Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Labyrinth Expedition
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The Labyrinth Expedition Team has been formed.
The members of the Labyrinth Expedition Team are...
Luna. Aila. Eirin. Marie.
And Ignis, who's currently at Hero's Haven.
Lilliana said she's not coming because she's researching my blood.
Has she made some kind of breakthrough?
As we headed out to board the carriage for the labyrinth, an unexpected face appeared.
It was Albert.
"What are you doing here?"
"Master. I want to accompany you too."
I'd half-expected it, but it seemed he was planning to follow us all the way to the labyrinth.
It was ridiculous.
The place we were heading wasn't the shabby first floor he'd been wandering around. It was the deep labyrinth layers.
Albert, who couldn't even handle mana yet, would just be dead weight.
A guy as baggage... The very thought was horrifying.
They say excessive favors turn into annoyances, and sure enough, he'd become one.
Had he heard from Eirin that we were going to the labyrinth?
"Looks like my words fell on deaf ears."
"Pardon?"
"Have you finished building the house I told you to make?"
"Ah, not yet..."
"Hah! You haven't even done your assigned work, and you think you can just tag along?! Do you think your master is a pushover? I put thought into designing your training program... you insolent brat!"
"S-Sorry, Master."
He seemed genuinely shocked that I'd refuse, bowing his head in bewilderment after getting scolded.
This is why people without any sense are trouble.
"Sorry doesn't cut it?"
"No, it doesn't."
"Is this outside or inside?"
"Ahem."
I was gleefully tearing into Albert when Aila's fake cough snapped me back to reality.
"Ahem! I even gave you precious pills out of consideration, and you can't even complete the first training I assigned... Hah, such a greedy fool."
"S-Sorry."
"Enough. You can't even handle mana—you're just baggage. You think I'd bring you along? I'm disappointed, Albert. Don't disappoint me further."
"Ugh... Sorry, Master."
Having been thoroughly chewed out by me, Albert finally teared up.
After thoroughly enjoying dressing down Albert,
we boarded the carriage driven by Marie and headed to the labyrinth.
Luna and Aila were each inspecting their weapons.
Eirin's face looked a bit downcast.
She must have felt bad about Albert getting scolded.
Tsk tsk. With a soft heart like that...
During the carriage ride,
I skimmed the paper with the information Marie had brought.
The deepest floor adventurers had reached in this labyrinth was known to be the 12th.
There were two teleport magic circles installed.
On the 5th and 10th floors.
The monsters varied, but the key difference was that starting from the 10th floor, mid-sized monsters not seen on floors 1 through 9 appeared.
Judging by the size of the mid-sized monsters reported on the 10th, they seemed equivalent to C-Rank in my original world.
As I reviewed the labyrinth info, the carriage raced along and arrived at the building atop the labyrinth.
The Labyrinth Management Office.
We left the horses there and stored the entire carriage in my inventory.
The carriage Lilliana modified made for an excellent rest spot on its own. I planned to use it instead of tents inside the labyrinth.
The goal of this labyrinth expedition was to find the path to the 11th floor. I figured we could test the party skill plenty along the way.
The issue was the 11th floor entrance.
That entrance location wasn't something you could just buy easily.
Turns out, some adventurer groups had banded together into large guild-like organizations.
They were hoarding the 11th floor entrance info like it was theirs alone.
So, all we had was a vague idea of the direction.
Ant-like solo adventurers like me had to find it ourselves.
There was another way: pay top gold to one of those massive adventurer guilds for the info.
But it was ridiculously expensive.
And they prohibited reselling it for profit.
Sure enough, wealth accumulated with the rich here too.
I had the money to buy it, but something about fattening their purses rubbed me the wrong way.
It felt dirty and underhanded, so I'd find it myself.
No rush, and I could farm skill points on the side. It'd turn up eventually.
"Which floor will you be going to?"
In a room with a large magic circle drawn on the floor,
a middle-aged mage managing the teleport circle asked. He was a 3rd-circle mage.
