Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4

Chapter IV: Miledi Reisen 

In a corner of the Heiligh palace was a salon that had been opened up for the exclusive use of the summoned students. Each of them had been assigned their own butler as well, and the moment it looked as if they needed anything at all in that salon, their butler was by their side. Whether it was food they wanted, or drink, they merely had to ask and their servant would be off with a flourish. 
They each had their own personal servant to take care of them in their rooms as well, but as they grew lonely cooped up alone, most students spent their free time hanging out in the salon. 
Of course, they hadn’t been summoned here to lounge around. They were the human side’s main force in their battle against their sworn enemy, the demons. 
So why was it that most of them spent their days idling around in the salon just killing time? Well, simply put, most of them had been traumatized. They had come face to face with death just a few months ago, after all. Down in the depths of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, where the light of the sun never reached, they’d stared down monsters that would have killed them without mercy. Many of them had been convinced they would die there, and one member of their group had actually been defeated, vanishing into the gaping maw of that ravine. 
—A fantasy adventure with swords and magic. They had had that kind of lighthearted idea about what they were in for, but harsh reality had crushed those hopes and dreams rather quickly. On the battlefield, people died. It was obvious when stated, but the incident in the labyrinth had that carved that fact into their souls. 
At first they had happily practiced honing their skills, improving the talents their jobs had given them, and looked forward to mowing down waves of monsters. But now, there wasn’t an iota of that positive attitude anywhere. People died when they were killed. When that reality had been thrust into their faces, many of the students had lost their nerve. Not only could they no longer fight, they feared even stepping out of the capital. 
The king and high ranking members of the Holy Church naturally tried to convince the students to fight again, but they didn’t go so far as to force them. In the end, it was all just attempts at persuasion. But the students, who had been weighed down by their fear, only felt more cornered at their words. They were worried that if they didn’t comply, maybe they would be chased out of the castle. Then, they’d have no one to protect them as they were thrown out into this harsh world where people died at the drop of a hat. 
It was then that the one who possessed a rare and invaluable job, the only adult to have been summoned, the teacher Aiko Hatayama returned from her expedition to solve the kingdom’s food problems. 
When she heard about the boy who’d failed to make it back alive, she’d been visibly shaken. But when she saw how much worse it had affected the students, she quickly pulled herself together. With renewed determination, she headed to the king and other nobles to convince them to stop pestering the students to return to the war front. She even used herself and her rare job as a bargaining chip. 
As a result, she succeeded and the students were all put under Aiko’s protection. It was for that reason that they could spend their days idly chattering away in the salon. 
“Hey, did you hear? Amanogawa’s party made it all the way to the seventieth floor.” 
“Seriously? Weren’t they just setting foot in the sixty-sixth floor a few days ago?” 
“I guess that’s just how good the hero’s party is. He’s on a completely different level from average kids like us.” The male student who said that, Atsushi Tamai, shrugged his shoulders, an odd expression on his face. He was jealous of them. He was jealous of Kouki and the others, who continued challenging the unknown even after their near brush with death. At the same time, however, he was embarrassed at how pathetic he was, and at the fact that he averted his eyes from the truth. But every time he thought back to that day, he started trembling in fear. 
Not just Atsushi either, most of the students who chose to stay behind felt the same. All they wanted was to go home back to Japan. But in order to do that, they would need to win the war against the demons, and ask the Holy Church’s god, Ehit, to send them back. Still, they couldn’t bring themselves to fight. Fear, dark as the abyss they witnessed, snuffed out their wills. 
“Yeah. You’d have to be as amazing as Kaori-chan or Shizuku-chan to keep up with that guy.” 
“I know, right? Shizuku’s so cool, isn’t she? I’m totally falling for her.” 
“Ahaha, seriously? But I thought you liked Suzu, Yuri!” 
“Wait, Suzu-chan’s like that, really!?” 
“Nah, she’s just a perverted old man inside, so she doesn’t count.” 
Like the boys, the girls also acted cheerful and joked around, but on the inside they felt jealous and guilty for not being there for their friends. They talked for a while, exchanging hollow, empty words. As if they were afraid of letting silence settle in. 
While the servants posted to the salon never looked directly at any of the students, they still stole furtive glances at them. Not only had they been chosen by Ehit, their comrades were still out there fighting. And yet, they wasted their time chattering pointlessly in this luxurious room. However, at the same time the servants saw the fear that lived in the students’ hearts, and sympathized with their plight. They were stuck here, unable to go home, and it was the people of this world that had driven them to such actions. Thus, they gazed on expressionlessly. The nobles and clergymen who knew the situation held similar feelings as well, as they’d seen the students’ dilemma firsthand. Naturally, it varied from person to person. 
The students had realized how those around them looked at them too. To avoid dwelling on it, the students turned once more to hollow conversation in an attempt to lick their own wounds. 
One of the students mumbled something. 
“...Even Shizuku’s just a normal girl...” It had been barely a whisper, not something meant to be heard by others. But there had happened to be a lull in the conversation just then, and so those whispered words reached everyone in the salon. 
They all turned to look at the person who’d muttered that. It was Nia, Shizuku’s personal maid. She realized she’d misspoke and quickly bowed her head to apologize, but— 
“What? Got a problem with us?” Atsushi furrowed his brows and growled at Nia. Despite his tone, he couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. He knew his anger was misdirected. 
“No. Not at all. I’m truly sorry for my poor choice of words.” Nia bowed to everyone again. But her honest attitude only aggravated Atsushi further, so he continued pestering her. 
“No one asked you to apologize! Do you think we’re all idiots!? You trying to say that because Yaegashi-san didn’t change... because she’s still going anyway, we’re all pathetic for calling it quits here!? Why not just say it to our faces then, huh!?” 
“H-Hey Atsushi... give it a rest.” 
“What good’s hitting a maid going to do?” 
Atsushi’s friends, Noboru Aikawa and Akito Nimura, tried to calm him down. He was throwing a tantrum like a child. 
“Shut up! I just... I just... Dammit...” 
“Atsushi...” 
“Tamai-kun...” 
Gloomy feelings whirled around him, and Atsushi let out a frustrated yell. Akito and Aikawa looked away, unable to say anything else. Some of the girls opened their mouths, thinking to say something to him. After all, everyone understood those feelings he couldn’t explain that wrapped around him like an inescapable spider’s web. 
Atsushi hung his head, and Nia took a step toward him. 
“Atsushi-sama, I’m terribly sorry I offended you. But I did not mean to imply that any of you are cowards. Please try and believe me...” 
“Nia-san... No, umm, I’m the one who... Sorry...” 
In the face of her sincerity, Atsushi could only look away awkwardly. He apologized as well, having calmed down a little. Not only had he thrown a temper tantrum, he was the one being apologized to. There could be nothing more humiliating. 
Nia smiled gently, then went on to explain the true meaning behind her words. 
“Allow me to apologize to the rest of you as well. I did not mean to cause offense. But as Shizuku-sama’s maid, and as her friend, this is what I think. That she too, deserves to be protected, to rely on someone else, to let herself be spoiled, just like any other girl.” 
“...But she’s so strong. Everyone goes to her for help... I can’t imagine her ever needing to rely on someone else.” 
“Yeah...” The girl who spoke was Nana Miyazaki. There was a bitter smile on her face as she said that. Her friend, Taeko Sugawara voiced her agreement. 
“It’s true that in my time serving Shizuku-sama, she has never once shown any such weakness before me. However, I do not believe a perfect person like that exists. Shizuku-sama is also just a teenage girl who was a student only months ago. She may still look fine for now, but... I’m sure not being able to rest even when she returns to the palace, and having everyone around her say things like ‘It’s obvious that Shizuku-sama can do something like that’ must be a huge burden on her.” 
“Nia-san...” 
It was obvious Nia spent a lot of time thinking about Shizuku, so her words shook the students. 
Nia was actually from a family of knights. From a young age, she’d learned swordplay from her father and brothers. She must have felt a kinship with Shizuku, who had been born and raised in similar circumstances. At first, she had been nervous serving someone the priests had called Ehit’s messenger, but she’d eventually come to see Shizuku as a friend. She was worried for her friend, who was bravely challenging uncharted floors. That was why it had bothered her when everyone had treated Shizuku like some kind of special being. She was worried their exaggerated expectations would wear her down. 
One of the girls who had so far remained silent in a corner of the salon opened her mouth. 
“Everyone’s... still the same, huh?” 
“Yuka? What’s wrong? Are you alright?” 
“W-Wow, I haven’t heard Yukacchi speak in ages... You okay?” 
Nana and Taeko looked over in surprise and worry at their friend, Yuka Sonobe. Their reaction was warranted. Ever since their near brush with death, it had looked like Yuka’s soul had been sucked out of her. She acted completely lifeless. Originally, she had been a very spirited girl, one that stood out in her class, for better or worse. But after their excursion into the labyrinth, she barely ever spoke, and unless her friends dragged her out she’d spend the whole day just sitting in her room, staring blankly out the window. She was the one who had been most traumatized by that experience, so it was only natural everyone was surprised to hear her speak without being asked a question. 
Still, she ignored her two friends and kept talking, empty eyes staring off into the distance. 
“That’s right. It’s not just Shizuku. Kaori-chan and Sakagami-kun and Nagayama-kun and Hiyama-kun, and even Amanogawa-kun... haven’t changed. At the very least, he was normal... No, he was even weaker than normal. But... more than anyone... And yet, I... Even though we’re all... If I...” 
Her words had ceased making sense. She was no longer trying to convey a message, but simply letting her mouth speak whatever came to mind. Something had begun stirring within Yuka’s heart. 
Her two friends looked at her worriedly, but as she continued spouting nonsense, Yuka’s empty eyes began to glow with a faint light once more. Taeko and Nana looked at each other. The other students all exchanged confused glances as well. 
“Nia-san, when is Ai-chan-sensei leaving again?” 
“Aiko-sama? I believe she’s scheduled to depart tomorrow morning. They’re heading to the lake town of Ur, so she won’t return for at least two to three weeks.” 
“Whoa, tomorrow, huh...? No, actually, that’s good. It’ll only get worse if we wait too long.” 
Yuka smiled wryly at that and stood up vigorously. Taeko and Nana’s jaws dropped in surprise when they saw that. Their friend had never been so lively before. Nana timidly opened her mouth. 
“U-Umm, Yukacchi? What’s wrong? I have no idea what you’re saying.” 
“I’m fine. I just can’t stand sitting still any longer. Guys, I’m going to join Ai-chan on her expedition tomorrow.” 
The rest of the students looked on in awe. Their shock was expected. Yuka had been hit hardest by that experience. All she’d done since returning from the labyrinth was gaze blankly at nothing, sometimes tremble in terror... But now she’d suddenly recovered in the span of a few seconds. 
“W-Wait, Sonobe. Seriously, what’s going on? You’re not acting normal. Calm down.” Having finally returned to his senses, Atsushi tried to talk her out of it. However... 
“I am calm, Tamai-kun. And this isn’t sudden. I’ve been thinking for a long time now that I can’t keep living like this. Ever since he died, I’ve been scared and confused... but I need to do something. Aren’t you all thinking the same thing, deep down?” 
“......” Atsushi held his breath. He then closed his mouth, like he’d thought better of what he was about to say. The other students looked away awkwardly. 
Yuka didn’t say anything. Instead, she simply shrugged her shoulders and headed for the salon’s door. She understood their feelings very well. 
“W-Wait, Sonobe! You’re really going to go!? You might die for real this time, you know!? This isn’t a manga or a movie! There won’t be any convenient act of god to save your life! That’s why... That’s why he died! Even though he was weak, he still tried to act like a hero, and then he died just like that! I-I don’t want to end up like that loser... Sonobe, don’t be stupid.” Though he started off shouting, his voice gradually petered off, until finally he was hanging his head sadly. Yuka didn’t even turn around. 
“But that worthless, weak boy saved my life. No, he saved all our lives.” 
“But—” 
“I’m not asking you to come with me, Tamai-kun. I just don’t want to let his death be in vain. That’s all. Of course, if you want to come with me, I’d be glad to have you.” She finally looked back at that moment. She looked nervous, but she still smiled resolutely at the others. Atsushi could only flop his mouth like a dying fish before collapsing into his chair. Yuka left the room. 
Taeko and Nana were still in shock, but they left the other despairing students and hurriedly followed after Yuka. When they finally caught up to her in the hallway, they couldn’t hide their confusion. 
