Chapter 35: The First Floor is Too Easy
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 35: The First Floor is Too Easy
Inside a secret space within the labyrinth, six meters wide and six long—a treasure room.
Two parties were bidding each other farewell.
My party and Bernard's.
There was little benefit to our two parties traveling together, whether in terms of splitting loot or competing for the exit room.
Now that we had achieved our shared goal of escaping, it was time to part ways.
“See you in town.”
Remus, the Halfling crossbowman, extended his hand.
“The second floor was the limit for guys like us, but I think your team, Caleb, can make it to the Deep Layers.”
“Thank you. You’ve done well.”
I shook his hand.
Greg the Barbarian and Astin the Dwarf Mage said their goodbyes in turn.
“Stay healthy, everyone! See you in town! The name’s Greg!”
“Caleb. My team and I literally owe you our lives.”
Astin, the Dwarf Mage, didn’t forget Yernil either.
“That rookie elf archer is quite skilled, too. You’re a great team. I finally understand why the elf kept saying ‘Caleb, Caleb’ after every sentence.”
“…”
“Caleb. I know everyone’s making a fuss about you being a chantless, high-speed caster. I’ve heard the rumors. But you know what, Caleb? I think you have another talent!”
Astin added, much to my surprise.
“You’re a psychokinetic teleporter!”
What the hell is he talking about now?
“Didn’t you teleport that ossuary in an instant? I’ve heard that wizards with immense mental power can sometimes perform such miracles! When they try to move a specific object with psychokinesis, they focus so deeply that they unknowingly teleport it! They call people with that talent psychokinetic teleporters!”
Am I some kind of talent collector?
I keep picking up the weirdest things.
I’m just an hourglass wizard…
“Caleb.”
Bernard, the leader of their party, stepped forward.
He was composed, a stark contrast to his usual boisterous self.
“I’ve truly learned a great deal.”
He gripped my hand tightly.
“When you return to town, please be sure to visit the temple of Nathaniel. I will give you the reward you deserve for completing this mission.”
I bid them farewell as well.
“I hope you all clear the exit room safely and return to town.”
I still get pissed off thinking about how we got trapped in that cathedral and everything went to hell because of these guys.
Still, I was grateful that they’d jumped back through the gate at the end to back us up.
Besides, I got something good out of it, too: the Staff of the Sanctuary Administrator.
I suppose I can forgive them for drawing aggro to the cathedral.
“We’ll see you in town.”
After sending Bernard’s party on their way, Yernil asked.
“Should we get going now, too?”
What are you talking about, Yernil?
“We haven’t finished looting the treasure chest yet.”
I pointed to the enormous treasure chest standing behind me.
It was so large you could have comfortably locked two or three people inside to meet their end.
“But it was full of nothing but trash, wasn’t it?”
Aimus smiled gently at Yernil’s naivete, which was so typical of a labyrinth rookie.
“There are useful things mixed in with all that junk.”
I handed Yernil my wand.
“Hold this and wait a moment.”
Then I jumped right into the giant treasure chest.
*
The treasure room.
One of the secret spaces within the labyrinth.
It’s the kind of place that appears when you operate a hidden switch, causing a disguised wall to slide open with a clunk.
The deeper you go, the harder the switches are to find, but on the first floor, it’s simple. Especially if you can pinpoint the general location with a compass.
In the middle of the secret room sits a treasure chest the size of a compact car, and its size means it contains a lot of items.
The treasure that appears at the very top is, with high probability, ‘what the adventurer desires most.’
In this case, it was a resurrection scroll.
In the game, clicking the chest would open an input window where you could type the name of the item you wanted.
But the treasure chest doesn’t just give you whatever you want.
For example, if I had opened it while desperately wishing for the ‘Compass of Greed,’ a normal compass would have appeared at the top.
This meant it was impossible to farm overpowered items right from the start.
As for the things underneath…
Just as Yernil said, most of it was trash.
It was the same in the game when you opened a treasure room chest.
Old cups, pots, towels, toothbrushes, scouring pads, notebooks, teaspoons, and so on.
But if you dig a little deeper…
You might find two or three more items worthy of being called treasure.
I started excavating, pulling out the trash to find anything useful.
I pulled out tongs, a candle, scraps of clothing torn to rags, a pot and a frying pan…
Oh!
I found something right away.
A Blank Scroll.
