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Butterflies Dancing In the Shadows
Ten days had passed since the engagement. During that time, nothing much happened, as we simply worked our way through the third floor…Actually, there was one thing. Garnet stopped putting on her fake mustache. When I asked her for the reason, she said that “Now that I learned there are people interested in me even without my beard, I feel idiotic to still put it on.” The case with Triffin-san was a shame, but I’m glad she’s taken something from it, at least. Adding to that, we defeated around 200 monsters during those few days, which made both Rufa and Garnet significantly stronger. That’s why we opted to head to the deepest part of the floor today.
“So this is it?”
Appearing at the end of the hallway was a sturdy iron door together with a giant dome that didn’t fit the water walls and ceiling in the slightest. This is where the guardian of this floor resides.
“The ‘Envious Envy’ is a mermaid Sea Serpent type, possessing a female upper body and a serpent as its lower body.”
“It uses water magic, mostly aiming for the opponent’s weak points.”
What an annoying battle to have underwater. Will this really work out? But suddenly, Rufa gently tapped me on the shoulder with a smile.
“Rest assured. I’ll handle its magic, so you just swing at it with all your might.”
“Yeah,” I nodded confidently.
I’d imagine that erasing a guardian’s magic could be hard to deal with, but if Garnet and I pull our weight to finish it off before that, Rufa should do fine keeping her aura up.
“I just hope nothing happens…” Garnet grumbled next to me.
“Stop that! You’re just asking for something to go wrong!” Rufa immediately complained, but she probably considered that possibility too.
It’s hard to forget that the guardian of the second floor, the Gluttonous Glutton, ran off while being severely injured to feed itself on the walls and grew three heads in return. There’s no guarantee that something similar won’t happen here. But yet again, Rufa tried to cheer me up.
“Ever since the incident with Glutton, the people from the Plunderers had gone and defeated the guardians from the 1st to the 5th floor, but none showed any change as Glutton did. I think it’s fair to assume this was just the exception.”
“So you had proof for your assumption…That does make sense,” Garnet wasn’t sure if she should feel relief or annoyance, but all I can get from this is that the magic swordsman is a bit too crazy for monsters.
“Wanting to learn more about the person you like…by killing them. What psychopath is he?”
“To us adventurers, it’s something we can only appreciate. Although I even feel bad for the monsters,” Garnet flashed a bitter smile, not knowing what to feel.
Rufa did the same. Whatever the case, it should be fine to challenge this guardian now. The chances aren’t zero, but it leaves us less scared to step forward.
“Let’s go.”
We made up our minds and walked towards the dome. But, the ground began shaking as I put my hand on the iron door.
“What’s happening?!”
“Eeek!”
Garnet crouched down, with Rufa almost falling over if I hadn’t caught her. Even the walls and ceiling of water vibrated gravely, as some drops of water fell onto us, but after around ten seconds, the shaking stopped.
“Was that an earthquake?”
“I wonder what happened…”
Still hugged in my arms, Rufa slowly looked around. The door still wasn’t open, and the boss inside the dome didn’t come out to attack us. It didn’t seem like this was the guardian’s doing. Meanwhile, Garnet stood up.
“But this is a different world. Are earthquakes really possible here?”
Ah, that makes sense. Any floors beneath the first one aren’t actually located under the Empire, but rather exist in an entirely different plane. But, with the ground we’re standing on, earthquakes should be possible. How are different worlds like this even separating themselves from the ones we know? My head was starting to hurt from all the things I thought about, as Rufa spoke up with a dubious expression.
“Maybe it’s different from the phenomenon we consider as a shaking of the earth.”
“Meaning?”
“Maybe the different world as a whole shook? Some immeasurable change occurred, and the influence is…”
“…?!”
I frantically looked around, but other than the shaking water, there was nothing that stood out to me. However, just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean nothing has changed.
“Well, let’s think about this later. What do we do now?” Garnet asked and pointed at the wet door with her chin.
In the meantime, Rufa was thinking about it but eventually shook her head.
“Let’s not. We should come back another day after checking if anything has changed.”
“Yeah.”
I agreed with her opinion. There’s no telling what could await us after this. Sure, you might call us cowards, but just as Master always said, ‘Courage and recklessness’ are distinctively different. Garnet seemed to have expected that answer, too, as she nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Sounds good. Let’s head back before something weird happens.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“Leaving that aside…How long do you intend on staying like that?” Garnet glared at Rufa, still leaning against me in my arms.
“…For all eternity.”
“Stop being a moron and move.” Garnet smiled as she slapped Rufa on the head, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from me.
Ah, I just remembered, but she warned me to not suddenly hug a woman out of nowhere! I’m sorry for breaking our promise!
“Listen here, the circumstances matter a lot. And if the person wishes for it, you’re free to embrace them.”
…Really now? I feel like you’re contradicting what you’ve said before…And oddly enough, Rufa grinned as she saw me nod.
“Nice work, Garnet!”
“I told you the misunderstandings will be resolved eventually. Also, I’m making up for my past sins.”
The two were mumbling to each other, as Garnet walked back to me and slapped me on the hip.
“Let’s go.”
“Y-Yeah.”
The moment I nodded, she moved closer and whispered to me in a quiet voice so that Rufa couldn’t hear.
“Don’t tell her.”
“Tell her what?”
“…I’m glad you’re so dense.” Garnet looked at me in disbelief while she sighed in relief, but also had an angry tone to her.
That’s just cruel. Why is everybody calling me dense? I dropped my shoulders in defeat and joined the two on our walk home.
*
We ran into monsters two times on the way, but that was the highlight of our way back, as we left the labyrinth.
“Good work everyone.”
Upon leaving, the newcomer guard greeted us. I responded accordingly, as Rufa asked him.
“Excuse me, did you experience an earthquake in the past few hours?”
“An earthquake…Yeah, I think it was shaking a bit.”
“Really? I didn’t feel a thing.”
The middle-aged man responded with a dubious face.
“That’s because you were so engrossed in talking.”
“You wanna bet on that? I’m betting one copper coin.”
“This just shows you’re not confident in the slightest.”
“You mean in general now?”
The middle-aged man laughed at his own joke which had all of us shake our heads, as we heard voices from the stairs of the labyrinth. I looked over there wondering who it was when a familiar black-haired girl with a ponytail arrived.
“Alba-dono?! To think we would meet each other here…The goddess of fate must be smiling down on me!”
“What’s so rare about running into adventurers at the beginning of the labyrinth.”
Chidori-san was smiling at me as a large orc man grumbled behind her. I see, so he is playing the role of Garnet in the White Wings.
“Don’t push some weird role onto me.” Garnet read my thoughts and retorted at the speed of light, as Rufa went to greet the leader of the White Wings, Holy Knight-san.
“Leon-sama, I’m glad you’re doing all right.”
“Likewise. I’m really sorry about what happened before.” The Holy Knight-san apologized gracefully.
It’s easy to forget, but as the 7th princess, Rufa really is a big deal. Leaving that aside, I wonder why the female magician behind him is glaring at Rufa like a jealous cat.
“Pay Kanaria no mind,” Chidori-san said when I realized.
Ah, so she’s the person who stalked the Holy Knight-san with her familiar. With Rufa being the beauty that she is, I guess that woman must be jealous by simply seeing the Holy Knight talk to another woman. It made sense to me, which was also why I was absolutely terrified when Chidori-san spoke to garnet.
“The fact that we’ve left the labyrinth at the same time must mean…”
“It seems like you experienced an earthquake too down on the 6th floor.”
“Which means it was the same everywhere.”
“What?!”
Hearing their conversion, the White Wings collectively raised their voices in shock.
“The earthquake happened on other floors, too? I never would have imagined…”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing happening, woof!”
“The fact that the different world we were in was shaking aside, to think it connected to all the floors…”
“But it happened. And you experienced it with your own eyes, right?”
The Holy Knight-san went silent, as the Beast Priest-san and female magician were arguing, with the Orc Warrior remaining calm and collected. I guess it must be a pretty deal if even 6th-floor rankers like them were flustered.
“Chidori-sama, what strength did the earthquake have?”
“It was a strong earthquake that barely left us standing. Even the dragon we fought at the time collapsed. And this continued for a minute or longer. My home country is known to have earthquakes on a regular basis, but I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
It must have been a struggle because Chidori-san was sweating profusely. That must be one hell of a calamity. If we hadn’t been careful, we might have encountered the same fate when fighting the guardian…Hm? It shook for more than a minute, and was strong enough to throw over a dragon…? Weird. It wasn’t that rough for us on the third floor. I looked at Rufa with a dubious gaze, as she showed a similar expression.
“It was stronger the deeper you were…and we only felt it briefly on the third floor. The reason behind it must be…”
The Evil God of Demise sleeping in the depths of the labyrinth—is what Rufa swallowed before saying it out loud. The White Wings and guardsmen here didn’t know of this. However, the Holy Knight-san realized something was off and asked.
“Princess, do you happen to have an idea what might be the case?”
“…I’m sorry, but I can’t say anything.” She said and shook her head.
It will probably take some time before she could come clean.
“Is that so? My apologies.” The Holy Knight-san didn’t inquire further as he glanced at Chidori-san.
He probably knows that we’ve been getting along, so maybe he realized that she knew something. Will this be fine? She’s not gonna get kicked out of her team, right?
“Don’t worry. Our leader isn’t so forceful of a man,” Chidori-san whispered with a smile.
Really? Well, he seems like a good person.
“He’s pretended to not realize Kanaria’s feelings for years now. He can hold his ground.”
That sounds very convincing, but shouldn’t he report her excessive stalking to the guards?
“Well, adventurers aren’t ever normal people.” Garnet sighed.
