I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“Hey, young lady. Are we alive?”

“Yeah. We’re alive. Fortunately. Thank goodness. Really… sniff”

When I opened my eyes, the young lady came into view.
Her face covered in dirt and dust, she was crying for some reason.

“Why are you crying? You’re making your pretty face look bad.”

“Hey..! Shut up.. I really thought we were going to die.”

“Tears are falling on your face. Wipe them off.”

“You damn porter…! Even when I’m worried!”

The young lady frowned deeply and pushed me away.
It was nice having her lap as a pillow, what a shame.

“Ugh. Oh my. My whole body aches like I’m dying.”

“A-are you okay!?”

“Yes. I won’t die from this much. Why are you getting so serious?”

“No.. you..”

After I joked around a bit, the young lady returned to her normal state.
Sadness or despair was no longer visible.

It’s important to stabilize her mental state by making her slightly angry.
From now on, it’s a battle against time, so mental management is crucial.

‘If mental state collapses, it’s over. It would be troublesome if she falls into panic or goes crazy.’

The rescue team is probably coming, but we should abandon hope of being rescued immediately. We need to keep the young lady’s mental state as stable as possible until the rescue team arrives.

‘Because of the Great Shift, the labyrinth map would have become useless, so we don’t know how much longer it will take for the rescue team to come.’

While I don’t know about the underground city or below, there was a rough map of the upper levels.
The upper levels were almost completely mapped out by people like me who obtained the map creation ability and adventurers who frequently entered and exited the labyrinth.

But due to the Great Shift, the geography has completely changed, and floor division phenomenon has occurred.

It might take at least two days to come down to the 3rd floor.
They’ll have to rescue stranded people on the way down and redraw the lost maps.

‘We could just go up by ourselves.’

While the young lady might be fine, my strength is completely drained. I need to rest a bit.
Therefore, the young lady and I plan to rest for about a day on the 3rd floor.

If we meet the rescue team during that time, great, if not, we’ll have to go up again by ourselves.

By the way, the young lady found a good room to hide in.
The entrance is narrow, so it seems difficult for monsters to easily find us.

When you move floors with a transfer stone, you’re teleported to a random location, so this room was probably nearby.

“Are you injured anywhere, young lady?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit dirty hygienically..”

“We can’t take a bath, but we can at least wash up a bit.”

I took out a bucket and a water pouch.

“Shouldn’t we save water?”

“I have about 10 more of these water pouches. Don’t worry about water, you can wash up.”

“Spatial pocket.. It’s completely cheating.”

“I think so too.”

I also think that the spatial pocket is a really cheating ability.
If you prepare properly, you could endure in the labyrinth for days and days.

“For now, I’m in a state where it’s extremely difficult to move. I think we need to rest in this room until I recover.”

“Alright.”

“And if this is indeed the 3rd floor, those guys will probably be here.”

“Those guys?”

“Yes. There should be Hoarding Rabbits.”

Hoarding Rabbits have a characteristic of collecting fallen adventurers or dead bodies.
They’ve probably gathered a lot of adventurers’ corpses and equipment somewhere.

“Are you saying we should go get that? The equipment they’ve gathered?”

“No. That’s not it. They’ll come soon. I’m warning you in advance.”

“Wait a minute. They’re coming?? What do you mean?”

“They can find dead or fallen adventurers.”

Weak detection, it’s their characteristic.
They’ll probably approach to drag away me who has collapsed.

“Can you block them until I get up, young lady?”

“Huh. First, let me ask, are Hoarding Rabbits strong?”

“No. They’re similar to Horn Rabbits. Just a bit bigger in size.”

“Bigger in size?”

“Yes. They’re a bit bigger than Bopal Rabbits. Since this entrance is narrow, they won’t be able to push their way in. Because they’re big, they’ll probably die if you stab them anywhere.”

“Huh. Big rabbits..”

“Their fur sells for quite a good price. It’s even exported to the North. All the profit from what you catch is yours, so do your best. You need to cover your life’s worth.”

“Ugh.. Alright.”

The young lady nodded reluctantly.
Fortunately, her will still seems abundant.

‘I should drink a potion too.’

I downed a health recovery tonic.
It’s not an amazing item like an elixir, but if I drink this, my strength should recover quickly.

I needed to get up quickly because there’s a limit to how long the young lady can hold off the Hoarding Rabbit wave alone.

‘Hoarding Rabbits will definitely come.’

They find the scent of the weak amazingly well.
They always find fallen adventurers or adventurers hiding while injured.

Although their attack power is low, they’re troublesome because of this damn characteristic.
They’re one of the reasons why novice parties often get wiped out in the upper level breeding ground.

