Ch.2222. The Job

Breaking through the Crystal Cave wasn’t particularly difficult.

We repeated a pattern similar to defeating the ice elemental about three times, and after handling the encounters well, we reached the fourth floor.

‘This is draining my stamina.’

I had replenished my energy at the safe zones along the way, but resting in places like this wasn’t particularly effective.

In the end, my stamina continued to deplete.

“We should reach our destination in about three more hours.”

Twelve hours had passed so far, and we’d overcome four mid-bosses.

We only needed to get past two more mid-bosses to reach the boss room.

“Hey, Adel.”

As I was preparing to move, the young lady called my name.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Sianne, I mean… is the mage who was summoned with Shiro going to be okay?”

She spoke with worried eyes.

So the escort mage’s name was Sianne. They must be quite close for her to be concerned.

“They’ll be fine. Sometimes people are summoned at the end of the Crystal Cave, so we’ll likely meet them when we get there.”

“Really?”

That’s what I told the young lady, but in reality, the situation probably wasn’t going so well.

‘They’ll definitely try to come back in the opposite direction.’

Shiro knows the characteristics of the Crystal Cave. Plus, the mage probably has some understanding as well.

So why haven’t they reached our location yet?

‘They might have headed to the boss room first since they don’t know our position.’

If Shiro and the mage combined their strength, they should have at least made it back here by now.

Anyway.

We tried to pass through after defeating the monsters we encountered along the way.

“Is that… a person?”

The young lady hid behind my back and pointed to a corner.

“…It would be better if you didn’t look, my lady.”

There was a crouched figure, frozen in place for eternity.

What could be called the head had dozens of blades embedded in it, and the bow in its hand was shattered to pieces.

‘…Something seems off.’

The corpse’s abdomen had wounds that looked like they were made by a blunt weapon striking down, not just stab wounds.

“Let’s move quickly.”

I urged the young lady to keep walking, ignoring it for now.

“…Okay.”

However, her arms kept trembling, as if she was afraid of something.

She was probably scared of encountering more sights like the one we just saw.

I added a few words to ease her worries a bit.

“That dead person back there fell off a cliff because of me.”

“I… see.”

If I stopped here, it might have the opposite effect, so I continued.

“That’s why I know better. My colleague Shiro is several times stronger than that person, and that mage is dozens of times stronger. They’re not the kind of people who would fall in a mere cave like this.”

No matter what variables might occur here, they might get injured but would never die.

Even if that wasn’t actually true, it was better to believe it.

The fact that we needed to move forward remained unchanged.

“…That’s a relief. Thanks, I feel a bit better now.”

We continued walking forward.

***

Until we reached the front of the boss room, we didn’t encounter any people or even traces of them.

So I was a bit tense when we opened the door to the waiting area, but the two of them were sitting comfortably around a campfire.

“Sianne, Sianne! Are you okay?!”

Of course, the mage named Sianne was collapsed next to Shiro.

But judging by her steady breathing, it seemed like she had simply fainted.

“She seems to be breathing well. Shiro, how long has she been asleep?”

“She used up all her mana right after being summoned and has been resting since. She fell asleep about three hours ago.”

Thankfully, she wasn’t sleeping under a curse.

“That’s good news. We should wait until she recovers somewhat before taking on the boss.”

Actually, the mage had seemed tired even before falling off the cliff, so I was worried she might have died.

“Ah, about that. There’s something different.”

Shiro stood in front of the massive door leading to the boss room, as if to contradict my words.

“What? Shiro, if you open that now—”

—Rumble.

Ignoring my cry, Shiro opened the door, and the remains of the boss, the “Ice Golem,” were shattered to pieces.

“The door was already open when we arrived. Seems like someone already defeated it.”

“…So you were just waiting for us.”

“Yes.”

A blue portal floated in the middle of the boss room.

“Then let’s go. There’s no benefit to staying here any longer.”

Fortunately, the fifth floor didn’t have any particular terrain, so the base camp was right at the entrance.

We passed through the remains of the Ice Golem and entered the portal.

I carried the collapsed mage on my back.

‘…A blunt weapon?’

As I stepped into the portal, I glanced at the golem’s remains.

The boss seemed to have been shattered by heavy impacts.

…

The fifth floor, the Labyrinth of Leo, is divided into three regions.

The Arid Wilderness, the Frozen Glacier, and the Land of the Dead.

These terrains formed the fifth floor in a shape resembling a pizza cut into three pieces.

The base camp, which was also the starting point of the fifth floor, was located at the intersection of these three regions.

“What are you planning to do now, my lady?”

In the midst of our silence among the crowd that could easily exceed 100 people, I spoke first.

Since the mage who was the young lady’s escort was unconscious, it seemed good to show some concern.

“Since Sianne hasn’t woken up yet, I think I’ll wait until she recovers and then go back down to the fourth floor.”