Meanwhile, Rufa and the Holy Knight-san stopped talking.
“Chidori, let’s head back for today.”
“Yes. See you another time.”
“Yeah.”
Chidori-san excused herself, and I waved my hand in response. In the meantime, Rufa spoke to the guards.
“Could you please ask the adventurers coming after us if they experienced an earthquake, and how strong it was? And please let me know what they said.”
“Sure, don’t mind…”
“This is all I have on me right now, but if you come see me at my room, I’ll pay you several times this amount.” Rufa said, handing the guards three gold coins each, as well as a sheet of paper telling them of her residence.
“Woooo?! That’s the princess for you, she’s got no breasts but her pockets make up more than enough for it!”
“S-Senpai, don’t say that!”
“Then, if you please excuse us…” Rufa sent the middle-aged man a deathglare, but immediately changed that into a wholesome smile. “Since it’s still morning, I don’t think many parties have made their way into the labyrinth yet, but we should at least get some degree of information.”
“That’s right. Judging from what the White Wings said, the earthquakes must have happened on all floors, but were stronger the deeper you went. However, the more proof we have, the better.”
“Yeah.”
We distanced ourselves from the labyrinth entry, as we discussed the happenings of today. Maybe this was a sign of the Evil God of Demise’s imminent revival? I asked this with my gaze, and Rufa nodded.
“That would be the obvious conclusion, yes. The Evil God’s abundant amount of mana is what created the labyrinth, so if there is any change with it, it would shake the entire labyrinth.”
“Once again, this all sounds unbelievable.”
Seeing a glimpse of the Evil God’s power, even Garnet couldn’t smile. Truly, we’re talking about a power strong enough to shake the labyrinth as a whole. Isn’t this already on the level of a whole planet’s earthquake? Putting that into perspective, no matter how strong the 6th-floor rankers are, and no matter how strong we become in this small timeframe we have left, can we really beat natural disasters…beat the Evil God of Demise? The anxiety I’ve tried to ignore all this time is slowly creeping up on me again.
“Worrying needlessly ain’t your thing. You should just be an airhead as always,” Garnet said as she slapped me on the back.
That’s just cruel. You’re making it sound like I’m an idiot!
“That’s exactly what I’m saying?”
I sent Garnet a gaze of protest, but she just tilted her head like she didn’t know what my problem was. Watching our exchange, Rufa let out a snicker.
“Garnet is just as worried, you know? That’s why we need you to be the same as always, as that would allow us to feel at peace.”
“Well, that’s basically it.” Garnet nodded.
Oh man, you’re gonna make me blush. But they are right, this isn’t the time to worry. We should just do whatever we can in this day and moment. The conversation allowed me to become more confident, as we reached the gate and passed it to reach the 7th district and its residential area.
“Alba-sama, we will be going through our books at home and the library to see if we can figure out something about the earthquake.”
“Leave the annoying work to rest, and you go read some of the books I lent you the other day.”
That’s what they said and went to their own flat. So…what do I do now? With what happened today, I doubt Chidori-san will come to train today. I should probably just relax in my room and read some books. With that decision made, I headed back to the Eternal Maiden, when the manager greeted me with a smile.
“Welcome back. Seems like you’re doing just fine.”
“Yes.” I nodded with a smile of my own.
Since I’ve lived here for the past month, it really feels like my own home at this point. Because of that, I don’t feel like renting an entire apartment, even if I could afford it. Plus, I get to eat delicious food here.
“One set menu, please.”
“Gotcha. I’ll bring it up to your room later.”
I ordered my lunch immediately and headed to my room on the second floor. Following that, I read through a book featuring a heroic prince saving the princess from a tragedy, as someone knocked on the door.
“I brought your food.”
“Thank you very much.” I gave the manager my thanks and accepted the tray.
Today, we had beans with chicken soup, as well as bread and strawberries. I haven’t had a fruit dessert in a while, this is great. I gulped even with my mask on, when I saw the manager didn’t leave and instead muttered with a serious expression.
“It’s time you made up your mind.”
“Huh?”
“Well, you’re no serious guy, I guess. What you guys do is just nonchalantly walk your way.” The manager spoke with a somewhat nostalgic tone as she left the room. What was that about? I was completely lost, but I decided to eat my soup before it got cold. After finishing my lunch I went back to reading enthusiastically, just laying in bed while wearing my armor.
*
When I was still young, I always loved hearing mythical legends or heroic tales from Grandma or reading books about them. What I liked the most was the story of the Six Braves. A thousand years and more ago, when there existed monsters strong enough you would call them divine, they strolled along the earth. Humans, elves, and dwarves all were weak, hiding in the forests or mountains, fearing the monsters.
Then one time, in order to save all of humanity, six heroes from each race gathered. Combined with their strength, wisdom, and courage, they went to defeat the monsters and sealed them away. Hearing about their tales, filled with laughs and tears, was really interesting to me, which made me want to become a hero myself back then. Though, I still entertain the idea even today.
Even my dream of building my own home in the big city is just a pretense for me to see how strong I truly was. I wanted to be as cool as those six braves and fight to save the world. However, this was the same as wishing misfortune to the people of this world. That’s probably how my dream changed into something more peaceful, as I just wished to build my own home and not trouble anybody. And yet, the place where I intended to build my home ended up as the ground zero for the potential destruction of the whole world. What irony, really.
Either way, this situation we’re in is probably what made me have a dream of their story…But there is one thing that I can’t remember no matter what. It’s the conclusion of their story. Specifically, how they managed to seal the monsters away. I remember how they reached the happy end, and how they achieved this peaceful conclusion, but I completely forgot the means and ways they went to do so. What was even the title of the book telling this story? I don’t remember reading it myself. If it was in Gramps bookshelves, I definitely would’ve read it. Don’t tell me it doesn’t even exist and Gramps just—
“—?!”
A shiver ran down my spine which pulled me out of my dream. What first reflected in my eyes when I opened them was a knife shining inside the otherwise dark room, currently being swung down at my chest.
“Hmph!”
My body moved before I could think, as I focussed aura in my right fist and repelled the knife. A dull sound followed as the knife flew away, and I fired off a wave of aura with my left fist, aimed at the attacker. However, I felt no response from that. They must have evaded it. I realized that I wasn’t dealing with any ordinary individual, as I got up from my bed and broke the wooden window.
Sorry about this, Manager, I’ll make sure to repay you properly later. The moonlight shone inside the room, lighting it up ever so slightly, and yet, I couldn’t spot a single person. However, there was a black-clothed person hiding in the corner of the ceiling, clinging to it like a spider.
“Who are you?”
“…”
I asked while emitting a great amount of aura, as the person got down from the ceiling. Their face and body was covered, leaving me unable to tell if I was dealing with a man or woman, young or old. The only thing I could make out were the eyes staring at me through the gap of their mask, revealing no emotion whatsoever.
An assassin ninja, huh?
Unlike karate ninja, who trained their bodies to the utmost limit, they are proficient in the art of secret murder, working in the shadows. And why would someone like them be sent after…No, I guess it makes sense. They probably are hired by a part of the Imperial royals like Eclair-san and her friends. However, that brings up another question.
“Why did you hold back?”
“…”
The figure didn’t answer, but I realized that they weren’t coming at me with everything they had. I’ve been emitting clear hostility this entire time, but they’ve shown no reaction. And the fact that I didn’t even realize their presence until it was almost too late must mean they’re at least 6th-floor level. This confuses me, as it contradicts this inexperienced side they have. Master taught me that assassin ninjas don’t use weapons that reflect any light in the darkness. And yet, the one I reflected, which was now lying in the corner of the room, shone just fine. And someone on this level of skill would not make mistakes like that. And on that topic, anybody with their skill should have been able to conceal their aura, killing me without even realizing. Considering that, there is only one possible conclusion.
“You never intended to kill me?”
Taking everything into consideration, this is the best possible conclusion. However, that brought up the question of why they would go this far. I tilted my head, as the clothed figure opened their mouth for the first time.
“Well done.” They put their hand inside their chest pocket, taking out a glowing item and threw it at my feet.
It was a green gem attached to silver chains, together with a grass thread that has a honey-yellow amber connected to it. Those were the presents I gave Garnet and Rufa on that day…the pendants.
“Why do you?!”
Anger ran through my body, assuming something had happened to them. However, the black shadow pointed north before I could even move to attack.
“I shall wait at the 9th district.”
That was all the shadow left behind, as he jumped through the faintly-opened ceiling boards, escaping like smoke.
“Tsk!”
I was still unsure what just happened, but I hurried to put on my jet-black armor, grabbed my greatsword, and jumped through the open window. Right after I woke up, it felt as if I was having a crucial dream, but worried about Rufa and Garnet’s well-being, I immediately forgot about that. Anyway, I just listened to the shadow’s orders and headed to the 9th district. The gate from the 7th district leading to the 8th district was closed for the night. They might be willing to hear me out if I explained the situation, but I didn’t have time for that.
I rushed past the gate, reaching a place away from human eyes, as I made my aura explode, jumping up the stone wall. I ran atop the wall as I headed for the 9th district, when I realized something.
There are no guards?
Normally, there should be several guards on duty to see if there was nothing going on, but I couldn’t spot anybody right now. It’s convenient for me. They let me just do as I pleased, but it feels like this path was prepared for me, only furthering this bad feeling in my chest. That being said, thinking about it was a waste of time. I simply continued to run atop the wall and arrived at the west gate of the 9th district.
It was the first place I’d visited when I came here to the capital, filled with memories, and the place was a large plain as it always was. Unlike during the day, there were no people in sight, as only the light of the moon illuminated the otherwise dark area, making you forget that this was part of a large city. In the center of this large open plain, I spotted four particular shadows. One was the clothed person I had just met, with Rufa and Garnet sitting at their feet.
