Chapter 16

Freeman

Dwarf Virtanen got it wrong twice in front of the exit gate.

“Is it you, Caleb!”

Ding! It’s Abisson’s corpse.

“Is it you, Caleb!”

Ding! It’s Mister Backstab.

And the third time.

“Caleb! Is it really you this time!”

“Sorry, it’s Yernil.”

Yernil came out sheepishly from beyond the exit gate.

“But Caleb will come out too.”

“I knew it! Did you and Caleb catch Mister Backstab together?”

Virtanen asked.

“Yes… But it seems like Caleb did almost everything.”

“Wait a minute.”

Instructor Scarlett approached Yernil. She couldn’t easily escape from her shock while covering her mouth.

Because Yernil was wearing slave prisoner clothes.

“You, you… Are you from the university slave team?”

She asked, pointing at Yernil with a trembling hand.

“Yes.”

The instructor’s shock had now passed the singularity point.

“What are you talking about…”

The fact that a two-person adventurer party caught Mister Backstab was already a huge event, but it was even a slave party?

For a two-person party to clear Mister Backstab’s exit room, wouldn’t over-powered forces like Clarence need to go in?

But how on earth did a slave party, which is far below the average adventurer level, manage to do it?

Setting aside skill, first of all, they didn’t have proper equipment or food. Their weapons were nothing but mass-produced cheap wands and miscellaneous items that Goblins would carry around.

It was even a hastily formed party that had just met a few days ago.

“But how exactly did you kill it…?”

She couldn’t even imagine what had happened in the exit room.

Kwaaaaang!

The gate erupted. The last person was coming out.

The party leader and architect who had produced this shocking result.

“Caleb!”

Exclamations burst out simultaneously from the mouths of Virtanen’s party.

***

I escaped.

I had finally succeeded in getting out of that hellish labyrinth.

And as soon as I crossed the gate…

‘It’s a bit noisy.’

Welcome greetings were pouring in from all directions.

“Caleb! Where did you find Abisson’s corpse?”

“Rookie! Did you two really kill Backstab?”

“You brought the corpse so we could resurrect him? Oh my, I’m really so moved!”

And a red-haired human woman who appeared to be a Magic University instructor grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

“H-hey. Your name is Caleb, right? Are you a slave wizard?”

Hmm.

Considering our team’s power level, the two corpses I brought out don’t make sense.

I understand that you’re shocked, instructor.

“What exactly is your identity! Can you really do Chantless and Ultra-high-speed casting? No, even if you can do all that, how did you manage Backstab…”

“Um, I’m dizzy, so could you please let me go…”

No, my head is really throbbing. It’s because I overdosed on healing potions.

If possible, I’d like to kindly answer each of these friends’ questions one by one.

“Priest.”

The words I squeezed out using my last remaining consciousness were these.

“Please give us our 8,000 gold…”

My consciousness turned off with a feeling like turning off a TV with a click.

Even in the last moment, I analyzed this phenomenon like an occupational disease.

‘Drug overdose shock-.’

Having gulped down five bottles of healing potions in succession, I would be in a state of drug poisoning, and with low health stats, there were aftereffects.

I’d probably be unconscious for a few hours.

***

When I regained consciousness, I was in the temple.

“You fainted as soon as you came out.”

Nataniel’s priest, Emma approached and gently touched my forehead.

“It was probably because of drug poisoning. You drank an enormous amount of healing potions, didn’t you?”

“I had no choice. There was no antidote potion or anything like that.”

“It was an ignorant method, but you did well. You had to survive somehow.”

“Priest, what about my money?”

“It’s over there.”

Emma pointed to a table. There were lots of gold coins inside a small bag.

When I took them out and counted, there were 7,850 gold.

“It should be 8,000 gold if you subtract the 1,500 for the spider carcass from 9,500, right? It’s 150 gold short.”

“That’s the medical fee.”

“I didn’t need it.”

“Yes. You probably would have recovered just by lying down at an inn and sleeping.”

“Exactly!”

“But Caleb’s party member asked me to treat you.”

Yernil, you bastard!

“And the priest didn’t refuse…?”

“A priest of Nataniel cannot refuse a patient who pays the medical fee and requests treatment. Because the god has guided that patient to me.”

That would be right. Damn it.

