The Road to the Labyrinth

The party 'Thunder's Fangs' consisted of eight people.

First was Vargas, the leader, and his daughter Shizuna. Vargas specialized in greatswords while Shizuna wielded a longsword.

Then there were Vil and Gates, who used shields. Vil carried a shield larger than his own height along with a maul. Gates used an ordinary shield with a one-handed sword, the same style as Carlos.

The scout was Shar, a cat beastkin like Maal. However, his fur was white with black spots.

The three rear guard members started with Zoro, who used a bow. Apparently he could also use a sword to some extent. He was also in charge of creating the map.

The mage, Jason, specialized in enchantment and healing magic. Everyone up to this point, excluding Shizuna, was around forty years old. The party had been together for about ten years.

The last one, Celfelminto, nicknamed Cell, was an elf spirit mage. Three hundred years old. Still young for an elf.

Everyone except Shizuna was male. She was the lone flower among them.

On the afternoon after their meeting, the group went shopping again.

From the veteran party's perspective, Ria's group still seemed underprepared. Additionally, by talking to shopkeepers they knew, they managed to get them to bring out some prized merchandise.

In this regard too, one could only say they couldn't compete.

In the meantime, Ria found a caravan heading to Anaias and entrusted it with a letter to the royal palace.

It was a long letter covering everything from Ogre Village to Labyrinth City, including the conflict with Cordova's army. After stating the relevant facts and adding her own views, it had turned out that way.

She put the letter into a box and sealed it with wax, pressing her seal onto it. She made it thoroughly secure so no one could see the contents.

Of course, entrusting something like this required a suitable amount of gold coins. Additionally, she wrote a separate note so they would receive an additional reward upon delivery.

She did this because she figured they were probably seriously worried by now, and she wanted them to deal with Cordova seriously, with the whole country working together.

Even from Ria's sense of values, and considering Casalia's national interests as well, she felt the Cordova problem would be bad if they didn't deal with it soon. And Ria's intuition about such things was rarely wrong.

Then, at noon the following day, the group departed from Jaeburg. From here, it would take half a day to reach the labyrinth's entrance, and the standard approach was to camp for a night before beginning the assault.

In fact, there were multiple parties traveling the same road ahead of and behind them. Moreover, they kept a distance that was neither too close nor too far from Ria's group.

"Strong flying-type demons appear around here. They're probably planning to ask for help if things get desperate."

Whether they would actually help would depend on the situation at the time.

As Vargas had explained, they ended up being attacked by many demons.

There were no Goblin settlements in this area. The reason was simply that they would only become food for the demons.

It seemed they would frequently encounter demons around level 70, such as Gryphons, Wyverns, and Fire Salamanders.

When a Wyvern attacked, Thunder's Fangs responded first as a demonstration. The two shield bearers blocked its attacks while Vargas and Shizuna whittled it down. The mages provided minimal support, conserving their magical power.

It was simple, but the fight showed no danger whatsoever.

"Next, show us what you can do."

Vargas said this after spotting another Wyvern heading toward them.

His purpose was probably to see the party's roles and coordination.

However, there was one guy who couldn't read the atmosphere.

"Longinus."

A single space-time magic spell pierced through the Wyvern's torso.

"Wyvern meat is tough, so it's hard to eat～"

Serge muttered nonchalantly. He was riding on Rudolph's back and was the most comfortable among them, but that couldn't be helped since he was a child.

"Wh-what was that magic just now…" "I don't know. It felt like a mixture of fire and wind magic, but it could also have been physics magic…"

Ignoring the murmurs of astonishment, Ria extracted the magic stone from the crashed Wyvern with a hatchet. It was quite large, just one step short of magic crystal purity.

In response to Jason's view that they should conserve as much magical power as possible, Serge replied that in addition to his Magical Power Cost Reduction skill, he had also learned the Magical Power Recovery Speed Increase skill.

Day after day he performed the grueling training of using his magical power to the limit and collapsing, but the benefits of his Gift, Natural Talent in Magic, were probably playing a big role as well.

The group resumed walking. The road had just passed the halfway point.

At sunset, they finally reached the summit area of their destination mountain.

It was said that by descending deep underground within this mountain, one would arrive at the Dark Dragon's dwelling.

