EPILOGUE: A Fire to See You Off
01
Lynx’s corpse was sent off in a blaze on a hill east-northeast of the Labyrinth City.
The City faced the Fell Forest and contained a labyrinth inside it. If a person’s remains were buried, they would be devoured by monsters or taken by the Labyrinth. Even in death, that person wouldn’t be able to escape from the monsters. That was why they were burned with fire magic until not even the bones remained.
Fuel was precious in the Labyrinth City, and ordinary households even used magical tools and lifestyle magic to cook with fire. Firewood wasn’t necessary in funeral rites thanks to fire magic. However, it was believed that piling the wood and sending the deceased off with a towering blaze would allow that person’s spirit to be released from the corruption of this world, ascend into the heavens, and return to a better world—the ley line.
An altar had been set up on this hill to see off the departed, and people had gathered to honor Lynx.
“Make your offerings.” In charge of leading the ceremony, Dick gave the signal for the attendees to offer flames to the firewood.
“Daddy, Lynx is gonna burn…,” Emily protested.
Emily was still young. This may have been her first time saying good-bye to a close friend. Tears tumbled down her cheeks as she clung to her father, the owner of the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion, and endured the grief of parting.
“Emily, we’re lucky to be able to have a memorial service for him in this city. In many cases, it’s hard to recover a part of the body. Didn’t Lynx play with you? Now let’s send him off.”
The owner led Emily to the altar, and she used lifestyle magic to offer a small flame. They weren’t the only ones: Ghark, Amber, Merle, Caroline, Gordon and the other two dwarves had all gathered here to say their final good-byes to Lynx. And of course, every member of the Black Iron Freight Corps was present; all of them had risked their lives alongside him over a long period of time.
If someone couldn’t conjure a flame, they could use lifestyle magic. The gratitude and sorrow of those offering fire nourished the spirits of flames, who released the deceased from their body and the fetters of this world. The Black Iron Freight Corps and the attendees had gathered the wood for pile, and the ceremonial fire formed a pillar high enough to scorch the clouds hanging heavy and low overhead.
“Thanks for everything.” “Thank you.” “My gratitude.” “We’ll miss you.”
They expressed their appreciation for the time they spent with their friend, and the sorrow of a final parting.
What the attendees said to each other—It was a good funeral; I’m sure he was happy to hear us wish him well—was largely for themselves, to fill the gaping holes in their hearts. The words may have been the manifestation of their desire to stay with the deceased just a little longer after his passing, even though they’d sent him into the heavens to return to the ley line.
The flames weakened, and although the attendees began to head for home one after another, Mariela and Sieg stood motionlessly at the altar. The members of the Black Iron Freight Corps did, too. Even a certain raptor silently saw Lynx off from a distance. At last, the firewood burned out, and the wind carried away the remaining ashes. Mariela tightly grasped the trick pendant that Lynx had given her.
“Miss Mariela, shall we go?” Malraux asked, and she nodded. Mariela and Sieg pulled their hoods over their heads, low enough to hide their eyes. After Malraux and Dick escorted them to an iron carriage, they headed to the estate of Margrave Schutzenwald.
Mariela recalled the smoke rising high into the sky and Lynx’s final facial expression.
She still couldn’t believe she would never again hear their silly banter when he came to Sunlight’s Canopy every day.
Lynx, I promise to destroy the Labyrinth… Mariela gripped Lynx’s pendant as she cemented this wish into her heart.
“Destroy the Labyrinth,” he had said—for Mariela to smile and live as an ordinary girl. This wasn’t what he would have wanted.
If he could see Mariela now, he would not be pleased in the least.
But Lynx could no longer tell her anything. The armored carriage bearing Mariela and Sieg passed through the gate of Margrave Schutzenwald, and the tall, heavy doors thudded closed behind them.
The armored carriage would never bear Mariela and Sieg to Sunlight’s Canopy through these doors again.
“Please take me to General Leonhardt.”
Mariela and Sieg had paid a visit to the Black Iron Freight Corps the afternoon after that fateful night. In her hands, Mariela clutched the magical contract she’d signed with the Corps. A contract could be voided by burning it along with any duplicates in a designated process.
