Chapter 1: Boss_Quest 01 "Kill_House" Grade: ☆☆☆☆

Part 1

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

The warm sunlight of late morning filled one corner of the human base known as the inn town.

Beatrice sat motionless with her hands over her face. She did not know what to say to the others in her level cap group: White Witch Filinion who hid her body below a cape, a far-too-short dress, and shorts and Fighter Priest Armelina who wore a priest outfit with a bold slit up to above her hips.

The other two hesitantly spoke to the girl who had gone red to the ears and had steam rising from her head.

“U-ummm. Beatrice, we came all the way to Ground’s Nir. I know you experienced a pretty bad failure, but we can only stay here for a few days at a time, so can’t we make effective use of that time by getting to the Labyrinth?”

“If you can explain that failure to yourself, then it’ll be okay. No matter what you think on the surface, you’ve finished processing it deep down and have it stored away inside you. Don’t drag this along with you, Beatrice. We need to think about the future instead.”

She understood their point.

They could not see it now, but the Sage’s hidden plotting had to be continuing. And she would be doing more than enjoying this age on a whim. Whether or not she was Beatrice from the future, Beatrice needed the power to stop her if it came to that. That was not something that would just fall into her lap. Step 1 was the Labyrinth. Step 2 was the Labyrinth. Even if she had to sit out Steps 3 and 4, Step 5 was the Labyrinth. She had learned just how inexperienced she was in that previous battle, so she had to work toward earning a ton of Experience Points and learning new Magic.

“…I know that. I really, really do know that. But…”

“Isn’t sitting around only giving you more chance to remember that shameful memory of your own making? I feel like it will do less damage in the long run if you force yourself to keep moving at times like this.”

“I feel like that would turn her into something like a workaholic father who neglects his family. And if she relies on her combat skills to drive out her embarrassing memories, she’ll probably turn into a complete berserker.”

Beatrice sniffled, but it was true they only had so much time. And she did not know when she would run across the Sage again. When that time came, she did not want her own or someone else’s life to be lost due to a small moment of sloth.

“…So where should we begin? The trendy hunting ground at the moment is Ice Burn 72. To be blunt, that’s a bad Elemental match for me and my fire.”

“Oh, in that case.” The glasses girl clapped her hands in front of her large chest. “The rumors tend to fly right past you, Beatrice, but the inn town has recently gained a bar that gives you powerful and long-lasting Buffs. If you have trouble with ice, why not get some temporary Water Resistance?”

“I’m not going to forget how you slipped in an insult there, cow. But Buffs, huh?”

To use a more complicated term, Buffs were strengthening support Magic. They were used to increase one’s basic Stats such as HP, STR, and VIT and, as Filinion had pointed out, to fill in an Elemental Defense one had trouble with. The clothing Beatrice and the others wore while in Ground’s Nir was Status-reinforcing Magic taking the form of clothing, so receiving a small accessory would provide some kind of support. However…

“Wouldn’t you be afraid of a Buff from a complete stranger? It’s like reusing surgery tools or taking home a USB card you found in an internet café that anyone can use.”

“You never leave your birdcage, so what do you know about cafés, Beatrice?”

“Heh heh hehhh. As your White Witch recovery specialist, I’ll take that as a sign that the shy young lady trusts me with her body☆”

The teenage girl cowered down at that observation, pouted her lips, and tapped her index fingers together in front of her chest.

“Besides, even if this is another world where Japanese law doesn’t apply, I still don’t feel like drinking at my age. I don’t want to claim it’s a medical act as an excuse.”

“Oh, you don’t get the Buffs like that. I hear a ring made from Magic is dropped into the drink and you pull the ring out and put it on for the Buff.”

“So it’s like a fashionable and effective fortune cookie? Well, if that’s all it is.”

Since the Buff was reliant on someone else, they would not know how long it would last, the third party could intentionally cut off its effects at an inopportune time, and there was even a risk of it interfering with their Shining Weapon’s management terminal when using Magic. They could not be optimistic, but Beatrice was at least willing to check out the popular bar. And if things looked sketchy, she could simply take a peek inside and refuse any Buffs.

“So have you heard what percentage you get?”

“I’ve only heard incomplete rumors, but it’s apparently up to 10%.”

“That’s pretty incredible…”

An Elemental Defense of 100% would completely negate that Element, so 10% might not seem like much. However, it meant a lot to gain an instant boost without using any of your own Experience Points. The gears used as currency contained Experience Points, but it was faster to receive an Elemental Defense directly from an expert than to train yourself up from the beginning of the Magic tree diagram.

“Okay, Filinion, show us the way to this bar.”

“Yes, sir. To be honest, I’ve never been there so it takes guts to go there alone.”

“By the way, there are a lot of different kinds of bars. What does this one specialize in?”

“Heh heh heh heh heh. Meat!! They’re practically brimming with meat dishes!!”

“…I thought you said this was a bar. Why is this glasses cow so focused on the meat?”

That was probably how she (or rather, one part of her: the chest) had grown so big, but the two who had smaller meals (and breastplates) did not want to accept it.

“There used to be a lackluster pizza place there, but once word got out they were shutting down, it seems someone came and bought the place.”

“It can be hard to tell with how similar all the buildings look, but this is a pretty expensive district. If they had waited until the place was vacant, the bidding wars probably would have increased the cost considerably. Whoever it was must have good information sources. I smell a shrewd businessman.”

Every human involved in Ground’s Nir gathered in the inn town, so it was always crowded. The 3 of them passed by a great variety of people on the way to the bar.

“A lot more people are insisting on pajamas lately, aren’t they? It used to be that you didn’t want to take anything more into the Labyrinth than absolutely necessary, so everyone learned some barrier Magic to use like a sleeping bag.”

“That’s because sleep is directly related to the recovery of Willpower which is at the base of our Magic. If the goal is to efficiently recover as much of it as possible in as short a time as possible, it makes sense that people insist on tools for more comfortable sleep. And trendy Ice Burn 72 is especially cold, so you’ll really want some warm pajamas or a thick blanket, right?”

“I’m sure it’s just a temporary fad. And we really are simple if sleeping is enough for us to recover.”

The 3 of them continued walking while glancing over at the roadside stands selling fabric made from Ground Spider silk or Large Deceptive Silkworm cocoons as well as completed costume pajamas or negligees.

“Oh, I think it’s right around that corner there. It’s called Girl’s Grill and its excellent reputation for cute-looking dishes just keeps rising. The only downside is that it’s so popular so soon after opening that it isn’t easy to get a seat.”

“Filinion, you’re always full of information that has nothing to do with exploring the Labyrinth. Where do you get it all from?”

“Heh. Fashion is all about ignoring the practical and seeing how many pointless and inefficient things you can add in.”

A real college girl was mocking a real teenage girl, so Beatrice had no choice but to put her in a headlock.

“Ow, ow, ow! Beatr- my glasses, the sides of my glasses are digging into my temples!!”

“Then curse the karma that led you to be born with glasses, cow.”

“I wasn’t born with them! And it’s starting to become standard by this point, but the damage is building up as you call me a cow all the time!! Do you have any idea what’ll happen if this anger explodes!?”

“What a pain.”

“…They’re going to get even bigger?”

“Wait a second!! These aren’t bags of stress, you know!?”

At any rate, the Holy Swordswoman held onto the White Witch’s head as they rounded the corner.

“Welcome to Girl’s Grill! Will it be 4 of you?”

The voice of the waitress standing at the entrance reached them outside. It was a lively, lovely, and gentle voice that carried well but was not at all piercing. Beatrice was honestly impressed because that was not a technique she could emulate. However…

The Sage wore a cute, frilly waitress uniform with a beaming smile on her face.

It was so sudden.

She wore twintails that did not suit her alluring body in the slightest. The Holy Swordswoman was not at all mentally prepared for this sudden arrival of danger in an assumed safe zone, so her legs tangled up and she tripped quite spectacularly onto the stone-paved road.

The Sage had a heart-shaped cloth over her chest. The miniskirt and stockings accentuated the thighs visible between.

While lying face down, Beatrice raised her head and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Wha-…you-…wait just a minuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!!”

“Oh, dear. Are you okay, miss? Here, use this wet towel to wipe the dirt off of your face and body. And, um, will it be 3 of you?”

“What are you doing…? Why are you opening a bar here while walking around looking exactly like me!? We were in a real fight to the death over the truth of the Iberian Orc village, weren’t we!? Weren’t you the kind of person who arrogantly sits on her throne within the demon king’s castle in the deepest depths of the demon world full of rock and toxic swamps!?”

“Oh ho ho. Now, now, miss. Saying we look exactly alike is an exaggeration. There are differences. For example, chest size. Also? Chest size. And the one that’s like night and day? Chest size.”

“Do you want me to kill you right here and now!!!???”

“I was merely stating the truth. Now, miss, let me show you to your table.”

The way she responded with a perfect smile made Beatrice look like the villain.

The people around them did not know the truth and their eyes on her were painful.

“…Doesn’t anyone find it odd that there are two people here who look exactly alike?”

“Eh? But one look at our chests and-…”

Beatrice silenced the puzzled response by grinding her teeth. Was the Sage saying that alone made that much of a difference?

She just about called up her fire illusion Magic to draw out the frames and lines out of habit, but it was no use. She had no idea where to start with the connecting lines.

Beatrice looked up from the ground and glared at Filinion, but the glasses cow vigorously shook her head. She had apparently only heard rumors of the popular bar and had not known who exactly worked there.

“B-besides, I know there is a wide variety when it comes to waitress uniforms. And this maybe tricking you into thinking it’s a dress thanks to the headdress, corset, and decorative sleeves, but that’s no more than see-through red negligee, isn’t it!? You can just about see the black underwear below it! In fact, it’s bad enough that I can even tell it’s black!! And that’s my appearance you’re using!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, but business is booming thanks to this.”

“Are you a living case of defamation!?”

“Pajamas are the in thing right now, so I thought it might be good to ride that wave.”

Beatrice did not quite understand that metaphor, but the customer floor was about the size of 2 school classrooms when counting both the counter and tables. There would also be a kitchen and food storeroom in the back. The cow had claimed the place was known for its meat dishes, but the interior design was somehow reminiscent of a ship. There was a ship’s wheel, a wooden life buoy, and other things on the wall. The lamps in the center of the round tables were reused ship lanterns.

“Did they reuse all of these materials? I feel like we saw some similar items on the Next Voyager grounded on the southern beach.”

“Stripping materials and furnishings from a ghost ship that houses a Vampire sounds like a good way of getting yourself into trouble…”

The Sage maintained her service industry smile and ignored Filinion and Armelina’s comments.

“Here is your table. I will be your server for today. Please look over these menus while you wait.”

They heard a hand bell ringing.

“Hurry! Bring out my extra order of meat!”

“How many shots of increased Water Resistance can you get again?”

“I think I’ll get a drink for STR, for INT, and…oh, for AGI and LUK too! I’ll take all the super attack Buffs!!”

“Yes, yes, just a moment!” cheerfully said the Sage as she moved over to that table. This was not just a one-shot gag to harass Beatrice. She really was working here.

“I-is she really working dressed like that…? Looking just like me is bad enough, but why does she have to be wearing a see-through negligee!?”

“Hmm, maybe it’s because of that old cliché with waitresses in a fantasy world. I mean, she does have a far larger chest than you, Beatrice.”

“?”

“Buff-B-…”

That was too much for Beatrice even as a joke, so she poked Filinion in the eyes with a gauntleted scissors. With the sound of thin glass breaking, the cow was left writhing on the floor with her hands over her face. This was not the glasses girl’s lucky day. Although the White Witch did bring it all onto herself. Beatrice ignored her and continued observing the bar.

The wooden building was not very large, but the dishes were only being carried out by 2 waitresses: the Sage who was in charge of the tables and another one at the counter. Beatrice’s group had filled the last of the empty seats, so it had to be difficult for just the 2 of them to run the entire bar. Even with a handwritten memo pad on their waist, it was impressive they did not get orders wrong all the time.

“Anyway, Ice Burn 72 is way too cold, so I need to warm up my body.”

“Yeah, that cold gets to you no matter what you wear, so it’s way worse than the Gimmicks or Traps. You can’t get a wink of sleep without any preparation, so you can’t recover your Willpower either.”

“It would be great if I could get 100% Water Resistance, but, well, as you get closer to 100%, the amount of necessary Experience Points rises like crazy in a quadratic curve, so that would be inefficient.”

Unlike the Sage, the other waitress was a girl with bodylines too thin to even call slender. She had her long blonde hair in twintails just like the Sage, she had blue eyes, and she had oddly pointed ears. The inn town generally refused anyone who was not human, but she might have been some kind of Elf.

“Sibyl-chaaan, mixing conflicting Elemental defenses won’t make them negate each other, will they? I want both water and fire, but is there some kind of fine print there?”

“Yes, yes, yes. You will gain both effects, but even if you double up with the same Element, the time remains unchanged: 24 hours only. Make sure to write the starting time on the back of your hand so the end of effects doesn’t catch you by surprise down in the Labyrinth.”

…Had someone used Magic to make herself look like an Elf, or did it not matter if someone was a Nonhuman if they were skilled and beautiful? Beatrice felt it was not fair that Boo Boo was so strictly rejected yet Sibyl was readily accepted as she carried out colorful drinks with a ring at the bottom of each glass.

“Hehh. I was expecting some crude local beer, but they have a decent variety. They also have gin, vodka, oh, and even whisky. The selection of cocktails looks good too. To brew it all in such a short time, I imagine they used one of the large Alchemy pots the distillers use, but I wonder what Ground’s Nir ingredients they used.”

