Even though it was summer, the sky was still dark by 8pm. Labyrinth City Exil was covered by such darkness. Places like bars and brothels were still lit up by magic items though, probably because, like Gilm, there were many adventurers within the city.

However, as Exil had an overwhelmingly larger population compared to Gilm, it was lit up by proportionally more magic items.

The entrance to Exil’s dungeon was at it’s centre. Four large mansions were located in the north, south, east and west of the city.

Those mansions were the homes of the descendants of the adventurer party that had first discovered Exil’s dungeon as well as the people who governed of Exil, which operated as a sort of autonomous city state.

However, the mansion to the south of Exil belonged to a house that had already fallen and was in considerable disrepair.

Since Exil’s main gate was located in the northeast, this decreased the number of visitors to the mansion was even more.

Although it was small compared to the mansions of aristocratic families, it was still decently sized and could be considered a large mansion to ordinary people. Many merchants and other people had tried to buy it before, but it wasn’t something that could be sold freely due to it’s historical value to Exil as a labyrinth city, causing it to become deserted.

「……Mm.」

Looking at the mansion on a whole, it was completely covered by the darkness of the night. However, one room was leaking a slight light. A single room inside the mansion.

In that room, a girl about 10 years of age was eating a simple meal of dried meat and water.

The girl’s name was Byune Fraut. She was a descendant of one of the four adventurers who had discovered the dungeon here and had cleared it to some exent before reporting it to the Kingdom, setting up the model for a labyrinth city.

With their achievements, the adventurers had been granted the right to carry down a family name, but only as a formality as they had no rights as nobles. However, to look at it another way, they also did not have any obligations that would be required of nobles.

It had been about 300 years since the Fraut family had fallen. The reason why the mansion was still somewhat maintained was because of the large number of magic items used in its construction. However, as expected, a large amount of money was still needed to maintain the mansion and its magic items. Both of Byune’s parents had already passed away and she was the only remaining member of the Fraut family. As the only successor, Byune entered the dungeon every day to earn money.

It was quite unfortunate for her that she was a thief with a certain level of skill. If she didn’t have any skills at all, it would have been impossible to maintain the mansion. But, if she had been a genius, maintaining the mansion wouldn’t have been a problem at all.

Still, working as a solo thief, she was able to earn enough money to maintain the mansion. Given Byune’s age of 10, in the future……those that knew her had various thoughts.

However, there were also many who didn’t want to see that happen. For example, there were those who wanted to recruit Byune’s skills as a thief into their family.

「Mm.」

Byune, who had become a lot less talkative from working solo, turned her gaze towards a portrait hanging in the room.

It was a portrait of her parents when they had just gotten married and had been drawn with what little money they had. She look at it in stillness with almost no change in her expression.

It was a lonely gaze that seemed to ask why she was the only one here, a gaze that longed for the love of her parents, a gaze that seemed to look somewhere far away.

After gazing at the portrait for about 10 minutes, she looked away and lay down on the floor.

There were no longer any usable beds, neither were there any sofas.

Because of that Byune rested her body on the floor with a thin blanket.

Tomorrow, she would have to enter the dungeon again to earn money.

 

 

There was a large mansion at the north side of Exil, directly opposite the location of the Fraut family’s mansion. However, the mansion, so to speak, was more like a fortress designed to hide within than anything else.

The garden wasn’t a place to enjoy looking at, but rather was maintained like a training ground for warriors.

Inside a room within the mansion, an angry voice echoed out.

「The General Princess of Duke Kerebel and Crimson have entered Exil!?」

Along with those words, a fist was slammed onto the table.

The table was made from the materials of Treant monsters that appeared in the dungeon and boasted considerable durability compared to ordinary tables. However, the surface of the table still caved into the shape of a fist from the man’s strike.

The name of the 2m tall, over 120kg man was Vosk Silva. He was also a descendant of one of the adventurers who had found the dungeon in Exil and, unlike the fallen Fraut family, he was one of the people that actually governed Labyrinth City Exil.

The man who had brought the report involuntarily shrunk back as Vosk looked at him with blazing eyes.

Seeing that, Vosk immediately exhaled and calmed himself down before speaking to the man.

「Pardon me. I was surprised by the unexpected report. Don’t worry, you didn’t make any mistakes.」

「Yes sir-!」

Vosk’s personality was indeed violent and he showed no mercy towards those that opposed him. However, he also had a caring side that took care of those that looked up to him like an older brother.

Vock was the youngest of the three family heads who currently governed Exil, but there were many who were attracted to the vigour of his youth.

「Damn it, why would two people as famous as them come to Exil……no, if they’ve come here, they’re probably here for the dungeon. Thank you for your report. Get yourself a drink with this.」

Muttering to himself calmly, he flicked a silver coin over to his subordinate who had delivered the report.

It seemed the man hadn’t expected to receive a silver coin just for delivering a report, he bowed with a smile at his unexpected luck.

「Thank you, Boss Vosk!」

「Yeah, you can go now.」

His subordinate gave a bow before leaving the room.

「However, trouble is trouble. Crimson’s combat strength is at least A rank, he had a Griffon as it also rumoured to be one of Margrave Daska’s weapons. But……what is his relationship with the General Princess of the Kerebels? Anyhow, the matter of Byune is about to come to a close. I hope they don’t get involved in it.」

Although Vosk might look like a warrior, and in fact his fighting style was very much that of a warrior, he knew the importance of information and naturally collected information on all the influential people within the Kingdom. Of course, there was information about the General Princess, Elena, as well as Crimson, Rei, who had quickly made a name for himself in the war with the Bestir Empire.

