Chapter 12
Take one of these and go in.”
After all the children had made weapons, Robertian handed them a necklace with blue jewels hanging.
“The necklace is connected to your spirit. If you are under too much stress in the labyrinth, I’ll intervene through the reaction of the necklace.”
It was a safety precaution just in case.
“And if you think you can’t break through the labyrinth, tap on the jewel of your necklace and say, ‘Help me.’ Then you can escape from the labyrinth without a hitch.”
It was Hansen and others who nodded at the words of Robertian. He only participated because he couldn’t resist tradition. They had no ambition in the blood ceremony.
“Well, then. Let’s get in together.”
After I finish what I have to say. With a big smile, Robertian stepped aside from the entrance to the cave.
“We go in together, but from the moment you go into the cave, you’ll be led in a different way. Don’t be too embarrassed, but there is only one road at first, so go straight ahead. If you don’t think you can do it from there, tap on the jewelry.”
The children walk out. Eugene strode, conscious of the shield on his left forearm.
“Good luck.”
Before entering the cave entrance. Ciel, who was walking along the side, smiled broadly at Eugene. Without the words Gargis and Dira, she gave Eugene a wink. Eugene said, grinning at their gaze.
“Good luck, too.”
“Yes!”
At a rough throw of encouragement, Ciel nodded vigorously.
Nine children entered the cave. At the moment they passed only the entrance. It became clear and dark around. Someone might make a surprised sound, but they will be unable to hear it.
Eugene looked around without any embarrassment.
A labyrinth brought in by summoning magic But now that he was inside, he can’t feel any sense of incompatibility.
Robertian may be an excellent wizard to be proud of being the desciple of the great wizard, as Eugene’s immature body does not detect a sense of harmony unique to magic.
‘Cause I still didn’t train Mana.’
If so, he should strictly be dependent on his body’s senses. Fortunately, it was one of Eugene’s good areas.
Eugene breathed low and long.
He didn’t get excited in the first place, but he calmed myself down. And started concentrating on the ither five senses one by one.
Visual, auditory, olfactory, Touch… Taste?
It may be a useless sense in this place. However, Eugene made the taste of blood in his mouth by chewing on the tip of his tongue.
As such…
His sensation are now heavily concentrated. Breathing out repeatedly awakened his mind. His intuition opens up in such it looked like a sixth sense.
It was the dull experience of being Hamel that awakened his mind.
He had enough of it in his previous life. Most of the monsters that dig into the ground make nest like a maze.
That’s how a single ant makes its nest, and even Goblin does so.
Not to mention mana. The hide out of Helmud was a labyrinth itself.
In modern times, it’s a place where you can pay a lot of money just for a tour. Helmud’s place was where Hamel wandered from was a terrible hell that shouldn’t exist in this world.
How many times he almost died there. Most of his confident skills were not used in Helmud’s place. Even that stupid Moron was afraid to move forward recklessly. Senya, who used to praise herself as a great wizard, was not convinced by her magic. Anise, who always said God would take care of her, also called out his colleagues’ names more than God in Helmud.
Only Vermouth was calm.
“…”
Eugene smiled bitterly. The warrior Vermouth and his companions… That’s true. The center of the party was Vermouth. Without him, everyone would not have broken through Helmud. Hamel, Moron, Senya, Anise. When he first entered Helmud, he was young and immature.
But a man grows through experience. All of his colleagues, if not as much as Vermouth, had at least once mistaken that he was the best man in the world. So he was able to grow explosively.
From some point on, colleagues regarded each day in Helmud as a routine. Moron moved forward again, Senya was convinced by his magic, and Anise restored her faith in God.
Hamel, however, hated himself for being weaker than Vermouth. He hated shaking with fear. He simply couldn’t do it like Vermouth.
So I was more and more pushy about myself. Since he can’t do it like Vermouth, he wanted to grow his own way.
Vermouth does not feel afraid.
Hamel feels fear.
So get used to fear and overcome it.
Vermouth does anything easily.
