Chapter 54

“Once upon a time, there was a man named Hunt. Under the shadow of his great father, and despite his noble status, he desired to be an active adventurer. He devoted himself to training every day with his mentor, the highly skilled adventurer Brad.”

I stole a quick glance at Bent before continuing.

“But in truth, Hunt lacked confidence. He didn’t believe he could ever be recognized by his great father. He had a classic complex; the family name ‘Treasure’ had become a crushing burden. He felt he had to succeed by his own strength, no matter what.”

I was saying something quite disrespectful, but Bent did not offer a rebuttal. He simply sat there, despondently blinking his hollow eyes.

“Brad, on the other hand, saw right through Hunt’s heart. While he trained him as an adventurer, he was looking for a way to use Hunt to turn a profit. I should mention, this is all just my imagination—and quite a rude one at that.”

Since everyone was listening in such absolute silence, I felt I had to add that disclaimer.

“We understand,” Shirona said, her finger tracing her lip as she hesitated. “But…”

“At the very least, imagining that Brad thought that way isn’t all that disrespectful given the circumstances,” Eni added. “It’s the kind of thing that would cross any adventurer’s mind.”

That might have been true. A wealthy, powerful young lord was your disciple, and he was clearly harboring troubles he couldn’t go public with. To be honest, even I might find myself wondering if I could play my cards right and end up a rich man.

“Anyway, Brad, who was scheming and keeping his ears to the ground, eventually met Mora. I don’t know the specifics of that meeting—how they got involved or what they were thinking when they decided to cooperate. Regardless, Mora had just discovered a certain dungeon, and she alone knew its secret. So, Hunt, Brad, and Mora plotted to use that dungeon and its secret to make money.”

“But what kind of money-making scheme was it? I still don’t quite get what they were after,” Jin said, cracking his neck as he looked at me.

“Production,” I replied.

“Huh?”

“They were ‘producing’ the Labyrinth of No Return. In short: they had a dungeon that was impossible to clear. On top of that, anyone who tried to investigate too closely could be killed by Mora and the others, who had synchronized with the Return Stone at the true entrance. They could carry out these murders while staging them to look like inexplicable phenomena. And then, they spread rumors.”

“The ‘Shadow,’ huh?” Watch’s murmur sounded almost lonely. Perhaps he really had been looking forward to fighting a monster called the Shadow.

“Yes. They spread those inexplicable rumors, and the sheer weirdness of the dungeon only reinforced their credibility. Eventually, Brad went so far as to take a bold risk: he formed parties with other adventurers to attempt a conquest, only to wipe out everyone but himself.”

“I see. That makes sense. He was hailed as the ‘sole survivor’ as if it were some great feat, but he was the one staging the performance,” Henya said, his mouth agape in exasperation. “Usually, people don’t pull such high-profile stunts when they’re the ones behind the scenes. Ah, he-he, I see. Just like Van said, Brad really was a warped guy. I’d almost like to analyze his psychology.”

“Wait. It is true that Hunt, Mora, and Brad would have found it easy to eliminate adventurers if they knew the dungeon’s secret,” Watch pressed. “And since the dungeon was uncleavable to begin with, I can see how suspicious deaths and rumors would turn it into a high-difficulty location known as the Labyrinth of No Return. But why? What was the end goal?”

“I think one part of it was scavenging the dead,” I said, spreading my hands in response to Watch’s question. “The more famous the dungeon became, and the higher its perceived difficulty, the more renowned and skilled adventurers would challenge it. The equipment and items of those adventurers would be worth a fortune. It would bring in a profit you couldn’t ignore. And the other part…”

I looked around the room. “Is obviously this.”

“A powerful businessman and noble like Bent Treasure takes notice. A top-tier, undefeated dungeon—it was predictable that Bent Treasure, who built his name and fortune on dungeons, would eventually set his sights on it. And after that? Naturally, a massive conquest project would be organized. A project that would draw the attention of influential people and adventurers from across the country—no, the world.”

“No, that doesn’t hold up,” Watch countered. “It is true that this expedition is drawing attention. But for Brad, Hunt, and Mora to profit from it—to gain wealth or fame—they would ultimately have to clear the dungeon. If the conquest ends in failure, they gain nothing.”

“Or were they planning to claim they ‘solved the mystery’?” Eni asked. “If they did that, everyone would find out who was behind the inexplicable incidents. Mora’s tunnel leading to the true entrance would still be there, after all.”

