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—Tsutrail: Explorers Guild—
A short time earlier.
"Aaah, so the gratitude festival this year really is canceled..."
Inside the explorers guild, the female staff member Liz grumbled while sorting documents.
"Are you still upset about it? We are in the middle of a war with the empire. There is no way we could hold a festival. It cannot be helped."
Eleanor, another staff member listening from beside her, let out a fed-up voice.
In Tsutrail, a festival called the Gratitude Festival was held every year from late May to early June.
It was a city-wide event during which entry into the great labyrinth was prohibited.
The reason was that the great labyrinth, which supplied a wide variety of materials, played a major role in supporting the economic growth of the Nohitant Kingdom. The festival was meant to express gratitude toward that labyrinth.
That said, this was only the official reason.
In truth, the ten-day prohibition on entry was to restore balance inside the labyrinth so that materials could continue to be obtained steadily in the future.
However, as Eleanor had said, the kingdom was now at war with the empire.
As a result, materials for magic tools and the magic stones that powered them were needed even more than in peacetime.
Given that the country was actively encouraging explorers to enter the labyrinths, prohibiting entry was not realistic. For that reason, this year's Gratitude Festival had been canceled.
"It cannot be helped. I really wanted to see Orun-kun's gallant figure in the martial arts tournament again this year."
"Liz, you are still a big fan of Orun-kun."
"Of course I am! He is an S-rank explorer but has such a gentle demeanor, and above all, his face is exactly my type!"
"In the end it is all about his face..."
Seeing Liz speak with such passion, Eleanor muttered in an exhausted tone.
"That part is important! Eleanor, who was in charge of the Golden Dawn, got to chat with Orun-kun almost every day. I was so jealous."
"Then you should have helped me a little. You knew how busy I became right around the time the Golden Dawn became the hero party, right?"
"I would have gladly taken over chatting with Orun-kun, but anything else is impossible. Helping with the rest would have driven me crazy from stress. Especially Aneli! With that arrogant attitude of hers, I would have wanted to slap her."
"Slap her... Aneli was cute in her own way, was she not? Like a puppy barking while putting on a brave front. It was endearing to watch her try so hard to look bigger than she was."
"Eh, Ellie, you actually have a pretty good personality... By the way, ever since last year's incident we hear about Orun-kun and Luna-chan, but we have not heard anything about Oliver, Derrick, or Aneli. What are those three doing now? Since you were in charge of them, you must know something, right?"
"...Who knows."
"Wow, what is with that meaningful pause! You definitely know something—"
Just as Liz, convinced that Eleanor had information, tried to press her for details, a sudden loud impact sounded from near the entrance.
Everyone inside the building turned toward the noise.
"Really, can you not open the door normally?"
"Huh? Why am I getting complaints when I am following your orders?"
The crushed door fell inward, and two men entered the building through the now doorless entrance.
One was a man with a noble-like atmosphere — the Rakshasa, Stieg Strom.
The other was a crude man who made no effort to hide his displeasure — the Battle Ogre, Dimon Ogle.
From an outside perspective, they looked like a noble and his bodyguard.
"I apologize for the disturbance. We have business with the guild master, Leon Conti. Could someone call him for us?"
Stieg spoke with his usual innocent-looking smile.
"O-of course! I will call the guild master right away, so please wait a moment!"
A male guild staff member, mistaking Stieg for a noble, hurried off toward Guild Master Leon.
"Hey, young man. I do not know what has you on edge, but taking it out on objects is not good. This is the explorers guild building. You should not do anything that would turn the guild into an enemy. When the guild master arrives, apologize properly."
A male explorer inside the guild placed a hand on Dimon's shoulder and gently warned him about kicking in the building's door.
"..."
Dimon turned his gaze toward the man with a languid expression.
"Also, you should put that large sword you are carrying into a storage magical tool. Carrying it unsheathed is dangerous, right?"
Judging that the man would listen despite his poor attitude, the explorer added another warning.
"...Who the hell do you think you are?"
Dimon spoke in a low, threatening voice while veins bulged on his forehead.
"Wh-what do you mean who am I? I was just giving you some advice—"
Before the man could finish speaking, Dimon's arm blurred.
At some point the large sword that had been on his back was now in his hand.
The man's body, cut cleanly in half between upper and lower torso, fell at Dimon's feet.
Dimon turned the palm of the hand not holding the sword toward the corpse.
Reddish-black smoke-like substance began rising from the body.
It gathered in Dimon's palm and formed a small, candy-like lump.
Dimon tossed the small reddish-black lump into his mouth and swallowed it with a gulp.
By then the people inside the building seemed to have caught up with what was happening, and screams began rising from all around.
Hearing the screams, Dimon showed a ferocious smile.
"Hahaha! What nice screams! Ah, I cannot hold back anymore. Hey Rakshasa, I can kill them all now, right!?"
Just as Stieg opened his mouth to respond to Dimon's words,
"—Wait."
A firm male voice rang out from another direction.
There stood the head of the explorers guild — Leon Conti — directing an angry gaze at Stieg and Dimon.
"Battle Ogre, I understand how you feel, but please endure it a little longer. —Guild Master, you are late. Because of that, one person has died."
