Chapter 38: That Kind of Side Effect

“This is driving me crazy.”

I walked down the street, lost in thought.

The young lady who sent me away today, saying to come back another time, as if playing hard to get.

I’ve completely fallen into her pace.

‘6 months.’

Within that time, I had to achieve one of two goals.

Either make the young lady fall in love with someone else.

Or achieve gold badge or higher within 6 months.

Of the two, the relatively easier one is making the young lady fall in love with someone else.

The method isn’t that difficult either.

I just need to act in subhuman ways or do things that would make her lose interest in me to lower her affection for me.

But.

“I don’t want to.”

Yes. This is the biggest problem.

I didn’t want to act that way in front of the young lady.

As long as she doesn’t leave the labyrinth city, we’ll keep being entangled in the future.

To be more precise, I guess I don’t have the courage to be hated by the young lady.

I’ll continue to enter the labyrinth as the young lady’s guide in the future.

It would be more helpful for labyrinth expeditions to be relied on rather than hated.

In the end, if I don’t have the courage to be hated, I have no choice but to become stronger.

There are only two options, but I don’t want to do one, and the other I might not be able to do even if I want to.

The worst binary choice.

A gruesome dilemma.

‘How can I get a gold badge within 6 months?’

I haven’t even gotten a silver badge yet.

Becoming an adventurer recognized by the Lionel family by getting a gold badge within 6 months?

Of course, it’s not that there’s no way.

‘I could register at the martial arts hall and keep training. And grind like crazy in the labyrinth.’

I’d have to dedicate my life to it.

I’ve inherited the talent of Shaka, who was probably platinum badge level in his lifetime.

If I can utilize this talent well, I think there’s a good chance I could grow close to gold badge level within 6 months.

“Haah. Huaaaaaah.”

I kept sighing.

I feel so frustrated and like I’m cornered on all sides.

It feels like I’ve fallen into a trap.

The young lady’s love is too heavy.

“Kuaaaaah.”

When I screamed in front of the red-light district, people looked at me strangely.

People slowly avoided me as if wondering if I had caught some venereal disease.

“Sigh. What’s the use of worrying.”

I’ll just have to go with the flow, I guess.

What else can I do?

I don’t even know how Yuria will react in the first place.

If I’m going to keep entering the labyrinth, I think I’ll need to buy a slave for life assistance.

First, let’s go to the hole-in-the-wall shop.

I have things to ask Raphnel, and things to tell her too.

“Hello.”

“Hm? Sion. You came back sooner than I expected this time. Did your labyrinth trip end well?”

“Yes. I almost died, but I came back with all my limbs intact.”

“Good thing your limbs are intact. It would be troublesome if a regular customer of our shop died somewhere.”

Raphnel grins.

“But for someone who came back alive and well, your expression doesn’t look good? Did something happen?”

“Ah, well. How should I put it. It’s woman trouble.”

“Woman trouble? Did you find someone you like?”

“Well, that’s. I’m not sure how much I should tell you. It’s a bit complicated.”

“Complicated? You have complicated woman trouble?”

“No, what’s with that reaction?”

Raphnel asks back as if doubting I could even have a woman.

I’m a man too, so of course I could have a woman.

No, what’s with that contemptuous reaction?

Does Raphnel have a man, asking like that?

I’m suddenly getting annoyed?

“No, well. You said woman, so. I was just curious. Pfft.”

“You rotten old hag!”

“What!? Hey! How dare you call an unmarried young lady an old hag!”

“Huh? Wait, Raphnel. You’re not married?”

She’s not married?

She must be over a thousand years old?

Does that mean she’s been single for over a thousand years?

I know virgins are supposed to be good, but a thousand-year-old virgin seems a bit strange.

It gives off a strong feeling of being a landmine.

“…”

“No, someone of Raphnel’s age should have seen great-great-grandchildren by now-“

Thwack!

“Gack!?”

In an instant, Raphnel approached faster than the eye could see, flicked my forehead, and returned.

I really couldn’t even react.

Seeing Raphnel already back in her original spot gave me goosebumps.

“Wh-what was that just now? How did you…”

“Hmph. Old hag, you say. How annoying.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. There’s no point in getting angry at a child. Anyway, woman trouble, you say. Is it a love triangle or something?”

“I’m not sure if this counts as a love triangle. If I don’t get a gold badge within 6 months, the woman’s family might kill me.”

“Did you mess with a noble or something?”

“It’s not so much that I messed with a noble, but more like a noble messed with me.”

“You got bitten. Sigh. Tsk tsk. Good luck. Nobles have always been a bit peculiar, now and then.”

When I said I got bitten by a noble, Raphnel shook her head looking at me pitifully.

“But something’s been bothering me since earlier. Did you eat something strange in the labyrinth?”

“Huh? Something strange?”

“Something’s possessed your eyes.”

“Ah. I was actually going to talk about that. My spirit eye awakened this time.”

“Oho. Is that so? Interesting. What did you see with your spirit eye? I’m curious. Very curious.”

“Well…”

I summarized and explained to Raphnel the process of my spirit eye awakening, what I saw after it awakened, and what happened afterwards.

Raphnel’s expression grew more serious as I spoke.

“Hmm. Shaka, you say.”

“Do you know about Shaka?”

“I know. Of course I do. He’s quite a figure from the distant past. It was back when there was only one entrance to the upper levels.”

“When there was only one entrance to the upper levels?”

“Yes. I can’t even estimate how many years ago it was. Shaka was one of the explorers at that time. A nostalgic name. Poor thing, wandering the labyrinth for so long even after death.”

Currently, there are 4 entrances to the upper levels.

