Chapter 201

01 Siegmund was an unlucky person. His looks and intellect weren’t bad, and his combat abilities were A Rank. Whether or not his personality was agreeable depended on the person. Still, he endeavored not to be haughty, lazy, or negligent. To be a man honest enough not to make Mariela feel uncomfortable, faithful enough not to make her feel insecure, and attractive enough that she wouldn’t look away from him. At least the man himself believed that, and superficially, he conducted himself as planned. So people in the Labyrinth City who were somewhat acquainted with him considered Sieg to be the ideal young man. As far as Mariela went, she saw through his diligent attempts to keep up appearances and appeal to her, but she viewed both his facade and his true side favorably. In other words, the people around Siegmund, Mariela included, recognized him as quite the high-spec man. If one had to name the most unfortunate thing about Sieg, it would be his bad luck rather than his tendency to deviate somewhat from the sphere of common sense when it came to Mariela. Even if he had angered Mariela, there was plenty of room for an explanation. He’d simply had no chance to defend himself due to a series of regrettable incidents coming one after another. If he properly clarified and apologized from the bottom of his heart, surely Mariela would forgive him. Thinking as much, Sieg had gone after her, venturing deep into the Fell Forest, but… “This place is…a tower?!” He could’ve sworn he’d been in a marshland in the Fell Forest. The instant he’d laid his hands on a door within a shrine there, he had a sensation like an earthquake. Sieg had felt as though he would lose consciousness from extreme vertigo, so he’d reflexively shut his eyes, and upon opening them, he was in a tower. Damp air blew in through the tower’s many windows, and outside was pitch-dark, without a single visible star, but he could faintly feel Mariela’s magical power from far below him. “!!! Mariela! I’m coming!” Sieg practically flew down the stairs that led to a spiral staircase running along the round tower’s inner wall. “Two doors… Which one?!” Sieg reached the fourth floor—though he didn’t know what level it was—at an astonishing speed, and he’d lost track of the direction Mariela was in due to going around and around on the coiled steps. “Her magical power is… It’s no use. It’s too scattered…” A storm blew violently outside, perhaps created by magical power. It drowned out Mariela’s energy, as she wasn’t using it. Hoping to locate her visually instead, Sieg invoked his Spirit Eye while scanning the outside through a suitable window. Before long, he spotted a place resembling a spacious courtyard and a building resembling a temple towering in the center. “?! Gh!” As soon as Sieg’s Spirit Eye perceived the temple in the center, his magical power was absorbed in the direction of the temple via his Spirit Eye, like it was being dragged out of him. At the same time, the dark water was rapidly filling the world, centered on the temple. “Water?! Damn it, I’m trapped!” The image of rising water reflected in his Spirit Eye made Sieg feel he needed to get out of there right away. At present, he stood in the chamber of a tower with two doors opposite each other. There was also a staircase leading down, but since Mariela wasn’t in this tower, descending didn’t seem very valuable to Sieg. Right or left? Mariela had to be on the other side of one of the doors. The wind blowing in through the windows seemed to signal that the water was rising more and more. Sieg didn’t have a moment to lose. “Mariela! Guide me!!!” His mind made up, Sieg rushed for one of the doors and flew out into a passage on the outer wall. The outside was filled with damp air too dense to be called mist, enough so that even breathing was difficult. Moreover, the barricade connecting the tower Sieg had been in with the neighboring one had collapsed, and there was a considerable distance between them. Even if Sieg tried to leap the gap, jumping from the fourth floor he was on now to the exposed third floor hallway would be the best he could manage. In other words, after he jumped once, he didn’t know if he would be able to return to this tower. Sieg’s path was clear. He’d already decided on this door with the conviction that it would lead him to Mariela. And there was no longer any time to waver on that point. “Ahh, the hell with it!” Sieg leaped over to the hallway connecting to the neighboring tower and ran through it. He understood