Chapter 13

The next morning, Diablo and I gathered in front of the Labyrinth.

By the way, we had already finished our pre-exploration shopping. Since I’d managed to get my hands on a bit of disposable income, I’d picked up some equipment in addition to the usual Labyrinth necessities.

I currently had a cheap pair of gauntlets equipped on my left hand, and a spare sword sat in my “Inventory.”

I also bought a light breastplate for Diablo and gave it to him as a gift. He was hesitant at first, but I insisted that his defensive power was an absolute necessity, and I eventually managed to talk him into accepting it.

In short, our “Status” was significantly different today compared to yesterday.

“Christ! I asked the priest, and he said I’m Level 6! Me!”

“That’s great, Diablo. I hit Level 6 too.”

The results of our exploration were finally starting to take a tangible shape, and Diablo was beyond excited.

I used “Display” to keep a watchful eye on his adorable display of enthusiasm while checking over our statuses—mine included.

Both Diablo and I had seen a rapid spike in levels, and our stats had nearly doubled across the board.

For my part, I dumped all my bonus points into Magic to increase my endurance for prolonged battles.

Surprisingly, Diablo’s Strength and Vitality growth was quite good. Since he was so heavily specialized in Magic that I’d worried those physical stats might never grow at all, I felt a wave of relief.

If there was one thing making me uneasy, it was the Class column.

Mine was still blank, while Diablo was listed as a Swordsman.

It was possible that Diablo’s Strength and Vitality were growing thanks to class benefits. If there was such a thing as a class bonus applied during a level-up, it meant I’d been wasting those bonuses all the way up to Level 6. This was an issue I wanted to resolve as quickly as possible.

However, I still had no lead on how to fix the Class column.

It wasn’t mentioned in any books, and if I asked at the tavern, they just asked me back if I was talking about my job. Diablo insisted he was a Swordsman, but when I asked how he became one, his only answer was, “If you hold a sword, you’re a swordsman.”

I could see a general trend of what kind of people held what classes, but I hadn’t grasped the clear requirements yet.

While I was furrowing my brow and pondering over the Class issue, the hyperactive Diablo made a suggestion.

“Hey! If we’re Level 6, don’t you think we could go pretty deep!? Let’s really explore the inner depths today!”

“…Yeah. That might be a good idea. I have the day off today, after all.”

“Oh, Christ. You’re off from the tavern today?”

“Apparently, I get a day off roughly every three days. They told me I’m off on Sun-Blessing Day.”

Sun-Blessing Day.

I assumed this was the equivalent of a day of the week back in my world.

“I see. In that case, let’s spend the whole day going as far as we can!”

“Let’s do that.”

I didn’t object.

I’d already calculated that we could fight our way to the 10th floor.

In reality, our current levels were likely far below the recommended level for the 10th floor. However, our abnormal stat growth and skills solved all those problems.

Despite being Level 6, our stats were already on par with Level 10 adventurers.

I suspected this had something to do with the “Aptitude” parameter. After all, most people other than us didn’t even reach 1.00 in Aptitude. By contrast, mine was 7.00, and Diablo’s was 5.00.

“Alright! Let’s go, let’s gooo!”

With that, Diablo charged into the Labyrinth with high spirits.

Since we were taking the “Main Path” that had already been cleared by the state, it shouldn’t be an issue to let Diablo lead. I followed behind him, watching over him like a protective older brother—or maybe a sister.

---

“It’s the 3rd floor!”

After about an hour, we reached the 3rd floor with surprising ease.

Perhaps because my Vitality stat had increased, I didn’t feel any fatigue yet.

While Diablo was noisily celebrating our arrival at the 3rd floor, I remained vigilant, scanning the area.

To be honest, monsters rarely appeared on the “Main Path.”

That was because the path was protected by barriers maintained by the state using magic stones. Since I’d had a painful experience on the “Main Path” before, I’d made sure to get the details from the folks at the tavern.

In this Labyrinth, the shortest route from the entrance of one floor to the next had been converted into a “Main Path.” In other words, if you followed it, you could easily reach the next floor.

