And So, They Set Out Once More

Early the next morning, Ria trained with Carlos and Gig as her opponents.

In doing so, she noticed that her physical abilities had clearly improved. Rather than her status, the Body Strengthening and Skeletal Reinforcement levels included in her Gift had increased.

However, because of her slightly increased height and the rapidly developed muscles, conversely, the techniques she had learned so far didn't feel quite right anymore.

"My level went up, but…"

She didn't really feel like she'd gotten stronger.

At Ria's feet, Carlos and Gig, who had been knocked down barehanded, lay gasping for breath.

"Se～riously, what is with this girl? She was strong before, but now she's completely beyond common sense."

"As expected of Anego."

Carlos used the magic sword taken from the Specter Knight, while Gig used his familiar warhammer, but they were easily knocked down by her unarmed combat alone.

In contrast to them, Maal was practicing her spirit magic.

"Hmm…"

She gazed at the flow of magical power in the air. From within it, she particularly sensed the power of wind and synchronized her emotions to it.

A gentle breeze blew, stirring Serge and Lulu's hair.

Serge had his grimoire open, eagerly working to develop a method to reduce the magical power required for spatial magic.

"That's nice… I wanted something too…"

Though Lulu said that while watching Maal's magic, spirit magic was outside her specialty. In the first place, unlike ordinary magic, it wasn't something that could be controlled through theory. Lulu could really only observe.

"Well, Lulu, if there's a magic you want, I'll look it up for you."

"I already have the knowledge. The problem is configuration ability and magical power."

In the fight against the Cyclops, Lulu had been completely useless. The same was true for everyone else, but for Lulu, who had privately appointed herself as Ria's guardian, it was deeply frustrating.

It couldn't be helped. Though Serge thought that, he had no way to explain it to Lulu, who didn't know about their previous lives or the details of their Gifts.

"Anyway, we're going to be busy for a while starting today."

At times like these, if Carlos offered some comfort, his standing would rise, thought the boy who was over thirty years old including his previous life, sighing like an old man.

As expected, it caused a huge commotion. As expected, and exceeding expectations.

On top of the magic crystals from the guardians of the sixth floor and beyond that were brought to the guild, Serge revealed the space-time magic he had been keeping secret until now, claiming it had been bestowed upon him by the lord of the labyrinth. It was an absolute hit.

Since Mayor Klaus already knew about it, that was fine, but since they would be forming a parade on the main street, the coordination for all of that took considerable effort.

They left procedural matters to Carlos and Lulu as much as possible, but since both of them had already died when the final guardian was defeated, from that point on it was mainly Ria and Serge who had to speak.

"A Cyclops… you say?"

The guild master who was taking their statement was rendered speechless upon hearing the monster's name.

"Yeah. It was tough since neither swords nor magic worked on it."

After Ria gave that explanation, questions naturally followed.

"Then how did you defeat it?"

"I got eaten on purpose and cut it up from inside its stomach."

As the guild master was left speechless, Serge thought to himself that he should have aimed for the inside of the mouth as well, though it was too late now.

The pastries they ate while talking were delicious.

That afternoon, the grand labyrinth exploration victory was officially proclaimed in front of the guild.

The next day's parade and the schedule for the banquet at town hall were announced.

Requests for meetings with Ria's group came incessantly from Labyrinth City's influential people and merchants, and Carlos was kept busy handling them.

Accomplished explorers also came, wanting to hear various stories. The mages were directed to Lulu, and the warriors to Gig. Both looked like adults on the outside, at least.

As for Ria, men with the wrong idea tried to approach her flirtatiously, but when she demonstrated snapping mass-produced swords with her bare hands, they retreated like a receding wave.

Maal was also popular. She had lived in Labyrinth City for a long time originally, and many beastkin explorers had gathered there. Her communication skills were high.

Serge was bored. But for some reason, he was surrounded by Onee-san explorers and pampered. It was irrelevant that Ria was watching with envious eyes.

They were finally freed in the evening, but at dinner Klaus informed them of the next day's schedule. It looked like another long day was ahead.

Brushing Matsukaze, taking the Hellhound for a walk, massaging Maal's paw pads — these things healed her heart.

"Come to think of it, Nee-chan, what are you going to name that dog?"

Serge asked while petting the fluffy Hellhound without reservation. Calling it Hellhound forever would be inconvenient.

"I've decided on a name. It's Rudolph."

