Labyrinth City Celivera
Satou here. When I traveled to a new country, I always looked up information on the Internet beforehand. In this parallel world, the main source of information is hearsay, so it’s not entirely reliable, but that can be interesting in its own way.
“We’re almost at Labyrinth City, right?”
“Almost there,” I responded as Arisa fidgeted and fiddled with her fluffy lilac hair.
Everyone else in the carriage seemed just as eager as she was.
“Mm. Excited.”
Mia, who’d been gazing out the window and humming a tune, looked at me with a happy expression on her youthful features. As she turned her head, her light-blue pigtails fluttered in the air, exposing her slightly pointed elf ears.
“Swishy…”
Mia’s hair whipped around in the crowded carriage, but the white-haired, cat-eared Tama easily avoided it. She was wearing leather armor over her pink outfit.
“Ouchie, sir.”
The stray pigtail hit the brunette, dog-eared Pochi instead, who gave an exaggerated whine. Her outfit matched Tama’s, although it was a different color.
“Sorry.”
“No problem at all, sir!”
Pochi smiled at the apologetic Mia.
“Master?”
I heard Lulu call for me, so I opened the hatch to peek out onto the coachman’s stand.
As she turned to look at me, her beautiful black hair swayed under her veil, capturing my attention. If I didn’t have feelings for someone else already, and if she wasn’t a middle school–aged child, I would have fallen for her in a second.
The residents of this world have no taste whatsoever if they think this lovely young lady is unattractive.
Lulu wore a veil, not to hide her face but to protect her hair and skin from the sun and dust.
“There is a caravan stopped up ahead, I report.”
This monotone statement came from Nana, straight-faced as always. Though she appears to be a busty beauty, she’s actually a homunculus who is less than a year old.
She was riding on a runosaur, a creature similar to a raptor, which made for all kinds of rhythmic bouncing.
“Would you like Nana and me to go on ahead and investigate?”
Riding another runosaur on the opposite side of the carriage was Liza of the orangescale tribe, looking gallant as she confidently held the reins.
Aside from her reptilian tail and the orange scales around her neck, wrists, and so on, she didn’t look much different from a normal human.
“Wait a second.”
I opened the map, investigating this so-called caravan.
It was a group of around thirty people, their bags being carried on pack animals called “dulldeer.”
The person in charge was…a princess?
The princess of a small nation called the Nolork Kingdom was riding in the carriage in the middle, and the people leading the dulldeer were not merchants but Nolork Kingdom soldiers. They must be guarding the princess as well.
There was one knight and one squire, both riding on mounts called “greathorn deer.”
The carriages, meanwhile, were being pulled by creatures the size of young elephants called “mammoth littlehorn deer.”
“…Looks like that’s the princess of the Nolork Kingdom and company.”
“Huh. All the way from the edge of the west? Could it be a bridal procession?”
Arisa peeked out curiously.
From what she told me later, Nolork was located near the center of the continent with a bunch of other small nations; to the west was a large, inhospitable desert, hence the phrase edge of the west.
Nolork was even farther north than the Eluette Marquisate, which was just north of Labyrinth City.
Mia shook her head. “Explorers.”
“I doubt it. Those small kingdoms would never let a young woman move up in the world.”
Arisa was a former princess of the Kuvork Kingdom, where she’d been unable to get a tutor because it was “unnecessary” for her to learn and had to study language herself.
“But Lalakie was ruled by a queen, so I guess it really depends on the location and era, even in this world.”
I remembered the events that occurred not long ago on the sugar route in the southern seas.
It seemed like just yesterday that we had rescued Rei, an amnesiac, in the Seadragon Islands and traveled around the tropics.
The journey came with lots of tasty memories, like fresh tropical fruit, candy made in a sugar factory, and the rum I drank in a bar with sailors, but the tuna was definitely at the top of the list.
The ootoro from a freshly caught giant tuna. Just remembering that melt-in-your-mouth goodness practically made me drool.
Oh, and we also foiled the Skeleton King’s plans to resurrect Rei’s home, the floating island of Lalakie, and take over the world.
I really wanted to take Rei and her adopted sister, Yuuneia, along with us, but being around labyrinths or large crowds of people would be harmful to Rei’s health, so they stayed in the southern islands.
Of course, once we were settled in Labyrinth City, I planned to visit them while on the way to see Miss Aaze in the elf village.
Still, I talked to friends like Miss Aaze and Rei with the Space Magic spell Telephone almost every day, so it never felt like they were far away.
The grains of sand in the wind brought me back from my reminiscing.
“Must be wind from the desert.”
“A desert?” Lulu asked.
“Yes, there’s a large desert past the ridge you can see beyond Labyrinth City.”
Spiky plants called “veria,” which looked like aloe or cacti, grew sparsely on either side of the narrow road our carriage was traveling.
Veria grew throughout the basin containing Labyrinth City; in the area around the ridge beyond it, there were plant monsters called evil veria, which looked like giant flora.
According to my map, a large amount of barrier posts had been set up around the city to prevent the Evil Veria from invading.
“Ohhh, so that’s why the air seems so dry.”
“Mm. Not enough moisture.”
I brushed some of the sand from Arisa’s and Mia’s hair, then turned my eyes away from the veria back toward the path ahead of us.
Beyond the princess’s party, the tall, thick walls of Labyrinth City left a powerful impression, with giant, stone-faced statues standing imposingly on either side of the gate.
“Meeew?”
“Wow, sir.”
Tama and Pochi peeked out from inside the carriage.
“Giaaants?”
“So big, sir!”
The pair pointed at the seated stone statues.
Even though they were sitting, their heads were still on level with the thirty-foot-tall wall.
“Those are stone golems, I report.”
“They look quite strong. I do not know if even my Magic Spear would work. I think the best way would be to hit them with magic first, then…”
Hearing Nana’s remark, Liza naturally started forming a strategy.
In my vision, they were displayed as Stone Giants. They were level 43, so they must be the guardians of Celivera.
Although I wasn’t sure why they were on the opposite side from the labyrinth.
“Oh man, now it really feels real! Soon I’ll make my debut as an adventurer!”
Arisa leaned into the wind, visibly shaking.
She must have been trembling with excitement.
“Satou.”
Mia tugged on my arm.
“It’s a big silver coin, sir.”
“Medaaal?”
