Chapter 2: The Seafarer’s Ruins

1

“Claus! Are you alright?!”

Erika found herself sprinting toward him. She was overcome with heartfelt relief the moment she saw his face rather than his turned back.

Claus must have been relieved to see her as well; the sternness gradually vanished from his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine. I’m more surprised you managed to come here alone... That aside, what are you wearing?”

His rude remark drove Erika to take another good look at her outfit. The clothes Eduard had worn at age eight fit the image of a young nobleman perfectly, but crossdressing wasn’t in the playbook of your average noblewoman.

“I borrowed Eduard’s clothing. As you can imagine, it would be quite hard to crawl around these old ruins in a dress.”

I was looking for something practical, and I was in a hurry, she added internally.

“Oh, so that’s how it is. It suits you better than that other stuff you were wearing.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

So men’s clothes fit me better than glamorous dresses?

Erika smiled bitterly. She’d thought her facial features were delicate enough, so was it the way she carried herself that lacked womanliness?

No, it’s a good thing to be able to pull off practical clothes, so let’s feel good about it.

Once she had convinced herself, she switched gears.

“I’m glad I found you so quickly. This is the most dangerous place in Aurelia, you know?”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see why. I never thought I’d use up so much mana after just a little bit of exploration,” Claus said, looking genuinely concerned.

Erika tilted her head. All the darkness and dreariness threatened to unnerve her, but were there really areas here that required a ton of magic to traverse?

“Err, Claus, what do you mean by that?”

“You’re telling me you got all the way here without noticing?”

“I haven’t noticed a thing.”

“You’re pretty slow.”

“Aurelians and Hafans are different. What am I supposed to do about it?”

Being slow and meticulous was a virtue in Aurelia.

Oh, and I’m sure my lack of talent and effort has something to do with it, Erika thought bitterly.

“There’s a mana-draining spell at work in these ruins. For a while now, even activating low-level magic has been placing a terrible burden on me.”

“Can we tell where the effect is coming from? We might find something if you use Glámr-Sight.”

“I’ve already identified what I presume to be the source, but I couldn’t dispel it. No idea why.”

“I bet there’s a metal or gem that naturally obstructs magic embedded in it. In other words, there’s no spell to break.”

Erika had heard of such metals before. For instance, in Lucanlandt, there existed a metal with powerful magic-dispelling properties. It wouldn’t be strange if there was some other metal out there that could absorb or obstruct it. Perhaps some combination of materials could produce the same effect.

“If that wasn’t bad enough, wide-range magic is intercepted too. Anything beyond a certain area of effect just misfires.”

“Come to think of it, my brother said there were traps here that’d already been tripped, but he couldn’t tell what they did.”

“I see.”

A minor inconvenience to Aurelian alchemists but considerably ill-suited to a Hafan magician.

The Seafarer’s Ruins were practically a gallery of the lost technology of Aurelia. Perhaps these lost arts, rather than actually being “lost,” had simply been removed from the knowledge pool—thrown away, so to speak—for being too problematic. For example, the prior occupants of this continent, whose society the Seafaring Tribe had sought to merge into, likely wouldn’t have taken too kindly to this mana-obstructing trap.

“Because of that... Well, have a look at this.”

Claus spread out a large sheet of parchment. The page had a thick, rectangular border which listed out the names of the gods of the twelve winds in decorative script. This template usually meant that the document was a map.

However, apart from the border and some lines of Hafan magic words, it was pretty much blank. There was nothing remotely map-like about it.

“I thought I would try automapping, so I placed spell cards along my route. But thanks to that troublesome trap, chanting the spell does nothing for me.”

“Oh, so that’s what the cards were for.”

“Had I known sooner that my map was going to be nullified, I wouldn’t have gone in so deep.”

He cursed, sighed, and began trudging onward. As it seemed Claus was done talking for the time being, Erika promptly brought up what was bothering her.

“So, umm, Claus... Would you happen to know where Anne is?”

“Wha...?! Why are you bringing up Anne?” he blurted, flinching.

That reaction makes him seem like a little animal.

“I used Urðr-Sight to chase after you, and when I did, I saw not only you but Anne as well.”

“I didn’t bring my little sister with me. I’m not stupid.”

“It seemed like she was pursuing you.”

“I’m sure I put her to sleep. Oh no, don’t tell me she anticipated that I would slip out and heightened her magical resistance?”

Evidently, he had taken his own precautions to make sure his sister didn’t tag along to such a dangerous place.

So, you’re not that bad of a brother after all. However, Anne had one-upped him this time. Just like Claus, Anne was also a young and talented magician. As a result of her own insight and efforts, she had managed to resist her brother’s magic.

Claus’ secrecy backfired on him. The more someone tells you not to do something, the more secrets are kept hush-hush... the more it plagues your mind. Looks like these siblings share their burning sense of curiosity.

“I didn’t see Anne on the way here. She must have gone down a different path.”

Thinking she’d find Anne with him, Erika had given her undivided attention to tailing Claus and neglected to check for his sister. She was also trying to preserve the limited uses of the expensive Urðr-Sight wand.

I should have used it more often, she scolded herself.

“Shall we turn back, Claus? We can look for Anne along the way.”

“Yes, you’re right. It’s clear I wasn’t prepared enough to explore these ruins,” Claus sighed, eyeing Erika’s equipment. His gaze flitted across her alchemist’s leather gloves, her bag stuffed to the brim with wands, and her thick-soled boots.

“Unless I come back as readily equipped as you, I feel like I’ll lose my way quite quickly.”

Erika was a little relieved to hear him accept it so easily. She really had no recourse if he became defiant and insisted he wasn’t going to turn back.

“Now that that’s settled, let’s get right to searching for Anne,” she said.

“Sure.”

“If we can’t find her, we should return to the Spring Palace.”

“Right, this maze is a bit much for children to tackle. We’ll need some help.”

“Speaking of mazes, please do make sure you dispel that phantasmal maze in the palace,” Erika said, though it was also to remind herself. By this point, it wouldn’t be strange if a number of the maids had found themselves stranded.

“Hm? You noticed?”

“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have come out dressed like this.”

“I thought you were eager to join me. Is that not it?”

“Definitely not!”

Erika made sure to drive the point home. She wouldn’t want anyone to misunderstand; it wasn’t that she had been in on Claus’ little expedition. Unless she strongly insisted she’d come here to stop him, she would likely be treated as an accomplice.

“We’ll backtrack and use Urðr-Sight at every fork. That should tell us where Anne got lost.”

“An Urðr-Sight wand? May I use it, too? I was keeping Glámr-Sight up the whole time until I ran into you, so it’s going to take a while to restore my mana.”

“I don’t see why not. It’ll be more efficient to have two sets of eyes looking for her.”

Eastern magic shaved away not only one’s mental stamina but their physical strength as well. Even if Claus was a genius, he was still ten years old. In the Seafarer’s Ruins, where his mana expenditure was apparently intense, keeping Glámr-Sight active for so long was an impressive feat.

However, the idea of two people using the wand led Erika to wonder how much magic it had left. She had already used it around sixty times before she found Claus.

The Urðr-Sight wand was made of ash wood. Its tip was yellow tourmaline, and the handle was gold etched to mimic woven fabric.

Its most prominent feature was its wick: a magnificent, ten-meter-long silk tapestry patterned with gold and silver thread. It had been compressed with spatial magic until it was mere millimeters across, only to undergo further processes to make it light enough to wield. This piece had taken considerable time and money to produce.

When a wand’s magic was recharged, the wick would have to be replaced. In other words, this magic was extraordinarily expensive.

I’m so sorry, Eduard! Erika apologized silently to her brother as she opened up the box containing a second Urðr-Sight wand.

Just how many wands would she go through in one night? And how much would they all cost? The thought was beginning to terrify her.

2

Erika handed Claus the partially used Urðr-Sight wand along with an alchemist’s glove that would lessen its recoil. She broke the seal on the brand-new wand and held it aloft.

“So this is an Aurelian wand... How do you use it?” Claus asked.

“Just swing it with a clear idea in mind.”

