Chapter 192: The Labyrinth, Once More (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 192: The Labyrinth, Once More (2)
“I wonder why Caleb is taking so long.”
In the waiting room outside the headquarters where the general assembly had been convened.
Yernil, Back Attack, and Aimus sat quietly, waiting for Caleb.
They had entered the Labyrinth with Caleb and brought out the Spider Doctor.
Since the exit gate could only be used by four people, Back Attack had escaped alone from the first exit room they cleared.
After that, using Yernil’s hearing to locate a new exit room, the three-person party of Aimus, Back Attack, and Caleb rushed to clear it with the Spider Doctor in tow.
That was the gist of it.
Back Attack, who had come out first, had given everyone in the Labyrinth Union lobby a firm warning: “A monster's about to come out, so don't freak out.” Then, he and Caleb's party rushed the Spider Doctor over to the Labyrinth Union's general assembly.
“But that was three hours ago, wasn’t it?”
It seemed the assembly wasn’t wrapping up easily, even after hearing the Spider Doctor’s testimony about a great Labyrinth eruption.
Either that, or Caleb had a lot to discuss with the Spider Doctor.
Click!
Just then, the door to the headquarters meeting room opened, and Yernil reacted.
“He’s out!”
But it wasn’t Caleb; it was a northern Barbarian. And surprisingly, someone there knew him…
“Aimus!”
The Barbarian’s eyes lit up when he saw Aimus.
“Romkier?”
Aimus’s eyes widened in surprise.
The North was a cold and harsh place. In such a barren land where it was hard enough to fend for oneself, people generally didn’t care about others. Except when they were raiding, of course.
The only city where many people gathered in peace and order was the Labyrinth City of Madurai.
If there was one other place, it would be Mount Dalai, the highest mountain on the continent, perpetually covered in snow.
The Monks who visited that place to become disciples of Kalung came from all corners of the world, encompassing a wide variety of races, but Barbarians were extremely rare among them.
“My father sent me there to learn how to write!”
Romkier laughed heartily.
“I got pretty close with this Monk there!”
He slapped Aimus on the shoulder, introducing him to the Barbarian attendant following behind.
“Both this friend and I were too big and clumsy for the Monk-style training. We always ended up doing remedial training, so we saw each other a lot and became friends.”
Romkier had been the first to leave the mountain.
He went home and told his father he couldn't stand it anymore. His father scolded him for defying the chieftain's orders, so Romkier challenged him to a fight for the chieftain's seat.
The crazy bastard beat up his own father right then and there and became the new chieftain.
“That was Romkier for you.”
Aimus introduced him to Back Attack and Yernil.
Back Attack and Yernil’s faces turned pale.
“Aimus. Did you complete your Monk training properly?”
“I did.”
“As expected, you’re amazing! I knew you would!”
“And then I broke my vows.”
“How?!”
“I got married.”
“Khahahat! This guy is as funny as ever! But still, seeing as you became an adventurer, you must be putting those fists you learned on Mount Dalai to good use, right?”
Aimus silently held up his iron staff for Romkier to see.
“Hahahat!”
Romkier’s laughter was so loud that Yernil had to cover her ears.
“I wasn’t satisfied with just my fists either, so I quit that long ago. I use an axe, like a true Barbarian! We’re a perfect pair of fallen monks!”
Romkier struck his axe against Aimus’s iron staff with a loud CLANG!
“How about it? Want to enter the Labyrinth with me this time?”
“What?”
“Leaving Madurai and coming down here has made me antsy. I was thinking of heading into the Sohen Labyrinth for some exercise, to see for myself just how cute it is.”
Romkier then lowered his voice and whispered.
“The other lords are interested in the Sohen Labyrinth too. After all, it’s been the site of several incidents recently.”
As if on cue, the Dwarf Governor and the Halfling Prime Minister emerged from the meeting room, grumbling.
Yernil could easily hear their voices.
“The Labyrinth is going to erupt?”
“I won’t believe it until I see it myself!”
“We need to find proof that the spider bastard is lying.”
“Did you bring enough soldiers?”
“Enough to smash the entire Sohen Labyrinth.”
“We need to move before the Consul starts bitching. Let’s go in and investigate ourselves. No one will believe it otherwise.”
“…”
Romkier grinned and nudged Aimus’s shoulder.
“So? Will you come with me?”
“No. I already have a party.”
“Ah, I see. Can’t be helped. Let’s have a drink next time! You can drink now that you’ve long since quit Kalung, right?”
“Only something with low alcohol content. My wife will scold me if I go home drunk.”
“Hahahat! So you’re tied down by your wife instead of Kalung!”
Romkier let out another hearty laugh and left with his attendant.
Then, another man as huge as Romkier emerged from the meeting room.
