CHAPTER 5

The Secret Within the Labyrinth’s Depths

Part I: The Reliquary

We approached the fallen giant warrior cautiously and searched for anything that may have fallen from it. When we did—

“Wasn’t this in the giant warrior’s eye?” asked Igarashi.

“Is that a gem? It hasn’t been damaged at all…,” I said as she showed me. Perhaps it was a magic stone? No, unlike the other magic stones we’d found so far—like the blaze stones—this wasn’t rough-hewn. Instead, it was cut and polished neatly. These ruins we’d found ourselves in, the fact that we’d used a teleportation pad to get here, and this gem—they were all made by someone. There were essentially no man-made objects or structures in the Field of Dawn, but for some reason, this fourth floor was completely different.

“Its weapons are waaay too heavy. I doubt we’ll be able to carry them,” said Misaki.

“And we can’t send something that big to the storage unit, so I guess we’ll just have to leave it. It’s not like there were ever any other humans who came here anyway… Actually, that might not be true…,” I said.

The giant warrior wouldn’t have had that old scar on its head if no Seekers had ever come here before. In that case, what became of them? Were they killed?

“…Suzuna, I know the timing’s a bit weird, but could you take the Spirit Detection now?” I asked.

“Yes, I was just thinking I should do that myself. This giant eagle must have—,” she started, not saying it had likely put countless Seekers into the ground. If there was a way for it to reconceal the entrance to the fourth floor after defeating any Seekers who made their way here…

Is this giant warrior some sort of test? Or just a trap to kill anyone who comes this way…? It’s pretty unpleasant regardless.

Suzuna pulled out her license and acquired Spirit Detection 1. Once she did, she turned to face nothing and rang a bell she’d brought with her, then put her hands together.

“…Do you see something?” I asked.

“Yes… The Seekers who came here before us and lost their lives. Six of them fought against the giant warrior, but they were defeated and… Oh, how awful!”

The reason I’d felt the giant warrior was happy to fight us was that it was a man-eating monster. No monster in the labyrinths was about to try and resolve things peacefully with humans. We were nothing more than a source of food to them. That meant I had no reason to go easy on them in the future. There were surely some exceptions among the monsters, creatures who were in no way hostile toward us, but we didn’t have room to treat them kindly in our current state.

“…It looks like it came off the enemy when we hit it. Its body is made of some metallic substance, but it looks like a portion of it turned more liquid as it moved,” said Igarashi.

A liquid metallic substance had dripped from its head like blood when we broke it, but it’d now hardened. It made me think of some sort of metallic organism. That it was a living being would explain why it ate and how a wound it sustained in the past had healed to become a scar.

“I feel like it could be used as materials for something, but there’s just so much we don’t know. How about we just take one part back with us for now?” I proposed.

“Well, we should have some proof that we defeated it, right? Maybe I should pull off a few feathers,” suggested Igarashi.

“Yeah, sure… Even if we take this gem back with us, the Guild might have no idea what it is,” I replied.

“The heart is generally considered the best proof for having defeated a monster… Should I try and remove its armor?” asked Elitia.

“Urgh… I-its heart…,” whimpered Misaki as she clung to me.

Well, it was a reasonable suggestion. I did cringe away from the body, though, as Elitia slid her sword under its armor and peeled it back. Buried in its chest was a round pearl-like stone.

“…Is this its heart?” Misaki asked. “It’s not as…lifelike as I expected.”

“Magic makes their metal bodies move like living creatures. This is one type of orb for that,” explained Elitia.

“An orb, eh? …All right. So then this thing really was some sort of golem,” I said.

This was the orb used to make the Giant Eagle-Headed Warrior’s metal body operate like a living being’s. Which meant someone made it. I had so many questions but decided we should at least take the orb as proof we defeated it.

“…Theresia, do those doors look like they can be opened?” I asked.