“That’s surprisingly simple. May I test it out?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Claus cautiously waved the wand. The Urðr-Sight magic activated without a hitch, concentrating itself in a white magic circle over his eyes. Claus blinked a few times in wonder.

“This is convenient. Not only am I not using any of my own mana, I can already see you from a few minutes ago.”

“You won’t be able to see events too far back. If you keep a specific target in mind when you activate it, it should automatically focus on them.”

“So I just have to think of Anne when I use it?”

“That’s right. Now let’s get going.”

Perhaps due to the oxidation of the room’s star crystal lamps, the light in this chamber was somewhat weak. Erika fished through her bag and took out her own lantern to make sure she didn’t let any important clues slip by.

“Claus, please carry this with you.”

“Got it.” Claus tied the lantern to the end of his staff.

Swinging their wands now and again, the two of them pressed onward, diligently lighting the way back with the two lamps.

“I’m seeing you muttering to yourself a lot.”

“Please don’t tease me.”

“Are you afraid of ghosts or something?”

“Claus, please concentrate on finding Anne.”

Erika lightly reproached Claus for his wholly unnecessary take on the matter. She didn’t want to be teased for her childishness when they had such important matters to attend to. It was all the more embarrassing when she took her actual age into account.

“You look awfully fretful, and your eyes are dark. Can’t you look a bit more like a proper eight-year-old?”

“How about you search a little more seriously?!”

“I mean, now and then, you have a look in your eyes like you’ve given up on life.”

Erika glared back at Claus’ cold, inhumane eyes.

For crying out loud, that’s the one thing I don’t want to hear from the likes of you. I mean, at the start of the game, your portrait art practically shows you with the eyes of a dead fish.

Erika desperately held her tongue, however. These words would just be incomprehensible to Claus, especially as he was now.

Oh, but he did have a sadistic side to him. Given that he was toying with her immediately after discovering her weakness, Claus was already showing foreboding signs. Not that it mattered; for now, they had to concentrate on finding Anne. Erika endeavored to ignore him and returned her undivided attention to the search.

“Have you spotted her yet?”

“No, I haven’t seen head nor tail of her. The Urðr-Sight keeps focusing on you.”

“Are you properly thinking about your sister when you use it?”

“Yeah, I’m doing it, I’m doing it. It’s really irritating that I have to keep watching you.”

This little brat! No, no, no, he’s not wasting any more of my time.

Claus’ thoughtless statement set her shoulders aquiver, but she managed to keep her cool.

“Is Anne really in here? I haven’t found a single trace of her.”

Err, wait, something’s not right here.

“Umm, Claus, do you remember where you put those automapping spell cards of yours?”

“My cards? Of course I remember. In this room, they’re...”

Claus ran over to the corner and began feeling around the wall. He seemed to be having some trouble. After holding up his lantern and walking the length of the room a few times, he returned with a baffled look on his face.

“They’re gone.”

“Are you sure?”

“What could this mean? I definitely put one here... That’s strange. It’s almost as if...”

Claus probably wasn’t mistaken. Erika didn’t have a particularly vivid memory, but she did recall seeing his unused spell cards when she was searching for him. Now they were gone.

Why do my worst hunches always seem to come true?

Erika looked around before addressing him.

“It looks like the rooms and the corridors of the Seafarer’s Ruins move around, and it’s not by magical means. They’re moving mechanically.”

At that moment, an ominous clink resounded through the labyrinth. It was a faraway sound from a distant room.

“A mechanical labyrinth?!”

“Father’s told me about similar anti-theft measures the people of Aurelia used long ago, but I never imagined there would be one this large.”

With the absurdly loud sound of grating gears, the ground at their feet began to shake and sway. This was no earthquake; at this moment, the room they were in was moving.

“You said you saw both me and Anne in the room with the gate, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Was that first room the last time you saw Anne?”

“Yes.”

“That means the pathways were probably the same when I first came and when you chased after me... but when Anne passed through, the passage led somewhere else.”

“That sounds about right.”

“And now that the maze has shifted again, we’ve lost our current location. Is that right, Erika?”

“Indeed. At this point, there’s no guarantee we can make it back to the warp gate.”

They had now lost both their sole lead on Anne and their means of returning to the Spring Palace. The hunter had become the hunted; while they were searching for a lost child, they hadn’t noticed they’d become lost ages ago. It was far too late now.

“You’re pretty calm about all this,” Claus noted.

“You think so? I’d panic if panicking would do something for me,” Erika replied.

Erika’s biggest worry right now was Anne. Unlike the two of them, Anne was wandering these dim ruins alone. As Erika imagined the small seven-year-old girl anxiously pacing these halls, she felt a tight grip on her heart. Moreover, what would happen if Anne was possessed by the ancient spirit?

Erika quickly pulled the brakes on that pessimistic train of thought. Right now, finding Anne and getting back to the palace were the only two things she had to consider.

Unfortunately, she already felt like the search had reached a dead end, and she was on the verge of giving up.

If I wait for morning to come, won’t my father and Duke Hafan notice and send a search party? She paused and thought about it for a moment. No, by that time, Anne will have died, just like in Liber Monstrorum.

Their relationship was different this time around; it was hard to say whether or not Anne would come to kill her in six years. But even if Erika had managed to destroy her own death flag, she didn’t feel comfortable leaving Anne to her fate. She had grown somewhat attached to the girl and didn’t want her life to end in such a miserable way.

“Things are just going to get worse if we keep moving around without a plan,” said Claus.

“There must be something we can do. Let’s put our heads together.” Erika set down her bag and opened it wide.

What could she do with what she had on hand? She once again checked through her inventory.

“You really brought a lot of stuff.”

“There’s no telling what might happen. You know what they say—you can never be too prepared.”

Was there any magic that could get them out of this situation? Erika flipped over box after box, checking each label.

“A Grease wand? That’s the magic that makes things slide. Cast it on your opponent’s hands, and they won’t be able to grab anything; cast it on their feet, and they’re liable to trip. But what use is that in a maze? It’s so situational...”

“I was in a hurry, okay?! Not everything has to have an apparent purpose right away!”

Claus curiously peered in and joined her in sorting through the jam-packed bag.

“I can’t find any wands that will solve this in a flash. This is pretty hard. If only wide-range search magic worked in here...”

“You’ll have to curse my cautious ancestors for that one.”

While Claus was also carefully reading each label, it seemed he didn’t have any brilliant ideas. Still, it was too soon to give up. She persisted in her search until she noticed a faint light—different than that of a star crystal—pouring from its depths.

“That’s... the moon-gallnut ink.”

“We use it in Hafan quite a bit.”

There was a material called moonbeam ore that could only be found in Hafan. It glowed with a faint light come moonrise, only to lose its glimmer at moonset. When clouds were cast over the moon, the moonbeam ore would likewise be obscured. It was quite a peculiar stone.

Since ancient times, Hafan magicians had used its special properties to create ink that would glow in sync with the moon.

“If the moon is up... I’d say it’s just past eight o’clock.”

The small vial rippled with yellow light kissed by a hint of blue. It was considerably faint compared to the star crystal lanterns; the night sky outside was probably quite cloudy.

“Claus, that’s...”

When she covered her lantern to stare at the fleeting light of the moon-gallnut ink, Erika noticed something else shimmering in one corner of the room. What’s more, it waxed and waned at the same time as the ink.

“Ah, you noticed it too?”

“Yes, it’s glowing just like the ink.”

The fluctuation of the light presumably corresponded with a stream of thin clouds flowing in front of the moon—and it was thanks to this that they were able to notice at all.

Erika shut her lantern away in her bag, and Claus covered the end of his staff with his sleeve. Now that these stronger light sources had been cut off, the faint light of the writing on the walls grew stronger.

A crescent moon was drawn on the wall, and below it was some familiar handwriting.

This was a message left by their predecessors, the previous explorers of this dungeon. Yes, the golden light of the moon truly was the silver lining on the dark cloud hanging over them.

3

“It says... ‘Through the crescent-moon gate, search for the twin half-moons.’”

“This is my brother’s... Eduard’s handwriting.”

“That guy?!”

Erika was deeply relieved to find some trace of her brother in the Seafarer’s Ruins. It was as if she had stumbled upon Buddha in the depths of hell. She pictured Eduard with an archaic smile on his face, waving for her to follow.

