99. Labyrinth

"...The hell?"

I blinked and stared at the unexpected figure approaching us.

Round amber eyes. Deep golden hair.

A competitive grin with fangs peeking out.

Perked ears and a swaying tail.

And.

"Eliarnes!!!!!!!"

An exaggeratedly cheerful voice.

"Vice Dean?"

Leona Megenberta was walking toward us.

"...Why are you here?"

"Huh? Shouldn't I be asking that? Eliarnes and Stella. Why are you two here? You're supposed to be confined to campus."

Step, step—her light footsteps stopped in front of us. The lion Beastkin who stepped out of the shadows and stood beneath the pale lamplight was indeed Leona.

"Hmm? Don't tell me you came to rescue Pina?"

"...Did you come to rescue Pina too, Vice Dean?"

"Of course. The bastards who kidnapped Pina—tearing them apart and chewing them up wouldn't even satisfy me."

"Then, when you said you had business outside... that business was coming here?"

"Business outside?"

Leona tilted her head.

"Ah, so that's how Sedil explained it. Well, I suppose you could call it business outside. Originally I came here for something else, but it turned into rescuing Pina. Nyahaha."

"Hm..."

I'd been about to ask whether the Vice Dean also knew what lay at the end of this Labyrinth, but I closed my mouth.

I didn't know why, but I didn't want to ask.

"So, you two came to rescue Pina too?"

"That's... right."

"Hoh? So you really were friends! Nyaha!"

Leona laughed heartily, looked back and forth between me and Stella, then nodded with satisfaction.

"Good kids. Yes. Very, very good kids. But! You two should turn back now!"

"Uh, um... hm..."

At Leona's order to turn back, Stella hesitated for a moment. Then she sidled up to me and tugged at my collar—yank, yank.

"Why no answer, hmm?"

Seeing us like that, Leona tilted her head and smiled meaningfully.

"Don't tell me you're going to ignore the words of me, the Vice Dean of Karelai Academy? Keep this up and you'll really be in trouble."

"Uh, uhh... th-that, um..."

"We're not going back."

I cut off Stella and answered in her place.

Leona's eyes went wide at that answer.

"I won't be able to rest easy until I see Pina get out with my own eyes. And I—no, we won't get in the way just by following along."

We'd be a help, not a hindrance.

"We don't know the way back anyway. From what I can tell, this Labyrinth keeps changing its paths."

"Wh-what?! Really?! I didn't know that!"

"Don't sidle up to me. You smell like piss."

"No I don't! No! No no! I said no!!"

Stella, who'd been pale and stammering moments ago, turned red and screamed, "Gwaaah!"

"Eliarnes. Aren't you being a bit too brazen?"

"You're bringing that up now?"

"Nyahaha... I suppose so."

Leona gave a bitter smile. I looked her straight in the eye and asked.

"Do you know where Pina is?"

"The center of the Labyrinth."

"And the way there?"

"Of course I know it."

"Ooh..."

Stella was impressed, and Leona giggled.

"Can't be helped. Follow me for now. We don't have time to stand around chatting, right?"

With that, Leona took the lead.

"Eliarnes."

A moment later, Stella, who'd somehow ended up right behind me, tugged at my clothes and whispered.

"...I really didn't piss myself."

"Give me a pen. You brought one today too, right?"

"A pen...? I did bring one... I'll give it to you, so believe me when I say I didn't piss myself."

"Fine."

"...I really didn't, okay? Really?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

*****

We walked for a long while. During that time, strangely enough, no Monsters appeared.

The Monsters I meant were the kind with some fight in them, like Lizardmen. Naturally, Human-Faced Insects kept crawling out the whole time.

"Still, 4th Circle is plenty impressive! You should be proud of that!"

And Leona killed every one of those Human-Faced Insects.

"Heh, heheh... Right? Eliarnes, did you hear that? Even if it's the same number, a Circle is one step below a Tier, but! It can't be helped because the first Circle completes late in the first place!"

She and Stella got along so well that they chattered back and forth nonstop.

Leona's characteristic smooth-talking style and Stella's innocent head, which took it all at face value, were a perfect match.

"Yeah, pissy-pants."

"Yaaaaah! I said no!! We agreed not to call me that earlier! Why do you keep doing this?!"

"Nyahahahak! Why do you keep calling Stella pissy-pants, Eliarnes?"

"Because she's a pissy-pants."

"It's a biological phenomenon every person goes through."

"Of course it's a biological phenomenon every person goes through, but if one has any intelligence, one should choose the time and place—"

"Aaaaah! Aah! Aah! Aaah! Stop it! No! I said no! Stop talking nonsense!"