“Hey, Yuka. Are you really going to go with Ai-chan-sensei? He was right, you might die.” 
“I know. Still, I can’t just sit around any longer. I don’t have the courage to follow Amanogawa-kun and the others, but I can at least be Ai-chan’s guard.” When they saw the determination in her eyes, Nana and Taeko exchanged worried glances. Timidly, Nana opened her mouth. 
“Yukacchi... did you, umm, maybe like Nagumo...” 
“Don’t be silly. There’s no way I’d be doing this for such a simple reason.” 
“Really?” 
“Obviously. Besides, after seeing the hellish training Kaori-chan’s putting herself through just because she still believes he’s alive, you’d have to be braver than a hero to try and take him from her. If I had that kind of guts I wouldn’t have stayed behind in the first place.” 
“Well, I guess...” Yuka Sonobe was none other than the girl Hajime Nagumo had saved from Traum Soldiers back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. That was why Nana had come to that conclusion, but one look at Yuka’s face told her she obviously didn’t think of Hajime in any sort of romantic sense. Though, she did appear to have some other complicated feelings regarding him. Even Nana, who was usually bursting with curiosity, fell silent. 
There hadn’t been any lie in what Yuka had said. She really just didn’t want his sacrifice to go to waste. She didn’t want the life he’d risked to save to rot in a castle. When she’d said everyone was still the same, that had included Hajime as well. He’d saved her despite being the same weak person as before, and she felt it would be betraying his memory to just sit around and wallow in misery while others continued to fight. 
Her friends realized this, and after exchanging an awkward glance, nodded to each other. Then they both told Yuka that they were going with her. 
“Are you sure? You don’t have to force yourself, you know?” 
“Just like how you don’t want let the life he saved go to waste, I don’t want to let the life you saved go to waste either. I’m coming with you, Yukacchi.” 
“Same. There’s no way I’m letting you go out on your own, Yuka. You saved my life too, remember?” 
After Hajime had saved her life, Yuka had pulled herself together and rallied some of the other students. Taeko and Nana had been part of that group. Both of them knew that it was thanks to her that they’d survived long enough to escape. And so, they decided if Yuka was going to get back up, they were bound to follow. 
“I see. Well, alright, then I guess we’ll protect Ai-chan from both the monsters and the really hot knights the Holy Church sent to escort her.” She had hoped her two friends would join her, so she broke out into a beaming smile when they offered. Nana and Taeko gave a spirited “Yeah!” in response. 
The shadow of fear disappeared from the three smiling girls’ eyes, replaced instead by the faint glow of hope.

Mist swirled about the castle grounds on the dawn of their departure. The sun was just beginning to poke its head over the horizon, and the crisp morning air kept everyone awake and alert. Despite the pristine weather, one of the travelers had a glum expression on her face. Aiko Hatayama. The leader of the expedition. 
“Girls... Are you sure you want to do this? I already have the Holy Church’s knights to protect me.” 
“We’re not leaving, Ai-chan-sensei. And besides, those knights are more dangerous than helpful. It’s obvious they’re agents sent to try and seduce you into their faction.” 
“That’s right, Ai-chan-sensei. Don’t fall for their charms just because they’re all hotties, okay?” 
“Though, if you ask me, it looks like their plan backfired. But still, you’re our Ai-chan-sensei, so we just want to be extra careful.” 
Aiko shrugged her shoulders helplessly at their insistence. She’d already tried to dissuade them when they’d talked to her last night about joining her expedition, but no matter how much she impressed the dangers of the journey, they never faltered. As such, she knew nothing she said now would change their mind. 
Furthermore, Yuka’s claim that the Holy Church was trying to seduce her into their camp were more than just baseless accusations. On every single trip Aiko had gone, they had, without fail, assembled a team of good looking knights to accompany her. And without fail, each and every one of them had tried to make a move on her. All in order to control the one person in the world with the ability to completely revolutionize agriculture. But as Taeko had said, all of the knights had instead become her loyal followers. The same charm that had led all of her students to love her had toppled the army of hot guys as well. Aiko herself was as dense as a dating sim protagonist though, so she hadn’t realized that little tidbit as of yet. 
She was glad her students were worried about her, and that they’d recovered enough to want to try again, but at the same time, she was worried about the dangers they would face on the road. Unable to resolve the conflicting feelings inside of her, she just cradled her head. A few seconds later, she could hear a huge commotion coming from across the courtyard. 
Aiko and the girls turned around and saw the knights bringing over their carriages. However, there was an unexpected group of guys facing off against them, so they were seemingly in the middle of a heated argument. Aiko’s eyes went round in surprise, while Yuka and the others looked taken aback. 
“T-Tamai-kun? Aikawa-kun and Nimura-kun, you’re here too? Why are you all...” 
“Oh, Ai-chan-sensei. How’s it going? We’re coming too.” 
Atsushi and the others greeted Aiko casually, a complete turnaround from the stern glares they’d been sending the knights mere moments ago. Aiko opened her mouth to argue, but Yuka cut her off before she could. 
“You’re coming? That’s a surprise.” 
“Shut it... You’re not the only one. We wanted a chance to stop being losers too. Though I think the rest of the guys are still too scared.” 
“I see. Well, welcome aboard. Let’s do what we can with what we’ve got.” Yuka shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. Despite their nervous expressions, the boys still let out a spirited cheer. 
One last student showed up to join a few minutes later. After multiple altercations with the knights, Aiko’s agricultural reform expedition was finally formed. Everyone burned with the resolve to stand up on their own two feet once more. 
“I can’t believe I let it happen again... I couldn’t even hold back a single one of them... I’m such a bad teacher... Waaa...!” Aiko cried by herself in a corner of the carriage. The knights all felt moved by her plight and tried to offer a helping hand, or words of condolence. However, Yuka and the other girls snarled angrily at them to keep them at bay. No one noticed that their constant bickering was giving Aiko, the person they were supposed to be protecting, a headache. And it seemed their journey would continue along those lines for quite some time...

In a certain room far underground, three people huddled together close to a wall that was glowing with a faint blue light. Hajime, Yue, and Shea. 
They were sitting with their backs to it, Hajime in the middle, Yue to his right, and Shea to his left. The room was silent, but if one listened closely they would hear the sound of soft breathing. Yue and Shea were sleeping. They each had their arms wrapped around one of his, using his shoulders as pillows. 
A week had passed since they’d entered the winding Reisen Labyrinth. The never-ending barrage of traps and annoying insults had been more mentally exhausting than physical. They’d been sent back to the start seven times, triggered lethal traps forty-eight times, and suffered minor pranks like getting stuck in birdlime, being covered with smelly white liquid, and hit on the head by falling tubs one hundred and sixty-nine times. 
At first they’d been furious with Miledi Reisen, but around the fourth day or so, staying constantly angry had become too tiring, so they’d just become apathetic. 
Their overwhelming stats kept them from dying, and they’d brought plenty of food, but those were the only silver linings in the godforsaken maze. They slept intermittently, like they were now, as they continued exploring. After a week of searching they’d noticed that there was a pattern to how the maze rearranged itself. By using his Tracking skill, Hajime had been able to figure out where each block was moved. 
They were finally making progress. Pleased, Hajime looked down at the two girls sleeping on his shoulders. 
“I can’t believe you guys are sleeping so peacefully... We’re in the middle of one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, you know?” He whispered softly with a smile on his face. It was his turn to be on watch. He somehow managed to extricate one of his arms and started gently running his fingers through Yue’s hair. Her lips curled up in a faint smile. Hajime, too, smiled as he gazed down at her. 
On his other shoulder, Shea had her mouth open and was drooling all over his shirt. Such a soundly sleeping face didn’t fit the harsh environment of this labyrinth at all. Hajime suddenly remembered that she’d always wanted to have her head patted too, so he softly placed his hand over her pale blue hair. 
He ran his fingers over her fuzzy rabbit ears as well. Her normally relaxed expression loosened even further. She was completely and totally at ease. Perhaps she felt secure knowing Hajime was keeping watch. Or perhaps she was simply happy to sleep next to him. He twisted his mouth into a wry expression as he ran his fingers through her pale hair. 
“Seriously, what do you even see in a guy like me that you’re willing to follow me all the way out here?” He looked down at her with surprising tenderness as he said that. While he doubted he could ever fall in love with her like Shea wanted, he was still amazed by her overly positive attitude and her stubborn streak that kept her going even when her face was a mess of tears. That was why he’d grown a little kinder toward her. 
And in that moment, Shea decided to mutter something in her sleep. 
“Mmm... Oh Hajime-san, you’re so bold. Doing this outside where everyone’s... watching.” 
“......” The kind light suddenly vanished from his eyes. He stopped stroking her hair and instead pinched her nose, while also covering her mouth. Her peaceful expression quickly transformed into one of extreme discomfort. 
“Mmm... Mm? Mmmm!? Mmmmmmm!!! Pwah! Haah... Haah... Wh-What was that for!? I know I told you to attack me in my sleep, but I didn’t mean like that!” Hajime just looked at her coldly while she drew in deep ragged gasps. 
“And? Just what kind of pervert do you take me for in your dreams? What was I doing with you outside, hmm?” 
“Huh...? Wait, that was a dream!? Nooo...! I finally got to see you be nice for once, Hajime-san. And then, because you were unable to control your burning emotions, you said all these embarrassing things to me and took me in broad— Bweh!?” 
Unable to listen any longer, Hajime strengthened his fingers and flicked her on the forehead. The force of the blow made Shea smack her head against the wall behind her, and she crouched down in pain. In the end, she’s still the same worthless rabbit. 
Gingerly rubbing the back of her head, Shea muttered her complaints. 
“Feels like I was having this really great dream... but I can’t remember it now.” She must have unconsciously noticed Hajime stroking her hair in her sleep. But if he told her that she’d get carried away again, so he kept quiet. Since Shea had already been awoken, albeit rather forcefully, Hajime decided to wake Yue up too. 
“Mmm... Hwah?” Yue slowly opened her eyes as Hajime gently shook her. She looked up at him and nuzzled her head against his shoulder for a moment longer before getting up and straightening her clothes. 
“Man, Yue-san looks so cute... That’s how a girl’s supposed to wake up! Compared to her, I’m just...” Yue gave Shea a confused stare, but then came to the conclusion that “that’s just how she always is” and decided not to say anything. 
“Come on, you always knew there was a huge gap between you two. Now pull yourself together, we’ve got more exploring to do.” 
“Is it just me, or are you even meaner than before?” 
“Huh...? Hajime’s always nice.” 
“...Hic... Only to you, Yue-san. Hmph.” 
After pouting for a bit, Shea finally stood up. Yue and Hajime were already ready to go. Praying they wouldn’t be sent back to the start again, the three resumed their search. 
They had spent so much time in the labyrinth that they had reached a kind of enlightenment. Annoying traps and insulting messages had ceased to affect them. 
And today, they finally found themselves in a room they hadn’t seen since the first time they’d run into it a week before. It was the golem room that had taken them back to the start for the first time. However, this time the sealed door was already open, and instead of a room, it lead down a passage. 
“Here again... It’d be a pain if we let them surround us. The door’s already open, so let’s make a run for it!” Hajime barked his orders. 
“Yeah!” Yue quickly agreed, clearly favoring the option. 
“You got it!” 
They dashed forward as one. Like before, the golems started moving once they reached the halfway mark. But this time, Hajime shot down the ones ahead of him before they could even make it off their plinths. 
They sped up, and were at the altar before the golems had a chance to catch up to them. The golems were chasing after them as fast as they could, but they wouldn’t make it before Hajime and the others slipped through the door. Sure that they were in the clear, Hajime smiled triumphantly. 
But that smile was wiped off his face mere moments later. Because the golems hadn’t stopped at the door. They were still chasing them. And worse— 
“Wha—!? They can run on the ceiling!?” Hajime screamed, clearly surprised. 
“...That’s new.” 
“Gravity, please start doing your job!” 
Indeed, the golems were running across the walls and ceiling as they chased after the trio. The sight was made even more surreal because of how heavily their armor clanked as they did so. Even after all they’d seen, Hajime and the others hadn’t expected that. Hajime cast Ore Appraisal on the walls and floor as he sped by, but they were all made of materials he’d already examined. Nothing about the hallway suggested it was made of stone that reversed gravity, or had suction powers. 
