Chapter 124: Demons Will Be Demons
[Tower of Trials] was a difficult but rewarding labyrinth.
You could go through a grueling expedition, steadily improve your skills, and even the rewards were fairly decent.
Was there another labyrinth this desirable?
What pleased me most was that even a Level-4 explorer like myself could personally experience the terrifying nature of a B-Rank labyrinth.
《Just what in the world did you experience in the past to end up this broken? I am honestly starting to get scared. :(》
And yet, contrary to expectation, [Tower of Trials] was extremely unpopular.
The fact that a B-Rank labyrinth was difficult to clear was obvious, so that could not be the reason.
There was another decisive cause.
“Here it is.”
Southwest of Cultist Town.
Our expedition arrived in a gloomy, chilly neighborhood sunk in the shadow cast by Pletika’s outer wall.
“It’s really quiet….”
Pendrick frowned as he surveyed the village, which was steeped in silence almost like [Nightmare World].
“Even the neighborhood where Captain lives still felt at least somewhat like a place where people actually lived, but why is it like this here?”
“I was waiting for that question.”
When I answered while rubbing my palms together in a suitably cultist-like manner, Pendrick copied me and rubbed his hands as well.
“Hehe, I asked because I thought you’d like it.”
“As expected, Pendrick is the emotional pillar of the Moon Expedition.”
“Uh… wouldn’t that be you, Captain?”
“How could a frail cultist possibly become a pillar that supports people’s hearts?”
Pendrick was someone destined to become one of the Moon Expedition’s core combat forces in the future.
“The reason this place is quiet is because of the tendencies of the cultists who live here.”
“What kind of people live here?”
I covered Bartimir’s eyes, which were visible through the bandages, with my palm and answered.
“The Watcher of the Murky Rainbow. The cultists of Lord Radmie live here.”
“…Eek!”
Astrimia twisted her blade sharply.
“Then don’t tell me right now….”
“That’s right.”
I slowly turned in place once, looking around the neighborhood submerged in silence.
“From the moment we entered this neighborhood until now, they have likely been carefully observing our expressions, footsteps, and habits. Naturally, they have also quietly listened in on every conversation we have had.”
The specialty of the cultists of the Murky Rainbow was quietly watching people from hiding. In other words, spying.
It was not for the purpose of gathering and selling information like the Brites family.
They simply chose a life of secretly peeping on others because that was the sort of devotional life their Evil God desired.
“Because it simply feels unpleasant. That is precisely the decisive reason [Tower of Trials] is unpopular.”
“……”
The team members started scanning the nearby houses with wary eyes.
“What? That’s not a big deal at all.”
Only Bartimir strolled leisurely down the deserted street.
“When I was a test subject in the Black Mage guild, every word and action of mine was monitored. If they’re only spying on us, then I can just take it in stride.”
“I feel the same way. Shall we share secrets while we walk?”
“You go first, Mom.”
“I am actually a half-elf.”
“Gasp!”
As I had a cozy conversation with my kind-hearted demon daughter, we gradually drew closer to an unusual sight.
In the middle of the road near the outer wall, the upper half of an upside-down tower was abruptly lodged in midair.
《The entrance to [Tower of Trials].》
Even though this was near the entrance, there was not a single explorer around trying to enter the labyrinth.
When we approached a little closer, I saw a labyrinth-management priest sitting on a chair by the roadside with a blank expression.
“Huh?”
Marlin’s eyes widened.
It was because she was a priest we already knew.
“The priest lady we saw at [Fire Ant Nest]?”
“…Huh? Tiger friend!”
Reina, the overly energetic priest who had been in charge of [Fire Ant Nest], sprang to her feet and waved both hands vigorously at Marlin.
Then she spotted me and greeted me just as happily.
“Oh! Aren’t you Sir Kar, honored guest of the Harmony Church!”
“We meet again.”
“Have you come to clear [Tower of Trials]?”
“That is the plan.”
“Finally!”
Marlin, who had been watching the delighted priest with wide eyes, carefully asked, “Weren’t you in charge of [Fire Ant Nest], Priest? How did you end up transferred here?”
“I got disciplined!”
At Reina’s unnecessarily lively answer, Lucius, who belonged to the same Inquiring Lantern order, developed a crease on his forehead.
“…How did you end up getting disciplined?”
“I got swept up in the public mood saying we should go welcome Saint Seraphina, who had come to face yet another history, and I skipped work to enter the labyrinth! So now I’m getting thoroughly scolded for it!”
Lucius, who had been listening from the side, finally let out a very small sigh.
Reina somehow caught it immediately and shot one hand into the air.
“Wow, Brother Lucius! Hi!”
“…You’re working hard, Sister.”
“With Sir Kar here and Brother Lucius here too, I guess I can skip the detailed explanation of the strategy?”
When I nodded, Reina immediately unfolded the ladder that had been lying on the ground and set it upright.
Since the entrance was floating in the air, we had to climb up by ladder.
“The reset is scheduled to happen in about a hundred days. So please hurry!”
“Isn’t that plenty of time?”
Reina raised her right index finger at Pendrick, who had asked the question, then wagged it.
“Not at all. The longest time ever taken to clear [Tower of Trials] was a whole three years.”
“…It can take as long as three years?”
“If it feels like you absolutely cannot climb any farther, you can give up midway. Then you’ll have to challenge it again from the beginning, but at least you’ll keep your life, so bear that in mind!”
The energetic priest stepped aside after her explanation, then suddenly turned to me.
“But there are seven of you, right? You know this without my needing to say it, don’t you? The expedition limit is six people. Starting at seven counts as a violation of expedition law.”
“So we plan to split up and enter as groups of four and three. Will that work?”
Reina gave a bright smile without much thought.