She had been selling potions through the Black Iron Freight Corps, receiving protection and confidentiality as part of the compensation. If Mariela entered Leonhardt’s jurisdiction and dealt directly with him, the contract would need to be annulled. The Corps would be handsomely compensated for bringing them the alchemist, which would cover their losses once they stopped acting as middlemen. If that wasn’t enough, she would pay them the money she’d saved up to this point.
And she wanted to meet Lynx one more time.
Lynx’s room in the Black Iron Freight Corps’ base was surprisingly dreary, and she could just picture him there stretched out with a sheepish smile on his face.
“In that case, we’ll go together,” Malraux and Dick responded after listening to Mariela.
Lynx had been more than just a fellow Corps member to Dick and Malraux. He was their comrade who’d gone through the Fell Forest with them more times than they could count. He was their subordinate who excelled at collecting information and scouting; he was their lovable friend who admired them and called them “Captain” and “Lieutenant”; he was their family.
Dick knew the death lizards had surged out of a shallow stratum, a direct reaction to the Forces’ failure to subjugate the red dragon. Malraux knew Lynx’s last smile at once showed contentment of protecting someone important to him and sadness at parting.
Both Dick and Malraux understood that blaming Mariela for wanting to gather herbs, Sieg for failing to protect Lynx, and Jay for being a fool was just shifting the responsibility for the sake of their own peace of mind.
Dick had failed to bring down the red dragon. Although Malraux hadn’t been there, he was the one who’d brought Jay into the Black Iron Freight Corps. They understood there was something they needed to do more than blame their own folly.
Avenge Lynx by destroying the Labyrinth.
Every single member of the Black Iron Freight Corps had come to share this goal.
The Black Iron Freight Corps was a transportation group with pride in their strength that enabled them to travel through the Fell Forest to the imperial capital and the Labyrinth City. However, that didn’t mean every member had the ability to fight on the front lines in the Labyrinth Suppression Forces. Many of them could only demonstrate their true talents precisely because they were in the Corps.
At the same time, they’d been transporting all kinds of goods that the Labyrinth City had lacked for many years now. Neither the City nor the Labyrinth Suppression Forces could afford to lose them. All the members of the Corps stayed up that whole night discussing how supporting the Forces from behind the scenes was still adjacent to destroying the Labyrinth.
From this discussion, they decided for Dick and Malraux—who had once served as commanding officers—to return to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, and for the remaining members to continue their activities in the Black Iron Freight Corps. Although those who couldn’t directly avenge Lynx by annihilating the Labyrinth knew it was for the best, they were still overcome with regret. Dick and Malraux let those feelings motivate them to destroy the Labyrinth with renewed purpose.
Mariela and Sieg visited them on the very day they’d planned to go to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces and convey their wishes to return.
Still, despite their plans, they couldn’t afford to take the sole alchemist in the Labyrinth City to the Forces without any advance notice. After discussing with Mariela and Sieg, they agreed to seek an audience with Leonhardt after Lynx’s funeral.
02
When Mariela and the others visited the household of Margrave Schutzenwald, they were treated as guests of honor and ushered into the drawing room, where General Leonhardt and Lieutenant General Weishardt were waiting.
“Welcome, Lady Alchemist. I am Leonhardt, general of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces.”
“H-hi. Nice to meet you. I’m Mariela.”
“I’m sorry to hear about Lynx, but we will make certain to fulfill his last wish!”
“Um, Lord Weishardt. Did you know I was an alchemist from the Labyrinth City—and not the imperial capital—from the get-go?”
“Naturally. I heard your most recent expedition was particularly dangerous, and I feel personally responsible. We will be more diligent in keeping you safe from now on. However, I’m grateful for the opportunity to directly consult with you. I hope we can continue to work together.”
“Um, yes. Me too.”
“There are many things I’d like to discuss about the future, but first, why don’t we deepen our fellowship as comrades in the fight against the Labyrinth?” Leonhardt said, showing everyone to a splendid dining hall.
