Since I had roughly 6 months until the castle was done, but only 5 until the portal opened back to my world. I decided I should not stand idly by. Me, Asterian, Naitsu, and even Katy and Yumi trained together from morning till night.
One afternoon, about a month later, after we had eaten lunch and were heading back to the training grounds, a thought entered my mind. "Why don't we check out one of those labyrinths?" I couldn't help but say out loud.
Asterian and Naitsu both looked at each other, as only they knew what kind of existences lay in each labyrinth. They talked about it for a little while before walking back over.
"We don't reject your idea, but we just want you to know that it is extremely dangerous in those things." Asterian voiced.
Naitsu nodded her head in agreement, "Labyrinths will have 10 floors to them, but each floor gets progressively harder. Not only will there be fearsome monsters, but also many traps and trials that one will have to face inside. One such trap, the spirit fall trap, will separate your soul from your body, and make both travel through two different planes to the 10th floor, only, neither can attack without the other.".
The labyrinths did indeed sound extremely dangerous, but they also had very good rewards. "Is there anything else in there besides the bodyguards?" I ask Naitsu.
She nods her head, "There are elemental treasures, and also a dragon egg. Although no more dragons exist out in the world, there are eggs in the labyrinths, each dragon having the elemental power of the labyrinth." she explains.
"If each bodyguard has a dragon, where is yours?" I couldn't help but ask.
"In the ocean, she doesn't really listen to me all that well" Naitsu says embarrassed.
I chuckle a bit at that, to which Naitsu throws a few soft punches at me.
"I think we should do a labyrinth, one of the ones located in the Rakshasa territory." I decide.
They nod their heads and continue their training as we would be leaving tomorrow. Naitsu and Asterian had been practicing their sword technique, Katy used a staff, while Yumi used daggers. I had practiced each of those with them, rotating throughout them.
The next morning we had breakfast and then Lurrel and the rest of the maids saw us off. I wasn't allowed to leave until the 50 maids that we had 'saved' had given me a soft peck on the cheek or head. They said it was their 'blessing'. Vanessa wished us all good luck and gave us all the rations we might need to last 2 months.
We didn't know how long we would be gone, so we took as much as we could. Heading out of the castle, we could really see the progress that the artisans had made throughout our 1 month of training.
We made our way to the edge of the forest before nightfall and made camp. I was once again 'forced' to make only 2 tents, one for me and the girls while Asterian slept alone. I was starting to feel bad for the guy.
"You know, if there is a girl you would like to bring with us on our journeys, you could." I told him that night at dinner.
Asterian only laughed and slapped me on the back. "Boy, if I wanted to bring all my girls, you would need a tent the size of your soon to be castle" he said and kept on laughing.
Him saying that made me feel a bit dejected, but I didn't want a harem, did I? After dinner I went to the tent and layed down. I wanted to be alone for a while to think about everything that had happened to me since receiving the invitation for this ridicules contest.
My venting in the bathtub hardly counted, and before you slept your brain was always thinking about probably everything in your life, so now was as good as a time as ever. I didn��t get long though, as Yumi walked into the tent about 5 minutes later.
"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you." she said in her usually quite voice.
Yumi was never a loud person, and she was shy around other people, especially males, except she seemed to be perfectly fine around me.
"No, just laying here thinking." I say, looking back up to the ceiling of the tent.
"About what may I ask?".
"Just being here, I never thought that things like this existed.".
Yumi looked confused. I patted the ground next to me and she sat down. I explained to her about me being from a different world, and about the contest. She seemed a little disbelieving at first, but when I told her that the ideas I had about the castle and the defenses came from my world, she sat there and made an 'oh' sound.
"Master is very knowledgeable."
"I wouldn't say so, just more driven."
"Is there a difference?"
"Well, many people know many things, it's a person's drive that brings them to know more things."
"Master, don't you think this contest is harsh?"
"How so?"
"I mean, they use peoples lives like they are in a so called 'game'"
"Never thought of it that way, you're very smart Yumi" I pat Yumi's head.
She blushed a little and cuddled up to me.
"Master, can you do that again?"
"Please don't call me that" I start petting her head.
"Why not?"
