Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The Magic Circles on the Sixth Floor 

T HE SIXTH FLOOR WAS COVERED in Devouring Devils. 

Armored Warriors disappeared entirely, leaving only the pesky ceiling crawlers. The fights went smoothly thanks to the incense, but there was still far too many of them. So many, in fact, that you had to ask yourself, Just why are the things so numerous here? 

The reason became clear as we encroached upon the deepest parts of the sixth floor. 

There, in the room leading to the next magic circle, was a nest. A swarm of the beasts crowded within, and countless eggs sat at the edges of the area. They were dark, oblong shapes coated in liquid—not unlike the cockroaches from my world. It sent a chill down my spine just looking at them. 

Perhaps there was a queen somewhere and she was using Zenith to help birth her eggs. The thought drifted into my head, but there was no indication that the Devouring Devils had any such habits. They did swarm together, but they didn’t seem to have anything resembling a queen. Just like cockroaches. 

Anyways, just where were all these pests coming from, and what was their purpose? How were there so many when there wasn’t an equivalent food source to support them all? 

“Teacher, what do beasts like this eat?” I asked of Roxy. 

“Good question. There are many theories out there, but I’ve often heard that they feed on mana.” 

“Mana?” 

Forests and caves had a high concentration of mana, in addition to being full of monsters. Come to think of it, Nanahoshi did mention that such magical energy could be found in all manner of things throughout this world. Mana, however, could not be seen with the naked eye, so how could this theory be confirmed? 

Wait—there was the Eye of Magical Power, suggesting it was true. 

Still, if they really did feed on mana, then wouldn’t it also make sense for them to just gobble up my spells? The fact that they couldn’t must mean there were two types of magical power: the kind that could be consumed and the kind that couldn’t. 

Now that I thought about it, Paul had told me a long time ago that monsters were attracted to the magically imbued crystal at the heart of a labyrinth. Were the crystals really that enticing to monsters? The ones here weren’t even trying to delve deeper. All they’d done was create a nest and start inhabiting the place. 

Ah well, pondering the mystery would get me nowhere for now. There were other monsters, like the Armored Warrior, that clearly didn’t consume anything to survive. I’d leave the questions of monster ecology to the experts. 

“Well, no matter what they consume, it doesn’t change the fact that they attack humans on sight. Let’s destroy these eggs as we find them, or they’ll be a thorn in our side when we next return,” Roxy said as she coolly made short work of their eggs. She used a shortsword, rather than magic, to impale them one by one. Her expression was the very definition of indifference. I liked that side of her, too. 

At any rate, so monsters produced eggs, huh? I wondered if Armored Warriors had offspring as well. I pictured a mini version of them as big as a felt doll, carrying a toy sword and waddling around. I imagined their armored mommy and armored daddy watching over them happily. Then, suddenly, footsteps—an intruder. The armored mommy and daddy instruct their son to hide as they step out onto the battlefield. Paul appears before them, his face like that of a demon. He brutally murders the parents with a shortsword that is especially efficient at ripping through their armor—not unlike pesticide against insects. The child witnesses this and learns that humans are the enemy. He grows up and morphs into a beast that attacks humans on sight. 

Yeah, okay, that was a ridiculous thought. 

“Rudy, what are you spacing out for?” Roxy called over to me. “Please help out.” 

“Oh, right.” 

I did as requested, and began smashing the eggs. 

The other three rooms linked to this one were also stuffed full of the things. There were no sign of any of them being close to hatching, but if one did, the larva would try to cling to whatever human it saw. 

Our cleanup ended pretty uneventfully after that, without a single newly hatched larva popping out to try and cling to Roxy’s crotch. 

*** 

Finally, we arrived at the depths of the labyrinth, the very place written about in the last pages of our book. It was a spacious, square room constructed of stone. There were three magic circles near one of the walls facing away from the entrance of the room. 

If that were all, the place wouldn’t have seemed special. But the room was absolutely empty except for the circles. The room before it had had a virtual swarm of Devouring Devils, and more than a hundred of their eggs to boot. Yet the only thing in here were these circles, almost as if this were holy ground where neither eggs nor the creepy-crawlies that birthed them dared enter. Only one word could sufficiently describe this phenomenon: abnormal. 