Mariela had never, ever, seen a feast like this one, with dishes crowding the dining table. Dick and Malraux had seats at the table, of course, but even Sieg, a slave who was normally prohibited from entering such a room, was invited to join.
“Please relax and enjoy yourselves.”
After Leonhardt led them in a short toast, a female servant served Mariela all the food she could eat. It was customary to have food brought out in courses, but they had arranged it as a buffet style for guests to enjoy the food without dithering.
“Come to think of it, I hear there is scorched earth in the Fell Forest where vegetation still fails to grow. I heard of a great mage—the Sage of Calamity—from the time of the Stampede, who went alone to defeat powerful monsters and reduce the damage to the kingdom. Do you know anything about this, Lady Mariela?”
“No. I don’t really leave the Labyrinth City. And I don’t know what went on back then, either…”
Mariela had escaped the monsters via the Magic Circle of Suspended Animation before they reached the Kingdom of Endalsia. She knew no details of the Stampede. As she hesitated, Malraux and Dick answered in her place.
“Dick and I have seen it. We pushed our way to that area before in order to earn start-up capital for the Black Iron Freight Corps.”
“It was quite a sight. The ground melted and hardened again.”
“Hmm. But people were able to escape the Stampede and survive because the sage slaughtered formidable monsters and dampened its momentum. You could even owe the creation of the Labyrinth City to this person.”
“Indeed, brother. And now we have a sage known as Lady Mariela. Let us make defeating the Labyrinth and cutting a path to the future a reality.”
Raising Mariela up to the same level as a sage and giving her a more than proper reception revealed Leonhardt’s intentions. All the dishes he served were divine, and even the conversation was steered to topics that were familiar to Mariela. Even if she wasn’t able to keep up, Dick and Malraux jumped in and calmly continued the discussion. However, Mariela’s expression was clouded. They could have been the most considerate people in the world—or trying to distract her from her thoughts—but she couldn’t shake off the idea that if she’d come here sooner, Lynx wouldn’t have died.
“Let’s discuss the details tomorrow. For today, just rest and relax.”
When dinner was over, Weishardt led Mariela and the others to the back of the estate.
The estate of Margrave Schutzenwald had undergone multiple renovations and expansions to keep up with the trends of the respective period. The oldest part at the heart of the estate was thought to have been built over a hundred years ago. As the group went farther back, the beautiful wallpaper decorating the interior changed to solid stonework walls—similar to Mariela’s home—and after they passed through several doors, they came to a staircase leading underground.
A cellar, huh? I knew it… Mariela’s stomach slightly sank.
She had expected this. She was the only alchemist in the City. Shutting her away in a cellar was the most reliable way to hide and protect her from both monsters and people. She’d just churn out potions in a dim cellar, never to be blessed with the warmth of the sun nor the gentle moonlight again. She knew this was going to happen.
Even if she could never return to Sunlight’s Canopy again, as long as she could demolish the Labyrinth …
She had come to General Leonhardt, knowing that she would have to do or die. Faltering now was unacceptable.
Mariela plodded after Weishardt.
The Schutzenwald family had a vast cellar with small rooms running from one end of the corridor to the other.
The hallway itself must have been a bastion against monster invasion with doors installed at fixed intervals. These doors stood wide open, not hindering the group as they passed through, but when they were all the way inside, the doors would probably be tightly shut on her.
The thick doors partitioning the corridor made the place like an inescapable prison to Mariela.
They proceeded farther in, one step at a time. Weishardt was in front. Dick and Malraux brought up the rear, sandwiching Sieg and Mariela.
The group arrived at the innermost room.
“This is it.”
A soldier appearing to belong to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces stood in front of the door and bowed his head to Mariela.
“He will be our intermediary,” introduced Weishardt.
Mariela lightly bowed her head. Was this man the only one keeping watch? The soldier appeared nervous as he bowed back.
“The preparations are complete. Please come inside,” he said and opened the door.
Mariela was dumbstruck at the sight in front of them.
