Lockefeldt led the curious class to a far corner of the lobby, beside the door to the courtyard.

"Hmm? Fresh… meat?!"

The balding man's moustache straightened into exclamation points, and he roused from a battered wooden chair. He had a patch over one eye, and a monocle on the other. His bulging muscles bulged ever so bulgingly.

"I see your personality remains entirely unchanged and consisting entirely of powerlifting," Lockefeldt greeted with a sigh.

"Hehehehe, M'Lord Grandmaster," he said, rubbing his hands together, "More feed for the pet? Ehehehe."

"No, Vrostroy, these are my students. Also, I have already twenty three times reprimanded you for your aura—look, see? The princess of the Imperium already wants to render you to autocombusting lard."

Impudence! I will have you judged with these hands! Somehow, even without telepath magic, everyone physically heard her thoughts. XML found it somewhat charming, to which he had to do a double take, because he never thought he'd be into that.

"Incredible. She may yet be the most transparent royalty I've ever seen," Zanderfon remarked. Casa and Larissa knew nothing about it, though.

Zanderfon glanced to Miki, hoping she would agree. She ignored him. The useless fiance's heart fell even lower.

He didn't want to waste too much time, and chose violence. Lord Lockefeldt swept Vrostroy off his feet, catching him by the collar and legs before he hit the ground, holding him like a battering ram.

"M-M'Lord?!"

"I don't have time. Make sure to lock the door after us, okay?"

He said that with such a gentle voice that could melt one's heart—and tossed him out into the courtyard with the anger of a cruise missile breaking the sound barrier just 100 feet off the ground. The initial lash of the sonic boom lightly brushed against the watching students.

Lilian, previously mad, was now just impressed. Arnor whistled as Vrostroy vanished into a dot in the horizon.

"Now, hurry! We have thirty seconds before he returns!"

"But, Lord Lockefeldt, you clearly threw him a full kilometer—"

There was a shaking in the ground. Everyone looked out to the courtyard and spotted a plume of dust rapidly getting larger.

"Quickly!"

The class quickly understood the severity of the existence of this Vrostroy personage and piled through the regular doorway that Lockefeldt pointed to. Once they were through, he shut the door and cast Stasis on it.

"M'Lord! Grandmaster! I'm sorry! I mean it this time!" Vrostroy's muffled pleas resounded through the door, even as he audibly pounded on it with equivalent force to a hand grenade.

"Do not listen to lies and misinformation, dear students. Now, let's make haste."

They descended a wide set of spiral stairs. The magic flames flickered on torches on the wall—though, it was much brighter than the torches implied.

Larissa was struggling to keep up her smile. It was starting to hurt.

"You can do it~" Casa cheered her on.

"Nnrrmm mm gghhmm!"

"No no, we're almost there, keep it up!" Casa cheered once more.

"Come to think of it, I still don't understand the principle by which Larissa's illumination works," Zanderfon remarked. The rest of the class got hooked at this point, wanting to know why the heck Larissa's smile was so magical.

"Mmm, nrrn mnrryy pph ngn?"

"What are you saying?! Talk normally!"

"Mmmm ggghhnn!"

"She can't!" Casa replied.

"Wait, how do you un—never mind, what was she saying?"

"She was asking if you really wanted to know."

"Is it something really so terrible that you have to ask that…"

"Nnnn mmrrrnn…" "Not really…"

"The heck, then——a distressed sigh——yes. Yes, I want to know!"

"MmHnghn!" "Okay!" …

"HhHmgHh!" "Firstly!" "Mmhg n mggh n mhhhggss!" "Light is stored in the bones!"

Even Casa had to do a double take. She stared incredulously at Larissa. Zanderfon's jaw dropped. The entire class stopped moving.

Fascinating—Lord Lockefeldt thought.

"That's… so dumb!"

Casa started laughing and patting Larissa's back with increasing force, the physical recoil eliciting muffled complaints from Larissa. Ah, what a peaceful sight—Zanderfon thought, showing a gentle smile.

"You too! React a bit more!" Casa said. Zanderfon was taken aback. He pointed to himself—half-confused, half-wondering. "Wh-What's this got to do with me?!"

