Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Protected Things, Broken Things

“Hey, hey, over here——”

Lea reached out with both arms, taunting the enemy.

The foe in question was an enormous grizzly bear. However, this beast had three arms on each side of its body, for a total of six.

Each arm seemed to operate autonomously, attacking independently of the others.

Each attack was, however, skillfully avoided; at times Lea dodged by a hair’s breadth, other times she raised her dagger to deflect the blow.

The monster roared, frustrated at its inability to catch its prey. It kicked off the ground and charged her, seemingly intending to crash directly into her.

Lea threw herself to the ground an instant before the collision was to occur, narrowly evading the attack.

Its momentum propelling itself forward, the bear flew forward into a wide, empty s.p.a.ce – where two others were waiting.

“I leave it to you, Sera~” Lea called out cheerily, as Serafina revealed a Divine Pearl and began to focus.

——In the next instant, the bear fell to the ground in an exaggerated manner.

That made things easy. Dispatching an immobile foe was beyond trivial.

“AmnisBlue Water Pike!”

Stefan called forth his weapon, piercing straight through the beast’s skull in a single stroke. Its ma.s.sive body gave one final convulsion before ceasing movement.

“The beast is dead; nice! Good job you two——” Lea declared as she walked over to the other two.

She was covered from head to toe in sc.r.a.pes and bruises, but showed no sign of any major injuries.

Giving the bear’s corpse a quick glance, she frowned.

“…Ew, that’s disgusting – its head’s completely split open.”

“That’s what a celestial Dragon Fang weapon’s like.”

A legendary weapon capable of slaying even the G.o.ds. Its destructive potential was simply incomparable.

“Even so, those things have a mind of their own, right? For it to work so hard on your behalf, it must be quite fond of you, you know?”

“…”

Stefan turned his gaze to the spear in his hand. That was a thought that had never before occurred to him.

Now she mentioned it, he realized that if he left the Oath Legions, he’d lose this gift from the “s.h.i.+nki who Supports the Sky.”

——He’d feel rather lonely in that case.

The three were currently investigating the depth to which the phenomenon had taken effect.

Their journey so far had been surprisingly smooth.

The three’s skills synergized quite well in combat.

Even if the appearance of Void Beasts had defied what had previously pa.s.sed for common knowledge, they nonetheless had no difficulty dealing with these beasts. Small Void Beasts such as poisonous insects were quickly burned to ash by Serafina’s Orisons. Larger Beasts such as the bear just now were handled in the same manner they’d used to slay the one just now: Lea acted as bait, Serafina sealed its movements, and Stefan dealt the killing blow.

Lea’s acrobatic ability was simply stunning, and Stefan felt sincere admiration for Serafina’s deft command of Orisons.

The Orison she’d just employed to get the bear to fall over had been an illusionary magic. For a beast which relied on its sight as it had, s.h.i.+fting the angle of its vision by 90 degrees had been more than enough to cause it to lose its balance. Comparing this technique to a more direct – and forceful – approach, not only was this method far more sparing of divine energy, in certain situations, it might prove far more effective.

——Getting this cleric of few words to explain as much, however, was another matter. Even with Lea’s help, it had taken no small amount of time.

(…A cleric, huh.)

Stefan was suddenly reminded of another young cleric girl. He’d heard that she’d recently attained third-rank qualifications.

The time they’d been able to spend with one another as adventurers was pathetically small… Perhaps that might yet change in the future.

The lost adventurers had already begun to find their way back to the surface one by one. Their best guess was that the constant rearrangement of the labyrinth had finally opened up paths of escape for them.

Unfortunately, no one knew what had happened to the group he was most concerned about.

“This is the last floor. Yeah, we’ve sure seen a lot,” Lea commented as she opened a map.

The lines and words on the map were incredibly messy; Stefan could hardly believe she was able to piece anything together from that mishmash of scribbles.

“…Lea, please explain.”

Seeing Stefan’s expression, Serafina came to his a.s.sistance.

“Right, right. ——Because the labyrinth’s layout is in constant flux, I’ve long since given up on trying to map it out. Instead, I’ve been tracing out our path and trying to figure out the rules that guide the changes. This is what I’ve found.”

Flipping over her notes, she continued.

“This phenomenon takes effect in a portion of the labyrinth – roughly the first through the thirtieth floors – and divides up the entire area into smaller regions which are then rearranged. Everything – roads, rooms, even stairways – is affected.”

“And the cause?”

“Unknown,” Lea answered.

“There are several noticeable tendencies, however. First of all, the effect is focused. Look around us: this thirtieth floor is almost unchanged. The epicenter is above us; I’d estimate the third or fourth through the seventh floors.”

