Having departed Pandemonium Castle, Mina and the others were headed for her father Lucariel’s ruins.

  On foot.

  On foot??

  On FOOT?

  Mina glanced back over her shoulder. In the distance, Pandemonium Castle was still visible—tiny, but there. They hadn’t even walked that far.

  “Arc! Why are we walking?!”

  Mina lodged her protest.

  “You carry me princess-style, I hold kitten Nox—problem solved!”

  Arc raised his eyebrows and glared.

  “Hey! I’m not your personal taxi!”

  “Come on! That’s one of your best qualities! Don’t be so stingy!”

  “Shut it! You’ve gotten way too used to being carried around. You don’t appreciate it at all!”

  Mina made a pitiful face and clasped her hands together. Her legs were already killing her.

  “Please, Lord Arc! Please! Please!”

  She tugged at his clothes, and he turned his back with a sour look.

  “Ugh—don’t start this now!”

  Mina clung to him.

  “Come onnnn! Pleeease! Aaaaarc!”

  She grabbed his clothes and shook him back and forth, her eyes brimming with tears. Her relentlessness was clearly wearing him down.

  “FINE! I get it! Just let go of me!”

  Mina released him and looked up expectantly. Arc stared back at her with dead eyes.

  “You are seriously annoying when you get like this.”

  “Hehehe! Sorry, Arc.”

  He let out a monumental sigh.

  “I wish Lady Lilisia had given her something that lets her fly on her own.”

  “Don’t say that. You get to carry adorable little me—you should be grateful.”

  “Who do you think you are?”

  “Hehehe.”

  At that moment, raindrops began to fall from the sky.

  “See! It’s raining because you were too cheap to carry me!”

  “That’s not my fault! Keep that up and I’ll leave you behind.”

  “Wait—no, I’m kidding! Kidding, kidding, kidding!”

  Arc sighed at her lightning-fast reversal.

  “Let’s just head for Carnage. We should at least be able to get out of the rain there.”

  Mina’s face lit up.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “There’s a town? Wonderful!”

  Her beaming smile was met with an ambiguous expression from Arc. Mina noticed, but before she could think about it, Arc’s gravity magic lifted her off the ground.

  “Alright—let’s fly the rest of the way!”

  He scooped the floating Mina into a princess carry and launched into the sky.

  ◆

  The ancient city of Carnage.

  A stone ruin slumbering in the wasteland.

  Despite the name “city,” only a fraction of its original structures remained visible. Walking the perimeter would take less than half an hour.

  Stone columns roughly ten meters tall stood in a ring around a central plaza, surrounded by crumbling walls that formed a labyrinthine maze.

  Ivy crept across the stone, moss filled every crack, and only the weathered carvings hinted at the city’s former glory. Reliefs of warriors and beasts adorned the walls—proof that this had once been a city of gladiatorial combat.

  “Hey, Arc… this is a ruin.”

  “Yeah. It’s said to have fallen several hundred years ago.”

  “So—no bath? No warm bed? No proper food?”

  “Obviously. Nobody lives here.”

  Mina looked up at the sky, her face crumpling.

  “Nooo… after all that walking…”

  “Quit complaining. I said we could get out of the rain. Don’t push your luck.”

  With that, Arc cleared away the overgrowth to reveal a stone structure.

  “Arc… what’s that?”

  “This is the entrance to an underground labyrinth.”

  “A labyrinth?”

  “Yeah. Go on in and see.”

  Mina entered without much hope.

  To her surprise, the interior was remarkably clean and warm. Lights of some kind glowed along the walls. Everything was built from stone, and just ahead, a staircase descended into the depths.

  “I’m impressed, Arc. What is this place?”

  “Like I said—it’s the entrance to the underground labyrinth.”

  “And the labyrinth is down those stairs?”

  Arc nodded.

  “Don’t go too far in. There’s no telling what kind of traps are down there.”

  “You brought me to a dangerous place like this?”

  “Relax—as long as you don’t go down the stairs, you’re fine. And don’t go wandering off like you always do. If you go past those stairs, I won’t be responsible.”

  “I-I’m not going to! Don’t insult me!”

  Arc smirked.

  “Good. Then let’s eat our rations and get some sleep.”

  They broke out their travel rations and had a modest meal. Afterward, Mina wrapped herself in a blanket with kitten Nox in her arms and sipped the warm tea Arc had brewed. She gazed up at the labyrinth ceiling.

  “So why are these walls lit up if nobody lives here?”

  Arc shook his head.

  “I don’t know either. But there’s a theory that the magical circuits created by the great sorcerer Vortex—who built this labyrinth—are still functioning. They supposedly draw magical energy from the surrounding forest to keep running, even now.”

  “Is that really true? If technology like that still exists, why doesn’t everyone just live here?”

  Arc shrugged.

  “Believe me, plenty of people wanted to. Expedition after expedition came in to investigate. But most of them never came back.”

  “Why not?”

  “Traps. The underground labyrinth is riddled with them.”

  “That’s terrifying!”

  Arc nodded.

  “Exactly. Too dangerous for too little reward. Eventually, everyone gave up.”

  “Hmm, how strange.”

  Arc nodded.

  “That’s why nobody goes below the stairs. Can’t come back if you get lost down there.”

  Mina stared at the staircase.

  “Mina! Don’t you dare say you want to go in.”

  She flinched.

  “I wasn’t going to! What are you talking about?”

  “Knowing you, I thought you might.”

  “How rude. Honestly… ho ho ho.”

  Then something occurred to her.

  “What about the bathroom?”

  “Huh? Bathroom?”

  Arc gestured toward the door.

  “Look—you’re a boy, so you can just go in the bushes. I’m a girl. I need a proper enclosure where nobody can see me.”

  “Come on, don’t be picky. Just go behind that big tree out front.”

  “Excuse me?! Have you no decency?!”

  “What decency? That’s the safest spot.”

  “It’s completely exposed in every direction!”

  “Who’s going to look? Monkeys and sparrows, maybe!”

  “It’s raining, for one thing—and I am NOT going to the bathroom outside!”

  Mina stood up, still holding Nox.

  “I’m going to go back there to use the bathroom. You wait outside.”

  “What? Don’t—just listen to me.”

  “Absolutely not! I’m a girl! No way!”

  Mina got up and took a few steps deeper in.

  “Hey, wait! Don’t just wander off!”

  “Don’t follow me, Arc! Are you trying to peek?!”

  “Idiot—that’s not what I—”

  At that instant.

  A magic circle blazed to life on the floor beneath Mina’s feet.

  “Oh—!”

  Arc’s eyes went wide as he sprinted toward her.

  “Mina! Reach out your arm!”

  “What?! What’s this light?!”

  “Just do it, Mina! Your arm!”

  The moment Mina stretched out her hand, the floor opened into a gaping hole.

  “AAAH! Arc!”

  “MINA!”

  Mina and Nox plummeted into the void.

  “MINAAAA!”

  She looked up at Arc—and saw him being swallowed by a separate black hole. He had triggered another trap trying to save her. The sight broke Mina’s heart, and she pressed her forehead against Nox’s back.

  “I’m sorry! Arc!! I’m so sorry!”

  Mina reached out through her tears, but there was nothing but darkness around her.

  “KYAAAH!”

  Clutching Nox tight, Mina fell deeper and deeper into the dark.