Chapter 22

The 9th floor of the labyrinth.

Apparently, their prior research had already revealed the location of the target boss, as Snow proceeded toward the boss area without a moment’s hesitation.

The corridor gradually lost its light, and the footing grew treacherous.

As we navigated the rugged, rocky path that felt like a natural cave, I recalled the information we had shared beforehand.

The boss’s name was Legion Bat.

From what I’d heard, it first appears as a cluster of multiple giant bats. Furthermore, all of them share a collective consciousness; even if you deal a fatal blow to one, it simply merges with the other bats to repair itself.

In the darkness, the key would be how well we could handle multiple monsters without letting our light source go out.

Though, to be honest, with my magic, “Dimension,” this boss would be a breeze.

Mere darkness doesn’t interfere with my spatial awareness, so it’s not a problem. Depending on the situation, I was even considering taking it down solo.

As I was lost in thought, Snow and Erna up ahead suddenly came to a halt.

“Is something wrong?”

Since both the beastman and the dragonnewt had stopped, their sharp sensory organs must have picked up on something. I intensified my “Dimension” magic as I approached Snow at the front.

“…Someone is fighting. Likely with our target.”

Snow answered in a hushed voice.

It seemed someone had engaged the Legion Bat before us.

Since this was a labyrinth, such situations were bound to happen.

In cases like this, unless it’s an extreme circumstance, it’s first-come, first-served. Strife between explorers is strictly taboo, so barging in now wouldn’t be a wise move.

“Um, Sister… what do we do in this situation?”

“…First, we shall observe. If they are ordinary explorers, we can buy the drop item from them with money. If it’s another party from the academy, we’ll respond according to the circumstances.”

The Helvilleshine siblings conferred with each other.

…Still, if buying it with money was an option, I found myself wishing they’d just buy mine. But since I’d accepted the job as a guard, I gave up on that idea. Looking at Franleure’s expression, I could tell that buying it wasn’t her preferred choice anyway.

Maintaining our guard, we approached the battlefield.

The area had become complete pitch-black, leaving us reliant solely on the lights held in our hands.

We carefully navigated the rocky path, turned a few corners—and what awaited us beyond was fire.

Flames were roaring from the ground, serving as a light source for a group currently engaged with the Legion Bat.

From the pungent smell, I could tell they were burning oil. Amidst that unextinguished light, swords and magic were flying back and forth.

“Are those… students from Ertrallue Academy…?”

Rainer muttered.

It seemed they were acquaintances from the academy.

“It appears we’ve been beaten to the punch…”

“Er, Sister. Please don’t attack them, okay?”

“I’m not going to attack them!”

From the siblings’ reactions, it was clear that their chance of a first-place finish had vanished.

Once a boss monster is defeated, it takes time for a new one to appear. Until the labyrinth reconstructs the ecosystem and the boss and its minions are reborn, we would have no choice but to wait.

“Oh boy, it looks like there was another party that made it this far besides us. It can’t be helped; let’s just watch them clear the boss. We won’t get first place, but we’ll get safety!”

Erna offered advice to the siblings from behind.

True, watching them clear the boss now would lead to reducing the danger when we took it on later. If we could discern the patterns and habits of the Legion Bat, we could proceed through the battle with an advantage.

“You’re right. It’s a shame, but let’s resign ourselves to being second this time… Erna, Snow, you two should be able to see from here.”

“I can see just fine!”

“…Easy.”

Even with my 20/20 vision, I couldn’t see the fine details of the combat movements.

However, Erna and Snow seemed to have a vivid grasp of the battle situation. Racial bonuses really seemed to play a major role in things like this.

“We can’t get any closer than this, so I’ll leave the scouting to you two. We’ll share information later and challenge the Legion Bat in perfect condition. …Now then, Lord Christ, please come over here with me.”

“Ah. I can see it too, so I’ll keep watching.”

“You can see it!? A-As expected of Lord Christ…”

I expanded my “Dimension” magic toward the battlefield to gather information.

Up until now, I hadn’t had many chances to watch someone else’s fight closely, so I had a strong desire to use it as a reference. Also, part of me just didn’t want to chat with these siblings right now.

