Long ago in the past.
It’s a matter of ti now long enough that it’s no longer unreasonable to speak of it as such, yet the mories remain vivid.
The first ti I opened my eyes in the body of a Barbarian and stepped into the first floor’s crack — the Blood-Red Fortress.
There, I t Raven and Hikurod.
The desperate battle against Cambermier, the Vampire Duke, a Grade 5 monster and guardian of that crack, even though I had no essence left in my body...
Of course, I still rember the conversation we had then.
“Myoha-gun, truly mysterious...”
Even back then, that guy said sothing similar while looking at us.
Well, the lines that followed were quite different, though.
“When I look at you, murderous intent boils up and I simply cannot contain it. Do you know why?”
He possessed intelligence and could speak.
That was no strange thing.
Many of the higher mutants could talk.
Though it was the first ti I’d heard Cambermier say sothing like that...
“At the ti, I just let it slide.”
Back then, the Blood-Red Fortress was the first crack.
Also, capturing Cambermier was my first ti.
So I didn’t ponder the matter deeply.
But...
“I cannot lose. I must not lose...!”
The Knight of the End I t at the White Temple hut.
He was more desperate than any monster I had faced.
“If it’s a lie no one knows... how different can it be from the truth?”
The doppelganger, guardian of the 4th floor crack.
At the end, he muttered with deep regret.
“Truly astonishing. To grasp even vaguely the laws of the world.”
The mysterious being I encountered in the reward chamber after clearing Dreadpier also uttered aningful words.
“You must not open the Abyssal Gate.”
No need to say more about the Witch of the Land, Elise Groundia.
As the number of floors I could explore increased, I t more entities, and my questions only grew bigger.
What exactly is the Labyrinth?
What are guardians and tiered lords?
What lies beyond the Abyssal Gate?
“...Maybe.”
Today, that answer might finally co.
That intuition struck my mind the mont I t that vampire.
“Hmm, do you not understand what I’m saying?”
His voice sounded more curious than wary.
Before that curiosity faded, I ended my thoughts and spoke.
“As you said, we have t before. At the Blood-Red Fortress.”
“The Blood-Red Fortress...”
The vampire quietly repeated the na, then looked at again and muttered.
“So you have no mory, it seems. By then, I was already like this.”
That answer gave goosebumps for so reason.
My suspicion grew — yet here we were having a normal conversation.
“No sudden signs of snapping out of it either.”
But since I didn’t know how long this state would last, I hurried to continue the conversation.
“What do you an by ‘like this’?”
“You can see it for yourself. This monstrous body.”
It seed he simply ant his vampire form. I had hoped for sothing like being trapped in the Labyrinth or brought by a witch.
“Hmm, so this guy was originally human too?”
I wanted to clarify this, but unfortunately the vampire was quicker with his question.
“So... where is this place? Why am I here?”
Honestly, I had no clue what to answer.
“Surely our Cambermier Duchy was burning under the assault of the Tri-God Church...”
There was an inexplicable barrier between his words and mine.
It felt like past and future humans eting by chance, speaking without understanding each other’s situation.
“...This is the Labyrinth. I was exploring it when I t you.”
“The Labyrinth... what is that?”
Our understanding clashed, so the conversation barely advanced.
So I cautiously asked,
“Before I explain... can you tell your story first?”
“My story...?”
“Anything is fine. I just want to know your last mories.”
“Hmm...”
The vampire seed to ponder for a mont, then slowly spoke.
“The Tri-God Church’s army ca to exterminate . I lost in that battle, prayed for rest, and closed my eyes. And now, I have awakened.”
“...”
“The mont I opened my eyes, I saw you... and mories ca to , as if I’d t you sowhere before. Oh, and by the way, the madness that tornted so badly hasn’t flared up. It’s been ages since my mind was this clear...”
“...I see.”
“Well then, will you tell ? Where exactly is this place — this Labyrinth you speak of?”
“May I gather my thoughts before answering?”
“Take your ti.”
With the vampire’s permission, I quickly assembled the clues I had.
Not just what he said, but everything I had known originally.
[The Dark Continent is real.]
Information spat by the jester who left the castle walls at the Round Table.
[The Tri-God Church’s army ca to exterminate .]
The Tri-God Church still exists in our world and remains powerful...
It didn’t take long to reach a rough conclusion.
Though it was only my guess, after all.
The Labyrinth is based on actual events and place nas.
And...
“Cambermier, don’t be shocked, listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“First, one thing is certain: thousands of years have passed since your death.”
“...What does that an? I am clearly alive now!”
From here on, everything was my speculation.
“No, you are already dead. And this current you... is likely a being created by soone.”
“...I can’t understand this at all.”
For the first ti, hostility flared in the vampire’s eyes.
It was a reaction I had expected.
After all, who ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) would welco a stranger suddenly telling them they’re dead?
“...Still, this thod is difficult.”
There was an easier path.
Ignoring the truth, deceiving him by telling what he wanted to hear, making it easier to extract information.
But even knowing that, I told my guess honestly.
In a way, it was very Barbarian of .
Because I didn’t want to do otherwise.
It was ti to graduate from such ways.
If I wanted to be soone who could righteously get angry when wronged.
“Cambermier, calm down and listen. I will explain why I think this way.”
Sotis you have to take the hard path.
Afterward, I spent a long ti explaining to the vampire what the Labyrinth is.
What the current city is like, how the world has changed.
What I have seen and experienced while exploring the Labyrinth.
And finally... the circumstances of our first eting.
Explaining all that took far more ti and effort than I imagined.
The vampire struggled to grasp the vast gap in common sense across thousands of years, sotis even denying my words in anger.