Mia had produced a silver medallion with a thin metal chain from her Fairy Pack.
The AR display said it was a Key to the Ivy Manor.
“From Gillil.”
Gillil was the house fairy who was in charge of Trazayuya’s research lab in the Bolenan Forest.
Trazayuya was Mia’s grandfather on her mother’s side and was said to be one of the wisest of the elves.
“What kind of medal is that?”
“Mm, certification medallion.”
When I had drunk dragonspring liquor with Gillil, I think he said that he had lived in Labyrinth City as Trazayuya’s assistant.
“Is this maybe the key to the house where the elves lived when they were staying in Labyrinth City?”
“Mm.”
Mia nodded confirmation to my theory.
“Wow, so it’s a key? It’s almost like a magic tool. There are even Elvish letters on the back.”
When we were staying in the elf village, Arisa had learned how to read some Elvish.
As usual, she was devoted to her appetite for knowledge.
“Let’s seeee… Well, this one means ‘magic.’ The next one might be ‘flow’?”
Murmuring to herself, Arisa casually channeled some magic into the medal.
“…Ah!” Mia stretched out her hand in alarm.
“Hmm? Should I not have done that?”
Arisa quickly stopped the flow of her magic, but from the sound of things, it was a little too late.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“The statues of Celivera are moving!”
“R-run awaaaaay!”
“We’ll be cruuuushed!”
Up ahead, the people of the Nolork Kingdom started screaming.
Beyond them, the two golems sitting on either side of the gate started to move and began walking in our direction.
“Master, this looks bad!” Lulu cried from the coachman’s stand.
She was probably referring to the golems, but there was another problem even before that.
The Nolork Kingdom dulldeer all took off running into the veria-dotted wasteland, dragging the soldiers along with them.
The mammoth littlehorn deer, too, turned to run away so quickly that they were knocking over their carriages.
The knight and squire had managed to keep their greathorn deer under control somehow.
Meanwhile, the golems took to one knee and bowed humbly.
“Look! Nurse! The guardians of Celivera have come to welcome us, no?”
“Be careful, Princess.”
A young girl stood near one of the fallen carriages, pointing at the golems excitedly.
She was standing on top of a quilt, suggesting that she had been taking a break outside the carriage.
Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone had gotten caught up in the crashing carriages.
“<Master, we have been awaiting your arrival.>”
“<Master, we celebrate your return.>”
Two voices speaking Elvish were coming from the medallion Arisa was holding.
“Did this cause that, by any chance?”
“Mm. Gimme.”
As Arisa peered out cautiously from behind me, Mia nodded.
Accepting the medallion from Arisa, she held it up toward the golems.
“<I speak for thy master. We appreciate thy greetings deeply. However, thy duties are of utmost import, so ye must make haste to return to thy posts.>”
“<Understood.>”
“<Understood.>”
Mia spoke into the medallion in Elvish, and the golems went back to their seated positions.
“Thank you, Mia.”
“Mm.”
There was small writing on the back of the medallion.
Mia must have been reading that to them.
“Sorry for being so careless.”
“Just read the instructions first next time.”
With that admonition to Arisa, I got down from the cart.
The Nolork Kingdom people were still panicking even now that the golems had returned to their seats; I had to try to calm them down.
At the very least, I had to offer to heal their wounded and let them borrow a carriage if theirs were beyond repair.
“Oh-ho? It dost lack aplomb, but this is quite a refined and well-made cart, no?”
Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom seemed quite impressed as she looked around the inside of our carriage.
She had large, expressive eyes, which made it entertaining to watch her constantly changing face.
She looked to be around the same age as Arisa, but she was actually fourteen, the same age as Lulu. In addition to her childlike face, her brown hair being tied into two short, curly pigtails probably contributed to her youthful air.
It was hard to believe she was only a year younger than my official age in this world.
Our carriage set off with the princess as well as her elderly nursemaid.
That put us over our usual capacity, so Tama and Pochi were riding with Liza and Nana on the runosaurs.
It was still a little cramped inside, so I moved out to the coachman’s stand, too.
The knight and the squire girl rode on either side of us as guards.
“Thank you for your assistance, sir! I am Ravna, knight of the Nolork Kingdom!”
The knight took off her helmet, introducing herself so loudly that I winced a little.
I was surprised to see that she was a woman. Her appearance bore little resemblance to what most people might picture at the words lady knight. Instead, she was chiseled and handsome, and she seemed very dependable.
I had no doubt that the king and queen of Nolork relied on her quite a bit.
Despite her mature appearance, she was still rather young at twenty-four.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ravna. I am Satou Pendragon, hereditary knight of the Muno Barony in the Shiga Kingdom.”
I introduced myself as politely as possible.
The squire quietly introduced herself as Ryula; she was a plain, soldierlike young woman.
“This is quite a comfortable carriage, no?”
“It certainly is, Princess. This must be the technology of a large kingdom.”
Inside the carriage, I could hear Princess Meetia and her nursemaid praising my carriage.
I had turned off the low-capacity skypower engine that reduced the vibration in the carriage to zero, but I guess just the basic suspension and the handmade cushions were enough to make it suitably luxurious.
“Are you here to become an explorer, too, Princess?” Arisa asked politely.
She was wearing a blond wig to conceal her purple hair since most people saw the latter as bad luck.
“That is—”
“Princess.”
“…Yes, thou need not remind me. I jest, of course. We have come to cure the viceroy’s daughter of her ailment.”
Curious about Princess Meetia’s words, I checked her information on the map and found that she had the title Priestess of Heraluon and the gift Breath of Purification.
She was only level 4, and she didn’t have Holy Magic or the “Oracle” skill, just skills like “Etiquette.”
Looking on the map, I saw that the viceroy’s fourth daughter was suffering from Goblin Disease [Chronic] and Miasma Poisoning [Chronic].
The latter was displayed in gray; as many as 20 percent of Labyrinth City’s population suffered from it, albeit in varying degrees of severity.
Looked like it was the right call not to bring the half ghost Rei, since she was weak to miasma.
If the miasma was so thick that it was affecting the general populace, she would have definitely had a hard time here.
The Goblin Disease seemed to be much rarer, with only a handful of noble children carrying it.
“Are you already a doctor at your age, Princess?”
“No, but I do bear the divine protection of Heraluon. I can simply breathe upon the ill and make them well. Impressive, no?”
