"Michio-sama, shall we go to the city center now?"
"Before that, can we go to that labyrinth first? After that we can go to the Knight's Headquarters"
"Do you want to visit it right now, Michio-sama?"
"I have never seen one before, hearing the Slave Merchant talk about it made me very curious"
I was training in the mountains with my master until recently, that's why I don't know many things. That is the backstory I told people at the village.
"As you wish, Michio-sama"
The wagon starts and we head west towards the city gate. Still no guards at the castle gates. Similar to the east side there are many fields here. And just ahead of the fields I see a forest.
The merchant stops the wagon near the forest. Just then on a nearby tree a jet black door is formed and people start coming out of it.
[Adventurer Level 19]
[Knight Level 14]
[Swordsman Level 42]
[Explorer Level 41]
[Shinto Priest Level 39]
[Wizard Level 40]
After 6 people come out, the door disappears.
Wow so many different classes, this should be a standard party. The magic they used must be field walk, an adventurer exclusive skill.
"It's here"
"I see"
The knight replies to the adventurer and they all quickly enter the forest.
"Bikka-san you can just stay here, I will go have a quick look and come back"
"Alright"
I follow the six person party. They go to a small hill that sticks up from the ground. There is a black door similar to the one before.
This must be the entrance to the Labyrinth. It looks more like a hut made from soil with a black door. There is a person standing in front of the entrance.
[Explorer Level 18]
"How far have they progressed?"
"It just appeared so only the third floor"
"What kind of beasts are there?"
"First floor has Needle Wood, Second has Green Caterpillar and Third floor has Kobold"
The explorer from the party asks the explorer who was standing near the entrance.
"What do you want to do?"
"We will start with the first floor and see how it goes"
The explorer asks the Knight something. The Knight is the lowest leveled among them, still he is acting so pompously, maybe he is the party leader.
They approach the jet black door and disappear through it. I myself approached the entrance. The explorer doesn't say anything to me as I pass him.
I take a step inside the door, for a moment I pass through a pitch black area and then find myself inside a dimly lit small room with various passages ahead.
Not wasting anymore time I go back into the black door through which I came and come outside the labyrinth. The explorer sees me but still doesn't say anything. I go straight towards the merchant.
"How was it, Michio-sama?"
"It looked so odd, I will definitely come back later to check it out. For now let's go to the knights headquarter"
The merchant nods and starts the wagon. We move back towards the castle gate. Meanwhile in the job settings, I change Villager with the new job I just got.
[ Kaga Michio
Explorer: Level 1
Villager: Level 3
Hero: Level 1
Equipment: Iron Armor, Leather shoes, Iron Sword]
[Explorer
Effect: Increase Endurance (Small)
Skill: Item Box Operation, Party Organization, Dungeon Walk]
By going inside a Labyrinth I got the job Explorer. I could have taken this job later, but I don't want anyone inside the city to check my Intelligence card and find Villager as my Job.
I still want people to mistake me as a high leveled Adventurer or a high leveled Explorer. That's why this detour was necessary.
After going back through the way we came, we headed towards the city center.
"Is that a market?"
There were stalls set up along both sides of the road. They had food and clothing on display with many people gathering around.
[Soldier Level 41]
[Swordsman Level 47]
[Shinto Priest Level 35]
[Cook Level 28]
[Adventurer Level 13]
"Yes Michio-sama, this is the heart of Vale. All the people from surrounding villages tend to gather here"
There are so many different jobs and so many high level people here, I feel like a level 1 player who glitched to the end game area.
Looking at people of many different races/tribes I am reminded of cosplayers in an anime conventions. People with animal ears and tails, people of short stature who should be dwarves. There was even an elf.
[Elfina
Warrior Level 15]
She was really beautiful, I almost wanted to get down from the wagon and chat with her. But I have things to do and she isn't the only elf in this world. Still I am happy I was able to take one item off from my 'Things I wish to see/do if I get isekai'd' list.
We come to a large open plaza with a large brick bell tower building on the left.
"This is the headquarters of Order of Knights, Michio-sama"
We keep the wagon in front of the building and walk towards it. The merchant goes ahead and knocks on the door. The door opens and a Knight comes out of it.
[Knight Level 4]
The merchant explains to him about what happened at the village and that we are here to collect the bounty.
"Michio-sama, please give him the intelligence cards"
"Okay"
I take out the intelligence cards and give them to the knight. The merchant also takes two cards and gives them to him. They must be from the thieves that the villagers defeated.
"Please allow me to check your Intelligence cards as well"
"Yes please do"
The merchant stretches out his left arm towards the knight.
"Will of thy turbulent soul, breath of thy endless knowledge, intelligence card open!"
Yes knight is another job which grants the skill Intelligence card operations. The job also has a skill through which it can appoint anyone as the Village chief.
After confirming the merchant's Intelligence card he looks towards me. I too stretched out my left hand towards him.
"Will of thy turbulent soul, breath of thy endless knowledge, intelligence card open!"
Ughh reading a spell everytime to use it would be so tiring.
An intelligence card comes out of the back of my hand. Magic is so weird sometimes.
"... You have a family name? … Odd. You are a Free man. That's fine then"
The knight went inside the building. I take a look at my Intelligence card.
[Kaga Michio Male, 17 years old, Explorer, Free Man]
They check the intelligence card to see if they have a thief, bandit or pirate as a job. Like if I would have kept thief as my first job, I would have been in trouble. Right now I can't afford 4 jobs so Thief is also inactive.
I try to pull the Intelligence card but it doesn't separate from my hand. With a light push it disappears back into my hand.
"They are checking the Thief's card inside. We will know the result straight away"
While the merchant talked with me, the door opened again.
[ Radia Maxi Nantes Gozzeru
Knight Level 27
Equipment: Magical Armour, Boots of Acceleration]
A female knight comes out, she looks beautiful with a very fit body, modest chest, blonde hair which are tied together at the back. With such a complicated name she must be from a noble family and her equipment also looks very costly. But I know that she has a big attitude problem.
"Are you the one who defeated the Thief?"
She looks at me with curious eyes.
"Yes"
"They are from a band of thieves that control the slums in this town. Some of them probably went out to plunder from villages. We are preparing bounty money for you. The other thieves don't have a bounty yet"
The Knight looks towards the merchant for an instant.
"I understand"
The 2 cards that the merchant gave must have been useless.
The Level 4 knight comes out of the headquarters and passes a white bag to the female knight.
"Here is the bounty money"
She tosses me the bag. I catch the bag easily.
"You should leave here quickly"
Finishing speaking she hurries back into the headquarters. Radia, I will definitely 'correct' your attitude problem someday.
"Thank you very much"
The merchant says and we go back to our wagon.
"Next is weapon's shop"