Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Rivals in the Labyrinth
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Aiel and Mayches were watching the inside through the magic stone installed in the party hall.
The thing that had been the party hall door until moments ago was now smoothly reflecting Mayches's friends individually and the entire interior, like a divided mirror.
Near the entrance inside, there was a desk with drawers and five chairs.
A small music box was attached to the desk.
At the starting line of the maze stood a full-body statue holding an urn upside down.
From inside the urn, leaves poured out neatly like streams of water, carved with exquisite skill.
Bamper opened the drawer of the desk.
Out came a single sheet of paper and a pen.
Daluh asked Yan, who was peering into the statue.
"Anything there? Besides your sharp criticism."
"Then nothing."
Bamper handed the paper to Jayhan, asking if he saw anything.
Jayhan lightly shook his head and wound the music box key a couple of times.
Melody echoes
The music box sound wasn't coming from the device. It rang high near the ceiling.
The music box melody spread throughout the entire maze.
It was a relatively peaceful start.
However, both Mayches and I knew that peace wouldn't last long.
Sure enough, Calipan, who had been gauging his friends' reactions, quietly positioned himself at the maze entrance like a ghost.
"Here it comes."
I straightened my posture and clenched my fists tight.
Mayches popped a bite-sized snack into my mouth.
Crunch crunch crunch. I chewed the snack while keeping my eyes glued to the screen.
Seizing the moment when his friends' attention was fixed on the desk and statue, Calipan shouted leisurely.
"Brothers, I'm heading out first!"
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Then he began charging forward, smashing through every wall in his path with refreshing force! He seemed like someone who only knew one direction: straight ahead!
"Hey! You think Mayches and his sister set up this maze for you to brute-force it? It's about pooling your wisdom!"
Beside him, Daluh set down the pen he had been examining and spoke as if he'd been waiting for this.
"Yeah, I figured it'd turn out like this anyway."
Meanwhile, Calipan, who had barreled ahead without hesitation, smashed through to the final wall.
When a bare, empty wall was revealed, Calipan made a crestfallen face.
"Ah, not this one."
Having charged off in completely the wrong direction, he apparently didn't consider his approach mistaken and started pounding other walls. The madman...
However, Calipan never reached the exit.
[-]
The instant the music box melody from the ceiling ended, Calipan's body whooshed back to the entrance.
"...Brothers, you all holding up okay?"
Calipan greeted his friends with a perfectly nonchalant face.
"Thanks to you, nothing happened."
It was then that Yan sneered at Calipan.
The shattered maze walls began to regenerate.
As a penalty for failure, it had grown slightly more complex than before, though they didn't seem to notice yet.
Rumble rumble rumble—
With the heavy sound of the maze regenerating in the background, Mayches's friends' eyes began sharply sizing each other up.
Calipan's tossed pebble had set the lake rippling.
Melody resumes
Seizing the moment, Bamper dashed into the maze first. He seemed intent on reaching the exit with spirit guidance.
But he soon halted abruptly and turned back to his friends.
Yan fiddled with the cufflink dangling from his sleeve cuff and flashed a smirk.
His sleek black cufflink gleamed faintly.
"Oh, whoops, my bad. Sorry, Bamper."
Bamper shrugged and pulled a small brooch from his pocket.
"Oh, figuring you might 'accidentally' trigger a spirit-blocker, I brought a spirit stone. With this, I can tap spirit power once even through a magic seal."
Rubbing the brooch with a grin, Bamper suddenly scowled and retreated swiftly.
True to his crown prince training, his reflexes were too quick for my eyes to track—but they couldn't outpace the Jedkaizer heir.
"Brother, I've got a sudden interest in that spirit stone. Mind lending it for thirty minutes?"
Bamper smiled helplessly at the brooch now missing from his hand.
"Sure thing. I brought extras, figuring you'd take an interest right about now."
This was no first-time clash!
I knew you'd pull something like that!
I knew you knew I'd react this way!
I knew you knew I knew you'd pull something like that!
