Chapter 122
＊ Rurusha ＊
I hadn't heard there was an Automaton like this—not in any of the labyrinth-related records accessible to me in my position with the Labyrinth Strategy Division, at least.
'Fear it.'—just because the Automaton spoke, everyone present had fallen to their knees.
(W-what is this...?)
Rurusha was in a daze.
She had thought it was merely a rather unusual Automaton with four arms sticking out of it, but a single word had made everyone prostrate themselves, unable to move.
Her rational mind was at a loss before the emotions surging up inside her. A shudder that felt as though it were freezing her from the core would not stop.
With a grinding sound, the wheel turned, and the Automaton approached the members of the Labyrinth Strategy Division.
Then it raised one spear-like arm over the heads of the prostrate members.
"D-don't..."
The three gems flashed in a complicated pattern, as if sending a signal. The extended arm pierced one member through the abdomen.
"Hngh!? A, a, a... aaaah!"
The spear went straight through. When it was pulled out, blood gushed forth. Clutching their abdomen and writhing in pain, the member looked up at the Automaton with tear-filled eyes. They must have wanted to scream. They must have wanted to cry out. Yet they held it in and stared up at it, trembling. Was this truly her brave subordinate?
One after another, the Automaton stabbed her comrades. Their abdomens, arms, and thighs were pierced, but it never aimed for their faces or vital organs—as if it had no intention of killing them.
"Ah, ah..."
Rurusha realized.
(It's trying to give us the emotion of 'Awe'... If they die, no emotion will arise.)
It wasn't killing them, merely injuring them. In this way, it was planting fear in them and, by extension, trying to draw out 'Awe' toward this dungeon.
Even so, if they were left there without treatment, they would eventually die from their wounds.
"Eek."
In the hall, which held more than a hundred people, half had already been stabbed and were bleeding and groaning. Now the Automaton came directly in front of Rurusha.
The gems embedded in the Automaton's body flashed. Rurusha had no idea what that signified.
Then the Automaton thrust its spear toward her—
"Flame Tornado!"
Rurusha heard a voice like that—from the passage behind them.
A tornado of raging fire struck the Automaton from the side.
Though the attack was sudden, the Automaton shifted its upper body aside and dodged the magic.
It was magic. Magic was rarely seen in this country. But even Rurusha could tell that this was advanced magic, not some elementary spell.
"I missed! The distance was a little too great!"
And yet the voice was young, nothing like that of a seasoned mage.
"Charge!!!!"
When a man's gruff voice rang out, Rurusha heard several people enter the great hall.
But the Automaton was not rattled by the sudden attack. Its three gems blinked rapidly as it immediately responded to the new intruders.
"N-no—"
Someone was trying to help them. That was welcome. But this enemy was different. It wasn't a mere monster. At this rate, the rescuers would become victims themselves.
'—Fear it—'
It was too late.
"Awe, awe, awe, awe—you're so damn annoying!"
"Huh?" Rurusha wondered if her eyes were deceiving her. A cat-eared beastkin had delivered a flying kick to the Automaton. Its upper body tilted sharply, but its wheeled base kept it stable.
"Ooooooooooh!"
The man who had shouted the order to charge had slipped around to the opposite side and was raising a vicious mace. The Automaton tried to block it with all four arms, but the mace shattered them.
"Nice one, Dantes-san!"
The last voice Rurusha heard was a boy's. He approached the Automaton as it was knocked backward by the impact of the mace—the boy's sprint was utterly soundless—and slipped into its reach with superhuman leaping ability.
What followed was movement utterly unlike combat.
With the delicate care of someone admiring an antique, he slid the tip of his knife into one of the gems and plucked it out with ease.
Kiiiiiiiiii—...
A high-pitched sound rang out, and then the Automaton fell silent.
"Did... did we defeat it...?"
What had just happened? Who were these people—clearly not Lef people, so were they adventurers?—and who exactly were they?
"Mimino-san, Non-san! It's clear! Treat the wounded right away!"
"You bet!"
"Yes!"
Their actions snapped Rurusha back to her senses.
"Right—the people who can still move, treat the wounded! Stop the bleeding immediately!!"
＊ ＊
It seemed our arrival had been just in time. A few people had suffered critical injuries and lost consciousness, but no one had died.
"Honestly... you really saved us. Thank you. Not only did you defeat the Automaton, you treated the wounded as well..."
The woman who appeared to be in charge bowed to us.
I confirmed that her eyes were amber—the same color as Old Man Hinga's—and asked her,
"Are you perhaps Rurusha-san?"
