Chapter 122

How are you a first-year student?

In the game, a resurrection scroll makes life force that has become 0 into 1.

So that means I, who was revived, am now in such a weakened state that I could die if someone even brushes against me.

“There’s considerable damage from the esophagus to the stomach.”

Priest Mikhail diagnosed it that way.

It’s because I bit down on a poison capsule.

“You need intensive treatment.”

Honestly speaking, my insides hurt terribly.

“Please help me.”

My voice cracked when I answered.

After that, I was carried on a stretcher to Nataniel Temple.

I lay like a corpse for half a day.

My body is exhausted and can’t move a muscle, but my mind is still busy.

“What happened with the labyrinth eruption?”

I check the outside situation through Yernil.

“They caught all the monsters.”

“Aimus and Mister Backstab weren’t hurt, right?”

“Yes… Both have minor injuries but they’re fine.”

“What about those friends?”

On two beds across from the hospital room where I’m staying, Gildal and Soyul were lying side by side. Gadozumi was taking care of them.

“They passed the dangerous crisis.”

That’s a relief.

When I asked Yernil for more details, it seems there was quite a messy battle in the direction of Guild Village.

Since most of the deep-layer adventurers were deployed to catch White Lion, the high-layer adventurers were the strongest force in Guild Village, and with them as the command structure, the mid-layer adventurers seemed to be the main force.

So Hijikata’s party, who had only tasted the 4th floor, took quite a bit of damage.

“But this labyrinth eruption doesn’t have a clear reason or target.”

Yernil said.

Of course, it would be like that.

Probably even the Henry incident 12 years ago wasn’t caused by Henry.

Henry would have taken Rilwid’s simple elevator, stepped into the labyrinth once, and then pulled back.

He would have followed the 2-week rule.

If not, would he have gone to Fog Cliff for a picnic holding hands with Rilwid?

I need to discuss the labyrinth eruption with this city’s leadership too.

“What happened to White Lion?”

“He’s imprisoned in the underground jail of Security Headquarters. And it seems the security officers are interrogating him.”

“…Hmm.”

Capturing that bastard is a bigger gain than I expected. Actually, when I positioned Nimue and Rococo on the stairs, I didn’t expect this much.

I told them to lay powerful magic in advance and immediately subdue White Lion when he arrived, but I thought they’d kill him.

“But to think they captured him alive.”

It’s good news that’s also bad news.

The good part is that we can extract additional information from that monster, like the labyrinth’s conspiracy or the identities of assembly members.

And the bad part is…

‘What if Dagger Raptor comes to rescue him?’

I’m worried.

There are more inter-floor lords on the surface besides White Lion. And the assembly is also a problem. From what I can see, in the structurally transformed annex, the Magistrate or Chrome, and the professors seemed to have clashed with assembly wizards.

Then those bastards should be seen as being on White Lion’s side.

What about Izel?

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

It was Izel with a very pale complexion.

Speak of the devil and he appears. How did she know I was thinking about her?

“Um… Caleb.”

She was terrified.

That’s understandable.

Right now both the university and Security Headquarters are turned upside down, talking about Chihuahua this and Broccoli that.

She’s probably nervous thinking she might be interrogated at any time.

Or since the situation is what it is, the assembly might have given Izel some difficult instructions.

“Is it okay for a moment?”

Izel gestured for us to go outside.

“Yes. Let’s go out.”

Since where I am is a 6-person room, it’s not a suitable place to have important conversations.

Getting up from the bed, I naturally let out an ‘ugh’ sound. My body still has a long way to go before recovery.

“Caleb! Where are you going!”

Yernil jumped in surprise.

“I’ll go somewhere quiet to talk and come back.”

“Can’t you do it here?”

“It’s a secret conversation…”

“Secret…? Just the two of you?”

“Yernil.”

Izel also excluded Yernil.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll be back soon. Yernil.”

“Caleb! If you move carelessly, Priest Mikhail will scold you! That man nags so much…”

“Please cover for me well.”