The princess’s Breath of Purification gift seemed to be a pretty useful one.
As time went on, I noticed that most of the conversation I could hear inside the carriage seemed to be between Arisa and the princess; Mia wasn’t joining in at all.
“Thy young lass is a quiet one, no?”
“Yes, Mia is rather shy, you see.”
“Am not,” Mia mumbled at last.
“Ah, so finally thou shall look upon me, n— What’s this?!”
The princess’s sudden change in tone sounded strange, so I opened the hatch and peered inside.
“Why, thou art an elf, no?! Please forgive my rudeness. I am the sixth princess of the Nolork Kingdom, Meetia Nolork.”
“I am the youngest elf of Bolenan Forest, Misanaria Bolenan, daughter of Lamisauya and Lilinatoa.”
The princess bowed in the cramped carriage, and Mia nodded in appreciation.
I’d forgotten that she tended to be cold toward people who didn’t introduce themselves properly.
“Bolenan! Then thou must be kin to the sage Lord Trazayuya, no?!”
“Sage?”
Mia looked flummoxed by the excitable princess.
“Surely, then, you will be traveling to the Ivy Manor built by the sage himself, no?”
“Mrrr…”
Mia hesitated.
“Our master is the one who decides where we will stay, so we aren’t yet sure whether we will be going to this Ivy Manor,” Arisa responded.
“I suppose I have heard that only elves can reach the gates of the Ivy Manor, no?”
The princess seemed to know a lot about Labyrinth City.
I tried searching the map, but I didn’t see any building called the Ivy Manor there.
Maybe it was destroyed sometime after Gillil left the city, or maybe it was hidden. My money was on the latter.
“Have you been to Labyrinth City before, Princess?”
“No, this is my first time leaving my kingdom. I learned much about Labyrinth City from my elder brother, who trained there for a time.”
According to Princess Meetia, the people of the Nolork Kingdom periodically visited Celivera to procure Nolork thorns—an ingredient in monster repellent—and often trained in the labyrinth before returning.
There was a recipe for monster repellent using Nolork thorns in one of my books, too.
According to the book’s explanation, repellent made with this particular recipe was cheaper and longer lasting than other varieties.
As I was listening to this conversation, we arrived at the gates of Labyrinth City.
A large crowd of curious spectators was causing a fuss, probably because the giant golems had suddenly moved not long ago.
Nonetheless, we were able to complete the entry process and pass through the gates without too much trouble.
“Where might you be headed?”
The viceroy’s official residence, which doubled as a government office, was on the left side of the large plaza beyond the gate. To the right was the explorers’ guild. About three hundred feet along the main road straight ahead was the viceroy’s personal dwelling, a palace surrounded by ramparts.
According to my map, the castle-like building visible to the southwest was the garrison of the labyrinth army.
“I was informed that the viceroy would prepare a room for us in his guesthouse, but it would be rude to barge in without a prior introduction. We should go to the office and make our arrival known before we visit.”
With that, the stiff knight guided her horse to the left.
We parked our carriage outside the entrance to the government office, and I accompanied the knight inside.
I was here to deliver a letter in addition to escorting her.
Rayleigh, the viceroy’s second son who we’d rescued when he was adrift at sea, had written me a letter of introduction to his father, and I had written my own greeting note as well.
Normally it would be rude for a viceroy not to greet a visiting noble, but he and his wife were currently away from Celivera, which was why I wrote a greeting.
According to Rayleigh, the substitute viceroy was a particularly high-class noble of great prestige and power from the royal capital.
Rayleigh’s younger siblings lived in Labyrinth City, while his elder siblings lived in the old capital.
“Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom, you say?”
A middle-aged clerk looked at the knight with growing confusion.
The female knight nodded shortly, looking disgruntled.
“Please wait a moment while we ready a reception room.”
The clerk sent an aide to prepare a room while he looked over a schedule.
“…I’m afraid her name isn’t on this list. Please go confirm with Acting Viceroy Sokell.”
“Sir Sokell has not come to the office yet…”
“Again?! The viceroy and his wife cannot come back soon enough… I’m sure Sokell’s at a brothel. Bring him back even if it’s on a leash!”
As the clerk scowled, I overheard his hissed orders to his subordinate with my “Keen Hearing” skill.
From the sound of things, this Sokell fellow wasn’t doing his job, so they weren’t yet prepared to receive Princess Meetia.
After a short while, a staff member came to announce that the reception room was ready.
“We’ll take our leave here, then.”
Since we’d brought Princess Meetia where she needed to go, I figured my party could be on our way now.
“What? Thou art already leaving, Sir Satou? I still wish to speak more with Arisa and Lady Misanaria.”
“Princess, you must not trouble them too much,” the nursemaid gently scolded.
“Princess Meetia, you are staying in Labyrinth City as well, correct? In that case, we can meet again anytime. Once we have found a place to stay, we’ll be sure to contact you.”
After Princess Meetia reluctantly went on her way to the reception room with her entourage, we headed to the ticket window to speak with an official.
Noticing me, the middle-aged clerk sprinted outside.
“Has the princess been offended in some way?”
“No, no, I am simply here to deliver a letter for the viceroy.”
As I reassured the clerk, I pulled a sealed, cloth-wrapped package from my breast pocket. It contained my letter of greeting and the letter from the viceroy’s second son, Rayleigh.
The clerk was carefully polite as he accepted the letters and placed them on a delicately crafted tray.
Then, suddenly, his shoulders twitched.
“…Dalton, is this youngster the reason you dragged me in here on my day off?”
An overbearing voice behind me caused me to turn around.
There stood a young man of around twenty, his handsome face twisted with displeasure as he looked at me appraisingly.
It was the acting viceroy, Sokell.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. I am Satou Pendragon, hereditary knight of the Muno Barony.”
“What, a mere hereditary knight? I expected a noble from some paltry kingdom, but—” Sokell suddenly froze mid-glare. “—P-Pendragon, you say?!”
His expression of distaste vanished, replaced by one of deep hatred.
I had never met this man before, so why was he looking at me like I killed one of his parents?
“The traitorous scum who curried favor with a hero and made a mockery of His Highness?!”
“There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding…”
The only person I’d met whom a Shiga Kingdom noble would refer to as “His Highness” was probably Prince Sharorik, who I had encountered in the old capital.
