The labyrinth opening wasn’t an instant smash hit, but we did have a steadily growing stream of challengers. One day, around when I’d gotten used to the new rhythm of things, I headed to the workshop to help out with cooking. There was less hustle and bustle compared to when construction had been in full swing, but between the patrols, the emergency crew, and the maintenance crew, the place was still always crowded.
“This is real bad!”
On my way to the workshop, as I stepped around the mountain of leftover blocks of soil from the construction, Ann came running.
“Aoi! The lady at the reception desk just told me that six of the eight adventurers who entered the labyrinth brought back certificates, and it isn’t even noon yet!”
“No way!”
What had happened to Mary? Even on the busiest days, no more than one out of every three hunters got past her. For so many to have cleared the challenge, and so quickly, something had to have gone wrong.
“Ann, did they have enough potions on hand at reception to exchange for the certificates?”
I wanted nothing more than to rush off to check on Mary, but I had to confirm that first. I absolutely couldn’t allow the hunters to lose faith in the fairness of the labyrinth challenge.
“Oh, that’s right. The lady said they all wanted the same type of potion, so I’m on my way to the workshop to get more!”
We kept a small selection of potions at reception, but we stockpiled most of them in the workshop. So Ann had run here all the way from Milt?
“I can look out for Mary. Ann, you need to... Oh, hey, there’s George, perfect! Can you accompany Ann to the village?”
The sun was setting, so I wouldn’t dream of letting her go alone. Fortunately, I noticed one of Donnel’s guys sitting in one of the workshop chairs, licking himself clean. George was a quiet fellow, but his excellent work ethic had garnered him a lot of fans among the village girls, so the housewives with unmarried daughters all kept a close eye on him. When I called out to him, he looked my way and nodded.
“I’m going to go check on Mary. I know you’re worried about her too, Ann, but I need you to trust me to handle this.”
“All right. Make sure she’s okay!”
Ann looked concerned but still went along with my plan. She was such a good girl; I really didn’t deserve her.
I asked around, but nobody had seen Mary leave the labyrinth, so I took the back door near the workshop and headed for her room. At the bottom of the stairs, I opened the door with Mary’s name on it and went straight in, being careful not to spring any of our traps on the way to the guardian’s room.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right.”
I found Mary sitting on the floor of the guardian’s room. I ran to her and nearly collapsed in relief when I realized she wasn’t hurt.
“Aoi? Why are you here?”
Mary looked up at me, her face drawn and haggard. Had she not realized how late it was?
“Mary, the labyrinth is closed. I heard a lot of hunters got certificates today, and I got worried about you. Did something happen?”
A shiver of fear ran through Mary’s face when I mentioned the hunters. I’d never seen that look in her eyes before. I took a closer look at her, fearing the worst, but her clothes didn’t look ripped anywhere. Nothing out of place either.
“You’ll catch a cold sitting on that stone floor. Come on, up you go.”
I gave Mary a hand standing up, but she staggered into me, and I was left with my arms wrapped around her. She didn’t say a word. Normally, she got flustered over this sort of thing.
“They were... the same as me.”
Mary murmured, her head hanging low.
“The hunters today were humans trying to earn money to pay off their ransom. When they saw my sword, they realized I was an Extended Knight Armor pilot just like them. I’m useless, Aoi. At the end of the day, I’m a knight with a duty to serve her people. When I realized my job here was to stand in the way of my countrymen, and all they wanted was to go home, I could only step back and let them go.”
So we’d finally found our guardian’s weakness.
“I couldn’t ask them to sacrifice themselves to help me pay my debt. I’m a knight! But I’m also sworn to fight them as your labyrinth guardian. I could say nothing, could do nothing. I’m so sorry...”
Mary’s grip on my coat tightened.
I remembered Karumi’s warning, long ago now, about the limitations placed on knights. I hadn’t expected her to be bound so firmly. Did that mean it wasn’t even her own decision, and she couldn’t face humans at all? She had nothing to apologize for. Serving both of her two oaths to the best of her ability was a heavy burden to bear. As her employer, I should have reprimanded her. But as her former rival, her friend, and now her family, that was the last thing I wanted to do. I knew she was torn. I didn’t want Mary to be the sort of person who could coldly abandon her oaths to her people and country.
I made my decision. I knew it was selfish, and a little arrogant. But I wanted to make this lost girl smile, even if it meant coddling her a little. My gaming intuition told me that if I wanted to trigger Mary’s flag and make her join my party, I had to be gentle with her in this event. I had to spoil her. If this were just a game, that would’ve obviously been the right move. You take any opportunity you can to secure yourself a powerful unit. But thinking of her as just another piece on the chessboard when she was genuinely depressed would have made me truly heartless.
“I’m sorry, Mary. I’ll figure something out for the next time a human adventurer shows up.”
At long last, Mary lifted her head and looked me in the eye.
“Aoi, why would you do this for me? You put your faith in me, and I failed you.”
So because I was relying on her, she had to do everything perfectly? That was a pretty warped view.
There were two routes before us, now. She would finish her job and return home, and where once we had been intimate, we would return to being enemies and rivals. And on the other route, I would persuade her to stay and become my ally. No matter which path we chose, I was sure it would be a fulfilling story. But I knew which ending I wanted to see.