Inside the central hall, the strategy briefing was in full swing.
A dwarf woman, small in stature and childlike in appearance, was frantically translating between Mayor Lagot and the flood of words coming from the guildmasters of the various Hunter guilds for , Cecilia, and the Golden Company.
“They say going down to the 5th floor of the Labyrinth won’t be much of a problem. The real issue begins on the route from the 6th to the 7th floor. There are two paths—one is safe but takes longer, the other is faster but cos with danger. They say we have to choose one of the two.”
At the interpreter’s words, Captain Jero, the commander of the Golden Company, looked at .
“Saint, which route would you prefer?”
I answered imdiately.
“We’ll take the faster route. It’ll be a problem if the demon worshipers reach the 7th floor before we do.”
“We’ll follow your lead, Saint.”
When Captain Jero’s words were translated into the northern dialect, several of the guildmasters burst out laughing.
“They say they didn’t take you for the tough type, and they’re impressed.”
Well, I wouldn’t call myself that tough.
Honestly, I wanted to take the safe route, too.
I didn’t want to risk anything—but the situation didn’t allow for that.
Mayor Lagot and the guildmasters spread out a map of the 6th floor of the Labyrinth and discussed various things to finalize the route, matching my preference.
“They say they’ve mapped out the fastest possible path to the 7th floor. Now that the route’s decided, it’s ti to determine the roles for the Saint and the Golden Company.”
At the dwarf interpreter’s words, I shrugged.
I wasn’t the expert here.
So it made sense to leave it to the professionals.
“Captain Jero. What’s your assessnt?”
Captain Jero seed to ponder for a mont at my question.
“Our Golden Company specializes in VIP protection and extraction. We’re also trained for gunfights in confined spaces and in dealing with hidden mages or assassins using firearms. I believe we should be assigned a role that matches those specialties.”
After the dwarf interpreter relayed that, the guildmasters and Mayor Lagot exchanged a few words in the northern tongue before assigning the Golden Company the perfect role.
“They say it would be best if your unit focused on protecting the Saint. Hunters can get you to the 7th floor—but escorting what’s assud to be a divine presence residing inside a magical beast back up to the surface? That’s sothing they’ve never done. They say they desperately need your help.”
The Golden Company nodded.
“We’ll do exactly that.”
This ti, Mayor Lagot looked square in the eye and asked in the Imperial tongue:
“Saint. First, I’d like to confirm one thing. Are you capable of using the Goddess of Life’s authority?”
At his words, I quietly activated a skill to test it.
And—
[Error. Too far!]
[Skills can only be used within a closer range.]
I confird I could use my skills.
The issue was that, likely due to the nature of the Great Labyrinth, the effective range had been drastically reduced.
In other words, using a full-area Ti Stop while unfreezing allies to safely conduct an expedition through the Labyrinth was off the table.
“I can use the skills themselves.”
“Do you an you can use them imdiately, without any preparation?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
At my reply, Mayor Lagot looked at with interest.
“Under normal circumstances, divine authority shouldn’t be usable unless holy power or mana is stored in a mana stone... But it seems you’re able to use it because the Goddess herself resides within your soul. This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing.”
“That said, the range has been severely reduced.”
I couldn’t use full-area Ti Stop at all.
Physical Reconfiguration, Sensory Amplification ×3000, and Absolute Hypnosis all had their ranges cut dramatically.
“I can still use them—with the caveat that physical contact is required. I can heal, and I can apply powerful physical enhancents to myself to participate in battle.”
“I’ve heard you’re an excellent healer. That’s reassuring. In terms of combat... how capable are you? I’d like to know that clearly.”
“Corn?”
[Just like last ti, right?]
I nodded, and the psychic amplifier started humming as it activated my skills.
Physical enhancent.
Sensory Amplification ×3000 applied for combat use—boosting reflexes, among other things.
The sa configuration I’d used to rescue Kanya was applied again to my body.
Ti Stop couldn’t be cast on large areas, but I could cast it around my own body.
“I’ve layered Ti Stop over my body like armor, and if necessary, I can weaponize it. I’m also capable of high-speed movent and using brute strength. With this configuration, I once fought Satan in person. I didn’t win—but I could hold my own.”
The guildmasters and Mayor Lagot stared at in silence for a long while before nodding as if they’d seen enough.
“Under normal circumstances, you’ll function as a healer. But if a high-risk magical beast appears—sothing we can’t handle—you’ll be the one to deal with it. If you were able to stand against Satan one-on-one, we could consider you the strongest weapon at our disposal.”
At Lagot’s words, one of the guildmasters—who looked like a vampire—quietly raised his hand.
He asked sothing in the northern tongue, and the dwarf interpreter relayed it:
“He wants to know—can you use your powers indefinitely? Or are there limitations, Saint?”
“There are limitations.”
Even after all my practice with Corn, I still couldn’t fully unleash the Goddess of Life’s authority.
If I overused it, the strain on my body was too great.
“You can consider it a fixed capacity. If I exceed a certain threshold, it puts a burden on my body. That’s also why the Golden Company is assigned to protect —because soone has to guard when I’m weakened.”
At my response, Mayor Lagot seed to fall deep into thought, then had a brief consultation with the other guildmasters.
The conversation didn’t last long before they ca to a decision.
“Saint, please conserve your strength as much as possible. We don’t know when or where a powerful threat might erge.”
With that, Mayor Lagot took a long breath.
From the way he tightly closed his eyes, it was clear he was recalling a troubleso mory.
“The followers of Arrogance were spotted yesterday around 7 a.m., on the first basent floor. Over 2,000 confird. It’s a large-scale force the likes of which we’ve never seen.”