“It’s because of you that His Highness lost the Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis and his position with the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga!”
Sorry, what? It’d be one thing if he was blaming my alias, Nanashi the Hero, but as Satou, I’d hardly had any contact with the prince at all.
And while Claidheamh Soluis was indeed in my Storage, the official story was that the imitation I’d returned to the kingdom was the real thing.
By “lost,” he probably meant that it had been taken out of the prince’s hands.
I’d heard that because the prince had been magically aged in the yellow demon incident in the old capital, he’d been sent home to the royal capital to rest and heal up, but I didn’t know he’d lost his status as one of the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga.
“My apologies, but I don’t know what you’re referring to. I have had the honor of speaking with His Highness twice, once at the banquet in the old capital and once at the Tenion Temple, but I do not believe I’ve interacted with him otherwise.”
Although I did seem to remember him acting as though I’d offended him both times.
“Making excuses, eh?! You lousy— Is this a letter? First you smooth talk the hero; now you come after the viceroy?!”
In the middle of his tirade, Sokell grabbed my letters from the middle-aged clerk’s tray, waving them around angrily.
The clerk and the other officials all grimaced at his rudeness.
My letter was one thing, but I would prefer that he stop crushing the one from Rayleigh to the viceroy.
“Excuse me, that letter is—”
I was about to state that it was from the viceroy’s son, but then a third party intervened.
“That is quite enough, indeed.”
A plump, mild-mannered old noble appeared, speaking in a strange manner.
He seemed to favor the color emerald green: His clothes, accessories, and even the items he carried were all the same shade. Impressively, he even wore green lipstick and nail polish.
According to the AR, he was the former count of an esteemed family living in Celivera.
His strange way of ending sentences was a bit familiar, so I checked his race and status, but he seemed to be a perfectly normal, non-possessed human. It was probably rude of me to suspect him of being a demon just because he said “indeed” a lot.
“Counselor Poputema!”
The middle-aged clerk looked relieved to see the green-clad noble.
Sokell, on the other hand, scowled, evidently not a fan of the man.
“You mustn’t handle a letter like that so savagely, indeed.”
The noble extracted the letter from Sokell’s hands.
“Fear not—I will be sure to convey this to the viceroy, indeed.”
“Thank you very much.”
It seemed to me that Counselor Poputema’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it didn’t really matter to me as long as Rayleigh’s letter reached his parents, so I simply bowed in thanks.
“Hmph. I’ve had quite enough of this.”
Sick of being ignored, Sokell rushed off to the reception room in a huff.
I was a little worried about Princess Meetia having to deal with this man, but she had her stern lady knight and nursemaid with her. I expected she’d be fine.
I apologized to the counselor and the other officials for the ruckus and excused myself.
Still, who would appoint someone as rude and short-tempered as Sokell to be acting viceroy? Sorry, Rayleigh, but I don’t think your father, Marquis Ashinen, is a very capable statesman.
At this rate, I was a little worried about our stay in Labyrinth City.
“Hey, we should go to the guild first and sign up to be adventurers!”
As soon as we left the office and got back into the carriage, Arisa was bouncing around excitedly.
Shouldn’t we find an inn before that?
Besides, it’s “explorers,” not “adventurers.”
“And then, and then! We’ll start off as F-rank adventurers! And then some nasty mid-level adventurers will be all ‘this ain’t a job for little girlies, got it?’ and then we’ll smack them down on the spot!”
I don’t think anyone’s going to say something like that to a noble, you know.
And why rank F?
The Roman alphabet did seem to exist here thanks to heroes and reincarnations of the past, but it seemed so obscure that I doubted they’d use it for ranks.
“And then, once we’ve got everyone’s attention, we’ll go into the labyrinth and get results no one would ever expect from a bunch of newbies, and it’ll freak out the reception lady.”
Why would we want to freak anyone out?
“Then there’ll be a part from a super-rare monster in our spoils or something, and we’ll get called to the guildmaster’s office, and they’ll promote us to C rank or B rank all in one go!”
Arisa was breathing so heavily as she finished her little fantasy that the younger group all gave her a round of applause.
Lulu giggled. “Master, shall I take us to the explorers’ guild?”
“Sure, please do.”
Before long, our carriage was parked behind the explorers’ guild near the viceroy’s dwelling.
There was a fairly large parking area, and one of the guild staff guided us to an empty space.
A cute little girl, maybe the staff member’s daughter, was tending to the horses.
“I’m going in!” Arisa shouted as she dashed to the entrance, followed closely by Pochi, Tama, and Mia.
“Waaait?”
“Wait up, sir!”
“No fair.”
Per my instructions, Liza and Nana handed over the reins of their runosaurs so that they could go keep an eye on the younger group.
Looking around, I saw that most of the other carriages still had their coachmen with them, so I approached the little kid by the horses.
“Excuse me, I’m here to register these girls. Would you mind watching our carriage and runosaurs for a little while?”
“Of course, mishter. Erm, mister!”
She turned bright red and looked down, embarrassed to have slipped on a word.
“Thanks,” I said, patting her head gently and handing her a tip.
“Let’s go, Lulu.”
“Yes, master.”
I headed toward the explorers’ guild entrance, Lulu following in her maid outfit.
Although it was as hot as early summer outside, the inside of the guild was comfortably cool. The floor was made of marble, making it look like the lobby of some big company.
There was some kind of conference booth to the right of the entrance, where a staff member and some wealthy-looking merchants were having a meeting.
Farther inside was a counter like you might see at a bank, with eight reception windows but only two receptionists. One was a businesslike-looking woman in her twenties, while the other was a handsome man in his thirties.
Arisa and the others were already talking to the female receptionist.
There didn’t seem to be any other customers at the moment. The male receptionist was watching Arisa and the others with a grin.
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Masterrr?”
“Over here, sir!”
“Here.”
The excited younger girls called me over to the counter, where the receptionist smiled.
“Welcome, Sir Knight. My name is Kehna, and I’ll be taking care of you today. I understand you would like to register. Are you looking for a regular or a special registration?”
I hadn’t heard anything about this from the elf teachers or the explorers I befriended in the old capital.
I assumed Arisa had already told her I was a knight.
“What’s the difference between the two?”
