/
Chapter 2-29 : Beyond The Maze (part 1)
Thanks to Mylia’s magic, the two were able to proceed through the maze without any problems.
Apparently, the traps were mostly harmless just like the paint ball that almost hit Mylia earlier.
「The traps are harmless perhaps because this maze was originally built to train magician soldiers…」(Aria)
「Yes, you’re probably right.」(Mylia)
While discussing, Mylia and Aria kept walking down the maze.
There were so many passages connected to each other. Without Mylia’s Mapping Magic and Sonar Magic, they would have been lost for sure.
（Aria-san is right… Daemon who built this maze was probably a person with a bad personality…）
The placement of the traps was clever.
The traps were placed in the places that were likely to be touched or stepped on, such as the floor right after the corners and the walls where the floors were steep.
Even though Mylia had marked the traps with red color, she still sometimes triggered the traps accidentally, but she was fine thanks to her cat defense magic.
「Mylia-san, about your defense magic…」(Aria)
「Ah, it looks silly, doesn’t it? My master laughed so hard when she saw the cat for the first time.」(Mylia)
「Ah, no… I mean… The cat looks cute… Would you please teach me that magic…?」(Aria)
Aria asked while looking away with a blushed face. Apparently, she was a little embarrassed to ask.
「Of course, I will pay you if you want.」(Aria)
「No, no. No paying. Don’t worry, I will teach you after we’re done with this.」(Mylia)
「Really? Thank you, Mylia-san!」(Aria)
Mylia could use such weird magic because she had knowledge from her previous life, so it would be hard for Aria to learn.
〇〇〇
After walking for about an hour, they decided to take a break.
Mylia took out water, skewered Dabola meat and mochiyaki from her magic bag, and ate them together with Aria.
The two then continued walking, and thirty minutes later, they finally reached the door to the center of the maze.
As shown on the map, it was a rather big door with two bronze statues imitating a chimera and a medusa on each side just like the ones that were displayed at the school gate.
「Aria-san, we’re finally here!」(Mylia)
「Yes… It’s thanks to you, Mylia-san..!」(Aria)
「Don’t mention it. It’s too early to be happy since we haven’t solved the mystery yet.」(Mylia)
Mylia deactivated the projector magic on her forehead and took out the Daemon’s Map from her magic bag.
「Daemon should have prepared some gimmicks here, so let’s search around this place with caution. But first, I think we should observe from here before we enter.」(Mylia)
「Understood.」(Aria)
Aria nodded, and then they both pushed the big door at the same time.
The sound of the old hinges rubbing against each other echoed through the place as they pushed the door.
As the door was opening, the light from Mylia’s light ball illuminated the dark room behind the door.
The room was about the size of a school gymnasium and had a beautiful circular shape. There were light source magic tools installed on the ceiling that were automatically activated as the door was opened, making the room much brighter than the passages outside.
The two hadn’t stepped into the room. They observed the room from the entrance first.
「Mylia-san, there’s an altar in the center.」(Aria)
「It seems like there’s nothing in this room but that altar…」(Mylia)
「You’re right. It looks like we have no choice but to go to that altar. There are no traps in this room, right?」(Aria)
「Don’t worry. As long as you don’t see any red marks, you will be fine.」(Mylia)
The two nodded to each other and stepped into the room.
The neatly arranged gray stone pavement continued to the center of the room.
It seemed like the floor of the room was shaped like a bowl. It was slightly inclined toward the center.
（If we can solve the mystery of the Daemon’s Map here, we may be able to save Aria-san’s grandma!）
Mylia swallowed her saliva as she approached the altar.
When she looked closer at the pedestal on the altar, she found a rectangular dent on it.
「This dent… It looks like we should put the Daemon’s Map in it…」(Mylia)
「There’s nothing written on this pedestal, but you may be right…」(Aria)
Aria carefully observed the pedestal as she said that.
「This is suspicious…」(Mylia)
「Yeah…」(Aria)
「Anyway, I will put this map in this dent.」(Mylia)
「Alright.」(Aria)
Aria nodded to Mylia and pulled out her wand from her belt just in case.
（Uwah… This is so nerve-racking…）
Mylia spread the Daemon’s Map in her hands and carefully pushed it against the dent on the pedestal.
Right after, the top surface of the pedestal, where Mylia put on the Daemon’s Map, began to shine, making it look like it was shooting a beam upward.
「Awawa!」(Mylia)
Mylia hurriedly let go of the map and stepped back.
The map stuck in the dent perfectly as if it was glued into it, and then the light from the pedestal began to focus on the crossword puzzle on the map, illuminating only the squares of the puzzle.
「Mylia-san, do you get any hints? I can only see a number of square lights on the map, but I don’t know what it means.」(Aria)
While holding her wand tightly, Aria looked into the map.
「Umm… Ah! The crosswoーー Hmp!」(Mylia)
When she was about to say, “Crossword puzzle”, Mylia immediately covered her mouth with her hands.
「What’s wrong?」(Aria)
「N-Nothing!」(Mylia)
（Phew… That was close… Rule number four : If you tell someone that this map is actually a crossword puzzle, you will be kicked out and will never be able to enter Fort Daemon / school anymore, and in the worst-case scenario, you might have to die.… Alright, let’s see what’s going on with the map…）
When Mylia started observing the map, numbers appeared in random order above the line of squares that Mylia had been trying to fill for the past month. That line seemed to be the true answer to solve the mystery of the Daemon’s Map
（This is! Numbers appeared above these characters and blank squares! I knew it, these words are in random order, that’s why it doesn’t make sense! …Alright, let’s see…）
Mylia focused on the crossword puzzle.
THE▢HISM▢PTOT▢UEYOUROFTE▢▢SE▢▢ETFRI▢N▢
（Hmm… If I rearrange these characters and blank squares based on the numbers that appeared above, perhaps I can fill the blank squares and find out the answer!）
「Aria-san, I feel like I can solve this map, so please waー」(Mylia)
「ーーMylia-san!」(Aria)
Suddenly, Aria hugged Mylia and raised her into the air with levitation magic.
「Aria-san? What’s wrong?」(Mylia)
「Look! Purple paint is gushing out from under the pedestal!」(Aria)
「Geh!」(Mylia)
Purple paint is gushing out and starting to flood the room.
Because the shape of the floor was like a bowl, the purple paint would eventually fill the room and turn it into a purple pool. It would flood the entire altar and mess up the Daemon’s Map.
ミBAM!
The only door to the room was closed all of a sudden, and at the same time, paint began spurting out from the wall.
「What is going on!? Is this entire room a trap!?」(Mylia)
「I don’t know!」(Aria)
「Khh! DAEMOOONー!」(Mylia)