Hey, what's going on here?
What's Elle again?　What's so funny?


　I had a feeling that something wasn't right. It's not something that has a clear basis. It was just a vague unease. I thought of this labyrinth as an ice maze, and then determined that it was in fact an ice maze. But is that really the case?　That question comes to mind.


　Beware of preconceived notions.


　I can't help but think of those words.


　Am I missing out on something serious?　Those were the words that came from that thought. And Aria's presence also contributed to that thought.


　Why does she exist in the Fifth Labyrinth?　Why don't you remember?　Why?　


Is it groundless?
'It's just my imagination, if I do say so myself!
'It kind of pisses me off when Aria says that...'
What?　As usual, isn't your treatment of me a bit crude!
Okay, okay. So...........................finally, twenty layers.
'Yes. Aria, you should stay back. It's going to be a battle.
Yes, yes I'm a little nervous...


　Currently, we were in the deepest part of the nineteenth layer. We had descended the stairs leading to the twenty layers and were right in front of the door. Based on the trends we've seen so far, there would definitely be some kind of demon's there. I opened the door with my mind on protecting Aria.


''It's ... strange.''
Well....

　A strange feeling that me and Fee learned. It's that there's nothing in this room.


'Nothing?　But the door ahead remains closed...


　A moment later, the ground was close to suddenly glowing. But by then, it was already too late.

''Feeb!''
"Elle!


　I had already grabbed Aria's hand behind me, but for once, I was a little further away from her because of Fee and the formation. This is the same thing that happened when we entered this labyrinth. There was a transition smelting formation built into the ground.


　And then I separated from Fee.


　◇


Wow!
...oops.


　He throws me into the air and I manage to land and catch Aria as she falls intact.


''Oh, thank you,''
No, it's not that...


　I look around. The scenery is similar to what I've seen before. An endless maze of ice.

　But where is this place?　

　Thinking that, I activated the Elemental Eye 《Decoding Site》. The surrounding first quality 《Prima Materia》 was too dense for me to understand the details, but I could only understand its appearance. This place is twenty layers. In other words, it seems that that transfer was to move them down another layer.


''........It looks like this place is the 20th layer.
What, they just dropped you off at the lower level?
It seems. But unlike before, I don't feel any sign of people at all. I'm sure there are many demons in the area, but there are no people. Earlier, I vaguely sensed Leif and Marie in the distance, but suddenly I lost my presence.
That means...
It's too early to assume he's dead. When he is dead, there will be a slight disturbance in the prima materia prima facie, because the amount of material one possesses is enormous. The amount of Primateria in our possession is enormous! When you feel death, you will have a more disturbing sensation.
Okay. Then your companion and Mr. Fee are.
He must be alive.


　But that word is wishful thinking. Aside from Marie and Rafe, Fee could be dead. It's impossible to know where they're jumped to in that transfer. Aria and I were accidentally dropped into an empty space, but Fee might have been jumped to an area with a group of demons. And there could be a trap that could kill us instantly.


　Death. Fee is dead. The more I thought about that possibility, the more I thought I might be able to handle it. Fee was with me the whole time. She had been with me from the time I entered the academy until now. Yet it was beyond the limits of my mental capacity to assume that she was suddenly dead.


　I'm sure he's alive. It's okay. But I can't even say those words of comfort to myself. No matter how much I think about it, death pops up in my brain. In the first place, the labyrinth is an alien entity that has sent numerous people to their deaths. Even if Fee was chosen as that sacrifice, it's no wonder.


''........Elle-san?''
I'm sorry. It's nothing.


　I shudder. Is it such a horrible thing not to feel the presence of a human being? The fact that I have the ability to do so is undeniably confronting me. There are no humans in this labyrinth. That was the conclusion I could sense right now.


　There's no one here. It's as if there's no sign of what I've been feeling. The only thing that exists is demons. That was all I could see now.


''It's okay, it's okay.......''
Oh yeah, I know.


　Aria squeezes my hand. Feeling its warmth, I come to calm down a bit. That's right. Let's move on now. If we're all alive, we're definitely aiming for the lowest level. Then there's only one way to go.


Let's move on.
Yes....


　And so me and Aria moved on.


　◇


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... we have walked a lot.
Yeah. Let's take a break.
I'm sorry, sir. I had to get them to go along with me.
No, it's fine.

　Currently, it's twenty-five layers. But it wasn't a smooth ride. The encounter with demons and the maze made our steps futile. This is not only in a physical sense, but it has definitely begun to eat away at us mentally as well.


　If there was a person who created this labyrinth, I would give the biggest compliment.


　This is the worst kind of labyrinth. It's as if it was designed to chip away at the human psyche and then come after you. Disperse it, get lost in the maze, and engage in repeated encounters with small fry demons. What do we call this without calling it a nightmare? At first I thought it was nothing compared to the Sixth Maze. The spiders over there were much stronger demons, and the battles were all extremely fierce. But the demons here were all small fry. We can proceed without consuming them that much.


　But the problem is their numbers and placement. A group of demons are congregating in a place that looks as if someone has placed them there on purpose, and there are nearly a hundred of them each time.


　The spirit of the stone was getting to me as well. It felt as if the file was slowly chipping away at my body little by little. I'm not in despair yet, but I'm pretty sure my mood is slowly dropping.


''Elle-san, are you okay?''
No problem. I've maintained my alchemical accuracy. I can handle any demon attack.
'No, it's not that, it's that Mr. Fee is gone... well...'
'What?　Do you think I'm sick?
'Well, well, to put it simply, I thought you might be depressed...'
'Yeah. To be honest, I'm pretty overwhelmed. I'm pretty tired, in a mental sense.
''Yes........ I'm sorry.
Why are you sorry?
'Because I wasn't there to make it easier... and because I was there then... and because you put me first, Mr. Fee.
You noticed.
Yes.....


　That moment of transition. It was partly due to the distance, but I could have touched Fee's hand if I kept in mind to abandon Aria completely. But I had less than a second of awareness to make a decision. If I left Aria alone, she would surely die. Fee, on the other hand, could manage on her own. It was because she made that decision that she was in the current situation. I thought Aria didn't realize that, but I didn't know that she had been found out....


''It's a rational decision. You're alone and you'll die. It was the best choice.
'Reasonable ... yes, I know. But the truth is....
Don't say it. Don't tell me.


　Rationally, yes. But emotionally?　I've known Fee for many years. I've talked to Aria about it. But Aria is a reasonably frank talker, but we've only just met.


　Who will I choose, Fee or Aria? When confronted with that choice, the one I would choose would be Fee. But right now, there is no Fee next to me.


　I was struggling between reason and emotion.

　But if I tried to articulate this in words, something important would be lost.