Chapter 146 - A Great Legacy (3)

CRACKLE.

I picked up the sword I had briefly set down and returned to my companions. Then I put it into the bag I had left on the ground.

It certainly didn't seem to be an ordinary Arc longsword, but I would look into that later.

“I'm sorry. Once again, I...”

The dwarf bowed his head in shame, and I simply patted his shoulder.

Who was I to say anything to him? It wasn't thanks to me that we had all survived.

“Bjorn.”

Misha approached with a sorrowful tread and laid a hand on my chest.

“I'm glad... you're alive. Truly... nyah.”

Something welled up inside me.

Because I knew whose sacrifice allowed us to feel this relief at being alive. He must have wanted to share this happy moment with us, too.

“Rotmiller.”

I enfolded Misha's small hand in mine and gently eased it away before moving toward Rotmiller, who had regained consciousness. I told him the few final words Dwalki had left behind.

“I see. So he...”

After hearing everything, Rotmiller knelt before Dwalki's body and made the holy sign. Then he offered the farewell he alone had not been able to give.

“I remember when you first entered the Labyrinth. You said you thought you were finally beginning to understand what people meant when they said the world was vast.”

It had happened in Pilgrim's Passage on the third floor.

Saying that exploration wasn't all hardship and horror, Rotmiller had led us up a high hill. There, we had looked out together over the vast, silver-tinted wilderness, and Dwalki had been so thrilled and happy that he couldn't sleep that night.

“If only I could have shown you more of that vast world...”

Rotmiller finished simply.

But perhaps the others still had much they wanted to say. Misha and the dwarf knelt as well and poured out everything in their hearts.

I watched from a step away.

It wasn't that I had nothing to say.

But...

“Waaah! I-it's my fault, nyah! I-I! If only I hadn't chosen that door...!”

“No. It was my fault. I told him to trust me, that I would protect him no matter what happened, but I... couldn't keep that promise.”

I wouldn't be much different from those two.

Whatever I said would end in self-reproach. Dwalki certainly wouldn't have wanted to see us like this.

The world we had to live in wasn't kind enough to let us stay down forever.

[BAAAAA!]

Seeing a Vykundurth appear at the far end of the passage, I spoke.

“That's enough, everyone.”

“...”

“An enemy.”

We had to remember, but rise above our grief.

That was about all those left behind could do.

“Behel—raaaaa!!”

All we could do was keep moving forward.

* * *

The battle with the Vykundurth was harder than expected.

The reason was simple.

With only four people left in this vast maze, our stats had plummeted, and our injuries hadn't fully healed yet. Besides, Dwalki had been part of the reason we could kill rank-six monsters so easily in the first place.

“Let's just gather what we need and go back.”

Once the battle was over, we began cleaning up. We collected the equipment scattered across the floor during our desperate struggle—or rather, its remains—then thoroughly searched the priest's robes as well.

All we found was a necklace of unknown purpose.

We couldn't tell whether it was an artifact or merely ornamental. After all, Dwalki had been the only one among us who could sense the mana imbued in objects.

“There doesn't seem to be much here, either.”

We also looted the middle-aged Scout who had been caught in the fighting and died early on, but found nothing noteworthy.

Well, that bastard probably kept everything worthwhile in his subspace storage.

“... We'll send it all where you wanted it to go.”

A single staff and the Expanded Backpack he had carried. We could have sold his boots and robes for money too, but we left those untouched.

“I'll carry Dwalki.”

Afterward, we used the trap room to reach the portal and returned straight to the Sky Tower.

There, we each slumped down to rest. One of us sat before Dwalki, wiping the blood from his body; another leaned against the wall and sobbed.

The peace that had arrived so improbably only drove home the truth.

This was unmistakably real, not a dream.

“Bjorn, is there no way to take Dwalki back to the city, nyah?”

“... No.”

“Oh. I see... nyah.”

Reality was that cruel.

He had given his precious life for us, yet we couldn't even bring him back to the city for a funeral.

Because the one who had died was our mage.

Bodies of those who died in the Labyrinth were classified as objects, and without spellbend, taking them outside was impossible.

That was what made barbarian hearts special.

Something you could bring back to the city without magic? That must have been what caught the mages' attention and prompted them to study barbarian hearts as magical ingredients.

“Misha, you should rest too.”

“I'll stay here a little longer, nyah. Once we leave... he'll be lonely all by himself, won't he, nyah?”

“... All right.”

Leaving that suffocating atmosphere behind, I sat down in a corner and checked the time.

[10 : 31]

A day and a half remained until the Labyrinth closed.

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

'... It hasn't even been an hour.'

I felt utterly insignificant.

I had narrowly escaped death countless times. It felt as though I had fought him for days and nights. Yet even after we'd cleaned everything up and returned, less than an hour had passed.

'Let's just do what needs doing... '

I took out the letter the priest had left behind.

It was a single sheet, grimy and creased, which he must have kept tucked in his robes for many years. Dense writing detailed how the old man had come to be in that situation.

As I read, one passage caught my attention.

'The underground city of Noark.'

It was the name of the place where the Dragonslayer had abducted the old man and his young grandson.

[“It's a drug made by an alchemist in Noark. Take it, and it erases an entire hour of your memory.”]

It was a city that psycho bitch had mentioned before, one I had been unable to find any information about no matter how hard I searched the library.

So there really was something like that beneath the sewers.

'Could that woman be a member of Orculus, too?'

With that thought, I continued reading.

Besides revealing that the underground city of Noark and Orculus were working together, the old man's letter contained one more startling piece of information.

'... To think there's a portal there, too.'

The very foundation that sustained the city of Raphdonia—a portal connected to the Labyrinth—also existed underground.

