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13544Translator: Lizz
Proofreader: Xemul
They landed and stood in the middle of darkness.
Looking up, the room they had been in could only be seen as a distant ceiling. Tinassha once again conjured magic lights and cast them around.
What the lights illuminated was a sprawling stone hall. Looking around at the row of pillars, Tinassha frowned.
“What is this place?”
“Isn’t it a labyrinth?”
“It is, but…”
She felt uneasy. She had only been to one of Queeg’s labyrinths once before, but the impression had been different. The witch looked down at the seamless floor. Oscar, who had walked away to examine the pillars along the wall, exclaimed in surprise.
“Is this a temple or something?”
“Eh?”
“These are probably Gods.”
“Probably, you say”
That was not something one could misjudge. Tinassh went to Oscar’s side and looked between the pillars he was pointing to.
“This is…”
“Maybe you’d want to say ‘probably’?”
She understood what he was trying to convey.
This was a statue of Gods, with Chief God Aitea at the center. The designs were practically the same anywhere in the continent, so they could realize those were images of Gods. But this statue included all the Gods that were normally depicted separately. The man sitting in the center was probably Aitea. Standing smilingly next to him was his wife, Ludea.
“The other six are probably Aitea’s children… It’s quite heartwarming.”
“They look more like a family than a gathering of Gods. Who made this?”
Oscar’s impression was to the point. Even though they were clearly images of Gods, they didn’t look like Gods in this large statue because of the different atmosphere. In front of this statue that depicted a close family, Tinassha folded her arms.
“Eh… Can this be a breakthrough in the theology of culture? I have never seen such a statue before.”
“Didn’t this ruin originally belong to elementalists? Maybe these images are peculiar to elementalists or something.”
“Even so, it is immensely old. It might come from before the Dark Age.”
“That’s amazing. Should we bring it back?”
Ignoring his absurd proposition, Tinassha looked closely at the statue. She fixed her gaze on the youngest girl sitting on the floor near Aitea’s knees.
“Oscar… who do you think this is? There are six Gods who inherited Aitea’s blood; why is there one more person here?”
“Well, isn’t it his illegitimate child?”
“Ah, you’re right, you’re right. Eh…?”
The uneasiness strengthened. Tinassha craned her neck while still folding her arms.
She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice the magic composition was stirring. It was her contractor who noticed the abnormality; he lightly tapped her head.
“Tinassha, something is coming.”
“Eh? I’m a bit preoccupied here, so please do something about it.”
“Have you forgotten that you are my guardian? Well, it’s alright though.”
With an unsheathed Akasshia in his hand, Oscar walked further into the hall. Before one realized, the vibration of something heavy was coming from within the darkness that the lights could not reach. He went to meet it. Several seconds later, he called out in a serious voice:
“This is bad. Can you help?”
“What is it? Does your stomach ache?”
Taking her eyes from the statue, the witch turned around to look into Oscar’s direction, and consented that his request was justified.
The giant stone statue coming out from the darkness was swinging its huge mallet down on Oscar’s head. The mallet, which was as big as two adults, struck the stone floor right before him. The sound of its destruction shook the hall. Fragments of the stone floor clashed against Oscar’s barrier with crackles.
Even though the giant, which was not that much smaller than a dragon, had swung the mallet with surprising speed, Oscar had safely dodged it. He looked up at the statue.
“There are even such things in a labyrinth? A lot of people must have died because of it.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen one that big. You’ll be able to manage by yourself somehow, right? Didn’t you brag that you passed the traps in my tower with ease?”
“I didn’t, and the guardian beasts in your tower didn’t remain as stones.”
Even while they were talking, the mallet was coming from the side to mow Oscar down. He jumped back and dropped to the floor, and the mallet cut through the air.
Oscar continued to dodge the attacks without a chance to get Akasshia ready, but that resulted in the floor and pillars getting destroyed rapidly. It was unacceptable if she got buried alive here after being dragged into this. Tinassha sighed and turned to the statue.
“It can’t be helped…”
Firstly, she should aim at the head, where Oscar’s sword couldn’t reach. Many artificial magical creatures had their cores there.
Tinassha raised her right hand and worked out a smashing magic composition. She calculated the power needed to blow off the giant’s boorish head and threw it. The result was ―――― it dispersed right before hitting the giant.
Taken aback, Tinassha scratched her head once she had come to her senses.
“…This is truly unexpected.”
“What is it?”
“Well, seems like it has a barrier that nullifies magic. That giant, I mean.”
“Ha?”
“It can’t be helped, so I’ll cheer for you. Please do your best!”
She tried to cheer with a bright tone, but Oscar didn’t say anything. To be more accurate, he didn’t have time to say anything. Before one knew, the continuous attacks had made the floor riddled with holes.
She wasn’t certain if the barrier that nullified physical attacks could withstand such heavy forces. If unlucky, he might be struck into the floor together with the barrier. Tinassha nodded in excitement.
“Amazing. Let’s try making it for my tower.”
“Hey, I really hope you can help me here. This is really tiresome.”
“You should have some more taste of ‘reaping what one sow’.”
Having said that, she couldn’t get back if this went on forever. Tinassha put together a different composition in her hands while going to Oscar’s side.
“If I distract it, can you climb up to its head by yourself?”