“How the hell are they doing that?” Hajime muttered to himself. When he risked a glance back, he saw something even more surprising. The lead golem jumped off the ceiling, flying like a cannonball at Hajime. 
“What the—!? Damn you!” Recovering from his shock, Hajime pulled out Donner and fired a barrage of bullets at it. The hail of bullets destroyed the golem’s helmet and most of its shoulder. Its head and torso fell off, and it let go of its sword and shield. But instead of falling to the ground, its weapons and body parts kept flying at them. 
“Dodge!” 
“Okay.” 
“Waah!” 
Hajime and the others ducked and weaved through the golem’s head, torso, sword, and shield. The disparate golem parts kept flying past them and crashed into the walls, ceiling, and floor ahead of them, then kept rolling forward after that. 
“Hold up, either I’m seeing things, or they just...” 
“Yeah... it’s like they’re ‘falling’ forward.” 
“Okay gravity, seems like you’re only planning on working sometimes.” 
Yue and Shea both tossed their quips at Hajime’s words. It seemed these golems also had the power to manipulate gravity. But then, why didn’t they bother using it last time? Unless it’s something they can only do in this passageway, maybe? 
Hajime’s thoughts were interrupted as the rest of the golems began “falling” forward toward them. One of them was spinning its sword like a windmill as it fell. Hajime and Yue used gunfire and the Rupture spell respectively to shoot down the golems from a distance, while Shea mopped up any they missed. They kept running as they did, and soon Hajime felt a presence ahead of them. 
“Hmm... Hajime.” 
“Yeah, I know. We knew they could regenerate, so I kind of expected this.” 
“Th-They’ve got us surrounded.” 
The golems that had fallen past them had finished rebuilding themselves. An entire row of them was waiting for the trio. With their shields out, they made for a formidable wall, and there was a second row behind them supporting the first. They’d already realized Hajime and the others could power through a single row. 
“Tch, what a pain.” Hajime clicked his tongue and holstered Donner and Schlag. From his Treasure Trove, he pulled out another weapon. 
Orkan, a rectangular twelve-shot missile launcher. Each of the missiles it fired was thirty centimeters long, and packed more explosive power than his hand grenades. With his creation magic, he had imbued Lightning Field directly into the ore the missiles were composed of. As such, they were constantly charged with static electricity, and that electricity ignited the explosives in the warhead on impact. Hajime smiled wickedly as he took aim with Orkan. 
“Yue, Shea! Cover your ears! I’m blowing them out of the way!” 
“Okay.” 
“Wait, what on earth is that!?” Shea’s eyes widened in surprise. This was her first time seeing Orkan. Yue stuck her fingers in her ears. Shea’s rabbit ears were still standing straight up, but Hajime didn’t have any more time, so he pulled the trigger. The missiles launched with a whooshing noise, leaving a trail of sparks in their wake. Each and every one of them found their mark. 
There was a huge explosion as they hit. The entire passage shook from the force of the shockwaves. The golem knights were blasted to either side, blown up beyond recognition as they slammed into the walls. It would take a while to rebuild from that kind of damage. 
Hajime and the others sped past the wreckage. 
“My rabbit ears! My rabbit ears are—” Shea’s ears were lying flat against her head, with her hands covering them. There were tears in her eyes, but she still kept pace with the others. Rabbitmen had the best sense of hearing out of all the beastmen. 
“That’s why I told you to cover your ears.” 
“Huh? What’d you say? I can’t hear anything!” 
“You really are a worthless rabbit...” 
They both gave her exasperated looks, but Shea was too busy worrying about her ears to notice. After another five minutes of fending off golems falling at them, they saw the end the of the hallway. It opened up into a massive chamber. The chamber had no floor, and there was a square platform standing ten meters out from where the hallway stopped. 
“Yue, Shea, jump!” 
They both nodded curtly. From behind, golems were still shooting down at them. They continued dodging or intercepting them up until they jumped. With their body strengthening, all three of them could leap far further than any Olympic athlete. A jump that would easily have broken world records back on Hajime’s world carried them easily over the gap and directly toward the square platform. 
Still, unexpected surprises were this dungeon’s specialty, so while they were still in the middle of their jump, the platform started moving. 
“What!?” Hajime had lost count of how many times he’d yelled that down here. At this rate, they were just going to fall down. And a quick glance below showed that the hole was quite deep. Hajime thrust out his left hand, ready to fire an anchor, but Yue acted first. 
“Updraft!” A surge of air lifted them up, carrying them a few feet higher. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Hajime just managed to grab on to the ledge as he fell. He transmuted spikes into his left arm to keep him fastened there while Yue and Shea clung to him for dear life. 
“N-Nice one, Yue.” 
“That was amazing, Yue-san.” 
“Mhmm. Praise me more.” 
Hajime and Shea smiled, praising Yue for saving them from whatever hellish pit awaited below. Yue was exhausted from burning so much mana, but she still managed to puff out her chest proudly. 
However, their celebration was cut short by an army of golems flying at them. This time they were just floating through the sky. It must have been their gravity controlling powers at work. They headed toward Hajime and the others at frightening speed. 
“Yue, Shea, get up there!” Donner was already in his hand before he’d finished talking, and he fired a barrage of bullets at the incoming golem knights. Yue and Shea clambered up over him and onto the platform. Once they were over, Hajime vaulted up himself. 
One of the golems’ swords thrust into the platform’s side a second later. Had Hajime taken a second longer, it would have speared him. Taking advantage of the golem’s brief opening, Hajime bombarded it with bullets. 
“Fuck. I don’t know if it’s gravity control or what, but these guys are getting more and more precise with their movements.” 
“...It’s probably this place.” 
“Ahaha, I don’t even know what common sense is anymore. Everything’s floating.” As Shea had so aptly stated, everything in the room they were in was floating. 
The platform had taken them into a massive spherical room. In fact, “massive” didn’t do it justice. The room must have been two kilometers in diameter. There were numerous stone platforms floating around, moving every which way. Gravity may as well have not have existed in this space. Despite that, Hajime and the others were still affected by it normally. It seemed only objects made out of a certain material could ignore gravity. 
The golem knights were able to fly in whatever direction they pleased. But it definitely felt like they were reorienting which direction gravity applied to them in, as their movements were jerky and sudden. Living creatures would have probably died from the G-forces that exerted on their frames. However, their movements had continued to get steadily more precise the further they went in, which meant... 
“The golem’s controller should be around here, right?” Yue and Shea nodded in agreement of his statement and tensed up, ready for a fight. For whatever reason, the golems were just circling them without attacking. He looked around, scouting for any possible exits. There was no telling if this was their final destination, or if there was still more to come. Either way, this must be near the end of the labyrinth. The increased precision of the golems and the strange nature of the room supported his hypothesis. 
Hajime activated his Farsight to scout out the room. But before he could get a good look, Shea yelled out a warning to him. 
“Run!” 
“Wha—!?” Hajime and Yue unquestioningly heeded Shea’s warning and leaped to the side as fast as possible. Fortunately, there was another block floating a few meters away for them to jump to. 
A second later, something crashed into the block they’d been standing on with the force of a meteorite. The impact shattered the block completely. Meteorite was an apt description for what had just landed, as whatever it was shot straight through the block and kept falling, a nimbus of friction-induced heat surrounding it. 
Cold sweat ran down Hajime’s back. Had it not been for Shea’s warning, they would have taken that head on. And since he couldn’t use Diamond Skin here, it might actually have killed him. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been able to sense the attack. In fact, he’d felt the presence bearing down on them an instant after Shea’s warning. However, it had been traveling so fast that he wouldn’t have been able to dodge in time after sensing it that late. 
“Thanks, Shea. You saved our lives.” 
“Yeah... good job.” 
“Ehehe, thank goodness my Future Sight activated back there. Though I’m completely out of mana now...” 
So the reason she sensed it before me was because of her Future Sight ability? Shea could use her ability voluntarily, but there were also times it activated on its own. When something posed a threat to her life, it would almost always activate. That meant the meteorite had at least enough power to instantly kill Shea. Hajime shivered a little before looking down at where the meteor had fallen. He cautiously poked his head over the edge of the platform. When he peered down, he could faintly make out something ascending at high speed. In the blink of an eye, it was floating above Hajime and the others. Its eyes glowed with a cold light as it stared at them. 
“Man, are you serious?” 
“It’s... so big...” 
“S-So this is their boss.” 
They all gazed up in amazement. Yue’s outburst could probably have been interpreted in a not-so-wholesome way, but that wasn’t really important. 
Floating in front of them was a massive golem knight. It was fully armored like the others, but this one was twenty meters tall. In its right hand was a glowing red heat knuckle. That was what it had used to destroy the platform earlier. In its left was a flail, its fingers wrapped around the chain. 
As Hajime and the others prepared for battle, the other golems all started flying in as well, encircling the trio. They stood, or rather floated, at attention, with their swords held upright in front of their chests. As if they were saluting their emperor. 
Hajime and the others looked around nervously. Silence filled the room, and the tension was almost palpable. The moment one side moved, a fight to the death would break out. Or at the very least, that was the sense the atmosphere gave off until... 
“Heyo~ Nice to see you~ It’s me, everyone’s favorite idol, Miledi Reisen-chan~” The huge golem’s greeting didn’t match its look at all. 
“......” Their jaws all dropped open in shock. The cutesy voice coming out of the heavily armed and armored golem was so utterly incongruous that they couldn’t help it. 
The giant golem frowned in displeasure as it looked down. Judging from its voice, Hajime guessed it was a she. 
“Hello? Aren’t you going to say anything? It’s proper manners to return a greeting, you know? Sheesh, kids these days... no respect, I tell you.” That annoying manner of talking was very familiar to them. 
“Unbelievable.” The golem with a burning knuckle in one hand and a flail in the other shrugged her shoulders in a very human-like fashion. Irritated expressions flitted across the trio’s faces. She talked just like the messages they’d seen. Since she’d called herself Miledi Reisen, it was possible it was the Liberator herself, but she was supposedly long dead and a human. Hajime decided to try that angle of questioning first. 
“My bad. But wasn’t Miledi Reisen a human? And isn’t she dead? Anyway, we’ve never seen a sentient golem before, so we were a bit surprised... Sorry about that. Also, tell us what exactly you are. As concisely as possible, please.” 
“Oh my, you’re quite forward despite being surrounded and outnumbered.” 
There was no subtlety to his questions. He just laid his questions flat out. Unsurprisingly, the golem called Miledi was taken aback by his bluntness. But she recovered quickly, and if he didn’t know golems couldn’t show expression, Hajime would have sworn she grinned. 
“Hmm? Miledi was always a golem, you know? Whatever gave you the idea she was human?” 
“There were a few things written about you in Oscar’s notebook. And don’t give me bullshit like ‘Oh, but I look just like a human, don’t I?’ Just keep it short. It looks like you’re trying to get in our way, so we’ll be turning you into scrap soon enough. That’s why there’s no need for any annoying banter, just tell us what we want to know.” 
“O-Oh my. I finally get a chance to talk to someone, and this is how you treat me? And did you just say Oscar? Did you three perhaps clear O-chan’s labyrinth?” 
“Yeah, we’ve already beat Oscar Orcus’ dungeon. But I’m the one asking the questions here. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine too. We’ll just move straight to the part where we crush you to pieces. It’s not like I’m dying to know any of this information. All we’re here for is the ancient magic.” Hajime pointed Donner at the massive golem to accentuate his words. Yue looked on impassively, but Shea, half-impressed and half-nonplussed, let her thoughts leak out. 
“Wow, nothing fazes you does it?” 
“If you want the ancient magic, does that mean you’re going to kill the gods? Are you going to take out those conniving little bastards for us? If you got to the end of O-chan’s labyrinth, then you must know what’s going on, right?” 
“I told you, I’m the one asking the questions here. If you want me to tell you anything, you answer first.” 
“You really are a cocky little brat. Well, whatever. Umm where to begin... Ah, guess we’ll start with my real identity. Umm...” 
“Like I said, keep it short. I don’t need an entire novel’s worth like when I saw Oscar.” 
“Ahaha. I guess O-chan can be a little long-winded. He always did like to talk.” The massive golem looked up at the sky, quietly reminiscing. She really felt more like a human than a lump of rock. Yue was as expressionless as always, but Shea was glancing nervously at the golems surrounding them. 
“Alright, so put simply... I am indeed Miledi Reisen. And the secrets of these golems lie in the ancient magic I can use! If you want to know more, then you’ll have to beat me first!” 
