[LN]Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha Vol 1 Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4

The Labyrinth Of The Moon’s Reflection And Troublesome

Restrictions

I stood in a particularly narrow passageway in the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection, facing two clattering Skeletons blocking my way. Leisurely closing the distance between us, the two Skeletons had raised their arms to strike, now merely a single step away from my being.

My sword, however, had other ideas, cleaving into the Skeletons right before their attacks could land. In the next moment, the two Skeletons had been slashed into neat halves, once more scattering into unidentifiable piles of lifeless bone. Bending over, I searched through their remains, looking for magic crystals. The crystals were small, about the size of my little finger. Placing them in my trusty tool belt’s pouch, I once again set off on my journey through the labyrinth.

A day after placing my order at the Three-Pronged Harpoon, I had set off once more. To where, you ask? Why, there was no other place—

I had to chart the unexplored area where I had first laid eyes upon the Dragon. Even if the Dragon’s presence was now long gone, I had to at least inspect the surroundings. A simple report to the guild would not suffice—they might not even believe me. As such, I decided to go in person—such was my assessment of the situation.

As for my weapon, Clope had handed me a loaner sword instead so that I would have something to use while waiting for my custom piece. He wouldn’t even charge me, he said. The sword in question, while capable of channeling magic and the spirit arts, was apparently incompatible with divinity. But taking everything into consideration, it was a sword of acceptable quality. If anything, it was much better than the weapon I had been using up until now. Plus, its compatibility with magic and the spirit arts meant that I could freely use the relevant techniques without forcing it through the blade. It was a great quality of life improvement.

I was a creature—or perhaps adventurer—of habit, after all. Having placed an order for my new weapon in addition to finishing the rest of my errands, there was only one thing left to do: explore the labyrinth.

With that in mind, I made various preparations, adequately informed Lorraine of my departure, and then duly set off for the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection.

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However—

“Wow, you really saved me there! I had no idea Slimes could move that way... It makes me shiver thinking of what could have happened to me! Ugh!” the person next to me said, walking alongside me as he repeatedly slapped his large hand against my dried, but thankfully robed, shoulder.

He seemed to be a swordsman of some kind, and in his forties. The keyword here being that he seemed to be someone of that nature. The way he moved in his prior battle was problematic at best. I could tell that he didn’t quite have the knack for it, and hardly practiced, either. I had just happened to pass by as he was struggling with defeating a Slime. I couldn’t just leave him to die, now could I?

However, it was standard practice and knowledge amongst adventurers that one was responsible for one’s own self when exploring labyrinths. Other adventurers were not necessarily obligated to help their compatriots, even if said person was in a life-or-death situation. In fact, if an adventurer were to die while exploring a labyrinth, their fate would merely be chalked up as a result of their inherent weakness and lack of strategy—at least, that was public opinion on such affairs.

With that being said, though, adventurers were also human. Just as there were humans who harbored ill-intent, there were adventurers who desired to do good, and it was not strange for the latter group to rescue individuals in trouble. But such decisions had to be made quickly, as many a life had been lost to a ponderous potential rescuer taking too long to decide if they should come to the unfortunate victim’s rescue...or not.

Adventuring wisdom dictated that one was to focus one’s efforts on self-defense, and to only help others if they could afford to do so. Such was, realistically speaking, the correct choice—adventurers should seek to avoid getting themselves into disadvantageous positions. For instance, if one were to heroically come between a monster and its victim, defending the latter with one’s life, then it would be all too tragic, but common, for the victim to stab their rescuer in the back. Said victim would then kill both the weakened monster and their wounded rescuer before making off with the equipment and possessions of the latter. It was quite unfortunate that such immoral adventurers existed in these lands.

In addition, evidence was hard to collect in these instances, mainly owing to the fact that labyrinths seemed to be self-cleaning, for some unknown reason or another. Scattered pieces of viscera and other body parts were all but absorbed when the next monster reappeared in its slain counterpart’s place, leaving no trace of the previous one’s grisly fate.

With all that said and done, one could possibly understand why adventurers mostly remained responsible for themselves. If anything, they had to be constantly wary and on guard, as it was by no means a safe job. But I made the choice to step in, all the while being painfully aware of the aforementioned facts.

While I would not have taken on something that was beyond me, I would also not come to the aid of adventurers with evident ill intent. I would, however, intervene in cases where none of those factors were true. Perhaps this was because of my relatively positive alignment in life, and the fact that this was probably the only way I could exhibit my humanity. After all, if I had left someone to die in cold blood in the form I was currently in, would I be any different from a typical monster?

Not offering aid to a person who might lose their life, living for its own desires, keeping an inhuman existence—these lifeforms were what humans referred to as “monsters.” This was exactly why I could not leave this adventurer to his fate.

But as previously mentioned, I did not see a need to help each and every single adventurer. In cases like this, where I could easily offer my aid and yet not be exposed to much danger, following my positive alignment in life wouldn’t bring about too much trouble—so that’s why I did what I had done.

With that being said, however, I now felt that it would have been acceptable for me to have abandoned him to his fate. This was due to the fact that he had decided to stick by my side instead of returning to the surface where it was safe. Maybe it was because he was in awe of my power—or was it for a different reason? While I could not exactly guess his intentions, I could be sure of one thing: this man was very annoying.

I was currently headed to the uncharted area where I had first encountered the Dragon. If he continued to stay with me, he would surely get in the way, and perhaps even endanger his own life if danger reared its head. Frankly speaking, I should be saying something about this, but instead I found myself somewhat at a loss for words—such was the situation I was currently in.

I was not exactly trying to endear myself to other adventurers with my charity—there was no one else here to witness such an act, after all. To make things worse, if I had simply told him to go away on account of him being a bother, he probably wouldn’t take me seriously. While I had been attempting to dismiss him from quite a while ago, even using a stronger tone of voice, there appeared to have been little effect. I eventually realized that words alone would not get rid of this man.

“Why... Are you. Following me?”

Deciding that I had had enough, I looked at the man, finally posing my blunt question. With that, however, the noisy chatterbox of a man suddenly sank into an uncharacteristic

silence.

“...Because you’re strong, yeah?” It was almost as if the words were being forced out of him.

It would seem like I had hit the nail on the head. Not exactly behavior worthy of praise. There was no denying that such a choice was open for adventurers on the weaker side of the spectrum, but I could empathize to some extent.

Most adventurers would choose to leave him behind, though. For starters, this particular labyrinth—the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection—hosted monsters that were mainly oriented towards weaker adventurers. In other words, he did not have to follow me to stay alive, as the situation was nowhere near being that dire. In fact, the relative weakness of this labyrinth meant that adventuring with someone else would result in a decrease of one’s overall profits. It was a strange thing, indeed.

As if sensing my apprehension, the man offered an explanation, albeit in a tone that suggested his hand was forced: “I really need the money, see. I need three gold coins by the end of this week... If not, they’ll take my store and everything in it...!”

Deciding to inquire further, I pressed the man for more details. It would seem that he was the proprietor of a small restaurant, but said restaurant had fallen on hard times as the years went by. Eventually falling into debt by borrowing money at aggressive rates, the man had fallen into decrepit poverty. The restaurant would be repossessed if he didn’t pay an installment of three gold coins, or alternatively, pay off his debt of 50 gold coins by the end of the week. With no ideas on how to quickly earn large amounts of coin, the man had turned to adventuring instead, convinced that it would earn him what he needed.

With so little time, the method was reckless at best. While it was not impossible to earn said amount in such a short time, it would be very, very difficult indeed. After all, even considerably more skilled adventurers would take about five days to earn 50 gold coins. This man, however, lacked such skills—and he himself was aware of this.