Armelina seemed to be enjoying herself as she viewed the menu. She glanced over at some other customers who were stacking Gears up on the edge of their table to pay their bill.

“And they do a good job of getting customers in and out. The Buffs only last a limited time, so to make the most use of their effects, the people will want to get to the Labyrinth right away instead of sitting and chatting. That explains why they’re doing such good business. You won’t find many bars back in reality that get new customers in every 10 or 20 minutes.”

“Th-this is no time to be praising them. The Sage might be smiling out in public, but who’s doing the cooking in the back? I just hope half-rotten Disaster isn’t wearing a chef’s hat and waving a frying pan around.”

That was an amusing image, but it would be no laughing matter if it actually happened.

After all, the Sage had spent decades hiding in the shadows of history, but now she was boldly showing herself. She would not have done so on a whim. She had to have some kind of goal. And this change had been triggered by Beatrice’s group storming into the Sage’s hideout.

There was more to this.

This felt like the harbinger of a great disturbance.

The Sage had used the corpses of many Iberian Orcs to create Disaster as her pawn, so what kind of damage would she bring to the humans’ inn town?

“Hey, Filinion, Armelina. Do you think anyone would believe us if we said that was the Sage they’ve sought for so long?”

“Not a chance. They’d only doubt our sanity. She’s probably taking advantage of the fact that she’s stayed in hiding for so long.”

“When an art museum is transporting a famous painting, they apparently use a normal bike courier instead of putting together a largescale escort convoy. But this still requires a fair amount of guts in addition to meticulous calculations. She really understands how the world works and how to manipulate it.”

Eventually, the Sage returned to their table even though they had not rung the hand bell. Her skirt was so short it was right on the borderline of seeing her underwear and the way it swayed as she walked made it all the more risqué. She held a round tray to her belly and used it to lift up her large breasts while maintaining her perfect smile.

And this was the person with enough strength to wipe out the powerful Iberian Orcs in a single day.

“Are you ready to order?”

“Yes. We want to make an attack on Ice Burn 72, so I’ll take whatever Buffs you recommend in a nonalcoholic drink. I’ll also have some food that won’t interfere with the drink. I’m willing to spend about 5 Small Ruby Gears.”

Beatrice’s smooth request transformed the Sage’s smile into a wicked grin. That vague order might sound like a test of the waitress’s skill, but it contained a fatal flaw.

Without knowing the Holy Swordswoman’s Stats, the Sage could not provide the optimal Buffs to reinforce her strengths and make up for her weaknesses.

“Understood. Our clothing and decorations are Magic, so you can find yourself unable to equip an accessory if it requires more Willpower than you have. But the greater your Willpower capacity, the less likely that is to happen. I am sure you will be pleased with the results.”

Nevertheless, the Sage in the red negligee modified into a waitress uniform did not pause even for a second.

As if to announce she understood Beatrice more intimately than anyone else.

“Now, what would you 2 like?”

Part 2

The Detached Magic Palace was a kilometer-wide green paradise cut out of Roppongi, Tokyo. Misoka, the middle sister of the 3 maids there, was dumbfounded.

“Obwabahoo…”

The girl in charge of the mansion had no idea.

Haruka, the adorable third sister and a nervous small animal of maid with glossy black hair worn short, would wildly strip off her apron dress the second her master was not looking. She would then don nothing more than a baggy track suit top over her naked body, lie on her bed with her legs innocently bared, and munch on potato chips (an economical family-sized bag of consommé flavor).

“Wh-wh-what do you think you’re doing!? It’s almost dinnertime!”

“You know, I don’t serve this black-hearted mansion built with a pool of tax money. I serve milady! I can’t work up any motivation without her around!! Sighhh… Whyyyy does she have to spend the night in Ground’s Nir again?”

“The lady is busy gathering the Pieces needed to revolutionize the world for the better, so it can’t be helped! She even injured herself in order to distort the completion of that room temperature superconductor that could have been used to create satellite-mounted large-caliber railguns…”

“I wasn’t asking for that kind of teacher’s pet answer! Now get lost!!”

“H-hey. You’re in charge of cooking today, so if you can’t get motivated, what are we supposed to do about dinner!?”

“I don’t care. You can just pick up a bento at the convenience store or get takeout at a gyudon place. You’re civilized people, aren’t you? Ugh, everything’s so boring when milady isn’t around.”

She lay face down on the bed, grabbed some chips, and drank cola directly from a bottle with no “diet” qualifier. She did not seem to care that her small butt was just about sticking out from below the track suit top or that the modest curves of her chest were almost visible through the neck.

She’s hopeless, thought Misoka in all seriousness.

If she was allowed to grow up like this, she could easily become a cook who got drunk in the kitchen. And if her course in life was to be corrected, now was the time. They had to strike while the iron was hot!!

“By the way, Haruka.”

“Whah ih iht, Onee-chan?”

“…I recorded this entire conversation on a digital recorder, but what kind of future do you think you will have if I let our sister hear it? A bright one???”

“Wait!?”

Haruka frantically got up as Misoka waved around the stick-shaped electronic device.

“It sure would be embarrassing to receive a serious spanking at your age. And we both know our sister really will do it. There’ll be a shine in her glasses and she’ll expressionlessly pull up your skirt, pull down your drawers, and count to 100.”

“I-I thought we had a private gentleman’s agreement behind the scenes! Surely you aren’t going to say that didn’t count because we didn’t actually sign a document! Right!? Right!?”

“If you understand, then go prepare dinner. You’re a maid, aren’t you?”

Misoka sounded exasperated, but she had not actually hit the digital recorder’s record button. She took their gentleman’s agreement seriously. She only wanted her little sister to get to work and to shake free of her laziness that was limited to when their master was not watching.

And after Misoka hardened her heart to act like a big sister, the oldest sister, Iroka, called in from outside the room.

“Misokaaa, you don’t seem to be working on the hallway flower arrangement like I asked. Should I assume you are shirking your duties? Oh, dear. Am I going to have to count out the spankings on my little sister’s butt at this age?”

“Wait, wait, wait, waaaiiiit!!!???”

Part 3

It was an ominous sign.

But with no objective proof that this was the Sage and no idea how to actually fight her, grabbing her Shining Weapon rapier and randomly swinging it around would only make Beatrice the villain.

Establishing a popular bar and gathering favorable attention from across the inn town seemed to be one step in a larger plan. That bar was quickly becoming an indispensable pillar of the inn town. At this rate, attacking the waitress Sage could mean making an enemy of every human in the inn town.

But someone was entirely unaware of Beatrice’s worries.

“Boo, boo, boo.”

In the mountains dyed by the colors of sunset, Boo Boo the Iberian Orc was once more humming through his prized nose and spending the day in search of food. He wanted the power to protect Beatrice and the others he cared about from the threat of the Sage. Sutriona had put together a special training menu for him, but he could not abandon his daily life either. He was entirely self-sufficient, so he could not just use a convenience store or online supermarket. Neglecting that necessary cycle would only lead to death.

“Yeah, I managed to dig up this Steak Potato really well!!”

Boo Boo crouched down at the base of a thick tree and dug up the dark soil with both hands. He held something that looked like a thick tube. That king of vegetarian cooking tasted like fatty meat when sliced and cooked, but despite its great size, it was difficult to find and incredibly hard to pull up without breaking. That made this an important catch. Sutriona would be happy since she was eating with him more often due to the special training menu.

(Boo. When I find something tasty, she always smiles!)

And then…

“That is a good one, but it’s been in the ground for a little too long. Steak Potatoes that have started to sprout can be a little bitter, so you should lightly boil it before cooking to get the bitterness out.”

“…”

A gentle voice spoke to him without warning, so Boo Boo snapped his head in that direction. So many wild animals lurked in the mountain, but he had not at all noticed this person approach. Their presence was as fleeting as a ghost’s, so they were more frightening than a ferocious beast that cracked branches underfoot and knocked over trees in a rude approach.

The ghost wore red armor and a white miniskirt and her silver and red hair was long and straight. She leaned against a nearby tree and pointed at her feet.

Still smiling, she spoke like they were old friends.

“Why not grab some Cheerful Alraune while you’re at it? Throw that in the pot and it will suppress any unwanted odors while you boil out the bitterness. You’ve always been fine with bitter and spicy foods, but you were terrible with herbs and medicinal smells. Well, that might have more to do with your nose than your tongue.”

“The…Sage…?”

“Oh, c’mon, Boo Boo.”

She spoke in a gentle voice with the corners rounded off.

But before she finished speaking, she had already left the tree and entered within Boo Boo’s deadly range.

“Call me Beatrice. Just like old times.”

He did not have time to speak, much less fall back.

The red-armored Sage slowly raised a single index finger. She did not draw her Shining Weapon rapier and she did not clench her delicate hand into a fist. She only lightly touched the center of Boo Boo’s belly with her fingertip.

It was a kind action, like mischievously tickling a lover’s body.

Nevertheless, a great roar exploded through the mountains like a giant drumbeat. That mass of powerful muscles had outmatched even a 1000-meter dragon, but now he doubled over. A dreadful impact passed through his stomach and out his back, so he remained in place while the trees behind him were felled by an invisible wave passing in a straight line.

“Oh…”

He was not given a chance to resist or fight back.

He had been holding the Steak Potato like a stuffed animal or body pillow, but he dropped it, could not support himself with his legs, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“…Boo.”

As she watched the Iberian Orc slowly collapse, the Sage brushed her long hair back with a hand and gave a satisfied nod.

“You lasted 3 whole seconds? You have been training, Boo Boo. You were really manly☆”

With that, she kept her eyes facing forward but sent her left hand out to the side.

Her fingertips cut through the empty space like a bullet and lightly grabbed the torso of a palm-sized Fairy in a pink dress.

“Ah!?”

It was Boo Boo’s unauthorized roommate, Meridiana, and she was still confused even after being captured. And this was unusual. Fairies tended to be extremely shy because they were at the bottom of the food chain, so this short-haired Fairy would not normally fly within arm’s reach of someone else. It was like scooping up a small fish in your palm or snatching a small bird from a tree branch: they would just flit or flutter out of the way. The Fairies should have been another of those neighbors who were close but out of reach. And yet…

With the pink Fairy between her fingertips, a wicked look entered whoever-it-was’s smile.

If she squeezed just a little, she could probably crush the Fairy with ease, but she did not.

“I’m sure word will get out before long either way, but I’ll leave a message with you regardless: I am about to bring Boo Boo to Girl’s Grill in the inn town. You Fairies specialize in Craft techniques and can’t directly fight, so you can’t do anything about it yourself. Feel free to tell whoever you like.”

“…”

Why? How?

Meridiana’s eyes were filled with intense confusion and fear.

Boo Boo was her kind savior, but most of the humans despised the Iberian Orcs. Taking him to the human inn town was sure to cause chaos on a large scale. And that was bound to leave deep scars on his heart.

But the Sage used her empty hand’s thumb to point in a different direction. A short distance from the underbrush was a narrow road the humans had carelessly paved with stone. A cart sat there with a bundle of thick rope on top.

“Girl’s Grill is introducing a new dish,” she said. “Don’t you think everyone would gather around if we’re holding an experiment to see how many Experience Points you get from the meat of a 4-meter pig-faced giant?”

Part 4

It was fully dusk by the time word reached Beatrice’s group.

They were lucky they had remained above ground to investigate the Sage instead of heading down into the Labyrinth as soon as they left Girl’s Grill.

“Goddamn her!! There really isn’t a single good thing about her!!”

“Calm down, Beatrice! Acting at random isn’t going to save Boo Boo!”

They had gathered at the brick house the Fairies had made for Boo Boo. Palm-sized Meridiana sniffled and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands over and over.

“Sniff, sob…”

But repeating the same action would accomplish nothing. Unless they could get Boo Boo back safely, those tears would keep flowing.

“I…I couldn’t do anything while Boo Boo was taken away. I watched as she placed him on the cart, tied him to it, and then started toward the inn town, but, but…wahhhhh!!”

“It isn’t your fault. In fact, you did a good job of restraining yourself. If you had forced yourself to stand up to her and gotten yourself killed, we wouldn’t have gotten this information.”

Armelina the police officer tried her best, but she failed to remove the heavy bonds squeezing at Meridiana’s heart. When faced with her savior’s crisis, she had done nothing, turned back, and become the very messenger their enemy had wanted her to be. Only she could know how much that scalded her soul. Every Nonhuman species had their own Skill, but those were not necessarily useful in combat.

Fairy Elder Morgan fluttered down in her orange dress and placed her hands on her sobbing brethren’s shoulders.

“Shed no more tears, Meridiana. You are in front of guests.”

“Sob, but…but…”

Seeing that tiny neighbor made Beatrice realize that she could never wipe away those tears without winning and bringing Boo Boo back.

Filinion, who was knowledgeable about the inn town’s rumors and trends, pushed up her glasses and spoke.

“People are already talking about a new dish at Girl’s Grill. It seems there was a small commotion when the cart carrying Boo Boo was taken to the back of the bar. The Sage apparently smiled and told everyone to look forward to it.”

“…I’m betting it’s essentially an alternative form for a public execution.” Sutriona sounded irritated as she stroked Meridiana’s head with a finger. “It makes me sick. I doubt your words can get through to the mastermind or the audience. That’s the kind of foolish human I’m more than willing to wipe out with my Sandstorm of Red Madness.”

“Phewww…”

Seeing someone else heat up must have actually helped her calm down because Beatrice breathed a long sigh. Then she spoke to change her focus.

“I would love that too, but wait. Wiping out the Sage along with the irresponsible onlookers would be fine, but we can’t have the Sage get desperate enough to hold a knife to Boo Boo’s defenseless throat. We have to hold off on a rampage until we’ve safely secured him.”

