CHAPTER 2

The Deluge

01

That day, Elmera, the chairwoman of the Merchants Guild’s Medicinal Herbs Division, was extremely angry.

“Honestly, I never imagined anyone in the world would accuse me of something as absurd as ‘trying to pick a fight.’”

Because of Elmera’s bad mood, Gordon and the other two dwarves gave up the sunniest seats for her, and Merle chose her very best tea leaves to soothe her temper. Sieg quietly changed the sign out front to CLOSED.

Once the other customers got the hint and excused themselves, Mariela and Carol, who was now a regular customer through and through, sat down with a pot of herbal tea and listened to what Elmera had to say.

Elmera let the tea cool enough to drain it in big gulps, then began to talk.

Just after noon, a man named Kindel, who was in charge of the Construction Division, had waltzed into Elmera’s office with no appointment. His business was the imminent delivery of a large quantity of processed medicinal herbs to the City Defense Squad.

“As I explained, the amount of goods delivered to the City Defense Squad has already exceeded the promised quantity,” she had told him.

“Thith is a perthonal request from the Squad’s leader, Colonel Teluther.”

“Why would the chairman of the Merchants Guild’s Construction Division bring us a request from the City Defense Squad?”

“Me and Colonel Teluther go way back. We were clathmates at the same academy.”

“We have already responded to the City Defense Squad’s official request.”

“You tryin’ to pick a fight with me, lady?!”

“Don’t you find it strange for the chairman of the Construction Division to bring a request from another organization?”

“I’m a busy man! Buzz off!”

Such was how the conversation had unfolded. After wasting the busy Elmera’s time, Kindel, the chairman of the Construction Division, apparently had ranted and raved before he finally returned home.

Um, uhhh… There’s so much I could say here that I don’t even know where to begin. Mariela felt she needed to say something, so she opened her mouth. Unable to find the right words, however, she instead drank her tea and closed it again.

Even Carol seemed to be at a loss, for all she could add was “Goodness.” The people serving as Carol’s escorts had melted into the background, their facial expressions indicating that they didn’t hear anything.

For the time being, Mariela offered her cookies made with the apriores they’d sorted together. She hadn’t kneaded any magical power into them, so they were pretty average cookies. Elmera crunched away at them like a squirrel, while Leandro, her vice chairman who’d come to pick her up, offered a detailed explanation.

The City Defense Squad was responsible for protecting the Labyrinth City and the region’s breadbasket, as well as developing the Fell Forest and expanding that granary. Since their duties were far less risky than those of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, many of the Squad’s members came from good families and had less combat training. No one exemplified this better than the commanding officer, Colonel Bose Teluther.

Ever since he began leading the City Defense Squad, no more land in the Fell Forest had been cleared, and the region’s breadbasket hadn’t been expanded. Most of the Labyrinth City’s wood was harvested from the Fell Forest, so the cost of construction would rise if reclamation stagnated.

The person balancing this situation was Kindel, the chairman of the Construction Division mentioned earlier by Elmera. Kindel was a man of ill repute who had been passed around from post to post within the Merchants Guild until he’d reached the age of fifty. A row of jagged teeth always peeked out from his open mouth, and his figure lacked muscles, thin and bony to the point that he was a rare sight in the Labyrinth City.

He spoke with a slight lisp and had a tendency to rattle on at length about his own business. People whispered he’d been appointed to his current position because, as he said himself, “Me and Colonel Teluther go way back. We were clathmates at the same academy.”

Unlike Kindel, Teluther had an ample belly. Well, he did belong to the City Defense Squad, so no one looking at him would necessarily think he was too fat. However, he was short, so he appeared excessively rotund. The size of his belly suggested he ate a feast every day, and the top of his head shone like it was oozing grease. Not knowing when to let go, he’d used the remaining hair at his temples to forcefully cover other parts of his head.

Although he kept a firm grip on his own purse strings, he was famous for lavishing the Squad’s supplies. The present issue was probably the result of haphazard use of rope made from monster-warding incense and daigis. It was almost the beginning of the sugar turnip harvest, which meant orcs would come after the turnips in large numbers, but this man had the gall to order supplementary supplies because they didn’t have enough stockpiled.

Bromominthra and daigis, inexpensive medicinal herbs used in monster-warding incense, grew everywhere in the Labyrinth City, but the available hands to harvest and process them were limited. Since the incense was cheap, it was difficult to maintain the human resources necessary for these tasks.

The quantity delivered to the City Defense Squad was contracted annually. The Merchants Guild allocated the amount to the manufacturer to request production and delivered more products than planned. They had already exceeded the scope of the contract, and now it would probably be difficult to secure even if they made requests here and there during the medicinal herb harvest season.

The guild had notified the City Defense Squad of the situation when the contracted amount had been exceeded. If it had been managed properly, a sufficient additional quantity could have been delivered.

“Which is why the head of the Construction Division came barging in, whining for help,” Leandro drawled. Was it really okay for them to divulge internal affairs? “Anywaaay, Mariela, about how much monster-warding incense and rope you think you could make in one week?” There was an unexpected shrewdness in Leandro’s languid tone.

Mariela had a lot of powdered bromominthra stockpiled in her cellar since it grew wild in her backyard. Making the incense was simple. As for the daigis, she couldn’t make rope, but she could supply the herb in dried form.

“Oh, that’d be a huuuge help. Even if it’s beyond the scope of the contract, we can’t afford to be unprepared during orc raids. We’ll have someone come get the daigis tomorrow. However much you can make of the incense is fine. Now, Ms. Elmera, our work is piling up. Let’s be on our way, shall we?”

Elmera, who’d calmed down thanks to the tea and sweets, returned to the Merchants Guild with Leandro. Mariela gave her plenty of the apriore cookies to take with her.

You can do it, Ms. Elmera!

Mariela wished her well as she saw her off.

02

When Elmera returned to her office in the Medicinal Herbs Division, more work came in unexpectedly as if it had been waiting for her.

“We have a request from the Bandel Company. They would like us to hurry with preparations because there isn’t enough treant fruit for the next yagu caravan to transport.”

“Understood. Let’s settle it straightaway. We’ll get this done promptly this time around.”

Elmera’s usual vigor came back in spades as she munched on her cookies and added, “Right, let’s do our best.” At that exact moment, Construction Division Chairman Kindel arrived with Colonel Teluther, head of the City Defense Squad, in tow.

“You’ll have to excuthe me, Colonel Teluther. That bullheaded lady wouldn’t lithen to your request one bit.”

“She’s been a thorn in my side, too. As you saw, she’s smart and nitpicky, qualities that suit her position as chairwoman. So, Chairman Kindel, the question is—what should we do? We probably can’t withstand orc raids with our current stockpile. I imagine there are alternatives, yes?”

“Y-yeth, sir. What would you say to asking the Adventurers Guild?”

“The Adventurers Guild? A fine idea. I’d love to invite Mr. Haage the Limit Breaker and hear his many tales of heroism.”

Teluther hadn’t bothered to hide his displeasure as he bad-mouthed Elmera, but as soon as Haage was brought up, he leaned forward in interest and his mood improved. Past his mid-fifties, this man had age-appropriate thinning hair and an age-inappropriate fondness of adventurers. Probably due to a yearning born of his own weakness, he was an enthusiast who loved high-ranking adventurers regardless of age or gender, and he knew the name of every single B-Rank to S-Rank adventurer in the empire who had a pseudonym.

He wasn’t so irrational that he’d summon an adventurer for no reason, but if he had one, he would go to meet one with great delight. Although he was normally a miser, the strings of his coin purse loosened just for adventurers.

Incidentally, Lightning Empress Elsee was his very favorite, the A-Rank mystery woman. He yearned to meet her once before he died.

“Th-that…would be a rather dazzling conversation…,” Kindel responded as he glanced repeatedly at Teluther’s cranium. Not that there was much hair to speak of on his own shiny pate.

“…What were you looking at just now?”

“U-um, no, I was jutht dazed from imagining your combined auras, is all.”

As it so happens, this dazzling conversation never came to be.

When Chairman Kindel brought the matter to their attention, the vice guildmaster, who was Haage’s underling, said, “This price, this quantity, on this day? Impossible.” Haage himself also gave a snappy refusal: “Sounds impossible to me!”

Kindel gnashed his teeth in obvious outrage.

At thith rate, I’m jutht gonna get told off again.

