“Hey, can’t we do something about this carriage’s shaking? It’s uncomfortable.”
“There’s nothing to be done. Take it up with the person who made this.”
“Hey, it’s cramped. Can you move a bit more to the side?”
“Are you trying to crush me and the person next to you? This is the limit.”
It had been about four days by carriage from the academy to the Labyrinth of Beginnings. Today was the fourth day. Arcelia’s mood was plummeting, and she had been complaining non-stop, making the atmosphere in the carriage unbearable.
In addition to me and Arcelia, there were four third-year students on the carriage. Normally, they would have intervened, but…
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
They were completely overwhelmed by Arcelia’s mood.
Don’t think of it as pathetic. A severely displeased Arcelia is genuinely scary. Moreover, when she’s in a bad mood, she emits a prickly magical aura. My brother said so. Well, I don’t possess magic, so I can’t really tell.
That’s probably why the others sharing the carriage were filled with fear. Not a single one of them dared to look at Arcelia and instead averted their gaze.
That said, things had improved somewhat. A year ago, her emotional fluctuations were much more extreme, and she couldn’t control them, spreading them everywhere around her.
If it had been a year ago and she was in this bad a mood, she would undoubtedly have burst out of the cart and headed straight for the Labyrinth of Beginnings. Flying with magic.
So, well, they just had to put up with it. It was only a few more hours of this.
“Hey, can I let loose with some magic out the window?”
“Of course not.”
When I was reincarnated, I had decided to live my life solely focused on swords, yet somehow I found myself holding the reins of this girl.
—My stomach hurts.
The Labyrinth of Beginnings—Lunarost has a cave-like appearance. Inside, it resembles a cave, with monsters and traps everywhere. Unlike the monsters outside, the ones inside the labyrinth leave no corpses behind when killed.
The only thing left is a magic stone, and that’s it. Since the corpses of monsters don’t remain, adventurers can hardly earn any income. In other words, it could be said that entering the labyrinth is just a loss.
So why do adventurers delve into the labyrinth? The reason is that they’re aiming for the treasure hidden in secret rooms.
The internal structure of the labyrinth doesn’t change much. However, secret rooms are different. There’s a hole just big enough for a person to pass through, tucked away in the usual pathways, at the end of a dead-end wall, or in a room where the master resides.
What’s inside the secret room is treasure—essentially the remains of dead adventurers.
Armor, weapons, potions, coins. Most of them are of little value, but occasionally, something that can truly be called treasure can be found. For instance, a sword made of a special ore. A high-priced magical tool. A rare mineral.
The chances of finding a secret room and having its contents be treasure are extremely low. Yet still, adventurers delve into the labyrinth.
For these reasons, towns began to be built around the labyrinth.
“Hmm. So this is Lunarost… Not bad.”
As soon as she got off the carriage, Arcelia said this. Her attitude and words were far from charming, especially as the surrounding students were filled with curiosity.
However, this time, I couldn’t really criticize her. Since I had visited this place many times in my previous life, it didn’t evoke much in me. I had certainly been surprised the first time I saw it, thinking, “This city, Lunarost, is so prosperous,” but now it was just one of the familiar towns.
We got off the carriage and headed towards the inn. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary inn but a high-class one.
From what I heard, it was built for the academy students who came to take exams. It was generally for the wealthy, but during this season, it became exclusive for the academy. As always, the treatment of the nobility was courteous.
We would be staying for four days. It was quite a long time, but since there were about forty-eight students taking exams, it had to be divided over two days.
By the way, during that period, adventurers wouldn’t be able to enter the labyrinth. The Adventurers’ Guild, not wanting to pick a fight with the nobility, would thoroughly warn adventurers. Occasionally, adventurers who disliked nobles would meddle with the students during exams… Well, let’s just say they would meet a tragic end.
Arcelia and I would take our exams on the first day, while my brother and his friend, Ishirion, would take theirs on the second day. It felt like the distribution was somewhat deliberate, but I didn’t mind. I was just incredibly excited about diving into the labyrinth again after my past life.