“Alba-sama!”
“Sorry about this, lad.”
The two saw me and screamed. From the looks of it, they didn’t seem to be injured at least. However, they had shackles around their arms. I’m guessing they must be suppressing their aura, as normal shackles could be undone with a Unlock magic spell. But even more than that, the man standing in front of the two, wearing golden armor, was even more important.
“That was fast. You have my praise.” He threw empty words at me.
He must be in the middle of his forties, but the intense pressure he emitted from his body made him seem even older. However, the well-built body visible through his armor made him seem much younger…Wait a second. I’m having a sense of deja-vu here…This aura, I’ve felt it before…
“Count Giraffe?”
“What?!” Garnet screamed out loud, as the man nodded.
“You’re as sharp as my reports told me. If not for these circumstances, I would have loved to make you my subordinate.”
I bet this praise was genuine for once, but he was still looking down on me despite everything. Also, Garnet’s face practically screamed ‘No, he’s just an idiot!’ but I decided to ignore that. Who is this man? Well, the answer is simple.
“The Emperor, eh.”
“Indeed. I am the 41st Emperor of the Empire, Emperor Geraf.” He named himself.
He is Rufa’s father, and he ignored the fact that the Evil God of Demise’s revival was happening soon to ensure the continued prospering of the Empire…and he’s also the one who keeps getting in our way! Subconsciously, I put more strength into the grip on my sword, as the Emperor swung his hand to tell me to wait.
“Dark Knight Alba, listen to what I have to say.”
“What are you planning now?!” Rufa screamed before I could say a word, but she’s right.
He plotted my assassination, abducted his own daughter, and summoned me here. What could he possibly be talking to me about—Huh? Something caught my attention, as the Emperor spoke up in a deep voice.
“I want you to take my daughter Rufa and leave the Imperial Capital behind you.”
“…What?” I let out a dumbfounded voice.
That was something I didn’t expect. The same was the case for Rufa, who blushed furiously.
“Wh-What are you saying, you shitty old man?! Do you really think I’ll just run away with Alba-sama?! How could I accept such a truly wonderful and enticing proposal?!”
“Calm down, your honest feelings are leaking out.” Garnet used both her hands to chop them down onto Rufa’s head.
That must have hurt because Rufa held her head in pain, as the Emperor looked at me and continued.
“Are you dissatisfied? Granted, she might have her quirks, but her looks should speak for themselves.”
First he makes fun of her, only to brag about her…is that just my imagination? I mean, she’s a beauty to behold, that is undoubtedly true. Either way, I couldn’t read his intentions, so I had to ask.
“Why?”
He set up an assassination, only to offer me free leave? And he’d even let me take a princess of the country with me…Something doesn’t add up. One line alone had me full of doubts, but the Emperor responded bluntly.
“First of all, my goal is to ensure the continued prosperity of the Empire, and that requires the Bottomless Labyrinth to continue existing. Getting rid of you to bring back my daughter wasn’t my goal, it was simply a means of achieving that.”
“I see.”
That does make sense. If I was out of the picture, someone who could defeat the Evil God of Demise, then any kind of method would be viable for him.
“And in order to teach my foolish daughter how harsh the world can be, as well as to stop her from acting stupid ever again, I opted to kill you right in front of her. Since that proved difficult, I opted to rely on Redberyl and his daughter next. That’s all there is to it.”
Ah, so the whole marriage talk was all set up by the Emperor faking the disguise of Count Giraffe. He wanted Garnet to retire as an adventurer and break our party apart. Wow…that is just evil. Since Garnet was the shield of our group, she’s vital to our party. Without her, we would have broken apart eventually.
“Setting up a marriage meeting to go to such lengths, I’m seeing you must have a lot of free time.”
“Don’t be so angry with me. Triffin’s feelings for you were genuine.” The Emperor calmly responded in the face of Garnet’s sarcastic glare.
Yeah, I had a feeling that Triffin-san was genuine about Garnet, but that doesn’t change the fact that he used it for these shady reasons. I glared at the Emperor in anger, but his expression remained the same.
“Second, I didn’t know a thing about you. You wore the armor of the Dark Knight, possessing admirable strength, but who you were and who was wearing that armor…I didn’t know. All I knew was that you formed a party with my daughter. Can you really blame me for holding doubts that you might wish evil upon the Empire and attempt to do evil to the princess?”
Huh?! That’s what he thought?! I think that was an awful assumption just because I wore the armor of the 6th-floor’s guardian. As I was shaken, Rufa glared at her father.
“Why would someone aiming to bring ruin to this country wear the armor of the Dark Knight and directly stand out the second he sets foot in here?!”
In response, the Emperor was disappointed.
“You’re no stupid child, but you lack the last stretch. Sometimes, wearing flashy clothes and acting suspiciously helps the best at concealing your true intentions. It diverts attention elsewhere because people think you’re just trying to draw attention.”
“Indeed,” the black shadow, who stayed silent this whole time, now spoke up.
If an assassin ninja like him agreed, then it must be the case. I couldn’t help but show admiration as the Emperor looked back at me.
“That being said, you stood out too much. Incapable of reading your intentions, I opted for it as the best choice to remove you from the picture immediately. I apologized for rushing things.”
“Not even the Emperor can figure out how much of a dunce this guy is, it seems.” Garnet suddenly sent the Emperor a gaze of sympathy.
That hurts…I was thinking a lot, okay? The Emperor continued, though.
“To repeat, I didn’t know you. That is why I used the marriage meeting with Triffin to get to know you.”
So that’s why he disguised himself as Count Giraffe and attended the meeting. Huh? So that means…he knew I would be coming to play the role of Garnet’s lover? I don’t remember adding my name when we wrote the letter to her parents…As I held that doubt, a rat appeared from the clothed person’s chest pocket, holding its mouth like a human as it giggled.
Ah, we were watched by a familiar?! Since when…Realizing I had no idea how long I was being watched, a shiver ran down my spine. Seeing that, the Emperor showed a somewhat delighted reaction.
“I had the wrong idea about you. You may be hard to read, but you are not a bad person.”
I’m happy he’s somewhat praising me, but did I do anything that would be valued this highly? I tilted my head when the Emperor resolved my doubts.
“I may not be on the level of Redberyl and his daughter, but I’ve got eyes for people. Emperors have met enemies and allies over the past thousands of years.”
“I see.”
“Judging from that experience, you are bound to speak the truth. I can tell with that overdone acting of yours.” The Emperor said and scoffed.
Oh man, is this some public roast or something? I’m constantly getting embarrassed here. I blushed furiously while feeling glad that I was at least wearing my mask, still. Meanwhile, Rufa glared at her father.
“And since you were certain of his goodwill, you opted to leave your daughter in his hands? What a foolish decision made by a mad Emperor.” Rufa said while grinning to herself.
“You don’t sound convincing at all with that grin on your face.” Garnet threw in a retort.
But in fact, chasing out a random person he didn’t even know too well by offering his daughter’s hand in marriage…is a bit weird, no? Don’t you usually marry them off to better your political relationships with neighboring countries or to ensure prosperity? It’s what I read about in Garnet’s books. I sent the Emperor a dubious gaze, who didn’t answer despite that, and continued by asking me once again.
“Dark Knight Alba, let me ask you once more. Will you take my daughter and leave this city?”
“I refuse.” I responded instantly.
“Alba-sama…am I not good enough?”
“Relax, this is not the problem right now.”
Rufa looked at me with tears in her eyes for some reason, as Garnet tried to cheer her up. I’m a bit curious about that, but either way, I can’t leave the capital. That would mean leaving the Evil God of Demise unattended, risking the lives of all the people in the capital, as well as the whole continent. It might be an unwinnable battle, but I can’t just run away from it. I glared at the Emperor with determination in my eyes, as he faintly smiled.
“You’re as benevolent as I thought. So unbefitting of that disastrous armor.”
He probably meant to praise me, but it was a shock. I thought I looked cool in this…
“However, that is probably why you have yet to realize.”
“What?”
The Emperor’s words made me gasp.
“Must be talking about a woman’s feelings,” Garnet grumbled, but that probably wasn’t it.
I waited in silence, as the Emperor spoke up again.
“Dark Knight Alba, let me ask you. Why are you fighting your way through the labyrinth to reach its depths?”
“To defeat the Evil God of Demise and save the world.”
“I figured.”
If you did, then why did you have to ask? I was unsure where this was all heading, as the Emperor took a quick pause and then continued.
“Did you really think a convenient enemy like the Evil God of Demise truly exists?”
“…Huh?”
Met with such a revelation, my head turned blank, and it took me a few seconds to recover. Now hold on a second. The Evil God of Demise exists, right? Why are you just overthrowing the entire reason we’ve been working so hard?! I remained silent, as Rufa took my position and questioned her father.
“Father, you may have disagreed with my actions, but you believed in the Evil God all the same, no? Or, are you still being so naive to assume that the Evil God won’t be reincarnated?” Her choice of words was polite, but they packed a certain level of passion.
And yet, the Emperor just sighed.
“Like I said, you’re lacking that final step.”
“What do you mean?”
The Emperor looked away from Rufa, fuming with anger, and looked over at me.
“I’m sure you must see me as a foolish and evil Emperor, no?”
“That’s…”
“No need to show restraint. I chose the prosperity of our country, opted to avert my eyes from the Evil God of Demise, and order your assassination. I don’t intend to put on the facade of a benevolent saint.” The Emperor didn’t mind my silence and confidently declared this.