The likes of procuring supplies for the City Defense Squad wasn’t his job in the first place, though.

Continuing to abandon his own actual work, Kindel prowled around and around his office while trying to come up with a good idea.

03

The wind was strong that day.

It blew gusts of chilly air through the Labyrinth City, signaling winter’s imminent arrival. People walking along the road were starting to wear thick clothing made of yagu fur.

Even on days like these, Mariela’s shop, Sunlight’s Canopy, was nice and warm, and it bustled with regular customers seeking medicine and comfort.

Sieg and Lynx were having a late lunch in the kitchen. Mariela, who’d already finished her meal, tended the shop while making oral medicine from lynus wheat with Caroline.

“Mariela, lynus wheat heightens the effect of your oral medicine, yes? Which reminds me, my elder brother purchased lynus wheat to perform some sort of research with it.”

Mariela’s oral medicine was prepared by shelling, cooking, and then crushing lynus wheat into a paste, then kneading medicinal components extracted from powdered and non-powdered medicinal herbs into it. The Drops of Life incorporated into the lynus wheat increased the effects of the herbs.

So the person who’d bought it all up the first time I went to the wholesale market was Lady Carol’s brother.

Mariela stopped what she was doing as she listened to Carol. Incidentally, the stuff she was using now had been recently harvested. The merchant had expected the Aguinas family to replenish their stock in mass quantities, they apparently hadn’t come to buy any this time, which is why the seller seemed to be troubled by the overstock and welcomed Mariela’s bulk purchase.

She’d tried making it a lot of different ways, like crushing raw lynus wheat into powder and then mixing it, using just the wheat germs, which had a lot of Drops of Life in them, steaming it, cooking it, and boiling it. She’d also experimented with a range of temperatures, but the most normal cooking methods turned out to be the most effective.

From there, after crushing the lynus wheat, she had to diligently knead the other medicinal herb components into it. She understood the Drops of Life wouldn’t incorporate just from normal mixing, but did she really have to knead-knead-knead it that much?

Whenever Mariela made the medicine afterhours, she’d kneaded with alchemic skills. Recently, however, she’d been making it at the counter with Carol. She had to use a mortar and pestle on those occasions. It was overwhelming work that reminded her of the time she’d relentlessly kneaded orc and orc king lard together to make general oil.

“What am I gonna do if I knead-knead-knead too much and my arms get all big and muscly?”

As Mariela flexed her biceps in indignation, Lynx suddenly peeked out from the kitchen, pinched both her arms, then chuckled before ducking back into the kitchen.

“Hey, Lynx! What was that for?”

As Mariela pouted, Sieg pinched her arm, too. “Heh…”

“You laughed, didn’t you? Sieg, you laughed just now, didn’t you?” She glared after Sieg, who disappeared back into the kitchen. Even Carol gave her a pinch from behind, too.

“Hee-hee.”

“Gah, a pretty lady’s smile! So cute!”

Mariela and the three dwarves basking in the sun were soothed by Lady Carol’s gorgeous smile when Merle of Merle’s Spices rushed in.

“Mariela, your laundry just went flying all over the place! I think the clothesline came apart. A whole bunch of it’s scattered!” Merle said before handing none other than Mariela’s underwear to her.

“Erk! S-S-S-Sieg, bad news! Hurry! It’s an emergency!”

Mariela and Sieg scrambled off to pick up the strewn laundry. Merle had rescued Mariela’s underwear, but Sieg’s was still unaccounted for.

Caroline watched the pair as they sped away.

“Those two live together, yes? Are they…boyfriend and girlfriend?” Caroline murmured to herself. Merle seized the opportunity; as an influential figure among the wives in the neighborhood, she possessed a gossip sensor that was by no means ordinary. Her area of expertise lay beyond the medicinal herbs and tea she offered at Merle’s Spices.

“Actually, I heard they’re childhood friends from the same village. After Sieg became an adventurer and left the village, he turned into a bit of a rascal. He ended up getting sent here to the Labyrinth City, and Mariela went after him and saved him.”

“My.” Caroline gracefully lifted her hand to her mouth. Merle’s vague explanation had aroused her imagination.

“Mariela said they were childhood friends, but with that age difference? And how could she have followed him all the way here? Besides, this house may be a commoner’s place to you, but it’s not that easy for someone to afford. Mariela doesn’t seem to have any family, so she must have put everything she inherited from her parents into the place to live like this.”

“Goodness!” Although she was highborn, Caroline was also a young lady. She loved this sort of thing.

Sieg was always ready to guard Mariela at a moment’s notice, and at first Caroline had thought he was her bodyguard. Caroline herself had had one ever since she was small. But when she saw the way he looked at Mariela, she realized Sieg was no mere escort. It’s only natural for a bodyguard to keep an eye on the one he’s escorting, but Caroline felt the passion in his gaze was different from that of her own.

From Caroline’s point of view, Mariela acted very naturally around Sieg, like he was family. On the other hand, seeing how well Lynx got along with her made Caroline curious about the relationship between the three.

Surely, the two were more than friends but not lovers. There might even be room for Lynx to step in between them. Just imagining the scenario made Caroline giddy.

Caroline had a fiancé, an alchemist, in the imperial capital. They’d never met; he was apparently twenty years her senior. Though he was a lot older than she was, she’d heard he was a high-ranking alchemist who could make high-grade potions and even had several apprentices.

The Aguinas family has been researching potions for generations. Since it wasn’t possible to connect to the ley line in the Labyrinth City, they couldn’t make potions the same way alchemists could. To develop highly effective magic medicine without using Drops of Life, they needed medicinal herb-processing methods and potion-creating procedures passed down to alchemists via the Library, as well as particular information on magic medicine hidden by families and schools.

Since ages past, the Aguinas family had made their illegitimate children apprentice under alchemists in the imperial capital to obtain this information and knowledge and used marriage as a way to build alliances.

Caroline’s engagement, too, was a part of that plan. This would be her first marriage, and she was certainly the appropriate age, but the second for her older husband-to-be. She’d heard his first wife had passed away and he had no children, but what kind of person was he? Caroline was also the daughter of a noble family. Political marriages were accepted as a matter of course, but it was unusual to see an age gap so large it made the couple look like father and daughter. As it was, she’d grown up in the Labyrinth City, physically separated from the imperial capital by a mountain range and the Fell Forest. She already felt uneasy about marrying into a family in the imperial capital, and the age difference only exacerbated things. Caroline’s heart wavered with anxiety like the leaves of a tree dancing in the wind.

It wasn’t just because the Labyrinth City was an insular location where Caroline could sell goods to the Adventurers Guild as a chemist, or spend time with the commoner Mariela every day. She probably only had the freedom to live as she wanted while she was in the Labyrinth City as her final self-indulgence before married life.

I wonder if I’ll be able to live that happily with my future husband…

Caroline gazed at Mariela and Sieg, who were drawing nearer with their laundry in tow and chatting in relief, “Thank goodness we found it all!”

She didn’t know their ages, but she assumed they were around ten years apart. The gentle atmosphere between the two of them made Caroline hope for a happy future for herself and her fiancé as well.

“If you ask me, Mariela’s the kind of girl who lets Sieg barge in on everything.”

The gossip had only just begun, but they didn’t have enough fuel for the fire.

Merle shot a look at the three dwarves as if to ask, “You three, do you have any dirt on them? You’re the ones who fixed up this shop, aren’t you?” It was a scary look, the way a monster might look at its prey.

“Okay then, shall we get back to it?”

“I’ve gotta get this new idea sketched out.”

“I just remembered—I’ve got a window repair job to do.”

The three dwarves had grown uncomfortable. They rose to their feet, said their good-byes to Mariela and Sieg in front of the shop, and took their leave. As always, they each bought one salve tin. It was probably their way of tipping, and they bought medicine day after day, giving it to people in the slums they’d hired who were taking time off from adventuring due to injury.

“Hang in there.”

“Best of luck to you.”

“Keep at it.”

Each of the three gave Sieg their well-wishes as they passed by him.

Puzzled by the dwarves’ enigmatic encouragement, Mariela and Sieg entered the shop, where they flinched at Merle’s piercing gaze.

“Anyways, guess I should head home, too,” said Lynx as he exited the kitchen. “Mariela, I won’t be back for another two or three days, so you’ll hafta eat lunch by yourself. Later, Sieg. Keep at it.”