"Such a grand name appeared!"

He had been certain another Japanese-style name would come, but his expectations were betrayed.

"I mean, look at him, right? Don't you think he has the look of a Rudolph?"

Indeed, with his bared fangs and the way he glared at his prey, he had a presence that didn't lose to the grand name.

Though in front of Ria, he would roll over like a puppy. With an attitude that seemed to say "pet me," he was delighted when Serge petted him too.

Seeing this, Matsukaze apparently got jealous and delivered a headbutt, and so the day ended.

The next day, they held the parade in the morning, the ceremony at noon. The banquet at town hall in the evening proceeded exactly as explained.

From the following day onward, they attended parties daily upon receiving invitations from influential people.

Their circle of acquaintances widened considerably, but whether becoming famous in this city, which was a bit distant from the Kingdom of Casalia, had any real meaning was questionable.

Additionally, Ria revealed her true identity.

As just the ordinary explorer Ria, too many reckless fools had been picking fights with her, so she decided to borrow the prestige of royalty.

But this was a failure.

The important people sought contact with Ria even more, and now she had to deal with explorers who came with the purpose of entering government service.

Ria, whose stress had been building up considerably, formed parties with such people, charged into the labyrinth, and dueled them under conditions where it would be fine if they died.

Meanwhile, the young trio tried to raise their levels a bit and earn some income by entering the labyrinth with just the three of them.

Up to the sixth floor was easy, but the seventh floor proved difficult. Without Lulu there, Serge handled recovery and healing, but without the people they were used to, their split-second decisions were delayed.

Eventually Lulu and Carlos joined in for the conquest as well, but as expected, they were stopped by the Dogazer on the eighth floor.

Carlos, who carried metal weapons and armor, was useless in combat, and even when Gig tried to fight with a club, he kept getting put to sleep, so it didn't go well.

Still, focusing on the fifth and sixth floors, they continued leveling up and working on skill proficiency.

Ria had become like a blood-starved Shura.

She tried to avoid killing the warriors who sought matches with her as much as possible, but she cut them down effortlessly.

Having obtained a good katana, being intoxicated by blood was precisely the right description of her state.

But during morning and evening training, she became like a completely different person, carefully tracing through her forms.

Though intoxicated by blood, she was not intoxicated by power. She drew a line somewhere.

And so, one month passed.

Time seemed to have passed too quickly, but while attending various invitations, that much time had slipped by before she knew it.

To master their newly learned skills, the full party conquered the labyrinth up to the ninth floor once more. As expected, they had no desire to fight the Cyclops again. If Labyrinth had added a bit of intelligence to it, they probably couldn't win with the same method.

On the same day they handily slew the Hydra, they informed Klaus of their intention to leave Labyrinth City.

"Is that so? Are you returning to your country?"

Klaus said somewhat reluctantly, but his expression changed at Ria's next words.

"No, we're going to challenge the Dark Labyrinth next."

Though the members had already heard this, when stated anew, the mood became somber.

The Dark Labyrinth. The most formidable labyrinth on the continent, where the Dark Dragon Valis dwelled.

Only one group had ever conquered it. Casalia's founder, Leyte Anaia, and her companions. Moreover, that was a thousand years ago, so the details were completely unknown.

They could probably learn a few more details if they went to Casalia's Royal Library, but if they returned now, the surveillance would become stricter and escape would become difficult. Ria alone might manage, but gathering the other members would be hard.

"It's different from this labyrinth, so please do be careful."

Klaus said this in a tone of genuine concern.

They spent the day preparing for departure, and early the next morning, the group left Labyrinth City.

Starting with Klaus, explorers they had become friends with before they knew it also came to the walls to see them off.

Waving until they disappeared from sight, the party set their rattling carriage in motion.

… Could this really be called a carriage? What was being pulled was indeed a box carriage, but what was pulling it was Rudolph the Hellhound.

Maal sat in the driver's seat, while Gig and Serge sat inside.

At first they had tried to buy ordinary horses, but there was no coach horse that could get used to Rudolph. Even Lulu's donkey was still afraid of him.

The only one who roughhoused with him as an equal was Matsukaze. Though a horse being equal to a Hellhound was quite something in itself.

"Now then, on to the Dark Labyrinth!"

The warm wind signaling the end of spring blew, rustling Matsukaze's mane.

Under the blue sky, Ria's voice, spirited and full of vigor, echoed to the distant hills.