After talking with him directly like this, I can tell that my opinion of him changed greatly, but it’s easy to see he’s no good person.
“However, you may defeat me and assume that peace has returned, but it is nothing but foolish thinking.”
Could I really confidently say that wouldn’t be the case? If the Emperor, who had been getting in our way so far, were out of the picture, we would be able to go smoothly when exploring the labyrinth, we could tell more people about the Evil God of Demise…Did I never have that thought?
“Let me be clear. If you chase me out or even turn me into a Lost, calamities will strike the continent.”
“…”
That kind of argument was so solid that not even Rufa or Garnet could deny it.
“War will break out if I’m gone. First, the seven princesses will gather nobles to fight for hegemony within the Empire, and a fight to decide my successor will start.”
“I wouldn’t aim to…” Rufa spoke up.
“You can’t say for certain. You must have at least considered the possibility of becoming Emperor and showing off to the people who looked down on you, right?”
“Ugh…” Rufa had no room to argue against this, as she was forced to close her mouth.
I heard about her often fighting with her siblings, too.
“Needless to say, if you were bound down by such personal grudges, you wouldn’t have become an adventurer to save innocent people. I knew you wouldn’t fight for the seat of the Emperor.” He showed a gentle smile as he took back his previous statement.
That’s right. There’s no way she would go this far. I sighed in relief, as the Emperor saw through that as he continued.
“However, the same can’t be said about your older sisters.
Huh? Why? It’s clear that Rufa has no interest in position or fame. I tilted my head in confusion, as the Emperor stared at me.
“As the kind soul you are, it must be hard to realize. However, people often can only think about themselves. Especially those filled with greed can only see the greed in others.”
That’s why the people aiming for the seat of the Emperor must be seeing Rufa in a similar light as they do. The logic makes sense, but I can’t emotionally accept it this easily. Though, the Emperor continued.
“In fact, the one closest to being the next Emperor is this girl.”
“What?!”
“Assuming you’ll continue to venture the labyrinth.”
It sounded crazy despite the circumstances, but Rufa, the 7th princess, is the most influential?! I looked at her in shock, as she grit her teeth but didn’t deny the fact. So then…there’s a good chance she may be chosen as the Empress?
“You probably didn’t know, but the Emperor of the Goldo Empire isn’t chosen simply by birth order. It all depends on their strength and achievements.”
“If not for that, they can’t carry and protect the citizens of the Empire, yes?”
Rufa must have been told these things ever since she was a young child, as she continued the Emperor’s words.
“That is true. By becoming an adventurer, I obtained great strength, and my beautiful looks have given me overwhelming support from the citizens.”
“Don’t praise your own looks.”
“However, I am an elf. In this country where humans are the highest race, I wouldn’t be able to become Empress,” Rufa ignored Garnet’s comment and declared such.
Call it a blessing in disguise, I talked with good non-human races like Triffin-san, so I don’t really understand the whole “human is the best” argument, but Rufa mentioned she was bullied by her sisters, so I guess discrimination against races other than humans is a thing. That’s why Rufa was stating how it was impossible for her, but her father just shook her head.
“Many people speak against the absolute rule of us humans, as much as there are those supporting it. Especially when it comes to adventurers and the military, they hold no discrimination against other races. Rather, they welcome their strength. If you become a hero who has arrived on the 6th floor, you’ll be a whole level above your sisters.”
“Urk…”
Rufa yet again couldn’t argue back, just biting her lip in response. It’s reassuring to know she has allies supporting her, but just this once, it turns into a fatal flaw.
“All the other races who had received discrimination so far will surely support an elf for the throne, and so will the citizens who like to preach for morals. You’ve got plenty of potential to become the next ruler.”
“…And that’s why my sisters are cautious of me. Truly, how vexing.” Rufa grumbled like she was truly disgusted.
It might be something out of her control, but she probably doesn’t want to see her sisters fight. And the Emperor wasn’t done yet.
“If I’m gone, and the capital is wrapped in a war for succession, then the surrounding countries will come marching in to take control and start their rebellion after they had been under our rule this entire time.”
Will that really happen? The Empire has its adventurers as an immense strength, and the magic items found in the labyrinth should turn the Empire’s force into an unbeatable fort. I don’t think any country would attempt to fight the Empire in such a state. The Emperor must have guessed my doubts, as he gave me an explanation.
“The Empire has become a great force of power that rules over half of the continent. No country would fight us head-on. However, we don’t have enough power to thoroughly protect every small area of the places we govern.”
“That makes sense.”
No matter how strong we adventurers are, you can’t just raise their number exponentially to send them off. Many adventurers don’t even reach the lower floors, remaining still fairly weak in comparison. And not all retired adventurers automatically join the army, so the lack of people must be a huge issue.
“You need food to grow the number of people. And for that, you need citizens. As well as guards and protectors looking after the farmers. For that, you need more food again, and farmers…And so it goes on and on.” The Emperor sighed, arguing that things couldn’t continue like this.
He must be struggling in his own right. After a thousand years, it’s still not easy to grow one’s population. Unless you can’t easily grow the amount of food, you’ll always be struggling in that regard. And the Emperor continued to throw another bombshell.
“And even if we resolved this problem, there still remains the chance that the former adventurers could betray us.”
“Huh?!”
“By obtaining strength, you gain ambition. Some could plan to become independent with their own territory, and others run away to neighboring countries and plan to overthrow the Empire, we’ve seen this hundreds of times.”
“No way…” I was shocked, but in the end, it was to be expected.
Adventurers aren’t allies of justice. They defeat monsters to earn money, so if they see profit, they’ll betray the Empire all the same.
“And while being conscious of the dangers of a rebellion, it’s bad to have the former 6th-floor rankers and current 5th-floor rankers leave the country, and this only speeds up the lack of human resources, but I don’t think there’s much use in telling you about that.” The Emperor must have realized he was just grumbling at this point, as he stopped himself. “To get back to my original point, even if you get rid of me now, the world will only be met with more chaos.”
“So you’re begging to be left alive?” Rufa glared at her father, but she probably realized what was going on.
The Emperor wasn’t telling us all this to protect himself. He wants to destroy our hope and intentions. A shiver ran down my spine, as the Emperor continued.
“Even if you defeat me, who is evil, the world won’t experience peace. All the same, there is no absolute evil that needs to be defeated for everyone to be happy. That would be too convenient. Only the ancient heroic tales allow for such a simple conclusion.”
“So then…”
“The something we call the Evil God of Demise that has created the labyrinth and gave birth to the monsters inside must exist. However, defeating that something won’t magically save the world. That convenient story doesn’t exist.”
If we defeat the Evil God of Demise within a year, the world will be saved. This small glimmer of hope was completely eradicated by the Emperor’s cold words. It was like that one statement destroyed my hopes of ever becoming like a hero of those heroic tales.
“That…That’s nothing more than speculation!” Rufa’s face grew pale as she screamed with a quivering voice.
If she accepted what her father was saying, it’d mean that all her work up to this point was fruitless, and she had to accept the death of many people. However, the Emperor coldly cut through all that.
“Then why did not a single Emperor attempt to gather the strength of the adventurers to reach the 7th floor of the labyrinth?”
“Th-That’s…” Rufa didn’t know how to respond.
She must have realized that something wasn’t quite right, but decided not to face that fact.
“I’ve been acting for the sake of our country’s prosperity and wealth, and I’m nothing but a coward. However, in our long history, how come no Emperor, no noble, no army general, or otherwise strong adventurer attempted to reach the bottom of the labyrinth? If they weren’t all as foolish and self-centered as me, then the Empire wouldn’t have lasted this long.” The Emperor continued to bring up fact after fact.
I feel like he’s speaking in a self-deprecating manner, but it proved to be convincing all the same. Amongst all the influential and amazing people in the Empire, at least one of them should have thought something along the lines of ‘Even if we lose our prosperity, we should defeat the Evil God of Demise in order to secure a safe future for our children,’ but this didn’t happen.
“You may argue that we let things get this far because we averted our eyes from the truth, but at the same time, we can’t afford to lose the labyrinth now like we could have all those thousands of years ago.”
Before Rufa could say anything, the Emperor immediately destroyed any logical argument she could have made.
“Also, we’ve had more than a thousand years of history, and yet you are trying to tell me that not a single soul would have managed to defeat the Dark Knight on the 6th floor? He may be incredibly strong, but he is not invincible. I could think of several methods.”
Wait, for real?! I was shocked, as the Emperor started.
“He may be the Dark Knight, but his mana isn’t limitless. If you don’t give him time to recover, you can make him run out. Just gather a hundred or two hundred 6th-floor rankers.”
I mean, I’m pretty sure nobody defeated the Dark Knight because that is so incredibly difficult.
“It’s not too difficult. Just like my daughter is doing right now, you can leech off stronger adventurers to reach that level.” The Emperor easily answered one of the problems.
According to what Chidori-san told me, Eclair-san’s team was on the level of 3rd-floor rankers, but after leeching off the White Wings for three days, they reached the aura level of a 5th floor. Judging from that, creating a hundred or two hundred 6th-floor rankers shouldn’t even be too hard.
“With a large influx of 6th-floor rankers, they could become drunk on power and consider fighting against the Empire, so you’d rather not rely on this method. However, it would be an easy sacrifice for the fate of the world.”
And yet, they didn’t do that. That’s probably why he called himself a coward and foolish. However, it’s a fact that, if the whole Empire moved, defeating the Dark Knight would be easy.
“Yet, nobody dared to attempt this. Why is that? It’s because it was pointless from the beginning.”