“He might have left this hint for himself while he was exploring,” she thought aloud.

“Then we might as well follow it.”

“Right.”

The two children returned the boxed wands and other tools they had spread across the floor to the bag and sprung up. In accordance with the message, they found a doorway with a crescent moon seal drawn over its arch, and they quickly passed through it.

After walking down a dim corridor maybe thirty meters long, they came across another inscription written in moon-gallnut ink. This one had half-moon shapes side by side; these were undoubtedly the twin half-moons.

“There it is!” Claus exclaimed.

“There’s some more writing.”

“‘The path will open when the full moon rises to the center.’ ...?”

“Full moon? I don’t see a circle anywhere. Do you?”

“Wait. The message says it will rise to the center, which means...”

Once again, they heard the grating of gears and a heavy, metallic clank—the sound of nearby rooms shifting around.

“I believe this hint was written in anticipation of the shifting of the labyrinth,” said Claus.

“So that sound means one of the rooms around us has become the ‘full moon’... the room where the next hint is.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. And at the center... Normally, when the moon is at its zenith, it points south.”

“Oh, shoot. How could I have forgotten something as basic as a compass?”

“Just leave it to me. I can’t use powerful or wide-range magic, but I can still perform a simple cantrip.”

Claus held a wand perpendicular to the floor and began to chant. He was still using the ancient language of Hafan, but unlike before, his words carried the gentle tone and cadence of a nursery rhyme.

When he let go, the enchanted wand spun somewhat unnaturally before uneventfully falling flat in the direction they had just come from.

“That’s south.”

“That was a bit anticlimactic.”

“It’s just a simple old charm, but it’s surprisingly convenient.”

The two of them headed back down the path they had come from. Eduard’s hint implied that it wasn’t only the passage of time that caused the maze to change shape. The layout had shifted the moment they’d reached the twin moons, meaning there were likely weight sensors at play as well.

If they had started off by splitting up to search the ruins, perhaps Erika and Claus would never have reunited. This thought caused Erika to grab Claus’ hand as they headed south through the dim corridor. Now and then, they would put their lanterns away to check for markings, proceeding with the utmost caution.

After walking for a while, they spotted a faint, circular light through the darkness.

“A circle... That must be the full moon!” shouted Erika.

“And no message as far as I can see.”

“Do you think this is the destination, then?”

“What was your brother trying to accomplish by leading us here?”

The passage marked with the full moon was furnished with a brand-new wooden door. Thankfully, it wasn’t locked. Bracing themselves for anything hostile that might be lurking behind it, Erika and Claus slowly pushed the door open.

“Now, this is...”

“Huh. It’s full of trunks.”

Inside the room were around five largish wooden trunks, the kind one might pack with clothing for a long voyage. They were sturdy, reinforced with metal frames, and fitted with built-in locks. Stashed away in ruins like these, they almost looked like treasure chests.

The trunks were carved with the sea and the star, the heraldic symbols of House Aurelia. While the attached labels were in Eduard’s handwriting, they seemed to be coded.

If Erika had to take a guess, the trunks contained supplies Eduard had set aside for exploring the maze. There were two blankets and traces of a fire beside them.

“It looks like he set up a simple camp here.”

“He must like to stay on top of things. I’d expect no less from your brother.”

“There might be something we can use.”

“I should hope so.”

Despite their best efforts to open the trunks, they were all locked tight.

It really is like Eduard to be so thoroughly prepared, Erika noted, somewhat impressed.

“I’m sorry, Claus. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a skeleton key with me...”

“Don’t worry. I’ve recovered enough mana for an unlocking spell.”

“Then, if you would.”

“Yeah, just leave it to me.”

Claus placed his staff over a trunk and chanted a spell. Unlike wands, the staves of Eastern magicians were magic amplification devices. Claus needed to cast even the most elementary of spells through his staff if he wanted to triumph over the ruins’ magic obstruction.

Erika watched him anxiously as the burden of low mana was placed on him yet again.

Once Claus had finished his chant, a faint, light-pink magic circle enveloped the trunk. The circle slowly rotated, gradually shrinking until it was concentrated on the lock mechanism. This was followed by a stiff, solid click.

“Alright, looks like it worked.”

“Let’s open it.”

“Way ahead of you.”

Claus threw open the heavy lid of the trunk while Erika held up her lantern to make out the numerous items within it.

“A few magic scrolls, some preserved food, bottled water... Oh, this one’s a lifesaver.”

“Did you find something nice?”

“Take a look. Mana-replenishing potions.”

The box contained a number of sky-blue-tinted glass vials, lined up in an orderly fashion.

Once again, Erika had to thank her brother from the depths of her heart. Now Claus would be able to put a stopper on his rapidly deteriorating condition.

“With this many, we won’t have to keep relying on your wands. We can have a bit more flexibility, too.”

“That really is a lifesaver.”

All of a sudden, Erika was struck by a realization: if an alchemist was never at risk of running out of mana, why were these here? Why had her brother stored so many mana potions? Were they for the friend who’d come with him? Was Eduard’s friend not an alchemist?

Erika snapped back to her senses. Checking the supply was her current priority.

After downing a vial, Claus immediately began unlocking trunk after trunk. He seemed to be on cloud nine now that his mana was topped off, like a fish back in the water. By the time Erika noticed, he was already lifting the lid on the fourth trunk, and she hurriedly reached out for the last unopened one.

“Leave this one to me.”

Just as she swung open the last box, a sinister, purple circle spread out around her. An ominous twang sounded out as the weak protective magic sewn into the sleeve of her clothes with magic thread was blown away.

Oof! This is clearly some sort of curse.

She hurried to dodge it, but the circle shattered far faster than she could react, its many fragments coiling around her like a chain.

“Huh?!”

“Crap! It’s a trap!”

I knew it!

Despite her panic, she was cognizant enough to understand the situation. If Eduard was going to leave all his supplies in the ruins, of course he was going to put up some anti-theft measures. It was entirely possible that some outlaw would illegally enter the Seafarer’s Ruins for a good bit of graverobbing.

Claus immediately activated his Glámr-Sight and stared fixedly at Erika. He seemed to be checking the details of the curse placed upon her. It wasn’t long before his eyes swayed in torment, the complexion visibly draining from his face. Once he was finished analyzing her, he looked miserably at the ground.

What’s with him? He’s acting like a doctor who has to tell a patient they have an incurable disease.

His attitude terrified Erika. Try as she may, she could only imagine the worst possible scenario.

“I’m sorry, Erika. This is a curse of death.”

How wonderful, she quipped through her abject resignation.

The people of Aurelia were known to be obsessive artisans who took great pride in their work. Most alchemists were extremely harsh on thieves.

“It was cast by my brother, right?”

“Yeah, the creator is listed as the one and only Eduard Aurelia. It was set about a month ago.”

Claus’ expression was dark, and each time his eyes met Erika’s, he would bitterly furrow his brow.

Wait, hold up, am I going to die? Right here, right now?! She could feel her heart loudly drumming like an alarm bell.

“It’s the Curse of Merciful Death... This magic brings about a swift, painless death after a set period of time.”

“How long are we talking?”

“Generously, twelve hours. Worst-case scenario, eight.”

“Really?!”

This was far more time than Erika had anticipated, and she had to pat her chest in relief.

“The delay is probably in place to inflict as much psychological suffering upon the victim as possible. We will need some very specific catalysts if we want to dispel it. Perhaps the intent was to give even a burglar a chance of salvation if he begged the caster for forgiveness.”

Erika once again admired Eduard’s thoroughness. He did have the darkest smile of the game’s seven love interests, after all. No doubt, her brother had prepared quite a savage retribution.

I only see his kind and soft side, so this is rather refreshing. It really is a shame that I never got to play Eduard’s route.

Her mind was preoccupied with such thoughts in her desperate bid to escape from reality.

“Erika, are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

But upon seeing Claus’ worried face, she forced herself back to the real world.

“Erika, let’s return to the palace. We can still make it in time. Your father probably has the necessary catalysts and scrolls to dispel this sort of curse, and I’m sure my father can—”

“No, Anne comes first.”