That was how the underground explorers had accomplished the incredible feat of concealing their identities, mining magic crystals, and building a city with the proceeds.

'Noark.'

I etched the name into my mind. I had a strong conviction that I would become entangled with that place in the future.

'I'll investigate it further once we get out.'

With that final thought, I tucked the letter back into my robes.

Having read its contents, I didn't think delivering it would bring me any harm.

Wasn't there a saying that the enemy of your enemy was your friend?

Anyway, that was all for this matter for now.

“...”

I let out a long breath and closed my eyes.

I desperately needed rest, but all manner of stray thoughts kept surfacing and fading, tormenting me.

What was I supposed to do now?

Now that I had made such an absurdly powerful enemy, even the city couldn't guarantee my safety. He might also bring his companions to attack me in the Labyrinth.

'Fuck.'

Was that why?

I found myself regretting once again that he had escaped alive. If the priest had just healed me, I could have finished the bastard myself.

'... What the hell am I thinking?'

I shook my head, casting aside those lingering regrets.

The world didn't work the way you wanted it to.

He probably hadn't had a choice either.

That evil god had been the same in the game. He accepted payment and granted wishes, but never gave you the best possible outcome. Like a monkey's paw that granted misfortune along with your wish.

A being who always gave hope and despair together.

'... Somehow, this bastard keeps getting tangled up with me, too.'

Adding the evil god Carui to my list of things to investigate, I cleared my mind.

It was time I got some rest myself. This place was safer than the city, and I had plenty to do once I got out.

“...”

After wiping myself down with a damp towel, I spread out my sleeping bag and lay inside it.

It was strange.

Despite having stayed awake for nearly two days and fought so desperately, I couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

* * *

「The Labyrinth has closed.」

「Your character is being transported to Raphdonia.」

* * *

Sunlight pricked at my eyelids.

Without time to savor it, I passed through the checkpoint and exchanged my magic crystals for money. Then I headed to our agreed meeting place.

The Explorer Guild branch nearest the Dimensional Plaza. When I arrived, a crowd of people looking much like me stood outside.

“...”

An unnatural silence hung over the gathering of dozens.

Everyone wore a solemn expression as they waited for their companions to arrive.

Of course they did. There was only one reason to come here first after returning to the city, without even washing up.

The death of a companion.

“Everyone's here. Let's go in.”

Once all our companions had arrived, we entered the guild. We reported Dwalki's death and handed over all the equipment we had recovered, along with his backpack.

“... The deceased had good companions.”

The employee gave us an odd look.

I supposed it wasn't common. Unlike property in the city, this was something you could pocket without any repercussions. Most people probably just reported the death and left it at that.

But...

“The death report for Leor Wuerv Dwalki, royally certified grade-eight mage, has been processed.”

I felt no regret over giving it up.

After all, we knew what he had written in his will before first entering the Labyrinth.

[“Haha, a will. It really makes me feel like I've become an explorer.”]

[“Write whatever you like, but make sure you specify who inherits your property. Otherwise, it all goes to the Explorer Guild.”]

[“Don't worry about that. I've already decided.”]

He had wanted to donate his estate to an orphanage run by a temple.

I hadn't learned the details until yesterday. According to the dwarf, he had been left there as a child and lived there for a short while, apparently.

His property had to be used where he wanted it used.

We had already received something beyond compare.

“So it's really over... Well, let's go.”

At any rate, our first task upon returning to the city—reporting Dwalki's death—was done.

It had been astonishingly simple.

One minute to fill out the paperwork, two minutes for the employee to review it. A mere three minutes were enough to put an end to the twenty-five years of life one man had carried.

'I suppose that's how commonplace death is in this world.'

Leaving that bitterness behind, I walked out of the guild and headed for the great temple of the Followers of Leatlas.

It was the only way I could repay the kindness of the dead who had already departed.

“You can go back and rest.”

“How could we? He saved our lives.”

“I... I'm coming too, nyah. I rested enough inside... nyah.”

Misha had spent the whole day crying rather than resting, but I said nothing. She clearly wouldn't get any proper rest even if she went back to her lodgings.

“...”

We all headed for our destination together.

Before long, a pure white building appeared, seemingly untouched by the world's grime, and we went inside.

When an apprentice priest asked whether we had come for healing, I considered how to answer before saying that we had come at High Priest Ludwig's request.

“H-High Priest Ludwig...?”

Perhaps it never occurred to the young-faced priest that anyone would dare lie in a god's dwelling. Wide-eyed, the priest immediately ran inside to deliver the news.

And then...

“It has been some time.”

As we stood waiting, a familiar face came out to greet us.

Paul Crovits, Commander of the Third Paladin Order.

“I understand you've come at the request of High Priest Ludwig, who disappeared several years ago. Might you have anything that could serve as proof?”

He asked politely, adding that this was an extremely sensitive matter for their faith and asking for our understanding.

Apparently, the reward posted throughout the city had led to several incidents that had caused them considerable trouble.

“Reward?”

“Yes. It is such a large sum that some have approached us with dishonest intentions.”

I hadn't come for a reward.

But having received an enormous reward for taking down that bitch Elisa before, I couldn't help asking.

“Just how much money are we talking about?”

Misha jabbed me in the side, giving me a pointed look at the mercenary question. The dwarf was no different.

“Even for you, that's a bit much.”

Rotmiller, who was not only an explorer but a follower of Leatlas as well, didn't look particularly pleased either.

Crovits, however, spoke without betraying any reaction.

And then...

“The amount varies depending on the information provided and whether any sacred relics are present, but...”

“But?”

“I believe the Treasury has offered up to seventy million Stones.”

At his answer, everyone froze.