And so, this would be the reason why he’d been sticking with me all this time.

“... If. You want to... Do that. You would be... At the New Moon. Not... Here. Right?”

There was one other labyrinth near the town of Maalt—a large-scale labyrinth, commonly referred to as the Labyrinth of the New Moon. Compared to the Moon’s Reflection, many different types of monsters inhabited its halls. A skilled adventurer with a higher rank than me, who was Bronze-class, would probably be able to make such earnings there. If, say, a skilled Silver-class adventurer put in some effort in the New Moon, 50 gold coins was not as unrealistic as it sounded.

It mattered little if I allowed him to follow me, or if he was following me of his own will

—both posed notable problems. If we came across a stronger monster, he might lose his life in a split second, owing to the fact that he was not very skilled in the first place.

With that in mind, I came to the conclusion that this man was not exactly making the best decisions since the odds were greatly stacked against him. With some concern, I expressed my observations to the man.

“I said I would do it, you know... Earn all that coin. I can’t believe I’ll have to go back empty-handed...”

It would seem like all the strength and bluster had left his words. Perhaps that was to be expected. A companion who was unskilled was nothing more than a hindrance in a place as unforgiving as the labyrinth, after all. Even if they were to be tasked with carrying items and equipment, they would at least need to have the ability to escape and return to the surface in the event of any emergencies. As such, this man, who could not even escape from a Slime, was hardly suited for adventuring.

I, too, made such a judgment of him: he was of no use to me.

“... I’m... Sorry. But... I am. Busy. I don’t... Have time. To play around... With... You.”

Although I would have entertained him if I had the capacity, I already had enough problems of my own currently. While I was much stronger than I was in life, I was probably still only in the upper Bronze-class regions in terms of strength and capability. To expect me to earn 50 gold coins in this state—

Impossible.

While adventurers did receive a considerable sum for their rewards, said sum scaled with their rank, so lower-ranked adventurers did not exactly get paid extravagant amounts. Unless some special circumstance or windfall were to transpire, low-ranked adventurers could not even begin to hope for that amount of coin.

Special circumstances...

Come to think of it, I actually did have something in mind—as a matter of fact, that was why I was here in the first place.

I was not referring to me having become an undead. Maybe one would be paid 50 gold coins for tipping me off to the guild, but that would bring about all sorts of trouble for me. The special circumstance in question was not me becoming an undead, but the place in which I had become one.

Yes—I had discovered a previously uncharted area of the labyrinth.

This was valuable information, and the guild would surely pay a great sum to anyone who provided them with it. But there was no guarantee that this great sum would be 50 gold coins. However, I suppose having a positive expectation in mind was not exactly a bad thing. Honestly speaking, I would have greatly preferred to report this myself, but that would prove to be quite difficult given my current physical form.

As such, I had to depend on someone else to deliver this information—of course, I originally intended to ask Lorraine for help either way. There probably wouldn’t be much harm in me asking this man for help.

In that case, though, the discovery of the uncharted section would be attributed to this man. If it was revealed that I had known about it earlier but did not report this information to the guild, there would surely be many inconvenient questions I would have to answer. I was already in enough trouble as-is, so somehow attracting more trouble was the last thing I wanted to do. In addition, a normal-looking person providing this information would probably be more readily believed by the guild—I did, after all, look somewhat suspicious.

Perhaps it was not such a bad thing, given that this was for the benefit of adventurers who would eventually chance upon this uncharted sector. Although my being unable to receive a reward was a pity, I would probably earn back 50 gold coins over a reasonable period of time. Of course, that had been impossible for me in life, but in my current form, it did not seem all that impossible anymore.

This is the conclusion I came to.

This was why I found it acceptable to give up on the riches before me—it was for the best.

With that conclusion in mind, I turned to the dejected man, informing him of the good news. “I... Guess. You can... Come along. After all. You... Can. Carry my... Things. Right?”

“Eh...?” The man, considerably surprised, quickly followed behind me.

“H-hey! Wait! Are you sure? I can follow you?”

“Y... Yes.”

The man had an expression of disbelief—perhaps he did not think it possible that I would allow such a thing.

While he seemed to be driven to begging out of necessity, it would seem like he was not a bad person at heart. Of course, he could be lying and all of this could be some sort of scheme, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it. But with that being said, I was not exactly doing this out of the kindness of my heart—this was yet another action I was

undertaking as proof of my humanity.

As to why that was necessary... Ever since becoming a Ghoul, I had found myself occasionally filled with a deep sense of unease. I was unsure of how to describe it—a strange feeling from time to time, perhaps. This was why I had decided to help as many people as possible. Perhaps then I would not forget about who I really was, when all was said and done.

If I did end up losing my sense of self, everything would end then and there. I could not accept that—I could not accept it at all.

With those thoughts in mind, I set off for the location where I had last met the Dragon. Following closely behind me was my new luggage carrier, a look of apprehension on his face. Did I have a similar expression on mine, as well, in the past?

For one reason or another, those memories now felt far, far away—I could not recall them even if I tried. Come to think of it, not much time had passed, and yet I was forgetting so many things.

But this was a feeling I still knew—that of impending disaster.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Hey... That’s a dead end, right?” the man said, checking his map as he did so.

The map he carried was, of course, a commonly published version sold in the town of Maalt. Maps of labyrinths varied greatly in price, so depending on various factors, a map could cost a small fortune. For example, factors such as the overall difficulty of the labyrinth and the number of floors contained within could easily impact its value. Plus, maps that included information on specific characteristics of a labyrinth, in addition to details of the monsters that lived in certain areas, often came at a premium.

Some maps could go into even deeper detail, with monster repop locations clearly marked, even including tips and other pieces of valuable information from adventurers who had been to those areas. The extreme end of the spectrum would include maps made by dedicated cartographers and other hobbyists, who released increasingly detailed maps to outdo the competition. Past a certain point, though, excessive details become somewhat meaningless. All in all, the more detailed a map was, the higher its price tag. Such a map would be, without a doubt, very useful indeed.

With that being said, the map that the man currently held was a standard, off-the-counter product. While it held details on floors that had already been traversed, it held little, if any, information on other salient points. In other words, it was just a map, and a simple one at that.

Due to that, it would seem like the map he was holding declared my current direction a dead end. Of course, even I knew that, if only because I was holding the same map myself.

There were differences between the two maps, however—more specifically, mine was filled with notes and markings of all kinds. I could even go out on a limb and say that my map had mutated into something else altogether. My past decade of experience was not simply for show, after all. If anything, I probably held the most detailed map of the Moon’s Reflection in the entire town of Maalt. Although I could probably sell the map for a pretty sum of coin, I had every intent of monopolizing this information—I wasn’t about to up and teach it to just any- and everyone.

It was on this very map that I had marked a new, previously undiscovered passageway mere days ago. Of course, that was the area in which the Dragon had appeared.

“...Just... Get. Over here.”

Although the man did not seem convinced at all, he had no choice but to move as I had instructed him to, giving in to my request in the end.

It had become obvious to me as I walked with him that this man had little in the way of combat prowess. Although he was equipped with an average sword that could no doubt do good work, the man himself did not appear to have the skills to use it. If anything, leaving my side in this situation would be extremely dangerous—but it would seem like the man did not have a good sense of danger, either.

Without saying much else to the man, I turned, continuing to advance down the halls of the Moon’s Reflection.

◆◇◆◇◆

“...W-what is this? What? But it’s not on the map!”

Evidently stunned, that was what the man could manage to stammer out as we emerged on the other side of the passageway.

