Chapter 125 – Encounter with Claudia

Once you take down the big one, all that’s left is mopping up the small fry.

After repelling the Merfolk, crushing the sea urchins, and Logging the seaweed from one end with Magic… what remained was a mountain of Materials.

The spoils were incredibly rewarding, but there was simply too much. I’d have to be selective about what to bring back.

Since we were short on hands, I used the Aqua Golem to sort the Materials by type.

“First, the Nautilus and Archelon should be brought back as they are.”

Both were valuable, so I’d prioritize sending them through the Transference Stone first. The bulky Merfolk would be transported too, then.

Next was dealing with the Dead Shark remains.

I decided to Extract the Magic Stones from these. Undead types couldn’t be eaten, and often you couldn’t harvest Materials from them. Instead, if you Extracted their Magic Stones, you could get some fairly high-quality ones.

What to prioritize next—probably the sea urchins over the seaweed. For whatever couldn’t be transported, I’d stuff them into bags to carry back.

“What are these?”

“I wonder…”

Seraphina picked up a sea urchin… Ashley and Marlene tilted their heads as they looked at it.

“You can eat the inside. Let’s take back as many as we can.”

Arrow Urchins are eaten in Termwills too, but it’s the insides that appear on the dining table. They probably haven’t seen the real thing. It’s quite a haul, so today might be an urchin feast. Looks like we’re in for a rather luxurious dinner.

…As for the kelp, there’s just too much, so I’ll send only what we need and Extract Magic Stones from the rest to make efficient use of it.

Still, ever since we started exploring the Magic Light Water Vein, our food supplies have been steadily improving. As for the Archelon and Nautilus, I’ll need to think a bit about how to use these Materials—it’s been a while—but I’m looking forward to processing them.

Having finished the looting and transferring for now, we returned to Exploration.

There were no passages in the water, but there seemed to be space above the room. I scattered the jellyfish and surfaced… only to find an unexpected face there.

Raven-black long hair. Golden eyes. A girl in a dress… It was Claudia.

When I surfaced and looked around, it appeared to be an underground lake.

At the edge of that lake, she was dipping her white bare feet into the water… languidly splashing about. What was she doing?

She’d been appearing and disappearing, passing through things—acting like a Spirit—but seeing her playing in the water, it seemed she had some kind of physical form. Quite mysterious.

“…I thought the next time we’d meet would be around the other side of the Sealed Door at Great Corruption Lake.”

“I also… intended to sleep a while longer.”

At my words, Claudia tilted her head.

“It seems the Guardian was defeated, so I woke up.”

I see. Come to think of it, the first time we met was after defeating a Guardian too. Last time, she came to investigate, or rather… to check on the situation. Perhaps she’d inferred some of our circumstances from the soldiers exploring and the approaching time for the Sealed Door to open.

The fact that she wasn’t hiding her form like before was probably because we were acquainted now and our objectives were clearer. In that case, showing herself like this must mean she has her own purpose.

“Claudia-sama…”

Irmhild, who had surfaced, widened her eyes.

“That person is—”

Grace and the others were equally surprised by Claudia’s appearance.

“Really… you don’t need to use honorifics with me. I don’t know what you all think, but I’m not someone who deserves that kind of treatment.”

She said this to us. What her words implied—could Claudia be an agent of the Labyrinth management side?

“…I’ve been thinking too. Since you’re fighting the Demon, coming close to the depths is unavoidable. But I also have reasons to cooperate with you to some extent. Irmhild wants to go to that place too… so I thought, perhaps it would be better to take you all to that village and have you understand.”

“…You can do that?”

“Yes. But only if you keep the secrets and promises.”

I thought about it for a moment. That meant—entrusting our transfer destination to Claudia. If she’s from the Labyrinth management side, she could probably manage that much, so discussing feasibility or methods would be pointless. But… could we trust her?