"You're the one who asked!"

Miki laughed a little bit. Just a little bit—before she remembered that Casa and Zanderfon were not to be left alone without supervision. A miniscule amount of bloodlust blew like a foreboding breeze past the two, who shivered and, looking around like scared rabbits, warily resumed their pace, wondering what on earth that was just now.

By the way, Lord Lockefeldt's cart had little wooden legs for stairs. It was weird at first, but it's kinda cute if you look at it long enough…

"Welcome to the Labyrinth of the Grand Library of Toth!"

At Lord Lockefeldt's announcement, the class instantly formed a vanguard and a support squad. Lilian, Arnor, and Zanderfon took to the frontlines, while Casa, Larissa, Miki, Ruan, and XML stayed back. Lilian and Zanderfon pulled their swords out, while steel plates clacked over and across to cover Arnor's skin. Ruan and XML pulled out their pistols. Larissa provided illumination and suddenly had a fighting staff in hand. Miki flanked her brother, spreading dust all around her, the gesture causing Ruan to blush.

Casa was smack in the middle with a 3-inch pocket knife. With her extremely high evasive versatility but poor offensive skill, the formation just sort of naturally formed around her.

Wait, I'm not that weak!—she thought, making sure to show off her dexterity with fancy knife tricks to show that she's the type to stab as a warning.

Lord Lockefeldt laughed, then gave a round of applause, on top of an Applause spell.

"Splendid display! However, this labyrinth is not so dangerous like that!"

The class had confused looks. No, we can't trust someone this strong to say it's easy, you know!

"In fact, this labyrinth doesn't even attack people!"

"What?!" "Lies." "Impossible!" "Ohhh that's kinda amazing…" "What—Casa, don't believe him!" "Cooool~" "Not you too, Larissa!"

"It's true, you know?"

The insistence was quiet, but it disarmed the class. Though still wary, they broke up their formation—

"Instead, it steals your life force by—"

They reassumed formation!

"See?! Lies!" "Yes, I can feel it taking me~ Casa, join the cult~" "Do I get benefits?" "Thirty vacation days." ""Ommmmmm.""

"…As I was saying, it will take this labyrinth 100 years to take your life."

Eh? Such were the dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"M-Master, you can't be serious…"

"I have never joked even once, have I, Sir Calculis?"

"No! I think… Still! Isn't it strange? Isn't that just a normal human lifespan?"

"That is correct. However…"

Off to the side, a nearby wall flipped around, revealing a—poster? Larissa went and examined it.

"Baking Cookies it says… Huh, come to think of it, I've always been meaning to—"

"Wait! Don't say it!" Lockefeldt reached out, but it was too late.

"—take up baking sometime… Ah? AH?!"

The wall flipped again, but this time, the advertised book was right there! It was hardbound, and the edges of the pages were rough and sticking out somewhat.

Lord Lockefeldt's warning reached her ears, however, and she quickly jumped back. The rest of the class pulled out their weapons again, pointing it at the Baking Cookies book.

"Lord Lockefeldt! What do we do?!" Lilian shouted, her hands sizzling.

"A-Ah, well, nothing."

""Nothing?""

"Nothing."

Larissa eyed Lord Lockefeldt. They locked eyes.

"Yes, you may take it. It's harmless."

The vicinity momentarily lit up, and a pair of fast hands snatched the book from its display case.

"So… Teach! What… What was all of that about?" Arnor asked, lightly raising his hand from the back.

Naturally, everyone had this question in mind. It was a Labyrinth that could shave off maybe 2 months off someone's lifespan—after spending a whole century in there—but it had strange gimmicks like popping books and posters out of nowhere—no booby traps or anything. There just had to be a catch!

"Well, you see, although this Labyrinth isn't dangerous, it has one characteristic that remains particularly damning for the staff and students of this school…"

Cold sweats broke out. Sweaty palms gripped their weapons tighter in a bid to stay anchored to reality.

"This Labyrinth of the Grand Library of Toth… aggressively recommends books addressing your needs and interests."

""…Huh?""

Unbeknownst to the rest, a leaflet floated down into Miki's hands. Her eyes widened reading it, and she quickly stuffed it into a pocket.