“That’s not an explanation...” 
“Hahaha. I mean, what’d be the point in making this labyrinth if you got all the answers before clearing it?” The Miledi golem wagged her finger like she was lecturing a small child. If only it wasn’t Miledi Reisen doing that, it’d almost look cute. 
“It’s who’s inside that’s the problem,” Yue muttered quietly. It appeared she agreed. 
Though in the end, they hadn’t figured anything out about who was inside either. Hajime’s best guess was that if she claimed to be Miledi herself, then she was probably the lingering remnants of her spirit or something. He vaguely recalled that one of his old classmates, Eri Nakamura, had the job of necromancer, which dealt with manipulating such spirits. Though nothing she’d resurrected with her necromancy had the kind of independent will this golem seemed to possess. So does that mean it’s the ancient magic she had that let her spirit have such a strong will even after she passed on? 
Regardless, it seemed that whatever magic Miledi possessed, it wasn’t going to help him teleport across worlds. Somewhat put out, Hajime asked his next question. 
“Does your ancient magic have something to do with controlling spirits?” 
“Hm? Sounds like you’re looking for a certain spell. Well, just so you know, my ancient magic has nothing to do with any of this. I had La-kun help me affix souls into these guys~” 
Hajime’s only goal was to return home. It didn’t matter if this spell controlled souls or spirits or whatnot, it was of no use to him. But Miledi’s response wasn’t what he had been expecting. He didn’t know who this “La-kun” was, but he guessed they were another one of the Liberators. Whoever they were, they were the ones that had put the spirit of Miledi, who was supposedly dead, into this golem. 
“Then what does your ancient magic do?” 
“Oh, interested, are we? Do you really wanna know that bad?” Her expression couldn’t change, but her tone made it obvious that she was grinning inside. Annoyed, Hajime waited for her to answer. 
“If you wanna know... you’ll have to answer one of my questions first.” Her tone suddenly shifted drastically at the end of her sentence. Her playful, cutesy voice was replaced by a dead serious one. Hajime and the others were slightly taken aback. Still, he didn’t let it show on his face. 
“What?” 
“What are you after? Why do you want to collect ancient spells so badly?” Her tone made it clear that she wouldn’t forgive him for lying. It was possible this was her real personality. After all, she was a member of the group that had risen up against the gods for the sake of the people. She had plenty of reason to want to know what the person she entrusted her power to would do with it. 
Unlike Oscar, who’d passed away and left only a video recording of himself, Miledi had spent centuries here waiting for a challenger to come and lay claim to her power. In a way, it must have been torture. Her frivolous attitude might only have been a front, while the real her was someone with an immense amount of patience and a strong sense of responsibility. 
Yue had picked up on that as well, so her expression shifted ever so slightly. Having spent centuries trapped in a prison of her own, Yue must have understood the suffering Miledi had gone through. And there was more than just sympathy in her eyes. After all, unlike Yue, Miledi had chosen to remain down here in the darkness for centuries of her own volition. 
Hajime’s gaze met Miledi’s, and he told her the truth. 
“My only goal is to return home. One of your stupid mad gods summoned me to this world by force. I’m just trying to find a spell that can teleport me back... I have no interest in carrying on your crusade against the gods. I’m not going to risk my life for this world.” 
“......” She stared at Hajime for a few seconds before turning to look at Yue, then Shea. Seemingly coming to some sort of understanding, she nodded curtly. 
“I see,” was all she said. Then, her serious tone of voice vanished, and was replaced by the cutesy one she had been using before. 
“Hmm... I see~ I see~ I understand now, you’re not from this world. Yeah, that must have been tough for you~ Alright, let’s duel! Beat me and get your hands on the power you seek!” 
“I can’t follow your logic at all, but... in the end, what is your ancient magic? Is it a teleportation spell?” 
Miledi only laughed gleefully and said “Well...” suggestively. She would have made a great host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. 
Tired of her games, Hajime pulled out Orkan. If she wasn’t going to say anything, then he would just beat her and get his own answers. And yet, before he could fire she opened her mouth and taunted him. 
“Not telling!” 
“Then die.” Hajime let loose a barrage of missiles. They left a trail of sparks as they slammed into the Miledi Golem and exploded. The explosion echoed loudly across the massive room. Smoke enveloped the space Miledi had been occupying. 
“Did you get her!?” 
“Shea, anytime anyone says that the enemy’s alive.” 
Shea was ready to start celebrating, but Yue shot her down. And in the end, Yue’s warning proved correct. A burning fist punched its way through the smoke. Miledi swept her hand across, blowing away the smoke. 
As the smoke cleared, they saw that while Miledi’s forearms were crumbling here and there, she hadn’t taken any serious damage. She grabbed one of the nearby floating blocks and crushed it, using the particles to restore her own body. 
“Fufu, congratulations on landing the first strike. But I’m sure you can do better than that. Come on, I might have the spell you’re looking for~ I’m pretty strong though, so try not to die.” Accompanied by joyous laughter, Miledi fired the flail attached to her left arm at Hajime. Not swung, fired. There was no windup, so the flail attached to the end of an arm was just suddenly hurtling toward them. She must have been able to control the direction of her gravity like the other golems, so she made the flail “fall” at them. 
Hajime and the others jumped to a nearby platform to avoid it. It shattered the block they had just jumped off of and, like it was swimming through the air, turned around and returned to Miledi’s hand. 
“Let’s do this. Yue, Shea, we’re taking Miledi down!” 
“Okay!” 
“Roger!” 
At Hajime’s shout, the final battle of the Reisen Labyrinth, one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, began in earnest. 
The golem knights that had been on standby until then suddenly sprang into action. Like they had in the hallway, they pointed themselves like bullets at Hajime and the others, then fell straight at them. 
Yue lithely dodged out of the way, thrust one of her canteens forward, and swung it from side to side. The highly compressed water shot out with considerable force and cut through the golems like a laser. 
“Ahaha, pretty good. But there’s fifty of these infinitely regenerating golems and me. Will you really be able to get them all at once?” With a wicked cackle, Miledi fired her flail again. Shea leaped out of the way and onto a pyramid shaped block above her. Instead of dodging, Hajime emptied Donner’s chamber on it. 
There was only one gunshot, but all six bullets were fired. The six bullets hit the flail almost simultaneously. Even a giant mass of metal like the flail couldn’t ignore six railgun enhanced bullets. And so, it was flung off at an angle, away from Hajime. 
Meanwhile, Shea leaped off her platform and swung Drucken down at Miledi’s head. 
“I can see right through your tricks~” Miledi suddenly shot sideways through the sky. She had reoriented her gravity. 
“Kuh, damn you!” Gritting her teeth, Shea pulled Drucken’s trigger. There was a concentrated explosion along the face of the hammer. The recoil of the blast allowed her to correct her trajectory. She spun around thrice before delivering a blow backed by the power of centrifugal force squarely into Miledi. 
Miledi raised her left arm up to guard herself, but Shea’s strike was so powerful that it crushed her arm entirely. However, Miledi seemed unconcerned and swatted away Shea with her crushed arm. 
“Kyaaa!” 
“Shea!” 
The force of the blow sent her flying. She somehow managed to stabilize herself by firing Drucken multiple times, then made an emergency landing on one of the floating platforms. 
“Heh, looks like you’re just fine. Hey, Yue, just what kind of training did you give this girl?” 
“...I just cornered her a little.” 
“I see. No wonder she’s so good at surviving.” Hajime nodded approvingly as he watched Shea make her way back, jumping from block to block. The amount of golems swarming them was more than Yue could handle alone. 
Hajime pulled Metzelei, his Gatling gun, from out of his Treasure Trove. Then, back to back with Yue, he started firing 12,000 rounds of death a minute. 
The six barrel Gatling gun rotated at ridiculous speeds as it fired. Gunshots echoed throughout the room and streaks of red light filled the air as a hailstorm of bullets ripped the golems apart, sending them all hurtling to the depths below. The knights that attempted to circle around and take him from behind were cut down by Yue’s water jets. 
Within seconds, over forty golems had been turned into hunks of fractured rock. They fell unceremoniously down to whatever was below. They’d return fully rebuilt, of course, but at least they wouldn’t bother them for a while. And that meant they had enough time to take out the Miledi Golem. 
“Hey, what the heck was that!? I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it!” Hajime ignored her question and put Metzelei back into his Treasure Trove. Then, he took Donner out of his holster and yelled in a voice loud enough for Shea to hear, 
“Miledi’s core is where a human’s heart would be! Destroy that!” 
“Wha— How do you know that!?” She asked, clearly surprised. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Hajime might have a demon eye that could see the flow of mana. Now that they knew the Miledi Golem’s weak point, Yue and Shea’s eyes glinted with a predatory light. 
There weren’t even ten regular golems left to protect Miledi. As long as we coordinate our attacks, we should be able to take out her heart. 
Hajime leaped from platform to platform, looking to close in on Miledi. With his weakened railgun, it would be difficult to shoot down Miledi’s core. And so, he’d have to rely on a point blank shot to blow off her armor, then finish her core off with a grenade. 
But no matter how frivolous her attitude, Miledi was still a Liberator capable of using ancient magic. He doubted it would be so easy. Miledi’s eyes flashed bright, and one of the platforms floating overhead shot down toward Hajime. 
“Huh!?” 
“I never said the knights were the only things I could control~” 
Hajime ignored her and activated another one of his left arm’s features. With a resounding bang, a shockwave fired out of his elbow. More specifically, he fired a shotgun blast. It couldn’t be accelerated with his Lightning Field, but the burst contained far more blastrock than Donner’s bullets. Though, the recoil was also that much stronger in turn. Hajime flew through the air, narrowly avoiding the falling platform. He somehow managed to land on the block he was aiming for too. 
Naturally, Miledi tried to drop the block he’d landed on as well, but before she could, Shea jumped up behind her, aiming for her head. Since she needed to flash her eyes before controlling the platforms, Shea had decided to crush them along with the rest of her face. 
Unfortunately, Miledi noticed Shea in time, so she sent her remaining golems after her while she was still mid-jump. In the sky, Shea was defenseless. But just before a knight’s sword sliced her in two— 
“...I won’t let you.” Yue suddenly popped up behind her and diced the golems into little pieces with her Rupture. 
“Thanks, Yue-san!” Her obstacles now removed, Shea swung down her hammer with all the might of her body strengthening behind it. 
“Do you really think you can beat a golem in a contest of strength?” As if to prove her point, Miledi turned around and swung her burning right fist up at Shea. 
There was a thunderous crash as Miledi’s heat knuckle and Shea’s Drucken collided. The shockwaves were powerful enough to send all the nearby platforms spinning away. 
“You liiiiiittle!” Shea let out a bestial roar as she struggled to push through Miledi’s fist. However, she was unable to match the golem’s strength, so she was blown away. 
“Kyaaa!” Shea screamed loudly as she flew through the air. Her body had been temporarily stunned by Miledi’s fist, and there were no floating platforms in the direction she was headed. At this rate she would fall, but Yue suddenly jumped next to her, grabbed her mid-flight, and used Updraft to correct their trajectory to a nearby platform. 
“You’ve got quite the coordinated little team there.” Miledi looked down at Yue and Shea, her voice smug. But just then, another voice rang out from right beside her. 
“I know, right?” 
“Wha—!?” 
As Miledi turned around in surprise, she saw Hajime. He had fired an anchor into the gap between her armor and found himself a foothold. In his hands was the railgun-accelerated anti-materiel rifle Schlagen, pointed directly at her heart. Sparks were flying down the length of Schlagen’s barrel. 
“Wh-When did you—” Miledi was interrupted by the sound of a bullet being fired. The point blank rifle shot sent Miledi flying backward, obliterating the armor around her chest. With his Lightning Field weakened, Schlagen was only as powerful as Donner normally was. Still, that was more than enough to destroy metal armor. Even in this dungeon Donner was powerful enough to blow away the normal golem knights’ armor, and since Miledi seemed to be made of the same material, the most she could have done to her armor was make it thicker. 
Smoke billowed from her chest as she flew backward, and the recoil sent Hajime flying in the opposite direction. He fired another anchor off at a nearby platform and swung himself up onto it. Then, he took a closer look at what had become of Miledi. Yue and Shea jumped onto nearby blocks as well. 
“...Did you get her?” 
“I definitely felt it hit, but...” 