The objections from Watch and Eni were perfectly valid. However…

“I think the three of them each had different agendas,” I admitted, though I wasn’t entirely confident myself. “Brad might have been fine with another failure. The party collapses, yet Brad survives again. His reputation would grow, and honestly, he seemed to enjoy that kind of thing. He was a warped man who liked deceiving the world and playing the contrarian.”

“And what was Hunt’s intention?” Bent asked in a terribly low voice.

Honestly, I was just fumbling in the dark regarding Hunt’s thoughts.

“Hunt probably had a very simple, optimistic view—that as long as he returned alive from that dungeon, he would finally be recognized by you and by society. Or perhaps he wanted to use some trickery to avoid being outed as a mastermind, ‘solve’ the mystery of the dungeon, and become the man of the hour overnight. The man who solved the mystery of the absolutely uncleavable Labyrinth of No Return… it’s a title that carries quite a bit of allure.”

Or, I thought to myself—though I could never say it to Bent—perhaps Hunt wasn’t even looking at a goal. Perhaps he was just intoxicated by the act of scavenging corpses and making a bit of money while ‘producing’ a dungeon that was the talk of the world. Perhaps creating the center of the world’s attention with his own hands was the only weapon he had to ward off his inferiority complex toward his overwhelming father.

It left a bitter taste in my mouth. When his father finally turned his gaze toward his ‘work’ and began to act, what did Hunt feel? Panic? Pure joy? Or a sense of superiority?

“And Mora alone was plotting something else.”

I pictured that cheerful, girl-like woman.

“That’s not to say she was plotting anything particularly strange. In fact, her motive was very straightforward. This time, with Bent as the client, a group of elite adventurers challenged the Labyrinth of No Return all at once. If this conquest failed, the terror and difficulty of this dungeon would be carved even deeper into the world’s consciousness. And…”

I closed my eyes. I was growing tired as I spoke.

“The fewer people who know a secret, the better.”

“So Mora’s goal was to make this expedition fail to protect the secret, and to kill Hunt and Brad along the way because they knew too much?” Kirio said, nodding as if satisfied. “So her top priority was killing Hunt and Brad? If she killed those two, depending on how things went, the rest of the group might have just retreated because the conquest failed. She didn’t necessarily need to wipe everyone out.”

“Probably. Furthermore, Brad had to be the priority. He was highly alert, so there was a risk he might sense something and kill her first. That’s why he was the first to go.”

When Brad entered that steel box, he likely had no idea his death had already been decided.

“In the end, I don’t know exactly what the three of them had planned for this expedition—whether they were going to provide a vague excuse or reveal the secret. Regardless, Mora participated with her own private plan that was separate from theirs. Her first target was Brad. Knowing his secret, she likely decided on that specific method of murder beforehand. An inexplicable death would only serve to increase the dungeon’s infamy.”

“I just realized something,” Shirona spoke up.

“Oh? What is it?” I asked, surprised to hear her interject.

“I think the three of them really did plan to have at least a few people die to make sure the expedition failed. Remember the soup bowls during our first camp? There was one missing. Hunt had brought one less than required. Isn’t it possible he was thinking during the preparations that one wouldn’t be needed?”

“I see…” I muttered, impressed. “He expected the party to have shrunk before the first meal, so he subconsciously set out with the wrong number of dishes. It’s weak evidence, but it’s an interesting thought.”

“Either way, Brad’s death was unexpected for Hunt,” Jin summarized, perhaps fearing the conversation would expand indefinitely.

“Hunt was uncharacteristically shaken after Brad died,” Watch noted, stroking his chin. “At the time, I thought it was because his mentor had been killed. But in retrospect, he was likely panicked by the fact that someone on his own side had been murdered.”

“Naturally, he would have wanted to confirm what was happening with Mora, but he couldn’t do that with the other members watching. That’s why, when we reached the tenth floor, he decided to split the group.”

“Wait, wasn’t it Mora who suggested splitting up?” Eni recalled, putting a finger to her lip.

“Yes, and that’s where Mora was cunning. She knew Hunt would be desperate to talk to her, so she was the one to bring it up. And Hunt took the bait.”

“I see,” Eni nodded, finally convinced.

“When Shirona, Hunt, Mora, and I were heading back to the upper floors, was Hunt’s decision to have a private talk with everyone actually aimed at Mora?”