“You sound calm, but you haven’t calmed down at all! Let’s stop assuming the destruction of the inn town!! Oh, you tell her too, Armelina!!”

“Yeah, if it’s a hostage you need rescuing, leave it to a police officer like me.”

Armelina was also obsessed with maps, so she reached for the bold slit exposing her thigh, pulled out a parchment map of the inn town, and spread it out on the floor.

“Boo Boo was almost certainly brought into Girl’s Grill, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about the interior layout. And even if she’s provoking us, we can’t go marching in the front door to rescue him from the Sage. Not only do we know how much more powerful she is than us, that would also give her the opportunity she needs to hold a blade to his throat.”

“Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t just leave Boo Boo like this.”

“That’s why I’m hoping for your pure firepower since the blood is rushing to your head, Beatrice. You are the cornerstone of this rescue operation. Is that enough to get you motivated?” Armelina shrugged. “If we’re going to do this, the only way is to catch the Sage off guard. That means ignoring the front and back entrances and instead blowing a hole in the outer wall at just the right point to directly reach the room Boo Boo is trapped in. It would be best if the blast could also knock out the Sage and whoever else is inside, but I don’t know if we can expect that to work. After all, Beatrice claims she has every single Element completely covered, so you can’t get any damage on her.”

“But I thought we didn’t know the layout inside.”

“We don’t.”

Armelina pulled out another map.

They had visited Girl’s Grill earlier that day, but they had only seen the main hall and powder room that customers were allowed to visit. The food on the menu, the speed at which it was prepared, the kitchen door they had seen, and the chimney visible from outside the building could all be used to estimate the location and size of the kitchen, but there were still a lot of unknowns, such as the food storehouse and the living space for employees. The Labyrinth ran directly below everywhere in Ground’s Nir, so they could fortunately rule out the possibility of a deep basement structure.

“I’ve estimated the size of the unknown space based on the exterior of the bar, but we still need to fill in this map. Not to mention learning where the personnel are located and where Boo Boo is being held.”

“So we have to send someone into the bar?”

“The Sage of course already knows what Beatrice looks like and she must know that Filinion and I are with you. We were eating at the same table, after all.”

The lovely paradox who looked 10 gave a wink.

“So you need a guest she won’t recognize? Should I go?”

“That would be great, but you have no reason to go. Girl’s Grill is going to be preparing for their Boo Boo Butchering Show. At the very least, that’s what the people in the inn town will think. All sorts of onlookers are going to be visiting the rumored bar to catch a glimpse of poor Boo Boo. The bar can’t serve that many people, so all outsiders will be forbidden from going further inside. That means you can’t get that close as only a customer.”

“Then who would be best?”

Beatrice pouted her lips, called up her fire illusion Magic, and connected a few frames with lines: the loathsome Sage, Sibyl, captured Boo Boo, and Beatrice’s group who were planning to rescue him. But the frame for their undercover role was still empty.

Armelina winked as she answered.

“It has to be someone who sees Boo Boo as their enemy…no, who intensely hates him. The Sage has to be able to confirm that fact for herself. That will make it look natural for them to want to bargain for the chance to see Boo Boo butchered.”

“…?”

“Well, just leave the selection to me. …I really don’t want to let that beast out of her cage, but I guess it’s necessary.”

A knock came to the door.

Everyone looked in that direction, but Armelina alone did not look surprised. She had likely made the preparations already.

“Come in, Inoue. I’m guessing it wasn’t easy.”

“When I’m here, call me Huldra the cute Alchemist Cheerleader.”

With permission granted, the Boo Boo-sized door opened to reveal a small girl of only 145cm with a characteristic mole under the eye. Her long pink hair was worn in twintails that swept out to the left and right, she was dressed in nothing more than a white and pink tank top and miniskirt with some leather pouches and small liquid containers disguised as colorful jewels, and she wore sandals with thin straps on her feet. It was unclear what affect the pompoms she held had. But despite her short height, she had quite a chest. It was a very irritating body type. And it was made all the worse by the Magical effect that caused glowing stars and hearts to fly around whenever she moved even slightly.

Beatrice did not know her.

Armelina casually provided some information.

“Oh, she’s made to piss you off, so don’t worry about it. She uses Alchemically-created makeup to adjust her Hate values and draw the enemy’s attention. Her job is to use shiny but powerless effects to lure the target over.”

“Ugh. You mean she wears equipment that negatively affects her?”

“She even makes decoy recovery magic poses that are nothing more than motions.”

Clothing was only Magic taking that form, so it played a role in adjusting one’s Parameters. That meant a general scan of someone’s clothing could give you an estimate of their Parameters…and this girl certainly seemed uniquely focused. It was like she had prioritized vanity over direct offense or defense.

And Armelina’s main focus was apparently not her.

“Where is she? We need her.”

“I know that, but try to be careful, okay? Back in the real world, she’s already caused enough trouble during probation to get sent back to juvenile hall and then plotted six different jailbreaks. After faking an attempted suicide, she was sent to the police hospital, manipulated a nurse into sympathizing with her, and then started to half-brainwash the nurse to increase her number of pawns. We intervened when she was just about to bite off the right ear of the kind but foolish counselor who was trying to support her.”

Filinion trembled as she listened to that story.

“Wh-who in the world are you talking about? I don’t know anyone like that.”

“Oh, but you do. We know her all too well.”

Armelina asked to have her brought in, so Huldra stepped aside as if clearing the way.

A solid footstep sounded from the entrance.

“Ah.”

Beatrice’s mind went blank.

She had created a few frames and lines using her fire illusion Magic. This would fill the final frame: whoever would make an undercover visit to Girl’s Grill.

But this?

The color blue stood before her eyes. Long hair had its volume further increased as gorgeous ringlet curls and it decorated the cruel lady’s ample body to give it a princess’s silhouette. But her torso was not contained in a noble corset. Instead, she wore a single cross-shaped sword contained in its scabbard. The sword was held to her body by several belts and her only other clothing was the sharp ice armor around her hips that looked something like a swollen skirt.

She had fully specialized in the Water Element, making her the polar opposite of Beatrice and her specialization in the Fire Element.

She was the new battle arena queen and the ruler of absolute zero.

“Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau!?”

“Well, can you see why anyone would accept that I have a powerful grudge against that Iberian Orc and the rest of you? And I was even deployed by the so-called Conference Room in order to ingratiate them to the Sage.”

The cruel hunter hid her mouth behind a fan of ice and laughed wickedly.

“But at the same time, my higher ups were wiped out in the blink of an eye thanks to someone’s blitzkrieg tactics, so who knows if the Sage even received word of what happened to me. It happened right after I got back, so there was no real time for a report. Simply put, she has no way of knowing if I was captured or managed to escape.”

“…”

“So just relax and leave this to me. We are in this together, so let’s try to get along. Okay?”

Part 5

“I’ve negotiated with my higher up to have your sentence halved if this goes well. The Minister of Justice can’t ignore something as crucial as the Sage’s identity, after all. But it’s all over if you betray us here. You won’t just be sent back to juvenile hall. You will die here before even being sent back to the real world. Do you understand, Wildefrau?”

On the way to the inn town, Armelina gave a clear and concise explanation.

The sexy Ice Waterfall Princess smiled and shrugged.

“These exceptional conditions are actually making me concerned. You must know how skilled I am with Magic, yet you haven’t taken away my Shining Weapon or bound my arms and legs.”

“Yes.” The Fighter Priest smiled. “But that’s because we know a way of sending you to the afterlife without having to restrain you.”

“N-now, now.”

White Witch Filinion cut in while spreading her hands to either side of her face. The corners of her mouth stiffened a bit, but she somehow managed to form a smile.

“We need to work together to save Boo Boo, right? Tripping each other up with this strained atmosphere isn’t going to increase our odds of success. Let’s let our past issues just be water under the bridge, okay?”

“…”

Wildefrau silently but surprisingly smoothly turned her head to face the fluffy blonde glasses girl.

She started by rhythmically clacking her front teeth together.

“Gahhh!!!???”

And then she roared.

Beatrice immediately grabbed Filinion’s shoulders and pulled her back just in time for Wildefrau’s teeth to mercilessly snap together in the space filled with flowing blonde hair.

Hadn’t Armelina said this person had very nearly bitten off the right ear of a kind but foolish counselor?

“Inoue!!” shouted Armelina.

“I’m Huldra while I’m here.”

A metallic sound followed that almost foolishly calm comment.

That was when Wildefrau finally stopped moving. At some point, a trio of long and sharp metal claws with curved tips had jutted out from both of the Alchemist Cheerleader’s pompoms. They stopped just before reaching the blue Ice Waterfall Princess’s throat.

Those pompoms were for more than just cutely hiding her mouth. They were a Shining Weapon.

“Do you understand now, Wildefrau? You are still in chains.”

The Ice Waterfall Princess’s eyes were focused less on Huldra’s claws themselves and more on the many Icons that appeared to wrap around her slender wrists.

“So it would seem. But if I know how long and thick the chains are, I can find a way around them. …Magic that does no damage but has a low chance of causing instant death? And have you forcibly increased the success rate using your Alchemy items? I see, I see, I see.”

It was Armelina’s turn to click her tongue.

For her, it would have been best to hold the prisoner in check without showing her hand. Suspicion and paranoia were the greatest chains. It had been necessary, but revealing this from the start still hurt.

Beatrice, Filinion, and Armelina were joined by twintailed Huldra and ringlet-curled Wildefrau. They arrived at the inn town as a fairly large group, but despite the major incident occurring within, the orange-dyed town looked the same as always. The pleasant smells of dinner preparations came from all over. Of course, a lot of customers would have made their way to Girl’s Grill, the bar where Boo Boo was rumored to be captured and confined.

As they approached the bar in question, they passed by a youth handing out parchment fliers that had likely been mass-produced using a letterpress printer.

“Extra, extraaaa! Girl’s Grill will supposedly be preparing a super-rare Iberian Orc while still alive!! This rare but ugly species hasn’t been seen much, so eating one for dinner is sure to earn plenty of Experience Points. Watching this butchering show is sure to be worth delaying a visit to the Labyrinth!!”

“…”

“Don’t glare, Beatrice. Act natural. If we can’t blend in, we have no chance of rescuing him.”

Before arriving too close to Girl’s Grill, Beatrice’s group of 3 parted ways with Huldra and Wildefrau. That monster being released into the wild was a frightening thought, but it would be a problem if the Sage or Sibyl saw the 5 of them together. If their connection to the Ice Waterfall Princess were revealed, they would lose their chance to infiltrate the bar.

“Welcome. Is it just the 2 of you? Then how about a counter seat?”

Hearing that familiar voice, Beatrice’s group left the main road, circled around the back way, and entered the building next to Girl’s Grill which would soon become a small battlefield.

“Bakeries are busiest from the middle of the night to the early morning. They mainly serve breakfast, lunch, and portable food for exploring the Labyrinth. They aren’t made to serve dinner, so they’ll let you have the place to yourself at this time of day if you pay enough Gears.”

“Fwehhh. Police officers really do things differently.”

“What did you say you were reserving the place for?”

“ ‘We don’t want to see our sales going up just because of some popular shop that appeared out of nowhere, right? We’re going to give them some trouble, so help us out.’ Anyone who agrees to that isn’t going to join the Sage anytime soon.”

Armelina spread out a few parchment maps on the closed-up bakery’s floor and began her preparations. In addition to the maps, she used Magic to open a midair frame made from thin, necklace-like chains and bubbles. It displayed an unsteady view of Huldra’s face.

“Hey, can you hear me, chief? I linked the video to Wildefrau’s vision.”

“Perfect. The reception is good, Inoue. If you’re ready, then get started.”

They used a short-range communication method developed for use in the Labyrinth. The range was quite limited and was affected by the thickness of obstacles like walls, so it was not always useful. Still, it was reliable at times like this.

Beatrice used her fire illusion Magic to call up her frames and lines as she listened to Armelina and Wildefrau.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“That Girl’s Grill receives large shipments of alcohol and herbs, but the food and drinks they actually serve aren’t enough to go through it all. That means this is camouflage to hide something behind the scenes. Say you’ve taken over their supplier and make it look like you’re trying to get in on the action.”

Basically, Armelina’s men had paid off and threatened the supplier to monopolize the inn town’s alcohol, so Wildefrau needed to act like their boss.

“And I use my revenge against that Iberian Orc to spice things up?”

“I’m glad you understand. I want you to get in there and fill in the grayed-out spaces on the map. Confirm the layout of rooms, the distribution of personnel, the material and thickness of the walls, and where Boo Boo is being confined. Try to build a rapport using the fact that you’re both up to no good.”

While counting off the list on her fingers, Armelina explained each condition in more detail.

It would all fall apart if Wildefrau screwed up, so they had to go at her pace.

“Also, you have Huldra to support you. She’s linked us so that anyone you look in the eye will appear on our map from then on. You need to aim for Boo Boo, the Elf, and anyone else you see going in or out.”

“Oh? But not the Sage herself?”

“Did you see the Screenshot?”

“Yes. Other than a slight difference in apparent age, they are identical. …To be honest, I still suspect you might be taking me for a ride.”

“It’s the truth. And make no mistake: Boo Boo is our top priority. And with the Sage’s knowledge of Magic, we’re assuming she can see through this. So even if you do find her, do not look her in the eye. Just act natural.”

Beatrice looked to the wall as she listened to that exchange.

Even with the small path between buildings, it was less than a meter to the inside of Girl’s Grill. That small distance felt like an infinite wall. She shuddered just thinking of Boo Boo laid out on a kitchen counter with a butcher’s knife pressing against his belly.

“Calm down, Beatrice.”

