Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Farewell, Encounter (2)
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The sun wasn't low in the sky yet. A glance at Diana's watch showed it was just noon.
"We're planning to meet up with the client first to collect our pay, then grab a drink tomorrow evening. What about you? Now that you've got a blessing, heading to the temple?"
'The temple...'
The mention of the temple brought Seriph Adeline's face to mind.
The woman with the suspiciously over-the-top vibrating cross necklace.
The all-white cat beastkin priestess who had been strangely kind to me, gazing at me with pity.
– Please head into the labyrinth.
– Gain experience there, make companions, and grow stronger. No matter what dangers come your way, endure them steadfastly.
– That's my personal request.
She had offered to appraise my blessing herself for free as one form of thanks for fulfilling her personal request, but...
'Too much hassle.'
The status window was a superior version of the temple's appraisal.
As long as I had the status window, there was no reason to drag myself all the way to the distant temple district unless some special miracle was involved.
'I only went to the temple the first time to check the question mark blessing, and the second time to confirm Kakchi's curse.'
I'd been blocked at the entrance due to lacking credentials back then, but anyway.
'Thinking long-term, it might be good to go...'
Priestesses were valuable connections.
Seriph was a high-ranking priestess even within the Wisdom God's church, and she'd been favorable toward me to boot.
Building that relationship steadily wasn't a bad idea.
But it wasn't a reason to go right this instant.
Should I complain a bit? Honestly, I'm exhausted right now. I just want to lie flat on the ground and stretch out.
'Two weeks of travel was draining enough, and then two weeks in the labyrinth. Horrifying.'
I hadn't planned to stay that long in the first place. I meant to just skim the second floor and come back, but getting trapped on the fifth turned everything into a massive mess.
'Diana must be worried.'
The girl who'd said she was going to the second floor hadn't returned in nearly three weeks. A kind and gentle soul like Diana would surely be fretting.
'Gotta track down Kakchi and Jermi too.'
Parting ways ambiguously on the second floor had me a little concerned about them.
For now, I'd handle immediate matters, rest for a few days, then decide to visit Seriph.
"I'll hit the temple later. I need a break today too. Let's meet tomorrow evening for drinks."
"Kahaha! Sounds good!"
We set a casual appointment and parted ways with the Joey Hogg party. We agreed to settle the pay next time too.
I watched them walk off, then approached the guards near the labyrinth entrance.
"Ahem. Wh-what do you want?"
I asked the guard, who stiffened up after standing around bored.
"By any chance, did explorers named Densi and Jermi come out of the labyrinth last week or the week before?"
"Densi... Jermi... Ah, don't know any Densi, but I remember that Jermi girl."
As expected. Good call asking the guard.
No wonder they checked IDs every time at the entrance, wasting so much time. Their memory was sharp.
It had taken me two weeks to climb back from the fifth floor, so they probably—
"It was quite the commotion. That suicidal hopeful. A girl who'd just reached the second floor joined a fifteenth-floor expedition as a porter."
"Pardon?"
What the hell was that?
"Ah, you mean the goblin slayer Jermi?"
When I visited the Explorer's Union to inquire about my party members, I heard even more astonishing news.
"She applied as a porter for an expedition heading to Eden, the safe zone midpoint on the fifteenth floor. Her eyes were full of determination—quite impressive."
After I'd been teleported to the fifth floor, Jermi had left.
"Even for an expedition, the mid-layers are where only one in a thousand junior explorers survives. If she makes it back alive, it'll be at least half a year from now, right? Ah, you said your name is Balkan? Perfect timing—Jermi left a letter and some items for you."
"Ah... yes..."
I dazedly accepted the backpack and letter from the union staffer.
I carefully broke the seal and unfolded the paper.
[If you're reading this letter, it means Big Brother made it back safely from the fifth floor.]
That was how it began. I read the letter slowly.
The more I read, the more my head hurt, but I finished it all.
"Hah."
A hollow laugh escaped me at the end. Damn, my head suddenly burned hot.
To sum up the letter's contents:
After I fell into the fifth-floor transfer trap, the two of them pooled their strength, broke through the second floor, and safely exited the labyrinth.
