“We’re not making it back to the surface at all, are we?”

“…”

A scraping noise echoed deep within the labyrinth as the ground was gouged away.

Two figures—one man and one woman—were moving forward. To be precise, the man was walking, and the woman was being dragged along. A rope-like cord was tied around the man’s waist, connected to the giant shell of a crab.

Sitting cross-legged atop the shell, the woman spoke.

“Are you okay? Am I not too heavy?”

“No, I’m fine. This is part of my training.”

“Does that mean I am heavy?”

“Honestly, it’s not training at all. I can feel my strength draining from my body by the second.”

“Well, that’s good,” she said with a smile.

Then, as if recalling something, she added, “I feel like we’ve climbed a lot. This labyrinth is unbelievably deep, huh?”

“…”

“I wonder how the Holy Knight Order is doing without me. I hope they’re not getting scolded too much because of me.”

“…”

“Maybe that’s asking for too much, huh? Ugh… What am I even going to say when I go back? Everyone’s definitely going to be mad at me.”

“I’ve been thinking…”

The man spoke heavily.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Well… it might just be my imagination, but I think it’s time we admit something.”

“Admit what?”

Taking a deep breath to muster his courage, he declared:

“—Isn’t it possible we’re lost?”

He voiced the nagging doubt that had been smoldering in his chest all along.

Because, really, isn’t this odd?

When they were knocked down from the third layer, he remembered how long the fall was.

But surely it wasn’t this far.

Surely, they hadn’t fallen so deeply that four months of walking couldn’t get them back to the surface.

Admitting a mistake is always painful—but he did it. He steeled himself to accept the brutal truth that maybe they had been foolishly blazing down the wrong path at an equally foolish speed.

“—Ziel, do you know?”

Her voice responded.

“There are two types of people who get lost.”

Her tone sounded like she was wearing a smug smile.

“The first type is people who simply take the wrong path. That’s not us.”

“…Why not?”

“Oh, come on. We’ve been navigating entirely on instinct so far, and we’ve never once disagreed, have we? There’s no way we’d both consistently choose the wrong path every single time. That’d be an absurd level of bad luck.”

Is that so? He wasn’t sure he could believe that anymore.

“And the second type of person who gets lost,” she continued, “is someone who’s actually on the right path but gets anxious halfway through and deliberately veers off into the wrong one.”

“…Are you saying I’m starting to become like that?”

“Exactly!” she chirped cheerfully.

Just then, a magical beast leapt toward them, only to be swiftly cut down by the man before it could even land.

“You mustn’t let doubt consume you, my dear companion. The key to success lies in perseverance, especially when you’re not seeing results. Most things in life work out if you stick with them to the end.”

“…And if they don’t?”

“Well, then you’ll at least know it didn’t work out. Then you just go back and try another way.”

He let out a long sigh.

Her words were sound—painfully sound.

The doubt that they might be lost wasn’t a lie.

But at this point, having traversed the equivalent of 120 floors, the thought of retracing their steps was equally daunting.

Even if there was nothing ahead, it seemed better to push forward than to turn back, plagued by the fear of “what if that was the right way after all?”

With that resolve, he said, “…I’ve learned a lot. Thank you, Lililia-sensei.”

“Good! Keep learning, young Ziel!”

At a crossroads, the two stopped.

In silence, they looked at each other as if to ask, “Which way?”

“Right.”

“Right!”

Their answers were in unison.

Dragging the shell along with them, they continued forward.

Unfortunately, the path they chose led deeper into the labyrinth.

“It’s so bad I could cry.”

Lililia stared gloomily at the sashimi from a magical beast, while Ziel looked surprisingly composed beside her.

“The water is delicious. That’s enough for me.”

“People without ambition are what make civilizations decline, you know, young man.”

“Don’t insult me on such a grand scale.”

Lililia’s presence had undeniably doubled their combat prowess.

But their food situation hadn’t improved much at all.

Their only source of sustenance was magical beasts, and Lililia’s magic repertoire mainly consisted of holy magic and hygiene spells—she couldn’t even conjure a small cooking flame.

“I mean, it’d be dangerous if I accidentally used it while half-asleep and burned the place down, right?” she had explained. At first, Ziel thought it was just an excuse, but after waking up to find their surroundings sparkling clean several times, he’d accepted she was likely telling the truth.

Incidentally, Ziel couldn’t use magic at all. The explosions he caused, like the one that defeated the colossal horse, weren’t really magic—they were more like manifestations of his excessive strength resembling magical effects. Attempting to use that power for cooking would only incinerate their food.

