The Black Sky Pirate Laughs Beneath the Moon. The Crimson Mage Howls at the Stars (12)

Now that Muge-san had returned as well—and, incidentally, the writing on the wall turned out to be a fairly cryptic line from a poem—I explained to everyone what had been puzzling me since we entered this dungeon (Jelly-san was trying to take another nap, so I flicked Jelly-san on the forehead).

"I understand that much. But, Reiji, didn't you say something about the relationship between adventurers and parties... that dungeons worked the same way, or something?"

"Yes."

I nodded to Dantes-san and said,

"Let's stop thinking, 'Because it's a dungeon, anything goes.' This 'Labyrinth of Awe' is an artificial dungeon created by a person named La-Fitza. Everything that happens here has a cause and some mechanism behind it."

"What does that have to do with parties?"

"I realized that's the relationship between Automatons and dungeons."

I explained.

"Automatons run on sorcery. Meanwhile, magic power circulates through dungeons. A normal dungeon repairs its own damage, right?"

"Yes. I don't know how it works, but..."

"The circulating magic power must be what repairs it. The only other possibility would be that a dungeon is a kind of monster, but—"

"Ah, that's a theory proposed by a researcher considered a heretic even among dungeon researchers, isn't it?"

Mimino-san spoke up. So there really were people who thought about things like that. But "heretical," huh?

"For now, let's set aside whether it's a monster. That isn't particularly important. What's important is that magic power circulates through the dungeon, and that the person who created the Automatons is the same person who created the dungeon."

"Well, I suppose that's true, but... what does that tell us?"

"I tried looking at it from that person's perspective. If I were building a dungeon, I'd have the Automatons draw on the dungeon's magic power."

The magic power in the dungeon walls is faint when viewed individually, but taken as a whole, it is unimaginably vast, and it is constantly circulating. It's even saturating the air.

That's apparently why monsters can spawn naturally, but that's beside the point.

"If I were designing a dungeon, I'd build mechanisms into the dungeon itself and let the Automatons use them as they pleased."

"Ah!"

Mimino-san half-rose from the seat.

"So the Automaton is using a trap that induces awe!?"

"Exactly."

"A trap!?"

Muge-san cried out in surprise.

"But wasn't that thing the Automaton used a type of magic?"

"It may be magic, but in all your investigations of Automatons, did you find any traces that anything like that—magic, or sorcery—had been built into them?"

When I asked back, Muge-san tilted their head and said, "Hmm..."

"No... But this is the first time an Automaton has ever caused emotions to arise, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's true. But using the dungeon is vastly easier."

"Easier?"

"Just breathing in and out causes the dungeon's magic power to accumulate within us. You can use that to control the emotions of people inside the dungeon. Since the magic power is already inside their bodies, it's much easier than casting magic on them from outside."

Among the Talents is a type called 'Mystic Trait.' It falls outside the 'Eightfold Magic,' and 【Recovery Magic】 and 【Support Magic】 are among its better-known examples.

There are also more obscure ones, such as 【Soul Magic】 and 【Human Magic】. Human Magic can literally 'affect the emotions of others.'

Incidentally, I've never seen either of these two Talents myself. Nor do I know anyone who uses them.

But if it exists as magic, reproducing it through sorcery isn't impossible.

"Conversely, Automatons can only fight in ways that stir emotions in places where a trap has been installed."

Places like the stages we'd passed through. Traps must have been installed in obvious locations like those—I initially thought the 'distance' from the Automaton was important, but what matters is whether a trap is present.

"As long as we don't trigger a trap, I don't think we'll be at the mercy of our emotions. Though that's just a hypothesis."

"Even if it's only a hypothesis, how likely do you think it is that you're right?"

"...I'd say I'm eighty percent certain."

"That's practically a definitive statement."

Dantes-san gave a wry smile.

"No—not until we test it. ...But there is supporting evidence that the dungeon itself is a trap. Until we got here, we hadn't encountered anyone other than the 'Golden Brigade,' and we haven't caught up with them, either. What's more, there isn't even a trace of the Labyrinth Strategy Division or the 'Golden Brigade,' though both should have been ahead of us."

"...Now that you mention it, you're right."

"Jelly-san. You said this earlier, didn't you? That the air changed partway through."

"Oh, right, I did say something like that. But I figured it was just my imagination."

"I don't think so. Most likely, the path the 'Golden Brigade' took and the path we took are different."

Dantes-san tilted their head.

"Hey... isn't that strange? From there until here, it's been one straight corridor."

"Yes. So the dungeon must have prepared several routes and switch them while no other intruders are looking."

"What!?"

"Look at this corridor without a single seam."

I touched the floor. The walls of this small room were different, but the floor had the same texture as everywhere else, like mortar or cement.

"With tiles or paving stones, the tiles set into place could shift when the corridor was bent, but with a smooth material like this, you could join sections together or pull them apart. That is, assuming it can be turned fluid under some condition."

"S-so there really are materials like that?"

Mimino-san looked astonished.

"Apparently. The ground here seems to dissolve like water when a particular kind of magic power flows through it."

When I asked 【All Creation】 about it, that was the answer I got. It won't tell me anything if I merely take a vague look, so I have to think things through, too.

It's a shame that the identity of this 'particular magic power' is so hazy that I can't reproduce it, though.

"Then doesn't that lend credence to the idea that 'the dungeon itself is a trap'? There are other examples, too. Blades came flying at us on a downhill slope, and then they were recovered, remember? Doesn't that strike you as strange? In a building hundreds of years old, physical traps like that are still functioning."

"That's because the oil keeps them working... No, oil would go bad in a few years, or decades at most."

"Exactly, Dantes-san. But even though the oil was old, it still seemed to be in use. Is someone replenishing it?"

I had even considered the possibility that descendants of La-Fitza, who built the labyrinth, still lived within the Empire.

"I can't rule out that possibility, but I don't think anyone could keep up something so conspicuous for hundreds of years in this small Empire. Rather, it makes more sense to think that the dungeon has a mechanism that somehow reprocesses the oil and keeps it viable for centuries. Along with the recovered blades, this place has a closed-loop 'eco' system for reusing traps after they've been used once."

"Is that... possible?"

"After all, whoever built a labyrinth this vast must have solved almost anything that could be solved through intelligence. So, since the dungeon itself was so highly engineered, I concluded that the Automatons must also be making full use of the dungeon's capabilities... It's all thanks to Non-san's hint, too."

"Mine?"

Non-san had told me that I was a member of the party, too.

Non-san had told me that my troubles were their own, too.

That had been the hint—the realization that the Automatons, too, were part of the dungeon.

It's a little embarrassing, so I won't say so out loud.