Currently, the “Main Path” extended up to the 23rd floor. The fact that it reached that far was thanks to the achievements of an explorer named Glen Walker, who was said to be the strongest human alive.

However, progress on the “Main Path” seemed to have stagnated in recent years.

I’d heard that the level of enemies from the 20th floor onward was on a completely different scale. Furthermore, even though they’d succeeded in creating a “Main Path” up to the 23rd floor, it didn’t mean the entirety of those floors had been fully cleared. It was a famous story among explorers that even the “strongest” explorer, Glen, couldn’t lay a finger on the 20th-floor boss and had been putting off the subjugation for a long time.

“Diablo, we can go deeper. My plan for today is to reach the 10th floor.”

“The 10th floor!? R-really!?”

“We’re just sticking to the ‘Main Path,’ so it shouldn’t be a problem. We can usually gauge the enemy levels by fighting once per floor anyway.”

“…Got it. If you say so, Christ, I believe you.”

For some reason, Diablo’s level of trust in me was incredibly high.

Since it made things much easier for me, I didn’t bother correcting him and just kept the conversation moving.

“I’ll take the lead soon. Even on the ‘Main Path,’ enemies still show up occasionally. If something happens, I need to act as the shield.”

“—! No, you can keep resting, Christ! Now that I’m Level 6, I think it’s about time I showed you my sword skills, so—”

“Ah, fine. You can lead until the 5th floor.”

“I know it’s not—wait, what!? I-Is it really okay…?”

“It’s fine. Until the 5th floor.”

I’d predicted Diablo’s request beforehand and had my answer ready.

Looking at Diablo’s Level 6 stats, he should be able to hold his own up to the 5th floor with my support.

Diablo’s Strength was already close to 4.

Unlike when it wasn’t even at 1, there shouldn’t be any situations where his attacks simply wouldn’t land. From the info I’d gathered at the tavern, I’d confirmed that warriors with Strength between 3 and 5 could fight up to the 5th floor.

Besides, gaining experience in close-quarters combat would work in Diablo’s favor later on.

If I thought of it as an investment in the future, it wasn’t a bad deal.

“Christ! Thank you!”

“No, I just judged that even you wouldn’t have a problem up to the 5th floor, so it’s not really… Hey, don’t cling to me! Too close!”

Diablo moved in so close he was practically hugging me, grabbing my hand and shaking it wildly.

I hurriedly wrenched my hand free. Even though he’d cut his hair short and claimed to be a boy, his face was that of a fair-skinned, beautiful girl. More than anything, being this close made me notice things I’d been trying my best to ignore.

—Interactions like this reminded me of my “little sister.”

That was the ultimate taboo for me right now.

If I remembered the original world, my focus would waver.

If I thought about my family, I felt like I would go insane.

I’d want to challenge the 100th floor of the Labyrinth this instant without stopping to eat or drink.

That wouldn’t do.

One floor a day was enough for now.

I’d consider it a success if I could reach the 100th floor within 365 days.

If I lost my composure and wasted “???” or suffered a serious injury from a reckless challenge, it would all be for nothing.

Until I reached the end, I couldn’t think deeply about my “little sister.”

The “Kanami Aikawa” from the original world didn’t need to come out.

At the very least, he wasn’t needed for another year.

Right now, the only thing I should think about was the “Deepest Part” of the Labyrinth.

Just the “Deepest Part.”

I repeated that in my mind to calm my nerves.

“Haha! Alright! Then let’s veer off the ‘Main Path’ for a bit and fight some monsters!”

“Eh, I’m not really into detours… It feels like a waste of time—”

“But at this rate, we might not run into any enemies until the 5th floor!”

“Hmm… I guess it can’t be helped…”

Judging that persuading an excited Diablo would take more time than the detour itself, I reluctantly agreed.

“Here I go!”

Diablo left the “Main Path” to go look for monsters.

I followed immediately behind him, using “Dimension” to scout.