Leaving behind Yernil who looked somewhat dejected, going out somehow felt like going to talk about company matters with an office wife in front of a girlfriend.

Neither of them is like that though.

***

We moved to a security conference room at Nataniel Temple.

Considering what god that temple serves, renting the conference room would have cost quite a bit of money, but it would be pocket change for Izel.

‘Owl’s Hunt.’

She cast soundproofing magic on the room and locked the door.

Click.

Then turned off all the lights.

“This way.”

She led me to a dark desk inside the conference room.

And then…

“Caleb!”

She suddenly dropped to her knees.

“What, what? Why are you doing this?”

“I know what you think of me right now.”

Terrified Izel began rambling incoherently.

“You think I was in cahoots with White Lion because I’m an assembly member, right? This time the assembly also came rushing out in a group to block the professors. And the timing of me returning here from Windham right when this incident happened is incredibly coincidental. Suspicious… Isn’t it?”

Ah.

You’re getting ahead of yourself.

“If I said it was a coincidence, it would be too unbelievable, right? I understand. But… But I really don’t know anything about this…”

Her eyes looking up worriedly are full of sorrow.

Tears are also welling up.

Indeed, she’s a smart wizard.

Her mind works quickly, she considers the worst-case scenario first, and thinks about future developments in negative ways.

Izel probably thought like this.

Caleb getting up from his hospital bed would kick off the blanket and rush to the university to grab Meldini and Isilof and shout.

‘You’re looking for Chihuahua of White Lion’s assembly? You’re looking for the bitten apple? Broccoli dipped in soy sauce? Haha. They don’t know, but I know one person. That is none other than~ Silk! Carp! Her true identity is ta-da, it was Izel!’

The university would be turned upside down, and Edward Berten would clutch the back of his neck and collapse.

And the professors would drag Izel away, sit her in a chair, and Meldini would point his wand with a flushed face and shout.

‘If you’re innocent, swear on lie prevention magic!’

Izel’s identity would be revealed, and the university would use Izel as a starting point to begin searching and purging the assembly organization.

Still, finding them would be difficult. Because even Izel herself doesn’t know.

Instead, Izel would definitely get screwed.

Where does that whole commotion start? From my mouth.

“Ca… Caleb. Please. Believe me. I really… I didn’t know anything.”

So that’s why Izel is doing this.

Honestly speaking, from an objective standpoint, Izel is indeed suspicious from my perspective.

Look at the information she’s given me so far.

White Lion? I don’t know who that is.

Other members? I’m just a low-ranking member so I don’t know who they are.

Professor Enver said this and that when he died? He said if you get in the top ten you can go home? I don’t know what he’s talking about.

A labyrinth eruption happened in Soren and White Lion is trying to kill Professor Dalstream? I don’t know about this either.

She just deflected everything saying she doesn’t know.

Izel gave me no information. Conversely, that means she protected the assembly’s secrets well.

But suddenly ‘I came because I was worried that Caleb became a target for slave-hating murder?’

I’ve been facing life-or-death situations about once a week in Soren, so why now?

You have something going on! Tell me honestly!

‘…is what she’s afraid I’ll say.’

Izel was trembling. While rubbing her hands together.

Even when we met at Berten House, she acted like this when I mentioned Enver, but somehow she’s always in the position of being scared of me.

I won’t eat you, Izel, calm down.

“I really don’t know anything about this incident! Please believe me.”

“I believe you.”

“Of course, you don’t belie… what?”

“I believe you, so get up.”

I never thought I’d make a woman kneel and beg to me in my life. And to a high society superstar at that. I’m scared someone might see and start rumors.

“Do… Do you really believe me…?”

“Yes.”

Because your trust level toward me is 100%.

It’s the same level as Aimus, Mister Backstab, and Yernil, so shouldn’t I be able to trust you?

And one more reason.

“Izel, you want to kill the Labyrinth Master, don’t you?”

“Th, that’s right.”

“White Lion is a labyrinth monster, so you wouldn’t cooperate with him, right?”

