The Labyrinth's Garden

As though rising from deep underwater, her consciousness surfaced.

It was the process of waking from sleep, and at the same time, a process of reconstructing the being known as Ria.

Her five senses returned. Among them, touch was the clearest.

(I can move…?)

In the darkness, she reached out her hand. Something cracked with a snap, and light flooded into her eyes.

Her whole body moved. From her fingertips to her toes.

She recalled her memories. She should have cut off one of her legs. Had Lulu reattached it?

Without fully understanding what had happened to her, Ria got up.

She had been lying naked on a bed. She was inside a cabin with a strong smell of wood. Black fragments lay scattered on the bed—apparently they had been covering her.

(Where am I?)

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the wooden boards. If they had left the labyrinth, why would she be in a cabin like this?

A set of Ria's spare clothes had been placed on a chair beside the bed. Her boots were beneath it. Everything she had entrusted to Serge before that decisive battle.

Even her underwear was neatly folded. Come to think of it, she had very clearly told Serge not to do anything weird with them, and he had replied with an annoyed expression.

"Nee-chan, I'm not old enough to have those kinds of urges yet. Besides, I'm only interested in what's inside."

Chuckling at the memory, Ria got dressed. Her armor and weapons were gone. The magic bag was gone too. They had probably dissolved in the giant's stomach. The dagger with the royal seal was still there.

Though her equipment left her feeling quite vulnerable, Ria stepped outside the cabin.

"Wow…"

Before her, bathed in light, spread a meadow overflowing with flowers.

The sun was positioned almost directly overhead, yet it cast a gentle light. Throughout the expansive space, great trees stood here and there, creating patches of shade.

From beneath the nearest tree, a figure came running toward her.

"Nee-chan～"

It was Serge. He was running toward her with a beaming smile, but Ria was more concerned about something else.

"Thank goodness. You woke up properly."

"Where's Maal?"

While patting the head of the boy who had enthusiastically embraced her, what Ria was really concerned about was the other survivor.

"I had Maal deliver a message. I was waiting for Nee-chan to hatch from the egg."

He had suddenly said something she could not let slide.

"Egg?"

She did not understand. But judging from the context, he probably meant the fragments on the bed.

"Hm? I thought it was one of Nee-chan's Gifts or something."

Serge tilted his head, but Ria had no idea either. When she checked herself, she found that such Gifts had indeed been unlocked.

Hibernation and Molting seemed to fit the bill. There was also Super Regeneration. Was it superior to High Speed Recovery?

"It seems so. That was the first time I'd ever been injured that badly, after all."

That was that, then. According to Serge, a black shell had formed around Ria's unconscious body. And it had remained unresponsive like that for a week.

"A week…"

"After a full day passed, I had Maal return to the surface. I stayed behind because the labyrinth's master wanted to talk, and…"

"The labyrinth's master—so this is inside the labyrinth, right?"

She had suspected as much, but to think this labyrinth could even create a sun.

"They say it's the 11th floor of the labyrinth. To be precise, it's apparently close to being a different world."

A different world—quite the grand scale.

"So, who is this labyrinth master?"

She tensed slightly. Given that this being had created such a peaceful space, they probably were not evil and likely had sensibilities close to those of humans. She could tell that much from Serge's demeanor as well.

But at the same time, they must possess immense power. Perhaps even more troublesome than the Cyclops.

"Hey, Labyrinth～"

Serge waved toward the great tree he had been sitting under. From there, a gentle light drifted toward them.

It was not large—about thirty centimeters at most. Within the light, she could make out the figure of a winged fairy.

But wait—Labyrinth?

"Oh my, you're awake."

The soft light subsided, revealing a small fairy in a green dress.

"I am Labyrinth. The master of this labyrinth."

She had a face full of curiosity. Ria recognized this gaze—it was the same one she had felt watching her throughout the labyrinth.

What Labyrinth said next made Ria freeze.

"And just like you two, a reincarnator."

