Even though we had our fun yesterday, we still went to sleep relatively early the next day, and woke up when it was still dark outside. Looks like we woke up even earlier than usual today. There was no point in us going back to sleep, so we decided to go do some farming a bit early. We're not doing any experiments today, so we're just focusing on the usual mixture of battles with the monsters and exploration. Roxanne guided me with her nose and I just one-shotted everything that had the misfortune of ending up at the business end of my Durandal. Compared to fighting the enemies bare-handed, these motions were as secure as they could be. I know that such laid-back exploration cannot last forever, but for the time being both Roxanne and I are fine with it, and that is all that matters.
After hunting monsters for an entire day, we left the Labyrinth, returned to the inn where we enjoyed our dinner in peace. When we finished eating, we went to the Adventurer's Guild to sell the items that dropped from all the monsters we managed to defeat today. Thanks to the fact that I do not belong to any particular Guild yet I can sell my stuff pretty much anywhere I want, but I usually just do my selling in the Adventurer's Guild since I have set up my Warp point on the wall of their guild building in an alleyway that is rarely frequented by anyone because that is the most convenient for us at the current moment, but maybe I should try going to the Explorer's Guild more frequently, since they have various information related to the exploration of the Labyrinths that might come in handy in the long run.
Finishing our item-selling business, we went to the Labyrinth again. It has become our routine to delve into it three times each day: once in the early, morning, once before noon and once in the afternoon. Because we're going there so often, we're trying not to stay in there for too long, since it would be bad if the fatigue from overexerting ourselves caught up with us when we would least expect it, so we're always making sure to take nice long rests before going back in. We stayed inside all the way to the evening, and after we got back and ate another delicious dinner, after which we tended up to our equipment.
And now that all the bother some chores have been taken care of, it was finally time for us to have some quality time together.
As soon as the Innkeeper brought over the basins with hot water and was out the door, I hugged Roxanne. Ahh, it has been half a day since I could last enjoy the delicate, yet soft and elastic feeling of her body in my arms. Enjoying such an exquisite sensation two times in the span of a few hours, is today my lucky day or what?
I brought my face closer to hers.
「You're beautiful, Roxanne.」
「Th… thank you v-very… m-much…」
「Truly, seriously beautiful.」
She looked a little embarrassed, but didn't try to stop me from complimenting her, so I moved my hand to gently stroke her shoulders, arms and back… and then I slowly started to undress her.
Now that we've done this a few times, I know that I don't have to hesitate anymore. It is clear that whatever I will try to do to her, she will not resist.
「Ah, uhm…」
「It's fine, it's fine.」
Getting out of my own clothes was easy as pie, but when it comes Roxanne's clothes, taking all of them off took me more time than I would have liked. Honestly, being so clumsy about something so crucial felt embarrassing. I just hope that she won't think that I'm lame because of it.
「B-But…」
「Have some faith in your master, will you?」
I soaked on of the towels in hot water and proceeded to wipe Roxanne's entire body. My palms were literally sliding all over her beautiful skin, so I made sure to go slowly in order to savor this exquisite sensation for as long as I could. And when I got to a particular place…
「Y-You don't have to do this, master. I… I can take care of that myself…」
「And I said that's it's fine. It's not a bother for me at all. I'm not doing this out of obligation, but because I want to.」
It's a dream like situation that I never even dreamed of finding myself in while I was living back in Japan. I didn't have any friends back there, and the chances of me scoring myself a girlfriend were lower than zero, but now… now I found myself a girl who is not only obedient, but also strong, big-breasted, beautiful, and has an actual pair of friggin' droppy doggy ears! What more could you possibly want from life?!
Is this what people call the joy of being alive? Of experiencing your youth to its fullest? It might as well be, because, to tell you the truth, ever since I have been brought to this strange, game-like world, I have felt more alive than for the past seventeen years of my life. So in order to feel even more alive, I asked Roxanne to wash me as well, ant to take care of my "special place"
「....」
「......…」
What does it mean to be truly alive? And is it even possible in the first place?
Spending our days like this, we continued the exploration of the first floor of the Labyrinth. Every battle was an easy victory for us, because the only monsters we encountered were the Needlewoods, and since I had Durandal with me, all of them died after only one attack, so we were basically parading through them collecting their branches like it was a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll. But one day, just as I was thinking that we've been making a great amount progress in exploration these past few days…
… We happened upon a certain room with a big double door at the far back of it after the path we were walking down have been closed of from the rest of the Labyrinth by a wall that came out from the ceiling and slid down all the way to the ground behind us with a loud, thunderous sound. There was no monsters in there, but the door itself looked like they were emanating some pretty bad, ominous aura.
What is this strange place, I wonder?
Oh, right, one more detail I should mention. This room was different from all the others in such sense that it only had one set of doors dead ahead of us and one back where we came from, while normally there would be four pairs of them: in the front, in the back, to the left and to the right.
「Roxanne, do you know where we are?」
「It's a Waiting Room, if I am not mistaken.」
「A Waiting Room?」
When I turned around to check if the doors were still there, they were still there. As I mentioned above, they were only behind us and in front of us.
「Well… behind this door is the Floor Boss of this floor. If we manage to defeat it, the door leading to the second floor should open. As per the old customs, only one Party can challenge the Boss at a time. If multiple Parties try to enter the Boss Chamber then it will not appear, and the door to the next floor will not open. As long as one Party challenges the Boss, the other Parties who wish to do the same have no option but to wait for their turn.」
Roxanne explained. It's a pretty standard in the most of modern MMORPG's, actually.
「I see. So that is what a Waiting Room is, huh?」
「Yes. This is a last safe heaven where you can check on the condition of your equipment, heal your wounds and make all the preparations necessary to challenge the Floor Boss.」
「Hmm, I see. You think we're ready to do this?」
「Master is super strong, so I don't think we will have any problems defeating it at this point.」
「Heh. Thanks for a vote of confidence.」
So we have finally reached this point, huh? Behind that door is the Floor Boss of this Labyrinth's first floor.