Always think before you act: That's the advice I gave Einar on her first day here. And even then, these were not empty words. In fact, this motto saved my life in the face of countless difficulties.

In this sense...

Shit.

After a short grumbling, I focused on the current situation.

"To think that I would see a familiar face here...."

First of all, one conclusion can be drawn from this phrase: She did not come here in search of me.

"This is a problem."

Secondly, she was as perplexed by the situation as I was, but this nuance was different from the previous information, as if she had another reason to hide her identity.

I thought Noark was sealed... So she's a spy? And she was taken out before he was sealed?

So far, it was difficult to say for sure. Perhaps there is more to this story.

Only one thing was clear now.

"Well, all I have to do is beat you up and erase your memory like last time."

Even in such a situation, she had no intention of killing me. In other words, I can be calm in this regard.

Just not to accidentally step on a mine.

All I had to do was make sure she didn't find out that the memory removal pill didn't work on me. Then the situation will not change for the worse.

Thus, my basic position was determined. Although I was not going to voluntarily take a pill and incapacitate myself, there was nothing to lose with such insurance.

What did I say then in the sewers?

That was a few months ago, but I remembered quickly. When we accidentally met in the sewers, it was the first thing I asked:

—... Why did you come to kill me? I kept my promise, didn't I?

That was the question I had to ask if my last memory of her was from the Land of the Dead.

"You say the same thing you said then.

— … Then?

When I looked at her as if I didn't understand, the woman shook her head and continued:

"But your face looks much calmer.

I grinned.

Calmer, right?

Was it really so obvious?

I said bluntly:

"The oath is still in force. Why don't you pretend you didn't notice me?

"Then accept it."

The woman took a pill out of her pocket, completely dark and a little damp, and threw it to me.

"This pill erases memory. If you accept it, then nothing will happen today.

For a second, I thought that taking this pill would be the best way out of this situation. But...

"How can I trust you?"

This was an extreme measure.

If I take the pill, I will pass out. What if this woman wanted to take my equipment? What if she opened it and found a Dragon Slayer Sword in my subspace ring? It was still a time bomb.

"Do you have another option?"

"Why do you think not?"

Compared to our meeting in the Land of the Dead, I was several times stronger. Even compared to what was in the sewers, I was several times stronger than before. And most importantly, it was not a dark dungeon where no one could help me. It was a city above the ground, where law and society operate.

"Just one cry and my comrades will wake up. You can't handle them all alone.

I had no reason to lose to this woman.

— ... Now I see that it was arrogance, not calmness.

"You can check it out for yourself.

Despite my bold words, the woman remained silent. She may have called me arrogant, but she knew that things were different in the past.

— …

A timeless, heavy silence fell in the empty corridor.

She spoke first:

— Barbarian.

The woman took a step forward and called to me.

Instead of answering, I turned around. And then I saw a clone of her: the Double's ability, [Self-Replication].

*Jerk!*

[Amelia Rainvales cast [Asura's Punch]].

The double, who appeared from behind him without a sound, jumped into the air and swung his leg, shifting his weight. It was the same attack that blew my head off last time. I immediately raised my hands to protect my face.

*Bach!*

There was a tingling blow on my wrist, but that was it.

I wonder what level my Physical Resistance is now?

The bone seems to be cracked, but I'm not sure. I couldn't even feel pain as trivial as this, thanks to my Pain Resistance.

'Behellaaa

Shouting the name of the ancestor goddess, I slammed my watermelon-sized fist into the clone's face.

*Clap!*

As soon as the clone missed a blow, it went up in smoke. I hurriedly turned towards her real body, preparing for a joint attack, but the woman just stood still.

"How did you guess?"

Oh, she never thought I'd stop it.

I answered briefly:

— Sound.

At some point, all sounds disappeared.

Although it may have been late at night, the phenomenon was clearly heterogeneous. Since Ainar's snoring easily penetrated through the wooden door, as soon as the sound disappeared, I knew that she was planning a surprise attack. Seeing her step forward, I knew it was a hoax.

I've already fallen for her [Self-Replication] once.

