Swallowed by the Labyrinth
“No need to overthink it. Most of the ones that crawl out of the forest are just the dregs anyway.”
Anne walked beside me, dragging that absurdly massive greatsword along the ground as she spoke. Just as Emma had suggested the day before, we were on our way to wipe out the monsters that had wandered out of the Forbidden Forest and down toward the city.
“But do we really have to go ourselves? Couldn’t we just leave it to the adventurers? I heard there’s even a subsidy for this kind of thing.”
I asked out of genuine curiosity, not laziness. The head of the house, Emma, along with her direct heirs Anne and Ian, were all taking part in the subjugation. Once the family head moved, it was only natural that knights would accompany her as escorts. Not the entire knight order, of course, but enough of them that soldiers trailed after in ones and twos, swelling the size of the party until it almost felt excessive.
My eyes drifted to Emma herself. Despite being the real leader of this expedition, she strode at the very front without even mounting a horse. Unlike Anne, she had handed her enormous greatsword over to Dylan and was strolling along at a leisurely pace.
“Well, sure, but these dreg-hunting jobs aren’t exactly popular. The pay’s decent enough, but there’s no chance of finding artifacts the way you might in a ruin or a labyrinth.”
“So everyone’s chasing the big score.”
Anne nodded.
“Exactly. Of course, the adventurers who aren’t good enough for labyrinths don’t have a choice—they end up stuck with jobs like this.”
She was right. The adventurers who’d joined us didn’t look particularly outstanding. My standards might have been skewed after seeing so many true powerhouses, but even giving them the benefit of the doubt didn’t change much.
“Besides, we have to show our faces every now and then or people start talking. The Klein family is supposed to be the one defending the city, after all.”
We walked for some time. When the city had fallen far enough behind us and the forest entrance loomed ahead, Emma and the knights at the front came to a halt.
“All right. We’ll set up camp here for now.”
At her word the adventurers and soldiers sprang into motion. It was essentially a forward base, though no one bothered with anything elaborate—just a few campfires and a handful of tents. Some of the adventurers didn’t even bother pitching tents at all, simply settling around the fires. The job wasn’t expected to take long; better to rough it by the fire than waste time on canvas.
“Ah, thank you.”
A tent was raised for Anne and me as well. We hadn’t lifted a finger; two soldiers had come over and done the work for us. They were clearly used to the small tents, finishing the job with practiced efficiency in moments.
I peeked inside. It was surprisingly roomy for two people.
“Attention!”
Ian stepped forward in place of the knights flanking Emma, his voice booming loud enough to draw every eye. Those farther away drifted closer so they wouldn’t miss a word.
Once he was sure he had the whole party’s attention, Ian simply stepped back. Emma climbed onto the makeshift platform that had been set up in front of her. The fact that her eye level was now roughly the same as Ian’s was something I politely pretended not to notice.
“Today we will clear out the orc tribe that has settled at the edge of the Boundary Forest, just outside the Forbidden Forest itself. Reports put their numbers at roughly fifty or more—definitely not three digits.”
That was about the size of a tribe just starting to put down roots. Calling it a tribe was generous; a village would be closer to the truth. There was no chance of an Orc King commanding tens of thousands—the kind that appeared only once every few decades. At best they might have an orc shaman playing at leadership. Given that they’d been pushed this far out of even the Boundary Forest, they might not even have that.
“Remember that you are members of Valant. Do not overreach. Better to live, gain experience, and climb higher so you can kill one more monster later than to die showing off useless bravado. If you feel you’re in danger, fall back at any time. Frankly, this force is overkill for a few dozen orcs. Losing one or two of you won’t change a thing.”
Emma must have shown her face on these subjugations often enough; the adventurers answered with easy shouts.
“Don’t you worry, ma’am! Ain’t a man here who hasn’t stuck a blade in an orc!”
“Hahaha! Weren’t you the one who caught a stray orc arrow in the backside last time? Walked around with a duck’s ass for weeks, if I recall!”
“Shut it!”
Neither the knights nor Emma made any move to rein them in. Whether it was Emma’s personality or simply Valant’s location, the family seemed genuinely well-disposed toward adventurers.
“You’ve all walked far enough. Eat for an hour, then we move out. Better to finish before nightfall and get back for a mug of beer than to spend the night out here, don’t you think?”
The mention of beer set the adventurers roaring and chattering again.
“Dismissed!”
At Emma’s word the adventurers and soldiers broke into small groups and began sorting out their meals. Anne and I headed toward Emma.
“Wait a moment. Food will be ready shortly.”
Off to the side I could see a soldier preparing a separate meal just for us. So this was the taste of power.
“Anne. You go with Ian. I’ll be borrowing Miss Elicia for a while.”
“Wha—! Mo— Ow!”
“How many times have I told you? In public it’s ‘Mother,’ not ‘Mom.’ Honestly, who did you take after…?”
“That’s obviously— Ow! I didn’t say anything!”
Anne had been about to finish the sentence when Emma rapped her on the head again.
“…ther.”
Under Emma’s glare she finally corrected herself, voice small.
“Honestly. No wonder people call you an idiot.”
“Shut up! I’m not an idiot! There’s nothing I can’t say to my big brother!”
While Anne and Ian started bickering again, several soldiers brought over a rather respectable spread. Magically preserved rations, from the look of it.
In the distance the other adventurers and soldiers were eating hardtack and something that vaguely resembled stew. Once again I felt the unmistakable flavor of privilege.
Slash!
I cut down an orc that came at me with nothing more than a club—not even a stone axe. In the brief breathing space that followed I glanced around. No one seemed to be struggling.