“……”

The stone doors I was talking about were so massive it looked like they’d been built to allow the giant warrior to pass through but were closed tightly. They didn’t look like they would move easily. High up on the door where I couldn’t reach was a small recess, straddling the crack where the doors met. What were we supposed to do, stick our fingers in there to open it?

“Arihito, would that gem you picked up fit in the hole?” suggested Misaki.

“Hmm, yeah it looks like it just might about fit. But we can’t reach it even if we jump,” said Elitia.

“All right. Theresia, I’ll brace myself against the door. You climb up and try to put the gem in the hole,” I said.

Theresia put her hand to her mouth, the one part of her face visible from under the lizard mask. She seemed uncertain about what she should do. It would be difficult for her to just climb up on my shoulders; she needed something to step on.

“Okay, it’ll be just like forming a pyramid in gymnastics. I’ll be on the bottom. Elitia, you’re a vanguard, too, so you can also be part of the base. Then Misaki will get on top of us…,” started Igarashi.

“Wooow, this takes me back. Suzu, do you have a flute or something on you? You could tweet, tweet on it like a whistle, and we’ll all snap to attention,” said Misaki.

“Heh… Argh, you’re making me laugh by saying weird stuff. Stop chatting; it’s dangerous,” chided Igarashi

“Okeydoke. Right, I’m going up… Hup!” said Misaki, climbing up to the second layer of the human pyramid after discovering that it was actually pretty easy to make Igarashi laugh. Elitia looked a little unhappy with the arrangement but kept her hands steady on the ground as she supported Misaki’s weight along with Igarashi.

Theresia removed her boots and climbed easily up the pyramid and placed her feet on my shoulders. I felt the weight less than I’d thought I would and heard a clink as the gem slid into the hole. The ground started to tremble slightly, and the doors slid open to the left and right. I was sure we made a pretty strange sight in our human pyramid as the massive doors opened, but at least it went well.

“…There’s someone inside… Everyone, be careful. I’m not certain, but I sense something sinister in there,” said Suzuna.

Theresia climbed down from my shoulders, and we all stood facing the open doorway. In the middle of the room was a small set of stairs, which led to a dais that was illuminated almost like there was a spotlight on it. On the dais was a large boxlike something. When Suzuna said there was something sinister, was that based on her Spirit Detection or just intuition? I suppose it didn’t matter; I preferred to take a moment to put together some safety measures than go in there entirely defenseless.

“Igarashi, you acquired that Decoy skill, right?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah…now that you mention it, if I’d used that earlier, I could have drawn some of the giant warrior’s attacks with it.”

“No, I think that would have just given us a false sense of security. I think it’s more suited to situations like this. There very well could be some traps in here. Would you try using the decoy?” I asked.

“Hmm, would you normally set a trap for after someone defeated such a powerful monster? I mean, I guess I would if I were making a labyrinth,” speculated Misaki.

“Never say never in a labyrinth. We can’t be certain there’s nothing here. That’s what you were getting at, right, Atobe?” Igarashi pulled a clay doll from her pouch. She placed it on the ground and held her hand over it while reciting an incantation.

“Human form born from the earth, imbued with my magic! Rise up and be the vanguard to draw the demon’s gaze— Agh…”

“Eek! Are you all right, Kyouka?!” cried Misaki as she and Suzuna supported Igarashi, who suddenly wavered on her feet after finishing the incantation. I looked at my license and saw that Igarashi’s magic was practically at zero. It was my fault. I hadn’t considered the possibility that the decoy would consume all her magic.

“I’m sorry, Igarashi… I didn’t think about your magic,” I said.

“No, it should recover slowly if I take a rest. It’s not a problem… This just happens when you run out. We’ll need to be more careful in the future.”

If someone ran out of magic in the middle of a battle, the enemy would have no problem attacking them. If someone had to keep using magic over and over… Well, it’d be good if we had some way to recover magic while in battle.

The clay doll absorbed the magic that Igarashi poured into it and, after a moment, started to grow larger and larger until…it became an exact replica of Igarashi.

“Th-that’s incredible… A level-two spell can do something like that…,” I marveled.