After they finished introducing themselves, Labyrinth said with a smile:

"Born as a princess? You must have used quite a lot of points～"

She had been misunderstood here too, but the correction was simple. Labyrinth possessed a Gift called Fairy's Insight, which allowed her to actually appraise Ria.

"Dragon's Bloodline, huh. The same Gift as Anaia. Looks like you have more Skills than Anaia, but you haven't drawn out the full power of the Gift yet."

While casually mentioning something important, Labyrinth filled in what had happened after they defeated the Cyclops.

Right after Ria lost consciousness, her body was covered by a black shell. As the other two panicked, Labyrinth appeared before them.

Labyrinth told them she was the master of this labyrinth and teleported the egg and the two of them to this space.

Since appraisal showed it was a dragon's egg, she advised them to wait and see. The two complied.

She gave Maal her reward first and teleported her to the surface, then placed the egg on the bed. After that, she reminisced about Japan with Serge and watched him practice magic.

"Reminisced about Japan? But wouldn't there be about a thousand years' difference…?"

Ria's question was reasonable, and Serge had thought the same at first. But apparently, those who reincarnate into this world are all from 21st century Japan, though they are reborn into different eras. When Ria asked Labyrinth when she had died, it turned out to be just slightly before Ria.

"The Gift I took was Genesis Magic. During the Great War a thousand years ago, I raised my level and sublimated it into the Labyrinth Creation Gift. Since then, I've been training adventurers here."

She did not say "explorers." When Labyrinth created this labyrinth, "adventurers" was the more common term.

"What do you mean by training?"

"The next Great War will be happening soon, right? I'm helping raise humanity's overall strength in preparation for it."

However, she shook her head and said that making it so no one dies may have been too gentle.

Dying would defeat the purpose, but since she had designed it this way, she wanted more people to come challenge it aggressively. Yet in the past hundred years, only one person besides Ria's group had conquered the lowest floor.

"By the way, what's that person's name?"

"I won't tell you. It's personal information. Well, you'll probably meet them naturally when the Great War comes."

She had thought it might be the person named Ars that the Ogre King had mentioned, but confirming it would not really matter.

More importantly, there was something besides reincarnation-related topics that she had almost forgotten about.

"I heard that if you conquer the labyrinth, you'll grant any wish…"

"Not anything. Anything within what I'm able to do."

That was mostly affirmative. Given what she had seen of this labyrinth, quite a lot seemed possible.

"Actually, in my previous life, I was male…"

To her question of whether she could become male again, Labyrinth folded her arms and thought.

"I've never heard of someone having a different gender from their previous life… Setting that aside, becoming male itself is simple. It can be done with magic. But you don't just want to look male—you want all the functions and everything too, right?"

Ria nodded. Labyrinth looked apologetic.

"The conclusion is that it's possible. But since I'd have to rewrite your DNA, you'd have to start over from being a baby…"

Furthermore, she said there was a high possibility that most of her memories would disappear.

That was effectively the same as being impossible. Having had her hopes up, the disappointment was great.

"So there's no other way…"

"Well, there might be one possibility."

Prefacing that it was only a small possibility, Labyrinth said:

"Bals might know. He's lived far longer than me, and he knows a lot about Dragon's Bloodline."

The Dark Dragon Bals.

That was quite a significant name.

Among the Five Great Divine Dragons, he was the only one who had clearly sided with humanity. He was said to dwell in the Dark Labyrinth in the continent's northwest, preparing for the coming war against the demons.

"Otherwise, maybe Azelford. He's not dead yet, right? Or Quorphos of the elves. The other Five Great Divine Dragons should also be quite knowledgeable. I have a few other leads, but I don't know where on the continent they are, so I can't count on them. They've probably changed their names and faces."

Azelford was the great sage said to reside on Holy Mountain Cyros. In his youth, Rufus had studied under him as a disciple. To Ria, he was her master's master.