“With a special registration, you can immediately receive your gold badge, which identifies you as an explorer. Unlike regular registration, there is a fee, but the gold badge is a magic tool that periodically broadcasts your exact location back to us. If you register your intended return time when you enter the labyrinth, a rescue party can use that signal to come retrieve you if you have not returned after a certain grace period.”
Broadcasting my location? No thank you.
Besides, since the location signal was sent only a few times a day, I got the sense that it was more for the purpose of collecting remains than rescuing anyone.
“We don’t intend to stray too far into the labyrinth, so we’ll stick with regular registration, please.”
“Certainly, sir. Now, may I have all your names, please?”
For some reason, we didn’t have to present any documents, and I was curious why.
“You don’t need to see any identification?”
“No, we only need a name for initial registration. There are a small amount of explorers who prefer to use an alias or false name.”
Huh. They didn’t seem too strict about all this. The labyrinth was sort of like a nationally owned mine that produced resources, so I was surprised they didn’t control entry a little more thoroughly.
“So are these eight names correct?”
As I opened my mouth to confirm, someone else charged in.
“Wait! Allow me to register, too, no?!”
It was Princess Meetia, who I’d thought was still back at the government office.
“Isn’t Lady Ravna with you, Princess?”
“She engaged herself in a fight with a rude noble. I took the opportunity to sneak here and register. Clever, no?”
I had suspected that the stern knight Ravna wouldn’t get along with Sokell, but it was a little concerning that she’d been so caught up arguing that she let her ward get away.
“But won’t you be scolded for registering without permission?”
“I will be an adult next year, no? And mine father said he would allow me to register if I do nothing else. Therefore, all should be fine, no?”
If she has her guardian’s permission, I guess that’s all right.
“Please register Lady Meetia here, too, then.”
Placing a pouch with the right amount of coins on the table, I added in a whisper, “A gold badge for Her Highness, please.”
It wouldn’t do for a princess to have an ordinary ID, I was sure.
This way, if Princess Meetia gave her guards the slip again and went into the labyrinth, they should be able to find her with the gold badge’s signal.
“Certainly, sir.”
The receptionist asked the princess’s full name, age, and intended location during her stay, recording it all in a book.
It was a pretty far cry from the regular registration, which required only a name.
“It will take some time to produce the gold badge, so we will have it sent to the viceroy’s guesthouse tomorrow.”
“Perfect! I thank thee.” The princess nodded gleefully.
“Your Highness!”
The stern-faced knight burst into the building fast enough to break down the door.
“That was fast, no? I expected no less of thee, Ravna…”
She must have noticed the princess had gone and come to retrieve her.
“…but thou could have given me a little longer, no?” the princess grumbled.
“Come with me, please, Your Highness.”
“Very well. Arisa, Lady Misanaria—we shall meet again, no? And, Sir Satou, I thank thee for thine assistance.”
Since she’d already thanked me for bringing them to Labyrinth City, this thank-you must have been for paying for the gold badge.
We saw the princess and company to the door, then returned to the teller.
“My apologies for the interruption.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble.”
Once I apologized, we continued the procedure.
“Here are your wood badges.”
She handed us small, thin sheets of wood with a string attached to each.
They had been branded with today’s date and a three-digit identification number.
“For the time being, this is your identification as an explorer. Wood badges are for novice explorers; if you enter the labyrinth and return with five or more monster cores per person, you will become official explorers and receive your bronze badges.”
The identification badges came in five types: wood, bronze, garnet, mithril, and gold.
Garnet badges were for mid-level explorers who could bring back a certain number of cores consistently each month, while mithril badges were awarded only to top-notch explorers who could defeat an areamaster.
The gold badge, as had already been explained, was for nobles or anyone else wealthy enough to freely pay the fee.
“Please be aware that if you cannot bring back a single core within two months, the wood badge will no longer be valid.”
So they intended to sift out anyone who wanted only an identification badge.
“So now that we’ve got these badges, does that mean we can go into the labyrinth?”
“Yes, you can.” The receptionist smiled and nodded. “But make sure you prepare with supplies and equipment first, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Aye-aye?”
“Of course, sir!”
“Mm.”
The younger crew’s excited voices filled the guild hall.
It certainly didn’t seem like they’d be willing to wait until the next day to go into the labyrinth.
Since they were so eager, I decided we could take a little peek inside the labyrinth once we found lodging at an inn and a place for our steeds and carriage.
“This is a nicer room than I expected.”
At the explorers’ guild’s recommendation, we got rooms in a high-class inn called The Blade of Glory for five days and six nights. They were well reputed for taking excellent care of horses and carriages, as well as for their famous lamb dishes.
The room cost a steep two gold coins per night, but considering that it was for eight people, maybe that wasn’t so bad.
There were separate buildings, one only for humans and one that included demi-humans, which was probably to avoid any conflict among them.
“Call me once you’ve changed into your armor, all right? I’ll go have some tea at the café by the lobby while I wait.”
With that, I hastened out of the room as the rest of the group started undressing to get changed.
Maybe I should teach them a little more modesty.
I could see the stable through the hall window, so I stopped in to check it out.
True to the explorers’ guild’s high acclaim, our horses and runosaurs looked quite content.
Because I’d replaced my floating carriage with an identical-looking normal one that I made for occasions like this, there was no fear of my secrets being found out. Thanks to my “Counterfeit” skill, it even had all the same little stains and scratches.
“I’m terribly sorry, sir. Your cart will be cleaned as soon as our specialist returns.”
“It’s quite all right. I was just checking on the horses.”
Once I’d reassured the stable master, I went to the café to drink some tea. It was made with excellent tea leaves, well befitting the high-class inn.
“Our apologies for keeping you waiting, master.”
After Liza came down in her armor to fetch me, I returned with her to the room.
She was equipped with her beloved Cricket Spear as always, but the rest of her equipment was recently made for the labyrinth.
“The new armor looks great on you.”
“Th-thank you, sir.”
Liza turned bright red when I complimented her new look.
At a glance, it was simple light armor made from white leather with giant beetle carapaces making up the chest plate, shoulder plates, and so on, but it was actually far stronger than even the heavy armor of Shigan knights.
The exterior was disguised with hard newt leather, but underneath it was the incredibly sturdy hide of the giant monster fish Tobkezerra.
On top of that, I’d added a thin orichalcum jacket to protect from Holy Sword–class attacks.
It might have been a little excessive, but I wanted to take every possible measure to keep my friends from being hurt.
