Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, I don’t really want to be trapped in another dungeon for a while. I can’t help but think about the Arm Demon, who is still missing--none of us made it to the strange room that I couldn’t use All Map Exploration on. But, for now, I’d like to enjoy a peaceful life for a while--well, not too long--or I will get bored.”

As we leave the labyrinth, we come out into a vacant lot that is as wide as a normal school yard, and surrounding the edge of the lot are fences, which are two meters high--all of these look like they were hastily made.

Since I can see the outer wall from here, it seems that this is the same square where the commotion started--we had traveled through around one hundred rooms, and ended up in the same place.

Pochi turns back and looks a little surprised, drawing Tama, then Liza, and finally my gaze--the labyrinth’s entrance looks like it is made from a three meter high sharp spire of jet-black rock, with a hole in it--a hole that looks even darker than the surrounding stone, as though it is absorbing all nearby light.

There are three cannons fifty meters away from us, surrounding the entrance to the lot. Wooden barricades with sharp pointed tips are lined up in rows, in a staggered formation, but positioned in such a way that they don’t obstruct the cannon’s line of fire.

“Tek, please come here!” Zena calls out to me from a tent that is situated is such a way that it straddles the line of the fences, working like a make-shift gate.

When we first reunited, Zena hugged me--clinging to me without letting go, but her co-worker Lilio, who was late, teased her--causing her to jump back in a panic.

She seemed to be very worried--did she like me that much?

 

Since we left the labyrinth, Pochi and Tama walk by my sides, they have grabbed onto my sleeves; I was the one who suggested it, so that they didn’t get lost among the soldiers. At first, they seemed a little nervous as they held my clothing carefully, but they soon adjusted.

When I head towards the tent, Liza is following exactly three steps behind me.

Since Pochi and Tama are busy, Liza has all the bags, and her spear tucked under her arm. When we enter the tent, I get her to give the bags to the female official at the entrance before we go in.

Liza really didn’t want to leave her spear, but once I urged her, she reluctantly let it go.

The inside of the tent is unexpectedly wide, it’s about as wide as a normal school classroom.

It seems that the younger priest, who got out earlier than us, is inside as well. He is being questioned by officials while he is receiving medical treatment.

The Viscount and his daughter aren’t here--are they in another tent?

Since Zena beckons me over, I walk towards her.

I know I never actually said his name, but the younger priest’s name is Nebinen, he and Nidoren are also over there with her. The last person standing there, completing the group, is a gray-haired knight with bulging muscles and metal armour.

The knight looks over as Zena beckons to me, and laughs. Even though he is old, his expression looks like that of a mischievous boy.

“Ooh, so you’re Mage Zena’s dearest?”

“N-no.” Zena answered, obviously flustered.

But the knight ignores her and continues, “She was panicking before she saw you again, you know? If her squad hadn’t been watching over her, she would have tried to enter the labyrinth alone--it was that dangerous.”

“Sorry if I caused you trouble.” It’s only fair to apologize for causing Zena’s squad issues--though it’s not completely my fault.

“Hahaha, you don’t need to apologize. I just wanted to get a look at the person who caused this straight laced Mage, who seemed to have no interest in anything other than training her Magic, to fall.”

“L-like I said, I don’t--” She tried to deny it again, but in the middle she began to murmur and blush. She lowers her head, looking really embarrassed--but she looks at me with damp, upturned eyes.

It’s been a long time since I experienced a rom-com situation like this--it brings back memories of highschool.

The knight looks at Zena with amusement, and places a hand on his chin, before turning his eyes to me with an appraising look in his eyes, “However, even though he does look nimble--to be able to break through a labyrinth with such a small number of people--even the best of my soldiers could do that.”

“If the girls weren’t there--far from escaping, I’d have been in the belly of a Monster by now.” I said this to make the surroundings have a good impression of the Beastkin girls.

Pochi and Tama, who seemed to have gotten bored and were quietly standing by my sides, looked up at me with curious looks in their eyes--I reach out and stroke their hair, to keep them quiet, and distracted. Liza reads the situation and chooses to say nothing, but nods to the knight.

“They sure look strong. I would like to make them my subordinates, if only they weren’t Demi-Humans.” While this knight, who looks like he is a nice guy, doesn’t seem to care about them being different races--but it seems that the discrimination against Demi-Humans is really deeply rooted.