“It’s the guardian,” said Elinalise. 

Paul agreed. “It does give off that vibe.” 

“Keeps your wits about you,” Roxy warned. 

All three of them held their weapons close as they spoke. Perhaps it was common for the room just before the boss’ lair to have an unsettling vibe to it. 

“Well, which one’s it gonna be?” Geese held our guidebook in one hand and investigated each circle. Everyone else stood by the entrance, waiting. 

“I’ll help out.” I offered to join him, as someone who’d assisted in the creation of summoning circles before. 

“Yeah, that’d be great,” said Geese. 

For some reason Roxy scuttled along behind me. Her presence would be reassuring, at least. 

“How does it look?” I asked. 

“Just like the book says.” 

One by one, I checked each the circles before us against what was transcribed in the book. The book, by the way, said the following: 

There were three magic circles. We knew immediately that two of these were random teleportation circles, so we used a stone to mark the one we thought was correct, and hopped on. However, this was a trap. I was transported to an unfamiliar space, finding myself trapped between tightly packed black, slimy bodies. That’s right—a Devouring Devils’ nest. The moment they saw me… 

I’ll spare you the battle scene that followed. 

I immediately spotted the stone they’d used as a sign. It was a beautifully polished, fist-sized rock. The number six was carved into its surface. We hadn’t seen anything like this on the previous floors. 

“Makes you feel kind of emotional seeing it, doesn’t it?” 

Geese frowned. “Think so? I say it’s just bad luck. Listen here, Boss, things like this—items left behind by a dead party—they’re bad luck.” 

“A jinx?” 

“Yeah, that’s right. A jinx.” 

“Okay,” I said, “but it’s not like their whole party was wiped out.” 

As we talked, I continued to inspect the circle in front of us. It perfectly resembled the two-way circles we’d used to travel back and forth numerous times up until now, and yet this one was different. If stepped on, this one would randomly teleport you. Or perhaps you didn’t even have to step on it—maybe, once activated, it would warp anything located within the room. 

This meant one of the other two had to be the correct option. Yet both of them very clearly had the characteristics of a random teleportation circle. 

“Rudy, can you tell which one is the right one?” Roxy asked. 

I shook my head. “Nope, I’m clueless. Nanahoshi might know if she were here.” 

“Nanahoshi? Who is that?” 

“A girl studying teleportation—or rather, summoning—at the university. She knows a lot about magic circles, so she might be able to weigh in.” 

“C-could she be…your lover?” 

“Nanahoshi? No way.” I laughed her question off. As I did, I thought to myself, If only Nanahoshi were here. Or Sylphie, or even Cliff. The first two would’ve been impossible, but maybe I should’ve brought Cliff, after all. Maybe I should go back and fetch him? But it would take three months to travel both ways. Maybe as long as four months. Cliff wasn’t accustomed to being on the road. 

Nah. Even if I did fetch him, he might say, “I don’t know, either.” 

“Actually,” I said. “I did some research into teleportation at the university, but I’m embarrassed to say I can’t make heads nor tails of this.” 

“You researched teleportation?” Roxy asked, surprised. 

“Yeah.” 

“I see. I should have expected as much from you, Rudy. Not everyone can think to pin a problem down at its source rather than searching blindly for answers.” 

She seemed to have misunderstood. I’d just followed the Man-God’s advice. Not that I could really share that with Roxy, since my motives for doing so were impure. Some things were better left unsaid. 

“Well, it’s an obvious conclusion to come to, as a pupil of the great teacher Roxy.” 

“You can praise me if you like, but you won’t get anything for it.” 

We finished our examination of the circles. 

“Well, Boss, figure anything out?” Geese asked. 

“Nope, nothing.” 

My knowledge of magic circles came primarily from the book, anyway. If the correct answer wasn’t in its pages, then it was outside my area of expertise. I’d done some additional research into teleportation, of course, but this was still beyond me. 

