The First Labyrinth Expedition (3)
The reactions around me were all the same. It seemed my obvious discomfort had caught them off guard.
“Perhaps it’s something only I can sense because I’m a priest.”
The labyrinth was undoubtedly wearing a clever mask. If ordinary people could feel that malice, they would never have tried to enter in the first place. I hadn’t understood what the items coming out of the labyrinth truly meant, but now it was clear.
‘It was all bait.’
A lure designed to keep drawing people back into the labyrinth! The moment I realized it, my heart sank. Hadn’t I, too, been lured in by that very bait? The feeling of being prey caught in a spider’s web refused to leave me.
“Are you all right, Father?”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Are you feeling unwell?”
The leader was studying my complexion, so I quickly assured him I was fine.
“No, I’m all right. I can keep moving.”
“Should we take a short break?”
“Really, I’m fine.”
The malice I had felt upon first entering the labyrinth gradually faded over time until it was almost imperceptible. The goosebumps that had prickled across my skin slowly subsided as my body returned to normal.
While I was pulling myself together, the guide was busy searching for the path through the labyrinth. A guide was an absolute necessity if you wanted to avoid getting lost—one of the essential members of any party entering the labyrinth.
“We’re moving out. Everyone, watch your footing carefully. Form up in marching order.”
At the leader’s command, the party moved with practiced efficiency. I stood there with a bewildered expression beside Princess Reciel until someone guided me to my position.
“Father, please follow from this spot.”
“Understood.”
My place was at the center of the formation. It looked like the ideal position to be protected by the surrounding party members should a monster suddenly appear.
“We don’t know when monsters might show up, so stay on maximum alert at all times. Be especially careful of attacks from the ground.”
The ground? The ground covered in pure white snow. Hearing that monsters could burst out from beneath it left me stunned. But apparently I was the only one—everyone else reacted with calm indifference.
‘Do they all have a lot of experience with this sort of thing?’
Setting my questions aside, we began moving together.
Walking through snow required several times more effort than walking on flat ground. I was endlessly grateful for the tools attached to my boots that kept me from sinking in.
‘Looks like quite a few people have passed through here.’
Even though the labyrinth’s layout had changed recently, numerous footprints were visible. It was because people consumed by greed didn’t hesitate to enter despite the altered environment.
‘More people have gone in than I thought. Deeper inside. What happens if we run into another party in there?’
In this lawless zone, I doubted strangers would greet each other with smiles and easy conversation.
Crunch. Crunch.
I walked along, listening to the sound of snow being crushed beneath my feet like music, when suddenly—
“Huh?”
“Is this… snow?”
Snow began to fall from the sky without warning.
“Snow falls here? But there’s no sky?”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one confused by the situation. The party buzzed with murmurs as everyone stopped walking and stared upward in disbelief.
The labyrinth entrance was on the surface. What you saw immediately after entering was a downward slope. You kept descending along that slope until the true maze appeared before you. That was why snow falling in this completely enclosed place with no sky made absolutely no sense.
‘No matter how strange the labyrinth is, this is too absurd.’
Common sense simply didn’t apply here. Who created the laws of this world? The gods. And the labyrinth casually ignored those divine laws.
‘Blasphemous. How utterly blasphemous.’
I couldn’t understand how such a place that openly denied the gods could exist.
“Everyone, get a hold of yourselves and keep walking. We still have a long way to go.”
At the guide’s shout, the party snapped out of their daze. The snow wasn’t falling gently—it was accompanied by fierce winds, which would only make the journey ahead even more difficult. The guide’s urging to move quickly was entirely justified.
We focused once more on walking.
“Huff… huff…”
My breathing grew increasingly ragged. My legs ached and my face stung from the cold, forcing involuntary sighs from my lips.
‘What was I thinking, chasing after wealth and glory?’
Entering the labyrinth had clearly been a mistake. There had been many reasons I needed to come, but enduring this hardship made me suddenly see things clearly. Power and ambition were all well and good, but wasn’t living comfortably the most important thing?
‘Even after preparing this thoroughly, it’s still this hard…’
The only reason I could endure at all was thanks to the expensive coat that cost as much as a lump of gold. If I had tried to face this cold with nothing but my bare skin, I would have been a burden to the party from the very start.
As I grumbled internally about this self-inflicted suffering, my eyes caught on one person in particular. She was wearing an unusually thin coat.
‘How is she holding up like that? Won’t she get frostbite?’
Even I, who had prepared so thoroughly, was barely enduring the cold. I couldn’t help worrying about the condition of the others wearing coats far thinner than mine. In fact, some were already pulling extra coats from their bags and layering up.
