The next day, Rowan brought Reinhard to the Labyrinth City of Orario.
Their arrival point was an inconspicuous alleyway.
The instant he entered this world, Reinhard sensed that something was wrong.
His hand instinctively moved to the hilt of his sword.
Wind blew through the unfamiliar streets and alleys, carrying the smells of food, iron, and spices.
The color of the sunlight was right.
The temperature was right.
Even the sensation of the stone pavement beneath his feet felt perfectly normal.
And yet—
this was not any land Reinhard knew.
It was not Lugunica.
Not Kararagi.
Not Vollachia.
It was not even any country beyond the Great Waterfall.
"You can feel it?"
Rowan smiled at the Sword Saint, who had instantly entered a state of alertness.
"I can."
Reinhard's voice remained steady as he slowly removed his hand from his sword.
"All of my Divine Protections have disappeared."
The Divine Protection of the Sword Saint—
that was the world's favor toward him.
Beyond that were the Divine Protection of Evasion, the Divine Protection of Accuracy, the Divine Protection of Second Coming, the Divine Protection of the Phoenix…
Dozens upon dozens of Divine Protections overlapped upon Reinhard, weaving together into a living legend that ordinary mortals could never hope to reach.
But now—
every single one of them had vanished.
It was as though an invisible hand had stripped them all away from his body.
There was no pain.
No discomfort.
Yet the sensation was more frightening than any injury.
It was like an ordinary person suddenly losing their sense of touch and hearing.
The world was still there—
but the connection between you and the world had been severed.
"This…"
Reinhard slowly said,
"This isn't my world, is it?"
Rowan clapped approvingly.
"As expected of the Sword Saint. You caught on quickly."
"Come on. I'll explain while we walk."
Reinhard nodded and followed behind him.
Outside the alley was one of Orario's main streets.
Reinhard followed Rowan out into the sunlight—
and saw the city.
Most of the pedestrians carried weapons.
Longswords.
Greatswords.
Broad axes.
Double-headed axes.
Staffs.
There were so many different kinds that it was almost ridiculous.
And the racial composition of the crowd was equally chaotic.
Humans.
Beast people.
Dwarves.
Elves.
There were even several races Reinhard could not identify at all mixed among them.
They wore all kinds of armor and equipment in vastly different styles.
In that sense, this place somewhat resembled his own world.
And yet—
it was also very different.
After all, Lugunica did not have this many armed people wandering the streets.
And judging from their presence, nearly every one of them was a warrior who had experienced real battle.
As they walked, Rowan explained,
"This world has far more intelligent races than yours."
"Humans, beast people, dwarves, elves, Pallums, Amazons…"
"In theory, almost any intelligent race can be found here."
"Oh, right."
"There are gods too."
"Gods?"
"That's right."
"Real gods."
Rowan stopped beside a fountain, turned around, and spread his arms as though presenting the entire city to Reinhard.
"Welcome to the Labyrinth City of Orario, Reinhard."
"The Labyrinth City of Orario?"
Reinhard raised an eyebrow.
"That's right."
Rowan pointed toward the enormous tower dominating the city skyline.
"See that tower?"
"It's called Babel."
"Beneath Babel lies the Dungeon—an underground labyrinth that endlessly produces monsters."
"That's why this place is called the Labyrinth City."
Reinhard curiously asked,
"And what about the gods?"
"They're gods who got bored in Heaven and descended into the mortal world."
Rowan explained,
"They sealed away their divine power and now live among mortals as ordinary people."
"They establish Familias, recruit adventurers, and explore the Dungeon."
"That's basically how this world works."
After saying that, Rowan paused to let Reinhard digest everything.
Reinhard remained silent for a while, organizing the information before asking the most important question.
"Why would the gods seal away their divine power?"
"Because gods are too powerful."
"If they didn't seal their divine power, they could easily cause catastrophic damage to humanity—or even to the entire world."
"They descended here to experience mortal life, not destroy it."
Rowan continued,
"So every god who enters the Lower World must seal away their divine power and refrain from using their Authority."
"If they violate that rule, they're immediately sent back to Heaven."
"Incidentally, these gods are extremely old."
"Most of them have lived for hundreds of millions of years."
"They spent such absurd lengths of time in Heaven that life up there became unbearably boring."
"Because of that, almost none of the gods who descend willingly want to return."
"So they obediently follow the rules, seal their power, and live as ordinary people in this world."
Reinhard smiled bitterly.
"Hundreds of millions of years…"
"That really is an absurd number."
Whether his own world had even existed for hundreds of millions of years was uncertain.
Yet these gods had already lived that long.
It was almost impossible to imagine.
As expected of gods.
Their age alone was enough to leave mortals speechless.
Rowan continued,
"Of course, even after sealing their divine power, they remain gods in essence."
"They don't age, and they don't die naturally."
"And they can use their blood to grant Falna to members of their Familias."
"Falna?"
Reinhard immediately sensed that this was something important.