The carapace pieces themselves were only decoration, likely to break if they were ever hit by a gun or cannon blast.
I’d done a little practice with my “Metalworking” skill to make some simple designs on the exterior.
“Master, we will enter one at a time, so please appraise each of us, I request.”
From the sound of things, I was in for a little fashion show.
Liza was the first, followed by Nana.
“I shall protect my comrades with my adamantite alloy shield, I vow!”
Nana struck a knightly pose as she delivered her line in monotone.
It felt like the kind of scene you’d see when you acquire a new character in a mobile RPG.
Nana’s equipment was similar to Liza’s, but instead of the jacket, she wore heavy orichalcum chain mail. And her carapace pieces weren’t just for show: They were strengthened with sheets of adamantite alloy underneath.
Her shield was adamantite, too, but I’d covered it up with the shell of a war mantis.
Like Liza, she still carried the same weapon, a Magic Sword.
I’d made a new sheath to match her armor and shield.
It was hard to tell unless you looked closely, but I’d made the decorations on Nana’s armor set in the design of a flock of baby chicks.
“Yes, you look very strong and dependable.”
“Thank you for the appraisal, I declare.”
It was hard to tell, but I think she was being a little bashful.
“Ta-daaa?”
“Ta-da-da-daaa, sir!”
Tama and Pochi entered the room together, striking their signature poses.
They were clearly going to stay that way until I complimented them.
“You both look very cool and cute.”
“Hee-hee…”
“Let me at ’em, sir!”
Tama giggled shyly, and Pochi started shadowboxing on the spot to show that she was ready for a fight.
Their armors were very similar, but there were a few minor differences.
Pochi was equipped with a much smaller version of Nana’s shield, and both the shield and chest plate were decorated with cute paw-print designs.
Tama had two of the same kind of Magic Sword, and instead of ornamental carapaces, she had frilly magic items, which created a thin, slippery magic defense barrier.
Sadly, this wasn’t my works but a repurposing of something I’d found on one of the ships we salvaged on the sugar route. Normally it was used to reduce the friction between the ship and the water, increasing the speed.
“Compliment.”
Mia appeared next, giving a little twirl.
She was wearing short pants under her miniskirt to avoid the possibility of any undies-flashing—at least, that was the idea. I thought I caught a glimpse of something striped, but that must have just been the design on the shorts, I was sure.
“You look as cute as a princess, Mia.”
Since she’d demanded praise so directly, I offered a clichéd compliment.
Her new armor would have looked right at home in a magical-girl series: a frilly dress with a hard breastplate over it.
The exterior of the dress armor was made out of Yuriha fiber, the same material as my robes, while the interior was lined with fabric made from the giant monster fish’s silver hide.
The silver hide was said to be able to repel even Advanced Light Magic and Holy Swords.
In a game, normally rearguard characters would wear paper-thin armor, but in this case, Mia’s defenses were just as good as the beastfolk girls’.
For a weapon, I’d made her a cute staff out of wood from a Mountain-Tree branch, but that was mostly just for show.
In the labyrinth, I would have her use weapons like Fire Rods and Thunder Rods, which didn’t require a chant; if she needed to use Water or Spirit Magic, I’d made a staff out of the wood of the World Tree.
The staff made of the glittering emerald-green clearbough from the World Tree was difficult to use. It wouldn’t be much use to Mia or Arisa just yet.
After Mia, Lulu entered the room.
“Master, do you really think someone like me should wear such cute clothes?”
The armor I’d made based around a maid outfit looked like some kind of battle maid cosplay, but it only enhanced Lulu’s overflowing charms.
“…I’m glad I made that.”
“Um, master… It’s a little embarrassing if you keep staring at me like that.”
Oops. I’d gazed at the masterpiece known as Lulu so long that she had to stop me herself.
“Sorry. It looks really, really good on you.”
I had never been so painfully aware of my own lacking vocabulary.
If only I was a poet, I could sing the praises of Lulu’s miraculous maid cosplay…
“Thank you, sir. Even if you’re just being kind, I’m happy to hear that.”
“No, I really mean it,” I assured her firmly.
Lulu’s equipment was made from the same material as Mia’s.
However, since she’d learned self-defense arts in the elf village, I was hoping she could theoretically protect the rest of the rear guard, so I increased the density of the silver hide fiber to make its defense even better.
On top of that, I sewed the “Body Strengthening” magic circle and other runes into her clothes.
I hadn’t done this for the other girls’ equipment because they either already had that skill, would gain other skills and experience at a slower rate, or it might be a waste of their magic.
For her weapon, I had decided against giving her the Small Magic Cannon I repurposed into a Magic Sniper Rifle, though I’d let her use it on the sugar route. It was too powerful to use in a confined space, and it required bluecoins to keep firing in rapid succession.
Instead, I tried making a Thunder Rod rifle.
It was a custom creation of mine: a gun with the same mechanisms as a Thunder Rod that also allowed the user to fine-tune the intensity of the Thunder Bullets.
“Ta-daa! It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the star of the show, Arisaaaa! No one in the entire galaxy can resist this cuteness…”
Arisa’s equipment was the same as Mia’s, just in different colors.
“Yep, can’t resist, totally.”
With a half-hearted response, I handed out matching cloaks to the entire group.
The cloaks all had a blue base, with the Pendragon family symbol embroidered on the back and left breast.
They were made from the same material as the rear guard’s clothes, with protection against cold, heat, sweat, and so on sewn into them.
I made the outsides the same color so they would be easy to spot, but the inner lining of each one was different to match the wearer’s tastes.
“Hey, why am I the only one who gets brushed off like garbage?! Don’t make me start pouting!”
Arisa puffed up her cheeks in protest.
“Sorry, sorry. Your new look is wonderful, too, Arisa. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start getting scouted for TV.”
“Hee-hee, you think so? ’Cause I do, too…”
When I relented and complimented her, Arisa puffed up her chest proudly and started posing some more.
“Come onnn?”
“Arisa, put your cloak on quickly, sir.”
“Mm. Labyrinth.”
The rest of the younger girls all bombarded Arisa.
“Oh right, I almost forgot.” Arisa threw on her cloak with dramatic flair.
“Master, you must equip your sword if you wish to use it, I advise.”
Sounding like a weapon shop owner from a video game, Nana handed me my fairy sword.
