Chapter 70: C-Rank Labyrinth — Sanctuary of Restful Purification (3)
Chapter 70: C-Rank Labyrinth — Sanctuary of Restful Purification (3)
“You certainly have unusual tastes….”
Lucius muttered with a calm expression.
“Would an elf who worships Evil Gods ever be normal?”
“Thank you for saying the words I couldn’t bring myself to say.”
After finishing some work and taking a brief rest, Lucius continued speaking quietly.
“But do you really think it’s necessary to work this hard for phantoms of a labyrinth who don’t even exist in reality?”
It was quite a radical question.
A sharp doubt that could shake the very foundation of this labyrinth.
“Is this question meant as a character test?”
“Sir Kar has already proven the correctness of his character several times. This is merely personal curiosity.”
Ding.
The clear sound of the bell brushed past my head.
As I quietly felt the harmful energy to cultists flowing down from the crown of my head, Lucius spoke again.
“The longer explorers remain active, the less they treat labyrinth phantoms as actual ‘people.’ If you repeatedly enter the same labyrinth for rewards, you encounter phantoms that endlessly repeat the same dialogue and behavior.”
A being must be able to think and act according to its own will to be considered intelligent.
Those sealed within a labyrinth were closer to golems repeating predetermined patterns.
Soulless puppets mechanically pursuing the thoughts and dreams their originals once held.
“As a labyrinth management priest, I’ve observed many explorers.”
Shaking the bell in his hand, Lucius gave a bitter smile.
“In my experience, explorers begin treating labyrinth phantoms carelessly after about three years.”
The first stage was neglect and contempt.
At least they still regarded them as people.
“By the fifth year, they begin killing or tormenting them whenever necessary. And after ten years, they treat them not as equal people, but merely as ‘convenient exploration tools.’”
Bait to reveal monster locations.
Means of disarming traps.
Expendable meat shields.
Labyrinth phantoms were treated terribly by explorers.
“Priest, will I eventually become like that too?”
“I hope not.”
The priest’s dark eyes stared into empty space.
“In any case, no matter how diligently we care for these patients, the truth is it holds little meaning. Even if their health improves because of us, everything returns to the original state when the labyrinth resets.”
“That’s true.”
“And the rewards here are terrible. In a way, we’re suffering meaninglessly.”
That wasn’t wrong.
But the world was filled with matters that couldn’t be judged solely by right and wrong.
“Meaningless suffering without reward. That’s correct. Because this is service. Rational people who carefully calculate gains and losses could never perform such pointless activity.”
“So you’re saying you’re not a rational person?”
“More precisely, I do not wish to be that kind of person.”
I was not easily swayed by emotions.
Or perhaps my inner world was so barren that I hardly perceived them.
Which was why I deliberately adhered to choices that could only be made emotionally.
Otherwise the foundation of the one existence that should be most certain in the world—myself—would constantly waver.
“Oh, it looks like the patients are getting a little better—…Ah! Suddenly twenty of them are in pain at once! Emergency!”
The demon expedition member shouted enthusiastically.
“Sir Bartimir, I’ll assist you! Sir Pendrick, come quickly!”
I rushed around treating patients showing signs of large-scale infection or life-threatening deterioration.
Only after running everywhere did the ward finally quiet down.
“…Are you sure you don’t want to switch roles?”
When I returned and collapsed onto the floor, Lucius carefully suggested replacing me.
I refused immediately.
“I absolutely will not.”
I couldn’t let someone else take this task that filled my heart with vitality.
“I’m dying!”
Bartimir trudged over and lay down with his head on my thigh.
“Sleep now, little one.”
When I gently patted his shoulder, the demon’s eyes immediately closed.
“He must be tired.”
“No, it’s a symptom of the mystic Sudden Nightmare.”
A curse-like mystic learned from the sinister grimoire obtained in the Library of Sin.
Whenever he slept, all fatigue vanished—but he developed narcolepsy and was forced to experience nightmares.
Lucius laughed awkwardly.
“…If he has a curse, why not heal it? A high-ranking priest even offered to treat him personally.”
“Sir Bartimir loves disasters of the body and mind.”
“…….”
Perhaps because I summarized things too bluntly, the polite priest looked as though he had swallowed an insect.
“Uuugh….”
Lucius watched the demon suffering from nightmares before speaking again.
“You are both very strange. You and this demon.”
“Is that so?”
“But perhaps that is why, even ten years later, you will still treat labyrinth phantoms as ‘people.’ That’s just the feeling I get.”
It was remarkably perceptive.
“Of course.”
Labyrinth phantoms were intelligent beings.
NPCs were people just like us.
An opinion clearly close to irrational thinking.
And precisely because it was irrational, I would willingly hold that belief.
Wasn’t that what an emotional judgment was?
“Sir Bartimir.”
After wiping the sweat from his forehead, I woke him.
The calamity-collector black mage slowly stood up, looking miserable.
“…I want to get rid of this mystic.”
“Didn’t I warn you? Endure it. Removing it would be complicated.”
“Ugh….”
“Let’s get back to work.”
We returned to nursing duties.
“Sir Kar, patient 23!”
“I’m on my way!”
It was truly busy.
Not even a full day had passed, yet there was barely any time to rest.
I was already exhausted.
…I’m alive.
At least at this moment, I was further from death than anyone.
Disasters rarely seen in the real world had gathered here.
Despite exhaustion, Bartimir’s eyes still shone.
“Oh! This disease replaces your eyes, nose, and mouth with new ones every day. Isn’t that interesting?”
