Final Chapter. Back to the Beginning, Reuniting with You

The mansion was just as I remembered.

It seemed exactly the same as the day I left for the labyrinth. Though, to be honest, my memory of that time was so hazy now that it might just be nostalgia making it feel unchanged.

“Master is back! Waaaaah!”

Seeing Marin bouncing around with a radiant smile the moment she spotted me made me let out a hollow laugh.

She probably had no idea how long I’d spent in the labyrinth. An unfathomably long time-years beyond counting.

Alone on the throne, I had melted away in an unending flow of time.

Only when I was on the verge of being consumed by the desire to escape through death did I finally break free. Maybe that was why, even though these were my own maids in my own home, they felt strangely unfamiliar.

“It’s been a while.”

“Master’s back! Yay! I knew you were alive!”

“Yeah, I was alive.”

I smiled awkwardly at Marin’s joy. I couldn’t even remember how I used to treat her before.

So I just gave her an awkward smile and patted her shoulder as a greeting. But since she was a slime, my hand ended up sinking right through her body and popping out the other side.

“Whoops. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize for that!”

My hand was coated in sticky slime mucus, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

To be able to touch and feel someone again-it was something I couldn’t have even imagined on the 9th floor. The mere fact that something I had only dreamed of was now real made my nose sting slightly.

“Hey, Marin. Do you know how long it’s been since I left?”

“Hmm… Probably… almost two years? You said you’d be back within six months, but it’s been two whole years!”

“Two years?”

“Yeah! It’s been about two years since you went down to conquer the 7th floor! And we heard news about you heading to the 8th floor about two months ago, so you came back from the 8th floor in just two months!”

“Ah.”

I spent 40 years on the 8th floor. And on the 9th, I endured so much time that I lost count.

Yet only two years had passed in the real world. My head spun. The time I had lived through felt like nothing more than a dream.

“Come on, come on! Let’s talk inside! Hurry up and come in!”

Marin grabbed my wrist-hesitant to step into my own home-and pulled me inside.

It was my house, but it had been so long that I couldn’t bring myself to enter. It was mine, yet it didn’t feel like it.

The memories were so old that recalling them felt like flipping through the pages of a fairy tale.

Yeah, the memories from before I entered the labyrinth were more like knowledge I’d read in a book than actual experiences I’d lived through.

Suddenly, I remembered what the Labyrinth’s Malice had said before it disappeared.

That after sitting on the throne for so long, I’d even forgotten my own name. That the memories of the people I cherished would all feel like someone else’s.

I was the same. Everything Shion had done now felt like a distant past-no, more like a story about someone I didn’t even know.

With no one to call my name, I slowly lost the identity of “Shion” on that throne. The consciousness of being a victim trapped there grew stronger than the personality of the man named Shion.

Shion, the adventurer and porter, was fading away.

For a while, I’d probably have to painstakingly recall and piece together the memories of when I was Shion, like someone with dissociative identity disorder.

“What?! Shion’s back?! Really?!”

“Yes! Master has returned!”

As I followed Marin inside, a blonde woman leaped down from the second-floor railing.

“It really is you! Shion! Welcome back!”

Leia sprinted toward me.

Her golden hair fluttering like a flying squirrel, she lunged at me.

“Whoa.”

I caught her, and Leia, now in my arms, rubbed her face against my neck for a long time, expressing her joy.

“It’s been a year. You know? A whole year since we last saw each other!”

Leia had retired on the 7th floor.

When the Demon King Erphin’s attack destroyed the forward base, she had been sealed away.

Afterward, she and the others were sent back to the surface through the Executor’s Stone Coffin.

So, from her perspective, only a year had passed since we parted.

She was sent back to the surface around the time I descended to the 8th floor.

In contrast, Yuria, who couldn’t come down to the 7th floor because she was pregnant, and the mansion’s maids had spent two years waiting.

Time flowed differently on each floor, making it hard to calculate.

“I’m so glad you came back alive. Really.”

Leia was crying. Tears streamed down her face-understandable after a year apart.

Not knowing how to comfort her, I just patted her back until Yuria came down from the second floor.

“Shion.”

“Yuria.”

“Why… why did you take so long?”

Yuria approached me with an expression mixed with resentment and sorrow.

I didn’t know what to say. She had given birth to our child alone and raised them for the past two years without me.

No wonder she had grown to resent me for not returning.

“Yuria, it’s just…”

I didn’t know what to tell her.

Honestly, I felt more awkward than happy right now.

For them, it had only been one or two years since we parted. Of course they missed me. Of course they were happy to see me.

Yeah, just a measly one or two years.

So they could hold onto their feelings for me and wait.

But I was different.

I had long since passed the point where I could miss them.

I spent nearly four years on the 7th floor alone.

Close to 50 years on the 8th.