I respond with a wry smile, “They’re good comrades who’ve been with me without problems.”

“Well, if they weren’t, it would’ve been impossible to break through the labyrinth--I’m sorry, but this territory’s people are always at odds with the Demi-Human tribes, so they’re incompatible, no matter what.”

So, it wasn’t just simple prejudice, but racial disputes and war--no wonder it’s so deep-rooted.

“Commander! The preparation is complete.” A woman wearing a Mage robe calls out.

What preparation?

There seems to be a Yamato stone sitting on a pedestal, it’s bigger than the one that I saw at the front gate.

The Commander calls out to everyone who have managed to escape the labyrinth with a loud voice, “I know that this may be rude, but everyone here need to be checked with this Yamato Stone. This is the original Yamato Stone specially loaned to the army by the earl. Even Abnormal Statuses will be displayed--this is to make sure that no one is possessed by the Demon.”

Initially, most of the people have slightly displeased looks on their faces, but they become quiet after being told that it’s to find out whether they’re possessed by the Demon or not.

Everyone here had seen the moment when the Demon’s Arm had torn out of Uusu back in the square.

Still, leaving my level at one, and with no Skills, even though I’ve broken through a labyrinth is a--bad idea.

It’s been a while since I last used the Menu, with a though, I open the Exchange tab. Since the Beastkin girls are level 13, let’s make me a bit lower at level 10. My skills should be traveler-like: Camping, Dagger, and Analysis--but having no battle related skills would be stupid, so let’s also put in Avoid.

When my turn came, I put my hand on the Yamato Stone--yep, the Stats have been updated with the information I set previously.

“Indeed, the Nimble Traveler, huh?”

“--You heard that from Zena, didn’t you?” I sigh as I answer the Commander.

“That’s right. Still, even though you’re not a soldier or an explorer, to have such a high level at that age--you must’ve been through a lot.”

“It’s not that amazing.”

Are my words humility?

Nope.

In fact, this man is around level thirty-five at forty years old in reality, though he looks twenty-five, being level ten at fifteen years old isn’t really worth bragging about--especially because it gets harder to level the higher you get.

I wonder why the age of people say 25, with another number brackets--maybe it’s something to do with levels--could it be that getting levels makes you live longer; I will have to ask someone more knowledgeable.

Small shouts come from behind me.

They seem to be surprised that a slave is so higher leveled, being level thirteen, and even having four skills.

Looking back, I see that Liza has a fairly calm expression as always, but her whole tail is twitching a bit--she’s probably a bit proud.

Next is Pochi, and she seems worried as she places her hand on the Yamato Stone. There are even more shouts, they seem surprised that a fourteen year old is level 13, with 4 skills--she is only three years younger than Liza.

Hearing the surprise, she looks over at me with a happy, and proud, expression--her tail is wagging so quickly that it makes a soft buzzing sound--Liza had to quickly move forwards and grab the hem of Pochi’s clothing, otherwise the resulting wind would change it from revealing to indecent.

Last up is Tama, the surprise in the room was much quieter than when Pochi had her turn--her Stats are as good as Pochi’s, but since it’s the third time in a row, the surprise factor has already faded.

She looks dissatisfied. So when she glances over at me, I give her a smile and thumbs up--her expression quickly clears up, and she smiles back at me.

“It must have been difficult to train Demi-Human slaves to be that powerful.” The Commander says with a smile.

“It wasn’t that hard, because the girls are excellent.”

It’s true that I did struggle a little, but the girl’s are also excellent. Although I wouldn’t have died without them, I would have had an unpleasant time with the traps.

Tama’s inspection was the last.

It seems that everyone except Nebinen, who’s in a deep talk with a white-haired official, has already been allowed to go home.

“Now then, since the inspection is done, is it fine for us to go home too?” I ask the Commander.

“I’m sorry, I’d like to hear a bit more about the time the Demon appeared.” he responded.

***

Nebinen, Zena, and I all explain again about how the situation unfolded--from the beginning, until we were swallowed up by the labyrinth, we talk in excruciating detail; we repeat the story to the white-haired Official and the Commander.

I was embarrassed when Zena’s praise of how I handled Uusu became rather excessive. Even Nebinen concluded that I decreased the chance of rebellion, and dealt with the agitators inside the crowd.

