Chapter 21
Chapter 21
"Yeah."
"Wait, why are you here?"
Jaw drop.
It's absurd.
Why is she here?
Hera also walked over, lowering her bow slightly, and said.
"Calli??"
"Hera, you're here too?"
"Seriously, why are you here?"
"That's what I want to ask."
I can feel her golden eye sweeping over us.
I got a slight chill.
I glanced at the black mage's waist and saw four black metal rings hanging there.
That means she even brought her main weapon.
"I didn't expect to see you guys here."
"... Same here."
The black mage's voice faded low.
It wasn't exactly a positive tone.
I grip my sword tightly.
Calliope's golden eye looked down at me.
My side hasn't even fully healed yet...
Should I launch a surprise attack, or not?
For now, let's just buy some time.
"What brings you here?"
"Well... I'd rather ask you that. Why are you guys here?"
"We don't have any big goal. We were actually about to head back."
"That's a lie!! Those bastards went crazy and killed our party for no reason...!"
Perhaps emboldened by the tense atmosphere, the guy who ran away pointed at us, spitting everywhere.
If a fight breaks out, should I kill that bastard first?
"He says that, you know?"
"Do you think that's true?"
As if.
Beneath the face hidden by the hat's brim, only a smile at the corner of her lips was visible.
She lifted her chin slightly and asked back.
"Aren't you underestimating me too much? If the two of us had really gone in with a preemptive strike, you all would've been dead in an instant."
"I doubt it."
"Oh, you don't believe me? Should I make you believe?"
She deliberately took a step forward as if to threaten me.
One more step and she would be in perfect attack range.
At my action, Calliope smiled faintly and stepped back to create distance.
This bitch...
This is a dead end.
Should I try something with a simplified chant?
As I was gathering as much strength in my arm as possible, a voice broke the hair-trigger atmosphere from behind.
"Vice Tower Master-nim. Please, stop the fighting..."
"Hehe. Shall I?"
A slightly youthful male voice.
At those words, Calliope spread her arms slightly toward us.
An action that showed no intention to attack.
Our party members looked relieved, but Hera and I didn't lower our guard.
We had too much history, after all.
Seeing that, Calliope laughed.
"Our business here, well. It's nothing special. We just came for a short training session for the new disciples. As you know, the Hyantes Flower is one of the important items for our Magic Tower."
"Training..."
"So, I'd like you to relax a bit. I have no intention of fighting. I don't have a hobby of blowing off limbs, either."
She lifted her head and raised the brim of her hat.
Fortunately, her golden eye wasn't as creepy as before.
While I let out a long breath, the runaway who had been spitting while threatening to kill us earlier noticed the situation and started sneaking backward.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Calliope reached her hand forward.
The metal rings at her waist gathered in front of her hand, forming a line.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh...!"
"Behave yourself. Even if you survive and get out of here, you're going to die anyway."
A single strand of purple glowing thread rose from her hand.
The thread passed through the coil, turned into a flash of light, and pierced the runaway's calf.
"Aaaaargh! Aaaaaaaargh—!"
A hole big enough for an index finger appeared.
The runaway rolled around, wailing.
Calliope turned her head toward us after seeing that.
It was as if she was telling me to finish him off.
As I approached the runaway with my sword, he writhed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...! I really, Yerkel... he said you guys had a lot of money... he told me to do it...!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry too."
"What? Th-then..."
"I'm sorry for killing you."
Not that I'm actually sorry, though.
The runaway's head was cleanly separated from his body.
The sight of blood spurting out wasn't quite as clean.
As I watched the life flowing out, Calliope spoke.
"Shall we talk now?"
* * *
There was no need for a long explanation.
Because Calliope had also been to the Deep Layer.
We had been in a party together back then.
Calliope was in the backline, and I was in the frontline.
It's not a very good memory.
Anyway, Calliope, who had been listening to the explanation of what had happened so far with interest, laughed as if amused once I finished my story.
"So the rules have collapsed. Interesting..."
"You find this interesting?"
God, the personality of these click-happy bastards.
Someone almost died, and she calls it interesting.
As I looked at her with disbelief, Calliope smiled faintly.
"Then isn't it interesting? As far as I know, it's been thousands of years since the Labyrinth appeared."
"Is this history class?"
"If you look at the documents from when the Great Labyrinth first appeared, they say the world at that time was filled with 'evil'. Countless humans groaned in pain."
That's a story I've never heard before.
I've been curious about the contents of the Labyrinth, but I never really wondered why it appeared.
Calliope muttered dreamily.
"But they say that as the Great Labyrinth appeared, the evil faded away."
"Then did that 'evil' go into the Labyrinth?"