With the mental image of dividing my consciousness, my sensory organs constructed of mana filled the battlefield.

In parallel, I didn’t neglect my vigilance over our own surroundings. Over the past few days, my handling of magic had grown considerably.

At the far end of the corridor.

On a stage illuminated by the firelight, the Legion Bat had split into four and was dancing through the air.

Its shape was simply that of a giant bat, but among them were individuals that were flying around vigorously despite having lost large portions of their bodies. I could tell it was a resilient boss that wouldn’t budge from minor attacks.

Facing it were four humans around the same age as me.

It was a four-person group that gave off a different impression from Franleure’s party.

Two of them wore the same uniforms as Franleure and the others, while the other two wore shabby clothes with only simple armor attached. Judging by their movements, the ones in the fine uniforms were giving orders while the ones in shabby clothes acted as the vanguard.

Their balance was very good.

Compared to us, the difference was night and day.

It was so wonderful it almost made me want to cry.

I wouldn’t say their individual levels were high, but everyone understood their role and was dedicated to it. The two in the vanguard drew the enemy’s attention and acted as shields, one in the rear provided support for everyone, and the last one was aiming for a long-chant spell.

Their positioning was so perfect I felt like swapping them for the four here right this instant.

Thanks to that flawless coordination, they successfully pulled off the long-chant magic. A massive fireball was manifested and scored a direct hit on one of the Legion Bats that had been pinned down.

Having lost half its body, that one bat lost its strength and fell to the ground.

The four of them broke into smiles, thinking they had found a breakthrough.

The two vanguards aggressively attacked the remaining three, and the rear also began chanting to unleash further magic.

“…!”

I caught my breath.

I could tell because I was watching from a distance with a bird’s-eye view. That was a bad move.

The one that lost half its body hadn’t vanished into light yet. Despite that, they had put it out of their minds as if it were already defeated.

And that blunder, as expected, immediately caused the tide of battle to turn for the worse.

One of the vanguards was bitten from behind by the bat that had lost half its body.

The balance that had been maintained at four-on-four collapsed. The other three moved to help, managing to rescue the vanguard who had been bitten, but the breakthrough they thought they’d found was now completely shut.

I wouldn’t call it a fatal wound yet.

However, the man who had been bitten was seriously injured.

I felt they should immediately switch to a fighting retreat. But the person acting as the leader made no move to do so. On the contrary, they continued to use the heavily injured man in the vanguard.

Perhaps from their perspective, the number of casualties was one-to-one, so it wasn’t a problem.

I could understand the logic of continuing the fight because a chance of victory still existed.

But that was only on paper.

At this rate, the man whose bleeding wouldn’t stop was…

He was going to die.

Watching someone who isn’t even an adult die takes a toll on the heart.

What’s worse, I had the power to help, so if I did nothing, it would be the same as letting him die.

My reason told me that if this was a common occurrence, I had to learn to look away, even if it involved children. But my immature spirit wouldn’t allow it. The morality of my original world was still breathing within me.

“…Sorry. I’m going to go help them for a second.”

“Mister, that’s going to be a problem.”

Erna stopped me without a moment’s delay.

“Why are you stopping me? One of them is about to die.”

“That’s just a ‘necessary expense’. The leader over there is treating it that way too, right? That slave was brought along for exactly this purpose, so it’s bad form to interfere here.”

Erna referred to the dying person as a slave.

True, he was dressed shabbily and had been given only the bare minimum of equipment. Looking closely, he wore a collar; I could accept the fact that he was a slave.

But that didn’t matter to Aikawa Kanami, who had lived in the modern era.

Whether he was a slave or not, he looked like nothing more than a living human being. If anything, the fact that he was dying against his will because of his status as a slave only made me want to save him more.

“…Even so, I can’t just watch him die.”

“Ehh…? But see, we hired you as a guard, so I’d kind of hope you’d listen to what we say.”

“The contract is to protect you all. I will absolutely uphold that. But I never heard that I wasn’t allowed to protect others. …I know I’m being selfish. If it’s unacceptable, I don’t mind if we cancel the contract. I don’t need the money either. Even so, I want to save him…”

I was spinning words with a desperation I didn’t even understand myself.

For some reason, the image of Dia getting her arm severed flashed through my mind.