“Preparations…? What kind of…”
The room was small enough that it felt cramped with five people in it. There were no beds, shelves, desks, or even chairs provided. There wasn’t even a single mattress on the floor, and the walls had rustic lighting for illumination with no decoration. The room had no preparations for a monster attack, let alone for people to live in.
More importantly…
“Grar-rar,” yipped the raptor that had saved Mariela and lost half its tail.
It poked its head out from a hole in the floor with stairs leading down as if to say, “You’re late!”
She never thought that even the residence of Margrave Schutzenwald would connect to the underground Aqueduct. Well, of course an aristocrat’s estate would have multiple evacuation routes.
“We hadn’t been able to use this since the slimes began multiplying in the Aqueduct, but mid-grade monster-warding potions are a wonderful thing,” Weishardt started. “As only those with potions can pass through, you’ll not find an evacuation route safer than this one. My brother wishes you to use it to travel to the base of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, too, though that may be for efficiency’s sake.”
Weishardt guffawed, easing the tension. “We have confirmed a route to the cellar of Sunlight’s Canopy. The cellar in the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ base and the second floor of the Labyrinth are connected to the Aqueduct, so you may move undetected to both their base and this estate.”
Beaming, Malraux offered a mid-grade monster-warding potion.
Dick remained silent as he sprinkled one over himself and immediately went down the stairs to check the safety of the route.
“Whaaaaat?”
Mariela and Sieg exchanged looks.
She was beginning to think that working toward subjugating the Labyrinth with the Labyrinth Suppression Forces wouldn’t change her life in Sunlight’s Canopy at all.
03
Pitter-patter. The rain fell without stopping.
The weather hadn’t cleared up in days. From the blanket of clouds fell a steady drizzle that cast a gloomy pall over the Labyrinth standing in the center of the City—and the City itself facing the Fell Forest. The drenched stone walls made the muted, gray colors more prominent, as though the entire City were in mourning.
“Mariela, your new detergent for indoor drying is very popular! Everyone is raving about how it wards off that weird smell. I had no idea that the rainy season caused these kinds of concerns!”
Caroline tried her best to sound peppier than usual as she spoke to Mariela.
“Mm…I’m glad I helped a little…,” Mariela muttered back. Everything around her was doom and gloom. She didn’t even lift her head.
“Mariela! I’ve got brand-new treats for you! They’re amazing! They’re not made from yagu milk. I used cheese from cow’s milk, which means they’ve got a rich flavor without that gamy funk. And they practically melt in your mouth. If you eat these, I think you’ll melt from inside out,” Merle babbled, bringing with her hard candy made from milk.
Cow milk was a luxury in the Labyrinth City. There wasn’t enough land to raise animals, after all. Meanwhile, yagus were content with simple feed, were capable of carrying people and baggage, and provided meat and milk, which meant very few livestock were raised exclusively for food. They only graced the dining tables of the nobility.
This, too, was special candy sent from the Schutzenwald family.
“Oh… I shouldn’t gain weight… And I can’t diet in the Labyrinth anymore…”
Gloomy-gloom-gloom. Mariela tightly gripped the hem of her tunic.
She remembered running up the stratum stairs in the Labyrinth, Lynx chasing after her, and her eyes started to well with tears.
Merle shot a look at Gordon that said, “Damn it! Do something!” and he began wiggling his rump back and forth in his chair in a little dance.
“M-Mari! Look here! Today’s a nice humid day to do this. And hey, the chair’ll look good as new!”
It was a very forced change of topic. What would she do if only the seat of the chair looked brand-spanking-new?
Was he polishing it for Weishardt? The lieutenant general might not have made any progress in his relationship with Caroline, but he would have already had an encounter with Gordon’s rump—even though they’d never had a conversation before and their social positions differed.
“…Gordon, wipe the chair before you go home, okay?”
Gloomy-gloomy-gloom-gloom. Gloomy-gloom-gloomy-gloom.
Mariela’s gloom had risen a level. She silently pointed to a cleaning cloth.
“Mariela… A package for you…”
Gloom. Gloom. Sieg’s melancholy seemed to be at a higher saturation than Mariela’s. He poked his head from the door connecting to the living area.
