The next day, I had no motivation to do anything.

　I stayed in the inn all day, isolated.

　I didn’t want to see anyone.

　I was afraid of interacting with people.

　The only way I could fight the enemy attacking my mind from safety was to hide in the darkness and stay still.

　By simply merging with the darkness, I managed to vanish from this world.

　Here, those eyes couldn’t reach me.

　I passed the next morning wrapped in peace and emptiness.

　Suddenly, I woke up to an announcement echoing inside my mind.

Greetings, transmigrators! Starting today, two new methods for earning points have been introduced: "borrowing points in advance" and "re-random transmigration"! You may borrow up to three points in advance through the former, while the latter grants you ten points as compensation for the risk involved, along with the option to select your "beloved one." Please use these features with caution—

Indeed, this must be a rescue measure for transmigrators with zero points.

Irrelevant to me, though.

...Still, there must be some fools out there who choose random transmigration.

Quite the divine cruelty, really.

Opening the wooden window, a gentle breeze caresses my cheek.

It was a clear, sunny morning.

　

—Goo

Even without doing anything, my stomach still growls.

Though I'm thoroughly fed up with the absurdity of merely being alive, I can't choose to die.

When I opened the status board, the real-time viewers had dropped to ten million.

Probably these viewers were just keeping their screens open, waiting for some movement—unlikely to be actively watching.

My life, as far as I know, is nothing but faint noises, and otherwise just the faint outline of a room in complete darkness.

Yet if anything at all happens, that information will spread instantly, and viewers will surge in seconds.

It was easy to imagine this kind of viewing pattern had become established.

I can't afford to let my guard down.

(Though, if things keep going like this, I’ll end up penniless and kicked out of my room.)

I couldn't possibly go that far downhill.

I forced myself to stand up.

The early morning city was lively,

a complete opposite to the lifeless streets of the dead of night.

Though I'd rather not be outside during bright hours, getting food was impossible unless I did it in daylight—there were no shops open at night.

In exchange, people started their day early and could buy food at morning markets and stalls.

(This really is another world...)

Big humans, small humans, humans with cat-like features, dog-like humans, those with pointed ears...

A melting pot of diversity.

If it weren't for my current state, I might have been amazed by this foreign world, fascinated by everything, and enjoyed it all.

But right now, everything around me looked gray.

A Japanese with black hair and black eyes stands out in another world—this was a common trope in novels I'd read before, but here, it seems not to be the case. Thanks to that, I attract no attention, allowing me to buy food at a stall without drawing eyes.

If things continue like this, viewers probably won’t pay special attention either.

Or perhaps there are other "transmigrated individuals" in this town, but the chance of meeting one is low. Besides, since I’m an irregular case of transmigration, there's zero possibility that they know about me.

I quickly bought supplies and left the morning market as if fleeing.

I’ve developed an aversion to crowded places.

Or maybe I'm just scared of people.

I stayed indoors during the day, only leaving the inn after nightfall.

At the entrance to the maze, four soldiers-like figures are always on guard.

It would be difficult to sneak in during the day, but at night it’s no problem.

"Darkness Fog"

The inn’s magic channel ( .. ) is so poor that it barely manages to fill the entire room with darkness, but nearby the maze it’s overly effective.

Still, an excessively large darkness would be unnatural.

I wrapped myself in darkness covering about two meters, and slipped into the maze.

With darkness still surrounding me, I dashed through the first layer and headed toward the second.

The second layer was perfect for scavenging corpses.

"Monsters appear in groups"

"Stronger monsters appear"

"Can be reached easily from the first layer"

It had the characteristics of being even more disorienting than the previous level and even darker than the second layer, creating conditions where explorers were likely to be wiped out completely. It had been ten days since arriving in this town. I had visited almost every day, and every third day someone inevitably died. Strictly speaking, it was only "seemed to have died." I'd never actually seen a corpse. Instead, only empty husks were left behind. That's why I felt no resistance toward collecting those husks. Of course, I couldn't traverse the entire second level, so perhaps even more people died daily. If so, just how many lives was this labyrinth consuming? I hadn't yet encountered the scene of an entire group's demise, but that might just be a matter of time. I wandered through the labyrinth, making sure not to run out of Darkness Fog.