I already knew what the man had to say—I mean, I had felt the same way when I had first discovered the place. In fact, so taken was I by the discovery, I had simply walked straight into the place, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead.

Indeed, it was a very dangerous and foolish thing to do. Under normal circumstances, one would retreat back to Maalt and search for an adequate partner before continuing to explore this unknown area.

Although I was a veteran adventurer, I had an excuse as to why I had acted differently:

if one did not chart the area posthaste, there was a chance that some other adventurer

could deliver a report before them. This was the very reason why I had panicked and walked deep into the uncharted sector back then.

Thinking back on it, though, I realized that few individuals, if any, would even visit this specific location to begin with since it was marked as a dead end. In reality, I had arrived at this location while cornering and hunting monsters, so maybe it wasn’t too big a stretch to say that no one would visit this location on the map.

Plus, I usually adventured alone.

In other words, I didn’t exactly have anyone to drag along with me to this newfound discovery. Lorraine was an option, of course, but she was first and foremost a scholar. I had taught her the basics (and much more) of adventuring, so that, combined with her proficient skill in magic, made her more than capable as a Silver-class adventurer. Her actual field experience in adventuring, however, was still relatively low. Perhaps it was fitting for a scholar, as Lorraine commonly left the gathering of ingredients and other tasks to me.

As of late, it would seem like Lorraine’s research had entered a new, intense stage, with her becoming busier and busier. She had become so busy to the point where she hardly asked for my services. The last factor in all this was most likely due to a bad decision made by me—I had, quite assuredly, assumed that it would be impossible for a large monster to exist at the end of a relatively normal-sized passageway. This was why I had entered alone.

Strong monsters and their ilk commonly gave off a great aura; if one concentrated, one could easily detect it. Although high-class monsters and the like may have skills to conceal their aura, the Moon’s Reflection was not known for stronger monsters to begin with. Even if a special monster of sorts lay in wait for me, I was confident I would have the ability to do something about it. Of course, by that, I did not mean engage with it in combat, but to instead ready a proper plan and route of escape.

With that being said, I had no idea what to expect. I was simply working with the assumption that the chance of such a powerful monster appearing in the relatively more forgiving Moon’s Reflection was somewhat low. One could hardly be considered an adventurer in good capacity if one remained constantly worried of the unknown. But to be fair, I didn’t exactly give the matter much thought at the time, resulting in my encounter with the Dragon.

Thinking back on it, perhaps there really wasn’t much I could have done. In addition to the Dragon not giving off an aura of any kind, my body had refused to move when I attempted to run. It wasn’t exactly an opponent that could be beaten by numbers or simple strategy—even though I was somewhat careful, I had met with it, and that was the end.

Reflecting on the past did me little good—I simply did not have any good information to work with at the time.

I turned my attention back to the present, and to my current foray of returning to the same spot, but I did not feel that anything was amiss here. I couldn’t feel the Dragon’s presence in any shape or form.

Although it could easily appear suddenly as it had in the past, there was nothing I could do about such a possibility. Part of adventuring was learning how to take risks, after all. If something like that really did happen, I could use the man behind me as bait and escape. It would be extremely immoral, yes, but my hand would be forced in such a situation.

Thinking about it logically, if the Dragon had two targets, one of them could possibly make it out alive. Even though the man in question would receive the money he needed if we were successful in our expedition, he had come all this way without knowing anything of the risks involved. I tried to convince myself that this was acceptable, but ultimately failed to do so. This was a terrible thing to do. But there was nothing much to be done about it now.

“...Let me. Walk... Ahead.”

At the very least, the man had not rushed off on his own. If he stayed behind me, his chances of survival would at least increase somewhat. If a Dragon had appeared before him like it did during my previous exploration of the sector, it would all be over. With me walking ahead, he would probably have some distance to work with.

I advanced along the path, creeping along at an overly cautious and slow pace. The passageway was not very different from the ones that we had been walking along all this time. It appeared to be populated by the likes of Skeletons, Goblins, and Slimes—none of which gave me much trouble.

Though the man had tried to assist me in combat, it was clear that he lacked any sort of skill in that department. I suppose people truly did make impulse decisions out of curiosity or necessity. Maybe he could have trained to become an adequately skilled adventurer in time, but this man’s time was up in a few days. Even I could not train him up in such a short amount of time. The man should give up adventuring—and that would settle it.

However, with his shocking lack of skill, the guild would probably not be so willing to believe that he had discovered and charted an unknown sector. As such, I decided to impart unto him some basic skills, as well as knowledge on escaping from monsters. If he knew that much, the possibility of him reaching this area would not be too far-fetched; it would at least be somewhat possible. This was a relatively lower-leveled labyrinth in the first place.

Continuing to progress down the path, we reached it at last—an open, cavernous space, stretching out from beyond the end of the passageway.

The place where I had met the Dragon, and the very same place in which I had turned into a Skeleton.

◆◇◆◇◆

“A dead...end? Seriously?”

Breaking away from my slow but cautious advance, the man left me behind, walking into the middle of the cavern. After looking around at his surroundings from the middle of the chamber, that was apparently all the man had to say.

It was as he said: the cavern really did appear to be a dead end of sorts. A disappointing discovery, if nothing else—to think that, after all this time, this previously undiscovered sector had nothing to show for its mystique other than an empty chamber.

Perhaps it was typical for a human being to feel like there should be something at the end of the tunnel—maybe a treasure of sorts, or even a monster of some kind. In many ways, though, it was safe to assume that whatever had been here at some point in the past was now gone.

Basically, that would be none other than the Dragon I had encountered.

If that were indeed the case, then all that was left here would certainly be nothing more than a large, empty space. It was somewhat...lonely.

The man circled the chamber, as if to check for a forgotten detail or something. As if on cue, his voice soon rang across the chamber.

“...Hey! There’s a gap here!” the man said, with newfound vigor.

Deciding to affirm his discovery, I walked forward, pausing to inspect said gap. Sure enough, a hole was present, in addition to a small but constant breeze steadily streaming out of the dark crevice. It seemed that his discovery was sound, as something appeared to lie beyond this hole in the wall.

With that in mind, I placed my hands on the cold, damp walls, feeling for any suspicious mechanisms. It did not take me long to find something fitting that exact description—a depression of sorts, which I immediately pressed down upon. With an audible click, part of the wall slowly slid up, exposing a new path.

“A... Hidden. Pass... Passage.”

“Oh... Yeah, seems like it. Really, though? Wow... If you report this uncharted path and hidden passageway to the guild... Wouldn’t you be rewarded pretty generously?”

The possibility was undeniable. Thinking that I had solved the man’s debt problems, as well, I turned to face him, only to find him nervously shaking his head.

“No, no! Of course, I understand that you found it first! I’m just following you, and I can’t fight any monsters, after all. I won’t say anything, not a thing at all, about how we found it together...” Still shaking his head, the man continued his self-deprecating monologue.

I had assumed that the man would at least ask for a small cut of the profits, having come all this way with me. So it was somewhat unexpected for him to say that. Although a large sum of gold would indeed be useful to me, I couldn’t exactly spend it anywhere I wanted, especially given my current appearance. But it wouldn’t be a bad thing if I were to simply earn a large sum here and now, slowly spending it as the days passed.

Perhaps I was being a little too charitable; but then again, it was impossible for me to report my findings to the guild.

“I... Have no... Interest. In the... Reward. Better... For. You to... Take the. Reward. More... Importantly.”

The path stretched on, leading into the darkness. I found myself more drawn to what lay beyond this hidden door, and I set foot through it, not stopping for a second to hear the man’s response to my statement.

