Rize and the centaurs finished preparing the meal.
We sat around the fireplace, starting our meal and continuing the conversation.
The assistants asked questions on behalf of the curious ones.
Of course, it was the clown doing the talking.
［Kirik. Got it.］
The clown read my thoughts with telepathy.
And conveyed Pururu’s chat to the centauress.
［Kenta! How did your mom mate with the horse dad?］
The centauress swallowed the meat she was chewing and replied.
［Hmm. You seem to not know about mating. How should I explain this…］
［Kirik?］
The centauress’s gaze turned towards me.
She confidently extended her hand and made a suggestion.
［Explorer, would you like to mate with me here if you don’t mind?］
【Mysticism】─🤬
What kind of nonsense is this?
I gave her a disgusted look at her random proposal.
Then the centauress cleared her throat and added an explanation.
［Ahem! It seems there’s a misunderstanding; I didn’t mean to suggest anything weird. I merely wanted to show what mating is, as it would be easier to understand than explaining it with words.］
【Mysticism】─🤬
It seemed she didn’t understand the question’s intent.
To make her comprehend better,
I asked how her mother could connect with a monster for mating.
Did she have an ability like temptation or something?
I elaborated on the clown’s question.
The centauress finally understood the question properly.
［Ah. I understand now. I had slightly misunderstood. My apologies.］
When the misunderstanding was cleared up.
The centaurs lowered their voices and whispered among themselves.
［So the youngest’s ideal type is that kind of guy.］
［Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if she liked him. Explorer has muscles just as impressive as ours.］
［What a shame. We thought our youngest would finally lose her virginity.］
［Exactly. It’s the first time the youngest offered to mate with someone…］
Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.
I focused on the centauress’s response.
［My father’s great-great-grandfather said he fell in love at first sight when he saw my mother. He also pursued her first. So they were able to mate without any issues.］
I never imagined such a reason.
A monster fell for an explorer first.
That girl wasn’t so unlucky after all.
［Kirik. Got it.］
The clown relayed Pururu’s question again.
［Kenta. Did other monsters also fall for your mother before asking to mate?］
［No. My great-great-grandfather was the only one who fell for her from the start. The others opened their hearts after being tamed.］
［Kirik. Then how did you tame the others?］
［My father’s great-great-grandfather knocked them out first, then presented them to my mother. She tamed the knocked-out ones by violating them.］
We decided to pause the questions for a bit.
I was starting to lose my appetite.
*
The centaurs had said they would help me.
What kind of help were they planning to provide?
After finishing the meal, I asked such a question, and the centaurs replied.
［Originally, we were thinking of protecting you from other explorers. We also intended to help you establish friendly relations with any additional supported ones.］
But I didn’t need this help.
There was only one explorer in this generation: me.
So could I not receive help from them?
Not at all.
［There’s a vending machine in this labyrinth. It’s an object that only the supported ones can use. For your information, the ruler uses a different object, not the vending machine.］
The centaur spoke while drawing a square shape in the ground with its hoof.
Since I mentioned that I had only just become an explorer, they must have thought I wouldn’t know about the vending machine.
“I’ve used a vending machine once. I stumbled upon it by luck.”
［Ah, I see. Then there’s no need to explain the vending machine in detail.］
The centaur erased the drawing it made on the ground with its hoof.
And continued speaking.
［Anyway, we will run around the labyrinth, and if we spot a vending machine or crocodiles, we will come to inform you immediately.］
The crocodiles seemed to refer to neutral monsters selling items other than tickets.
［There’s probably no race that can help you as much as us in this regard. Our species is among the fastest creatures in this labyrinth, ranking in the top ten.］
They were quite proud.
Well, it made sense.
Even regular centaurs are incredibly fast, so a centaur with an actual danger level of S-class has to be faster.
“Thank you. But how will you know where I am to find me? Should I reveal my location to you?”
［There’s no need to do that.］
The centaur turned its head and looked at the centauress.