“It can only follow very simple orders, though, so I could do that to use it as a decoy. Walk forward,” said Igarashi, the last part a command given to the decoy, which started moving forward as directed, then… I couldn’t see very clearly because it was so gloomy, but I heard a click, like it stepped on some sort of switch.

“Ah!”

Igarashi let out a sound, and the decoy suddenly started to wither and then disappeared. I looked at my license, and it said Kyouka’s Decoy stepped on a Life-Sucking Trap. Thank God that was only the decoy. It would’ve been an utter tragedy to come this far and be taken out by a one-hit KO trap.

“I feel bad because the decoy looked exactly like you…,” I said.

“Y-yeah…it wouldn’t be a very good decoy if it didn’t, so we’ll just have to get used to it,” she said.

“That’s sooo cruel… Oh, what’s that? I just thought I saw the box-looking thing in the middle of the room glow,” said Misaki.

The decoy had been given a tiny amount of life force from Igarashi’s magic. The trap sucked that out, and the boxlike object seemed to react to that… What could that mean?

…It sucks having so many things I don’t understand, but we have no choice but to keep going. Cautiously. There should be some way for us to get out of the labyrinth in here.

We fixed our battle formation and started forward while being very careful of where we stepped in case there were any more traps. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any others, so we were able to make it up the stairs to the box without any problems. It was carved from black marble. There was a circular hole in the middle of the lid.

“Don’t you think…it…it’s sort of less of a box and more of a sarcophagus? Like…there could totally be a vampire in here,” said Misaki.

“No…I don’t sense anything impure. Nor do I feel any sort of malice now…,” contradicted Suzuna.

“Suzuna can even sense through the box. Wow… Atobe, what do you think this hole is?”

“Have you found anything that might fit in your time seeking through this labyrinth?” asked Elitia.

I started running through the all the seeking that’d led up to now and…

“…We have…,” I said.

“Huh, you did find something?! Where, Arihito, where?!” cried Misaki in shock.

I was thinking of the rod we found in the Black Box that we got from defeating Juggernaut. One end was shaped like a key while the other was cylindrical.

“This. It came from the Black Box that Juggernaut dropped… The handle looks like it would fit in the hole,” I said.

“Be careful, everyone. Even though it might not be an enemy if what Suzuna says is right,” said Elitia, and everyone nodded back. I had Theresia double-check that our surroundings were safe, then readied myself and slid the rod into the hole.

“Ah!”

The moment I’d put it in, the lid of the box split down the center where the hole was, and the parts slid open to the right and left. Only the lid moved, and it did so automatically without anyone touching it. A bright light flooded out from inside the box along with cool air and a white fog like when you open a box filled with dry ice. The fog flowed down the stairs and over the sides of the dais and quickly dispersed.

“A-Atobe…there’s a person inside the box…,” stammered Igarashi.

“What the…?” I gasped.

There was still a pale light flooding out from the box, but inside, I could see a girl lying down. It looked manufactured, like a doll. Long aqua-colored hair flowed over her breasts. I hadn’t seen this color hair since coming to the Labyrinth Country.

And these things on her ears…radio antenna? …No. The city’s no more developed than a medieval city; there’s no reason why there’d be something so advanced down here in the labyrinth…

“Aaah, ummm, aaahhh…Arihito, this person, she’s not breathing!” said Misaki.

“…And yet she’s still alive… Her soul hasn’t left her body. But should we wake her? …She’s sleeping peacefully here. There must be a reason for it,” speculated Suzuna.

She wasn’t wrong, but I’d already opened the box. I had a feeling the key on the end of the rod was a literal key meant to wake this girl.

“If we search this room, we’ll likely find a way to leave the labyrinth. But considering the trap from before, we can assume that randomly searching will be accompanied by a certain amount of risk. If we can wake this girl, we can likely ask her what this place is and how we can leave…,” said Elitia.