Hamel can’t do it easily. At first, even if he do well, he will face a wall someday.
So break the wall and go out.
The same is true here.
Vermouth was not embarrassed in his first labyrinth, but always tried to find his way. He was a man and could not always choose the right path.
Every time he fails. Whenever he choose the right path. Hamel looked at what grounds Vermouth found the right path and what went wrong and chose the wrong path. Hamel had no innate intuition like Vermouth, so he filled his lack in that way.
The same experience remains intact in Eugene’s head.
‘It’s a mystery that made the kids break through. I didn’t mean to kill her. Well, then… It’s plain and obvious.’
Eugene did not stop walking. As Robertian said, the beginning is a lonely road. It’s still dark around… However, as they go a certain distance, the darkness slowly clears.
Left and right walls. There’s plenty of distance not to be embarrassed by wielding weapons. However, if you want to swing the spear to your heart’s content, you will have to think about your position in many ways.
So Eugene didn’t choose the spear. Sword and shield. This basic combination is a combination of all-around abilities that can respond to almost any situation.
‘The ceiling is blocked.’
The trick of climbing the wall is useless. Eugene was conscious of the sense of smell among the sensitively awakened senses. The taste of blood was still hanging in his mouth. The smell of blood. Find a foreign odor by excluding it first.
There is a slight smell of oil. If he could handle Mana, he could feel it more clearly. Eugene moved forward with a slight regret.
He walked a little, and there were two paths in the road. The following road forms the same. The smell of oil is on the left path. It was a trap made by magic, but it smells like oil. It was plain and obvious.
However, Eugene still took the left path. It was to be sure that his judgment was right. While pretending to walk casually, the weight delivered to the soles of his feet is concentrated at once.
One, two, three, four…
Seven
The tread plate that touches goes down a little. One, two…
Three.
Got it! An arrow shoots from a flaw in the brick. Eugene held up the shield without embarrassment. Ambush! The arrow bounced through the shield. Eugene turned around without going any further.
‘It’s easy.’
It’s just that they’re at the level of the kids. Eugene smirked. Whenever he checked the wrong way, Senya used to have a seizure. Past memories bring back memories as well as experiences.
“Thup.”
Eugene felt his heart burn and went back to the right way.
“Go back and rest.”
Guilliard caught a cold eye.
Hansen was the first to knock on the necklace and declare to be taken out. He didn’t think there would be competition anyway, and he didn’t want to have any trouble. His parents also did not expect anything from his son to cause anything unusual.
“Yes… yes.”
Hansen, who was standing with crouch, bowed his head. Shortly after he returned, a rescue request was called again. Ten-year-old Julse was better than Hansen since he made his way to the labyrinth. However, he was shot by an arrow in the first trap and cried out for help.
After a while, the rescue request comes back. It was 11 years old Deacon. He endured the arrow in his body, but was beaten by a Slime, who faced him afterwards. Slime is a monster hard to deal with with with flying weapons. Deacon screamed, “Please save me because I was swallowed by slime’s mucous body.”
In less than an hour, nine people at the start became six. It was pathetic, but it’s what they had expected. No one expected those three jerks to show anything.
‘Gargis… He is clumsy, but he doesn’t stop.’
Robertian put a video of the labyrinth in the air. Six children are shown on a split screens. Gargis chose to go straight forwards rather than avoid the trap. Even if he get hit by an arrow or face a monster, he would still swing a bayonet as big as his body and go all out.
‘This labyrinth has a sleek design.’
If you’re caught in a trap, you’ll need to change your path immediately.
He avoided the trap several times. He didn’t want to fight with monsters. If there is no other way, he’ll just go back. It was only when he couldn’t back down that he’ll fight.
‘The Design is too careful. But it’s not bad.’
Ancilla trained the twins with the handwriting of famous adventurers and the designs of various beauty palaces. So the twins learned basic information about the mystery and how to target it. It helped to break through this blatant, obvious, easy maze.
For example, that beauty palace is blocked everywhere. However, the wind blows because of magic.