“But…”

“The new dish and the butcher show are probably just bluffs meant to draw in the people of the inn town. If what you said is accurate, then the Sage wants to fight some kind of monster deep below the ground. In that case, I can’t think of any reason for her to put any effort into this kind of show business.”

“But the inn town people think it’s happening. If Boo Boo struggles, breaks down a wall, and escapes, they won’t show any mercy. They’ll see it like a man-eating gator getting loose when it was supposed to be used as a rare ingredient. All of the level cap adventurers out there will be his enemy! The Sage is tormenting Boo Boo with her own Girl’s Grill and with the second barrier of people out there!!”

Beatrice was aware the blood was rising to her head as she spoke.

She was aware of it, but there was nothing she could do.

“And no matter why she did it, the Sage must need Boo Boo if she bothered to knock him out and carry him back to her base. Remember, we’re talking about that Sage! Whatever she’s trying to do, she’s the one who slaughtered the residents of the Iberian Orc village and gathered their corpses to create that monster she called Disaster!! Who even knows what kinds of awful things she’s going to do to Boo Boo!!”

“And that’s why we’re working so hard to stop her. Isn’t that right, Beatrice?”

Beatrice covered her face with her hands and White Witch Filinion gently touched her back.

This was Ground’s Nir, another world.

There were no laws and there was no document ensuring basic rights. It was an island of verbal promises. And even if those things did exist, a Nonhuman like Boo Boo might not be covered.

And that was why they had to do this.

If no one else was going to protect him, they would have to save him.

“Conversations” held under extreme conditions could have great psychological influence. It would not even need to reach the level of Stockholm syndrome. What would happen if he was left all alone in a kitchen prepared for use on him and the greatly powerful Sage continually whispered in his ear? A frightening voice, a kind voice, an angry voice, and a tearful voice could all be used as weapons to shake him psychologically.

The Sage had acquired Disaster through twisted methods.

And she knew Boo Boo’s past very well. She could fine-tune what she said specifically for him. It was like an external cyber-attack made by an engineer who already understood the internal vulnerabilities. It was possible she would use his likes and his trauma to destroy his personality.

Meaning she could attempt something akin to brainwashing.

(I won’t let her.)

Beatrice could imagine the empty shell of an Iberian Orc fighting as the Sage’s pawn until he rotted away and fell apart like Disaster had.

(I won’t let that happen to kind Boo Boo!!)

“…”

She removed her hands from her face and coldly faced the world once more. After a moment, she made an announcement in a horribly low voice.

Yes, she had made up her mind about everything.

“Let’s get started. …No matter what happens, we will rescue Boo Boo.”

Part 6

Boo Boo awoke to the feeling of thick ropes scraping his skin. He blinked his eyes, but he had no recollection of how he had ended up like this. He saw a cold stone ceiling he did not recognize and his nose detected a metallic scent. The air felt stagnant, so he could tell he was enclosed inside something.

He was on top of a cart.

He tried moving, but the ropes were thicker and tougher than he thought. He had never seen vines this thick even in the forest.

“I used Ground Spider silk. I’ve heard of thin bulletproof equipment being made from spider silk, but maybe it’s just crass to talk about that after traveling all the way to another world.”

“…”

“Hi, Boo Bo. That took longer than I thought. Maybe I put off knocking you out a little too long.”

He heard a female voice. It was the Sage.

She did not wear the same red armor and miniskirt as Beatrice. Instead, she wore an odd outfit made by adding a corset and decorative sleeves to thin sleepwear to make it look vaguely waitress-y. Her flowing straight hair had been remade into twintails. Perhaps due to growing up from the girl form Boo Boo was used to, he was left with an entirely different impression.

She looked unfamiliar.

And even though it was clearly too large for a human to handle, she easily held a Shining Weapon that looked like log or steel beam. But that was hardly surprising when the Sage herself had been the one to leave Boo Boo with that weapon after sealing the slaughtered Iberian Orcs’ souls inside.

Casually swinging that down here would likely break restrained Boo Boo in half along with the cart below him.

He gulped, but the Sage shook her head.

After passing the Shining Weapon back and forth between her right and left hand, it gave a sudden roar and drew a flowing silver line in the air. The thick and seemingly unbreakable ropes were instantly severed. They were cut, not smashed and broken. This was the unbelievable technique of using weight and speed to “cut with a blunt weapon” that Disaster had demonstrated before. No, perhaps it was the Sage who had taught it to Disaster.

Not even Boo Boo could reproduce that extreme technique.

This was not complicated and confusing Magic. Just like when she had knocked him out with a single fingertip, the Sage was skilled enough to overpower an Iberian Orc using pure martial arts.

“Yes, it does have a lot of small scratches, but it’s still in extremely good condition. That shows just how well you took care of it, Boo Boo. As the one who gave it to you, I’m pleased to see that.”

She spoke like she was chopping up a fish to check on the sharpness of a knife. And yet that one attack had inarguably shown the difference in their skill.

“You can have it back. That weapon is like a part of your body, isn’t it? You must not be able to relax without it.”

She then casually handed the Shining Weapon to her prisoner. He finally got up from the cart with his head full of questions. He generally trusted what people said, but even he found plenty about the Sage’s actions he could not trust.

Returning the weapon was not a problem for her.

She was implicitly stating that she was 100% confidence in her ability to strike back without batting an eye even if he made a surprise attack with the Shining Weapon.

Boo Boo looked around. His heart may have naturally desired an exit. But there were no windows and he could not see outside. One wall contained a single human-sized door and another contained a set of double doors which was large enough for the cart to pass through. The wooden barrels and boxes lined up in a corner of the room suggested it was a storeroom, but that was not all.

In the center of the room was a hole large enough for Boo Boo to fit through. It formed a perfect circle. It was surrounded by oddly-shaped glass containers and several tubes extended into the hole from those.

Of course, everyone knew what slept below Ground’s Nir: the Labyrinth which irregularly changed shape like a living creature.

Only the humans ever went there and Boo Boo himself never would have if not for Beatrice’s invitation.

“What…are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? This was not easy, let me tell you. When I calculated out the coordinates on the map, they turned out to be right in the middle of the inn town. And I needed an unnatural amount of alcohol and herbs to interfere with the Labyrinth. Thanks to that, I had to open a bar and pretend to be a waitress. Man is a real job ever hard. I’m impressed anyone can keep this up on a daily basis.”

The Sage dodged the question, but she did not seem intent on hiding it.

Since she had taken Boo Boo to the center of her secret, she was clearly enjoying showing it off. She was like a mother asking her small child to guess what was inside their birthday present. Or perhaps like a predatory woman luring a man into bed by lying there in nothing but some seductive nightwear that showed off her bodylines.

Yes, she was enjoying this conversation held under extreme conditions.

“You seem to be mistaken about something, so let me be clear: I am not trying to stop what you’re trying to do, Boo Boo. You just have to do what you want and I’ll do what I want. If it ultimately surrounds Ground’s Nir, the great foe that slumbers in the ground’s depths, then the more options we have, the better.”

“Ground’s…eh? But isn’t that what Beatrice and the others call…?”

“Yes, this must be terribly confusing. And that is why I invited you here.”

The Sage clapped her hands in front of her chest and smiled.

Then she made a suggestion.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have much time. The world is in a much, much graver situation than I thought. That is why I have changed my MO and stepped out into the open. There are more important things than hiding.”

“?”

Boo Boo honestly found this person frightening.

But it saddened him that she blurred together with a kind person from a distant memory: that person who had looked sad even while smiling.

“Let’s talk, Boo Boo. We should share what information we have. By eliminating what isn’t needed and avoiding duplicate efforts, we can more efficiently surround that monster. I am asking for your help in order to save everyone, Boo Boo.”

Part 7

“Cheh, they sure closed early today. Did someone pay a bunch to rent the place out? That’s awful. We’d finally found a nice place and now it’s home to some fat IT guys with nothing but money going for them?”

“Don’t worry. They’re probably just dealing with that new ingredient. They need time to prepare for the big event. …Speaking of which, can you really eat that thing’s meat?”

“Well, if it’s about easily getting a ton of Experience Points, not being able to eat it might actually be more effective, right?”

The view in the floating frame moved past some men leaving the bar. A closed sign hung from the entrance, but there was still a large crowd gathered around. The talk of using an Iberian Orc for food seemed to have interested a lot of people.

“Hey, who is that…?”

“Oh, no. Isn’t that the Ice Waterfall Princess?”

“That level cap woman is a part of this? What kind of connections does this bar have?”

It was amusing how easily the wave of people parted. Beatrice was often feared by those around her, but the reaction to Wildefrau was different. They seemed to be looking at her like unexploded ordnance that could go off at any time.

(So this is the Ice Waterfall Princess’s view. This is how she views the world…)

Time passed as Beatrice thought about that. She entered the bar that had closed before the sun had fully set and she whispered in a jocular way.

“I’m going in. Sit tight and wait for good news, everyone.”

“We can hear your breathing and pulse, Ice Waterfall Princess. Don’t think you can fool us just by controlling your voice.”

That may have been a bluff, but Beatrice guessed the threat would noticeably affect her heartrate if she tried anything. Not that she thought Wildefrau was lacking in guts.

The Ice Waterfall Princess was on the main floor where the counter seats and tables were now empty. Beatrice and the others had already seen this area.

And their opponents were not about to let outsiders enter the back of the bar.

“So.”

The response came not from the Sage but from the Elf waitress named Sibyl. Unlike normal(?), the twintailed girl seemed somehow rude as she sat directly on a table.

She peered into Wildefrau’s eyes.

“What is the meaning of this? Why would you close during prime dinner hours?”

“Oh,” said Armelina as she tossed a metal pin with a colorful head onto the parchment map spread out on the floor.

Instead of sticking in or rolling, it stopped while standing straight up from a table on the map’s main floor.

“I’ve linked to her biomagnetism. Sibyl has been Marked by the green pin. We need to thank Huldra’s support and Wildefrau’s cruel luck. Now we can follow her actions.”

“Hehh. I see you put a scratch on the head to give it a front and back side. It’s not exactly precise, but we can see which way the target is facing, can’t we? That’s perfect for infiltrations.”

“Although it’s not all that much help since we don’t know the angle or distance of her effective visual range. Still, if we’d had Huldra with us, we wouldn’t have had to walk around endlessly in that snowy mountain where we fought Wildefrau.”

Meanwhile, a deadly conversation was being held in the next building over.

“I simply decided this was something you wouldn’t want getting out. And if we settle this soon, you will still have enough time to reopen at sunset, won’t you?”

“I don’t know where you heard about this, but it seems you have threatened all of our alcohol suppliers.”

“Oh, dear. But surely you’ve built up enough of a stock to keep the doors open even if you don’t receive another drop for a month. What are you so worried about?”

Filinion frowned as she peered into frame made of thin chains and bubble film.

“Umm, is this going well or not?”

“It’s going very well. It honestly helped a lot that Sibyl looked Wildefrau in the eye. That means Wildefrau didn’t have to put any effort into Marking her. Besides, if we say what we want right away, Sibyl can use that against us by piling up more and more things she demands in exchange. If you ask someone for the vaccine they’re holding because you need it to save your daughter’s life, who knows what they’ll demand of you. The standard negotiating tactic is to provide the illusion that you know your opponent’s weakness while not letting them know what you want. Meaning…”

“We can’t let her know that we want to know the full layout of the bar, that we want to know where everyone inside is posted, and that we want to save Boo Boo, so it would be best to have her invite Wildefrau into the back of the bar while thinking it’s for another purpose altogether, right?”

And they already had what they needed to do that.

“Anyway,” said Wildefrau. “I don’t know what you’re using it for, but you need a lot of alcohol, don’t you? Yes, I certainly don’t know what you’re using it for.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Just think of me like a new supplier. I can’t have my client drying up before our negotiations are complete, so how about I provide a small supply in advance? Although it might not be nearly enough for your purposes.”

“Hmph,” snorted Sibyl. She clearly did not like this, but had no choice but to play along.

She gestured toward the back of the bar with her chin.

“Then come this way. As you know, our time is limited.”

“Um,” said Filinion. “What are they actually doing back there?”

“Let’s just pray they aren’t marinating a gigantic Iberian Orc in alcohol.”

Armelina’s response was in very poor taste, so Beatrice sulkily poked at her head.

There were a few wooden boxes piled up in front of the bar. They contained the high-proof drinks that Huldra and more of Armelina’s protégés had gathered from around the inn town. They would normally be difficult to carry around by hand, but the Ice Waterfall Princess could freeze the bottom of the boxes so they would easily slide as she pushed with a single hand.

But Sibyl stopped her.

“You’ve frozen the bottom with Magic?”

“Surely you aren’t suggesting the temperature change will affect the quality of the drinks.”

“No. With the exception of wine or brandy that live on in the bottle, the quality won’t be affected unless you go as far as fully freezing it.”

She initially agreed, but then…

“However, I seem to recall the documents I received from the Sage saying the Ice Waterfall Princess is actually a girl of around 14. From what I have heard of human customs, you do not drink alcohol at that age.”

Oh, no, thought Beatrice as her heart jumped unnaturally in her chest.

They had given Wildefrau thorough preliminary knowledge to better deceive their opponents, but that had instead made things look more unnatural. It would all fall apart if Wildefrau could not dodge a follow-up question about how she knew so much about it.

But…

“Pff.”

“?”

“Ah ha ha ha!! Oh, excuse me. But have you never considered who you might be serving here? This is Ground’s Nir; the laws and treaties of earth do not apply here. In a lawless land where murder and involuntary manslaughter in the Labyrinth are entirely overlooked, I never thought someone would actually criticize me for something like alcohol or smoking. Pwa ha ha!”

“Oh, so that’s it.”