There was one thing I knew: The three circles before us were abnormal. I’d helped Nanahoshi with enough magical circles in the past that I could tell. A change to the smallest, most intricate parts of a circle would alter its effects. That was why I could confidently say none of these were normal circles. 

“If what the book says is true, one of these two is the correct circle,” I said. 

“…What you mean is that you don’t know, either?” Geese clarified. 

“Exactly.” 

We returned to the entrance to the room, sitting down within in the circular formation that Paul and the others had taken as they rested. There, we reported the details of our search as accurately as we could. 

Paul clicked his tongue, “Tch, two choices, huh?” 

Elinalise mumbled, “Oh my, two options…” 

And Talhand groused, “Dammit, two, eh?” 

None of them looked pleased by the news. 

“Two options are really gonna really screw us. It’d be better if we had three.” As he gazed up at the ceiling, Geese reminded me of a certain anime character in the Italian mafia who wears a strange hat on his head. It sounded like they had some ill memories associated with choosing between two options, which didn’t come as a surprise to me. 

“Is this a jinx, too?” I asked. 

“Yeah, it is. When we’ve only got two choices, we gotta let Ghislaine choose. Or whatever we do, it’ll end in failure,” Geese explained. Paul and the others nodded in agreement. 

Ghislaine, huh? That name brought back memories. As a beastfolk, she certainly did have a good enough sense of smell to sniff out the correct answer. 

“Ghislaine… If only she were here right now,” said Paul wistfully. 

Elinalise added, “She was only ever useful in times like this.” 

“She never listened to instructions during battle and ran in headfirst, almost like she didn’t understand a word anyone said. She couldn’t read, write, or do arithmetic, and she’d get enraged any time you talked about somethin’ she didn’t understand. But at least when we only had two options, she was weirdly able to pick the right one,” said Talhand. 

Wow, they were sure saying cruel some things about her. Poor Ghislaine. I hoped they’d stop at that. She was, after all, one of the teachers I respected. 

“Please give her a break,” I pleaded. “She can now read, write, and do arithmetic.” 

Ghislaine had worked hard. She still tripped up when it came to addition that required carrying numbers, but she’d busted her butt to learn division. 

“Hmph, I heard about that from Paul before, but I won’t be fooled,” said the dwarf. “There’s no way that pup can function like a normal person.” 

“I heard the very same, but to be honest, I can’t believe it either,” Elinalise agreed. 

The two of them certainly were skeptical. Not that I didn’t get it—Ghislaine certainly had been a bonehead. 

This felt strange, though. All of Paul’s former party members were gathered here—all except Ghislaine. The very same woman who’d been the only member of the group to maintain contact with Paul after their fallout. The only one who knew Buena Village, out of all of those gathered here. 

Yes, strange indeed. 

“Forget that, what’re we gonna do?” Geese asked, returning to the original point of our conversation. There were two circles. Which were we going to proceed through? 

“Rudy, even you weren’t able to tell, eh?” Paul asked. 

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no. I even studied these in school before I came. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.” 

“So that’s how it is…” Paul folded his arms over his chest, closed his eyes, and began thinking. After not even a minute, he lifted his head. “Let’s just take a majority vote and see where that puts us. Those in favor of taking the circle to the right, raise your right hand. Those in favor of the left, raise your left.” 

Each person raised their hand at his command. Paul, Elinalise and Roxy all voted to go to the right, while Geese, Talhand, and I voted to go to the left. We were split right down the middle. 

“Tch, we can’t even decide,” spat Paul. 

“Um, Father,” I said, “I do have to say I’m not too sure about deciding on something like this with a majority vote.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Anyone else got any brilliant ideas?” 

When Paul asked, Elinalise lifted her hand. “What about sending a person into each one of them at the same time?” 

“You proposing we sacrifice someone?” 

“Either you or I could burn incense and slice our way through the Devouring Devils if we had to,” she said confidently. 

One person would enter each of the two circles at the same time, and the person who was correct would come back to us. Then we would immediately go in search of the other person and the problem would (possibly) be solved. 