"That's unknown. According to the records, the evil gradually faded from that point on, so scholars think there's a 'possibility'. But since no one knows what 'evil' actually is..."
Then why did you bring it up?
I looked at Calliope, swallowing the words that were about to pop out of my mouth.
She continued.
"In the thousands of years of records since then, I've never seen anything like this. But for this to happen all of a sudden... it seems like there's a lot to dig into."
"Yeah, dig away. Let me know if you find any results."
After giving that reply, I let out a deep sigh.
It's not like it's an update, so why the hell is this happening?
Doesn't this mean climbing the Labyrinth will be much harder from now on?
It was a laughable story.
"By the way, Calli, we're going back. What are you guys going to do?"
"Ah, that's right. You said you were on your way back."
Hera's question.
Calliope, who had been lost in thought, twisted her side hair slightly at the question.
"I think it's better for us to go back, too. I already thought something was strange, so I was debating whether to turn back."
"Did you guys encounter high-intelligence Gnolls too?"
"Not to that extent, but the Lizardmen were truly cunning. I brought one to analyze, but..."
Calliope took something out of the small bag at her waist.
As she opened the bag and put her hand in, an object that had been shrunk to the size of a billiard ball grew larger as it came out of the bag.
It was a Lizardman's head.
"Hey, damn it, why are you carrying that around?"
To think she'd put something weird like that in such an expensive subspace bag.
I envy the rich.
If it were me, I'd carry all sorts of things in there... though, I guess it doesn't matter since big things don't fit.
"Hehe. I didn't know it was the Deep Layer. But if it's the Deep Layer... it's a common occurrence."
Calliope tossed the head aside.
The Paladin standing quietly beside us was startled and freaked out at the head that suddenly appeared.
Seeing that, she laughed, and then Calliope called someone.
"Lexion!"
"Yes."
At Calliope's call, the young male mage who had been standing guard approached.
"Tell them to prepare for camping."
"Yes, Vice Tower Master-nim. But in what way..."
At those words, Calliope looked at me.
I stared back with a look that asked what she was looking at, and Calliope said.
"You can consult with this person."
"Why me?"
"He'll earn his keep. Actually, aren't we protecting you guys? My disciples haven't experienced things like this often, so I was worried, but this works out well."
Calliope left after saying that.
Wait, I never said I would do it?
The man called Lexion stared at us blankly and said.
"Um, what is your name..."
"Rian. I'm Rian Werner."
"Rian Werner... Ah, are you by any chance 'Rian of Fury'?"
"Fury..."
That's a nickname I don't really want to be called.
I was feeling bitter about it when Erion exclaimed in surprise.
"Rian-nim... were you bestowed a title by the Magic Tower?"
"Title... well, I guess so."
"Wow, no wonder."
"I did a few jobs for them a while back, and they just started calling me that on their own. And only they really know about it."
It's a past I don't really want to talk about.
I showed that, so Erion didn't continue the conversation.
Instead, he exchanged a few words with the person named Lexion, then stared at the Magic Tower disciples with a dazed expression.
He looked like he was lost in sentiment.
Well, I should just do my job.
"Let's go. I'll show you how to set up the camp."
* * *
There were no particular incidents on the way.
There was a night raid on the first day, but we had alarm magic and night watch, so we were able to handle it sufficiently.
The way back was also faster than I thought.
It was thanks to Calliope, who made us drink slot recovery potions and cast detection magic, saying we needed to return quickly.
The only memorable incident was the raid we suffered when we returned to the 16th floor and camped out.
It wasn't because we suffered any serious damage, but because Calliope stepped up in earnest.
"Keaaak!"
"Kuek!"
"Kuoergh!"
When Calliope waved her hand once, three streaks of light generated along the trajectory pierced the Lizardmen's foreheads precisely.
The Lizardmen immediately turned into gray dust and Magic Stones, and the disciples hurriedly picked them up.
It was a magic utilization ability bordering on god-like.
I can do something similar with an axe, but it was hard to be that precise.
"Hmm."
Kwaang-! Lightning striking down.
Lizardmen instantly becoming grilled lizards.
As the situation was cleared up, Calliope crossed her arms and said.
"They're different from the Lizardmen we met back then. They're just stupid guys that would appear on the 16th floor."
"That's right."
"Is there some kind of condition? If so, I feel like I threw that head away for nothing."
"Well..."
There are so few samples that there are no clues.
More than that, she's really strong.
She's not the Vice Tower Master of the Arcanum Lightning Magic Tower for nothing.
Anyway, that was about the only notable incident.
We came out of the Labyrinth around lunchtime the next day.
When we exited the Labyrinth, it was a total mess.
"No entry!! No entry!!"
"What the hell, you bastards! What's going on!!"
"Fuck, what is going on!!"
