A Promising Clue (2)
By now, the appointment ceremony must be over and the party in full swing.
“Yes. I’m sure it went well.”
It wasn’t just anyone’s event—it was my master’s cardinal appointment ceremony. I would have liked to attend if I could, but another urgent matter had made it impossible. Besides, Master himself hadn’t wanted me there. He knew exactly what kind of position it would become. The fact that he’d said he would reach out again once he settled in suggested he wouldn’t be returning here anytime soon.
Cardinal Bella had left to attend my master’s appointment ceremony. That had been the reason she stayed here in the first place, so it was only natural.
“By the way, ever since Cardinal Bella left, the atmosphere around here feels a little subdued, doesn’t it?”
“The aftereffects seem quite severe.”
It made sense. An idol who could light up any room simply by existing had departed. Those who had taken a particular liking to her appeared to be suffering from a sudden case of lovesickness. This world had no proper outlet for idol fandom, so unless they actively sought her out, most of them would never see her again in their lifetimes.
“It really is unfortunate.”
I glanced at Priest Chillan, reflecting on how even fandom required the right environment to flourish. My gaze also drifted to Priest Ando, who sat a short distance away, staring blankly into space.
I can understand why Priest Chillan is like this—he even confessed to her—but I never expected Priest Ando to be affected too.
It seemed she had stolen quite a few hearts during her stay. Strangely enough, she had been just as popular with the women. Aside from very special cases, there was almost no one who disliked her. She hadn’t earned the title of former Saintess for nothing.
“Aren’t you disappointed, Priest Arthur?”
“?”
Disappointed? “It might sound heartless if she heard me say it, but unfortunately I’m not disappointed at all.”
The division commander’s visit had thrown everything into chaos, and the fact that she refused to leave had left me utterly exhausted. It had been troublesome enough that she hadn’t simply inspected the unit and departed, but instead lingered on. Her departure was honestly a relief. Of course, she was only the division commander to me; to the other priests, it probably felt like an idol had come to perform for the troops, so they were a bit saddened by her leaving. It seemed I was the only one who had truly suffered.
“You actually look rather pleased about it.”
“When a superior suddenly drops by, it’s bound to be exhausting.”
Even though Cardinal Bella had no reason to bear any ill will toward our clinic, her mere presence had been a burden. “The clinic was in constant uproar for a while, but now we can finally return to normal.”
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of that peace was short-lived.
“The date for entering the labyrinth has been decided!!”
The excitement in Reciel’s voice came from the news about our next labyrinth schedule.
The Holy Empire had kept its promise to support Reciel. And they hadn’t done so half-heartedly—they had thrown their full weight behind her. They had fulfilled every single request we made without exception.
“So everything is finally ready?”
“I’m sorry for making you wait so long. I pushed as hard as I could, but this was the best we could manage.”
“Simply being able to enter again is more than enough. Rushing in without proper preparation would only create a disaster, so this is actually better.”
“That won’t happen. We’ve prepared with everything we have, and there are no gaps.”
Of course. So far, Reciel had never disappointed me in matters like these.
“What about the team composition?”
I had been especially worried about whether her close friends—whom she’d had difficulty contacting because of their family situations—had managed to join safely.
“They’ve all agreed to participate.”
“Really? That’s wonderful news.”
If her friends had been unable to join, the entire schedule would have been thrown into chaos.
“This was also largely thanks to the Holy Empire’s influence. They formally requested cooperation from the families.”
“They went that far?”
I had expected them to offer only passive support for the sake of appearances, but it seemed they were taking Reciel’s situation more seriously than I thought. Ironically, Reciel herself had been focused solely on saving Canaby.
“Once the Holy Empire stepped forward, the families that had been blocking all contact suddenly changed their tune. They haven’t fully committed to supporting me yet, but it seems they’ve decided to wait and observe the situation.”
What they were waiting to see was undoubtedly the succession struggle between Prince Loras and Reciel. On the surface, Prince Loras held an overwhelming advantage. But he wasn’t without weaknesses. The biggest one was that he had clumsily provoked the Holy Empire and earned their enmity. That would become a major obstacle to claiming the throne. Given the empire’s dependence on the Holy Empire’s support, many would view poor relations with them unfavorably.
“Has Prince Loras been behaving himself in the Deltrack Empire?”
I hadn’t heard any news about Prince Loras—the one who had cut off my master’s arm and fled—for some time. Still, Reciel would know more about his movements than I did, so I asked while the subject was fresh.
