Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Joint Exploration Trap
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“Suddenly teaming up with another party for a joint search? What’s the angle here?”
I shrugged and smiled as I watched Cain tuck his flying knives into his robe.
“If we just stick to our own group all the time, what’s the point of coming all the way here? I picked a party with no humans especially for you.”
Ruby seemed to be from the demon beastkin lineage or something, and the rest of the guys didn’t look human either. Probably.
I made up some excuse and started pulling potions from my subspace one by one, slipping them into the pouches at my waist.
Opening my subspace right in front of them would draw unwanted attention, and there were other issues too.
‘This one’s the sensory deprivation potion. This is the antidote, and that’s recovery.’
I glanced over them by type, uncorked one, gulped it down, then slipped the empty bottle back into my subspace and finished organizing.
“Yawn… You’re heading out?”
“Yeah. We’re off to the labyrinth. Aria, keep an eye on the inn. Still thinking it over?”
Right before leaving, I dangled the bait one more time in front of Aria, who had just woken up.
“I’ll pay you generously. It’s just helping out at my family estate. No point staying here if you can’t even enter the labyrinth right away.”
She bit her lip slightly, mumbling as if weighing it.
“Inn provided, meals provided. Pay on time, and you get paid leave. You’ll need a decent amount of money to dive back into the labyrinth, and prices here are steep.”
“Ugh… Just for a little while?”
I curved my lips into a gentle smile as she seemed almost won over.
“Of course. I could hire anyone else, but you’re so sweet, I want your help. Why else would I make this offer to you?”
She groaned a bit before nodding reluctantly. Cain let out a small sigh, and Luna looked away.
What? Why?
“Let’s talk more when I get back. I’ll order food before I go.”
“Okay!”
I kept up the sweet smile until the door closed behind me, then finally relaxed my face and stretched.
“Is she… okay?”
At Luna’s question, I tilted my head.
“With what?”
“She seemed like… a proper young lady from a good family.”
Ah, yeah, probably. You can tell just by looking at her hands.
Hands untouched by rough work.
Those are different from hands calloused by labor or sword training.
Add in her upright posture, the etiquette that slipped out unconsciously, and how her guard melted with just a bit of kindness.
‘Unless they’re some mega-rich family without basic manners, but yeah.’
Raised like a flower in a greenhouse. A gentle lamb without a shred of wariness.
“She probably read some book and got adventure fever, but sticking around here will just expose her to the ugly side. She doesn’t seem keen on going home, so I figured I’d protect her and drop her off at the estate.”
If she had a shadow trailing her, they would’ve dragged her back before she started wailing and clinging to the guards outside.
That means she used a spirit from her traits or something to erase her tracks and run away. Leaving her like this? A penniless newbie adventurer clueless about the world? Her fate’s obvious.
‘She’d end up as a female Cain.’
With her looks, high chance she’d end up auctioned off. Even if not, nothing good awaits.
Then later, when her family comes looking? They might hunt down everyone she’s met and massacre them in rage.
‘Better to smoothly relocate her to my estate under some pretext.’
Could build a solid connection with her family later, or at least avoid making enemies. Not a bad deal either way.
Of course, over half my motive is using her as an assistant for Halon.
I fed Luna some sugar-coated lies to ease her worries about potential backlash.
Caw! Caw-caw!
As we strolled toward the central tower, a crow perched on top let out a booming cry.
That thing’s noise is bark-level.
It cawed like it was pissed off, then flew away somewhere. I turned and waved at Ruby, who was waving at us.
“Hey there.”
“Right on time.”
I exchanged simple greetings with the guys behind her, who were waving along with her fresh smile.
“This is Kal, Hals, Jovi.”
The skinny one with daggers and sharp features: Kal. The muscled guy with gauntlets: Hals. The hooded one whose robe jingled with potion bottles like mine when he moved: Jovi.
I memorized them by traits, then glanced at Cain and Luna.
“I’m Adelrian. That’s Cain. This is Luna.”
“Great, introductions done. Let’s move?”
We nodded at Ruby’s whisper—she was insisting we sneak in—and slowly headed into the labyrinth dungeon.
“It’s around the border between the lower and middle layers? Pretty out-of-the-way spot. They stationed guards early on, but it drew too much attention, so they stopped lately.”
“Oh… I see…….”
“Back in my day, everyone was too busy surviving to care about newbies. It was brutal. That’s why I don’t do that. I’ll teach you all sorts of stuff, okay?”
“Ah… Y-yes. Yes……!”
Ruby was the chatty type who kept the conversation going solo, but her crew barely responded, so Luna was chiming in enthusiastically.
Half of it was aimed at Cain while glancing his way, but he was hooded and silent, trudging along. Me? Whatever.
‘Too much hassle.’