And when I descended to the 9th, I endured an eternity.

To me, Leia and Yuria were less my wives and girlfriends and more like heroines that a man named Shion had once loved.

Yeah, I still couldn’t decide whether I was the Labyrinth Master or Shion.

I knew I was Shion, but the flow of time had changed me into something else.

Before returning to the mansion and facing them, I hadn’t realized this would happen.

I’d naively thought I’d just be happy to see them again. I’d deluded myself into believing I was still Shion and still in love with Leia and Yuria.

But I wasn’t.

They felt unfamiliar.

Ever since the Three Evil Women rescued me and brought me back to the surface, I’d been plagued by an inexplicable sense of alienation and dissonance.

The throne I had sat on and this world were too far apart.

Now, the 9th floor, where the throne was, felt more like home than this place.

My memories of Earth were almost entirely gone. Even my time as Shion had faded.

Leaving had felt good, but now that I was free, none of this felt like mine anymore.

I had become detached.

From all of this.

“Shion?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Are you… not happy to see us?”

“I am. I’m happy. But it’s awkward. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m sorry. Coming back after two years and saying something weird like this.”

“…”

Yuria’s expression twisted.

Leia, too, watched us with a serious look before Rozie finally appeared.

“It’s only natural you’d feel awkward. I was the same.”

“Rozie…”

“You spent nearly 40 years on the 8th floor. And I’m sure you endured even longer alone. A lifetime’s worth of time on the 8th floor alone. How many years did you suffer through on the 9th?”

“…”

I couldn’t answer Rozie’s question.

Then Yuria stared straight into my eyes and asked,

“Are you Shion? Are you really Shion?”

“…”

I couldn’t answer that either.

Right now, I was lost. Was I really Shion?

Or was I the Labyrinth Master, consumed by the throne?

I didn’t know. I didn’t even know myself. Ever since returning to the mansion, I’d been in turmoil.

Was I really me? The question itself was a paradox, but I couldn’t answer it easily.

“I don’t know. Honestly… it’s hard for me to make you fully understand who I am now.”

“What are you talking about… I… I waited all this time for you. You can’t do this… Shion.”

Yuria clung to me, her voice trembling.

I couldn’t coldly push her away. I understood how she must feel.

But the me now couldn’t empathize.

Alright, let’s be clear.

To me now, they were practically strangers.

I no longer felt the same affection for them, and they were utterly unfamiliar to me.

“I don’t hate you. I don’t dislike you. But the fondness, the love… the affection I once had for you-I don’t understand it anymore. I don’t remember what it felt like.”

Haltingly, I tried to explain my current state.

Leia asked what kind of emotional state that even was, and Yuria just stared at me, uncomprehending.

“I can’t explain it well with words.”

“Yeah? Then… can I show you some of my memories?”

“Your memories?”

“Yeah. I’ll summarize them for you.”

If words weren’t enough, then memories would have to do.

An ordinary brain couldn’t handle the full weight of what I’d experienced, so I didn’t want to force them to relive everything.

Instead, I condensed the time I’d spent on the 8th and 9th floors and projected it into their minds, letting them experience it indirectly.

“Wh-what is this… Ugh…”

“……”

Faced with my memories, Yuria immediately vomited. Leia, meanwhile, stared blankly into space, tears streaming down her face.

Both of them seemed to be suffering from mental overload from the sheer volume of information, their conditions rapidly deteriorating. Rozie, too, shed silent tears.

“Do you understand my state a little better now?”

Once they had calmed down, I asked.

Could they understand me now? Did they see why I looked at them and felt not family, but strangers?

“Just… how long were you alone there? What kind of burden were you carrying?”

“The memories that flooded in… It felt like centuries at the very least.”

Their gazes changed.

At first, it had been longing, bitterness, sorrow.

When I showed no affection, it turned to resentment, anger, and emptiness.

But now, after seeing my memories, they looked at me as if I were a monster.

Their faces were filled with fear as they asked how I had endured the weight of all that time.

“I think… I believed I had to protect something.”

“What? What were you trying to protect…?”

“You. Our child. All of you. This world. Everything.”

“…”

At my answer, their expressions shifted into something indescribable.

Beyond fear, there was something like awe.

“I’m sure I missed you all terribly for the first hundred years. Even until the moment I escaped the throne, I longed for you. But now that I’m really free and facing you… I don’t know anymore. Was it really you I missed? Or was I just yearning for freedom? I don’t know.”

Yeah, this was my state now.

I had missed them, of course. Thinking I’d never see them again, I had clung to that longing until, eventually, it was all that remained-the love and other emotions I’d once felt for them had faded.

No. They were gone.

I didn’t love them now. Because they were strangers.

To me, who had lived through countless years, Leia, Yuria, and Rozie were nothing more than figures from a distant past.

