episode_0076

“I am Aris.”

The Saintess introduced herself as such.

I thought her name might be similar because the Saintess of the current era is Aria and the religious order’s name is Arielgyo, but I didn’t expect it to actually be true.

“Do you see us?”

“Yes. This space isn’t a normal space to begin with.”

“Then what on earth is it?”

“I do not know. Unfortunately, my role is merely to assist. My name and this appearance now are also like a duplicate of the main body. Therefore, I merely obey.”

“……”

The Saintess had a benevolent smile. But within it, I felt loneliness and immense solitude.

“I have waited for such a long time. Now, I can fulfill my duty and disappear.”

“Duty?”

“Haha, well, perhaps I’m still being optimistic. I feel like I said something similar about 500 years ago.”

About 500 years ago, I knew who she was talking about.

“Did Kaman come here too?”

“Yes. He was a person with a cute appearance. He was also a person with a noble ideal.”

As we talked about various things, we soon arrived at a church building in the center of the large holy ground.

The Saintess pointed inside.

“They will be waiting inside. The others should wait outside.”

Following the Saintess’s words, Ruka and Grace quietly stepped aside, and I walked alone into the building’s interior.

The interior was like that of any other church.

Even though the Saintess said she saw Kaman 500 years ago, meaning this was a very old depiction, it was similar to the churches of today.

Paintings depicting the appearance of the God were drawn on the stained glass, where bright light entered.

A duplicate of the God began to appear amidst the light.

Its body was that of a woman, but its face was not visible at all, emitting only light.

Perhaps that’s why it felt even more sacred.

“…I see.”

She observed me carefully, then seemed to understand something on her own.

“This is the last chance.”

“The last chance…?”

“Yes. Because you have brought a person from another world.”

“Why on earth is that?”

“It is because both the God and the Evil God are gradually reaching their limits now. They have fought for an immeasurable amount of time.”

“I see.”

Since the previous card user before me was said to be a person from 500 years ago, I could guess that the war between the two gods had been going on for longer than expected. But I didn’t know this would be the last time.

Just then, the duplicate of the God, who had been staring intently at me, bowed its head.

“I am sorry.”

“……?”

I was flustered and just stood there, unable to do anything.

The duplicate of the God bowed its head for a long time before finally raising it.

I couldn’t see its expression, but I could feel its apology.

“My original body would have done this. Apologizing for bringing a strong soul from another world. It should have ended before you had to come this far. The story of our world should have ended in our world.”

As the duplicate of the God spoke more and more, my deck trembled slightly.

That alone allowed me to feel their will.

“It’s already something that has passed. Since it’s like this, we must do our best.”

Was that answer what she wanted?

I felt as if I heard the duplicate of the God’s faint laughter.

“Putting that aside, I will tell you everything about why this place exists now, and what the presence of my existence means.”

As she moved her hand, light with will moved.

“Do you know that the labyrinth is where the God and the Evil God fight eternally?”

“I know.”

“Then the story will be quick. You can think of it as the labyrinth taking form because the God sealed and imprisoned all of the Evil God’s influence.”

“Why specifically the form of a labyrinth?”

“It is the Evil God’s preference.”

“I see.”

The Evil God’s preference…

“The God’s grace is also provided in the form of cards, isn’t it? That is also the God’s preference.”

“No, are they having a preference fight in a place where the fate of the world is at stake?”

“That is not within my jurisdiction.”

Well, they have been fighting for such a long time. They could… do that much?

For now, I decided to quickly move past this topic.

“What do you call this place now?”

“If it’s this place…”

Surely she wasn’t asking what the hidden dungeon is called?

“You call it Gereat’s Shadow.”

“Gereat…”

The duplicate of the God nodded as if it had expected this.

“The Evil God’s influence has spread even there already.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Originally, these places throughout the labyrinth, which have different timelines, are all records left by the God. We named them [God’s Ark].”

The hidden dungeon’s original name wasn’t Gereat’s Shadow, but God’s Ark. I had never heard such a thing.

“Even up until 500 years ago, it wasn’t called Gereat’s Shadow. To think it would be [contaminated] this far already.”

“Contaminated?”

“Yes.”

The duplicate of the God moved the light to show me a picture.

All sorts of books, documents, and records.

“Are there any records or documents remaining about the Evil God?”

“Of course there are, aren’t there?”

“Among those, whether it’s clear what happened in what year.”

“That…”

It was definitely a strange part.

It was something I had thought about while trying to find information about Kaman from 500 years ago.

Even if records were considered unimportant. There was too little information.

I had vaguely thought it was because it was old and records weren’t kept well.

Was that not the case?

“If you doubt my words, try looking up useless history after leaving the labyrinth. For example, the history of wine. You will be able to find everything from the year to detailed history.”

“……”

If that were true.

Would I have to fight a divine being that could erase records and memories of reality?

It didn’t quite feel real.

“The Evil God is doing all sorts of things to swallow the world again. One of them is making people forget about themselves.”

“So they can catch us off guard?”

“The Evil God does not underestimate the God and humans. That’s what makes them even more frightening.”

Clap!!

