You Call This a Trial?

If you wanted a fight and didn't mind getting beaten, take the left path. It would give you an experience you'd never forget.

If you were afraid of pain and didn't want a beating, take the right path. It would take you smoothly to the next floor.

A fork had appeared at the end of the forty-ninth floor, with a note posted beside each path.

Aoko pointed furiously to the left. "Who do they think they're looking down on? We're going left. Any objections?"

Alice said, "It is a trial, after all. It would feel like something was missing if we didn't fight."

Manaka Sajyou said, "Finally, a fight! After everything we've put up with on the way here, we can finally let loose."

All three agreed to go left. Having never learned the hard way, they had no idea what pain meant.

Half an hour later, the three returned looking like drowned rats. Soaked to the skin, they resolutely took the right path.

They hadn't noticed the cold on the way in, but now that they were drenched, the place felt especially chilly. All three shivered.

"Damn it! That was way too much. We might as well have been beaten in one hit! Which idiot suggested going left?" Aoko demanded.

Alice and Manaka Sajyou looked straight at Aoko. As she recalled that it had been her idea, regret set in.

She still refused to admit it aloud, insisting that the occasional setback was an essential part of life.

It had all begun half an hour earlier.

The three had marched down the left path in high spirits and reached the door to the fiftieth floor.

The Serpent Chamber. With an ominous name like that, nothing good could be waiting inside.

After a brief discussion, the three pushed the door