“I really hope this is the end.” Yue looked cautious, while Shea seemed hopeful. Hajime’s expression, on the other hand, was unreadable. As he expected, Miledi started drawing nearby platforms to her as if nothing had happened, and spoke to Hajime with a voice full of admiration. 
“Maaan, that was close. I actually thought I was done for. If this dungeon didn’t dissipate mana, and that artifact had been able to fire at full power, I really would have bit the dust. Yep, I’m a genius for spending so much time making my labyrinth like this!” All he heard from the Miledi Golem were words of admiration for herself, which Hajime paid no heed to. His expression was grim. Behind her regular armor plating had been another set of jet black armor. Schlagen hadn’t even been able to scratch that. He remembered seeing that armor before. 
“Hmm. So you’re interested in this, huh?” Miledi noticed where Hajime’s gaze was directed and pointed to her jet black armor as she spoke gleefully. 
“Well...” she continued suggestively, but before she could continue, Hajime spat out a curse and answered her question. 
“Shit. It’s Azantium.” 
Azantium was the hardest metal in this world. Plenty of Hajime’s own equipment was forged out of it as well. Even a light coat of it would be tough enough to withstand a full power shot from Donner. No wonder Schlagen didn’t do anything. Breaking through Azantium was next to impossible, which made Hajime furrow his brows. 
“Oh? You already knew about it? Well, I guess that makes sense. You beat O-chan’s dungeon, after all. There’s no way someone capable of using creation magic wouldn’t know of it. Now, since you’re finally starting to despair a little, how about we get started with round two!?” Miledi finished repairing her outer armor with materials stolen from the platforms and fired her flail while rushing forward at the same time. 
“Wh-What do we do now, Hajime-san!?” 
“We’re not out of options yet, but we have to seal her movements first somehow.” 
“Okay, leave it to me.” Shea was on the verge of panicking when she realized they lacked sufficient firepower. But Hajime still had a trump card up his sleeve. He’d need to stop the Miledi Golem from moving to use it, though. When he mentioned as much to Shea, she regained her composure for the most part, and together with Yue she prepared to jump out of the way of the flail. However— 
“Not this time~” Miledi said in a singsong voice as she started rotating the block they were standing on. 
Hajime and the others all lost their balance. The flail smashed into their platform with overwhelming force. The trio was flung away from their now pulverized foothold. Before Miledi could reel her flail back in, Hajime grabbed onto its chains. Yue used the crumbled remains of their old platform as a foothold while she used Updraft to carry her to safety. Meanwhile, Shea maneuvered to a nearby platform using Drucken’s explosive bursts to propel her. 
Next, Miledi followed up by swinging her heat knuckle down on them. 
“Kuh!” 
“Mmm!” 
They managed to avoid a direct hit, but the heat of the explosion generated by the impact still scorched them. Even while they were crying out in pain, they didn’t stop fighting. Yue used Rupture to hack away at Miledi’s arm, while Shea activated Drucken’s spike and drove it into Miledi’s armor. 
While Yue’s Rupture managed to cut partway through Miledi’s arm, it couldn’t sever it. She jumped back to safety with a frustrated expression. 
On the other side, Shea had managed to climb up Miledi’s left shoulder, and aimed a swing right at her head. However, Miledi changed the direction of her gravity again, making Shea lose her balance and fall. 
“Kyaaa!” Shea screamed as she fell. Hajime swung himself off the flail’s chain and caught Shea in midair. 
“Hajime-san!” Shea cried out joyfully. She was finally being carried by Hajime like she’d always wanted. Even though she knew this wasn’t the time, she couldn’t help but be happy. But of course, Hajime had to ruin the moment. He held her up with one hand, like he had the time he’d thrown her into a mob of monsters. 
“H-Hajime-san!?” 
“Do it again!” With a metallic whoosh, Hajime reloaded his arm shotgun and fired it again. He started rotating in place and used the centrifugal force to aid his throw. 
“Hajime-san, you bastaaaard!” Shea let out a scream of enraged desperation as she readied Drucken. Just when she thought her wish had finally been granted, he’d thrown her to the wolves again. 
Even Miledi was taken aback by the heartlessness of Hajime’s actions. However, she still moved to intercept, and made a fist with her right hand. But before she could fire her heat knuckle, the chain that had returned to her along with her flail exploded. 
“Wawawah!? What was that!?” Miledi cried out in surprise. When he had still been hanging on to the chain, Hajime had attached a large number of grenades to it. The force of the explosion blew half of the chain away and ruined Miledi’s left arm. The shockwaves were powerful enough to throw her off balance. And it was at that very moment that Shea appeared with Drucken in hand. 
“Uryaaaaaaaaaah!” With a spirited yell, Shea pulled Drucken’s trigger, firing off a barrage of shotgun shells. The recoil accelerated her hammer to mach speeds. 
Miledi reflexively raised up her damaged left arm to guard, but Drucken slammed into it with tremendous force, pulverizing whatever remained of Miledi’s arm, shattering it from the shoulder down. 
The force of her swing sent Shea spiraling through the air. Trying to get revenge for her destroyed left arm, Miledi swung her heat knuckle down on the defenseless Shea. But before she could reach, a jet of water surged up from below and struck the area that had been cut earlier. The second wave of water was enough to cut through it completely, so Miledi lost her right arm as well. 
“Fufu, you let your guard down.” Yue smiled triumphantly as she said that. 
“You! How dare you!” Miledi’s facade finally cracked, and anger spilled into her voice. Meanwhile, Hajime had used his anchor as a pendulum, swinging around on it to catch Shea. But he wasn’t doing a princess carry this time. Instead, he held her beneath his arm like a sack of potatoes. 
“Hajime-saaan, that was the perfect opportunity to carry me like an actual girl. Don’t I deserve a reward? Read the mood a little.” 
“Please don’t talk about me like I’m dense or something. In fact, why don’t you learn to read the mood instead? You’re always trying to twist every situation into an opportunity to satisfy yourself.” 
Shea started complaining the moment they landed, but Hajime shut her up with a tired rebuttal. For some reason, Miledi wasn’t drawing nearby platforms to her in order to repair her arms. Instead, she was looking up at the sky, her eyes glowing brightly. 
Hajime stiffened. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Shea, who was standing right next to him, paled as well. 
“Hajime-san, Yue-san! Run! She’s making them all fall!” Hajime assumed Shea’s Future Sight must have activated again. That could only have meant that something life threatening was about to head their way again. Hajime spared a quick glance at Yue, who was standing nearby, before readying himself. 
A second later, it happened. The entire room rumbled. Rocks started raining from the sky. No, they weren’t rocks. Miledi was bringing the entire ceiling down on them. 
“Huh!? No way!” 
“Fufufu, here’s my revenge. Aside from the knights, I can’t give multiple objects orders at once, but I can make everything fall. Try dodging this~” Miledi’s words irked Hajime, but there wasn’t any time to worry about her. There were a few platforms making up part of the room’s wall, but its ceiling was made almost entirely of platforms. Each of those platforms was easily ten tons, and they were falling as thickly as raindrops. Cold sweat poured down Hajime’s forehead. 
“H-Hajime-san!” 
“We’ve gotta regroup with Yue!” 
Hajime hugged Shea close and swung down from his anchor toward Yue. Yue too, was jumping from block to block to try and reach Hajime. 
Meanwhile, Miledi continued staring up at the ceiling. She’d mentioned it before too, but the way she controlled the platforms was different from how she controlled the golems. Judging by how quickly they adapted to their situation, the golems must have had some level of autonomy to them. That was why she could coordinate with them and give them sophisticated orders. 
However, giving precise commands to things without autonomy was difficult, which was why she could only control one or two objects at once. Even giving orders as simple as “fall” to numerous objects took up all her concentration. 
The time it took for her to focus also bought Hajime and Yue enough time to regroup. The moment the three of them met up the sky started falling. 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrummmmmbbllle! When the shaking finally stopped, it was replaced by a series of loud booms as the platforms started falling. Worse, because Miledi could control the trajectory to some extent, the platforms were heavily concentrated where Hajime and the others were standing. Considering the fact that Miledi probably didn’t intend to kill herself too, Hajime guessed the space around her must have been safe. However, the falling rocks were nearly upon them, and they only had time to huddle near a wall. It was too late to try and make a break for her. 
“Yue, Shea, grab hold of me! Don’t let go, no matter what!” 
“Okay.” 
“You got it!” 
The moment they grabbed on, Hajime took Orkan out of his Treasure Trove. Then, he started firing missiles at the rocks coming down from the ceiling. Each missile found a mark and Hajime pulverized stone after stone. 
The sky, which had been covered in gray stone, finally started to show some cracks due to Orkan’s barrage. Slivers of sky could finally been seen through the blanket of stone. Hajime returned Orkan to his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out Donner and Schlag, firing both of them repeatedly. In order to increase their chances of survival by even one percent, Hajime accurately calculated where he needed to shoot to break apart the right fragments, then he shot them down with precision. 
But even he could only do so much. The rocks were finally upon them. After making sure Yue and Shea were still hanging on tight, Hajime activated one of his special magic skills, Riftwalk. The world suddenly slowed down around him, and Hajime could make out each piece of death falling toward him. 
Using the minimum amount of movement possible, Hajime nimbly weaved his way through the falling barrage. At the same time, he reloaded his pistols and shot aside the rocks he couldn’t evade. He couldn’t afford to make even a fraction of a mistake. Even the level of perception he’d had when he’d first learned Riftwalk in the fight against the Great Orcus Labyrinth’s guardian wouldn’t be enough. He would need to surpass all his limits to survive. Hajime activated another one of his skills, Limit Break. 
Crimson light enveloped his body, then dissipated seconds later. Normally, Limit Break would triple his base stats, but because mana was dispersed upon being released from the body, it was rendered ineffective. That was because Limit Break achieved its effects by wrapping its user in an aura of mana. But it also wrapped the inside of its user’s body with another layer of mana. Which meant that even if the strengthening was rendered ineffective, his heightened senses from using the skill remained. 
He was breaking his limits in the very literal sense of the phrase. Naturally, this placed a huge burden on his body. Especially because he’d already enhanced his senses to the limit earlier with Riftwalk. Had his body not been transformed by monster meat, it would have broken apart from the strain of his own abilities. As it was, Hajime was still bleeding from his eye and nose because of the burden. 
With fluid motions, he dodged death by a hair’s breadth time and time again. This was all the more impressive because Yue and Shea were still clinging to him. He jumped from crumbling platform to crumbling platform with a godlike level of balance, sometimes even using the falling rocks as footholds. 
Now that time was moving in slow motion, Hajime was able to see the cracks in each stone as it fell past. Having long since surpassed the limits of any human, Hajime continually found the one thread of life in a sea of death. To Miledi, who was watching from across the room near the far wall, it looked as if Hajime had been swallowed by the barrage of rocks. They fought hard, but I guess they just couldn’t handle that kind of barrage. Slightly disappointed, Miledi released her hold on the rocks. 
The few platforms that hadn’t been totally destroyed floated aimlessly among the remnants of the fallen sky. 
“Well, I guess it was too much for them after all. But if they can’t even survive this, they’d never have been able to take on those bastards.” Sighing, Miledi started searching for Hajime’s corpse. But at that moment— 
“I thought I already told you that I don’t care about fighting those bastards.” 
“Huh?” 
She heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of that arrogant white-haired boy that wore an eyepatch and used artifacts she’d never seen before. It was Hajime’s voice. Miledi turned around, her voice a mixture of surprise and joy. He looked down at Miledi from his perch on one of the few intact platforms. He was bleeding from his eye and nose, but otherwise looked unharmed. 
“H-How did you...” She was sure she’d seen him get swallowed up by the barrage of rocks, yet here he was, standing before her. Hajime smiled victoriously. 
“I don’t mind telling you... but don’t you think you should be worrying about something else?” 
“Huh?” she said again. But her confusion vanished an instant later when a magical attack slammed into her. 
“Rupture!” Yue’s cool voice rang out through the crumbling chamber, and multiple jets of water cut through Miledi’s back, legs, head, and shoulders. Entire chunks of her armor were cut off. 
“No matter how many times you try, the result won’t change~ I’ll just fix it all up when I fix my arms~” 
“You won’t get the chance to.” Hajime fired an anchor at Miledi and reeled himself close to her. He was holding Schlagen in his right hand. 
“Ahaha, this again? You know that can’t pierce my Azantium armor.” Miledi was still confident they couldn’t win. She even let Hajime swing up to her and point Schlagen at her chest again. She didn’t bother trying to block with any of her remaining platforms. 
