“I suppose everywhere around the village is like this, but truly, this is a rather dreary place, is it not? There is hardly any greenery.”
Ann and I were headed back to Labyrinth #228 once more, this time with Mary in tow. Her purse was light once again after paying off her debts and buying necessities. This whole region was nothing but dry wilderness as far as the eye could see, so I had to nod in agreement. The tilled fields surrounding the village weren’t an awe-inspiring sight by any means, but at least they were cheerier than the occasional dead tree or boulder you could look forward to seeing out here.
“Daemon villages are usually in places like that. There’s monsters all over most of the nice spots.”
“That’s why they live in such arid terrain? I’d always heard that Daemons simply disliked greenery, and that they preferred to live in a less tame area. I never suspected they were forced into it.”
Mary looked somewhat distressed on hearing Ann’s explanation. In a fantasy game, you’d kind of expect the Daemons to like rough places; it just came with being a Daemon, you know? But if there hadn’t been supernatural monsters around, of course they would’ve preferred to live somewhere with more fertile land, where it was easier to get by.
“Yep, that’s what Auntie told me. She said the better the land is, the bigger and meaner the monsters there are. She also said that monsters will come make nests in the fields, if they get too nice, which is hard to plan for.”
Well, that explained why the hunters never ran out of work, if the monsters were attracted to developed areas. I’d seen my share of monsters and people like the Daemons in RPGs I’d played, but this struggle for survival between the two of them seemed more painful than usual. Actually, I still had never seen one of these monsters, so I didn’t quite know what the difference was between them and any old beast. I figured maybe they were just particularly fierce, like, more so than a wild boar or something.
“Hmm. You say they tend to congregate where the land is particularly bountiful. Does that mean monsters are largely herbivores?”
“Yeah. They like going into the fields and eating the vegetables, as well as weeds and stuff. But they have really big fangs and claws, and they’ll hurt you real bad if you come too close.”
“I see. So when a monster settles in your field, the only solution is to exterminate it. That’s when you would send for a knight like me, or maybe a soldier or an adventurer in human territory.”
“If you let too many of those vegetable-eating monsters gather, even bigger monsters will come out from deep in the forest to eat the littler ones. When that happens, you just have to give up and run away. The big monsters are super strong, and they hunt people too.”
This was a harsh world, even for those who only wanted to farm the land in peace.
“This is a pretty scary place, seems like. Hey, Mary, how do you deal with monsters over in human territory?”
Since these monsters were such a threat to Daemons, and Daemons were generally built sturdier than humans, I was curious.
“Um, well, as far as I’m aware, though there are some pests which make the lives of the farmers more difficult, there are no threats great enough that they can’t be defeated by a few men with basic training. There simply aren’t that many monsters to begin with.”
Mary’s answer was somewhat troubling. It seemed like the peasants had an easier time over in the human lands.
“You can certainly find large monsters if you venture deep into the forests. Their meat, bones, and hides are all useful and valuable. We have many adventurers, which seems to be a similar profession to your hunters, who take on requests to hunt monsters simply to collect those materials.”
Interesting. So they were valuable for crafting. The meat was probably nutrient-rich, and perhaps the organs and bones could be processed to make medicine. The durable hides were no doubt useful for making fine armor or clothing. If the bones were sturdy enough, you could even make weapons or tools out of them. They would be like whales or tuna back in my own world, where no part went to waste. Rich people must have been tripping over themselves to acquire monster materials.
“However, in most forests, the monsters have been hunted to the brink of extinction. The feudal lords have already learned of this risk and have banned hunting, but poaching continues, driving the monsters further and further towards the inevitable.”
“...”
Mary’s last remark left both of us speechless. Jeez, humans were a scary bunch. I mean, sure, monsters seemed to be weaker over there, but even so, they’d nearly hunted them to extinction?
“Ahem. On another topic, I couldn’t help but notice how unusual your attire is, Aoi. What do you call those clothes? They look rather well tailored. Are you perhaps a noble?”