Erika decided to grin and bear it. Even if there were no monsters or ghosts, the Seafarer’s Ruins were dangerous enough. There was no guarantee Eduard or some other explorer hadn’t set another life-threatening trap. She couldn’t leave the young Anne in a place like this.

Anyhow, I’m already used to terrible things happening to me.

Erika put on a self-deprecating smile. It wasn’t something she wanted to be accustomed to, by any means, but she never had much say in the matter. Rather than being instantaneous, the curse’s eight-hour delay was the epitome of mercy, and she felt strangely thankful to her brother for it.

She produced the crystal-powered pocket watch from her coat and checked the time. The needles indicated that it was a little past nine.

“It’s alright. If we can make it out by five in the morning, we can still dispel it in time.”

“Sure, you have time, but it’s still a curse of death! It won’t be too late to search for Anne after that...”

“But Anne is alone, you know? You might not show it, Claus, but you’re awfully worried about her, aren’t you?”

“Are you really okay with that? You’re—”

“Tomorrow, we’ll go for a tour of the Spring Palace gardens, all three of us. You’re not worming your way out of it this time. It’s a promise, Claus.”

Rude as it might have been, Erika cut him off and changed the topic. On the contrary, it would be more difficult for her if he started showing her genuine concern.

Erika smiled at Claus. It’s always important to smile. I hope even the face of this little villainess can put him more at ease.

“You’re so...”

“With a time limit this lenient, I won’t be dying without considerably terrible luck. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“I’m not sure how to tell you this, Erika... but when I look at you, I get the feeling that your luck kinda sucks.”

She averted her eyes.

He had a point there. For one, Erika had unknowingly played Russian Roulette with five chests and hit the jackpot on her one and only try. That definitely said something about her luck.

4

“Erika, does it hurt anywhere?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Claus.”

“I see. Then, do you feel sluggish? Cold? Anything?”

“I said I’m fine!”

“Alright. If anything feels off, just tell me. Don’t push yourself.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure to keep you in the loop.”

Erika and Claus had split up to classify the items from Eduard’s storage chests. With all the unknown wands and scrolls, it was possible they could carelessly activate some absurd magic, so analysis was indispensable.

While Erika worked on the wands, Claus analyzed the scrolls and spell cards. At least, that was supposed to be the plan, but Claus frequently stopped whatever he was doing to cast nervous glances her way.

“Erika, you really are...”

She returned his pitying eyes with a mild glare.

“You worry too much. I’m quite alright, so please concentrate on your work.”

“Yeah... Sorry. My bad.”

From Erika’s point of view, Claus was looking at her with the same eyes Eduard had once when she’d caught a mean cold. Were those two such worrywarts because they were eldest sons with little sisters?

Just as Eduard was a good person despite his dark, scheming smile, perhaps Claus was a good person beneath his sadistic tendencies.

“How are things on your end, Claus?”

“From what Glámr-Sight tells me, none of them are cursed. I should be able to use the spell cards for Hafan magic, no problem. Looking over the scrolls will take a little more time.”

“That’s good news. Please don’t forget to replenish any lost mana with a potion.”

“Yes, I know. How about you, Erika?”

From her parchment, Erika read out the list of wands she had identified thus far: a Death wand, a Fire Bolt wand, a Lightning Bolt wand, and a Magic Missile wand. They had all been in the booby-trapped chest. While they didn’t have many uses left, they were powerful offensive wands.

She couldn’t really blame Eduard for being so wary of theft.

“Eduard’s hand-me-downs?”

“The fact that his offensive wands have been used so many times must mean he was involved in some considerably large-scale combat.”

“I see. I was wondering why I didn’t see any sign of monsters in these ruins... He must have taken care of them.”

“Hopefully.”

Right, the Seafarer’s Ruins had already been cleaned out. Erika mentally thanked her brother yet again. The maze’s mechanisms already troubled her enough; the thought of monsters prowling around on top of that sent a chill down her spine.

“Oh! That’s a good one!”

Claus had been quietly glancing down at his notes up to that point, but he suddenly cried out in excitement. He’d been in good spirits ever since his mana was restored.

Erika took a break from stuffing things into her bag to take a peek at the scroll Claus had spread out before him.

“Did you find some useful magic?”

“It’s just what we need. This scroll is embedded with the Wall-Phase spell!”

He pointed between the scroll and a page of his notes with feverish excitement. As she was unable to read Hafan terminology, Erika was a little bewildered, but she did her best to follow along.

Claus’ notepad was crammed tight with the results of his magic research. Erika fondly remembered how Claus from Liber Monstrorum was never seen without his own thick, leather-bound tome.

This is how a diligent genius is born, she mused.

“Magic that allows you to freely pass through walls? That sounds so convenient that it’s almost unfair.”

“It hurts a little to do it like this, but right now, we’re in a race against time.”

“You’re right.” Erika nodded. With both Anne’s life and hers at stake, there was no time to waste painstakingly wandering the maze. Even Eduard had prepared this rule-breaking spell for his own expedition.

Erika decided to just accept her big brother’s little cheat.

“Having this just makes me detest the moving corridors even more. If this were a normal maze, we could just walk through it from one end to the other.”

“If we don’t know the rules behind how it works, it wouldn’t be strange for us to make a fatal mistake.”

The Seafarer’s Ruins changed over time, and it also changed based on shifting weight. It wasn’t as if Eduard had left a message in every single room. And even if they did have hints, it was unreasonable to try to figure out the laws of the labyrinth given what little time they had.

“If only we could at least keep it from changing,” Claus groaned.

“Then we either have to control time or weight.”

“Time manipulation is one of the most powerful forms of magic. I’ve memorized the spell, but I’m too immature to use it. It’s never succeeded, not once.”

“You’ve already memorized such a high-level spell?”

“Anyone can commit words to memory. You’re only first-rate when you can actually put them into practice.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll be able to do it once you become an adult.”

“No, it seems I lack emotional strength. It must be because I’ve never experienced any terrifically strong emotions in my life.”

Erika took in his sincere expression with a hint of admiration.

But if time manipulation doesn’t work, that only leaves weight. How can we trick the weight sensors? Weight, weight, weight... Ah, maybe that wand can do it.

“Claus, I have a Levitate wand. If we combine that with the Wall-Phase scroll—”

“Oho, flying magic! Then we can essentially ignore the changing labyrinth!”

The Levitate wand’s shaft was carved from the fossilized bones of a large winged wyvern. Its tip was amber, and its brass handle was carved in the likeness of a feather. The wick was a fossilized plume from an Urvogel.

It was an incredibly expensive wand, but now was not the time to be stingy.

Unlike the Flight spell, Levitate did not allow for finer adjustments to altitude, but if they wanted to avoid the maze’s contraptions, floating even a little above the ground would be enough.

“Looks like we have a plan,” Claus declared. “We’ll use the Levitate wand and Wall-Phase scroll in tandem to search every corner of every floor, one at a time.”

“If we throw in the Urðr-Sight wand, too, we should be able to cut our time down quite a bit.”

“We have two Wall-Phase scrolls. Considering we’ll need one to get out of here, we should turn back if we can’t find Anne before the first one runs out.”

“I suppose we have no choice. In that case, let’s leave some notes to safely guide her to Eduard’s camp.”

With only the moon-gallnut ink on the walls, the weather might prevent Anne from noticing at all. Dropping pieces of parchment with detailed instructions in conspicuous places such as doorways would certainly raise her chances of finding them.

“I know I’m repeating myself, but if you start feeling off in any way whatsoever, we’re getting out of here. No matter how much time is left on the Wall-Phase spell.”

“Claus, I...”

“I’m worried about Anne, but I will never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you. If only I’d been a little more cautious, if I had just looked at the mana around that chest, we could have prevented that trap.”

Erika was both thankful for his sincere conviction and happy to see how worried he was for her sake. Still, she had tripped the trap with her own carelessness; there was no reason for Claus to feel responsible. Feeling pessimistic, she pushed to close the lid on the subject.

“You’re pretty persistent, Claus. Please keep your concern for me in moderation.”

“You...”

He fell silent, a frown on his face. By now they had finished sorting through supplies, so they prepared to depart.