The underground tomb, the sewer, the breeding ground, and the botanical garden.

If it was when there was only one entrance to the upper levels, it must have been long before the number increased like this.

Considering the great change as a kind of labyrinth update, I wonder how many years ago Shaka lived.

“Anyway, it’s quite interesting that his remnant remains. And as your hypothesis suggests. If you can bring out souls wandering the labyrinth and obtain their remnants, you might really become an all-purpose adventurer.”

“Right?”

“However.”

Raphnel paused and looked into my eyes.

As if trying to read something else inside them.

“You should be careful. There will be those who covet your eyes.”

“Covet… my eyes?”

“That’s right. Now that they’ve awakened. There are probably some who have noticed… Above all, your spirit eye doesn’t just end with seeing things, does it?”

Certainly, Raphnel is right.

My spirit eye didn’t just end with seeing something.

It allowed me to communicate with what I could see, let me contain that something in my body.

Furthermore, it helped that something ‘escape from the labyrinth’.

“Ah.”

Now I realized.

My spirit eye didn’t just end with letting me see spirits.

It was a kind of escape route and means for souls trapped in the labyrinth to get out.

“Now you understand?”

“Yes. This… this is dangerous.”

“That’s right. Those who seek ‘reverse migration’ will surely covet your eyes.”

“Reverse migration?”

“Yes, reverse migration. There are occasionally such creatures. Weirdos who want to go outside.”

We descend as we explore the labyrinth.

However, some things belonging to the labyrinth try to come out through reverse migration.

Independent movement between layers is practically impossible.

But if they borrow a human body, the impossible becomes possible.

“There have been cases where labyrinth monsters escaped to the surface in various ways.”

Raphnel told me about things she had seen in the labyrinth city over time.

“Possessing, or parasitizing. Or even disguising themselves as items. Those that came up to the surface like that invariably brought terrible results.”

“That’s a disaster in itself.”

“Indeed. Most things seeking reverse migration brought calamity. Of course, they also brought corresponding blessings.”

Blessings?

From what I heard, most things seeking reverse migration crawled up from below the underground city, from the deep levels.

And when they came to the surface, they killed many people before being subjugated.

I wonder what kind of blessings they left behind.

Raphnel didn’t tell me.

It must be a secret.

“Anyway, there are things that seek reverse migration in various ways. Your eyes are like a ticket for escape from their perspective.”

It was quite a scary story.

Things trying to get out of the labyrinth might target me.

“Be careful.”

“Yes. Thank you for the advice.”

If it weren’t for Raphnel’s advice, I wouldn’t have realized.

My spirit eye had power beyond just seeing.

‘Reverse migration.’

For some reason, it gave me chills.

It feels like the malice of the labyrinth has taken one step closer to me.

To get a gold badge within 6 months, I’ll have to keep entering the underground city consistently.

I have a lot of anxiety and worries in many ways. I really need to get stronger.

“Ah, by the way, about that potion that turns you into a rat.”

“Hm? Ah! Yes. How was it? A masterpiece, right? Isn’t it amazing? How did it feel to turn into a rat? How did it taste?”

“The taste was fine. Turning into a rat was good, but the side effect was a bit…”

“Side effect.. Right, there was a side effect. Yes, what kind of side effect was it?”

“No, becoming furry is a bit much, isn’t it?”

The potion that turns you into a rat.

It certainly played a great role in this labyrinth trip.

But due to the side effect, I momentarily felt lust for Horaru.

Of course, now that the effect has worn off, I’ve returned to normal sexual preferences.

“I see. So there was such a side effect.”

“Becoming furry every time I drink the potion seems a bit much.”

“It’s effective, but I can’t eliminate the side effects. Hmm. What should we do.”

“How about lowering the price a bit?”

“Eek? Lower the price? Th-that’s a bit…”

“If you don’t lower the price, really no one will buy it.”

“…That’s troublesome. I prepared it ambitiously. I’ve already made 10 bottles.”

“I might consider buying it for 5 gold.”

“You crazy thief!”

Was it too much to slash the price of a 20 gold item to 5 gold?

“Ah, don’t get mad. Okay. How about we settle on 7 gold?”

“No, no… 7 gold?”

“Yes. You don’t have any customers anyway. And you open your mouth when I come visit after being alone all day. You enjoyed talking to me, right? Hearing about what’s going on in the world.”

“..7 gold is a bit of a loss…”

“Oh come on. Do you have any other customer who raises your shop sales like I do?”

“…7 gold. Hmm.”

Raphnel pondered for a while, then nodded.

“Alright. Let’s do that. 7 gold. Yes.”

“Yes!”

“But. I’d like you to experiment with the performance of this item.”

“Huh? This is…”

“It’s a Ring of Etherealization.”

“What!? Wait, is it okay to just give something like this away?”

Ring of Etherealization.

An absurdly broken item that temporarily turns the wearer into a semi-transparent ethereal state.

“Well, you see. It seems to definitely etherealize, but I don’t know what the side effect is.”

“Uh.. that’s a bit…”

She doesn’t know what the side effect is.

Should I take this or not?

Etherealization is certainly good.

It could be considered a truly overpowered item.

But the drawback of not knowing the side effect was too big.

“It’s not like, fatal or anything, right?”

“Oh, come on. Kid, when have I ever made something with such side effects? This time too, it’ll probably be ‘that kind of side effect’ like always.”

That kind of side effect?

Let’s see.

The side effect of the stamina tonic was forced erection.

The side effect of the rat transformation potion was becoming furry.

“The side effect of etherealization is…”

“Well. What kind of side effect could it be.”

I wonder what kind of side effect it could be.

I decided to try using the ring.