◆◇◆◇◆

The hallways beyond the hidden doorway did not differ much from the typical scenery of the Moon’s Reflection.

While the strength of its monstrous inhabitants increased, they were hardly noteworthy, being Slime subspecies and the like. Specifically, they were called Poison Slimes. In addition, some Soldier Skeletons were wandering about, their bony appendages equipped with cheap-looking swords and battered equipment. Although I wasn’t at a level where I could ignore them altogether, they were opponents I could safely fight and defeat, as they were by no means challenging.

This particular passageway quickly proved to be shorter than the previous one, and we soon found ourselves in yet another open space. Somewhat concerned about the Dragon’s reappearance, I advanced slowly and carefully, but apparently my concern didn’t amount to much.

The chamber, while not exactly empty, did not seem to hold anything in its depths—

save for one sight. In the middle of the chamber was what appeared to be a magic circle of sorts, made up of various lines and shapes carved into the ground. Yet another rare sighting—but even still, they were common enough for adventurers to know of their existence.

These magic circles commonly functioned as teleportation devices, and they were usually found in the deeper areas of a labyrinth. A party would typically be unable to progress unless they found some way to utilize said magic circle. If anything, there was a possibility that the magic circle here, too, was one such device, but this was the first time I had seen one in person.

The man, stepping into the open space, craned his neck, looking around the chamber once more.

“...Really? There’s nothing here, too. Is there another hidden path somewhere?”

The man seemed to have completely failed at noticing the existence of the magic circle in the middle of the chamber.

“...You...?”

Looking down at the circle to give him a hint, the man only looked at me with a puzzled expression, brushing off my hint. As if not understanding my concern, the man merely shook his head, continuing to stand where he did.

“...Something happen?”

That was, apparently, all he had to say.

Judging from his words, it would seem like the man was incapable of perceiving the circle. I didn’t know how to put it into words—was it a magic circle that only I could see? If this man could not see it, what about other adventurers?

But of course, I had no way of knowing. It would perhaps be too reckless a thing to simply jump into the magic circle without knowing what it did.

Thinking so, I raised my head, only to see the man approach me, as if to discuss some topic or other. Before I could stop him, the man had placed a single foot into the outer rims of the circle, stepping into the very device I had been attempting to caution him about.

“Ah...”

In the next second, the man was enveloped in a bright light, before promptly disappearing into thin air.

I was immediately filled with a deep sense of regret. I probably should have stepped on the circle before he did, or at least warned him of its existence. Alas, there was not much to be done about it now.

I should instead be thinking about the next step—

What should I do?

There was a silver lining, though—with the man’s disappearance, I understood that the magic circle was indeed a teleportation device of sorts. He was probably unharmed, just whisked away to another part of the labyrinth.

Teleportation circles—magic circles that were created for the express purpose of navigating a labyrinth. It was truly a special type of magic. For example, it was not uncommon to find circles on the fifth and tenth floors of a large labyrinth consisting of dozens of floors. Unfortunately, these circles could not be crafted by the hands of man.

Similar attempts at recreating magic circles were attempted by scholars and the like to little effect—the circles just did not work at all. Research had revealed that the composition and writing used in said circles were completely different than those used by humans, so it was seemingly difficult to gain any sort of useful information from them. While many researchers had tried their hands at replicating this specific sort of magic circle, they had not succeeded to date—and that was just how it was.

In other words, such magic circles were a special feature of the labyrinth. Due to not being a professional of any kind, I couldn’t exactly conduct research to discover where it would warp me to.

I had but one option: to step in the circle and see where it would take me.

I did have two choices originally, though—I could simply follow after the man, or I give up and return to Maalt. From a cautious point of view, giving up and returning to town would be the more correct option. After all, if the magic circle had warped me away to some faraway place with no means of return, it would be quite the dire situation indeed.

—But I couldn’t just leave him to die.

It was my fault in the first place for not warning him that there was a magic circle there; even if he could not perceive it, I could. Leaving him to his current fate would leave a bad taste in my mouth. In addition, there wasn’t necessarily no way to return from beyond the magic circle.

Thinking of the information that I had gleaned of such circles, I recalled that they usually came in pairs, mainly to enable two-way warping. My unfortunate companion, however, did not have such knowledge. This was a logical assumption considering that he

hardly knew anything about adventuring to begin with.

It would be silly to think that he would somehow know how magic circles worked, or what they even were. On top of that, the circle was invisible to him—with all those factors in mind, I concluded that I couldn’t expect the man to simply step through the other circle and return to me.

“...Damn... It...” The more I thought about it, the more agitated I became.

I had to make up my mind one way or another. I would be unable to sleep at night, knowing I had abandoned him to die deep inside a labyrinth.

Slowly approaching the magic circle, I stared at its softly pulsing lines for a short while before finally stepping into its confines. As expected, a bright light rose from the depths of the circle, enveloping my entire body and robbing me of my vision. Surely, I would now be flown off to some unknown location—such was the impression I had of magic circles in general.

Although I had stepped into the circle by my own free will, I still remained somewhat apprehensive. But now that I was in the circle, I could no longer turn back. If I stepped out of the circle during the process, something terrible could happen, and I was not eager to find out if my body would be ripped in two. This was why I prayed for the circle to drop me in a safe location—

At this point, that was all I could do.

◆◇◆◇◆

It would seem like my expectations and hopes for a safe location were very quickly betrayed. The reason for me saying that was right in front of me—the scenery that lay before my eyes as the wall of light slowly receded.

It was a place with a high stone ceiling, evidently made of hewn stone. It was a large, open space, but still probably a part of the labyrinth. That was my assumption as I looked out at the sight that lay before me. The very walls of the chamber itself seemed to instantly absorb any kind of magic spell thrown at them.

Does the uncharted sector of the Moon’s Reflection continue on even deeper past this point...?

While I would have liked to continue pondering on it, I did not have such an option, for there was a much more pressing matter before my eyes.

Standing before me was what appeared to be a monster of gigantic proportions, tall enough to almost touch the ceiling. At its feet was the crumpled form of a man—to be

precise, it was the very same man who had been with me earlier. I could see that much from his hairstyle and equipment.

Although I was somewhat far away, it was likely safe to assume that he had taken an attack from the monster head-on, and was now out cold on the ground. His hands and feet seemed to be slightly moving; he was alive.

I had to help him. However, a large obstacle stood between me and my companion—the monster in question.

It was a large, but somewhat familiar, sight, at least to me. An abomination made of bone, living in an eternal pocket of still time, with an equally eternal life that flaunted the divine laws of the land—

It was none other than a Skeleton. More accurately, it was a Giant Skeleton, one that was leagues ahead of its smaller compatriots in terms of power. Its clattering laughter echoed threateningly throughout the chamber, accompanied by ground tremors as it moved its feet forward. One could hardly think it was made of nothing but bone as it shook the very earth it walked upon.

One would usually escape after seeing such a thing in the labyrinth. A Giant Skeleton wasn’t just a larger variant of the common Skeleton. Despite it being made of bone, it had absorbed the powers of a Giant at some point in its life, and it was at least two to three times stronger than its common brethren. To make matters worse, its physical strength was proportionately increased, and one would surely be sent flying with only a single blow.

Will I have to do battle with...that?

Even if I had become a little stronger than I was in life, to take on a foe of that level would be a fool’s errand.

And yet, with that being said, nothing could change the fact that the collapsed man was still at the Giant Skeleton’s feet. If I did not want to leave the man to die, I had no other choice.

Above all else, however, there was an even bigger problem: there were no visible exits from this cavernous chamber. I was familiar with such a space, colloquially referred to as a “boss chamber.”