“That’s…”
Rufa lost all words, her expression distorting in despair. Just as the Emperor stated, many rulers have existed across the past 1000 years, so the chances of them all being overly protective of the country’s prosperity is fairly low. And yet, they all ignored the Evil God of Demise. So, that’s probably where the answer lies to this problem.
“Nobody assumes that somethingthat will destroy the world can be defeated by human hands. And there is no guarantee that defeating it would bring salvation to the world.”
“…”
“You may want to deal with the earthquakes, but what about destroying the entire planet we live on? Challenging that something means fighting the world as a whole.” The Emperor continued despite his distraught daughter, as if he was a teacher kindly teaching his student.
Needless to say, with the ability to create an entirely different world, this something in the labyrinth must be like the Goddess of Earth in that instance. It can’t be defeated by human hands. And even if they did, it would destroy the world it created.
“It was all predestined. This capital and our Empire was destined to fall to ruin a thousand years after its founding.” The Emperor calmly exclaimed.
“That’s why you didn’t listen to me…”
“If this fate cannot be avoided, it’s better to let it arrive without a soul knowing of it.” The Emperor’s expression was filled with sympathy as well as guilt.
Seeing this, Garnet mumbled something under her breath.
“Did you only learn of the Evil God of Demise after Rufa was born?”
“Huh?!” Rufa screamed in shock.
“Even as the princess, you hadn’t known until you looked through the forbidden library. It was probably only the various rulers before him that knew.”
“Yes, most likely.”
“And Your Majesty inherited the position of Emperor sixteen years ago, so the timeline would add up.”
“…”
“I always thought it was weird. You had seven daughters, and I knew that there had been Empresses in the past, and yet you didn’t even try to create a male successor. That must be—”
“Redberyl’s daughter, I think that’s enough.” The Emperor forcefully stopped Garnet’s monologue.
However, I could see a glimmer of pain on his face, so Garnet must have made a point. He was surrounded by adorable children, sitting at the top of the country, blessed with a peaceful country, only to know that everything would go to ruin in a few years…that must weigh down heavily on him. Just thinking about all the children who’ll die without ever becoming an adult must be tearing a hole into him. Ah, that’s why the Emperor said that we didn’t know how long the seal would hold. Even if he didn’t believe in it, all he could do was to ensure that the lives of the people he cared for would be happy until they met their eventual end. Meanwhile, the Emperor looked at his daughter with a gentle gaze.
“It was my foolishness that led you to believe in the Evil God of Demise and hold onto hope by becoming an adventurer. Please forgive me.”
“Father…”
As the Emperor, he may not have lowered his head, but his apology towards Rufa seemed genuine, as she looked at him with an expression unable to say a thing. He then looked away from her and towards me.
“Dark Knight Alba, you ought to take my daughter away from here. I don’t know what calamity awaits when that something awakens, but the further away you get from this continent, the greater the chance you get to spend the rest of your days in peace.”
The Emperor repeated his main request for the third time. Oddly enough, my answer had slightly changed from before.
“I’m relieved.”
“What…?”
“You’re actually a caring father.”
“…”
Not just the Emperor, but even Garnet looked at me in disbelief. But it’s how I feel so I can’t help it. Rufa called her father awful many times before, and he planned to get me assassinated not just once, so I was considering him to be some extreme villain, but I was off. I mean, he has to be cruel to a certain degree as the ruler of the Empire. He’s also a coward who gave up on struggling. However, he still cared for his daughter. That is the case.
“Are you saying I’m that naive of a man?”
“Yeah.” I nodded strongly, as the Emperor’s face showed clear surprise for once.
“Impossible. I simply want to have you, a man possibly bringing chaos to the Empire, leave this place with my daughter.”
Is he really trying to hide his embarrassment now?
“You suck at lying during the weirdest times.”
See! Even Garnet agrees with me! But since he still didn’t get it, I had to be the one dropping the bombshells now.
“You couldn’t bring yourself to forcefully take Rufa back,” I said and pointed at the clothed shadow.
With such a skilled assassin ninja, he could have taken her back before she even ran into me. It would have been more than possible to take her back by force. The fact that he caught Rufa and Garnet like this is plenty of proof of that. He could have just killed her and taken her back, then revived her. Well…some people never learn no matter how many times they get killed…isn’t that right, Gramps?
And the Emperor of all people should have come up with that possibility right away, possessing skilled subordinates who could pull this off immediately. But he couldn’t do something so cruel to his daughter…even though he didn’t hesitate when it came to me. In other words…
“You love Rufa.”
“Yuck!”
Hearing my declaration, Rufa sounded utterly disgusted. Picking up that reaction, her father’s expression immediately distorted into one of despair, and I didn’t miss that.
“Even if I was so naive of a man, what’s so bad about that? My personality won’t do anything when it comes to avoiding the ruin of the empire.” The Emperor tried to argue that we were all wrong.
And truth be told, he’s not wrong. But there was one part he forgot.
“I thought you were an evil Emperor just thinking about yourself, but you turned out to be a caring father.”
Some things you have to see and confirm with your own eyes or you’ll never know the truth.
“That’s why…I think it’s too early to assume the Evil God of Demise is destined to destroy the earth.” Having newfound hope, I continued.
“Impossible. I refuse to accept that such a convenient conclusion could exist!”
As expected, the Emperor tried to protest. But, I’m not done yet.
“Where is the proof that the Evil God of Demise will destroy the world?”
“What?!”
“What are you saying now…?”
Not just the Emperor, but even Garnet and Rufa looked at me in disbelief. Yeah, I know this logic might be a stretch. We’ve added the name of the Evil God of Demise to this something that created the labyrinth, and it makes sense that the danger it creates can’t be ignored. However…
“Calling it an Evil God or saying it will destroy the world is something the people thousands of years ago said.”
I think it was the first Emperor Leonard who wrote it down. Rufa read this and reached a certain conclusion, which is what brings us to right now, but maybe the beginning was different.
“He didn’t have a talk with the Evil God of Demise directly, right?”
That’s right. That person didn’t go to have a talk with this something slumbering in the labyrinth. However, since the first Emperor was respected by everybody, nobody bothered to doubt him.
“Who could guarantee that the Emperor would never lie?” I said as I pointed my finger at the father who didn’t admit his love for his daughter.
However, the Emperor remained stubborn.
“How idiotic! Haven’t you seen the changes in the labyrinth with your own eyes?! The greater number of monsters, the arrival of new species, and so on. How would you explain that?!”
Ack, that one hurt. Since this hasn’t happened before, it’s easy to just put this off as an omen. In fact, we thought the same way. However, there is one excuse.
“The Evil God of Demise…That something in the labyrinth doesn’t necessarily have to be evil!”
He used the earthquakes happening in the labyrinth as another proof, but what about the earthquakes in our world? They’re not existing to bring ruin to us humans. The ground simply shakes as a natural phenomenon. It’s the exact same here.
“Even if there were no ill intentions, the world will still fall to ruin because of that something.”
Ugh, another good point. The earthquakes may not have any ill intent behind them, but they still trouble us in a way. However…
“If it doesn’t have any ill will, we can convince it.”
That’s right. We can always ask that something reconsider and let humanity survive!
“Like hell such a convenient timeline would exist.” The Emperor brought the same argument as before, as he tried to deny my statement.
However…
“Some convenient enemy doesn’t exist…was it?”
If no absolute evil exists that would save the world by defeating it, then we might be able to talk to this something.
“What flawed logic.”
“I know.”
I had to accept that. I’m not putting all my money and faith into this conclusion.
“However, there’s a possibility.”
And once there’s a chance at a happy end, I’ll take it.
“That’s why I’ll go down to the 7th floor of the labyrinth and see the truth for myself.”
This is the only conclusion that makes sense. I don’t know if hope or despair awaits at the end. In fact, there’s a good chance the Emperor is right about all of this. However, you won’t know until you see it with your own eyes.
“Because I’m an adventurer.”
Challenging dangers never before seen…Embarking on an adventure! That is what we do! Yep, I nailed it. I’ve never sounded as cool as this before. And yet, Garnet grumbled at me.
“You truly are…a helpless…godless…faithless…bottomless moron.”
Ouch!? You didn’t have to stress every single insult there…As I was depressed, Garnet suddenly smiled at me.
“However, I’m thankful from the bottom of my heart that I got to meet you.”
“What?”
“G-Garnet, what do you mean by that?!”
I was blushing furiously as Rufa started to panic.
“Your majesty, it’s just as Alba said. No matter how much you try to reason, we won’t know what the truth is. That is why we have to keep traveling deeper down the labyrinth.”
“…” The Emperor went quiet with a dull expression.
However, the fact that he didn’t answer meant that he also couldn’t deny our opinion.
“We will defeat the guardian of the 6th floor and go see that something that looms deep inside the labyrinth. And if the unavoidable fate awaits us, then we’ll give up.”
Yeah, it’s just as Garnet said. Giving up can be our final resort.
“Father, I agree with Alba-sama and Garnet.”
Rufa had recovered from the previous shock as she spoke to her father.
“Fight it or accept it, we’ll do whatever it takes. After we’ve decided it’s over, we can give up. Okay?”
“…”
“I’m not nearly as wise as you are, Father, and if I see the truth, I might give in to despair. However, I don’t want to think about any of that and just keep fighting.”
“Very well. Sometimes, the idiots can be the greatest force you could need,” Garnet agreed, glancing at me.”
That’s right. As a bottomless idiot, you stop fearing the danger and—Wait, did she just insult me?
“Never change, Alba. Never change,” Garnet grinned at me, paired with a sigh.
I can’t tell if she’s praising me or making fun of me.
“Heh.”