"I'm just not used to it, and I don't really like it. Back in my world, I was a nobody, maybe a little smarter than average, but still. It also makes it seem like I am better than you."
"But you are better than me."
"I am not. The people of this world are so hung over on their status and standings. Nobody is better than another, someone will always be better than you in something, if not more than one thing. Think about it, I can't go and give birth now can I" I say jokingly.
"I guess that's true", Yumi curls up in my lap, "then what can I call you?"
"Just call me Tristan, alright?"
"T-Tristan," Yumi blushes, "I-Thank you, can I stay like this?"
"Sure"
Yumi then lays her head down on my stomach as I lay back. I pet her head and hum a lullaby. Soon I hear her smooth breathing as she had fallen asleep. Katy and Naitsu walk in and see the sleeping Yumi.
Katy looks as though she is about to yell at her but Naitsu stops her. Instead, she leads her over to me and they both lay down. Naitsu's head on my leg and Katy's on my chest. She was facing me, so I could see the red on her cheeks. I pat both of their heads as I start humming another lullaby until eventually both them, and myself, fall asleep.
We spent the next several nights like that until we reached our destination. The surrounding marsh area was reduced to stumps. Even though such an area could be easily found again, nobody ever ventured through the marsh, and if one did, they didn't go looking around and took the most direct path through.
We decided to spend one more night outside before heading into the cave.
"What can we expect to see in the first few floors?" I directed the question towards Asterian.
"Mainly red slimes, a few flaming hounds, but I heard there might be a salamander, a huge fire lizard, down there on the 3rd floor." Asterian explained.
I nodded my head and after a meal we slept.
We entered the cave after breakfast. Immediately the heat started to rise. I used modify to make the surrounding area cooler. If it was scorching hot, just inside the entrance, I could only imagine how hot the 10th floor might be.
We slowly made our way through the 1st floor, it was all red slimes, with some small looking wisps. After about an hour we made it to the 1st floor boss room. We opened the giant set of doors to a room that seems to be lit only by a giant ball of fire on the ceiling.
When we walked to the center of the room the doors behind us slammed shut. We looked around but saw nothing.
"Get back!" I yelled, I pulled everyone back with me.
It wasn't until after they had been pulled back did they realize why I had done what I did. That giant ball ofWe opened the giant doors to see an empty room lit entirely by a huge flame on the ceiling.
When we reached the center of the room, the doors behind us slammed shut. We looked around the room to find nothing.
"Get back!" I yelled, pulling everyone with me.
Just as I did a giant fire wisp landed where we once were. When we hadn't noticed anything, I found it suspicious. But then I noticed the floor was getting brighter and it was getting steadily hotter, so I jumped back with everyone, and not a moment too soon.
2 fireballs appeared next to the wisp, and flew at us at high speeds, we dodged just in time. The only way to defeat a wisp of this size is to get it to use up too much of it's magic, making it unable to sustain itself.
Asterian changed into a large ice creature, dropping the temperature a few degrees. I also used modify to help lower the surrounding temperature. Naitsu flanked the wisp and fired off a barrage of water arrows. To Katy and Yumi's dismay, there was nothing they could do.
The wisp was almost out of magic, as it had shrunk considerably. It only had 2 options. Sustain itself, or attack us again. Either way, it was going to be the only one to die.
"Everyone behind me!" I shouted, taking out the shield again.
Apparently there was a 3rd option, self-destruct. Take us down with it. Everyone hid behind me, Asterian added a layer of frost to help against the flames. The wisp exploded, casting the room in a hellish light.
I braced for impact, we had made all the preparations we could have. The flames hit the shield like a truck. I dug my heels into the ground to try and hold the shield up. Finally, the blast had stopped. Everyone seemed fine, until they all looked like they had seen a ghost.
I turned around, but there was nothing there. A few torches had been lit since the wisp was defeated, but nothing worthy of mention.
"What's wrong you guys?"
"Are you… okay?" they asked together.
"Fine, why"
They point at my body. Only then did I notice that I was charred black. Even now I still felt nothing, but maybe that was because my nerves were fried. I suddenly lost control of my body and crashed to the floor.
"Well shit" I muttered before blacking out.