He ruffled Mariela’s hair before going home.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it already. I can eat by myself, y’know,” Mariela replied, pouting. She couldn’t protect her head with her hands full of laundry. She couldn’t see his face either, but his gaze caught Sieg and seemed directed toward Caroline and her escort. Sieg realized Lynx’s “Keep at it” carried a different meaning from that of the three dwarves.

“Yeah, take care,” Sieg replied, and he and Mariela returned inside the shop.

Doesn’t look like the Aguinas lady or her bodyguard did any funny stuff while Mariela and Sieg were out of the shop, thought Lynx as he gazed at Mariela’s apothecary from a distance.

The daughter of the Aguinas house appeared at Sunlight’s Canopy at the same time Mariela began supplying potions in large quantities. These potions were being used to heal the wounded soldiers of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces as well as replenish their stores, so they hadn’t yet gone to other noble families.

Information about the subjugation of the Labyrinth had been kept secret for many years; not just about the deepest stratum that had been reached, but even the nature of Leonhardt’s injury and the devastation of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces had a spin put on them. Details like the Labyrinth having more than fifty strata wasn’t something to be conveyed to civilians. People watched the gallant march of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces led by Leonhardt as they headed out on the expedition, brimming with excitement at the increasing activity of adventurers and the variety of materials brought from the Labyrinth that came with it. However, the people weren’t informed of when the soldiers had returned.

The Aguinas house was a family of alchemists that’d been managing potions for two hundred years. Some were aware of how obsessively devoted the family was to the production of potions over a period of generations. However, all of that energy was poured into alchemy, and no one had heard that they had access to especially high intelligence or powerful military strength.

So, Lynx believed it was too soon for them to learn of Mariela’s existence.

Hey, even the most unexpected can happen.

He hadn’t noticed anything suspicious in the vicinity of Mariela’s shop even after Caroline showed up. Of course, he hadn’t seen Caroline or her guard do anything suspicious, either.

Maybe I’ll probe a li’l deeper.

Lynx’s shadow disappeared into a back alley.

04

It lived in the underground Aqueduct.

No one knew when It had come into being.

Because It had nothing akin to intellect but was a fleeting thing that prowled around on instinct.

None of the drains flowing into the underground Aqueduct had nutrients. Its brethren didn’t get very big, but arose and vanished, and arose again, and in this way their numbers slowly increased. It was only by pure chance that It had grown large.

It had a treasured feeding ground within its territory.

Wastewater flowing from the wholesale market was processed in and ejected from a slime tank. However, when a large amount of edible materials were brought in, such as during the time of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ expedition, it was too much for the slime tank to process, and the wastewater would pour into the underground Aqueduct untreated.

The remains of monsters, infused with plenty of magical power, were a feast for It.

Feasts didn’t always come pouring in. If they didn’t, It would move to a different feeding ground.

It happened as soon as the current feast was over.

It slowly began to move to the next feeding area as it instinctually roamed for food.

05

“Colonel Teluther, sir, I’ve got a good idea!”

Construction Division Chairman Kindel was neglecting his own work again to pay his respects to Colonel Teluther, head of the City Defense Squad. He spoke with so much fervor, almost bounding with so much excitement, it seemed like he was about to polish Teluther from his shoes to the top of his head with his leftover energy.

“Is it a better idea than meeting with Mr. Haage the Limit Breaker?”

Teluther the adventurer enthusiast had really hoped to get together with the man. With a frown, he stared intensely at Kindel. He’d completely forgotten his original purpose.

There were many adventurers who went by aliases, but you could say Teluther’s obsession with a sultry middle-aged man made him particularly commendable among adventurer enthusiasts. Of course, Lightning Empress Elsee was his very favorite, so it wasn’t as if he was biased toward male adventurers. This was crucial. Take note, because it might be on the next exam.

“Er, um, that is… I was thinkin’ maybe it’d be better to meet Mr. Haage on leth formal terms, you see.”

“Well said. Make an appointment,” Teluther replied to Kindel’s stopgap excuse. He was on board.

“Now, as for the medicinal herbth…” Kindel mopped away sweat as he returned to the subject at hand. “We should mobilize those slum residenth to harvest the herbth in that area.”

“That certainly doesn’t sound appealing.” Teluther disapproved of Kindel’s proposal. Perhaps you could say he wasn’t in charge of the City Defense Squad for nothing, as he seemed to possess the minimum amount of common sense.

“Now, how can that be? Ithn’t the Labyrinth City protected by a great iron wall? With its sturdy facade, the surrounding monster-warding herbth, and above all our City Defense Squad led by you, Colonel Teluther, it’s surely invinthible. As impregnable as that legendary S-Rank adventurer, the Isolated Hollow, don’t you think?”

“I-Isolated Hollow?”

“Yeth, yeth. It’d be no exaggeration to say the guardian of a place as vast as the Labyrinth City would be jutht as good—no, better than the Isolated Hollow. With you at the helm, it wouldn’t be an issue if a few plants were taken from the slums here and there.”

“Is that so? Now that you mention it, I feel the same way.”

“That’s right. Yeth indeed.”

“I guess you’re right. Quite so. Ha-ha-ha.”

“Indeed! Wah-ha-ha-ha!”

The adventurer-loving Teluther’s nominal good sense had quickly broken down in the face of the suggestion he was greater than an S-Rank adventurer. Both men roared with laughter as if something had struck them as funny.

“Then, to proceed with the plan, I’d like to borrow a soldier, sir.”

“Make it happen. But I’ll be the one giving orders.”

Although it appeared as if nothing concrete had been settled, they’d somehow come to an agreement in their conversation. A tacit understanding? What on earth was the chain of command or the system of approval?

With all sensible evaluation criteria completely disregarded, the medicinal herb harvesting operation in the slums began the following day.

“This mobilization is under the authority of the great City Defense Squad!” Chairman Kindel shouted in the streets of the slums.

Colonel Teluther and several of his subordinates stood around behind him.

Why was Kindel shouting? Teluther’s participating subordinates might also have had that question, but even if they had doubts, they couldn’t escape. None of them were good at getting things done, and they all stood around staring vacantly into space with seemingly no motivation.

“What’s all this?”

Three men gazed icily at the group.

They were the adventurers who’d helped remodel Mariela’s house. As Mariela directed, they had applied ointment to themselves every day, and even after their wounds closed, they never failed to massage it in. Perhaps thanks to this, they were completely healed and able to become adventurers again. Currently they were working in shallower strata than before, but soon their instincts would get back to normal, and they would be able to return to the strata they’d reached previously.

“Medicinal herb harvesting? You could take all the bromominthra and daigis, but it won’t get you much money.”

The mobilization of slum inhabitants wasn’t uncommon. A lot of has-been adventurers who’d been injured in the Labyrinth and forced to quit adventuring had ended up here. Enough food was rationed to them at regular intervals so they wouldn’t die.

Employment of slum inhabitants was endorsed, and they were frequently hired in both the public and private sectors for daywork they could do even if their hands or feet were in bad shape. The wages they received were low, and it wasn’t easy to leave the slums once they’d lived here for a while, but the arrangement allowed them to make ends meet, at least in the slums.

Kindel explained in a screeching voice that they’d pay one copper coin per armful of medicinal herbs, and one copper coin to dry and pulverize it. This was about a tenth of the normal price. Furthermore, he was recruiting people to make the herbs into monster-warding incense and rope for the same price.

Bromominthra and daigis grew everywhere in the Labyrinth City. Bromominthra’s purplish-red leaves thickly covered places where flowers might be found in other towns, and daigis ivy crept along every building and outer wall in the Labyrinth City. There were no exceptions; not in the slums nor even where nobles lived. Kindel’s idea was that surely contractors could be found who’d simply harvest and bring the medicinal herbs that grew everywhere.

The planting of bromominthra and daigis wasn’t specified in the laws of the Labyrinth City. However, it was done at every house without exception. They were easy to grow, and if they grew too much, they could be processed and sold for pocket change. But that wasn’t the reason to raise these hideous plants. The people of the Labyrinth City grew them for one reason only.

They were afraid.

The perimeter of the Labyrinth City was surrounded by tall walls as high as one could see and nearly as thick. Even the imperial capital didn’t have walls like this.

