Labyrinth I
A massive spear of magical power pierced the troll’s thick hide and ran straight through its body.
Blue blood sprayed into the air as the troll’s agonized roar echoed across the battlefield.
Grrrrraaaah!
The enormous spear instantly transformed into chains that wrapped around the troll’s body through the gaping wound, binding it tightly in place.
“Kael!”
“On it!”
I kicked off the ground and charged forward at Eleanor’s call.
The troll tried to swing its long arm to block me, but the magical chains Eleanor had conjured tightened even harder, restricting its movement.
Shhhk!
My sword sliced cleanly through its neck.
A torrent of blue blood cascaded down like a waterfall, and the troll’s final roar died in its throat.
BOOM!
Its massive corpse collapsed, shaking the earth and kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
At the same moment, a blue greatsword shot through that dust cloud, slicing several small goblins hiding within it cleanly in half. Their death screams rang out.
Kyeeeeeek!
Once no more presences could be felt, the battle briefly fell into a lull.
When the dust finally settled, the ground was littered with countless monster corpses. Most of them had gaping holes in their chests or had been split in two.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Then the ground began to tremble.
“Kael!”
At Lucrezia’s sharp cry, I immediately drew on my mana and activated Future Sight.
Among the countless afterimages, I saw a giant worm bursting from the earth beneath my feet and devouring me whole. I instantly kicked off the ground and leapt into the air.
CRASH!
The earth shattered, sending fragments flying in every direction as the giant worm surged upward with its maw wide open.
Inside its mouth, countless smaller mouths and razor-sharp teeth writhed hungrily, lunging toward me.
Clink, clink, clink!
Chains flew in from the air and coiled tightly around the giant worm’s body.
Kuuueeeek!
The giant worm thrashed wildly, spewing bodily fluids, but Eleanor’s magical chains only squeezed it harder.
At the same time, a wave of frigid air swept in.
A blue ice storm erupted from Lucrezia’s hands, coating the creature’s hide in frost.
Kuek… Kueeee…
The giant worm’s violent convulsions gradually slowed.
The moment it froze solid into a massive block of ice, a small monster burst from its mouth.
A hobgoblin.
“Kael!”
“Leave it to me!”
I had already been waiting. I dashed straight toward it.
The hobgoblin spotted me charging with my wooden staff and let out a shriek, attempting to counter. But its attack was so simple I didn’t even need Future Sight. I simply sidestepped and swung my sword.
Slice!
Its head flew into the air.
A fountain of blood sprayed out as its severed body collapsed limply to the ground.
“Is it… over?”
“Good work, Kael!”
“You worked hard, Kael.”
Crack… Craaaack!
The frozen giant worm shattered into countless pieces, and with that, the battle was truly finished.
“With this, the commission is complete. It’s been a while since we had a fight like that!”
Eleanor stretched her arms high, as if her shoulders were stiff. The explosive curves of her chest strained against her uniform, rising dramatically before bouncing back down.
“Hmm? Kael, where exactly are you staring at?”
“Your huge breasts!”
“Ha! Eek! Uht!”
Eleanor let out a series of strange noises and stumbled backward.
“You’ve changed! The pure Kael I knew has fallen! The Kael who used to blush is gone. Waaah~”
I watched as she pretended to cry and performed her little one-woman play, then turned my gaze to Lucrezia, who was approaching.
“Good work, Lucrezia.”
“The way you handled that hobgoblin at the end was flawless. At this rate, there shouldn’t be any monster packs left in the area.”
“Yeah.”
We were currently staying in a small rugged city called Tilen, located a little further east from Arsein. The southern region of the Empire centered around Arsein had relatively stable public order, so imperial knights didn’t have much to do there.
Once we came to the more remote Tilen, commissions poured in endlessly. Just today we had cleared out five different monster packs.
Normally monsters of the same species tended to gather in small groups or roam alone, but occasionally certain special entities—commonly known as commander-class monsters—would rally nearby monsters into something resembling a small army.
For pioneer villages or cities with weak defenses, such hordes were nothing short of apocalyptic disaster.
