Chapter 281 Inference
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Liz’s POV)
”Was the floor boss on the Third Floor ‘Minotaur’!?”
While I was reaching for the wine glass that Dorothy prepared, Helena leaned forward and asked me.
I mean, it’s surprising.
Right after we sat down, she casually said, “Oh, we went to defeat the floor boss on the Third Floor, and it was Minotaur.”
”Yeah… we had quite a tough time with it.”
”Did the strongest humanoid monster appear on the Third Floor?”
Frieda, who managed to get Helena to sit down, asked.
”Rena thinks it’s a bit strange.”
Rena started talking about something she was about to say just before Helena and the others arrived.
”Unlike regular floor bosses, it was transported here using a ‘teleportation circle.’ It’s not like there aren’t any precedents, but…”
”I heard that there was ‘monster teleportation via teleportation circles’ with the floor boss of the S-rank dungeon in Goblin Forest.”
Helena nodded in response to Rena’s explanation.
Including me, Dorothy, Martina, Asuka, Simona, and Gieze quietly listened to Rena’s story.
”Yeah. A massive horde of orcs. I think that was meant to create a surprise attack and have that ‘first-time kill’ effect. Also… even though orcs are weak monsters, suddenly sending a large number of them through ‘teleportation’ creates an ambush effect?”
”…It’s true, I got surrounded right from the start.”
Just remembering it sends chills down my spine.
But thinking about the next challenge, I’ve already come up with countermeasures.
”But, I wonder if it was really necessary for this Third Floor Minotaur to use ‘teleportation’… It’s a monster that can wipe out even a rank B party, or worse, even a rank A party.”
”Hhmm… It’s realllyy strange, ya know? Like, I dunno, how you can just poof outta nowhere and end up in da hallway. Makes no sense to me.”
”Right?” Rena asks Simona.
”Originally, the Minotaur should have been in a different floor, but it was ‘sent here’?”
Dorothy, who had her arms crossed and was deep in thought, mutters.
”Yeah. That’s what Rena thinks. But the question of ‘why?’ still remains…”
”Is it because it was us that the ‘Minotaur’ was sent here? Maybe the dungeon master of the Great Labyrinth had a hand in that?”
Martina says this while spreading out the map of the Third Floor that she had mapped on the table.
”Depending on the route taken… the floor boss that appears is different… or something?”
Martina stares intently at the map.
Helena and Frieda lean in to take a look.
”This… was quite a ‘long corridor,’ wasn’t it?”
Helena shares her impression of the map.
”There were various accidents right after we entered the dungeon, so our actual exploration of the Third Floor was delayed… It took us almost a day and a half to get through it.”
”…I’ll go call Laura. I want to hear Ms. Martina’s impressions of her as a ‘Thief.’”
Frieda heads downstairs to call Laura Strout, the ‘Thief’ from Rose Hip, who is talking with Hiroya and the others on the first floor.
* * *
”This is… a ‘boring’ floor, isn’t it?”
Laura looks at Martina’s map and says this right away.
Her expression is one of “ugh.”
”Right? It’s actually pretty boring… there are a lot of rooms along the way, and there are almost no branches.”
Martina agrees vigorously.
”Excuse me, Ms. Martina, is it okay?”
Laura stood up with the map and took Martina to a corner of the open space.
There, they spread the map on the floor and sat down to discuss something.
”Let’s leave the verification to the two of them. ──I still have some information to share with you guys…”
”We had a consultation with Ms. Liz and ‘Famière’ ourselves, but… no, the matter of the Raetia Great Labyrinth is more important. ── If you don’t mind, I’d like you to continue.”
After hesitating a bit, Helena encouraged them to speak.
(Huh? Consultation? …I’m a bit curious, but well…)
I felt a bit uneasy, but I had to convey the important matter.
”Right, it’s about the Fourth Floor. We went there and then came back using the ‘teleportation circle’──but it wasn’t even a labyrinth anymore.”
Helena, Frieda, and even Simona and Gieze, who hadn’t spoken yet, tilted their heads in confusion.
”It was surrounded by high cliffs… about a 20 km diameter… with forests and grasslands spread out.”
”But… does that mean it was connected to the outside world?”
As Helena, Simona, and Gieze looked stunned, Frieda managed to speak up.
”No, it didn’t seem like that. It definitely looked like an outside landscape, but…”
”Yeah. The sky was blue and there were clouds, but… there was no sun. The surrounding magical power was strong, so I think it was probably a ‘magical power-created space.’”
Dorothy and Rena responded to Frieda.
”Rena said it was exactly like a ‘Closed World.’”
”‘Closed World’──.”
Frieda unconsciously repeated the words that slipped out of Asuka’s mouth.
”Dat’s quah a lahbyrinth… wiff gresslands and foress prepeared…”
Despite her incredulous tone, Simona was grinning.
It was a smile typical of an adventurer… Gieze didn’t even speak.
She just wore a look of sheer astonishment.
(Yeah, that’s the kind of reaction you’d expect.)
Seeing Gieze like that, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
”I heard that ‘Sage’ Milia is going to go investigate soon. Maybe the boss floor on the Third Floor will be off-limits too? That’s what they said.”
Rena sips her cold tea.
”I think I might have figured something out!”
In the corner of the open space, Martina, who had stood up from the floor, came over with Laura.
* * *
”I can guess that there are ‘3 routes’ besides the one that Ms. Liz and the others took to reach the boss hall on the Third Floor.”
”Of course, some of the routes connect at various points.”
Martina shares the results of her and Laura’s verification, pointing to several places on the map where we passed.
Those ‘other routes’ likely connect to ‘some places.’
”Each route is basically a ‘long’ straight path. There are also quite a few rooms along the way.”
”Oh, I think I get it.”
”I noticed it too. This long route and the many rooms──.”
(Oh, I noticed it too. …I see now.)
”I see… we were ‘tested on our abilities.’”
Asuka muttered quietly.
”As we went through this route, fighting the monsters in the rooms along the way, the dungeon master measured our abilities…”
”And that monster was deemed ‘appropriate,’ so the ‘Minotaur’ was teleported to us…”
Everyone nodded in response to what I said after Rena.
”…Loooks like we were outa-estimated… well, for youse guys, dat might be the case. But… da Minotaur iz tuff.”
Simona chuckled wryly.
Yeah, I think the Minotaur is tough too.
”So that means… if our ‘Rose Hip’ party goes…”
”I see, a different floor boss will be chosen…”
Helena and Frieda exchanged glances and nodded.
A smile appeared on their faces.
Yeah, that’s how it should be.
”After a day of rest, we need to start from the Third Floor with a carefully selected party.”
”Helena, I won’t allow you to jump ahead. We need to decide properly who will lead the next team, you or me.”
The two of them locked eyes, sparks flying between them.
”Well, um, just discuss it within ‘Rose Hip.’ If you get heated here, it’ll be a problem for us, okay?”
For now, I stepped in to stop them.
”So… what was that thing you were about to say earlier?”
At my question, Helena, Frieda, and even Laura blushed.
(Huh? What’s going on? ──I have a bad feeling about this…)
It seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that, as I exchanged glances with Rena, Dorothy, Martina, and Simona.
Gieze and Asuka looked confused, though.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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