Chapter 5 – Thrown about

"Good morning, or should I say, good evening!"

Again, the same greeting. Kai was sitting and staring into the fireplace when Sophie got out of the tent.

"...I'm alive?"

"Yep," Kai just smiled, "totally fine."

"What happened? What was it... the monster got up again after being defeated, and then I... should have died..."

"Not really, though you were on the verge of death. Well, the minotaur did get up again, but then... kind of just fell down limp again, maybe his heart exploded or something... heh-."

"That's what happened, huh..."

"Yeah, then I just had to heal you and carry you back again. You sure were in a terrible condition there."

"Ah, yeah, I think I lost an arm there, but..."

"Oh, you did, but with my healing it was but a flesh wound," Kai said freely.

"What! But, my arm's totally fine right now, there's no scar or anything! Isn't that master rank healing?"

"Ah, calm down... Yeah, I guess my healing is master rank then," Kai made a simple smile.

"*fhuuu, How can you admit it so easily..." 'Well, I don't really know much about him...' Sophie pondered.

"Anyway, we'll return tomorrow, for now get some rest."

"Return?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, of course. I looked at a similar location as on the first floor and found the entrance to the next level, so I want to see what's even more down. Ah, what will you do?"

"...I'll come too. You saved my life yet again. I am truly, truly grateful. There's no other way except to follow and protect you with my life to repay my debt... Though, I fear I might be too incompetent..." Sophie said dejectedly.

"Well, though I don't care about the 'debt', I appreciate the company, let's just look at it like that."

Hearing those words, Sophie was truly grateful to Kai's carefree but kind attitude. At the same time she felt a weird sensation in her chest, though at this point she was oblivious to it.

"Ah, was there also a treasure chest there? Did you find anything?"

"Hm, yeah, but it was the same as on the first floor. There was just some coins and some junk, but I did find another magic crystal there," Kai answered.

"Junk!? Those valuables are worth years of easy lifestyle, you know! ...I shouldn't really be surprised by your attitude, huh? Anyway, a magic crystal also?"

Kai showed Sophie the two magic crystals. He himself had no idea about their utility or value.

"Hmm, I can't identify these either. They could be a rare or unique kind or something, though." Sophie wasn't sure about them either.

They ate and soon it was time to head to sleep.

Though there didn't seem to be any hostile beings in the vicinity, and the night before too there had been no animals even, they still had one be on guard duty. Just in case.

This night, when it was Sophie's turn and Kai went to sleep, he said some parting words.

"Look out for a possible wolf's attack."

"Huh? ...oh!"

Sophie was quite vigilant as she was guarding the place, however, her attention was directed towards a somewhat of a wrong place.

The next morning.

Kai woke up fresh, and luckily Sophie got a good rest too. They ate breakfast.

"Now, the battle plan for the next boss," Kai started speaking, "...I guess it's the same as last one? We were just unlucky then, now we can expect such a charge."

"Even when we expect it, I'm afraid I might not be able to evade even then... I'm sorry."

"Eeh, then, right at the entrance we'll split up and I'll try to aggro it. That might work."

However, some things were left untold. Sophie was actually quite afraid of going to the next floor. The monsters there will be stronger and more intelligent, and imagining the strength of the third floor's boss was terrifying.

After sitting and letting the food digest a little, they set off.

The first level was empty, as was the second floor. Usually the spawn rate of monsters was slower as their strength got higher. More difficult labyrinths were harder to clear, but they were reinhabitated slower as well. Though they didn't know, this place, the Olec outpost was a single instance. The monsters hadn't spawned there, but actually directly made it their home.

Reaching the end of the second floor, they immediately found the entrance to the next one. It opened just like the previous one, revealing a set of stairs leading down. The two prepared themselves for whatever might lurk down there.

However, what they found... No, they didn't find anything. The room was empty.

They walked around the dimly lit room. Unlike everywhere else, there weren't any torches there. The room was illuminated by some glowing crystals etched into the ceiling. Still, the room was big and it took some time to explore it. There weren't even any paths to other areas.

Perhaps there was a hidden entrance somewhere? But before they got to investigate, they noticed something in the middle of the room. Was it there before? It shouldn't have. As they got nearer, Kai suddenly stopped, making Sophie halt in her steps as well.

"Aw hell, this looks familiar..." Kai muttered.

"What is it?" Sophie asked, she hadn't seen something like this before.

"It's the same as the thing that teleported me here."

As Kai finished his sentence, the orb on the pedestal lit up. It shouldn't have activated! Can it sense the intentions of those present, so before they could escape it activated itself?

The two started running towards the stairs, however they were too far. The sphere from the orb quickly filled the whole room. If they had another moment or two, they could have made it out. The orb shined brightly, and the next moment Kai and Sophie were gone from the room.

