Chapter 76
Chapter 76
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Ritual Bath
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The incident's starting point dated back two weeks.
To the moment when I encountered Nate Elrin, who had appeared at the fountain.
"What in the world... this horror..."
"Ugh... urp... bleeech..."
The temple investigators following Nate Elrin had retrieved the bodies of the paladins and priests massacred on the fifth floor.
They retched at the gruesome sight or squeezed their eyes shut.
These were the ones left on the fifth floor, so they were bound to be weaker than Nate Elrin's elite escorts, but even so, they weren't the sort who could die on the fifth floor.
"Can you explain what exactly happened here?"
Nate Elrin asked about the truth of the incident with a deeply serious expression.
We recounted everything we'd seen and experienced, telling the unvarnished truth.
The investigators who seemed possessed or brainwashed by something.
The mysterious black egg they were clutching.
The unfathomable abomination that hatched from the egg—a pitch-black entity that embodied dread itself.
Even Hitollis, Hope, and I, who went mad as if enthralled by the abomination, up to the paladins who stabbed us.
"I-it's true. My mind went blank in an instant..."
"I don't remember exactly... but I definitely wasn't myself. It was like I was possessed by another personality..."
Hitollis and Hope grimaced as if just recalling that moment was painful, adding their testimonies.
"How could such a thing..."
Nate Elrin's face hardened as if he'd heard something unbelievable.
"Brainwashing... black egg... ominous aura... Could it be..."
Then, as if struck by a realization, she stroked her chin.
"Do you have any idea what that black egg might be?"
"...No. Nothing certain. Anyway, you all did well."
Nate Elrin abruptly ended the conversation upon hearing my question.
She then scrutinize the injured party members and my own disheveled state.
Her gaze started from the top of my head, slowed slightly at the lower part of my helmet, and fixed completely on the belly area of my leather armor riddled with holes.
Nate Elrin, staring fixedly at my stomach, murmured quietly.
"...Indeed, it's infused with the paladins' divinity."
Watching her from behind, Jubel and Joey Hogg whispered quietly.
"That bitch is just straight-up staring at a guy's abs?"
"Jubel. Shut up for once. She's a temple paladin. No way she'd ogle a man's stomach. She's just verifying the truth."
"Tch. You think?"
"Yeah."
"Ahem."
Perhaps overhearing them, Nate Elrin cleared her throat loudly and addressed us.
"Though it was an unfathomable disaster, this incident arose from the temple's error. I, Paladin Nate Elrin, promise clear compensation for these damages."
Cases where you could claim compensation for losses in the Labyrinth were exceedingly rare.
Entering the Labyrinth meant accepting full responsibility for whatever might happen inside.
So everyone's faces brightened at Nate Elrin's firm assurance of compensation.
Even setting aside physical injuries, the material losses were immense.
Just for me, my most valuable gear—helmet and leather armor—were smashed, and the handle of Zirnier's axe was slightly damaged too.
The axe Ethelber had gifted me was snapped clean in half after going into the abomination's maw.
In truth, the only intact gear left was my greaves.
As Nate Elrin confirmed the party members' joyful expressions, her gaze turned to me.
"You... since you suffered direct harm from the paladins, the temple will compensate you separately."
"How exactly will you compensate me?"
"What do you want?"
"Hm..."
It was a bold question. As if she knew what I'd ask for.
"...No, that won't do. We'll provide appropriate compensation at our discretion."
"Understood."
Perhaps sensing something chilling from my expression, Nate Elrin quickly changed her words.
Well, some gold coins would suffice. Money was one of the biggest reasons explorers entered the Labyrinth, after all.
"The investigation is halted. Everyone, prepare to return to the surface."
"Yes?! But we haven't reached the twelfth floor yet..."
"We've gathered sufficient yields. The entire investigation team withdraws."
Nate Elrin ordered the investigators to retreat.
"Take us with you. Look at the state of our party."
"Fine. But drop the weird speech patterns."
"Yes, ma'am."
We joined their ranks too.
Our party, with gear and bodies battered everywhere, looked unreliable even for safely ascending from the fifth floor.
We looked less like explorers and more like street beggars, but blending in with the investigators, we made it back to the surface in five days unscathed.
"Urgh!"
"The light! The sunlight's too dazzling...!"
"It's warm..."
The Labyrinth city of Balerus had the sun high in the midday sky.
The party members rejoiced at the pouring sunlight.
Though our time in the Labyrinth was shorter than previous expeditions, its intensity had been overwhelming.
We'd essentially brushed death's door and returned.
After all that hardship, emerging from the dark, musty Labyrinth into natural light felt incredibly refreshing and warm.
Zing—
"Wha...!"
"...!"
At the same time, a strange sensation washed over our bodies. Joey Hogg, Jubel, and I shuddered.
Hitollis and Hope trembled too.
We instinctively knew the cause of this sudden quiver.
"N-no way!"
"Ahh, yes... this sensation...!"
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded.
??? Blessing. Blessing of Adversity. Radiant Blessing.
The total of three blessings had increased by one more.
"Compensation for damages and the promised contribution points will be paid within a week. Hope, Hitollis, Balkan—follow us."
Nate Elrin singled me out.
"You're going to the temple's purification chamber. Especially you, Balkan, since you were even swallowed by it— we need to cleanse any lingering malevolent energies."
I nodded; it was a reasonable explanation.
My body felt fine, but there could be something I hadn't noticed.
"Guess we'll part ways here then. We've gotta hand these guys over to the guard post and get some rest."
"Wonder if it's a blessing or curse, dying to know... but I'm too beat. Need booze and milk first..."
Joey Hogg and Jubel patted Gregor’s porter bag.
The heads of the bowed Gurumimi and Rayhem bobbed around.
"Gellun..."