We had heard that such monster armies had been appearing more frequently in the southeast lately, so we came to Tilen. And indeed, there were a lot of them.
“Alright. Let’s collect the spoils.”
Since this was a subjugation commission, we had to bring back proof. I cut off the hobgoblin’s ear.
Among commander-class monsters, hobgoblins were on the weaker end. The packs they led were small, their leadership was poor, and the overall threat level of their groups was low.
But the biggest problem was their sheer numbers.
If it had been a single entity leading hundreds or thousands, we could have confronted and crushed them head-on. But hobgoblins were different.
They led small packs that scattered across wide areas.
Individually they were nothing special, but when so many small groups were spread out everywhere, it became an absolute headache for those tasked with extermination.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
After returning to Tilen and receiving our rewards, we decided to rest in the city for a while. Compared to Arsein or Artizen, it was quite a small city with little in the way of entertainment.
But unlike those two cities that shared similar regional vibes, Tilen gave a strong sense that we had truly arrived in a different province.
The food, the culture, even the atmosphere of the streets felt slightly different.
Thanks to that, we were able to try local dishes and unfamiliar spices we had never tasted in Tilen before.
And of course, the one who was most excited was Eleanor, who took her love of food very seriously.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you once again for giving me the honor of escorting you today.”
Eleanor pretended to stroke a nonexistent mustache and put on a ridiculous act. Every time we rested in Tilen, she would act like she had memorized every single restaurant and proudly lead the way.
This time too, she confidently guided us to a shop that reeked of grilled meat.
“This place is supposedly one of the top five restaurants in Tilen! So…”
Thud!
“Eleanor!”
While she was looking back at us and talking, Eleanor failed to notice the door opening. She collided head-on with the person coming out and fell backward.
“Ouch…”
Eleanor clutched her forehead with one eye squinted.
I hurriedly ran over and helped her up.
“Are you okay?”
“Kael! I think I have a bump on my head.”
I gently stroked her reddened forehead, then stood up to apologize to the other party.
At that moment…
“Hah… Can’t even walk straight because your tits are so big? Cow girl.”
……?
For a second, I doubted my ears.
It was true that Eleanor hadn’t been looking where she was going and had bumped into him first. We were the ones who should apologize.
But that didn’t mean we deserved to hear something like that.
It was clearly crossing the line—blatant harassment and insult.
Rage surged up to the top of my head. I tightened the arm supporting Eleanor and lifted my gaze toward the man.
“Your words are too—!”
“Ah…!”
A short gasp escaped Eleanor’s lips.
I stopped mid-sentence and looked at her. Her expression had hardened noticeably. At first she seemed startled, but soon her eyes were filled with burning fury that had pushed aside the shock.
The moment I saw that face, I realized the person she had collided with was no ordinary passerby.
And then I finally saw his face.
“Wolfram von Loendem…!”
“Hah!”
The man burst into mocking laughter.
“Hah! A mere commoner dares speak my name so casually? Still dragging that cow girl around, so you think you’re some kind of noble too?”
“Grit…”
The sound of grinding teeth came from Eleanor’s tightly shut mouth. At the same time, I felt her clothes flutter as her mana began to surge violently.
“Eleanor!”
I quickly placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
She seemed to realize we were in the middle of the city street and tried to suppress her mana, taking deep breaths.
But Wolfram spoke again, as if he had been waiting for this.
“The once-mighty ducal house has fallen so low it’s become a commoner’s cum dump.”
“You son of a bitch!”
Eleanor’s rage finally exploded.
Brown spears of magical power formed instantly in the air.
Shwoooosh!
The magical spears shot toward Wolfram like lightning.
Clang!
At that moment, a silver flash burst from inside the open shop door behind him.
The incoming magical spears were sliced in half mid-air and scattered into nothing.
Then a slender woman slowly emerged from within the shop.
A woman with purple hair and purple eyes, possessing a lithe build, stood behind Wolfram holding two daggers in reverse grip, glaring at us. She wore the same second-year uniform as Eleanor, but it was a face I had never seen before. She was probably an imperial knight from a different graduating class.