That sight made my heart race and sweat pool on my forehead.

“What is the matter…? Lord Christ, Erna.”

Franleure, noticing the dispute between Erna and me, approached from behind.

“Fran! Mister says he wants to save that slave because he’s about to die.”

“Hah, a slave? Lord Christ. Why would you do such a thing?”

Franleure looked genuinely puzzled from the bottom of her heart.

A slave dies.

I want to save him.

Why?

She had a face that truly didn’t understand.

There was neither goodwill nor malice there. Only the common sense that, naturally, one does not save a slave.

Franleure’s straight gaze. Her honest doubt. It almost made me feel like I was the one who was crazy.

My heart began to waver. It felt as if my values were being eroded, as if I were ceasing to be myself—

No.

That’s not allowed.

If I became any more agitated, the skill ‘???’ would trigger.

I firmly held onto my sense of self and turned my emotions into words.

“…Because I can’t stand to watch it.”

For now, a pathetic answer like that would have to do.

The cause was clearly the gap in values between worlds. There was no need to argue about it here.

I moved, thinking only of maintaining my own will.

“L-Lord Christ? We are talking about a slave who is dying. To do that for—”

“Sorry. I’m going.”

I didn’t listen to the end of Franleure’s sentence and started running.

“—Magic: <<Dimension: Gladiator (Decisive Battle Calculation)>>.”

What I did was the same as when I saved Franleure and her group.

“I’m here to help! I have no hostile intent!”

First, I leapt into the middle of the battlefield while shouting. I chose a deliberately flashy way to intrude to draw the Legion Bat’s attention.

The party, surprised by the sudden intrusion of a third party, retreated to grasp the situation, and the Legion Bats began to swarm me since I was at the very front.

The massive bodies of the bats closed in from all directions.

I found the gaps between the giants and slipped past all four of them. At the same time, I sliced off the wing-arm of one as we passed each other.

One fell to the ground, but it immediately crawled toward its severed limb, attempting to reattach it and repair the damage. During that time, the other bats attacked me relentlessly, so I couldn’t stop it.

The Heirloom Sword of House Alais cut through the bats’ bodies without resistance.

The enemies were Rank 12 monsters, but my attack power was still more than enough. It was likely due to the effect of the treasure sword, which increased attack power based on Dexterity.

However, there was no end to it.

No matter how many times I cut them, they just reattached their bodies. I considered freezing them like I did in the battle against Teida.

Right then, I spotted something like a dull, glowing stone inside one of their bodies.

“…!!”

Immediately, I focused my attacks on that one, hacking it to pieces.

The dull glowing stone was flung into the air, and I shattered it with my sword.

The shapes of the bats collapsed in an instant, finally vanishing into light. Apparently, it was a standard video game boss. Once I hit the weak point, it went down easily.

“…Phew.”

The dull glowing stone also turned into light, which then reconstructed into a different magic stone.

This must be the Legion Bat’s drop item. I picked it up and turned my gaze toward the four people who had been fighting.

“Sorry. You seemed to be struggling, so I stepped in.”

I sheathed my sword along with the apology.

A young man in a uniform took a step forward, attempting to answer me.

However, the distance was still significant, and he hadn’t lowered his guard.

“…I take it you are a highly capable explorer. We are grateful for the assistance, but in truth, it was unnecessary for us. If our enemy is stolen without even a negotiation, we cannot exactly be satisfied, can we?”

The young man looked prepared to engage me in combat if necessary.

He held his sword without opening any gaps, his eyes fixed on the magic stone in my hand.

I immediately tossed the magic stone he likely needed toward him.

The young man caught it, looking surprised.

“I apologize for that. There was someone heavily injured, and I thought they needed treatment immediately… so I jumped in without thinking. The fault is mine, so I’ll give you the magic stone.”

“Hm… Our goal was this magic stone. Now that we have it, we have no objections. Only gratitude remains. Let me thank you properly.”

The young men seemed to trust that I had no hostile intent, and they each sheathed their weapons.

“Yes, I’m glad. Please treat that person over there quickly.”

“Ah, I appreciate your concern for this slave. However, our means of recovery are limited, so I believe his treatment will have to wait.”

