--I thought it was a voice, soothing and haunting.

　Destiny, if such a thing really exists.
　I thought to myself with a dumbfounded mind that the woman in front of me right now was that.
　I was never particularly impressed by the flowers or the night view, but when I saw the woman, I thought for the first time that she was beautiful.

''I love you. So--'

　I remember.
　The first time I met her.
　When I met Lucifina Emilior.

　A kingdom more than thirty years ago.
　It was some time after I was summoned as a hero.
　I refused to fight as a brave man and locked myself in my room.

　It was a dark night, as if I had been sprayed with ink.
　A group of men tore through my room and walked in, hiding their faces in robes.

'...... No need for useless brave men.

　With that word, the men slashed at me, knives in hand.
　With a scream, I run away from the men as I roll away.
　I shouted for help, but no one came to my rescue.

'I don't want to die, I don't ......'

　I sincerely thought that as I crawled unceremoniously to the ground.
　The men approached, deaf to my pleas for life.
　When I saw the knife glowing in the darkness, I knew I couldn't save myself anymore.


''--that's enough.''


　So when I heard that voice.
　I was like.

"Back off, sir. I don't know who you are, but I will not tolerate any more violence.

　She has smooth blonde hair that reaches her waist, and silver eyes that light up with a clean light.
　The pointed, white ears.
　The armor you wear is shining dignified in the darkness.

It's not the plan." "Who are you?

"-- knight, Lucifina Emilior.

　From then on, it didn't take long.
　In the blink of an eye, Lucifina reaped the consciousness of the men.
　Then, holding out her hand to me, who was still on her butt, she said.

''Are you alright, brave sir?''

You're not going to be able to do that.

　I felt the glare and slowly opened my eyelids.
　The light shining through the trees illuminates my face.
　I squint at the glare, then slowly sit up.

'............'

　I feel like I've been having a bad dream.
　I stroke my chest, feeling like I'm going to throw up.
　I take a deep breath and awaken my consciousness.
　I suddenly look down next to her and see that Verdia is drooling and sleeping.

'...... mnya. Iori, there, get in. Hmm, good ......
What kind of talk is that?

　He chuckled and looked around.
　That's when I noticed that Elfi wasn't there.
　I wonder if he was hungry and said he was looking for food.

　I quietly get out of my sleeping bag and go to wash my face towards the water's edge.
　With the wards around me, I have almost no fear of being attacked by demons.

'............'

　Even now that I'm awake, I still feel bad.
　I feel like I've been having nightmares a lot more often lately.
　Even after waking up, I can't get rid of the bad feeling.
　I decided to wash my face with cold water to reset my mind.

　I pass through the trees and head to the spring I found yesterday.
　The water in this spring is clean and very cold.
　I want to do something about the bad feeling in my chest as soon as possible.

　With that in mind, I come to the spring.
　I can feel the presence of people. It seems that Elfi is there.
　I approach the fountain while calling out to her.

"Good morning, El--

　The words beyond that didn't come out.
　Elfi was indeed there.
　However, he was naked.

----.

　She seemed to be bathing and was not wearing her usual dress.
　Elfie's limbs were morosely in view.
　Her wet silver hair was tied up with a string and glistened as it reflected the sun's light.

'----'

　Elfie was looking at me with a dumbfounded look on his face.
　When I saw that expression, I came to myself.
　If this guy is naked, I've been shown it many times before.
　There's no need to get upset now.
　And this guy himself isn't shy at all.

Good morning.

　I called out to him and was just about to go wash my face.

"Hey ......,

　Elfie made a strange sound.

'Huh?'

　Dumbfounded, I turn my gaze to Elfie.
　Elfie blushed, and with a bang, he covered himself with his hands.
　What about ......?

I'm going to .......

　Elfi glares at me while hiding his body.

'Huh?　Oh, come on. What, you said you weren't embarrassed?
I said I wasn't embarrassed because of my altered body!　I've already got my whole body back, you know!
So what's your value system, d*mn it!

　It's all about the body.

...... ugh.

　Elfie, who is red to the ears and stares at me with moist eyes.
　That's when I couldn't bear the gaze and turned away from Elfie's limb.

"...... master. Iori......?

　Verdia woke up and came over.

'...........................?'

　Berdia stops moving in a flash and tilts her head to look at us.
　She lets her gaze wander back and forth between us for a while, then

...... sorry. I'm leaving .......

　With that, Verdia turned her back on us and left.

"Hey, Verdia!　Hey, wait a minute!　This isn't right!

And we had been arguing with each other all morning.

◆

　After we got through that place somehow.
　We ate our breakfast and left the forest with our destination in mind.

"We're heading to the Great Aldrin Forest, right?
Yeah.

　I nodded at Elfi's question.

　If you proceed directly east from the kingdom, you will find a large mountain.
　Beyond that mountain, there is a large forest.
　That is the Aldrin Great Forest.

　The people who live in the Aldrin Great Forest are mainly subspecies.
　Most of the sub-humans who do not belong to the Confederacy or other nations live in this forest.
　The Aldrin Great Forest used to be the territory of the Kingdom, but it is now autonomous by the sub-humans.
　That is why it is called the "Autonomous Region of Subhumans".