“I see.”

This info had already been pa.s.sed on to headquarters. It was likely that even now they were focusing their efforts on investigating the specified area.

“Here’s where the situation changes. Look, we’re currently on the thirtieth floor, right? That makes the next floor down the 31st; I went ahead and checked it just now.”

Stefan and Serafina nodded.

The 31st through 35th floors were special. Rather than five separate floors with ceilings and floors, they were instead comprised of a ma.s.sive stone pillar stretching the span. It would be impossible to mistake it for anything else.

“Well, that’s where the problem appears. If this is the thirtieth floor, how many sets of stairs did it take to get here?”

“Is it not thirty?” Stefan asked with a frown.

Counting the first stairway in from the entrance, it should take thirty sets of stairs to reach the thirtieth floor.

“That’s what you’d think, right? The problem is I’ve counted – and there are only 29.”

“I never noticed…” Serafina whispered.

“So what you’re telling us is that there’s a floor missing?”

“Exactly.”

Lea nodded in confirmation.

“Given that, the next question then is, ‘Which floor is missing?’ The most obvious suspect would be one of the floors that form the epicenter, namely the third through seventh floors. It’s quite likely that one of those floors has become isolated. Moreover, because we haven’t noticed any extra sets of stairs, it’s likely that s.p.a.ce itself has become distorted.”

“There’s a possibility that… some missing persons are trapped within.”

“…”

Missing persons, was it?

“If we can find that missing stairway or perhaps a teleportation device of some sort——”

“We’ll break the floor.”

“…Huh?”

Lea’s mouth hung open in shock. Serafina blinked in surprise.

“That is both the simplest and most efficacious method. Even if the stairway isn’t present, but from what we’ve seen, the floor itself ought to be where we expect. That being the case, then we should be able to reach it from above. We can’t not reach it. Rather than wasting our time on what could be exploring in vain, this way is far faster.”

“Wait just a——”

“First things first, we need to see how big a hole we can open up with Orisons and offensive-type Reliquia. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just have to have people dig a——”

“Wait, wait, wait. Stefan, you need to calm down, alright? Are you trying to destroy the labyrinth?”

“It’s nothing major; we’re just digging a hole in the ground, after all. I’m already calm.”

“…I’m happy to hear that, but please calm down more than you already are.”

Lea waited for a moment before continuing.

“First of all, even if you did that, you’d have no guarantee of actually breaking through to the target area. This is the labyrinth, you know? We have no idea what the structure between floors is like.”

“…”

“Furthermore, even if you did succeed in making a hole to the next floor, it’s possible that the act of excavation could cause a cave-in right above the very people we’re trying to save. Worst-case scenario? We cause the entire floor to collapse.”

“…”

The rational part of Stefan’s mind echoed her words.

“I never would have guessed that you’d simply act without thinking like that… You seem rather anxious?”

“Is that how I look?”

Lea and Serafina nodded in unison.

“…I hadn’t noticed myself. That said, my sense of things more often than not differs from others; I’m very aware.”

“Losing your calm while maintaining a poker face like that can’t be good for you. Anyway, I have an idea. Let’s head back to the surface and then investigate more carefully this time.”

“…”

Serafina seemed to be in agreement.

“There’s no need to worry. Your sister’s an amazing adventurer, right? Don’t worry – she’s definitely okay.”

“…?”

Stefan frowned at Lea.

“Hmm? Oh, your sister? I heard about it from Leader.”

“That’s not what I was wondering about. ——I hadn’t said once that I was ‘worried about my sister.’ Why would you think that?”

This time it was Lea’s turn to furrow her brows.

“Are you some kind of idiot or something?”

“…What do you mean?”

“No, never mind. Sorry.”

Lea sighed. She looked utterly flabbergasted.

“Anyway, what do you think about my proposal? I think we can get at least gather the latest intel that way.”

“…Alright.”

“I understand. Then let’s head back for the time being.”

The three returned to the stairway up.

Their journey was without incident, and they only encountered a handful of Void Beasts.

“…I don’t think I’m worried,” Stefan murmured as they walked.

Lea looked over.

“About your sister? Wait, don’t tell me you’ve been thinking about that this entire time?”

“I once had a goal. For that purpose, I trained endlessly and became an adventurer. However, my goal, that which I sought after… everything’s lost its meaning.”

Lea and Serafina didn’t speak.

“That girl – she is all that remains of my hopes.”

The pain and sorrow that came from losing someone precious. She was his family, the only person he could share this with.