I don’t know Claudia’s objectives, but at least regarding not letting the Demon into the Labyrinth depths, our interests seem aligned.

Being able to freely choose transfer destinations, controlling the Labyrinth’s Monsters to some extent—from our previous conversations, that’s about what we’ve learned.

If Claudia wished, she could probably do various other things too. Depending on the situation, she might even be able to disable the Transference Stone.

If she intended harm and was trying to lure us into a Trap, would she go about it in such a roundabout way?

To be blunt, once we entered the Labyrinth, we were practically swallowed into its belly—she could set Traps freely. Without taking the risk of showing herself, she could employ much harsher tactics.

Right… For example, could the previous Guardian room have been set up by Claudia?

…I concluded it wasn’t possible. Claudia, who witnessed the Luceriage battle, should have known from the start that it wasn’t strong enough to challenge me.

Judging from the information so far, Claudia seems to have some secret she wants to protect regarding the Labyrinth, or perhaps herself.

Then why would Claudia, who should want to keep her secrets hidden, make such an offer?

…Could it be because she doesn’t want us to find the route to the depths? If we teleport directly to Irmhild’s village, we wouldn’t discover things like what the path is like or which sections to pass through.

“…As long as it has nothing to do with the Demon.”

“Then I can say it doesn’t. Matters concerning Irmhild are separate from your objectives, aren’t they?”

Yes. That’s true.

“By ‘keeping secrets,’ do you mean not telling others what we see and hear there?”

“That’s right. If you’re the ambassador, I’ll trust you on that. Of course… this discussion is based on the premise that you trust me too. Any other questions?”

“Why invite everyone?”

“I considered taking just Irmhild, but… wouldn’t that make you worry? If you suspect I’m inviting everyone to capture you all at once, well, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“…No, I don’t think you’d go out of your way to do something like that.”

It was a line spoken after much thought… but Claudia seemed surprised by it, staring at me as if probing my true intentions.

“It’s odd for me to say this, but… I think I appear very suspicious myself.”

“If you intended to set a Trap, you’d have done it long ago.”

“…I see.”

Claudia closed her eyes as if satisfied. Then she nodded slightly and stared at me intently.

“…Ultimately, if Irmhild can teleport to that area, you can accompany her if you wish. I thought it would build mutual trust and understanding better if everyone came from the start. I’ll make the promise with everyone. That way, if I’m betrayed, I can accept it as unavoidable.”

…There’s something to be said for making concessions to earn trust.

And precisely because she made concessions herself, if betrayed, she could cut her losses without hesitation, huh? That feeling… I think I understand. It’s similar to why I chose to have Forestbird accompany me on my journey from the Count’s territory.

“…Understood. So, what’s the promise?”

“In the village, there’s a path leading further down to the lower Floors. I’d like you not to proceed that way.”

Hmm… Well, that’s understandable too. If this were a Trap, there’d be no need to bring up such a promise from the start.

Further depths from the village, huh? It’s not that I’m uninterested in the Labyrinth’s secrets—but my current objective isn’t to unravel them in the first place.

“I’m fine with that, but—”

I glanced around at my companions. No objections seemed to arise.

“Then—shall we go? You all want to advance to the next Floor, right? Let’s descend to the next Floor and move from the stone monument. I can’t become active again unless it’s from the monument either.”

Hmm. Indeed, if she’d said to teleport immediately, our Exploration of this Floor would have been wasted. That consideration is appreciated.

“Understood. Then let’s go.”

But she didn’t move. She tilted her head slightly, seeming to wait for my next move.

“…Um. Aren’t you going to guide us?”

When I asked, there was a slight pause before her response.

“…Even if I can teleport to desired Floors, I don’t keep track of the changing routes between Floors based on the moon’s phase.”

Saying this, Claudia turned away. I couldn’t see her expression, but was I mistaken, or were her cheeks slightly red…?

Seriously. She can teleport, but doesn’t know the way…