Chapter 52

Chapter 52 \nVol 3: Chapter 52\n

** Queen of the Night **

「Boss! The cliffs have gotten brighter for some reason!」

「That so? I guess there is light in that place too. …Oi, is this the correct ammunition shell?」

「That’s an alcohol barrel!」

「I see…. Hmm, it’s corn alcohol. The taste is quite good.」

「Why are you drinking it!?」

「Give me a cup too!」

「Don’t go joining him!」

Three sky pirates were making a fuss at the fort of the magic airship “Queen of the Night”.

It was impossible for three people to use all six turrets, but they loaded all six with shells, saying, “The first all-out attack gotta be flashy after all.”

The engineer was staring down the fuel bar in the deckhouse wondering how to escape the Empire’s hot pursuit.

And another passenger—the “young miss” was still in her room.

「By the way, boss. I still don’t understand how we got away the first time when we stole this bad girl?」

「Oh… this ship is equipped with a “Stealth” magic tool – a “Heroic Gear”, is what it’s called. From the outside it would like we just vanished in mid-air.」

「If so, why don’t we just use it again?」

「Idiot. I wish we could. The fuel consumption is so bad that it’s deadly. It gobbles up fuel like a glutton, so if we use it now it will only last for a few minutes, and then all of us will fall from the sky with the ship.」

「Geh!」One of the sky pirates with a shiny, slippery head stuck out his tongue, hearing the explanation from the boss.\n

「B-Boss, light is coming from the cliff!」

Another pirate with a protruding tooth shouted.

「I already heard that earlier. I’m gonna get callus in my ear if I hear it again.」

「No! It’s from a different place!」

「There is another light? Well, if you look at 1 source for too long, then it’ll look like 30 sources.」

「Boss, that’s the enemy of mankind. The enemy of mother who protects the kitchen,『G』.」the bald pirate replied.

「Oh, was it 5 sources then? Wahahaha…」the boss laughed.

「I’m telling you it’s different! It’s obviously a different light!」

The protruding teeth guy shouted.

「There are 9 of them! 9 pillars of light surround the Empire!!」

** Labyrinth of Fear **

The labyrinth, which shook a while ago, had calmed down. The researcher who was measuring the “Death Mask Wall” returned to the innermost small room.

「Why do I have to crawl on all fours in such a narrow passage again…」

When he returned to the small room while mumbling, the researchers inside were just about leaving the room to take a break.

「You can look at it, but don’t touch.」one of the researchers said.

「Ah, yes!」he answered with a high-pitched voice.

After everyone had left, he surveyed the innermost room.\n「It’s so cramped… Nothing in particular other than the stone slab…」

Suddenly, it seemed like the stone slab shimmered bluish-white.

Despite being a junior, he was still competent enough as a researcher. He didn’t join the research team to do a survey—although he knew that surveying itself is an important task.

「Since the seniors did an inspection by touching it and all, it should be okay if I did too, right?」

The stone slab shimmered bluish-white again. He felt as if the stone slab was saying, “You’re right”. You could say it’s “the devil’s whisper” or that “humans are creatures that interpret things to their own convenience.”

The researcher gazed at the small hole that everyone else went out of.

「All right!」

He grasped and ungrasped both fists, licked his lip and reached for the stone slab. And that’s when it happened.

《——Confirming that the control system for the Labyrinth of Hatred has been released. “Labyrinth of 9 Emotions” has reached the majority of five-ninths releases. A forced opening of the “separation wall” after the overall optimization will be executed——》

Words floated in the air with a pale light. It was written in ancient language, but was barely readable by the researcher.

The ground began to sway, increasing from small vibrations to tremendous shaking.

「Wha!?」The researcher fell on his butt.

「Y-Y-You! What did you do!?」A senior researcher came crawling from the small passage.

「I haven’t done anything yet!」He cried with tears.

** Muge Company **

Mimino, Non, and Muge were staring at the words that had been deciphered—Reiji seemed to have copied the wall paintings of the Labyrinth of Fear.

Mimino was inwardly surprised.

She was always in awe of Reiji’s intelligence, but she never imagined he would be able to reproduce a copy of the wall paintings from just a glance.\n\n『If you capture the majority of the “Labyrinth of 9 Emotions”, you will release all 9 labyrinths. At the same time, the stored energy is also released.』

In the last picture, the first two women faced each other this time, and their extended hands were touching.

『The colossal energy will reconnect the two worlds.』

「The two worlds will reconnect… Reiji-kun spoke about this before.」

Reiji has told Mimino about some of the turmoil that occurred in the Kruvan Holy Kingdom. About the place called the “Other World”, and the battle with the “mediator” who came from there, and the Ouroboros summoned by the “mediator”–even Mimino and the others also fought against the giant snake.

「Mimino-san, there are already four labyrinths that have been captured. One more capture will exceed the majority.」Non said.

「W-Wait a minute, you two. Do you have an idea about this other world? There is no such information in this country at all!」

「Wouldn’t it be dangerous if the Empire captures another one without knowing it? Muge-san, you should report it to someone.」Mimino-said.

「I-I guess I should. It’s already late at night, but there should be a night shift at the Labyrinth Management Bureau. Let’s go.」Muge said, and collected the papers together.

As they opened the door, a large man stood in front of them.

「UWAAAAA!?」

「Muge-san!?」

「Who’s there!! –Oh, it’s you, Dante!」Mimino-said.

Dante just stood there, with a stunned look on his face.

「H-Hey, look at that.」Dante said, pointing somewhere.

What he pointed to — way above this building, far into the sky.

There already stood 9 pillars of light.