I didn’t know what the point of killing the giant warrior was if we couldn’t find a way out and instead were stuck here wasting away until we died. I wanted to take this clue that was right in front of our eyes, but the keyhole to use this “key” was in an unexpected location.

“Atobe, look…in her chest… She’s definitely not a normal human if she’s got a hole like that in there.”

“I wonder…if I put the key part of the rod in there,” I said.

“If you think about how only people who’d defeated Juggernaut and made their way here, to the fourth floor, would have what’s necessary to open the box… If you consider the probability, I think it’s safe to say that we, led by Arihito, are the first people to meet all the requirements and make it here,” postulated Elitia.

We were standing at the end of the line where no one had ever come before, to a hidden floor in the beginner labyrinth, which almost everyone was supposed to visit first. There was that saying that the darkest place was under the candlestick… It seemed fitting here.

We found the key in the Black Box. We found a box that we could open with the key. Anyone could have made it this far if they’d connected all the dots and followed the right order.

But that didn’t happen. We’re the only ones who have ever met all the requirements, and now we’re here.

I was nervous. My heart was still pounding loudly in my chest, but my mind was oddly clear. I was certain that this sleeping girl would have information on how we could get out of here—and information that would change our lives.

“…I’m going to use the key. Please don’t have any hard feelings if something happens, okay?” I asked.

Everyone nodded. I tried putting the key into the sleeping girl’s chest. My hands were shaking, though, and I couldn’t get it in even though it was the perfect size and shape.

“……”

Theresia placed a hand on my back. She left it there, and the other four also placed their hands on my shoulders to try and calm me. Even though every single one of them was as nervous as they possibly could be, I felt my fear slip away.

“…Here I go…!”

I steadied my hand as I inserted the key into the hole in the girl’s chest. It felt like it clicked into place when I pushed it all the way in—and then, the girl began to tremble slightly.

Part II: The Girl in the Sanctuary

“Arihito, her chest is moving…,” said Suzuna.

“Yeah… Looks like the key fit. Now what…?”

The key had opened the box, so clearly is was connected to this girl in some way. As I had expected, it was a perfect match to the keyhole in her chest.

“It looks like she’s started breathing… It’s like some sort of cryosleep from a sci-fi movie. Her body is preserved while she sleeps for a long time, then she’s woken up…,” said Igarashi. It seemed she also got the impression of incredibly advanced technology. The cover-like things on the girl’s ears did definitely look mechanical in nature.

“…Mm…”

“Ah…she’s waking up. Arihito, everyone, be careful!” warned Elitia, seeming like her nerves had been stretched tight from caution.

I took a deep breath and watched as her eyelashes fluttered. Then her eyes opened. They were the same aqua color as her hair but seemed to lack any spark of life. She sat up in the box but then didn’t move anymore. I didn’t feel the urge to capture her to preempt any threat she may pose or feel any hostility from her…but there was one massive problem.

…I couldn’t see before because of her hair, but…is she completely naked…?

“……”

“Uh… Wh-what is it…?” I asked as she regarded at me silently. Being looked at with those lifeless eyes made me feel uncomfortable. I tried to guess why she was staring at me, tried to figure out her intentions, but she didn’t say a word and just looked behind me.

Behind me stood Theresia. She didn’t turn away from the girl’s gaze, the eyes on her lizard mask staring right back at the girl who had just woken.

“…A-are they communicating somehow? With telepathy or something?” asked Misaki.

“H-hey… Quit joking around!” said Igarashi.

“But…they’re both calm. Neither of their souls are distressed; they’re just peaceful,” said Suzuna.

Her Spirit Detection was going to be really useful for determining whether or not someone was hostile toward us. All of her Shrine Maiden senses seemed reliable, so I just held my breath as I watched Theresia and the girl…until—

…What are they doing? Can they really communicate…?

Theresia stepped forward and extended her left hand. The girl reached out her right hand to touch Theresia’s and—

“…Ngh!”

Theresia jerked her hand back in surprise. The expressionless girl seemed to gain some light back in her eyes for the first time, then she finally opened her mouth to speak.

