The Blue Figure

I stood at the tent entrance, watching the figure dismount.

She was small, a full head shorter than me, wearing a khaki magician's robe and a black pointed witch's hat. She held a wand tipped with a blue magic stone that glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

Two people followed her. One was a tall woman with blonde hair curled into strange spirals. She wore a midriff-baring top and boots that reached past her knees, leaving a long stretch of her waist and belly exposed. Her ears were pointed, like those of the Long-Ear Race I had seen on the Demon Continent, and her red eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The other was a dwarf in heavy armor, with a thick beard and a sturdy build. His armor was covered in scratches and dents, as though it had seen plenty of battles.

"Is that Roxy? The master Rudeus worships as a god?"

I studied her closely. She was shorter and younger than I had imagined, looking like a girl of fourteen or fifteen.

Her blue eyes were calm, as though she had been through a great deal. I had seen that look in Rujierd's eyes, and in Ghislaine's too.

Rudeus came out of the tent.

The change in him caught me off guard. His shoulders had been relaxed just moments ago, but the casual manner he had used when talking to me was completely gone. His back was ramrod straight, his posture stiff as if he were standing for inspection. His arms hung at his sides, his fingers slightly curled, and the expression on his face?

"Rudeus is nervous. Or rather, he's excited. He can barely keep the smile off his face."

Roxy looked up and saw Rudeus.

Her expression barely changed. She just nodded slightly. "You've grown quite a bit, Rudeus. You're almost as tall as me now."

"Master, I passed your height a long time ago..."

"Shut up." Roxy glared at him.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"But after all these years, you're still the same height, Master." He spoke so quietly that I almost didn't hear him.

Roxy headed into the camp without looking back. After two steps, she suddenly said, "I can hear you, you know."

Rudeus's shoulders flinched.

Watching them, I couldn't help wanting to laugh. This man, who had protected me for three years on the Demon Continent, taught me to read, and become someone I relied on, now stood there like a student being made to stand as punishment, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Roxy stopped in front of the tent. Her gaze fell on me.

Her eyes traveled over me from head to toe. Her expression was complicated, with an appraising look to it. Her gaze lingered on my sword for a second, then moved to my face, finally settling on my eyes.

"You must be Miss Eris?" she asked Rudeus, her tone as calm as if she were asking about the weather.

Rudeus took a deep breath. "Yes. Eris Boreas Greyrat. She's my fiancée now."

Roxy looked at me in silence for a few seconds. Then she said, "Congratulations."

Just that one word. Her tone was as flat as if she were saying hello.

But I could see the appraisal in her eyes. It was as if she were checking whether I was worthy of standing beside Rudeus.

"Hello," I said. "I'm Eris."

Roxy nodded and said nothing more. She turned and headed for the tent, the tall, pointed-eared woman and the dwarf following her.

The pointed-eared woman suddenly stopped as she passed me. She turned and studied me with those red eyes, a meaningful smile curling her lips.

"Oh~ So this is little Rudeus's fiancée~" Her voice had a lazy lilt to it. "You've got a nice figure~"

I froze, unsure what to say.

"Elinalise, don't scare her," Roxy said without looking back.

"Oh, I was only saying~" The woman called Elinalise laughed and followed her. Her steps were light, and her blonde spiral curls swayed in the moonlight. The way her hips moved reminded me of a cat, lazy and graceful.

As the dwarf passed, he simply nodded to me and said in a gruff voice, "I'm Talhand."

Then he followed the others. His heavy armor clinked softly.

I stood there, watching the three of them walk away.

Rudeus came over to me and said quietly, "Come on. Let's go inside and discuss the matter at hand."

I nodded and followed him into the tent.

An oil lamp was already burning inside. Roxy sat down at the table and pulled a roll of parchment from an inner pocket of her robe. She unrolled it across the table and weighed down the corners with two stones.

It was a map. The mountains, rivers, and towns were all clearly marked. An area in the lower right corner had been circled in red ink, with a labyrinth symbol inside the circle. Some numbers and symbols were written in tiny script beside it, but I couldn't understand them.

"Zenith is here." Roxy pressed her finger against the red dot. "The Teleportation Labyrinth near Rapan City on the Begaritt Continent."

Rudeus's shoulders tensed.

Roxy traced a line across the map with her finger. "Kishirika's magic eye confirmed the information. We've already done some preliminary investigation. The labyrinth's structure is more complicated than expected, and there should be a powerful guardian in its depths."

She tapped several spots on the map. "The first floor has gargoyles and bat-type monsters. Starting on the second floor, there are teleportation traps. Step on one, and you'll be sent to a random location elsewhere in the labyrinth. There may be more teleportation traps on the third floor, as well as poisonous fog. The mana concentration rises noticeably on the fourth floor, and the monsters get stronger. The fifth and sixth floors..."

Her finger stopped on the red dot. "On the sixth floor, the deepest level, Kishirika said there's a very powerful magic beast called a Hydra."

The tent fell silent for a few seconds. The oil lamp's flame flickered in the wind, casting wavering shadows on the tent walls.

"A Hydra?" I asked.

Roxy looked up at me. "A Hydra. Nine heads, S-rank monster. Its specific abilities are unknown. That's all the guild's records have."

Her tone was calm, but I could see the gravity in her eyes.

"We've already lost two search parties," she said. "The first encountered poisonous fog on the third floor and was wiped out. The second ran into monsters enhanced by mana on the fourth floor. Only one person came back, and they were badly injured."

The atmosphere in the tent grew heavier. Rudeus clenched his fists, his knuckles turning slightly white from the pressure.

"We have to work out a complete plan for clearing it," Roxy said. "We can't keep blindly sending people in to die."