Published: January 22, 2026
Right now, we are on the 76th floor of the Great Labyrinth.
This area is a snowy mountain region and extremely cold.
On the 76th floor, it’s only snow-covered so far, but as you go deeper, blizzards start to blow, and even if you don’t fight demonic beasts, you’ll lose your life if you don’t take proper precautions.
The reason we’re here is to gather magic stones.
Because of the recent failure, we have been instructed by the guild to replenish the large amount of magic stones used for forced recall.
The 91st floor would be optimal for gathering a large number of magic stones, but entry into the deeper floors has been prohibited until the previous delivery is completed.
So, reluctantly, we came to the lower floors, specifically the 76th floor where a relatively large number of demonic beasts appear.
“Yahh!!”
Derrick charged alone into a horde of snow bear demonic beasts that appeared.
“Idiot! You’re too far from the rear guard! You can’t coordinate like that!”
I called out to Derrick as I chased after him.
Since the recent failure, he has been quite reckless.
To vent his frustration, whenever demonic beasts appear, he rushes straight in to attack them.
“Shut up! I can handle these guys all by myself! I’m not going to lose to low-level demonic beasts down here! Yahh!!”
Using Philly’s support magic to boost his physical abilities, he forcibly defeated the snow bears one after another.
“Oliver, you’re in the way!”
I heard Aneli’s voice from behind and turned around just in time to see a Fire Javelin coming straight at me.
I dodged it on reflex, but it could have caused serious injury if I hadn’t.
“That was dangerous!”
“Well, Philly told me to shoot!”
“I told you to watch your line of fire, didn’t I?”
“Huh? Was that so? Sorry, Philly.”
Apologize to me too!
Since Orun told Philly to keep track of each of our buff durations, she hasn’t let any buffs expire.
But Philly said that Orun probably didn’t tell the true durations.
Since the guild executives were present, he must have given dummy information.
Such unnecessary scheming.
Philly’s command style has become quite polished, and as she says, she really is an outstanding enchanter.
However, what bothers me is that Aneli seems to be almost devoted to Philly — she listens to everything Philly says.
Aneli is honest with herself, for better or worse.
She’s not the type to listen much to others.
Well, Philly’s instructions are accurate and trustworthy.
—Hmm? Trustworthy? Reliable, right? What’s this weird feeling? Never mind.
Our coordination was terrible.
Derrick charges in by himself, Aneli has many accidental shots.
Luna doesn’t even join our fights; she quietly hunts down any demonic beasts we missed.
We can’t possibly clear the 94th floor like this.
A fundamental reform might be necessary.
◇
After returning from the Great Labyrinth, we delivered magic stones to the explorers’ guild and then headed back home.
When we arrived, a grand carriage with a familiar family crest stood in front of the mansion, along with an elderly man in a tailcoat.
“Mr. Oliver, we have been awaiting your return. The lord is calling for you. I apologize for the short notice, but please prepare immediately.”
He is the butler serving Marquis Forgus, our hero party’s major sponsor.
Are they calling us because of this morning’s article?
I thought we had properly reported to Marquis Forgus the other day.
In fact, why wasn’t that article suppressed?
If it were him, it would have been easy to do.
“Is Oliver the only one the marquis is calling?”
“Yes, sir.”
The butler confirmed Derrick’s question.
Only me?
I have no idea what this is about.
“If that’s the case, I’m going to grab something to eat. Oliver, you handle the old man’s hospitality!”
Derrick said that and went inside the mansion alone.
Lately, Derrick has been going too far.
He was originally confident and tended to look down on others.
But it’s been especially noticeable recently.
He wasn’t this bad before.