“So… are you going to leave us? Since you don’t love us anymore. Are you just going to end things here on your own?”

Yuria asked.

Tears dripped from her eyes.

Her voice thick with emotion, she demanded to know if I was abandoning them. Leia, too, clung to my arm, crying.

Only Rozie remained silent, waiting for my answer. Having spent nearly 40 years with me on the 8th floor, she understood the terror of time.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah! You said you don’t love us anymore!”

I looked at the weeping Yuria and thought.

Based on everything I’d seen and felt since arriving at the mansion, I had to voice my thoughts.

“It’s true, I don’t love you anymore. I don’t even remember what affection is. My memories with you are all hazy now. But, you know…”

While being led to the surface by the Three Evil Women, I had seen many sights and people.

And finally, after reaching the surface and touring the city, I arrived at the mansion.

Along the way, I realized something.

“To me… you’re the most beautiful.”

“…Huh?”

“I was just thinking about the scenery and people I saw on the way here. No matter how much I think about it, you’re the most beautiful. So, here’s the thing.”

I held out my hand.

“Want to start over? I think my type is still you. The memories of love are gone, but… I don’t mind rewriting them. What do you say…?”

No matter how much time had passed.

Even if I was no longer Shion but something else.

My essence hadn’t changed.

To me, these three women were the most appealing.

The me who was Shion and the me now were undoubtedly different people, but my tastes remained the same.

Even if my memories had faded, it was clear that these women still fit my preferences perfectly.

“I think… I want to fall in love again. The thought of leaving you and meeting someone else doesn’t appeal to me. You’re the most beautiful. So, will you live with me again?”

Make me fall in love again.

Let me grow to like you all over again.

I may not be the same person I was, I may no longer be the man you remember, but I still want to stay here.

I hope you’ll help me belong here again.

“…What the hell. So nothing’s changed after all. You’re just saying we’re still the hottest, right?!”

“He’s just as much of an idiot as ever! Why were we even being so serious? This bastard’s still Shion!”

“Even after all this time, Shion is still Shion. His tastes haven’t changed one bit, truly.”

Fortunately, it seemed they were willing to accept my request.

“Come here already! First, let’s get you cleaned up! Then we’ll eat, and… oh yeah! You have to see the baby too!”

“Ah, right. I had a kid.”

“Yeah! Before you left for the labyrinth, you got both me and my mom pregnant! There are two of them now. No way I’m letting you run away. Let’s go see them first.”

Yuria grabbed my hand.

Meanwhile, Leia latched onto my left arm, linking hers with mine, and whined.

“I want… a baby too…”

“Leia, shouldn’t I go first?”

“But you were with him for 40 years on the 8th floor! By time spent together, I should be the main wife!”

“Eeeek!”

Somehow, it felt like daily life had returned.

The me of the past had loved these people.

And it seemed the me of now would come to love them too.

My home, my people.

Though time had made things awkward, they were coming back to me.

“Wow.”

Two little girls, spitting images of Rozie and Moira with their fiery red hair, were playing with Rin-nim, the master maid.

“Both of them are girls.”

“Two daughters…”

Looking at them warmed my heart.

So these were my children.

“See? Cute, right?”

“Yeah. Adorable. Those are… my kids with you?”

“Yep! You have no idea how hard I worked to raise them while you were gone!”

“…”

“Go hug them. It’ll help you bond.”

Yuria pushed me forward.

Awkwardly, I approached the babies and greeted them.

“Hi. Uh… So. Yeah. I’m your dad?”

“Waaahhh!”

“Weeehhh!”

The sight of a strange man made them burst into tears.

My head spun.

Even the memories of sleeping with Yuria were hazy now, and yet I had two kids.

It felt like I’d been handed responsibility without any of the fun.

“How’s it feel? Dizzying, right?”

“…Yeah. Babies are scary.”

“From now on, you’re helping me raise them.”

“I guess…”

“Of course, first we’ll have to make the second one.”

“Huh?”

Yuria looked up at me, licking her lips.

“You said you don’t know what love is. Then we’ll just have to make you fall in love again. Right, Rozie?”

“Exactly. There’s a quick and easy way to make someone fall in love.”

“Yeah, yeah. Nothing beats physical affection. I’ll help you remember. Come on!”

Before I knew it, the three women had grabbed me and dragged me to the bedroom.

It was… incredibly aggressive.

After seeing my memories and understanding my state, they seemed desperate to remind me of human warmth.

‘This is weird… but not bad.’

I was glad they accepted me.

I’d thought they might hate the changed me.

But I was wrong.

If anything, they seemed thrilled at the chance to “re-conquer” me, and I didn’t mind their affection either.

It was like returning from hell to find three heroines with maxed-out affection stats waiting just for me.

Truly, coming back was the right choice.

After an eternity of forced chastity, it looked like my days would now be filled with pleasure.