Reached the ending.

It was a phrase that carried an ominously strange feeling in this situation.

Dorothea asked, “You, are you perhaps under some kind of curse?”

“Hmm, should I call it a curse, or a rule, it feels like I’ve been incorporated into the story of the game book. Originally, whatever ending you meet would just be a setting, but now this game is becoming reality. Once you reach the ending of ‘becoming the labyrinth’s guardian’, it really comes true.”

“Then, do you have to be trapped here forever from now on?”

A slight, very small hint of sympathy crept into Dorothea’s voice.

To her, it seemed like an utterly tragic ending to continue living as part of this unidentified space, this unidentified game.

Adelaide, being sensitive, even covered her mouth with her hand and turned pale.

“Eh? No, not really. I can probably leave if I want to, maybe.”

The poignant atmosphere was instantly shattered.

Ignoring the bewilderment of those around her, Gale explained while repeatedly throwing and catching an empty teacup high in the air.

It was a sight that would horrify someone strict about etiquette.

“It’s true that I’m currently bound by this game’s ‘settings’ and can’t leave. But in the end, this is just the power of magic, right? Because various magics are tangled up like spaghetti, interpretation is extremely difficult, but instead of carefully unraveling it, if we cut it like cutting a rope, we should be able to get out.”

A cross-shaped vein popped up on Dorothea’s forehead.

“Then what was all that talk before!? Why are you unnecessarily setting the mood!?”

“Well, because if we leave that way, this library will definitely be destroyed. We were granted permission to enter the library as guests, so if we suddenly collapse the library, won’t Uncle Medir get really angry? If it’s really urgent, we’d have to do it, but for now, we’re still relatively comfortable.”

It was a strangely everyday-friendly reason.

Gale spoke to the speechless Dorothea, “There are two ways to escape without destroying the library, or rather this world. First is another player. In other words, putting you all in the guardian position instead and slipping out. But I don’t like this. For Sig’s sake too, our duel with you should be as cool as possible, and leave a clean aftertaste.”

Shouting, “Second!” Gale pointed at Dorothea.

Dorothea felt the urge to break that finger.

“If you reach the good ending, that is, the ending where you lift the labyrinth’s curse, I can escape along with you. So, can you pass through quickly?”

“Why should I?”

“If you don’t want to, there’s nothing we can do. I don’t mind just chatting here either. If we get bored, then we can join forces to smash the library and escape. If the responsibility is shared, won’t we get scolded less even if we do get scolded?”

“What are you talking about? You might not, but we can just turn around and leave. Do you think we came into a place like this without preparing an escape method?”

Dorothea held up the golden rope in her hand.

Gale showed a momentary surprise with an “Oh my,” then said, “That’s fortunate. It’ll be helpful later. But it probably won’t be of much use right now?”

“What?”

“You’ll understand if you try.”

Feeling irritated by that inexplicably confident attitude, Dorothea grasped the rope and walked back the way they came.

She didn’t particularly intend to go back like this, but “being unable to return” and “not returning” were separate matters.

One step back.

The rabbit mask said.

《Welcome to the legendary labyrinth, everyone! Now, it’s time to depart!》

Dorothea ignored it and stepped back again.

The rabbit mask said.

《Welcome to the legendary labyrinth, everyone! Now, it’s time to depart!》

Dorothea ignored it and stepped back again.

The rabbit mask said.

《Welcome to the legendary labyrinth, everyone! Now, it’s time to depart!》

“…What is this!?” Dorothea yelled and struck the rabbit mask with her staff.

But her attack just passed harmlessly through the mask.

Seeing this, her companions also tried to move towards the entrance while holding the rope, but no matter how much they walked, their position didn’t change.

It was the same even when the Tin Knight or Adelaide ran seriously.

Gale shook her head, “It’s useless no matter how fast you move. If we could escape with something like that, I would have escaped with ‘this’ long ago.”

Saying this, Gale tapped the ground with her shoe heel.

The silver horse summoned by Dorothea flinched in sync with Gale’s movement.

Dorothea sighed, then glared at Gale with half-closed eyes.

“You.”

“Addressing people as ‘you’ seems undignified, Dorothea. I recommend calling me Gale.”

“Never mind that. What you’re wearing now. Those are the ‘Shoes of Borealis’, right?”

“Yes, they were hidden in the labyrinth. I’m not sure if they were originally in the library or if they flowed in from somewhere resonating with this unique space.”

“From what I’ve heard, those have spatial movement abilities, right? Can’t you escape even with those?”

“This is a conceptual issue.”

Sophia, who had been watching the Tin Knight running at full speed in place and the conversation between the two witches with interest, asked Gale, “Gale, does the effect of that game book apply to the entire library? Or just from here?”

“As ‘magic’, the former. But as a ‘story’, the latter.”

“I see. So this place is the first page of this book.”

“Yes, that’s correct!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests a proper explanation instead of just understanding among themselves!]

Sophia answered, “Gale said earlier, right? That in the game the Witch of the North created, the content of the next page changes according to the reader’s ‘choice’. Conversely, the content of the very first page doesn’t change. The act of us returning to where we originally were, that is, going back before the first page, is impossible without a method that transcends the world of the book itself.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests an even simpler explanation!]

