Chapter 49

Toward Hein, Lastiara maintained her polite “good girl” act as she responded.

“Hello, Hein. Are you alone today?”

“Yes, it’s just me today.”

I used “Dimension” to check the surroundings for anyone hiding.

Lastiara glanced over at me, and I gave a small nod to confirm that Hein was indeed alone.

Satisfied, Lastiara continued.

“Are you here again to challenge my knight, Christ, to a duel?”

At the mention of a duel, Hein stiffened for a brief moment.

Then, nodding repeatedly, he quickly replied.

“Yes, I do intend to challenge him. However, before that, there is something I wish to discuss.”

“Discuss?”

“Yes, with your knight, Christ.”

Saying that, Hein turned his gaze toward me.

I took a step forward to hear what he had to say.

“What is this discussion about, Hein?”

“Well, fighting isn’t the only way to solve things. For example, by providing what you desire, I could have you admit defeat. That sort of discussion.”

Hein appealed to non-violence in a soft tone.

Certainly, if the matter could be settled through negotiation, I would prefer that as well.

“That’s true.”

Hein began the negotiation with a flawless smile.

“Therefore, please tell me: what is it that you desire?”

“What I desire…?”

“Whether it be money or prestige, I shall provide as much as you wish. If you seek entertainment like Milady, I can provide any pleasure you can imagine. …So, would you be willing to lose the duel?”

It was a very rational proposal.

Unfortunately, however, I desired neither money nor prestige.

There was only one thing I wanted: to “Return.”

To have the only family I had left returned to me. That was my only wish.

Currently, the only possibility of granting that wish lay in the “Deepest Part” of the Labyrinth.

From the information I had gathered up to today, I hadn’t found any other leads. Thus, the only thing I desired was the talent necessary to survive the deeper layers of the Labyrinth.

As things stood, the only ones I considered to possess that level of talent were Lastiara, Dia, and Alti.

There was no reason for me to throw away a win for Hein if it meant losing one of those few precious fighting assets.

“…You cannot provide what I desire, Hein.”

“I cannot?”

“The thing I want is at the ‘Deepest Part’ of the Labyrinth. Therefore, it is impossible for you to provide it.”

I stated firmly.

At that response, Hein furrowed his brow slightly but continued the negotiation.

“That ‘Miracle’… You desire the ‘Miracle’ at the deepest part…?”

“Yes.”

“That is indeed something I cannot provide…”

Knowing my objective, Hein held his head and looked down.

Then, after sinking into thought for a while, he let out a faint mutter.

“This is the worst…”

His voice trembled as he spoke.

It wasn’t the soft, beautiful voice from before, but a raspy one leaking from the depths of his gut.

Then, Hein slowly lifted his head, showing me a face full of misery.

The flawless smile from before was nowhere to be seen. It was the face of an ordinary man who had slammed head-first into a tragic reality.

I was shaken by the sudden change in his expression.

Ignoring my confusion, Hein continued in that raspy voice, his face still clouded with sorrow.

“This is the worst. Your wish is the ‘worst’ possible thing for me… Wishing for a miracle is fine. But not in this Labyrinth. Not here. Oh, what—terrible luck of location.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

I didn’t understand what Hein was talking about and tried to ask for clarification.

“It cannot be helped. Let us duel.”

However, Hein didn’t answer and instead demanded the duel.

“I don’t mind, but…”

“As usual, if you win, I shall never show my face again. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, of course. But—”

I felt a chill crawl up my spine like an insect, and I tried to pause the conversation.

However, Hein didn’t allow it.

He began rattling off words one after another, refusing to let the dialogue break.

And then, he hurled the final condition at me.

“Then, if I win, you and Milady will leave the Allied Nations.”

As he spoke those words, Hein’s expression returned to a smile.

With a captivating grin and the gentlest voice he’d used all day, he made that declaration.

“Eh?”

I couldn’t immediately grasp the meaning.

Based on everything up to now, I’d assumed that if he won, Lastiara would simply return to her family home. But the reward Hein wanted was something entirely different.

The stakes had changed completely.

I moved to refuse, intending to take another step forward—

But that step never landed.

My feet didn’t touch the ground; instead, I was hit by a sensation of weightlessness.

“—Sehr Wind!”

Hein pointed his right hand at me and his left at Lastiara, chanting a spell.

Simultaneously, one of the rings on his fingers shattered, and a soft streak of wind brushed against my cheek.

In the next instant.

The scenery before me warped, a mass of air slammed into my eyes, and my eyelids were forced shut.

Then, a pressure aimed at blowing my body away hammered into my entire being.

The pressure was coming from Hein.

However, with my vision cut off, I couldn’t tell what the true nature of that pressure was.

Instinctively, I curled my body into a ball, bracing for whatever was coming next.

“—!”

I was being blown backward.

In the midst of it, I lost my sense of up and down.