But my sacrifice must have shocked them in various ways.
– Master is still alive. Alive. Master, I need the power to protect you...
'Densi muttered something like that and left somewhere.'
Jermi didn't seem to know much about Kakchi's whereabouts after that.
Left alone, Jermi did another labyrinth run with a different party and reached the second floor again.
Just as she was earning the moniker "Goblin Slayer" after three runs but struggling with growth—
– You. Be our porter.
She caught the eye of the mid-rank explorer Aman sisters and got the chance to join their expedition to the fifteenth-floor midpoint Eden as a supply porter.
'I'm sorry to leave this note so abruptly. Your unworthy little brother Jermi felt his many shortcomings on our journey together. I can't keep following in Big Brother's footsteps forever. I write this in hopes we meet again someday.'
And so Jermi had headed to the fifteenth floor. With the resolve not to hold me back,
'P.S. I'm entrusting you with something as dear to me as my own life.'
I stared at the backpack in a trance. Shit. No way this bastard—
"Kyaaah!"
As I pulled it out of the backpack, the staffer yelped and fell backward.
A natural reaction. Anyone would jump if a pale-skinned head with twintailed hair popped out of a bag.
I nearly dropped Anya's severed head in shock too. But I gripped it tight.
Dropping this would literally smash her skull.
'P.P.S. Sprinkle water on the crown once a month to keep it clean, it says. I'll return with good news. Your lacking little brother, Jermi.'
"Ah... seriously. That crazy bastard—"
My blood pressure spiked, and I clutched the back of my neck as I collapsed.
Labyrinth fifth floor. Hobgoblin village, third-level cave.
Densi smiled faintly as she gazed at the hobgoblins covered in axe marks.
'As expected of my master.'
She pulled out the map from her bosom and unfolded it.
This was the place. Where Master had spent the most time after falling to the fifth floor. Master had survived even on the fifth floor.
But his position no longer showed on the map like a minimap. That meant one of two things.
'Master is dead, or he's left the labyrinth.'
Densi looked at the slave contract she always carried, then hugged it tightly with a satisfied face. Her small chest swelled with emotion.
'The seal hasn't disappeared.'
The slave contract paper was specially processed: if the subject died, the contract voided, and the seal vanished.
But his seal remained. Proof that Balkan was still alive.
In other words, he'd survived, broken through the fifth floor, and exited the labyrinth.
"Haa..."
A sigh of relief escaped her. Thank goodness. Truly.
But meeting again wouldn't be easy. At least two months before any chance.
Mwah.
Densi unwittingly pressed her lips to his seal.
It felt just like kissing his hand. A soft smile curved her lips.
Densi immediately yanked her own collar tight around her neck.
Just imagining his rough grip made her solar plexus throb and pound.
"Stop that."
But a cold voice came from behind.
A woman with four arms, like a doll, stared at Densi.
"We have places to be. Lingering in a place like this won't make you grow further."
"Yeah, I know, ngh, but more than that, right now, ngh, this is more important... Ahh... Yes... Harder, harder... Master..."
But for Densi now, immediate comfort mattered more.
She had no time to waste burning with joy over her master's survival and escape from the labyrinth—this feeling needed release.
Densi spent a good while choking herself and pressing her solar plexus, savoring the moment.
"......"
Intert, the four-armed woman, silently watched Densi, then quietly covered her face with all four hands.
'[He] chose... this pervert...? Really...?'
Intert's orders from [Him] were simple: Raise Densi to senior explorer level.
At first, she'd thought it relatively easy compared to past missions.
Densi had talent. High potential. And above all—
– I want the power to protect my master. My one and only master. I'll never lose him again.
She had immense will and resolve. Those venomous eyes held the potential to reach great heights.
'This girl will definitely surpass me.'
In fact, when taught with focus, Densi absorbed it all in a flash and grew at an astonishing pace.
Even an hour ago, Intert hadn't wavered in that belief.
But now, she slightly reconsidered.
"Ngh, haek, haaek... Masteeer... Master..."
"...Haa."
This won't be easy.
"Densi... Densi... Hm. No Explorer's Union visit records in the last few weeks."
I couldn't find out Kakchi's whereabouts.