A well-built Orc with bulging muscles.
His steps, clad in full plate armor, thudded against the floor.
“What are you.”
He then turned toward Yernil’s group, and his eyes widened. This time, too, he knew someone there.
“Back Attack?”
“Huh?!”
Back Attack’s eyes went wide.
The man was the current Great King leading the western Orcs.
Raghat the Cruel.
He was originally one of the non-commissioned officers under Orc Lord Yagnar.
“Raghat! You’re leading the Orcs now?”
“…Watch your tongue. You are in the presence of the Orc Great King.”
Back Attack barely managed to stifle a laugh.
When he had been in Yagnar’s army, Raghat had been tormented daily by Richard and Mookup.
“They say when the tiger’s away, the fox becomes king.”
“What…”
“How’s the war looking?”
“Back Attack! Address the Orc Great King with the proper respect!”
“Would you deign to grant me permission to inquire as to the state of the war, O Great and Cruel Orc King Raghat?”
“Dammit, forget it. I give up. The war these days is…”
“Back Attack!”
Someone roared from behind Yagnar.
It was a Lizard Lord.
His name was Julbor.
He had been the lord of one of the Lizard fortresses that Back Attack had helped conquer when he was in Yagnar’s army.
Once again, Back Attack’s eyes widened.
“Julbor! Don’t tell me you’re the Lizard representative now?”
“I can forgive the others, but I will never forgive you! Back Attack!”
Julbor drew his sword.
“I took you in, thinking you were a war orphan, but you repaid my kindness by setting fire to the food stores and running off! You were a spy for Yagnar all along!”
“What are you talking about! The one who gets fooled in war is the idiot. Why are you blaming me for that?”
“Because of you, my peaceful Helen Fortress was ruined!”
“It was originally an Orc fortress! You were the one who occupied and exploited it!”
“Shut up! I’ll kill you right now…!”
Thwang!
The sound of a blowgun firing.
Not a real gun, but the sound of wind created by the immense tension of a magically enchanted bowstring.
Clink!
The arrow shattered the Lizard Lord’s earring.
And his fighting spirit along with it.
“…”
Yernil, quick as lightning, nocked another arrow to her bowstring, and the Lizard Lord froze in place.
“Don’t take another step,” Yernil said.
“Next time, I’ll shoot you in the head.”
“…”
Julbor glared at her fiercely before sheathing his sword.
“You guys, you’re going into the Labyrinth, aren’t you?”
“If Caleb says so.”
“Watch your back in there.”
The Lizard Lord stormed off, grinding his teeth.
Clap, clap, clap.
This time, the sound of applause echoed from inside the meeting room.
And this time, it was a face Yernil knew.
“Ma… Matriarch…?”
Sarquin, the Matriarch of the Fairy Forest.
“It’s been a long time, Yernil. Have you been well?”
“…”
“You’ve changed so much I almost didn’t recognize you. To think the exile who left the forest in tears has now become an adventurer who can subdue a Lizard general in a single move.”
Back Attack and Aimus both glanced at Yernil.
“Exile?”
“It seems you haven’t told your friends,” Sarquin said.
“Yernil broke the most important law of the Fairy Forest. That is why she was exiled.”
The law was: ‘Do not approach the Labyrinth.’ The elders of the Fairy Forest had always stressed this.
The Labyrinth coaxes people with their own desires, draws them in, and devours them. You must never go near it!
The authority of the elders and the insular nature of the Fairy Forest had upheld that principle for a long time, but the mood shifted when a certain famous Elf escaped the forest and became a Labyrinth adventurer.
Dalstream.
That great Elven wizard was the first Labyrinth adventurer from the Fairy Forest.
Thanks to him, Elves who admired Dalstream began to yearn for the Labyrinth cities one by one, leading the Fairy Forest elders to enforce the rule by law.
“Any Elf who visits the Labyrinth shall be sentenced to death. And any Elf who aids and abets them shall be permanently exiled from the Fairy Forest.”
That was why Yernil, a pure-blooded Elf born in the Fairy Forest, had made her way down to Flandre alone and penniless.
“Then…”
Aimus glanced at Yernil.
Does that mean someone was executed?
He swallowed the question because of the utterly devastated look on Yernil’s face.
“Yernil.”
Sarquin’s story wasn’t over.
“I heard you were with Professor Dalstream at the end.”
“…Yes.”
“What did you speak about with the professor?”
“I received his thesis, but I couldn’t protect it.”
“I see. It doesn’t matter. Yernil, while the Fairy Forest strictly forbids Elves from adventuring in the Labyrinth, a minority in the council of elders actually encourages it. Did you know?”
“Yes.”
“I am a Deep Layer adventurer.”
