100. Labyrinth

"...Y-y-you, y-y-you crazy bitch!!"

Stella, who had been sprawled on the floor unconscious, let out a shriek the moment she woke up.

For five minutes straight.

"Y-y-you! You really... the Vice Dean...! Y-y-y-you... you killed someone!!"

Stella began trembling, glancing around as she cautiously eyed the corpse sprawled on the floor.

A corpse with no head.

After dry-heaving several times at the sight, Stella staggered as if about to collapse and grabbed my arm tight.

"Wh-what are you going to do now? Huh?! Should we hide the body? If we hide it... will that fix it? There's... no one who saw, so if I just keep my mouth shut it'll be fine... but if you kill the Vi-Vice Dean... h-huh?"

Then she tilted her head.

"...Wh-what is this?"

Because the corpse had begun to melt, soft and squishy.

"It's not the Vice Dean."

"...Eh?"

Stella, who had been staring at the melting corpse with her head tilted, lifted her gaze to look at me.

Tears were welling up in her wide-open eyes.

"It was never even human."

"I can see that, but... th-then... what is it? An illusion?"

"A Mimicras."

That was the name of a mid-grade Monster that replicated human appearances.

Another Monster with the same ability was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the high-grade Doppelganger.

The reason they were divided into different grades despite having the same ability was simple.

A Doppelganger could imitate a person's memories, speech patterns, minor habits, and even part of their abilities almost perfectly, but a Mimicras couldn't.

Everything about a Mimicras was at least two steps below a Doppelganger.

So for someone like me... someone who had never trusted people in the first place and had therefore developed the habit of observing them closely, it was easy to tell them apart right away.

Even putting that aside.

That Monster had answered something Leona couldn't possibly have answered.

If Leona was out on official business, there was no way she could have known Pina had been kidnapped.

And on top of that, there was absolutely no way she could have known the culprit was an academy professor.

But there was one catch.

Mimicras didn't refer to a single creature.

The name Mimicras referred to groups of at least ten.

And they could only replicate the appearance of humans they had "directly" seen. Yet that thing had replicated Leona's appearance, even her speech patterns and laughter, almost identically.

Which means.

Is Leona in the Labyrinth too?

Or does it remember an appearance it saw before?

If so, it would have had to get inside the academy—how would a mere Monster have gotten in?

The former is more likely.

At least 400 years ago, there were no Mimicras that replicated the appearance of humans they'd seen in the past.

But now, I had to keep the latter possibility in mind as well. More precisely.

I thought there might be a Black Wizard who tamed Mimicras and manipulated them as they pleased.

The one I met a moment ago had higher intelligence than the Mimicras I knew.

It reproduced outward appearances naturally.

Speech patterns, intonation, expression, atmosphere, the movement of the ears and tail.

It wasn't as perfect a copy as a Doppelganger, but it was close enough to compare.

Most importantly.

When it heard what I said, the Mimicras ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scrunched up its face.

That wasn't an act. It was genuine.

And it was an expression a Monster couldn't make.

It's a change I can't account for.

So I decided to leave the latter possibility open.

Now that that's settled.

"Let's move."

One of them is dead. The Mimicras will realize that and swarm this way.

And if there's a Black Wizard controlling the Mimicras from behind, it won't end with just Mimicras.

So rather than staying in a wide-open space like this, we need to head for a narrow passage.

"Uh, huh? Okay... but what's a Mimicras? If it's a Monster that copies human appearances, isn't that a Doppelganger?"

In the middle of all this, Stella asked a stupid question.

"...You don't know what a Mimicras is?"

"How do you know about that?"

"How do you not know about that?"

Do kids these days not even know about Mimicras?

Well... I guess since Labyrinths aren't spawning as actively as when I was active, it's possible they wouldn't know.

Now that I think about it, it's funny.

She dropped her notes going on about how 400-year-old knowledge is outdated or whatever, and she doesn't even know what a Mimicras is?

Kids these days, honestly. Tsk tsk.