Claus had found a belt in the supply chest that was made to hold the potion vials. He wrapped it around his waist, over the robe, and filled every single one of its specially shaped metal slots with a mana restoration potion. After drinking three of the potions, which the belt couldn’t hold, he tucked the rest into a cloth bag over his shoulder.

Three at once... He’s only ten, but his mana capacity is immense.

Erika was genuinely impressed. She had once heard that an average adult magician could fill up on only two potions.

One’s maximum mana capacity was a result of daily training, meaning it was brought about by sheer hard work and effort. As Claus was only a young boy, he had surely worked harder than anyone else. Erika couldn’t help but admire him.

“What? What are you looking at me like that for?” Claus’ face suddenly flushed as he noticed her gaze.

“I was just thinking that you sure have a lot of mana. Were those potions enough to completely replenish your stock?”

“Oh, so that’s what this is about. Well, if my long-range magic wasn’t being cut off, I’d have enough to run search magic through every floor we’ve been to all at once.”

“Wait, Claus, now that I’ve gotten a better look at you, your face is quite red. Are you holding up alright?”

Erika moved her face right in front of his as soon as she noticed a change in his complexion. Her concerned stare was turning him redder and redder.

“Erm, yes... I wonder why. Perhaps the potions are alcoholic...?”

Claus turned his head the other way and began organizing his spell cards at an incredible pace. His dexterity was reminiscent of a master illusionist shuffling a deck of playing cards. Separating them into piles of twenty, he slid them into an assortment of pockets hidden all throughout his robe.

Hm? How many of those did he take with him?

Just a slight glance, and Erika could see far more than 300 spell cards stuffed up one of his sleeves.

“Don’t tell me you took every single card... There were at least two thousand of them.”

“We might run into a dangerous monster if we keep going down. Two thousand is hardly enough.”

“You Hafan magicians have it rough.”

“We value preparation just as much as you do. Fundamentally, we’re the same as Aurelian alchemists. We differ greatly from Lucanlandt’s swordsmen, who need only their own bodies, and Ignitia’s dragoons, who are peerless so long as they have their dragons.”

“And yet you came to the ruins so lightly equipped...”

“There was something wrong with me then, I’ll admit. I’m repenting. I won’t do it again.”

It was hard to retort when he was already feeling so ashamed. Claus’ conduct originated from the vampyre’s curse to begin with, so she didn’t intend to condemn him for it.

“I understand. I’ll trust you on that.”

Erika tied her lantern to her leather bag and equipped a belt fitted with wand holsters. She took two Magic Missile and Lightning Bolt wands from the offensive stash as well as a Levitate, Feather Fall, and Urðr-Sight wand from her utility set and stuck them all into the holsters. Too many, and it would be too confusing to select the right one at a moment’s notice. These would be enough.

“Keep a manageable amount in your belt, and swap them out with your bag to adapt to the situation. That’s how an alchemist fights.”

She recalled what Eduard once told her.

“Oh, Claus, you should take these—a Levitate wand and a Feather Fall wand. They’re both pretty short-range, so please refrain from using them on the move.”

“I understand the Levitate wand, but when am I supposed to use a Feather Fall wand?”

“It’s indispensable. There’s no guarantee this place doesn’t have pitfalls, or you might need it if you levitate too high. Levitation magic is more finicky than I’d like to admit, and it’s easy to accidentally wave it a few too many times.”

“How bad is it, exactly?”

“Waving it once generally gets you five centimeters of lift. Stack it again for twenty-five. Another for one hundred and twenty-five. You rise exponentially higher with each swing.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting.”

Claus was staring at the wand like a child eyeing a brand-new toy, so Erika was certain she would have to keep him from waving the Levitate wand in excess.

“Let’s get going, Erika. We’re running out of time.”

“Yes, of course. We don’t have a second to waste.”

Once Claus had finished reading through the Wall-Phase scroll, a white light spread out from his staff and deployed a magic circle over their heads. Beads of light emerged from the circle and showered down upon them like raindrops. The drops phased straight through the both of them, rippling as they touched the ground and forming yet another circle. These two circles slowly crossed to sandwich them, and the children were enveloped by the white tracks of light left in their wake.

After reaching out to the nearest wall and confirming that the magic had indeed done its job, Erika swung her wand of amber, bone, brass, and plume twice. Feathers made of golden light danced through the air and fell to the ground at their feet. The feathers burst upon coming into contact with their shoes, their atomized components reshaping into golden circles.

Levitation magic spread out and covered their soles, hoisting Erika and Claus up into the air. The two held hands to make sure they didn’t lose each other, then kicked at the empty air below, sending themselves barreling straight through the solid wall ahead.

5

For both Erika and Claus, this was their first time experiencing a Wall-Phase spell. As their physical bodies merged into the solid matter, they were graced by an unknown, incomprehensible sensation.

No, wait, thought Erika. This actually feels kinda familiar.

She dredged up the memories of a life gone by.

Yes, this is like walking through a strip curtain. It’s like a three-meter corridor made of rows upon rows of strip curtains running the length of my entire body.

Erika had never expected to feel a sense of familiarity here of all places.

What exactly is magic, anyway? Oh, but this is surprisingly fun!

The Levitate wand’s effect would last approximately ten minutes. One could tell it was about to end when the magic circles on the soles of their feet had shrunk by half.

Before the magic would no longer be able to support their weight, Erika and Claus swung their wands again.

“Hey, maybe on the way back we could just phase straight through the outer wall of the ruins like this,” Claus suggested. “Don’t you think it would save some of your wand uses?”

“That’s a little too risky.”

“Why’s that?”

“The Seafarer’s Ruins are surrounded by considerably thick bedrock. If we get lost in it and don’t make it out before the spell runs out...”

“We’ll be crushed to death. Tragic.”

“Very tragic. Additionally, even if we do get through the rock, the outside is mostly surrounded by sea. If we get our angle wrong...”

“We’ll drown. Brutal.”

“Too brutal. I don’t want to have to deal with any more absurd deaths.”

“More... what?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

“Uhh...”

Claus was looking at her with suspicion, so Erika hurriedly averted her eyes. She had quite nearly run her mouth about the colorful compendium of little Erika’s mysterious deaths in Liber Monstrorum. Who would believe something so ridiculous as past-life memories?

Since her mouth was sealed tighter than a clam, Claus shook his head in resignation.

“Whatever. Just keep your eyes peeled,” he said with a sigh, and she was immensely relieved to hear he wasn’t going to dig deeper.

From then on, the two of them explored at a breakneck pace. Now that they could access every room, they were finally beginning to see Anne in their Urðr-Sight.

The images were all from a considerable while ago. Even if they wanted to follow Anne’s traces, the labyrinth had already changed, and her specter would quickly vanish into a passage that no longer existed. Nevertheless, Claus seemed more at ease, if only slightly. Surely this was because he was finally seeing Anne moving around, alive and well.

I need to get him to the real one, and fast, thought Erika.

What would happen if the siblings were parted by death? Imagining such a dreary future made her chest ache.

“Hold it, Erika. There’s something there.”

It happened two floors below where they had found Eduard’s camp. Claus spread his arms out to cover Erika and stared down the corridor.

“Really? What is it?”

“There are vibrations in the air, and I can hear something dragging along the floor. Must be some monster or beast your brother missed.”

Claus’ words caught her off-guard. A monster? Now? She was definitely equipped for battle, but she clearly wasn’t mentally prepared for actual combat. She started off by sharpening her ears; a faint grating noise was certainly approaching them bit by bit.

Were they better off running or attacking? She had no idea, so she looked to Claus.

“Don’t move yet. Stay behind me.”

“Okay, got it.”

Still protecting Erika behind him, Claus readied his staff like a spear at waist height. Erika, meanwhile, tried to swap out the wand in her hand and froze mid-motion. Support? Attack? Should she have taken out her Paralyze wand?

“Don’t overdo it. Be ready to run at any time.”

“Y-Yes...”

“I’ll keep you safe. Your job, for starters, is to calm down. A panicking ally is scarier than an enemy on the battlefield.”

“You’re pretty calm, Claus.”