Noticing our shock, Mary cleared her throat and attempted to change the topic. Well, yes, my business suit certainly did look out of place in this world. But what other option did I have? You couldn’t be a Japanese businessman and not wear a suit to work. Maybe they weren’t ideal fighting clothes, but that was beside the point. Mary had her sword strapped tight around her waist and a tattered cloth bag slung over her shoulder, which she must have bought in the village. Without any armor, she looked more like a regular village girl than a knight.
“Ah, well, this is the standard-issue labyrinth manager uniform. And we aren’t really part of the class hierarchy, so I’m not a noble.”
Admittedly, Karumi’s office didn’t actually have a dress code, so I wasn’t required to wear a suit. And I could have just brought in casual clothes to wear around the labyrinth, if I’d wanted to. But this was my job, and I didn’t feel right about it. Without my suit on, I wouldn’t have felt like I was really working. Even when I slept, I still wore the slacks and the button-down shirt. That may have sounded a little odd, but I had my reasons. See, as long as I was in this world, I was still on the clock, awake or asleep. If something unexpected happened in the middle of the night, it was my job to get up and deal with it. Most managers apparently commuted to and from home each day, so they usually had their Daemon subcontractors deal with issues that arose during the night, but I didn’t have anyone I could leave in charge like that. Not that there was much that could really happen to Labyrinth #228 in its current state. Maybe once we’d built up a proper labyrinth, then there’d be things to deal with. To be honest, the way I was racking up all this overtime by working all day every day, even though there wasn’t anything to do over the night shift, made me feel a bit guilty about how much pay I was taking home. Come to think of it, the only other manager I’d met so far was Suzu, and she’d also been wearing a suit. I wondered if her reasons were the same as mine. I’d have to ask her.
“Labyrinth managers aren’t part of the class system? You handled yourself with such poise that I felt certain you were nobility.”
“I’m happy you think so highly of me, but honestly, these are just work clothes.”
I didn’t really know much about the nobility, but I did know that Daemon nobles were appointed based on merit, not just bloodline, so it seemed education was a big differentiator for them. Perhaps, as a college-educated Japanese guy, I could be considered nobility.
“The stitching and the design are both rather good. I know I’m imposing, but would you happen to have a spare set of those clothes, Aoi? I would be more than happy to buy it off you.”
Oh man, Mary wanted a suit? A female knight in a business suit, what a combo!
“I don’t mind, but it’s pretty expensive.”
Mary would be working as the labyrinth guardian, so a few items from my world here or there wouldn’t be a big deal.
“Oh. May I ask how much?”
“The jacket and pants together would be about forty thousand DL, and the shirt another eight thousand.”
The exchange rate for labyrinth managers was roughly one DL per yen, so that was about what they’d cost me.
“Unbelievable! I shall pass. I cannot afford to spend so lavishly on clothing.”
Mary looked crestfallen. Perhaps she was still scarred from her recent poverty, having such a hard time affording living expenses even at Milt’s cheap prices.
“Aoi, if you aren’t nobility, why would you wear such expensive clothes?”
“The place I lived before I came here was simply more expensive. If you were looking for a job there, it was common practice to wear clothes like this.”
The price of a business suit in Japan, on sale, hovered around 40,000 yen. There were no dry cleaners in this world, so you had to buy one that wouldn’t get too wrinkled when you hand-washed it. And the price only went up from there if you wanted something decent.
“Labyrinth managers are well compensated, it seems.”
She was right about that, at least. In part that was because my pay was calculated based on the cost of living in central Tokyo, but even for the location, it was high. Compared to the amount people were paid in a village like Milt, I was quite the high roller. Though they always direct deposited my salary, so it wasn’t like I could use it here anyway.
“Labyrinth managers are thrown into difficult situations and expected to make tough decisions. Besides, it’s a dangerous job. So I guess the salary reflects that.”
Yeah, right. Sure the job paid well, but they dumped me alone in the wilderness for three months, and then I had to go to battle against an invading force. And that was just the trial period! Suddenly I wasn’t so smug about my pay anymore. Plus, if they’d at least put me in charge of a functioning labyrinth, I’d have been able to sleep through the night, rather than constantly waking up in a panic about my massive achievement deficit.