“W-wait! Eleanor!”
“Kael. Don’t stop me.”
Eleanor waved her hand, and more magical spears formed behind her back.
Shwoooosh!
The spears flew toward Wolfram once more.
But the purple-haired woman behind him lightly swung her daggers, deflecting each one. It was as if she had known their trajectories from the very beginning.
Yet Eleanor had no intention of stopping there. Soon, brown magical chains shot out from the air and wrapped around the woman’s arm.
“Stay out of this!”
At Eleanor’s shout, the chains yanked hard on the woman’s arm. Her body was lifted into the air.
But she didn’t panic.
She twisted her waist mid-air, spun her body, and instead used the chains as leverage to launch herself forward.
The next instant…
She had landed directly behind Eleanor.
Vwoooong!
A sharp dagger vibrated like a bee’s wing, hovering at the nape of Eleanor’s neck.
But Lucrezia’s greatsword moved even faster.
Lucrezia was already standing behind the woman, pointing her blade at her back.
In an instant, the three of them were locked in a tense standoff.
I watched the scene for a moment, then drew my sword and aimed it at Wolfram.
“Wolfram. I don’t know who that person is, but tell her to get away from Eleanor. If you do, we won’t fight any further.”
“Hah! How ridiculous.”
Wolfram sneered.
“You think just because you hang around those two that you’ve become a noble yourself? It was that cow girl who bumped into me first, and that cow girl who attacked first. Why should I listen to you?”
“You bastard!”
Eleanor exploded with rage once again.
“Don’t move.”
The purple-haired woman pressed the tip of her dagger even closer to Eleanor’s neck. The delicate skin split slightly, and a thin trickle of blood ran down.
“Stop.”
Lucrezia’s voice grew icy cold.
“If you move even a little, I will stab you immediately.”
The air froze.
Wolfram snorted as he watched the situation.
“Hmph. You lot always act like you own the place.”
He gestured to the woman.
“Serena. Come here.”
“……”
The purple-haired woman—Serena—remained silent for a moment before withdrawing her dagger.
She lightly leapt back to Wolfram’s side.
Wolfram roughly pulled her by the waist, then suddenly twisted her face toward his and shoved his tongue into her mouth.
“Ahh… Lord Wolfram…”
Slurp! Chuuup! Lick!
“Tsk. Even this isn’t enough to improve my mood.”
Wolfram glanced at us and sneered.
“Serena. You’ll have to serve me properly in bed tonight.”
“……Yes.”
“Hmph. And you, commoner—keep that cow girl of yours on a tighter leash. If it’s too difficult, just send her to our ranch. We’ll milk her fresh every morning and send it over.”
“You—!”
“Eleanor!”
I shouted to stop Eleanor as she tried to charge forward again.
Then I glared at Wolfram.
“Wolfram. Do not insult her any further. There is a limit to my patience.”
“Hmph.”
Instead of answering, Wolfram openly sneered.
He wrapped an arm around Serena’s waist and walked away.
Seeing him treat her however he pleased even in the middle of the street made me frown. He hadn’t changed at all since our days at the knight academy.
Wolfram von Loendem.
He was the heir of the Loendem family, which had once been vassals to the Valtern Grand Duchy but betrayed them to side with the Empire. In return, they had been granted part of Valtern’s lands by the Emperor.
He had personally enrolled in the knight academy to prove his loyalty to the Emperor and graduated in the same 32nd class as us.
To Eleanor, he was nothing less than the mortal enemy of her family.
“……”
Eleanor’s face was terrifyingly stiff.
“Eleanor. Calm down.”
“…Haa. I understand, Kael.”
She stared in the direction Wolfram had disappeared for a long time before finally calming her breathing.
Fortunately, the restaurant Eleanor had been trying to take us to was actually quite good, even in my opinion.
Although she continued grinding her teeth for a while, once the food arrived, her expression gradually softened.
“If it weren’t for this place, I probably would’ve stayed angry all day.”
“Here, Eleanor. Eat this too.”
I transferred some of my own dish onto her plate.