After a few minutes, I sensed a lone monster.

It was a large fish with wings that swam through the air.

The 3rd floor had many lakes and rivers, so the encounter rate for aquatic monsters was high.

Among them, the most common was this monster: the Skyfish. If I’d found it in my world, it had a name that sounded like it would make the news.

“Diablo. There’s a monster around the next corner. It’s called a Skyfish. It’s a fish that swims in the air. Watch out, because its bite is nasty.”

“Yeah, got it.”

With just that bit of advance info, the battle was practically decided.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that most fights were determined by whether or not you had information on the opponent. I recalled something like that being written in Sun Tzu’s whatever-it-was and once again reaffirmed just how much of a cheat “Dimension” was.

“—Hyah!”

Diablo rounded the corner and immediately closed the distance to slash at the monster.

However, perhaps because he was too tense, his first strike was evaded. The Skyfish moved to bite back at the sudden attacker. Diablo parried it with the flat of his blade.

It seemed he could follow the Skyfish’s movements without any trouble.

Briefly thinking the cold-hearted thought that it wouldn’t be a problem even if he got hurt since it wasn’t me, I began chanting my attack magic.

“—Applied Magic: 《Ice · Improvised Arrow》.”

Focusing every nerve in my body, I chanted the spell to manifest ice in my hand.

This was an application of the basic 《Ice》 spell, which previously had been useless beyond just letting a block of ice fall.

However, the density of the mana was different now.

Back then, my level had been low, but more than that, my mental image had been lacking.

As I’d heard from the mages at the tavern, the “image” was everything.

When creating the ice, I visualized something sharp and piercing. It was long like an arrow, tipped with a frozen arrowhead.

After a few seconds, an ice arrow exactly like my mental image was formed at the tips of my fingers.

I couldn’t fire it like a projectile in a video game, though.

If I could do that, it wouldn’t be 《Ice · Improvised Arrow》; it would be a true 《Ice Arrow》 spell. That middle dot in the name was an important distinction.

I gripped the ice arrow and called out to my vanguard.

“Diablo! I’m throwing an ice arrow, so step half a pace back!”

“Eh…? G-got it!”

Diablo pulled back slightly.

Using the spatial awareness granted by 《Dimension》, I hurled the ice arrow.

“—Hit it!!”

With my Strength and Skill boosted by reaching Level 6, my throw flew toward the Skyfish with terrifying speed and accuracy.

However, the Skyfish wasn’t a Floor 1 weakling; it was a Floor 3 monster. Sensing the incoming projectile, it twisted its body in an attempt to dodge.

With a sharp clink, the ice arrow only grazed the Skyfish’s wing. Even so, it was enough to knock the creature completely off-balance. My vanguard didn’t miss that opening—Diablo’s sword lunged forward.

Diablo’s blade sliced the Skyfish cleanly in half.

For Diablo, whose Strength had increased, the Skyfish was a one-shot kill.

Watching the enemy dissolve into light, Diablo whispered with a slight tremble in his voice.

“I did it… I defeated it…”

As if he couldn’t believe his eyes, he stared back and forth between the bisected monster and his own sword. Before long, the Skyfish vanished completely into motes of light.

“Congratulations, Diablo.”

“Yeah… Thank you, Christ. How do I put it… this feels quite moving. I’ve dreamed of this since I was a child. Defeating a monster with this sword…”

As he spoke, Diablo tightened his grip on the blade in his hand.

He clearly had some deep attachment to it. Even at a glance, I could tell from the details that the well-used, aged blade was a masterpiece.

“Well then, let’s keep moving while we take down enemies at this pace.”

“Yeah!”

Diablo replied with a face that looked as though his doubts had been cleared away.

I didn’t want him to get too addicted to melee combat, but seeing him like that made me happy as well.

And so, our third Labyrinth exploration continued.

Just as I’d predicted, we didn’t fall behind the Floor 3 monsters. They took a bit of effort, but they were all enemies that Diablo could handle even as the vanguard.