However, two hundred years ago, the monsters from the Fell Forest tore through this wall and brought the Kingdom of Endalsia to ruins.

The Labyrinth in the center of the Labyrinth City had continued to grow for two hundred years.

The Labyrinth Suppression Forces regularly went on expeditions and massacred the monsters of the Labyrinth to weaken its power, but there had been no shortage of tales since long ago of villages and towns that had failed to control their labyrinths and been destroyed by monsters surging from them.

The Labyrinth on the inside, and the Fell Forest on the outside.

They really were living in a den of monsters.

It was said that people once lived in the Fell Forest to avoid the City. Apparently, they’d managed some peace and quiet by covering their homes with daigis ivy and surrounding it with bromominthra to prevent monsters from breaking in.

The Labyrinth City was built to imitate this method. If the medicinal herbs that monsters hated could be grown there, people made sure they grew in abundance. The fact that herbs that didn’t grow in human regions thrived here made it clear this was the monsters’ domain.

The Labyrinth City had endured for two hundred years despite all sorts of issues. But the people were still frightened. They built walls around their houses; some gates were small so large monsters couldn’t get in, and large gates for carriages were located in rear yards overflowing with medicinal herbs. The buildings themselves were made of stone and the windows had iron frames. It was mandated that a cellar be in each home for barricading oneself in, so that in the unthinkable case that monsters entered the Labyrinth City, people would still be okay.

Outward appearance, exposure to the sun, and functional aspects such as ventilation were secondary. The ability to withstand a monster invasion came first and foremost in this town.

No one objected to such a rule. Even if it hadn’t been established, people would have cultivated the gloomy-looking herbs in their own homes. At their core, humans and monsters were different. They couldn’t coexist. And this instinctive fear of monsters was grounded in the Labyrinth City.

“Both bromominthra and daigis grow round there, right?! All you gotta do is pick ’em and bring ’em here!”

The three adventurers gazed coolly as Kindel ranted and raved.

“Let’s go.”

Today would be another day of hard work in the Labyrinth. The medicine they’d received would soon run out, and they wanted to buy more with their own earnings. They had no time to listen to the likes of this man. They spoke to each other as if they hadn’t heard him, and even after they left, Kindel continued to shout. However, no one could be expected to want to devastate their homes for a little pocket change, and the slum residents simply threw suspicious looks at this annoying intruder from the shadows of buildings.

Even Teluther and his subordinates remembered they had urgent business to attend to and left.

“Arghhh! Lithen to me, will ya?!” Kindel stamped his feet. “Damn squatters, buncha worthless— Eh? Squatters?”

It would have been better if he’d contributed a productive idea to his own work, yet Kindel had apparently hit upon another superfluous plan.

A slimy, disgusting smile appeared on his face, and he returned to the Merchants Guild. His destination wasn’t his own office, but rather the Residential Affairs Division.

The division that managed houses and residents in the Labyrinth City.

06

“Morning, Slaken.”

Mariela woke up as she always did.

As of late, she had something to greet in the morning before Sieg. “Slaken” was the Slime-in-a-Vial she’d made from a slime core and kraken intestines.

Though it was a man-made organism derived from kraken parts, Slaken had no intelligence. It didn’t understand anything Mariela said, and she even doubted if it recognized her as its master.

The squishy creature wriggling within the vial wasn’t cute, but Mariela was fond of Slaken. When it came time for bed, she would move Slaken’s vial from her workshop to the desk in her bedroom.

Although she’d carved a mark of subordination into its core, at the end of the day, it was still a slime. They instinctively crawled around in search of food, so she couldn’t interact and communicate with it like a pet. Even Mariela knew this, so she hadn’t taken it out of the vial she was raising it in, but she was very partial to the little guy.

After returning Slaken to a shelf in her workshop, she headed for her medicinal herb garden as always. Since she’d sold a large quantity of dried daigis and bromominthra to the Merchants Guild, she needed to harvest a larger amount than usual for her reserves.

Sieg watered the sacred tree instead of Mariela, who spent all her energy on the herb garden. She’d prepared the water, infused with Drops of Life, in a watering can. The tree seemed to like Sieg, as it dropped many more leaves for him than it did when Mariela watered it.

Argh, there’s nothing to be annoyed about. I’ve got Slaken!

Mariela brimmed with a strange sense of hostility. She and Sieg finished tending the garden, then carried the large quantity of daigis and bromominthra to the cellar where she dried them with Dehydrate. Next came breakfast; they were later than usual today because she’d harvested so much.

The pair rattled around as they finished up housework and preparations to open the shop.

Around the time the shop opened, children arrived carrying large sacks.

“Good morniiing! We brought the apriore!”

“Morning! You guys picked a lot again today, huh? Thank you. You’re not hurt, are you?”

They were children from the orphanage. Apriores grew in the shallow strata of the Labyrinth where only slimes appeared, as well as in the ordinary forest outside the Labyrinth City, both places where even children could harvest them relatively safely. The older children served as escorts while they picked the fruit and then brought it here. Because they were picked by children, worm-eaten and rotten apriores were mixed in with the bunch, and it took time to separate them. Even though the apriore were cheap as a result, many shops refused to purchase them, since they would prefer not to do this extra step. Mariela, however, made sure to buy from the children.

“We’re fiiine! Not even slimes today.”

“We got lots more than usual ’cause we picked ’em early in the morning.”

Mariela prepared a bundle of apriore cookies for the giggling children. They were normal cookies made from cheap, coarse sugar and yagu butter, and they had no special effects. However, they brought great delight to the children since sweets weren’t cheap—a rare treat.

“Thank youuu! You’re the best, lady!”

The gleeful children flocked around her.

Mariela was well-liked. She rode this wave of popularity without complaint.

“There’s enough for everyone, so don’t push. Here you are.”

Upon receiving the cookies, the ecstatic children unanimously expressed their thanks and left for the orphanage.

Mariela’s wave of popularity was short-lived. It wasn’t until after she saw off the children, who disappeared like foam, that she realized something.

“They completely forgot their payment for the apriores…”

Lynx wasn’t coming to the shop today, so she would temporarily close up at noon and go with Sieg to the orphanage to deliver the payment. It would be great to have lunch at the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion for the first time in a long while, too. Or maybe they could buy and eat food on the go at the wholesale market.

Mariela and Sieg discussed the day’s plans as they set the apriores down on a kitchen table and set to work like they always did.

07

“Sorry for the wait. Let’s begin treatment,” Medical Technician Nierenberg said to his patient, a soldier, with a slight chuckle.

The soldier would have wanted to respond, “No, not at all! I wasn’t waiting,” but his leg had been twisted and stitched back together at an unusual angle, and the “seam” was also noticeably crooked. It looked as if it had been bitten off and forcibly reconnected to his body. If he stayed in this condition, he wouldn’t be able to walk for the rest of his life.

“W-w-w…wait a second, Doc. Are you gonna use that red and black stuff?” the soldier asked before Nierenberg began his dreaded treatment.

“Mm, are you talking about the new medicine? What’s wrong with it?”

There were two types of potions called “new medicine” supplied by the Aguinas family. The red ones were mid-grade, while the black ones were high-grade.

“Well, I’ve…only ever been treated with the red stuff, but, uh, I hated it. I know it’s valuable and expensive, but how do I put it… It felt kinda cold. If anything, the pain from my wound feels more…hot, I guess. But, like, when that stuff was used on me, I felt chilled right down to my bones. So cold I couldn’t stand it. And even when the flesh itself was healing up, I felt a sort of shiver, like something totally different from my own flesh was regenerating…”

“Hmm…” Nierenberg listened with deep interest as the soldier continued.

“As for the black stuff, well, this is just what I heard, but they say it’s like having a weird dream. It’s high-grade, right? The guys treated with it are usually unconscious at the time, but they have dreams like they’re floating underwater. Their bodies don’t feel anything while they’re in this water, like it’s neither hot nor cold, and they can’t even move a single finger. Their eyes are covered with something, but they can see their bodies through a gap in the cover. And they see their bodies slowly crumbling all over. Their blood spreads through the water like ‘whoosh.’ And not just from one spot—it’s all over, everywhere. Even though they shouldn’t feel pain and stuff, in this dream they just get colder and colder, and their view gets hazier, and they think, Ahh, I’m dying! Lots of guys have had this same horrible dream. And they all think the same thing when they wake up—I’m back in my own body.”