I normally didn’t carry it on me, since it was heavy and might mess up my clothes. But I figured I could equip it for our big explorer debut, so I accepted the sword from Nana and hung the sheath on my belt.
“Yep, you look manly, all right!”
Arisa crossed her arms and nodded sagely.
On either side of her, Tama and Pochi imitated the move, nodding in unison.
“All right, let’s head into the labyrinth!”
Whirling toward the door, Arisa put her fist in the air dramatically.
“Aye-aye, siiir?”
“Let’s-a go, sir!”
“Mm. Labyrinth.”
The younger group led the charge out of the inn.
We were taking a chartered carriage from the inn to the west gate leading to the labyrinth.
True to its name, the streets of Labyrinth City were numerous and complicated, giving a mazelike impression.
It was probably intended to buy time in case monsters ever escaped from the labyrinth.
As far as I could tell from my map, aside from the large main street connecting the north and south gates, the entire city was just as complicated.
However, I appeared to be the only one so interested in the layout of the city. The rest of the group was already thinking about the labyrinth.
“Eeee, this is my first time going to a real labyrinth! Do you think it’ll be sort of like the spriggan training grounds?”
The training grounds Arisa was referring to was a facility that was designed to imitate a labyrinth for the exploration-loving spriggans to train in.
The elf teachers had taken the girls there while I was busy dealing with the jellyfish incident.
From what I heard, it was designed by Trazayuya, who also made the Cradle.
“Not at aaaall?”
“It’s not a playground, sir! It’s a real, pulse-pounding, bloodcurdling battlefield, sir!”
Tama and Pochi stood up in their seats, looking proud and superior.
They were rarely like this. It was pretty cute.
“You two, try to remain calm. At that rate, you’ll get hurt in the labyrinth.”
“Aye-aaaye…”
“Yes, sir.”
Liza coolly deflated the pair’s egos.
Mia and Lulu were quiet, maybe even nervous. Nana was functioning at her usual capacity, so she was probably fine.
As the group continued chatting, our carriage soon arrived at the plaza in front of the labyrinth.
The plaza was big enough to line up more than a thousand people, with one white building standing out.
“That’s the west guild. It’s the liveliest place in all of Celivera,” a middle-aged explorer explained as we passed by, staring at the building as if we were tourists.
I could see why he would sound so proud. It was an impressive building, almost like a small palace.
After staring at the west explorers’ guild building, we naturally started watching the people who were coming and going.
“Wow, look at all that sweet armor!”
“So fancyyy.”
“They look like birds, sir.”
“Kabuki?”
I wasn’t sure where Mia had learned that term, but overall, I agreed with the girls’ comments.
Many of the explorers were using armor made out of monster parts, but I wasn’t sure why so many of them had decorated them with feathers and other protuberances. Maybe it was to intimidate monsters?
“Some of this equipment is rather strange.”
“Perhaps it is temporary armor, I offer.”
Liza and Nana seemed taken aback, too.
The explorers of Labyrinth City wore very unique armor. The younger they were, the more likely it was that they would be dressed in some strange equipment.
Some had pieces of wood or bone sewn onto their clothes for protection, while others carried spears with an ax head or sharpened bone for the tip. Maybe they didn’t have enough money to buy proper armor.
Even the monster hunters in Puta had better armor than this, if I remembered correctly.
The explorers who fought in the tournament in the old capital looked fairly normal, so at least some of the more advanced explorers had a sense of tastefulness.
“There are lots of different races, too.”
I nodded at Liza. “I see beastfolk and even scalefolk.”
Unlike other cities, there were plenty of demi-humans here with their races on full display.
Those who wore hoods tended to be fairyfolk, mages, or some kind of nobles.
There were many wounded, too: I saw a fair amount of people whose faces or body parts were covered with dirty bandages.
“Master, many of these people seem to be wounded.”
Lulu looked worried as she gazed at all the people with bandages or canes.
“That’s true. There are probably only so many priests and mages available, and it’s not cheap to use magic potions regularly.”
We had homemade magic potions that we could use whenever we wanted, plus Mia’s and my Recovery Magic, so we should be just fine.
According to my AR, most of them were simply injured, but a few had alarming-looking statuses like Addicted [Demonic Potion].
The phrase demonic potion sounded familiar to me.
The elves in Bolenan Forest had said something about it being a forbidden medicine. There was a recipe in the elves’ secret archives, but because they warned against it, I never read it.
In my opinion, dangerous drugs had no place in a fantasy world.
“All right, let’s head to the gate!”
“Mm. No dawdling.”
I wanted to have a look around the guild, but because it was considerably crowded, I allowed the younger group to lead us toward the west gate that was connected to the labyrinth.
There was a wall along the path to the west gate around three feet high, then stairs down a steep slope around the size of a school sports field. It somehow reminded me of an outdoor concert venue.
The gate was all the way at the bottom of the stairs.
From here, the steps would be almost six feet tall each, so we went to a narrow staircase near a street stall–lined path.
This was the path most people used to head into the labyrinth. All kinds of sellers tried to call out to us as we walked by.
“Sir Noble, do you have enough water and preserved foods? One meal only costs a single copper coin. How about it?”
“Mr. Nobleman! How about a lantern and some goblin oil? Nice and cheap!”
“Moron, a noble’s not gonna use such smelly oil. We’ve got normal beast oil over here, mister!”
“You there, young nobleman, why not touch our Item Box for good luck before you level up? It’s one silver coin per person, but if you’re lucky, you or one of these lovely young ladies might pick up the ‘Item Box’ skill down the line!”
Talk about noisy.
A few of them did catch my interest, but if I talked to one of them, they’d all surround me. I just ignored them and kept walking.
“Hey there, new explorer. Don’cha need a map of the labyrinth?”
This time, a rather uncouth young man approached me with a map.
I already had my menu’s map function, so I attempted to pass him by.
“Wait a sec! Our map’s not like all those other maps, y’know! It’s got info I gathered from some garnet-badge explorers!”
Without thinking, I stopped in place at the words garnet badge.
If I remembered correctly, garnet badges were assigned only to fairly experienced explorers.
I turned around to face the man.
“How much?”
“Three silver coins per map.”
According to my “Estimation” skill, the market value for maps ranged from one to three large copper coins.
Talk about highway robbery.
“I’ll buy it for three large copper coins.”