We cleared the 3rd and 4th floors without any issues and moved on to the 5th floor—

---

It happened during our conquest of the 5th floor.

“—Look out! Diablo!!”

“Wah, sorry!”

In an instant, I cut in front of Diablo and used my sword to parry the monster’s attack.

Diablo, who had almost taken a direct hit, scrambled backward in a panic.

Once I confirmed Diablo was in the safe zone, I switched from 《Dimension》 to 《Dimension · Gladiator (Decisive Battle Calculation)》 and slashed at the monster with everything I had.

Assuming Diablo wouldn’t be able to provide support, I shifted from defense to a full-on offensive.

Instead of blocking with my sword, I evaded the enemy’s strike with my entire body and lunged for its vitals.

My blade sank deep into the monster’s weak point, and the enemy vanished into light.

“…Whew. That was close.”

“You saved me… Thank you, Christ…”

Diablo thanked me while timidly searching my expression.

Perhaps to him, it looked like I’d put myself in danger during that exchange.

“No, it’s fine. I’m okay.”

“But, because of me, Christ was in—”

It was right as Diablo started to respond.

“Well, well! Haha, you looked like you were about to kick the bucket there!”

A man’s gruff voice interrupted our conversation.

Diablo reacted even faster than I did.

“—! You!!”

“Yo. If it isn’t the Level 1 brat from before. Just as I thought, you were nearly dying in a place where you don’t belong!”

A man carrying a greatsword appeared from the depths of the corridor.

He was accompanied by three other explorers who looked like his party members.

I wasn’t surprised, as I’d already detected their approach with magic. I hadn’t paid them much mind, assuming that anyone at the level of this floor wouldn’t be a problem even if things turned ugly.

This man was, if I recalled correctly…

The guy who had made fun of Diablo for being Level 1 at the tavern.

“Shut up! I wasn’t nearly dying! I just let my guard down for a second!”

“Hahaha, don’t make me laugh! ‘Just let my guard down’ in the Labyrinth? Seriously, what a careless brat. You could die at any moment!”

The man wasn’t technically wrong, but his words were far too venomous.

Apparently, this man and Diablo didn’t get along very well.

For a while now, the two of them had been bickering, completely ignoring me.

By the way, when I checked the man’s details—his name was Alken, and he was a Level 9 Swordsman. His companions were more or less the same; nothing about their talents was particularly noteworthy.

Confident that I could handle this party by myself if it came to a fight, I simply watched the two of them argue.

“You bastard! Are you picking a fight with me!?”

“A fight? I’ve got no intention of doing that. After all, if we went at it, it’d just be bullying the weak. We’re close to the ‘Main Path’ here, so a fight between explorers would be found out instantly. We’re not looking to get arrested just yet.”

Alken said a fight would be found out on the “Main Path.”

So the “Main Path” did serve a function like that after all.

“I’m not weak! I wouldn’t lose even if I fought you guys!!”

“Hey, hey, you’re the one picking the fight here… Sorry, but we don’t have time to play with a brat like you. We’re in the middle of a quest commissioned by the Guild.”

Alken shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.

It was true that Diablo was the one picking the fight. Despite having stats that were decidedly not suited for player-versus-player combat, he was acting quite aggressive. It seemed his unwavering conviction from yesterday was manifesting in a bad way.

However, what caught my interest more was the phrase “quest commissioned by the Guild.”

The Guild.

A community where explorers with shared interests gathered to cooperate.

From what I knew, there were many kinds of guilds, ranging from state-sponsored organizations to small gatherings of beginners. If they were a guild that received commissioned quests, they likely belonged to a large-scale organization.

Guild quests…

As a fan of games, that was a term that held a lot of appeal.

“Don’t compare me to how I was before! Are you running away from me!?”

“…Running? Well, if you put it that way, I can’t exactly back down easily. …I know. Why don’t we have a little competition using our quest?”

Alken’s face contorted as if he’d just thought of something amusing.

“A quest competition…?”

“Yeah. Right now, we’ve been tasked with subjugating a troublesome monster. The state periodically asks skilled explorers to thin out the monster population.”

