The First Exploration

Shizuna woke up to the sound of a sword being swung.

It wasn't actually a sword, but a katana.

The cave was still dark. Almost no light came in from the entrance; the figure was illuminated only by a faint magical light.

At its center, Ria was swinging her katana.

Though she had learned swordplay from her self-taught father, Shizuna could understand the principles at work.

Each form had its own underlying principle. From the initial motion, the sword flash was tinged with light, and there was beauty in the completion of each movement.

The blade glittered.

Ria, wielding that katana, was also incomparably beautiful.

(And yet she's such a pervert…)

It seemed skill and personality didn't always match.

Though she felt Shizuna's gaze, Ria continued swinging her katana with a tranquil heart.

No matter how bloodthirsty she might be, no matter how much she sexually harassed girls, when facing her katana she was pure.

Rather, it was precisely because she purified the corruption in her heart when facing her katana that she could survive even in pools of blood.

Finishing her forms, she quietly sheathed her blade.

Turning around, her eyes met Shizuna's.

Though Shizuna looked away with impressive speed, Ria's mind and body were currently filled with purity.

"It's still early morning. Want to cross swords for a bit?"

To Ria's words, Shizuna found herself nodding obediently for some reason.

Their bout was held outside the cave.

Long sword thrusts were Shizuna's specialty.

Without her magic sword at hand, honing her techniques was essential. Though she didn't put killing intent behind it, she poured her full spirit into her techniques.

But none of it worked against Ria.

"Well then, since you've been fighting demons the whole time, it's no wonder you can't beat me."

Ria spoke as if admonishing her. By now, she had placed her katana's tip against Shizuna's neck countless times.

"If we're speaking purely of talent with the sword, you might be better than me. It's just that you haven't trained in person-to-person combat, and your experience is the problem."

Those words did nothing to restore Shizuna's pride. It was true that she had mainly fought demons, but she had also taken down men barehanded in that rough-and-tumble town.

"Have you ever trained for war?"

To that question, Shizuna shook her head. An explorer's swordplay was brute force against demons.

But the knights Ria had trained with had honed their skills with human warfare in mind. On top of that, she had abilities ingrained from her previous life.

There was power in Ria that couldn't simply be expressed through Skills.

"No point using up too much stamina. One last time, come at me with everything you've got."

Ria opened her arms as if welcoming her. In response, Shizuna did the opposite of what she had been doing and raised her sword high.

And then, she couldn't even swing it down.

Before she knew it, Ria had closed the distance until their noses nearly touched and had knocked Shizuna's sword away barehanded.

"W-why…"

"The secret technique of disarming—no-sword. By fighting unarmed, neither opponent nor self dies. It's a technique for keeping people alive, not killing them. Though if you ask me, it's a bit too preachy for my taste."

Ria hadn't even used body strengthening magic. She had completely overwhelmed Shizuna with skill alone.

"Anyway, how about some food?"

In contrast to Shizuna's ragged breathing, Ria hadn't broken a single sweat.

"No way, for Shizuna to be completely helpless…"

Gates, who had been watching from the cave's shadow, let out a sigh. Among Thunder's Fangs, he was the most knowledgeable in person-to-person combat.

"Vargas, could you have won?"

When asked, Vargas slowly shook his head.

"Of course you never know until you try, but probably not."

Vargas continued.

"It's said that in the Millennium, heroes who exceed the limits of ordinary people will appear. Perhaps that Ojou-chan is one of them."

Vargas was confident in his own abilities. As an explorer challenging the Dark Labyrinth, he also had fighting spirit.

But in reality, he had been stuck making progress on a single floor.

He was still alive. But he wanted to feel even more alive.

At his age, he had finally found that opportunity.

After finishing breakfast, the party immediately began their exploration.

Since they had already thoroughly explored the first floor, they headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.

Going ahead, the cat beastkin combo of Shar and Maal took point.

The Dark Labyrinth had few mechanical traps. You could say there were almost none. However, magically-placed traps were abundant. Maal's Fairy Eyes were extremely useful for detecting them.

The labyrinth's traps weren't constant. Magical ones especially. The most common type in the Dark Labyrinth was magic formations that materialized numerous demons when stepped on.

"How many is 'numerous' anyway? Depending on the number, it might actually be good for leveling up."

To Ria's outrageous statement, Vargas responded calmly.

