CHAPTER 409: ARC 6, CHAPTER 25: THE EVER-LABYRINTH

"I’ll start reading through these journals," Hotaru unpacked the old tomes they obtained from Casten Castle onto the table they were at in the guild.

Neatly and securely wrapped to protect its fragility, they had brought along a handful of tomes each compared to what they hauled out from the castle. "You’re sure you checked all of these?" Jotou unpacked hers as well.

Fumeko crossed her arms and lied her chin on the table, "Only these seemed relevant, unless you think outdated encyclopaedias and old medical handbooks are gonna help the case."

"The bigger question is, considering Ceridwen popping up, would Ambrose have another reason to stay at that castle besides, well, needing to hide out," Jotou posed the question. "He could’ve kidnapped sheep and people anywhere other than a haunted castle."

"Rejoice, for I have comprised an elucidation for thine riddle. Many are the whereabouts for where one may remain concealed. If this false deity sequestered himself to that sinister castle, tis certain another objective was his obligation.

Ha! At last, mine intellect hath furthered this case," Tiffany replied.

"Yeah that part was obvious enough it wasn’t worth mentioning," Fumeko stared with glazed over eyes.

"Hmph!" Tiffany countered by crossing her arms.

Meanwhile, across the entire guild, a magician twirled her wand and did some tricks. "Hey bard, you already got a party?" from behind her some voice approached.

She turned to the sight of a small party of four; they seemed inexperienced yet ready, with a large bulky man in the lead with an axe strapped to his back.

Asobi beamed brightly and nodded her head, "The Amazing Asobi is unfortunately taken," she curtsied her apology. "However, her tricks are for all and made to enthral!" rainbows fizzled out of her wand like a sparkler.

"Eh, too bad, could’ve used more magical expertise," the man gave a nod and turned, his party with him. "Would’ve made The Gauntlet easier. The Amazing... Have I heard that somewhere before?"

The magician tilted her head and caught the last couple of sentences with her pointy ears. "The gauntlet? Like a glove?" she uttered under her breath. "Maybe some commission," she shrugged it off.

Despite it nearing midnight, the guild hall was at full swing. In fact, double the amount of adventurers than when they had first arrived. People discussed among tables and had plans drawn out on parchment.

Asobi walked along through the commotion of chatter- "You there, elf." Some voice called out to her. Asobi turned to face a group of five with a lady with several scars and tanned skin in the lead.

"Oh sorry, I’m already taken!"

The woman was taken aback for a second, but then smiled and laughed it off, "A flirt too huh? Listen, that show earlier was great work, just wanted to show some gratitude. Sorry we don’t got spare silver to toss."

Asobi shook her head with a smile, "It’s okay, I don’t need the money, I just do it for fun. Your smiles, awe and appreciation is all more than enough my lady," she gave a performative bow.

One of the party members spoke up, "Performers like you exist? It’s a first."

The lady agreed, "Listen, when we get our share of the spoils tomorrow, we’ll toss a few gold for another show like that."

"Ooo, nobody’s offered gold before. Good luck on your commission then, I’ll make sure to put on a show if I’m around!"

"Commission? I guess The Gauntlet’s like a commission," the lady turned with her party, parting the elf with a small wave.

"Hm..." Asobi furrowed her brows and pouted her lips to one side. "Think like Meko. Meko... Mekomekomekomeko- What’s with the glove and why’re people talking about it?" she told.

A clown on a unicycle balanced himself in front of her. "Now’s not the time for tricks Mr Bizzo, we need to think," Asobi said to the illusion as she scrunched her eyes and poked her wand under her chin.

"Phonk!"

"Hm?" Asobi looked up and the clown honked a horn to one of the boards right beside her.

There were several posters and flyers being plucked by adventurers, all of them in black and white ink with the stylized drawing of random adventurers with swords and bows, facing the entrance of some sort of castle, titled ’The Gauntlet’.

The tables she passed all had the same flyers and posters, while a large banner was strung over her head saying ’Gauntlet Tomorrow, Registration This Way!’ with a giant red arrow.

"You’re right Mr Bizzo, this might have something to do with it!" Asobi snapped her fingers. The illusory clown popped and burst into flames. "Wait, I wanted to hear a joke!"

Unfortunately, without a joke, Asobi pressed on to try and grab one of the posters that was reappearing on the board. "Sorry, excuse me, hi! Do you know what The Gauntlet is?" she asked one of the nearby people.

A tall and wide man in a full suit of bright red armour with trimmings of gold nodded, "Oh, you can’t read? That’s cool, I can help," her proudly boasted and pointed to the flyer.

"No, I can read, it’s just-"

"You see, The Gauntlet’s set in this dungeon that respawns once a month, apparently a lotta old magic and whatever. The guild hosts it ever since it got discovered and didn’t want people crowding it every month.

So, they make people register and everyone goes in. Its super huge, lots of traps and puzzles annnd you get to keep all the loot you find as long as you can make it out," he was up against Asobi’s shoulder as he explained.

Asobi gracefully stepped aside, before she could be toppled over. "Wow, that sounds spectacular!" the magician eyes glittered with white light.

"Hey," he made his voice lower, "I got some extra space in my party, if you wanna join in."

Asobi shook her head, "No thank you, I’m already in a party!"

"The unaware ones are always the cutest," he spoke aloud, but it felt more like he said it to himself; it was hard to tell under the knight-like helmet. "I’ll change your mind, don’t worry about it."

"Uhm," Asobi tilted her head to the side. "I don’t think I’d ever leave them. Which reminds me, I left them," Asobi realized. "I’ll see you around Mr!" she kept the flyer safe and journeyed to find her friends.

Back at the table with the four of them, "And there’s also some new spells we should look into practicing."