Well, no mid-level or higher mage would handle this job.
"10th floor."
"The, the deepest floor?!"
The mage asked again in surprise.
"That's right."
Did he not see us as that capable?
The mage had no eye for talent.
That explained why he was stuck at 3rd circle.
There were no conditions to enter the 10th floor.
If anything, the requirement was having plenty of gold.
"U-Understood. Teleport is 10 gold per person."
50 gold total for all of us.
And that wasn't even round-trip.
Just one way.
Pricey.
But adventurers who frequented the 10th floor earned that much.
We paid the mage in gold and stepped onto the large magic circle.
His staff glowed, and the teleport activated.
The sensation was somewhat like logging in, but different too.
Soon, the same scenery greeted us, just with different people. If the managing mage hadn't changed, we might not have noticed we'd moved.
Exiting the teleport building,
a village with a strange, dim glow welcomed us. The sky looked like early dawn darkness.
It felt less like a labyrinth and more like another world.
Lilliana had once said the labyrinth's space was distorted. It might really be another world.
Neat wooden buildings.
Crowds moving through the twilight streets—adventurers, by the look of them. Their gear was clean and high-end.
Plenty of knights and mid-level mages too.
Like a high-level hunting ground in a game, full of capable folk.
Inns, taverns, shops—all visible. Heard the prices were sky-high.
Felt less like a village and more like a bustling shopping district.
A village built around the teleport circle,
surrounded by thick log walls,
with soldiers standing guard atop them.
Heard the lord had invested heavily to build this fortress carefully.
Spent a fortune in gold, but now it was paying off.
Our group drew quite a few stares.
Probably my build, and the fact everyone else was female.
No interest in touring the fortress.
We decided to dive straight into proper labyrinth exploration.
Beyond the fortress walls lay a forest of trees I'd never seen before.
"Before that."
The others looked at me curiously.
I opened the door to Hero's Haven and summoned Ignis.
With her vibrant red hair fluttering, Ignis appeared from thin air.
"U-Unho? Wh-Who is this?"
Aila asked in shock at Ignis popping out of nowhere.
"My summon."
"S-Summon? A sp-spirit?"
"Something like that."
"Hmph. Your comrades, my lord? Pleased to meet you."
Ignis said proudly, arms crossed.
"My lord. What is my task?"
"We need to find the path to the 11th floor in this labyrinth."
I then used the party skill to invite Luna, Marie, and Ignis.
The women stared into space after receiving my party invites.
"Party invite?"
"Hm? Unho, what's this?"
"Master. Some strange text appeared."
"It's my magic. Everyone accept."
"This is magic?"
"I've unlocked the message function, so even if we're separated, party members can communicate via text without issue."
"...Truly astonishing magic."
Luna said in admiration.
"Let's head in."
With Ignis leading, shield and spear at the ready, we stepped into the darkness-shrouded forest.
Eirin, walking beside me, was extremely tense.
It was only natural for a kid who'd roamed the 1st floor to suddenly be on the 10th.
I lightly stroked her anxious head.
"M-Master..."
We set our course west.
According to Marie's info,
the 11th floor entrance was estimated to be somewhere to the west.
Better than heading in blind, at least a rough direction.
No weather changes here.
No day or night.
This perpetual twilight never shifted.
Wonder which floor the Transcendent was on.
Deeper floors clearly had stronger monsters.
But from the adventurers' progress, they hadn't even encountered advanced Corrupted Beings yet.
Monsters were fewer than expected.
Probably cleared out by adventurers.
Ten years of clearing had made the areas around the fortress relatively safe.
After trekking for a while, we decided it was time for a break.
I pulled the carriage out of my inventory.
"Your sorcery is impressive, my lord," Ignis remarked in awe.
Everyone entered the carriage, ate our fill,
and were comfortably sleeping when...
"Someone disarmed the magic alarm."
I opened my eyes at Luna's words.