The radius in which a clone can be summoned is 5 meters.

Clearly, the distance was too great to summon a clone right behind me.

Since we had already fought each other twice, this could be countered.

"My proposal remains valid. Just pretend you didn't notice me and go about your business.

I repeated what I had said earlier.

And, as expected, I received a different answer.

— ... How can I trust you?

I grinned and responded in kind.

"Do you have another option?"

I didn't know what ability she was using, but it seemed to have a short duration. A few seconds ago, I started hearing Ainar snoring again.

Now I could really scream...

*Creak*

The door opened.

"Bjorn?" Who the hell are you talking to...

Mike appeared through the crack in the door, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"I'll explain later. Go back.

"Oh!"

I reached out and closed the door before it opened completely.

"Hey!" You crazy bastard!

Hitting her head on the door, Mike flew into a rage, but there was nothing to be done. It didn't matter now.

"Hey!" Open! I said, open it! It's a girl, isn't it? Erven? Is she back again?!

I leaned my weight against the door and stared at the woman in silence. The message in my eyes was very simple: So, what are you going to do now?

The answer came after a pause.

"If I say I'm leaving, will you believe me?"

Simply put, wouldn't I think she would take revenge?

Without hesitation, I answered:

"I'll believe it."

After all, it was the same woman who had let me go, believing only in my oath, and I had not denounced her either. I didn't even let Misha leave his room.

"Now you should know. I don't care what you do. I just don't want to mess with you.

—... I suppose so," the woman muttered with a slight bitterness in her voice, but it wasn't the answer I wanted.

"So, what is your answer?"

"I'll go."

"And you promise never to come for me again?"

"I didn't come for you. But... If you want, I'll promise that too.

At these words, I relaxed my vigilance a little. Although a simple promise did not have a grandiose meaning in this world, it was not so for everyone.

"I don't want to kill a barbarian with my own hands if I can avoid it..." It was just a promise..."

Even in the Land of the Dead, she spared me because of the promise. For her, the weight of the promise was different.

Then I called her a psychopath, but it turned out that this was not the case...

"Then go, human woman.

—…

She nodded silently at my words. Then she turned and went down the stairs.

*Top! Top!*

The farther away the sound of footsteps went, the more relief I grew. I was very glad that everything ended without a fight. I'm not ready to stand up to Aura yet. The city and comrades or not, but if they had to go to the end, it would not have been without bloodshed.

"Phew...

I was only going to go to bed when I was sure she was gone, so I headed for the stairs.

*Top!*

The woman was standing on the last step, about to step on the 1st floor. But did she feel my gaze?

— ... I am not a human woman.

She turned and looked into my eyes.

— Amelia Reinvales.

With that, she disappeared into a puff of smoke.

My head was empty for a moment.

"What the...

This led to the idea that we would meet again.

*Tuk-tuk*

At first, I knocked on Einar's door, but in response there was only snoring, and the door did not open. Unlike Misha's door, which opened immediately.

"Hey!" What kind of woman was there?!

"An ordinary merchant.

"What?"

"Let's just go to bed." I am tired.

"Huh?" About? Uh... uh? Sleep? In here? What for?

I threw the pillow on the bare floor and lay down. I really didn't want to do it, but...

"S-That's right. Because you're tired. S-sleep here. Not on the floor...

"It's not much... I'll just sleep here.

"Hm?" Then why are you here?

Because I was a little scared to sleep alone today.

***

Days passed, and it was time to enter the labyrinth.

[10:30]

There was an hour and a half left before the portal opened. Exactly at the promised time, Raven appeared. After that, everyone was assembled.

"Fortunately, no one was late this time.

Using the magic of [Binding], we set off. The meeting place was Mr. Bear's tavern. We decided that taking him with us from the very beginning would be calmer than waiting for him there for almost an hour.

— ... There are clearly fewer people than usual.

The road leading to the Plaza de la Mémeasure was unusually empty. It's not like I couldn't figure it out. Given the current state of affairs, everyone probably wanted to take a break and assess the situation.

But what is it?

When I reached the Square of Measurements, I froze. The situation here was completely different from that in the empty alleys.