By nature, Sieg was a more sensitive person than Mariela. The situation with Lynx had heightened his natural tenderheartedness and dampened the mood even more than it already was.
“Okay. I’ll go now, Sieg… I’m sorry, Amber, please watch the shop for me…”
Gloom-gloom-gloom. Gloom-gloom-gloom.
“Got it. I’m sure if you use a nice soap, your mood will change,” said Amber as she saw off Mariela to the atelier.
Without Mariela and Sieg present, it was somehow easier to breathe in Sunlight’s Canopy.
“Mariela has suffered so much. It’s heartbreaking. But…” With great sadness, Caroline gazed at the door the pair had disappeared through.
“Yes. I understand she’s having a tough time. But how do I put it…?”
“She’s dampening the mood so much, she could sprout mushrooms.”
“Yeah.”
Everyone present agreed with the mushroom comment.
Death was a constant companion in the Labyrinth City, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to leave this world at a young age, as had Lynx. It was a very tragic thing, but everyone lived with this fact in their minds—spending your time with others, and others spending their time with you. The survivors in the Labyrinth City believed their lives were paying tribute to the departed.
Of course, after Lynx’s death, Mariela and Sieg began to satisfy their own needs. No one knew what that was, but they did know the two were desperately trying.
However, the way they immersed themselves in their grief, licking each other’s wounds, they could have been protagonists of a tragic play.
In other ways, a mushrooming duo had been formed.
“Sieg, are these all the materials we have? I can still make more. I still have magical power left!”
“Mariela, don’t overwork yourself. Between the high-grade and high-grade specialized potions that you made yesterday, we’ve gotten over two hundred, right? If something happened to you, I…”
Gloomity-gloomity-gloom. Gloom-gloom-gloom.
Even though the magical ventilation tool in the atelier was chugging on at full throttle, the mood was damper than Slaken, the mucus-spitting synthetic slime made mostly of liquid. It really did look like mushrooms were going to sprout any second now.
“Whoa! A new kind of mushroom! Free materials!” Mariela might have shouted if she was feeling herself.
But the conversation now would be much different.
“Oh, materials…,” Mariela would likely say. “If I don’t make potions, I’ll…!”
Cue more mushrooms and Sieg crying her name: “Mariela!”
Mariela and Sieg spent the night they lost Lynx huddled together, but their relationship had hardly made any progress.
Sieg had thought of Lynx as his dearest friend, and his death was certainly painful. The grief from losing him squeezed at his heart even now. When they confronted the death lizards, his desire to help Lynx hadn’t been a lie. His own weakness and cowardice still overwhelmed him, making him feel as though his knees might buckle under him.
But at the same time, he had feared Lynx would rob him of his time with Mariela, take away the place where he belonged. It didn’t matter where the relationship between the three of them ended up: he was firmly committed to serving Mariela. But if Mariela had chosen Lynx, he wasn’t confident he could have given them his blessing from the bottom of his heart. There was a piece of him, deep inside, that was relieved he wouldn’t have to part with her…even though he was aware that this was extremely cowardly and underhanded.
On the night of Lynx’s passing, Sieg didn’t allow himself to experience that jumble of pain, relief, and anguish or to wallow in his own suffering. Thinking of himself was secondary. If he didn’t put the person who Lynx lost his life for first, he couldn’t even allow himself to remain at her side.
That was why Siegmund had chosen to hold Mariela close on that night on the rooftop of Sunlight’s Canopy, pushing his crushing shame into the corners of his heart.
“Don’t leave me all alone.”
Mariela had looked as though she could vanish at any second, and Siegmund listened to her express something that could be taken as a confession of love. But she was a lone girl torn up by the grief and slowly slipping away; it wasn’t as if she had actively chosen Siegmund as the one person she wanted to be with. He knew that, yet he’d felt a fire burning in his wounds, a painful sweetness that throbbed in time with his heart.
Before he fell into slavery, he’d done his share of messing around. As a sleazebag who’d prioritized himself over anyone else, he had experience sleeping with submissive women. The dark sweetness from these memories crossed his mind. The warmth of the girl in his arms made him think: What if?