“I think the reason I’m so concerned about her is because if I lost her as well, then nothing I’ve ever done would have any meaning. That’s why I don’t think ‘worried’ is the right word. I just… want to save her, for my own sake.”

Stefan was no more talking to them than he was to himself. As he spoke, those uncertain feelings that had long lingered in his heart slowly grew clearer.

So when Lea spoke up, he was somewhat surprised.

“That’s what we call ‘worrying.'”

“…”

“Reasons might vary, but that feeling of wanting to help someone else doesn’t change, right? That’s what we mean by ‘worrying.’ ——Regardless of the reason, the desire to be of service to someone else has a worth all of its own. There’s no need to overthink things to this degree.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, just so. I said it, so it can’t be wrong. ——But seriously, here I am speaking such deep and profound truths and your expression seriously hasn’t so much as twitched. Do you not think anything of what I said?”

It wasn’t that he didn’t, but rather that he didn’t know what expression he should be wearing right now.

So he asked.

“Can I ask why you two are doing something like this?”

“What’re you referring to?”

“Does drawing maps make you happy?”

“Ah…”

Lea considered his question for a moment before finally answering.

“Rather than happy… I should say that I want to leave something behind. There’s nothing wrong with people’s memories, but if everyone that knew you pa.s.sed on, then wouldn’t any trace of your existence be gone? That thought makes me lonely. Although I draw maps because they’re a necessity, the truth is that I also write stories and plays.”

“And you, Serafina?”

“I, um, I was… dragged into this by Lea…”

“Once this girl starts writing, she becomes a real chatterbox. It’s a sight to see, let me tell you,” Lea retorted.

“Our guides to the labyrinth are all written by her, I’ll have you know. She’s even written some romance novels recently!”

“L-Lea, t-that…”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. When we get back to the surface, you should give Stefan a copy. I’ll tell you now – her book’s pretty popular right now, you know?”

Suddenly Lea froze.

A strangely serious expression took hold of this bubbly girl.

“…You have to be kidding me. What the h.e.l.l are you thinking——” Lea muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

“What’s the matter? Is something wrong——”

“Stefan! Over here! Get down!”

Just as Lea screamed warning, a loud roar sounded as the labyrinth shuddered violently, throwing Stefan into the air.

——She was ready for death.

Her ears filled with the sound of falling rocks, and a cloud of dust obscured her vision.

Originally, she’d been on the floor, but now she was thrown about in mid-air, like a leaf flitting about at the mercy of a whirlwind.

——Just how many times had it shook?

As her consciousness returned, she noted that her surroundings had fallen silent.

“Ow…”

Franka struggled to rise, enduring the pain that shot through her body as she did so.

What had happened? She struggled to pull her thoughts together, and slowly the memory came to her.

An intense, forceful shaking had savaged the area their party had been in, throwing them off their feet. She hadn’t had the luxury of worrying about others while the incident was ongoing.

The walls had broken, turning to rubble which had fallen all around them. She’d been struck… and that was all that she remembered.

From the looks of it, she hadn’t been out long. The dust from the cave-in still filled the air, making it hard to see.

Franka leaned against the wall for support, and, using an Orison, created a source of light.

She surveyed around her——

“——”

What she saw left her speechless.

All around her lay broken slabs of rock the size of a full-grown adult, perhaps the remains of what had once been the walls and ceiling of the labyrinth. Had anyone been unfortunate enough to have been trapped beneath one, death had certainly found them.

“Y-Yuuki-san! Master! Anyone——”

“——Franka?”

The voice of a young man answered her call.

“Yuuki-san! Thank goodness… How’s everyone else?”

“I’m not sure. They should be around here——”

Yuuki’s voice faded, as he was unwilling to give voice to other possibilities. Franka mirrored that sentiment.

A small frame slowly rose, coughing.

Franka turned to look, heaving a sigh of relief.

“Kaya-chan… are you okay?”

“I’m alright. Edgar and Selim are over here.”

Franka and Yuuki ran over to look them over.

The two were caught in a narrow crevice formed by two slabs of rock. They’d narrowly avoided being crushed by these enormous slabs of stone – a miracle.

“They’ve just fainted, thank goodness. ——That leaves…”

“Uncle and… Tina,” Yuuki replied in a sober tone.

When the shaking had begun, the two had been walking together, at the front of the group. Because Franka had been caring for Selim’s wound, Tina had been lighting the way in her stead.

Franka and Yuuki extricated the two children from where they rested, and gave them to Kaya to watch over while they went off to explore.

In what might be considered a stroke of luck, they found no sign of the two.

