The usual Aldora Labyrinth council members were gathered in the usual conference room.
There was Walter, the chairman; Bison, the warrior; and Satoh, the merchant. They were called the pillars of the council, but that was simply because they were the only ones that felt a semblance of responsibility. Everyone else rarely showed their faces.
They all sat in a row on one side of a table. On the other side was a familiar face—Marinnie, the arachne from the Aldora Labyrinth. She was also a member of the council, albeit as a representative of the Aldora Labyrinth’s management.
“You have some nerve showing your face like this!” Walter yelled as he slammed his fist on the table.
“You’re the ones who called me. Why am I being chewed out for this?” Marinnie asked, exasperated.
“How large do you think our losses are?!”
“These things happen from time to time, don’t they? What with us being a dungeon and all.”
“Damn youuuu!”
“We called you here to discuss the mimic. We’re sure this isn’t the case, but you aren’t intending to place her back on the first floor, are you?” Bison stepped in, asking with a serious tone. He must’ve thought that the conversation wouldn’t go anywhere if Walter was left at the helm.
They’d assumed that the problem would be solved once the season was over, but there was still a need to confirm. The next season had already started, but the council couldn’t afford to let adventurers inside the dungeon without confirming the situation had been resolved first.
“We’ve already solved the problem. The mimic’s been banished.”
“So you’re saying you’re no longer involved with her?”
“We’ve cut all ties, so yes. Formally, we don’t have anything to do with her anymore. Still, we know that your side’s suffered some major losses, and my words won’t cut it. Take this. Consider it, well, a sort of apology,” Marinnie said, taking out some flasks. “These’re the spirits of those who entered the dungeon at the end of the season. You can have them back.”
There were a total of four flasks. Their shine conveyed the quality of the spirits held inside.
“Oh? We never expected you to actually return the silver ranks and above.”
The council members knew that the monsters’ purpose was to collect spirits, so none of them expected such strong specimens to be returned.
“We won’t be giving back the hero, though.”
“Hero?” the three of them questioned in utter surprise.
“Bison, didn’t you say that the hero refused us?”
“I did. I was told by Azuratt, our go-between, that negotiations had failed.”
“What’s going on here? The hero went in on his own? And he died too?”
“Huh? Did I just step on a land mine? Oh well, the truth’s the truth,” Marinnie said before immediately taking her leave. She most likely wanted to avoid being questioned about the hero.
“W-Well, still... It’s not like we hired and sent him in. He just went in on his own and died, so we have nothing to do with it, right...?”
“Right. If we were to force her to return his spirit, it would actually raise questions about our involvement too...”
Heroes were precious, so it was necessary to be careful with their deployment. If others were to accept that the council members had sent him into such a small dungeon in the boonies—and, to make matters worse, gotten him killed—they wouldn’t be able to avoid taking responsibility for the screwup.
“Anyway, this would mean that the incident at Amami Village was...”
“Indeed. The mimic might be the culprit. In fact, it might be the only one capable of such a thing. But I have no idea why such large forces had gathered out in the sticks. There wasn’t anything important out there...”
Everyone knew the mimic used explosions, which left the bodies of her victims maimed in a very showy fashion. That fit the aftermath of the Amami village incident to a T.
“Johannes knows about that as well,” Bison added.
“Johannes again?! Wasn’t he gravely injured?! He can already move around?!”
“Indeed. He’s managed to replace what he lost. He left the hospital immediately afterwards, saying that he could move as long as he had his limbs.”
“Man, that Johannes is incredible...”
“He’s the type of man who will endure any amount of pain for his mission.”
“But wouldn’t there be a limit to that? He’s human, after all. Anyway, what’s the news?”
“Right. Johannes had been inquiring into the whereabouts of the Hero King’s son. Ah, this was before the incident, by the way.”
“Wait a second! Why is Johannes involved in such an important-sounding task?!”
There existed a country—Tamarkand—which always had a hero ascend to the throne. Their existence under a hero’s reign had lasted a long time. However, several years earlier, Tamarkand had been destroyed after being invaded by a neighboring country, and the royal family was said to have been completely eradicated.
“Don’t ask me!” Bison snapped.
“Wait, I figured you’d say ‘because it’s Johannes’... Well, whatever. Anyway, what happened with the investigation?”
“He apparently found the missing son in Amami village.”
“I see. So the scene at the village was a free-for-all to claim the prize? But why did this happen all of a sudden when he hadn’t been found for all this time...?”
“Johannes is weak to wine and women. You can’t trust him when it comes to that.”
“Huh?! You can’t seriously be saying that he leaked such incredible info so easily, can you?!”
“Apparently he picked up a woman he met at a bar, and by the time he’d woken up, he’d been stripped of everything and left in some back alley.”
“You realize my trust in Johannes is plummeting by the second, right?!”
“He does have a naughty side.”
“That isn’t just ‘naughty’!” Satoh yelled. He paused to calm down, then continued, “Anyway... Leaving that aside, what happened afterwards?”
“Right. The information leaked into the underworld. Because of that, several different factions raced to secure the boy.”
“And let me guess—those factions were the monsters and the bandits?”
A part of the monster horde had been in contact with the humans. If the information had been making its way around the human population, then the monsters should’ve also caught wind of it.
“The bandits were probably after money. With the Hero King’s pedigree, they would’ve been able to sell the kid for a good price to the Hortan Empire. As for the monsters, they were just making the obvious decision to try and take out a potential threat, given the kid could become a hero. It also seems like some nearby adventurers noticed what was happening and moved to deal with the monsters, but...”
“That was when the mimic came in and dealt with all of them.”
Silence fell upon the room. All three of them had sunk into deep reflection, trying to come up with a way to deal with the threat they were facing.
“Well, there’s that. I’m frustrated to have to put it into words, but...” Walter’s voice was almost a whisper.
Their jurisdiction only extended as far as the Aldora Labyrinth. There wasn’t much point in chasing after the mimic only to incur even more losses.
“Yeah. If it won’t be coming back, then...”
That was when they heard a low, creepy voice speaking to them. “That’s pretty cowardly of you.”
The three turned towards the voice. At some point, a black...something...had slipped into a corner of the room.
Its entire body was covered in black fur. It literally looked like a bipedal beast with a horn, a pair of wings, and a tail.
Though the council had dealings with monsters, they had never seen this particular one.
“Name yourself!” Bison demanded.
“Don’t worry about me. I just came to retrieve my incompetent disciple. His name is Norton, the Polar Star. Hand him over.” The monster pointed to a flask that had been left on the table.
“What nonsense! You’re a monster!”
“Now who’s the one spouting nonsense? I’m human. I simply took in bits of monsters in my attempts to dive into the depths of magic.”
Is that even possible? the three council members all thought at the same time.
Meanwhile, the black figure had already come up right next to them. The heavy stench of a beast, as well as of death, assaulted them. The abomination was giving off a miasma that made them want to vomit.
No one was able to object as the black figure took the flask it wanted.
“What are you planning to do with that?” Bison asked.
“Well, the first thing I’ll probably do after reviving him is give him a good scolding. If he got killed by the likes of a mimic, he’s going to need strict retraining. Then, I’ll need to wipe away the stain of disgrace I’ve left on my school. That mimic will get what’s coming to it.”
With that, the abomination suddenly disappeared.
“Just...what was that?” Walter barely managed to squeeze out.
“If that was...Norton’s master, then he would be, um, Garellia, the Polar Sky. He should be the head of a school of magic, but...” Bison replied, before thinking, He doesn’t seem human. If he were to go all out with the name of his school on the line, what would happen?
He couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of the tragedy that was about to happen.