Soldiers fully armed and blocking the front of the building.
Explorers protesting with angry expressions in front of the soldiers.
Inside the Labyrinth building, receptionists were running around with urgent expressions.
A high-ranking official from City Hall, whom I had seen running around before, was also at this building doing something.
And as we walked out and made our presence known, people's gazes suddenly focused on us.
"... Are you Explorers?!?!"
"Ah, yes."
"No, how... wait a moment, wait a moment!"
The chaotic scene.
The receptionist ran over there and brought back the high-ranking official from City Hall.
Who was this guy again?
He was someone from the Labyrinth Management Bureau or something.
"Are you sure you just came out of the Labyrinth?! Answer me quickly!"
The bald middle-aged man shouted, leaning in as if to threaten us.
Before I could say anything, Calliope spat out coldly.
"Who are you?"
"What? Right now, that kind of..."
"I am Calliope Inariel, the Thunder-Suppressing Count (Jeroebaek) of Arcanum. Who are you? Who are you to be so rude in front of me?"
Calliope's golden eye swept over the middle-aged man.
The bald middle-aged man was about to get angry, but he clutched his chest and staggered back step by step.
I raised my hand in front of Calliope to tell her to stop.
She glanced at me slightly and then withdrew her gaze.
"I, I'm sorry."
"Ignorance and rudeness are both sins."
Another person ran out due to the commotion.
This time, it was an old man with a somewhat greedy impression.
He was the Director of the Dungeon Management Bureau, I remembered seeing him during the High-level Explorer interview.
"Rian, you're Rian, right!"
"Yes."
"No, you definitely went into the Labyrinth, so how!!"
Isn't it natural to come out if you go into the Labyrinth?
But given what we experienced after entering, and the situation actually unfolding right now.
It didn't seem natural at all.
The Bureau Director gasped for air, then looked at Calliope and said.
"Ah, you are the Thunder-Suppressing Count. Didn't you also enter?"
"If I hadn't entered, would I be here?"
Calliope said as if it were nothing strange.
The Director rubbed his balding head in front of us, then held out his hands and said.
"You might find this unpleasant, but please do not leave the Labyrinth until we give further instructions."
"Is that an order that applies to me too?"
"... We cannot stop the Thunder-Suppressing Count. You may do as you please."
The Director bowed his head and retreated.
Calliope smiled slightly and didn't do anything else.
It seemed she intended to find out why the Labyrinth had become like this.
When she gestured, Lexion led the Magic Tower disciples to a corner, and Calliope followed.
As I was watching that, Erion spoke to me from behind.
"Is it true that what we experienced was a highly abnormal situation?"
"That's right."
"No, I thought the Labyrinth was always like that..."
I burst into a dry laugh.
If the Labyrinth were always like that, everyone who went in would have really died.
"What happens to us now?"
The person who asked from behind was the Guide.
The two elves and the gnome also looked at us with anxious eyes.
It felt like everyone didn't know how to take the current situation.
"For now, we'll have to give our testimonies together."
"The, the thing about fighting and killing each other, what happens with that?"
"That's innocent."
I gave an immediate answer to the Paladin's question.
If you get hit first and counterattack, it's always innocent.
It happens frequently in the Deep Layer, so there were many precedents for such cases.
They say they use magic if the case gets more complicated or testimonies don't match, but in our case, there were so many people, and especially with Calliope there, there was no need to worry.
"After we give our testimonies, let's settle on dividing the loot according to market rates."
Originally, I intended to only take valuables.
But thanks to Calliope coming, fortunately, we were able to secure quite a bit of loot.
Of course, we couldn't sweep up all the armor and such, but at least we brought the expensive stuff.
"What about the distribution ratio? In the case of killing an Explorer... does the loot follow the precedent of Magic Stones?"
The beastman's voice.
He's thorough, as expected.
If that were the case, we would have made quite a lot of money, but this case was different.
"By custom, it's distributed in equal proportions."
"Why?"
The gnome asked.
That made sense.
Honestly speaking, this guy didn't do much.
Of course, he played a big role, but if you strictly look at the distribution ratio, it wasn't a condition to receive a lot at all.
"Well, that's just the custom."
I don't really know why.
I just have a hunch that maybe it's because it involves people killing each other.
Beside me, Erion nodded as if he had realized something and was convinced.
Why are you doing that?
"But what do we do about our luggage like this? And what about lodging?"
"Well, about that... couldn't we just leave?"
I asked back at Hera's voice.
Our party members here might be detained.
But since we're not going to run away, wouldn't it be possible for us to stay?
We're High-level Explorers, after all.
"Anyway, well."
I sat on a nearby bench.
Looking at the chaos we're facing now, I thought things wouldn't be resolved easily in the future.