bear performing tricks for honey.
“But who is this?”
The bear beastkin pointed at Jeong Yushin.
“There’s one thing I need to have Karin confirm regarding this Barbaroi.”
“Is it related to those slave-hunter bastards?”
“That’s right.”
“Leave such a troublesome matter to me.”
The bear beastkin thumped their own chest.
“You black-haired human bastard! What are you hiding? Speak now!”
When the enormous bear beastkin glared and growled at Jeong Yushin, people’s attention turned toward them. Whispers spread, and several guards came running with their spears gripped tightly.
Seamus waved his hand.
“There’s no need. I’m doing this because I want to.”
“Understood. Please, come in.”
The bear beastkin immediately changed their attitude. The inspection at the gate proceeded smoothly. It was managed by an elf wearing glasses, who looked extremely tired, judging by the dark circles beneath their eyes.
“Barbaroi.”
The elf spoke.
“Yes.”
“Keep one thing in mind.”
Jeong Yushin tensed at the elf’s serious words.
“Bride hunting is forbidden in this city.”
“Excuse me?”
What had he just heard?
Jeong Yushin collected his dazed thoughts and asked again.
“Don’t look as if the sky has fallen. We respect Barbaroi culture, but that sort of behavior causes trouble in this city. Honestly, it isn’t exactly a virtue worth recommending.”
The elf studied Jeong Yushin’s eyes as if seeking his agreement.
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
The elf let out a deep sigh.
“For example, don’t kidnap another man’s wife, rape her for three days and nights until she’s pickled in semen, then go to her husband and say, ‘Hmm. Your wife lost consciousness during intercourse, so she isn’t fit to be my wife. I’ll return her to you.’”
Jeong Yushin clutched his dizzy head.
Barbaroi. What kind of insane people were they, anyway?
He barely managed to open his mouth.
“Yes. Bride hunting. I won’t do it.”
“There’s more.”
There was more?
“You mustn’t have sex with a woman without her explicit consent.”
“Yes.”
Why was this elf stating something so obvious?
“Don’t grab a passing woman, shove your dick into her, and then say, ‘Well, this female wriggled her ass and seduced me, so I couldn’t help it.’”
“Yes. But is that bride hunting? It sounds more like rape.”
The elf frowned.
“If you translate the word used by Barbaroi literally, it’s ‘female hunting.’ But how do people who learned such a vulgar word use it? They soften it.”
“Yes. Female hunting. I won’t do it.”
“Call it bride hunting. It at least sounds like there’s a noble purpose behind it, unlike mindless female hunting. You may go.”
Jeong Yushin left the checkpoint in a daze. Seamus stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Will you rest for the day before leaving?”
“No. Let’s go quickly.”
“Karin might not recognize you, you know?”
A chill ran through Jeong Yushin at Seamus’s matter-of-fact tone.
Jeong Yushin shook his head.
“That beastkin named Karin has my artifact.”
“Artifact?”
“Yes. Something like a flint.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No. She just took it.”
“Oh, what a shame.”
Seamus stroked his chin. Even this monstrous priest coveted artifacts, it seemed. Jeong Yushin discovered a human side to Seamus and laughed inwardly.
“Well, it’s not an especially impressive magical tool, so I’m not that sorry.”
“No, I don’t mean the magical tool.”
Huh?
“Then what exactly are you saying is a shame... Ah!”
He realized.
Seamus smiled.
“If Karin didn’t recognize you, I was planning to dispose of you.”
“Dispose of me?”
Cold sweat trickled down Jeong Yushin’s back.
“Even villains like slave hunters have room for rehabilitation. I had planned a leisurely journey for just the two of us devoted to rehabilitation, atonement, and obedience. What a shame.”
...
He wanted to meet Karin quickly and clear up the misunderstanding.
* * *
“No, I don’t really remember.”
Jeong Yushin’s mouth fell open at Karin’s indifferent words.
“No, wait a moment!”
Somehow, he had made it past the outer-city checkpoint and reached the gate to the inner city, where only important people lived. Perhaps Seamus’s message had already been passed along, because Karin was standing outside the inner-city gate.
“You saw me back then, didn’t you? There were three elves with you!”
Jeong Yushin hurriedly continued.
“Hmm.”
A confident smile played across Karin’s face, and her eyes were sharp.
He had been unable to get a good look at her when they first met, but he could now.