“You are the one who has opened the Reliquary and awakened me, yes? I have obtained the necessary information from reading the fragments of your history from that demi-human girl. Your name is Arihito Atobe, correct?”

“Uh, yes… That’s correct. I’m Atobe Arihito. I was reincarnated here in the Labyrinth Country from my home country of Japan.”

“…The Labyrinth Country. Is that where those who have been charged with gathering the gods live? Your souls are gathered from your own worlds and reincarnated here, where you seek us. That must be why you are called Seeker.”

I suddenly shivered at the unexpected words coming from the girl’s mouth. Why did we have to become Seekers after we’d been reincarnated here? I’d always questioned it and hoped to learn the answer someday, but to hear it from this girl…

“What do you mean…? Charged with gathering the gods…Nobody’s ever said anything like that to us before,” said Igarashi.

“Wait, Kyouka. This girl knows something…something very important. Let’s hear what she has to say,” said Elitia, and Igarashi held her tongue. I looked at her, but she just brought her hand to her chest and nodded as if telling me not to worry about her.

“Steadfast rearguard who has been reincarnated from a far-off world—first, I would like to express my gratitude to you for coming here and unlocking the mysteries of the labyrinth,” said the girl.

“…By ‘unlocking the mysteries of the labyrinth,’ do you mean arriving here, bringing the key, and awakening you?” I asked.

“Yes. I praise those who have unlocked the mysteries, I provide them my guardianship and offer them a reward. My name is Ariadne, the Iron Wheel. I am the hundred and seventeenth Hidden God—a replica. I was laid to rest in the bottom of a labyrinth that was no longer explored.”

“Wait… You say you’re the hundred and seventeenth—isn’t this is the first labyrinth? What’s a Hidden God? You’re a replica?”

I wasn’t keeping up, either, but I glanced at my license and understood what she was saying just a tiny bit more. The key I’d used was called the Key of the Hidden God, and the box I opened was the Reliquary, or so it said. Thinking about the base meaning of reliquary, I had the impression of a box that held the remains or objects that belonged to a saint. And the girl inside called herself a Hidden God and a “replica of a god.” A replica…so a copy, also known as a fake.

“When you say you’ll give us your guardianship and rewards…does that mean you’ll lend us your power?” asked Elitia, but the girl didn’t answer. She suddenly stood up and showed us her body.

“Uh…what the…? The pattern on your skin…are those electrical circuits?” asked Igarashi.

Just like she said, there was a glowing pattern running along the girl’s body that looked like electrical circuits. But they looked like they were broken here and there. The lines of the circuits ran out from the hole in her chest but then seemed to stop in their tracks. They were clearly visible where they started between her ample breasts but faded away and disappeared as they went. It wasn’t just that they were hidden by her hair or something; they actually appeared incomplete. Perhaps the remaining circuits would disappear soon and the girl, Ariadne, would return to her previous state. She looked at me and hung her head apologetically.

“It appears it has been too long since I was disposed of. The guardianship I could offer you would be weak, and the probability that all my functionality will return is quite low. I would recommend that you awaken a more well-preserved Hidden God to control,” she said.

“If we did…would that mean leaving you here like this?” I asked.

“I was originally a discarded existence. I had no kin beyond the golem, which guarded me. My creator placed me in this box as a failure, having decided that the probability of me reaching completion as a replica was too low, and hid me away deep within the labyrinth. I have never held hope that someone would find and awaken me or that I would ever amount to anything.”

I hadn’t thought too deeply into some of her first words: “First, I would like to express my gratitude.” The reason she had prefaced it with first was that she was planning to tell us that there was nothing for us to gain from waking her, that she was a lost cause.

“A failure… That’s terrible… You’re a person who can talk and think and feel, stuck in a box for who knows how many years… What kind of heartless, cruel person could do that to someone?” asked Igarashi.