The giant was easily as tall as a three-story building. Oscar looked up at the its form emerging from the dim hall.
“…Probably.”
“So let’s do it. Once you do, please cut off its head. It’ll probably stop then.”
“Will it chip my blade?”
“Well… If this sword gets chipped just by something like this, it has probably broken a long time ago, hasn’t it?”
Besides, if it was Akasshia’s blade, it could cut through the giant’s barrier.
After a quick preparatory discussion, Oscar temporarily stepped back. The witch went to stand before the giant in place of him, both hands burning with blue flames. She beckoned the stone guardian beast with the bright lights.
“So, let the Blue Moon Witch here keep you company for a while. ―――― Come.”
Her soft smile was as brilliant as a secluded night.
The witch, now the dance partner of the giant, danced in the dark like a little girl.
Whenever the blue flames on her hands sparked, they illuminated her happy smile, increasing the surreality of the scene.
Realizing he was being captivated by that scene, Oscar lightly shook his head. Standing here doing nothing like this would only make she preach even more. He fixed his grasp on the sword and waited for a chance to jump in.
What he was waiting for was a vertical swing down of the mallet. Oscar adjusted his breathing once he saw the giant held its mallet aloft and aimed for the witch. He began to run when the sound of it hurtling through the air came.
Tinassha gently floated up to dodge the attack that was about to smash her head. The mallet sunk into the floor instead and stilled for a little while.
Using that opportunity, Oscar jumped onto the hand that was holding the mallet. He could hear the witch’s exclaim of admiration.
Having noticed him, the giant raised his arm to shake him off. But Oscar, with his excellent sense of balance, kicked at the stone arm and went along its slope until he could jump onto the shoulder. He gripped Akasshia with both arms and swung it at the stone neck that was turning towards him with all of his bodily strength. The ringing sound of ceramics being smashed echoed in the hall.
This might be the end, or might be not. So, Oscar pulled Akasshia away, and thrust it deep into the joint on the neck.
The crumbled form of the giant itself resembled a mountain a little bit.
They cautiously and curiously climbed on it, but immediately noticed a tremble coming from underground. Oscar grimaced with a bad hunch.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, that’s how it is. Seems like whoever defeated the guardian beast will be buried alive.”
“Rather than meticulous, I’d call this narrow-minded. It should have acknowledged the defeat and let us explore at ease. Isn’t this how all labyrinths are?”
“Rather than a labyrinth, it…”
Tinassha abruptly stopped there, her dark eyes went to the pillars with the Gods’ statue.
“―――― Anyway, shall we return now?”
“Can we take that statue back? It’ll be buried.”
It was clear since a while ago that the witch quite cared for that statue. She considered saying ‘Yes’ to Oscar’s question, but shook her head in the end.
“No, it’s alright. It’s something we probably don’t want to take out with us.”
The witch smiled a bittersweet smile and took Oscar’s hand. They floated up and rose to the surface. They could see the floor of the hall right under their eyes.
Tinassha looked down on the statue of Gods that was disappearing into the earth. It was unclear what she was thinking, but her eyes were somewhat sad. One could feel the time that couldn’t be buried in those eyes. Oscar roughly caressed her cheeks.
“Should we choose which ruin to explore next once we return?”
“What are you saying? It’s time for a lecture – isn’t it decided?”
The witch raised her head, the usual smile on her face. Reassured, he sheathed his sword.
※ ※ ※ ※
“The area with the giant was probably underneath the labyrinth, some place Queeg couldn’t touch.”
Tinassha added; she had started making tea once they got back to the castle. Oscar, who had been thoroughly lectured all the way back, looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Maybe it was the original ruin? That’s why there was a stone guardian beast.”
“That giant was the guardian of the original ruin. Queeg tried to remodel the ruin, but couldn’t get to that place. The technique used to construct that giant was unusual. No offense, but it was on a different level compared to the guardian beasts at his labyrinths.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Such unknown things do exist, so it won’t do to thoughtlessly go to strange places. Do you understand?”
“…Could it be that you’ve gone back to lecturing me again?”
He made a worn-out face, but she knew he could actually endure her lectures quite well. Tinassha gave him a cold stare.
“We can go back to that if you want to.”
“Let’s save it for next time. I now know the power of elementalists.”
He shrugged, and beckoned Tinassha to come and sit in his laps. She just stuck her tongue out and didn’t come.
“That said, that place was definitely not the work of an elementalist. I don’t know who built it though. It was probably the same person who sealed it. The patterns of the magic compositions were similar.”
“What was that though? They sealed it because their construction was turned into a labyrinth?”
“That’s what I think. It’s quite outrageous, but there’s no proof.”
There were not many people in the continent who could do that. She didn’t know if they were still alive or not, but she was sure that their power was on the same level of witches, or higher. However, Tinassha had a hunch that she wouldn’t be able to get to the truth of the matter.
Surely everyone had a chest where they locked up all the sentimentality of their past, where they kept their own selves and old memories.
“…Well, I won’t help you next time, so don’t wilfully wander around.”
“So you say, but my body will grow stiff.”
“Practice long-distance swimming. Don’t say stupid things.”
Tinassha sighed and poured more tea into his cup. The rising steam tickled her long eyelashes and melted into the peaceful atmosphere.
