Depths of the Otherworldly Labyrinth (WN)

AG: 7.77, APT: 1.57

Innate Skills:

Instinct: 1.77

Acquired Skills:

Swordsmanship: 2.12

Holy Magic: 0.89

 

The girl knight was named Ragne and the wolf was named Serra.

“Eh? That wolf is Radiant-san?”

It surprised me so much that I blurted it out.

“Why are you stopping, Christ?”

“No… There’s a wolf who’s like Radiant-san on the 20th floor.
Also, a girl named Ragne.”

“That’s two of our girls.
Break a leg out there, Christ.”

“Well, it’s not like I want to lose…”

Lastiara probably thought it was no big deal.
In fact, so did I.
We ascended to the 20th floor with light feet.

We entered the 20th floor, and the knight who was stationed in the center of the room bowed.
The same as the day before.

“Are you all right, Ojou?”

The knight, a girl with a bob cut, lightly curtsied and expressed her concern for Lastiara’s safety.
She was a lively-looking girl, a little shorter than me.
I wouldn’t call her a peerless beauty, but she had a tidy face and was pretty for her age.
She was wearing a short-sleeved high-quality shirt on top and an unusually long skirt underneath.
The skirt was wrapped with several layers of loincloth, so her lower half looked very heavy.

“Long time no see, Ragne-chan.”

Lastiara called the girl with the name Ragne-chan.
Since she looked younger than me, I probably should call her Ragne-chan too. 

Both girls then continued their conversation.

“Ragne-chan, what brings you here?”

“I heard it from old pops Haups.
The boy in question is an explorer and can be found on the 20th floor.”

“Aah, so that’s what.”

I didn’t miss Lastiara mumbling in a small voice “that old fart, saying unnecessary things…”

“Maan, I’d rather laze around in the cathedral, though…”

Ragne-chan looked at the wolf next to her and smiled bitterly.
Feeling her eyes, the wolf looked back and barked.

“Eh? Ah, fine.
I’ll do, I’ll do.
Right away.”

Having been barked at, Ragne-chan sensed the intention and quickly drew her sword.
Out of curiosity, I asked Lastiara in whispers.

“That wolf is Radiant-san, right?”

“Yup.
Radiant is a thick-blooded beastfolk.
She speaks to Ragne-chan using magic.
I have my eye, so I know for a fact it’s her, but it’s amusing, so I’m pretending that I don’t.”

“…I’ll do the same.”

I’d rather not have her bark at me if I pointed it out.
I guessed that’s what she meant by not showing up in person.
I’d just leave her be. 

I drew my sword and stood in front of Lastiara.
When I did, Ragne-chan, right in front of me, pulled out something resembling a memo from her pocket and began to read it out loud.

“Eh, ermm, I am Ragne Kaikuora the knight.
Christ Eurasia, I challenge you to a duel on our lady.
The rules are the same as the ones you’ve had with Serra Radiant.
Now, let us duel——yups.”

Yep, she’s got zero motivation.
It was kind of like the atmosphere in athletic clubs where the juniors were forced to do things by their seniors.

“Yeah, let’s go with that.
But there’s one change I want to make.
Can you add the reward for me that you don’t bring any more knights with you?”

“Ah, yea, sure.
Also, let’s end it with a single injury.
Ion wanna get badly injured from this.”

“Sure.”

Ragne-chan readily nodded and added her own rule.
She really wasn’t getting on board.
In response, the wolf growled. You’d frighten Ragne-chan, so please stop that.

“Then, we start now?”

“Yeah, let’s—”

 

“—Please hold on.”

Ragne-chan had just pulled her ill-fitting, sumptuous, one-handed sword when Lastiara interrupted.

I looked at Lastiara, questioning her action.
She whispered to me.

“Christ.
Did you just accept the rule to end with a single injury? That’s a huge disadvantage.
That’s her specialty, you know?”

“Eh? But her parameters are low?”

Ragne’s parameters were lower than any of the Celestial Knights I had faced before.
I couldn’t even sense anything that would make Lastiara’s expression grim like that.

“She’s an irregular who can do things outside of what her parameters allow her… I’ll give you too much leverage if I say more, but just don’t lose on the first attack.”