“Yes, I might not look it, but I am quite bad. Enough so that I’m willing to threaten you for profit☆”

Beatrice breathed a sigh of relief.

They were finally inside the bar. Wildefrau cut across the floor while sliding the stack of wooden boxes and she entered the employees only area using the door Sibyl opened for her.

“That’s step 1.”

Armelina snapped her fingers and looked to the map on the floor.

“She’s pretty good at this, but that’s exactly why her cruel intellect caused us so much trouble in the snowy mountain.”

“2 doors up front and 1 in the back?” said Wildefrau. “Which one do we need?”

“The one in the back.”

Wildefrau had to have nerves of steel to walk into a building with no escape. These people had publicly announced their intention to chop up the powerful Iberian Orc they had carried there. If she was caught off guard and knocked out, she could always have her corpse “disposed of” in the same way and served as a mystery stew or hamburger. The rules here were different than on Earth where forensic investigations could perform nano-level fiber analysis or detect the luminol reaction of a bloodstain even after it was washed away 10 times with a neutral detergent.

“Once we save Boo Boo, I need to reassess my opinion of her.”

“Yeah. I said her sentence would be halved, but if we do manage to capture the Sage alive here, she might be able to get a full pardon.”

Meanwhile, Wildefrau arrived in the back room.

As expected, it was a perfectly normal small stone room. There was no furniture and there were wooden boxes and barrels lined up by the walls. It was probably a storeroom.

“Armelina, there’s a door to the east and a window to the west. That’s probably right across from this bakery.”

“I know that.”

“By the way,” said Sibyl as the Ice Waterfall Princess pushed the boxes over to the wall. “I’m really not sure what you hope to accomplish here.”

“Oh? How can you say that after stealing my prey from me? I had thought revenge was a fairly popular desire.”

“When someone suffers a painful defeat, they can take 2 paths: strike back with even more force, or flee. Why are you so intent on seeing your nemesis once more? I am saying I do not understand that passion. From an objective viewpoint.”

This riddle was a hard one.

People’s hearts had no physical form. For example, what could you do if someone asked for physical evidence to objectively confirm your love? Would you give them handmade chocolate on Valentine’s Day? Or would they be convinced by a diamond ring that cost 3 months’ worth of your salary? And in this case, the other person would maliciously view anything like you were a marriage scam artist. It would take a lot to convince them.

But it was all over if they could not overcome this.

No matter what, they had to objectively convince Sibyl that Wildefrau wanted to kill Boo Boo herself.

Beatrice added a new entry to her frames and lines made from fire illusion Magic. They needed Sibyl’s trust. How could they support Wildefrau to gain that?

(This will at least require me, Filinion, and Wildefrau. And Huldra if necessary!)

They had to act now.

No matter how long they dragged this out, they had at most a minute.

“Wh-what are we going to do?”

“Armelina, tell Wildefrau to drag this out however she can. Filinion, if you have nothing to do, then help me out.”

“Eh? Eh?”

“The Sage’s group will probably have received a report saying we and Wildefrau fought. But they don’t know how exactly that turned out. The Ice Waterfall Princess said they were taken out without time for a report, but even if they did, the Conference Room wanted to get on the Sage’s good side by reporting we had been defeated. They would have been going on and on about how amazing the Ice Waterfall Princess was and how she was going to defeat us at such-and-such a time, but once it ended in failure, they wouldn’t have been in a rush to apologize. The more details they provided, the more they would disappoint the Sage.”

“Are you saying the Sage and Sibyl don’t know how exactly our battle ended?”

“We showed up at Girl’s Grill during the day, so they can more or less guess that Wildefrau retreated. …But they don’t know whether or not she was captured. We can make it look like the Ice Waterfall Princess was still walking freely around Ground’s Nir and then caught us in a surprise attack at some later date.” Beatrice took a slow breath. “We need something that shows off Wildefrau’s violence. Our short-range communications can reach her, so we can transmit it to her Shining Weapon. Let’s fake a Screenshot. If we make a secret photo album that will horrify Sibyl, we’ll have the ‘objective proof’ we need.”

Of course, Wildefrau specialized in the world of snow and ice. But there would not have been any reports of a white hell appearing in the inn town, Labyrinth, or anywhere else with a lot of witnesses. In that case…

“Let’s use the same environment as last time. We’ll say she surprise attacked us in a snowy mountain to the north. When there’s already a blizzard, a frozen hell won’t stand out and won’t make the news.”

That said, they did not have time to head to the mountains now.

Filinion used her Mixing skill to create a magic potion that produced ice for treating bruises and Armelina shattered the ice and spread it out in a corner of the bakery out of the way of the maps. They just needed enough of the white stuff to hide the floor.

“A bakery will have ketchup, right? Are there any raw eggs? Mix the ketchup with the egg white to get the stickiness and coloration right and then make it look like my face has been smashed in.”

“Why do you know how to do that off the top of your head when you can’t actually cook anything?”

“Shut up. Not all of us are experienced cooks from eating alone all the time.”

“Ahh!?” roared the flaaat girl, but Beatrice ignored her and got back on topic.

“Filinion, you’ve seen a lot of injuries as a healer, so you make sure it looks right. I’ll lie on my side and hide my face, so you use the ketchup to make a nice puddle. If it can’t be seen from outside, they won’t know how bad it is.”

“A-are you sure this is a good idea?”

Filinion sounded nervous as she formed L-shapes with the thumb and forefinger of her hands, combined those into a frame, and photographed Beatrice from multiple angles. Some of the angles were no good because the bakery wall could be seen, and it was possible an expert would be able to tell this was actually indoors from the reflections of the light source.

“Hey, we saved a few Screenshots from that northern snowy mountain, right? Use those for reference.”

“Hmm, the position of the light source was something like this and I think the coloring needs to be a bit bluer.”

“Beatrice, if you don’t hurry up, the snow will melt from your body heat!”

In the end, a lot of it (including how the photo was presented) would be up to the Ice Waterfall Princess’s acting skills.

“Well, that’s done. Now to send it to Wildefrau’s Shining Weapon…”

While cut off from support inside the bar, Wildefrau had to muster all of her strength to suppress a reflexive frown.

The problem was the faked photo sent by her allies(?).

(This is garbage!!)

The Screenshot did look fairly authentic. They had likely adjusted the light source based on actual Screenshots of the snowy mountain. But when someone was lying down in a real blizzard, the snow would gradually melt around their skin and the subzero air would refreeze it, making something closer to ice than snow. There was a chance Sibyl would notice that sort of detail.

“This is the photo?”

Sibyl sounded somehow mocking as she viewed the Screenshot displayed on a frame of thin ice floating in midair. Wildefrau did not know what that meant. They had increased the noise as much as possible to hide the details, but that might clue Sibyl into their “fear”.

Wildefrau just had to make it work.

She kept a smile on her lips and forced her next words out.

“Yes, this is part of my Surprise Attack Collection. My SurpriseColle☆”

But Holy Swordswoman Beatrice was not satisfied with just that.

She had more to say.

“Oh, Filinion, you have a decent stock of recovery potions, right?”

“Y-yes. But why-…?”

The glasses cow’s question came to a sudden stop when Beatrice punched her own cheek as hard as she could.

She wore a metallic gauntlet that covered her wrist to her fingertips and had joints necessary to move the hand. The weight and solidity of her fist were greater than even a hammer. The bakery gradually filled with a rust-like smell that would never come from ketchup or tomato puree.

“Peh.”

Regardless, the Holy Swordswoman spat something out into her palm.

It was one of her back teeth.

She now had the final item for her collection of frames and lines produced by fire illusion Magic.

“That storeroom has a window to the back alley, right? Have the Ice Waterfall Princess get in place so I can secretly pass this to her. Your subordinate named Huldra is good at adjusting her Hate value, right? Have her cause a commotion out in front of the bar. If she trips and falls while holding a bunch of Gears and they scatter everywhere, the gallery watching from a distance will start fighting over them. The Sage and Sibyl don’t know about her, so even if they find out who did it, it won’t be a major problem.”

“W-wait.”

“I know. Keep me informed which way Sibyl is looking based on the pin on the map. If we can do that, then they might be able to as well. I want to avoid having the Sage pursue me at length if I’m spotted.”

Armelina had not been trying to stop her like that, but Beatrice may have been losing sight of herself because her anger was even greater than she thought.

“If Wildefrau shows Sibyl what she’s been rolling around in her mouth like hard candy, even the Sage’s companion will shudder. Photographs can look very different depending on the impression given to the person looking at them. Even a stain on the ceiling can look like a face if it whispers to you for long enough. The Screenshot alone might have been doubtful, but this is sure to convince anyone that she really did smash my face in and take a souvenir with her and that she’s obsessed enough to want to kill Boo Boo herself.”

Part 8

“In other words, the Iberian Orcs were always a special species that lived for that purpose.”

In a dreary and windowless room, the waitress Sage smiled while sitting on a random wooden box.

“Ground’s Nir, the monster in the ground’s depths. If it fully activates and reaches the surface even once, all animal and plant life clinging to this island will be annihilated. To ensure that doesn’t happen, they monitored the movements of the Labyrinth and, when they sensed the limit approaching, used the full power of their numbers to put a stop to the monster’s birth cries. At the turning points of each age, there were many sacrifices, but that species of heroes continued fighting to protect everyone. That is your true identity.”

“Squeal…”

“Is that too much to believe all at once? But think about it rationally, Boo Boo. Your body contains such great strength. Why? There is a reason for all things. And if there is a reason for you to have built up such great strength, isn’t it natural to assume that is to combat a powerful enemy?”

He had been told the Labyrinth was a very scary place.

And he had been told the humans had suddenly appeared one day and were challenging the Labyrinth to prevent some kind of evil from rising from the depths of that hole.

“Ah ha ha. They only said that because you were little and they didn’t want to scare you. It would have been frightening to hear you were destined to fight a monster from deep below ground, right? They probably wanted to reveal the truth in stages. They would have started with the Labyrinth, then the monster, then the existence of a system to oppose that monster, and finally that you were part of the group meant to carry out that role.”

“If that’s true…” hesitantly began Boo Boo.

The Sage had cut the powerful ropes binding him and returned his familiar Shining Weapon. That implicitly stated that she could handle everything just fine even after he was freed.

She could kill him at any time if he resisted.

That was what it meant.

“Who are they? Why do they want to make everyone suffer?”

“Hee hee. You might have that backwards.”

“?”

“First of all, the island of Ground’s Nir itself is a giant armory. The life forms on the surface may have arrived to the island later and settled there, or you may be the descendants of life that formed here naturally. I do not know why the original Ground’s Nir wants to rise to the surface. But this island and the Labyrinth exist for it. To put it another way, once the ultimate weapon is complete, the factory is no longer needed. With its role complete, the facility will probably hand over all of its energy to the completed product and the armory itself will be reused as giant armor or a giant engine. In other words, the island will cease to be an island. It will no longer be an environment that can support life on its surface.”

“That can’t be…”

“But you don’t have to feel bad, Boo Boo. No matter which part came first, all of you were born here. So this isn’t about right and wrong. It’s a battle for survival.”

The Sage stopped there and pointed toward the large hole in the center of the room.

The mysterious device there sent a great many tubes into the giant underground armory and provided those tubes with a constant supply of a potion created from lots of herbs and alcohol.

“I got this constructed faster than I expected. It sends an Alchemic potion – that is, a potion that affects metal – into the Labyrinth’s floors and walls to induce changes to the structure of the invisible gears and shafts. That will obstruct its work, but it’s only a delaying tactic. I doubt this can prevent the completion of Ground’s Nir.”

She then whispered through her beautiful lips.

“Unlike in the past, the Iberian Orc village has not kept up its numbers. If the monster appears now, no one can stop it. As things are, there is a 100% chance all life on the island will be annihilated. We must stop that no matter what.”

“But…that’s…but! I heard what Beatrice said, like she was confessing her own crime. She said you were mean to us and killed everyone in the village!! So how!? How can you look so sad when talking about it!?”

“I was asked by your elder. He said there was no sign of further growth, so the rusted village needed to be thoroughly destroyed to reset things. I have come this far regretting that decision every step of the way. The elder said the village’s numbers could be rebuilt around you, since you were the only healthy Iberian Orc left, but the monster’s completion is going to arrive first. Even after accepting so much sacrifice, both the elder and I judged things wrong.”

“Then…”

“That is why I cannot flee from the monster. I must defeat it to protect the peaceful days I promised the elder and the others. And I will do whatever it takes.”

Boo Boo thought quietly as he listened to something he did not entirely understand.

This was definitely Beatrice here.

But something about her was fundamentally twisted. Yes, he sensed the same scent he had on Beatrice when she had given into her anger for Boo Boo and nearly killed the Elkiad leader. Or perhaps this was what would happen if she went beyond that and he could never hold her hand again.

“I will challenge the monster in my own way, no matter what that entails.”

She was smiling, but her voice tore horribly at Boo Boo’s heart.

It carried the unrestrained resolve of someone who had crossed a definitive line. Or perhaps it contained something that felt like a hopeless powder keg that had grown beyond the disaster it was meant to prevent.

“So please continue working at this in your own way, Boo Boo. There is no rule against having more than one method. If it can reduce the 100% odds of destruction even slightly, then the more methods we have, the better we can protect everyone.”

Part 9

There was a photo of a girl lying in a mountain blizzard with her face bloodily smashed in and the criminal was rolling a tooth around in her mouth.

“…I’ll believe you,” said Sibyl with absolute disgust oozing from the words. “Perhaps not in your character, but in your hobby.”

Beatrice had cracked open the window and handed over her own tooth and Filinion and Armelina had explained what had happened once she returned to the bakery.

“But in that case, I think you could have just reserved a seat,” added the Elf.