"Yes, exactly. I'm Rurusha of the Fourth Section of the Labyrinth Strategy Division. But with this many wounded, we can't continue the expedition... We'll all return for now."
So it was her—Rurusha-san, Old Man Hinga's granddaughter.
Ah, she did have some of Old Man Hinga's features—the intelligent cast of her face, for one.
"Um, actually, I wanted to speak with you—"
"I'm sorry. I'd very much like to talk, but I need to get out of here as quickly as possible and see to my subordinates' treatment."
"Ah..."
When she put it that way, she was right. Rurusha-san looked apologetic and said,
"...Once we're back and things have settled down, I'll make time for you. Will that do?"
"Yes... of course. That would be fine."
"We'll help you on the way back."
Dantes-san said he would help as well.
The withdrawal of a group of more than a hundred, especially with wounded among them, took time from preparations onward.
Meanwhile, merchants from other trading companies told Muge-san they wanted to buy the Automaton we'd defeated, and negotiations began. They seemed to be the same merchants who had been calling Muge-san's company the 'Ramshackle Company.' Muge-san rolled up his sleeves with an indignant snort and got to work.
"We'd be willing to sell it, but shall we make this a bidding war or an auction?"
"Come on, Muge-san. Are you trying to fleece us? Your company arrived later."
"Oh? Then should we have waited until everyone else was dead before coming in?"
"Guh... Then let's make it an auction with just one round of bidding."
"Let's do that. Write your price on a piece of paper and give it to me. And, of course, you can't discuss the amount with one another! Write it here and now! If you don't, I'll consider you out of the running!"
Muge-san, who seemed to have become a formidable businessperson, was running the show.
"...Even though they're the Ramshackle Company."
"...Bear with it. That Automaton had incredible performance, right?"
"...This is worth a fortune."
My ears, enhanced by 【Enhanced Hearing】, picked up their muttering.
After a while, I saw one company throw its arms up in a joyous victory cheer while the others slumped. They must have offered a considerable sum; apparently, payment would be made once we returned to the Empire.
"I-is this really okay!? Th-this is an unbelievable amount!?"
Muge-san had been acting cool until moments ago, but as soon as he returned, it seemed as if all the tension had snapped.
"Calm down, Muge-san. Well, seeing an Automaton like that, anyone would want one badly enough to pay a fortune."
"B-but a thousand Imperial gold coins!?"
Let's see... An Imperial gold coin had been worth around 300,000 to 500,000 yen, if I remembered right. So that meant... more than 300 million yen!? Whoa, yeah, that really was incredible.
The Automaton we'd defeated was smaller than the dozen or so we'd seen on the way here, but apart from its broken arm it was almost completely undamaged. Apparently, this was their first time encountering an Automaton that used an Emotion Trap—and after experiencing the terror of nearly being wiped out on their first encounter, it was no wonder they'd want it badly enough to pay a fortune.
(But still, an Automaton alone can't control 'emotions.')
There weren't many materials loaded on Cat-chan's wagon. The eye-like gems could apparently be sold at a high price as magic stones, so we'd collected every one. Muge-san had taken apart all the other magical components once and declared, "Nothing special."
The merchants carefully loaded the Automaton aboard.
"Dantes-san, Reiji-kun, you'd better take this medicine."
"Is it time already?"
"We've got time to spare, but it'd be a real problem if it wore off on the way back~."
Mimino-san had given us a Magic Power Neutralizer, a medicine that regulated the magic power in our bodies. If my theory was correct—that the Emotion Trap used the magic power circulating through the dungeon—then neutralizing the magic power we'd absorbed into our bodies should render the trap ineffective. And I was right: we were able to nullify the Emotion Trap released by the four-spear Automaton.
If another trap appeared, we'd have to try a different method, though.
Incidentally, a Magic Power Neutralizer was meant to be taken when you'd accumulated too much magic power and suffered mana intoxication; it wasn't an ordinary medicine. Even so, Mimino-san had managed to make one by combining the medicinal herbs she had on hand.
Our party members really are amazing (I may be biased).
No one asked us how we'd nullified that Automaton's attack. For now, safely retreating was probably everyone's top priority.
Mimino-san's healing medicine and Non-san's magic power were limited, so all we could manage was first aid for everyone.
After that, we encountered no more Automatons and made it outside the Labyrinth of Awe. Apparently, a full day had passed; the wounded members were lowered in the elevator into the morning sunlight.
"Well then, 'Silver Scales.' I'll contact you later—thank you, truly."
Rurusha-san bowed to us and briskly walked away.
But even after a day, and then two, Rurusha-san never contacted us.