Thus, the two were still surviving without even a campfire.

Thanks to her hygiene magic, the water was crystal clear, but still.

“Hey, Ziel, how have you managed to travel all this time without even knowing how to start a fire?”

“Well, fires can be dangerous. If they spread, it could be catastrophic.”

“That’s… kind of missing the point. Usually, someone without survival skills wouldn’t even be able to live like this, you know?”

“To be honest, my master once scolded me severely and told me never to do it again. So I decided to forget how altogether.”

“…Why?”

“Because I’m clumsy.”

Lililia let out a long, resigned sigh.

Ziel felt mildly hurt but decided not to press the issue, sensing it wouldn’t lead anywhere productive.

He drank the water in big gulps, exhaled deeply, and let the unpleasant thoughts wash away.

“The water is… delicious!”

“You’ve said that a hundred times already…”

The labyrinth, of course, didn’t have anything as convenient as clocks.

There was no sun, moon, or stars—just the faint glow of the magic suffusing the dungeon.

So, without knowing whether it was day or night, the two ate whenever they felt hungry and slept whenever they felt tired.

“Thanks for the meal.”

“Thanks for the meal. Okay, Ziel, give me your hands.”

Obediently, he extended his hands, and Lililia grabbed them tightly.

With no utensils available, they were still eating the magical beasts’ raw meat by hand.

Though they once tried making cutlery from bones, Ziel couldn’t see what he was doing well enough, and Lililia nearly slipped while holding his knife, screaming within seconds.

So, the two continued their barbaric dining habits.

“Alright, scrub-a-dub-dub! All clean now.”

“Thanks. That helps.”

“You’re welcome~!”

Ziel thought their lifestyle was becoming more civilized.

Lililia probably didn’t agree, given where they started.

“I’m going to sleep now…”

“If you sleep right after eating, your digestion will suffer.”

“If I don’t sleep when I feel like it, my spirit will suffer. You’re going to train again?”

“Yeah.”

“You should rest sometimes.”

“No. The bosses on these floors are starting to get tough. I need more strength.”

“Oh, really…”

Her tone turned icy, making Ziel flinch.

“I-I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Sure you didn’t…”

A month ago, Ziel had let slip a single comment.

He had murmured, almost to himself, that he wished he could’ve finished things with his own strength.

He was frustrated. Frustrated that he’d had to rely on Lililia’s help to defeat the colossal horse—a boss that had long been his personal wall.

Since then, Lililia had been a little scary.

“Oh, so I shouldn’t have helped? Sorry for being so inconsiderate.”

“No, that’s not what I meant—”

“Maybe I should’ve just let you handle it. Want some ditch water?”

Her words were calm, yet cutting.

Ziel understood that the sentiment was immature.

His strength had always been supported by others.

Still, his pride sometimes got in the way.

“Uh… Sorry…”

“Well, whatever.” She grinned.

“Eh?”

“Ziel, you’re kind of cute sometimes, you know. Like, maybe three times a year.”

“Master always said I wasn’t cute. Just ‘insufferable’ and ‘arrogant.’”

“Oh, I can see that, too.”

“What are you agreeing with?!”

"It's really fun teasing younger boys."

“…Is that so?” Ziel replied, sounding resigned.

“And you know,” Lililia continued, “you sometimes slip into polite speech, don’t you? You don’t have to force yourself to speak casually.”

“Well, I mean… it’s because you’re older than me.”

“You trying not to use polite speech is kind of adorable.”

Lililia chuckled softly, “Ufufu.”

“…Is that so,” Ziel muttered again, his tone even more resigned.

Internally, however, he thought, Staying here any longer is dangerous.

“Please just go to sleep… I mean, go to sleep already.”

“Okay, okay. I’m leaving,” Lililia said teasingly.

“Goodnight~,” she called out, her voice light and carefree.

“Goodnight,” Ziel replied curtly as he trudged away.

He walked far enough that he was sure his voice would no longer reach her. Finally, he plopped down onto the ground, placing his sword beside him and settling into a meditative pose.

He began circulating the energy within his body.

Tonight, I’ll refine my inner energy, he resolved.

Round and round it went.

Circulating.
Circulating.
And then… his thoughts began to spiral.

“…This is bad.”

With a quiet slap, he placed both hands over his face and lowered his head.

Barely above a whisper, he muttered:

“…I think I’m starting to fall for her…”

Deep within the labyrinth, the two young adventurers continued their wandering.