from the weight of the air coiling around his body that the water was approaching the area around him. As far as Sieg was concerned, the fact that the door to the tower he finally reached was broken might have been his only bit of luck. When he got there, the vicinity was filled with water, and if the door hadn’t been broken, he probably wouldn’t have been able to open it due to the water pressure. Sieg somehow managed to slip into the tower, and he swam to the floor above, seeking air. “Pfaw, the room is flooded, but the top of the tower isn’t…?” If the chamber above wasn’t underwater, surely Mariela was at the top of this tower. Siegmund thought this way, trusted his luck in this way, and he ran up the spiral staircase without catching his breath. Mariela had to be there. What should he say in apology? How should he explain? No, since this was Mariela, maybe she would warmly embrace him simply because he’d followed her this far. No doubt about it. Surely, Sieg would be able to see her smiling face. Mariela, Mariela, Mariela… Siegmund was an unlucky person. At least to the point where it got a laugh from those around him. “Eek ook!” After running up the tower, what Sieg found wasn’t Mariela, but Edgan making monkey noises. Sieg’s expression was so comical it made Grandel and Donnino, who happened to be there, too, think, I’m glad we accepted this job. 02 “Ook?” “…Mariela.” “Eek ook, eek, eek ook!” “…Mariela.” Did Sieg belong to the society of peculiar animals like Edgan? Although Sieg hadn’t lost a single memory, was the shock so nasty that he’d been robbed of his sanity? Mariela had no such miraculous power that could answer Siegmund’s plea of “Mariela, guide me,” and above all, she’d run away from home in anger and had no reason to help him. If the regulars from Sunlight’s Canopy were here, there was no doubt they’d be eating this up with their eyes as they treated themselves to tea and cakes. “Don’t be so discouraged. Comin’ this direction, well, I can only say it was bad luck, but you can go outside when the night arrives. You’ll be able to meet up with the young lady before long.” “Indeed. There is no woman in the world who wouldn’t be delighted you came all this way to get her.” “Ook!” Grandel and Donnino consoled Sieg, who couldn’t hide his dismay. The male-only room gave a shabby impression, but its occupants were quite gentlemanly. Well, the last one was really just a nuisance. “So Mariela is safe, huh…?” At last, Sieg raised his head and asked a question in a weak voice. While Grandel and Donnino were surprised he wasn’t using Mariela-ese, they replied, “She’s safe. She’s doing great,” and began to explain the situation. “In other words, we can only go outside during the night, and that window of opportunity is short?” “Exactly. The plan is to meet Yuric and the others in the southeast tower.” “Ook.” “What about information on the enemy? Anything other than having black, sticky bodies?” “There are also normal monsters, which generate and grow in the daytime. They seem to be hostile toward the ebon ones, and they prioritize them when attacking.” “Eek ook.” “Then the problem is simply the sheer number of those inky things…?” “Well, there’re several black monsters that look like bigwigs. We dealt with the main enemies, but there’s this one really nasty group in the courtyard. Right now, a petrified lamia is keepin’ ’em in check, but we don’t know how many nights that’ll last. Well, now that you’re here, Sieg, we can probably handle anything that comes our way.” “Eek ook!” Sieg, Donnino, and Grandel exchanged information while Edgan interjected in monkey language on every little thing. Perhaps he was trying to converse, but he kept getting up into Sieg’s face and peering into his eyes, which got very annoying. “…So Edgan lost his memories, huh?” “…” “…” “Eek, eek!” The fact that a person lost their past when a black monster latched onto them had already been made clear to Sieg, but no one had an answer regarding Edgan’s present condition except Edgan himself. Edgan had been following Sieg around for a little while now. Sieg didn’t know whether Edgan remembered they had been friends, or whether he’d come to ridicule Sieg with all his might for Sieg’s expression of despair when he saw Edgan and realized he’d magnificently made the wrong choice. Ape-gan…no, Edgan…had once taken all comers in matters of the heart and chased women relentlessly, but ever since the Labyrinth’s subjugation, his sole speck of sense was not to get involved with married women or