A parchment scroll onto which you could inscribe a spell to create any scroll you wanted.
I tucked it into my inner pocket.
Then, back to digging.
Amidst tissues, water bottles, bread bags, and an old ball, I found something else decent.
A rather handsome-looking dagger.
I’d have to get it appraised to know its exact properties, but the blade was warm to the touch, suggesting a high probability of a fire-based magic or enchantment.
If it’s any good, I could give it to Back Attack.
And…
Huh?
I found a coin among the junk.
Finding a coin wasn’t strange. In the game, junk items called ‘Ancient Coins’ often appeared in treasure chests.
But…
Where have I seen this design before?
The coin was engraved with the image of an eagle holding a dagger.
I remembered. I had seen it recently.
…The inter-floor village.
It was the same image that had been on the flag fluttering forlornly in the middle of the ruined plaza when I went down to the 1.5th Floor village.
In the game, the icons for all items were too small to identify something in such detail.
But now that it was real, I could look closely and recognize it.
Wait a minute.
Does that mean all these daily necessities came from the inter-floor village?
“…”
I should hold onto it for now.
Since this is information even I don’t have, I’ll have to give it to Professor Isilof and see his reaction.
“Let’s go now.”
I climbed out of the treasure chest and handed Yernil one last gift.
It was…
“This is to replace the one you gave to Back Attack.”
A hair tie I had found inside.
*
“No way!”
Back Attack screamed when his atrocities from his undead days were revealed.
His ears turned bright red.
“No way! Why the hell would I chew on some dirty elf hair!”
“It’s true,” Aimus replied calmly, while Yernil retorted, indignant.
“Dirty? The dirty part is you drooling all over it! Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through?”
“When you find a hair in your food, do you think it’s gross because of the spit? No, it’s because of the hair.”
“…!”
“So if you think about who should feel grossed out, aren’t I the one at a disadvantage?”
“…Huh?”
Utter confusion spread across Yernil’s face.
“Is… that… right…?”
Of course not.
Yernil, you’re so naive. This is why you get scammed into being a drug mule at the Errand Center.
“Anyway, I had to throw away my hair tie because of Back Attack,” Yernil complained, looking upset.
“…! I’m sorry about that. I’ll buy you a new one when we get out.”
“You don’t have to. Caleb gave me a new one.”
Fortunately, Yernil seemed to like the old hair tie I’d found in the treasure chest.
“Really? Then don’t go around telling people I chew on girls’ hair ties, okay?”
So this was his personality?
They said he was the youngest on Aimus’s team, and he certainly seemed a bit immature.
When he was undead, his face was completely bloodless, and his skin was all flaky and dry, making it impossible to guess his age.
But now, he looked to be in his early twenties.
“By the way, what’s your real name, Back Attack?”
Thump.
At Yernil’s question, Aimus, Back Attack, and I all froze and stared at her.
Come to think of it, Yernil wasn’t there when I used necromancy to turn Back Attack into an undead, nor was she there when I laid him to rest.
She hadn’t heard what name I called out in the incantation.
Back Attack answered seriously.
“My name is Back Attack.”
“…Pfft.”
Yernil failed to stifle her laughter and bit her lip.
This time, it was Back Attack who got worked up.
“Hey! Is it funny? Is it funny that a person’s name is Back Attack?”
Honestly, it is pretty funny.
“I chose it myself and legally changed it! It’s cool, isn’t it? It sounds like a rogue!”
“Yes. It’s cool,” Yernil replied, forcing the corners of her mouth down.
“…!”
Flustered, Back Attack scurried over to me, seeking my approval.
“Hey, Caleb. Is my name really that weird? Isn’t it cool? It sounds like a rogue.”
Don’t ask me. I don’t think I can hold back my laughter either.
“Ah. Everyone, wait a second! Stop!”
Suddenly, Back Attack bounced a little further ahead and halted the party.
“There’s a trap. Follow me slowly. Here, here, and here. Step exactly where I step.”
It was certainly convenient having a rogue around.
You needed a special ability to detect traps, hidden chests, or switches in the depths of the labyrinth.
‘Keen Eye.’
It was an ability that many in the Rogue class invested in, and Back Attack probably had it.
Until now, I’d had to strain my own eyes, searching the ground for traps myself.
“Huh? Wait a moment.”
After we passed the trap, it was Yernil’s turn to stop the party.
“What is it?”
