The Benevolent God

They gave the captured bandits minimal treatment and tied them together in a chain.

Upon exiting the labyrinth, they handed them over to the military personnel who had been standing by.

"They can use disguise and concealment magic, so please be careful."

At Sei's words, a soldier who appeared to be an officer went to fetch a mage.

Until then, Sei and the others waited inside a tent.

"If you're skilled enough to use disguise and concealment, it would be much safer to just earn money normally with magic…"

"As expected, Identify alone isn't enough. We need to be able to use discernment…"

"I'll have to tell Shishou about making it so the rewards and punishments section can't be disguised."

While saying such things, Sei posed a question to Bungol.

"You encounter an unknown monster in a labyrinth. Now, what would you do, Bungol?"

"What would I… is there any choice other than fighting?"

"Minus one point. There are cases where the enemy is too strong for you. By the time you realize it, you're already dead."

"I see, so that's why Identify is necessary…"

"This time was an exceptional case because there was a human mage, but Identify works on most monsters."

Indeed, that was the case. While some monsters could use magic-like abilities… or rather, abilities that displayed as magic, only beings with intelligence equal to or greater than humans could use disguise and concealment.

Of course, there were also demons that had disguise and concealment as a blessing, so it couldn't be said universally.

"There are also magic tools that can use monster identification, so a party should have at least one."

At those words, Bungol nodded firmly.

A mage capable of dispelling disguise and concealment arrived and appraised the bandits Sei's group had captured.

Murder was displayed, of course, and the bandits were hauled away.

But that wasn't the end of it. Sei and the others were summoned all the way to the governor's mansion.

During the carriage ride, a knight riding with them explained that the collection of magic stones had been decreasing recently.

It probably wasn't just that one group, but bandits had likely mixed in among the explorers.

They were brought to the governor's mansion, and when it came time for the meeting…

"I am Sei Christol Pola, Duke of the Holy Ogress Empire."

At Sei's introduction, the dignified governor froze.

"Those are words that cannot be dismissed as a joke, but…"

At that point, Mako respectfully took an identification plate and a dagger bearing a seal from Sei's hand and presented them to the governor.

"This is…! No, my apologies. I never imagined you were hiding among the explorers… Have you come to our country, or perhaps to the labyrinth? What is your business here?"

Here, Sei was offered a seat on the sofa. He felt bad for his companions, but they had to wait behind him.

"First of all, while I am a duke of Ogress, this mission is not from Ogress."

"So this is a private visit, then?"

"No."

Sei shook his head at that question as well.

"This is on the orders of Reiana-sama, the Dark Dragon."

This time the governor was truly surprised. His mouth hung open in shock.

"A divine dragon… Hahaha, I believe the last sighting was some 1,800 years ago."

"For a divine dragon, 1,800 years ago is just a little while back. Also, it seems the news hasn't reached here yet, but the other day in Istria, Reiana-sama the Dark Dragon defeated one of the evil gods."

The governor grabbed his teacup with trembling hands. After taking a small sip, he seemed to regain his composure.

"Dragons… do they really exist?"

What was he saying at this point?

"The Kingdom of Neosis was destroyed by a dragon not long ago, but has that news not reached here yet?"

"No. But… but if dragons truly exist, why don't they defeat the evil gods for us? Are dragons not as strong as they're said to be?"

Ah, I see. This governor was misunderstanding things.

However, just as Ogress revered and worshipped Ria as sacred, there must be some fear toward the existence known as dragons.

"Governor-dono, you seem to be misunderstanding. Dragons are not allies of humans. Reiana-sama is exceptional in that she often protects humans, but their role is to protect this world."

"Protecting the world… what exactly does that mean?"

"Well, in the case of my current mission, it's to return the heroes."

"Heroes? I heard that Neosis succeeded in summoning them, but I thought that was dubious at best…"

The existence of heroes was even more fantastical than dragons.

The heroes from 1,800 years ago had almost no historically notable achievements; at most, there were records of them conquering labyrinths.

In other words, heroes were outstanding individuals who had left their names in history. That was the extent of what heroes meant to the governor.

"Heroes… it's true that recent heroes were summoned using degraded rituals, but they certainly exist. For example, she is also one of the heroes."

The governor looked at Sei pointing to Mako with suspicious eyes, but soon sighed with a calm demeanor.

"I suppose you're not lying. There would be no point in telling such a lie. So returning to my original question—why have you come to this city?"

Sei's answer to that was already decided.

"To return the hero who is in this city's labyrinth."

In the end, the meeting with the governor didn't amount to much.

He explained the danger of heroes, but it seemed the governor couldn't understand it. Despite knowing about the Great Collapse 3,000 years ago.

It's not quite like the saying "once past the throat, one forgets the heat," but humans can only record the past, not truly remember it.

"So what was that fat human trying to say?"

Laila asked, but Sei wasn't certain either.

"Probably, he originally called us to thank us for capturing the bandits. Then when he found out I was a noble, he got curious about what I came here for."

"A noble, huh. Human society is complicated."

"Well, there are simple parts too."

At any rate, the governor had said he would properly manage the labyrinth using his authority, so parties being killed by bandits should decrease in the future.