The man rambled on and on, perhaps afraid of Nierenberg’s treatment. “Don’t worry, I won’t use the new medicine,” Nierenberg assured him and drew back the surgical curtain to hide the soldier’s chest.

If a patient thrashed around from the pain of surgery, his hand might slip. So, when he performed painful treatment on someone at the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ base, he blocked their pain receptors. However, even without the pain, it wasn’t good for anyone to watch their own body be sliced up or see their blood splatter, not even a soldier used to combat.

Ever since the previous expedition, Nierenberg had started using cloth to partition off the part of the body he worked on during large-scale treatments so the soldier in question couldn’t see the wound or the procedure. Moreover, until now, he’d only blocked pain in the affected area, and patients were conscious while he worked on them, so they knew what he was doing. But now he would even use a sleep spell during the procedure. It was a measure to prevent them from knowing about the abundant use of potions, but the only ones who knew the truth were Nierenberg and the others who administered treatment.

But to the soldiers who didn’t know what spurred this change, it shook them to their very cores to think Neirenberg was actually getting nicer.

“Probe Organism.”

Nierenberg invoked a skill to confirm the soldier was asleep.

This soldier’s leg had been torn off by a monster. The monster had been felled and the leg retrieved, reattached so it wouldn’t rot, but the length of the flesh and bone wasn’t quite as long as the original leg had been. The wound was so deep that it couldn’t be fixed with healing magic alone. Nierenberg’s subordinates opened the potion storage box containing several types of specialized high-grade potions. Truthfully, the wound warranted a special-grade potion, but it was possible to restore it with a cocktail of specialized high-grade potions and skilled healers.

“Let’s begin treatment,” Nierenberg announced, to which the healers under him nodded and began operating on the soldier.

Soon after the treatment finished and he was transferred to a different room, the soldier woke up.

He didn’t feel discomfort. He’d had no terrible dreams, either. When he looked at the lower half of his body, he saw his own familiar leg in the correct position, and it felt fine, not out of place at all.

“I’m going to check for feeling in the leg. Tell me if you feel any pain.” Nierenberg reached his hand toward the soldier’s leg and pressed the knuckle of his forefinger into the sole of the man’s foot.

“Yeeeooooooooww!!” screamed the soldier.

“I see, it hurts. Good, that means it’s healing properly. But, say—haven’t you been drinking a bit too much? You should seize this opportunity to reflect,” Nierenberg said with a grin. Somehow, he looked like he was really enjoying himself.

The whole thing about Nierenberg getting nicer was clearly a lie. The soldier could barely stand the pain. In any case, his leg had been healed. He could walk again.

“Wish you’d made my legs a bit longer while you were at it!” joked the soldier after thanking the medical technician. He had no idea that his leg had been broken and stretched during treatment.

“We’ll discuss it if both your legs are torn off.” Nierenberg took him seriously. His subordinates, who knew the details of the operation, turned a little pale.

“Mr. Nierenberg, your daughter is here to see you. I’ll show her to your room,” said one subordinate as Nierenberg got up to leave the treatment room.

“I see,” he answered, and headed to his office.

“Ooh, little Sherry’s here!” cooed the soldier as he got out of bed with some effort. “The fact that she’s Nierenberg’s daughter is a bigger mystery than the Labyrinth itself.” Now to gently acclimate himself to his body. He left behind the treatment room he’d spent so long in.

“Papaaa, I brought you your lunch since you forgot.”

A twelve-year-old girl was sitting in Medical Technician Jack Nierenberg’s office.

She was his daughter, Sherry.

The girl had large, bright eyes, completely unlike Nierenberg’s unpleasant gaze. She was so lovely that, other than her black hair, you would have never guessed they were parent and child. She would almost certainly grow up to be a beautiful woman. One could catch a glimpse of her future as a popular girl, even if she didn’t give out cookies like a certain chemist.

No, even now she showed hints of that.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that every time Sherry came, the number of soldiers loitering around in the corridor connecting Nierenberg’s room to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ base gate increased. It was a worrisome situation for Sherry, but it was also worrisome for the soldiers who gathered to see a twelve-year-old girl. Even Nierenberg’s medical treatments seemed to get better when she was around.

Sherry’s mother had passed away some years back, so Sherry took care of the home for her busy father. Of course, he’d employed a maid as well, but Nierenberg felt Sherry was an excellent cook for someone her age.

“I thought we could eat together, so I brought my lunch, too.”

Nierenberg was delighted to share a meal with his beloved daughter.

For some reason, Sherry’s homemade meals tasted like her mother’s. And even her adorable features were steadily growing to resemble his wife. He couldn’t help wishing for a bright and blissful future for his dear daughter.

Just another reason we have to defeat the Labyrinth.

After they finished lunch, Sherry returned home.

Nierenberg went as far as the base’s gate to see her off.

“The slums are dangerous. Go around through the town’s north side to get home.”

“Papa, you’re such a worrywart! It’s still noon, I’ll be fine!”

Thanks to Nierenberg’s murderous glare, no one approached Sherry while she was on the base of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces. However, outside the base, who knew what could happen? Maybe he doted on her too much, but he emphasized his point that she should be taking the safest road possible.

“Anyway, come home soon, okay?” she said, her father’s words rolling off her like water off a duck’s back. She kissed his cheek, waved, and departed for home.

Disregarding Nierenberg’s instructions, she took the shortcut through the slums.

08

The southwest part of the Labyrinth City was known as the slums.

None of the houses lining this place had permanent residents.

The homeless who couldn’t afford a stay at an inn gathered here and settled in the abandoned buildings that still had roofs.

Naturally, some of the houses didn’t properly treat wastewater, which flowed out of the houses where people living hand to mouth and contained little magical power. It was hard to call this water a bounty, but It had no taste buds to tell the difference between delicious and disgusting.

It wandered in search of food, absorbing and digesting. Nothing else.

Many of Its kin split apart after growing to a certain size, but It continued to get bigger without dividing.

Perhaps this was due to the evolution It attained in order to monopolize feeding grounds and survive.

It migrated from Its treasured feeding spot and slowly began to feast.

09

“No dawdlin’! Hey, you oughta be grateful for the copper coins you’re gettin’ for thith!”

Construction Division Chairman Kindel’s screeching voice echoed in the slums.

“What do you think, Colonel Teluther?”

“Ho-ho, quite the harvest.”

“I’m much more useful than that stubborn lady, aren’t I? She’s all talk and no action.”

“Indeed. Unlike a certain someone, you’re a fine chairman.”

A small mountain of daigis and bromominthra collected from the slums was growing in front of Teluther. Several slum residents and withered elderly people dried the plants with Dehydrate. As if their magical reserves had long since dried up, they tottered unsteadily on their feet. Whenever they took breaks to recover their magic, which was often, Kindel shouted at them to get on with it.

The slum residents hauling in the herbs looked perturbed, but they carried them without complaint and returned home after receiving their copper coins.

“Hey, what’s with that look? You got thomethin’ to say? If you got a problem, come here and say it to my face! Don’t think I’ll forget it!” Kindel waved a sheaf of papers at them, and the slum residents turned their faces away, silently deposited the herbs, and left.

The papers in his hand were a list of vacant slum houses he’d semi-forcefully borrowed from the Residential Affairs Division. Teluther had allowed him to take two members of the City Defense Squad with him as guards, and since morning, he’d been going around to each house in the slums and saying the following:

“Thith house should be empty. Listen up, squatters! If you don’t want to be evicted, collect the herbth on the property and bring ’em to the main road!”

Unlike other homes in the Labyrinth City, many houses in the slums had no outer walls. And the walls that remained from the ruins of the Kingdom of Endalsia were reinforced with only scrap lumber and cloth, making them structurally unsound. Even though these homes needed more herbs to protect them from monsters than any others in the Labyrinth City, Kindel shouted at the residents to harvest and gather all of them up: “Thith ain’t your house anyway!”

Most of the slum residents were former adventurers forced to quit work due to injury. Only a handful of them had earned enough money to be successful in a different business afterward or noncombat abilities that landed them a new job. Many who’d suffered serious injuries with no prospects of recovery had lost everything and ended up in the slums.

Nobody wanted to live there.

Because they were aware of this, the Residential Affairs Division did not investigate anyone who settled in the slums without permission, and the Schutzenwald family tacitly allowed them to stay there. Moreover, they regularly distributed food and encouraged the hiring of people from the slums.

