Roughly one hour later, in the Holy Capital Tonerico, inside the official office of Pope Fenris Tonerico...
“Goodness...” The white-robed Fenris sat down in his chair with an annoyed sigh.
“Do you have a moment, Your Holiness?” A young woman wearing elegant white robes walked through the open door. Her name was Anna Mendoza, and she was a high priestess who served as the pope’s secretary. There was a large bundle of documents in her arms.
“You may enter.”
“Thank you very much for your hard work on the sealing ceremony over these past few months,” she said.
“Yes, I am very tired. I must return to the sealing ceremony soon, so I would appreciate the time to take a break.”
“You must not. There are multiple items that came up during your absence which require your attention. Please check them.”
“This is why I didn’t want to return...”
Judging from their conversation, Fenris had been absent from the palace for the past few months, but it was unclear what exactly the sealing ceremony was.
“Explain the situation briefly, Priestess Anna,” Fenris said with a bright smile.
“Gladly, Your Holiness. The highest-priority matter to address would be the recent occurrence of rampant embezzlement among priests...”
Anna began happily explaining the matters detailed in the documents. Her eyes were sparkling with the overflowing respect she held for Fenris.
Meanwhile, Fenris listened to Anna’s words with quiet interjections such as “Hmm” and “I see” every now and then. He accepted the documents she handed him and glanced over the pages while thinking to himself.
What bad timing it is to have my return overlap with his arrival here... Or should I be grateful that he’s here while I'm also in town?
He looked out of the window in thought.
As long as he and his disciple are here, the defenses in Galarc should be much weaker. Now would be the best time to deploy the golems I retrieved, but...
The Wise God Lina’s smirking face flashed across Fenris’s mind.
What if it really was Lina behind Rio’s actions right now?
Her ability to see the future meant she would have predicted this situation. She would also have been aware of how Fenris would move once he realized the enemy’s strength was split. It was possible she had set up a trap against him.
That goddess truly is an annoying opponent to deal with... If I hadn’t been reminded of her face just now, I would have launched an assault on the Galarc Kingdom without hesitation. If things went well, that would have eliminated Celia Claire and his contract spirit in one go.
Pope Fenris sighed regretfully at his own indecision.
“Umm, Your Holiness...” Anna paused in her explanation and looked at Fenris.
Fenris looked away from the window and back at Anna. “Is something wrong?”
“With all due respect, you seemed to be distracted by something outside the window...”
“I was merely thinking of some things as I was listening. I have narrowed down the departments that would have had a hand in the embezzlement of large donations,” Fenris replied, setting the documents down on his desk. The income and expenditure of each department was written on the paper. Fenris marked the departments that required further investigation and returned the document to Anna.
“Y-You’re amazing as always...!”
“All I looked at was which departments had sloppy calculations and unrealistic numbers. It’s customary to turn a blind eye to those who pocket a small portion of the offerings, but I will go around the departments and remind them not to go too far. You can observe the situation to see if it improves after that and act accordingly.”
“Yes, Your Holiness! Moving on to the next matter...”
“Please make it quick,” Fenris said with a sigh.
I'll just have to keep an eye on the situation until the information gathering is done. It’d be troublesome if they ran into each other in town, so I'll get Renji to return to the Proxia Empire for now.
He returned to gazing out the window, staring at the townscape of the Holy City.
o o o
By two days later, in the afternoon, Rio and Sora had searched every inch of the eleventh floor’s walls and ground using their magic essence, but in the end, they’d been unable to find the twelfth floor. They left the eleventh floor and returned to the surface.
“The sunlight sure is bright...” Rio mumbled, holding a hand up to cover his eyes.
The inside of the labyrinth was illuminated by glowing walls and ceilings, but it was nowhere near as bright as the sun. And their extended stay there probably made the sun seem even brighter.
“Oh no, the Dragon King’s precious eyes... Please don’t look straight at the light. You may harm your vision.”
“Aha ha... I’m fine. I’ll get used to it soon enough.”
“That aside, how could that woman make the Dragon King stay in such a dark and damp place for two whole days...?”