“…And that giant warrior, it wasn’t put there to ease her loneliness… It was simply placed there to prevent Seekers from coming this far,” said Suzuna, both her and Igarashi angered by what Ariadne told them, her unconcerned tone just making it worse.

One thing I could guess from Ariadne’s expressionless face was that, to her, this was just a simple fact. It wasn’t something that anyone needed to be upset over.

“……”

“…Theresia,” I said. She was clenching the fist she held at her chest. She was furious at Ariadne’s circumstances, enraged by this “creator” of hers who left her in a box. I’d never seen her that angry.

“…Arihito, what should we do about her? We do have to consider the option of leaving her here for someone else to deal with…,” said Elitia.

“I can use my power to send you to the surface. The teleportation pad that leads here from the third floor moves automatically after it has been used and becomes buried in the earth again. It would be up to you whether you report my existence to the organization to which you belong, or you can leave me here,” said Ariadne, making it clear that we were free to do however we saw fit; each selection was equally valid.

But that was from her perspective. There was no way I’d be able to pretend that we hadn’t come all this way and met her.

“…Ariadne, you say that you weren’t preserved well, but I’m not sure that’s true. I have no idea how many years, how many decades even, that you’ve been sleeping here, but we’re standing here having a conversation with you, and you have enough emotions to be concerned for us. I personally don’t see anything wrong with someone like that,” I said.

Her creation seemed so well done that it made me believe she was actually modeled after some god, but to then throw her away…because she was an imperfect replica of a god. The thing was that when we thought of a god, we thought of some being with unlimited power, and throwing away even an incomplete replica of that was pretty wasteful. I might have decided that Ariadne’s creator was wasteful, but we weren’t. To us, there was no substitute for the guardianship she offered us and the answers she gave us to the mysteries of the labyrinth.

“When you say the probability that your functions will completely return is ‘quite low,’ that means it’s not zero. We’ve just started on our journey as Seekers, well, other than Elitia, who’s a veteran. What that means is I’d be happy if we could grow together. I think that would help us grow,” I said.

“…If you accept my guardianship, you would have to offer your devotion to me in order to maintain my functionality. If you devote yourself to an imperfect god such as myself, you must fight with any Hidden Gods you meet who are hostile toward me. But if you still wish to accept my guardianship, show me your token,” instructed Ariadne.

“Token…do you mean my license?” I asked as I showed it to her. She nodded. I looked at everyone to check how they felt. None of them were opposed; we just faced each other and forced a smile.

“I made up my mind a long time ago. I’m leaving everything up to our leader,” said Igarashi.

“Arihito…I know I lack the strength, but I want to help Ariadne. It’s truly sad for her to stay her alone forever,” said Suzuna.

“Heyyy, if you put Arihito and Ariadne together, that makes them Ariari! Oh, is now not the right time to joke around?” asked Misaki.

“Guess I should come to expect such a lack of a sense of danger from you, Misaki. Anyway, I agree, Arihito. We are Seekers, and I’m sure we’ve been gathered to search the labyrinths for beings like Ariadne. I think a partnership with her will hold a lot of weight in our future expeditions,” concluded Elitia.

I thought the same as Elitia. But that meant we were acting as the being, which reincarnated us and perhaps even created the Labyrinth Country, would want us to act.

In the beginning, it’s like being forced to dance in the palm of someone’s hand. It’s fine as long as we don’t have to keep dancing forever.

I thought it was a bit early to start questioning why we were reincarnated or trying to figure out the secrets of the labyrinths since we’d only just gotten started as Seekers, but we’d found Ariadne and didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

“We want to accept your guardianship. How do we offer this ‘devotion’ that you talked about?” I asked.

Ariadne was silent for a moment as she stared at my face. While she was standing there without answering, Theresia walked up and offered her hand. Ariadne accepted and stepped out of the box, then held her right hand out toward me. I passed my license to her. She took it in her left hand and held her right over it.