“No. Eventually the brain gets replaced too.”
“Then what about that dwarf curse? It just turns your body red.”
“That curse transforms the host’s blood into their body and the host into blood.”
Even the demon who initially acted like he was shopping gradually became discouraged.
“There’s nothing worth accepting into my body….”
“Of course not. If these disasters were harmless, the patients wouldn’t come to this temple.”
“Oh, right.”
“Wait a little. When we have time, I’ll choose something suitable for you.”
Even when dawn arrived, we could not rest.
We took turns sleeping briefly while continuing to care for the patients.
《At last, one day has passed!》
《Time remaining until strategy condition completion — 4 days.》
Day two of the exploration.
Finally the strategy counter decreased.
But the volunteers were already completely exhausted.
“…I’m tired.”
Lucius laughed weakly while sitting on the floor holding his bell.
“My entire body already feels heavy, and we still have four more days like this.”
“I feel like dying.”
Even though my Stamina stat had increased, fatigue had accumulated too quickly to dissipate easily.
It was truly a labyrinth classified as C-Rank purely because of the labor involved.
《So even you can feel the concept of ‘exhaustion.’》
“This is why service is avoided even within our church.”
Lucius forced down some bread for breakfast and brushed back his messy hair.
“You must struggle to the limit for five days in a ward filled with deadly dangers. Even strong faith cannot easily endure it. Four brothers and sisters I knew personally died here.”
“That’s unfortunate. It truly is a difficult labyrinth.”
Our entire team remained alive thanks to my constant movement, but normally at least one person died here.
“It’s this exhausting, yet the reward is only a blessing lasting one week. Do you still enjoy the nursing work?”
Leaning against the wall, I nodded slightly.
Lucius finally seemed to accept my feelings and nodded silently.
“If Sir Kar enjoys it, then I’m glad as well. The happiness of the unfortunate is the joy of us believers of the Harmony Church.”
Had I really been such a miserable cultist that even a Harmony Church priest pitied me?
Thinking about it, the cultist Kar was indeed an orphan abandoned by both sides.
His past began with his family selling their half-elf child to the cult of Evil Gods.
I fell into brief thought before speaking quietly.
“I don’t think my life is pitiful enough to deserve sympathy.”
Adversity had become so familiar that little could shake me anymore.
By that standard, perhaps my life had been rather stable.
Compared to those crushed by endless misfortune and driven to ruin their own lives, I was fortunate.
“……”
The sleepy-looking priest didn’t reply.
He simply stared at me.
It was a gaze so heavy it felt as though my body might melt just from meeting it.
“Let’s return to work.”
Groans began rising from the ward again, so we resumed our duties.
“Sir Kar! Patient 330!”
“Understood!”
A curse that endlessly produced small clawed creatures from the eye sockets.
A poison so adorable it would seize the host’s body if left untreated.
A disease that dissolved every internal organ.
The tricks of black mages and cultists at their peak caused chaos everywhere.
Nursing that felt like forced labor, where one mistake endangered everyone.
《Two days of pointless suffering!》
《Time remaining until strategy condition completion — 3 days.》
Second day of nursing service.
Pendrick nearly collapsed from overexertion.
If Lucius hadn’t used healing mysticism in time, our genius swordsman would be lying in a hospital bed.
“I should’ve rested more before coming in!”
— …Stay strong, Pendrick!
《You’ve worked very hard.》
《Time remaining until strategy condition completion — 2 days.》
Day three of service.
Our movements were slowing down, so Valentin himself joined the endless nursing work.
He was running around so intensely that his face had turned pale.
“Are you alright, Holy Knight?”
“…No problem. Compared to the sins and corruption disturbing the world, mere overwork is a trivial opponent.”
He was gasping for breath and limping slightly, which made his claim less convincing.
I wiped sweat from my forehead while drying Sky Invader.
We’re approaching the limit.
Mentally, this felt even more exhausting than the forced march through the C-Rank Nightmare World.
At least there I could relieve stress by killing random priests and black mages.
Here the stress only accumulated.
Still, I could endure.
At least I could still walk normally.
“Ugh….”
Bartimir stumbled and nearly fell.
I quickly caught him.
But since I weighed less, we both collapsed together.
“…Sorry.”
“Let’s get up.”
Supporting the demon who was practically leaning against me, I helped him stand.
Bartimir clung to me for a moment before asking.
“The five days of nursing is just the normal strategy condition, right? The rewards you mentioned earlier must be the Hidden Piece.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then how do we obtain the Hidden Piece? Do we just keep nursing like this?”
It was about time he asked.
While I was considering how to answer, Valentin approached.
He had apparently overheard us.
“Sister Bartimir, the Hidden Piece of the Sanctuary of Restful Purification has not yet been discovered. Even after seven years since its appearance, no one has figured it out. Even after mobilizing all the wisdom bestowed by Arteine.”
“Hmm. Did you search the entire temple? Or outside?”
“We thoroughly investigated the entire labyrinth boundary. But we found nothing.”
The bright-toothed holy knight finished speaking and glanced toward me.
His eyes carried innocent hope and anticipation.
Perhaps it was a star’s duty not to disappoint a fan.
“Yes. I know.”
“…As expected.”
Valentin raised his eyebrows and placed his clenched fist on his chest.
“Would you be willing to tell us?”
“Of course I will tell you. However….”
I looked around the ward.
The sudden symptoms still occurred everywhere, but overall the patients were stable.
Which meant—
She would arrive soon.
“For now, let’s focus on nursing. There are patients waiting for our care.”