Chapter 263: 263 Anything

The war was over, and the streets of Labyrinth were already in a festive mood.

As the commander, Ian had far more procedures to handle than the other mercenaries, so he returned to the inn a bit later than the rest of his members.

The battle had ended around the afternoon, but by the time Ian finished all the remaining work and returned to the inn, it was evening.

As the inn door opened, the deep red sunset stretching from the city walls poured into the building.

The bustling scene on the first floor of the inn greeted Ian’s eyes. Now that the alarm had been lifted, it seemed they had immediately resumed their evening business.

To celebrate surviving the grueling war against the monsters, mercenaries were already starting their drinking sessions in the early evening.

The innkeeper spotted Ian and offered him a drink on the house, but Ian declined and headed up the stairs.

After climbing the stairs…

Ian moved toward a different direction instead of the room where he usually stayed.

Stopping in front of a certain door, Ian knocked carefully. It was the room of his members, a place he usually had no reason to enter.

As if she had heard his knock, the door opened after a moment, and Rin peeked her head out cautiously from inside.

“Captain…”

“Sorry, am I late? How is Mika?”

“The same. I thought she’d get better with some rest, but…”

The atmosphere inside the room was heavy and somber. Upon entering, Ian saw Mika lying down, unable to move a muscle.

Mika, who had been lying on the bed under Tanya’s care, lifted her head.

“Mika. Are you okay?”

“I-I can’t find any strength in my body…”

Mika, who had lifted her head for a moment, let it drop back down with a weary face. Seeing her like that, Tanya asked Ian with a worried expression.

“Why is Mika like this? Is it a disease?”

“Wait… let me take a look.”

As Ian looked at the lying Mika, her status appeared before his eyes. He could immediately tell the cause of her condition.

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* The energy of the Labyrinth has eroded [Mika].

– [Erosion +11]

* Due to the erosion, [Mika] has received a Labyrinth Curse.

– [Curse: Stamina -8]

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This was the penalty value received upon entering the Labyrinth: Erosion.

Exploring the Labyrinth led to the accumulation of erosion in various situations. Being hit by a monster’s pattern that inflicted erosion, as happened this time, was one of those reasons.

This erosion applied various penalties to mercenaries, which were referred to as ’curses.’ Fortunately, Mika’s erosion was quite low, and ’Stat Reduction’ was the weakest among the curses, but…

For a low-level mercenary like Mika, it must have been a massive figure. It was the influence of the Mod.

Because the Mod had increased the types of monsters, erosion-inflicting monsters that shouldn’t have appeared in the early stages for balance reasons had been mixed into the first wave.

…This is how Mods usually are. Since they forcibly add various elements on top of the existing system, situations that shouldn’t happen at times they shouldn’t occur would occasionally pop up like this.

The current health Ian saw for Mika was… 1. Since her maximum stamina had dropped abnormally low, she would fall into a state of exhaustion after moving even for a moment.

“Captain. Do you know why?”

“…Yes. I know.”

“Really? Phew… thank goodness. How can she be cured? I’ll go buy whatever is necessary.”

Rin sighed in relief upon hearing Ian’s answer, but knowing what it was didn’t necessarily mean he could cure it.

Ian’s expression remained grim. Tanya’s face darkened as she noticed the look on Ian’s face.

“Captain? There is… a way to treat it, right?”

“Huh? If you know what it is… shouldn’t you be able to treat it?”

At Tanya’s question, Rin also looked at Ian as if she had realized something. Shaking his head, Ian began to explain Mika’s condition to the three of them as simply and clearly as possible.

The Curse of the Labyrinth. Erosion did not decrease naturally and could only be purified through special methods. Therefore, challenging the Labyrinth required thorough preparation, and even after an expedition, significant costs and long recovery times were needed for treatment.

The problem was…

Erosion was a system unlocked when challenging the Labyrinth. The means to resolve erosion were also tailored to the period when one would enter the Labyrinth.

Goddess statues, holy relics, blessed equipment, the purification prayers of a High Priest, the elixirs of an alchemist, the Spring of Purification inside the Labyrinth…

Every single one of them was something they had no way of obtaining right now.

“A Goddess statue…?”

“A holy relic?”

“I heard it’s hard for an ordinary person to meet a High Priest even once in their life…”

The expressions of the three hardened as they heard the treatment methods Ian described. All of them were items they had never even heard of, and they had no idea how to acquire them. Even without further explanation from Ian, they realized that everything he mentioned was realistically impossible.

“Then… what do we do?”

“…”

Ian, who had always provided answers easily no matter what question was asked… gave no response this time.

