Freeman
The dwarf Virtanen made two mistakes in front of the exit gate.
"Is it you, Caleb!"
Buzz! It was Abison's corpse.
"Is it you, Caleb!"
Buzz! It was Mister Backattack.
And then, the third.
"Caleb! This time, it's you for sure!"
"Sorry, it's Yernil."
Yernil came out beyond the exit gate, looking awkward.
"But Caleb will be coming out too."
"As I thought! Was it you two who took down Mister Backattack?"
Virtanen asked.
"Yes... technically, Caleb did almost all of it."
"Wait a moment."
Assistant instructor Scarlett stepped up to Yernil. She covered her mouth, unable to easily recover from her shock.
Because Yernil was wearing a slave prisoner uniform.
"Y-you... are you the academy's slave team?"
She asked, pointing at Yernil with a trembling hand.
"Yes."
The assistant instructor's shock crossed the point of singularity.
"What is this supposed to mean..."
Just the fact that a two-person party killed Mister Backattack was already a massive incident, but a slave party did it?
To clear Mister Backattack's exit room with only two people, wouldn't you need overwhelming power like Clorence?
Yet instead, a slave party far below the average adventurer level—how on earth?
Putting skill aside, they didn't even have proper equipment, nor food. Their only weapons were mass-produced cheap wands and random junk goblins carried around.
On top of that, they'd only met a few days ago and hastily formed the party.
"Then how did you even kill him...?"
She couldn't even imagine what had happened in the exit room.
Kwaaang!
The gate erupted. The last person came out.
The party leader and architect who had produced this shocking result.
"Caleb!"
An exclamation burst from Virtanen's entire party.
We escaped.
I had finally succeeded in getting out of that hellish labyrinth.
And the moment I crossed the gate...
'It's a bit noisy.'
Greetings poured in from all directions.
"Caleb! Where did you find Abison's body?"
"Rookie! Did you two really take down Backattack?"
"You brought the body so we could resurrect him? Oh my, this is truly so moving!"
And a red-haired human woman who looked like a magic academy assistant grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
"H-hey. Your name is Caleb? You're a slave mage, right?"
Hmm.
Considering our team's combat power, the two corpses we brought back really do make no sense.
I understand why you're shocked, assistant.
"What on earth are you! Can you really cast ultra-fast spells without chanting? No, even if you could, how did you deal with Backattack...!"
"C-could you let go... I'm dizzy..."
No, seriously, my head is pounding. It's because I overdosed on healing potions.
If possible, I'd like to kindly answer their questions one by one.
"Priest."
The words I squeezed out with my last fading consciousness were these.
"Please give us eight thousand gold..."
My consciousness shut off, like someone cutting the power to a TV.
Even in my final moment, I analyzed the phenomenon out of habit.
'Drug overdose shock—.'
I'd downed five healing potions in a row, so I was likely in a drug intoxication state, and with my low health stat, the aftereffects hit me.
I'd probably be unconscious for a few hours.
When I regained consciousness, I was in a temple.
"You collapsed as soon as you came out."
Emma, a priest of Nathaniel, approached and gently touched my forehead.
"It was probably drug intoxication. I heard you drank a huge amount of healing potions?"
"It couldn't be helped. We didn't have antidote potions."
"It was a crude method, but you did well. You have to survive somehow."
"Priest, what about my money?"
"It's over there."
Emma pointed to a table. Inside a small pouch were heaps of gold coins.
When I took them out and counted, there were 7,850 gold.
"From 9,500, subtracting 1,500 for the spider corpse should make 8,000 gold, right? It's short by 150 gold."
"That's the treatment fee."
"I didn't need it."
"Yes. You probably would've recovered just fine even if you'd slept it off at an inn."
"Exactly!"
"But Caleb's party member requested treatment on your behalf."
Yernil, you bastard!
"And you didn't refuse...?"
"A priest of Nathaniel cannot refuse a patient who pays and requests treatment. It is because the god has guided that patient to me."
Of course. Damn it.
The Temple of Nathaniel has a fanatical obsession with fairness and transparency in contracts, transactions, and service fulfillment.