But the one person who kept drawing my gaze was the woman stubbornly enduring in nothing but that thin coat.
“Excuse me, sister?”
“What?”
I had told myself not to meddle, but in the end I couldn’t ignore it and spoke to her. The woman who had looked at me with clear displeasure when we first met seemed determined to keep her word—she was enduring the cold with only that single thin coat. Logically, it made no sense.
“If you don’t have a proper coat, I can lend you mine.”
“…I don’t remember asking to borrow a coat, Father?”
“You just look cold. Forcing yourself like this isn’t good. What if you get frostbite?”
Frostbite was not something to take lightly. If neglected too long and treatment was delayed, the affected area might have to be amputated.
“Are you… actually worried about me right now?”
“You really shouldn’t underestimate frostbite.”
“…It’s a bit awkward having someone else worry about me. I’m not used to it.”
The person standing beside the woman—who clearly had no intention of layering up—joined the conversation.
“She’s always been prickly. What’s so cute about her that you’d go out of your way to worry?”
“Shut up and go away. Ahem. Anyway, I’m fine, so leave me be. If you really don’t believe me, why don’t you hold my hand? Once you do, you’ll understand why I said I’m okay.”
She pulled off her glove and held out her bare hand. Wondering where she got such confidence, I removed my own glove and took her hand.
“!!”
“Warm, right?”
Her hand, full of warmth and marked with firm calluses, gently melted the chill that had settled into my body.
“Yes. It really is warm.”
“It’s because I was born with the blood of a fire spirit. My cold resistance is exceptional.”
“Just holding your hand is making my whole body warm up.”
It shouldn’t have been possible to withstand this freezing weather simply by holding a bare hand. Yet astonishingly, the warmth radiating from her hand was heating my entire body.
I wanted to keep holding on, but I couldn’t, so I reluctantly released her hand. As I put my glove back on, she spoke in a teasing voice.
“Your hands are freezing. Want me to warm them up for you, Father?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“Just say the word if you need it.”
“What about me?”
“Why do you keep butting in?”
Thwack—!
“Ow!”
They must have been close, because the two women began playfully bickering and shoving each other.
How long had we been walking like that?
“We’ll take a short rest here.”
At the leader’s words, the party found spots and plopped down onto the ground. While everyone was relieving their accumulated fatigue, I called out in a voice loud enough for all to hear.
“I’ll be checking everyone’s condition! If anyone is feeling discomfort anywhere, please come over here.”
Since my stamina was terrible and I couldn’t go around checking on each person individually, I asked those in pain to come to me instead. Their physical endurance was far better than my pathetic—“
“Uh—me. I can’t feel my toes.”
“Take off your shoes. Oh dear, you’re wearing far too thin socks. Don’t you have any thicker ones?”
“Ugh, I completely forgot about paying attention to my socks.”
“I brought spare socks. Let me give you a pair.”
Socks might seem trivial, but in a situation where you had to walk for long periods, they held tremendous importance.
“Everything else looks fine. Put them on once your feet are completely dry.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
It wasn’t full frostbite yet, but the person had been right on the verge. After treatment, the condition cleared up cleanly.
“Wow, having a priest with us really is convenient. I would’ve had to suffer for days for frostbite to heal, but it got better instantly like this.”
“Thanks to Her Highness and the priest, we’re truly being pampered.”
Everyone who received my treatment showered me with praise. Yes, this was exactly the feeling I became a healer for. I had to work hard to keep the corners of my mouth from curling up into a grin.
“Now that you all understand how convenient it is, make sure you take good care of the priest.”
Princess Reciel also added a word on my behalf, matching my performance. The more praise for healers poured in from those around me, the higher my shoulders rose without limit.
After basking in a bit of glory, something suddenly occurred to me, so I decided to ask.
“By the way, when do the monsters appear?”
We were already suffering from the falling snow and bitter cold. Yet the biggest problem in the labyrinth—the monsters—were nowhere to be seen no matter how hard I looked.
“We’ve only been in the entrance area so far, which is why there haven’t been any monsters. They probably ran away from the noise we’re making. But from here on, you all need to be truly cautious. Monsters wouldn’t have retreated this far, so they’re definitely hiding somewhere nearby.”
I hadn’t realized because everything was covered in snow, but it seemed we had already traveled quite a distance. At the leader’s words, everyone nodded and checked their weapons.
I felt like I should do something too, but since priests didn’t carry weapons, there was only one thing I could do.
‘I guess I’ll pray.’