episode_0168

Before the white palace, Labyrinthos, which was the area of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the Great Sage Covering Heaven descended to the ground.

The Great Sage Covering Heaven came next to me and suddenly started saying strange things.

“Now that we’ve arrived, let me tell you a few things to keep in mind.”

“…Things to keep in mind? Suddenly? What kind of things?”

Things to keep in mind out of nowhere, I wondered if there was anything I should be careful about when entering Labyrinthos? As I looked at her, the Great Sage Covering Heaven nodded slightly.

“It’s similar. To be exact, it’s what you should keep in mind when you meet my sister. These precautions are a step towards happiness for both you and us in the future, so please make sure to keep them in mind.”

“Precautions when meeting the Great Sage Equaling Heaven?…”

The Seven Great Demon Kings I’ve met so far. The Great Sage Subduing Demons, Bull Demon King, was a bellicose warmonger who spoke in a strange, rootless dialect.

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was the type to tell a lot of nonsense stories, like some kind of divine immortal.

The Great Sage Covering Heaven, Bull Demon King, in front of me… seems to have a somewhat selfish disposition, but in any case, she is someone I can talk to.

In other words, those I’ve met so far didn’t require any ‘precautions’ anyway.

‘…Come to think of it, the Great Sage Subduing Demons might need it. Or not? He’s the type to just stab you with his spear if you run into him anyway…’

Anyway, I thought, how terrible must her personality be to require such precautions when meeting the Great Sage Equaling Heaven? But knowing that wouldn’t change anything, so I decided to quietly listen to the precautions the Great Sage Covering Heaven was telling me.

“First of all, when you meet my sister, please compliment her.”

“When I meet the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, compliment her…. Compliment her?….”

I wondered if I had misheard for a moment, so I looked at the Great Sage Covering Heaven, and she said again with a serious expression.

“When you meet my sister, please compliment her. Do you not know what a compliment is?”

“I KNOW!!! What I find strange right now is why I suddenly have to compliment her!!”

“Isn’t that the basics when you meet a lady?”

You son of a–!! Did you just call her a lady!!

“However, things that are too artificial are not okay. Only naturally. An appropriate compliment is necessary, within a range that is not burdensome. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I don’t understand?! Why are you telling me to compliment her as soon as I meet her!?”

I frowned and asked back, dumbfounded, and the Great Sage Covering Heaven waved her hand as if she was annoyed and continued to speak.

“The second thing to be careful about is your tone of voice.”

“Haa….”

Now it’s even my tone of voice?….

“My sister likes strong people. That’s why she’ll overlook a somewhat rough tone, but she won’t forgive anyone who is rude. Of course, you should refrain from using a tone that is too weak. As I said before, my sister likes strong people, but at the same time, she has no interest in the weak.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Wait a minute.”

“Why do you keep interrupting me?”

“Do you think I can’t interrupt right now?”

Perhaps she was uncomfortable with me interrupting her so often, the Great Sage Covering Heaven frowned and looked at me.

Then, as if telling me to speak if I had something to say, she looked at me with squinting eyes, and it seemed like now was my time to speak.

“Hey, what are all these precautions right now? Am I on some kind of blind date?”

“Blind… date?”

“…There is such a thing. Anyway. Are the things you’re saying really precautions?”

“Unfortunately, they are real precautions.”

Unfortunately?….

Just as I was about to ask more, the Great Sage Covering Heaven turned her body around with a whoosh.

“You’ll know more when you see it in person. First of all… please keep those two things in mind.”

“Hey, hey! Wait a minute!”

* * *

“…What am I looking at right now?”

“Well. You can think of it as the flaws of our Seven Great Demon Kings that we didn’t want to show to humans…,”

“Heh….”

『Congratulations, our Labyrinthos welcomes the human hero. Ha.』

There’s a banner? Something like that, written exactly like that, without missing a single word.

I don’t know what a banner is doing in this era, in this world, but there really is something similar to a banner hanging there.

If it says human hero…, that would be me, right?

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven wanted to see me and had the Great Sage Covering Heaven call me out separately…, but she welcomes me so much that she even put up a banner like this?….

Really, why the heck?….

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”

“?!”

While my chaotic mind was not calming down, a tremendous shout was heard from inside the white castle gate.

I felt my body tingling from the overwhelming volume that often reminded me of the saying, ‘Did you swallow a loudspeaker?’, and then there was a crowd of people rushing in from the inside.

“It’s a human!”

“A human has finally come!”

The guys who seemed to be the cause of the loud shout I heard revealed their appearance.

Humans with horns resembling cows on their heads.