"Ah, that girl? Packed up and left two weeks ago. No idea where to, but her eyes were totally crazed. Muttering 'Master, Master' nonstop."
The innkeeper where Kakchi had stayed said the same.
"Hah..."
Drained, I wandered the darkening streets of Labyrinth City in a daze.
Emptiness. No other word for it.
The party had blown up again. One vanished, one off on an expedition where death was anytime possible.
'Am I cursed to lose a party every time I enter the damn labyrinth?'
How could nothing good ever happen?
It stung more because I'd thought this party might last a while.
Who could've guessed the two low-point buys I'd carefully selected would explode in one go?
Partings pave the way for meetings, they say—but this was so sudden, my mind went blank. Just a deep sigh.
Form another party with strangers? More pointless emotional drain and wariness? Shove my head into the labyrinth again?
'Yeah. Damn right.'
I had to head into the labyrinth anyway. This last run had only strengthened that resolve.
'Portal. Fifth floor. Feels like bullshit piling up especially on me.'
It didn't feel like coincidence anymore.
I shook my head vigorously to clear it.
But like a smell ingrained in a room, Kakchi and Jermi lingered in my mind. Forgetting them would take time.
"Haa..."
What's done is done. Better to look ahead positively than sigh.
Lively voices rose around me. Everyone eating, drinking, having fun—me moping alone down the street felt off.
When you're down, you need a mood boost.
I resolved to drown tonight in cool beer and start fresh tomorrow morning.
'Miss Diana.'
I wanted healing ASAP. Craved her warm soup.
But the Cozy Winter Night inn was dark and shuttered, unlike usual.
"Closed, huh. That curse acting up again?"
A strange all-black woman muttered that in front of the closed inn door.
Black hair in a high, voluminous ponytail, red eyes, expressionless face.
Pale brown skin gleaming faintly in the moonlight, and well-developed muscles that didn't ruin her femininity.
Bold leotard fashion leaving little to the imagination, black tail drooping under her cloak.
She gave off a black cat vibe.
Not familiar, but I'd seen her somewhere. When was it?
'Ah. While waiting in line to enter the labyrinth.'
The woman the guard had been so tense around. Same surname as Seriph—Adeline. That's why she stuck in my memory.
But with the cloak now, she looked even more familiar.
[■■■■■ ■■■ne Lv.7]
The status window gave the answer. The suspicious duo that occasionally visited Diana's tavern. Maskless, she looked quite different.
'The other was Zirnier, and this one...'
As that thought crossed my mind, the black-clad woman looked my way. Our red eyes met through my helmet visor.
And in that instant, the world seemed to freeze.
My vision blurred away in a flash. Darkness swallowed everything, leaving only faint outlines.
Instinctively, I drew my axe.
Zzt—zzt—
Cold sweat poured from my axe-gripping hand.
'What? What just almost got me?'
Instinct screamed it. No clue what she'd done, but I'd nearly died.
"Ah, sorry. You approached silently, so I thought you were an enemy."
She apologized flatly. My sudden tension made my head spin a bit.
Her face was almost a glare, but her demeanor was calm.
I'd tensed up, but she showed no hostility.
'Fair enough. No reason to attack out of nowhere.'
I recalled Diana chatting casually with her. That alone made her more trustworthy than the average street rat.
Cautiously, I sheathed my axe at my waist.
"No problem. Are you a guest? Or..."
"I wanted to be, but it seems closed today."
She nodded toward the inn.
A note on the door read "Closed for the next week."
Diana had never shut down operations before. Weird.
"By the way, you. Sharp instincts."
Her voice came from right beside me. Like a whisper in my ear.
No, it was.
Hot breath brushed my skin. She was really next to my ear.
In the blink of an eye I hadn't noticed, she'd closed several meters' distance.
"To sense my movement at that level. Great reaction speed too. No wonder Diana picked you up."
I turned with a creak, and moonlight-glinting red eyes filled my view.
"Diana's DPS."
She eyed me like tasty prey or a coveted prize.
"Want to train under me?"
"...Pardon?"
The sudden offer left me frozen. Not just the mystery of it.
'DPS... what?'
She's no easy mark.