“In that case, since night is already falling, would it be alright if we stayed with you until sunrise tomorrow?”

Having been in the cave for so long, the sky was gradually darkening.

Unlike the lower floors, the base camp on the fifth floor wasn’t particularly safe.

The upper-level explorers from large guilds had all gone up, and the base camp was managed by experienced mid-level explorers from the sixth and seventh floors.

It was unreasonable to expect such personnel to control hundreds of explorers at the fifth floor level.

“You agree too, right, Shiro?”

“…Yeah.”

Shiro nodded reluctantly, but what could we do? If we just let the young lady go and she got harmed, we might be blamed.

“Thank you for staying with me. I won’t forget this kindness. And…”

She extended one hand to me.

“You don’t have to address me as ‘my lady’ in the Labyrinth.”

“…Does that mean I should call you by your name, my lady?”

“Yes. Explorers call each other by name, right? So, call me by my name too.”

Judging by her personality, she seemed to be on casual terms with her escort mage as well, so she didn’t appear to be the type who valued aristocratic authority.

“How could someone like me dare to address such an esteemed person casually? Besides, you’re not an explorer, my lady.”

The young lady seemed surprised by my firm boundary, as if she hadn’t expected it.

It was better to be clear about these things to avoid trouble later.

While being casual might not cause immediate problems, why bother?

‘I’d rather not get too deeply involved with nobles.’

She pressed her lips together, then muttered something only she could hear before looking me in the eye again and speaking brightly.

“I see. Then, let me introduce myself properly. I’m Ainer Manis, the eldest daughter of Count Manis. And you?”

The young lady extended her hand and asked.

She didn’t seem to have given up on her desire to become friendly.

Perhaps I should have drawn the line more clearly.

“I’m Adel.”

“Yes, that’s a nice name. And you beside him?”

“Shiro.”

After exchanging greetings, the young lady smiled brightly.

“I look forward to working with you. Especially you, Adel. We’ll see each other at my coming-of-age party, right? I’ll make sure to set aside some time, so you must come. Understand?”

“…Yes, I understand.”

Damn, she was showing goodwill even though I hadn’t done anything special in the cave.

Is it because I fought too well? Did she develop some admiration because I showed exemplary behavior as an explorer?

‘I don’t really want to get closer.’

As we moved to a corner of the nearly empty base camp, I quickly continued my thoughts.

I hadn’t told her yet, but the main culprit for our fall off the cliff was the ring.

‘Right. I just need to ask one thing.’

After preparing the campfire and camp, I approached the young lady and asked an important question.

“By the way, my lady, was that ring a gift from someone?”

“Hmm? Yes, it was.”

That ring was an item dropped by a field boss on the sixth floor of the Labyrinth.

Anyone who obtained such a ring would surely know its abilities.

‘This was definitely deliberate.’

I explained this fact to the young lady, and her expression gradually hardened.

“…The person who gave it to me knew I was entering the Labyrinth.”

“If it’s not too presumptuous, could you tell me who gave—”

At that moment, someone approached us.

“Lady Ainer, what a pleasure to see you here.”

A man with gray hair and an unpleasant face.

“…Lord Hail. It’s a pleasure.”

The young lady’s expression wasn’t particularly pleasant as she responded to him.

Of course, it wasn’t openly apparent, but having learned to read subtle cues from my conversations with Shiro, I couldn’t be fooled.

She was wary of him right now.

‘He uses a hammer, I see.’

While he was talking with the young lady, I roughly examined the nobleman’s body.

He was carrying just a hammer without a shield. A very unusual combat style.

In games, such a playstyle was possible if you navigated the Source tree well, but I had never seen anyone fight like that in this world.

‘How peculiar.’

As I was thinking this, the baron extended his hand to me and said:

“What are you, darkie? A pet?”

“…?”

This bastard talking to me like I’m a dog.

I’d heard that some uncultured nobles still treated barbarians like dogs, and was this guy one of them?

“Haha, just joking. We don’t discriminate like that these days.”

He said this while patting my shoulder.

This bastard.

“…Indeed. My name is Adel.”

“Right. I’m Baron Hail Hitter.”

Even his name sounded similar to a war criminal country’s greeting.

“Sorry to say this suddenly, but I have some business with Lady Ainer. Could I borrow her for a moment?”

“…Is that so?”

I glanced at the young lady to gauge her reaction.

“Adel. It’s fine, so just rest well.”

She showed an awkward smile, trying to brush off the situation.

I understood perfectly.

“Yes, Lady Ainer says it’s okay. If you want to hunt tomorrow, you should rest well, so quickly go back to your camp—”

“—I am currently serving as Lady Ainer’s substitute escort.”

“…What? You?”

“Yes. Therefore, I will accompany you.”

As long as I’m here, he won’t be able to try anything.