episode_0134

As with any other floor of the labyrinth, there is a knight managing the safe zone on the 7th floor.

Generally, the knights belong to various different affiliations.

However, as the Empire’s influence is significant, the proportion of Imperial knights is high.

I hear that tendency becomes even stronger the higher you go.

Even thinking lightly about the reason, it’s probably due to vested interests.

Well, anyway.

For such a knight to suddenly appear out of nowhere in this place.

In this place where humans killed each other.

I was slightly on guard, wondering if he might suspect us.

“Ahahaha!! This must have been tough work!!!!”

Along with a hearty man’s voice, the faceguard of the helmet rises.

Inside, the face of a man somewhere between middle-aged and old is visible.

Beyond the beard tinged with white, the knight’s harmless smile is seen.

As soon as I saw that appearance, my tension completely vanished.

No, why is some village headman on the 7th floor….

“Even without this, I’ve been struggling lately with the increase in bandits on the 7th floor. No matter how much I tell the guild, they just don’t listen…. Tsk tsk.”

At that moment, several knights followed behind the knight.

And among them were individuals dressed in guild employee attire.

“Sir Prime. The guild is working to resolve this by dispatching investigators.”

“No, I’m saying they should issue an entry ban for the 7th floor.”

“That is impossible.”

“My my, why are they so inflexible.”

“It’s probably because money is involved.”

“What good is that damned money!! Human lives are more important.”

The guild investigator and the knight suddenly confronting each other.

Just seeing that scene, the 7th floor knight’s personality and image are clearly painted.

A veteran sergeant major with not much time left until retirement. No, should I call him a veteran knight?

He approached the bandits I had captured by electrocuting them, checked if they were alive, and then.

He soon clenched his right fist tightly.

“Thank you for leaving a few alive for the investigation. May we take custody of them?”

“Yes. In return, could we roughly hear what happened on the 7th floor?”

“I will provide that explanation instead.”

Before I knew it, the investigator had reached us.

Seeing that, the knight used his knights to literally bundle up the three living individuals and began preparing to transport them.

“Disciple of the Tower Master, Iban Arcana. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Confirmed. Currently on the 7th floor, someone has spread an unknown conspiracy. To be precise, they are criminals attempting to fill the void left by the black mages and enter.”

“If they are criminals with the skill to reach the 7th floor, would they even need to commit crimes?”

“Think of it this way. One human became a criminal after committing a serious murder on the 1st floor. He succeeded in escaping and gradually grew stronger. He had the illusion that he needed power to erase his crimes later. He did manage to reach the 7th floor in the end. But he died here.”

The investigator looked at one of the corpses rolling around at his feet.

He took out a notebook from his pocket and quickly wrote something down.

“Well, but didn’t you think it was strange? That the bandits’ skill level was so poor that you, who are trying to advance to the 7th floor, could sweep them away?”

“…That.”

To be honest, I don’t really know.

Because Noah and I are so overpoweringly strong for the 7th floor.

But it did end very anticlimactically.

Because I couldn’t even use about half of the magic circles I had saved.

“There’s someone who has systematically gathered criminals who are fast on their feet and skilled in stealth, or explorers struggling to make a living. Their skill level is mainly only around the 5th or 6th floor.”

“He must have promised to let them earn money in a better place than their skill level allowed.”

“Well, they probably thought they could just make a quick score and run. But, well, things in the world rarely go as planned.”

It also feels like I’ve hardly ever seen people who commit a final crime before quitting succeed and enjoy the rest of their lives.

If they had succeeded in the first place, they would have already finished laundering it.

“To use the occasional Jewel Soldiers’ horn ability, such people were gathered.”

“Yes. This type of crime happens quite frequently. On the 7th floor, well… it’s close to everyday life.”

“But if it’s information where lives are at stake, shouldn’t the guild inform people about it themselves?”

“Well… because it’s already common knowledge among high-floor explorers.”