Her substantial breasts, befitting her tall frame, thrust out beneath a thin linen shirt, while her sturdy thighs made her leather pants cling as if they might burst, revealing the shape of her lower body in full.
Her fluffy, reddish tail swayed gently.
Like a flame.
Not just her tail—everything about her.
“You took my artifact. The one that produces fire.”
Jeong Yushin spoke boldly while desperately suppressing the feeling that he was being bewitched.
“I don’t remember it at all.”
She didn’t remember this? Had she suddenly developed dementia?
“And is that how you ask someone to remember? Get on your knees, at least. Then maybe I’ll remember.”
Karin’s tail swayed lazily. It looked as though a wolf were playing with prey it had already caught.
Jeong Yushin bit his lip hard.
His pride?
He would throw it away. Rather than set off on a journey of rehabilitation, atonement, and obedience with a middle-aged man, he would smash his head into the ground right here.
He immediately knelt and slammed his head into the ground.
“Should I lick your feet as well?”
He felt a cold gaze from above.
“That’s enough. I thought you had something impressive since you were hiding your origins, but apparently not. Boring. Seamus, this man isn’t a slave hunter.”
Seamus clicked his tongue.
“What a shame. He would have made a good companion on my journey. In any case, could we speak privately?”
Karin tilted her head to the side.
“What about?”
“I’d like to speak somewhere without anyone around.”
“All right. You there, Barbaroi—stand up and go.”
Jeong Yushin stood and bowed his head slightly.
“Yes. You two have a good time.”
“Yeah, right.”
‘Fuck.’
Jeong Yushin was annoyed by Karin’s sarcasm, but he did not show it.
“Seamus. Have a good journey.”
“Goodbye. I hope we meet again.”
Jeong Yushin left the two of them behind and walked away from the inner-city gate. He planned to enter an inn he had noticed while passing through the outer district earlier.
“Damn it.”
He walked around and searched for quite some time, but he couldn’t find the inn he had seen earlier. With no other choice, he entered a different inn nearby.
“We don’t accept Barbaroi.”
Jeong Yushin asked in response to the innkeeper’s cold dismissal.
“Why?”
“You ask why? Good grief!”
The innkeeper seemed to have plenty to say and uncrossed their arms, placing their hands on their waist.
“The only lunatics who pick the lock to a sleeping woman’s room in the middle of the night, rape her, and pickle her in semen are you people. Every single one of the ten black-haired barbarians who’ve come to this inn has done that. And then what? ‘As long as we’re both happy, what’s the problem?’ Get the hell out before I call the guards!”
The innkeeper’s tirade left Jeong Yushin dizzy.
‘These crazy Barbaroi.’
Judging by the innkeeper’s expression, nothing he said would get through to them.
A rat beastkin who had been sipping a drink beside them chuckled.
“Oh, innkeeper, you’re awfully high and mighty. Is it because this one’s still a young Barbaroi?”
“No. I merely believe in this city’s laws and justice.”
The people drinking nearby burst out laughing at the innkeeper’s words.
Jeong Yushin walked out of the inn with the laughter at his back.
The city was vast and there were many inns, but not a single one welcomed a Barbaroi.
After the twentieth inn turned him away, Jeong Yushin stepped back into the street and found that it had already grown dark. Streetlamps lit up, and people who had finished exploring the labyrinth entered taverns, loudly chatting among themselves. A sudden ominous thought occurred to him.
‘Am I screwed?’
He had expected it to be difficult to adapt after falling into a completely unfamiliar world with only a shallow understanding of it, but reality was beyond his imagination.
He needed to rub shoulders with people to adapt, but because of his appearance, he couldn’t even get close enough to try. The infamy built up by those crazy Barbaroi had become a towering wall blocking his way.
“But come on, it makes no sense that not one of all these inns will take me.”
He roamed the streets with hope in his heart. But after his thirtieth rejection, Jeong Yushin slumped down against a wall.
Night had already deepened, and people were returning home.
‘This is the last one.’
Prepared to sleep rough, he continued walking. A little later, he spotted a shabby inn tucked away in a corner at the end of the road.
Something was written on the sign, but he couldn’t read it.
Come to think of it, that was strange.
How could someone who didn’t know how to read naturally speak the language of another world?
‘This isn’t the time to worry about that. I’m about to be left sitting in the street.’
Jeong Yushin opened the wooden door and entered the inn.