Ch.178Chapter 178 – Labyrinth (2)

After a long flight, we finally arrived at our destination.

“L-land… at last…”

Christina staggered and collapsed quietly onto a tree branch.

Perhaps she was frightened by the griffon ride.

“My, seems the little nun had a rough time.”

As Beatrice said this and moved toward the fallen Christina, I turned around to look at our destination.

Through the trees, a massive cave came into view.

“Is that…”

“Yes. That is the entrance to the labyrinth, your destination.”

Pine said with a smile.

“…So the holy ground is inside there.”

Muttering this, I recalled Rich’s warning.

‘He said it could take just a day if we pass the trials, but it might take days if we don’t.’

I hadn’t heard what those trials were. Rich had refused to tell me, saying I needed to discover their meaning myself.

‘Damn Rich.’

Still, I decided to be patient for now, considering he’d told us the location and arranged for our entry, which would have been much more difficult otherwise.

“Shall we go in right away?”

“No, we should distribute supplies first, just in case.”

I answered Pine and began dividing our provisions. Given that it might take several days, I started distributing the food we’d prepared in advance, along with medicines and tools that Sera had packed for us.

Meanwhile, Christina, who had finally recovered, approached with Beatrice to collect her share of supplies.

“Did we pack everything?”

“Of course.”

I gave Beatrice a slight glare as she playfully showed me her cigarettes, then turned my gaze back to the labyrinth entrance.

“Let’s go in.”

With my words, we all stepped toward the labyrinth together.

+

“It’s really dark in here.”

It was a while after we’d entered the labyrinth.

Except for the entrance area, not a single ray of light was coming in.

Just as I was about to turn on my lantern, Pine stopped us with a smile.

“Would you mind leaving this to me for a moment?”

“Do you have a method?”

“Of course.”

Pine immediately stretched out her arm and began to concentrate. Then, a voice infused with magical power escaped softly from her lips.

“‘Mischievous dawn that lifts the veil of night, come here and keep me company.'”

As soon as she finished speaking, a cluster of white light began to gather at her fingertips.

“A spirit.”

“That’s right, young sorceress. They’re old friends of us elves.”

A light much stronger than any lantern began to illuminate our path.

“This should make things easier.”

“Well, I called them because I thought you might be uncomfortable, but they can’t actually go in very deep.”

Pine explained apologetically.

“At some point, they completely disappear except for a specific light.”

“A specific light?”

“Yes. Except for one type of light, spirits refuse to be summoned and return home.”

After thinking for a moment, Beatrice asked in response to Pine’s words:

“What kind of light?”

“Holy power.”

Pine continued as we kept walking forward.

“Only light created with holy power can illuminate the path ahead.”

“So you’ve experimented with this, I see.”

Pine nodded at Beatrice’s comment.

“Since this labyrinth appeared in the World Tree, elves have been exploring it periodically. When the spirits’ light disappeared, various methods were tried for investigation.”

Pine added that various lights, including torches and lanterns that they had been cautious about using for fear of setting the World Tree on fire, were used once under the pretext of experimentation.

“There were many strange occurrences. Whether natural fire, oil-based fire, or magical fire, they would suddenly extinguish as if a wind had blown through. Lights made from magic and spirits would vanish midway, as if consumed by something.”

“Then it must be quite dangerous inside?”

“It is dangerous. There are many traps.”

Pine said apologetically.

“Even the elves who explored using holy light fell one by one to traps they couldn’t see in time…”

-Gulp.

Christina was so tense that I could hear her swallowing. Pine stared blankly at Christina for a moment, then continued with a somewhat wicked smile.

“Even as they advanced cautiously through numerous traps, falling one by one to hidden dangers in the darkness, sometimes trampled under the feet of their companions… when the scarce light went out, they huddled together, staying awake through the night with open eyes as they continued forward through the darkness…”

I could hear Christina swallowing again.

Pine grinned and looked at Christina.

“…What happened to them?”

“They saw a light in the distance and walked eagerly toward it, and…!”

Christina’s face turned pale.

“And…?”

“They found themselves back at the entrance.”

“…Sigh.”

A sigh escaped from Beatrice’s lips.

I too suppressed the anger rising within me and quietly asked Pine:

“Is that all?”

“Yes. The truth is, I’m not very talented at scary stories…”

Pine stuck out her tongue and lightly hit her head with her fist.