The room’s gimmick was simple: all exits were shut off upon entrance. This would remain true until the adventurer in question defeated the master of the chamber. The existence of rooms such as this was a well-known fact amongst most adventurers. But this room was not a commonly encountered phenomenon at all—

For starters, most boss rooms allowed for some form of retreat, and they did not immediately seal their entrances as soon as adventurers stepped into their bounds. If this were not the case, the mortality rate of adventurers would most likely skyrocket, along with an inevitable decrease in those seeking to be adventurers in the first place. The ability to retreat from a situation was an important ability in and of itself. Adventurers were to slowly hone their abilities, advancing at their own pace, for it benefited no one if they rushed to their deaths.

Self-sealing chambers, however, represented the next tier in the myriad of challenges adventurers had to face. In fact, rumor had it that boss chambers in a labyrinth’s uncharted sectors were all self-sealing by nature. Other rumors also spoke of how such chambers increased in frequency after a labyrinth’s fortieth floor.

Put simply, self-sealing boss chambers like this represented one of the most daring challenges to adventurers. One would have to stand above all their peers, be they beginners, veterans, or expert adventurers, in addition to clearing at least forty floors worth of labyrinths, before hoping to stand a chance in such a chamber.

With all that being said, I became aware of the fact that I was standing in the middle of one such chamber—I had no choice but to do what needed to be done.

Strengthening my resolve and drawing my sword, I slowly advanced upon the Giant Skeleton. Luck seemed to be on my side, as my appearance had apparently drawn the Skeleton’s attention away from its previous victim. The unfortunate man, being nearly unconscious, did not seem to pique the Skeleton’s interest any longer. I had to end this quickly and tend to his wounds—

With that thought in mind, I slammed my foot down upon the ground, rushing toward the giant monster. With a burst of speed I hardly experienced in life, I propelled myself forward, almost immediately reaching the Giant Skeleton’s feet. Raising my sword, I brought its blade down on the monster without a shred of hesitation.

However—

Clonk!

With an unpleasant whine, the blade bounced off the monster, hardly leaving a mark.

As if on cue, the Skeleton’s large hands swung downward in a menacing arc.

Panicking, I immediately retreated, dodging the monster’s counterattack—all the while not forgetting to grab the body of my fallen companion, placing some distance between him and the Skeleton. I could not exactly leave him there until the fight ended; if he were stepped on at some point, that would be the end for him.

There was a silver lining to this entire affair, however—while the Giant Skeleton

excelled in destructive power, it was no match for my speed. Although I did not know much of its capabilities, owing to the fact that this was the first time I was facing such a monster, I felt a glimmer of hope.

With that hope filling my mind, I left the man in a corner of the room before rushing to face the Giant Skeleton once more.

My speed was sufficient for the task—the main problem I currently faced was actually that of damaging the monster, given the firmness of its bones.

The blow from before, infused with a good chunk of my spirit, was the equivalent of my strongest possible spirit-art attack. The fact that it continued to stand, in addition to not even flinching from my attack, made victory seem like an unlikely prospect.

Under normal circumstances, this would certainly be the end. Even if I were somewhat faster than my opponent, one would automatically lose in a battle of attrition if one had no means of dealing damage to one’s foe. As long as I was unable to even scratch the enemy, it would all end with a single blow once I ran out of stamina.

Monsters of the labyrinth were strange, if not mysterious, existences. It is a known fact that monsters in boss chambers would never run out of stamina. Many explanations were offered to describe this phenomenon, from the monster somehow drawing energy directly from the labyrinth, to simply having an infinite reserve of power in its body. While it was not known which of these theories were true, the experiences of adventurers across the ages had all but proven its veracity. As such, waiting for a boss chamber monster to run out of stamina was a pointless venture. This was why offensive power was required—one had to be able to pierce the monster’s defenses, or lose one’s life to the labyrinth.

Keeping all that in mind, it would seem like my current situation was utterly hopeless. I, however, was different from the average adventurer, as there was still something else I could do.

Although I was no priest or holy adventurer in service to the church, I had a reserve of divinity in my body. While the Giant Skeleton was indeed a large foe, it was still very much an undead monster, and this made it automatically vulnerable to the cleansing forces of divine purification.

One would wonder why I did not simply utilize my ace in the hole from the start of the engagement; I did have my reasons. For one, I hardly used my divinity in combat, and I did not know of its effectiveness. In addition, the issue was compounded by the nature of my weapon—this loaner sword that I had borrowed from Clope, while expertly crafted, was not made for the channeling of divinity. Due to that, I was unsure of how well the blade would hold up if I forced a good amount of divinity through its edge.

I did not have much choice in the face of this situation, however—if I did not act here

and now, both the man’s life and mine would surely be forfeit. As long as something could be done, I owed it to myself to try it; that was what it meant to be an adventurer.

Adventurers fought and never gave up, right until the very end.

Making up my mind, I injected what divinity I could muster into the sword’s blade. The faint golden aura that had enveloped the blade up until a while ago slowly receded, instead replaced by the bright, bluish-white glow of a divine aura.

Upon seeing the sword’s new hue, the Giant Skeleton took a step back, as if fearful of what it had just witnessed. Divine purification was the natural enemy of all undead; with it being a life form that went against the natural laws of life and death, it was perhaps not strange for the Skeleton to show fear in response to my blade’s aura.

While it was a mystery as to why I, a Ghoul, was unharmed by the divinity that dwelled within me, the fact that I had become a Skeleton was equally mysterious and unexplained. Wondering about it now would do me little good—for now, I was simply grateful for the fact that such an ability was available to me.

Readying my sword once more, I charged toward the Skeleton again, my feet pounding against the ground of the labyrinth. Infusing my legs with the power of spirit, I hurled myself forward, closing the large distance between the Giant Skeleton and myself in a matter of seconds.

The Skeleton, for its part, soon tracked me to my new location—but it was far too late. Raising my blade over my head, I brought it down upon the thick, tree trunk-like leg bone of the Skeleton.

It was a clean blow—the Skeleton’s bones seemed to melt as it came into contact with my blade, before cleanly disconnecting from the rest of its body altogether. Losing one of its feet to my attack, the Giant Skeleton fell down on its back, no longer able to balance with only one functional leg. Not willing to let the opportunity slip, I immediately readied my sword and rushed toward the fallen Giant Skeleton’s head.

Tightening my grip, I swung my sword once more, finally bringing its blessed edge down onto the monster’s skeletal head. With a resounding crack, the blade cut through and cleansed corrupted bone, shattering its skull completely.

◆◇◆◇◆

I felt a familiar sense of power course through my body. This power was unmistakably that of the Giant Skeleton, the very same one that I had defeated moments ago. The rush of energy was more intense than any I had felt up until now, which was proof that it had truly been a formidable foe.

With that being said, however, one had to be at least Silver-class or above to defeat such a foe. Yet even so... I had somehow triumphed.

I looked down upon the Giant Skeleton’s scattered bones, which had lost their undead traits after I had shattered its head. I sighed in relief. Of course, this was only a manner of speech—as I did not, after all, have functional lungs to breathe with. It was more about the mood.

Unlike the earlier, skeletal version of myself, I could feel the existence of such organs in my chest. Unfortunately they weren—t functional unlike those of the living. While I could breathe, I did not feel like I was taking in air. But I could feel myself breathing as I swung my weapon, or when I was executing certain complex movements.

Perhaps it was merely a force of habit—having known the basics of combat breathing in life, little could be done about my tendencies in death. It was said that certain experts could read and predict the movements of a person simply by observing their breathing. If I were to become a Mithril-class adventurer, I could not lose to such an individual.