Because they believe all of that is overseen by the god Nathaniel.
Even if Emma's best friend or family came in on the brink of death, if they had no money, Emma wouldn't treat them.
If they deserved treatment, the god would have ensured money was in their pocket.
On the other hand, if a sworn enemy or a wanted serial killer came with money, she would treat them.
So what does that mean in summary?
Followers of Nathaniel are insane religious zealots.
"I am very happy and moved by this situation. That your contract payment was used to treat you—it feels as though Nathaniel is trying to bind us into one party, does it not?"
"Well..."
"When you leave, you'll go to the magic academy to first obtain freeman status, right?"
Emma asked.
"Yes."
Whether I'll enter a labyrinth again is another matter.
"Good luck!"
"..."
I glanced around. All the hospital beds were empty.
"What about Abison?"
"Abison is receiving treatment in the resurrection ward. Thanks to you bringing him early, there was still time left on his soul preservation. Instead of reviving him immediately, they'll regenerate his lost leg and restore the decayed tissue first, then attempt resurrection."
"What about Backattack?"
"Backattack's body is in the morgue."
"..."
The resurrection ward and the morgue are different. Both deal with corpses, but the former is for resurrection, and the latter is for burial.
"Can't Backattack be resurrected?"
"That's impossible. Backattack didn't have soul preservation applied. Once he died, that was it."
This part was exactly the same as the game's setting.
According to the setting, when a person dies, their soul leaves for the afterlife, and soul preservation magic binds that soul to the body.
Its duration is one week.
That's why in the game, if you applied soul preservation to a character, you could retrieve the body and resurrect them within a week.
If soul preservation wasn't applied, or the time ran out?
Then it would be permanent death.
At that point, you swallow your tears and recruit a new party member.
'But Emma, you're wrong.'
Backattack did not suffer permanent death.
'Backattack's soul is preserved.'
It just wasn't bound to his body—
the Labyrinth Master extracted it and stuffed it into a jar, like fermenting kimchi.
And that jar is probably sitting somewhere on the first floor, in the Sanctuary of Souls.
That was also the cause of the irreversible madness afflicting Backattack.
His soul was stolen, and the empty shell of his body simply moved according to the Labyrinth Master's commands.
'Does Emma not know about the Sanctuary of Souls?'
Maybe it's not just Emma—maybe none of the adventurers here know about sanctuaries.
Come to think of it, I only discovered it myself after reaching the difficulty "God of Strategy."
If we could find the jar in the first-floor sanctuary, we might be able to revive Backattack—but that's not something we can deal with right now.
"Then I'll be heading out first."
For now, let's go to the magic academy.
"Yes! Fighting! Make sure you become a freeman!"
With Emma's encouragement, I left the temple.
When I arrived at the magic academy, Yernil was crouched near the lobby entrance, looking utterly dejected.
I could tell what had happened just by looking at his face.
The academy assistant must have heard from the dwarf and his party about our 9,500-gold employment contract—and about our performance as well.
And to Yernil, they probably said this:
"That 9,500 gold is all Caleb's."
As expected.
The reason was contribution.
When magic academy slaves run labyrinths, it's not enough to just get carried by a party. Income is redistributed based on how much each slave directly contributed to the adventure up to the escape.
For example, if Virtanen hired the slave mage Caleb and ran the labyrinth as a four-person party, splitting the profits 25% each—
Afterward, slave mage Caleb would be summoned to the academy and interrogated.
"Did your contribution to that party's adventure really amount to 25%? Let's see—by my calculations, it's closer to 18%. The gold corresponding to the remaining 7% is unjustly acquired, so the academy will confiscate it."
…That kind of thing. They just seize it outright.
The reason this is legally possible is because the reason we became slaves is that we're "criminals."
You can't rely on someone's kindness, charity, or a carry party to clear your slave status. Entering the labyrinth as a magic academy slave is a form of punishment.
Naturally, you can't receive gifted money either. Becoming a freeman because someone paid your ransom—that kind of development is impossible.
Only if the money you personally earn through your own ability exceeds your fine, proving that you can contribute to society, can your slave status be cleared.