No, does this make sense? Even the guild is just serious about kicking the ladder out.

What about explorers like us who are just entering?

“…Hmm.”

Seeing my words and expression, the investigator made a slightly apologetic face and then.

Steeled his resolve.

“And I don’t know if you’re aware, but the 7th floor is generated in this massive scale at regular intervals.”

Ignoring my words, he continued his story.

Right, it’s the guild’s policy, so what can a mere guild investigator do?

I decided to quietly listen to the rest of her story.

“Explorers who entered targeting this time. And the bandits targeting them. It’s the perfect scenario.”

I can roughly understand what kind of feeling it is.

It feels like I only enter the labyrinth when something like this happens.

No luck, no luck.

“That is why we generally suggest that 7th floor local explorers we encounter leave.”

“It’s not mandatory?”

“The guild does not have the right to restrain explorers. It is purely support. The rest is free will. Of course, it would be different in a serious situation.”

“So it’s not that serious an issue? Even though you said there were more than usual.”

“Yes. Although it is a large-scale crime, it’s not like only local 7th floor explorers are currently on the 7th floor. If it’s an 8th floor explorer, they would likely wipe out the monster groups on the 7th floor.”

To say it’s something that can be sufficiently dealt with, so it’s up to free will.

The guild is truly an incomprehensible organization.

“Since the general situation explanation is over, could you explain what happened here?”

“…Yes.”

*

After roughly explaining what the situation was.

All of us headed towards where the monsters were.

However.

“Why is there nothing?”

“That makes no sense.”

The numerous Jewel Soldiers and Jewel Knights had literally ‘evaporated’.

Even though there were barricades and positions made of jewels, as if they were trying to form a camp.

They just abandoned them and fled.

How on earth could something like this happen?

I immediately demanded an explanation from the investigator, but.

“We cannot provide any further information.”

Saying that, he just proceeded to collect the bodies.

But what could be inferred to some extent was.

“No, why are these Jewel Knights so hard to even catch a glimpse of their faces?”

Our veteran knight, Sir Prime, was tsk-tsking.

Could it be that when the Jewel Soldiers’ numbers grow, there’s some kind of guide among them?

And so, seeing the knight coming, they fled.

When I shared this guess with my party members, they said it made perfect sense.

That it would actually be less plausible for there to be no individual capable of acting as a guide among them, who are no different from a military force.

“But perhaps, in my estimation, their senses wouldn’t be that sharp.”

“Then…”

“Maybe it’s because that knight is too strong.”

Saying that, I look at Sir Prime, but.

He was telling jokes with his subordinates and leisurely tearing off and eating jerky.

I don’t know if Grace’s words are true.

“Um, Iban Arcana?”

The investigator who suddenly approached.

Did he finally feel guilty and come to tell us information?

“Could you help us move these people to the safe zone?”

“……Excuse me?”

“The guild formally requests this.”

As expected, of course not.

The guild always claims to be non-interventionist but tries to use manpower whenever it’s needed.

“As you know, you are the only mage here. And since there are so many deceased individuals, it would be good to receive help.”

“Of course I can help. But it won’t be for free.”

“Understood. We will provide the information you want to the extent possible.”

Contract concluded.

I immediately started working.

I also started recovering all the bodies and belongings.

As you know, if a human dies, they cannot exit through the portal.

Usually, when an explorer is found dead inside, bringing them to the safe zone like this allows them to be cremated. Explorers don’t necessarily take bodies with them, though.

It’s not easy for the guild investigator and the Imperial knight to ignore that.

However, how to take all these things to the safe zone.

That was quite a problem.

If I hadn’t been here.

“Indeed, having mages is incredibly convenient!!”

“Thank you for your support.”

Both the investigator and the veteran knight expressed their gratitude to me.

That is, of course, natural.

Because I brought the bodies and belongings smoothly and easily using [Terrain Manipulation].

Moreover, that’s not all, I also used water-based magic like rain and spray to wash away the blood relatively cleanly.