"Usually ten to twenty. Since there are many enemies that use magic, there's a high chance of casualties."

This was different from the Immortal Labyrinth, Ria reminded herself. If she were alone it would be one thing, but she couldn't drag her companions into deadly situations.

They defeated several salamanders, worms, and giant insect-type monsters. Even this much yielded magic crystals. The difficulty of enemies here was indeed incomparable to the Immortal Labyrinth.

Before long, the two scouts returned.

"Metal armor sounds. If it's just an Animated Armor that would be fine, but…"

According to Shar's explanation, it would be bad if the enemy was a Ghost Knight-type.

"We'll take a detour."

Vargas's judgment wasn't wrong. Avoiding danger was a necessary talent for an explorer.

A Ghost Knight's status ailment-inflicting attacks were extremely dangerous during labyrinth exploration. It was fine if you could cure them, but if not, even your escape speed from the labyrinth would drop.

In that sense, Ria probably didn't have talent as an explorer.

"Hey, would it be okay if I went alone?"

When she said that, Vargas frowned. He looked to Carlos for his opinion, but Carlos just shrugged.

"A Ghost Knight's attacks cause different ailments depending on the individual. You may have fought one before, but it's dangerous."

But he didn't object or forbid it.

"If it's not forbidden, I'll be right back."

Ria bounded off as if she were just stepping out for a moment.

The dumbfounded Shizuna confronted Carlos.

"Hey! Aren't you that girl's guard!?"

She wasn't worried. She absolutely wasn't worried. Not yet, at least.

She just didn't want to accept such an unreasonable existence.

"I'm not Ojou's guard, I'm her watchdog. Though I can't say I've been fulfilling even that role lately…"

Carlos already thought worrying about Ria was pointless. He had even come to think he only needed to point out dangers she wasn't aware of.

Rather, it was the members of Thunder's Fangs who were worried.

From around the bend in the passage, the sound of clashing swords rang out several times.

Then it fell quiet, and shortly after, Ria popped back into view.

"Defeated it. But it wasn't a Ghost Knight, it was an Evil Spirit Knight."

Though dumbfounded, the party rushed over to Ria.

The armor was decaying. Only the sword remained.

"An Evil Spirit Knight… That's a higher-ranked version of the Ghost Knight."

Vargas clearly remembered how troublesome those were.

While Ghost Knights were simply undead with lingering attachments to this world, Evil Spirit Knights were demons that cursed all living humans. Specifically, they had many ways to inflict status ailments.

"You managed to beat it alone? Did you have some kind of talisman?"

Jason asked with keen interest. While explorers generally didn't pry too much into each other's methods, this much was fine.

"I don't have anything like that, but most status ailment attacks don't work on me. I'll say this now though: I'm a bit weak to frenzy-type ailments, so stay away from me if that happens."

Actually, there was one more fatal weakness, but she didn't mention it since it was unrelated to labyrinth exploration.

Being immune to status ailment attacks was an incredibly enviable trait for an explorer.

"I see, so that's how you've been defeating high-level enemies."

Jason nodded in understanding.

Meanwhile, Serge used Identify on the remaining sword.

"It's not cursed, but it curses the opponent. Where it cuts becomes unable to move from the curse, becoming heavy like stone. When the opponent is human, the effect doubles."

It was a long sword. Among them, Shizuna was the only one who used long swords, but…

"We don't need it. You can have it."

"Is that alright? Even if you don't use it, it's worth a fortune."

While the girl was staring at the sword with practically drooling eyes, Vargas confirmed.

Explorers desired treasure. They desired power. This sword had that much value.

"I don't mind. Besides, we're still in the early floors. I'm looking forward to what's ahead."

"No, having an Evil Spirit Knight on this floor is unusual…"

With an expression that could only be described as exasperated, Vargas handed the sword to Shizuna.

"Can I really have it?"

She confirmed with her father, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"You having it will give us the most combat strength."

Though they were in a passage, the group took a break there.

Shizuna swung the sword, getting a feel for it. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have trouble handling it.

"Honestly, even though she was born a woman, all she likes is weapons…"

"Ria's the same. Though she doesn't hate dressing up beautifully…"

Vargas and Lulu let out similar sighs.

"Have you known that Ojou-chan long?"

"Yes, well. It's been about four years since we met now."

"Half-elves are long-lived, aren't they? I thought for sure you'd known her since birth."

"No, no. I'm still only about twenty-five years old."