“I oppose that,” I said. 

Elinalise said, surprised, “Oh, Rudeus? Why is that?” 

“First, there’s no guarantee that either one of those is the right answer.” 

Both circles seemed randomized, to all appearances. They might both be traps, meaning all three of the circles were traps. It was possible the correct circles were located in a different room. Admittedly, that seemed unlikely—the book said they’d searched each room on every floor before moving on to the next. If I were to trust the author, then this was our final destination. 

But the position of the circles and their shapes… All of it felt deliberate. Deceptive. 

Something felt off. 

Why would anyone even make a trap that had a fifty-fifty chance of success? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of it being a trap? Besides, if whoever had created this had gone to the trouble of preparing a fake two-way circle, was the solution really as simple as one of the one-way circles being correct? If that was all there was to it, why even bother having three circles to begin with? 

Maybe we’d missed a hint somewhere? No, this wasn’t an escape-room game. A labyrinth wasn’t obligated to dish out hints for us. 

“Well, Rudeus, do you have a suggestion then?” she asked. 

“No,” I admitted. “But could I ask for you to wait a little longer before coming to a decision?” 

It weighed on me. It felt like there was something I was forgetting. And until I could recall what it was, simply stepping onto one of those circles based on the assumption that it was a fifty-fifty chance was too dangerous. The moment one person did, it was possible the entire room might be randomly teleported. 

One could only traverse the Teleportation Labyrinth by warping through magic circles. Perhaps there were rooms we couldn’t reach without stepping onto a randomized circle. 

“I want to think about this a little longer,” I pleaded. 

“Okay, Rudy. We’ll leave it to you.” Paul nodded before anyone else could respond. 

I sat in front of the circles and began to think. 

My starting premise was this: All three of these circles were dummies. Based off that, three possibilities sprang to mind. 

First, it was possible this wasn’t the end point of the labyrinth. 

According to the book, this labyrinth had one internal rule of its own, and that rule was that the main route through the maze was composed solely of two-way circles. Following that logic, this had to be the final destination. 

However, the area that Roxy had wandered into before was a section of the labyrinth inaccessible through two-way circles alone. To get back to the main path, you had to find your way through over thirty one-way circles in the area. In short, the real end of this labyrinth might be located beyond a one-way circle, though I did think the chances of that were slim. 

Second possibility: Unbeknownst to the author, one of the other party members had triggered a trap right before they entered the portal. The author assumed that they were stepping on the two-way portal, but what actually happened was that someone else triggered a random warp, teleporting everyone in the room off to a random location. Thus, the two-way portal actually was the correct one. 

Nah, that couldn’t be it. If such a trap were present, surely Geese would have noticed it. 

Third: The two-way circle was actually a double circle. 

Portals came in a lot of different shapes. Perhaps there existed one that was donut-shaped. If so, the correct portal might be surrounded by one such donut-shaped portal that was actually a teleportation trap. That was possible, right? 

In other words, as long as we stepped on the very center rather than the perimeter, we could reach the next floor. 

Idiot, I chastised myself. Who do you think you are, some kind of ace detective? 

The most probable of these three possibilities had to be the first one. 

The author had generally only ever stepped on two-way circles. Even after he discovered the three different types on the first floor, he never stepped on a single random or one-way circle as he made his way down through the third and fourth floors. That had been enough to get him this far. 

Perhaps, from this point onward, you had to proceed by one-way circles to make it to the end. But if that were the case, then maybe the path leading forward didn’t start here. Maybe we were just simply at a dead end—in which case, the path leading forward might start somewhere we’d already passed up. For example, there could be a one-way circle on the fourth floor that actually led to the final point of the dungeon. 

Dammit. Things had gotten so complicated. 

Besides, the way the author had divided up the “floors” was arbitrary to begin with. He’d done it entirely on the basis of what monsters were around and what the area looked like. The unique “rule” about the main route through the labyrinth only consisting of two-way portals might’ve been complete coincidence. 