The greatest of Demon Kings.
Two thousand followers of the Demon King of Arrogance.
The Golden Company soldiers’ expressions hardened.
So did mine.
“The magical beasts aren’t the problem. These people are. The followers of the Demon King of Arrogance are known for taming and commanding beasts. They corrupt the mana stones of the beasts with the Demon King’s authority, twisting them into even more dangerous monsters. Most of the ti, our Hunters can handle them—but when they can’t, we’ll need the Saint to deal with them.”
Mayor Lagot pointed at my pendant.
“Unless I’m mistaken, that necklace—isn’t it made from a unicorn’s horn?”
My eyes widened slightly.
“That’s correct. How did you know?”
“Unicorn horn is one of the most expensive rare mana stones sold here in the Great Labyrinth. For good reason—it grants psychic abilities that allow for long-distance detection. Which is why I’d like to assign you one more role, Saint. I would greatly appreciate it if you could use that unicorn horn to detect approaching enemies and alert us in advance.”
Healer, secret weapon, and now, scout.
And the Golden Company would be assigned to protect in those roles.
It seed our responsibilities had been decided.
“Of course. I’ll do that.”
“Then it’s settled. Now we only have one small—well, relatively small—issue left to resolve...”
Everyone’s attention shifted—not to this ti, but to the person beside .
“Descending to the 7th floor of the Labyrinth is no small task. The deeper you go, the stronger the magical beasts get—and to subdue them, you need far more powerful weaponry.”
Cecilia gave a quiet nod.
“Please, go on, Mayor Lagot. I’m listening.”
“To kill the beasts from the 4th basent level onward, you need tungsten armor-piercing rounds. These bullets are tipped with penetrators made from ground monster bone. And, well... they’re quite expensive.”
Cecilia smiled at that.
“Captain Jero. If you would?”
“Of course.”
One of the squads from the Golden Company stood up and stepped outside. Monts later, they returned to the central hall carrying sothing.
Four wooden crates were placed calmly in the center of the room.
Cecilia stepped forward and opened one of them.
Inside, it glittered—gold, radiant and overflowing, along with an assortnt of jewels.
“Ungra dione to Arusis daruam ungra!!”
And then, from Cecilia’s mouth—fluent northern dialect.
Cecilia can speak northern?
As I blinked in surprise, the dwarf interpreter bead and offered the translation:
“She says: ‘A great warrior deserves the greatest weapon.’ It’s a very famous phrase in the North.”
Apparently, it ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ was.
Because the mont Cecilia said it, the guildmasters burst into roaring laughter and stood from their seats, all shouting the sa phrase she had.
With just one line, Cecilia had completely captivated every Hunter in the hall.
Then she added one more line in the northern tongue.
The dwarf interpreter translated again:
“She says: from the beginning to the end of this expedition, she’ll cover all necessary equipnt, food, and drink. That they should gear up with the best weapons and armor available, and eat and drink tonight like they’ll die tomorrow. That one’s also a well-known northern saying.”
It seed that Cecilia had done quite a bit of research on the North in a short amount of ti.
And that research was paying off now.
The Hunters inside the central hall stomped their feet and shouted with excitent.
The fear and heaviness of descending to the 7th floor seed to have evaporated.
I think I finally understood why Jonathan Karma had sent Cecilia with .
She was a woman who knew exactly how to spend money.
And when it ca to winning over Hunters—who were literally risking their lives to descend into the Labyrinth for profit—there was no one better suited for the task.
****
The mont the stage was set, Cecilia moved like a storm.
It turned out she hadn’t just morized a few northern phrases in a hurry.
She was completely fluent.
“These are 7.62mm rounds with tungsten penetrators. I pushed the workshops to deliver another twenty thousand rounds by tomorrow.”
“Captain Jero! Would you mind accompanying to the market? We need to purchase monster bone fragnts to make more penetrators.”
“I want to et with the guildmasters. I have a few things to discuss regarding the supplies we’ll need.”
“I heard the most load-bearing transport beast is a quadruped called the Barag. People use them as pack animals—where’s the market that sells them?”
Not even a full day had passed, but ammunition, food, and supplies were already being prepared—enough to arm and provision every Hunter and every mber of the Golden Company.
She quickly established a small temporary office inside the central hall and began ordering the Golden Company around or running all over the field herself, processing everything at frightening speed.
And ?
“Excuse , Ms. Dwarf Interpreter.”
“Please, call Lu.”
“What’s this line for?”
“A rumor spread that the Saint has arrived—these are patients who ca to be treated.”
I was doing what I did best here, too.
A long line had ford in front of .
I spent the ti treating patients one by one—
And learning an amusing fact: my skills worked just fine on vampires, beastkin, and werewolves as well.
All of this was fairly routine...
Until a young man brought an old man whose hair was completely white—and whose arms and legs had been severed.
“According to his grandson, he lost his limbs and vocal cords on an expedition a long ti ago. He can’t speak, Saint.”
“Bring him here. I’ll treat him.”
I placed my hand on the old man’s mutilated body and invoked the Goddess of Life’s authority.
With a radiant light, the old man’s severed limbs regenerated, and his lted vocal cords were restored.
I looked down at him with a warm smile.
“You’re all set. You’ve been healed—now you can go ho and rest...”
And then—unexpectedly.
From the old man’s mouth—whom I’d assud was a Northerner—ca fluent Imperial tongue.
“Ahh! Ahh! Chosen of Lilia!! P-Please—please take on the expedition!! Let go with you!!”
The old man suddenly began shouting.
“I—I am a descendant of the last hero, Karim!! I must fulfill my ancestor’s final will!! Please! Please take with you!!”
It was not sothing I could easily dismiss.
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