Nataniel’s temple shows fanatical obsession with fairness and transparent fulfillment of contracts, deals, service provisions, and such.

Because they think Nataniel oversees all of that.

Even if Emma’s best friend or family member came dying and begged for help, if they had no money, Emma wouldn’t treat them.

Because if they were someone deserving of treatment, the god would have ensured there was money in their pocket.

Conversely, if a mortal enemy or a wanted serial killer came with money, she would treat them.

So what does this mean?

Nataniel believers are mentally ill fanatics.

“I am very happy and moved by this situation. That I could treat you with your service contract money. Doesn’t it seem like Nataniel is trying to bind us together as one party?”

“I wonder…”

“When you go out, you’ll go to the Magic University to obtain freeman status first, right?”

Emma asked.

“Yes.”

Though I don’t know if I’ll enter the labyrinth.

“I wish you luck!”

“…”

I looked around briefly. All the beds were empty.

“What about Abisson?”

“Abisson is receiving treatment in the resurrection treatment room. Thanks to Caleb bringing him early, there’s still time left in the Soul Preservation period. Instead of reviving him right away, we’ll regenerate his lost leg and restore the decayed tissue before attempting resurrection.”

“What about Backstab?”

“Backstab’s corpse is in the morgue.”

“…”

The resurrection treatment room and the morgue are different. Both handle corpses, but the former is for resurrection and the latter is for burial.

“Can’t you resurrect Backstab?”

“It’s impossible. Backstab didn’t have Soul Preservation cast on him. When he dies, he just dies.”

This part is exactly the same as the game’s setting.

According to the setting, when a person dies, their soul departs to the afterlife, and Soul Preservation magic is magic that binds that soul to the body.

The duration is one week.

So in the game too, if you had Soul Preservation magic cast on a character, you could retrieve the corpse within a week and resurrect them.

What if you didn’t cast Soul Preservation or it timed out?

Then it’s permanent death.

At that point, you had to tearfully recruit a new party member.

‘But Emma, you’re wrong.’

Backstab didn’t permanently die.

‘Backstab has Soul Preservation.’

However, that soul wasn’t bound to the body, but extracted by the labyrinth master and stored in a jar like kimchi.

And that jar would be in the Soul Sanctuary somewhere on the 1st floor of the labyrinth.

The incurable madness that had afflicted Backstab was also caused by that.

His soul was taken away and only an empty shell remained, moving according to the labyrinth master’s commands.

‘Does Emma not know about the Soul Sanctuary?’

Perhaps not just Emma, but all the adventurers here don’t know about the sanctuary.

Come to think of it, I only discovered it for the first time after reaching the ‘God of Strategy’ difficulty level.

If I found the jar in the 1st floor sanctuary, I might be able to revive Backstab, but it’s not something I can do anything about right now.

“Then I’ll go ahead.”

Let me go to the Magic University first.

“Yes! Fighting! Make sure to become a freeman!”

I left the temple with Emma’s encouragement.

***

When I came to the Magic University, Yernil was crouched at the lobby entrance looking dejected.

I could roughly guess what happened just by looking at her face.

The Magic University instructor would have heard about our 9,500 gold employment contract from the dwarf and his party members, and would have heard about our achievements too.

And they would have told Yernil this:

‘That 9,500 gold all belongs to Caleb.’

As expected.

The reason is contribution.

The Magic University slaves’ labyrinth play isn’t something you can just get carried along with the party. They redistribute income according to the degree of direct contribution to the adventure up to escape.

For example, if Virtanen hired slave wizard Caleb to play the labyrinth with a 4-person party and gave him 25%?

After that, slave wizard Caleb would be called to the Magic University and interrogated.

‘Did your contribution to that party’s adventure really amount to 25%? Let me see, when I calculate it, it seems to be about 18%. The 7% difference in gold is unjustly acquired, so the Magic University will confiscate it.’

…They would just seize it with that kind of feeling.

The reason this is legally possible is that the cause of our becoming slaves was being ‘criminals’.

You can’t clear your slave status by relying on someone’s goodwill, charity, or a party that gives you a free ride. Magic University slaves entering the labyrinth is a kind of punishment.

Naturally, you can’t receive money as a gift from anyone either. A development where someone pays ransom to make you a freeman is also impossible.