Had they been caught under one of the falling stones, or perhaps——

“…Over there. Quickly, look over there,” Yuuki commented unhappily, pointing.

He was pointing at a wall – one that hadn’t been there before the shaking started.

“On that note, just after the shaking ended, I was struck by the same headache and ringing in my ears as before… In other words, the shaking and the alterations occur one after another. Uncle and Tina have been separated from us, huh?”

Franka looked to Yuuki for direction.

“…The first thing we need to do is get these kids back to the surface. That’s our priority here.”

Yuuki spoke in a dull monotone, stifling the emotions raging within him.

“If we dilly-dally here, then we might just get in a second cave-in. I don’t think Tina or Uncle would forgive us for making such a mistake. We need to go, and quickly.”

“R-Right.”

“I’ll carry Edgar and take the lead. You take Selim and follow me, Franka. Kaya, you help Franka carry her stuff and the lantern. ——You had better stay close.”

Just what had those final words meant? Kaya’s expression stiffened and she nodded strongly.

Their group advanced through the treacherous terrain as one.

By the time they arrived at the summit of the floor, there had already ceased to be any trace of a cave-in. The quaking had been extremely localized.

“…Is there a way out?”

Franka immediately regretted asking. Her anxiety had overcome her, causing her to ask this most meaningless of questions. It went without saying that Yuuki had no more idea than she whether or not such a thing existed.

Strangely, however, he answered.

“I’m looking for the stairway up. If my guess is correct, I think we’ll find it.”

“I-I see. Why——”

Do you know? she had wanted to ask, though she cut herself off mid-sentence. ——Because he’d continued to speak.

“…I can still do better. There has to be a better solution to all of this. That’s what I’ve been telling myself ever since that happened. How many times must this repeat itself? I seriously haven’t improved one bit.”

His words carried within them a profound sense of regret.

Franka didn’t know what she should say in such a situation.

Should she comfort him?

Tell him that it wasn’t his fault?

——No, such words would not salve his torment.

In any event, did she even have the right to do such a thing?

In the end, she decided to hold her silence, sighing at her own weakness, as she continued forward.

“Ah——”

Suddenly, Kaya called out.

A Void Beast had appeared, and it was of a type that made its residence below the tenth floor.

It was an organism that had no a.n.a.logue in the world above. If it had to be described, it might be likened to a tusked rabbit.

However, its size was that comparable to that of a small child and its speed was nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.

“Yuuki-san, I’ll——”

Bind its movement with an Orison, Franka had been about to say, but what she saw left her speechless.

A faint sound, like the puncturing of a bag of water, sounded, and the beast fell to the ground, dead.

Yuuki held Edgar in one arm, his dagger in the other.

From the scene before her, it was obvious that Yuuki was responsible. He’d drawn his dagger and killed the monster, slicing it into quarters.

The terrifying thing was that it had all been done in a literal blink of an eye. Not only had Franka failed to catch the moment when he’d cut the beast, as far as she was concerned, he hadn’t moved at all.

This was far beyond what even Alfred or Stefan were capable of. Never before in her life had she witnessed such exquisite swordsmans.h.i.+p.

——No.

(I’ve seen this once before…)

It was when she’d encountered the legendary Void Dragon and had sunk into the depths of despair.

Just then, both she and her brother had been saved.

“…Let’s go.”

As prompted, their party set off once more.

Weathering the silence for a time, Franka finally resolved herself.

This wasn’t the time to keep quiet. Nor was this the time to worry about either hurting another or being hurt. She didn’t think she could claim to know him thoroughly, but she was at least confident enough to say that this was necessary.

Three times she slowly inhaled and exhaled.

(——Okay.)

She sped up, catching up to him.

“There’s… something I’d like to ask, is that alright with you?”

“…What? Is it really something you need to talk about right now?”

“Yes. It’s very important.”

He offered no more resistance, so Franka took his silence as acceptance.

“So um, I heard from Tina-chan earlier, but… Yuuki-san, there was a girl you were close to before? What kind of person was she?!” Franka gasped out in a single breath.

“——Uu”

“…?”

“Uwahahahahahhahaha! The heck is that?!”

Yuuki burst out laughing.

The wry smile on his face notwithstanding, he’d returned to the Yuuki that Franka knew and was familiar with, all trace of his former gloom gone from his face.

“…Seriously though, that girl just doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. When we get back, I’m going to have to teach her a lesson, maybe make her skip a few meals.”

“P-Please don’t be angry with Tina-chan… U-um…”

“Ah, yeah. There certainly was someone like that. ——Before, I… wasn’t really a good person.”

Yuuki stared off into the distance.

