Roxy was just as I remembered her, she looked the same, she behaved the same, although being trapped in the labyrinth for a whole month weakened her considerably, her cheeks were gaunt and she had dark circles under her eyes.
Her braids had come loose and her entire body was covered in dirt, making her look like a street urchin.
But despite all that, she hadn't lost her spirit at all.
Gesse, seeing her condition, immediately asked us to leave, a prudent decision for that brat.
Talhand carried Roxy on his back and we headed to the surface.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Talhand, for causing so much trouble," Roxy said.
"Don't worry, I have to help out sometimes too," he replied.
"I don't stink, do I? I imagine it must be pretty bad after the whole month I spent here..." she muttered.
"Haha! If I couldn't bear so much, I couldn't call myself an adventurer!" Talhand said with a laugh.
I listened from behind as we walked, the two had traveled together for a long time, judging by the way they spoke, I could tell they trusted each other deeply.
"Don't worry Miss Roxy, it's just natural, being here for so long isn't the most pleasant experience, let's say" I said.
"I see..." she said looking at me out of the corner of her eye before looking away blushing.
"..."You have to be fucking fucking me up, motherfucker...
...
Our group of innkeepers were glad to see Roxy back, probably because it was the first happy news they had since they started searching the labyrinth.
It's true that we had only filled in the hole they had dug themselves, but I wasn't going to say that, regardless of the circumstances, this was a happy occasion.
Lilia immediately took Roxy to get ready.
We were going to rest for a few days to give Roxy time to regain her strength, that being said, she was an adventurer, she didn't have any major injuries, she was still strong enough to walk without help, and she swore that with good food and a soft bed, it was all she needed to sleep soundly and get back to normal in no time.
Everything seemed to be going well.
That being said, Roxy slept for a whole day, I couldn't blame her for that, given that she had spent a month in the monster-infested labyrinth.
On the second day, Roxy got out of bed, it was right at lunchtime, she approached our table while we were eating, moving as stiffly as a robot.
"Good morning Miss Roxy" I said with a smile.
"Yes... g-good morning Mr. Gino" she replied blushing.
There were four of us, including me, at the table, the others being Elinalise, Paul and Talhand.
Gesse and the remaining three were currently shopping.
The composition of our group was that the labyrinth group spent all their time resting while in town, and the waiting group ran errands in the meantime.
Gesse was part of the labyrinth group, but for some reason, she took charge of the waiting group.
"Everyone..." Roxy muttered and everyone turned to look at her.
Docilely, she looked at each of us, then bowed her head.
"I'm sorry I caused you trouble, but I'm fine now" she murmured.
There were mixed reactions.
Paul put his arm around her shoulder and said "no problem"
Elinalise nodded and said "don't worry about it"
Talhand gulped down the alcohol before pushing a bottle in her direction, and finally I could only nod with a smile.
"Also, if you want to thank someone, give it to Gino, if I hadn't discovered that remnant of your spell, you would never have met" Paul said.
Roxy looked at me and bowed her head "um... Mr. Gino, what I mean is... thank you..." She murmured, blushing completely.
"Don't worry, it was an act of charity so to speak, and it was the most natural thing to do, besides, don't call me sir, I haven't even reached the age of majority yet" I said
Roxy was visibly surprised by this and looked dejected...
"I see, then...thank you very much for saving me Gino" she murmured.
"You're welcome" I said with a smile.
Roxy blushed even more and muttered "but...does it seem like I'm being too familiar if I call you that?"
"no problem, we'll be working in the same group for a while, it's best if we get comfortable" I said.
Roxy blinked a few times "yeah, you're right...Gino"
"anyway, your swordsmanship is spectacular..." she muttered.
"yeah, I am a sword emperor after all" I said with a mocking smile.
"tch..." Paul clicked his tongue in frustration and Talhan and Elinalise laughed.
Roxy's eyes widened as she looked at me.
"that's amazing..." she muttered as she walked over to me and sat down next to me, I could see the spot on her scalp where her hair came out, which was cute.
"now we have an amazing swordsman and the prodigy mage, what could be better?" Paul grumbled
"Don't say that... they could have managed just fine without me" she muttered
"Have some confidence in yourself, if you hadn't been with us, we wouldn't be here" Talhand said, this seemed to lift Roxy's spirits
Gesse came back after that and we continued our meeting, we all sat huddled at the table, the waiting group included.
"I said we'd wait to see how Roxy is doing, but I think we'll dive back in three days" Gesse announced
"Isn't that a little hasty?" Paul asked.
Although it may not seem like it, diving into the labyrinth really wears a person down, especially one like the teleportation labyrinth that is riddled with traps, forcing you to constantly watch where you step even when you were involved in a battle.
It was already quite tiring for someone like me.
"It's better that Roxy goes back in sooner rather than later" Gesse replied.
"Hmm? Ah, yes, I see what you mean, you're right." Paul nodded.
I already knew what this was due to, they called it a curse, but it was actually post-traumatic stress syndrome
...
After that exchange, the others started to chime in.
"I can give you some tips on doing healing and offensive magic" Roxy whispered to me.
"We shouldn't repeat Gino's method, even though it was slow there was still a risk of collapse" Paul said.
"If you want, I can go ahead of you" Talhand replied.
Gesse kept the group organized as they shared their thoughts on the previous adventure as well as how we should approach the next one, everyone was serious, they already looked like an S-rank group.
In this meeting I couldn't contribute much, except answer when they asked me what I thought of my first labyrinth, they were professionals, I was an amateur, no matter how good I was with the sword, I couldn't forget those two things.
"For the moment, we'll focus on mapping the rest of the third floor, depending on how things go, we can at least go deep enough to find the circle of the fourth floor, what do you think?" Gesse said
"Okay" we said in unison.