Quorphos was an Ancient Elf who lived in the deepest part of the great forest in the continent's northeast. They were also a legendary figure, but one reasonably well-disposed toward humans.

Even so, legendary figures' names were popping up one after another.

Though her name was not recorded in history, Labyrinth was probably one of the legendary heroes as well.

"So that wish is no good. Anything else? If you're a warrior, aren't you interested in an amazing weapon or something?"

Speaking of weapons…

"I used up all my weapons in the battle with the Cyclops. Could you repair them?"

"Eh? I can do that much for free. Here."

When Labyrinth waved her hand, all of Ria's armor and weapons appeared before her. Of course, including the katana that had exploded.

As a bonus, she also restored Carlos's dented and battered armor. Shields were fine too, as long as they were not enchanted.

"Oh, but not the magic bag. Magic items take some power, so I'll count that as one wish."

The magic bag was valuable, but with Serge here, it was not really needed. Besides, if they searched the magic tool shops in the labyrinth city, they could probably find one or two for sale.

"By the way, what did Serge and Maal get?"

When she asked, Serge proudly produced a thick grimoire.

It was a grimoire containing all the magic in Labyrinth's knowledge, including spells that had been lost. He could not use them yet, but it was a closely-guarded tome covering everything up to Genesis Magic. It was enchanted so that only Serge could read it.

Maal had apparently been given the ability to use magic. More precisely, her aptitude for magic had been drawn out. Since Maal possessed the Eyes of the Fairy, she had an aptitude for spirit magic, and that had been awakened. She could ask Maal herself for the details.

"Simply, wanting to become stronger…"

"This labyrinth exists to help people grow stronger. I can give you the optimal environment for getting stronger, but I can't do it instantly."

That made sense.

She was stumped. Now that her most desired wish had proven impossible, nothing else readily came to mind.

After all, she was a princess of a nation. Anything that could be solved with money was generally manageable.

"Want me to give you a magic sword or something? Plenty of immature nobles have brought them in."

Unfortunately, she was not that skilled with swords. Even if her Swordsmanship skill was high, she found katanas easier to wield.

Katanas were a fairly minor weapon in this world, and given the complexity of their forging process, they hardly existed as magical weapons.

"I want a katana, but there probably isn't a better one than this."

She showed Labyrinth the katana the Ogre King had given her. But Labyrinth could not tell the difference in katana quality.

"If you want a katana that badly, why don't you try making one?"

Seeing Ria's fixation on katanas, Labyrinth made that suggestion.

A katana was not something you could just forge easily. Ria knew that well from her previous life's memories.

"I mean, with Genesis Magic. If it's not a magic item, you might be able to make one fairly easily."

"Labyrinth, in my previous life, I was fortunate enough to see many katanas called masterpieces, but honestly, hardly any katanas in this world can compare to the quality blades from over there."

"Hardly any" was putting it politely. Even this katana from the Ogre King could not hold a candle to a Kotetsu. If she had had a Kotetsu, the battle with the Cyclops would have been much easier.

"If you've seen many, that actually makes it easier to create one, I think. Do you know the manufacturing methods and processes?"

"Of course. I've watched katanas being forged more than just two or three times."

After all, I'd even published a book about it.

"Genesis Magic is, ultimately, magic that manifests your imagination into reality. If your ideal katana exists within you, you can create it."

If that was really true, it was certainly appealing.

"I can share a spell called Weapon Creation from my power. At the very worst, you'd be able to create a copy of the katana in front of you. Oh, but magic weapons are a different matter."

Being able to create the same katana as this one—that was appealing enough.

"Alright, I'll take that."

She agreed readily. Labyrinth placed her small hand on Ria's forehead.

"Some power will flow into you. Be careful not to collapse."

Along with Labyrinth's voice, something warm flowed into her.

It took the form of flames.

Flames that heated and forged iron.

It was something nostalgic. Something she had yearned for.

Together with the memories filling her heart, Ria received her new power.