The Black Sky Pirate Laughs Beneath the Moon. The Crimson Mage Howls at the Stars (19)

The healing potion Mimino-san had was astonishingly effective. The wound that had pierced the woman's abdomen apparently closed before my eyes—or so I heard. I say "heard" because, as a man, I was told by Mimino-san and Zelly-san, "Keep looking away," and "Yes, Young Master. It's still too soon," so I didn't see the Golden Brigade woman being treated.

"You saved me... Thank you..."

By the time I turned around, the woman's body had been bandaged and her clothes put back in order. Her face was pale, and sweat drenched her forehead, so I helped heal her with 【Recovery Magic】 as well. Still, the blood she had lost couldn't be restored, so she would have to rest for a while.

"Reiji-kun, a moment."

Mimino-san beckoned, and I followed her a short distance farther down the passage.

"Ahem. Well, that was an emergency escape, so it couldn't be helped, but..."

"That just now?"

When I tilted my head, Mimino-san said with flushed cheeks—ah, was this the angry kind?

"I mean when you—when you picked me up!"

"S-sorry. I was in a hurry..."

"That's—well, it wasn't a problem. It was sudden, so it couldn't be helped, and it's not as if I disliked it or anything. If it were me, that'd be fine, you know? Anytime. But you can't go around casually doing that to every woman you meet."

"...Mimino-san?"

Hmm? She was angry, right...? Wasn't she? Tell me, 【All Creation】!

Her blood flow had improved, her heart rate was elevated, and her body temperature had risen—so that meant she was angry, after all?

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is—"

Mimino-san stared at me intently.

"...Reiji-kun, you were awfully practiced at that, weren't you?"

"Was I? I don't think so."

"Really? I can't help wondering what happened to you over the past four years."

"N-no, nothing happened!"

While I wondered how I could convince Mimino-san, who kept giving me that suspicious look,

"—Young Master, Mimino-san, I don't think we have time to stay here much longer."

Zelly-san of all people had just hit me with a perfectly reasonable point.

Mimino-san and I exchanged glances—and, ah, she looked nowhere near convinced—and returned to the woman we'd rescued.

She was sitting up with Zelly-san's help.

"So what happened to Leon?"

"We got caught in a trap and were scattered."

According to her, the Golden Brigade and the Lef people from the merchant company that had hired them had reached a large room. Unlike the drab dungeon they'd passed through until then, this room contained nine brightly painted rocks.

In the center of the floor was written, "You stand before God. Offer your awe." While they were examining the rocks without understanding what it meant, Leon shouted from farther away, "There's a jewel embedded in the rock!" Sure enough, on closer inspection, they could see a fist-sized garnet hidden among the paint.

But before she could take it, the floor vanished.

Just before she fell, she looked around and saw that half of them had crowded around the rocks and been sucked into the floor, while the rest stood dumbfounded in the center of the room.

"I thought I was going to die, but the hole led to another passage. I escaped with only a few injuries from the impact and the loss of my weapon. The hole I must have fallen through was gone, perhaps because it had sealed itself, but I recognized the passage as being near the entrance to the labyrinth, so I first tried to go back and call for help."

"And then the statues attacked you here?"

"Yes... I let my guard down because there had been nothing here when I came in."

"...That's strange."

I realized something.

"We came back with Labyrinth Strategy Department 4, but the statues didn't move then, did they?"

"Now that you mention it, you're right. I was watching for enemies as we came back, but I didn't sense anything moving."

"Reiji-kun, there's something written over there."

Near the ceiling, where this passage connected to the statue passage, there was writing. It was far enough away that even the light from the magic lamps barely reached it, so we'd never noticed it before.

'Fear being alone.'

So that was exactly what it meant.

"If someone passes through here alone, the trap activates... The statues move, I suppose. ...No, wait. That's it!"

"What is it, Reiji-kun?"

"The messenger Rurusha-san must have sent! If all she needed was to send a message, she wouldn't send two or three people—she'd send one fast runner, right? If that person came here without knowing anything—"

"Oh. The statues move!"

"The messenger was attacked by the statues here. And they... all seven of them must have died."