He called her over with a gesture.
［We have the ability to sense the locations of our kin. So you just need to take our youngest with you.］
［We will depend on you from now on.］
The centauress came closer and lowered her head.
［Explorer, please tame me first. You might worry that I could betray you if you just bring me along.］
I nodded.
I had already checked the spot of her mark in advance.
On her horse backside.
I gently placed my hand on the red mark.
［…Why the backside? Are you asking to mate with me?］
“No, to tame someone, I have to touch the mark visible only to me, and that mark is over here.”
［Ah, so it doesn’t get tamed just anywhere.］
“Correct. And it doesn’t happen immediately. Depending on the counterpart, it takes some time.”
［Does it take longer if the counterpart has strong hostility?］
“How did you know?”
［I had an inkling. My mother had to mate multiple times to tame those with strong hostility.］
As I talked with her, I checked the color-changing speed of the mark.
It seemed the hostility was light because the mark was quickly turning green.
“But it seems you can’t tame monsters that have already been tamed?”
I asked while proceeding with the taming.
I couldn’t find any marks on the other centaurs.
At first, I thought it was because they weren’t native monsters of the labyrinth.
Even though they were born in the labyrinth, their blood mixed with explorers.
But they were not treated as drifters either.
I felt something strange about that and looked for marks more closely, finally spotting one on the centauress’s backside.
And realized they were indeed recognized as inhabitants of the labyrinth.
［That’s right. A tamed one will never betray the explorer. Not even if the explorer dies.］
The centauress glanced at the other centaurs and continued speaking.
［My mother believed even her children could betray. That’s why she mated with my brothers to tame them. I suppose I wasn’t tamed due to being a girl.］
“It seems you can’t tame someone of the same gender.”
［I’m not entirely sure. My mother had no interest in mating with the same sex, so she couldn’t confirm.］
As we chatted like this, the mark finally turned completely green.
I removed my hand from her backside and stepped back.
［It feels good. This is the emotion of the tamed…］
The tamed centauress gazed at me intently.
Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, there seemed to be affection in her eyes.
［Explorer.］
“Yeah?”
［Now that we’ve gotten closer, do you have any desire to mate?］
“No.”
［What a pity.］
【Mysticism】─🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Tonight, I decided to sleep inside the magma slime.
For some reason, it felt unsettling.
*
Day 5.
After parting with the centaurs.
We set out early morning to track down the drifter.
By the way, the centauress was with us.
She had now become my personal mode of transportation.
Though it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t ride, she insisted on carrying me, so I had little choice but to climb aboard.
The ride wasn’t bad.
After about four hours of moving, we entered a field of reeds.
［Kirik. They’re nearby.］
The Psycho Clown suddenly stopped in her tracks.
There seemed to be drifters around here.
［Follow me.］
The Psycho Clown spoke in a low voice and led the way.
We pushed through the tall reeds, following the clown.
And after about three minutes, we reached the end of the reed field where a small clearing appeared.
In the clearing, numerous monsters were swaying their behinds while making strange chants.
［Doom Bar! Let’s have fun!］
［Doom Bar! Shout!］
［Let’s dance joyfully! Doo Doom Bar!］
In front of those monsters.
［Shake your butts more passionately!］
A rather ordinary hedgehog was yelling.
“Doom Bar··· let’s have fun···.”
“Doom Bar··· shout···!”
I could see familiar-looking races sobbing.
“Doom Bar··· Doo Doom Bar···.”
“Ugh, why am I in this situation…”
There was no doubt.
Those were the drifters we were looking for.
They looked exactly like Rize.
The words “Drifter” floated above their heads too.
【Mysticism】─🧐
［Keep your voices down!］
“Doo Doom Bar!!!!”
“Joyfully! Let’s dance!!!”
For some reason, Rize’s kin were fervently dancing alongside the monsters.
They didn’t seem very happy about it, though.
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