While half-elves didn't live as long as elves, they did inherit the characteristic of not aging.

Having such conversations, they deepened their friendship. Carlos was watching with envious eyes as usual.

The labyrinth conquest was progressing smoothly.

Having Ria go ahead with the two scouts was a significant advantage.

Even when they discovered enemies the scouts couldn't judge themselves, Ria could use Identify magic to determine whether they should engage.

Even against enemies they would normally avoid, they adopted the strategy of having Ria neutralize the status ailment methods first, then the rest of the members would gang up on what remained.

The Basilisk, specifically.

Ria easily conquered this formidable enemy with its petrifying gaze.

She crushed its eyes with her katana, then called the party over. After that, it was just a simple beatdown.

There were also sections like the Dogazer where magic was nullified, but they broke through with brute force.

By this point, even Thunder's Fangs had gotten used to the abnormality known as Ria. They had no hesitation in their strategy of just sending Ria in first whenever something looked suspicious.

At a pace far ahead of schedule, they reached their initial goal: the sixteenth floor. It had taken them four days.

Up to the sixteenth floor, Thunder's Fangs had complete maps, but from here on there were only incomplete ones full of gaps.

Since they had gotten their coordination down and become accustomed to the labyrinth, they had decided to turn back here. Though in their original plan, it was supposed to take a week to get this far.

And on this fourth day, Ria's patience had reached its limit.

"Let's take a bath."

At those words, Shizuna went pale.

Since nothing like that had been said until now, she had assumed they wouldn't do something as outrageous as bathing inside the labyrinth.

"Ah, that sounds nice."

Lulu agreed as well. She had accepted that smelling of sweat couldn't be helped, but if Ria insisted, she wouldn't object.

Lulu tapped Shizuna's shoulder and whispered.

"Give up. If you resist, you'll only amuse Ria more."

No one stopped Ria anymore. The absurdity of bathing in a labyrinth was just treated as one of her quirks, something even the newer members had already accepted.

Shizuna reluctantly undressed herself and entered the bathing area.

Ria didn't aggressively sexually harass her and quietly washed her back. That was actually eerie in its own way.

"You really do have beautiful skin."

"D-do I? I've got scars all over though."

"Those are cute too, but if they bother you, I can heal them, you know?"

Ria, with her smooth, unscarred skin, said.

Even among the rough crowd of explorers, Shizuna was still a woman. If such a thing were possible, she would pay good money to request it.

In truth, it was possible through a specialized form of healing magic.

After that, Ria began massaging the soles of Shizuna's feet.

"Huh, a-a place like that—"

"Feels good, doesn't it? By stimulating this spot, fatigue is recovered and internal organ problems are improved."

By the way, Maal massaged the soles of Ria's feet. And of course, Ria massaged Maal's soles too.

It was a paw pad massage.

With a completely relaxed and loosened expression, Shizuna got out of the bath.

Knowing this pleasure might be dangerous. Though she felt a sense of crisis, it was hard to refuse something so good for the body.

The men took their turns in the bath, and they slept for the day.

The return journey took three days.

Though there were some dangerous battles, they always had flexibility to spare. Fighting on the edge wasn't something you should do inside a labyrinth. It was different from the Immortal Labyrinth.

"But adding more people was the right choice."

At last leaving the cave, they bathed in sunlight. Cell, the eldest among them, murmured.

"Both the pace and level of fatigue are completely different. Though most of that is thanks to that Ojou-san."

"I'm just happy to have fought formidable enemies."

Ria answered that her goal was power, not treasure.

Cell, beautiful as befitting an elf, showed a somewhat ironic smile.

"Though not a warrior, the elder of my tribe, Quorfos of Corfus, is among the strongest on the continent. Try meeting him sometime."

Cell was not from a nearby forest, but from the Great Forest.

"Oh, speaking of which, my father's homeland should be around here…"

Lulu's late father had come from a forest near here. Being an elf, her grandparents were probably still alive.

They decided to visit there between labyrinth explorations. Occasionally accommodating someone other than Ria should be fine.

They returned to Jaeburg along the mountain road.

The journey should have been dangerous, but with this group it would be fine.

The party had come together around the massive gravitational center known as Ria.

But no one knew.

The Millennium.

The Five Great Divine Dragons.

The Demon King and the demon tribe.

That there wasn't much time left until the supposedly solid system they had intentionally created would crumble.