‘When injured people appear, they approach after smelling them. Then eventually, a situation arises where you have no choice but to abandon your companions who are cornered…’

That’s how you end up abandoning injured and powerless companions one by one, and eventually you’re left alone.
The important thing here is that among those the Hoarding Rabbits classify as weak, ‘those left alone’ are also included.

Fallen stragglers, adventurer corpses, lone survivors.
These can be considered the main targets that Hoarding Rabbits track.

In other words, the moment you abandon an injured companion to survive, the probability of becoming prey for Hoarding Rabbits increases.

Of course, since they don’t usually show themselves in front of intact parties, there are people who pass through the breeding ground without even seeing Hoarding Rabbits.

-Kuruk. Kuuuk.

“You can hear the sound, right?”

“Yeah. It’s an unpleasant cry.”

“That’s the cry of Hoarding Rabbits.”

A sound like a pig squealing was heard.
Hoarding Rabbits are approaching to drag away the weak in the labyrinth.

“Kueeek!!!”

Finally, a Hoarding Rabbit appeared.
It stuck its head into the room’s entrance and struggled to get in.

As expected, it’s quite large in size.

“Oh no!”

The young lady, who was on standby, stabbed the eye of the Hoarding Rabbit trying to squeeze through the entrance with the spear she was holding.

As the bright red rabbit’s eyeball was crushed, one Hoarding Rabbit fell.

“What? It’s easier to kill than I thought!?”

“I told you. They’re weak.”

“They really are weak. What, it’s no big deal.”

“But there are many of them. Don’t let your guard down. In the labyrinth, you die if you let your guard down.”

“Mm. Alright.”

The young lady’s expression hardened again at my advice.

Meanwhile, the dead Hoarding Rabbit blocking the entrance was dragged away by others.
Immediately, a second large rabbit tried to crawl into the room.

That persistence is scary.
It’s also frightening how many of them gather, to the point of being annoying.

Normally, they’re quietly hiding somewhere, crumpled up, but when they detect a weak one, they gather like ghosts.

“Ugh..! These things are endless!”

She had already killed 12, but each time one died, it was replaced by a new rabbit.
The corpses that were blocking the entrance were dragged away and removed by them, and every time the entrance opened, a Hoarding Rabbit stuck its head in, knowing it would die.

“Kueeek!”

“Uwah!! Another one came!”

She’s killing them very diligently.
It’s good to see. The young lady will probably go through mana adaptation when she gets out of the labyrinth this time.
And there’s a high chance she’ll obtain an ability.

‘By the way, if we can just recover the corpses well, the income would be quite nice.’

Seeing the Hoarding Rabbits die off made me feel pleased naturally.
Some fairly high-level adventurers intentionally create weak ones to lure Hoarding Rabbits for group hunting.

It’s most popular just before winter.
There are even specialized teams that sit in the breeding ground and only farm Hoarding Rabbits to obtain fur for export to the North.

“Kueeek!!!”

“Oh, they’re retreating. Is it over?”

“No. The first wave is over. They run away when their numbers fall below a certain level.”

They flee when the number of their companions falls too low.
Then they increase their numbers and come back.

They’re really nasty creatures.

“Haaah. Damn. Damn rabbits. I’m sick of them.”

“Right?”

Since the main monsters that appear in the breeding ground are rabbits, people who have been badly hurt here sometimes can’t even eat rabbit meat anymore.

I eat it well.
The meat is innocent.

“By the way, what about the Hoarding Rabbits I killed?”

“Well, since they have a habit of collecting corpses, they probably dragged them to their nest.”

“Huh? Wait. Then all the ones I killed…”

“Yes, yes. They probably dragged them to their nest.”

“Oh, damn it!”

The young lady burst out in anger.
The rabbits she had worked hard to kill were all taken away by their kind.

It’s like she hunted rabbits for nothing.

“Don’t get too angry, we can follow the blood trails later to find their nest. It’s actually advantageous because we can quickly find their nest. We’ll be able to monopolize what’s in the Hoarding Rabbits’ nest.”

“Ugh. Still.. I don’t know. The breeding ground is annoying.”

“I think so too.”

I smiled as I watched the young lady sit down with a thud.
My body is gradually getting better to the point where I can move soon.

It’s the effect of the tonic.
The side effect is that I can’t stop getting erections.
I had to endure this much to recover my strength quickly.

“Alright. I think I can move now. Good job.”

“Yeah. That’s a relief. Phew. Now I can rest a bit.”

The young lady stretched and loosened her body.

Now that I’m in a state where I can move, we’ve probably left the category of the weak for now.
Since the weak have disappeared, they probably won’t come anymore.

Let’s go to the Hoarding Rabbits’ nest later when our condition improves more.
For now, we need to recover more strength until we can go up.