What kind of authority did this man Kindel have to display such reckless behavior?

The two soldiers staying behind Kindel watched him under a cold gaze. Their task was to guard him. They stood in silence, holding their tongues through this extremely unpleasant assignment.

They’d both grown up in the orphanage without any sort of family. Neither of them had enough combat prowess to join the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, nor enough intellect to become civil servants, let alone the ambition to be adventurers. However, they reliably carried out their duties for the sake of a stable life. The City Defense Squad, which attracted people with subpar combat skills and intelligence from well-to-do families, needed useful human resources like them. They kept their emotions in check and only did what they were told to do. That was how it had always been.

The two guards gritted their teeth while keeping their expressions neutral. It would have been easy for them to speak up and give a piece of their minds—if they were prepared to lose their jobs, of course. However, they both had families to look after.

If I can just put up with this, maybe I can give my children a better life, they thought.

Standing behind Kindel was enough to keep him safe. Although there were former adventurers among the slum residents, they were underfed, in poor health, and lacking in sufficient weapons or armor. As such, they were in no position to lash out in anger at the trained armed guards.

Thus, as Kindel predicted, the residents brought the slum’s herbs to him one after another.

“You’ve got more daigis left over there.” Kindel pointed to a corner on the main road, holding back the people who’d dropped off the herbs and were about to leave.

“There’s a storm drain in that corner. Rumors say it connects to the underground Aqueduct,” one of the slum residents answered.

These lowlifes dared to comment. They weren’t following his orders. It enraged Kindel.

“Wh-who do you think you’re talking to?! Did you not hear my orders?!” Kindel raved, his face bright red.

However, the residents had finished their own work, so they ignored him and receded into the slums’ depths.

“G-g-g-g-graaahhh!! Damn it! Damn it! Damn you people!”

Kindel furiously uprooted the daigis around the storm drain.

He didn’t have the faintest idea.

Kindel had no clue the slum residents had left the roots intact during the harvest so that the plants would naturally grow back in a few days, and the herbs themselves had been harvested so only a sparse amount remained.

He didn’t realize the residents had harvested only the young and vibrant springs of ivy because they knew even wilted daigis ivy and roots were effective.

He didn’t know that no one had so much as touched the daigis around the storm drain connected to the underground. The people had taken pains to leave it so it would provide the minimum amount of protection against monsters.

Completely ignorant of these facts, unaware of what lurked in the underground Aqueduct, Kindel continued to yank out the daigis near the storm drain by its roots until none remained.

10

—All of a sudden, a hole gaped open from the ground above.

It had noticed something above had changed as It lurked beneath the surface.

Its food was living creatures and the magic residing in their corpses. It dissolved a variety of things in the process of absorbing magic, but this was nothing more than a means to ingest nutrients.

Its body was soft and indiscernible, so if It touched the ivy or roots of daigis, the herb would easily absorb its magical power. It instinctively feared the sensation of its magic slowly draining away.

It carried acid that had accumulated over many years. Physical obstacles such as rocks and soil were inconsequential. If Its core couldn’t pass through, It could simply dissolve the obstacles and move on.

However, the roots and ivy of daigis had stretched overhead like the mesh of a net, blocking It from going up to the surface.

But a hole had now opened in that entanglement.

Beyond the hole lay plenty of food. Exquisite food the likes of which It had never tasted before.

Schwip.

It attached to the ceiling of the underground Aqueduct so It could slither through the hole.

The water pipe running through the hole was so small that Its core couldn’t pass through.

Fshhh, fshhh. It spit out acid. The water pipe dissolved and the exit widened.

A new feeding ground lay just beyond.

11

Kindel was toiling away at the plants, red-faced and short of breath, when the ground around the storm drain collapsed, and an enormous slime seeped out before his eyes.

“HAWHAAA—?!”

Its sudden appearance left Kindel frozen in terror.

A slime’s nucleus was typically about the size of an egg yolk and its entire mass roughly as big as two palms put together. However, the nucleus alone of the one before Kindel was gigantic—around the size of a human head.

The ground near the storm drain had caved in, and a soft mass sent up smoke as it slithered out from the hole. In its gloopy body, which grew taller than eye-level, was its nucleus, which had the appearance of a giant eyeball. It really looked like an entirely different creature than a slime, evoking an overwhelming feeling of unease in anyone who saw it.

When most of its body had oozed up out of the hole like some sort of viscous liquid, the giant slime, about the size of a carriage, slowly rose up, ready to feast on its prey. It made to attack Kindel and a nearby slum resident as if trying to enfold them in its body.

“Look out!” shouted one of the soldiers from the City Defense Squad who’d been escorting Kindel around the slums since that morning. His name was Kyte. He promptly used his Shield skill and readied his own shield to block the giant slime’s path.

Kyte’s Shield skill temporarily strengthened any equipped shield. Wooden shields, for instance, were vulnerable to fire, while those made of metal could be dissolved by acid. Kyte’s skill supplemented the weaknesses of such materials and prevented attacks beyond the surface of the shield for a brief period. That said, it couldn’t protect against powerful attacks. It was a weak ability, no match for the shield knights in the Labyrinth Suppression Forces.

However, he rushed in.

No matter how gigantic this thing is, it’s still a slime. Even my skill should be able to defend against its acid discharge!

Kyte employed a shield bash that repelled the slime, which was about to swallow its prey whole, and even blocked the acidic liquid it sprayed.

“Are you all right? Hurry, get out of here while you still can!”

“Th-thank you!” The slum resident Kyte had saved dashed off.

Kyte had put up with a lot since that morning. He’d continued to watch the persecution of the people of the slums, whose lives were already difficult, and even still he hadn’t been able to do anything. He’d been annoyed, frustrated, miserable.

“I’m glad I managed to save at least one person.”

Kyte shifted his grip on his shield, turned toward his comrade, and called to him to help evacuate the residents. Then he ran over to rejoin the City Defense Squad.

“Nuh, nooooo, ah, aghghgh, help, huuuulpghl—”

Kyte had protected a slum resident. The most he could do with his skill was protect a single person.

He’d done everything he could.

There was nothing he could do about Kindel, just a little farther away, being swallowed whole by the enormous slime.

It was beyond his control. It could only be lamented as a great tragedy.

Because he’d really done everything he could.

Watching Kindel dissolve before their eyes inside the giant slime in an instant, people on the main road of the slums fell into a panic and scattered in all directions. They were former adventurers. They had a much better sense of danger than the members of the City Defense Squad, who spent their time safe and sound at their posts. That thing was massive, but it was still a slime. It had no eyes, ears, or nose. It simply sensed the magical power of its prey and attacked. The people concealed their magic so it wouldn’t be detected and scattered to prevent gathering in a single location.

Their judgment was exactly right. From the giant slime’s point of view, although it had finally emerged into a place with a wealth of food, its prey had dispersed as soon as it arrived. If its prey ran away, the monster’s instinct was to attack to try to catch it. The slime spurted out acidic liquid in all directions. Only those who’d immediately hid in buildings, as well as the few soldiers who possessed the Shield skill, avoided it, and the main road of the slums was engulfed in agonizing screams.

“Eeeeeeee!”

“Gyaaaaah!”

“Ahhh, it’s hot, it’s hoooot!”

People cried out at the white-hot burning sensation from their flesh dissolving. The acidic liquid had a long range, and even those on the circular road near the Labyrinth, far away from the uproar, suffered injury.

“Water, rinse it off with lots of water! Hurry!” shouted Kyte. Colonel Teluther, whose very job was to take command of the field, stood uselessly in mute amazement. Kyte’s comrades, too, simply awaited orders in confusion.

“Pull yourselves together! It’s just a slime! We’re not the City Defense Squad for nothing, are we?!”

As Kyte’s voice rang out, the soldiers remembered what they were supposed to do and mobilized.

“Evacuate the residents! Prioritize the wounded!”

“All communication personnel, send a request for aid to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces! Their treatment center isn’t far. Take the heavily wounded there.”

“Those of you with shields, block its acid! The rest of you, make a barricade with the gathered daigis. The slime won’t come near it. Anyone with offensive magic, fire it at the slime to create a diversion!”

The City Defense Squad troops began calling out to each other.

