Double Play
Three days had already passed since they entered the labyrinth.
Despite Jun spending most of that time imagining new applications for his magic, the labyrinth conquest progressed steadily — all thanks to his wives rolling up their sleeves and insisting he devote himself entirely to his imagination.
All Jun had to do was guide the way, cast a barrier when combat began, drop it when the fighting ended, and resume leading them onward. Everything else — the battles, the camping, the meals — his wives handled on their own.
I feel a little guilty, like I've become a kept husband… but this is what they want, so it should be fine.
Jun soothed himself with that thought, paused his imagining for a moment, and watched the wives who were working so hard to support him.
"Uryaaaah!!!"
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Fortuna (in human form) dove straight into the middle of the monsters and swung her hammer in every direction with a vigorous battle cry. The tremendous force packed into the weapon sent skeletons shattering into pieces that went tumbling through the air.
"Why is it that no matter how many of these filthy things I clear away, they never seem to end?"
Fwoosh! Slash! Whoosh! BOOM!
Dohwa (in human form) covered her mouth with her fan, glared at the monsters with a look of pure contempt, then closed her eyes as if thoroughly fed up and pointed the fan at the creatures. The pink birds that fluttered around her like an escort unleashed elemental attacks of every kind in unison, striking the monsters down.
"I'd like to blow up something other than bones and rags for a change."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rebecca, who until yesterday had been gleefully setting off explosions, now wore a thoroughly bored expression as she repeatedly pulled the triggers of the revolvers in both hands. At a glance it looked like she was firing carelessly, yet every single bullet found a vital point without fail.
Jun forced himself to look away from Rebecca's strangely eye-catching guns and thought: his wives looked thoroughly bored.
Well, I suppose that's inevitable.
Given their level, the monsters that appeared on a mere fifth floor weren't even opponents — they crumpled under the lightest pressure. The fun of a massacre only lasted a day or two; beyond that, it was just a nuisance.
Should we just skip ahead?
They wanted to reach the higher floors as soon as possible. Jun felt the same way. Weak monsters honestly didn't matter, but the money they earned from byproducts, gathering, and commissions was far too small. As the head of a household responsible for his family's livelihood, the situation was deeply worrying.
We've still got a decent amount saved up, but I can't just sit back and relax.
Lemumni's expensive cost of living, the family's excessively good appetites, consumables including bomb materials — the not-insignificant expenses were causing their savings to dwindle little by little, yet unmistakably. His bank balance naturally floated up in his mind, and the resulting anxiety urged him to shove his wives into Dowonhyang and teleport straight to the entrance of the next floor.
But Jun shook his head, forcibly suppressing the impulse. He couldn't do that.
Was something trying to praise that choice of his? Not long after the battle ended, the entrance leading to the next floor greeted Jun and his wives.
"Just like I heard — the pattern carved on the door looks different."
Jun muttered as he carefully examined the entrance before him. The Gates of Hell created by some artist in his previous life. The doors of the entrances they'd encountered before had been extremely similar to that sculpture, and the door before them now was also extremely similar in its overall form. However, the pattern carved in the center was different. In the middle of this entrance was carved the head of a horned monster — the kind that might be used to mark a boss room in a game.
"Think we'll get to enjoy ourselves a bit this time?"
"I doubt it would be possible, my lord."
"Even a boss won't withstand Unnie's single blow."
Indeed, a boss waited behind the door before them. In the Labyrinth — the Demon King's Castle — a boss existed every five floors, and only by defeating it could one proceed to the next. A kind of gatekeeper, one might say. For that reason, boss monsters were distinctly stronger than the monsters that appeared on the same floor. The fifth-floor boss in particular was so strong that it was regarded as an object of terror by novice adventurers who had only just begun their careers.
"Tch∼. Boring. Jun, let's finish this quick and go to the next floor, okay?"
"Yeah, let's do that."
To Jun and his wives, it was a thoroughly unremarkable monster.
"My dear, just so you know in advance — I won't be joining this boss fight. You know why, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know."
After indulging Fortuna's coquettish request and nodding at Rebecca's announcement, Jun carefully reached for the door of the entrance leading to the next floor—
"Ah, wait a second."
—and instead of opening it, opened the entrance to Dowonhyang and pulled out a musket from within.
"Jun, why are you suddenly pulling that out? You bought it and then just carefully put it away."
"Carefully put it away? That's not quite right."
"Then have you used it before?"
