Labyrinth City Labyrinth
In the end, it seemed Lumine had no intention of returning to the Lord Alliance's main family.
She was talented enough that she could snag the position of chief mage anywhere she pleased, and even if she did go back, there was no way she could work alongside the people who had abandoned her.
In that regard, she was a lot like me.
I had been "promoted" to commander of a rear-line unit myself—and I'd walked away from it without a second thought, hadn't I?
But unlike me, she didn't look particularly relieved about it.
If anything, a heavy, gloomy cloud still seemed to hang thick inside her chest.
Lumine sat on the bed, staring out the window of the rattling carriage.
I couldn't tell whether she was deep in thought or simply thinking of nothing at all.
She definitely wasn't feeling free and clear, though.
In my case, I'd at least left behind a resignation letter packed with every curse I could think of.
"Lumine."
"Yes, Lady Esilly?"
"Time for some water."
I sat in the chair beside her bed and held out a cup.
After collapsing from dehydration and being left alone for so long, she needed fluids often.
Honestly, an IV drip would have been ideal… but good luck finding one in the middle of a desert.
So I was making do with water and soup, making sure she stayed hydrated.
I'd even added a pinch of salt, for whatever that was worth.
"Thank you."
At first Lumine had been painfully apologetic, but once she realized there was no point in fighting it, she simply drank the water I offered in one long gulp.
No matter how much she tried to refuse, it was useless against someone who had already poured water straight into her mouth before.
I was going to get fluids into her one way or another!
…I was starting to suspect I actually enjoyed taking care of people.
"There's something I didn't get to ask earlier. Would it be all right if I asked now?"
I tilted my head at her. She set the cup on the side table and nodded.
Apparently her earlier offer—that I could ask her anything—still stood.
"You said you have nowhere to go. What do you plan to do from now on?"
"From now on… well. I left all my belongings behind, so I suppose I'll have to start from scratch as an adventurer."
Adventurer work, huh.
I'd been planning to do the same thing myself. This might actually work out perfectly.
Doing it alone would be boring, right?
So forming a party with Lumine and conquering the labyrinths of Labyrinth City together didn't sound half bad.
"You, Lady Enge, and Erna are heading to Labyrinth City, aren't you?"
While I was thinking that, she turned the question back on me.
I nodded and took a refreshing swig of my own water.
"Ahhh…! That's good…! I heard Labyrinth City has all kinds of delicious food, so that's why we're going."
"Delicious food…? Now that you mention it, the meals there weren't bad…"
"You've been to Labyrinth City before, Lumine?"
"I was stationed there on assignment once. That was already five years ago, though…"
Even for a half-elf, five years at a young age was a long stretch.
She nodded, saying she couldn't remember the details clearly, but she did recall there being a lot of tasty things.
Mm. Time to make the offer, then.
She had stayed in Labyrinth City before, after all.
"Then how about staying in Labyrinth City with me for a while and doing some adventurer work together?"
"I… is that really all right? With someone like me… someone who's already been abandoned by her comrades once…"
Oh?
My heart had been pounding, half-expecting a rejection.
I figured someone who'd already been betrayed and hurt would turn me down for sure!
But she didn't refuse.
"Of course! It's nice when people of the same race stick together, right?"
"The same race… Yes. You did treat me as one of your own, Lady Esilly."
"Don't worry too much about the whole 'half-elf' thing."
If one of your parents is an elf, you inherit the full genetic traits of an elf.
You pick up some human traits too, so your ears might be a little shorter—but plenty of pure elves have short ears anyway.
So there's no real way to tell them apart under normal circumstances.
The only people who knew Lumine was a half-elf were probably other elves.
I'd never seen a half-elf before, so I hadn't known either.
But even looking at her now, I still couldn't spot a single difference between a pure elf and a half-elf.
How on earth were people supposed to tell them apart?
Hmm… I really couldn't see it no matter how hard I looked~
"L-Lady Esilly…"
I'd been scanning her from head to toe for a while, and Lumine's face flushed with embarrassment.
Apparently I'd been staring too hard.
"Ah, sorry. I was staring too much, wasn't I?"
"Th-that's… when you look at me like that, it's a little embarrassing…"
"I was just wondering what the difference between an elf and a half-elf is supposed to be. I honestly can't tell at all."
"From what I've heard… an elf's mana is pure, while a half-elf's mana is mixed with impurities and dirty…"
What kind of nonsense was that?
Lumine's mana wasn't just clean—it was on the level of distilled water that had gone through chemical purification, with almost no microorganisms left.
If that counted as dirty, then what the hell was clean mana supposed to look like?
Even my own mana wasn't that pure.
Labyrinth City turned out to be nothing like what I'd imagined.
I'd expected it to be on the surface, but it was underground. And since it was underground, I'd assumed it would be damp—but it wasn't damp at all.
Instead, air-conditioning magic tools were installed all over the city, keeping the temperature cool year-round.
And more than anything…
"It's completely underground, but it's not dark at all!"
Calling it Labyrinth City almost felt wrong. Underground Labyrinth City would have been more accurate.
"Amazing, right?"
While I stood there with my mouth hanging open in awe, Erna grabbed my hand.
We were about to part ways soon, so she was clinging to me even tighter than usual.