Jotou rested her chin on her palm, "So question is, where to now? Hopefully not lost in the woods again."

"Let’s just be thankful that we happened across another party who told us where to go," Hotaru skimmed the first page of a journal. "It’s nearly midnight, we should get some sleep and think about it in the morning.

It’s going to take me a while to go through these books anyway, don’t expect me to be done overnight."

"I wasn’t gonna. Speaking of midnight, Daiyu’s gonna kill my ass for not sending this first thing in the morning," Jotou pulled out a sealed envelope from her coat pocket.

"But she’s four hours behind so I’m still on the clock for her birthday~" the blonde proudly stated with a smirk. "Meko, do you mind delivering this to Daiyu?"

Fumeko eyed the letter being waved in front of her, "Don’t know, the idea of Daiyu throwing you out of a palace window’s pretty enticing. Might be good retribution for making me a postal service." After her scathing remark, she took the letter anyway.

"Thou hath mentioned of a palace and a princess once before detective. Tis her day of descent into this realm? A momentous day for a royal—opulence and grandeur must be present in the Empire of Shattering Earth," the eccentric blonde said.

Jotou nodded while Fumeko focused on the spell. "Yeah, that psychopath’s my best friend. I’m sure there’s some gala or giant party happening. It’s sad I can’t go, but she has her life and I have mine," the blonde sighed. "She’s like me—not from this world."

"Ha?" Tiffany blinked a few times.

"Fwoosh!" Shadows escaped from her palm and wrapped around the letter, engulfing it before disappearing. "Gah..." she planted her forehead onto the table as her mana was greatly expended. "You’re carrying me to bed."

Jotou shrugged a shoulder, "Fair trade." ’It’s not like she’s heavy.’

"Everyone!" Asobi called out before appearing out of a bursting smoke cloud of glitter, holding up the flyer. "Let’s sign up for The Gauntlet!"

"The what now?" the brunette raised her head and squinted.

"There’s treasure to be claimed! A dungeon to explore! Puzzles to solve and traps to escape! There’s lots of people signing up, saying it’s something any adventurer shouldn’t miss out on!" Asobi continued the sales pitch.

Tiffany seemed confident to challenge it while Hotaru smiled sleepily at the prospect. Jotou bobbed her head a bit as she considered it, before she glanced over at the brunette.

Fumeko met Jotou’s gaze. She then looked to Asobi, "Sure. Till we get the next step on the case, might as well live up to being adventurers. Plus, some treasure sounds nice," she perked up, just a little...

_

The Ever-Labyrinth. Residing an hour south from the guild, the massive ashlar castle-esque structure loomed over the participants that stood right before the four-or-so-metre-high door.

Behind the castle was a small lake covering three of its sides. Of course, the lake only looked small because of how wide this structure was—much wider than it was tall, hosting probably two to three floors at best.

Hundreds of adventurers were grouped up in clumps outside, while two wooden beams supported a large banner to mark today’s occasion.

The task was simple. This labyrinth resets itself to its original state once a month, including all of the traps, treasures, puzzles and monsters. The risks are great, but the rewards could be greater.

"I thought it was suspicious," Fumeko relayed to her party. "How could something keep resetting itself with seemingly infinite materials? Surely powerful nobles or even the government would be here to strip it clean every month.

Hearing around, it makes sense why they don’t," as the brunette said, the five of them surveyed around them. "If the labyrinth’s been here for decades, why would adventurers need to strategize?

Surely everything’s already been solved and they’ve mapped out where the best treasure is. The answer to all of that, is that its random every time it resets. That includes the treasure, the puzzles and the monsters inside."

"Yeah that about adds up," Jotou replied. "No wonder they made a sport out of it. If I had to guess, sometimes the treasure’s worse than the last time and the monsters more. In the end, you’re more so racing other parties to get the good stuff first."

"Whatever the case, the goal’s clear," Hotaru held one of the posters. "Grab whatever you can, survive the trials within and get to the centre where an orb lies that teleports you back to the entrance.

I’m honestly more curious about the history of this thing," Hotaru brought her face closer to the paper. "Who made it and why? If there’s treasure like gold in there, I’d have to assume some sort of summoning affinity based in metal is in play."

"We should be focused on getting in and out," Jotou thought aloud. "Like I said, it’s a race against other parties. We should expect to be sabotaged by anyone and everyone."

"Why can’t everyone just pick a path and share the treasure they find?" Asobi played with the expanding brim of her hat.

"Tis simply the nature of most mortals," Tiffany adjusted her eyepatch and was in the middle of readjusting her hair clips.

"Gather up! We’ll be starting shortly!" a voice echoed from one of the hosts by the door. "Creak... Buff." The massive doors opened up to either side and was latched onto the wall as adventurers began filling up the wide entrance.

"Duff." Once they were all in, the doors were then shut again. The interior was akin to the start of a maze, with walls and paths. Lights, magical in nature, floated below the ceiling, dimly illuminating the routes.

"You have the next eight hours. If you or your party are not out by that time, a rescue team will enter and aid in assistance, after which you will be fined.

Exiting through the door is prohibited as per usual, unless in a case of an emergency," one of the hosts’ voice boomed through the paths. "With that, The Gauntlet will be activated and you may begin."

"Auror!!"

The sound of a loud horn, signalling the start. The stone of the labyrinth began to rumble and shake, causing most adventurers within to look around confused.

"Is this supposed to happen!?" Jotou shouted out.

"Sometimes. You can never tell with this labyrinth," a man in bright red armour and gold trimmings answered from nearby.

Seams and gaps began appearing in between chunks of floor that separated from one another. The walls began to move and realign as adventurers were being split apart from their parties within seconds.

Within nearly an instant, all the adventurers were closed off from one another. All the parties were randomly split into two people within each closed off space...