Chapter 139 – The Distance Between People and the Labyrinth

“Good morning, Theo.”

“Good morning, Theodore-kun.”

“Morning.”

When I came downstairs after waking up, Claudia was already here. She was naturally helping prepare to serve breakfast.

“Ah, good morning.”

“Sorry for intruding. I heard you might be moving on to conquering the Great Corruption Lake today.”

Ah. I had told her before that we’d proceed with the conquest after the day of the Marquis’s banquet passed…

“You mean it’s better to get used to the Great Corruption Lake? In that case, we don’t need to progress through the sewer system, so I’ll take you to the entrance of the Corruption Lake.”

“That’s appreciated. So that means we’ll be heading from the labyrinth entrance monument?”

“That’s right.”

Claudia answered with her eyes closed. I recall… she said she didn’t want to attract attention. Since she has a hooded coat, it would be best for her to use that until we enter the labyrinth.

Thinking about it, for Claudia, having our meeting here would probably be the least conspicuous option.

“The meeting will be after breakfast, I suppose…”

“Given the location, that would be best.”

When I murmured this, Claudia, who understood the situation, nodded.

After finishing our meeting, we all headed to the labyrinth entrance. Descending the spiral passage from the Temple toward the entrance monument, we found people gathered in the plaza before the entrance.

“…I smell blood. Perhaps there’s an injured person.”

“I might be able to help. I’ll go take a look.”

“Understood. Until we enter the labyrinth, let’s keep Grace in her sealed state.”

Ashley headed toward the injured person. I activated Grace’s Cursed Tool and immediately followed after Ashley.

“Trisha! Hang in there!”

There was a female adventurer who had suffered serious injuries. She seemed to have severe wounds, with a large laceration on her abdomen, groaning in agony. The bleeding was terrible too. A Temple shrine maiden who could apparently use healing magic was desperately continuing treatment with magic, but the recovery didn’t seem to be keeping pace.

“Let me help! Please hold her hand and talk to her so she doesn’t lose consciousness!”

No sooner had Ashley spoken than she held her hand over the injured person’s wound. Working together with the shrine maiden, the glow of healing magic illuminated the wound.

“Th-thank you! Trisha! Trisha! Hang in there!”

With this unexpected reinforcement, bright expressions appeared on the adventurers’ faces.

Then Siren Justia and Harpy Dominique came running over as well.

Each began treatment with healing magic to match Ashley’s efforts. Justia and Dominique also reinforced the healing magic with Cursed Songs and Cursed Melodies.

As if by prior arrangement, Irmhild also chimed in by striking her strings with String Resonance, and Seraphina, recognizing this, concentrated the magical power of her performance on the treatment area. With all that combined, the effect was dramatic.

First, the pain seemed to ease, as the adventurer’s agonized groans changed to slow, deep breaths. The bleeding stopped, and color returned to her pale face.

Cheers rose from the surroundings. The flesh around the wound swelled up and closed. New skin formed… and though slight scars remained, the adventurer immediately sat up, stroking her abdomen with an expression of disbelief.

“Ashley. It would be good to use Clear Blood as well.”

“…You mentioned that if something bad mixes with the blood, it might cause illness, right?”

“Yes. That tends to happen when injured.”

For infection prevention, it’s better to use Clear Blood, which purifies blood, in situations beyond just detoxification.

Ashley immediately began purifying the adventurer’s blood with Clear Blood magic. With this, the prognosis should be secure.

“Th-thank you for saving me.”

“Sorry. We owe you one.”

“What happened?”

Since they seemed to have overcome the crisis, I asked, and one of the adventurer group members answered.

“We charged into a monster room. We managed to carry our injured companion and escape to the monument.”

“…I see.”

At least it didn’t seem to be something like a Guardian appearing.

“You guys just came to Termwills and are still on the shallow floors, right? You were told that large rooms have markings, weren’t you?”

“We knew that, but…”

Early spring sees many people coming and going. With new adventurers increasing, it seems these kinds of injuries are also rising.