“I have added a secret function to your token, which no others will be able to detect. You can use this to contact me. You can make me an ‘offering’ to receive my guardianship. If you have provided me sufficient offerings, I will be able to bring you back here if you are defeated while seeking in the labyrinth. When that happens, however, you will lose any equipment and items on you at the time,” said Ariadne.

“…Sounds like we can’t go wrong there, right?” I said.

“Even with this, my functionality is limited. I am the weakest of the Hidden Gods, and there are many who wish me harm. I do truly suggest—”

“You don’t have to put yourself down so much. I haven’t heard of a single Seeker yet who’s received the guardianship of a Hidden God. But if we have your guardianship and you could save us if we end up in a really horrible situation…just knowing that we can rely on that is really helpful,” said Igarashi.

We didn’t even know how many people were aware of the Hidden Gods’ existence. Louisa and Palme had mentioned Secret Gods, but even if we assumed that was referring to the Hidden Gods, it didn’t seem like they knew the Hidden Gods actually existed. Were we the only ones to have ever discovered them? Or maybe there were a lot of people in the upper Seeker ranks who knew about them. I wasn’t sure, but I would be able to conceal Ariadne’s existence from the Guild or other Seekers unless I wanted to show them, since she’d made the additional functions undetectable by others.

“…Ariadne, are you not able to leave this place?” I inquired.

“In my current condition, I am unable to leave the Sanctuary. If you are able to gather the parts necessary to restore my lost functionality, then I would be able to assist you outside for a certain period of time. Until then, I can only offer temporary support on a strictly limited basis.”

Did she mean we’d be able to borrow her power in some form? Well anyway, I could only see positives to the arrangement, but she was so hesitant to do it that I was certain there’d be some risks depending on the situation. It didn’t matter, though; the new function was already added to my license. There was a new page for Hidden Gods, and Ariadne’s name was listed in the Faith column.

“…If we leave here, can we return by using the teleportation pad on the third floor or some other method?” I asked.

“If you can find it. Depending on the offering you provide, I can use it to refill the Sanctuary’s power in order to place another teleportation pad outside.”

“Right. First then, this offering thing…,” I started.

“…I will contact you later regarding that. I am just delighted at the moment that you have selected me. I can ask no more of you.”

She didn’t seem to want to tell us any more. She was still naked; the only thing covering her was her aqua-colored hair. Now what looked like glowing characters of some kind appeared on her skin, and she held her hand up toward us. The moment she did, we were suddenly transported to the middle of an expansive field. What we saw around us was the first floor of the Field of Dawn. Everyone’s face looked like they were questioning whether or not we’d dreamed the whole thing.

“…Don’t worry, it wasn’t a dream,” I assured them. We still had the proof that we defeated the giant warrior as well as the additional function on my license.

“We really did make it baaack… Ugh, I feel like I’m gonna collapse…,” said Misaki as she sank to the ground where she stood. Everyone else was the same, seemingly losing their strength out of sheer relief.

We had managed to make it back, but how would I report this to Louisa? So much of what had happened would cause her to faint, but I decided to worry about that later. Right now, I just wanted to forget everything and enjoy the fact that I was still alive.

“Ahh…I’m so glad we made it back. There was a point where I wasn’t sure we would…,” I admitted.

“You did great, Atobe. How about we take a short rest before going home?”

“I agree. You’ve been so tensed up this entire time, Arihito,” said Suzuna.

“…Meeting you has probably been the most incredible discovery of all. I have a feeling there’s a lot more in store for us…,” said Elitia.

Her words made me feel awkward, but I pretended I didn’t hear and flopped down on the grass. Theresia then came over and knelt right next to me.

“Uh… T-Theresia, what are you—?” started Igarashi. I could tell she was flustered, but Theresia took my head and guided it into her lap.

“Th-thanks, but…what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” I asked.

“……”

She didn’t reply. I did see, though, that her mouth—the only thing visible under her lizard mask—was curled up in a tiny smile. I could feel the rest of the party staring at me. But all I wanted was to lie there for a little while, my head on her soft lap, basking in the joy of having survived this adventure.