women who already had lovers. Yet, even if it was by her request, Edgan had led Mariela away from Sieg. He deserved death. Well, Sieg was the only one who believed that, but if Edgan was really Sieg’s friend, he should have dissuaded Mariela from running off, or called Sieg, or something similar. No matter how much Sieg was to blame, it was just a few hours between when they had the fight and when Mariela ran away from home. Sieg hadn’t been given a chance to defend himself, nor had he even been contacted, and he seriously thought about reexamining his friendship with Edgan. Although, no matter what Edgan said now, no one would understand. Even now, Edgan was trying to open the large pack Sieg had brought with him, and Sieg was firing arrows at him. Of course, he wasn’t firing them in earnest, so Edgan agilely dodged them with eeks and ooks. He appeared to be teasing poor Siegmund. Sieg glanced at the eek-eeking Edgan, who was clearly enjoying himself, and let out a sigh. “Well, if we can make it to the spirit temple in the center, Edgan will probably turn out fine, too.” Donnino and Grandel reacted to Sieg’s nonchalant comment. “Spirit temple?” “Are you saying this is a spirit realm?” “Eek, eek ook?” “Uh, yeah. It’s most likely a water spirit. The instant I looked at the temple with my Spirit Eye, a considerable amount of my magical power was taken, so I think it’s quite a high-ranking spirit.” “Eek ook!” Sieg had revealed some critical information, and Edgan ruined the seriousness with his ook-ooking. Was he ook-ooking, or was he ook-cited? Or could it be both? Either way, the monkey’s friend was steadily getting sick of it. Grandel and Donnino discussed things like “When the place is full of water, do the black monsters not appear because of the spirit’s divine protection or something similar?” as though they understood and accepted what Sieg told them. The fact that the night ended yesterday as soon as Sieg arrived in this world may have been because Sieg’s magical power was summoned from his Spirit Eye and forcibly purified the corruption. Although, they didn’t know whether the water spirit intended to help Mariela and the other humans or whether it had its own agenda. Sieg waited impatiently for night to arrive as he gazed at Edgan, who had wandered into Sieg’s field of vision as he talked to the two middle-aged men, with a faraway look. At that same moment, Mariela was… “Mr. Franz, could you swim like a fish the way you are right now?” “No. I can stay underwater for a long time and move quite freely through it, but I don’t have gills.” “Mariela, what do ya intend to make Franz do?” Mariela and the others of her group entertained such topics as they absentmindedly gazed at the ocean outside and waited for nighttime. Perhaps because the group had burned and purified the calamities of famine and disease, normal monsters seemed to be gaining strength in the world of water. The fish monsters were clearly much larger than those swimming around when the group had first arrived in this structure. Mariela thought she saw a whale creature calmly floating by above them, though she only knew of whales from stories. “That’s a whale monster, right?” “Hmm? Ah, that’s right. It seems young still, though… Never thought that was even impossible.” “It’s huuuge for just a baby. About thirty feet long.” Despite having many dreams of Franz’s lost memories, Mariela and the others hadn’t been asleep any longer than usual. They had a lot of downtime on their hands as they waited for night. Until just a short while ago, Franz had been checking for a way to the north tower—the newly generated one—by leveraging his special characteristics that enabled underwater activity. The north side’s outer wall was fragmented en route, and the north tower towered in the center, but it seemed the divided wall hadn’t been restored, and the gap between the tower and the outer wall was a little too wide to jump. In other words, Mariela and the others couldn’t get to the new tower from the northwest one where they were, and they would have to go around the south side to reach the northeast tower. “Hmm, I wonder if what we need is a whatchamacallit and a thingamajig. Mr. Donnino could make that one thing, and I should be able to make that other thing if we go to the first floor…” “What are ya plannin’ this time?” Mariela talking about “whatchamacallits” and “thingamajigs” made her seem like a senile old lady. Although Yuric was puzzled, she offered, “If there’s somethin’ ya need, I’ll go look for