With that in mind, I resolved to eventually do something about the breathing methods I had learned in life. But at the moment, I was reminded of a more important thing to tend to: the man I had left in the chamber’s corner.

He could have been injured before my encounter with the Giant Skeleton, and could have possibly been wounded this entire time. If I did not administer aid soon, he could very well lose his life. He was still drawing breath then, but what about now? I did take quite some time to defeat the Giant Skeleton.

With that in mind, I approached the man and inspected his wounds. It would seem that luck was on his side, as his wounds seemed shallow. Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered that this wasn’t the case. His injuries, while not easily visible, were still problematic—namely, a broken part of the rib near his sternum, in addition to some crushed bones in one of his feet. If I had left him here, he would have surely passed on due to the severity of his injuries.

But luckily for him, I was here. While I could not use any directed, curative magics, I had a reserve of divinity within me.

Though magic did need to be studied in earnest, with the user understanding the logic behind it in order to cast spells, such was not the case with divinity. Many individuals instead used divinity simply as it was, almost instinctively. In fact, this was the reason why even someone like me, who was by no means a priest of any kind, was able to purify water immediately after being blessed. The only problem was the lack of a teacher, as I had mostly learned by trial and error.

This man was fortunate indeed; my reserves of divinity had only increased following

my transformation into a Ghoul. In addition, I felt more recharged than ever due to the surge of energy flowing into me from the Giant Skeleton I had defeated.

I could feel my body growing stronger—the fonts of mana, spirit, and divinity all seemed to intensify within my being. Each of them were markedly stronger than before due to the Giant Skeleton’s defeat—at least, it felt that way to me. If my observations were indeed true, I should be able to do much more than just purify water; I might be able to heal this man’s wounds right here and now.

It was perhaps worth noting that healing wounds with one’s divinity was usually in the territory of priests and the like, and were commonly treated as divine miracles. In fact, such a skill was not exactly common even amongst those who worked for the church. It was also said that the amount of divinity and aptitude one had was directly proportionate to one’s faith. Basically, if one was unable to use such techniques, it would simply mean that one was short on faith.

Due to this series of assumptions, members of the church who were capable of curative feats, as well as those wielding great fonts of divinity, were often worshiped as Saints and were greatly revered in the eyes of the public.

From that point of view, though, the fact that I could use divinity in and of itself was a little strange. The reason for this was pretty cut and dry: I was not exactly a man of great faith. For one thing, the reason I had been blessed with divinity in the first place seemed little more than coincidence. Although I was deeply grateful for it, I couldn’t exactly say I religiously worshiped the spirits or faeries responsible for my powers.

This was why I found my continuously increasing font of divinity strange. No matter how hard I thought about it, I could not come up with a reason for it. I supposed that was fine, since it wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

To be clear, the usage of divinity to purify and cleanse undead such as myself was not a good thing for me at all—but my continuous use of divinity did not seem to have hurt me in any way. If there was no problem with it, then that was that. Such was my adventurer’s reasoning at work.

With that out of the way, I supposed I should start treating the man. While I had not done anything remotely similar to this before, I could at least try.

Honestly speaking, though, this amounted to the first time I would attempt anything like this in my life, so I had severe doubts about succeeding. I was operating on gut feeling alone—I felt that it would go smoothly, although I did not have any sort of empirical evidence to back up my claim.

For a while, I stopped and wondered: was it really all right to work on a severely injured man off of gut feeling alone? I did, however, also feel like it wasn’t too different from

purifying dirty water. Perhaps they were similar in principle...

Either way, I had to do something about the situation. Placing my hands on the afflicted parts of the man’s body, I concentrated, directing the well of divinity within me into my palms, as if I were enchanting my sword with its aura.

As expected, a blue-white glow enveloped my hands. While it might have been a better idea to remove my gloves, I would be asked many troublesome questions should the man awaken halfway through his treatment. As such, I decided to err on the side of caution, keeping my gloves on. If the gloves were really posing that much of a problem, I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

Fortunately, though, it seemed like my divine aura cared little for my gloves—the bruised reddish-black surface of his skin slowly reverted to a more natural color as the divinity did its work. Slowly but surely, the man’s bones began healing, with previously broken pieces moving back into their rightful positions.

Although I had no idea as to how long it would take to fully heal the man’s injured sternum, I eventually stopped, judging the treatment to be complete. I did, after all, have another injury to tend to; with that in mind, I moved my hands to his crushed foot. Upon activating my divine aura, the man’s skin and bones began to heal at once, much like my previous observations. Finally, the last broken bone seemed to snap back into place, and the man’s foot now looked as good as new.

But is he fully healed?

While I was responsible for his recovery, I did not know for certain if I had done a thorough enough job. At the very least, he looked much better than he had a short while ago. Even if he wasn’t fully recovered, I was sure it wouldn’t be a huge problem. He would most likely recover after some rest.

The contrast was somewhat jarring, though—he had been at death’s door mere moments prior, but now he seemed healthy enough to make it back to Maalt if I just left him alone. All things considered, he did break several bones; it would be bad if complications of some sort arose should he make any sudden movements.

In the end, I decided to watch over him until he regained consciousness. After all, I should at least check to see if he was hurt anywhere else before returning to Maalt. Keeping that in mind, I sat down and waited.

◆◇◆◇◆

“...Ugh. Where...am I?”

Although I had shaken him gently in many attempts to wake him earlier, my efforts

were in vain. Resigning myself to a long wait, I quietly listened for sounds in my surroundings—it was then that I heard the man speak. It would seem like he had finally woken up.

Standing up, I slowly approached the man.

“...Are. You... Awake?”

“Yeah...” The man simply nodded. “Where is...this? ...Right, that’s right! That huge Skeleton was—ugh!”

Holding his stomach in pain, the man’s eyes shot wide open. It would seem like my treatment was, indeed, somewhat incomplete. As such, I did what I could in the moment —I had hardly expected him to make a complete recovery from my emergency measures alone. I suppose a trip to the Sanitarium was due. He should, at the very least, get treated by actual healers.

My response to him was equally simple: “...I... Defeated. The monster... This. Is the... Proof.”

With that, I held out my hand, showing him the glistening magic crystal in my gloved palm. I had discovered this crystal amidst the remains of the Giant Skeleton.

The process, however, was by no means short, as I had to dig through a small mountain of debris and bone parts. But then again, I had plenty of time on my hands, and I eventually managed to locate the crystal after a concentrated effort. Perhaps its large size made it somewhat easier for me to locate...

The man could only stare at the crystal with a dumbfounded expression.

“...From its size alone... That’s a Gold-class magic crystal, isn’t it? I don’t know much about these things, but it’s sure worth a lot of money...”

Though one would easily come to such a conclusion looking at the crystal alone, I had my doubts about the claim. Personally, I hadn’t thought defeating a Gold-class opponent was even possible for one such as myself. If anything, this could have been a stroke of luck, and the crystal would in turn be a relatively rare item from this type of monster.

This sort of thing happened occasionally, where monsters that had lived for a relatively long time usually housed higher-valued magic crystals within their bodies. The Giant Skeleton I had fought had probably guarded this chamber for a long, long time, hence my discovery of such a crystal from its remains.

In any case, it was definitely a crystal that would sell for a decent amount of money.

The man started speaking once more, his eyes fixated upon the crystal in my hand.

“...If I had a magic crystal like that... Ah, no. Never mind...”

Stopping himself mid-sentence, the man looked away, as if to avert his eyes. It did not take a scholar to understand the meaning behind his words—

This crystal could probably sell for more than 50 gold coins. In other words, it would be the man’s salvation as it would immediately clear him of all his debts.