But...
“...Enough. I understand now why you said those things.”
Eventually, the vampire surrendered.
Though he still had one question.
“But there is sothing I do not understand.”
“...What? Speak. I will explain it as many tis as you need until you understand—”
“Why do you tell all this so earnestly? According to you, I am rely a created being. Perhaps even today’s events will be wiped from mory, just as I forgot eting you that day.”
That was not the question I expected, but again I answered honestly.
“If I were you, I would want to know the truth anyway.”
“...”
“That’s why I said it. If I’m honest first, maybe I can get your help.”
“I see...”
The vampire thought deeply for a long while, then spoke.
“Then tell . How do you want to help you?”
The line I’d been waiting for.
I took a breath and opened my mouth.
“Cambermier, I want to know about you.”
“About ...?”
“Yes. How you lived, what your world was like, what happened to bring you here. Just as I told you everything about myself. Everything.”
The vampire looked surprised, but then nodded gravely.
“I will. Though it is awkward to tell a stranger about my life, if you’re right, I’m nothing more than a puppet. Better to be rembered by soone, at least.”
“...”
“It still feels strange to be suddenly asked about my life. Well, where shall I start... Ah, yes, from there.”
“...”
“I had a daughter.”
So began his story.
Presumably before the witch’s curse engulfed the world.
“It was a turbulent ti. The witch’s followers and the Empire’s army fought all day long, shedding blood.”
The story of witches opposing humans was familiar to .
But what he said next mattered a great deal.
Because ancient records were nearly lost and rare.
“Our Cambermier family, a ducal house of a border state, was relatively unaffected by the war. We stayed neutral to both witches and the Empire, quietly waiting for the war to end.”
Then one day...
“My only daughter fell ill.”
A terrible disease that neither potions nor the sacred power of high priests could cure.
Day by day, the daughter’s life fla dimd, and the duke couldn’t stand to watch.
“She was worth sacrificing my very soul.”
The duke searched everywhere and finally reached the witches’ followers. They proposed a way to save his daughter.
“I learned later that they were not really witches’ followers. They worshipped the evil god Karui and sought to throw the world into chaos.”
Unaware of this, the duke accepted their offer. The Empire had built many evils, and he had heard stories of people who gained salvation by becoming witches’ followers.
The duke was neutral toward witches.
“That was the beginning of all misfortune.”
Karui’s priests treated the daughter in a bizarre way. Every day, screams echoed from her room.
Once, the daughter begged them to stop treatnt, but the duke ignored it for her sake.
And so ti passed...
“My daughter got up from her sickbed.”
She recovered, and the priests of the evil god left.
The duke was initially happy to have regained normal life, but that happiness did not last long.
He calmly said,
“She began to swell.”
Literally, she swelled.
Slowly, as if her whole body filled with pus.
“When wounds opened and bled, everything around corroded and lted. She lost reason and beca violent.”
The duke locked her in an underground prison.
There was no choice.
If news of the daughter’s transformation spread, neither the Cambermier family nor the daughter would survive.
He planned to hide her and find a cure.
“But the problem was she wouldn’t eat.”
No matter what delicious food was offered, even forced down her throat, the changed daughter refused.
“Day by day I felt her dying. She was too weak to even open her eyes properly. Her pulse showed her heart was dying.”
The duke could do nothing.
One day, while a knight was bringing food to her, the daughter attacked and killed him.
“...Only then... did she eat.”
There was no need to ask what she ate.
“The child who used to raise hell at even a single fly now ate. Very ravenously.”
The duke fainted at the sight, but the daughter regained strength from that day on.
Needing ti to find a way, the duke began bringing criminals to feed her.
But as she ate more, she grew bigger.
The underground prison couldn’t hold her anymore, so she was moved to a water reservoir.
Her food intake increased so much that criminals alone couldn’t supply it, so innocent people were frad and brought in.
“If I were still myself, I would never have made such a foolish choice. But... the evil god’s followers had done sothing to .”
The duke could not think rationally then.
Violence surged, guilt faded.
Occasional madness attacks happened.
The changes affected both mind and body.
His fangs grew.
His sense of sll sharpened.
When he slled blood, saliva dripped from his mouth.
He learned black magic he never studied, and used his changed body as naturally as a butterfly flapping its wings.
It beca easier to find food for the daughter.
Disappearances increased, and when his retainers began to leave one by one under the duke’s brutal hand, his hotown ca to be called the Blood-Red Fortress.
Naturally, the news reached the Empire, the witches at war, and even the Tri-God Church.
“After that, it was as I told you. The army ca, and I was defeated.”
The duke’s cruel nature led him to a secret place deep under the fortress for his sinister hobby.
There, a paladin’s sword pierced his heart.
“It’s ridiculous, but I prayed.”
Facing death, he prayed.
Knowing the Tri-God Church gods would not forgive him.
“I begged the goddess who was called the enemy of mankind, the witch, to save my daughter, even if not . And when I opened my eyes, I was here.”
Looking back, that incident was like it had just happened from the duke’s perspective.
How could he speak so calmly?
When I asked cautiously, he shrugged and said he didn’t know.
“I don’t know, but it feels like an incredibly long ti has passed. If what you say is true, many years have really passed...”
I had nothing to say, so I just listened until he asked .
“Do you know? What you told today was a cruel truth.”
I understood well enough.
I thought so, but didn’t say it aloud.
I couldn’t truly understand it yet. Hearing his story only deepened those thoughts.
“But...”
The vampire said.
“Still, thank you. For speaking honestly.”
“...”
“Thanks to you, I won’t have to dream vain dreams anymore.”
It was a very strange feeling.
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