As he said that, he stabbed his fork into a steak, which hadn’t spilt off his plate even after his previous strike on the table, and lifted the whole thing up and biting into it without using a knife to cut it. The steak was only lightly browned on the outside and he could taste the blood dripping in his mouth.

As he washed the meat down with a glass of wine, Vosk thought about what was to come.

 

 

Inside a mansion to the west, a woman in her 40’s heard the name of the troublesome people who had appeared as well.

「Crimson and the General Princess. I wonder why such two famous people would come here.」

Her words and expression, which were spoken with a sigh, belied her appearance.

Her fingers were covered with jewelled rings and her hair was adorned with an extravagant gold hairpiece that covered her entire head like a crown. Her arms and legs were adorned with bracelets and anklets while her ears had earrings made from mithril. Around her neck was a necklace made from polished wind and thunder crystals, crystallised from wind and thunder magic. The clothes she wore were made from the highest quality fabrics, sewn by specialised craftsmen over a period of several months.

If some random thug were to see her, they would gladly rob her. There was no doubt that the ornaments and clothes she wore would be enough for someone to play around and live for the rest of their lives.

……However, anyone who tried to do that would have been put into a miserable situation by her magic. In fact, the people who had tried to rob her were no longer in this world.

Pree Marschel. Among the 4 adventurers who had found the dungeon, she was a descendant of the mage and the head of the Marschel family, one of the 3 families that governed Exil.

She was also a powerful mage that specialised in earth and water magic. Using the many magic items she wore, she was also capable of firing out offensive magic for extended durations without running out of magic power.

She loved jewels and her greed was enough to use underhanded methods to obtain them.

「It’s fine if famous people come here, but they’re not going to interfere with what I do, right? If they do, I’m afraid they might have to……get lost within the dungeon. Oh dear, a Duke’s daughter and a new war hero going missing within a dungeon. It’s going to cause a lot of trouble, but they knew that coming to a dungeon. Of course.」

「Of course, master.」

As she said those words while looking at her jewels, a voice replied from within the room.

There wasn’t anyone else in the room aside from Pree.

However, she didn’t seem to care as she continued speaking without a change in her expression.

「Yes, that’s right. It’s a pity, but it can’t be helped. ……I’m sure nothing will happen if they don’t have a strange sense of justice though. You’d better pray for that too, Bridget.」

「Understood, master」

Looking at the lovely jewels on the rings on her right hand, Pree spoke as she imagined the jewels she could obtain.

「Yes, all the jewels should be gathered under me.」

「Yes, master.」

Pree smiled in satisfaction at the voice that came from nowhere.

 

 

Inside a large mansion to the east of Exil, an old man in his 70’s or 80’s raised his eyebrows in displeasure as he listened to a report.

「The General Princess? Crimson? Why are such people coming to my Exil?」

「That, I think they’ve come here for the dungeon……」

「You, shut up-! Who allowed you to open your mouth!?」

The old man, in his rage, threw a glass which hit the forehead of his subordinate who had spoken, causing blood to flow out from the injury.

It was fortunate for the subordinate that the old man had lost a lot of strength in his arms. If the old man still had the same strength as when he had been an active adventurer, his subordinate’s head would probably have been shattered alongside the glass.

The old man’s name was Schaffner Levisor. A descendant of the archer among the four adventurers who had found Exil’s dungeon. The old man governed Exil alongside the Silva and Marschel families.

However, unlike Vosk, who was in his prime as a warrior, and Pree, who kept her skills as a mage, Schaffner was already well past his prime. On the contrary, he was already old and could die at any time.

「Damn it, finally……I finally might get my hands on what that little girl has. So why did these two have to show up now!?」

With an angry shout, he threw a cask of wine off the table causing the strong scent of wine to spread after it was spilled.

A glass of wine might have a good scent, but if there was too much of it, it would only smell bad.

「I’m not going to die. I’ve lived desperately until now. Even thought I was told I wasn’t talented, I grabbed my bow. Even though I was told I was stupid, I ruled Exil. The goddess of fortune smiles at me at last. ……No, that’s not right.」

As he muttered those words, Schaffner’s eyes became muddy with craziness. The madness of an old man who didn’t want to admit his old age.

However, Schaffner’s subordinates, who were waiting around him, didn’t seem to notice as they silently waited for their master’s tantrum to subside.

「That’s right. If the goddess of luck doens’t smile on me, then I just have to approach her myself. Hey, you. Didn’t you say those men asked to see me before?」

At the old man’s words, one of his subordinates looked confused……before taking a small breath when he realised was the old man was talking about.

「You mean, the Church of Holy Light?」

「Yes, that’s right. They worship a holy goddes of light or something like that. As long as I preach of them in Exil, they will have no choice but to respond to my request.」

「It’s true that the Church of Holy Light has beccome a popular religion in the city these days, but there have been various questionable rumours about them. Isn’t it dangerous to trust them carelessly?」

「Hmph, even if it’s dangerous, they can’t do anything inside Exil. You must bring them to me as soon as possible without Vosk or Pree noticing.」

His subordinates tried to speak up in an attempt to dissuade him, but Schaffner, obsessed with his own delusions, paid no attention to their words.

 

 

Like so, the presence of Crimson and the General Princess was known in Exil as each party made their moves to fulfil their own goals.

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