Huh? Who laughed just now? It wasn’t Rufa or the Emperor…Wait, was it the assassin ninja?! I looked over at the clothed individual, but even the eyes looking at me through the cloth had turned back to shooting ice-cold glares at me. But unexpectedly, they’re probably pretty fun to talk to outside of work. Meanwhile, the Emperor finally opened his mouth.
“To be outreasoned by my daughter…I’ve gotten old, it seems.
“So then…”
“However, I can’t accept it.” The Emperor cut through Rufa’s words with a cold blade. “I am the 41st Emperor of the Goldo Empire, Emperor Geraf. How could I bet on such futile hope and leave the fate of the residents up to this? I cannot allow people to cause even more chaos.” The Emperor’s expression was cold, but I bet he’s filled with complicated feelings inside.
Annoyance that things weren’t going his way, as well as unexpected hope after feeling nothing but despair. And at the same time, he was probably feeling conflicted at the realization that he was getting cold. That was what I interpreted from the light burning in his eyes.
“You should know that we can’t keep going like this, right Father?!”
“…”
Rufa screamed with all her might, but the Emperor went silent. He was probably aware that he acted like a coward. However, he had given up on changing this cruel fate for many years, and yet now a glance of hope dangled in front of him. He is being stubborn, but can you blame him for not immediately latching on?
“Must be in his blood, nah?” Garnet sighed in disbelief.
Rufa probably doesn’t like it, but they do share the same qualities. That being said, if the Emperor himself can’t see the light, then I have to be the one.
“If I win, then we’ll travel down to the 7th floor and see the fate of the world for ourselves,” I said and readied my greatsword.
I’ll just make the Emperor forcefully understand. It’s a violent technique, but it’s the simplest method to get this thought through his thick skull. Seeing this, the Emperor smiled and grabbed his longsword.
“Very well. And if I win, you will leave this capital with my daughter.”
Looking at it, there are no demerits for me even if I lose. However, if I discard all the lives of the innocent people in this city, I will regret it for the rest of my life. And I don’t want to live my life like that. So, I have to win.
“We’ll decide it with our sword in the end…Fitting for a city of adventurers.”
“Indeed.”
He couldn’t be more right. The Emperor probably predicted this, which is why he chose this place far from the public eye. Other than the moonlight illuminating the area, the plains were pitch-black as we readied our swords and began our fight.
*
Compared to the Emperor who held his longsword straight, I kept one leg in the back as I leaped at him instantly.
“Hup!”
I tested the waters and cut straight down at the Emperor. Considering the weight and impact of my greatsword, intercepting it with a longsword should be hard. However, the Emperor swiftly moved his hand and locked my sword.
“Ugh!”
I used the weight of my body to try and force my sword through, but it was like slashing at a full mountain. In fact, I was being pushed backward, kicked in the gut. However, I used my momentum to get my distance and swung my sword horizontally. Kurokage Style Sword Technique – Rice Mowing. A black blade of aura flew at the Emperor, who was still stuck mid-kick. However—
“Naive.”
The golden blade fired off from the Emperor’s longsword clashed with my black one, swallowing up my whole body.
“Gah!”
I received an impact even stronger than when Glutton tried to devour me, as I was blown off and rolled along the ground.
“Alba-sama!”
“Impossible…Alba was pushed back?!”
For a moment, my consciousness left my body, as I heard Rufa’s worried voice and Garnet’s shocked comment from a distance. I knew he’d be strong, but to such a level…I used my greatsword as a help to make me stand, as the Emperor spoke confidently.
“There’s no way the Emperor ruling over the 1000-year old Empire could lose against a single adventurer.”
“I see.”
“No, what kind of logic is that?!”
It made sense to me, but Garnet threw in a retort. Is it really that weird? If adventurers listen to the laws of this country, then the ones enforcing them just have to be that strong. But ignoring me, Rufa whispered with a quivering voice.
“Impossible…Alba-sama managed to beat Chidori-sama, a 6th-floor ranker…and to think he’s being overwhelmed…That could only mean—”
“I’m on the level of a 7th-floor ranking adventurer, yes?” The Emperor finished Rufa’s words. “Indeed. My aura has surpassed that of the 6th floor and has reached the territory of what lies beyond.”
“That should not be possible!” Rufa screamed. “Aura may not be limited, but the only way to make it grow is to defeat monsters and be showered with their mana. How could you not reach the 7th floor and yet possess an aura of such a level?!”
“Do you really consider it impossible?” The Emperor calmly returned the question.
That in itself must have been the answer, as Rufa’s face distorted in panic.
“No way…Energy Drain?!”
“Indeed. Using this forbidden magic, I obtained an aura that would be on the level of the 7th floor.” He praised his daughter’s ability to connect the dots, as he Emitted golden aura from his body.
The forbidden magic called Energy Drain…It steals the other person’s aura to make it one’s own, and it’s what Rufa used on Eclair-san and her team to punish them. But wasn’t it supposed to be very inefficient and prone to failure? The Emperor must have guessed what I was thinking as he bluntly explained.
“You are right, efficiency isn’t something to boast about. Even if you steal one type of aura from ten people, that doesn’t mean it doubles your own level. In that way, you could consider it a failure. However, if ten aren’t enough…then maybe get a hundred next?”
“What?!”
“In fact, it’s very complicated to gather former 6th-floor adventurers, so you can just steal it from a few, have them group up with former adventurers, wait for a time when the labyrinth is empty, and then have them regain their strong aura to have it stolen again.”
“…”
Met with such a shocking revelation, I was utterly baffled. I mean, I get the logic behind it, but are there people willing to participate in that?! It’s the power they’ve obtained themselves. Who would willingly hand that over? I was confused, but Rufa just clicked her tongue.
“Tsk, so it’s all for pleasure.”
“Don’t misunderstand. It is simply a byproduct.”
“But you used that for your advantage!”
“Indeed.” The Emperor bluntly responded with a smile.
Um…what’s this about? I sent Garnet a gaze asking for help, as she shook her head.
“Energy Drain makes you feel pleasure as if you’re having your soul sucked out of you, so some people have been conditioned to work hard to obtain that pleasure.”
“Yikes…”
That’s actually…messed up. And this is basically the same as selling your body for money, right? Learning the truth, Rufa sent her father a gaze of disgust.
“You used the righteous adventurers of this country like used dust cloths…Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
“It was a necessary method to preserve the power of the strong and guarantee peace in this country. Aren’t you doing something similar in order to conquer the labyrinth?”
“…”
“Even in terms of unorthodox measures, you two are father and daughter.”
Rufa went silent, unable to deny anything, as Garnet threw in a retort. Well, with the world on the line, some dirty methods are necessary.
“Anyway, let us continue.” The Emperor finished his conversation and kicked off the ground.
He arrived in front of my eyes instantly, swinging horizontally as he aimed at my stomach, but I used my greatsword as a shield to block it. However, the impact was too much for me, as I was blown off once again.
“Urk!”
I can’t. The difference in power is too strong. I can’t win this head-on. In order to kill off the momentum from being knocked away, I stabbed my sword into the ground and fired off a wave of aura. Kurokage Style Sword Technique – Earth Dragon. Through the ground, my skewers of aura passed through the ground aiming at the Emperor. However—
“Small tricks.” The ground at his feet lit up with a golden aura, as he easily erased my skewers.
“If so…!”
I closed the distance between us immediately and fired off two blades of aura along my regular swing. Kurokage Style Sword Technique – Three Claws. It was an attack happening simultaneously aimed at his head, abdomen, and legs. However, he fired off a great amount of aura from his sword, creating a golden shield, easily blocking it.
“Not half bad.”He praised me as he gathered aura in his left fist and rammed it into my chest.
“Gah…!”
Receiving an impact that made me think my heart just stopped, as I heard something snapping around my chest area. No way…my Providence Guard suffered a crack?! Just like my Demon Eater, it absorbs mana and naturally repairs itself, but still…That is unforgivable! I was filled with rage for a brief moment, but he’s too strong to be beaten by sheer emotions. While blocking off the Emperor’s continued attacks, I frantically thought about how to handle this battle. Because of his aura on the level of the rumored 7th floor, his power is undoubtedly higher than mine, but he doesn’t feel as much better when it comes to sword skills. He probably doesn’t have as much time to practice anymore.
When it comes to techniques, I have the upper hand. However, the absolute difference in power is what’s putting me back. What should I do? I could…No, that won’t do. I was having trouble even thinking as the Emperor’s attack swept me off my feet.
“Alba-sama?!”
“This is the end.”
Rufa screamed, but the Emperor raised his sword to slam it down onto my chest, when—BAM. The ground below us shook, as even the Emperor struggled to stand.
“What was that?” I asked but couldn’t afford to lower my guard towards the Emperor.
However, everything broke apart when Garnet, who had collapsed just now, screamed with a pale face.
“What’s that?!”
“What happened?”
I had a horrible feeling as Garnet answered with a quivering voice.
“Over in the 8th district, I can hear countless footsteps from the entrance of the labyrinth!”
“Huh?”
I was flabbergasted as I looked at the Emperor’s face. However, he seemed just as shocked as we were. In other words, this wasn’t one of his plots…No, I actually know. It’s just hard to believe.
“No way…Monsters are escaping from the dungeon?”
“Dammit!” I was called back to reality as I turned my back to the Emperor and ran towards the labyrinth.
He might attack me now, but I don’t have time to be bothered by this fight. Luckily, he didn’t do any such thing and just let me go. And as I ran along the walls, I saw the hellish scene right in front of me.
“““Grooooo!!”””