As if to change the mood, the duplicate of the God clapped its hands once.

“Now, that’s enough about the future. That’s not important right now. What’s important is what you gain from this space.”

“Ah, right. What should I do?”

“You will have to figure that out yourself. You have to make the decision yourself.”

Hmm.

What she was saying was a bit difficult to understand easily.

She said she would tell me, but then she told me to figure it out myself. Is she always like this?

When talking to a person like this, it would be best to take the lead.

“Where is this place now?”

“The most radiant city, Sereum.”

“How many years ago is this?”

“4028 years ago.”

“What happened here?”

“You can view the records for that.”

“Will what happens here actually happen?”

“……”

The duplicate of the God fell silent.

Was she contemplating whether or not to answer this herself?

After a while, she made a decision.

“Yes. It is something that actually happened.”

*

There was no more valuable information.

If I asked about something central, she kept telling me to find out myself.

There was absolutely no useful information.

Moreover, she was from ancient times, so she didn’t know information about current events.

At least I understood that the hidden dungeon was created by the God and was left behind to preserve some kind of record.

But why on earth would that be?

I couldn’t guess the reason.

Perhaps it was because even if things were written down and recorded, that guy called the Evil God would just erase it all.

If so, what exactly is the Evil God’s power?

Was contemplating that very thing what the God intended?

“Haa…”

In the end, everything is unknown until things actually happen.

“Something like that happened, huh? Now that I think about it, something does seem strange. For example, there’s no record anywhere of when the labyrinth city was created or what its history is.”

“…Why didn’t we think that was strange?”

“Shouldn’t a god be able to do that much?”

“That’s true.”

Listening to Grace and Ruka talking, I climbed up onto the inner wall’s rampart.

From there, I saw the Evil God’s army in the distance.

They didn’t rush towards here, but maintained their distance, just surrounding the castle.

“Why aren’t they attacking?”

“Right?”

Since I didn’t know much about warfare, I couldn’t understand their intentions.

Was there no one who would know about such things?

“Shall we go investigate?”

“Just rest here for a bit.”

Ruka and Grace left to gather information.

Unlike me, who is slow, they were so fast on their feet that it was more effective for them to go without me.

And most importantly, after meeting the duplicate of the God, I was incredibly tired.

The two, quick to notice, quickly made a resting place for me.

Thanks to that, I was comfortably resting on the rampart now, having lit that perpetual campfire thingy, looking good while relaxing.

“Oh! Clan Leader!!”

Turning my head at the sound of a voice, I saw Dayback and Bruno climbing up onto the rampart.

They sat down right by the campfire in front of me.

“Mr. Dayback. Did you find out anything?”

“Hahaha.”

“You didn’t find out anything, did you?”

The three men just stared blankly at the Evil God’s army, watching the sun slowly set.

Then, Dayback suddenly asked me a question with a cheerful smile.

“Clan Leader, do you know why those guys are doing that?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Haha! As I expected, you don’t know!! Before I came to the labyrinth city, I was a well-known mercenary on the continent, you know.”

Dayback immediately launched into a flamboyant account of his past.

Stories about volunteering for war without knowing anything and almost dying, stories about how there were scary people in the East, etc.

There was never a dull moment with all sorts of tales.

Explorers are originally like this. When they’re waiting with nothing to do in the labyrinth, what else would they do? It’s not an era with smartphones. They just talk and chat, telling each other stories.

“So, the Evil God’s army surrounding the castle like that is the standard siege method.”

“Is that so? Isn’t assaulting the walls or breaking them down better for a siege?”

“No, then you’d have casualties. The best siege method is to just patiently wait inside the castle until they wither away and die. I also participated just to fill the numbers and earned some money just by sleeping all day.”

“Then there’s a high chance it’ll be a long war?”

“Probably…?”

Listening to various detailed medieval-style stories, I noticed that clan members who had finished their exploration began to gather here. I wondered how they knew to gather here, and it turned out Grace and Ruka, who were passing by, had told them.

Finally, with Grace and Ruka arriving, all 15 clan members were gathered again on the rampart.

We shared various information with each other.

However, perhaps because it was only the first day, or perhaps because access to information was limited, the results were not good.

“They say they can’t easily approach because of those magic weapons on this side.”

“It seems like it will be a long war. Where should we rest during that time?”

“Here? We can see the whole battlefield.”

No one had any complaints about Grace’s suggestion.

Immediately, we created a resting space on the rampart.

A wall to block the wind and a roof to block the rain.

We huddled together there and slept.

*

Late at night.

Unable to sleep, I went outside to get some night air and walked along the rampart.

And just then, Gamel was there.

Gamel was still happily analyzing the magic of this place.

He had gone somewhere for a moment when others were sleeping, saying he had something to do. Had he been doing this until now?

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping soon?”

“It’s fine.”

I watched him blankly by the campfire Gamel had lit, observing what he was doing.

In the current silence.

Suddenly, Gamel opened his mouth first.

“By any chance, Clan Leader…”

What on earth was he about to say?

I was just listening, thinking it was just ordinary small talk, without much thought.

But I couldn’t help but freeze at what Gamel said next.

“Are you related to the God?”