Since I remember the Demon’s words when we entered the labyrinth better than Nebinen, I took over.

“For the sake of full revival huh--” The white-haired official spoke.

“I don’t know how much Magic Power would be required for a Demon to revive, but here is quite close to the Dragon Vein.” The Commander explained to the rest of us, who looked confused.

“That’s right, since Seryuu is close to the Dragon Vein--Even then, it would still take several months right? Well, before that, let’s call the high level Adventurer Guilds from the Labyrinth City, from Selbira, and end this threat.” The white-haired official spoke to the Commander.

Yep, lots of unknown words is making it a little difficult to follow the story.

To my side, Zena is clenching her fists and nodding with a serious expression.

Well, from what I can figure out, it should to be fine to leave the Demon alone for a few months--so before that, they are planning on defeating it by calling in some high level Adventurers.

After that, I was asked some questions: What kind of Monster appeared in the labyrinth, how many appeared at the same time, what kinds of traps there were, and various other things like that.

I only report around half of our actual battles, and don’t explain in detail how we killed, but I don’t hide what kind of enemies came out. At first, they just calmly asked questions, when the story arrived at the time we met Viscount Belton, the official had a slightly strange expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I paused to ask him.

“Did you really fight that many battles without a Mage? Furthermore, judging from the time the labyrinth appeared until when you escaped, each battle would have only taken a very short amount of time, right? Did you properly take breaks?”

“Of course, since we’re not machines.”

“Yeah, of course you are!” Zena said, it seemed like it just slipped out, and she blushed when everyone turned and looked at her.

“Yes, we took three rests, each were three hours or so long.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re just bragging.” The Commander looked intently at my face for a second before speaking.

“It must be a party with exceedingly good cooperation, you did well not to get annihilated, fighting at that high pace.” The white-haired official said with an impressed look.

“That’s right, if even one person incurred a serious injury, you’d have been completely slaughtered--If I was with you, I could have taken the role of support.” Zena spoke, her voice trembling slightly as she looked at me with teary eyes.

“Along the way, we found an Alchemist’s house, and in it were a lot of Magic Potions, it’s partly thanks to that.” If I must tell a small lie to stop a beautiful girl from crying--I shall.

“Hmm, as expected. If there had been no means of recovery--that many battles would have been impossible,” The Commander nodded with a hand on his chin

Yep, we did go through hardships.

Whenever the Beastkin girls were going to be hit, I immediately dashed in and parried the attack--if they were about to be surrounded, I grabbed the enemy’s attention.

I really want some kind of provocation skill.

***

Oh right, I should confirm with the people who know, before I forget.

“Um, can I ask something?”

“What would that be? I don’t mind answering, as long as it isn’t a military secret. By the way, my daughter is fifteen, with a good body and is very popular.” The Commander spoke with an amused grin.

Zena glared at him.

What is this person saying?

Well, let’s ignore it--I will ignore it, so please stop looking at me with teary eyes, Zena?

“It’s about the labyrinth, I think that it may be considerably spreading--is it fine to just let it do that?” I clear my throat before speaking.

“Oh, didn’t I explain it?”

No, you didn’t.

“The labyrinth won’t spread anywhere beside up to the outer wall of this square, I can safely declare that there is no danger of this city collapsing.” The Commander spoke with assurance.

“Can I ask why you are so sure?”

“Well, the army, collaborating with the Mages and Alchemists have set up a barrier. The temples are holding their own consecration ceremony, and with this double layer of shields, the labyrinth has been restricted from encroaching on the city’s underground.”

I see.

“The quick isolation of the labyrinth is thanks to the quick report from Mage Zena.” The Commander looked proud as he placed a hand on Zena’s slim shoulder.

“That was thanks to Tek giving the priority to reporting, and he helped me get out of the square before the labyrinth appeared.” Zena looked between the commander and the white-haired official, before turning to me with flushed cheeks and a cute grin.

“That’s why, as long as the barrier is seriously maintained, the labyrinth won’t endanger the city.” The white-haired man spoke with a smile.

“Okay, thank you for the explanation--I’m relieved” I said, nodding to him.

What a relief, I was afraid that the inn might collapse while I was sleeping--