Not that "parting ways" meant much when we'd still be in the same city.
If either of us got lonely, we could just go find the other.
"I never imagined a city this big could exist underground…"
"I felt the same way the first time I saw it as a kid."
Erna still counted as a kid in my book.
There were only five years between us, and yet I couldn't help thinking of her that way.
With that thought, I pressed an ice cream into her hand and ruffled her hair.
If I didn't give her a thorough head-pat now, who knew when I'd get another chance?
"You really do love petting people, don't you, Lady Esilly?"
Lumine, now fully recovered, climbed down from the carriage with a wry smile.
Unfortunately she was wearing a hat, so I couldn't pet her hair… oh well. I'd just have to aim for next time.
"I'll pet your head later, Lumine."
"Y-you really don't have to…"
"She's embarrassed~ Right?"
"I know, right~ I've seen how much Lumine-unnie loves getting her head patted~"
"I-I do not!"
We had become completely comfortable with one another by now.
I was casual enough with Lumine to drop the formal speech, and Erna was comfortable enough to tease her mercilessly.
Women really did become friends at lightning speed.
"Everyone. If we don't head into the immigration office soon, we might not get inside today."
While we were laughing and chatting, Enge spoke up with a gentle smile.
Come to think of it, she had mentioned something about that before we arrived.
"Enge, is this city pretty strict about that sort of thing?"
"That's standard procedure on the West Continent."
"Ohh… so that's why the public safety is so good."
Even before entering the city, guards had been patrolling, which had struck me as odd.
On top of that, every single one of them was equipped with solid, high-quality gear.
Back in the kingdom, even the capital didn't have immigration checkpoints.
Anyone could come and go as they pleased.
Which was exactly why the capital knights had been run ragged.
Looking back on it now, that place had been a garbage organization that underpaid us and worked us to the bone.
Following Enge, we soon reached the immigration office of Labyrinth City Labyrinth.
The moment I stepped inside and looked around, a thought popped into my head…
"This looks just like airport immigration."
Ten clerks sat at desks, and people went up one by one to be processed.
Basically they asked why you were here and checked your adventurer guild card or other ID.
"Airport? What's that?"
"Nothing. But there's nobody here—can we just walk up?"
"It's not that they don't have a ticket system like a port, but when there aren't many people, you can just go ahead."
"Really? Then…"
I was going first.
I pulled my adventurer card from my Inventory ahead of time and sat down in front of one of the clerks.
She looked exhausted.
Even though there barely seemed to be any people around.
"Welcome to Labyrinth City Labyrinth. I am Airi of the Immigration Bureau, and I'll be handling your entry screening."
"Hello."
For someone who looked so tired, she still managed a proper welcome.
They always said people in service jobs never forgot to smile in front of customers, no matter how rough they felt.
I handed over the entry form I'd prepared earlier.
The clerk studied it carefully, then nodded once.
"You are requesting indefinite stay, is that correct?"
"I haven't decided how long I'll be staying."
"I see. Adventurers and explorers generally enter under indefinite stay, so that won't be a problem."
Got it…
I'd wondered if I'd only get ninety days without a visa, but just going for indefinite stay had been the right call.
"However, you will need to present either an adventurer guild card or an explorer guild card. Do you have one?"
"Right here."
Of course I was ready to show my adventurer guild card.
On the West Continent you needed ID for everything from inns to carriage rentals, so I handed it over without a second thought.
"Adventurer guild card confirmed. Race: elf. Name: Esilly von Yggdrasil… is… that… Yggdrasil… Esilly… elf…"
She had taken the card casually enough at first—then suddenly started reading the contents over and over again.
Come to think of it, the same thing had happened when I went to rent a carriage before.
"Um, is there some kind of error?"
"Th-that… Lady Esilly… are you the Esilly from the Central Continent kingdom…?"
"Huh? Y-yes… that's me…"
"Y-you're really that Esilly?! No, of course you are! There's no way a madman crazy enough to impersonate her exists in this world!"
The clerk shook her head vigorously and held the card out to me with both hands—extremely politely.
Since when had I become this famous?
I could understand it on the Central Continent, but I never expected this kind of treatment on the West Continent too.
"Thanks to Lady Esilly ending the war with the Empire so quickly, our Labyrinth City was able to remain standing! We are truly grateful!"
"Uh… what?"
"You probably don't realize it yourself, Lady Esilly! But please remember that because of you, the three hundred thousand lives living in Labyrinth City are still here today!"
Then she bowed deeply.
Offering me her most sincere thanks.
Could it be… that Labyrinth City had also taken a heavy hit on the trade side because of the Central Continent war?
If that was the case, it made sense.
"Mmm… I thought this place had nothing to do with me at all."
"As expected of Lady Esilly."
I scratched my head at Enge's praise.
Getting complimented for something I didn't even know about was pure awkwardness.
"Not only among elves, but among the demonkin as well, Lady Esilly's achievements are praised as great."
"Though it seems Unnie is the only one who doesn't know that."
…Huh? Why were the elves praising me?
Why the hell were they singing my praises?!
"Well… because you ended the war so quickly, Lady Esilly, the plans to burn or flood the elven villages were cancelled."
…I give up.
What on earth did ending the war early with Inferno have to do with cancelling plans to burn or flood elven villages?