"I ask everyone to line up!"

There are ten times as many employees as usual.

Soldiers were also visible. Hundreds of groups consisting of one knight and four soldiers were scattered everywhere.

Are they trying to control the entrance to the labyrinth?

This thought came to my mind, but fortunately it wasn't.

"Here, take this.

Standing at the end of a long line, a clerk hurriedly approached us and handed us two objects.

One of them was a dashcam, and the second... To be honest, I have no idea.

"What kind of pendant is this?"

"This is an identification tag that shows that you are on our side.

"Identification tag?"

— Yes.

The clerk explained to us some of the precautions and warned us that I must not lose him under any circumstances. The explanation was long, as befits the administration, but the meaning was simple.

This means that if we lose it, we are fucked.

Without a tag, we will become a target for murder. Conversely, killing a person without a tag did not entail any punishment.

No wonder they were so quiet. That's because they were plotting this.

Judging by the fact that they only told us about this before the maze opened, it seems that the government was carefully monitoring security. As a resident of Rafdonia, this was not bad.

"B-Bjorn... Will we be all right?

"Why not?" This means that the army will protect us in the labyrinth.

"Really?"

"Still, one thing is certain. The rumor about the portal in the underground city is true.

We chatted and waited, and after 5 minutes the portal opened.

The soldiers were the first to enter, then it was the turn of the researchers.

—... If it goes on like this, we may not get inside.

"Come on, Mr. Urikfried. That's not going to happen," Raven said, but her expression hardened over time.

The portal shrank as the queue got shorter. In fact, I was more than happy with the situation.

If so, I don't have to explain anything.

Initially, I was going to admit to an incident from my past and use the bug to gain experience points. After observing him for a month, I realized that Mr. Bear was a person who placed a high value on trust, and Raven was reliable in another way. An incident with a special appraiser played an important role in this.

«… If we told him, he would probably get several times more than he would pay us. I can't let that happen."

She had never done anything that would benefit someone else, so I planned to uncover this method and accumulate free experience points starting this month.

"What are you doing?!" Come in, hurry!

"If you're not going to enter, get out of the way!"

In the current situation, I thought it was possible to cause this bug naturally. But even I thought the current situation was risky. It helped that the sight of the soldiers here frightened some researchers, and they did not dare to enter.

"Enough!" Everyone, please step back!

"What!?" What do you mean?! I waited for more than an hour!

The entrance was stopped when about 10 people remained in the queue.

"Are we going to go home?"

"Ha, I didn't think we'd really be cut off.

"That's because you've jinxed it, Mr. Urikfried.

— ... Are you accusing me of this?

Raven sighed.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go back.

It seemed that everyone had come to terms with reality.

Now you are all making this barbarian sad. Why do you give up so easily?

"Bjorn, what are you doing?" Is there anything ahead?

"Now."

Eventually, the light of the portal began to fade. Usually, at this time, someone would shout, "The gates will close soon!"

"Everyone climb on my back.

"Huh?"

I didn't have time to explain, so the first thing I did was activate [Gigantization]. My body grew in an instant.

"What are you doing!" The use of supernatural abilities outside of these places is prohibited!

It was not difficult to pay the fine. It wasn't even that big. If I don't cause harm, it will be about 300,000 stones.

I'll take them from the team fund.

I immediately took all four of them in my arms and began to run blindly forward.

"Hey!" What are you doing!?

"Stop!"

I ignored all the screams of the employees. In any case, it will end with a small fine. And there is no reason not to go there. Just think how much we'll earn by hunting on the 5th floor in just one day!

"Kyaa!"

"It can't be... Are you just going to come in?

'Behellaaa

Was my yelling an appropriate response? Ainar began to laugh from my left hand.

"Hahaha! Yes, Bjorn!! A great warrior!!

That was barbaric.

*Boom! Boom!*

I ran quickly across the empty square with a satisfied smile on my face.

*Shaaaa!*

The light of the portal shrunk to the size of a man and trembled restlessly. Soon the light flashed and embraced us.

[You entered the Crystal Cavern on the 1st floor.]

Safely.

***

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