The moonlight illuminated the monsters escaping from the labyrinth as they roared in anger. And at the same time, it was like they celebrated to have finally set foot above ground. Goblins, kobolts, wolves, trolls, katapult plants, giant ants, Sahuagin, mermaids…Including all the monsters we fought thus far, I could even see other monsters we hadn’t encountered yet, like chimeras and such. A blessing in disguise is that monsters of the 6th floor like dragons or arc demons are nowhere to be seen.
“400…500…How many are there?”
My guess was that there were at least 2000 monsters on the loose. And they continued to gush out of the labyrinth’s entrance even now. It’s not a number only one person could handle. I jumped off the wall and headed for the large mass of monsters. Let them be, and they’ll cross the walls and attack the citizens while they’re asleep. And in fact, the guards in front and around the labyrinth were already dealing with them.
“What is going on?!”
“Don’t come here!”
The guards were holding up inside the station to throw spears at the monsters from the second floor, but they’ll only have a few minutes left. That’s why I swung my sword and sent a wave of aura at the monsters. Kurokage Style Sword Technique – Rice Mowing! With that alone, I got rid of around one hundred of the weaker monsters like goblins or kobolts. However, monsters like the pegasuses and griffins soared into the sky, avoiding my attack easily.
If I leave them be, they’ll cause casualties within town. I have to get rid of them first.
However, unlike the monsters I’ve already fought, I don’t know what technique would be effective for them. We’re not inside the confined labyrinth right now, so even aura blades might not be a big deal for them. As I was hesitating, the flying monsters came at me all at once in a group.
“Thanks for that!”
This was just too convenient for me, as I fired off horizontal and vertical blades of aura. Kurokage Style Sword Technique – Tained Full Moon! With blades of aura attacking from all sides, not even the flying beasts had any chance to escape, sliced into pieces. Around 50 monsters were defeated all at once, turning into particles of light that turned this dark night into mid-day for a moment, but I was forced to take a knee as I gasped for air.
“Huff…huff…”
This is bad. I was already pretty exhausted after my fight with the Emperor, but using these techniques is eating up my aura too much. I fought the dizziness assaulting me, as a group of trolls approached me. Unable to evade, I could only look up at the approaching fist—as something flew towaRds the trolls and sliced them in half.
“What?!”
I spotted a moon-shaped throwing object on the ground where the trolls had stood. Is that… a shuriken? So that means…?!
“I swear. I told you to be prepared.”
Together with a familiar voice, more monster heads dropped to the floor. After a moment, a middle-aged woman with a large body appeared in front of me without making a sound.
“Manager!”
“Getting beaten by some trolls, you’ve got a long way ahead of you.”
The former 6th-floor adventurer and karate ninja manager of the Eternal Maiden dissed me like that as she grinned at me. So she figured out something was wrong and came running straight here! How reassuring! I was feeling better with such support, as the manager fired off more shuriken, defeating another batch of monsters.
“It’s not just me.”
The moment she said that, the manager pointed in a different direction as a large white aura blade came soaring towards us, slicing a great number of monsters in half. Was that…Rice Mowing? That means…
“Alba-dono, are you okay?!”
Using the path just opened by herself, the Divine-Speed Samurai Chidori-san came running towards us.
“How reckless could you be?! Just jumping into a crowd of monsters like this…!”
“Forgive me.” I apologized as I turned my gaze towards the 7th district.
From there came the other people of the White Wings, as well as a great number of other adventurers, running towards the monsters.
“Monsters appearing from the labyrinth?! What is going on?!”
“I don’t know a damn thing, but defeat them before there’s casualties!”
“Woookay, this is new. I’ve always wanted to observe the actions of monsters if they reach above ground, but this is a bit too much even for my taste.”
“I’m shocked you have this much decency left within you. Ah! Don’t step on the magic stones!”
Some of the adventurers were confused at this situation, but they still fought the monsters back with all they had.
“They might fight for their own reasons, but they aren’t cold-hearted,” the manager said as she threw a chop down at my head.
Yeah, that’s right. There was no need for me to play the hero and storm in all by myself.
“You should put some more trust in us, Alba-dono.”
“I’m sorry.”
Chidori-san looked at me with a hurt expression, so I hurriedly lowered my head. After the incident with Eclair-san, it may have been that I wasn’t too trusting of anybody other than the people in my party.
“In your case, you probably just rushed in without thinking much.”
“Ouch!”
The manager laughed at me, but before I could throw in a complaint, another rush of monsters appeared, only to be mowed down shortly after.
“We took care of the majority, but you help us,” the manager took out a glass bottle from the pocket of her apron and threw it at me.
Is this the rumored Elixir that replenishes your aura just by drinking it?! Even gramps needs a year to make several of these!
“That’ll be ten thousand gold coins later.”
“You’re charging me?!” I screamed and retorted.
I mean, the price might be about right, but in this situation, I feel like she would put a discount on it.
“I’ll put it on your tab,” the manager laughed as she defeated more monsters without waiting for my response.
One bottle costs around 80 years worth of a regular guard’s salary…That’s doable! I moved the bottom part of my mask and gulped down the content of the bottle. Immediately after, the feeling of exhaustion vanished from my body, as I could feel power surging from within.
“Let us go together, Alba-dono!”
“Yeah!”
With Chidori-san by my side, I ran towards the mass of monsters roaming the streets.
*
Emperor Geraf watched this scenery from atop the castle walls. Next to him, the clothed shadow put down Rufa and Garnet.
“Father, this is a checkmate.” Rufa confirmed Alba’s safety and sighed in relief, as she declared this with a stern expression. “We still don’t know if this something lurking deep down in the labyrinth is the Evil God of Demise who will bring ruin the world, or if it has no ill-will towards us at all. Needless to say, it’s more than plausible that defeating it won’t save us, either.”
Judging from everything she’d been told, the chance that what her father said would turn out true is fairly high, and she had to accept that. However, just like Alba said, they had to confirm it for themselves, or they’ll never know. And looking at the situation unfolding in front of them, the Emperor’s plan to keep it a secret and meet an abrupt end wouldn’t work, either.
“Now that so many adventurers have witnessed this singularity, you can’t hide it from them any longer.”
This uproar isn’t something he could silence even as the Emperor. Tomorrow, the whole capital will learn of this incident, and it will spread across the continent in a month or less. Surely, people won’t immediately find out that this is related to the destruction of the whole world, but it will leave people worried. And many will realize that a great calamity awaits the Empire’s capital.
“Adding to the intense questioning from the nobles and citizens who have been left in the dark, the other nations surrounding us will begin to move, too. As it’s come to this, our best course of action would be to reveal everything to our citizens so that we can fight all of this together.”
“…” The Emperor remained silent.
He knew that the peace his predecessors worked so hard to protect now finally crumbled. If left alone, then the Empire will fall to ruin way before the Evil God can be resurrected. It was time for a change. And the Emperor knew that, but changing his life this abruptly, burden with the pressure of being this country’s ruler, made even the core of soul shake in terror.
“Release them,” the Emperor ordered the clothed shadow, who jumped down from the wall.
After the extermination of all the monsters had ended, no more monsters appeared from the labyrinth. Sure of their victory, the adventurers screamed in joy, as the Emperor himself joined them and walked up to the Dark Knight.
‘All right, all these magic stones are…Wait, that golden armor?!’
‘What is Emperor Geraf doing here?!’
Ignoring the adventurers who caught on to his presence, the Emperor pointed his sword at Alba.
“Dark Knight Alba, let us continue.”
“His Majesty is pointing his sword at Alba? What is going on…?”
“…”
Asked by the black-haired samurai, Alba stood still in silence. That’s when Rufa came running towards them, finally freed from her shackles.
“Father, please stop this. What good will fighting do now?!”
“Step back.”
The Emperor lent no ear to his daughter’s appeal, as he emitted golden aura from his entire body, forcing the surrounding adventurers to step back by sheer pressure. Met with the aura on par of a 7th-floor ranker, the majority of them stepped back, and Garnet took Rufa’s shoulder to reason with her.
“Stop it. Sometimes, men like them can’t back down.”
“That’s…!” Rufa pleaded with a teary face, but not only her father, even Alba had their swords in position, leaving her speechless.
“I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but best of luck.”
“You’ll be paying me double the price for the elixir if you lose this.”
The black-haired Samurai and owner of the inn both sent Alba words of support. And while they were surrounded by a majority of adventurers, the fight between two men began, but not with the fate of the Empire on the line, but rather to prove their own point.
*
I stood face-to-face with the Emperor, who poured all of his aura into his longsword, as I cut off all the remaining hesitation I had. There’s only one way I could possibly beat him. And this method might prohibit me from being able to stay in the imperial capital, but I can’t afford to hesitate. So many people have gathered because of this ruckus to come and watch. But even more important than that, if I lose here, I’ll have to leave anyway. I won’t accept such a future. Because I promised to save the Empire…to Rufa.
Well, more accurately, she told me to defeat the Evil God within a year to obtain country, castle, and princess, but…does this mean I should marry her and become the Emperor? No, no, no, that’s impossible. I shouldn’t waste my energy thinking about that. For now, I’ll put everything into this battle. Not just for Rufa’s sake, but because the Emperor…No, Geraf-san challenged me like this. For that reason, I muttered the following words…
“Emerge.”
I activated the spell to remove my jet-black armor.
‘I knew it! The Dark Knight was that silver-haired man all along!’
I heard voices of surprise and shock in the distance, but I simply turned towards Rufa and lowered my head.
“Forgive me.”
I broke my promise that I wouldn’t walk around town without wearing my mask. But, this is all I could come up with right now. I took a deep breath, as I let the aura from within my body run rampant. My body began feeling lighter, as black butterfly wings grew from my back.
“It’s not magic, but those are butterfly wings…Alba-sama, are you…?!”
“You had the blood of a fairy flowing through you?!”