Lastiara’s eyes were serious.
She had always looked optimistic in the previous two battles, but it seemed she couldn’t be as optimistic after I received the rule that whoever who got hurt first lost.

First attack… Ragne-chan was an irregular, and her first attack seemed like it would exceed what her ‘Status’ had made me assume.

That’s a huge amount of leverage… I couldn’t lose after being told so much.
I focused on fortifying «Dimension Gladiator».

“Can we start now?”

“Yeah, it’s okay now.”

We confirmed with each other, drew our swords, and bowed.
And thus, the battle began.

Immediately, I opted to deploy my auxiliary magic, but—

“Magic, «Fo—?!!”

A mysterious blade reached for my throat.
I had sensed it when it started rapidly growing with «Dimension Gladiator», so I managed to evade it by raising the sword in my hand, deflecting it. 

Then, I confirmed the identity of the blade.
The magnificent one-handed sword in her hand didn’t even waver.
It was from her other, free hand that a blade made of solidified magic power was extending out.
I hadn’t used my eyes when I evaded it; I had noticed it because I had a bird’s eye view of Ragne-chan through the use of my magic.

If I had fought normally, my eyes would have been focused on her sword since she was a knight.
However, thanks to my magical senses and Lastiara’s advice, I was able to avoid being wounded.

Ragne-chan immediately retracted her magic power blade, panicking.

“Keh.
That got evaded cleanly.”

Without a moment’s time to catch a breath, Ragne-chan’s second and third blows struck.

I deflected them with the tip of my sword, parrying them away.
She was about 10 meters away from me, and yet it felt as if she was fighting right under my nose.

It was like dealing with a laser gun that was constantly discharging.
However, Lastiara was right, it was only her first attack that I had to watch out for.
As long as I could tell the origin of her attack, she was no match for me.

Ragne’s swordsmanship technique itself wasn’t as refined as it came.
Simply put, she had no tact.
She didn’t have the sense of aiming.

As I began to get used to her blade, I started to close the distance between us as I repelled her attacks before she immediately raised both hands.

“Aah, I can’t.
I lost.
I think this is the first time I’ve lost after having such an advantage.”

It seemed like she decided that she had no chance of winning if the duel continued.
Ragne-chan crudely tossed her luxurious sword to the ground, indicating her resignation.

“Yeah, it was an interesting match.
Thank you.”

“Nah, it’s all yours.”

We then walked up to each other and shook hands with good smiles on each other’s faces, it somehow felt like after a sports tournament.

Further back though, Radiant-san, Ragne-chan’s senior, was barking at us, but I paid it no mind.

The wolf kept on complaining to Ragne-chan, so she answered with a half-smile.

“Eeh, what can I do? Onii-san’s strong and kind and cool, what’s the problem anyway? If the lady wasn’t with him first, I’d be the one snatching him for myself, you know?”

But the wolf continued to bark.
Ragne-chan interpreted it out loud.

“Eh, ermm? —”The lovely, beautiful, pure, innocent young lady who’s really like a flower made of the virgin, unsullied first snowfall should not fall to such a man’s spells” you said? Eeh, but the lady’s can be quite black-hearted, y’know.”

Hearing that, Lastiara replied.

“Ah, Ragne-chan, you’re terrible.
I always speak honest and true, and yet you call me black-hearted… you’re going to make me cry…”

Lastiara pretended to be hurt by Ragne-chan’s words and faked breaking down crying.
Seeing that, the wolf bit Ragne-chan.

“O-ow! Stop that, senior! See?! This is what I meant when I said that the lady’s black-hearted!”

After some play-biting between the wolf and Ragne-chan, Lastiara made sure Ragne-chan would keep her oath.
She swore that, as a knight, she wouldn’t break her oath. 

Then, as she was calming the agitated wolf, Ragne-chan turned to leave.

“—Welp, Ojou, laters.
You too, cool Onii-san.
Laters.”

She walked straight to the 19th floor, looking all refreshed.

Since we had another means to leave the Labyrinth, we didn’t follow her and only waved our hands until she was out of sight.

Thus, I cleared the third Celestial Knights event.