Only when money earned solely through the slave’s own abilities exceeds their own fine, proving they can contribute to society, can slave status be cleared.

So how would the distribution between Yernil and me work out?

“From now on, I will distribute the income you farmed from the labyrinth to each of you two. I am Jacob, an instructor in the Magic University’s slave management department and a 4th-grade wizard.”

When I went to the Magic University for settlement, a man with a businesslike appearance and slight dark circles under his eyes greeted us.

“First, Virtanen’s party’s service fee, final settlement amount, 7,850 gold.”

He had already completed settlement and distribution for the service fee. By cross-verifying statements from Yernil and Virtanen.

“The ratio is 7,848 gold to 2 gold.”

It was almost like giving me the entire amount. The instructor handed me a bag containing 7,848 gold.

“In that exit room battle, Yernil didn’t deal meaningful damage to the exit boss, protect allies, or command the battle.”

It’s not wrong, but could you double-check once more whether both sides’ statements came out clearly?

“Yernil also shot two arrows at the spider. And he received the priest’s Weapon Light to mark the gathering point of the baby spiders. He also rolled the oak barrel to Virtanen.”

“I’m aware of that. But the two arrows were meaningless, and the oak barrel was too. Marking with Weapon Light was something Caleb instructed.”

“Yes.”

“This distribution is accurate. I even used the Scale of Justice.”

Scale of Justice?

It’s a term I’ve never heard before.

“What’s that?”

“Since I have to distribute the next settlement money too, let me show you directly.”

Jacob took out his wand and cast magic in front of both of us.

“Let each contribution be a fair scale weight.”

Then an antique balance scale that would appear in a prop shop materialized before our eyes.

When the instructor input the amount 7,850 in the center, it tilted toward me by 7,848.

‘This is magic I’ve never seen before.’

There was nothing like this in the game.

How does this work?

“It was Yernil who extracted poison fangs from the spider carcass and crafted poison arrows.”

I stated information that Virtanen didn’t know.

When distributing the service fee, they said they proceeded by cross-verifying statements from Yernil and Virtanen.

“That’s unrelated to the service.”

The scale didn’t move.

Should I try to persuade more?

“It is related. The proposal for the service contract itself came from the calculation that we could clear the next exit room with poison arrows. And the reason we bought the spider carcass for 1,500 gold was also because of the poison fangs. If Yernil didn’t have that level of Dexterity, I wouldn’t have proposed that contract in the first place.”

“Hmm…”

The instructor looked down at the scale quietly.

And after a few seconds.

[Caleb: 7,845 gold]

[Yernil: 5 gold]

The scale moved very slightly!

Clink.

The instructor took out 3 gold from my pocket and placed it on Yernil’s palm like charity.

“Caleb, you can immediately become a freeman with the gold you’ve acquired now. Will you purchase freeman status?”

“Yes.”

The instructor took 3,000 gold and removed the slave necklace around my neck. He also issued a temporary freeman identification card.

I am now a freeman.

“Now then, let’s get into the real settlement. But before that…”

He pointed his wand at each of us in turn.

“Anti-lie magic.”

This is also magic I’ve never seen before.

Anti-lie magic?

“When you lie, neurological physiological reactions like dry mouth and sweating are unavoidable. This magic stimulates that to make the reactions more severe. It’s a manual used when evaluating slaves’ team contribution, so please understand.”

The instructor said.

“As long as you don’t lie, there’s no problem at all, so don’t worry.”

So it was quiet because of these kinds of magic?

The slave management department, I mean.

In the game, every time I came here, NPCs would have statement fights with each other, creating a congressional hearing. It was nothing but chaos with people grabbing each other’s hair.

“Now then, shall we hear both of your statements? From the moment you fell into the labyrinth until you came out through the exit gate, what kind of adventure did you have, and how did each of you contribute to the adventure?”

The instructor took out a large bag of gold coins and placed it on the table with a thud. It looked heavy at first glance.

The value from selling the magic stones and Goblin equipment we obtained from the labyrinth, scrolls, Abisson’s corpse recovery reward, Mister Backstab’s bounty, and the sales proceeds from the equipment Mister Backstab had.

We are rich.

“Scale value reset.”

No.

Maybe only I am rich…?

Wait.

Yernil, you… At least you can clear your slave status, right?

Please!