After that, Sei worked mechanically, as if forgetting his original purpose.

He searched within the labyrinth using the Map, filtering for murder. Parties where everyone had murder in their rewards and punishments section were annihilated and carried to the surface.

When it got too troublesome midway, he asked Lavi if she could use teleportation, and she said it would be fine just for getting out of the labyrinth.

Apparently, teleporting into the labyrinth wasn't recommended as you might end up "inside a rock."

"Ahh, that was hard work～"

The return trip aside, the outbound journey took time, so it took three whole days.

And on that day, the person they had been waiting for returned to the city.

"Kasukabe-san～!"

"Huh? Tsubaki-san?"

Two girls clasping hands and squealing excitedly.

Sei watched them with lukewarm eyes.

The return of the Transformation Hero didn't go smoothly.

The hero herself was eager to conquer the labyrinth.

"After coming all the way to another world, wouldn't you hate to go back without any sightseeing?"

The Transformation Hero, Kasukabe Saki, said so.

"Conquering the labyrinth, huh…"

Sei's Map already showed what the master of this labyrinth was, at its deepest point.

A god. The level was measurable as expected. At 220, if the three of them—him, Mako, and Lavi—fought together, they might be able to win.

But when he confirmed this with Ria, an unexpected response came back.

"I don't mind if you defeat it, but that's a benevolent god, you know."

"A benevolent god, she says."

"Oh dear."

Mako's enthusiasm dropped. Gantz's probably did too. There wasn't much reason to fight.

Conversely, Saki's party was getting excited.

If they conquered a benevolent god's labyrinth, they would receive its divine protection.

Since labyrinth conquests were so rare, the contents of such protection weren't well known, apparently.

However, benevolent gods were harmful to the divine dragons that Sei served.

After all, they were the ones who taught the ritual for summoning heroes from another world.

"Should we defeat it?"

He quietly confirmed with Ria, but she seemed troubled on the other end of the communicator.

"For humans, benevolent gods are welcome beings, but for the world, they become evil existences…"

If it were any divine dragon other than Ria, they would have cut it down without hesitation.

"Oh well. It's sealed anyway, so it won't become your enemy. Do as you like."

She said that in a thoroughly dismissive tone.

Now then, it was time to prepare food.

Basically, they would store it in Sei's folder, but just in case, Mako also secured her own share. This was to prevent starvation if she got separated from Sei.

Actually, the difficult problem in labyrinth conquest was this securing of food.

Even if the enemies themselves weren't that strong, carrying food was such a challenge that some parties even prepared porters.

And another issue was securing rest time. No matter how strong you were, you couldn't maintain it without regular rest.

Sei's party was extremely secure in that regard.

A party totaling 13 people challenged the labyrinth.

Following the Map, they took the shortest route, but midway the scout's feet stopped.

"It's bad up ahead. A monster gathering spot."

The experienced scout knew the first floor's map by heart. The kobold youth brought the party to a halt.

"A gathering spot, you say… it's only about 30 of them. Let's proceed."

"Wait a moment, structurally we should avoid fighting in a hall. We can't protect the mages."

"Then let's take them out from here."

Thirty fireballs appeared around Sei. Not just ordinary fireballs, but ones using explosive formulas.

And then, further guidance.

The released fireballs flew into the depths of the corridor.

After a while, explosion sounds echoed. Sei lightly took the lead and entered the hall.

Once they finished collecting magic stones and magic crystals, the group proceeded to the second floor.

Sei was being looked at with fearful eyes by Saki's party members, but that was fine.

(This isn't good, though…)

Sei was reflecting on his reliance on magic.

Magic was certainly convenient, but the ultimate goal Ria aimed for was still to be a magic warrior. As her disciple, he had to follow that example.

The exploration progressed smoothly.

Rest, fight, rest, sleep, and don't forget to eat.

By the time they reached the 20th floor, the enemies were getting stronger. Around level 60 on average, probably.

Their strategy became Sei or Mako stopping the enemy's movements, then pummeling them. The vanguard's exhaustion was severe.

"Want me to switch in for a bit?"

When he said that because Bungol looked like he was struggling, Bungol shook his head.

"I can't have my senior disciple switch in for something like this."

"No, properly assessing fatigue and rotating roles is important, you know? I judged it's too much, so we're switching."

When he explained it that way, Bungol obediently changed positions in the formation.

"Aren't you a mage?"

"I can use magic, but I can also use a katana. I've had some things on my mind since I've been doing nothing but instructing Bungol lately, so I want to fight a bit."

"You want to fight… The vanguard is dangerous, you know?"

The woman who seemed to be the leader of Saki's party said, but Sei just nodded lightly.

"Well, you'll understand once you see."

Even while they were talking, a monster approached from ahead.

A monster with a scorpion-like carapace. It should have been poorly matched against bladed weapons like katanas, but—

Sei cut it in two without hesitation.

"Now then, shall we continue?"

After extracting the magic crystal, Sei said that as if it were nothing.

"Cutting through this carapace in one strike…"

"Senior disciple is a student of the Sword God-sama. This much is normal."

While feeling somewhat embarrassed by Bungol's proud words—as if he were the one being praised—Sei continued through the labyrinth.