“I’ve been trained for combat, and I’ve accompanied my father on hunts and exorcisms before.”

Erika was surprised to hear that the duke and his son personally ventured out to perform exorcisms. Back when the dukes were still kings, however, Hafan’s royalty doubled as an assembly of the highest priests in service to their aboriginal sun god. The tradition must have carried on.

A squirming shadow emerged from around the corner. Claus swiftly snatched two spell cards from his breast pocket, threw them at the shadow, and quickly chanted a short incantation. The cards deployed a circle as they flew, forking off in different directions as each emitted a powerful glow. They landed on opposite sides, the top right and bottom left of the corridor, shedding light on the identity of their shadowy foe.

“A moving amalgamation of bone?! How many died to make this thing?!”

It was a crude collection of the bones of various beasts suspended in the air. How many dozens... no, hundreds of creatures had those bones belonged to? The creeping horror was so massive that it was impossible to tell their original numbers; it occupied the entirety of the corridor from wall to wall, undulating as it approached them.

“It has enough magic resistance to fend off my Glámr-Sight. No, wait, this monster boasts a magic composition I’ve never heard of...? What is this thing?!”

“Claus, that’s—”

“Listen up. When I give the signal, back away without turning around. If you charge in a straight line with your Levitate wand, the Wall-Phase spell should last you to the exit.”

Claus’ face was tense. After shooting a fleeting glance at Erika, he pulled about a hundred spell cards from his sleeve. No matter how much combat experience he had, it would definitely be a difficult battle against an undead foe composed of so many corpses. Having encountered such a massive creature, it would be difficult for him to return alive.

But Erika, on the contrary, was relieved the moment she saw the monster.

“It’s alright, Claus.”

“What?”

“That is an automaton made by my brother—an acid-hydrogel golem.”

“Huh?!”

The mass of bones stretching out far and wide before them was no undead; the bones were simply suspended in transparent gel. Unlike a normal golem, this gelatinous golem wasn’t humanoid and instead resembled a cube.

Its flexible body allowed it to occupy the entire corridor, swallowing everything in its path without leaving so much as a scrap as it oozed along the floor.

A few days before her past-life memories had returned, Erika remembered seeing a prototype of it in Eduard’s room. It had looked like a quivering lump of apple jelly.

At the time, she just thought it seemed somewhat convenient, and she never could’ve imagined that the real one would be this big.

There you go again, Eduard... It required so many rare materials, yet you upscaled it this much.

“Its innards are made of a strong acid, but the outside is a neutral, semi-solid gel,” Erika explained, staring in wonder at her brother’s creation. “It only dissolves dead bodies; any valuable materials it comes in contact with are coated in the neutral substance and protected. A smart and safe golem, he said.”

“What?! Why did he release something like that in this labyrinth?!”

“To clean up, I assume. You can see just how many monster corpses there were. The bones were preserved so he could collect them for his research later.”

“God! How misleading!”

My thoughts exactly. Erika shot him a wry smile. But she would prefer it if he directed those complaints at Eduard.

As she was talking with Claus, Erika realized something else.

“Ah, if we charge into it with Wall-Phase active, we’ll go through its outer wall and die instantly.”

“Curse you, Eduard Aurelia! How dangerous can you be?!”

“I should probably deactivate it while we’re searching.”

Eduard’s a kind, soft-spoken soul. Unfortunately, he has no mercy or inhibitions where alchemy is concerned.

Erika realized that if they had continued their charge through this floor without noticing the golem, her and Claus’ skeletons would be floating with the rest of them. It was beginning to occur to her that her own death flags had practically all been raised by Eduard.

The star crystal necklace. The death trap on the trunk. A Wall-Phase scroll, combined with the dangerously acidic golem.

“Are you alright, Erika? You have a dark look on your face. Is something wrong?”

“Huh? Me? I-I’m fine, Claus.”

Claus’ voice snapped her back to her senses.

Yeah, let’s not go there. I was almost swallowed up by the darkness in my heart. How could I possibly suspect that someone as kind as Eduard was actually trying to murder his little sister? Let’s trust people a bit more.

Changing gears, Erika began the necessary work to deactivate the golem. With a normal golem of clay or metal, this would be a hard task for anyone besides the original creator. Against a transparent, slow-moving golem, however, even Erika could work with it.

She first stepped out in front of the quivering gelatinous cube, held up her lantern, and inspected its innards. With Glámr-Sight, she immediately spotted an ostracon engraved with sigils among the countless bones. This was its core.

Huh? There’s something floating near the core...

She spared no time in alerting her traveling companion, “Claus, there’s something floating inside the golem...”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Over there. Doesn’t that look like Anne’s hairpin?”

Claus stared long and hard at the item, which was suspended in the cube about a meter off the ground. It was white and presumably made of fine china or bone. The metal fastener seemed to have melted, but its characteristic flower-shaped ornaments still remained.

“No...!”

“Don’t worry, Anne couldn’t have been using a Wall-Phase spell.”

Claus was clutching the fabric around his heart, a painfully wretched expression on his face.

“Anne isn’t in there. The golem must have picked that up after she dropped it.”

“Yeah... Yeah, you’re right. From what I can see, there are no human bones. Got it. I’m fine.”

Claus was deathly pale, and he didn’t look the least bit fine. He looked far more cornered now than when he’d thought he would be fighting a powerful undead adversary.

While he was jumping the gun a little, Erika could hardly blame him; his sister’s life was at stake, after all. Despite his brave front, Claus was still only ten years old. The stress this was placing on his heart was unfathomable.

Let’s hope this clue helps lead us to Anne.

“The acid might splash out, so we should stand back.”

Erika retreated before pulling out a Mage Hand wand from her leather bag.

This wand’s shaft was made of yew. Its tip was white opal, and the handle was made of gold designed to look like a spider’s web and spindly feet. The wick was the leg of a gigantic old spider.

When she waved it in her left hand, small, iridescent magic circles surrounded the five fingers of her right hand like rings. Thanks to the Glámr-Sight, she could perceive the formation of invisible fingers inside the golem.

Erika tried opening and closing her hand.

Alright, it’s working.

She felt the invisible fingers flex to mimic her movements.

So long as she could reach the core, stopping the golem was simple. Erika moved her unseen appendages, reaching out to grab the ostracon. She scraped away just one letter from the word “truth”—emet—carved into it, rendering it met, meaning “dead.”

The golem immediately began to lose its shape, rippling and churning like water brought to a rapid boil, then promptly melted into the ground.

“I see, so this is the death of a golem,” Claus muttered in awe. It was rare to see a golem’s demise outside of Aurelia.

The rainbow-colored circles on Erika’s hand quickly faded. She must have used too much strength to scrape at the letter. With how fragile it was, Mage Hand was only really useful for delicate work.

Anne’s hair ornament and the golem’s core fell to the ground amid the hordes of bones. Erika splashed some drinking water over the core to wash away the acid before picking it up. She would need to return it to Eduard later.

Claus retrieved Anne’s hairpin. It was a lovely ornament with elaborate patterns mimicking the flowers on a tea olive tree.

“This is made from the horn of one of the many unicorns that inhabit Hafan’s forests. It’s Anne’s, no doubt about it.”

“That means Anne must have passed through here.”

Ten meters beyond the corner, however, they hit a dead end. The two waved their Urðr-Sight wands together and saw Anne walking toward the very same spot. Her expression turned to shock, and she left in a hurry. Perhaps due to her panic, she didn’t seem to notice she had dropped her hairpin.

She must have seen the lump of bones in the golem, Erika surmised. She heard Claus’ relieved sigh beside her.

“It really feels like we’re getting closer to Anne,” she said. “Although the maze has already changed.”

“It’s fine. As long as we know the direction, we can use the Wall-Phase scroll.”

They still had some time before the first scroll ran out. If they managed to find her soon, they could use the second one to escape together. At least, Erika hoped they’d be able to catch up to Anne before she encountered an ancient, evil spirit.

Erika and Claus recast their Levitate magic, quietly kicking off in the direction Anne had gone.

6

Using Anne’s past traces to guide them, they descended the stairs. They were now on the eighth floor.

Just how deep are we going to go?

