Unexpected News

Lilia.

Her name went around and around in my head.

Paul stood beside me without a word. His hand was still outstretched from giving me the note, but I noticed he was clenching it so tightly his knuckles had gone white.

Lilia is Aisha's mother, and Paul's... second woman.

I looked up at Paul. His lips moved, as though he wanted to say something. His gaze shifted away from me, toward the well in the corner of the courtyard, then toward the distant city walls. He just wouldn't look at me.

Paul's nervous. What is he afraid I'll say? Is he afraid I'll get angry? That I'll bring up Lilia and Aisha? Paul, Paul, is that really what you think of me? If I were that kind of person, I never would have helped you out that day. Honestly, I didn't do it for Paul. I was just afraid-afraid I'd lose my family again...

"Father."

His shoulders twitched.

"I've always known. All this time. So I'm not going to get angry."

Paul finally turned to look at me. His expression was complicated: surprise, guilt, and something else I couldn't quite make out. Maybe it was relief.

"Lilia is Aisha's mother," I said. "I know they were sent to the Shirone Kingdom after the Teleportation Incident."

Paul opened his mouth. "You... when did you find out?"

"While I was on the Demon Continent. There were lots of missing-person notices on the Adventurers' Guild's message board. Some of them mentioned the Shirone Kingdom putting outsiders under house arrest." I folded the note and slipped it into my pocket. "I guessed it then, but I had no proof, and no way to get to Shirone. So I kept it to myself. I'd find you first, then figure out how to rescue them."

Paul's Adam's apple bobbed.

"We can talk about that later." I looked at him. "The important thing now is to rescue Mother."

He stared at me for several seconds, then nodded hard.

"We're going into the labyrinth tomorrow." His voice was a little hoarse, but firm.

"Yeah."

We stood there for a while. The night wind blew in from the desert, carrying dry heat and rustling the palm leaves.

"Rudeus."

"Yeah?"

Paul lowered his voice. "Lilia... if we get her out..."

"Father." I cut him off. "I stopped blaming you a long time ago, so let's not bring it up again."

He was silent for a while, then smiled bitterly. "You're a lot more mature than I am, kid. I've thought so ever since you were little. It's almost like you're not my son. Sometimes I even feel like you're older than me. Anyway... thank you, Rudeus."

I didn't reply. I didn't know what to say. Paul and Lilia, Paul and Mother... all of it tangled together was a hundred times more stomach-churning than the plot of any harem anime I'd read about on forums in my previous life. But I was certain of one thing: now wasn't the time to discuss it.

Paul patted me on the shoulder and turned back toward the inn. Halfway there, he stopped and said, "Treat Eris well. She's a good girl. Don't be like your immature old man."

With that, he strode into the inn.

Mature, huh? A lot of people in this world have said that about me. Rujierd, Eris, Master Roxy... Paul is thirty-two this year, but he's still younger than I was in my previous life. Back then, no one ever called me mature-not my parents, my friends, or my older brother... I was less immature than an asshole in my previous life, wasn't I? I'm really sorry, big brother. I wonder how he's doing now.

Oh well. I have family now, and friends, and a fiancée. Yeah, Paul, I will. Thank you, my father in this life.

I stood in the courtyard and looked up at the sky. The stars over the Begaritt Continent were clear, and the Milky Way stretched from overhead all the way to the horizon.

We're going into the labyrinth tomorrow. We don't know if Lilia is alive or dead, and Zenith is still waiting for us to rescue her on the sixth floor.

I took a deep breath and went back into the inn.

An oil lamp burned in the room. Eris sat at a low table by the window, with several sheets of paper spread out before her. They were the labyrinth materials Master Roxy had brought back from the guild: map fragments, route records, and notes left by adventurers.

She held one sheet close to the lamp, studying it. Her brow was furrowed and her lips pressed together, her hair slipping over her shoulder and hanging down onto the table.

