The Supporting Protagonist Gets to Work - 8
I subjugated every last Amazon and became their king.
At the same moment, wasting not a second, I leveraged the advantage of our alliance and entered the enemy nation without spilling a drop of blood.
Disguised as a hostage, I slipped into the castle, cut down the royal guards in a blur, and reached the audience chamber. I dragged the king from his throne and claimed it for myself.
In the real world I would have fought for that seat just for the chance to taste the First Hero’s power. Unfortunately the mindscape was nowhere near refined enough to fully contain that strength. So I handed the throne over to the First Hero to clear the zone and stepped out of the fourth sector.
“Finally done.”
Body and senses snapped back to normal, and a wave of pure relief rolled through me. It felt exactly like a butterfly punching free of its cocoon.
I was endlessly glad to be myself again. Frach, however, did not share the sentiment.
“The Contractor has been unfaithful.”
Still on about that?
“This body—a flawless, peerless beauty of a blade—was left behind while you dallied with other swords! Guilty! Guilty!”
Her furious voice poured straight into my skull, ringing so hard it made me slightly dizzy.
I didn’t have a choice. With that scrawny body and no sword at all, I never would have beaten the Amazons.
“The moment you left that prison, seeking this body first should have been the natural order of things!”
The Amazons were packed solid right outside the jail. It was impossible.
“With your cunning it would not have been entirely impossible, would it?”
Not impossible, sure—but the risk would have skyrocketed.
More importantly, if I had been spotted swaggering around the village, Meril’s position would have been finished. The tribe would have torn into her for “setting the prisoner loose.” I couldn’t repay kindness with betrayal, so I used another sword. That was why even Frach’s full-throated resentment left me without a single regret.
Just this once, I need you to understand. I have to stay alive if I’m going to use you at all.
“……One month.”
Hm?
“For one full month you will polish this body without missing a single day! This time, and this time only, I shall overlook the offense.”
Got it.
“And remember—there will be no second chance! From this day forward, should you lay a hand on any blade other than this body, I will sever your wrists!”
Aye-aye~
I had troll regeneration. A wrist or two was nothing. I had already sliced my own pinky off in front of Hesha like a maniac; wrists were hardly off-limits.
“……Correction. Until a new magic sword takes residence inside this body, I shall assault you every single night.”
I will never cheat again.
Frach’s threat to force an impossible miracle into existence was enough. I bowed my head and admitted fault. A child of human and magic sword—no matter how hard I tried, my mind refused to picture that nightmare hybrid.
“Guest?! Are you all right? You’re drenched in cold sweat!”
“I-I’m fine.”
“If you’re tired, perhaps rest a little in the library first……”
“No. I’m heading straight to the next zone.”
Except for the boss, this was the final sector. No matter how exhausted I felt, I preferred to finish the job and then collapse properly. Meril’s worried gaze followed me, but I waved her off—no need to fuss.
“The next zone is……”
“The place they call the Labyrinth of Ten Thousand because it has more than ten thousand branching paths.”
“That’s right! But how do you know so much about it, Guest?”
“Heard it from another survivor. Someone who got out with a top-grade return stone.”
“I see!”
I spun the lie as smoothly as a flowing stream, and Meril nodded with pure, trusting eyes. As long as the words came out without hesitation, she would believe anything I said.
“So how do you plan to solve the labyrinth?”
“That’s simple.”
Unlike every other time, I strode into the maze without a second’s hesitation. Once you entered, there was no going back. Escape or death—those were the only two exits. Monsters, traps, and a layout that reshuffled every six hours had claimed countless lives.
Fail to escape and you start over from scratch.
In the original story the exit had been right in front of them when the six-hour mark hit and the whole party fell into despair. They failed again. And again. Five failures in total. By the end everyone had lost the will to live—until Kang Junhyuk stepped up and rallied them. Only after a full six-hour rest and re-equipment did they finally break free.
In other words, the six-hour time limit itself is the first trap.
“The old saying ‘haste makes waste’ comes to mind.”
A countdown that frays the nerves and delivers crushing despair. If you simply rested through the first timer and then set out, clearing the place would be trivial……
“Guest? That’s a dead end.”
“I know.”
I couldn’t spare even the first six hours. Outside, work was piled mountain-high; wasting a full quarter of a day was unacceptable.
“Hup!!”
I sucked in a huge breath, clenched my fist, poured power into my arm, and drove it straight into the wall ahead.
KRAAANG—!
The entire space shuddered. The wall in front of me collapsed. I stepped over the rubble onto the path beyond.
“Nice. First trap cleared without breaking a sweat.”
“Pardon?”
By simply demolishing the wall I had skipped an entire trap zone that was supposed to be mandatory.
“Let’s keep this momentum going.”
“You’re not seriously planning to smash every wall in the labyrinth like that, are you?”
“Nah. My hands wouldn’t survive.”
“R-right, of course not.”
“If I’m going to do it, I’ll just cut everything with a sword.”
I drew Frach from her scabbard. I already knew the walls would crumble under my bare fists. What would happen if I swung Frach at them instead? No need to check—the picture painted itself.
Her blade slid through the stone as smoothly as if it were tofu. I swept my arm in several arcs while gripping the hilt; cracks spider-webbed across the surface. Bricks shifted at an angle and clattered to the floor in a rain of debris.
“I never imagined the labyrinth walls would be this flimsy……! It never even crossed my mind!”
“Well, it can happen.”
In truth it was only possible because Frach and I were both off the charts. In the original, Kang Junhyuk had tried to break the walls and accomplished nothing. The only existence capable of smashing or slicing them was me.
Anyway, by cutting straight through wall after wall we advanced in a perfect line and reached the exit in three hours.
“At last—the final stretch.”
The moment we left the labyrinth, a colossal iron door loomed ahead. Instinct told me the long-awaited final boss waited beyond it. I headed straight for the door and was about to fling it open when—
The instant my hand touched the surface, the wall to the right of the boss room blazed with light and birthed a brand-new passage. My gaze was pulled toward the corridor, and my hand naturally left the door.
Meril tilted her head in pure confusion. I, on the other hand, understood at once. The newly formed passage led to a secret chamber that Kang Junhyuk had never been able to enter. Why it appeared right before the boss fight was a mystery, but every instinct screamed that if I didn’t go in now, the chance would be gone forever.
“Are you certain? It could be a trap.”
No problem.
Whatever trap or monster waited, I was confident I could handle it. I turned and walked into the passage.
At the far end, faint light glowed beyond a glass door. Inside the glittering chamber, skins of every kind of beastkin and piles of erotic paintings lay strewn about.
“Problem.”
I immediately backed out of the room.
“Wang!!”
“What’s wrong?”
Hades and Chaos had been hard at work sowing discord between the Magic Tower and the Red Dragon faction on Bern’s orders. In the middle of another diligent day of sabotage, Chaos suddenly whipped around—exactly toward the dungeon where Bern was.
“Arrrr…!!”
“What? You need to go to our Lord right this second?”
“Wang! Wang!”
“W-wait! At least tell me the reason before you—!”
Despite Hades’s frantic attempts to stop him, Chaos dove straight into the shadows of his own free will, riding them toward Bern’s location. Hades could only scratch her cheek in helpless frustration.
“Please…… let my Lord be safe……”
She stroked her own ribcage and prayed for Bern’s well-being.