From her perspective, it made sense. The fact that Hajime’s weapons couldn’t penetrate her Azantium armor had already been proven. She assumed that because they were trying the same thing again, they’d exhausted all other options... But that negligence proved to be fatal. 
“I know!” Hajime fired, and Schlagen’s enhanced full metal jacket bullet slammed into Miledi’s body. Like before, Miledi was blown away by the force of it. But this time, Hajime didn’t fly back after firing. He kept the anchor firmly embedded to stay close to Miledi, then fired all of his prosthetic arm’s shotgun shells into her chest. She was sent flying even further back, and crashed into one of the floating platforms behind her. 
“N-No matter what you do, you still...” 
“Yue!” Hajime ignored Miledi’s words and shouted out to Yue. Yue jumped up and fired another spell. 
“Freeze— Crystal Coffin!” She chanted the name of a spell meant to encase its target in a tomb of ice, but it was an advanced level water spell. In this labyrinth, Yue shouldn’t have been able to use anything stronger than an intermediate spell. However, in order to restrain Miledi, they needed it. 
The part of Miledi’s back that was resting on the floating blocks froze, keeping her stuck to the platform. 
“Wha—!? How can you use advanced level spells!?” Miledi shouted out in surprise. The reason Yue had been able to use the spell was simple. Like with Rupture, if she used water that was already present, then the amount of mana required to cast the spell went down. Yue had coated the block Miledi had landed on with water ahead of time. And when Miledi had shown an opening, Yue had doused her back with water as well. That was what her initial Rupture had been for. 
Even then, it had taken up a huge amount, and Yue had depleted all of her accessories’ stored mana to cast it. Panting, Yue retreated to a platform further away. 
“Nice job, Yue!” Hajime stood on top of Miledi’s chest and pulled his trump card out of his Treasure Trove. The object he pulled out was a two and a half meter long cannon. The outside was covered in all manner of odd knobs and switches, while the inside was loaded with a twenty centimeter wide jet black spike. There were four sturdy stands attached to the lower part of the cannon, while the middle part connected to his prosthetic arm, allowing him to operate it. 
Hajime used the arms to hold it in place over Miledi, who couldn’t move, and fired two anchors for good measure. All told, there were six stands firmly holding the cannon in place. Then, Hajime started pouring mana into it. Red sparks started flying off the cannon, and the jet black spike inside it started to rotate. 
Whiiiiiiiir! The spinning spike let out a high pitched whirring noise. Hajime’s smile was so ghastly that had Miledi not been a golem, she surely would have stiffened in fear. 
This was one of the auxiliary weapons for his left arm, a pile bunker. With his compression synthesis, he had managed to fit a four-ton mass into a spike twenty centimeters wide and one meter long. The entire thing was coated in a thick layer of Azantium, making it the densest, hardest object on the planet. He ignited the massive amount of compressed blastrock inside the pile bunker and accelerated it with Lightning Field for good measure. 
“Eat this.” He drove the spike straight through Miledi’s heart, as if he were staking a vampire. 
With a resounding crash, his pile bunker pierced through Miledi’s Azantium armor. Cracks spread around the point of impact, the damage spreading throughout the plating. The platform Miledi was stuck to had nearly shattered, the force of the impact pushed it down a good distance, and the friction of the spinning pile bunker created enough heat to make plumes of smoke rise from her chest. 
  

...However, the light in Miledi’s eyes was still burning bright. 
“Ha...haha. Looks like even that wasn’t enough. But well, props to you guys. You pierced through a good three-fourths of my armor, you know?” Her voice was shaky, but she tried to feign confidence. Internally, she was panicking. The pile bunker she’d just experienced had been one not fully accelerated by Hajime’s max power Lightning Field. That was the only reason it hadn’t penetrated all the way to her core. And yet, despair still didn’t color Hajime’s eyes. It was almost as if he’d expected it to not be enough. 
“Now, Shea! Finish it!” Hajime put everything but the spike back into his Treasure Trove and leaped out of the way. 
From above came Shea, falling from a great height. Her rabbit ears were flopping in the wind as she held Drucken high over her head. 
“Wha—!?” Miledi instantly guessed what was about to happen. There was real panic in her eyes now, and she desperately tried to break free. Realizing that wouldn’t work, she tried to move the platform she was stuck to instead, but she quickly realized it was too late. At the last moment she stopped struggling, accepting her inevitable fate. 
Shea fired off multiple shotgun blasts to accelerate her even further, then slammed down her war hammer with all the power of gravity behind it. 
With a thunderous roar, the spike sank deeper into Miledi. But even then, it didn’t pierce all the way through. Shea squeezed Drucken’s trigger relentlessly, blowing all of her ammunition. 
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Shea’s scream echoed across the room. She poured every last ounce of her strength into her war hammer. Every. Last. Ounce. 
The platform fell even further from the force of her blow. It crashed into the floor below at breakneck speed. Finally, the spike pierced through Miledi’s last layer of Azantium armor. There was a satisfying crack as her core broke. 
The moment the platform hit the ground, Shea somersaulted over Drucken and leaped into the air. Then, with her body strengthening focused on her legs, she kicked Drucken’s handle, making doubly sure that Miledi was done for. 
The spike drove even further into Miledi’s chest, breaking the core apart, shattering it completely. 
The light faded from Miledi’s eyes. Shea let out a sigh of relief, then let the tension drain from her body. 
She heard two objects land behind her and turned around. As she expected, it was Hajime and Yue. Shea broke out into an ecstatic grin and gave them a thumbs-up. Both of them smiled back and returned her gesture. 
They were certain of it now. They’d cleared the final trial Reisen’s labyrinth had to offer. 
“Nice one, Shea. That last smash of yours was perfect. I might even respect you a little now.” 
“...Yeah, you did good.” Dust as thick as smoke swirled about them as they talked. 
A spiderweb of cracks radiated out from the crater that had formed when the Miledi Golem had crashed into the ground. Shea was exhausted enough that she had to lean on Drucken just to stay on her feet. 
She would have gladly just slumped to the ground, but she wanted to look cool in front of Hajime and Yue. And as a reward for her efforts, the two of them gave her looks of admiration. 
“Ehehe, thanks guys. But Hajime-san, shouldn’t you be saying you might have fallen in love with me a little instead?” 
“Not happening. Not even a little.” Though his words seemed curt, his expression was nowhere near as stern as it usually was when it came to Shea’s pathetic jokes. In fact, he was even willing to admit to himself that Shea might have just looked a little sexy when pounding the finishing blow into Miledi. 
The fact that she’d been able to fight so well despite never even holding a weapon until a few weeks ago was because of how strongly she’d wanted to stand on the same stage as Hajime and Yue. It was that strong determination, combined with Shea’s own latent abilities, that had allowed her to overcome the trials of one of the Seven Great Labyrinths and deal the finishing blow to its guardian. 
In truth, Hajime hadn’t necessarily needed Shea’s help to finish off Miledi. He had expected the pile bunker would fall short, so he had a backup plan for powering it all the way in. But he’d seen how such a gentle and peace loving bunny girl had resolutely stood by his side through all of their trials. Despite having no combat skill to speak of until just recently she had never once cried that she wanted to go back, and despite all of her fear and uncertainty she’d pushed valiantly forward. That was why he’d decided to entrust the final blow to her. A choice he was glad he’d made now. 
That last strike of hers had actually been cool enough that Hajime would have fallen for her under normal circumstances. The depth of her feelings had been conveyed to him together with the shockwaves generated by her attack. However, Hajime still couldn’t give her the kind of affection she sought. Still, the strength of her determination and guts had moved him. As a result, he definitely looked at her with kinder eyes than he used to. 
“Fweh? I-Is it just me... or are you actually being nice to me for once, Hajime-san...? I-Is this a dream?” 
“Now look here... Err, actually, I guess it makes sense that you’d think that considering how I’ve been treating you...” 
Shea pinched her cheeks to make sure she really wasn’t dreaming. Hajime wanted to protest, but he realized that he really didn’t have any right to say anything. 
Yue walked up to Shea, who was still busy pinching her cheeks. She grabbed Shea’s arm, pulled her down into a crouch, and gently patted her head. Then, she started to straighten out Shea’s disheveled hair. 
“U-Umm, Yue-san?” 
“It’s a shame we can’t get Hajime to pat your head. You’ll just have to make do with me for now.” 
“Y-Yue-saaaan. Huh? Why am I crying? Fweeeeeeeh.” 
“...There there.” 
Shea waffled about in confusion for a moment, but burst into tears and hugged Yue tight when she realized she was being praised. Taking on one of the Seven Great Labyrinths for her first trip outside the forest must have been pretty tough. Only the resolve to stay together with Yue and Hajime had kept her going. Finally being accepted as someone capable of fighting together with them after overcoming such a difficult trial was more than enough to move her to tears. 
As an aside, even Yue’s comment didn’t persuade Hajime to pat her head. Since Shea was the kind of girl that got carried away easily, Hajime didn’t want to give her the wrong idea by being too nice to her. Dealing with her misunderstandings was too much of a hassle for him. With all that they’d been through, Shea was definitely a member of his family. Still, the kind of love Hajime felt for Yue wasn’t something that he could really share between multiple people. After all, that was what having a “special someone” meant. Besides, Hajime couldn’t imagine ever doing anything that would make Yue sad. 
And most of all, when he saw Shea crying tears of happiness and relief into Yue’s bosom while Yue gently patted her head... Well, he could guess where things were probably headed. 
Hajime watched on with a strange expression on his face. Suddenly, a voice called out to the three of them. 
“Ummm... Sorry to interrupt your little party, but things aren’t looking so hot for me, so I’d like to get this out of the way before it’s too late.” They knew that voice. The three of them all turned back in surprise. The light from Miledi’s eyes, which had gone out moments ago, had returned. Instantly, they all jumped back. They all eyed Miledi warily, as they were certain they’d destroyed her core. 
“Hey, hey, no need to be so tense. You did it! You won! I’m just using what little power’s left in my core to talk to you guys for a bit! I’ll be gone for good in a few minutes.” The fact that the light in her eyes was flickering and fainter than before, combined with the fact that she didn’t move, seemed to support her statement. She was on the verge of disappearing for good. Really does look like she’s gonna die in a few minutes... 
Relaxing slightly, Hajime cautiously responded to her. 
“So? What’d you want to talk to us about, you half-dead golem? Seeing as you’re about to die and still can’t read the mood... I guess I’ll posthumously award you the title of most insensitive Liberator.” 
“Heeey, there’s no need to be so mean. I was just starting to like you, too.” 
“Whatever. Anyway, I thought I told you I have no interest in fighting your world’s shitty gods.” It almost felt like Miledi sighed before she responded. 
“Don’t worry, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. There’s no need to. I’m just... here to give you a piece of advice. Even if the spell you’re looking for isn’t in the labyrinths you explore, you’ll need to acquire all of the ancient magic the Liberators left behind... in order to achieve your goal...” It certainly did seem like Miledi was on the verge of disappearing. Her voice was growing fainter and there were long pauses between sentences. Unconcerned, Hajime continued pressing her for answers. 
“All of it, huh... Well, why don’t you tell us where all the other labyrinths are, then. The records have been lost and no one knows where most of them are anymore.” 
“Ah, I see... So it’s already been so long... that people have forgotten where the labyrinths are... Okay, well... they’re...” Miledi’s voice grew weaker and weaker. It looked like she was reminiscing about the past. Yue and Shea looked down at her silently. They respected her determination. For the sake of her goal, for the sake of her dream, she’d abandoned human form and transferred her spirit into this inanimate object. 
Miledi mumbled out the location of the remaining Great Labyrinths. Among them was one that came as a surprise to everyone. 
“That’s all of them... Good luck.” 
“You sure are acting nice now. What happened to all the harassment and traps you sprang on us?” Like Hajime had said, the annoying cutesy speech and insulting tone was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was speaking with sincerity he could hardly believe from her. She had shown hints of this personality before their fight, so Hajime was beginning to suspect this really was her true nature. And now that she was moments from death, she had no need to keep up the facade. 
“Ahaha, sorry about that, really. But you know... those fucking bastards... are real scum... They do these kinds of underhanded annoying things all the time... So I just... wanted to help you get used to it before...” 
“Hey... How many times do I have to say it? I have no interest in fighting your mad gods. Quit assuming I will.” 