The man, however, did not ask for the crystal, or beg for it in any way. I supposed my deductions were not too far off the mark based on that.

This was why I said to the man: “...If. You... Want it. You... Can. Have it.”

As with all things, however, it would come with a suitable price.

◆◇◆◇◆

“...Are you serious? Really? But you’re the one who defeated that monster... I can’t simply take it from you...” the man said, but the desperation in his eyes was plain for all to see.

Shaking my head, I continued my statement: “...I am... Not. Giving it... Away. For... Free.”

With that, the man seemed somewhat more convinced.

“But... I’ve already told you about my circumstances, no? I don’t think I can do anything for a strong adventurer like you...”

It was just as the man said. If I had to make an honest appraisal about my power, I could say with confidence that I was far stronger than I had been in life. Perhaps this wasn’t an unreasonable assumption coming from someone like him, who wasn’t an adventurer in any shape or form. He would naturally assume that he could not be of any assistance to me.

What he had said did hold true in some aspects; he was debt-ridden, and his skills as an adventurer were almost nonexistent. The man probably assumed that he could not assist me in any way, be it financially, economically, or physically—

However, that was only from the man’s point of view. To me, this man held more value than he gave himself credit for. I was an undead, after all. I could not simply waltz around the streets of Maalt. It was difficult, if not impossible, for me to visit the shops in Maalt. Even if I were to employ a middle-man of some kind, it would be difficult to find such an

individual to begin with.

What I’m getting at here is that this man could very well be the perfect middleman and errand runner I had been looking for all this time.

There was just one problem: even if I described my situation to him in detail, it didn’t seem like my words would be so easily believed. If I just told him that I was an undead, he could simply report me to the authorities whenever he pleased. Even if he didn’t do anything of the sort, he might become apprehensive toward the idea of assisting a non-human.

This was why I decided I would skimp on the details—all I had to do was convince him to assist me.

“It isn’t... Anything. Too... Difficult.”

“Well, what is it, then...?”

“As... You can. See... I look. Like... This. I can’t... Really. Go into... Shops or... The. Guild. All you... Have to... Do. Is go... In my. Place.”

Saying so, I took my glove off, showing the man my hand. I had assumed this was a relatively safe gamble, so long as he didn’t see my body or face.

In addition, I didn’t exactly lose my arm—it was merely dried up. This sort of thing occasionally happened to adventurers, especially veterans, who had seen a fair amount of combat in their time.

This particular man, though, was newer than the lowest Iron-class adventurer. Judging by his reaction to my combat ability, he was clearly not familiar with the dangers of adventuring.

The man, however, did not seem to avert his eyes or suspect that I was a monster in the slightest. Instead, he seemed somewhat convinced that my dried-up arm was just an old injury. Relieved that I had easily won the man over, I continued speaking.

“A monster... I fought. A long... Time. Ago. Got me... Good. My... Voice. Too. Injury... From... That time.”

“...I see. I suppose strong adventurers do face such great risks...”

Apparently the man had become an adventurer without putting much thought into the dangers of the job. It was probably more accurate to say that he did not have the luxury of thinking about such affairs. But the sight of my arm seemed to have awoken him to his folly.

After spending some time quietly in thought, the man finally spoke.

“I understand. If it’s just that much, even I can do it, yeah. But...is that really all right? It’s a little strange for me to say it...but this deal is heavily in my favor...”

“Those... Are. Your... Circumstances. Aren’t... They? But... Yes. I see... What you. Mean. How about... This. Then...”

The man, upon seeing that I had another condition to add on to the offer, seemed like he was able to make more sense of the general situation.

Ironically, me making the deal less sweet seemed to put him more at ease. The words I was about to say would truly betray the man’s expectations, however.

“Then... When your... Debts. Are all... Paid off. I want... To be able. To eat... And drink... At. Your shop... For free. For... As long... As I... Live. How’s... That.”

As if not believing what he had just heard, the man put a single hand to his head, a bitter smile slowly forming on his face.

“...Are... Are you serious? Are you...stupid or...something?”

“Why... Do you. Ask?”

“I’m saying—! I’m saying something like that can’t even begin to pay off a magic crystal worth more than 50 gold coins! You get it, yeah?!”

“So... Is... That. A bad thing...?”

“I’m not saying it’s bad...! ...Ugh! Eat however much you like... I’ll... I’ll work hard...so my shop doesn’t ever go under again...! I’ll work like I’ve never worked before! Thank you so much... Boss...!”

With that, a smile finally broke out across the man’s face. His eyes, however, were red, with large beads of tears flowing rapidly down his face. Upon seeing his reaction, I couldn’t help but feel like I had done some sort of good deed.

◆◇◆◇◆

With the problems of finding a cooperative human and the man’s debt both being settled by the giant magic crystal, I decided to ask for his opinion on what to do from here on out. With that said, however, I already had a clear-cut answer in mind:

We had to relocate. Specifically, we had to leave the confines of the Moon’s Reflection and head back to Maalt. The man did, after all, get what he came for, and there was no longer any reason to expose him to danger. Even I couldn’t help but feel like it would be

troublesome to have him continue exploring the labyrinth with me.

Although the Moon’s Reflection was primarily inhabited by normal monsters such as Goblins, Skeletons, and Slimes, the occasional exception did exist, as demonstrated by previous events. If another Giant Skeleton appeared, I wouldn’t be able to guarantee the man’s safety, let alone his life. This was the reason for my suggestion that we should return to Maalt. The man, with no reason to disagree, quickly followed after my footsteps.

While there were certainly concerns as to how we would return, I had already solved that problem as the man slept. A magic circle had appeared after the Giant Skeleton was defeated; there was no such thing there before. Although I did not test the circle to see where it went, I felt like it was reasonable to assume that it simply brought us back to the room that had sent us into this chamber. Even if that were not the case, all we had to do was search for another way out—the chamber’s lack of exits meant that we had little choice either way.

Stepping into the circle, we were transported back into the room from whence we came, much to my relief. After that, the way back was relatively uneventful. This was probably because the man was now considerably different, as his strength, courage, and nerves all seemed more tempered.

Perhaps it was due to us having witnessed the Giant Skeleton, or me teaching him the basics of adventuring, but the man now remained calm even if a monster did appear. He also held a more concrete understanding of what he should do in such a situation.

Although he could not win against a monster in a one-to-one fight just yet, he had advanced to a stage where he could put some distance between himself and a monster and quickly look for an escape opportunity. If he continued gaining experience at this rate, he would no doubt progress to at least Bronze-class in two years or so. Thankfully, such was not necessary for the man.

I did, however, consider it somewhat necessary for him to at least understand the basics of combat, considering that he would be running errands and turning in assignments at the guild on my behalf from now on. Assignments of a certain difficulty still had to be turned in by Lorraine, though, but nonetheless the man had to at least look like he was capable of exploring the shallower floors of the labyrinth or forest on his own power. It was a reasonable expectation.

◆◇◆◇◆

“...Haa... We’re finally out of there. Seems like forever since I’ve breathed in the outside air... It feels nostalgic, even though I haven’t been away for long,” the man said as he took a deep breath, stepping away from and out of the labyrinth’s entrance.

It was not too difficult to empathize—he had been in a near-death situation, after all,

and could finally afford to relax after leaving such a dangerous place behind.

However, even outside the labyrinth, monsters still lurked in its surroundings. Although one was not supposed to let one’s guard down even after exiting the labyrinth’s halls, I decided to let that slip today. But I did tease the man for his carelessness.

“Maybe... I should. Continue... Exploring... Until we are... Back. In Maalt...” With that, I turned and quickly walked away, the man’s alarmed voice trailing behind me.