To check things out, I subtly twisted my fingers or loosened my wrists while following Ruby, and we descended without bumping into a single monster. True to the labyrinth name, round and round for ages.
Stairs that went up or down weren’t just one set—depending on your path, you ended up elsewhere. But she seemed to know the route, skipping some passages on purpose until we reached a dead-end alley deep inside, monster-free.
‘They could wipe us out here and no one’d know.’
But no such intent apparent. Ruby gestured, and Jovi’s robe rustled as a pale, mottled hand emerged holding a vial of red liquid.
“Getting in is simple. Just splash monster blood.”
Ruby explained with an eye smile, but Cain stayed silent as ever.
Drip—
Jovi tilted the vial, and thick blood splattered down.
Heavy metallic stench. It seeped into floor cracks, followed by a faint *gurgle*, and the blocked wall creaked open, barely wide enough for one person.
“Let’s go. So we’re one party inside?”
Cain dodged as Ruby playfully tried to grab his arm, and I spoke up.
“No, two parties. They only listen to me.”
Probably just an offhand remark from her, but I drew a clear line with a small laugh. She nodded without a second thought and slipped in first.
Once we were all inside, the door ground shut with a *creak*.
A narrow, long passage stretched ahead.
“Splash blood to get out too, so no worries. Oh, one’s popping out.”
Ruby gloved up, uncoiled the spiked whip from her waist, and lashed at a melting goblin-like thing creeping from the corner. Kal stabbed it with his knife as it flew back.
I signaled Luna and Cain, then gripped my codex like a standard spellbook, chanting slowly to observe.
“Just head straight. Monsters here look a bit off. Don’t freak out.”
Yeah, figures.
‘Officially called the Dungeon of Test Subjects.’
A parasitic dungeon carved into the labyrinth by an alchemist researching homunculi, for easy access to materials.
Infinite respawning monsters from the labyrinth fueled the experiments. Failures became guard dogs for this lab.
Pretending to concentrate like a mage using a regular grimoire as an amplifier, I eyed Ruby and Cain.
Cain, sensing something, gave Ruby a strange look before turning to meet my eyes.
I flashed an innocent, so-called dumb smile, no schemes in sight.
* * *
‘Something’s off.’
Cain frowned slightly at Adelrian’s scheming face before looking away.
Adelrian was always a bit weird somewhere, but today was worse.
Like…
A glance.
He was entranced by something.
Cain eyed Ruby cracking her whip with slightly narrowed gaze.
A woman acting interested in him, but not quite.
Her odd companions.
And…
‘Suspicious.’
Even more suspicious: this dungeon.
A hidden dungeon inside the labyrinth dungeon?
Possible. But this Ruby woman coming and going daily?
The moment Cain entered this hidden labyrinth, he caught a faint lingering scent amid the stuffy air.
A fragile aroma, like it could vanish any second.
‘The woman Ruby frequents this labyrinth enough to leave her scent behind.’
Not just once in a while—often enough that traces lingered in the air.
Ruby herself probably didn’t notice, her own scent too overpowering. The faintness fooled even Adelrian and Luna.
‘Need to keep it in mind…….’
As Cain thought that, the narrow passage opened into a wide space. He froze for a split second.
‘A dark sorcerer’s lab?’
Uncannily like a place he’d been before.
One side had cages with iron bars for test subjects. Elsewhere, tools cluttered shelves. Farthest, a side path led deeper.
Reflexively eyeing the cages, the largest one rattled with a *creak* as its door slowly rose.
“Something’s coming. Everyone, team up.”
“Groooaaar…….”
Ruby whispered as they looked. A ragged golem-like mass—half-melted humans mashed together—crawled out on broken legs.
‘For now, despite the creepiness, take that thing down first.’
Kal and Hals circled behind in a semicircle to flank it. Ruby whipped to keep it in check, moving inward.
Jovi and Adelrian covered her from behind. Cain suppressed his irritation at the setup.
‘Sooner the better.’
Need to kill it to shake this unease.
“Bind and root it in place.”
Adelrian’s binding spell—played off as standard mage work—snagged its unsteady legs.
Cain charged with sword raised, slashing the ragged homunculus. Luna stuck close to disrupt vision.
“Now!”
Ruby shouted her signal. Jovi muffled Adelrian to stop his chant. Instead of whip, thin silver wires shot from her glove’s tip, severing Adelrian’s leg below the knee in one go. Blood sprayed as his body hit the floor like trash.
“Hang in there till we’re back! Survive, and I’ll make you my puppet too.”
Using Adelrian and Cain as bait, Ruby laughed loudly and bolted down the side path, dodging the homunculus.
“Young master!”
“Graaaah……!”
As Luna screamed and lunged, the binding snapped. The freed homunculus roared, swinging grotesquely elongated arms at Cain.
Even as it bore down, Cain yelled in disbelief.
“Adelrian!”