Published: August 10, 2026
The usually noisy Adventurers' Guild was even noisier today.
The moment anyone arrived at the guild, they all rushed right back out again. And what they were shouting was:
"A pirate ship appeared."
When Lizel and the others heard that, they exchanged glances.
Though only Lizel looked puzzled. Gill and Eleven wore knowing expressions, talking about how it was about that time, or maybe this one was early. Lizel strained to listen, trying to figure out what they meant, and Gill and the others, noticing that, moved away from the guild doors for now.
The other adventurers weren't even glancing at the quest board.
The three of them moved to the reception desk, which was unusually empty and quiet. Since there were negotiations going on all over the guild to form temporary parties for those who couldn't rush out immediately, that seemed like the best place to talk in peace.
"So, a 'pirate ship' is..."
Eleven leaned his hip against the reception counter as he tried to figure out how to explain it.
Even though he was literally sitting on a desk that was in the middle of being used, the familiar staff member's smile didn't waver in the slightest.
"A labyrinth that appears randomly every few years."
"Yeah, that. And it shows up all at once in multiple countries."
Lizel blinked at Gill's concise explanation, then Eleven's follow-up.
A labyrinth should be one of a kind, with no identical copies anywhere. Even the design of the doors was something he had never seen reused before. Still, in ordinary labyrinths, there were no adventurers delving through them simultaneously, so no matter how many doors there were, each one should be no different from any other.
"So it's only the doors that appear in multiple places?"
"Oh, right on."
"Once you go inside, it's just like normal."
"The labyrinth disappears after it appears, right? Is it a matter of conquering it?"
"Or maybe it just vanishes after a few days."
"Though there's always the possibility it gets cleared somewhere nobody knows about."
"Oh, I see."
If doors appeared in every country, then enormous numbers of adventurers would be diving in.
Even if no one knew why the labyrinth vanished, it was possible some adventurers in a foreign country had already cleared it, or that there really was a time limit. If the guild got serious and investigated, they might be able to figure it out, but it didn't seem like there were many adventurers who cared enough to bother.
Lizel glanced at the staff member, who was sitting at the counter and occasionally nodding along to the conversation. Her lovely smile, always so elegant, shifted into one of apology.
"I'm terribly sorry, our guild doesn't know much about it... If you'd like, I can look into it for you."
"No, it's fine. Thank you."
Lizel smiled and gave a small nod.
"Then this will be far more of a festival than the appearance of the new labyrinth."
"You can tell just by looking."
"It's hilarious how empty the guild is."
The first-come, first-served principle was the same as the new labyrinth.
But the number of competitors was on a completely different level. And the instant someone cleared it, the whole thing would disappear.
It was a labyrinth that only appeared once every few years. Any dungeon items you got would be rare enough to fetch a fortune, especially unusual ones. More than that, anyone who cleared it would earn fame as an adventurer distinct from any other labyrinth conqueror.
No adventurer could resist that. That was why everyone was rushing toward the labyrinth as fast as they could.
"Let's go in."
For once, Gill spoke before Lizel could ask what they should do.
His eyes were narrowed in a combative way. Eleven was grinning too, showing his teeth with obvious excitement.
Lizel smiled as well, but he didn't rush. He simply headed back toward the guild doors they had just entered through.
"You two have never been in one before?"
"Back when? Five years ago? I wasn't doing much labyrinth diving then."
"Never had the timing."
"Come to think of it, Quattro's been diving nonstop lately too."