If the slime were capable of thought, it would probably be thinking something along the lines of, I climbed all the way up here only for my prey to flee out from under me. Even the food that’s still left has gotten so much more difficult to eat.

However, the enormous creature didn’t stop. Food with a suitable amount of magical power stood defenseless nearby.

The giant slime began to attack Teluther, who was still dumbfounded.

“H-how? Why— Hooow?!”

Gasping for air, Teluther fled. The slime slithered after him, dissolving the ground as it went.

The enormous creature was leaving the main road, which had turned into a hazard zone, with many injured people.

What should we do? A mood of uncertainty swept through the City Defense Squad.

“Colonel Teluther is distracting the slime for us! In the meantime, hurry, help the injured and evacuate the residents!”

Once again, it was the shield user Kyte who called out.

“That’s our Colonel Teluther, looking out for his men! We won’t forget your bravery, sir!” Regardless of whether or not the soldiers actually thought this, the vast majority went to help the injured, while a small group of highborn people who always stayed close to Teluther slowly followed him, possibly to offer help.

“Sieg, something’s making a huge racket. I wonder if there’s a festival?”

After finishing lunch and delivering the payment for the apriores to the orphanage, Mariela and Sieg had headed to the slum entrance on the Labyrinth side. The orphanage was located on the west side of the Labyrinth City at the border between the slums and the residential district. The wall surrounding the Labyrinth had two entrances: the northeastern side with the Adventurers Guild, and the southwestern side with the slums. So it was fastest to cut across the area around the Labyrinth to go from the orphanage to the wholesale market. Since they were already out, they planned to buy dinner before returning home.

They had to cut through the slums just a little bit, but the area near the Labyrinth wasn’t particularly unsafe. Even children could roam around there at this time of day. Not to mention, the pair were unlikely to run into any shady characters since they were concealing their presence and magical power.

Mariela wondered aloud about the noise as she and Sieg passed through a slum alleyway. Just then, Teluther came rushing by with a gigantic slime hot on his heels.

“H-help meeee…!”

“Whaaaaaa—?!” Mariela shrieked in a panic. Sieg, immediately grasping the situation at hand, hoisted her over his shoulder and broke into a run.

“W-w-w-waaaait…!” Teluther cried, somehow keeping pace with Sieg. The colonel was surprisingly fast.

Sieg held Mariela, her hands and feet dangling wildly in the air, slung over his shoulder, grasping her legs in his left arm as he sprinted away from the clamor. If weren’t for Teluther and the giant slime chasing after them, it would look like a kidnapping.

A thick layer of viscous liquid blocked the slime’s nucleus—its weak point. A sword wouldn’t be able to get through it. In fact, the slime’s acid would probably melt the blade. And if Sieg faced it head-on, Mariela would be dragged into the fight. Sieg doubted Mariela would be able to avoid the spewing acidic liquid.

They zigzagged through the narrow alleys of the slum.

Carrying Mariela, Sieg dashed while dodging the liquid the giant slime occasionally spewed. Even though Sieg was switching directions at random, Teluther followed him as if the whole thing had been planned out in advance.

“I think we’d actually be better off splitting up…”

Sieg and Mariela could have dealt with being hounded by a massive slime with a monster-warding potion so long as no one was looking. Even better if the slime just chased after Teluther alone. For Sieg, Mariela’s personal safety outweighed everything else.

“M-my skill…Synchronize…activated…on its own!”

Synchronize made another person’s thoughts vaguely conform to work advantageously for the user. It wasn’t very useful in battle, but it was extremely effective in everyday situations.

Teluther awakened this skill more than ten years ago, back when he was still a soldier in the field. The orc raid that year had been much larger than usual, and the Labyrinth Suppression Forces and City Defense Squad had combined to take them all down.

The Gold Lion General Leonhardt had already distinguished himself as the head of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces. Teluther’s heart was sent aflutter not only by Leonhardt’s personal strength, but also by his battle cry, which increased his troops’ morale instantly, and the way he cut through the vanguard mowing down orcs.

When Teluther finally managed to earn a seat at the same table as the general during a war council, he loitered around, wondering if there was a particular spot where he could catch Leonhardt’s eye even just a little.

However, Leonhardt was already a capable general and the margrave’s successor. He was surrounded by throngs of people, so Teluther couldn’t even get close. Still, he was happy just to be in the same room. His eyes sparkled as he gazed at the general—and that was when Teluther’s chance finally came.

“What is the count of our current supplies?” Leonhardt asked him. Supply management was Teluther’s domain.

I have to be precise!

In a panic, Teluther produced a notebook from his chest pocket and informed Leonhardt of the quantity. It was at that moment…

Tap, tap.

…a colleague named Sequoias had artfully taken up position next to Leonhardt and tapped his own forehead, seeming to indicate Teluther’s helmet.

I-is my helmet dirty?

The flustered Teluther quickly removed his helmet and industriously began polishing it with a handkerchief.

“Oh, Teluther, you’re mistaken. Your helmet isn’t dirty. I meant surely you could’ve memorized that little bit of information,” Sequoias said with a big grin. The entire war council burst into laughter. Teluther’s face flushed a deep scarlet from being made the butt of a joke in front of Leonhardt.

“Enough foolishness, Sequoias. Good work, Teluther,” said Leonhardt to smooth things over. However, Teluther was forever scarred from being humiliated in front of the general he so admired.

Sequoias had shrewdly taken a seat near Leonhardt and scorned Teluther. Sequois and Teluther were fairly similar in lineage, military prowess, and intelligence, but Sequoias used his cunning to inflict shame on the other man.

Mortifying. Horrible. Agonizing.

Those feelings sprang Teluther’s skill Synchronize into being.

Afterward, that skill caused Sequoias to lose his position, while Teluther ascended to the rank of colonel.

Even now, with the giant slime chasing him, Teluther Synchronized with Sieg’s split-second escape decisions to perform feats far beyond his own physical abilities: dodging the slime’s flying acid, leaping over obstacles at his feet, and following sharp turns. Sieg and Mariela had suppressed their own magic, so if Teluther separated from them, the giant slime would probably follow him. It wouldn’t have been a sure thing for him to escape this far with just his own physical abilities.

However, the dramatic escape met an abrupt finish.

“A-a dead end……”

Just ahead of the three of them was the end of an alley.

It wouldn’t be long before the enormous slime caught up with them. The creature would probably soon turn the last corner and show itself.

Teluther looked up at the wall towering before him. It seemed extremely high; he probably wouldn’t be able to reach the top even if he stretched his arms.

Is this the end…?

“I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. I’ll buy you some time—get out of here if you can,” Teluther said to the man who’d fled all this way protecting the girl.

Perhaps he’d Synchronized with Sieg’s desire to protect Mariela, as Teluther turned his back to the him and charged his right hand with fire magic, ready to launch at the incoming giant slime.

Teluther took a stance with his fire magic to strike back at the approaching slime, bringing to mind the gallant figure of Leonhardt he’d witnessed during an orc raid.

General Leonhardt had faced the repulsive monsters that seemed to completely cover the earth as they swarmed out of the forest. He extended his right hand and shot fire magic.

“Firestorm.”

The flames bursting forth in a spiral from his right hand swept over the horde like a tempest. Teluther was recalling the events with the number of monsters and the spell’s power were ten times more than reality, but Leonhardt’s spell did indeed overwhelm the orcs.

“Ahh, all that edible orc meat…”

Weishardt’s lament signaled Leonhardt to draw his sword. Perhaps one should say the god of war who protected him inhabited that sword, as a one-sided sweep of the enemy unfolded before Teluther’s eyes.

Now, just like the general that day, Teluther extended his right hand.

He faced the giant slime that rounded the corner and closed in on him like an avalanche and chanted a fire spell.

“Fireball.”

Teluther couldn’t use Firestorm, but he focused the entirety of his magical power into the ball of fire he created. It burst into a huge flame of a size that could even rival the giant slime’s nucleus.

“Take thiiiiis!”

Teluther’s flaming sphere catapulted forward, aiming for the nucleus…

Fshhhh.

…and vanished completely as soon as it made impact.

Whaaaaa—?!

Sieg reacted quickly and covered Mariela’s mouth, muffling her shout. Mumble, mumble.

“This way!” Sieg extended a hand to the dumbfounded Teluther.

While Teluther had been chanting Fireball, Sieg had deftly scaled the wall and perched at the top, carrying Mariela.