Anne was bisecting orcs in single swings of her greatsword. Ian flicked his bastard sword, wreathed in gray Aura, and dropped them just as easily. Even the soldiers—the weakest among us—fought in tight formations of several men and cut the orcs down without trouble.
And beside me stood Emma, not lifting a finger, simply watching me swing my sword. At least she had taken her greatsword back from Dylan and now held it in her own hands.
“Your movement is better than I expected. That’s how a sword should look. Those old men who strut around calling themselves Sword Masters have such stuffy, outdated styles…”
She badmouthed Sword Masters with complete casualness, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Rather than join in the gossip, I simply cut down another orc.
“Anne would definitely like a sword like that.”
Come to think of it, Anne had first spoken to me after watching one of my sparring matches. With her friendly nature she would have approached me eventually anyway, but we might never have grown this close.
“Ah. There’s the shaman. No higher-ranking orcs nearby, so that must be the leader.”
I reported what I’d spotted to Emma and immediately sprinted toward the orc shaman. Even if it used magic it wouldn’t be a real threat to me, but there was no reason to give it the chance. Better to close the distance before it could act.
The shaman noticed me charging straight at it and frantically began weaving a spell. Just as I reached it and started my swing, the chant finished and it thrust out a hand. But my blade was already in motion.
“Wait—!”
Emma’s voice rang out as she suddenly grabbed the back of my collar from behind, but it was too late. My sword had already carved from the shaman’s shoulder through the necklace at its throat and split its torso cleanly in two.
In that same instant light erupted from the severed necklace and swallowed both me and Emma whole.
Flash!
A brilliant light filled the vision of Anne as she cut down an orc, of Ian, of everyone present.
Anne kicked the fallen orc aside and scanned the area. The fight was already winding down; the remaining adventurers were finishing off the last few orcs.
But two figures were missing.
Elicia, who had been at the very front cutting through the orcs, and Emma, who had stood right beside her.
In their place, where Elicia had been only moments before, stood the entrance to a labyrinth that had not existed until now.
Anne raced to the spot where she had last seen Elicia and searched the ground. There she found a strangely shaped necklace, broken cleanly in half.
It wasn’t famous across the entire continent, but any adventurer who worked in this region would recognize it instantly.
Whether the labyrinth itself had created it or some monster that nested inside had, the necklace was an artifact. Shatter it, and you were transported to the deepest reaches of the linked labyrinth. Intelligent monsters occasionally used them as escape tools.
To a monster it might be a precious life-saving treasure. To humans it was little better than a cursed object—exactly the kind of trap that could drag people into a labyrinth against their will.
A labyrinth entrance that had appeared from nowhere. A broken necklace on the ground. Elicia and Emma vanished.
Anne was not so dense that she failed to understand what had happened. And she knew exactly what she had to do.
“Assemble!”
Once every last orc was down, Anne’s voice thundered across the clearing. Knights who already grasped the situation, soldiers who did not, and adventurers who had been joking only moments earlier all gathered before her.
“By the authority of the acting family head, I order you. Ian.”
“Yes!”
Without any explanation, the words “acting family head” alone transformed Ian’s expression. He bowed his head and waited for her next command—an unfamiliar formality between the siblings who normally traded casual insults.
“Take the adventurers and return at once. Gather a support force of adventurers experienced with labyrinths instead of the knight order. Highest difficulty, highest reward—spare no expense. Time is critical. Leave immediately and be back by tomorrow morning at the latest.”
“Understood.”
Ian rounded up the adventurers and departed. Even the ones who had been so casual earlier now moved in grim silence, fully aware of the gravity of the situation.
Anne pointed to one of the remaining knights.
“Convert this place into a proper forward base at once. Make it large enough to hold at least twice our current numbers.”
The knight immediately began directing the soldiers. Some went to retrieve the earlier camp; others cleared orc corpses and leveled the ground.
“The rest of you, take a few soldiers and keep watch for any monsters that might approach.”
Once every other knight had been sent off, only Dylan remained at Anne’s side. Under normal circumstances he would have stayed with Emma, the true family head. But Emma was gone. For the moment, Anne was the head of House Klein.
“I’m going into the labyrinth right now. You wait here. When Ian returns, begin the raid together.”
Without waiting for a reply she turned toward the entrance. Dylan stepped into her path just as her foot crossed the threshold.
“You must not! Even you, Lady Anne, cannot enter a labyrinth alone. It is too dangerous.”
“Do you truly believe mere monsters could harm a Klein?”
Blazing Aura erupted from the greatsword in Anne’s grip, roaring like living flame, hungry for something to burn.
House Klein did not guard the city against the Forbidden Forest for nothing. Monsters—even low-ranking demons—were fragile things before true Klein blood. This was neither the Forbidden Forest nor the Demon Realm. Ordinary labyrinth monsters could never harm Anne Klein.
“You must not take a labyrinth lightly. For now, place your trust in Lady Emma.”
But a labyrinth was different. An entity whose true nature no one understood, it was already a living thing in its own right.
Anne knew that. She was simply refusing to accept the reality of having to wait.
“…Until noon tomorrow. If Ian is late, I’ll cut you down and go in myself.”
That was as far as she was willing to compromise. She drove her greatsword into the earth before the entrance and sat down against it as if it were a wall.
Dylan showed not the slightest offense at the threat. He simply remained at her side, standing guard.
And so, with the labyrinth looming before her, Anne slowly, painfully reined in the Aura that raged like a storm ready to explode.
It was galling, but for now all she could do was wait in silence.