The reply that came back had such a level of earnest tone to it that Hajime couldn’t doubt her words. 
“You will. As long as you stay the same... you’ll... definitely kill them.” 
“...I don’t get what you’re trying to say. I mean, sure, I guess I’ll blow them to kingdom come if they get in my way, but...” Hajime replied hesitatingly. Miledi only laughed cryptically in reply. 
“Fufu... That’s fine... live your life however you wish... I know... your choices... will definitely... help this world...” Glowing blue light enveloped the Miledi Golem. It flickered faintly, like the pale light of a firefly as it floated up to heaven like a soul finally being freed. It was a wondrous, mystical sight. 
Yue suddenly walked up to Miledi. There was almost no light left in her eyes. 
“What is it?” Miledi’s voice was barely a whisper. Yue replied in the same hushed whisper, giving her last parting words to the great Liberator. 
“...You did well. You can rest now.” 
“......” 
Words of praise. It was all one of the living could give to her, an almost legendary hero that had waited all alone in the darkness for centuries, never giving up hope that her dream would one day be realized. It might have been odd hearing those words from someone far younger than her. Still, Yue could think of nothing else to say. 
Miledi hadn’t been expecting that either. She just stared in surprise for a while. Finally, she spoke. Her muttered words were far gentler than anything they’d heard her say thus far. 
“...Thank you.” 
“Mhmm.” 
Just get on with it already! Behind them, Hajime was nearing the end of his patience. The way Miledi had sounded so sure about what he was going to do had pissed him off. And yet, Shea pinned his arms behind his back and covered his mouth with her hand before he could do anything. 
“Who’s the one who can’t read the mood now, huh!? Just stay quiet until they’re done!” Shea whispered furiously into his ear. Fortunately, neither Yue nor Miledi noticed them, so the solemn atmosphere between the two of them remained. 
“Now then... it’s finally time... I pray that... the blessings of the gods... never reach you...” 
Hold on, those were the same words Oscar told us back in his house... With that parting remark, Miledi Reisen, one of this world’s Liberators, vanished. Entranced, Yue and Shea watched as the light of her soul rose up to the sky. 
“...At first I thought she was just a rotten, twisted little woman, but she really gave it her all, didn’t she?” 
“Yeah...” 
Their words were somber. However, one member of their party didn’t seem to care about Miledi’s passing at all, and hurried the two of them up. 
“Alright, done yet? Let’s get out of here. Also, I know for a fact that that annoying part of her personality wasn’t faked. There’s no actor that good, she had to have been a bitch from the start.” 
“Come on, Hajime-san. There’s no need to speak ill of the dead. That’s just cruel. See, I knew you were the one who was worst at reading the mood.” 
“...Hajime, are you dense?” 
“Not you too, Yue... Bah, whatever. Also, it’s not that I can’t read the mood, I’m just choosing not to.” 
In the midst of their conversation, they noticed a section of the wall had begun to glow. Cutting their discussion short, they started heading toward it. It was relatively high up, so they’d have to hop across a few floating blocks to reach it. But the moment they jumped onto the first one, it started moving and took them right to it. 
“.....” 
“Wawawa, it just started moving on its own. Well, at least it saved us some trouble.” 
“Is this a reward for winning?” Shea yelled out in surprise, while Yue tilted her head. Only Hajime looked unhappy. After ten seconds of travel, it stopped about five meters before the glowing part of the wall. At the same time, the light began to fade and the part of the wall that had been glowing fell away. Behind it was a passageway made of polished white stone that shone with a brilliant radiance. 
The floating block they were standing on began taking them through the passage. I guess this is what’s going to take us to Miledi’s house? A short while later, they found themselves staring at a wall engraved with the seven Liberators’ crests. It was the same wall that had led to Oscar’s house in his labyrinth. As they approached, the wall slid to the side. The block didn’t slow at all and took them through that opening as well. On the other side, they found... 
“Hey there! Not-so-long time no see! It’s me, Miledi-chan!” A miniature version of the Miledi Golem. 
“......” 
“What’d I tell you? I knew she’d pull something like this.” 
Shea and Yue were stunned speechless. Hajime just looked annoyed. He had been hoping his guess was incorrect. 
He’d already guessed that both the serious Miledi and the prankster Miledi were just two facets of the person that was Miledi Reisen. The intricacy and annoyance factor of her traps was too great to have come from someone who was just putting on a facade. Furthermore, she’d purposely chosen to leave her spirit behind to judge potential challengers. In which case, it didn’t make sense for her to set things up so that she’d just vanish once she was defeated. After all, that would mean subsequent challengers would no longer have any trials to overcome. 
That was why Hajime had predicted that even if they destroyed her golem, Miledi herself wouldn’t vanish. His assumption was confirmed when the block they jumped on started guiding them on its own. Only Miledi could freely control those blocks. 
In stark contrast to Shea and Yue’s glum expressions, Miledi seemed sickeningly cheerful. 
“Huh? What’s this? Why’s everyone all quiet? Come on, shouldn’t you be more surprised? Or are you just so surprised you don’t know what to say? I guess my surprise was a huge hit!” The miniature Miledi Golem looked a lot more human than her giant counterpart. She had a white mask over her face and her slender body was clad in a white robe. Though it was rather off-putting that her mask was in the shape of a smiley face... Speaking in the same cutesy manner she had when they’d first met, Mini Miledi walked up to them. Yue and Shea’s bangs were covering their faces, hiding their expressions. Hajime could see where this was headed and quickly took a step back. 
Yue and Shea whispered quietly. 
“...Then what was that back there?” 
“Hm? Back there? Oh, did you think I died? Nah, no way! I’d never leave!” 
“But we saw light leaving your body.” 
“Fufufu, pretty good performance, right? I’m such a good actor! I really am a genius at everything I do!” Miledi got louder and louder as she spoke. She became proportionally more annoying as well. Yue stuck her hand out while Shea pulled out Drucken. 
“Uh oh, did I go too far?” Miledi muttered worriedly. 
“U-Umm....” She looked apprehensively from Yue to Shea, momentarily at a loss for words, but then she seemed to resign herself to her fate as she spoke. 
“Ehehe, just kidding~” 
“Die.” 
“I’m going to kill you!” 
“W-Wait! Please wait! This body’s really weak! I really will die if you smash it! Calm down, please! I’ll apologize, I promise!” 
That marked the start of a scuffle in which a great deal of the surrounding area was destroyed, but Hajime paid it all no mind and explored the room they were in instead. The floors and walls were all white, and aside from the magic circle engraved into its center, the room was empty. There was a single door set into the far wall, which Hajime assumed led to Miledi’s house. 
Hajime walked over to the magic circle and started examining it. Miledi hurried over to him when she saw what he was doing. A bloodthirsty vampire and a murderous rabbit chased after her. 
“Heeey, don’t touch that. Also, they’re your comrades, right!? Don’t just ignore me, do something about them!” Miledi cowered behind Hajime’s back, hoping he would provide some protection against the two demonic girls chasing her. 
“Hajime, move. I have to kill her.” 
“Please move, Hajime-san. We need to kill her. Soon, preferably.” 
“Didn’t think I’d be hearing that from you guys. Anyway, quit playing around, we’ve got work to do.” Hajime reprimanded Yue and Shea in a tired voice. Behind him, the Mini Miledi jeered. 
“Yeah that’s right, take this seriously!” But then she was cut short by Hajime’s metal arm grabbing her face. He tightened his hold on her until her smiley face mask was twisted in a grotesque expression of pain. There was an ominous creaking noise coming out of her head. 
“If you don’t want to end up like your bigger self, hand over the ancient magic.” 
“Heeey, you do know you sound totally like a villain— Creaak! Okay, okay, fine, I’ll give it to you! I promise, so please stop! I’m really going to break if you keep going!” Seeing Miledi finally humbled, Yue and Shea calmed down a little as well. Realizing any more fooling around might really get her destroyed, Miledi quickly started up the magic circle. 
The three of them stepped inside it. Since Miledi herself had been the one to test them here, there was no spell that searched their memories like the one in Orcus’ home. Instead, the knowledge of how to use the ancient magic she protected was transferred directly to their brain. Hajime and Yue had gone through this once before, so they didn’t show any reaction, but Shea jumped in surprise when it happened. 
In just a few seconds, all three of them had the knowledge of how to use Miledi’s ancient spell. 
“This is... I knew it, a spell that lets you manipulate gravity.” 
“That’s right~ My specialty was gravity magic. Make sure you use it well... Or so I’d like to say, but it looks like you and that bunny girl over there don’t have any affinity for it. Like none at all, holy cow!” 
“Oh shut up. I figured that would happen anyway.” Just as Miledi had said, though Hajime and Shea now had the knowledge of how to manipulate gravity, they wouldn’t easily be able to use it. It was like how Yue didn’t have any aptitude for the creation magic Hajime used. 
“Well, that bunny girl over there can at least use it well enough to make herself heavier. And you... you’ve got your creation magic, so think of something. At least Blondie over here is fit to use it. Train hard until you master it, okay?” Hajime shrugged his shoulders, Yue nodded seriously, and Shea looked stricken. She’d finally gotten her hands on god-level magic only to be told the most she’d be able to do with it was make herself heavier. The shock must have been pretty great. Obviously, she had no intention of making herself heavier, but even learning how to make herself lighter wouldn’t be of much help. Becoming lighter could mess up her body proportions just as badly. Either way, it was of no use to her... Shea sunk to the ground, clearly depressed. Hajime ignored her and continued mercilessly making more demands. 
“Hey, Miledi. Hand over the proof that we conquered this dungeon. Oh, and give us all the useful artifacts you have hidden here and all the high-quality spirit stone you’ve got stored up.” 
“You do realize that you sound like a mugger right now, right?” It felt to Hajime that the eyes behind the now warped smiley face mask were glaring at him angrily, but he ignored them. Mini Miledi ruffled through her pockets before pulling out a ring and throwing it to Hajime. He caught it in midair. Reisen’s crest was two ellipses connected by a single stake piercing through both of them. 
She then brought out a large quantity of ore from seemingly nowhere, then rifled through it, picking out the same ore the dungeon was made from. She must have had a Treasure Trove of her own. Considering how easily she agreed, maybe she planned on giving all this to us anyway. For whatever reason, Miledi seemed convinced that Hajime would indeed end up fighting the gods, so it made sense for her to offer all this assistance. 
Though, leave it to Hajime to not be satisfied with all that. He started packing the ore into his own Treasure Trove while he looked coldly at Miledi. 
“That’s a Treasure Trove, isn’t it? Hand it over. You’ve got some good artifacts in there too, right?” 
“N-Now look here, that’s everything I have to give you. I need the Treasure Trove and all the other artifacts I have left to repair and maintain this labyrinth.” 
“Like I care. Hand it over.” 
“Hey, I said no!” Miledi hurriedly stepped back, away from Hajime’s grabbing hands. Besides, these things wouldn’t be of any use to them anyway. She explained as much to Hajime, but it seemed to be of no use. 
“Hmm, I see... Alright, hand it over.” At this point, he really was acting like a villain. 
“I told you already, I can’t! Now go home!” Miledi fled from Hajime’s groping clutches and jumped up onto the block that had led them here. She manipulated it so that she was floating somewhere near the ceiling. 
“Don’t run. I just want everything you own as part of my reward for clearing your dungeon. I’d say that’s a fair thing to ask.” 
“There’s something wrong with you if you think that counts as fair! Ugh, can’t believe I ended up saying the same line O-chan always used to give me...” 
“Just so you know, it’s O-chan who taught us this is fair.” 
“O-chaaaaaaan!” 
Hajime eventually managed to corner Miledi with the help of Yue and Shea, who still held a grudge toward her for all the teasing she’d done and wanted payback. She knew half of this was her own fault, but the part that really stung was that half of it was the fault of the guy who’d made the other labyrinth. 
“Haaah, to think the first people to conquer my dungeon would be this crazy... Whatever, I give up. I’m sending you three out of here! You better not come back!” Just before Hajime could leap at her, a rope suddenly appeared from the ceiling, which Miledi promptly pulled. 
“Huh?” Hajime looked up in confusion, but then he heard that same terrible noise he’d grown to hate. 
Clunk! 
“Wha—!?” She’d activated another trap. 
A second later, water started rushing into the room from all four walls. Because of the angle it came out at, the room they were in was soon a raging whirlpool of water. At the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sunk, creating a neat little hole in the floor. The whirlpool started draining into it. 