“They don’t just call them mages for nothing.”

Seeing the satisfied look of the investigator, I even had the thought, ‘Can I perhaps get a bit more information from this?’

Anyway.

We arrived at the safe zone on the 7th floor.

And if there was one thing I definitely felt.

It was that it was narrow compared to the 5th and 6th floors.

To be precise, it’s not that the size of the safe zone itself is narrow, but that there’s no infrastructure.

It felt like having a large sports field but only using a corner of it.

Even though it’s said that the number of humans gradually decreases as you go up to the higher floors.

If it felt like a gradual descent on a graph.

The 7th floor felt like leaping off a cliff all at once and then briefly grabbing onto a tree halfway down to hold on.

“By the way, this is the safe zone?”

“There’s nothing…”

The facilities are too poor.

There weren’t many merchants either. There were only exactly three buildings, one was a combination of the guild and knight order building, and one was a warehouse.

That is, inns did not exist.

That is, that wide open space was the explorers’ accommodation.

It made me wonder what on earth happens when you go higher up.

“No, even though supplies are said to be difficult, I didn’t know there wouldn’t even be buildings.”

“There’s a reason for everything!!”

Sir Prime, who had approached before I knew it.

“Since few people use the 7th floor, the merchants and those with money have all left.”

“Why are there so few people using the 7th floor?”

“Because explorers who would climb to the high floors in the first place grow quickly based on the resources obtained from the 7th floor and ascend to the 8th and 9th floors.”

The 7th floor is a wall to reach initially, but.

Meaning that once they can stably begin hunting on the 7th floor, they quickly ascend higher.

Money does not flow in places without people.

Naturally, the 7th floor safe zone dwindled on its own. Only the minimal infrastructure remains, he said.

That’s definitely true. The 3rd floor safe zone has much more than the 1st and 2nd floor safe zones.

“It’s quite an ambiguous place.”

“That’s why it was truly peaceful. It’s a really good place to spend one’s later years.”

The 7th floor, if compared, would feel similar to the 4th floor.

A wall that divides the lower, middle, and high floors, and simultaneously a place you have no reason to visit again once you cross it.

It’s not as extreme as the 4th floor, but it seems to be performing its role as a wall well.

At that moment, the investigator who had carefully laid out the bodies one by one approached me.

“Then, we plan to cremate them. Could you possibly assist?”

“Yes.”

I immediately infused mana into Ifrit, which was in my possession.

The fire spirit immediately breathed fire.

Another group of lives ended here.

They weren’t people I knew, so I didn’t have any particular thoughts, but I offered a brief moment of silence.

After everything was over.

The investigator approached me.

“So, is there anything you’re curious about?”

Right now, there was only one thing I was curious about.

“Please tell me about these 4 things written on the promotion document.”

“……Hmm.”

The investigator suddenly furrowing his brow.

“Why do you think promotion requirements exist?”

“But you said they didn’t exist before the 7th floor.”

“Yes. To be precise, they don’t exist on the 8th or 9th floors either. They appear once more only on the 10th floor. More than that, the reason it’s needed is to prove that you have gained information and built skill on your own…”

“Isn’t gaining information through a transaction also a skill?”

“…That is also a valid point.”

In the end, there seemed to be no reason he couldn’t tell me, so the investigator thought for a moment and opened his mouth.

“Haa… I will explain everything.”

No, it would have been enough to just learn about the Jewel Zone. Everything?

The hard work was worth it.

“First, a Diamond Jewel Knight, unlike other Jewel Knights, drops a diamond-colored magic stone when defeated.”

“Well, a special power…”

“No. It’s just an ordinary magic stone. Furthermore, please note that the color returns to normal after a month.”

“…Yes. And next?”

“Next is the Jewel Zone. There is a large terrain. In the center, there is a giant jewel embedded. Where the Jewel Turtles are…”

“Hold on, just a moment?!!”

I’m sure I’ve been there?!!