Rufa and Garnet were in disbelief, as the other adventurers around us revealed the truth.
‘Fairies still exist?!’
‘No way. Even mummies and stuffed animals of them cost thousands of gold coins.”
‘But these wings…He must be a hybrid of a fairy of some sort…’
With this, I won’t be able to get back to my regular life. If things go bad, I’ll just end up sold off like an antique toy for the highest bidder. But, none of that matters right now. I just focused all of the aura in my body as I only thought of beating Geraf-san. The Kurokage Style Sword Techniques allow for every enemy to be defeated and eradicated, whereas the Fairy Karate style lets you jump into battle to grasp life without being afraid of death. They’re both important to me, but after becoming an adventurer, there is one more thing I realized.
It’s okay if I die.
And I mean that literally. As long as my body isn’t utterly destroyed, Rufa and Garnet will revive me. I have allies now that I can believe in. That’s why I’ll use everything I have to defeat my opponent, even if it costs me my own life. Because if not, I don’t think I can beat the man in front of me.
I’m putting it all on the line.
My identity as a fairy hybrid, the technique I’ve been developing this entire time, as well as everything my life has to offer.
Come!
The Emperor must have felt my determination, as he screamed and swung down his sword, filled with all of his aura.
“Haaaaaaaaaaa!”
A wave of gold filled my sight, quickly approaching me. Evading this will be impossible…Well, not like I planned to anyway. I held my greatsword in front of me as I made the mana gathering at my back explode, shooting myself through the wave of aura like an arrow.
—Have you gone mad?!
The Emperor’s expression showed up in front of me as my blade approached him. Naturally, I’m not out here to kill myself. When firing off an attack like this, the other person lets down their guard, thinking they can’t be attacked. And I’ll use that to my advantage. It’s what was made possible by my birth as a fairy hybrid, what was sharpened through my skills with the Kurokage Style, my one and only original as an adventurer.
Personal Style – Blackened Wings of Life.
The tip of my greatsword pierced through the incoming wave of golden aura. I didn’t rely on any aura to protect me, which led to the skin on my shoulders being peeled off, the tip of my right leg completely gone, but I didn’t even feel any pain any longer.
“Gooo!”
The moment I did one final push with the explosive magic at my back, all gold disappeared from my view, as I passed Geraf-san’s shocked expression, rolling along the ground.
“Gah…!”
I couldn’t even stand up any longer, as the Emperor’s longsword fell to the ground. A loose arm was holding onto the hilt, even now. I managed to move my body and look to my side, finding Geraf-san gasping for air, as a large amount of blood splattered from his side where his right arm should be.
“It’s my loss.”
I’m sorry, but I’m on the ground here with my right leg gone, so I don’t feel like this is much of a victory…But I didn’t have the energy to even tell him that as Rufa came running towards me.
“Alba-sama, how could you be so reckless?!”
“…Sorry.” I was genuinely surprised I had enough energy to even apologize.
“Even if I may be a failure of a princess, rather than the Empire, I care more about…”
“Rufa, I know the mood is just right, but won’t you heal them first?”
Rufa was about to say something, when Garnet took her shoulder with an apologetic expression.
“That’s right. Please wait a moment.” Rufa wiped her tears and started casting healing magic on me.
A gentle light shone down on me, as my wounds closed. However, my leg was still missing.
“This is just emergency treatment. We’ll get you healed properly at the cathedral later.”
“Thanks,” I thanked Rufa, but panicked eternally.
Knowing that cathedral, this is gonna cost me a fortune. And then I have to pay back the manager for the elixir…Oh no, all the money I saved up…
“You’re thinking about something pointless again, aren’t you?”
Garnet read my thoughts and sighed in disbelief. No, it’s not pointless!
“More importantly, there’s something else you should be doing.” Garnet said and slapped me on the back, as I used my sword to stand up.
I struggled and made my way over to Geraf-san, who was laying on the ground drenched in blood, currently receiving treatment from Beast Priest-san of the White Wings.
“Let me thank you. You can have your reward later, so please step down.”
“Y-Yes, woof!”
Beast Priest-san panicked a moment and did as he was told, when Geraf-san called out to me despite his pale face.
“Once again, this was my loss.”
“No, I don’t think…”
“It is fine. The winner stands and the loser falls. The result is apparent.”
The Emperor interrupted my words and didn’t hear another word. Honestly, I’m not too happy about this result, but I won’t tell him to change his opinion. I’ll gladly take the victory.
“I’ll accept that.”
“Very well. I won’t get in your way any longer. Try to reach the 7th floor as much as you like,” Geraf-san spoke with a pained and relieved expression.
So this means…no more assassination attempts on my life!
“Additionally, I will promise to assist you as much as I can. And I guarantee that no harm will come to you despite your blood.”
“Huh?!”
That comment reminded me of the fact that everyone knows I’m a hybrid elf. I panicked and covered my face, as Rufa, Garnet, and Chidori-san gently smiled.
“I was shocked, but I would never come to hate you for that.”
“Indeed. In fact, it’s reassuring to know. Your head’s in a constantly floaty daze like a butterfly.”
“I think it’s wonderful for someone with fairy blood to have trained themselves with such sword skills.”
Chidori-san also approached us and praised me. Thank god, I was more scared of them hating me than being sold off. I sighed in relief, as the manager came closer, slapping me on my shoulder.
“Don’t ya worry. As long as you’re staying at my place, nobody will dare to tell you off.”
Ah, how reliable…But, she’s just telling me to spend more of my money at her place, right? I gave her a dubious look to which the manager flashed a wry smile.
“Well, the Emperor guaranteed it. I don’t think you’ll go through the same prank as tonight again.”
Prank…? Ah, the clothed shadow. So she knew they barged into my room but knew they held no killing intent. As expected of a karate ninja.
“The window repairs will cost you one silver coin.”
…Really? You can’t even let that slide out of the goodness of your heart? I pouted for a moment but quickly stopped myself. In the end, nobody cast me aside despite my origin. I guess I was an idiot for worrying.
“That’s what I always tell you. You’re a moron,” Garnet said with a gentle smile, slapping me on the waist.
Yeah, I was a moron. I’ll put more trust in others and not hide anything anymore. With that gratitude in my chest, I thanked everyone.
“Thank you.”
“Leave it be. So embarrassing.”
“Indeed. It’s water under the bridge.”
Garnet showed a flustered reaction as Chidori-san gently smiled. And finally, Rufa responded with a serious expression.
“I should be thanking you. I don’t know if I’m just assuming things, but you went this far to beat my father because of the promise you made with me, right?”
“Um…”
For a second, I didn’t know what to say. It’s exactly as she said, but I felt a bit embarrassed to admit it. Then again, I promised not to hide anything. I could feel myself blushing as I nodded while looking at her eyes.
“Yeah. It was to protect the promise I made to you.”
“…I’m really happy.” Rufa tried to hold back her tears as she showed a blooming smile and clung to my chest.
“I swear, your playboy blood is something else.” The manager sighed in disbelief as she applauded.
Caught along by this, the other adventurers around us did the same. Please, just stop it…I don’t know what’s happening but this is so embarrassing!
“This is foul play! Are you trying to make this an established and official fact?!”
“No, she’s just a stupid moron. This probably isn’t calculated…”
I looked at Garnet to get help, but she was busy trying to hold back Chidori-san from cutting up Rufa. I have no ally here. And right as I was filled with despair, Geraf-san spoke up.
“Dark Knight Alba, there is one more thing I’d like to warn you about.”
“What?”
I more than welcomed this change of topic, as I pulled Rufa off me. I heard her clicking her tongue, but that was probably just imagination. At the same time, Geraf-san looked up at me and smiled gently…or so it looked, but his eyes were not smiling in the slightest.
“If you’re interested in my daughter, then you shouldn’t go around kissing Redberyl’s daughter, even if it was for the sake of your acting.”
I think that was the first time in my life I audibly heard the air freeze up around us. It’s the kind of noise Grandma would often make when Gramps was off cheating again. Hah…haha…Why in the world would you say that right now?! Since he was Count Giraffe in disguise, it makes sense he knows of that fact…but what point is there in dropping that now?! Utterly baffled, I was unable to even utter a word, as both my arms were forcefully grabbed.
“Alba-sama, what exactly is this about?”
“Alba-dono, care to explain yourself?”
Rufa and Chidori-san’s eyes were burning passionately as they glared up at me. Th-This is bad…
“G-Garnet, save me!”
“Don’t drag me into this!”
““!””
Rufa and Chidori-san immediately turned to stare at Garnet, who put her hands together and apologized.
“…Sorry!”
She’s just gonna accept it?! I mean, it might be a stretch to cover this up, but still! My arms were put in a deadlock as I had no chance of escaping, when Rufa and Chidori-san walked to an empty area.
“Alba-sama, let’s have a good long talk, yes?”
“Yes, we’ll hear all your excuses.”
They’re even scarier than demons! We’re not gonna talk, I will get tortured! Somebody help me!
‘Not only the princess and Chidori, he’s also going after the dwarf girl?! What a lolicon bastard!
‘I knew it. We should defeat him before the actual guardian!’
‘Everyone, he’s weakened now, we should use this chance to finish him off!’
Even as I sought help from my fellow adventurers, they all glared at me in contempt.
“That was ill-tasted, your Majesty.”
“I am still a father, and I don’t like the thought of having my daughter stolen. Forgive me.”
Garnet and Geraf-san were discussing something, not helping me. Gramps, what do I do now?
—Alba, sometimes it’s best to just give up.
I remembered Gramps smiling at me while being dragged away by Grandma, but that didn’t help much for the impending torture I would have to suffer through.
CClaw Translations 