Usually, once a group discovered the stairs to the next floor, they would decide whether to go deeper or temporarily return to the surface, if they opted for the latter, they would take a straight path down to rejoin the march from the point they had left off upon returning.
The same went for us, last time we had gone straight down to the third floor, if you weren't fast, there was a chance that the number of traps would increase.
Speed was crucial
"Oh yeah, plus, the book says that the fourth floor is completely different from what we've seen so far, some kind of runes or something" Gesse said.
"In that case, there could be two lower levels" Paul replied
"Hmm, well, let's stop thinking about the fourth floor for next time, for now, we'll focus on the third floor" Gesse said.
"What is that book you're talking about?" Roxy asked suspiciously.
"Elinalise brought it with her, it has notes from a guy who traveled almost to the very bottom of the teleportation labyrinth, you should read it too" Gesse replied and handed her the book
"oh, I didn't know such a thing existed, understood, I'll go over it carefully tomorrow" she replied
"now then, about our information, let's shake things up a bit, Talhand?" Gesse began
Talhand cleared his throat, as the man most often in the back, who therefore observed the most, was in charge of deciding our formation.
"hmmp, leave it to me" he replied
he stank of alcohol, he always stank of alcohol, Gesse also bathed in alcohol at night, but Talhand dedicated himself to knocking over the jars until noon.
"it will be more or less the same as before" he said.
There was a paper on the table with two lines drawn on it, along with small stones of different colors,
"Talhand placed a blue stone first, "just like before, Roxy will take the rear"
"Understood" she nodded.
He then placed a grey stone next to the previous one.
"I will act as Roxy's support, so she doesn't have another accident, so maybe I can stop something before it goes wrong" he said.
"Very well..." she muttered.
I could see her looking crestfallen at this comment but it couldn't be helped.
"Let's try switching Elinalise and Paul, you go in front and Elinalise in the back" he said as he moved the red stone that represented Paul forward and the yellow one that represented Elinalise back.
"You Gino, you will be in front of everyone, as the main attacker, your skills will be necessary for the safety of the entire group" he said placing a brown stone in front of the others.
"And Gesse, you will be where you were before" he said placing a black stone far ahead of the rest of the pack.
SCOUT: Gesse
VANGUARD: Paul, Elinalise and I
REAR GUARD: Roxy and Talhand
...
"Any opinions on this?" the dwarf asked
"I agree" I said and the others nodded.
"Well then, we're done with that, next is the waiting group" Talhand said.
After that, Gesse quickly gave his orders to the waiting group, he gave Vierra a list of supplies to buy and then consulted Shierra about Roxy's condition, he also advised her to prepare the medical supplies she deemed necessary to prepare for Zenith's rescue, lastly, he entrusted Lilia with the supervision of these tasks.
Gesse was the leader of the labyrinth group, Lilia was the leader of the waiting group and Paul was the leader of the group in general, he oversaw all the final decision making and kept track of everyone.
"Well then, everyone get ready for three days from now, you may leave" at Paul's order, the meeting ended.
...
With Roxy between us, we resumed our exploration of the labyrinth, we moved as planned, heading to the third floor, there were three types of enemies, the clay skulls, as well as the giant tarantulas and the iron caterpillars.
The giant tarantula stationed in the center posed no problem for me, so I just had to draw my sword and the enemies were cut like butter, I think even I was taking care of most of the monsters alone, but also ours behind us and those were matters for Roxy and Talhand, Elinalise and Paul now only went for the iron caterpillars.
"Ugh..." Roxy sighed, once the enemy was completely annihilated, from a distance I could see her staring at me so I returned her gaze with a smile and a thumbs up
yeah, she was acting dense on purpose.
when we crossed hers she quickly looked away blushing completely.
"I'm about to run out of mana, I'd like to rest..." she said.
We went back to the main hallway and took a break there, I had barely warmed up, but Roxy is a mage and she actually has more mana than me.
I sat on the floor as I cleaned the blood off my sword and Roxy sat shyly next to me.
"Sorry to keep you waiting..." she muttered.
"No problem, your application of magic was precise and exceptional" I told her with a smile.
She just smiled blushing as she nodded.
"I'd like to find the magic circle that leads to the fourth floor soon" Gesse muttered scratching his chin as he looked through the book.
A whole day had passed since we went down to the third floor, the author of the book had taken seven days to get here, we had gotten ahead of that group and had gone through the third floor several times, it was time to find the next circle.
"Gino...can I borrow your back?" Roxy murmured.
I could see Elinalise pricked up her ears at this as she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as did Paul but they didn't say anything.
"...go ahead" I said
Once I responded, she slumped against me, snuggling up so that her ear was level with my heart.
I knew this was her way of flirting but it could also be because leaning against the wall brought back bad memories for her.
"Gino?..." Roxy suddenly called out.
"Yeah? What's wrong?" I replied.
"I never asked you but... why are you here? I assume you came with Miss Elinalise right?" she asked.
"Ah yes, I did come with her, and it was because Gesse asked me to as a favor, you see, he was a childhood friend who helped me a lot in the past and now I'm paying my debt with my help..." I murmured
"I see..." she murmured back.
"Hey...I was thinking...if we are able to rescue Lady Zenith safely and we both have a chance...how about we go into a labyrinth sometime, just the two of us?..." she asked.
I could see Paul grimacing at this, maybe it's his way of saying "you're going too fast!"
"Sure, no problem" I replied.
"It's a promise?" she asked.
"Uh...yes, a promise" I replied
I couldn't see her expression but from Paul's face I think she's smiling
"...ah, I'm starting to feel a little sleepy, I'm going to rest a little" she said as she leaned closer to me.
"Of course, sleep well" I said, closing my eyes and accepting my fate.
I'm cooked...