It felt like peering into an endless loop of mutual foresight!
While keeping each other in check, Mayches's friends occasionally tested the maze, and amid it all, the music box rang and paused relentlessly.
"Daluh, what're you doing? Why just stand there?"
"Ah, don't break my focus. I'm deep in holy prayer."
"Calipan. My spirit must really like you."
"Yeah, keeps grabbing on and won't let go. But Yan bro, what was that you just tossed skyward? Not trying to scout the maze from above, right?"
"Nah, just—"
"Haha, figured as much, so I sent a spirit to snag it."
"Damn."
Challenges without mercy and ghostly team-kills repeated, turning the game smoothly into chaos.
You lunatics... why turn it into a 1v1v1v1v1 free-for-all?
The maze, proliferating like a hydra regrowing heads, had twisted into nightmarish complexity on the full view.
The leaves now spilling from the statue's urn were as lush as a Christmas tree, yet no one spared them a glance.
Exactly.
This game's "standard solution" was to track those leaves' direction and follow at every fork.
A few failures would clue them into the statue's changes, leading them to the answer handily—it was just a warm-up puzzle. But blowing time like this...
This is trouble... Their never having done an escape room was my small comfort, but now it was pure frustration.
I yelled frantically into the voice-amplification magic device linked inside—the pseudo-mic.
"Everyone...! Everyone, stay calm...!"
But my plea scattered futilely as Mayches's friends geared up for another round of tireless challenges.
Then Mayches tilted his head my way—precisely toward the mic—and drawled leisurely.
"Fifteen minutes left. And it's a team game, so solo clears don't advance to the next stage."
Yes! That's my Mayches!
I chimed in right behind him, venting my spleen.
"Right! Don't turn it into a forced solo showdown!"
The friends inside—including Daluh, who had secretly proposed an alliance to Jayhan—all looked up at the ceiling.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
While the game raged on.
Inside Rudelriz mansion, near the waiting area by the party hall, the wallpaper twitched.
"......"
Informant Kay (alias) gazed down at his diligently compiled new intel list.
[Reason future pillars of Illeneias gathered: To play...?]
[Count Rudelriz installed disposable giant maze forest indoors. Reason: To play...?] [Jedkaizer spares no effort with his body—no other reason.] [Orelot employs spirits—no other reason.] [Friedelric brought multiple small artifacts—no other reason.]
[Dea used a minor amount of holy power—no other reason.]
Tears welled up. Despite faithfully recording only the facts, Kay felt mortified.
Spouting this anywhere would earn him cries of delusion.
He swallowed his tears, agonizing over whether to report it to the guildmaster as is.
Mayches was growing a tad irritated from ignoring the wriggling wallpaper multiple times.
Mayches recalled that moment he'd crossed paths with the man.
The very day Aiel had visited Repitelips Academy for a tour.
Chasing an unmissable lead, but with the trail stretching longer than anticipated and impatience mounting, Mayches had encountered him in a capital outskirts alley.
Panting like one in hot pursuit, it was Baltan Catric executive Andiga Friedelric.
"......"
"......"
Mayches remembered Andiga's startled face.
In the end, that presence's trail vanished once more, and Andiga—who likely shared his suspicions—had turned away after promising contact soon.
What arrived was this bungling informant, stealth skills and all.
Through the sloppy spy, Baltan Catric's message rang clear.
This probe posed no threat—and rejecting even such a harmless informant meant refusing cooperation.
Mayches had cast a tracking spell on the informant's notepad, monitoring the script.
If any extraneous leaks threatened, he'd counter.
[Is it really okay to waste your powers like this? Especially you, Saint—you were bedridden making blessing water just recently! I prayed fervently for your swift recovery every temple visit!]
[Heard you all gathered and thought some continental crisis hit! Crisis my foot!] [Wait a sec?]
[Pretending it's a game... but actually secret training for some looming continental threat?!]
Mayches was speechless.
Mayches sighed, tracing the unwanted personal musings further.
Mayches glanced at Aiel.