　And in the sky above the Great Aldrin Forest, there is a void labyrinth floating in the sky.
　In order to get to the void labyrinth, we decided to head for the Aldrin Great Forest first.

''...... Are we meeting our path this way?''
Yeah. Keep going in the direction of the Church.

　Right now, we're in the Demon King's territory.
　If we want to take the shortest distance to the Aldrin Great Forest, we'll have to pass near the Demon King's Castle.
　Rather than going through the dangerous area, it's more reliable to go through the Teaching State, even if it's a long way.

''The Great Forest or ....... I've fought the warriors of the Great Forest a few times on the battlefield before, but I've never been there in person. Have you ever been there, Iori?
Yeah. Thirty years ago. Twice.

　The first time I went there was thirty years ago when I moved from the Kingdom to the Teaching Kingdom.
　The second time was on my way back from the Teaching Kingdom, and I went straight to capture the Void Labyrinth.
　At first I wasn't very welcome, but I remember many sub-humans thanking me for defeating the Void Labyrinth.

''Is it still safe for humans to go there now?''
'At least I don't think we're going to be attacked. I'm sure you'll find that the relationship between you and your fellow human beings has increased since 30 years ago. In order to deal with the Demon King's army, they are working together with other countries outside the kingdom to do this and that.
'Hmm. Are all races united by a common enemy?

　However, I don't know if they will allow individuals to enter.
　I'll have to think of an excuse to get in there.

''Only, of course, the relationship between the sub-humans and the demon race sucks. Elfi, Verdia. Both of you must keep your identities closely hidden.

　In my travels, I've gathered information about each labyrinth.
　However, the information on the Void Labyrinth is still insufficient.
　It's too dangerous to challenge the labyrinth with knowledge from thirty years ago.
　At the very least, I'd like to gather information on the Void Labyrinth in the Aldrin Great Forest.

''I'm also concerned about the movement of the ...... Demon King's Army. I'm sure they're taking countermeasures against us.''
Yeah.

　In order to protect the labyrinth, the Demon King's army would also be taking measures.
　Probably, an opponent of the Four Heavenly Kings class will come out.
　It's hard to imagine that Ortegia won't come out to the surface, and the current Demon King's Army will be unified by the rain.
　If that's the case, the one who will come is either Distortion or Lucifina.

I don't blame you for thinking about it now. If we go to the great forest, we will naturally gather information about the enemy.

　'And yet,' Elfie continued, 'it is.

'Is this the last labyrinth left? It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on a new one. It is a strange fate for me.
''The former Demon King is going around destroying the Demon King's army stronghold.

　So I suddenly became curious and asked Elfi.

'Come to think of it, what was the trigger for the creation of the labyrinth?'

　The only information I can find is ......, a stronghold that has been built by the Demon King's army since long ago to deal with other races.

''I heard that it was first built during the time when gods and gods were fighting each other.

　With that, Elfi explained the labyrinth to me.
　It can be summed up like this.

　A long time ago, when the Holy Light God Melt and the Fallen Light God Hardia were fighting each other.
　Apparently, the First Demon King received instructions from Hardia and had his subordinates set up a stronghold to monitor the movements of the humans and attack them immediately.
　The four demons called the "Dead Heaven" were the ones who built the labyrinth under the instruction of the first Demon King.

　The Dead Swamp Labyrinth is "Rain" Surface Gregoria.
　The Abhorrence Labyrinth is the "Thunder" Zank Rising.
　The Void Labyrinth is "Yin" Hilde Garda.
　The Abyssal Labyrinth and Purgatory Labyrinth are known as "Yang" Randolph Randall.

　It seems that they each created the current Five Generals Labyrinth.

　It seems that Hardia was using the Five Generals Labyrinth to monitor the movements of Melt and her subordinates.
　This is said to be the beginning of the Five Generals Labyrinth, which is still being passed on to the Demon King's Army.

''By the way, it is said that while the 'dead heaven' was building the labyrinth, the First Master used his own magic power to create the Demon King's Castle.
Huh. Since you're the first Demon King, the scale of what you do is huge.
Hmm. And the current "Demon King" system is the First Master's imaginary magic.

　Just before he died, the first demon king mastered mental magic under his strong will to 'protect the demons'.
　It is said that the mental image magic is able to give the 'one who is worthy of protecting the demons' the ability to manipulate the demons and the five generals' labyrinth by making the 'demon king's crest' appear on their bodies.

''So, does that mean that even after the first Demon King died, the psychic magic is still alive and kicking?
''Ah. The First Master's will was that strong. Besides, First Master is also called the strongest Demon King of all time. Only a god could defeat the First Master.

　God, you know.
　Melt and Hardia, that he's not there now, right?
　They must have been pretty strong, just because they were called gods.

Aside from Hardia, I wish I'd had a chance to talk to Melt.
Hm?　Why?
No. ...... I was just wondering why you chose me to be the brave one.

　We flew through the air, exchanging such words with each other.
　It was three days later that we arrived in the Great Aldrin Forest.