“Welcome back. It seems your recruiting trip was successful.”
“Oh, Aoi’s back? Sweet, now we can get to work.”
We returned to find Karumi and Suzu, visible again through a floating UI window, both drinking tea. I didn’t mind Suzu relaxing, but I got a little miffed seeing Karumi there, just calmly sipping tea. The world was unfair if the source of my suffering got to sit around while I had to go out and cover for her mistakes.
“Karumi, Suzu, I’d like you to meet Mary, a knight of the human kingdom and my new labyrinth guardian. Mary, this is Karumi and Suzu.”
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Ooh, a human knight, and so polite. Nice find, Aoi! Whaddaya think, Karumi?”
“I’m surprised, to say the least. She’s certainly strong enough to serve as the labyrinth’s guardian.”
Karumi looked Mary over carefully. Wait, that was all she had to do to measure her ability?
“Suzu, does Karumi have some ability beyond our <Appraisal>?”
All labyrinth managers learned the <Appraisal> ability immediately, which showed basic stats like vitality, stamina, and willpower when used on a person. But it didn’t show much beyond that and wasn’t as useful as it sounded.
“Yeah, Karumi’s skill is different from ours. I’ve heard she can see more detailed info, like numerical values attached to skills and abilities.”
Sounded pretty handy. How come we didn’t get that?
“Aoi, are these two women attached to the labyrinth in some way?”
“Ah, right, I should tell you more about them. The one at the table there is Karumi, my superior. And the one talking through the window is Suzu, a colleague of mine and a fellow labyrinth manager... Hmm? What seems to be the trouble?”
“Well, there was a labyrinth near my old home, but it was a dreadful place where miasma would gather. If anybody was brave enough to dare challenging it, they were beset by vile creatures. I must admit that I’m shocked to find they were staffed by humans.”
Miasma? Crazy.
“I guess Suzu and I don’t really look like labyrinth overlords, do we? Maybe a minotaur like Mayor Hopper would be a better fit for your image of a labyrinth manager?”
“Appearances aren’t the issue. Even knowing a Daemon was in charge of one would be upsetting. To think that a person was in charge of all these... But do not worry about it. I’m fine now.”
I figured things were pretty different over in the human kingdom, and Mary was still coming to grips with the differences. It must have been hard on her.
“Kousaka, have you and Mary signed a contract?”
“No, but we have a verbal agreement. Do we need something written?”
In a world like this, I figured giving your word should be enough.
“Yes, you do. Ms. Mary, could you come take a look at this? I have your contract here, and... Oh, Kousaka, just to confirm, you’re hiring her as your labyrinth guardian right?”
“That’s the plan.”
If she was strong enough to pass Karumi’s inspection, I certainly wasn’t going to change my mind now.
“Then we’ll need to file her labyrinth guardian registration as well.”
Karumi rummaged around in her briefcase and pulled out a few manila folders and documents. She laid them before Mary to sign, explaining the details of each one.
“Excellent, that’s all we need for registration. Kousaka, can you fill out this paper detailing her signing bonus?”
“Of course. This one here, right? Let’s see, the amount was... this.”
I went on to fill out her salary as well, but something about this wasn’t sitting right with me. When you hired a wandering swordsman or whatever, wasn’t this supposed to be the big scene? Like, shouldn’t there be some sweet line about guarding you with their life, and maybe some over-the-top ritual involving blood or whatever? It seemed almost criminal that all we were doing was signing a pile of documents. This was even worse than buying groceries and paying with your phone.
“All right, now that that’s all signed, we just need it properly notarized. That means it’s my turn.”
Karumi took a resin case from her bag, removed a stamp from it, and pressed the stamp firmly to the document, leaving an intricate black seal on the page.
“And now it’s official. Welcome to Labyrinth #228, guardian. We’re expecting a lot from you.”
Karumi made some closing remarks as she stashed the documents in her briefcase.
“Aoi, is that really all there is to it? This is worlds apart from the rituals I went through when I was made a knight.”
Seriously. This was a little too modern an approach for hiring a knight.
“Well, you’re better off not thinking too hard about how things normally work when you’re in the labyrinth. Trust me, I know how you feel.”
I put a comforting hand on Mary’s shoulder. She was finally a member of Labyrinth #228. We had a guardian, and gofer in chief.
“Did I really become your labyrinth guardian? I thought there’d be some change, but I don’t feel any different.”
Mary patted herself down. She had a point. If this were a game, a class change like going from knight to labyrinth guardian would come with a strength boost and a palette swap, at the very least.
“Labyrinth guardian is just a title. It doesn’t change anything in particular.”
Admittedly, it would’ve been kind of extreme if she’d turned into some beefy boss monster immediately after signing a few papers.
“Actually, I’ll have you scrubs know, labyrinth guardians do get a few perks.”
“Oh, really?”
Mary and I questioned her in unison, and Suzu went on to explain.
“Becoming a labyrinth guardian makes you officially a subject of the Great Dark Lord, and a high-ranking one at that. That means you get a bunch of tax breaks! Plus, now you can use Tundra, as long as your labyrinth manager gives you permission. Oh, um, Tundra is this special shop that only labyrinth managers and their authorized employees can use to buy and sell goods.”
Wait, that was it? I was imagining some crazy new ability or something. Lame.
“Here, Ms. Mary, this is for you.”
Karumi presented a black plastic card to Mary.
“What is this?”
“This is your labyrinth guardian ID card. Please be sure to always keep it with you. Not only is it an ID, but it also gets you discounts at state-operated institutions!”
“I-I see. I’ll be careful not to misplace it. This does all sound beneficial, but certainly not in the sense I had imagined it would.”
She accepted the black card in its plastic slipcase and stared at it, bemused.
“Look, I totally get where you’re coming from, but try to roll with it, okay? You’ll get used to this eventually.”
The perks were nice, but they just weren’t quite what you were hoping for. Like, shouldn’t she get some labyrinth-exclusive skill or something? But that particular disappointment was one I knew all too well, and Mary was going to have to learn it too.
“So, can you show me what I’m going to be protecting?”
Oh. She wasn’t going to like this.
“See that cabin right there?”
“Indeed. It looks a little worse for wear.”
“That’s the full extent of Labyrinth #228 as it currently stands.”
We stored all our vegetables and grains there, but there wasn’t really anything that needed to be fiercely guarded. On reflection, the only intruders we were likely to get were, like, mice? We probably should’ve hired a cat to protect our food stash, not a knight.
“Surely you jest, Aoi.”
“Now that we have you, we’re going to start building the actual labyrinth. In the meantime, you’re on standby. I’m going to build the whole thing in three months. Somehow.”
If I couldn’t manage that, Mary’s job security was in question.
“Very well. You can count on me. In the meantime, I shall protect this cabin.”
Oh gosh, she looks like a little lost puppy. I’m sorry, but I can’t show you a labyrinth that doesn’t exist! You’re still getting paid the same, so why do you care so much?!
“So she’ll be protecting your house. This is less like being a labyrinth guardian and more like being in the home security business.”
Look, that thought crossed my mind too, Suzu, but I wasn’t actually gonna say it out loud!