Before the three of us could even grasp the situation…
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
Yernil fired three arrows ahead, one for the neck of each of the three goblins.
“Let’s go!”
The Monk had nothing to do.
I felt like I was out of a job, too.
Ha, well now.
Suddenly, we’ve become too overpowered for the first floor.
It feels like just yesterday that Yernil and I were trembling as we made our way through.
Should I enter through the second floor next time?
A party of this caliber should be able to handle it with ease.
“Caleb!”
Yernil sensed something else.
“The labyrinth structure is changing!”
She had heard the sound of the floor and walls shifting.
Someone had cleared an exit room.
“Which way is it?”
Last time we cleared the labyrinth, we were the ones emerging from the cleared exit room, but this time was different.
If we were close enough to the newly forming exit room, Yernil might be able to track it.
“When you hear a clang like a door shutting, that’s the direction.”
“I heard it! It’s super close!”
Yernil pointed the way.
*
Mrs. Renick had left her first and second children with the neighbors and was choosing bread at the bakery with her youngest on her back when she heard the news.
“The first-floor exit gate is open!”
The labyrinth was a place where one could earn a lot of money, but it was just as dangerous.
News that an exit gate had opened was important to the families of adventurers, a thrilling piece of information.
“The first floor!”
What’s more, the floor number matched.
Mrs. Renick stopped her shopping right then and there and headed for the Labyrinth Union.
After confirming her identity as the family member of an adventurer who had entered the first floor, she moved to the waiting room and waited with a pounding heart, but…
“It was a truly moving adventure.”
A Lizard Paladin appeared.
Along with a Halfling crossbowman, a Dwarf Mage, and a Barbarian fighter.
“I will go to the temple of Nathaniel to report on the mission. The rest of you may rest now.”
“…”
She was disappointed.
Countless parties had entered the first floor of the labyrinth.
Just by comparing the sheer number of possibilities, the chances of it being Aimus’s party were bound to be low.
“Sigh.”
Mrs. Renick pushed aside her disappointment and stood up.
She would just have to wait for the next chance…
“The first-floor exit gate of the labyrinth has opened again!”
Mrs. Renick wasn’t the only one surprised by the staff member’s announcement.
“What are you talking about? We just came out, and it’s open again already?”
Bernard’s party stared, wide-eyed, back at the exit gate.
Four people were emerging from it.
“Caleb!”
For that party, the first floor of the labyrinth was now too easy.
Ironically, the Venomic Spider that had once brought Yernil to despair appeared again.
But this time, the battle was different.
The spider was brought to a near-death state by four dust explosions, then was hit in succession by a Leaping Ambush, a Gaia Smeshing, and a Three-Point Shot, and died screaming in an instant.
It didn’t even have a chance to detonate its poison glands. Yernil, already in position, had rolled over an oak barrel, and an incendiary arrow marked a spot on the ceiling.
“I’ve gotten the hang of throwing barrel-sized objects now.”
Aimus threw it, and Caleb detonated it, finishing the job.
“We should go to the second floor next time. With our party’s strength, the first floor is too eas—”
Caleb stopped talking when he spotted Mrs. Renick.
“…”
The moment Mrs. Renick saw Aimus, tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision.
She could only cover her face with her hands and sob, her body trembling.
Caleb gave Aimus a gentle push.
“Go on. She must have been very worried.”
“…”
A lump formed in Aimus’s throat.
His wife must have been worried sick when her husband, who had been a low-ranked adventurer even in his prime, decided to re-enter the labyrinth after retirement.
“I’m sorry… They said the pendant was a fake.”
Mrs. Renick leaned her forehead against Aimus’s chest and said.
“Really? I had no idea.”
Aimus held his wife tightly.
“But a miracle did happen.”
*
“I should thank your wife, too.”
Back Attack said as he followed Yernil and me outside.
“Thank her for letting you join this party, Aimus. She could have said no, right?”
“Let’s just leave them be for now. Back Attack, you’re coming with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“First, we’re going to the Adventurer’s Guild to get Yernil’s freeman status.”
“Finally!” Yernil’s face lit up.
“After that, you and I are going to the Magic University to report on the mission.”
Just imagining it made me a little dizzy.
All the professors at the Magic University would probably flock out and line up to see Back Attack, staring at him like a monkey in a zoo.
After all, he was the first human to descend into madness and become an exit boss, only to return as an adventurer.