Traitor.
　Someone who had aimed at Creon's life, trapped him and sent him crashing down between the seventh and eighth layers.

　The floor of the great hall where the last enemy of the seventh layer, the Winged Tiger, was located collapsed.
　Together with the muddy demon race that had fallen from above, he thought it was a trick of the ruins themselves.
　However, according to Creon, it was not.

You know what, Solon? We've made enough preparations for this attack. The new knight's civilian members as well as our officers have been working hard to collect the reports of past necropolis investigations.

''I've looked into it too. It's true that there were a few adventuring parties that successfully broke through the seventh layer, but none of them reported such a trap.

That's right. What this means is that this collapse is a man-made trap.

''But not all adventurers keep exhaustive records of the traps in the ruins. And even the last enemy at the seventh level seemed to be a golem before, but this time it was a winged tiger. It wouldn't be surprising if there was a change in the traps.

''Even if the demon race's ecosystem has changed, the structure of the ruins often remains the same. Solon would know that, wouldn't he?　I'm writing a report on the investigation of the ruins for later adventurers. If there were traps like this, there's no way I wouldn't write them.

'I doubt it. Still, it's only a guess that the traitor set it up.

We have the evidence. It's a mud demon that attacked us.

Evidence of demons?

　Creon pulled out what looked like a hard stone from the pocket of the Order's white uniform.
　He then pointed at it with his finger.

''This is the nucleus of that demon race. And this nucleus...''

Wait a minute. I'll get my loupe out.

As usual, it's good to be prepared.

It's a good thing you have it.

　The loupe is useful in attacking the ruins.
　It's for appraising the material of the walls, examining the treasures we've found, and judging the demon race we've defeated.

　I enlarged the nucleus in Creon's hand with a magnifying glass.
　Something small is written on the surface of the nucleus.
　No, faint letters are floating on the surface.

　That text, which moved around like a dance, read, "O demon, follow the laws of reason, obey God, the Holy Spirit, and myself.　
　It's an incantation for a sorcerer to control the demon race.

'Summoned demons?'

The traitor must have summoned them.

　When it comes to summoning and using the demon race, the summoner Notaras is the one that comes to mind quickly.
　During his time with the Knights of St. Sophia, he seemed to think differently from Creon, and it could be said that he had a motive to kill Creon.

　But the summoning of the demon race itself, even if it can't be operated on as large and efficient a scale as Notaras, it can be used normally by a sorcerer of a certain high rank.

　The traitor is not necessarily Notaras.
　However, I am certain that this was a trap set up by someone else.

"Solon. Let's keep this between us.

　I nodded.
　It would hurt morale if the attackers got the word out that there had been a betrayal, and besides, it wouldn't be good for morale in the sense that they'd be wary of the traitor.

　It would be best to say that it was just an accident.

　But eventually, we'll have to find out who tried to take Creon's life.
　I myself was involved and almost died.

　Creon was slowly recovering, or maybe he was already able to participate in the battle.
　Creon is my enemy in the sense that he is aiming for power as a descendant of Filia's Demon King.

　If I succeed in capturing these ruins and reviving the Demon King, Filia will be sacrificed to him.
　That's when Creon and I will have to face off.

　Creon and Arte don't think that I know about the plan to resurrect the Demon King.
　That's why they don't know that I'm working to stop the plan.

　If I were to rally my friends against the carelessness of the two, and if Filia were to give the order as princess, many would lean towards us.

　Perhaps we can beat Creon and the others.
　And if we can convince them to surrender after realizing their disadvantage, we can avoid killing them.

　But right now, we need to work with Creon to get out of here.

　We fought back to back as we made our way through the space between the ruins.
　I tried to chat with Creon a few times, but he was curt and didn't respond much.

　But we're former comrades, so even if we don't say anything, our cooperation is pretty smooth.

　It's a good thing that the enemy is strong enough to include demons that I can't reliably defeat on my own, and even the highly skilled Creon would be too exhausted to always win on his own.

　We relied on each other's strength and managed to advance.

　After a while, we saw a faintly wavering light coming from the other side.
　The dim white light grew louder and louder.

　And I could hear the sound of footsteps, small but clear.
　There was definitely more than one person coming towards us.

　We walked quickly and joined our allies.
　We had reached the path to the eighth level.

'Mr. Solon!'

　It was Lisa, the white mage, who approached me as if she were jumping up and down.
　As it was, Lisa hugged me.

''Wha, wha, Lisa!

I was afraid that Mr. Solon had died because of me...

　After that, I seemed to be sobbing and unable to speak.
　With tears in her eyes, Lisa stares up at me.

　She squeezes my arm tightly and, as she finally catches her breath, Lisa says the rest of the story.

'I was worried about you.... I was so worried about you.

Sorry.

　I said and smiled.
　It seemed that Lisa was worried about me because she was the lover of the saint she admired and, to a certain extent, saved her life.
　The fact that I was the one who got caught up in the collapse also seemed to make Lisa feel remorseful.

　When I looked back at Creon, he seemed to be in a bit of a pickle, clinging to Karelia in exactly the same way.

　That headstrong Karelia had tears running down her face and whispered, "I'm so glad you're okay..." as if she was overcome with emotion.
　To Karelia, Creon is the person she admires and thinks about.
　So it's only natural that Karelia is distraught.

　By the way, there were only Lisa, Karelia and a few more allies who had joined us.
　And Filia wasn't there either.

　I asked Lisa what happened.

''After Solon-san and the holy knight-sama disappeared, the wise arte-sama began to lead the entire invasion force.

I guess so. In the pecking order, that's true.

'The wise man said that Mr. Solon and the others must be dead, and insisted that we move on...'

I guess that's what Arte would say.

　Indeed, even if I were in Arte's position, I wouldn't have expected us to be alive when we were caught in the collapse.
　The decision to abandon us and move on was reasonable.

But the Princess said that, by all means, Mr. Solon is still alive.

Filia?

　Filia told me that she disagreed with Arte's decision, saying that she knew he was alive and where he was because of the magical circuitry between me and Solon.

　However, Arte forced Filia away and only sent a small search party, including Karelia Lisa, instead.

'Thank you, Lisa,'

Why are you thanking me?

A small search party is obviously a dangerous mission.

　The Necropolis is a dangerous and frightening place for demons to appear, even if you work in large groups.
　A search party with a small number of people and no elite except Karelia would find themselves in considerable danger.

　That's why Lisa risked so much to come to our rescue.
　Saying that, Lisa blushed and mumbled softly, "Because........" and clammed up.

　Anyway, we have to catch up with Arte and the others as soon as possible.
　Even though Filia is surrounded by Notaras, Rascalos, Nasha and the others, I'm still quite uneasy.

　I'm sure Filia is worried about me too.

　And I don't know what their goal is, but there are even traitors mixed in with the invasion force.

　Furthermore, Arte's leadership is a problem in itself.
　Although Arte is an excellent sorcerer, he is not suited to commanding an organization.
　If left unchecked, he will give out ridiculous instructions and create needless sacrifices.

　Creon seemed to agree with that.
　We nodded to each other and stepped out into the depths of the ruins.