The Second Labyrinth
Several more days had passed since that unexpected incident. The chick who had launched her confession attack(?) on me kept her distance whenever she saw me, forcing me to watch my step around her, but it hadn't meaningfully altered my daily routine. The whole affair with Sister Melody had been firmly stamped out as nothing more than a passing episode, leaving me free to prepare for the second labyrinth expedition with a much lighter heart.
“Safe travels, junior. Don’t worry about the temple. We’ll keep everything in order while you’re gone.”
“Please take care of yourself. You are not alone, junior.”
Chillan and Ando both tried to ease my mind, assuring me they would manage the temple properly in my absence. Are they really doing this for me, or are they just happy to have their positions back? Either way, I was simply grateful to have reliable people I could leave the temple with. As long as I continued treating them with respect and calling them seniors, they wouldn’t stir up unnecessary trouble. Besides, the unexpectedly positive reputation I had discovered by chance explained why they were so favorably disposed toward me.
Why had I never bothered to check how people saw me before? It was because my reputation hadn’t mattered when running the temple. The Holy Empire had ordered me here directly; public opinion was irrelevant. Still, learning that my standing was far better than I had imagined wasn’t a bad thing. It was actually rather gratifying to know my fellow priests held me in high regard. Of course, I wasn’t about to let the praise go to my head.
With fewer people, I had to prepare even more thoroughly. During the last expedition, I had constantly found myself thinking, Ah, I should have brought that. Last time we had simply lacked the knowledge of what to pack. This time, with so few porters available, we had to cut our luggage to the absolute essentials.
I had also commissioned several custom items specifically for this expedition. Once everything was packed and the seniors were briefed, I left the temple without looking back. The chicks had insisted on seeing me off, which led to a heartwarming scene of me having to soothe them for quite a while in front of the temple.
“Oh! Welcome, Father.”
Upon arriving at the meeting point, Baron Moyil greeted me. Since the last time we had met was during the drinking session, that night naturally came to mind.
“Did you make it back safely last time? I was so drunk I don’t even remember when you left.”
“…Yes, we returned safely. Sister Melody helped me.”
“Ah, she didn’t drink that night, did she?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“She performed her guard duties properly, then. Haha!”
While I chatted with the baron, the rest of the party gradually arrived. Everyone greeted one another lightly, perhaps because of the fond memories from that drunken night.
As expected, once they’re sober, they’re not nearly as friendly. Being nobles, it was already impressive that they bothered to acknowledge a commoner first. The dinner Princess Reciel had arranged that day hadn’t been meaningless after all. And the biggest beneficiary of that dinner was probably me.
“Father! You’ve been well?”
“Oh~ Father, have you been exercising? You look much fitter.”
“Father! We’re counting on you again for this expedition.”
Nobles and commoners alike approached me without hesitation to exchange greetings and well-wishes. I accepted them all without turning anyone away. And, as always, the protagonist appeared last.
“Everyone’s here.”
Princess Reciel arrived last at the meeting point.
“Have you arrived, Your Highness?”
“Is everything ready?”
“Perfectly.”
Satisfied with the confident report, the princess smiled and addressed the group.
“We’re heading in immediately. Get ready to move.”
It was a command that jolted everyone out of their relaxed state. Since this was our second expedition, anticipation outweighed tension.
We made quite a bit of money last time. Why else would people risk their lives in such a dangerous place? The labyrinth paid far better than anything else. Even after wasting several days recruiting new members, we had still earned a substantial sum. If we had managed to sell the items from the Evil God Altar, we would have been sitting on a fortune.
That’s exactly why it’s so dangerous. The Holy Empire clearly wasn’t sitting idle either. I doubted they had only sent Melody, an inquisitor, into the labyrinth. For all we knew, others might be slaughtering heretics in places we couldn’t see. In fact, I was fairly certain that was exactly what was happening. The Empire had always dealt with heretics decisively.