Shirona tilted her slender neck slightly as she asked.

“I believe so. He spoke with everyone in private and said things that were substantial enough to deceive us, but in hindsight, it was just a camouflage for him to have a secret talk with Mora.”

After those private discussions, the group had split further into me and Shirona, and Hunt and Mora. Hunt and Mora then shut themselves inside a “sealed room” they had created themselves while letting Shirona and me go ahead.

“I think Mora played dumb. She probably told him, ‘I don’t know what’s happening, but things are going south, so let’s use the Return Stones to get out of here for now. But if we just vanish, it’ll look suspicious, so let’s stage a scene.’ It was a proposal full of contradictions if you really thought about it, but Hunt was so panicked he clung to it like a lifeline. Shirona and I turning back wasn’t part of their plan, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected either—that’s likely why she used the synthetic walls to block our path.”

“So, in the original plan, were Van and I supposed to just keep going up as Hunt instructed?”

“Probably. Then, we would have been drawn back by a voice or something to that one-way wall, making us both witnesses to the ‘deaths’ of Mora and Hunt. That was likely the original scenario, though I ended up being the only witness. Those two first created the sealed room with synthetic walls, then smeared blood on the exit side of the one-way wall. This was likely something Mora or Hunt had prepared beforehand for the performance—perhaps kept in a leather pouch. It staged a gruesome scene while simultaneously obscuring the view from the outside. No one is going to recklessly charge into a space they can’t see through because it’s covered in blood. With that, the stage was set. When I, the witness, called out to the other side of the blood-stained wall, Hunt began to speak exactly as rehearsed. He told me not to come in, spoke of Mora’s death, the existence of the Shadow, and so on. But during his speech, things took an unexpected turn: before I could lose my patience and charge in, Eni blew up the synthetic wall.”

“Was that unexpected?” Eni asked, looking blank.

“I think so. They probably expected me to dive through the one-way wall first and were waiting until the last second to ‘Return.’ But because Shirona and I quickly divided the roles and went to get Jin and the others even in that state of paranoia, your explosion came sooner than they anticipated. They must have panicked. Hunt panicked, but Mora panicked too—mostly because she hadn’t killed Hunt yet.”

“I see. He-he, that’s nasty,” Henya remarked. “Let him narrate his own death, kill him, and then Return so that our eyes never lay on her again—she becomes a ‘dead’ person perfectly. She let him talk just so she could kill him afterward.”

“But there was a miscalculation. I think her original plan was to kill Hunt and then leave his body in pieces. It’s a sickening thought, but that way she could have faked that her own body had suffered the same fate. She didn’t have the time for that, though. And yet, if Hunt’s body remained intact while Mora’s body was missing…”

“Well, no matter how you look at it, Mora becomes the prime suspect,” Jin said with a thin smile.

“She probably figured it was better than nothing, so she killed Hunt in the heat of the moment and Returned with his body, leaving only his blood behind. It was a ‘no bodies found’ version for both of them. She likely thought it was better than being the only one missing. However, because Eni’s explosion was so sudden, she forgot something.”

“Hunt’s hand,” Eni said, grimacing at the memory.

“It was likely severed during the struggle, but she was in such a rush that she left it behind. That hand made us believe Hunt was truly dead, while we harbored an instinctive suspicion toward Mora, who hadn’t left a single trace of her death. I’m sure that’s why everyone was so quick to accept my theory about Mora being the culprit.”

“True, I did have my doubts about her death somewhere in my mind,” Henya said, flicking his empty glass with his finger.

“Then, Hunt’s remains…”

Bent finally spoke, his voice raspy.

“Yes. They are likely lying near the true Return Stone,” I answered. Though again, it was just a deduction. We could only confirm it by checking. A team of specialists was supposedly about to begin the task of following the tunnels to find the true entrance to the underground labyrinth. Let’s pray they find it soon.

“So, after that, she was observing us from the entry side of the one-way wall?” Watch tilted his head. “It might be strange to ask you, but what was the deal with Kijiitsu’s murder?”

“Oh, I was wondering about that too,” Jin added. “Why did Kijiitsu go off on his own in the first place?”

“Who knows?” I replied. There was no telling what a strange man like him was thinking. However… “I suspect he was confident that even if he acted alone in that situation, he wouldn’t be killed.”