“…”
“Come to the Labyrinth with me. Leave that party.”
“What!?”
Yernil jumped in shock.
“The Labyrinth is a vile trap of the devil, one that gently prods at a person's desires before devouring them. Once you fall in, you can’t escape on your own. Even someone like Dalstream couldn’t. Look at you, you’re already a 7th-floor adventurer. You’ll be digested soon enough.”
“…”
“But I can protect you, Yernil. And I can…”
The Matriarch’s offer today was unprecedented.
“I can take you back to the Fairy Forest.”
“To the Fairy… Forest…?”
“Yes.”
Sarquin glanced at the other lords.
They were all beginning to make their moves.
The Dwarf Governor and the Halfling Prime Minister had no intention of giving up on the Labyrinth. They were already slaves to their desires, as good as having the Labyrinth Master’s seal branded on their foreheads. Foolish and pathetic. They were pitiful figures who had lost their minds to the sunk cost fallacy, unable to grasp reality.
The Barbarian, Lizard, and Orc lords also seemed intent on entering the Sohen Labyrinth. The reason was easy to guess: ‘to find power.’ Unlike the northern or western Labyrinths, Sohen had been producing surreal monsters like the Spider Doctor one after another.
They would try to find a way to use them as weapons of war. If they were lucky, they might even find additional evidence regarding the proposed Labyrinth closure.
As for what the Frostians, the Beastfolk King, or the Eastern Emperor were thinking, she wasn’t sure.
“With an issue like a great Labyrinth eruption on the table, the Fairy Forest will not stand idly by. Yernil. Come with us.”
Back Attack and Aimus stepped forward abruptly.
“Hold on. It’s not exactly normal to try and poach someone else’s party member so openly,” Aimus protested.
“I will pay any penalty fee. The situation appears grave, and Yernil is a valuable asset that the Fairy Forest must reclaim.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Back Attack grumbled in annoyance.
“I don’t know what’s what, but didn’t you say you kicked her out? And now you want her back because she looks useful?”
“That’s right. She is useful now, so we are calling her back,” Sarquin nodded.
“Is there a problem?”
“…Ah.”
Back Attack clenched his teeth.
“This queen and I really don’t get along. You think Yernil will go? A Barbarian made a similar offer just now, you know? You know what Aimus said?”
“Yernil’s situation is different,” Sarquin said.
“You’ve been with her for barely a year. You must have crossed the line between life and death together and forged a precious friendship. But in the Fairy Forest…”
When placed on a scale, it was certainly a heavy choice.
“Yernil’s family is there. Her father and mother, who eagerly await their exiled daughter. Yernil’s younger and older sisters. Even the deer she raised. And the friends she grew up with like sisters, climbing trees together since they were children.”
Sarquin extended her hand.
“Let’s go, Yernil.”
*
To be honest, I expected today’s assembly to end quickly, and it did.
But listening to the Spider Doctor, Bipa, and Mugol recount my past took longer than I thought.
So I was late, and fuck. I can't believe all this happened in the meantime.
“S-So what happened?”
My voice trembled automatically as I asked Yernil.
Don’t tell me, Yernil! You didn’t ditch the party, did you?
No. But it was possible.
Honestly, their side of the scale looked a lot heavier.
Staying with Caleb’s party and being separated from her family forever versus returning to the arms of her family.
This was the chance of a lifetime for the exiled Yernil to return to the forest. Would she really…?
“I refused.”
Yernil’s expression was grim as she answered calmly.
I swallowed hard without realizing it.
Because if I killed the Labyrinth Master, I would be saying goodbye to them and going home.
“…Well…”
I ended up offering some rather stupid comfort.
“Th-There will be other ways to go back to the Fairy Forest, Yernil.”
“Hoo!”
Yernil suddenly let out a deep breath and changed the subject.
“Caleb, that’s not the problem. The kings gathered at the assembly are planning to explore the Labyrinth. We don’t know what will happen on this trip.”
“That’s right, Caleb. Besides, I’ve already been marked by one of them,” Back Attack confessed.
“The Lizard Lord told me to watch my back.”
“This Labyrinth adventure might be quite perilous, Caleb,” Aimus said.
“Right. So, to sum it up.”
My temples throbbed.
“We, who are entering the 7th floor for the first time, are currently planning to break through to the 10th floor in one go.”
“Is that the plan we’re making?”
“And we have to go to the 9.5th floor to retrieve the Spider Doctor’s body from the White Lion who’s trying to resurrect himself.”
“We’re doing what now?”
“And on top of that, I was thinking of trying to retrace my memories.”
“…”
“And on top of that, we might run into conflict with the lords of other races, is that it?”
Fucking hell. I don't even know anymore.
Let’s just go.