"I read it in a book. So you should study hard too. Huh? A girl who says she's going all the way to the center of Ge Vihenum doesn't even know what a Mimicras is?"

I said with a strange sense of superiority.

As expected, my knowledge was old but not rotten.

"There you go again. With the boomer talk. Ugh."

Stella narrowed her brow and glared at the Mimicras corpse, now reduced to residue.

Then she rubbed her arms as if creeped out.

"...But seriously, I had no idea. So I was... just casually having a conversation with a Monster... ugh, that's so creepy."

"That's why you're stuck at 4th Circle."

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

"There's a difference a 4th Circle can't understand."

"Ugh... so annoying, seriously... just you wait. Once I reach the 5th Circle, I'll—"

"You think I'll just be sitting around while you do that? By the time you're 5th Circle, I'll already be Tier 6."

Stella made a vicious face.

"Do you think reaching Tier 6 is easy?"

"It's easy for me."

"Listening to you, you'd think you'd already reached Tier 8."

Tier 8, my ass.

"Ugh. How could a sparrow understand the will of a phoenix?"

I didn't bother refuting Stella's words, just snickered and started walking.

"Sparrow? Phoenix...? Wh-what?"

Stella, who hadn't understood what I meant at first, began shrieking and hopping around in a rage a moment later.

*****

The wide passage turned into an extremely narrow one.

There was only one path. And no sounds of Monsters.

"Let's rest here for an hour."

I stopped walking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and rummaged through the waist bag at my hip.

"Haaah... finally..."

Stella, already exhausted beyond measure, plopped down without a care.

We'd encountered a lot of Monsters on the way here.

Lizardmen, Human-Faced Insects, Mimicras, Naga crawling up from a waterway, Croctar—bipedal crocodiles—and so on.

We ran into all kinds of reptilian Monsters.

Among them, the most annoying and irritating were definitely the Mimicras.

Eurasia, Stella, Pina, Leona, Father, Uncle, Sedil, Wivir, Silina, Fabiana.

They'd appeared as every damn person I'd met in the Imperial Capital.

Of course, I killed them all.

It felt like we'd been fighting almost once every five minutes. So I was a bit tired too.

No matter how well you knew it was a Monster, driving your fist into the face of someone you knew wasn't easy.

It would've been one thing if a punch were enough. Those things kept regenerating unless you blew their heads off.

That was why you had to blow their heads off.

Maybe that was why.

Stella was already half out of her mind.

"What do you want to eat?"

"...I don't feel well."

"If you don't eat now, you won't last."

"Ugh... then I guess I have to eat..."

As if her Mana was gradually running dry, Stella, eyes half-closed, reached out a trembling hand.

"What should I give you?"

"Mm... something soft?"

She's looking for something soft in a Labyrinth.

Well, it's not like there's nothing.

Tsk. I clicked my tongue and pulled a thermos the size of my own body out of the waist bag enchanted with spatial expansion magic.

"...What's that?"

"Something soft."

Then I opened the thermos and poured its contents into a paper cup. A savory aroma wafted through the rising steam.

"Sniff sniff... that smells really savory."

Gulp—Stella swallowed her saliva.

"But... when did you pack something like this?"

"Just in general."

I always kept things like this packed in advance.

You never knew what might happen, when or where.

A situation like that, where we had to move urgently, could come at any time.

So I kept the things I needed packed like this.

You could call it... a compulsion.

But if you'd ever seen humans committing cannibalism inside a Labyrinth, if you'd witnessed that scene, anyone would develop this compulsion.

All the comrades I fought alongside 400 years ago had one compulsion like this each.

Among them, mine was food.

Thanks to the emergency rations I always kept, we never went hungry. The problem was... Luna, that gambling addict bitch, kept blowing through them all.

"...You always pack stuff like this?"

"Yeah."

I nodded and handed Stella the cup.

"Eat."

"Huh... what is this?"

"Nurungji soup."

"Nu... rungji soup?"

"What, you don't want it?"