Was our best option to just brute force our way through, trying out each option one by one? Start on this floor and go through each one-way circle, defeating whatever monsters we encountered, trying to find a different route? That seemed like the correct choice. 

Just look at the atmosphere of this room , though . The veteran members of my party had entered and immediately sensed that the boss—or rather, guardian—must be close. I was sure this place had to be special. That this had to be the last room in this labyrinth. 

No—maybe that was just one of the labyrinth’s traps. Hmm… 

“There’s just no end to the possibilities,” I muttered to myself as I stood up. It was time for a bathroom break. “Father?” 

“What is it?” Paul looked up. 

“I’m going to go relieve myself.” 

“Taking a piss, eh? I’ll go, too.” 

“‘A piss’!” I blurted out in shock. “You can’t use such inappropriate language in front of ladies—” 

“Who cares about manners in a place like this?” 

Come on now, we’re in front of Roxy. I can’t slip up here! 

Well, okay, she probably wouldn’t think much of me going to the bathroom, but still. 

Paul accompanied me out of the room and back to the area where the Devouring Devils’ corpses and smashed eggs remained. There, we took turns standing watch while the other took care of their business. 

“You’re really struggling with this one,” Paul remarked as I emptied my bladder. 

“Yeah. It occurred to me that maybe this place isn’t the final room of this floor. That maybe there’s another route. One that we have to take in order to get to the boss.” 

“Nah, that can’t be.” He shook his head. “That room is definitely the right place.” 

“You’re saying that based on what exactly?” 

“Nothing.” 

In other words, intuition. Still, it was a veteran’s intuition. Not something I could take lightly. Intuition of this sort might seem like baseless conjecture, but it was actually an unconscious inference based on experience. 

“Well, no need to get ahead of yourself,” Paul said. “We’ll wait. If there’s something you’re not sure about or something you want to discuss with us, feel free. Don’t try to solve it all by yourself, yeah?” 

“Understood.” I stowed my buddy back in my pants and traded positions with Paul. Now that I was standing guard duty, I took a glance around. 

“Oh, there’s also one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about, Rudy.” 

“Yes? What is it?” 

A brief silence. “Ah, nah. Not the time for it right now. I’ll tell you about it when we get back to the inn.” 

“What is it? Please don’t do that. It’ll make me nervous if you don’t tell me. That’s the sort of thing we call a ‘death flag,’ you know.” 

“What the hell is that? Anyhow, if I say it right now, it’ll only mess with the group’s morale.” 

I tilted my head as I heard his voice filter in from behind. It would mess with our morale? What on earth did he want to talk about, then? Was it anxiety over Zenith? Or something else that might make things awkward between us? 

“A reprimand of some sort?” I guessed finally. 

“Basically, yeah. Something like that.” 

“True, it could really screw things up if I got all depressed and couldn’t stay focused in battle. You can be as angry as you want with me when this is done.” 

“Ah, well, it’s not like I’m angry. Just figure I’d give you a chance to prep a bit.” 

Once we got back to the inn, huh? I hoped we would be able to rescue Zenith before then. 

“I hope Mother’s safe,” I said. 

“…Yeah, me too.” 

With just those few words, the air in the room turned oppressive. 

This wasn’t good. Paul had to be feeling hopeless that we’d come this far and still hadn’t found her. It was best to keep those kinds of thoughts to myself. 

I listened to the long, drawn-out trickle of Paul relieving himself as I surveyed the area. 

There was one big room and three smaller ones that had been covered in eggs. Then there was the one further in with the magic circles. All the smaller rooms were connected to the larger one. 

Something was bothering me. 

“This room is pretty long, isn’t it?” 

“Hm?” Paul grunted back. “Guess so. Why?” 

It was oblong in shape, though wide enough and so jam-packed with corpses that it almost looked square at first glance. Closer inspection revealed that its length exceeded its width. It was actually rectangular. At each end of this long stretch was an attached room, though their sizes all differed. 

I’d seen this before. Recently. 

And something was missing. 

“…Ah!” 

It suddenly came to me. That’s right—this looked exactly like the ruins of the teleportation circles we used to get here. 