“Haaang~! Kael, you really are an angel. There’s no one like you. You’re on a completely different level from trash like that!”
“Haha… Still, try to calm down a bit next time. It won’t look good if it seems like we started the fight.”
“Tsk… I know. But when he called me a cow… anyway! The way he insulted me like that, I just couldn’t hold back.”
Cow girl.
The moment Wolfram called her that, I had gotten angry too.
But at the same time, my heart had sunk.
Because in that instant, an indescribable impulse had stirred inside me.
It hadn’t even been a full month since I heard about the curse from Lumensia.
Even after that, I still couldn’t be sure whether the curse had truly disappeared or if it still remained.
Normally, there had been no signs.
In fact, I had started to wonder if I was just worrying over nothing.
But the moment I saw Wolfram insulting Eleanor earlier, something inside me had clearly reacted.
Moreover, he hadn’t simply insulted her.
He had stared at her chest as if trying to gauge its exact shape, and his pants had visibly bulged.
That damn curse…
“Kael? What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to eat more?”
When I stopped eating, lost in thought, Eleanor looked at me with sparkling eyes.
I let out a small chuckle at the sight and scooped more food onto her plate.
“Eat a lot.”
“Ehehe. Kael really is kind after all.”
Eleanor smiled happily and stuffed her mouth full.
Watching her, I couldn’t help but smile too.
Just seeing the person I loved eating deliciously made me feel good.
In the end, despite the rough start, we finished our meal happily.
Afterward, we wandered around the streets of Tilen, sightseeing, buying simple snacks, and browsing the market.
Before we knew it, the sun had set and the city lights were beginning to flicker on.
We returned to our lodging to rest after a long day.
* * *
“The commission this time is for labyrinth exploration.”
“A labyrinth?”
“Yes.”
The receptionist nodded and handed over a sheet of parchment.
“More precisely, it’s a request to investigate the interior of the labyrinth and subjugate any commander-class entities inside.”
I took the parchment and scanned its contents.
The destination was a labyrinth located in the southwestern mountainous region of Tilen.
It stated that several sightings of what appeared to be commander-class monsters emerging from the labyrinth entrance had been reported recently.
“Not just once, but multiple times?”
“Yes. That’s why it has become a problem.”
The receptionist continued with a serious expression.
“If it were simply lost monsters wandering outside, this wouldn’t have been issued as such a large-scale commission. But similar entities keep appearing on the surface.”
I read over the records on the parchment again.
The Labyrinth.
An underground ruin of unknown origin and purpose.
And commander-class monsters were continuously coming out from it.
That meant it wasn’t just a simple habitat.
“It means there’s a possibility the labyrinth itself is a spawning ground for commander-class monsters.”
“Correct.”
The receptionist nodded quietly.
“We are considering the possibility that the labyrinth has turned into some kind of monster breeding ground. The knight order headquarters has requested that you investigate the interior and, if possible, identify the source.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and there is one more thing I must inform you of.”
The receptionist organized the commission papers and continued.
“This commission has not been given only to you. The same request has been delivered to all other knights currently staying in Tilen.”
“To other knights as well?”
“Yes. Given the scale of the commission, the headquarters has decided to mobilize as much manpower as possible.”
I nodded.
If it involved labyrinth exploration and commander-class monsters, that level of response was only natural.
“Whether or not you cooperate is entirely up to you. You may form your own party and move independently, or join up with other knights on site.”
The receptionist paused for a moment before adding,
“However, the chances of encountering other knights inside or around the labyrinth are quite high. I’m telling you this in advance so there won’t be any unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“Understood.”
“And if you happen to discover a commander-class entity, please do not act alone. Assess the situation. If other knights are nearby, joining forces may be the better choice.”
At the receptionist’s words, I folded the commission sheet and gave a small nod.
And so, we began the labyrinth commission.
---
A new significant supporting character has appeared.
This is Wolfram, the heir of the Loendem family, who will be heavily involved with Eleanor.
As a bonus, I am also uploading Serena’s character sheet (though there is almost no information on her yet).