- - -

The two were floating. At least, it seemed like that. The scenery around them was quickly changing, or they were thrown about.

"What's going on!?" Sophie asked slightly panicked. She had never actually experienced teleportation before.

"I don't know. Maybe the device was broken or something... I have a bad feeling about this, we must get out of here."

"But how?"

"Ee..." Kai tried something and he almost got pulled into one of the scenes, "Seems we just have to think and want to go to the place before us and we'll be sucked in... I think... Anyway, grab onto me!"

Sophie took Kai's hand. He observed the images, but many of them were a bit unsuitable, for example, the inside of an active volcano.

Then,

"There!" Sophie cried out.

Kai concentrated on the scene right away, and before it moved to another one, they had disappeared from this place also.

- - -

The two appeared above a grassland and were dropped on the ground.

"...I guess we made it," Kai said looking around, "By the way, what place is this?"

"Ee, this should be somewhere around the Lazure Kingdom capital... At least, that's what I recognized from that scene. I hope we're at the right place..."

The grassland stretched far and wide on one side, and on the other there was a hill. Judging that on the hill they'd get a better viewpoint, they decided to climb up there.

"Whoa--..." Kai was awestruck.

In the distance he spotted a huge majestic city – white walls and many towers, a planned city structure could be understood, and in the middle a great palace. It was the the capital Lazure. As a side note, the capitals of most kingdoms and empires were also named the same as the nation, or rather, the nation was named after its greatest city.

It was noon, and the capital seemed to be a days walk away, or perhaps they might actually make it by evening if they hurried. They thought about it and decided to pick up the pace and start heading towards it.

All the belongings they had in the labyrinth had been teleported with them, however, this didn't include the things outside of it. This meant that they currently only had the supplies which they had taken into the labyrinth. This included only a bit of food and water to drink, but nothing to make camp with. Thus they'd need to make to the city by night if they wanted a good place to sleep at. Well, jogging lightly wasn't much of a problem anyway.

7 hours later.

The sun was setting and it was getting slightly darker minute by minute, but the two were still a fair distance away. Luckily, since their pace had been steady and there hadn't been any interruptions, they were fairly close, maybe 2 hours away. Meaning, they'd arrive late in the evening before nighttime.

2 hours later.

They had finally made it.

Though the sun had set, because the sky was clear of clouds many stars and the moon illuminated everything around.

Standing in front of the outer walls, Kai finally comprehended the massiveness of the walls. The white stone walls were at least 20 meters in height, and felt accordingly thick as well. The front gates left an immense impression as well with its intricate design.

Though the gates were open, there was a guardpost with guards standing on each side of the road. Though the other gates were protected as well, the two had incidentally arrived at the main, biggest gate of the city, the reason for its almost unreasonable presentation.

"Good evening and good work," Kai, while slightly panting, greeted a guard. Sophie was actually a bit behind, and even after she had ditched her broken metal armor, she couldn't keep up with Kai.

"Good evening," the guard looked at Kai slightly suspiciously, "what brings you here this late?"

"Aah--, it was a real trouble, you see, me and my companion, where is she anyway..." Kai looked back and could see Sophie a bit away, "ah, there she is. Anyway, it was a really troublesome thing you see, so we had to circle around the city and could only return now. It took such a long time..."

"Ah, I see," though Kai didn't really say anything comprehensible, the guard didn't feel that Kai was a bad guy.

They waited for a minute until Sophie arrived, too, out of breath. Her arrival removed all apprehension towards the two. The guard was mesmerized by Sophie's beauty – her delicate face covered in light sweat only added to her allure as it glistened in the moonlight.

After a short conversation on what their purpose was within the city, the guard let them pass.

Being almost dead tired, at least the case being for Sophie, amazingly Kai looked okay, their first objective was to find a place to stay for the night. The problem was, that this late inns might already be booked and finding a free place might take time. And even besides that, the inn might possibly be a bit lower grade because the better ones would be filled.

That being the case – they started searching nearby, but naturally all the inns near the main road were already full. They had to go further, or perhaps through some alleys. They chose the latter.

Actually, there was another option. Namely, going to the adventurer's district where they'd have a high chance of finding a place to stay since in that place, accordingly, there were many inns and lodgings designated for adventurers. Unfortunately, the district was on the other end of city and it'd take another hour to reach there.

So, after a bit of searching, the two finally came upon an inn which still had some free rooms. But on the other hand this inn was a few streets away from the main road and through an alleyway, thus being fairly separated from most of the liveliness. While it wasn't rundown per say, it wasn't on par with the average inn either. Still, it was a chance to get a good nights sleep.