“Of course!”
“Thank you. You are as generous as Arteine’s boundless magnanimity.”
“Flattery won’t get you anything!”
After exchanging pleasantries with Reina for quite a while, I called forward the members of Moon Expedition Group One.
The super-genius swordsman, the kind-hearted demon, the future monstrous thief, and the thoroughly prepared priest.
To Bartimir, who among them possessed the richest expedition knowledge, I handed over the paper I had scribbled on last night containing the strategy for [Tower of Trials], various tips, and homework assigned to each of them.
“You just need to do what’s written there. If you don’t finish your homework, I’ll spank you, so please do your best.”
“Yes!”
“Bartimir will act as temporary squad leader, so please lead the expedition responsibly.”
“Don’t worry!”
Perhaps because an expedition lay before her, Bartimir seemed a little excited. After sending the other team members in first, she entered the labyrinth as well.
With a hand resting on Abel’s shoulder, I watched them go.
“Sponsor, when will we enter?”
“In [Tower of Trials], the expedition composition of those who enter together is important. If we go in at too short an interval, we might get lumped together, so let’s wait a little more leisurely.”
“Understood.”
After nodding, Abel took two water bottles out of his backpack.
“Please try this. It’s tea made with a new formula.”
“Thank you. Is the other one for Lady Rosalia?”
“That’s right. I added poisonous herbs to it especially.”
“That’s what he says, so please try it.”
“……”
The assassin lowered the cloth covering her mouth slightly and took a light sip of Abel’s special poisoned tea.
Then her eyes widened a little.
“How is it?”
Rosalia stared silently at Abel, then shook her head slightly.
“It’s all right, but you wish the poison were more poisonous. Is that what you mean?”
Nod nod.
“…It was already poisonous enough that an ordinary person would be in serious trouble from even putting it in their mouth. Understood.”
Thanks to Abel, we spent a fragrant waiting period, and then Reina waved her hand.
“You may enter now!”
“Understood. Then it’s time for us to go too.”
After sending Abel and Rosalia up, I said to Reina,
“Priest, in a little while some outlaws disguised as ordinary explorers will be coming in after us.”
“…Hmm. I’m sorry, but our Harmony Church does not control explorers’ entry into labyrinths.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to stop them. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
As I climbed the ladder, I briefly gazed at the quiet village.
“Please do not stop anyone who comes, no matter who it is, and do not let them wander off elsewhere. Guide them into the labyrinth.”
Opportunities to obtain a large number of living sacrifices were truly rare in this age.
Bartimir and the team members stood before the entrance of the tower, which soared upward as though it would touch the sky.
Tower of Trials.
Once one entered, it was a structure that would endlessly continue to bring hardship and suffering, and it looked down arrogantly upon the expedition.
“You’ve memorized everything Mom wrote, right?”
Temporary squad leader Bartimir spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.
“It says only one enemy appears on each floor. Even if all of us work together, we’ll only be facing opponents who won’t be easy to defeat, so don’t overdo it and get hurt for no reason. Even with a priest, serious injuries won’t be easy to heal.”
Marlin glanced sidelong at Bartimir’s bandage-covered face.
There was anticipation and excitement all over those two somewhat wicked-looking eyes that Kar insisted were kind.
…Are they really not family?
No matter how she thought about it, it felt like Kar and Bartimir had the same blood running through them.
Otherwise, there was no way two people who welcomed grueling adversity with joy could exist at the same time.
“The clear condition is to defeat the enemies all the way up to the tenth floor in succession without giving up midway….”
Even as Marlin seriously questioned the blood relationship between the two, the demon kept talking.
“Mom wrote, for the hidden clear condition, ‘Learn it yourselves and figure it out.’”
“To be honest, we have no idea.”
Pendrick smiled coolly.
“Bartimir, do you happen to know what it is?”
“I have a rough guess. I checked the research records from the Mage Tower. I always wanted to come here and suffer to my heart’s content at least once.”
“So… what do you think the hidden clear condition is?”
Bartimir briefly fell into thought, seemingly organizing her ideas, then answered.
“I think it’s probably breaking the record for the fastest clear.”
“Breaking the record? That does make sense….”
Pendrick stroked Astrimia’s hilt, which was lodged in the artifact sheath [Hall of Swords], and continued,
“The reason Lord Fist King built [Tower of Trials] was to raise the average level of strength in the Northern Continent, right? If someone appeared who reached the tenth floor in the shortest amount of time, he would have been extremely pleased.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
The sinister-looking demon pointed straight at the top of the tower.
“So we’re going to break through it faster than the current best record of sixteen days!”
“…Won’t that be too hard?”
Even as she said it, Marlin had already sensed it would carry little meaning.
After all, there was no way telling someone like Kar that something would be hard would ever work.
“Of course it’ll be absurdly exhausting.”
Just as expected.
Bartimir bared her teeth and smiled.
“That’s why it’s good! All right, let’s go!”
“……”
Marlin obediently followed behind the demon acting as temporary squad leader, clutching her tail in both hands.
…Still, this is reassuring. Because she’s like an older-sister version of Kar.
The same disposition as Kar.
And similarly abundant labyrinth knowledge.
Bartimir would never let the team members die.
That was the conclusion Marlin had reached from everything they had experienced so far.
But she could not stop a faint uneasiness from raising its head.
Just how hard is this going to be…?
That curiosity was answered not long afterward.
“Waaah!”
On the first floor of [Tower of Trials], Marlin, who had taken on the role of luring away the giant pig monster that had appeared as the enemy all by herself, realized it firsthand.
“Marlin! Run while crying even more pitifully! That way the monster will mistake you for safe prey and stop paying attention to us!”
“Waaahhh!!”
Even if the era had changed, demons were still demons.