After expressing her near confession, Mariela cried and cried and cried enough for a flood. Sieg had given her water, worried she would completely dry out, but it only seemed to make her cry more. In fact, she had wept so much that he thought she must be shedding a lifetime’s worth of tears. And finally, as if all that crying had exhausted her, she fell asleep in Sieg’s arms.
And it was a sound sleep.
He could hardly believe the combination of hysterical crying, nose blowing, and deep sleeping would be the clincher.
A woman rarely rubbed her eyes after a good cry to prevent her face from becoming puffy. Even if she cured it with a low-grade potion, she only showed her tear-stained face to the one she wanted to see it so that no one else would know she cried.
However, the eyes of the girl sleeping in Sieg’s arms had swelled up, and even her nose had become a deep crimson. She looked just a smidge like a needle ape, giving him a set of indescribable feelings.
…Anyway, I should put her to bed in her room…
Although she was wrapped in a blanket, the night was chilly. He couldn’t let her catch a cold. Sieg held Mariela in his left arm and stood to leave the roof.
He happened to look up and see the moon had appeared in a gap between the clouds.
He stretched his hand toward the hazy moonlit sky.
The thin crescent moon resembled a bow, a long way from becoming full, and its light was faint and unreliable.
Sieg faced the moon with his outstretched hand, but the only thing caught in his fingers was the wind whistling through them. They couldn’t hold on to anything.
Although many days had passed since that night, Siegmund and Mariela continued to lean on each other while holding on to the grief of losing Lynx. They were far from fully understanding it or processing their complex emotions.
Weishardt felt perplexed by this, too.
He’d heard the aftereffects of failing to subjugate the red dragon had put the alchemist in danger. It had not been disclosed to the public that routine Labyrinth operations were taking place under the Labyrinth Suppression Forces’ base. Even if there were a possibility of strong enemies appearing in a shallow stratum at the time of defeat, there had been no measures taken to prohibit entry to the Labyrinth in case of emergency. But considering the importance of the alchemist, a squad’s worth of soldiers should have accompanied her at all times, even if that meant they had to give a forceful reason for it. At the very least, they would have known what the Forces were doing and told her to gather herbs on a different day so she wouldn’t enter the Labyrinth during a subjugation involving unknown factors.
Under normal circumstances, they would have brought Nierenberg along, and Weishardt had expected two adventurers on the verge of A Rank to be strong enough to handle any problems. His attention had been divided by the Forces’ fight against the red dragon, and he felt his ignorance of the alchemist’s actions was his own blunder.
As a result, the Black Iron Freight Corps lost a talented young man protecting her.
Dick and Malraux had originally been members of the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, and they had considerable experience in losing comrades in the line of duty. It wasn’t that they’d gotten used to losing cherished friends, but they’d learned how to come to grips with death, understand the cause, and move on. Even more so for Leonhardt and Weishardt. They’d been under the impression the alchemist was the same.
He’d invited her to the estate to explain and apologize for the situation regarding the red dragon subjugation and to renew his resolution to move forward together. However, the alchemist looked haggard and showed no sign of overcoming the death of the young man named Lynx.
It would be easy to take all the blame and express the connection between Lynx’s death and the red dragon subjugation. He could have explained how he’d failed in his duty to inform her of that possibility and prevent her from entering the Labyrinth. However, Weishardt knew that wouldn’t help her overcome grief.
The subjugation of the Labyrinth would continue. Dick and Malraux had declared they would participate. They could die in battle, and her acquaintances in the Labyrinth Suppression Forces she had developed a strategy with could all perish, too. If she blamed herself and wasted away every time, she wouldn’t be able to endure the struggle from here on out.
Sending Mariela and Sieg back to Sunlight’s Canopy wasn’t because the place had been set up with a sufficient defense system. It was because making potions around the clock in a subpar environment wouldn’t lead to productivity. What he hoped for from the alchemist wasn’t just an increase in the number of potions, but for her to lead them to a clue in capturing the stratum with her knowledge and ideas.