it.” “Thank you! The main part will be after we meet up with everyone, but right now, I’d like to get as much rope ivy and gepla as possible—the materials for fire bottles.” “Got it.” “I’ll help, Yuric.” Yuric and Franz boarded the raptor to go collect the materials, and Mariela waved to them, saying, “I’ll make something delicious for when you get back.” “I want to eat somethin’ fried again!” “I’m looking forward to it.” Yuric and Franz’s reactions were extremely positive. Mariela’s alchemical cooking had a superb level of heat and was more delicious than when she prepared things with her fully equipped kitchen in Sunlight’s Canopy. Dishes eaten on the road were seasoned with exercise and impressive vistas. It made the flavor of even commonplace foods better. And if the taste of the dish itself was good to begin with, then so much the better. At the same time Edgan was saying “ook, ook” in the northeast tower, two people in the northwest tower were similarly ook-cited. After seeing off Yuric and Franz, Mariela quickly finished her preparations, hugged the salamander, who was watching for a chance to snatch a bit of food, threw herself down on the spot, and curled up. “Would you tell me just a little bit?” “Ar…” Could that have been a reply to Mariela’s muttering? The salamander made a small noise, then the two of them closed their eyes. 03 Ahh, one of those dreams again… I knew it. It was a vision about traveling through the dark forest protected by the fire spirit’s lamp. How much time had passed since the last dream? The woods appeared even denser, and it weighed on travelers’ hearts like the trees hanging over them. The darkness of the night made the trees’ shapes, which twisted as though to block the people moving through the forest, feel even more terrifying. How many times had there been pilgrimages to the lake since that first, fateful ritual? Travelers carved a narrow path through the thickets and scrubs. Was this place always so hostile? They looked like regular trees before… No sooner had Mariela thought the woods seemed familiar than a pack of forest wolves attacked. —Damn mutts!— The fire spirit lighting the ceremonial lamp swayed in irritation as she waved her hands to drive away the beasts, but she hadn’t quite materialized. The best she could do with her meager power was to dazzle the crazed monsters and weaken their attacks. “Forest wolves! Get in formation! Don’t forget the monster-warding potions!” This group of travelers had weapons and armor that was far superior to the people Mariela had seen in the first dream of this place. Of course, compared with the equipment from the era of the Kingdom of Endalsia, let alone what the Labyrinth City’s adventurers wore, the gear was inferior. The armor was clumsy and lacked maneuverability, and the weapons were extremely blunt. Even so, a squadron of humans wasn’t going to be overtaken by a few forest wolves. The travelers set to exterminating the monsters with swords and spells. —You won’t get in the way of us seeing each other after so long!— It had been a very long time since the fire spirit had been to that lake. Both human technology and the city had flourished more and more. There were stockpiles of food in case of famine and methods for creating potions that cured illnesses. People’s dependence on the spirits had gradually lessened. Many more humans now lived in the city, and from the fire spirit’s point of view, they were as cramped as a flock of sheep. What made her the most uncomfortable was that black mist-like corruption had become visible in the city here and there as the number of humans increased. Filthy, shadowy vapor gushed into the city with every foul word someone spat, and with the tears of sorrow and anger that spilled from their eyes. The air in the large settlement felt stagnant to the fire spirit. The fire spirit, who had continued to exist for a long time, understood that they were words of resentment and tears of bitterness. She understood that if the corruption accumulated and wasn’t purified, something terrible would happen. That’s why she endeavored to purify the desecration as she moved from lamp to lamp in the city. However, this sprawling settlement, with its brilliant lights that stayed on all night, was full of gold and silver treasures more dazzling than any lamp. No matter how much corruption she expunged, the desecration gushing out from gaps in the gold, and the people themselves, never ran out. Although more corruption surged forth than the fire spirit could