“Hmph. You guys are ‘skilled explorers’?”

“Don’t get snappy. If you claim you’re not weak, how about we compete on the number of those monsters slain? It’s simple and sounds fun, right? It’ll make the difference in our abilities crystal clear.”

“Fine. I’ll take you on.”

Diablo agreed just as he was told.

I didn’t interject during the exchange. To be honest, part of me felt that having an “event” like this happen was fresh and seemed like it might be fun.

“—So, what are we betting?”

Alken’s smirk deepened.

For me, that single sentence was the only thing outside my range of tolerance.

A ‘heat’ ignited throughout my body.

“I’ll bet whatever you want…!”

“We can prepare anything you desire. But we don’t really see anything we can squeeze out of you… Normally we’d bet money, but I highly doubt you have that kind of leeway.”

“Urgh…! It’s true, I don’t have money…!”

“In that case, if you lose, we’ll have you make the money even if you have to sell yourself. You’re coarse and violent, but you’ve got a pretty face. You’d probably fetch a high price if we sold you to the right place. Haha.”

“Fine. If I lose, do whatever you want. But if you guys lose, you’d better cry, apologize, and leave every cent you have here.”

“Alright. Then it’s a deal—”

I’d intended to respect Diablo’s wishes as much as possible, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch this. It was one thing to bet intangible things like pride or dignity, but I couldn’t allow a bet that would result in actual harm.

“Diablo! …You can’t bet that. That changes things.”

“Aah? Who the hell are you? This is a match between me and the brat over there.”

“That’s right. I don’t intend to involve Christ in this. This can just be a match between me and these guys.”

Alken glared at me as if I’d spoiled his mood.

And Diablo, with the blood rushing to his head, wasn’t seeing the situation clearly.

If it were just a competition following a quarrel, I wouldn’t stop it.

As long as no one died, it was peaceful enough.

It would have just been a change-of-pace event.

But I couldn’t accept a match like this.

—Diablo belongs to me.

I would absolutely not allow him to become prey for a man like Alken.

“…First of all, Diablo. These guys are here because they prepared for this quest, right? And there are four of them, fully prepared. There’s a huge gap right there. More importantly, you fundamentally can’t win against them in terms of raw ability. There’s the matter of suitability, but the experience is on a different level. Since the Guild chose them as the right people for the job, it’s a given that they’re good at this specific competition. And yet, you’re betting your own life… You’re an idiot. A real idiot.”

Lest he be taken from me, I tried to persuade him with rapid-fire logic.

“Ugh…”

Hearing the harshness of the conditions I pointed out, Diablo became speechless.

I felt a wave of relief that he accepted my words without getting angry.

Perhaps because our recent successes had built up trust, he seemed unable to ignore my advice.

“What’s even more foolish is, why didn’t you consult me…? You don’t have a chance of winning unless you involve me.”

And right then, I seized the chance to sell my own involvement.

“…Ho. I get what you’re saying, kid. We won’t insist on one-against-four either. If we do it two-against-two, what other conditions do you want?”

The man seemed to think I wanted to join in and proposed a two-on-two match.

However, I rejected that.

“No, that’s not it. I just think it’s better not to have this match at all. We don’t stand a chance of winning.”

“What! Christ, that’s—!”

Diablo tried to protest my humble attitude.

I held up a hand to silence him. Then, I pulled Diablo close and whispered so only he could hear.

“—Diablo. Are you planning to reveal everything about us just to win this match? …Let me be blunt: these guys aren’t worth it. Even if we won, the next thing people would talk about is ‘how could we, who were low-level until just recently, manage to win?’ Our unique skills are things we should keep hidden as much as possible. It would be beyond stupid if this caused some troublesome issue later on.”

“But…! Even so, I want to crush these guys with everything I’ve got… I want to show them. You might think I’m being childish, but for me, ‘making them acknowledge me’ is more important than anything…!”

Diablo’s voice was low, but he spoke with a heated persistence.

