'Bring in mid-tier materials free of charge to meet the demands of the humans in the labyrinth city.

The memory of the time when Mr. Lausto told us that after we got down on our knees.
The memory of the time when he told us to get down on our knees.
I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do anything about it.

...... And that's when I first felt guilty for what I had done to Mr. Lausto.

Until now, that is, even when I apologized to Ms. Lausto, I was terrified, but not guilty.
Weaknesses deserve to be oppressed.
No one lives only for themselves.
That was my common sense, ever since I was born as a labyrinth orphan and lived in this labyrinth city.

If I applied that common sense, I shouldn't have been able to complain even if I was killed by Mr. Lausto.
Because in this labyrinth city, the strong do as they please, and we used that to abuse Mr. Lausto.
If that's the case, you can't complain now that you're in the opposite position, even if Lausto did it back to you.
And yet, Mr. Lausto acted as if he didn't care about such things.

That's when I realized that Lausto-san is a special being that is different from us.

As a labyrinth orphan like us in this labyrinth city, or even worse, while spending time in a worse environment than us, he was like an adventurer who was different from us.
Even though I felt a strange sensation about his existence, I made a decision in my heart at that time.

I had to make amends for what I had done to this man.

To be honest, I don't like the people of the city.
Weak people who can't fight.
It wasn't something I was willing to do for someone lower than me like that.
Nevertheless, I must forget that thought and obey it for the sake of Raust-san.
With that determination, I decided to take the material to the city.

But I didn't know at the time.

While I wanted to make amends to Mr. Lausto, I didn't know that on the contrary, I was going to be given an unrepayable debt of gratitude.
Furthermore, the days I spent in the city, it would become an irreplaceable part of my life. .........



◇ ◇ ◇.



...... old man, well, you know, please.

Early in the morning, I was wielding a sword in a vacant lot near town, and the person who called out to me was Lewis, the leader of the boys who wanted me to learn to use a sword.
The cocky attitude that had been present in his fearful call to me was gone, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Perhaps he's thinking that he won't be bothered by learning the sword from me like this.
As soon as I gave my consent, it's as good as saying I don't care about the trouble.

'Who's the old man! Call me Mr. Marnell, I told you so, dammit!

But I dare to hide my innermost thoughts and say so wildly.
Pretending to be my usual self.

'Huh! Shut up! You're an old man, you're an old man!

Luis reacts to my words, and after revealing his surprise for a moment, he gets pissed off and shouts.
By that time, he has returned to his usual state, and I almost let out a laugh at that.
Yes, he says, it's good to keep it up.
You kids don't need to be weird and cautious.

You don't need to do that, we've already saved Luis and his friends enough.

"Cheeky little brat. "Cheeky little brat. It's your first day and you're going to have to start pretending.

Hiding that thought in the back of my mind, I begin to train, pretending to be indignant at Lewis' words.
I wonder what kind of conversations my fellow students, who are teaching other children the sword individually, are having with the children right now, as I think about it.

In the city of the labyrinth city, peaceful days were flowing there.



◇◆◇



After training Lewis and his friends and getting breakfast at their house, I'm gathered in the coffee shop with the other adventurers who sell ingredients to this city.
The woman at the coffee shop puts a cup of fruit juice on the table for us, as we have become regulars.

Here you go. Thanks as always.

I thanked her and accepted the cup, I took it straight to my mouth and took a sip of the juice.

'...... good.'

I couldn't help but let the words escape my lips as the refreshing flavor spread through my mouth.

It's not surprising, but fruit juice is not a cheap thing.
Especially in the labyrinth city, it has no choice but to be imported, so its value inevitably increases.
And yet, I felt my heart warmed by the people at the cafe who handed me the fruit juice without regard to that fact.

'It's a nice town, isn't it?'

It was then that Godz, the party member sitting next to me, muttered that to me.
At Godz's words, I silently nodded my head in agreement.

It's only been a few days since we arrived in this city.
But in that short time, our values have changed dramatically.

At first, we never had good feelings for the people of the city.
To put it bluntly, we looked down on them.
We were only handing over the material for the sake of righteousness against Mr. Lausto.
Perhaps sensing this, the people of the city did not show any good feelings towards us at first.

That changed when two days after I started handing out materials to this city, I came back injured from a minor mistake.
That was not an unusual occurrence.
In our party without a healer, there are times when we can't fix an injury right away.
That's why I always kept a recovery potion handy and would often ignore a few wounds.

'You, use this!'

However, the reaction of the townspeople, who didn't know it, was different.
The woman who ran the inn, who called herself Mary, ignored my refusal and handed me a recovery pill, and then bowed her head in front of me, who was confused.

I did a bad thing to the person Ms. Laust introduced me to.
He thanked me for bringing the materials to him, even though he was injured.

It wasn't until then that the town's response to us changed.
In the past, we had given away our materials for free because we were paid by Mr. Lausto, but now they are paying us a proper fee and expressing their gratitude to us.

...... At first we couldn't hide our confusion at the change.

The sudden change in the attitude of the people of the city was part of the reason for our confusion, but more importantly, it was the first time we had ever been treated so favorably.
Because until now, ever since we were born, our lives have been all about deprivation.

But the people of that city's people were not unpleasant to deal with.

We couldn't change our messy attitude to the friendly attitude of the people of that city.
That's all we knew, because that's all we knew.
And yet, the people of the city didn't like that.

And as we spent time with them, the people of this city became irreplaceable.

Before we knew it, we had become so familiar with the people of this city that we wanted to do our best for them.

To train our bodies so that we could bring as much of the labyrinth's materials here as possible.
The fact that each adventurer began to teach the non-adventurers' children individually how to use the sword.

All of these actions were born out of that desire.

All of this was new to us and irreplaceable.

"I owe Mr. Lausto a debt of gratitude that I can never repay.

The benefactor who brought me to this place, I let out those small words as I remember his presence.
Until now, the mockery of the city's people is not in my mind at the earliest.
No, it seems that among the adventurers who were brought to this city by Mr. Lausto, there is no longer any adventurer who remembers taunting the people of the city.

The other adventurers who picked up my leaked words with a good ear and nodded, and I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the other adventurers who understood that.

''Hey, you guys!''

But that smile was broken by the sight of an adventurer who ran into the room late for the meeting time.
That adventurer is my party member, the wizard Salamus.
I was about to open my mouth to complain to Salamus for being late, but then I noticed the look on his face and I couldn't help but choke on my words.
Salamus doesn't even seem to notice me, and opens his mouth.

''──Rust-san has been banned from the labyrinth!

And the next moment Salamus uttered those words, which caused the expressions to disappear from the people in the coffee shop.