The wall that seemed so daunting to Teluther apparently hadn’t posed much of a problem to Sieg.

“Wait for meeee!” cried Teluther, jumping up and down.

Teluther may have looked absolutely comical, but the giant slime was advancing on him like a massive tidal wave, ready to swallow the man at any moment.

Seeing this, Mariela decided to make a monster-warding potion. She had all the materials; she’d torn off bromominthra and daigis while Sieg carried her as they fled from the slime and she also had the day’s sacred tree leaves on hand. They hadn’t been dried—it had been a very busy morning—so she’d just been carrying them unprocessed.

This might out me as an alchemist, but this guy jumped in front of that giant slime and told us to run. I can’t let him die like this.

Mariela had made up her mind.

“Form Tra—”

“Thunderbolt.”

Krrboooooom.

Just as Mariela was about to use an alchemic skill, a bolt of lightning shot from the heavens.

Though a single strike, it delivered a crushing blow.

That bolt alone burned through the slime’s nucleus, and the slippery mass collapsed, transforming into acidic liquid and sending up clouds of smoke with a sizzle as it melted the earth beneath it. A lone woman swooped down in front of it.

Her electrified brown hair billowing out behind her emitted sparks of gold and silver.

The woman’s special monster leather bodysuit flashed on and off from the electrical current surging through her body. She wore tinted glasses to protect her eyes, and her only makeup was lipstick.

This was no doubt—

“L…L-L-L-L-Lightning Empress?!” Teluther shouted, incredulous. He couldn’t believe his eyes—it really was Lightning Empress Elsee, the A-Rank adventurer. He’d only dreamed of ever getting so much as a glimpse of her.

Lightning Empress Elsee spoke. “I’m glad more than anything that you’re safe, Mariela. But what is Colonel Teluther doing here as well?”

“M-Ms. Elmera?!”

Lightning Empress Elsee—real name Elmera Seele.

The one who’d obliterated the enormous slime in a single blow was Elmera Seele, chairwoman of the Merchants Guild’s Medicinal Herbs Division.

Sieg carried Mariela down the wall. When her feet finally touched the ground, she stood frozen with her mouth hanging open, ignoring Teluther as she listened to Elmera with Sieg.

Using simple water magic, Elmera washed away the acidic liquid that had melted the surrounding area, and then began to explain.

“The medicinal herbs brought in by adventurers is always too much or too little, so it’s the job of the Medicinal Herbs Division to collect the herbs we’re short on. That’s why I registered as an adventurer specializing in herb collection. But since I was born with the protection of the God of Thunder, I ended up becoming a bit famous.”

Mariela pointed out the huge difference between Elmera’s usual outfit and her current getup.

“Hmm? My usual outfit? Due to the God of Thunder’s influence, I generate a bunch of static electricity. Just touching my skin will zap you. Hence, why I need to wear clothing over my entire body, even gloves. And it makes my hair stand up. But ever since I began using your hair soap, Mariela, it’s become a lot more manageable. Hmm? Why do I have my hair down? If I used lightning magic with my hair tied up, it would burn to a crisp. Also, my eyesight has grown worse due to the light from lightning attacks. During battle, I can adjust my eyesight with magic, but if I did so all the time, I would become electrified and make zap sounds even through my clothes. It’s a real bother.”

Um, uhhh…there are so many weird things about this that I don’t really get it even after listening to her.

Mariela opened her mouth to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out, so for the moment she smiled vaguely and closed her mouth again.

Teluther, who’d finally come back to reality, shouted “Ms. Eeeeeelseeeeeee?!” and rushed over to her on all fours in a frenzy.

“I-I can’t believe it! The genius of the Merchants Guild, Chairwoman Elmera, is that famous lightning beauty!”

What happened to her being all talk and no action? Incompetent? A thorn in his side? Hardheaded?

Teluther edged up to Elmera, his eyes absolutely sparkling. She shot him an icy glare.

“My identity as ‘Lightning Empress Elsee’ is strictly confidential. If my workload were to increase, I would have to stay at the office even later. Which is why anyone who’s just a bit too loose-lipped is subject to a bout of memory loss.” Elmera made an L shape with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, brought it very close to Teluther, and created a discharge with a loud crackle in front of his eyes.

“Have I made myself sufficiently clear, Colonel Teluther?” said Elmera—no, Lightning Empress Elsee, smiling. Teluther violently shook his head up and down to the point where it almost tore from his neck.

“The guildmaster of the Merchants Guild instructed me to come here concerning the list of vacant houses that Construction Division Chairman Kindel forcibly took from the Residential Affairs Division. It seems the Labyrinth Suppression Forces are on their way due to the slime. I imagine you would be happy to offer a thorough explanation as to the meaning of all this to his lordship, General Leonhardt?”

Elmera headed to the base of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces with Teluther in tow, who was so exhausted from the dramatic escape he looked like a defeated soldier. He hung his head as he left, and it almost looked like there was a dark cloud hanging over his back.

Mariela and Sieg were simply bystanders who had gotten caught up in everything and, in fact, wanted an explanation themselves, but it seemed they were free to go home.

“Ask me about it another day,” Elmera had said.

Incidentally, Mariela asked her why she wore a skintight leather suit.

“This is thunder dragon leather. My husband gave it to me before we were married. It is a very durable material that has a high affinity for lightning attacks. He said, ‘I don’t want to see you get even a scratch.’ Hee-hee!” She pressed both hands against her cheeks and shook her head back and forth.

“So that’s your husband’s preference, then? You two must be very close. Thanks for that.”

Mariela had received a generous helping of sappy mushy talk. She was sure Elmera had a lot more where that came from and hoped she’d share the next time they saw each other.

That was a close one, Mariela thought.

It had happened right after lunch. A giant slime suddenly appeared, and Sieg had run around the slums carrying her.

She was still shaking. It really had been dangerous.

She was glad she hadn’t ended up as food for the slime scattered around the slums. Her name had almost been changed from “Mariela” to “Marinara.” Blech.

“Let’s have something refreshing for dinner.”

As they talked, they went shopping in the wholesale market for sure this time, then Mariela and Sieg departed for home.

12

Along with several subordinates, Medical Technician Nierenberg was treating people on the main road of the slums. Since those with serious injuries had been carried to the clinic of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, only half of his subordinates and his top healer were left.

He’d arrived at the scene immediately after being contacted for his combat prowess. When healers had been gathered to form a medical team, Nierenberg had been chosen to lead them not just because of his abundant knowledge and his Probe Organism skill. He possessed top B-Rank combat skills in place of the ability to use healing magic.

He also had the task of protecting healers who had limited combat skills. His skills wouldn’t have been effective against the enormous slime, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t bring down something like it.

It would be easy enough for him to treat the injured while buying time until the soldiers dispatched from the Labyrinth Suppression Forces got there.

However, when Nierenberg arrived at the main road of the slums, the giant slime had already disappeared, and the only thing left was a large number of injured people.

Apparently, Colonel Teluther of the City Defense Squad had used himself as a decoy to lure the slime to a more deserted area.

Although there were many injuries, word was that only one had died. The slime’s acid was being washed away with copious amounts of water, and the first aid measures taken had been good, so magic and regular medicine were sufficient to heal the injuries.

If flesh came in contact with the acid, burn scars would be left after treatment. Because healing magic was used to draw out the human body’s ability to heal and repair the wound in a short time, scars would remain even if the wound was healed with magic.

However, the slum residents they treated all thanked Nierenberg and the other members of the medical team who’d immediately rushed in to help them, even though they must have had things they’d wanted to say to the members of the City Defense Squad.

This line of work isn’t bad. Nierenberg grinned.

Apparently, the Lightning Empress dispatched from the Merchants Guild defeated the giant slime. She had seemingly headed for General Leonhardt with Colonel Teluther and several members of the City Defense Squad. They were probably investigating the incident right about now. The soldiers from the Labyrinth Suppression Forces were restoring the slums along with the remaining soldiers from the City Defense Squad.

After finishing treating the injured, Nierenberg returned to the clinic with his subordinates.

“Mr. Nierenberg.”

One of Nierenberg’s subordinates who had been administering treatment in the clinic hastened over to him.

“Your daughter…”

Nierenberg rushed to the sickroom his subordinate indicated.

“Papa… I’m sorry…”

There he found his beloved daughter Sherry, her face wrapped in bandages.