“It wasn't Lina’s fault we stayed there.”
“No! It’s all Lina’s fault! She made you reincarnate after a thousand years and didn’t bother leaving any proper hints. That’s so inconsiderate of her! She made you waste all your time coming here,” Sora ranted angrily.
Indeed, if the Wise God Lina had intended on making Rio do something with the Dragon King’s power, she should have left some kind of clue as to what it could be. That being said, she was the one who knew what the future entailed. Perhaps she’d had a reason not to leave any clues behind.
“There there, knowing there weren’t any clues is a clue in itself. Let’s move on and head back to the city for a delicious meal,” Rio suggested gently.
“A-A delicious meal...! Yes, let’s go! Honestly, Lina should be grateful for the Dragon King’s endless compassion.”
Drawn by the offer of good food, Sora beamed like the sun above their heads. Thus, Rio and Sora made their way back to the Holy Capital Tonerico. Sora walked with a skip in her step the whole time, but...
There’s something suspicious about the labyrinth after all..
Rio turned to look back at the labyrinth, unable to shake the odd feeling he had.
Over one thousand years ago, the Six Wise Gods had conducted an experiment here that opened a hole in the world. Monsters from another world had surged through the hole, triggering the start of the Divine War. And those monsters continued to appear in the labyrinth to this day. It was impossible to think the labyrinth was unrelated.
However, they had already spent two days on the eleventh floor investigating to no avail. No new monsters had appeared while they were there, and they hadn’t detected any cavities on the other sides of the walls or floor. It truly seemed like a dead end, which was why they had decided to return to the surface. It also hadn’t seemed wise to spend any more time investigating based only on a vague suspicion.
“Is something the matter, Dragon King?” Sora called out, immediately noticing how Rio had stopped in his tracks. Rio shook his head as though to dispel his worries. “No, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”
They gradually moved farther away from the entrance to the giant labyrinth. Not long later, following their footsteps, a single girl appeared from that same entrance.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to the surface. Now...”
The child in white robes looked up, stared directly into the bright sun, then lowered her gaze to Rio and Sora’s backs in the distance and slowly started walking after them.
o o o
After that, Rio and Sora made it to the Holy City of Tonerico. They headed towards the main street in search of a restaurant with an appetizing menu.
“During the Divine War, there was something Lina feared. I had assumed that it was related to the Divine War during her era, but it’s possible it was something completely different,” Rio said out of the blue while they walked.
“If so, there’s no way of knowing what. It’s all that stupid Lina’s fault, so there’s no need for you to do her bidding, Dragon King.”
“But it’s possible that we’ve simply overlooked something instead. Something to do with the labyrinth, even.”
“Then shall we go back down one more time?”
“Yeah... It’d probably be best to go down the labyrinth at least one more time. But first, I’d like to gather more information about this area.”
Unfortunately, they just didn’t have enough information right now. They’d questioned some of the people in the city and adventurer’s guild before they went into the labyrinth, but that information barely scratched the surface.
“Is there somewhere we can do that?”
“Hmm. There’s one place I can think of where we could investigate things...”
“Ooh! As one would expect of the Dragon King! Where is it?”
“The temple in this city. The people who govern this land live there, so there should be a library where old records about it are kept.”
“That makes sense! Let’s go to the library in the temple, then!”
“Yep. It’d be great if we could search the temple’s library, but...”
Rio had a troubled look on his face. He didn’t believe they would receive permission to search the temple s library just by asking honestly. In this world where all books were handmade, they were considered luxury items. There was no way strangers would be given permission to enter the library so easily.
That means we’ll have to sneak in, huh... But even if we do, we won’t be able to stay in the library for very long...
Although transcendent ones had a hard time leaving an impression in people’s minds and memories, they would still create a commotion if they infiltrated the library and stood around reading without a care.
And if a commotion occurred, people would still remember that something had happened. If they increased the security of the library, it would become more difficult to sneak in next time. That’s why it would be preferable to find a way in without drawing attention to themselves.
Rio was considering his options with a frown, when—
“Hey,” a voice called out to Rio and Sora.
