Wings’ Side 1
WITH HIM GONE, I THOUGHT WE WOULD GET to enjoy a comfortable life of adventuring. Nikola, Mehlis, and I had recovered from our wounds and welcomed Sophia to replace that nuisance. We had the perfect lineup.
The force of a raging dragon’s wings could cross a thousand seas. Thus the name Drachenflügel—wings of a dragon. Now that we had healed, we should have been able to dive right into the deepest depths of the labyrinth.
So, what the hell was this?
“Nikola! Heal me already!”
“R-right! Um…”
“Hurry up!”
We were right in the middle of a battle, but Nikola wasn’t prepared to heal me at all.
“Whatever! Put up a barrier, Mehlis!”
We switched strategies. Mehlis would buy us some time. Time to escape, that is.
“S-sure thing! Um, [Definition. Die genehmigung…]”
How the hell was she still chanting?!
More goblins swarmed us as she dragged her chant on. I could barely manage to grip the hilt of my sword with my injured right hand and swing it around to fend them off. As a dual wielder, I swung right then left, repeating that attack over and over.
Seriously! Why the hell did we look so lame?
“You’re still not ready?!”
“Sorry! [Fire Membrane!]”
A wall of flames erupted before us. Thank God.
“Everyone, retreat! Follow me!”
Withdrawing was our top priority. I dashed off in the opposite direction of the wall, and Sophia, Nikola, and Mehlis followed behind. The goblins thankfully couldn’t chase after us.
“Haah… Haah…” I was panting. I slowed to a jog as soon as I no longer saw the goblins. “Nikola! Heal me now while you can!”
I stuck out my right hand so she could close my wounds. As always, her hand emitted a faint glow as it healed my injuries. I grimaced. The pain gave way to an intense itch. I had gotten used to this, but it still sucked.
“All right. Then let’s—”
“Wait, Chronos. I’m not done healing you yet,” warned Nikola in a low whisper.
“Aren’t you slow today?”
“I know. I’m sorry, I just haven’t been quite right lately.”
She looked at me, and I could see the displeasure in her eyes. That’s when I realized I had taken my own frustration out on her. “No, I’m sorry. I’m just annoyed too.”
I let out a sigh and looked at the others. Neither Mehlis nor Sophia would meet my gaze.
Damn it! The atmosphere here freakin’ sucks!
All our labyrinth dives had been like this lately. I chocked it up to lack of training the first few times, but at this point, I was starting to realize that maybe we just weren’t in good shape.
“I’m done.”
“Right. Thanks, Nikola! Your healing spells are what’s keeping us all safe! Let’s regroup and get back out there!” I said, clapping my hands to draw their attention.
Things would be fine! We just weren’t feeling it today. We were strong enough to climb another few floors.
“First, let’s figure out where we are. Look for some landmarks.”
I was trying to figure out our next steps, but we needed to pinpoint our location first. Exhaustion was starting to get to us, so we had to start considering going home soon. However, we had to make sure this labyrinth dive was actually profitable too.
There was so much damn stuff to think about. It was annoying.
“Um, Chronos?”
“What is it, Mehlis?”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘landmark’?”
“Dunno. Sorry. Anyone else got any ideas?”
Nobody raised their hands. Choosing to rest here meant the goblins would catch up to us, so we had to keep moving.
Sophia raised her hand. “Chronos?”
“Oh! Do you have any ideas?”
“No. My apologies, but…” She slowly and fearfully pointed ahead of us. It was too dark to see well, but I immediately knew what she was trying to say.
“There’s a wall.”
We had reached a dead end. It was the last place you wanted to find yourself in the labyrinth, and we had arrived here with our enemies on our tails.
Some time had passed since I joined Drachenflügel as a replacement for one of their former members. However, something felt quite off.
Chronos had scouted me in a tavern. I was in need of new work, and as an up-and-coming party who had managed to defeat a boss monster on their own, it was the perfect opportunity. I had no reason to refuse.
An abenteurer had once said thus about Drachenflügel: “Chronos the swordsman and Mehlis the sorceress both carry the might of warrior gods, belying their inexperience. Nikola the priestess is so beloved by the heavens she can heal any wound. While they lack coordination, they fight with both bravery and caution, viewing the labyrinth with both fear and respect despite just getting to know it. Most importantly, they work as a cohesive unit that overflows with adventuring spirit as they seek the newest expanses of the labyrinth.”
That was their reputation. But once I had joined them myself, reality didn’t quite seem to align with the rumors. They were a fine party, and they easily made it through the thirtieth floor—a somewhat difficult level they used for training—on their own faculties without my help.
The problem was the next floors. As soon as anything difficult was asked of them, they immediately fell apart. While they somehow all managed to return alive from our recent trip to the thirty-fifth floor, their poor understanding of the map had gotten them cornered, leaving Mehlis with an injury that necessitated rest for weeks.
“And we can’t forget this…”
I faced a huge pile of papers and notes. According to Chronos, their former member had been a good-for-nothing who volunteered to do the chores, and he wanted me to at least take over that job. He had even told me, “I’m sure you’ll be useful in battle, so we can split up some of the work if it’s too much for you.”
And it was too much. There was everything from reports, plans to transport goods and renovate the party’s house, budgeting receipts, and even plans for labyrinth dives. There were maps of every floor to the labyrinth, notes on the characteristics of every monster they had ever encountered, and…I think these were essays? That was likely just a hobby, but the writings had already been divided between the useful and the useless.
Had someone really done this all on their own? Usually, the four members would split these duties. What in the world was their leader doing?
The idea that I was supposed to be in charge of all the innermost, menial labor of the party had my head spinning. Chronos had told me that this type of work was a cakewalk and roughly shared by everybody, but he was hugely misunderstanding the situation.
At the time, I simply thought there might be more work cut out for me than I had originally expected. It was only later that I realized how naïve that assumption had been.