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Volume 13 Chapter 3 Part 3

Well, it’s not like she’d actually have to run from one end of the Labyrinth to the other, so it should all be good. It may not be the most appropriate equipment for fighting in a Labyrinth, but Rutina is a member of the rear guard, so she usually won’t be facing monsters directly, and having stronger magic will be more beneficial to her than the other members of my Party.

She puts on her new equipment, and then we enter the Labyrinth. It’s not like a single piece of equipment has made things dramatically easier. It’s only made things a little easier, but that’s fine for now. If it makes things too easy, some people will get too excited, and I don’t want that. But Roxanne was already excited even without that.

「This is the Waiting Room! 」she said.

Having passed through the 47th floor, we took on the 48th floor. However, before fighting the Floor Boss on the 48th floor, Sherry stopped us.

「Can I go outside before we go in? 」

I see. I guess we’re advancing too fast after all, and she wants us to slow down. Slowing down is fine in my opinion.

「Yeah. Let’s go outside and rest for a while. 」

「No. I want to see if any other Parties have entered the Labyrinth, and we can see that at the entrance. 」

I was wrong. We’re not going to rest. You too, Sherry?

「Now that I think about it, you said we could find that out by looking at the entrance. 」

「Yes. 」

I had no choice but to go outside. So we warped there.

「There are some fallen weeds, but I think these are probably the ones we broke off last time. The fallen leaves over there are the grass I stepped on before. They’re all fallen in the same way. That means no Parties have entered the Labyrinth since we got here last time. 」

Roxanne and Sherry checked the situation outside. You remember the grass you stepped on before, Roxanne? That’s a bit of an overkill, even for you.

We’re going directly into the Labyrinth by Warp, so we haven’t disturbed the area near the entrance yet. If there was a Party other than us in this Labyrinth, they would have traveled there by Field Walker before entering, so there would have been traces left in the grass near the entrance.

「Since there are no other parties in the Labyrinth, we can just slowly go up its floors. 」

Oh, Sherry, my dear friend. I believed in you. I wanted to believe that you won’t betray me, but now I have to call you Sherry Brutus.

「Yes. We can just go up the floors at whichever pace we like. 」

That’s not what I meant, Roxanne. I meant the exact opposite!

To tell the truth, breaking through the 47th floor this time made me realize something: that there is a limit, and that I am about to reach that limit. It may not be today or tomorrow, but that limit will come to bite me in the not-too-distant future.

Parties are limited to six people, so we’ve already reached the limit on that; and the higher the floor of the Labyrinth, the harder it is to clear it, so it won’t be any easier for us. If we wanted to equip ourselves with better gear, we only need to save up a little money; but even with that, there is still a limit to how much stronger we can get thanks to equipment alone.

In other words, I feel like our progress has been stalled.

Meanwhile, the monsters are steadily getting stronger with each floor of the labyrinth we go up. They’ll definitely get stronger. There’s no way that they will stop getting stronger. I don’t know how many floors it will take, but the monsters… they’re getting stronger, definitely, steadily, and more than us. The difference in strength between us is steadily narrowing, and the day of them becoming actually dangerous to fight is near. If we keep climbing up the floors of the Labyrinths like Roxanne wants us to, we’re only going to speed up our own demise.

Up until now, I had thought that we would reach our limit at the 60th or 70th floor, but at this time, I felt that we would reach our limit at the 60th or 70th floor… wait. These two things are exactly the same.

No. Don’t say it’s the same. There is a sense, a gut feeling that I have, and a myriad of emotions welling up inside of me. It’s like I can clearly see that there is a limit. There is a limit, but I don’t know where exactly that limit is.

This is frightening.

There is a possibility that the next floor is going to be beyond our limit. For example, if the difference in strength between us is 1 to 1.8, it’s going to be a piece of cake, but if it’s 1 to 1.799, we might be in a pinch. It’s difficult to grasp that difference. We are fine for now, but that will change as we get closer to our limit. It’s going to become a problem. No. Maybe it’s just an illusion that it’s fine for now. I’m deeply troubled.

「Well, that’s beside the point. But why hasn’t anyone else come here yet? 」

「Yes, that’s strange. 」

「In that case, there’s no choice. Let’s give this place a name. 」

I don’t know the name of this place. I wasn’t told about it, but it definitely exists, and not having a name for it is a bit of an inconvenience. It’s like saying: let’s go there today, or go to that island now. We can’t just keep going with that place, that island, or the new Labyrinth monikers forever. We need a name for it, and so we will give it a name.

「Wow. As expected of Master. 」

I don’t know what she meant by that, but Roxanne must have found it inconvenient as well.

「Let’s name this place Akishima. 」 I announced at the entrance to the Labyrinth.

It’s an island near a place with a name similar to Tachikawa or something, so Akishima. It seems to be a deserted island, so we can name it whatever we want. The original inhabitants might still be there somewhere, but we’ll think about it then.

「Yes. That’s a good name. Really, as expected of you, Master. 」

I don’t know if it’s a good name or not.

「I see.」

I don’t know what you mean by that. Sherry. I hope you haven’t got the wrong idea.

「Akishima, desu! 」

「I think it’ll be fine. 」

「So you’ve given it a name for the sake of the Lord’s Assembly and are now seriously exploring the Labyrinth? I see. 」 Rutina explained to herself – though that’s definitely not what I meant by naming it.

Still, there’s nothing we can do about it now that we’ve named it. I can’t say that I’m not motivated now. From now on, this island is Akishima.

After that, we re-entered the 48th floor and continued our exploration. It can’t be helped. Well, no matter how motivated Roxanne is, it’s a relief that exploration isn’t progressing so easily now.

「The Duke of Hartz called for you? 」

「Yes. He wanted me to show up before him. 」

We leisurely explored the Akishima Labyrinth. Of course, we were also active in the Quratar’s Labyrinth, and sometimes, we bought Caterpillar Skill Crystals from Luke, a middleman for the Merchants’ Guild.

When I purchased the Enamel High-heeled Boots from the Imperial Liberation Society’s lodge, I let go of a Sacrificial Misanga for it, but it shouldn’t result in things like raising the purchase price of Caterpillar Skill Crystals for Luke. Well, it should be fine as it is.

I should probably make some fine adjustments, but moving around too much could arouse suspicion, so it’s better to keep quiet. I have a wound in my shin, after all, and I don’t want anyone to look into my sore spot.

I didn’t ask for Skill Crystals specifically for the sake of the Enamel High-heeled Boots, either. If I did that, it would only arouse more suspicions, so yeah, it’s best to keep quiet. Still, I can’t just strengthen Rutina’s equipment alone. It feels like I’ve been getting a lot of equipment one after another lately – all for Rutina. I can’t just have Rutina getting stuff. Someone might be dissatisfied with that.

I wonder if they’re actually thinking that?

No. Is it okay to only strengthen Rutina’s equipment? Rutina has only just joined us, after all. I could argue that she’s only just getting her starting equipment… ah, so maybe that’s why the girls are not complaining. Could Rutina do with some more equipment, then? Well, in this case it’s all down to luck.