Upon confirming Leon's appearance, Stieg stopped Dimon and then spoke to Leon in a light, carefree tone that showed not a shred of guilt.
"...It is utterly unreasonable, but it is true that his death is my responsibility for arriving late. However, I have come here now. I will not allow any more people to be killed."
At Stieg's statement, Leon's shoulders trembled and veins bulged on his forehead, but he spoke without raising his voice.
"That depends on you, Guild Master. Depending on your answer, we may need to destroy this city."
"..."
"Please do not make such a scary face. You only need to answer my question."
Even as he continued to grate on Leon's nerves, Stieg spoke with an innocent smile.
"...Then ask your question quickly. And then leave this city immediately."
"Why are you so angry? It is just one pawn broken. That should not be a big deal to you."
"Do not speak of me using the standards of a 'monster' like you. I told you to ask your question already."
"You are impatient. Well then, I shall ask. —Why did you close the path...? Thanks to that, we had to come all the way here on foot. A mere guild master made us, the cult executives, waste our time. This is clear treason, is it not?"
Eleanor, who had been trembling in fear while listening to Stieg's "question," could not understand what he was saying.
However, Leon seemed to understand the meaning.
"Is that not a misunderstanding on your part? I did not close any path. If you want, I can show you."
He answered calmly without any sign of agitation.
Upon hearing that answer, Stieg deepened his smile.
"I see. Then please die."
As soon as Stieg said that without any connection to the previous words, a bursting sound echoed inside the building.
While Eleanor wondered what the sound was, Leon began to stagger while pressing a hand to his chest.
A large amount of blood was flowing from his chest.
"Guild Master!?"
Someone cried out.
"Everyone... run... from here."
While forcing out his voice in a raspy tone, Leon activated the magical tool on his wrist that he had received from Cavadel.
He sent a telepathic message to Selma.
"Selma-kun... I believe... this voice... will reach you... Please... protect Tsutrail..."
With those final words, Leon exhausted his strength and collapsed on the spot.
Stieg watched the scene emotionlessly and spoke.
"Battle Ogre, sorry to keep you waiting. The labyrinth overflow has also been successfully triggered. Shall we begin here as well?"
Stieg swung his arm casually.
Countless thin lines of light ran around him.
Wherever the light passed — whether there was a person or a building — everything was cut in two.
"Finally! I have been waiting for this!"
In the center of the area that had begun to collapse into pieces, Dimon scattered intense killing intent while gripping his large sword and began killing the people who had escaped Stieg's lines of light.
Some of the explorers resisted, but it held little meaning.
The people in the area turned into corpses one after another.
While watching Dimon's slaughter from the side, Stieg began walking slowly.
Even though what had been a building was now raining down as rubble, not a single small fragment fell above Stieg's head, and nothing obstructed his steps.
The sight of his retreating back was the last thing Eleanor saw.
Stieg reached the place where the guild master's office had originally been and activated a card-like magical tool there.
In response to the magical tool, the ground in front of him disappeared, revealing stairs leading underground.
Stieg descended the stairs.
When he reached the bottom, it was a space that looked as if a perfect cube about five meters in all dimensions had been carved out.
There, Stieg activated another card-like magical tool.
A magic circle then rose up on the previously empty floor.
"Hmm... Indeed, at the present moment the path is not closed. The other day it was definitely closed. Rather than erasing it, it seems it was altered?"
Stieg muttered while placing a hand on his chin as he looked at the magic circle.
"However, to alter it, one would need to understand the spell formula. That should be impossible for a mere human like Leon. Then was it the Sword Princess? No, if it were her, it would be more natural for her to choose to erase it rather than perform the delicate work of altering a spell formula. In that case, who exactly...?"
Stieg continued while gazing at the magic circle.
"Fufufu. You left behind quite an interesting parting gift, Leon Conti."
Stieg laughed with an expression of enjoyment different from his usual smile.
He then stopped thinking for a moment and activated the magic circle.
As the light of the magic circle grew especially strong, the next instant a group dressed in red robes appeared before his eyes.
The group in red robes knelt before Stieg.
The man at the front then spoke.
"Rakshasa-sama, give us any orders you wish."
"There is one additional task I want you to do. Two of you remain here. The rest will proceed as planned with the massacre of the residents and the capture of the Night Sky Silver Rabbit members alive."
""Yes!!""
Upon receiving Stieg's orders, most of the group in red robes stood up and immediately ran up the stairs to head aboveground.
"Rakshasa-sama, what are your orders for us?"
The two in red robes who remained kneeling asked Stieg.
"I now have something I must question Leon Conti about. Retrieve his corpse from the rubble. After retrieval, transport the corpse to the Necromancer."
"As you command."
The two in red robes assigned the separate task also went up the stairs and began to act.
"Well then, shall I kill some Night Sky Silver Rabbit explorers to pass the time? It would be better to prepare at least some corpses to make her happy. Fufufu. I have prepared the stage as promised, so please come quickly. The later you are, the higher the mountain of corpses will grow, Orun Dura."
Thus began the massacre of Tsutrail by the Cyclamen Cult executives, the Rakshasa and the Battle Ogre.