purify, it never thickened beyond a certain point. The same could not be said of where the desecration flowed to: the lake. That had long troubled the fire spirit. She couldn’t suppress her worry over the black corruption floating both ahead and behind them on the road, as though both pursuing the people hurrying toward the lake and guiding them. The air of the forest, which had once been deeply peaceful, was now gloomy and damp like the breath of an enormous monster inviting unwary folks into the abyss. The woodland creatures that had once been gentle now had bloodshot eyes and attacked the humans without heeding the fire spirit’s attempts to restrain them. The fire spirit had become aware this place was no longer the place she once knew, but she felt compelled to ascertain with her own eyes what awaited beyond this point. The dark forest suddenly came to an end—to convey the truth to the fire spirit. —Why…?— The water’s surface, darker than the night itself, lay amid a silvery shaft of moonlight. The jet-black lake seemed to swallow up both the lunar glow and the illumination from the fire spirit’s lamp. The lake spirit slowly emerged in the very center, sluggishly moving their body, which looked like it was drenched in ink. Was this the same place? The fire spirit could have sworn the lake was so clear the first time she’d come here that she could easily count the rings of the trees submerged in its depths. The bottom of the pool had been visible when the lake took in the corruption of disease, too. —It’s been a long time. I thought you had already disappeared.— Though their body was dyed obsidian with desecration, though their eyes were blackened and dull, the fire spirit still thought the lake spirit was beautiful. —I won’t go out. I won’t ever go out. Not now or in the future. Never ever. Because I… I will purify the corruption…— As soon as she said this, the fire spirit looked back at the group she’d come with and scowled at today’s “offering.” In that instant, the flames of a torch spread to the box of the offering the group carried, and it violently burst into flames. “Wah, the fire!” “What is this? Hurry and put it out!” “B-but it was dried, and the fire is spreading fast…” “Help!” “It hurts!” “The monsterrrs!” “Open the gaaate!” The shrieks from the offering went unheard by those who’d carried it here. The voices of people crying, shouting, and unanimously begging for help. —Did monsters attack you this time?— —Yeah. There’s a ton of them in the forest. They surged into the city. I managed to drive ’em away, but a great many humans died.— The only ones who’d fallen to the monsters were the poor who resided outside the outer wall. The people who possessed the brilliant gold and silver treasure were able to escape harm within the sturdy castle barricades, protected by brawny soldiers. The rich ignored the voices of those who banged on the outer wall and pleaded for sanctuary, and they watched the monsters eat them alive. The offering housed the resentment and anger exploited destitute, and the horror and grief of being attacked and eaten by monsters. —Your bodies and souls are no longer in this world. I’ll burn all those painful feelings to nothing. You can turn to cinders and return to a brand-new, colorless, shapeless state, and melt into the atmosphere.— —You once looked like you could be blown out with a breath, and now you’ve become so strong…— The fire spirit smiled happily at the lake spirit’s earnest voice. She turned to look at them, and her expression froze. —Why? Why is corruption still streaming in?— She realized the black desecration endlessly drifting on the road that led from the city to the lake was flowing straight into the water. —A path was made. People were coming to me to purify corruption long before you and I met. Yet, though I am the spirit who rules over the ley line of this forest, I have not the power to expunge desecration. This misconception people have was likely born out of their repeated visits to me.— Over the centuries, humans had formed the notion that this lake was the place corruption returned to. —Thus, they created a path for the defilement to move through, and it began to flow here like this.