The silence makes it feel even more dangerous.
While I was lost in thought, we had already reached the labyrinth entrance. A long line had formed in front of it.
“What’s this?”
Curious, I asked the person beside me.
“You didn’t know? They’re making everyone sign a register before entering now.”
“A register? Why?”
The labyrinth saw hundreds of people coming and going every day. Without computers, keeping records would just waste paper and manpower.
“They’re conducting a survival rate survey.”
“Ah, survival rates.”
“Apparently there have been so many missing persons that they need to figure out exactly how many are dying.”
“That does seem worth investigating. Right now anyone can enter, after all.”
“Yes. I suspect they’ll eventually impose minimum requirements for entry.”
Everyone seemed to agree that some basic qualifications should be required. The people around us who had overheard our conversation nodded in agreement. Even Baron Moyil joined in.
“It’s a good sign that the higher-ups are finally taking action. They’ve been doing nothing for so long it was infuriating to watch. Now that some structure is being established, I’m hopeful.”
“The fact that the labyrinth is a neutral zone makes coordination difficult.”
Reaching a consensus must have been no easy task. Every nation had its own ambitions regarding the labyrinth, and that inevitably led to political friction. Still, I thought the change was for the better.
“Better late than never.”
“As expected of a priest, you’re quite positive. Most people are complaining about how troublesome the new rules are.”
Even though the policy was meant to protect everyone’s safety, plenty of people were grumbling about having to wait in line. I understood that people often complained about anything the government did, but expressing outright anger over a measure designed to help them was unreasonable.
“Everyone, this way please.”
“Excuse me? We’re still in line.”
We had been waiting to register as well, but the leader soon called us over. Like people who had bought express passes at an amusement park, we were ushered straight to the front.
“Ah.”
So it really was an express pass.
“You may enter.”
Despite the line of people waiting behind us, we were allowed to skip ahead and enter the labyrinth. It was obviously because our party included royalty. When I glanced back, I saw someone in line glaring at us with a thoroughly disgusted expression.
Can’t blame them for being annoyed. Even in a class-based society, such blatant favoritism was bound to irritate people.
Today, the Sun God’s grace seemed to be shining particularly fervently on everyone. In other words, it was disgustingly hot. The weather here was completely unpredictable. It could turn cold without warning, then suddenly become sweltering, or shift from hot to cold enough to require a coat. In my previous life, I could at least blame pollution for the erratic climate. Here, ever since the labyrinth’s seal had been broken, the weather had gone mad.
“Whew, it’s much cooler once you’re inside.”
“Cool? You call this cool? Brr, it’s freezing!”
Shocked by the bone-chilling cold, everyone scrambled to put on their equipment. They had dressed lightly outside because of the heat, only to be caught off guard by the sudden drop in temperature.
“Hah~ Here we are again.”
They say watching a movie for the second time feels different from the first. The same was true of the labyrinth. The view this time was noticeably different from our first visit.
“So there was something over there.”
“There’s a path here too?”
Once fully equipped, we began moving. Our guide led the way with practiced ease. Since we had already traveled this route once before, following the map posed no problems. However, there were several differences from last time. We spotted traces that looked like they had been left by other people, and areas we hadn’t been able to see before were now visible.
“There’s a side path here? Wow, how did we miss this?”
“It’s probably already been looted. Look, there are signs of previous visitors.”
“Ah, what a shame.”
We occasionally came across hidden rooms. Unfortunately, many of the spaces we hadn’t discovered last time had already been picked clean. If we had found them on our first expedition, things might have been different. Back then there hadn’t been nearly as many traces of other explorers, so some of these places might still have been untouched. Setting aside our regrets, we pressed onward.
Then, the new guide we had hired spoke up.
“I purchased a separate map. According to this, we should take this route instead of the one we planned. It’s a shortcut. What would you like to do?”
He showed us his own map rather than the one we had prepared.