It was a painful possibility to consider. But we had to investigate.

"...Young Master. In that case, where are the bodies?"

"They might be hidden somewhere, or perhaps the labyrinth absorbed them... We need to investigate. But first, you—um..."

"I'm Polina. I'm a member of the 'Golden Brigade,' and..."

The woman we'd rescued removed the hood she had been wearing.

Beneath it was beautiful golden hair and long ears sticking straight out.

"I'm an archer of the Elf Race."

Elves were said to be beautiful across the board, and I thought the saying was true. Still, she had an air that made her difficult to approach. Polina-san was the kind of beauty who was best admired from a distance.

There were four of us—Mimino-san, Zelly-san, Polina-san, and me—so the trap didn't activate. We searched the statue thoroughly, but found nothing unusual—though Polina-san kept nervously glancing upward.

"Hmm."

The rope I'd used to bind the statue had snapped, but one strand seemed to be stuck along the wall behind it. The upper part was dim because the magic lamp's light didn't reach that far.

"I'm going to climb the statue for a moment."

"What...?"

Polina-san looked at me as if to ask whether I was sane, but a trap was a trap. If it hadn't activated, then it was just a statue.

Well, there was also the question of how much we could trust a dungeon.

I picked up the fallen rope, lengthened it with 【Flower Magic】, and wrapped it around the statue's neck. As I climbed up it, I saw that the upper part of the wall was recessed. There was a space there, almost like a loft in a room.

I couldn't see how deep it went. I could make it on all fours... especially after being trained in the Raccoon Burrow of the Six Heavens Mine. That wasn't a boast I was happy about.

"Mimino-san! There's a space back there, so I'm going to take a look!"

"—Wait, Reiji-kun! Don't do anything reckless!"

I jumped from the statue to the gap. I couldn't stand, but crawling was no problem at all.

I strained my eyes, relying on the faint light from the glowing dungeon.

The passage sloped slightly downward. When I sniffed, I smelled blood again, just as I expected.

"...But there's no blood left."

Did the dungeon's surface absorb blood? Come to think of it, there wasn't any dust, either. Could there be something like bacteria that fed on organic matter...?

I looked at the palm I'd placed on the ground. There was nothing on it. This was creepy.

I'd move forward for now...

"—What is that?"

After going a little farther, I saw a dead-end wall about ten meters ahead. Beneath it, a hole opened like the edge of a cliff. A leather bag of some sort lay there—and I recognized it.

It was a shoulder bag used by the Labyrinth Strategy Department.

Just as I realized that, the bag's strap slid as if it were being pulled from below the cliff. What was down there? I wasn't optimistic enough to think it was merely a slight drop with a place to land.

I realized with a start.

It was a garbage chute. A place to dump trash. And the dungeon gathered all its garbage in one place—could it be eating it?

If this dungeon had an ecosystem of its own, then it wouldn't be strange to think that the dungeon itself was actually alive.

"—Damn."

The bag slid again.

I put both hands behind me and flattened myself against the ground.

Then I cast 【Fire Magic】 from my hands—.

"Go!"

The more I thought about casting magic, the more difficult it became. Physical laws were supposed to include action and reaction, but they didn't apply to magic. Even if I used 【Wind Magic】 like a jet engine, there was no recoil, so my body wouldn't move forward.

That was why Crystal, the Sky-Silver-rank half-elf adventurer, used 【Fire Magic】 to create a blast right beside her body and gain propulsion.

The narrow gap lit up like midday.

With the explosion, my body shot forward—and my hand reached the bag.

But at that very moment, the bag slipped away and vanished over the edge, as if something had tugged it.

"Like hell I'm giving up!"

I was about to slam into the wall in front of me, but I planted my right hand against it. A bottomless void yawned directly beneath me, and it looked like it could easily swallow someone my size.

There it was.

The bag.

I stretched out my left hand and grabbed the bag. I pulled. There was resistance—who was there?

When I pulled my right hand away from the wall, my body floated in midair. I cast 【Fire Magic】 again.

The inside of the garbage chute lit up.