— No anger or sadness could be seen in the lake spirit regarding the pool’s corruption, and their own, as they calmly spoke. They simply received the desecration that streamed in just as they received the rainwater that fell from the heavens, the moonlight that poured down, and the fallen leaves of the trees. —But, but… If that much corruption collects…— The fire spirit understood why the trees and the monsters in the forest had transformed. This lake led to the forest’s ley line. The corruption that streamed in circulated through the woods and spread to all the trees and animals. The creatures that lived in and loved the forest likely wished to carry the desecration in themselves rather than have it pollute the lake. —Even if I become twisted and dark, things in the forest will not change. They will just become a little bit mischievous.— It was said corrupted magical power coagulated and formed monsters. That wasn’t a lie. Creatures that took so much corruption into their bodies, it overtook them changed into monsters. Corruption was, in short, the negative emotions people emitted. It wasn’t possible for monsters that had taken in such a thing and transformed to love humans. Monsters didn’t hate people. People hated people. The lake spirit calmly told the fire spirit that if it hadn’t been for humans, things in the forest would never have changed. —Even so! That doesn’t mean they’re not tormented by the emotions in their hearts!— The lake spirit smiled gently, looking at the fire one as she shouted. —The structure has already been remade. Do not be anxious. Even if we go mad from the corruption, our existences are but a gentle breeze rippling the water in the eternal flow of time. Unless something unexpected occurs, our peace will not be threatened. It would be best for you to go, dear flame. You are too dazzling for me as I am now.— After those final words, the lake spirit disappeared into the water, and no matter how much the fire spirit screamed and called to them, the jet-black surface, which didn’t even reflect the moon, simply wavered gently. The fire spirit couldn’t forget the lake spirit’s gaze, radiant like a gentle night, nor the color of the eyes, black as the abyss. In their final moments, the spirit had turned that look upon the humans before sinking, never to be seen again. 04 “Ah, I knew it was you, Sieg.” “Mariela! You’re safe!” “Ook!” “Yeah, Yuric and the others protected me.” “I see… Mariela, I’m so sorry…” “Eek ook.” The following night, Mariela and Sieg safely reunited at last. With the loss of the two gatekeepers, Franz and Edgan, the night seemed to have gotten longer. With Franz running alongside the raptor, Mariela’s group was able to make it all the way to the southeast tower before dawn came. Thanks to the newly created north tower, the surging black monsters had abated, but how long would that last? Despite such concerns, Sieg, Mariela, and all the Black Iron Freight Corps members were delighted to at last be back together. “Mariela, um, I…” “Eek, eek ook, eek, eek.” They’d finally reunited, yet because a certain monkey kept butting in, the conversation didn’t progress at all. The two couldn’t even make up, let alone exchange information. Sieg wanted to apologize and receive Mariela’s forgiveness properly, but Edgan, who had been thrusting himself between them with eeks and ooks for a while now, managed to hinder Sieg at every attempt. “Oy, Edgan! Get lost!” Sieg snapped at last and tried to catch Edgan, but all this did was delight the latter. Sieg chased after the monkey, who ook-citedly and happily ran amok. “They sure get along, don’t they?” Mariela smiled as she gazed at the two, but she was distracted. The spirit’s dreams shouldn’t have ended with last night’s vision. What in the world were the dark raiders in the courtyard…? They could help the petrified lamia. It was a simple petrification, but in the unlikely event it was a curse, Mariela also prepared a curse-removal potion, the same kind she’d once made for Leonhardt. The real trouble was the ebon cavalry. Even with the lamia, Mariela wasn’t confident in her side’s victory. And the black monsters seemed to pour into the temple every night. Her conjecture from the spirit dream was that the swarm of black monsters flowing toward the temple was a mass of corruption. It had to be beyond any one person’s capabilities, let alone Mariela’s, to change an established current that may as well have been a raging river. Just because they rush to the temple in the center doesn’t mean it’s their goal, though… Mariela was thinking hard. Sieg, misunderstanding this as her still being upset, looked for a chance to apologize in a fluster, and the monkey pulled all the pranks he could. “Ahhh, you are so annoyin’!” The one who ran out of patience wasn’t Sieg, whom Edgan was pestering, but Yuric, who was watching.