"No, no. It's not that I don't want it... but nurungji soup... there's soup and stuff too, you know."

"I like nurungji soup. And in a way, nurungji soup is also a soup."

"You're not even an old person..."

"If you grumble one more time, I'm taking it back."

Stella, who had been about to retort again, pursed her lips and slurped the nurungji soup into her mouth.

"It... does taste good. Savory..."

"Eat this too."

Then I handed over jerky, nuts, dried fruit, and the like.

"Keep the leftovers in your pocket."

"Jerky I can understand, but nuts and dried fruit... I never thought I'd be eating stuff like this inside a Labyrinth..."

It might have sounded like grumbling, but Stella's eyes were taking note of everything I'd brought.

With an expression that said, I should pack some of this myself from now on.

If we make it out of this Labyrinth, buying her a bag like this wouldn't be a bad idea.

An Artifact enchanted with spatial expansion and preservation magic.

Having finished that thought, I chewed on the jerky. I'd seasoned it the way Sara had taught me, and it tasted good.

As expected of Sara.

Gulp gulp—Stella, who had downed the nurungji soup in one go, let out a refreshing "Pah..." and opened her mouth.

"Now tell me."

"What?"

"Why Pina was kidnapped to a place like this."

Then she casually took my thermos and poured herself another cup.

"I can tell you, but first. You tell me what happened between your mother and House Eustetia."

Stella froze mid-motion.

"...Do you really have to hear it?"

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were about to tell me earlier, so why are you hesitating now?"

"Th-that... that was... earlier, I just..."

Stella, holding the paper cup full of nurungji with both hands, moved her lips slightly.

"You... said that if I told you, you'd believe me. That... that's true, right?"

"If you spout ridiculous bullshit, I won't."

"What if I only tell the truth, but it sounds like a ridiculous lie to you?"

I turned my head to look at Stella.

For someone supposedly about to have a heavy conversation, she was diligently eating nurungji soup.

"I'll still believe you. That was the promise."

"...What if I lie?"

"It'll come out eventually. And you'll grow distant from me too."

"So you're saying you'll believe me right now?"

I nodded and chewed on the jerky.

"The more I look at you... I really can't figure you out."

Stella, having finished the nurungji soup, popped a few nuts into her mouth and hugged her knees.

Then she looked into my eyes and giggled softly.

"You seem like someone who doesn't trust people, but at the same time, you're desperate to trust someone. Like an abandoned dog... no. Not a dog. A cat. An abandoned cat? That kind of feeling?"

"You want me to call that bullshit?"

"I'm saying I really can't figure you out..."

Why is this girl suddenly spouting nonsense like this?

It's not like Stella. Did some weird herb get mixed into the nurungji soup?

Ahem. Stella cleared her throat, forcibly composed her expression, and opened her mouth.

"My mom went missing seven years ago. More precisely, she was made to disappear. It didn't happen suddenly. Before she went missing, she was framed—accused of colluding with Demons and plotting evil deeds—and subjected to all sorts of investigations."

I listened without a word.

"In the process, they declared the charges valid. Treason? They pinned all sorts of crimes on her that she'd never committed. But I know my mom was innocent. At the dates and times those high-ranking people cited, I was with my mom. But... no one believed me. Actually, I don't think there was ever any real investigation. Those people... intended to execute my mom from the start."

Tap—tap—Stella, who had been rolling a shelled walnut, lifted her head and looked at me.

"Eustetia. The Eustetia Knight Order and the Marquis of Verheigen did that to my mom."

I looked back at Stella.

Then what about her mother's disappearance?

Just as I was holding that question.

A magic circle rose from the ceiling of the passage.

It wasn't an ordinary magic circle. It wasn't human magic—it was Demon magic.

The magic circle locked onto Stella.

"...Huh? What's that?"

Stella, looking back and forth between the magic circle and me with bewildered eyes, immediately rose to her feet.

At the same moment—flash.

Stella vanished.

"...They won't even let her finish talking."

More precisely, she had been "teleported" somewhere else.