“It’s like trying to press the rewind button at 0.00 seconds of a video.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he understands!]

It was an explanation that only the Tin Knight and Sophia, who was learning various things from the Tin Knight, could understand.

In fact, Adelaide still had many question marks floating above her head.

“Well, isn’t that explanation enough? Then let’s start the game now! Make sure to reach the good ending! Fighting!”

“Hey, you, what are you doing on your own—“

Ignoring Dorothea’s protest, Gale stamped the ground with her shoe heel.

Immediately after, Gale and the White Knight’s figures disappeared into thin air.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Not only that, but the surrounding scenery also began to change haphazardly.

The ground that was like white paper and the starry sky made of runes disappeared, replaced by a closed yet antique-looking maze.

When the party looked ahead, they saw the rabbit mask that had appeared earlier moving swiftly to the left at a fork in the road.

And from somewhere in the labyrinth, someone’s voice was heard:

《Upon arriving at the labyrinth, you discovered a strangely shaped rabbit moving somewhere.》

《If you want to follow the rabbit, go left. If you ignore it, go right.》

Looking at the fork in front of them, Dorothea scratched her head in irritation.

Adelaide asked, “What should we do?”

“…I don’t like it, but given the situation, we have no choice but to play along. Anyway, we just need to reach that good end or whatever, right?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that in this situation, going left is the standard!]

Although it was unclear what standard he was referring to, there was no particular reason to object, so the party walked down the left path.

《You followed the rabbit’s shadow and proceeded down the left path.》

After walking for a while along a long corridor-like path.

A hole just big enough for one person to barely fit through appeared before the group.

《You discovered a hole that the rabbit seems to have passed through.》

《Some kind of sound can be heard from inside the hole.》

《If you want to investigate the sound, put your ear close to the hole. If not, return the way you came.》

Dorothea frowned, “Do we have to choose only from the given options?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that according to the original rules, that’s correct!]

At the Tin Knight’s words, Adelaide added, “Um, I can’t hear the sound properly. More precisely, the sound I hear is the same whether I enhance it with mana or not. It feels similar to when we tried to run back earlier.”

“This is frustrating.”

Perhaps because she wasn’t used to this kind of amusement, Dorothea continued to look uncomfortable.

“There might be traps in things like this, so let me try it.”

The moment Sophia put her ear close to the hole.

The ground seemed to wobble like jelly, and suddenly the hole grew large enough to swallow the entire party.

“Wha—“

As Dorothea tried to say something in surprise, the Tin Knight grabbed her while simultaneously emitting mana from his back.

Gaining propulsion, he grabbed Sophia with his remaining arm, then turned his gaze to the side.

The Tin Knight’s, and Adelaide’s eyes met.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ states he’s at max capacity!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says fighting!]

“…Well, in this situation, it can’t be helped.”

With a slightly sulky expression, Adelaide prepared to land on her own.

Boom!

With a heavy sound, the Tin Knight’s two feet dug into the ground, but the two he was holding didn’t even feel a small impact.

Adelaide didn’t possess the skill to completely dissipate force like the Tin Knight, but being much lighter, she was able to land on the ground without any particular injury.

《When you put your ear close to the hole, it suddenly grew larger and swallowed you.》

《You were severely injured, but fairies appeared from somewhere and healed your wounds.》

“Fairies?”

As the party looked around, they saw something small and human-shaped flitting around them.

Wings reminiscent of butterflies, light scattered like powder around their bodies, and innocent expressions.

Adelaide let out an excited, “Kyaa!” at the sight, which was no different from fairies described in fairy tales.

Although they had encountered fairies before in a labyrinth, those fairies had appearances that seemed to mix humans and insects, whereas these fairies were full of visually appealing elements.

The fairies were carefully examining various aspects of the party with a somewhat struggling expression.

“What’s wrong with them now?”

“They’re probably confused because they’re supposed to heal wounds here, but there are no wounds to heal.”

“Really… I can’t tell if they’re flexible or not.”

Dorothea looked dumbfounded.

The fairies soon shook their heads among themselves, then enveloped the party’s bodies with light powder, as if in place of healing.

Dorothea, Adelaide, and Sophia’s skin became noticeably softer, while the Tin Knight became shiny as if he had been oiled.

《Before you could express your gratitude, the fairies flew away somewhere.》

《You looked around, grateful for your luck. The place you had fallen was a square-shaped room, with a locked door on the wall.》

《There was a table in the center of the room, with a small box, a memo, and a glass filled with some liquid.》

《The memo reads, ‘There is a key inside the box. To open the box, you must drink all of the beverage.’》

《If you follow the instructions, drink the beverage. If you don’t want to follow, break the box to get the key.》

“No, isn’t it abnormal to drink something placed in an unknown place, common sense-wise?”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that people who point out things like ‘that’s not historically accurate’ one by one while watching plays are disliked by those around them!]

Dorothea glared at the Tin Knight for a moment, but this time, perhaps thinking it wasn’t a statement worth hitting him for, she didn’t swing her staff.

Sophia said, “Should I try drinking it?”

Dorothea answered, “No, I can’t stand doing it this way. We just learned that the story progression can deviate to some extent with the fairies, so let’s just do it our way.”

She lifted something that had been attached to her waist.

The Key of Opium shone alluringly.

***

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