By proposing to be Alan-san's bodyguard, I should be able to quell Roxanne's worries, even if just for a little bit, and avoid having a guilty conscience myself. Because you know, I might not give two shits about the guy I sold here, but if anything happened to innocent people because of him, I have no doubt that it would have left an incredibly bad aftertaste in my mouth.
「Are you sure about that? For an owner of the shop to hire one of his customers as a bodyguard, this is rather unheard of.」
「Yeah. Besides, I don't want anything bad to happen to the slave I sold, so you can say that I have a bit of a personal interest in this matter as well.」
That was only half of the truth, but he doesn't need to know that. Also, if I get the chance, there is a little something that I would like to try.
「Thank you very much, master!」
Roxanne bowed to me in gratitude. She really looks relieved now. So she was that concerned about the wellbeing of the lady who was nice to her, huh?
「Very well then, I accept your humble proposal.」
Nice. Should things get too hairy for us to handle, the is always an option of getting the hell away from this place by using my Warp. I couldn't use Dungeon Walker while fighting against the monsters in the Labyrinth, but I think it should be good as long as our enemies will be just your regular Bandits and the battle won't suddenly move to the Labyrinth itself, since I am able to Warp between the Labyrinth and the Adventurer's Guild without any issues. Also, a mental note for the future: next time we happen upon one of those monster-filled empty Trap Rooms, I should try fleeing from them using Warp to see what will happen.
「Great. Looking forward to working with you.」
「Likewise. Now, whether I hired you or not I do not think the problem is going to be as big as you are making it out to be, but let me be absolutely clear about one thing: above all else, I don't want for anything to happen to my customers and slaves, therefore I would like you to remain in the backline, and only step forward when it is going to be absolutely necessary.」
「Gotcha.」
「Do exactly that, and your payment will be 1000 Nar. If you manage to defeat the Bandit that threatens the shop, feel free to take any of his dropped items and goods as a bonus to your reward.」
「Understood.」
I thought he was going to be more wary or restrained towards the idea, but Alan-san accepted my proposal much easier than I thought he would. That aside, getting my hands on that extra reward would be pretty sweet, so maybe I should make it my priority to take that one particular Bandit down? Yes, in order to maximize the profits from this job, we absolutely cannot let that guy sneak out and rejoin with his companions. Still, even if we don't have the full picture of what is going on here, this looks kinda strange. Why would my former slave cooperate with those guys, if the possibility of them betraying him at literally any point in time was quite high? No matter how hard I tried thinking about it, all I could see was no merits to it at all, only the ever-increasing odds of getting backstabbed.
Combat wise, I don't think any of the Bandits in the city or in its vicinity were on the level of a guru, since none of the ones I fought with so far displayed any remarkable skills with their weapons, but there has to be something more to it than that. If that was the case, then even the guys who attacked Somara village and were slaughtered by me when I was still a complete noob were guru's, which was not the case. Even Roxanne wasn't a guru, even though her combat prowess and the way she was able to avoid even the more complex attacks of monsters seemed to be indicating otherwise.
Be that as it may, what I am getting at is that even if the chances of anything happening today are low, Alan-san still would lose nothing if he chose to hire us as an insurance against Bandits.
「The one watching the shop definitely saw me going inside, so for now we will go back to our inn and come back here when the night falls. That way we won't make him unnecessarily vigilant.」
「If that is the case, then I think it would be best for you to come back here around dawn. If my shop really is being targeted by Bandits, I think that will be the most probable time for them to arrive.」
「You think so?」
Generally, I have to agree with him. The dawn seems like the most probable time for the Bandits to attack, since normally people would assume they would have made their strike in the middle of the night.
「Some of my slaves are also capable of fighting. Three of them are here in the shop at all times, while the best five of them always venture out into the Labyrinth around daybreak. If we were being watched for the past few days, then it would be wise to assume that our observer has also taken notice of that fact. I'll also have you know that I am somewhat strong myself, since I did some adventuring together with my reliable Party before I started studying the ways of the merchant in order to become a Slave Merchant.」
「That makes sense.」
When Roxanne was explaining to me how Parties and adventuring worked, she mentioned that oftentimes the aristocracy and the noblemen would send their children to the Labyrinths accompanied by strong Parties so that the children themselves could gain experience and raise levels quickly and effortlessly since the EXP gained from slaying monsters is being shared across all the Party members. And based on what Alan-san just told me, it looks like that if you want to become a Slave Merchant, you have to raise the level of the ordinary Merchant Job first. Alan-san's Job is Slave Merchant Lv.44. His age is quite advanced, but even taking that into account, his level is still abnormally high. Now I really wonder if he was frequenting the Labyrinths in his youth.
「The peak in the adventuring activities in the Labyrinths is usually early afternoon to an early evening, so my Parties always go there right before dawn to avoid running into an unnecessary traffic. But, as I mentioned before, the Bandits should be well aware of that routine of ours if they were keeping a close eye on us. If we assume that this is indeed the case, then the most probable time for them to make their move would be when the Party of combat-capable slaves leaves the shop for the Labyrinth, meaning from dawn until the afternoon. Of course, I won't be having them going there. They will remain here on standby, and those of them who cannot fight will serve as a deception.」
Was that why Alan-san sounded so confident and seemed like that entire matter wasn't such a big deal? Not that I am complaining, mind you. If anything, I quite like this new development, since instead of waiting cluelessly or getting dragged in the Bandit's trap, now it feels more we are the ones setting the trap for them.
「Hearing that is certainly reassuring.」
「I have to admit that it has been quite some time since I retired from the adventurer's lifestyle and passed the place in my most reliable Party to my son, but I should still have enough steam left in me not to let some petty Bandits get the better of me.」
He said proudly. Maybe he actually is more amazing than I gave him credit for?