“Okay! Let’s go on back then… Uh, Rudy? What’re you doing?” Paul eyed me suspiciously. 

I gave him a sidelong glance as I hurried back to the other members. 

Geese was sitting with his butt planted on the floor—not unlike the Great Buddha statue—when I called out to him, “Mister Geese, could I have your assistance?” 

“Hm? You find somethin’?” 

“Just hurry up and come along.” I dragged him with me to the center of the room. “Please search around here and see if you can find a hidden staircase.” 

“Huh…? Wait—I guess it could be possible. We haven’t seen anything but teleportation traps up ’til now, but it could be there’s a hidden room or somethin’.” 

Geese, having convinced himself without any input from me, got down on his hands and knees and began searching the floor. He put his ear to the floor, face tense. Then he withdrew his shortsword and began rapping the pommel against the ground. 

“Hey… It’s here. It’s here!” he exclaimed. “Boss, there’s a cave under here!” 

“Can you open it up?” 

“Give me a sec.” Geese started fiddling with the floor. He moved down toward the wall, his hands grazing across the surface as he went. Then he retreated back to me. “No good. I can’t open it. Probably the type you gotta pry open.” 

“There won’t be any problems if we break it, will there?” 

“Nah. There’s no traps. Okay, Boss, let’s do it. Aim one right here,” Geese said as he carved an X into the ground. 

I unleashed my Stone Cannon at the appropriate area. The earthen bullet was deflected with a resounding clang, leaving the floor below it indented. 

Did I hold back too much? 

“A little stronger than that,” Geese said. “You can do it, right?” 

“Yes.” 

I increased the potency and aimed another shot. This time a much louder bang went echoing through the halls as the floor collapsed, leaving a hole in its wake. 

“Okay, just leave the rest to me!” Geese was immediately back down on his hands and knees, clearing away the rubble. 

Now that there was a hole in the floor, the rest was easy. It took no time at all for him to widen the cavity, transforming it into a square-shaped opening. Beneath it, stairs cascaded downward into the darkness. 

“Amazin’! Leave it to you, Boss. Can’t believe you figured it out.” 

“Well, I’ve seen this kind of layout once before,” I admitted. 

The ruins around the teleportation circle we’d used to get here had three empty rooms within it, and one more with a staircase. I suspected the fourth room had once looked just as simple as the rest. Perhaps the stairs that led down to the teleportation circle had once been hidden, just like these were. Back when the ruins were still in use, each room must have been furnished, making it impossible to spot the hidden staircase with a simple glance. Perhaps the reason it was so visible now was because the covering had weakened over the years, or someone had destroyed it. 

“Okay, everyone, Boss found us a set of hidden stairs!” 

At the sound of Geese’s voice, the other members got to their feet. They wandered over and examined the stairs, gasping in astonishment. 

“Gahaha! Knew ya could do it!” Talhand guffawed, slapping a hand on my back. 

“Ouch.” 

“That’s my son!” Paul declared loudly, following the dwarf’s example with a slap of his own. 

“Ouch,” I said again. 

“This does make sense. I seem to recall the ruins of the teleportation circle looking similar.” Elinalise clapped me too. 

“Urgh…” 

“Don’t get too in a tizzy. There might be traps. Boss, pass me three of your scrolls. And here ya go!” Geese punctuated his words with a smack of his own. 

“…” 

When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Roxy with her tiny hand lifted in the air. Our eyes met, hers peering up from below, and her hand came to a gentle stop against my back, barely brushing against me. 

“There,” she said. “You did a good job.” Her expression was tinged with disappointment, as if she couldn’t quite stomach the success of her pupil. Every single one of my deeds was directly linked to her, so I didn’t see the need for her to feel vexed. 

That’s it, I decided. If word of this moment gets out, I’ll brag that it was actually Roxy who gave me the hint! 

“All righty, let’s get goin’. Keep on your toes, everyone,” said Geese. 

“Yeah!” Everyone nodded together. 

At the foot of those stairs was a teleportation circle—a two-way type. One that was a deep, blood red.