If you go in the direction of the wind, it helps you find a way. If you look carefully, you can find artificial traces on the road, and if there is no such thing, it is possible to avoid them based on the judgment of the moment the trap was triggered.
The draft was doing so. However, there was a lackluster part compared to being cautious. The idea is not flexible. As you try to rely on only the memories that come to mind unconditionally, your vision becomes narrow. So there were cases where they were caught in an easy trap.
“Siel is sensual. Think flexible, but… There’s something childish about it.’
Siel triggered the trap by throwing things like shoes. After doing so many times, he goes on a path where there is a trap. If there is a traffic jam, come back again, and if there is no traffic jam, go on and on. When you meet a monster, you don’t fight right away and bully him like playing with a toy.
The E-Ode is.
“…what do you say?”
“You seem very interested in magic.”
E-Ode was not focused on breaking through the mahogany. He looked at the traps one by one, and when he saw the monster, he burst into admiration. It’s a monster made of vision, and it’s this lively. Even after the monster was knocked down, he did not leave immediately, but for quite a while, he looked at the monster’s body and shone his eyes.
His eyes were dimly dead when he swung the sword and fought the monster. I laugh when I encounter magic.
“…I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. I liked reading books rather than training my body and skills. I especially enjoyed telling you fairy tales about magic. You know what? Iod, that child has more respect for the wise Senna than for his forefather, the great Vermouth.”
“You deserve the respect of every sorcerer.”
Robertian smiled proudly.
“So did I. I liked Senya’s story better than Vermouth in “The Adventures of Vermouth the Warrior.” Whenever the party was in trouble, Senya’s magic would come up with an amazing solution.”
“I’ve read that fairy tale since I was a kid. I… I liked Hamel, but….”
“You mean stupid Hamel?”
“If he hadn’t been in trouble, fairy tales would have been very boring. He was a mean man, but he was just… I tried to overcome my inferiority complex about my ancestors, Vermouth. Even when everyone followed Vermouth’s opinion, Hamel was the only one who had a different opinion.”
“I’ve hated Hamel since I was a kid.”
“Well, that’s possible. Hamel’s got them going through a lot of crises. But in every crisis, Hamel always tried to take responsibility for himself. From then I just couldn’t hate Hamel…”
Guillade smiled and watched the video.
“… Ioken, that kid wanted to learn magic from a young age. He actually learned it. I invited a magic teacher from the capital… But he didn’t try to get any more magic lesson during the middle school.”
“Do you know why?”
“He gave up on it. His mother has always told him that he will become the family head… He have to be a family head. He made up his mind that magic doesn’t have an advantage in the succession competition.”
The succession competition begins in earnest when children become adults.
“…I understand something from this. Magic has infinite possibilities, so the road to go with it is tough and far.”
“Honestly, I wish Ioken would walk the way of a Magician.”
Guilliard smiled bitterly and looked back at Robertian.
“There is only one family in the branch that specializes in magic. So I’ve tried to send him there several times, but he refuses. But… if he were to bevome a disciple of the Red Tower, he wouldn’t say no. There is still a desire for magic in Ioken’s mind.”
“I can’t give you a definite answer.”
Robertian shook his head.
“I can’t accept anyone as my student. I have a relationship with you, so I accepted your favor, but… I’m not going to take him as a disciple unless he’s good at it.”
“It doesn’t matter though. I don’t mean to force it myself either. But I want to make him focus on his dreams.”
It is not just for Cyan and Ciel’s right of succession. It’s just it was painful to see his eldest son to rot while concentrating on something he doesn’t even want to do.
To convince his wife Theonis. And to push Ioken’s back, he brought directly the Red Tower master.
“… well, let’s take a closer look at hid qualities. He don’t seem to have any intention of using magic in this labyrinth.”
Robertian muttered and he looked at the screen.
“…but… Eugene. What the hell is that kid?”
The admiration has burst several times. Now embarrassing feelings precede admiration.
“…I don’t know.”
Guilliard murmured with sincerity.
Eugene on the screen was tearing away the eyes of the troll.