Saying that, the young man stepped back and began using the healing medicine only on the two in uniforms, not the slave.

I stood there stunned, watching them treat the slave as disposable as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Without treating the slave, the four of them gave me a nod of thanks and began walking away to leave.

Seeing the slave’s blood dripping behind them as they walked, I couldn’t hold back and raised my voice.

“—W-Wait!”

The four turned around, wary of me for calling out after the conversation was over.

I hesitated.

If I forced the issue here, I could probably get the slave’s wounds healed.

But that felt like it would only be temporary. Judging by the reactions of Franleure and the young men, there was no doubt this slave would continue to be treated like this. I could see clearly that an unreasonable death awaited him in the not-so-distant future.

There was no point in saving the slave here—and yet.

I reached into the pouch at my waist and took an item from my ‘Inventory.’

Then, I tossed it to the men.

“It’s a cheap one, but it’s a healing potion. I went through the trouble of jumping in to save you, and I won’t be able to sleep well if things stay like this…”

“…I am grateful.”

Perhaps sensing my intent, the man who caught the potion used it on the slave immediately. I saw the powder made from medicinal herbs being smeared onto the slave’s wounds, and the bleeding stopped.

…I let out a sigh of relief.

And then, I felt like laughing at myself for doing something so foolish.

Next, I felt a pang of pain, realizing how unpleasant hypocrisy for the sake of self-satisfaction could feel.

I watched the four of them head toward the stairs leading down to the 10th floor, then turned toward Franleure and the others.

The four of them, having realized it was over, approached me.

Franleure walked at the front and was the first to speak.

“Lord Christ… Why go that far for a slave…?”

She must have seen me give away the healing potion at the end.

I could tell she was questioning it from the bottom of her heart.

“There’s no particular reason. Sorry, I acted on my own.”

I felt there was no point in exchanging thoughts on the matter.

So, I simply apologized.

“I-I see… Um…”

Franleure probably sensed that I wasn’t telling her my true feelings. Because of that, she didn’t seem to know what kind of words to say to me.

Erna, unable to watch any longer, stepped in.

“Mister! Geez, acting on your own is a real pain. Normally that’s a total no-go, but we weren’t planning on making our contract that strict, so we won’t say anything. In exchange, for the next Legion Bat fight, I’d kind of like to see you take it down as coolly as you just did, okay?”

I could tell Erna was trying to soften the mood with a light joke.

Sensing that, Rainer joined in.

“That’s right, Lord Christ. Because of you, our second-place finish is guaranteed, so I almost want to make you handle the Legion Bat fight all by yourself.”

“Rainer! I will absolutely not allow that!”

That was likely Rainer’s way of joking, but Franleure took it literally and began to scold him in earnest.

Rainer quickly laughed and said it was a joke, and the atmosphere grew lighter.

They were being considerate of me.

Even though I had saved someone, they were being considerate.

As if my act of saving a life was something that needed to be handled with care.

At that fact, I could only feel a sense of resignation and gave a wry smile.

“Hahaha, sorry. I’ll do my best in the next fight, so please forgive me.”

I cooperated with the lightened mood.

Seeing me laugh, Franleure’s expression brightened and she approached me.

Then, as if the previous incident had never happened, she began talking about things like hobbies and special skills.

Erna laughed and cautioned Franleure, saying the exam wasn’t over yet. After that, they began discussing the cycle for the next Legion Bat’s appearance and how to act until then.

From what I heard, they seemed to have a grasp on the time it took for the labyrinth to reconstruct its ecosystem.

When it came to academic knowledge like this regarding the labyrinth, I was no match for these students. Since I only had a smattering of knowledge I’d picked up, I decided to follow their instructions.

Apparently, the labyrinth’s mana would manifest into monsters again in about two hours, so it was decided we would kill time in a nearby Main Path.

We began walking to leave the boss area.

As we chatted along the way,

—Suddenly, I looked back.

The slave’s fallen blood remained on the labyrinth corridor.

I walked on, my mind blank.

My first priority was to part ways with this party as soon as possible.

Until then, I would keep my heart from wavering and focus only on finishing the assignment.

With that resolution, I continued walking, staring into the darkness of the corridor.