“After that, exploration teams continued to try to enter deeper, but at some point, they always returned to the entrance.”

“I see.”

“It’s quite a deflating story—thinking you’ve reached your destination when you see light ahead, only to find yourself back at the entrance.”

Pine said with a slightly bitter smile.

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience…”

“I am.”

So it was personal experience.

“I was young… younger then. Thinking there might be something valuable inside, I begged my peers and veteran seniors to let me join an exploration team.”

“So you wasted time and money for nothing.”

“Actually, I submitted a report to the Council of Elders and received quite a generous reward, so I didn’t lose anything.”

Pine boasted that she had invested the reward money and made considerable financial gains. Beatrice looked a bit disgruntled hearing this.

“…You seem to have quite the luck with money.”

“It’s nothing special. I was just interested in commerce when I was younger and studied it for a while. About a few decades?”

I was a bit surprised by Pine’s words.

“A few decades, huh.”

“Well, we’re a long-lived race… But aside from that, I don’t think I was particularly talented in business.”

Pine praised Ibb, saying she was more skilled than herself. While agreeing with her, I suddenly became curious about something.

“By the way, how old are you, Pine?”

“I’m eternally 170 years old.”

When I looked at Pine, she was averting her gaze.

It was clear that her actual age was much more than 170.

Though it hardly mattered—even if we combined the ages of everyone in our party, we’d still be much younger than Pine’s claimed 170 years.

Anyway, in response to Pine’s mention of her wealth, Christina smiled and said:

“So that’s why you’re wealthy enough to cover our lodging and meal expenses?”

“I am wealthy, but that’s not my money.”

Pine said with a smile.

“By order of the Great One, it’s public funds provided by the Council of Elders to ensure your comfort.”

“…Public funds?”

“In other words, it’s Alfheim’s tax money.”

Pine explained with a smile.

Perhaps because she was using the spirit to provide light, shadows fell across her face.

“Tax money tastes quite sweet.”

When our party fell silent for a moment, Pine smiled brightly and said:

“You’ve all already had a sweet taste of tax money, haven’t you?”

This elf seems to have a surprisingly dark side.

“…Let’s just get to the holy ground.”

My chest hurt.

Thinking that what went into our stomachs was a nation’s tax money clearly made my conscience ache.

“…Yes, let’s go.”

I wasn’t the only one with a guilty conscience—Christina spoke with her head bowed, looking slightly nauseated.

+

It had been a few minutes since we entered the labyrinth with the summoned spirit.

Gradually, the light began to weaken, and the cluster of light Pine had summoned started to fluctuate violently.

“It’s throwing a tantrum, saying it doesn’t want to go further.”

“I’m curious—what happens if you try to force it to stay?”

“Oh, nothing much. If they don’t want to, they simply don’t listen to us.”

The light immediately disappeared.

“Even if I call again, they absolutely won’t come.”

“I see.”

It was now clear that we had reached the true entrance to the labyrinth that Pine had mentioned.

Soon, Christina’s voice rang out:

“Shall I provide light?”

“Please do.”

Christina began a small incantation.

After a moment, light filled her staff, illuminating our surroundings.

“So to enter the holy ground, we need to go forward from here…”

According to Pine’s explanation, at some point we would be returned to the entrance.

The first thing I suspected was the nature of the trap.

I immediately asked Beatrice:

“Can you detect anything?”

“Nothing yet.”

Beatrice answered.

“Let’s follow the map we’ve created so far.”

“Please lead the way.”

Soon Pine stood beside Christina and began giving directions.

As we stepped deeper into the darkness, soon everything beyond the path illuminated by Christina’s light became nearly invisible.

“Beatrice.”

“Still nothing detected.”

As we quietly advanced:

“Turn right here…”

“Excuse me?”

When Pine gave directions while holding what appeared to be a map, Christina hesitated.

“Is that direction really correct?”

“Yes. It’s a path that we elves have safely traversed many times.”

Christina seemed perplexed by Pine’s response.

“Christina?”

“Um, how should I put this… It doesn’t feel like that’s the right way…”

As Christina spoke with uncertainty, Pine also looked somewhat troubled.

‘Christina isn’t the type to say such things without reason.’

For some reason, I had a feeling Christina might be right. But there wasn’t enough logic to counter Pine’s claim.

According to Pine, the path ahead had been explored by elves multiple times and was deemed safe.

It seemed too illogical to contradict a verified path based on mere intuition.