The labyrinth eruption 12 years ago was a traumatic event for her. Her grand dream of secretly killing the Labyrinth Master and shutting it down is ironically in conflict with the assembly.

The relationship would be Izel gathering deep-layer information, and the assembly exploiting Izel’s background.

“More than that, please tell me about the current atmosphere.”

I helped the bewildered Izel to her feet.

“How they’re moving now that White Lion has been captured.”

That’s what I’m more worried about.

“…Hmm.”

Izel quickly regained her composure.

“First, the assembly told everyone to keep quiet and stay low for a while. Oh, and during the war, I got a note from Chihuahua telling me not to interfere with White Lion.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. But I ignored it and fought. And I explained it away saying I had no choice because my father, Clarence, and other adventurers were all around me.”

“You did well.”

“Should I… Should I perhaps… Turn myself in to the university?”

Izel asked with a worried expression.

Hmm.

This is somewhat concerning.

“Before deciding that, let’s cross-verify what Izel knows about the assembly together.”

“Yes, by all means.”

“First, Dagger Raptor. Do you know about it? Or was there a member wearing an eagle mask?”

“Dagger Raptor…? I’ve never seen an eagle mask.”

“Did you hear about the labyrinth having a major eruption and building a tower?”

“Is there such talk?”

“How about the labyrinth swallowing the entire continent?”

“…”

“Or that the Labyrinth Master is targeting the Spirit Galaxy?”

“I… I…”

Izel’s face turned bright red.

As a proud genius wizard from a prestigious family, it seems embarrassing that despite staying in the assembly much longer and even being a member, she knows less than I do.

“Sh, should I ask? Chihuahua.”

Feeling some kind of pressure that she had to do something, Izel wiggled her fingers.

“No. Just stay still for now.”

Moving rashly might only cause the opposite effect.

“And don’t turn yourself in to the university either.”

Even if Izel turns herself in, there’s almost no information she can reveal.

Then it would just be a loss. Because the assembly could exclude Izel.

“If the assembly contacts you, let me know then.”

“Understood.”

“When are you returning to Windham?”

“Oh, that…”

Izel scratched her cheek.

“Caleb. I… I’ll be staying at the university for a while.”

“What? Why?”

***

Emergency situation one.

The university’s dean was a monster!

Emergency situation two.

University professor Dalstream died.

The university is suffering from an unprecedented personnel shortage, and they’ve gone so far as to recruit the famous wizard from a prestigious family, ‘Izel Berten’, who has the qualifications of a tenured professor as a 10th-floor adventurer, as a new professor.

“Wizards who have cleared the 8th floor or higher become eligible for university professor appointments. Someone of Izel’s caliber could even become a tenured professor.”

The next morning, I visited Professor Isilof’s research lab at Magic University and when I asked, the professor explained.

“I see.”

I originally intended to keep Izel in Windham, but this is disappointing.

She would have been perfect there to dig into my past, or rather, Caleb’s past, and monitor Bipa and Mugol.

Hmm.

Maybe Bipa and Mugol will also stay near Soren because of the elevator?

Then this might actually be better.

“It’s not just Izel’s story, Caleb.”

Isilof suddenly changed the target to me.

“You need to skip grades too.”

“What?”

“5th-floor wizard Clarence is a 4th-year graduating class. Usually 4th-years go up to the 3rd or 4th floor.”

“…”

“Clarence reaching the 5th floor gets called a genius, that’s how difficult the labyrinth originally is. Most undergraduates graduate without even seeing the 4th floor.”

But I’m already a wizard who has cleared the 4th floor.

“So how are you a first-year student?”

Hearing it like that, it’s a valid point that I can’t argue against.

“Come with me to complete the grade-skipping procedures, and in the afternoon, let’s go to the Soren leadership meeting.”

“Yes.”

Actually, I came to see the professor because of that meeting.

“There’s something I want to tell you about the labyrinth eruption from 12 years ago.”

Perhaps the 2-week rule might not have existed from the beginning.