The monsters on this level seemed unable to sense my presence in the darkness, so as long as my spell remained active, I could move about freely.

Stealing equipment from the dead was profitable, and strangely enough, spirit stones often dropped randomly. Picking those up added up to a decent income.

Occasionally, I’d run into other explorers, but I’d slip past them unnoticed in the shadows.

"Hey! Why isn’t the scout going ahead first? Hurry up and check it out!"

"S-sorry! But I’ve got a wound on my foot."

"Because you’re not wearing shoes! Put on your shoes! Honestly, you’re useless."

"Hey, that’s enough. Let’s just leave him behind."

"B-but… if you leave me here… like this…"

A party I’d seen before, occasionally.

It seems the feline humanoid scout has gotten injured and can no longer walk.

"We hired you as a scout! If you're useless, you're getting fired—fired, fired. See ya."

The three explorers continue forward, torch in hand, leaving the feline humanoid behind.

The beastman tries to keep up, dragging one leg—yet it's clearly hopeless.

(Ugh, what am I even doing...?)

Giving up, the feline humanoid collapses on the spot and bursts into tears.

Even if this is only the second level, it'll take hundreds of meters to reach the first. Escaping without encountering monsters is impossible.

Even if they make it to the first level, that doesn't mean it's safe.

(Damn it.)

There was no way they could just leave him behind.

If it had been a human, I might have ignored it.

But this feline humanoid truly looked like a cat that had just started walking on two legs. That's probably why I felt I had to protect it.

I used five crystals to exchange for a potion on my status board.

The description said a single crystal's potion only worked on minor scratches, so five crystals should be enough. From the looks of it, the injury doesn't seem too deep. No scroll should be needed.

"Use this."

Still hidden in the shadows, I placed the potion at the humanoid's feet.

"Eh? Eh? Who's there!? Meow? Potion...?"

"Just apply it to the injured spot,"

I've never used a potion before.

Healing potions and spirit energy potions were drinkable, but the injury treatment ones seemed to be applied directly to the wound, according to the description.

When the cat-like beastman used the potion, the blood from the crudely severed foot—more precisely, the injury to its paw pad—gradually stopped oozing. It wouldn't heal instantly, but as long as it was properly bandaged afterward, it should be fine.

"C-Can't be... This must be a mid-to-high grade potion... I-I can't afford something like this, nya..."

The cat-like beastman spoke with ears drooping down.

Perhaps lending and borrowing wasn't so strict after all.

"It was my own doing. You don't need to pay me anything."

"W-Why? Then what should I do...?"

What should I do...?

Well, there's really nothing special to do.

I just couldn't stand seeing you suffer, that's all.

"Yeah, I guess... Well, let's just get going for now. Or do you want to keep adventuring alone?"

"No, I can't handle the 'Hungerbeast Dungeon' by myself... It's already dangerous enough."

So, 'Hungerbeast Dungeon' is the name of the second layer?

This kid—judging by her voice, seems to be a girl—might know some info about this labyrinth.

"Got any bandages? I'll treat you and then we'll go."

She seemed to have at least the basics, wrapping gauze over the wound and tightly winding bandages around the injured area, like a feline beast-person.

　

"Can you walk?"

"I-I'm fine with this!"

"Alright, then I'll be walking with you for a bit. Just follow me."

I spread darkness around and took her hand.

"Mew mew mew! It's so dark!"

Her sudden, cat-like reaction startled me too.

Anyway, in the darkness, there's no chance of encountering monsters.

"Stay quiet. We're going back down to the first level."

"Mew, mew~"

I pulled the cat-beast's hand and headed toward the first level.

Whether it's risk-free or not is uncertain, but since we're scouting, he should know this labyrinth well.