"W-we finally made it…"

Lulu was exhausted from the unfamiliar mountain road. She had occasionally switched places with Serge on Rudolph's back, but the swaying was so bad it had made her motion sick.

She thought about how nice it would be to ride a donkey for this, but that was impossible. There was nowhere to safely keep a donkey.

They entered the dark, gaping entrance. Inside was a vast space where a group was already camping.

"We're not camping outside?"

Though they had camped inside labyrinths before, Ria asked, finding it strange to do so knowing demons would appear. Vargas's answer was simple.

"Getting ambushed by something flying in would be bad. It's safer inside here."

I see. So it was a matter of which was more dangerous.

"Well then, how about taking a bath?"

When Ria said that, the members of Thunder's Fangs looked at her as if to say, "What is this person talking about?"

"A bath. A bath. We walked the mountain road and worked up a sweat. Since it's a special occasion, let's make it an open-air bath. Serge, take out the tools."

Next to the cave entrance, Ria built a bath. Earth magic, water magic, fire magic. At this point, calling this combination of techniques 'bath magic' wouldn't be an exaggeration. Though it was a trivial magic, it was also an advanced magic.

Since there were people watching, she properly built a wall as well. Perfect.

"Look, if you have magical power to make something like that, you should conserve it properly…"

Jason said something sensible again.

"If you rest after cleaning yourself in a bath, your stamina and magical power recover faster. You know that stamina doesn't fully recover just from camping, right?"

That was a fact. However, no one had ever verified something like that before. Therefore, considering the effort of preparation and standing guard, it was normal not to bother building a bath.

And Ria was anything but normal.

"I made it a bit larger, so all the women can go in at once."

"I'm fine. What if we get attacked while bathing?"

Shizuna said something reasonable, but reasonable things didn't work on Ria.

"At a time like that, you'd just fight naked."

"Don't say something outrageous!"

It was outrageous, but not impossible.

In the first place, with this many people, even without the women, they would manage somehow.

"What do you think? Vargas."

Shizuna didn't have the right to decide. Knowing that, Ria asked him.

In response to his daughter's desperate gaze, Vargas slowly shook his head.

"Everything should be tried at least once."

"Alright, it's decided! Let's go in together!"

Grabbing the waist of Shizuna, whose face was dyed in despair, Ria disappeared beyond the earthen wall. Maal quickly followed with bath supplies and changes of clothes.

After checking the surrounding eyes, Lulu also slowly went in. She judged that today there was little danger of being toyed with by Ria. She was calculating in that way.

Meanwhile, Shizuna's fate was miserable.

"Stop it! I said stop it! Where are you touching!"

"Come now, come now."

"Gyaaa! Stop it! Daaad!"

"Maal, strip her starting from the socks. That's the aesthetic of it."

"Gotcha."

"Gyaaa!"

The sound of splashing bathwater could be heard.

"F-fine, I get it… I'll do it myself, so…"

Before long, Shizuna's voice could be heard, as if she had given up on everything.

But Ria showed no mercy.

"Don't hold back. I'll wash you."

"Gyaaa! I am holding back! Seriously, stop! I'll apologize!"

By this point, she probably didn't even understand what she was saying anymore.

"Uwaaah! Where are you touching!"

"Eh? Your abs."

The men standing guard around them shuddered at Ria's clearly amused voice.

Only Serge was about to die from the moe.

"Gyaaa! Why are you touching such a place!"

"Hmm～? But it's a place that gets dirty."

As expected, even Vargas held his head in his hands at this point.

Eventually, Shizuna emerged wobbling from beyond the wall and crumbled down on the spot.

"Uuu… I got polished…"

Ria's hands had been gentle to the last, never once harming the girl's body.

But she had left a deep wound on her heart. She had left a scar.

"Ahh～, that was a good bath."

With towels around their necks, Ria and Maal appeared. Lulu came out a little later as expected.

Ria's expression was refreshed, as if she had accomplished something.

"Well then, the men should take turns going in too. Let me know if the water has cooled down, and I'll heat it back up."

At those words, Vargas and the others exchanged glances. Then, looking toward Carlos and Gig, they confirmed something.

"Um… there's no one among you guys who's, you know, into that sort of thing, right?"

"No!"

Carlos and Gig's voices were in sync.

"Please spare me from homos."

Serge said that with a look of disgust.