Chapter 43
It was Nana.
I stepped forward first, approaching her. Even with her body covered in wounds, Nana smiled brightly and bowed her head.
“Thank you so much for coming to save me.”
“There’s no need to thank me…”
It’s because of me that this happened.
My eyes fell on the scratches on her hand and cheek. I was about to pull away my lips but glanced aside instead.
“…You should’ve just told me where you were.”
“…”
“If you had, you wouldn’t have gone through all this.”
Her eyes widened slightly. Then, as if nothing happened, Nana smiled and spoke in her usual cheerful voice.
“Of course, if that had happened, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt. But you’d have been anxious and uneasy all day.”
“That’s…”
“Anyway, the café couldn’t have opened either way, right? Then, we should at least act in a way that makes us feel better.”
She squeezed my hand firmly and smiled, as if refusing to hear any objections.
I lowered my gaze and quietly looked at her hand. The warmth from it was comforting.
“…Then hold my hand for me.”
I suddenly remembered what Ian had said.
Maybe, just maybe, like he mentioned, there really could be someone trustworthy in this vast ocean, someone I could believe in at least once.
“But what about Ian?”
At Nana’s question, I quietly turned my head.
“…That’s something I’ll try to resolve from now on.”
I calmly scanned the inside of the temple. There was still one task left unfinished.
Finding Ian and Jelly.
I had been waiting in case our paths crossed, but there was still not a single strand of their hair in sight.
“Rowing.”
The hunter I had tied up flinched at my voice and hurried over.
“Bring someone who knows the temple well. The one who made that maze… the ability-user?”
“Ah… you mean Maze.”
Rowing immediately grabbed the end of the rope and brought someone along. I narrowed my eyes as I scrutinized the one called Maze.
He wore a large robe and kept his head bowed. Dust poured out from his robe’s hem with each movement.
His unfocused eyes and fatigued face gave him an aura like someone who had just escaped a cult.
“…That maze is twisted in both time and space; the entrances and exits are all mixed up…”
Maze muttered to himself.
“No ordinary logic can understand it… not even a normal person, or even the creator of the world, could comprehend this maze…!”
Are all hunters crazy? I pinched my forehead and cut him off.
“So basically, you don’t know either, right?”
“I—I am the creator of this maze!”
“Rowing, take off his robe.”
Rowing looked helpless as Maze struggled, clutching his head, trying to protect the robe.
“Ugh, you traitor!”
As the robe came off, revealed beneath was a boy with a strange mark drawn on his right hand.
“Kuk… this is no ordinary mark. It’s the Demon King’s seal, engraved on my right hand.”
He raised his hand with a solemn expression. I responded briefly.
“Rowing.”
Sometimes a hawk can act gentle too. Rowing slowly clenched his fist, producing a cracking sound. Maze eventually gave up, abandoning even the Demon King marked on his hand, and knelt.
“Fine, I admit it! I don’t know either!”
“…”
“B-but there is a way!”
Maze, lying flat on the floor, suddenly raised his head.
“If you talk nonsense again, you’ll end up like that again.”
“Ugh.”
At my nod, his gaze turned to the corner of the altar. Seeing the hunters tied up there, Maze shrank his shoulders.
“Even if space is twisted, this is still inside the temple, right?”
“And?”
“Then, if we destroy the entire temple, wouldn’t the twisted space collapse too?”
“…”
His surprisingly serious voice made me quietly open my palm.
A cluster of blue light immediately transformed into transparent droplets. Maze gazed in wonder at the droplets floating in the air.
“You’re going to destroy it already?”
“No. First, I’m going to quiet you down.”
Am I supposed to find the lost people as corpses?
I lifted the corner of my mouth lightly and answered. Maze blinked, confused by my words, while Rowing stepped in to block him.
“Hey, miss. Calm down. I’m not protecting him because he’s an ally, but he does have a point.”
“You must have had a hard time too, working with people whose communication is this impossible.”
“…That’s true.”
Rowing agreed. Maze struggled, saying the traitor’s words weren’t worth listening to. Rowing easily subdued him and continued.
“He’s just not good with words. Essentially, it means we can’t find the exit because it doesn’t take the form of an ‘exit.’”
“So?”
Rowing snapped his fingers together and pointed at the temple floor.
“If I use my ability… it’s not completely accurate, but I can track which direction your party moved.”
He took out a thick bundle of papers from his pocket. Photos cut out from wanted posters and newspapers were pasted together, each face tightly packed onto the papers. They were neatly folded one by one.
“…Quite the hobby.”
“No, it’s not a hobby. I have no choice.”
Rowing cleared his throat.
“To use my ability, I need a photo of the target.”
He flicked the papers, and one newspaper with Ian’s face on it appeared.
“Once I use it, it disappears, so I have to keep it well.”
His fingertips brushed the air. The newspaper tore into pieces, vanishing into the atmosphere. Faint traces gradually formed into a series of footprints.
Rowing’s eyes flashed.
“Here it is.”
I looked in the direction he pointed.
“That place…”
The ceiling of the temple, easily over ten meters high, came into view. The walls were covered with magnificent murals.
At the center of the ceiling, painted in gold and blue, was a scene resembling a myth: the god of the sea handing something to humans, delicately carved.
“Wait, could it be…”
I squinted.
Beneath the god’s hand, a footprint was pressed right at the very center of the ceiling.
Once again, we reached a dead end.
“Brother, should we start from ‘there’ again?”
We searched through the collapsed debris for an exit, but there was no progress. Every place we thought was an exit was blocked by walls.
“You’ll be surprised when you see it, I guarantee it.”
“…You know the way properly?”
“Of course.”
Lucas lifted the corners of his lips in a grin. His mischievous expression made Ian let out a brief sigh and raise his hand slightly.
“I tied a string just in case.”
Lucas rolled up his short sleeves, revealing rough cuts at the ends. A long brown thread dangled near his wrist.
It looked crude, but it was actually a smart move. Sometimes primitive methods work after all.
“Here, this is the place I found~!”
Lucas proudly spread his arms before the place marked by the string. He pushed open the tall, sturdy door, and a dazzling golden light poured out.
“You actually found it.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected much. But Ian muttered in awe at the sight before him.
“Oh! The master would really love this, wouldn’t they?”
“Right? I thought so too.”
Lucas high-fived Jelly, then looked up at Ian with an excited expression. Ian surveyed the room.
“…Doesn’t seem like clean money, though.”
The walls were stacked with gold coins and ornate swords. Silk and jewels that seemed untouched overflowed from chests.
Perhaps these were tributes received in the past under the name of the god’s will. Or maybe they were funds gathered by hunters.
It was certainly a huge treasure, but considering its source, it was dangerous to touch recklessly.
“Ah, brother, if you stab, green blood will come out, won’t it?”
Lucas interrupted my thoughts, turning his chin slightly in disbelief toward me.
“…What does that mean?”
“Brother, when you go to the sea, the first thing you check is the weather, right?”
“Of course, to sail safely.”
“Ah, I just mean to feel the sun and wind of the sea!”
Lucas sighed and waved his hand.
“Your sister just chooses her route by instinct. Moves wherever she feels like.”
He scratched his head and mumbled to himself.
“Come to think of it, the two of them are complete opposites in personality… how did they even meet?”