‘Making them acknowledge me.’

That was apparently something Diablo couldn’t compromise on, even if it cost him his life.

“Sigh…”

I let out a breath.

We should back down here.

It would be best to ignore them and show them up with results later on.

But Diablo wouldn’t accept that.

I’d been with him long enough now to know. Diablo wouldn’t be satisfied unless he made them acknowledge him right here, today.

“…Fine, I get it. I get it. I guess that’s one way to do things. Let’s do it.”

“Really!? Christ!”

I lost to Diablo’s enthusiasm and gave in.

It wasn’t like I was swayed by Diablo’s face, which looked like a beautiful girl on the verge of tears while looking up at me. …At least, I wanted to believe that.

I was also carrying a fair amount of stress myself.

In that case, I figured it wouldn’t be bad to put Diablo in my debt while showing off my power to make Alken and his crew look pathetic. Really.

“Hey! What are you guys going to do? Are you gonna tuck your tails and run, or are you gonna do this!?”

Alken shouted, having lost his patience.

I gave Diablo a look, signaling for him to leave the negotiations to me.

Diablo nodded immediately.

“—I’m sorry. We’ll do it after all.”

“If you’re not gonna—oh, you are doing it? You looked clever, so that’s a surprise.”

Alken seemed caught off guard. More than anything, he was observing me closely. He clearly had what it took to be a party leader in this life-or-death Labyrinth.

“Then, let’s decide the rules for the competition.”

I smiled and continued the conversation.

At that moment, I noticed Alken and the others take a small, sharp breath.

“…Fine. Then the winner will be—”

“The winner will be decided simply by the number of kills. If you can tell us the characteristics of the monster in question, that’s enough for us.”

“Are you sure? That means there’s no handicap at all.”

“Oh, please give us a handicap. Just one. Let us decide the time limit. We want it to be one hour.”

“Hey… At that rate, neither side might kill even one, you know?”

“No, surely you guys can kill at least one in an hour, right? We just want to see if we can kill one in that same time. Why don’t we make it that kind of match? Time is meant to be saved.”

Based on my experience so far and the flow of the conversation, I proposed the conditions most favorable to us.

If we were to look for one specific type of monster normally, running around for an hour to find one was a reasonable estimate. Since they likely had information on the monster’s habitat distribution, they would undoubtedly find at least one.

And I would use their assumption—that Diablo and I wouldn’t be able to kill even one anyway—to turn this into a short-term decisive battle.

They shouldn’t want to spend too much time on this squabble either. It was hard to believe the quest they received from that Guild didn’t have a deadline.

“Yeah, you’re right… Time is indeed precious. Fine, we’ll go with your proposal. So, what are we betting? You seem like the type to be specific.”

Alken seemed to be wary of me as I calmly laid out the conditions.

“Rather than that, if you lose, will you guys actually pay the price? In these situations, I feel like if the stronger side loses, they just feign ignorance and that’s the end of it.”

“Ah. You must not know since you came from a distant country like Fania. In large nations, if you swear a vow for a duel over a ‘Mana Line,’ it’s recorded by the state. Because of that, there’s no talking your way out of it, and even if you run, you’ll be branded a major criminal for violating the duel. Even in the Labyrinth, there’s no problem if you use a ‘Mana Line’ on the ‘Main Path’.”

Alken explained it to me in simple terms.

Since he knew I was from Fania, he must have realized I was a tavern worker. The story of the burned worker who came to this country from Fania to make a fortune only to meet a tragic end had become a famous tale at that tavern.

As I took in his explanation, I felt a spark of doubt regarding this system of duels and vows. —But I wasn’t about to pursue that right now.

“I see. The Allied Nations are quite convenient. Then, as for what we’re betting, let’s see…”

“What are we betting?”

“Why don’t we bet all the money we have on hand? For whatever we’re short on, you can collect it in the way you mentioned earlier.”

What I had to do now was give Diablo the ultimate victory with everything I had.

So, with a broad smile, I proposed to the men that we go “all-in.”