When the two walked into the inn, they were immediately greeted by evaluating eyes. They belonged to a group of rough looking men. If not for one of them wearing a visible adventurer's badge, one might easily mistake them for a group of bandits, however unlikely it'd be to find one in the city.

As Kai was in the front, he was seen first. But it took them only a moment to regard Kai as someone insignificant – a worn mantle, dirty clothes and boots, and messy hair, his impression wasn't something to take heed of.

However, on the other, after the gazes fell on Sophie, they were stunned. They really hadn't expected to see such a beauty in a secluded place like this, she stood out like a sore thumb, in a good sense if you could say that. Then again, how would one feel being looked upon by lecherous eyes?

Seeing the two enter together, the people there had to speculate what their relationship was. Their looks, and the presence Kai and Sophie were giving off didn't suit together at all. It would be something like – Kai's a low commoner, a drunkard, and Sophie's a noble adventurer, or maybe even a knight.

Under the observant gazes the two walked up to the counter.

"Two rooms, please," Kai requested.

But right after that, Sophie corrected him.

"No, a room for two please."

The innkeeper looked at the two with a slightly confused face, while Kai turned to Sophie questionably.

"Why? Is that okay?" Kai asked her.

"It'll save some money, and it's not like I mind..."

"Hmmm--, heh, okay... A room for two, then," he turned back to the innkeeper.

They were also offered an option to wash themselves, which they promptly took. All together it was just 2 silver, very cheap actually. In comparison, a night at the average inn usually costs 5 silver.

Now, there was a bit of problem – Sophie had left whatever coins she had back at the camp before delving into the labyrinth, and although Kai carried his valuables with him, he only had gold coins. Thus, when Kai took a pouch from his hip and opened it, people's eyes widened at the pouch filled with gold coins. Being so open with his wealth was a mistake of which Kai would later have to face the consequences of. A gold coin was traded for 98 silver and a room for the night.

- - -

The room was decent. Everything necessary was there of course and the conditions were acceptable, but you wouldn't want to stay there for longer than a night or two.

The two had their turns washing. Unfortunately, they had not spare clothes, so they after washing their current sweaty ones and leaving them to dry for the night, they had sleep naked under the blankets. Oh, the beds were separate, of course.

Since they were fairly tired, they fell asleep quickly.

Some time during the night.

Sophie was sleeping soundly, but Kai had waken up due to some rustling behind the door. He could hear some whispering.

"Hey, this is the place, right?"

"Yeah, that guy was carrying a huge load of gold. The woman will also fetch a very high price."

The room was suddenly broken into. Or rather, the door was quietly opened and in walked 2 shadows.

"Here, this is the Deep Sleep spell scroll," one of them whispered.

"I'll use it right away," the other responded.

They seemed to be up to something.

As one of them started going over to Sophie, Kai judged it was time to take action. A *thump could be heard a moment later. The one next to Sophie turned around and saw something unexpected – a completely naked man standing next to his fallen comrade.

The invader was puzzled by the current development, but when he noticed the second bed being empty, he understood. He almost said something from surprise, but before he could, Kai had appeared right next to him. An elbow hit the man right on the temple and knocked him unconcious.

'Now, where are their companions? Robbery and kidnapping isn't really a two man job...'

Kai peeked out of the window and saw another two men right under it. The plan was probably to use some spell to keep them from waking up and then drop them to the two guys waiting outside. But the plan had clearly failed due to underestimating the target.

'Now, what to do?...'

Kai sneaked out of the room, downstairs, and outside. He quietly sneaked behind the two men waiting under the window and knocked them out instantly, too.

'So, how to dispose of them?...'

Because killing them or taking them too far away felt troublesome, Kai just thought to drop them near a guardpost. Before started to move them, he wanted to try out the magic scroll the men were aiming to use.

Using mana on the scroll, it made a small beam of faint light, and when directed towards a person's head, the light went into it. The spell was succesful, the men shouldn't wake up for quite some time now.

Kai first picked up the two guys from the inn and then heaved the other two over his shoulders also. Like that, carrying 4 heavy men, Kai started walking towards the main street, while still naked.

On the way there was nobody, but at the guardpost, which was like a police booth, two guards were having a night shift. Kai went as near as possible and then threw the four men right next to it. As they landed they made an audible noise, prompting a guard to investigate it.

"Huh? Ah, who's there?" the guard asked, but received no answer.

Kai eavesdropped the guard's conversation and then left.

As a side note, after some investigation the next day, it was found out that the four were actually bandits that had snuck into the city disguised as adventurers.

Also, the bandits were in no way beginners, but perhaps through luck and maybe skill Kai had managed to take them by surprise and knock them out before they could react.

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