“Huh...?” Rio turned to look right beside them. The voice had come from a young child that didn’t look any older than Sora.
“What were you saying about the temple?” the child asked. The child had an androgynous face and pure-white hair. Their long bangs covered their eyes, making it difficult to tell whether they were a boy or girl.
The white robes they wore implied they were a trainee priest of the temple. They didn't wear any fancy accessories, and the robes were of good-quality fabric. Perhaps they were the child of someone high- ranking?
Even though Rio and Sora hadn't been doing anything conspicuous, they had caught this child’s notice. Rio’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Huh? The Dra... Master Rio and Sora are busy right now. We have no time to be dealing with brats, so go away. Shoo, shoo.” Sora tried to drive the child away with a look of clear annoyance.
“Aha ha. You’re funny. Aren’t you a brat yourself?”
“Wha—?! Sora is a mature lady! What a rude brat you are!” Sora hissed, baring her teeth at the child menacingly.
“Calm down, Sora... Sorry about that. Who are you?” Rio asked the child.
“I’m from the temple, as you can see. I heard you mentioning the temple, so I was wondering what you were discussing.”
The child raised their arms and shook the fabric of their robes to show they were associated with the temple.
“I see. Rather than the temple, what we’re interested in is the history of this area. We were wondering if the temple would have any of that information stored somewhere.”
“Right. By the way...” The child suddenly approached Rio and looked up at his face. They were almost close enough to be hugging, making Rio’s face twitch in confusion.
“Umm... What is it?”
“Have we met before?” the child asked, staring into Rio’s face.
“I don’t think so...?”
“Hmm. Okay. Maybe it’s because we have the same hair color?
There’s something about you that seems familiar. I see, I see... So we haven’t met before...” The child chuckled with a grin.
“Hey, get away from Master Rio! Who do you think you are, showing up out of nowhere and flirting by emphasizing how you match! You’re just a brat!” Sora snapped at the child angrily.
“Aha ha. You and I are definitely strangers. Yup.” The child took one step back, distancing themselves from Rio.
“I would never forget someone as rude as you,” Sora said with a huff.
“I don’t think I would be able to forget you two either. Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Eru. Nice to meet you.” The child offered their hand to Rio. Rio accepted the handshake.
“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Rio, and this is Sora.”
“Hmph.” Sora turned away from Eru with a frown.
“Rio and Sora, huh? What a coincidence that the three of us all have two-syllable names. To celebrate new meetings, I’ll tell you a little bit about this land,” Eru offered.
“That’s...” Rio hesitated. This was a child they had only just met.
Was it okay to make such a request of them so easily?
“Despite my appearance, I’m a low-ranking scholar of the temple.
I’m well-informed about the history of the Holy City, including the events that occurred in the Divine War era before this city was built.”
“In that case, we’d be very grateful...”
They had just been troubled by the inability to search the temple’s library. It was incredibly convenient for a scholar from the temple to appear with such opportune timing—a little too convenient, even.
“Then it’s decided. I may seem young, but I’m older than I look. Don’t worry,” Eru said, wrapping up the conversation. Although they hadn’t stated their true age, they hinted that it was older than they looked. And so...
“If that is the case, please allow us to do something in return for your knowledge.”
Rio chose to treat Eru as a scholar, not a child. He placed his hand against his chest and bowed his head deeply.
“Huh, that’s a flexible way of thinking. I like that. Not everyone can think that way. Let’s see... You can treat me to something yummy. Also, I’d like to know more about you two as well. You’re travelers, right? I don’t know much about the outside world, so I’m interested in that,” Eru said, smiling broadly. “Shall we go, then? It’s been a while since I’ve been around here, but there should still be a pretty good restaurant nearby.”
Eru started walking ahead of Rio and Sora.
“Hey! Who do you think you are, deciding all by yourself...?!” Sora grumbled, unhappy with how Eru was moving along at their own pace.
“We'd appreciate that too. Let’s go, Sora.”
Thus, Rio and Sora learned more about the holy capital from the child named Eru.
o o o
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