Rowan stopped at a roadside stall, bought several meat skewers, handed a few to Reinhard, and continued,
"Falna is essentially a growth system."
"It allows ordinary people to gain supernatural strength through battle."
"Normally, when people fight and train, they grow stronger."
"But no one can clearly tell you exactly how much they've improved or in what area."
"You understand that, right?"
Reinhard nodded.
He understood that extremely well.
He trained day after day and knew that he became stronger over time.
But exactly how much stronger?
He could not say.
He simply knew that he had improved.
Rowan continued,
"Falna turns that growth into visible data."
"How much you grew today."
"What aspect improved."
"You can see it at a glance."
"To put it simply, the Falna granted by a god converts combat experience into visible statistics."
"An adventurer's abilities are divided into categories such as Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic."
"Every category starts from zero and grows continuously through experience."
Reinhard stared in astonishment.
Growth made visible as data?
That really was almost like cheating.
With statistics like that, a person could immediately identify their weaknesses and focus their training accordingly.
They could balance their development—
perhaps even become an all-rounder.
As expected of a blessing from the gods.
It exceeded his imagination.
But then another question occurred to him.
"Does that kind of growth have a limit?"
"Of course."
Rowan smiled.
"When your growth reaches a certain point, it stops."
"That's what you'd call a bottleneck."
"But the gods already discovered a way to break through that bottleneck."
"It's called a Feat."
Before Reinhard could ask, Rowan explained,
"A Feat means an achievement great enough to impress even the gods."
"It can be positive or negative."
"As long as the gods themselves look at what you've done and consider it extraordinary, it qualifies."
"A Feat doesn't necessarily have to come from battle either."
"You could forge an extraordinarily powerful weapon."
"Create some revolutionary invention."
"Anything sufficiently remarkable can qualify."
"In short, once you accomplish a Feat, you can break through your bottleneck and Level Up."
"Every increase in Level brings a qualitative leap in all abilities."
"Currently, the strongest adventurer in Orario is Level 7—Ottar, the Warlord of the Freya Familia."
"Oh, right."
"A while ago, Esdeath beat him up."
"He's probably still recovering."
Reinhard raised an eyebrow.
"Esdeath?"
"The maid you mentioned?"
"The woman known as the strongest in that empire?"
"That's her."
As Rowan spoke, he stopped walking.
Reinhard also raised his head.
Babel towered directly before them.
Seen from this close, the sheer pressure of the structure was far more overwhelming.
The tower was so massive that it hardly seemed like something humans could have built.
Its gray-white stone surface reflected the sunlight with a dull sheen, covered in countless marks left by the passage of time.
At the base of the tower—
was the entrance to the Dungeon.
Rowan placed both hands in his pockets and introduced it as casually as though he were describing a tourist attraction.
"Floors One through Twelve are considered the Upper Floors."
"The monsters there are relatively weak. Ordinary adventurers can handle them."
"Floors Thirteen through Twenty-Four are the Middle Floors."
"That's where the difficulty starts increasing. You need a reasonably capable Familia to explore safely."
"Below the Twenty-Fifth Floor are the Deep Floors."
"The terrain becomes complicated, the monsters become much stronger, and only elite adventurers can survive."
"As for how deep the Dungeon ultimately goes?"
"No one knows."
"The Dungeon is alive."
"And it keeps growing."
"Alive?"
That completely overturned Reinhard's understanding.
The Dungeon was actually a living thing?
"That's right."
Rowan repeated it with emphasis.
"The Dungeon is alive."
"It breathes."
"It becomes angry."
"It responds to intruders."
"If a god enters the Dungeon, it goes berserk."
"If adventurers violate certain rules, it can produce monsters far beyond what should normally appear on that floor."
"And at the same time, the Dungeon is the greatest mystery in this entire world."
"To this day, no one knows what lies at its deepest point."
"Maybe the gods know."
"But if they do, they aren't talking."
Reinhard listened quietly.
The wind blew through his fiery red hair, covering half of his face.
Through the gaps between the strands, his sky-blue eyes reflected the enormous silhouette of Babel.
This world was far more fascinating than he had imagined.
Gods.
Adventurers.
Falna.
The Dungeon.
Monsters.
Feats…
If circumstances allowed it, Reinhard would have liked to live in this world for a while.
Make a few friends.
Fight monsters every day.
Level up.
Live freely.
Unfortunately—
he could not.
Because he was Reinhard.
A member of the Sword Saint lineage.
The current Sword Saint.
The knight among knights.
He had his own life.
His own responsibilities.
Things he absolutely had to protect.
So he could only remain a traveler passing briefly through this world.
"By the way," Reinhard asked, "where is the Esdeath you mentioned?"
At this point, he only wanted to finish the promised fight as quickly as possible.
Then he could return to Lugunica, find Felt, advance the Royal Selection, and restore stability to the Dragon Kingdom.
Everything else could wait.
"She's here."
Rowan pointed into the distance.