She couldn’t make the special-grade “Ice Spirit’s Protection” potions yet. They hadn’t obtained the red dragon scales for the “Demi-Dragon Medicine,” the polymorph medicine that could transform one into something like a demi-dragon and allow them to function in harsh environmental conditions.
Currently, Mariela still hadn’t processed Lynx’s death. All she did was gloomily make potions. At first, when the Labyrinth Suppression Forces brought in a large bushel of gathered lunamagia, she repeatedly ran out of magical power and collapsed until the lunamagia was all used up. Abusing herself wouldn’t allow the departed to rest in peace.
Which means she doesn’t put up a front… She needs time.
With this in mind, Leonhardt and Weishardt had deliberately tried to make trifling conversation as they sat at dinner with her. First, she needed to get her smile back. If she sorted out her thoughts, she would start to stand on her own two feet again.
Now, what’s to be done…?
Weishardt was lost in thought. With the deliveries, they had been able to maintain sufficient stock of high-grade potions up to this point. However, he had no bright ideas regarding the red dragon. They’d found a means of surviving through Elmera’s husband, Voyd, neutralizing the dragon’s breath. But when Weishardt had indirectly asked for his help, he turned him down. Even if the Forces were protected and managed to pull the dragon to the ground, they had no way to finish it off.
Currently, the only measure the Labyrinth Suppression Forces could take was to send soldiers to each stratum in the Labyrinth to reduce its power and prevent its growth even just a little.
In short, everything was at a stalemate.
04
It was a land of death where earth and stone had melted and hardened—where plants could no longer grow.
Resembling the fifty-sixth stratum impeding the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, this place lay deep in the Fell Forest.
It was one of the sites of a bloody battle during the Stampede that had happened two hundred years ago.
The power wielded by the Sage of Calamity had alighted in this ravine of the Fell Forest, burned the heavens, melted the earth, and consigned the A-rank monsters that roamed here to oblivion. It had been said that the momentum of the monsters attacking the Kingdom of Endalsia had been greatly reduced from this.
A handful of people had managed to survive. The Schutzenwald family’s troops had arrived to provide relief immediately after the Stampede and managed to secure an area for people to live.
Even now, there were traces of the battle that remained. Although the area of scorched earth had shrunk in size over the years, it remained a land of death where plants didn’t grow. Two hundred years ago, it was a dangerous area inhabited by A-Rank earth dragons; the only people who had been here were high-ranking adventurers like Dick.
Not even the Fell Forest was spared from the drizzling rain that continued to fall.
Since there were no trees to block it from the barren land, the rain whittled down the melted and hardened earth little by little at its weak points, cracking rocks. After being weathered by the wind and water, the place would probably eventually allow normal growth again.
In an area near the forest, piles of fallen leaves had rotted and turned into dirt, fallen seeds were sprouting, and the forest was spreading. Tall trees had sprung up, and a sudden bolt of lightning struck one of them.
The tree split and collapsed as it burned. The impact of lightning and the dull thud of a collapsing tree weren’t terribly uncommon. Other than the birds who couldn’t fly away in the rain, huddling together in the shelter of the trees, no one made a fuss over the lightning’s impact. Nothing living in the Fell Forest noticed a hole had opened in a section of the ground from the fallen tree.
Ba-dum.
A stopped heart sprang to life.
Congealed blood began to circulate again; lungs sought oxygen.
A wheezy inhalation sucked in a massive amount of dust.
“Hack, cough, cough, gack.”
It hurt to breathe, and a pounding headache signaled a lack of oxygen and a need for air—fresh air.
“Ventilate.”
The one waking up at the bottom of an open hole brought in fresh air before reflecting, mind still foggy from the lack of oxygen.
Now, how did I end up here, again…?
“Drops of Life.”
Forming a makeshift bowl with their hands, the awoken drew droplets of water glowing white, gulping it down in one go. With clearer thoughts now, their cells began to wake up one by one, strength settling back in the body.
The awoken used a burst of flame magic to widen the hole in the ceiling before lightly leaping out of the underground cellar to find the Fell Forest and familiar charred earth—the land of death.