“If we can’t treat this, then Mika…”

Rin’s words trailed off, unable to reach the end. If she couldn’t be treated, she wouldn’t be able to live as a mercenary anymore.

Though they didn’t speak of it directly, everyone simultaneously imagined the same ominous outcome. Even if they couldn’t think of a cure, they could predict how this situation would ultimately end.

The simplest solution was…

Dismissal.

Mika was still a common novice mercenary at E-rank. There were plenty of mercenaries to replace her, so a mercenary who could no longer fight due to injury could simply be dismissed with a small severance pay. It was something anyone could immediately think of…

And it was a frequent occurrence in the mercenary industry. Was it cold-hearted? If one had made up their mind to work as a mercenary, it was one of the most common endings they naturally had to accept.

They would have to consider themselves lucky just to have kept their life.

Ian, who had been avoiding their gaze, lifted his head. Mika was sitting up in bed, looking at Ian with an anxious face.

…He couldn’t do that. Regardless of whether this place was a game or reality, even if it were a game, Ian had never used his mercenaries in such a way.

“There is one way.”

“Huh? Really?”

The heavy atmosphere shattered, and Rin snapped her head up. He was the Captain who always told them the solution whenever there was a problem, as if he knew every answer. She knew he would know this too!

Rin stood up excitedly.

“I knew it! I knew the Captain would know! What do we have to do?”

“Wait outside for a moment.”

“…Pardon?”

Ian’s finger pointed at Rin and then at Tanya beside her.

“I’m only going to tell Mika. Both of you stay outside for a bit while we talk.”

“What? I get Rin, but… me too?”

“…What does that mean, Tanya?”

Tanya realized her slip and shut her mouth, but Rin hugged Tanya and stretched her cheek out.

“Mmph! Mmuwaaa!”

“No, why can’t you tell us?”

Rin argued with Ian while holding onto the struggling Tanya, but Ian shook his head with a firm expression. …That’s the face he makes when it’s absolutely a ’no.’

Seeing Ian’s determination, Rin sighed and finally gave up, standing up.

“Fine, I’ll hear it from Mika later. That’s okay, right?”

“…If Mika tells you.”

“Got it. I’ll be on the first floor. Tanya, let’s go.”

“Heeeee…”

Holding Tanya’s cheek—which she still hadn’t let go of—Rin left the room with a slightly pouting expression. Only Ian and Mika remained in the closed room.

Mika waited for Ian to speak with a tense face, wondering what on earth that method could be that only she could hear.

Looking down at Mika, Ian pondered how to explain this without causing a misunderstanding before finally opening his mouth.

“Mika. This might be a strange method. Listen without getting the wrong idea.”

“Yes. I’ll do anything if it means I can get better!”

“Really, anything?”

“Yes!”

Mika nodded with a face that showed she was prepared for any hardship.

***

In this game, there is a system called Potential. Player characters do not gain traits even when they level up. Instead, they could acquire abilities to replace traits through this Potential system.

This was entirely different from the traits of mercenaries specialized in combat skills or functions. Commanding mercenaries, surveying the battlefield, intuiting the state of war, and overcoming bad luck. It wasn’t simply ability as a combatant, but the talent of a Hero and a Captain who leads mercenaries. That was the Potential skill.

[Remaining Potential Points: 7]

In this game where most growth elements are randomized, these Potential Points were a rare system where one could directly invest in desired skills. Depending on the choice, one could maximize the party’s strengths or completely cover fatal weaknesses; it was a crucial system.

He had saved those points without using a single one yet. Ian was the style to save these points until the very last moment, then design and invest in a combination that could produce the best synergy once the party was complete.

When playing on high difficulty, it was the most stable way to suppress the risks of random elements as much as possible.

The Potential page opened before Ian. [Honor], [Will], [Adventure], [Courage], [Strategy], [Insight], [Luck]…

A list of many types of potential that could be selected lined up. But… what was needed now was not something like this.

Ian flipped the pages a few times. At the very back. Phrases that were dark and gloomy, with an atmosphere entirely different from the previous pages, revealed themselves.

[Depravity], [Subjugation], [Blind Faith]

“…”

Right… fitting the purpose of the R-18 Mod, this place was fully prepared not only with traits for combat or growth but also with traits for seducing, corrupting, and training mercenaries.

If the previous traits turned the player into a superhuman commander, these traits turned them into a trainer who could easily bring a mercenary to submission. …Inside this, there was a way to treat Mika immediately.

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[Psychological Dependency]

– [Potential: Blind Faith] Trait

– Removes a certain amount of negative effects from the target after sexual intercourse.

– Slightly increases the target’s affinity when negative effects are removed.

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