Jun had nothing to say. In truth, just as Fortuna said, he hadn't used it even once since the test firing before purchase.
"Why on earth did you buy it, then?"
"I hate to say this, but it seems rather like a white elephant that only takes up space."
Fortuna and Dohwa looked at the musket with cold eyes. They looked ready to smash or discard it on the spot. In response, Jun clutched the musket tightly and said:
"W-well, how could I just walk past something like this without buying it?"
The antique charm of a musket — that was something no man could simply walk past. It wasn't a lie to get out of the situation; muskets were genuinely one of the popular items at weapon shops. The shopkeeper had said that if you put one in the display window, male adventurers walking by would come in and buy them one by one — a real money-maker. Tatsu had said he'd bought one even though he didn't do ranged combat at all. Emili, who'd been with him at the time of purchase, had mercilessly smacked him on the back asking why he was buying it, but he hadn't backed down. Dare he say it — a musket was practically an essential item for any man.
"Ugh, fine. At least take care of it properly. Don't dump it on Dohwa."
Thwack!
"Guh! A-alright, alright."
Under Fortuna's powerful back-smack, Jun gasped for breath and managed a difficult nod. Did every man who'd bought a musket go through the same process just now? he wondered next.
"A man's inner workings seem to be a difficult realm to understand."
"Agreed."
Rebecca nodded in agreement with Dohwa's words. That made Jun feel just a tiny bit sour. He could understand Dohwa saying that, but Rebecca — who was if anything even more extreme — agreeing with it… that was a bit much.
"So what are you planning to do with that?"
As he was debating whether to say something to her, Fortuna plastered herself against his back and asked again. The soft sensation against his back soothed his irritation, and he answered her question.
"While I was thinking about how to use my magic, a few techniques I'd failed at before came to mind."
"Huh? You've got Realize and you still have failed techniques?"
"Yeah. Thanks to Realize I managed to force them to activate, but the efficiency was so bad I shelved them."
Realize was all-powerful, but its efficiency varied wildly depending on the situation. Just as cleaning a room was easier and faster with cleaning tools than bare hands, activating Realize was more efficient when the right conditions were met rather than forcing it blindly.
"There was a technique designed to use electricity to fire iron fragments at tremendous speed. All it needed was iron fragments, and I roughly understood the principle, so I thought it'd be pretty useful."
But it wasn't. He'd succeeded, but using his fingers as the barrel meant the time force was applied was too short for the power to come out as expected, and the mana required to amplify his body's electricity and reinforce his fingers to withstand it was far too much. So despite desperately wanting to use the technique, he'd buried it—
"Watching Rebecca use her guns, a thought occurred to me."
Jun pulled out a bullet from Dowonhyang next, removed the head, shook out the gunpowder inside, then reattached the head. Then he loaded the bullet into the musket's chamber. For reference, muskets in this world were breech-loading — the bullet went in from the rear of the barrel.
"If I give up a little of the romance, I can use it."
Through Realize, he imbued the musket and bullet with electricity. Then he used Aura to reinforce the gun, the bullet, and the electricity all at once. Threatening sparks crackled from the musket, but Jun didn't stop channeling electricity and Aura.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!!
"O-ooh!"
"It looks extremely dangerous."
"Magnificent. Like aiming a bolt of lightning."
His wives, watching the process from the side, sparkled their eyes and let out strings of admiration. That meant the technique looked quite convincing. However, Jun wasn't entirely satisfied.
I wanted to fire it with just my fingers, like that certain middle-school girl…
The disappointment was brief; he steeled himself and hooked his finger on the trigger. He was the head of a household responsible for his family. For his family's sake, he had to pursue reality over romance.
"Ladies, open the door for me, would you?"
"Okay!"
Excited at the prospect of seeing a new technique, Fortuna quickly opened the boss room door.
BOOM!
With a heavy sound, the door opened wide enough for one person to pass through, and Jun kicked off the ground and charged into the boss room. At his swift action, the silhouette inside the room scrambled to its feet—
Jun Original — Railgun
Click!
Jun pulled the trigger. The loaded hammer struck the bullet.
CRACK! WHOOOOSH!
A flash of light sparkled from the muzzle, followed in succession by the sound of something shattering and the sound of the atmosphere splitting apart. Wondering at the reversed order of the sounds, he reopened the eyes he'd reflexively closed against the light—
Where did it go?
A pair of empty eye sockets entered Jun's vision. Something had clearly been there, but it was gone. It was enough to make one think a ghost had pulled a trick.