Another stairway, no different from the last, put them on yet another level of dreary stone.

However, the scene before them was completely different from any other they had seen in the Seafarer’s Ruins. The stench of death filled the air.

Husks of unfamiliar life-forms littered the ground—bloodstained mammals, mangled reptiles, and crushed giant insects among them. Monsters with far too many legs had been burnt to a crisp, and blood and flesh was scattered about in many, many small pieces.

Erika felt dizzy.

Somewhat fortunately, the corpses had been partially preserved with magic, so the rotting smell hadn’t gotten too bad. She was also lucky that none of the corpses belonged to animals she was familiar with; they were all bizarre, grotesque monsters.

Otherwise, Erika might not have been able to resist the urge to vomit.

The sights and smells were so unnatural to her that she was able to dissociate, and she instead imagined that the carnage before her was merely a scene from a movie or some sort of video game.

Haha... Looks like a gaming addiction can sometimes prove useful.

While this thought certainly fell short of bringing a smile to her face, she at least managed to keep herself from panicking.

“Urgh... Ngh, you okay, Erika?”

“Surprisingly. You?”

“I’m already used to this type of stuff. Yes, stuff. You know, Father and I went to that one place and did that stuff with those things, so...”

“Umm, you’re kind of all over the place, Claus.”

Erika was glad she had someone to talk to. The impact of gory movies could be lessened quite a bit when two people were watching. But Anne, who had seen this alone, was surely much worse off than either one of them.

“Let’s hurry,” Claus urged. “Anne must be close by, I’m sure of it.”

“Right. She’s probably huddled in a corner somewhere...”

A majority of pillars in the room had collapsed, and there were gaping holes all over the place. The giant gears that shifted the labyrinth were exposed and even damaged in certain places. Someone had used terrifying destructive power here.

“No wonder your brother saved up so many supplies.”

“He was taking on tons of monsters, after all.”

“I was certain we were fully equipped when we left camp, but now I’m not so sure. I shudder to think what would happen if these corpses were all alive and moving.”

Erika also felt a chill. If Eduard’s party hadn’t performed a clean sweep of the monsters, there was no telling what would have become of her, or Claus, or Anne by now. She and Claus were finally starting to see why the Seafarer’s Ruins were said to be the most dangerous place in all of Aurelia.

☆

After walking a while longer, Erika and Claus came to a stop in front of one room in particular. A note had been written by the entrance in moon-gallnut ink.

“Do not step... star... Huh? It’s gone.”

“A thick cloud must be passing over the moon. I believe the first line said, ‘Do not step on the stars.’”

“Something to that effect...”

“I don’t know what will happen if you step on them, but we haven’t seen any stars on the floor so far. No need to worry just yet.”

Erika was growing a bit anxious. Eduard’s notes had always been directions; this was the first time he had written a warning. Erika made a mental note to keep her eyes peeled whenever she entered a room from now on. She wouldn’t want to miss a star marking just because it wasn’t glowing.

Also, the Levitate spell is about to run out, so I should wave the wand again while I have the chance.

All of a sudden, Claus crouched down on the spot, examining something at his feet.

“Did you find a star?”

“No, it’s not that. This is an Eastern spell card. Alarm magic. Its range has been decreased to raise its accuracy. This specialty belongs to...”

Claus jumped to his feet. He entered the room, carefully strafing around the spell card.

“Anne! Are you in here?!”

The room was relatively less damaged than the last. Claus headed closer to a small girl curled up and cowering in the corner.

The girl lifted her head upon noticing Claus and Erika.

Oh, good. We made it in time! Erika breathed a sigh of relief.

“Claus...? And Erika?” the girl murmured in a feeble voice.

The lantern at the end of the staff illuminated her face, which closely resembled Claus’.

Anne was pale from fatigue and dread. One look at her face was enough to tell how hard the journey had been for her. Her cheeks bore the trails of numerous tears.

She started crying all over again, but the meaning behind her tears had shifted.

Claus raced over and hugged her. Anne hugged him back.

“Claus... Oh, Claus! You... You big idiot!”

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. It’s because of me that you had to go through such terrifying ordeals...”

“I was so lonely,” she sobbed. “I was so scared...”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry.”

Reuniting with Claus must have opened the floodgates. What started as a whimper exploded into a spell of loud bawling. As Claus patted her head with the gentle expression of a caring big brother, Anne pounded her small fists on his chest like a spoiled child.

“I’m glad you’re alright. I was so worried about you.”

“Oh... That should be my line. Look, you even troubled Miss Erika!”

“Yes, it’s all my fault. You came to these dangerous ruins to stop me, didn’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

There seemed to be a peculiar disconnect between them.

“Um, yes. That’s right. I thought I could bring you back peacefully so Father wouldn’t have to know. You’d best be thankful.”

“I see. So you were looking out for me.”

Claus seemed to take her at face value, but Erika noticed the girl’s eyes wandering.

Yeah, can’t say I didn’t see it coming.

If stopping Claus was her sole objective, she would have stopped him when he was trying to put her into a magical sleep. The topic of the ruins had come up during dinner, and Anne must have developed an interest in them as well.

Like brother, like sister. Erika offered a tired chuckle.

Once she had finished crying and regained her composure, Anne parted from Claus. Wiping away her tears, she straightened her back and turned to Erika.

“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble, Erika.”

“It’s perfectly alright, Anne. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“Oh, Erika...”

Since Anne was getting teary again, Erika carefully wiped her eyes with a crisp handkerchief. The girl’s face broke out in a smile, the very same one she had shown in the garden.

Erika could finally have some peace of mind.

I had a terrible feeling when we reached this floor, but it looks like everything has ended peacefully! If we make it out of the Seafarer’s Ruins without issue, I’ll have successfully avoided my first death flag. All that’s left is to read the scroll, swing the wand, cross the gate, go home, and get some sleep. Pretty simple, all things considered.

Perhaps there was a lecture in store from their guardians, but it was nothing compared to the perils they could have faced down here. She had managed to avoid an event that would have caused her demise in six years’ time.

Claus took out a mana restoration potion and pressed it to his sister’s lips. She had also lost a large portion of her mana while exploring the ruins.

I’m actually surprised she held on for so long by herself.

Erika was rather impressed. The fact that Anne specialized in precise, concentrated spells rather than long-range ones meant she had an advantage in this particular kind of labyrinth.

Now then, it’s not over until it’s over, as they say. This does feel like a load off my shoulders, but who knows what’s going to happen on the way back? We should rest here until Anne’s in a condition to move again.

“Oh?”

Erika looked around. The labyrinth was beginning to shift once more, but she felt something was off about it. She had heard this sound all too frequently since entering the ruins. Before she knew it, she had grown accustomed and driven it from her mind.

This one feels like it’s going on for a terribly long time, though.

She looked back toward the path they had come from. There wasn’t anything particularly unusual; just some stone scarred by combat and plenty of corpses.

“What’s wrong, Erika?”

“Well, how should I put this? Something feels off...”

Forget stopping—the whirring gradually grew louder and louder. If it wasn’t just her paranoia kicking in, it was almost as if it was approaching them.

“Oh, right. It’s been bothering me for a while now, but do you know what that’s supposed to mean?” Anne asked, pointing.

“‘That’...?”

“Yes. I think it’s moon-gallnut ink, but...”

“Huh?! Erika, snuff the lantern!” Claus yelped. He wrapped his sleeve around the lantern hung on his own staff while Erika stuffed hers into her bag.

The clouds looming in front of the moon outside must have chosen that exact moment to clear. As the children looked on, the entirety of the floor overflowed with golden-yellow specks spread across a blanket of pale blue.

All three of them were standing over a starry sky painted with moon-gallnut ink.

A chill raced down Erika’s spine as she once again recalled the warning at the entrance.

Do not step on the stars, or else—

Or else what? What was going to happen? Erika timidly slid her shoes out of the danger zone. There was a star right where she had been standing.

I know I’m unlucky, but come on...

She cursed her ill fortune and ill-preparedness. She had even been warned!

The sound of crumbling rock was interrupted by Claus’ scream. “Anne! Erika! Your hands!”