“Truth be told, I was party to some pretty terrible things… At the command of my superiors, I committed numerous sins. That was the kind of place I grew up in. Not once did I question the morality of my actions. Later on, I was granted the opportunity to realize what I had become. ——I was a tool. I was simply being exploited by others, unfit even to be labeled ‘human.'”

“That…”

“I was filled with regret.”

His voice was steady.

“The life I’d lived filled me with a deep, deep sense of regret. Deep within my heart, I thought that I’d pay any price for a second chance. It was then that she took me in. She was such a strange one: proud, resolute in her ideals, and – at times – willful, like a small child. ——She was the one who taught me what it meant to be human.”

“And where is she now?”

“Dead.”

That a single word could contain such immeasurable sorrow.

“To express my grat.i.tude, I told her I’d protect her, but I couldn’t keep that promise. She died because of me.”

“…”

“That’s why now that Tina and Uncle are separated from us, I’m feeling a bit down. If I could just find my way back to their side, I’d protect them. It’s alright, though. I’m feeling better now.”

“…Thank goodness. The look on your face was so strange I was starting to worry.”

“Franka, you——”

“Hmm?”

“…No, never mind. Thank you.”

The bright, carefree smile which usually adorned his face made its return.

Franka thought to herself that perhaps he’d seen through her.

The topic she had just broached was a painful one for him, and so it wasn’t one she’d talk about lightly.

So why had she intentionally raised the issue? She’d wanted to distract him from his worries, even at the cost of risking his anger.

He’d begun to lose himself in a cycle of blame and guilt, a storm of internal strife in which he’d be lost. For that reason, she’d had to draw him “out.”

Franka had noticed something.

The strange recurring phenomenon was the product of someone intentionally targeting their small party.

If that was indeed true, then his battle… was not yet over.

Even if it meant he’d be angry with her, as long as his focus was turned outward, he’d be able to recover. He had to.

And thus Franka had intentionally set out to trample upon the grounds of his heart.

Even if he resented her for it, hated her for it, she preferred that to watching him lose himself in guilt.

——That had been Franka’s thoughts on the matter.

“Stairs!”

Franka raised her head at Kaya’s shout.

The stairway up for which they’d been searching for what seemed an eternity was now before them.

“As I thought.”

Yuuki turned to look at Franka.

“That should lead to the fourth floor. Things should be alright from here on. I’m sure the Oath Legions are even now investigating the situation. You just need to find them, and they’ll get you guys back to the surface. I’m sorry, but——”

“I know. I can handle things from here. Leave the kids to me.”

Franka forced herself to laugh.

Yuuki blinked in surprise, never having expected her to understand so quickly.

“You’re going to save Tina-chan and Uncle, right? I’ll have to leave things to you. The two of them are very important to me.”

“…Yeah, leave it to me.”

“I-I’m going too.”

Kaya made her way to Yuuki’s side, trembling all the while, her head bowed.

Franka wasn’t surprised. She, too, must possess “something.”

The world they lived in and the world she lived in were too different; she didn’t have the qualifications necessary to set foot on that side of things. ——At least for now.

Yuuki walked a few steps and then turned back.

“Franka. Thank you. Really.”

“Oh, um, you’re very welcome…”

Franka couldn’t speak, and instead sent the two off with her eyes, before finally heaving a sigh.

“Now then, it’s just about time to return to our normal lives. Edgar- and Selim-kun seem just about ready to wake——”

Franka frowned.

Several Void Beasts had appeared, the same kind as the tusked rabbit that Yuuki had killed earlier.

It looked like they were planning on having a meal now that the troublesome person had left, or perhaps they were desiring to avenge their fallen comrade.

“My apologies.”

Franka gripped a Divine Pearl as she gave a wry smile.

“——But I’m not going to lose.”

An enormous conflagration enveloped the Void Beasts, turning them to charcoal.

Two had managed to escape the flame’s wrath, however. Her extreme exhaustion had caused her aim to suffer.

“You——!”

The Void Beasts prepared to attack once more. Am I going to make it——?

A gale of wind suddenly blew by.

The twin Void Beasts, preparing to charge their foe, were instead cut into two halves which fell lifelessly to the ground.

Franka turned back, catching sight of a certain person.

Said person held the celestial Dragon Fang weapon AmnisBlue Water Pike in his hands. It was the first-ranked adventurer known as a prodigy, a person most familiar to Franka.

“…Nii-san…”

“Are you hurt?” Stefan asked expressionlessly.

“I’m okay. ——That sure gave me a shock. This is so sudden.”

“…”

“What brings you here? Are you investigating the abnormality?”

“…Yes.”