“Hey, wait up, Boss—I get it, I get it!”

The man’s voice reminded me of how it felt to be an adventurer, and for the first time in a long while, I smiled. More accurately, I attempted to smile, but the dried-up skin on my face could not hope to emulate such a human expression. I wished to one day smile like a human again, but was that even possible?

With that in mind, I headed off for a nearby rest spot, where fiacres heading back to Maalt would often stop.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Here it is, Boss... This is my shop. What do you think? Not too shabby, yeah?”

Upon returning to Maalt, the man promptly led me back to his store. It was located in a strange corner of the city, and to be honest, I had not seen such a shop in my ten years of living in Maalt.

Maalt was pretty large for a rural town. The presence of two labyrinths nearby meant that there were more than enough watering holes for the town’s adventurers—as such, it wasn’t too rare to not know of certain establishments outside of one’s social circles.

It was worth noting, however, that the man’s shop was, per his words, not too shabby at all. It was a somewhat elegant-looking brick building; if anything, its elegant air would seem somewhat intimidating to the average adventurer. It had a unique atmosphere, and perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad thing to visit every now and then—that was what I thought as I looked on.

Maybe the food here is terrible...?

I could not come up with any other reason as to why such a respectable-looking establishment would fall on hard times.

Seemingly satisfied, the man pushed the shop’s doors open, with me following closely behind him.

◆◇◆◇◆

“...Darling! You’re safe...!”

The first thing to greet my eyes was the sight of a beautiful woman flinging herself onto the man, almost shouting as she did so. With her backswept amber-brown hair and slim build, she exuded a reliable, hardworking aura.

In all politeness, she was a beauty and a gem.

From the way she had addressed the man, however, I could more or less understand their relationship.

It was the man’s turn to exclaim loudly next.

“Isabel!! I told you not to worry... See? I’m fine, yeah?”

“But...you went off to the labyrinth... Darling, you can only cook, not explore a dungeon! I’ve told you so many times not to do something so foolish!”

“Hey, now... I’m a man, yeah? Something like the labyrinth is nothing...... Is what I

would have liked to say, but I’m afraid you’re right... To be honest, I was about to get done in by a monster—but I was saved! In fact, the only reason I’m standing here now is because of him! Gotta thank the Boss!”

“Ah...? Oh! Pardon me, I didn’t see that we had a guest... Thank you very much for saving my foolish husband’s life...”

Finally noticing me standing behind her husband, Isabel blushed and lowered her head deeply as she gave her heartfelt thanks. Beautiful and cute—such was Isabel’s charm that I could hardly understand what she saw in this man. But with that thought, I was not as callous as to simply remark upon something like that out in public.

In response, I slightly nodded at Isabel.

“No... I was... Just. Passing... By. Don’t... Worry. About it.”

Isabel seemed somewhat curious at my odd manner of speech, but the man quickly offered an explanation in my stead.

“See here, Isabel, the Boss is a really strong adventurer, but he’s got plenty of injuries from fighting monsters. He’s not very good at talking, but he’s really a good guy! He helped me out and—oh, that’s right! He gave me this magic crystal, too!”

At that, the man reached into his pocket, holding out the large magic crystal that I had fished from the remains of the Giant Skeleton. Isabel’s eyes opened wide at the magic

crystal’s gleam.

“This... This... Eh...? What’s going on? How did you get something like this...”

“The Boss here... Well, I explained our situation to him, see, and he gave me this to help out...”

While the man wanted to go into an in-depth explanation, Isabel cut him off abruptly, not allowing him to finish.

“No! You can’t accept something as expensive as this, Darling! You’ve caused enough trouble for this nice passer-by already! He even saved your life! You can’t just take something like this from him...!”

Isabel’s voice rang out through the entire establishment. Though she did seem agitated, it did not seem like it was out of distaste for being in my debt—rather, she seemed genuinely concerned that her husband had inconvenienced me in some way.

I should probably reiterate the fact that the crystal was not given for free. Thinking so, I pointedly stared at the man, hoping that he would continue his explanation.

“Isabel, listen... This isn’t charity, yeah? Well, it is a good deal for me... But I’m going to work for the Boss from now on! In return, he gave me this to help with the situation... I did also promise him that he could eat here for free, so there’s that, too...”

“...Are you going to do something dangerous again?”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that... Right, Boss?” Turning to me for reassurance, I could not help but notice that the man did not seem very confident in his own statement.

I, however, simply nodded.

“See? It’s nothing dangerous, just simple things, yeah? Like going to the guild with materials... Or going to shops...”

“Wouldn’t he be able to do something like that by himself...?” Isabel said, utterly unconvinced.

“...I... Look. Like this... After. All. I don’t... Really. Want to show... Up. At the... Guild. You... See.”

Saying so, I took off my glove, casually showing her a bit of my arm. Although I had shown the man my entire forearm, I decided to be a little more conservative with his wife, so as not to startle her.

As expected, Isabel swallowed deeply, apparently terrified of what she had just seen.

She did seem more convinced than she was moments ago, though.

Lowering her head once more, Isabel offered an apology: “I am deeply sorry for having said such insensitive words... This foolish husband of mine, the fool he is, often gets tricked by scoundrels and the like... It was out of worry that I stopped him. If it is indeed all right with you... Could we, in this case, accept your kindness?”

She was referring to none other than the magic crystal. Having fully understood the current situation, Isabel seemed more ready to accept the gift. Of course, I had no intentions of denying her what I had already promised, so I slowly nodded.

“That was... What I... Said. From... The start. We... Have. A deal... Then.”

At my words, Isabel offered her hand, extending it toward me. “Yes, we are in your debt!”

I was somewhat surprised—she would ask for a handshake after what she had just seen? Did it not terrify her?

Looking at her husband, who seemed to be eagerly nodding, I came to the conclusion that this was just the type of person Isabel was.

With that in mind, I slowly offered my hand in return. “You... Are. Welcome...”

And with that, we shared a firm handshake.

◆◇◆◇◆

“You... Know. Come... To think. Of it. I never... Asked. For your... Name.”

Even the man himself seemed surprised at my statement as we stood on the road outside his shop.

“You know, now that you mention it... Guess that’s true. Since you didn’t state your name, Boss, I thought you wouldn’t care about mine... I should introduce myself, yeah?

“The name’s Loris—Loris Cariello. I’m the proprietor of this eatery, the Red Wyvern Pavilion. What about you, Boss?”

“Isn’t... It. Better... For you to... Not know. My name...?”

While that was the excuse I had given Loris, I had other reasons for not wishing to reveal my name. Loris, however, was not convinced at all.

“Why not?! You saved me, yeah? I should at least know your name, Boss! Is that such a bad thing to ask for?”

Loris had apparently seen it fit to throw my words right back at me. I guess I had no other choice.

“I could... Tell. You. But could... You. Promise... Me. One thing?”

“What is it?”

“You... Can’t. Tell anyone... Else. My name.”

“I don’t get why it’s such a secret, Boss...but yeah, I get it. I’ll only call you ‘Boss’ from here on out, yeah? Even if someone asks for you by name, I won’t say a thing. That good?”

“Yes... That. Is good. Well... Then. My name... Is. Rentt... Rentt... Faina.”

Upon hearing those words, Loris slowly nodded, probably thinking it was somewhat pointless to hide such a plain-sounding name. He did immediately reassure me of his promise, though.

“I get it, Boss. Thank you so much for... Well, pretty much everything, yeah? Come by for a meal anytime. You’re always welcome here.” As promised, Loris did not make any mention of my name.

Nodding, I turned around, and once more walked into the busy streets of Maalt.