“Filming a movie and watching a movie are two very different things. Oh, my apologies. That example might be hard for a Ground’s Nir resident to understand.”

Beatrice placed a hand on her forehead and lightly shook her head.

“? My head feels heavy. I’m sleepy… Filinion, what did you use?”

“Of course you feel sleepy. Not even recovery potions are all powerful. It’s especially hard to maintain the balance and not leave a scar when healing a sensitive area like the face. It’s just like the difference between placing a splint on a broken arm and cosmetic surgery to fully reconstruct someone’s appearance. The difficulty level is entirely different. I can’t just return your HP value to normal and that will of course eat up more of your Willpower.”

…In that case, she could have just endured the pain in her jaw until they had rescued Boo Boo, but it was too late now. The recovery potion had already been absorbed and broken down by her body.

Meanwhile, Armelina’s frame showed Sibyl shrugging in her waitress uniform made by modifying a negligee. She said “this way” while prompting Wildefrau to leave the room.

“Oh, we need to pay attention. They might be headed to a new area.”

Armelina faced the map on the floor. The hallway had had 3 doors and there were still 2 they had not seen inside. If Sibyl showed Wildefrau to the one with Boo Boo in it, they would have the information they needed, but if it did not, they still knew he was in the final one.

Once in the hallway, Sibyl opened her mouth once more.

“I’m sure you already know this since you shut off our supply of alcohol to intervene, but we did not open this bar in order to cook food and make money. Although the Sage and I do realize this was more fun than we had anticipated.”

“In other words, you do not want to hold an Iberian Orc cooking show if you do not have to?”

“Capturing him was all well and good, but when we tried slicing off a piece of his ear and eating it, it was too bitter and smelly to serve to customers. And it didn’t even provide many Experience Points. Or at least, that is what we planned to announce when canceling the event.”

“I see, I see, I see. Then I was right to force my way in here like this☆”

Sibyl sighed and pointed to one of the 2 remaining doors. It may have been one of the reused antique materials because the wood was a deep color that could not be produced just by rubbing coats of varnish on it.

Wildefrau opened it and found a kitchen. Unlike on Earth, there was no electricity and it used a hand-pumped well instead of plumbing. There was no refrigerator, but there was some sort of large water tank full of cold water. The only other difference was a system using firewood instead of a gas burner or oven. The rest was not much different from a normal restaurant kitchen. However, there were no cooks. The knives, spatulas, frying pans, pots, and other cooking equipment were all moving on their own. They almost looked like living creatures that merely took those shapes.

“This is all thanks to the Sage. It is apparently an experiment in reusing the Gimmicks that wander the Labyrinth. Although those mimic the structures of existing plants and animals.”

“Didn’t we humans try that and fail rather spectacularly? The remains of the giant laboratory are now used as a battle arena.”

“It depends on the human attempting it. The Sage can do it, even if the rest of you can’t.”

“Also…”

Wildefrau looked around and then turned back toward Sibyl.

The Elf stepped into the kitchen after her and used her back to shut the door.

“…Where is the Iberian Orc himself? You can’t just lead me on after all this. Or have you already shoved him into the oven?”

Wildefrau rapped lightly on the tiled wall bordering the next room.

Armelina snapped her fingers while watching through her frame.

“Bingo. It’s the room next to the kitchen! Based on the observations of the building’s exterior, it doesn’t seem to have a window, but we can blow a hole in the exterior wall. In fact, no window is a good thing because they can’t see us approaching.”

“Eh? Eh? B-but we still don’t have a pin for Boo Boo or the Sage…”

Filinion sounded confused, but Armelina did not care.

“I said the Sage might be able to see through it, remember? If they’re in the same room, there’s nothing more we can do. We need to shift from gathering information to an all-out attack. The fresher the information the better, so we need to prepare to blow through the wall before they can move him elsewhere on a whim!!”

“Wait, Armelina. Something isn’t right.”

Beatrice was correct.

In that case, why had Sibyl invited Wildefrau to the kitchen?

…Especially when there were knives and meat tenderizers moving on their own in there.

“I forgot to mention something,” said the Elf.

“Oh, no,” said Filinion. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

“You seem to have mistakenly thought the Sage was satisfied simply receiving arrogant reports from those below her,” continued Sibyl. “But she actually sent out an observer to personally monitor the movements of that Iberian Orc. …Yes, I, the Royal Elf named Sibyl, was sent to secretly tail him.”

“Not good!” shouted Filinion.

“Thus, we know that you were captured after that disturbance in the mountains. You could not possibly have been free to make a surprise attack. So you can imagine my surprise when you produced that picture and tooth. Plus, this was not someone else’s tooth used as a decoy; it was the original’s. That tells me 2 things. #1: You, Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau, have some reason to deceive me in order to set foot in the back of this bar. That is not too surprising. It is entirely possible you managed a jailbreak and fled to Ground’s Nir in such a short time. But the problem is #2: For some reason, you have Beatrice’s support here. That makes your goal simple to guess. …And that is why I said I would trust your hobby but not your character!!”

Some were sharp blades and some were blunt weapons.

More than 100 knives, meat tenderizers, frying pans, and hand-cranked meat grinders all floated up into the air at once.

The Ice Waterfall Princess’s special technique was to create an absolute zero environment and sap her opponent’s strength until they froze to death, but that required gradually wearing them down from a safe zone outside their field of vision. She had trouble with direct combat. If she was exposed to a storm of blades and blunt weapons inside a small space, she could not create a white curtain of snow to blind her opponent. Her ultimate attack created an artificial universe of -273 degrees in which everything – including gas – froze, but even that might not work against fully inorganic Gimmicks. If they were built to function even in the vacuum of space, they would continue moving. Simply put, it was unknown just how much Wildefrau could defend against this.

“Dammit, prepare for the explosion! Beatrice, we’re blowing that wall and saving Wildefrau. C’mon!!”

“W-wait! But what about Boo Boo!? Even if he’s in the next room, that slight lag could lead to his death. The Sage might panic and stab him with a butcher knife when she hears the explosion!”

Filinion’s words froze the atmosphere.

Throughout all of this, they had yet to see the Sage. That meant she had to be speaking with Boo Boo in that other room. She had full resistance to every Element, so they did not know how to defeat her. Even a surprise attack at full power only gave them a 50/50 shot at saving Boo Boo, so they could not afford any further difficulty.

But on the other hand, Wildefrau’s life was in definite danger. Now that her cover was blown, Sibyl would show no mercy. What were they after, how much did they know, and how much of a threat were they to the Sage? Sibyl could either slowly slice her apart until she had the answers to those questions, or she could immediately kill her.

Blowing a hole in the wall to one room would definitely alert the occupants of the other.

Saving one meant letting the other die.

They would lose their chance to rescue that other person.

The one holding the key to the detonation was the Fire Element level capper: Beatrice. Unless she agreed, the others had no way of overturning the decision.

She prepared two rectangular frames with her fire illusion magic.

One said Boo Boo. The other said Wildefrau.

“Wait, you’re kidding, right!? We can’t just abandon someone who helped us, Beatrice!!”

“Beatrice, you have to make the decision! Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a decision you won’t regret!!”

Part 10

Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau smiled thinly while surrounded by the many kitchen tools thought to be installed with Gimmick structures.

There were 2 rooms and only 1 wall could be detonated from outside.

That meant the others were certain to rescue Boo Boo and leave her to die. Otherwise, their visit to this dangerous place would have been meaningless. They would not overlook that she had primarily been a disposable tool.

It seemed like a fitting end to her.

It had been Beatrice and the others who had decided to overcome Sibyl’s questioning using the photo and the real tooth, but Wildefrau doubted she could have come up with a different idea on her own. She had grabbed the offered card without thinking, so she had to accept the result of that. In a way, this was only natural.

(Also…)

Wildefrau glanced over at Sibyl who had kept her distance but also used her back to block the sole escape route, but she was actually thinking about something else entirely.

(…I was kind of hoping this would happen.)

She had had no friends at school.

People had long kept their distance from those who could not distinguish dreams from reality.

The existence of Ground’s Nir and Magic had prevented her from growing out of being such a person. It had even pushed her further in that direction. She had accepted that dreams could grow as dreams instead of crashing against the harsh wall of reality.

What did reality matter?

By gathering Pieces and dedicating them to the state, couldn’t she be far more useful than a salaryman working his ass off or a housewife desperately making ends meet?

Once she made that excuse, she had lost her chance to fit in.

She saw no need to compromise.

Those with talents useful to society became known as great men. Reading through a biography on Nobel or Edison would show that their lives were extremely unusual. Any normal person would frown upon hearing that Da Vinci actively and repeatedly performed autopsies to look inside corpses to find ideas for his works. But even in the age of the witch hunts when bigotry and discrimination were much stronger, he had not been criticized or punished. Everyone had decided he was necessary and feared losing him for no reason.

She had run further and further and further ahead.

By the time she had realized she was scared to look back, it had been far too late.

She could not return to who she had once been.

Once you started the tightrope walk, there was no turning back. Doing so would only increase the risk of falling. So she had had no choice but to continue on. She had had no choice but to trust that there was something waiting on the other side.

She had not wanted to accept that she was a freak.

So she had needed to become a genius.

And here was the result: a fall. After fearing the cruel wall of reality and instead immersing herself in a world of dreams within dreams, she would now lose her life in Ground’s Nir. When someone had lost their place in reality, they could only live within dreams and die within dreams. So the only difference was whether it happened now or after she had aged a few decades longer.

She had brought this on herself.

But no matter how many times she was reborn, she doubted she could ever abandon this path.

…She had been sick of her real life. She did not even want to mention her real name.

Her family had been poor. But the terrible scores on her tests went beyond the side effects of poverty mentioned on talk shows. She doubted her scores would have changed even if her family had been wealthy. It was the same for her inability to keep up in class, to make friends, to follow the latest trends, or to even pick up on social cues. Shoving the blame off onto anything but herself had been convenient. If she defined it as a problem she was incapable of fixing, she could mentally free herself. She may have had no place in the real world, but that had not been a problem when she had another world to visit. And once she had found success there, she had been unable to stop.

If there had been another path, she would have chosen it long ago.

There was nothing else for her even if she did quit, so she had needed to hone herself here.

If this was a dead end for her, then so was everything else. In fact, she had done well to last this long. Yes, yes, better luck next time. That was all her life was worth. That was why no one had loved her, why no one had believed in her, why no one had relied on her, and why no one had shared in her joys or hardships.

She had not been back home in years. That was not something for a girl of 14 to say, but it was the truth. She still remembered the look on her parents’ face when she had last seen them.

It was the look of disgust upon seeing something far too bright.

She was selfish and had an immature personality, but they could not get angry since she made dozens if not hundreds of times more money than them. They could have accepted that if they could at least claim they had raised her well, but Wildefrau’s Magic was used to bring death. They could not stop her and they could not proudly claim her as their own, so they were unsure how to handle that economic monster that only continued to grow. That was the look on their faces.

When she had seen that, she had wanted to fade away into nothingness.

She had wanted to cut all ties to the real world and become something that lived only in her dreams.

So her demise would be met with indifference.

It was wrong to think there was anyone left who would shed tears of sorrow for her or who would burn with anger and come to save her. After all, she had given up on all that and cut those ties.

(I see…)

She recalled the intense emotion she had felt in the mountain blizzard when receiving a counterattack from someone she deemed beneath her.

She had assumed the blood was rushing to her head because they had prevented her from scoring a perfect game, but that may have been wrong.

(I may have been jealous of them for compromising with reality while still immersing themselves in Ground’s Nir to that extent. I may have been jealous that they could live in a dream without destroying their bonds to others.)

But what did that matter?

Even if she was reborn 100 times, would she ever be able to pull off something like that?

With that in mind, Wildefrau gave her life over to the approaching storm of deadly blades.

That was the very same mistake she had made countless times already.

So…

And yet…

The wall behind Wildefrau seemed to swell out as it was blown up from outside.

Part 11

In that instant, Beatrice was not simply thinking about Wildefrau. She of course had not given up on rescuing Boo Boo.

And…

“Iberian Orcs like Boo Boo and Disaster have tough enough skin to deflect my flames to an extent. I know that from actual combat experience.”

“Beatrice?”

“It might be a little painful, but it won’t kill him. So why hold back?”

Q. There are two locked rooms, each with an important hostage within. You only have one chance at a detonation. Which one will you save?

A normal person would agonize over the decision and choose one while wracked with guilt. Or they would be unable to choose, run out of time, and lose both lives.

But the strongest were different.

The level cap group found another answer.

A. Why look at this on as small a scale as individual “rooms”? Blow it all away at once and the number of rooms is of no consequence.

They had blown up the entire exterior wall that bordered the kitchen. The entire boxy building tilted a bit, but it had not entirely collapsed.

While on the lookout for the Sage in case she was entirely unharmed, Beatrice’s group swiftly entered the building, but they soon found something entirely unexpected.

“Dammit, what is this!? There’s no one in the final room either!! Not Boo Boo and not the Sage!!”

“B-B-B-B-B-B-Beatrice!? That’s a big deal too, but, um!!”

Filinion’s trembling voice was answered by several knives and icepicks bursting from the gray dust and cutting through the space which no longer had any concept of walls or rooms.

The Holy Swordswoman made a single swing of her rapier.

The sharp sweep of the Shining Weapon caused flames to burst out like blood from a wound in the world itself. They burned through all of the automatic weapons made from kitchen tools. The flames were large and powerful enough to annihilate even the dust from which the many weapons flew.

This was clearly overkill for protecting themselves.

The flames had been released to protect Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau who had been knocked to the floor by the blast.