“Swallowed up by the forest, huh? I guess I slept for a while…”
As they scratched their heads and shook off the little mound of dust, earth dragons caught wind of magical power emanating from a human and cut paths through the trees to find the source.
Boom. Boom. The earth dragons advanced. They had to be over three yards tall. With their long tails, the dragons had the appearance of enlarged raptors, except they walked on four legs. All the legs were thick, short, and sluggish, but they carried an impressive mass, and their skin was like steel armor.
This was the Fell Forest. Since all the monsters left their meat behind there, bodies did not vanish even in death. If someone could obtain the materials of a sturdy, tough earth dragon, they could procure riches galore.
In fact, before the establishment of the Black Iron Freight Corps, Dick and Malraux had challenged earth dragons here, selling the materials they obtained to start the Corps. Of course, the creatures were foes worthy of their rank, and it would be impossible even for Dick to challenge multiple dragons at the same time. They had hunted the dragons with Malraux skillfully leading, staying in contact, and ensuring they fought one-on-one.
There were three of these earth dragons. Drooling over the tasty morsel, they surrounded the human.
“Ah! That’s right! I forgot about these…though I thought there were more of them.” The human remained unconcerned. One of the earth dragons looked at its prey. Its eyes shone faintly, just before stone spears blasted out of the ground.
“Stone Lance.”
It was earth magic controlled by the dragon. The creature wasn’t nimble, but it could use this type of magic to catch its prey before greedily devouring it. It was a formidable enemy with solid defense that was hard to breach. It wasn’t just hardy; its magic attacks were quick as well.
But the awoken nimbly launched into the air, alighted on the tip of a Stone Lance, and complained. “Booooring.”
Oh, right. Back then, these dragons used to make these lances snap and crack from the ground, too. It had been so annoying, the awoken melted everything in one go.
“O flames, my kin, sing and dance together. Summon Dancing Flames,” called out the awoken, the Sage of Calamity.
It was as though all heat in the atmosphere had condensed. Flames shot forth in a blazing vortex, sweeping up the stone spears and the earth dragons. Even with the scales they were so proud of, the swirling flames had sapped oxygen from the air, and the heat was so intense that nothing could escape being burned. Surrounded by the flames, the Sage of Calamity watched the earth dragons fall to the ground with strangled cries of death.
Twisting an arm in the air—perhaps performing a dance, or perhaps conducting the flames—the Sage beckoned the pillar to vanish without a trace. All that remained were the smoldering earth dragons letting off puffs of smoke.
“Aw, man. I overdid it. Can’t eat them now.”
At the time of the Stampede, the earth dragons had invaded a safe house, which caused the Sage to lose control and launch magic at full power. The Sage’s house had been razed to the ground—and the earth dragons with it—but the sturdy cellar had been unharmed. The cellar had been wonderfully constructed. The Sage was quite proud of it, even though it was the work of a carpenter.
Back then, the Sage had scrambled to the cellar after nearly exhausting their magic. Today, they had tried to use a relatively weak fire, but keeping fire in check was hard. Good meat was rare to come by, but it wasn’t edible like this.
For the Sage, it was hard to handle a small fire for a lantern, which had been why there had been a lantern with plenty of oil installed in the cellar with a Magic Circle of Suspended Animation. It was perfect.
“Hmm? Wait, the lantern’s…flame? Ohhh…” With a miserable groan, the Sage of Calamity sank into a crouch.
The awoken normally spent their time outdoors punching enemies, so they forgot—lighting a fire in a locked room would just deplete all the oxygen. Even when the Stampede was over, the Sage must have continued to sleep indefinitely until the melted, hardened entrance had opened with time.
“How long was I asleep……?!”
The Sage of Calamity’s grief echoed fruitlessly through the forest.
This misery lasted about ten seconds. Unlike a certain alchemist, the Sage recovered quickly.
“Oh well. She’s probably up, too. I’m starved! Guess I’ll go home for once!”
After stripping the magical stones and materials from the earth dragons—with the ease of plucking flowers from the side of a road—the Sage of Calamity began walking toward the Labyrinth City.
The rain had stopped, and sunlight shone through a gap in the clouds.