Given that they escaped to the monument, they probably understood the route beforehand before challenging the large room, but on shallow floors, monster appearances are sporadic, so they likely underestimated the danger when it turned out to be a monster room.

“Good work.”

When I said this to Ashley after she finished treatment, she smiled somewhat embarrassed.

“I also tried the treatment method Theodore-sama mentioned.”

She must mean the sonar method using magical reflection.

“How was it?”

“Since the damaged areas became easier to identify, I feel like I was able to treat them more effectively than usual.”

“Hmm, that’s good to hear.”

“Since it was the same as what Lisa-sama was doing. I practiced.”

Marlene smiled, taking Ashley’s hand happily. Justia and Dominique also seemed to be chatting and laughing with Irmhild.

Suddenly glancing over, I noticed Claudia sighing with relief beneath her hood, then watching the adventurers.

Ah, I see… Is it because she belongs to the labyrinth side?

Entering the labyrinth means fighting monsters and getting injured. In other words, her true feelings might not be that she doesn’t want to be seen, but that she genuinely doesn’t want to interact with people coming to Termwills if possible.

“…At the very least, we’re not entering the labyrinth because anyone asked us to.”

When I spoke to Claudia, she looked up somewhat surprised and looked at me.

We enter the labyrinth knowing we’ll fight monsters. I understand Claudia feels troubled about that. Precisely because of her personality, if she could solve those problems, she would be doing so. But seeing the current situation, the only conclusion is that Claudia’s power doesn’t extend that far.

Those who invade weigh the risks and returns. In that respect, it’s no different from hunting monsters elsewhere.

The lives of people in the Kingdom of Verdugal are partly sustained by materials, food, and magic stones obtained from monsters. So enjoying the benefits while blaming Claudia and complaining when inconveniences arise is probably wrong, I think.

“…You don’t need to say that, but thank you. I’ll accept your concern. More importantly… those two aren’t from that village, are they?”

Claudia asked, as if changing the subject.

I see. This also seems to be one topic she doesn’t want to discuss deeply. If that’s the case, we should probably end this conversation here.

“Those two” refers to Justia and Dominique. Right now, they were being thanked by the adventurers they saved.

“Ah. Apparently they were pulled here by summoning magic. The Adventurer Guild is protecting them… and it seems both decided to cooperate with the guild using their abilities.”

“…I see. They seem to be accepted. I thought I knew the situation was different from before, but seeing this is quite moving.”

Claudia said quietly, narrowing her eyes.

Termwills has been relatively open to different races for quite some time. I don’t know how far back “before” refers to… but there must have been times when that wasn’t the case. That can be imagined from the monster village deep in the labyrinth that Claudia manages, and how its residents fear the outside.

And that thinking is correct in a way. There are certainly those who view them as “monsters, even if called friendly,” and no matter what, they remain a minority among humans.

For example, depending on the situation, if the country changes its policy, they would be powerless against that. The choice of not leaving the labyrinth is probably correct in its own way.

But at the very least… Claudia seems to welcome that the two are being accepted.

The saved adventurers said they would express their gratitude through the guild later. Since Ashley’s magical power consumption was at an acceptable level, we proceeded with conquering the Great Corruption Lake as planned.

Claudia touched the monument, and we transferred along with her.

Wrapped in light, when I opened my eyes—a poisonous marshland spread out before me. A marshland with the color of faded moss and scattered land areas. The Great Corruption Lake.

We created shields with wind barriers and purified the air inside as a defensive measure against the odor.

“Sheila, are you okay? How about Lavigne?”

Since we had prepared defenses beforehand, we didn’t particularly notice the expected odor at this point. But that’s just for us.

As for Sheila and Lavigne, who have superior senses of smell, even in this state it might be difficult for them.

“I’m fine for now.”

“Lavigne seems okay too.”

Replies came from both Sheila and Ashley.

“Understood. Since we’re also gathering information and making improvements, please speak up if there are problems.”

“Got it.”

“Yes!”

Well then. Shall we begin conquering the Great Corruption Lake?