Chapter 35: The Labyrinth (4)
In a small room at the very center of the Labyrinth a man sat at a wide desk cluttered with miscellaneous scrolls and magical tools of unknown use.
Once a wizard in the heroic party that defeated the Demon King, he has been called a sage over the years.
As he lies slumped over his desk, a golem of his own creation approaches him. It may be a golem, but it looks like an ordinary man.
The golem, dressed in the sage’s favorite maid’s outfit, speaks.
“Master, someone has taken the ‘necklace’.”
“…What, the necklace?”
The sage asked, glaring at his golem, Itea.
“Yes, some first-year cadet has taken the necklace that contains the Hero’s Favor.”
As the sage listened, he remembered how he had come to create the necklace.
It was hundreds of years ago, but the memory was still vivid to him.
The hero’s party was on their way to the Demon City to defeat the Demon King.
“Hero, can you put some of your power into this necklace?”
The sage was very interested in crafting magic items.
The hero gave him his usual toothy grin, told him to leave it to him, and promptly enchanted the necklace.
Each of the other members of the party had also made their own favor or blessed item. It was a way to commemorate the hero’s party.
He went on to slay the Demon King in battle and died a glorious death while the rest of the party owed their survival to him.
The same was true for the Sage and each member of the party honored him in their own way. The saint in particular wept profusely.
The Sage’s way of honoring the hero was to create the Innocence Academy.
Whenever the party planned a mission, it was always a precautionary one or something he could do to prepare for the future.
The Sage planned for the eventuality that the Hero would not show up, and for the eventuality that the Demon King would reappear.
The other members of the party died in battle with the Demon King, or died of old age in peace. The Sage, however, has managed to defy aging and maintain the academy using the ancient magic that he eventually discovered.
Even the Labyrinth he lives in was his creation.
He hid items in it that he had found or created throughout his life as gifts for the cadets. The better the item, the harder he made it to find.
Hiding items had been the Sage pastime for centuries.
The Hero’s Necklace was a gift for a hero who would one day appear. It was done with the hero’s “reincarnation” in mind.
It was a device the Sage hoped would make the Hero he knew laugh out loud when he saw his statue in the same pose.
“Bring me the second floor transmitter.”
The transmitter was an object that would relay the events of the Labyrinth on a screen. It, too, had been created by the Sage.
“Here it is, my lord.”
Itea held out the transmitter to him, as if she knew he would say that.
She knew the Sage very well, and rightly so, given the years she had lived with him.
The Sage sat still and studied the transmitter’s screen. He wondered if the cadet who had obtained the necklace was the reincarnated hero.
“Blind…?”
The cadet on the screen had a white bandage over his eyes.
The Sage, who had been looking into the transmitter for a while, covered it.
“He is not the Hero.”
“Why is that?”
“The one I know isn’t this attentive.”
The Sage shook his head from side to side.
“And he talks to himself so much, does he have a disease or something, and if not… I’d say he’s having a conversation with something we can’t see on the screen.”
Itea nodded her head in affirmation of the Sage’s words.
“It does concern me, though…Can you get me some information on this cadet?”
He talked to himself or to a spirit but it was too much detail.
‘It’s one thing to be perceptive enough to spot a gap in the front of a statue… but to think of plunging a sword straight through it? That’s not normal.’
“I’ll have it ready.”
Itea bowed her head to the Sage and headed off into the distance.
It was his academy, so there was no information he couldn’t reach, at least as far as the academy was concerned.
The Sage picked up the fifth floor transmitter he had tossed in the corner next to his desk.
The fifth floor was where the ‘impurities’ that had been accidentally mixed in when the Labyrinth regenerated this year were located.
He looked at the screen and saw that the cadets were being attacked by the impurity.
Fortunately, by the Sage’s calculations, the protective enchantments on the cadets were still working and there would be no casualties.
His academy was not weak.
“This too is fate, adversity to be overcome.”
The Sage muttered across the cluttered room.
It was not something the cadets could not defeat if they worked together, or if they were skilled enough.
Thanks to the impurity species the shallow wounds healed quickly.
Who would defeat him?
What hero would emerge?
The Sage decided to wait and see.
‘Good thing I gave the instructors the day off, as usual. Hopefully I’ll see the cadets in action.’
With that thought, the Sage rested his chin on his desk and waited patiently for Itea to arrive.
‘What’s taking so long…?’
Itea arrived later than expected.