Erika’s field of vision was beginning to tilt diagonally. No, it was the labyrinth’s very floor that was beginning to tilt. The hard stone surged and dipped like a stormy sea.

The floor, the walls, the pillars, and the ceiling—the entire room crumbled and fell.

Erika, Claus, and Anne were thrown straight into free fall.

Seriously? This is where I die? Just when we finally found each other!

Erika condemned herself sharply in her own mind. Claus just barely managed to grab Anne, as she was close enough, but Erika had given the siblings some space for an emotional reunion and therefore fell separately.

Protecting Anne, Claus deployed several hundred spell cards like an umbrella. He had erected a protective circle to defend her from the falling debris. Neither Erika nor Claus needed to worry about this, as the Wall-Phase spell let all the rubble pass through them.

“Claus! The Feather Fall wand!”

“Got it!”

Erika barked a short order before pulling out her own wand as well. She and Claus swung them in unison.

Below them, a white magic circle spread out like a thin membrane. As they burst through it, the circle disintegrated into small, feather-like shapes. The children were surrounded by a soft wall of air, as if gravity had dissipated, and something gentle was supporting their bodies.

Their fall speed dropped drastically. The shattered stone and remnants of labyrinth gears raced past them to the bottom.

“Anne! Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes! Thanks to Claus, I’m unharmed!”

“How about you, Erika?”

“I’m fine. Couldn’t be better.”

Claus and Anne reached out for Erika, but five meters was a difficult distance to span.

Erika retrieved her animated rope from her bag and gave it an order.

“Stretch like a snake! Fasten like a hawser!”

Like a serpent striking at its prey, the rope coiled up and then shot forward. It drew a gentle parabola in the air before firmly twining around Claus’ arm.

“You really are well-prepared.”

“I may not be much, but I’m still an Aurelian alchemist!”

And it was technically my brother who prepared it, not me. Erika never wasted an opportunity to deride herself.

Claus pulled at the rope, dragging Erika closer and closer until she was under his umbrella. The three of them were finally together again.

“What exactly was that?” Claus asked. “Another trap?”

“Rather than a trap, I think it was a trap malfunction.”

“How do you figure?”

“Presumably, while my brother and his friends fought monsters, the mechanisms along with the floor and pillars took heavy damage.”

“Yeah, there were spots where I could see the gears. The labyrinth tried to shift, but it couldn’t withstand the movements, I guess.”

Come to think of it, there were other peculiarities as well. So many monster corpses down here had been left practically untouched, yet a golem had been deployed to collect materials just one floor up. Perhaps her brother had decided not to station a golem here on purpose, knowing the floor might collapse if the labyrinth was activated.

But Eduard, how was your hint supposed to tell me the whole place was going down?!

The shaft made by the accident was surprisingly deep and wide. They had surely fallen a considerable distance by now, but the bottom was still nowhere in sight. The surfaces around them were filled with manmade slots for star crystal lamps. It was as if they were in a cathedral over a hundred meters tall.

It took a while before they heard the echo of the crumbled floor hitting the bottom.

“Ah...”

“What is it, Anne?” Erika asked her.

“Erm, no, it’s just kind of beautiful...”

Before they knew it, the star crystals in the walls began to let off a faint light, reacting to their mana. With their arms linked in a ring, they slowly descended through the spectacle.

“I’m sorry, I know now’s not the time.”

“Oh no. It’s fine. I was thinking the same thing.” All things considered, this vertical shaft of star crystal alone was a wonderful experience.

With no heed to their anxiety and wonder, the Feather Fall magic softly carried them down to the ruins’ deepest depths.

☆

It took a while, but Erika, Claus, and Anne eventually reached the bottom of the Seafarer’s Ruins. The structure and ornaments resembled a temple from the old days of Aurelia.

They had landed in what seemed like the nave, and an archway separated them from the inner sanctum. Along the sides of the arch—where a modern church might have its statues of Aurelia’s old kings and dukes—was the solitary sculpture of a legendary alchemist, who was said to have lived in the era before the Seafaring Tribe graced this continent.

That was as much as Erika could recognize, but from what she could tell, the various bizarre bits and pieces marked this as the innermost room of the labyrinth.

First off, the ceiling was an atrium several hundred meters high. There were no windows, of course. The walls by the aisles where windows would’ve been were carved with constellations that could not be seen from these lands—constellations with legacies that had been passed down from alchemist to alchemist.

They formed the reliefs of legendary figures, monsters, animals, and tools for sailing. The points where the stars aligned to draw their shapes were set in star crystal, giving off a pale blue glimmer.

The floor was a mess, scattered with the monster corpses and rubble that had fallen from the eighth floor. Erika saw this as beyond her control, but feared her ancestors would be angry at her.

A number of magic circles that had been surrounding Erika and Claus dispersed into beads of light and were swept away. She took a glance at her pocket watch. It must have been the Wall-Phase spell running out.

“Thankfully, the cave-in’s over,” Claus piped up. “My protection wouldn’t hold if another large rock came crashing down on us.”

“This must be a precious place for the people of Aurelia. I wouldn’t want falling rocks to damage it any further,” said Anne, looking around in wonder.

“Quite right. It has a rather solemn air. Is this a church, Erika?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure it is, but...” Erika carefully took a look around.

At the inner sanctum of the temple, where there would usually be an altar dedicated to St. Breandán, stood a megalith of pure star crystal. It had a few cracks running down it now, thanks to the debris.

Erika stared at it. “That should be an altar to the Seafarer’s god Brean, I think.” She tilted her head.

While the material might differ, a large, upright stone should signify Aurelia’s god. Why did she feel that something wasn’t quite right?

Aurelia’s ancient god, Brean, otherwise known as St. Breandán, was worshiped in the form of a menhir. Before, when the regions were still divided into kingdoms, the west had revered Brean as the god of stars, sailing, and alchemy. However, when the continent was united, Aurelia was converted to the same religion as the other three to form a shared sense of national identity.

The religion of these united kingdoms was supposed to be the monotheistic faith Ignitia had brought from the southern continent. However, Ignitia’s religion did have some tolerance for other gods, and as a part of the unification, Ignitia officially welcomed them by making them angels and saints.

Thus, Aurelia’s ancient god Brean became St. Breandán, a saint in service to Ignitia’s one true god. His worship continued to this day.

But according to Liber Monstrorum, shouldn’t there be a seal for that old, evil spirit around here somewhere? All I see is a shrine to an old god.

When she squinted, she could make out letters running down the megalith. They were from the ancient Aurelian alphabet, which was still used to enchant tools. Though she had trouble with languages beyond her own, Erika could still barely decipher it.

“‘Here I lay to rest the one who crossed the vast sea of stars and who accompanied me on my long journey. Sleep at peace, my nameless friend. I pray this plentiful land may be your eternal cradle...’”

As Erika read out the words, Claus and Anne took on the pose of prayer.

“Perhaps it’s not an altar but a tomb,” Claus suggested. “I’m guessing it’s for a noble who passed right before the Seafaring Tribe reached Ichthyes.”

“That’s quite a tragic epitaph,” Anne said.

“Right. But why have my ancestors entombed him in the same way they would a god?”

Without any ill intent, Erika brushed a finger against the stone’s inscription.

Umm, is it just me, or did it just turn black where I touched it?

A voice resounded from somewhere far, far away. Vibrations coursed through the temple air. Soprano and bass all at once, it was like a stringed and brass instrument playing over one another. It was like a whale’s song. It was like an infant’s cries. But no matter the tone, the voice was melancholic.

Each time the voice rang out, the star crystal megalith was stained a darker shade from the inside. What had once glowed blue was now the pitch-black of a moonless night. Dark water flowed from the cracks on its surface. To Erika, it seemed like tears.

Her hair swayed in a sudden breeze, which carried the scent of salt.

Reacting to the surging mana, the light of the star crystals on the walls and ceiling grew. In no time at all, the overflowing blackness had covered the entire floor of the temple.

Erika raised black ripples as she shifted her boots. Just like her, Claus and Anne were both looking around in a panic. The three of them were met with a spectacle that should never have existed at the depths of the earth.

An endless black sea, stretching out to the horizon and beyond, and a sky full of stars overhead.