It would be easier to think of them as cow beastmen….

Anyway, those guys came rushing in and looked at me as if I were a monkey in a zoo cage.

“Are you the human hero that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was talking about~!”

“Welcome to this place~!”

“Welcome, Great Sage Covering Heaven, too!!”

“Are you going to meet our sister right away~?!”

…Ah, seriously, so noisy….

And is attaching ‘mo’ to the end of every sentence a characteristic of these guys?….

It’s noisy and they’re adding strange endings, so it’s really bothering me….

“That’s right. I came to see our sister. As you can see…, I brought the human hero that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was talking about, as she wanted.”

“Our sister will be very happy~!”

“Come inside quickly~!”

Feeling something similar to the generosity of the countryside, I took a step inside Labyrinthos amidst the enthusiastic welcome.

Ominous.

“!!”

“Stop.”

And as soon as I stepped inside Labyrinthos, I felt a huge presence and gaze.

I almost drew my sword without realizing it at the sensation that something huge was looking at me, something I had never felt even when facing the fragments of the Demon King.

If the Great Sage Covering Heaven hadn’t grabbed my hand…. I would have split this white fortress in half as it was….

My hand moved instinctively.

“Wh-what was that just now?”

“…It seems my sister is more interested in you than she thought.”

“Sister?… Great Sage Equaling Heaven? Was that just now the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s gaze?”

“Let’s go quickly. Before my sister’s patience reaches its limit.”

“….”

In the case of the Great Sage Subduing Demons, he was less skilled than me, so it didn’t matter what he did.

In the case of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, he seemed stronger than me, but he was good at hiding his skills, so I didn’t feel anything special.

In the case of the Great Sage Covering Heaven, she was the same as the Great Sage Subduing Demons, so she wasn’t a threat….

‘…This, I could die if I mess up.’

This world where things more monstrous than the fragments of the Demon King roam freely is strange!!….

On par with the Great Sage Equaling Heaven…, and she doesn’t even bother to hide her power.

That’s right….

Yes, it was a sensation as if I had faced the beast itself.

It was the moment when I truly understood what the Great Sage Covering Heaven meant when she said, ‘I don’t even know what will happen if she gets angry.’

“Congratulations~!”

“Please endure a little longer this time~!”

…Endure?

What does that mean?

Anyway, amidst the enthusiastic cheers, I headed to the white fortress in the very center of Labyrinthos.

In the meantime, there were some words that bothered me, but…, unfortunately, there was no time to investigate those words.

Before I knew it, we arrived in front of the fortress, and the door of the fortress slowly opened.

“Welcome. Welcome to Labyrinth, the center of Labyrinthos. Mr. Human.”

“Uh…”

“Then please follow me.”

Like a maid…. No, a black-haired girl with pigtails, just like a maid, greets me politely and gestures for me to come inside.

I and the Great Sage Covering Heaven were about to follow the maid’s guidance, but before that, the maid stopped the Great Sage Covering Heaven and said.

“Great Sage Covering Heaven, please return now.”

“What?”

“My master said that she wants to meet with him alone. So please go back.”

“…Haa.”

She sighed as if she had a lot to say and looked at me.

I nodded without realizing it at her gaze that seemed to say, ‘Do well.’

No, seriously, if you’re so worried, you should have told me why she’s calling me in the first place. You hide everything and then tell me to do well, geez.

“Then please follow me.”

“…Ah, yes, yes.”

What can I do even if I’m sad?

Now that I’ve come, I have no choice but to go to the end.

Me and the maid walked down the hallway, and after going up and down the stairs, we arrived in front of a certain room.

At the same time, I felt a huge and pure power leaking out from inside the room in a sticky way.

“Master. I have brought the hero.”

“Come in.”

“Please go in.”

The door opened, and there was a woman there.

To be honest, I thought there would be a muscular macho woman, but that expectation was easily overturned.

She had long white hair, and in contrast, large horns protruded from her head.

At the same time, bright yellow golden eyes were looking at me.

…But, I wonder if it’s just my imagination that her cheeks seem slightly flushed?

In addition to that….

‘She’s so tall.’

My actual height is in the late 170s, and Leon seems to be about the same height as me, but the Great Sage Equaling Heaven seems to be several tens of centimeters taller than me.

Roughly 2m tall?

In addition to that, the White Tiger’s chest was very large, but the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s chest is much larger than the White Tiger’s.

She was a big woman in many ways.

“….”

“….”

Heavy silence.

…Ah, right.

“Pretty.”

“….”

I complimented her because she told me to…, but…

Is this okay?….