“Hey! You little—” Hajime stiffened as he realized the humiliation they were about to be subjected to. A circular white room, a hole in its center, and water whirlpooling its way down said hole... Miledi had led them to a massive toilet. 
“How about we let this water wash away our animosity too?” Mini Miledi’s mask winked at them. 
Annoyed, Yue quickly tried to cast her usual flight spell. Mana in this room didn’t get dispersed, possibly because the magic circle was in this room, which was why Yue could easily have lifted them all up despite her depleted mana reserves. 
“Up—” 
“Nope~” Before she could finish, however, Miledi stuck out her hand and Hajime and the others felt an enormous weight press down on them. It felt like there was an invisible object trying to crush them. Miledi had increased the weight of the air pressing down on them. 
“Bye bye~ Good luck with the other labyrinths!” 
“Ugh... Damn you! We’re not shit to be flushed down! I swear I’ll come back and destroy you!” 
“Urgh... I’ll never forgive you.” 
“You’re dead, you hear me!? Dead! Fugwaah!” 
With those parting remarks, Hajime and the others were sucked down the massive toilet bowl. Just before he vanished from sight, Hajime chucked something at Miledi in a last desperate act of revenge. Once Hajime and the others had disappeared, the water drained away as fast as it came, leaving the room looking the same as it had before. 
“Haah, what a bunch. Still, to think he’d be a Synergist like O-chan... Fufu, it almost feels like fate. Keep struggling for the sake of your dream... Now then, looks like I’ll be busy fixing the golems for quite some time... Hm? What’s this?” 
Miledi wiped nonexistent sweat off her artificial golem brow as she mused to herself. A second later, she noticed something strange at the corner of her sight. There was a knife stuck to the wall with a black object dangling from it. What on earth is that? As she got closer, she realized she recognized that shape. 
“Huh!? Wait, isn’t this—” 
The black object was one of Hajime’s hand grenades. Just before he’d disappeared down the drain, Hajime had thrown it as his last act of revenge. Since he’d used it so many times in the dungeon, Miledi recognized what it was instantly. Panicking, she quickly tried to get away. However, manipulating gravity took up large amounts of mana, and Miledi had used all of it up in that last chase, which meant she had no means of softening the explosion. 
She tried to make a break for it on foot, but it was already too late. The moment Mini Miledi turned around was when the grenade went off. The entire room was enveloped in light, followed by a massive shockwave. 
Miledi’s screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Some time after, there might have been a very depressed golem going around crying as she had to spend even more time repairing her dungeon. Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There was no breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls. 
They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim against the current and many of them passed the trio. 
One of them even came up to Shea’s face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish’s. Or rather, what she’d thought was a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a difficult impression to convey, but that was the best way to describe it. Shea had run into a fish with a person’s face. Its apathetic expression was oddly reminiscent of the fish in the old game Seaman. 
Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she’d been holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn’t take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away by the current. They might have spent all eternity gazing into each other’s eyes, but Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head. 
—What the heck are you staring at?— It was even accompanied by a mental clicking of the tongue. This time Shea couldn’t contain her surprise. She opened her mouth with a garbled scream, letting out the air she’d been holding in. Wait, is this fish a monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill? But Shea’s question would remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish continued swimming in a different direction. 
All that was left behind was a white-eyed bunny girl suspended limply in the water, as their party continued to flow down the water for quite a while...

A single carriage escorted by a team of horses plodded down a beaten highway. The horses’ hoofbeats punctured the silence at regular intervals. They naturally had people riding them. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like adventurers. The carriage was being driven by a fifteen year old girl and a... cross-dresser that resembled a monster. 
“Sona-chaaan, there’s a spring coming up ahead, so let’s take a break there.” 
“Alright, Crystabel-san.” 
This Crystabel was the same Crystabel that had helped outfit Yue and Shea back in the town of Brooke. The girl sitting next to him was the receptionist of the Masaka Inn that they’d stayed at, Sona Masaka. Despite her strange sounding name, she was an ordinary girl with maybe just a little more curiosity in the more adult side of things than was normal for her age. 
The two of them were on their way back to Brooke after an excursion to the next town over with a hired escort of guards. As his giant frame would suggest, Crystabel was insanely strong, so he often went out to collect his own supplies to craft his clothes. This trip, in fact, had one such instance. Sona had come along because one of her relatives in the next town over had gotten pretty badly hurt and her parents were too busy to go, so she’d delivered get well gifts in their place. The adventurers had been on the way back from a quest, so they decided to tag along as well. 
They were around a day’s ride out from Brooke. The party decided to rest at a nearby spring for the afternoon. 
They let the horses drink from the spring while they made preparations for lunch. Sona headed to the spring to get water for the group. The moment she put her canteen into the spring, it started frothing. Gouts of water flew up from its center, splashing the nearby area. 
“Kyaaa!” 
“Sona-chan!” 
Sona let out a surprised shriek and fell back. Crystabel instantly rushed over to protect her, with the other adventurers not far behind. The fountain’s spray increased in intensity, creating a column of water rising ten meters high. 
This spring was a well known resting place for travelers, and never once had anyone reported something like this happening. Hence why Crystabel, Sona, and the other adventurers gazed on in shock, heedless of the spray that was soaking them. A few seconds later— 
“Dowaaaaaaa!” 
“Aaaaaaah!” 
“......” 
Three people were spat out of the fountain... two of which screamed as they flew out. Crystabel and the others cried out in surprise. They flew a good ten feet through the air before crashing spectacularly to the ground on the opposite shore. 
“......” 
“Wh-What on earth was that...” Crystabel and the adventurers were shocked speechless, while Sona muttered what they were all thinking. 
“Ack... Ugh... God, that was terrible. I’m gonna crush that little bitch into pieces, mark my words. Yue, Shea, you alright?” 
“Ack, urgh... Yeah, somehow.” 
Hajime spat out a string of curses while making sure Yue and Shea were fine. However, only Yue responded to him. 
“Shea? Hey, Shea! Where are you?” 
“Shea... where’d you go?” 
There was no response. Hajime quickly jumped back into the water and started looking for her. As he’d expected, Shea was laying at the bottom of the spring. She’d lost consciousness and didn’t float because of Drucken’s weight. 
Hajime pulled a really dense ore out of his Treasure Trove, making him quickly sink to the bottom. Once he’d grabbed Shea, he kicked off the ground and leaped back out. 
He dragged her with him to the shore. Then, he laid her on her back and took a closer look at her. She was pale-faced, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and her heart wasn’t beating. She must have seen something quite terrifying as her expression was still frozen in one of disgust. 
“Yue, you’ve got to give her CPR!” 
“CPwhat?” 
“Gah, I mean you need to clear her airway of water and...” 
“Huh?” He tried to get Yue to give Shea CPR, but she just looked at Hajime blankly. Does the concept of CPR not exist in this world? She wasn’t exactly injured, and feeding her more liquid when she was already drowning seemed like a bad idea, so the Ambrosia probably wouldn’t be of any help. Yue wasn’t very well versed in healing magic, so he doubted she could cast something specific enough to make Shea spit out all the water and get her heart pumping again. 
He didn’t know when it was she’d lost consciousness, but at this point time was of the essence. Hajime steeled his resolve and started performing CPR. 
Naturally, that meant he would have to do mouth-to-mouth as well... Yue watched on unhappily. But she realized Hajime was doing this because it would somehow save Shea, so she kept quiet. Instead she just stared. 
Hajime tried to ignore that cold stare as best he could while he worked to get Shea’s heart pumping again. Unbelievable. I’d just started to think you might not be that worthless after all, but then you go and nearly kill yourself after we’ve already won... You really are just a worthless rabbit. Hajime grimaced, and after a few rounds of CPR, Shea finally started coughing up water. He turned her head to the side so she wouldn’t choke on it again. From an outside perspective it looked like he was kissing her passionately. 
“Hic, ack... Hajime-san?” 
“Yep, that’s me. Unbelievable, I can’t believe you almost got yourself killed— Mmf!?” 
Despite his harsh words, Hajime looked thoroughly relieved. Suddenly, Shea interrupted him by throwing her arms around him and giving him a deep kiss. It was so unexpected that Hajime didn’t have any time to move out of the way. 
“Mmmf!? Mmmmm!!!” 
”Mmmpch... Mmm...” Shea wrapped her arms and legs around Hajime, locking him in place while she mercilessly ravaged his mouth with her tongue. Her inhuman strength and the leverage her position gave her made it impossible for Hajime to break away. 
Somehow, Shea had been aware of all the “kisses” Hajime had given her while he was performing CPR. Perhaps it was a special condition brought on by the fact that Shea had activated her body strengthening right before she’d lost consciousness. 
Regardless, Hajime’s repeated kisses had flung her into full overdrive mode. She kept Hajime firmly pinned in place while she returned his kisses a hundredfold. 
Off to the side Yue looked... very unhappy, to say the least. Still, she did nothing to stop them. In a small voice, she muttered “As a reward, just this once...” It appeared she was willing to forgive this transgression. 
Though it was obvious from her expression and the dangerous look in her eyes that she was quite conflicted. Tonight, she was going to make sure Hajime spent the whole night with her... She wouldn’t let him rest for even a second. 
“Wawawah! What’s going on!? A-Amazing... they’re completely soaked, but they’re wrapping around each other so passionately... A-And... they’re doing it all outside! These people aren’t normal!” That exclamation came from none other than the easily excitable girl, Sona. Next to her, Crystabel muttered “Oh? Aren’t you two...” It seemed he remembered them. Off to the side, the three male adventurers were burning up with jealousy, and it was with great effort that they managed to keep their swords in their sheaths. The single female adventurer gave them a withering glare. 
Shea was still half-delirious from passion and near-death euphoria. She panted heavily as she kissed Hajime, until finally he got so fed up that he lifted himself to his feet, taking Shea with him. He then grabbed Shea’s plump butt, giving it a firm squeeze. 
“Aahn!” She let out a garbled moan. In that second, her ironclad grip loosened. Hajime peeled her off and flung her into the spring. 
“Ugyaaaaah!” He watched as she fell into the spring with a tremendous splash. Then, he took a few seconds to catch his breath and comb his hair back. 
“I-I was careless. I didn’t think she’d come at me like that... just after regaining consciousness.” Hajime watched as she lumbered out of the spring like a banshee, her bangs covering her face, and shivered. 
“Uuuu... How cruel. Hajime-san, you’re the one that started it.” 
“Excuse me? I’ll have you know that that is just a lifesaving technique, nothing more... and wait, you were conscious that whole time?” 
“Well, I’m not exactly sure... but I could kind of tell what was going on. Just that you were kissing me over and over, Hajime-san! Uhehehe.” 
“Please stop laughing creepily like that. Look, I only did that to save your life, nothing more. Don’t get any weird ideas, okay?” 
“Really? But a kiss is still a kiss. At this rate you might really fall for me!” 
“Like hell I will. And Yue, you could have stopped her, you know?” 
“Just this once... I mean, Shea worked so hard... but still...” 
“Yue? Earth to Yue?” 
Yue stared back with blank eyes, muttering incoherently. Hajime sighed as he realized she was done for too. Finally, he turned to Crystabel and the others. They’d been staring at them this whole time. 
His gaze passed over the four adventurers, stopped for a second at Sona, and returned to her after he took one look at Crystabel. He’d like to pretend he never saw Crystabel at all. 
Sona jumped with a start when she realized Hajime was looking at her, then blushed bright red. 
“S-Sorry for interrupting you two! D-Don’t mind us. By all means, please continue!” She turned around to run, but Crystabel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck before she could. She then walked up to Hajime and the others. Hajime nervously stepped backwards, but Shea greeted him with a cheerful “Oh, hey, you’re the shop owner.” It appeared she knew her. 
After they sorted everything out, Hajime discovered they’d been spat out a day’s ride from Brooke, so they decided to head back there with Crystabel and the others. Crystabel offered to let them ride in their carriage, which they happily accepted. They changed out of their soaked clothes and chatted amicably with the others as they rode back. The sound of hoofbeats became the soundtrack of their travels as the warm rays of the sun smiled down upon them. 
Together with their newfound comrade, Hajime and his party had cleared their second labyrinth. Hajime let the feeling of victory settle in as he laid down in the back of the carriage. Warmed by the sun, he smiled faintly as he thought of all the travels that still yet awaited them.