“C’mon—isn’t that an awfully low offer?”
“Then I don’t need it.”
“Wait a sec! I’ll sell it to you for that just this once!”
When I started to walk away, the man hurriedly changed his tune.
“We sell the most accurate maps in Labyrinth City. If this one comes in handy, make sure you buy your next one from us, too!”
I exchanged the money for the map, which read Section #1 in messy handwriting across the top. The map itself was all just lines and strange symbols, so I had no idea what it meant.
“How do you read it?”
“The reading guide is one copper coin—”
“That’s almost as much as what I paid for it already.”
The man tried to milk more money out of me, but I convinced him to hand it over for free.
“What’s this mark mean?”
“It’s a sign stone.”
According to the small man’s lengthy explanation, sign stones were left by early explorers in the old days to mark parts of the labyrinth they’d already explored. They were placed in the labyrinth at regular intervals and engraved with three pieces of information: section number, distance from the entrance, and serial number.
On top of that, they had one more important feature.
They would emit a red light if monsters were approaching and a blue light if humans were approaching. The man explained that it helped prevent explorers from attacking one another by mistake in the dark labyrinth.
“But listen, mister. Just ’cause the sign stone’s glowing blue, that don’t mean you should let your guard down.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not all just explorers and salvagers in the labyrinth—there are also robbers known as plunderers who target explorers.”
Now that he mentioned it, I did remember one of the elf teachers saying something similar in Bolenan Forest.
“If those guys are coming, the sign stones’ll still glow blue.”
I see. So if you let your guard down because you think it’s just other humans coming, they might jump you.
“What’s the best thing to do if you’re attacked by these plunderers?”
“That ain’t an easy question…”
If they attacked you right off the bat, the man said, you could kill them or capture them and sell them as criminal slaves. However, if they pretended to be friendly, it would be difficult to distinguish them from ordinary explorers.
As a result, unless the explorers you ran into were familiar faces, it was better to stay on your guard until you put distance between your party and theirs.
“Good to know. Thank you.”
Appearing satisfied, the man waved and looked around in search of a new customer.
As soon as he found one and headed over, we were surrounded by some young kids in clothes too small for them. This was a pretty busy plaza, all right.
Were they beggars, I wondered, or maybe vagrants?
Curious, I inspected their detailed information and found that their professions read Bag Carrier.
For some reason, many of them were small-statured girls.
“Mr. Noble, please hire me.”
“Hire me—I’ll work for two copper coins a day.”
“I’ll take one copper coin a day!”
“Hey, don’t try to steal my customer!”
“If you’ll feed me, I don’t need any money. I’ll do anything!”
The young girls clamored around me.
If Hayato the Hero was here, he would probably be shouting, No touching, Satou! One of the girls tried to grab my sleeve, but Liza gently pushed her back.
“Step away, please.”
When Liza glared at them, the girls backed away a little, but they didn’t stop their sales pitches.
I didn’t want to be harsh and drive them away, but they were all only level 1 or 2, far too weak for us to bring them into the labyrinth.
Soon, I heard a tummy growl from among the little girls.
Perhaps sensing a kindred spirit, Tama and Pochi looked up at me pleadingly.
I couldn’t just leave them like this.
Looking around, I saw a young woman selling manju buns start zipping in my direction. That was convenient.
“Care for a labyrinth manju? They’re just a copper coin each, and they’ll fill your belly.”
This was a popular food in Labyrinth City. It was made with potato flour on the outside and red bean paste, potato, and beans on the inside.
It reminded me more of a grilled manju than the classic steamed kind.
They were pretty big, so they should keep a child full for a while.
“Ooh, labyrinth manju!”
“This is my first meal in aaages.”
“Mm, what a treat!”
“We’ll work hard for you, mister!”
Accepting the labyrinth manju, the young girls started chowing down earnestly.
Their enthusiasm piqued my interest enough for me to buy several for my group to try them, too.
…Gross.
It was so bad, it could almost compete with the awful gabo fruit dishes I’d eaten in Seiryuu City.
If these girls considered such a gross food a “treat,” I was a little worried about how they ate normally.
“It tingles, sir.”
Pochi stuck out her tongue and made a strange face.
Eating the dark-red mixture of potatoes, beans, and who knows what else was in the filling seemed to cause a mild paralysis effect.
I guess in Labyrinth City, you had to watch for traps even in the food you bought on the street…
“Satou, turn the pretty on.”
This was a fairly long sentence for Mia, but I didn’t know what she meant.
“Pretty?”
“Spirit light.”
She seemed to want me to release my spirit light, which I normally kept suppressed.
Just to be safe, I used “Search Entire Map” to make sure there was no one in the city with the “Spirit Vision” skill.
My spirit light was pretty unique and eye-catching, so I had to be careful.
Just as I was about to do as she said, I realized what Mia was getting at and turned on my “Miasma Vision.”
Yikes.
Most of the food being sold along this street had mold-like black miasma clinging to it.
It wasn’t particularly dense, which must be why Mia figured my spirit light could fend it off.
Mia didn’t have “Miasma Vision,” but spirits wouldn’t approach anywhere with lots of miasma, so she must have noticed that something was strange here.
“Pretty,” Mia said in awe, gazing at my spirit light.
I’d unleashed only a small amount, but it was enough to thin out all the miasma on the street as well as on the labyrinth manju in my hand—not even a speck remained.
“What happened?” Arisa asked, curious.
I explained to her about the miasma.
Most likely, the food being sold here contained monster meat that hadn’t been purified.
That would explain why nearly one in five people had miasma poisoning here.
“This still tastes gross, though.”
Arisa was right: Even with the miasma banished, the labyrinth manju was still disgusting.
I didn’t want to eat it, but I didn’t want to throw it out. Just as I was wondering what to do, I noticed a child staring at the manju in my hand, so I gladly passed it off. One man’s trash was another man’s treasure, I supposed.
“All right, let’s head into the labyrinth.”
I left the little girls behind and walked toward the west gate.
For some reason, the kids tried to follow us, but I told them we couldn’t take them with us and that they had to stay put.
“It looks like the little girls want to join your party. What will you do?”
“Oh, be quiet.”
Arisa was imitating a system message from some RPG, but I ignored her.
As the west gates closed behind us, the group of kids looked sad to be left behind, but I hardened my heart and refused to turn back.
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