"Ttru-dudu-bba-bba!!"
"Tteu-ppa-yi...!"
Gellun Party's mage Fusilini blankly stared at the idiotized Gellun, with Baby Aldente perched on her head.
In truth, Gellun Party had suffered even greater losses than Joey Hogg's.
For a party on the cusp of mid-tier explorer status to crumble like that.
The Labyrinth truly let no one predict even a step ahead.
We set a date for settling accounts with Joey Hogg's party and saw them off.
"Get better soon, Balkan!"
"Rest up, everyone."
Jubel waved while carrying the still-unconscious Lamel on her back. Joey Hogg walked off with them.
Despite the rough end, this Labyrinth run had wrapped up decently.
And I'd even gained a fairly satisfying new blessing, which soothed the lingering bitterness considerably.
'Now, after purification at the temple's chamber... Diana and...'
I recalled the vow I'd made before entering the Labyrinth.
Not sure if it'd be a token of trust, but the promise to face Diana and have a frank talk.
Imagining drinking with Diana, sharing all sorts of conversations—a smile naturally crept onto my lips.
Rest after the blood-soaked Labyrinth grind sounded delightful even in fantasy.
"......"
The surroundings grew oddly quiet. Snapping to, I looked around.
Nate Elrin and the paladins and priests stared at me blankly.
Gulp.
One of the paladins audibly swallowed. A wistful breath came from somewhere.
Unconsciously, my hand rose to my helmet.
The helmet's lower guard was slightly cracked, exposing my mouth and left cheek a bit.
I felt the soft curve of my smiling lips and skin.
Gulp.
The paladins swallowed again.
Were they a confirmed spinster squad that gulped at the mere sight of a man? Who knew.
"Grrr! Tteu-tta! Kaak!"
The idiotized Gellun snarled at me with hostility.
Why was this bastard still causing trouble even in that state?
I promptly ignored him and asked Nate Elrin, leader of the lifelong spinster squad.
"What? Any problem?"
"...Ahem. No. Nothing. Long road ahead. Let's head to the temple quickly. Everyone, prepare."
"Yes, ma'am! All hands, prep for return!"
"U-um... I really need the bathroom now..."
I followed Nate Elrin, shaking her head awkwardly, and the paladins gulping excited breaths, toward the temple.
"Something's off, Seriph."
Nate Elrin knelt on one knee before Seriph Adelrine, reporting the rough results of the Labyrinth investigation.
Seriph's face was expressionless upon hearing the report.
No trace of her usual fabricated smile—just a rigid stiffness.
"The harbinger after ten years brought more fallout than expected. To think that seal had broken..."
"Yes. Circumstantially, other floors too..."
"...We'll need to circulate fountain teleport scrolls more actively. The Labyrinth might close soon."
Seriph calmly analyzed the report, then mustered a natural smile toward Nate Elrin.
"You did well. Nate Elrin. Go rest now."
"......"
Even with the dismissal, Nate Elrin hesitated to move.
There was still one unreported matter.
Balkan.
The fact that the man had suffered major injury this Labyrinth run.
And that she'd brought him to the temple for compensation and purification.
'Should I really say it?'
Seriph viewed Balkan differently from others.
Her forcibly muted expression gained color before him, becoming even more beautiful.
Nate Elrin didn't want to see Seriph—who was consistently warm and kind to all—treat one man specially.
'......Sigh.'
After brief hesitation, Nate Elrin reported even Balkan's ordeal.
"...What did you just say?"
As expected, white cat tail and ears sprouted sharply.
"N-not someone else, but the t-temple's... temple's sword... stabbed him?!"
"...Yes."
Balkan's leather armor bore marks of divine-infused blades. Clear evidence of paladin attack.
Hearing that, Seriph's face paled.
The sharply raised cat tail drooped limply, as if deflated.
"How... how could you make such a mistake, Nate Elrin!"
Her scolding followed.
Like a frightened cat yowling.
A side of Seriph never seen before, who always smiled mechanically past any error.
Nate Elrin, lifelong Seriph's guard knight, was deeply shocked by this human side she'd never witnessed.
"Wh-what do I do... what now... I-I have to apologize right away..."
As Seriph anxiously bit her nails, Nate Elrin continued the next report.
"...That man is in the purification chamber now. Brought him just in case, but..."
"P-purification chamber?! He's there now? Right now?!"
"N-no, we just have him waiting outside."
The purification chamber was a sort of bathroom.
For major rituals like true ceremonies or before/after Labyrinth entry.
A place to cleanse body and soul with holy water through ritual bathing.
Someone of Seriph's rank naturally had a private one.
Gulp.
Seriph suddenly hit on a brilliant idea and swallowed hard.
"...In that case. This is truly... unavoidable."
She murmured in a tiny voice.
'...Yes. This is really, truly unavoidable.'
The temple's sword had turned on him.
How painful, how agonizing it must have been.
Therefore.
To apologize and compensate, this was the most effective way.
'The devoted service of a high priestess that even nobles line up to beg a glimpse of.'
This should convey her sincerity.
This was truly, absolutely not a command laced with personal desire.
"R-right now, bring Balkan-sama... to my private purification chamber."
"S-Seriph!"
Nate Elrin's eyes widened at the words. But Seriph's resolve was firm.
Gulp.
Seriph swallowed the saliva trickling down her throat, struggled to control her uncontrollably swishing tail, and shouted.
"Q-quickly!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Nate Elrin bolted from the audience chamber.
Bzzz—
"Eek...!"
Seriph flinched as the necklace at her chest vibrated.
Now accustomed to its intense buzz, she quickly stifled her aroused moan.
Her flushed body burned hot.
But it didn't matter.
She'd be stripping soon anyway.
Twitch. Twitch.
Her white cat ears quivered with anticipation.