***
I stood guard and fought off a few more goblins that approached the tent.
The time passed quickly as I listened to Sierra’s stories and my pouch of gems was getting fuller and fuller, when I heard a rustling in the tent.
Yuri poked his head out of the tent.
“Ahaha, did I sleep too much…?”
Yuri smirks.
Judging by the bloodshot look in her eyes, she hadn’t rested at all.
I heard her squeak in surprise shortly after we first entered the tent, but after that she was quiet, so I thought she had fallen asleep.
Was it uncomfortable to sleep?
Some people could only sleep in their own bed. Besides, Yuri was the scion of a noble family, so she might be more sensitive.
“Did you get a good night’s rest?”
I asked Yuri, who was obviously exhausted.
“Yes! I’m well rested, thanks, Zetto.”
Yuri lies with a bright smile.
[…She looks like she hasn’t slept at all, let alone rested.]
Sierra, next to me, glances at Yuri slyly.
Soon enough, Yuri is fully out of the tent, approaching where I’m sitting, and speaking.
“What do you think, should we switch?”
“I still have some stamina left, so I was thinking of going down to the third floor…”
Yuri’s eyes widened at my answer. Her finely braided hair is slightly disheveled since she never untied it when she slept.
“Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”
“Yes. I’m really fine.”
“Hmm… Alright, we’d better get moving, we’re running out of time.”
With those words, Yuri goes to the tent and comes out with our backpacks.
Then, as I learned in Edward’s class, I grabbed the bottom of the magic tent and lifted it up to make it smaller.
“I’m done organizing, let’s go!”
Yuri exclaims, coming up beside me.
“The stairs are where I passed by.”
Yuri looks at me in disbelief, wondering if I actually passed the stairs, but I tell her that I found a treasure, so she agrees.
Yuri and I walked down the stairs I memorized.
“So, about the goblins…”
“Ugh, boring. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that.”
“Anything else, like hidden treasure or something…”
When we reach the third floor, we see several magical tents and their guards chatting amongst themselves.
“Looks like everyone is already forming a party.”
Watching them, Yuri says to me.
“I’m used to traveling alone, so I didn’t think of parties.”
The lycanthrope doesn’t seem to be on the third floor.
‘We probably don’t have much time left, so I don’t think we should go straight to the fourth floor.’
Yuri and I slowly walked around the third floor. She looked tired, so we didn’t push ourselves too hard.
The monsters that appear on the third floor are still the same: goblins and kobolds. The only change was that there were more of them.
Well, they were still goblins and kobolds, but…
[Boom!]
I blew the last goblin’s head off and wiped the blood off my sword.
My body gradually filled with strength, and I felt like I had leveled up.
‘I’ve been leveling well since entering the Labyrinth.’
Considering the effect of the blindfold, I was finally leveling properly.
A quick check of the status window showed that I had reached level 20 and had four skill points left.
If I invested them in Ghost Slayer Technique, I would be able to level up my Reverse Heaven once.
However, I don’t intend to invest in it right now. It’s better to have extra skill points to cope with an unexpected situation.
“By the way, Zetto, you’re holding your sword in a reverse grip now, aren’t you?”
Yuri, who was picking up the gems, turned to me.
“Yes, that’s how this sword is supposed to be used.”
“You said it was your master’s sword, and it looks like it’s of good quality, but I can’t believe you still have such a sword and are using it…”
“Haha, Master said something to me when he left it behind.”
I chatted with Yuri and helped her pick up the gems.
When I finished picking up the gems and stood up, I realized that part of my finger had disappeared.
“Zetto…Your finger…Uh, so am I?”
“We must have run out of time.”
The transfer of the remaining cadets in the Labyrinth was beginning. Our thirty hours in the Labyrinth were over.
Of course, the cadets could still use the pass to escape at any time if they wished.
As long as the cadets didn’t take fatal damage in the Labyrinth and get knocked out, their last position was saved, so they could pick up where they left off when they returned.
It was kind of like a “save point” for the Labyrinth.
Other than that, there were actual save points, like the first, tenth, and twentieth floors, where if you died every ten floors, you would start there.
This was for the player’s convenience.
As my body fades away, I open my mouth to make small talk.
“‘This is not a good location,” I say, “It’s where the goblins used to appear, so we’re likely to encounter them right from the start.”
“I see, so this is what Instructor Edward meant when he said to pick your spots before leaving.”
Yuri nods, mentioning Edward.