“What? Why?” Eni asked, her eyes wide.

“Think about it. At that point, all the survivors were at the camp, and only Kijiitsu was missing. If Kijiitsu was killed then, what happens?”

“Ah, I see! It would prove the culprit wasn’t among the survivors, and the paranoia would be resolved. Wait, but…”

“Exactly,” I said, anticipating Eni’s point. “If the goal was to kill us all, the culprit would need to keep the paranoia alive. But the culprit’s goal was to make us give up on the conquest, and at that point, we were already thinking of nothing but going back up. So, killing Kijiitsu didn’t carry much of a downside for the culprit. I think she miscalculated that. Or rather, killing Kijiitsu didn’t really have a benefit either, since the conquest had already failed. Normally, she wouldn’t have needed to kill him.”

“Then why was he killed?”

“Because he noticed,” it wasn’t me who answered Kirio’s question, but Jin. “Kijiitsu realized the structure of the dungeon. That’s why he held the knife backward, right?”

“Yes, I think Jin is right.” The knife held by the blade was a simple and obvious message. He was using what was at hand to indicate “the reverse.” It was a dying message showing that the dungeon was reversed—it wasn’t a dungeon you descended into, but a tower you ascended.

“I don’t know how, but Kijiitsu realized the secret. And Mora, who was watching him while he acted alone, realized that he knew. I believe that was the reason for the murder.”

“Mora must have been shocked, he-he. She had to kill him unexpectedly, and then the guy hits back with an unexpected counterattack by thrusting a blade out from inside his own body. I’d be panicked and creeped out too,” Henya said. And he was right. I would have been, too.

“In that sense, we have to thank Kijiitsu. Because Mora was shaken by that, she fell for our act so easily.”

“He-he-he, you’re the one saying that? The guy who jumped her and still failed to finish the job?” Henya teased Jin.

Yes, it was apparently Jin who had leaped up and slashed at Mora when she approached to check if we were dead. I only knew this by hearsay, as I had been unconscious due to the drugs.

“Don’t be unreasonable. The opponent can leave the battlefield at any time by ‘Returning.’ Landing even a single blow was a job well done,” Jin boasted.

Watch gave me a quiet look as I smiled wryly at Jin. “Van, I want to ask one thing.”

“Hmm?”

“You said Mora’s goal was the failure of the conquest and the murder of those two, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But in this incident, Mora faked her own death. What do you think about that? Even if we hadn’t realized she was the culprit, the moment any of us reached the surface, the news of her death would spread. In that situation, she wouldn’t even be able to live in the light of the world anymore. Is that wrong?”

“It’s not wrong,” I answered succinctly. “I think faking her death was more a result of the flow of events than a plan. If she hadn’t been caught, she might have tried to lie and say she was kidnapped and her memory was fuzzy. Or maybe she never wanted fame like Brad or Hunt, and was fine living a life of luxury by scavenging corpses while staying in hiding. Or… perhaps the moment she made herself a ‘dead’ person, she really did intend to wipe us all out and return as the sole survivor, but failed.”

Or, I thought to myself, leaving the final possibility unsaid. Or perhaps Mora—just like Hunt, and maybe even Brad—was simply intoxicated.

A labyrinth full of mystery and danger that no one could conquer. In an era where every dungeon was being cleared and holy relics were strictly managed by every nation—an era where true adventure and dreams were vanishing—she wanted to create a real labyrinth. With her own hands, she wanted to create a labyrinth where everyone would lose their way and their lives. Maybe she was just drunk on that dream.

Perhaps that was why she made the conquest fail and killed Brad and Hunt. To make this dungeon of mystery and danger even more perfect.

I suddenly remembered what Mora had said at the camp. That mysteries should remain mysteries. That fairy tales should remain fairy tales. That might have been her true, unfiltered feelings leaking out.

“Master Bent!”

The one who shattered my thoughts was the Treasure family butler, who suddenly came running into the room.

“What is it? Such a commotion,” Bent said wearily, turning his haggard face toward him.

“I-it’s…!”

Behind the stiff-faced butler, a man entered. He wore a tattered mantle, and his bearded face was framed by unruly black hair that fell to his shoulders.

“You…” Jin’s face contorted.

“It’s been a while, Jin. To the rest of you, nice to meet you.” The middle-aged man introduced himself. “My name is Django. I am known as ‘Django of the Wasteland.’”