Eris is studying a labyrinth map. Three years ago, she was a young lady who could barely write her own name, and now she's actually studying a labyrinth map. Looks like she really is worried about Zenith. Maybe she's worried about me too. This doesn't feel bad.

I went over and sat down across from her.

"What are you looking at?"

Eris pushed the sheet toward me. It showed the rough layout of the Teleportation Labyrinth's first through third floors. The lines were crude, and the ink had blurred in places, but I could still make out the general course of the passages.

"Here." She pointed to a fork on the second floor. "Geese said the teleportation traps are concentrated around these spots. If we go around this way, we can avoid three more trap locations."

I looked it over. She was right. The route was longer than the main passage, but it did avoid several teleportation traps.

"When did you start looking into this?"

"While you were outside talking to Paul."

I froze. Had she even heard our conversation in the courtyard? Just how absurdly good was her hearing?

"Uh, did you hear all of it?"

Eris didn't look up, continuing to study the map. "What goes on between you and your father is none of my business, but tomorrow is. When I'm clearing the way tomorrow, I need to know where I'm going. How else am I supposed to protect you, idiot?"

I smiled and picked up another document from the table. It was a note left by an A-rank adventurer, written in such a scrawl that some of the words took me ages to decipher. It described the location of the safe zone on the fifth floor, deep down a branch passage to the southeast, its entrance half-hidden by a huge fallen rock.

"The safe zone on the fifth floor is here. If Lilia's alive, she's probably there." I pushed the note over to her.

Eris leaned in to look. Her shoulder was close to mine, and I could smell the mix of rust and leather on her-the smell of her sword and scabbard.

"How many passages are there from the fourth floor to the fifth?"

"According to this, at least three. But only one doesn't have any teleportation traps."

"Which one?"

"The middle one. But the entrance is narrow. Only about two people can get through at a time."

Eris thought for a moment. "I'll go in first, Paul second, and you third. Roxy will bring up the rear."

"What about Elinalise and Talhand?"

"They'll wait for us on the second floor. If we run into trouble on the fifth floor, Geese will run back and let them know."

Her tone was calm, as though she were talking about something ordinary. But I knew her. The calmer she acted, the more serious she was.

"You've planned it all out?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking about it for half an hour."

I looked at her. The light of the oil lamp shone brightly in her eyes.

"Eris. About Lilia... don't you want to know?"

She stopped what she was doing and fell silent for two seconds.

"Paul's business isn't my concern." She pushed the map back to the middle of the table. "I just need to look after you."

I looked at her profile. The oil lamp lit her face as she stared intently at the map. She used to get impatient even when I taught him how to write, but now she could study labyrinth maps, plan our route, and decide where everyone should be.

Three years ago, she was a hotheaded young lady who only knew how to swing a sword. Now she's doing what I should have been doing. No, she's doing what we should have been doing together.

"Eris."

"Yeah?"

"You've changed."

She finally looked up at me.

"Haven't you?"

I laughed, and she laughed too. It was brief, but in that moment, I felt that this shabby inn room was better than anywhere else.

We kept studying the materials for more than an hour. We checked the route from the first floor to the fifth three times over and marked every known trap location. The oil lamp's flame grew lower and lower, and shadows flickered across the walls.

At last, Eris closed the booklet.

"Tomorrow, stay right behind me."

I looked at her.

"That's that."

Outside the window, the moon had already shifted west. The desert night wind slipped through the cracks in the window, rustling the parchment on the table. I reached out to hold the papers down and watched Eris stand, fasten her sword at her waist, and walk to the door.

She paused in the doorway without turning around.

"Rudeus."

"Yeah."

"Get to bed early. Don't slow me down tomorrow."

Then she left, her footsteps gradually fading down the corridor.

I looked at the maps and notes spread across the table. The oil lamp was almost out, its flame reduced to a tiny sliver.

Tomorrow. We're going into the labyrinth tomorrow. I hope everything goes well.

I blew out the lamp and lay down in the darkness.