Only then did I finally realize that I was being sent flying by a magical gust of wind that defied human logic.

I had been misled by Hein’s friendly atmosphere, and my reaction was too late.

I had clearly felt that something was wrong, yet I had lacked the necessary tension.

While being blown backward by the wind, I deployed “Dimension: Gladiator” to scoop up information from my surroundings.

I expanded the magic instantaneously, constructing a counter-strategy based on the incoming data. In terms of time, less than a second had passed. I grasped my position as I flew and located the wall behind me. Aligning my body to the coordinates, I prepared to break my fall.

I slammed my hands and feet against the wall to absorb the impact. Clinging to the surface, I allowed my “Dimension” magic to permeate the entire room.

In the distance, Lastiara had been slammed into the wall and was unconscious. She wasn’t dead, but a glance told me at least one of her arms was broken. Unlike me, she hadn’t been able to take the impact properly.

It wasn’t that her reaction time was worse than mine. If anything was “bad,” it was her positioning. While I had a dozen meters of space before the wall, the wall had been right behind her. She simply hadn’t had the time to think.

I judged that I wouldn’t be getting any help from Lastiara. I had to focus on the enemy and leave her for now.

Just as I reached that conclusion, I saw Hein drawing his twin silver swords and closing the distance. I pulled my own treasure sword from my “Inventory” and planted my feet on the ground. Before he could reach me, I began constructing magic to tilt the situation in my favor.

“—Magic: ‘Form’, ‘Little Snow’!!”

I generated countless magical bubbles. Seeing this, Hein chanted a spell. He pointed one of his silver swords at me, and one of his rings shattered.

“—Sittert Wind.”

Along with the spell’s name, a gentle breeze flowed from Hein’s sword. This wind lacked the pressure of the previous blast, but it surged ahead of him, scattering and blowing away the magical bubbles I had created.

Realizing the bubbles were ineffective, I stopped mass-producing them. I decided to focus entirely on the blade and tried to pour strength into my “Dimension” magic—only to realize my magical perception was being disrupted.

“—!”

The gentle wind Hein had produced was acting as interference. It prevented “Dimension” from relaying clear information about our surroundings to me. Gritting my teeth, I prepared to meet his assault.

Hein’s twin blades lunged at me from both sides. I parried one with my sword and twisted my body to the extreme to dodge the other. Evading it was pure luck. Having never fought an opponent with two swords, I had to rely entirely on reflex and intuition.

I weathered the first strike and put some distance between us. My instincts screamed that if I held anything back now, I’d regret it. To catch him off guard, I reached behind my back and pulled a spare sword from my “Inventory.”

I met his oncoming twin blades with twin blades of my own. Seeing my second sword, a flicker of surprise crossed Hein’s face. Taking advantage of the opening, I parried his swords outward and delivered a kick to his torso. The kick itself lacked power, but the recoil allowed me to put even more distance between us.

For now, I needed to gather information. I used “Focus” on Hein—

One of the ten rings. The Ring of ‘Heavenly Wind’ shattered.

“—Sehr Wind.”

Hein sucked in the surrounding air, compressed it, and released the mass directly at me. The resulting gale lifted my body with ease, hurling me far into the back of the room.

However, I had seen the magic’s activation this time. I didn’t lose my sense of balance and broke my fall against the wall successfully. Seeing that I had recovered, Hein halted his pursuit mid-way.

With the distance between us and the attack stopped, I regained some of my composure. Strengthening my “Dimension” magic, I called out to him.

“Hein!! What is the meaning of this!?”

Hein answered even as he gathered the surrounding wind to construct a new spell.

“What do you mean…? It’s a duel. Though, not a lukewarm duel sworn on ‘Mana Lines.’ It’s a real duel where we impose violence upon one another to force our desires through.”

His voice was gentle. The content of his words was terrifying, yet his tone was agonizingly kind.

Since I had been attacked this overtly, I knew a verbal solution was off the table. I understood clearly that my last shred of hope for a peaceful resolution was gone.

“Damn…! Magic: ‘Dimension: Gladiator’!”

At this point, the only way to settle this was to defeat Hein. But as I tried to construct a tactic for that—I froze. I realized this was my first time in an interpersonal battle against an opponent of equal skill, and the implications filled me with dread.

How far was I allowed to go with my attacks? Aim for a knockout? That would be best. But the enemy wasn’t weak enough to let me just “aim” for a knockout.

Then, should I be prepared to break an arm or two? Maybe that would be okay. But I lacked the confidence that I could carry that out without hesitation.

Was it possible? No, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was—

—The issue was that this was a human-on-human fight to the death.

If this were a monster, my conscience wouldn’t ache. Even if it were humanoid, I could make excuses to myself because it was a monster. But if I cut down a genuine human being, there were no excuses.

I, who could assemble tactics in a heartbeat, couldn’t find an answer to this. My body stiffened, rendering me unable to take optimal action.