“Don’t just lie there! Stand up, Wildefrau!! Beatrice carefully calculated the blast, so you shouldn’t even need one of Filinion’s recovery potions!!”

“Eh? Ah?”

The Ice Waterfall Princess looked baffled, so Armelina continued as if using her words as a slap in the face.

“I don’t know your past, but we won’t abandon you now that we’ve accepted you into our group! We have a responsibility to help you!! The decision came down to Beatrice since she’s our fire user, but she didn’t compromise there. You did well. You completed your job. We will get you back alive! Before you start sulking, we have a final job to do, Wildefrau!! We have to escape from here!!”

It made no sense.

Had they brought further risk onto themselves for that obligation? Had they done it for a mad dog who would bite your ear off if you let your guard down? Even though blowing down just the wall to the final room would have given them a more surefire surprise attack?

“I don’t care.”

Beatrice immediate spat out those words when she saw the pleading look in Wildefrau’s eyes.

She turned her back on the lost girl, but that almost seemed to show off the magic circle there.

“I don’t know who you are as a human. But Boo Boo has a kind heart, so it would definitely hurt him if he knew we abandoned one of our own to save him. I wanted to avoid that. I did it for him!”

“…”

The explanation sounded dismissive, but one phrase pinpointed how they viewed Wildefrau: one of our own.

This was not a false smile plastered on their faces to get what they wanted. It had naturally slipped out in the middle of what amounted to an insult.

“So stand up, Wildefrau! Stand up and help us!! Either way, the Sage and Boo Boo aren’t here, so our only option is fighting Sibyl and getting the truth out of her. Since the surprise attack wasn’t enough, we have to make an all-out attack. The more people we have to rely on the better, even if that means someone like you!!”

Because Beatrice did not hold back at all, Wildefrau felt like those words provided a glimpse of the thoughts in her heart. People’s hearts had no physical form, so it was hard to provide physical evidence of what was inside them. That was what had put Wildefrau in such a bind here, but even she could understand this.

“Are…?”

They really did view the Ice Waterfall Princess as one of their own and someone they could rely on.

“Are all of you stupid…?”

“Maybe we are, but we’re asking for your help to save Boo Boo, Wildefrau! If you don’t agree to that, we really will abandon you this time. We’ll give up on you as not worth our time! If you don’t want that, then stand up and prepare to fight!! We don’t have time. The Sage might have heard the explosion, so hurry! We have to work together to defeat the Sage’s companion, get past this, and find a hint to reach Boo Boo!!!!!”

She was an honest-to-god idiot.

Despite the harshness on the surface, she was saying they had not given up on Wildefrau yet. Even after everything she had done to them on that snowy mountain, they still wanted to trust her. They really thought this was her final chance and that they could grab her hand and pull her up.

Wildefrau had wanted to fade away and cut off all ties.

But something had remained.

That one final line was hopelessly thin and yet it would not be broken.

“Heh, eh heh heh.”

When that came to mind, Wildefrau found herself laughing for some reason.

She had no real obligation to do as they said, but she found strength filling her legs after being knocked over by the explosive blast. Perhaps she feared losing whatever this was that was being offered to her.

She felt a calm elation she had never before experienced.

This feeling had never welled up within her when she had gathered great quantities of Pieces that brought about technological revolutions or when she had spent long periods of time wearing down whoever she had deemed to be weak.

“Fine, then. If you intend to make use of me – of Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau – then prepare yourselves! My attacks are not exactly precise and I might overdo things a bit and encase my allies in ice too!!”

Ultimately, she made an announcement in her usual style.

At the same time, small Icons lined up in the air alongside her fingers. A giant magic circle appeared in front of her chest at the center of the intersection point of the cross-shaped sword.

Yes, she might have spoken sharply, but another message had been woven into those words: I will work hard enough for you that you’ll get mad at me for overdoing it.

Part 12

“Hmph.”

At some point, a strange Shining Weapon had appeared in Sibyl’s hands. It was a curved wooden branch with a large crystal ball on the end and a thin string strung across it. It looked something like a bow or a staff.

In fact, she no longer wore the waitress uniform made from a red negligee. She now wore a green dress with the chest left wide open. Her twintails were also undone, giving her flowing straight hair.

“This is not quite as planned, but, well, it’s within the acceptable range. And it lets me wipe out all of the Sage’s enemies at once, so that’s good. Are you ready to face a Royal Elf?”

“Ready for what, you idiot? We’re well aware that Nonhumans born in Ground’s Nir can’t use the Shining Weapons or Magic designed for humans!!”

Armelina swung her metal staff and summoned the usual ball-and-chain onto the head.

If Sibyl was indeed bluffing, it would end here. They had a Holy Swordswoman who had mastered fire, a Fighter Priest who specialized in physical attacks, an Ice Waterfall Princess who was an expert in freezing attacks, and a White Witch who had thoroughly honed her logistical and healing techniques. A Party with that many level cappers in it even had a chance of challenging a Break News using direct firepower.

However.

“Laser Lock.”

Bright light came from the crystal ball on the end of the Shining Weapon Sibyl held.

As she pulled back the bowstring, the light gathered into a single arrow and then was mercilessly launched.

The violent beam of light tore through space.

It struck Armelina’s raised Shining Weapon and knocked her arms upwards. With her arms overhead, her body was left defenseless. And that had not been a coincidence. Sibyl had aimed for the weapon to ensure her target could be finished off with the next shot.

They could see several Icons standing up from the surface of the curved wood as if to provide monitors that visually supported Sibyl.

Then the Royal Elf spoke coldly.

“Check.”

“Dammit!! How can an Elf use human Mag-…!?”

The next shot was fired before Armelina could finish speaking.

Sibyl was both fast and persistent. The glowing arrowhead curved through space in order to stab through Armelina’s heart. If she tried to dodge, it would likely sharply correct its course to continue toward her vitals.

Or it would have if the glowing arrow had not been knocked out of the way by Wildefrau’s ice shield, the lantern shield which was combined with a giant hand.

“Don’t die just after saying something like that. Aren’t you going to rehabilitate me?”

“Sorry. And thanks!!”

“B-being honest only at times like this is cheating.”

This was quite an unusual side of the Ice Waterfall Princess, but they unfortunately did not have time to focus on that. A Royal Elf, and thus a Nonhuman born in Ground’s Nir, was operating a Shining Weapon and freely using human Magic. They had to think about how to respond to this situation.

(The Icons aren’t all that numerous. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t very familiar with the Magic. Just like Wildefrau, has she chosen a few she uses a lot and created shortcuts on a Palette!?)

Beatrice used her fire illusion Magic to call up a few frames and lines, but there were too many blanks to find an answer right now.

“Is it really that strange?” Sibyl looked quite calm for having broken through a supposed impossibility. “The Magic, Shining Weapons, and everything else you rely on like normal are no more than toys given to you by the Sage.”

“You’re kidding. Are you saying the Sage can tune a Shining Weapon for a Royal Elf!?”

“Prepare yourselves.”

Filinion had to be counted out, but Beatrice, Armelina, and Wildefrau all charged in toward Sibyl from different directions so they could not be targeted. And that included the Holy Swordswoman, who could fill a kilometers-wide field with hellfire on the level of a volcanic eruption, and the Ice Waterfall Princess, who could create a hell of absolute zero where even the air skipped past its liquid form and froze. With that much force in such a cramped space, not harming their allies was more difficult than defeating their enemy.

But that did not matter.

As soon as Sibyl turned the bow on its side and pulled the bowstring, the arrow of light spread out in a fan shape to produce not just 3, but more than 30 arrows. It was a lot like the magic crossbow used by Othinus, the Danish version of Odin. And while that bow was said to have slain 10 foes at a time, the deadly power of this weapon was 3 times greater than the god’s weapon.

“Oh, no.”

“No, Armelina!! The key is the crystal ball!!”

Armelina’s eyes widened at Beatrice’s warning.

A moment later, a beam of light thicker than 1000 arrows bundled together burst from the end of the curved wooden staff and tore through space itself. The Fighter Priest turned her metal staff into a small boat meant to crush her foes. She used it as a shield and bent her upper body back at the very last second. The thick steel boat was torn through like wet paper, creating a hole larger than a watermelon, and the beam partially tore away Armelina’s breastplate as it passed above her bridge pose. Being so flaaat had effectively saved her. If the Holy Swordswoman had been even a second later to speak up, Armelina would have been pierced through.

Sibyl prepared to fire again at Armelina who had completely lost her balance and could not move from where she was, but Beatrice swung her rapier sideways from a distance.

It was not fire that burst out.

To avoid the incredible roar of a high-voltage current, Sibyl took a step back.

“Thunderbolt.”

“I see. You vibrate the soot and smoke particles to produce a large quantity of static electricity. Fire is merely your starting point and you can reach other Elements, is that it? That almighty ability reminds me more and more of her. The method you use is quite different, though.”

Beatrice’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of someone who was not here, but she could not focus on that now. She first made sure the Fighter Priest was all right.

“Even your lucky breaks stem from your failures.”

“That was bothering me, so you didn’t have to say it out loud!!”

Armelina blushed and shouted back at her, but Beatrice simply used Magic to strengthen her Shining Weapon rapier’s cutting edge while attacking Sibyl.

“Metal Cutting!”

But Sibyl only took a single step back. She spun her odd weapon around, creating a large ring of light from the path of the crystal ball.

“Shield Method.”

The inside of the ring filled with identical light, creating a shield of destructive power. Even after leaving the staff, the ring of light rapidly rotated and deflected both Beatrice’s rapier and Armelina’s giant fist as soon as they touched it. A chill ran down the Holy Swordswoman’s spine. Sibyl was the kind of person to knock her opponent off balance and then take certain victory with her next attack.

She had not released her shield.

It rushed forward like she was using a tunnel boring machine to tear through human flesh.

“Ugeh!?”

“That’s just cruel!!”

Attacking the approaching shield with Magic would have little effect at this point. Beatrice sharply altered the direction of her rapier’s tip and destroyed the floor below their feet.

“Metal Jet!!”

A total of 8 lines of heat sliced through the floor like a hot knife through butter, dividing it into blocks. This would do no damage to Sibyl herself, but taking out the floor below her was bound to knock her off balance. And she was holding her own exceedingly destructive “shield” at the moment. If she tripped and came into contact with it, she would meet an even more tragic fate than someone who had an accident while using a chainsaw.

“!”

Sibyl pitched forward and came to a cautious stop without thinking, so Beatrice and Armelina used that opening to fall back. They had briefly kept their lives, but the basic threat remained. They could not win without finding a way around Sibyl’s malleable Magic.

“Th-that tunnel boring machine shield doesn’t look fancy, but isn’t it way too nasty? It hides her entire body, so there’s nothing we can do if she just keeps moving toward us!”

“Then we just have to think of a way to get damage behind the shield without breaking through the shield itself! It could be oxygen deprivation, a shockwave, or something acoustic!!”

Regardless, how was it possible for a Royal Elf like Sibyl to use human Magic? Had the Sage really given her a specialized Shining Weapon, just as she had claimed? Or was her identity as a long-eared Elf a bluff and she was only a human who had used her Percentage-type Magic to adjust her appearance to look like an Elf?

(No…)

Beatrice added a few pieces of information to her frames and lines of fire illusion Magic.

That was not the only mystery here. First and foremost, where had the Sage and Boo Boo gone? And how had Sibyl changed out of her waitress-style negligee into a green dress? For that matter, could they really take her word for the alleged fact that the flying knives and meat tenderizers were perfect recreations of the Gimmick structure courtesy of the Sage? She would have had no reason to tell her enemies the truth.

It all seemed contradictory at first, but it had to all be explainable under a single set of rules.

At this point, Sibyl would not waste her time with silly games. It had all looked like separate phenomena to Beatrice and the others, but it had to have all been fully optimized from Sibyl’s point of view.

But then what was it?

Where was the core of the issue being hidden?

“…So that’s it.”

Was it due to those muttered words, due to the smile on her lips, or due to the new frames she created and connected with several lines?

Sibyl frowned suspiciously while glaring at her, but that no longer mattered.

“Rising Sun.”

Explosive light radiated from the crystal ball on the head of Sibyl’s raised weapon.

And…

“Laser Lock.”

“Oh, no! Something’s coming from behind that bright curtain! And the attack is hidden within that identically colored light!!”

Some English textbooks wrote the answers in red and placed red cellophane over the page to hide them. This was the same. If an arrow or shield of light attacked from beyond all of that light, they would be unable to see the timing or path of the attack.

Beatrice and the others would only be able to stand there as they were picked off.

Or so it seemed.

However.

A moment later, a high-pitched noise rang out as Beatrice’s rapier mercilessly knocked down Sibyl’s arrow of light despite the glowing smokescreen.

Part 13

Filinion, Armelina, and Wildefrau were not the only ones surprised.

Royal Elf Sibyl was of course the most shocked to have her supposedly surefire attack so easily deflected.

(No, it couldn’t be. Was it just a coincidence?)

She drew the bowstring once more and fired multiple glowing arrows in quick succession. Not all of them flew in a straight path. Some curved in from the right, some swooped up from below to target the jaw, and some shot past Beatrice’s shoulder only to make a sharp U-turn. The ever-changing acrobatics surpassed the concept of a bow and behaved more like a living creature.

But none of it mattered.

Without even turning her body all the way around, Beatrice used just her right hand to turn her rapier into a silver glow that sliced through the air and knocked down all of the arrows targeting her vitals.

(It wasn’t!! Then does she really get it!?)

“Whether or not you were given a Shining Weapon for a Nonhuman Royal Elf, I doubt you would be able to use Magic. The key to Magic is Experience Points, which are properly seen as the experiences humans from Earth have in another world. Magic comes from changing using the device to change the target of those Experience Points. So with or without a Shining Weapon, you could never earn any Experience Points as long as you remain in Ground’s Nir.”