So how would the distribution between Yernil and me turn out?
"From here on, we will distribute the income you two farmed in the labyrinth to each of you individually. I am Jacob, assistant of the Magic Academy's Slave Administration Department, 4th-rank mage."
When we went to settle accounts at the academy, a man with a businesslike face and dark circles greeted us.
"First, Virtanen party's service fee. Final settlement amount: 7,850 gold."
He had already finished settling and distributing the service fee, after cross-verifying statements from Yernil and Virtanen.
"The ratio is 7,848 gold to 2 gold."
That's basically giving me everything. The assistant handed me a pouch containing 7,848 gold.
"In the exit-room battle, Yernil did not inflict any meaningful damage on the exit boss, protect allies, or command the fight."
It's not wrong, but maybe we should double-check that both sides' statements were really that conclusive?
"Yernil fired two arrows at the spider. He also received the priest's Weapon Light and marked the gathering points of the spiderlings. And he rolled an oil barrel to Virtanen."
"I am aware. However, the two arrows were meaningless, as was the oil barrel. And marking with Weapon Light was done under Caleb's direction."
"Yes."
"This distribution is accurate. We already used the Scale of Fairness."
The Scale of Fairness?
That's a term I've never heard before.
"What is that?"
"Since we also need to distribute the next settlement, I'll show you directly."
Jacob raised his wand and chanted a spell in front of the two of us.
"Let each contribution be weighed upon the scale of fairness."
A magical two-pan scale, like something out of an antique shop, materialized before us.
When the assistant input the amount 7,850 in the center, it tilted toward me by 7,848.
'That's a spell I've never seen before.'
This wasn't in the game.
How does this thing work?
"Yernil extracted venom fangs from the spider corpse and crafted poison arrows."
I provided information Virtanen didn't know.
He had said the service fee distribution was done after cross-verifying statements from Yernil and Virtanen.
"That is unrelated to the service."
The scale didn't move.
Should I try persuading him further?
"It is related. The reason I proposed the service contract in the first place was because I calculated that we could clear the next exit room using poison arrows. And the reason we bought the spider corpse for 1,500 gold was for the fangs. If Yernil didn't have that level of craftsmanship, I wouldn't have proposed the contract at all."
"Hmm..."
The assistant silently stared at the scale.
Then, after a few seconds—
[Caleb: 7,845 gold]
[Yernil: 5 gold]
The scale moved ever so slightly!
Clink.
The assistant took 3 gold from my pouch and placed it into Yernil's palm, as if giving alms.
"With the gold you've just obtained, Caleb can immediately become a freeman. Would you like to purchase freeman status?"
"Yes."
The assistant took 3,000 gold, removed the slave collar from my neck, and issued me a temporary freeman ID.
I am now a freeman.
"Now then, let's proceed to the real settlement. Before that..."
He pointed his wand at each of us in turn.
"Lie-detection magic."
Another spell I've never seen.
Lie-detection magic?
"If you lie, neurological physiological responses such as dry mouth or sweating inevitably occur. This magic stimulates those responses and intensifies them. It's part of the manual used for evaluating slave team contributions, so please understand."
The assistant said.
"As long as you don't lie, there will be no problems, so rest assured."
So that's why things are so quiet here?
The Slave Administration Department, I mean.
In the game, every time you came here, NPCs would get into testimonial shouting matches, reenacting a parliamentary hearing. Total chaos, hair-pulling included.
"Alright, then. Shall we hear your accounts? From the moment you fell into the labyrinth to the moment you exited through the gate—what adventures you had, and how each of you contributed."
The assistant pulled out a large pouch of gold and slammed it onto the table. Just looking at it, it was heavy.
The value of the mana stones and goblin equipment we brought out of the labyrinth, the scrolls we sold, the reward for recovering Abison's body, Mister Backattack's bounty, and the proceeds from selling Backattack's equipment.
We're rich.
"Scale value reset."
No.
Maybe I'm the only one who's rich...
Wait.
Yernil, you... you'll at least be able to clear your slave status, right?
Please!