“It seems he’s staying quietly hidden inside his own palace and hasn’t come out. That’s for the best. I was worried he might keep causing trouble.”
“The injuries he sustained in the fight must have taken time to heal.”
Once he recovered, he would undoubtedly begin scheming again. But now that my master had become a cardinal, he wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on him recklessly.
In that sense, it seems accepting the cardinal position was the right decision.
It would certainly be far safer than when he had operated as a bishop. We had opposed him taking the position, but in truth, a cardinal held such tremendous authority that opposing it would have been madness.
“The prince will never remain idle. We must cure her illness, wake her as quickly as possible, and settle this with Prince Loras once and for all.”
Since a demon had taken root inside her, whatever he was doing would surely involve sacrificing countless lives. There was nothing to gain by giving him more time, so we had to resolve Canaby’s curse without delay.
“Speaking of which, I have good news.”
Reciel shared welcome information, saying it concerned Canaby.
“Quite a few items have arrived. They’re all curse-dispelling artifacts discovered in the labyrinth. Don’t you think they might work on my sister?”
The mention of curse-dispelling items instantly sharpened my focus. If they could truly break the curse, this would become incredibly simple.
“For now, I plan to gather as many of these items as possible until my sister awakens.”
Those items were essentially insurance. Since there was now a reliable method to lift the curse, they seemed to want to keep the uncertain options as backup rather than risk using them blindly.
“There’s also the chance they might do something unexpected, so I was hesitant to use them right away.”
The ‘special medicine’ that only the imperial family of the Deltrack Empire could use had created a window of time for her to endure the curse in a near-death state. If a dispelling effect accidentally undid that protection, the situation could become far more complicated.
“Is this an unnecessarily excessive concern?”
“It’s best to be cautious whenever there’s even the slightest possibility. It’s not entirely out of the question.”
“You’re right. We must act with care. This is my sister’s life we’re talking about. Ah! And I intend to keep purchasing more of the items.”
“Understood.”
“There’s even more good news.”
It seemed the princess’s bright expression after our long absence wasn’t just from one reason. I was surprised that being able to enter the labyrinth wasn’t the end of her good mood. After so many consecutive misfortunes, it felt like good news was arriving one after another to make up for it all.
“What is it?”
“The changed labyrinth terrain this time does not contain the monster we were searching for.”
“Ah! That really is excellent news.”
The labyrinth’s layout shifted every three months, and the exact mechanism behind those changes remained an unsolved mystery. If we had been unlucky, the monster we feared might have appeared in this cycle—the one we couldn’t enter. Fortunately, the new terrain didn’t seem to be one where that particular monster would spawn.
“From what I’ve gathered, most groups failed to complete a proper subjugation.”
“Why is that?”
Because of the flood of patients arriving from across the country, it had become impossible to tell who had come from inside the labyrinth versus those who had traveled from elsewhere seeking treatment.
“The terrain was supposedly horrific. It was so hot that entry was nearly impossible. They could endure the beginning of the entrance, but deeper inside the equipment would melt and fuse to their skin.”
Cold could be managed by layering clothes. But extreme heat?
“When you say hot…”
“It was an area with flowing lava.”
“Ah!”
So that explained all the burn patients. It seemed I really had been living in a daze lately. When I saw the burn victims, I had simply assumed there were more fires than usual. I never imagined the wounds had come from the labyrinth. It was something I could have learned easily by asking the patients…
But when you’re rushing from one patient to the next, who has the mental energy to ask about their personal circumstances?
To handle the endless stream of patients arriving from every corner of the nation, I had to treat them without a moment’s rest—and that was exactly how I had been managing.
“Eventually they declared it unconquerable. Thanks to that, people only cleared the early sections around the clock until the monsters were wiped out, after which it devolved into nothing but fights between humans. It’s a good thing we didn’t get involved. It would have been exhausting.”
Up to this point, everything was genuinely good news for us. While we had been forced to sit still, it seemed everyone else had been equally helpless. We weren’t exactly competing with the other labyrinth explorers, but one could never be too sure. There was always the possibility that someone else might claim what we needed.
“Then I suppose everyone is simply waiting for the day the labyrinth terrain changes.”
“They must have been quite frustrated after being unable to enter for so long. Once the terrain shifts, people will come flooding in.”
The bloodshot eyes of the mercenaries who had wasted their efforts and the subjugation teams from various nations waiting eagerly wasn’t exactly good news for us. I didn’t know how the next terrain would change, but it seemed we would need to steel ourselves for what was coming.