“…”

“In that case, how can you use Magic? No, how are you making it look like you’re using Magic? It’s still only a theory, but every Nonhuman supposedly has a trait that differentiates them from humans, right? We refer to that as their species’ unique Skill. If so, then my guess would be what looks like Magic here is really a phenomenon reliant on your Skill. Yes, for example…”

“Laser Lock!!”

Sibyl refused to let her say anymore, so she drew the bowstring even tighter and launched an arrow of light. But the Holy Swordswoman swung her rapier to accurately strike it down before continuing.

“Perhaps you materialize the residual thoughts left in objects. So instead of using Magic, you would be drawing out a visual of the human who used that Magic.”

Sibyl’s words caught in her throat.

How was Beatrice able to deflect these arrows of light that freely bent every which way as they accurately targeted her vitals? That was all the proof one needed that she had seen through Sibyl’s tactics.

“In other words, you aren’t calculating the arrows’ paths here and now. You have a limited number of past arrows to choose from and you select one with a useful path to recreate. You check where your opponent is standing and then adjust your own position to be in just the right spot to hit them using a past attack.”

Sibyl’s attacks were all flying along known paths. Once she used her Magic in front of Beatrice’s group once, it would only ever look like she was repeating the same thing. Even if she blinded them with light, her attacks were simple to block as long as they got the timing right. It was no different from getting the rhythm right while swinging the bat in front of a pitching machine that launched balls at set intervals.

“The knives and meat tenderizers flying around the kitchen on their own were the same. They had nothing to do with Gimmicks. You were only summoning the residual thoughts to reproduce the movements their former owners had given them. Of course, that means they were also thrown to kill someone, so that’s not exactly something worth celebrating.”

Once she had entered battle mode, Sibyl had changed from the waitress-style red negligee into a green dress, but that too was the same.

In fact…

If the waitress uniform itself had been formed from residual thoughts…

“And the final question: why did Boo Boo and the Sage disappear from this bar?” said Beatrice. “That was what we assumed happened, but we were wrong.”

She spun her rapier around to point it toward Sibyl.

And she gave the answer revealed by her many frames and lines of fire illusion Magic.

“The very bar we first entered as customers was no more than an illusion created by summoned residual thoughts. The actual popular bar exists somewhere else. Am I wrong?”

It had been packed with customers.

Plenty of food had been served and they had eaten it just fine.

But what if the entire bar had been a lie? What if everything they ate with a smile and stored in their stomachs had been ghosts of the past? Besides, the Sage and Sibyl had been selling Buffs to support people’s Magic. It did not matter if that was “real” or not. Everyone had seen the Magic rings in their drinks, grabbed them, equipped them, and actually received their effects, hadn’t they?

The “range” of that had merely been expanded outwards a bit.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau looked back and forth between Beatrice and Sibyl. “So she’s summoning memories of Magic in order to use it? Then if we destroy the object those memories are contained inside, we can finish off Sibyl!? Like her Shining Weapon maybe!?”

“!!”

Without thinking, Sibyl adjusted her grip on the fusion of a staff and bow, but…

“No, she wouldn’t hide it somewhere so simple.”

It was that comment from Beatrice that really did fill the Royal Elf’s heart with ice.

She could no longer fool them. She could not throw off their aim with bluffs or tricks.

“As long as it contains the residual memories of the person who used the Magic, it could be anything, so it doesn’t have to be the Shining Weapon. Besides, I doubt she would show off her lifeline like that or readily use it to clash with my rapier or Armelina’s ball-and-chain. If it happened to crack or break, she wouldn’t be able to fight any longer.”

“Th-then what is the core?”

“It would have to be within arm’s reach and something she kept nearby so she could always draw out its residual memories. And in battle, it would be as important as her own life, so she would even put herself in danger to protect it.”

Beatrice created 8 balls of light around herself.

This Magic was named Metal Jet. With a diameter of a meter, each one could extend for several kilometers with the force of a chemical warhead capable of burning through a tank, so they felt a lot like laser beams.

She aimed the tip of her rapier. It seemed pointed at Sibyl’s nose, but it was actually a little off of that.

The final blank was something found everywhere here.

The several frames and lines pointed to something nearby but distant.

Yes…

“That door you’ve kept your back to. That was secretly taken from the Next Voyager ghost ship where Vampire Kallikantzaros sleeps, wasn’t it? At first, I thought it was a clever act to keep Wildefrau from escaping, but that wasn’t it.”

Sibyl could feel the great tension in her face.

And this was a change she had never experienced in her long years as nothing more than the master of the enchanting woods.

She was enjoying this.

…In truth, Sibyl had no way of confirming that everything the Sage had told her was true. And even if the Sage had explained the theory she supposedly used to break the barrier of time, Sibyl had no way of objectively proving it would work. But whether the Sage was telling the truth or not, the fact remained that her words upon their first meeting had reached the core of Sibyl’s heart. So the Royal Elf had trusted the stranger and decided she was worth walking alongside.

The Sage had said, “Past, present, or future, you really don’t change, do you? Seeing your face is somehow nostalgic.”

That had led Sibyl to a realization.

In the past, present, or future, she would only do as people said and behave as a Royal Elf. No one wanted her to take a single step outside of the pre-established harmony, they did not even tell her that was a possibility, she was left to not even question being treated like a stone or tree, and she would simply continue to inhale and exhale just like today be it 1000 or even 10,000 years from then.

Ultimately, she was playing with fire.

A Royal Elf with noble blood in her veins was playing with fire just a little.

She was taking just a small step outside of the pre-established harmony. Even if that meant something definitive was derailed, she would take it. She would accept it. She would savor it. She could feel her chest filling with a sense of achievement after, for the first time in her life, accomplishing something on her own without anyone else asking it of her.

So.

That was why.

“This is no joke, Sibyl. Where does that look of accomplishment come from?”

Armelina’s voice stopped the tension in her cheek that was trying to form a smile.

Her face froze over.

There was no time, so they could not hold a full conversation. But the passage of time seemed to have slowed and the look in her eyes said it all.

Had she successfully gathered all the Hate on herself and allowed the Sage to escape safely? Was she satisfied with this one-way ticket of a plan given to her by the Sage? Was this really the best thing for the Sage? No, it was not. No matter how much she thought this was for her ally, it was all wasted effort.

Even White Witch Filinion could tell.

“You should have stopped her no matter what it took back when you saw her wandering and lost! If yours was the only hand from either world that could reach her, then you needed to pull her back onto the proper path!!”

If…

If she had truly been acting out of concern for her…

Ice Waterfall Princess Wildefrau also spoke.

“Pushing people forward is not the only form of kindness. You should have stopped the Sage. Isn’t that when you should have given a truly unrestrained smile!?”

“Why…?”

Sibyl ignored her situation here and forced her mouth open as if to even reject the way time seemed to stretch out forever.

“Why do you have to say all this…!?”

Filinion, Armelina, and even Wildefrau all had the same look in their eyes.

The light seen there spoke clearly: We too have entrusted ourselves to that red Holy Swordswoman, so we can tell we had to say this.

“Ah.”

That was the limit.

The conditions were the same, but there was a fundamental difference between the girls who had remained by her side to the end and the one who had let go partway through.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

As soon as she found she had no rebuttal, the flow of time sped back up. Something terribly sharp and bright shot right by her cheek and broke through what stood directly behind her.

Part 14

A low vibration rattled in the ceiling.

The Sage looked up while facing Boo Boo in the windowless room, slowly sighed, and then silently stood from the box she was sitting on.

At some point, her strange waitress uniform had changed to the red armor and white miniskirt combo of a Holy Swordswoman. Her hair was straight once more as well.

“…So Sibyl was defeated.”

“B-boo?”

Boo Boo timidly spoke up, but the Sage only held her gauntleted hand to her mouth and giggled.

“Don’t worry, Boo Boo. I’m not mad.”

“?”

“In fact, it helps that Sibyl was defeated at this stage. It is a shame I wasn’t able to find a better way for Disaster to step down, though. This is not the final train. I had honestly wanted to have her naturally step down before she got caught up in the real trouble.”

The way the Sage smiled as she spoke reminded Boo Boo of a distant memory.

He realized this was just like that time.

She had that strange expression that looked sad even with a smile.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Solve this in a different way than you.”

“Wait!! Where are going!?”

“Whether or not you know, the end point is the same. So we will meet again. Once you reach the true Ground’s Nir.”

Boo Boo got up from the cart and tried to grab the Sage. He could not tell if she was a good person or not, but he could not let her leave. That impatience urged him to action.

But the very next moment, the Sage had already vanished from before his eyes.

Then he felt a heavy impact to the back of his head.

Part 15

They did not know the detailed conditions that Royal Elf Sibyl needed to materialize residual thoughts with her Skill, but since she had been staying so close to that door, its effective range could not be far.

“Boo Boo!!”

After running from the empty building that had been decorated by the residual thoughts and then looking around, Beatrice spotted an almost identical building across the narrow back alley and facing the next road over. The inn town humans had said the Iberian Orc was taken to the back of the bar, but that position would have allowed him to be brought into either of the buildings. Once Beatrice set foot inside, that familiar bestial odor reached her nose. She followed her sense of smell and threw open the door.

She found a windowless room.

Boo Boo was facing the wall.

And there was a slight burnt smell mixed in.

“Boo Boo…?”

“When I woke up, the Sage was gone.”

He did not turn back toward her and his giant hands were working at something. He was facing what looked like the burned remains of parchment. That was likely all that remained of the documents the Sage had burned before leaving. Boo Boo was gathering them together, pasting them to the wall, and using pins and string to connect anything even slightly related.

“She was smiling, but she looked sad. I remember that look well. She had the same look when she spoke with me on the day the village was lost.”

That may have been why he seemed so clearly impatient despite usually being so carefree in a self-sufficient life not ruled by a calendar or clock.

“I can’t ignore that,” he said without turning around. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it can’t be good. She said she did this to intentionally get her companion to lose to you and step down. That way she wouldn’t get involved in the rest of this. If that’s true, I don’t think the Sage fears her own death. And that isn’t a good thing!”

Impatient Boo Boo obeyed his instincts to line up the scraps of parchment on the wall and link related items together with string. But he did not know much about human circumstances or Magic, so he seemed to lack the ability to translate a general sense of unease into words. He agonized over the puzzle he had put together.

Beatrice peered over at it herself.

She looked from string to string and scrap to scrap. This was the same information management technique she used with her fire illusion Magic. And by looking through each entry, her thoughts aligned with Boo Boo’s.

The girl with human knowledge finally spoke.

“…The deepest part of the Labyrinth…the Ground’s Nir monster…Boo Boo’s village…a method the Iberian Orcs did not use…the strongest individual rather than group…the limits of a life form…support from a tool…in other words, the strongest weapon…a Break News…?”

“Boo, hold on. Did you just say a Break News? The Sage is already ridiculously strong, but now she’s trying to use a paradox with a soul!?”

“This is bad,” muttered Beatrice.

The girl with red and silver hair grew pale and turned toward her reliable friend.

“Lorelei is an inorganic Break News that takes the form of a sword. When it is pulled from the stone, it materializes the greatest strength its wielder can imagine, but then it points out the flaws in that theory, tears it apart, and guides its wielder to ruin. But it looks like she completed a complicated book on how to get Lorelei to fully submit to her…”

Lorelei.

The desperate Elkiad leader had once reached for that exceptional Break News in a last-ditch attempt. Beatrice and the others were only alive today because of the hole in that man’s theory of the strongest. But what if someone had the ultimate theory that filled in all of the holes? What if that delusion were materialized? That would lead only to absolute death.

Perhaps this was not so much an effective thesis on the strongest power and more like a grimoire used to summon and safely use a powerful demon.

And whatever it was, what would happen if the missing Sage really did reach for Lorelei? Would they all live happily ever after if she defeated the Ground’s Nir monster she kept talking about? That did not sit well with Beatrice. It made her uneasy, like some twisted irony hidden inside a storybook.

“Squeal, wait a second, Beatrice. Does that mean…?”

“Yes. We still don’t know how formidable a foe this Ground’s Nir thing is, but if that sage is taking this so seriously, then she might just gain the power to defeat that monster if she gains full control of Lorelei.”

Beatrice desperately steadied her dizzy head and leaned against Boo Boo.

And she said more.

“But that might also mean remaking the Sage into an even greater monster. And that won’t accomplish anything. It will only mean this island is being threatened by a monster with even more power!!”

Between the Lines 1

I can’t believe this.

That wasn’t what I was trying to do.

Yes, yes. I’ll admit it. That started as a bit of mischief from me. I carved “Iberian!” into the Shining Weapon you had picked up and started using. But…but that wasn’t what I meant. I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! Iberian does refer to top quality, but, um, it’s kind of a cruel and dark joke. I’m sorry!!

Eh? It’s already caught on around the village?

It’s already been added to the cave paintings, so it…can’t be…changed???

Wait, wait, wait! This is kind of a big deal. Elder! If you tell them, you can get them to stop, right!? I mean, you’re the one guy in the world who defeated me with a single blunt weapon and got me to call you “master”, so you need to preserve your dignity!!

Yes, yeah, I’m sorry.

I know that was only an angry outburst.

So apologizing won’t change anything? It’s too late?

…Wowww.

I see. Then I won’t stop any of you, but keep in mind that it’s a really dark joke, okay? This is going to be even more bad karma I have to carry with me. But if you don’t mind, then I won’t stop you. Although I guess all I can do is take responsibility as your namer.

Yes, yes.

That’s right. Then let’s keep things the way they are.

Right, Iberian Orc elder?