Soon Pine spoke again:

“…But if you go in the direction you’re suggesting, you’ll immediately hit a dead end.”

“So it’s an area that’s already been explored.”

Pine nodded at my words.

According to her, the direction Christina suggested would lead to a dead end.

As I was deliberating whether to persuade Pine or Christina, Beatrice spoke up:

“Let’s follow the elves’ mapping for now.”

She looked at us and said:

“From what we heard earlier, we’ll just be enveloped in shadows and return to the entrance, right? Even if we take the wrong path, nothing serious will happen.”

“…That’s true, but…”

“And personally, I don’t mind experiencing that trick once.”

Christina’s light was limited, so Beatrice’s face was somewhat shadowed.

But even through those shadows, I could tell she was smiling fiercely.

“I’d like to analyze that trick, even if it means falling for it once.”

“Hmm…”

According to Pine’s testimony, even if we fell into the trap, we’d just return to the entrance.

I quickly made a decision and looked at Christina.

“…Let’s try the path the elves discovered first.”

“Alright…”

Christina yielded, and soon we began moving in the direction Pine had indicated.

We walked for quite some time, turning right and left several times.

“Beatrice.”

“I’m still scanning, don’t worry.”

I nodded at Beatrice’s words and quietly took out a device from my pocket.

It was one of the new tools Sera had given me.

‘A danger alarm, huh.’

The note said it was too lengthy to explain the criteria and structure, but it would alert us if an object of a certain mass moved within a certain range.

It detected subtle movements of mana in the surroundings, if I recalled correctly.

It looked like a jewel, though Sera’s note specified it wasn’t actually a gem.

And so far, there had been no reaction.

“This should be fine, right?”

“I think so. It seems to detect surroundings in a similar way to my tracking magic.”

“Really?”

“Its accuracy is probably slightly lower than my magic.”

Beatrice added that it was still an impressive technology that could be trusted, and she was curious when Sera had created such a thing, as she had only explained the principles.

As we continued walking, aware that there were no dangers or traps around us, I began to wonder if there truly was no danger at all.

Then light began to appear ahead.

‘…No way.’

If we hadn’t known what to expect, we might have rushed forward joyfully.

But we already knew the answer.

“Ta-da, here’s the entrance.”

“Damn, it’s true.”

The entrance we had come through earlier was right there.

I turned to the bewildered Beatrice and asked:

“Did you detect anything?”

“…Nothing. This is… what on earth…”

The confidence she had shown earlier when suggesting we try this path was gone.

Was this a trap that even a skilled sorceress like Beatrice couldn’t detect?

“Helmet, anything on that device?”

“Nothing detected, it seems.”

There was no reaction from Sera’s tool either.

‘Come to think of it, if the elves had already traveled this path…’

If we followed the exact same path, naturally we’d end up at the same destination.

We had intentionally fallen into the trap to analyze it, but it was a bit eerie that there was no trace of it whatsoever.

“Hey, did the elves also find no traces at the time?”

“That’s right. They used tools for detailed detection rather than magic, but even then, no traces of traps were found.”

I could see Beatrice nodding.

It was clear that we couldn’t proceed along the path the elves had verified.

But our journey wasn’t over yet.

‘This was within our expectations.’

I hadn’t expected Beatrice to come up empty-handed, but we had considered the possibility of complete failure.

“Shall we go back in?”

“Of course.”

We quickly returned to the spot where Christina had expressed doubt earlier.

“Christina.”

“Yes, I know.”

We already knew there was no danger as we had passed through earlier.

We entered the darkness again and quickly headed to where Christina and Pine’s opinions had diverged.

In the darkness, Christina spoke:

“…I feel more certain than before. It’s this way.”

We followed Christina, passing through walls and winding corridors just as before.

And when we reached a certain point:

“…It’s a dead end.”

We arrived at the place the elves had already confirmed once.

“Just to be sure, you thoroughly examined each of these walls, right?”

“Don’t underestimate elves. Of course we did.”

Pine said they had meticulously examined the walls, ceiling, and floor.

“…Even to me, there doesn’t seem to be anything special.”

I felt the same way.

Just a wall of tree trunks blocking the way.

Could there be some hidden mechanism, like something to press?

‘Where is the path supposed to be?’

Wondering if Christina might see something different, I looked at her.

And then.

“…Christina?”

There was no answer.

For some reason, Christina was staring at the wall with a dazed expression.