The hobo-clown-pissy-pants's hand shot out to cover my mouth, but I dodged it easily and poked her in the side with Mana—jab.

"Hngyak?!"

With an adorable shriek, Stella crumpled, and I caught her by the waist. At the same time, I slipped a pen and bandages into her pocket—swift.

Stella didn't notice.

I giggled nonchalantly and teased her.

"What? Did you piss yourself again?"

"Y-you...! I said stop! Stop it! Stop!"

"Heeheehee! Stop! Stop!"

"Aaaaah, aaah! You're ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so annoying!!"

Genuinely angry now, Stella huffed and puffed—hiss, hiss—and thrashed, shoving me away.

"I really hate you. Don't come near me. Don't talk to me. I'm not joking."

I shrugged at Stella's reproach and looked ahead. Leona was walking along as if nothing had happened.

I moved up beside Leona.

Left alone behind us, Stella muttered, "So you're really just going to go...?" and then stomped along—thud, thud—making her footsteps deliberately loud.

"Who do you think did it?"

After about another thirty minutes of walking, Leona asked.

"I wonder."

"No guesses?"

"What about you, Vice Dean? You'd know better than me, wouldn't you?"

"True."

Leona giggled.

"So who pulled this off? A Labyrinth of this scale seems on a completely different level from the one that appeared in Arant."

"Right. Of course, I didn't see the Labyrinth that appeared in Arant myself, but from the reports... compared to this place, it must have been far inferior."

"It was. That place felt less like a Labyrinth and more like... just an academy hallway. Here, your sense of direction gets twisted and your sense of time goes hazy. That place didn't have any of that."

Leona raised an eyebrow at me.

"You noticed the hazy sense of time too?"

"Of course."

Sanitary pads... hmm. I'd roughly calculated the time by doing personal maintenance.

That was how I'd noticed it. What had seemed like less than ten minutes was actually an hour.

Of course, even if I hadn't done personal maintenance, I would have measured the time diligently some other way.

Because once you set foot in a Labyrinth, those little things were what you had to treat as most important.

Anyway, that single clue was enough to make me realize.

They wanted to stall for time.

It seemed Pina's spirit power couldn't easily open that door.

"Nyahahaha! Impressive! How'd you figure that out?"

"I read a lot of books."

"...There she goes again."

Stella grumbled beside me.

I ignored her and went on.

"If it's a Labyrinth, could it be one of Labyrinth's underlings? Or maybe a Retainer. A mere underling wouldn't be able to create a Labyrinth of this scale, after all."

I said it in an innocent tone.

A very cheerful tone that didn't suit me at all.

Stella's expression twisted bizarrely, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I paid it no mind.

"But Vice Dean, why do you think the culprit who kidnapped Pina this time rushed the job so much?"

"I wonder. The campus lockdown hasn't even been lifted yet. If they were going to do it anyway, next week would've been safer, I'd think. Well... that's not for me to say, since I didn't even notice the culprit was in the academy."

"Nyahaha..." Leona laughed a bit awkwardly and scratched her cheek.

"What kind of bold bastard dared to sneak into the academy? Could it be a Black Wizard after all? Or maybe a Demonized Human. There are plenty of Demonized Humans who can change their appearance."

"I wonder."

I giggled along with Leona.

I wasn't awkward. It was a bright, clear laugh.

"Vice Dean."

"Hm?"

"I have something I'm curious about. Can I ask just one thing?"

Leona's steps paused for a moment.

"Hm? Ask away!"

A natural voice. An expression that seemed curious about my question. And eyes full of anticipation.

Looking at that perfect expression, I took a step closer.

And asked.

"Hey, you son of a bitch."

The Beastkin's face right in front of me went stiff.

"You think I'd fall for that?"

Giggle—I laughed brightly. At the same moment, the Mana I'd been holding back erupted explosively. There was no process to it wrapping around my whole body and turning into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Aura.

In an instant that seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠split into hundreds—an instant no one here could perceive—I raised my fist. The Aura permeating my right arm blazed fiercely in response.

Belatedly, the Leona before my eyes—no, the thing imitating Leona—reacted.

I was faster.

My fist shot out. At the end of the fist, Aura burst and shattered like an explosion, and a vicious light flashed. The fist carrying that light connected.

—Crunch! With the violent impact, fragments of Aura like cherry blossom petals and chunks of flesh scattered before my eyes.

And so, the underground waterway's scenery was dyed entirely pink, and everything fell silent.

Then, gurgle—

Stella, who had witnessed the head of the thing that had been "Leona" burst, promptly fainted.