In that gap of hesitation, Hein’s magic was completed.

“I’ll make you stay quiet, even if I have to cut your legs off…!!”

Hein’s words, heavy with resolve, echoed through the chamber. The surrounding air warped. Countless lines of distortion appeared, and the sound of the air being shredded vibrated through the 20th floor. He pointed his silver sword at me and chanted.

“—Wraith Wind.”

The distortion lines shredding the air were fired toward me. To dodge them, I tried to focus my “Dimension” magic on them. However, my focus was disrupted by the gentle wind filling the room. It wasn’t completely negated, but a slight “deviation” was born. And for my magic, even a slight deviation was fatal.

Sensing that relying solely on “Dimension” was dangerous, I pulled food from my “Inventory.” I grabbed a bag of flour and hurled it at the distortions.

The bag was shredded, and a massive cloud of flour scattered. The powder gave form to the air, making the invisible distortions clearly visible. My vision was limited as a result, but for my magic, that wasn’t a problem.

I sprinted at full speed, closing the distance to Hein while weaving through the lines.

“—Wind.”

Hein chanted his next spell, blowing away the flour scattered in the air. But by then, I had already dodged all the distortions. I lunged at him.

I still didn’t have the resolve to kill. But since he had said he’d “cut my legs off,” I swung my sword with the intent to do the same to him. That was the only compromise my resolve could reach.

Sword clashed against sword, and small sparks bloomed. I had no intention of letting the distance open up again.

Even if I wanted to gather information, Hein had too many pieces of equipment to “Focus” on them all. At a distance, he could fire wind magic at will. At mid-range, his magical winds would blow away any tricks I tried. Close-quarters combat was my only choice.

His unique twin-sword style was a threat, but not so much that it would decide the match instantly. I clung to him, parrying his strikes with everything I had. I poured even more MP into “Dimension: Gladiator,” trying to carve out a chance for victory in this melee.

Once the sparks from our clashing blades exceeded ten, Hein’s expression changed. With a click of his tongue—a sound that didn’t suit him—he put distance between us.

I moved to chase him but stopped. I realized the reason he had retreated. In the direction of his bitter gaze, Lastiara was groaning. She was about to regain consciousness.

Relieved, I readjusted my stance. If Lastiara woke up here, the tide would turn. If she joined the fray, even the mighty Hein would have no chance of winning. In other words, I just had to hold out until she woke up.

Hein took a deep breath as he saw me shift into a defensive stance. He returned his twin swords to their sheaths at his waist and spoke slowly.

“I never imagined you would go this far, Christ… My plan has been ruined…”

Hein spoke with regret—yet also, somehow, with a hint of joy. It almost looked as if he was happy the plan had gone awry.

Unable to read his true intentions at all, I answered while tightening my guard.

“Why… why do this…?”

I wanted to know the truth. Why did a man as seemingly kind as Hein feel the need to ambush us to force his wish through?

“…Perhaps it’s because I saw Milady playing so happily with you.”

Hein’s reply was weak.

“Lastiara playing happily…? Why would that…?”

Why would that lead to a desire to kick Lastiara and me out of the Allied Nations? With the information I had, I couldn’t see the connection.

Faced with my confusion, Hein gave a faint, fragile smile.

“I was the one who was wrong.”

His face contorted as he blamed himself. I could only watch him, stunned.

Hein looked sane. He looked it, but on a fundamental level, the conversation wasn’t connecting. I felt an instability in him, similar to dealing with Lastiara when her spirits were too high.

I couldn’t find the words to say to him. In the meantime, he continued.

“If things go on like this, Milady will die. Please, Christ. Let her escape…”

Then, Hein said Lastiara would die.

“Eh?”

Lastiara… would die? My heart gave a heavy, violent throb. Hein continued to speak like a river that had burst its banks.

“My words no longer reach her, so I have no choice but to take her away by force…! Christ, please…! Never… never listen to her words…! Her words seem open and honest, but in truth, everything is a ‘fabrication.’ That expression, those emotions, that way of thinking—it’s all a ‘fabrication.’ I was complicit in it, so there is no mistake. Don’t listen to that warped, unstable, inhuman existence called ‘Lastiara.’ Please, listen to the true heart of ‘the girl standing there’…!”

I didn’t understand what he was saying. It was too sudden and far too abstract.

A “fabrication”? Was he saying Lastiara wasn’t speaking her true mind?

Before I could weigh the truth of his words, I caught Lastiara trying to sit up in the corner of my vision. Hein saw it too. He retreated toward the stairs to the 19th floor, spitting out a parting shot.

“No matter what, I will take her away… to somewhere far from here…”

Both of Hein’s eyes flickered with a dark, eerie light. Combined with his blonde beauty, that eeriness gave me goosebumps.

With those final words, Hein vanished into the darkness of the stairs.