The Unheard Whisper
Someone was whispering directly into my ear. The words were too faint to catch, so I poured every ounce of my concentration into listening.
The voice remained frustratingly indistinct. Part of me wanted to complain and ask them to speak louder, but I pushed the irritation aside and took a slow, calming breath. So what is it You wish to tell me?
Tap!
“Huk!”
The shock was so intense my vision flashed white. It felt like an enormous sound had gone off right beside me. The moment I jolted awake, my hand flew up to clutch my forehead without thinking.
“Ow, my forehead.”
It felt as if someone had struck me with tremendous force. Like receiving a knuckle rap for breaking a rule.
Seems a little swollen, too?
I pressed on the spot and breathed deeply. Looking around, nothing appeared out of place despite my sudden commotion. It had only been a restless dream. The pain in my forehead was probably because I had…
bumped into something in my sleep.
Whatever I had hit, the bruise was already turning a vivid purple. I decided to take care of it before anyone else saw. I channeled divine power into the area to ease the ache… Huh?
“Why isn’t it healing?”
The cool refreshment had definitely spread through my head, yet the pain in my forehead refused to fade.
Could this be divine punishment?
The fact that divine power had no effect could only mean one thing: this was intentional on His part. Had He truly sent down punishment because of my wicked thoughts? I scrambled to my feet and hurried toward where Sister Melody was resting.
“Sister Melody, are you asleep?”
Since she always kept her eyes open whenever I was awake, this was nearly the first time I had asked her that. The answer came from behind me.
“Is something wrong?”
When I turned, I saw her hair was still damp—she must have just washed.
“Ah, good. You’re already awake.”
“Yes. Why did you call for me?”
“Well… I was hoping you could look at my forehead.”
“Your forehead? It is slightly red. Did you strike it somewhere?”
“Ah, so it really is red. I woke up and it was hurting.”
“There is no bruise.”
“Thank you for checking.”
It was only red and swollen, with no special pattern or mark. The punishment didn’t seem too severe. Still, it wasn’t something to boast about, so I went inside, knelt, and prepared to pray.
Was He offended by what I said yesterday?
If that was the reason for this rebuke, I was ready to accept it humbly. But something told me that wasn’t it.
No matter how I look at it, this feels like He got frustrated that I couldn’t understand His words and simply smacked me.
Failing to hear His voice was proof that my training was still lacking. Every time He had spoken to me in dreams before, I had received a vast amount of knowledge. This time, however, I couldn’t make out a single word, and as a result my mind remained empty of any new insight.
How am I supposed to train now?
I had grown tremendously since entering the labyrinth. Lately I had been brimming with confidence in my suddenly improved abilities. At this level, I could proudly declare myself a chief healer anywhere. Yet this incident made me realize that no matter how strong I had become, I was still nothing more than a frog in a well.
To grow further, the only path is to fight many monsters and heal the injured.
I resolved to follow His command to keep rolling forward. I had no idea what information He had tried to give me in the dream, but the missed opportunity made me want to scream with regret. None of the knowledge He had ever bestowed was useless. It had always proven necessary someday, and the more I thought about it, the tighter my fists clenched.
If more people kept pouring in, the Ice Castle would soon descend into chaos. The place was vast; if everyone showed proper consideration, problems might be avoided. But—
There’s no way that will happen.
People never handled things so harmoniously. Especially not in a space where rewards were limited and the first to conquer claimed them.
“The moment we enter, our top priority is searching for map fragments. We will avoid conflict with other teams whenever possible, but if they pick a fight, we will respond without mercy.”
““Yes!!””
The leader was sharing the post-entry plan with the rest of the team. We listened closely, shedding our tension as we did.
“Hold your positions. We are moving in.”
In truth, there was no need to be nervous on the first floor. Prince Loras’s team had already swept through the entire level and advanced to the second. Instead of heading straight up, we searched carefully for any hidden spaces we might have missed.
“There don’t appear to be any monsters, but stay alert. Split into pairs and search thoroughly.”
“Yes~!”
The team scattered across the first floor. Whether it was Loras’s subjugation force or the earlier party, someone had left behind sloppy traces of a hasty search.