Edward was not one to give answers. He wanted the cadets to find their own answers.
Thanks to his educational philosophy, the cadets in Class A will have a hard time.
My and Yuri’s bodies gradually fade away and my vision goes black.
***
I woke up to find myself at the entrance to the Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth, and even the Sage, has an agenda.
When they let the remaining cadets out, they didn’t do it all at once.
I look around, but I can’t see Yuri. If I had gotten out before Yuri, they might have sent me out in the order I entered the Labyrinth. But there was a mess in front of the doorway.
“Aaaahhh…!”
“Get him to the infirmary!”
“What did he do to you?”
I see injured and bleeding cadets and instructors and staff carrying them away.
It was a precursor to the Lycanthrope episode.
‘To see this mess from day one… It’s the fourth or fifth floor…’
As I walk toward them, a large male cadet who was helping the wounded approaches me.
“Hey, are you Cadet Zetto by any chance?”
“Yes, I’m Zetto. Can I help you?”
Apparently, he was a senior cadet.
[The call of an unknown senior cadet.]
It was the same scenario as the beginning of the Medical Technology Club quest.
“Medical Officer Priscilla asked for you. She’s short-handed and wants you to come to the infirmary as soon as possible as part of the club.”
“…Okay, well, it sounds like it’s urgent, so I’ll go first.”
“Uh… Can you go by yourself?”
The senior cadet looked me in the eye and scratched his eyebrows.
“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Okay, well, seeing as you came out of the Labyrinth… I’m also a member of the Medical Technology Club, but I didn’t expect our first greeting to be like this. Anyway, see you later!”
The senior cadet gave me a serious look and went back to helping the wounded.
How did this quest come about?
First of all, there aren’t many people with divine powers in the academy. Even if there were, they’d be more paladins than clerics.
Moreover, divine powers are not something that one encounters very often.
Finally, Priscilla possessed more divine power than most people realize. That’s why she was in charge of the Academy’s infirmary single-handedly.
She just needs my help to make things easier since there weren’t that many people at the Medical Technology Club.
I could see everyone moving in unison.
“Yuri… Is she going to make it back…?”
Somehow, I kept coming across situations where Yuri was left alone. Still, it was an urgent situation so I couldn’t just stand here and relax.
I made a decision in my head and sped off to the infirmary.
‘I didn’t think it would appear on the first day. If I hadn’t met Yuri, I would have run into Lycanthrope.’
It was early, but it was still the plan.
As I was running with mana flowing through my legs, Sierra spoke to me.
[The Medical Technology Club? I assume you know your way around medicine?]
I didn’t have time to answer her as I was running, but it would be better for her to see it than to explain it.
I glance over at Sierra, who is following me at a leisurely pace.
‘So, this is the first time I’ll meet Priscilla since I made the Spectral Sword…’
Priscilla possesses a great deal of divine power, so I doubt she’ll notice the Spectral Sword but if she does, I’ll have to find a way to make it work.
I won’t be able to hide the Spectral Sword every time I run into her at the Academy.
To do so, I’ll need to use this incident to make myself appear more competent.
I entered the academy’s main building and headed straight for the infirmary.
The door to the infirmary was already wide open.
“Hmm… That looks like a claw mark…”
Priscilla was continuing to heal the cadets with holy magic.
Hearing my footsteps, she turned her head in my direction.
“Oh, you’re here, good, I’m in the middle of something.”
I walked over to Priscilla.
As I enter the infirmary, I hear the sounds of the wounded.
The Lycanthrope’s attack had left them in a state of ‘confusion’.
“I heard you called for me.”
“I told them you had a bandage over your eyes, but Butler found you quickly enough.”
Apparently the senior cadet who had given me the quest was named Butler.
Priscilla turned her attention back to her treatment, then turned to me.
“I don’t know what happened. I think they were attacked by a monster, but I don’t know what kind. Anyway, thanks to it, a lot of people are injured.”
Priscilla clicked her tongue, annoyed that the number of injuries had increased.
In the Labyrinth, death meant being thrown out of the Labyrinth.
A single blow would have left them unscathed, but Lycanthropes were characterized by their rapid fire, so there were many wounded.
“…What can I do?”
Priscilla finishes treating one of the cadets, then stands up and approaches me. Even in the midst of all this chaos, her eyes remained calm, giving off a serene glow.
“Acupuncture…you’ve had a lot of practice, haven’t you?”