“Looks like they barely searched at all before rushing upstairs.”
“They must have been impatient. They were probably dying to know how much the people ahead of them had taken.”
Moreover, the monster corpses left behind showed that the valuable byproducts hadn’t been harvested properly either.
“They probably assumed there was a huge jackpot upstairs and left the profitable stuff behind in their hurry.”
“It stings our pride, but do we really have to clean this up?”
“The order is to leave it. Let the other teams draw the same wrong conclusion.”
“Ah! Haha, that’s clever.”
We left the carcasses untouched and focused on our search. The interior of the Ice Castle was far more beautiful than its exterior suggested. Unfortunately, being a monster habitat meant it was covered in filth, and battle scars had shattered ice in countless places. Even so, none of it could truly diminish the castle’s splendor.
If only I had a camera.
Had this not been a labyrinth, the place would have become an unparalleled tourist attraction. It was almost absurd how much more sacred and beautiful it looked than most cathedrals. Several nobles seemed deeply moved by its aesthetics; they gazed at the Ice Castle as if admiring a work of art.
“If it were possible, I’d want to carry the entire castle out with me.”
“Same. I’ll burn the image into my memory and build a villa like this someday.”
“How do you maintain something made of ice?”
“We’d have to compromise. Maybe use white brick instead.”
“That wouldn’t capture this feeling at all.”
When ordinary people see art, we simply say it’s beautiful and move on. Nobles, however, seem to feel the urge to possess it. After thoroughly searching the first floor, we managed to obtain one more map fragment.
“This looks like… the third-floor map.”
“Excellent. Simply acquiring more fragments is already a significant gain.”
“We’ll keep collecting them.”
“Remember that other teams may have obtained fragments as well.”
“Shall we head up to the second floor now?”
“Yes, let’s.”
There were multiple routes from the first floor to the second. The groups that had entered before us probably hadn’t noticed them. We ourselves had initially mistaken one for a secret passage and felt excited—only to be disappointed when it simply led to the next floor. But the disappointment lasted only a moment.
“The fact that the path we discovered still has uncleared monsters suggests Prince Loras’s subjugation force isn’t progressing as smoothly as they hoped.”
Learning that the prince had yet to finish conquering the second floor dramatically lifted the entire party’s mood.
“They’re big in number but completely hollow inside, huh?”
“Or perhaps their oversized group actually works against them in a place like this.”
Inside the castle, the corridors occasionally narrowed. There were also quite a few rooms. In such confined spaces, having many people became meaningless when fighting monsters. After all, you couldn’t cram twenty men into a single room that already contained monsters. Of course, with so many personnel they could attempt simultaneous clears, so they were indeed faster than most. Even so—
“The fact they still haven’t cleared the second floor means their individual skill is lacking.”
That was only possible when the team’s overall ability supported them. But what if the skill gap was severe and only a handful were truly capable fighters?
“That seems like a plausible guess.”
“It might not be a guess. It might be the truth.”
Putting armor on a farmer who had been tilling fields just days ago and handing him a sword didn’t magically turn him into a proper soldier.
“So are we going to the second floor to hunt monsters?”
“We will clear a few rooms after ascending, but that won’t be our main focus. Our true objective is to perfectly assemble the map.”
The situation had changed, yet Princess Reciel showed no intention of altering her goal. She had learned that each room produced a reward chest similar to clearing a game, so they would test a few rooms to confirm the contents. However, she made it clear that room-clearing would not become their primary activity.
“If map fragments appear in the reward chests, we will of course concentrate on clearing rooms. Until then, do not let yourselves be distracted. Focus on our original purpose.”
“Yes, Your Highness. We will keep it in mind.”
Since gathering map fragments was our objective, concentrating on that was our duty. It was wise of her to remind the team once more. Some members had begun to lose sight of the goal, seduced by the greedy thought that they might not be too late after all. Once Princess Reciel set them straight, everyone seemed to cast aside their greed and regain their composure. After ascending to the second floor, we encountered a far greater variety of monsters than the bats we had faced before.