Chapter 70. Dimensional Magician
37th day in the Labyrinth.
Group 4 explored Cave No. 2 with me today.
No, rather than an exploration, it would be more accurate to say that we came to tame monsters.
［Sss!］
［Sssss!］
［Sssssh!］
【Bubble Bubble】─This is insane. How many Peace Demon Kings are there…?
We were in the habitat of the Dog Spider (HeckHeckSsss).
Arriving here brought back memories of the first day in the labyrinth, when I had stolen and tamed an egg.
That monster was my first companion and the special evolution form of the Dog Spider standing next to me: Kinogine Arachne.
“Kino. One of these might be your parent.”
［That’s impossible. I only have a father.］
“I meant biologically.”
［Biologically speaking, my parent is also my father.］
“……”
Kino adamantly spouted nonsense, as usual.
With Kino by my side as a bodyguard, I began taming the Dog Spiders one by one.
There was no combat involved.
The Dog Spiders were all friendly toward me.
Though they weren’t as fast as Medical Mushrooms or Melody Foxes, their spots changed color at a fairly quick rate.
“I could have done this alone without much issue.”
【Bubble Bubble】─True. They’re all pretty docile.
As long as you don’t attack them first, that is.
It seemed that the Dog Spider species didn’t harbor hostility toward other species and tended to be friendly.
【Rizenova】─You should always stay vigilant. They could suddenly turn aggressive, so don’t let your guard down.
I agreed.
Just as there are psychopaths among humans, there could be aggressive mutants among these monsters.
Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any mutants here.
In any case.
The reason I suddenly decided to tame these creatures was simple.
I had resolved to tame as many monsters as possible.
And Dog Spiders were relatively easy to tame.
Taming the easy ones first made sense.
I ended up taming 24 Dog Spiders.
I tried bringing them back to my hideout, but they adamantly refused to leave their home.
［We like it here!］
［We don’t want to move! Ssss!］
［Ssss. We’ll keep living here, and visit your place from time to time!］
［I’ll come often!］
［I hate moving. Ssss.］
It wasn’t an issue.
In fact, it was better this way.
Though my lair was quite spacious, if the number of monsters kept increasing, it would eventually become cramped.
“Alright, you guys can stay here.”
［Sss!］
［Thanks!］
“But you have to keep up the exploration, okay? And don’t forget to make maps.”
［Got it! Ssss!］
［Ssss! I’m good at drawing! With webs! Swish swish! I love drawing!］
These guys would be Group 7 from now on.
They were in charge of exploring the deeper parts of Cave No. 2.
I stationed an Iris here and left an extra severed arm before heading back to my hideout.
【Bubble Bubble】─By the way, why are the other Assistants so quiet today?
【Bubble Bubble】─They’re not offline or anything.
【Rizenova】─They said they’re having a meetup.
【Bubble Bubble】─What? Without us?
【Rizenova】─They live in the same world, but we don’t. Nothing we can do about it.
【Bubble Bubble】─Oh, right. That’s a shame.
【Rizenova】─Indeed. One day, I’d love to visit Gauntlet’s homeland, Earth.
Come to think of it, today was the day of their meetup, wasn’t it?
Before Rize mentioned it, I had wondered why it was so quiet today.
‘They must be attending the meetup while keeping the broadcast on.’
As I skimmed through the three nicknames in the Assistant list,
【Pururu】─Geon!!!
【Mysticism】─😱😱😱
The Assistants’ chat suddenly came to life.
Speak of the devil, and they shall appear.
【Pururu】─The foreign part-timer at the café passed out, then woke up as a Dimensional Magician!!!
“What nonsense.”
【Pururu】─She said they regained her memory!!!
【Mysticism】─She even asked us if we knew Gauntlet! She’s with us right now!
I had no idea what they were talking about.
As I stared at the incoherent messages, confused,
【Yumi】─I’ll explain everything.
Ha Yumi began to explain the situation step by step.
***
Here’s how things happened:
The Assistants were having a meetup at the café.
Suddenly, the part-timer collapsed.
After waking up, the part-timer claimed she had regained her memory and joyfully shook hands with the café owner.
Then, out of the blue, she asked the Assistants if they knew Gauntlet.
The part-timer introduced herself as Sage Lunaris, revealed her true identity, and explained her purpose in this world. The café owner was understandably bewildered.
The Assistants explained what had been happening to Sage.
“……”
What in the world.
Sage Lunaris.
I recognized the name Sage.
It was the name of the Dimensional Magician who returned me to Earth.
And Elise had mentioned that she had crossed over to Earth during the Great War to request my help.
‘So this part-timer isn’t lying. There’s no way an ordinary person from Earth would know about Sage or the Dimensional Magician.’
The chances of them being an imposter were extremely low.
【Bubble Bubble】─You met Sage Lunaris? The Dimensional Magician???
【Pururu】─[Photo]
【Bubble Bubble】─What the! That’s really Sage?
Pururu uploaded a photo.
It seemed to be a picture of Sage’s face.
So, Sage was a woman.
She always wore a mask and a robe that covered her from head to toe, so I had no idea.
Even her voice was rather neutral.
“Elise, have you seen Sage’s face before?”
【Bubble Bubble】─We bathed together a few times, so yeah.
In any case.
The Dimensional Magician hadn’t come to find me.
I had worried she might have ended up in some strange world, but it turned out she hadn’t been able to find me because she had lost her memory.
And as soon as she heard my name, she regained her memories…
‘This is absurd.’
Why did she lose her memory in the first place?
Just as I was about to ask the Assistants to find out,
【Bubble Bubble】─Why did she lose her memory? Can you ask?
Elise posted the question first.
She must have been curious about Sage’s whereabouts as well.
【Yumi】─She said the dimensional passage was unstable because she opened the portal in a hurry. She suffered a big shock while crossing over, which seems to have caused her memory loss.
So, there was an accident while crossing through the dimensional rift on her way to Earth.
It was a reason I could understand.
【Bubble Bubble】─The passage was unstable? She wasn’t seriously injured, was she?
【Yumi】─She seems fine now.
【Bubble Bubble】─That’s a relief.
【Bubble Bubble】─By the way, we haven’t told her about Elemencia yet, right?
【Mysticism】─No, we haven’t!
【Yumi】─Should we tell her now?
【Bubble Bubble】─No! Absolutely not!
【Bubble Bubble】─It’s not her fault. She might blame herself for what happened to Elemencia.
It didn’t seem like Elise held any resentment toward Sage.
After all, Sage hadn’t been able to seek my help because of an unexpected accident.
Well.
It’s not like Elise was the type of person to say something like, “If you had done your job right, Elemencia wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
【Bubble Bubble】─I’ll talk to her about Elemencia in person later. So please don’t say anything. Just tell her that I asked you to keep it quiet, and she’ll understand.
【Yumi】─Understood.
What a considerate person.
Truly the kind of Hero I recognized her to be.
【Bubble Bubble】─More importantly, now I can finally join the meetup. I’ll just ask Sage to open a portal for me.
“Dan-bi, can you ask Sage if she can connect a portal to the Ancient Labyrinth where I am?”
I had no intention of asking about my seal.
After all, Sage was a Dimensional Magician, not a Sealing Magician.
For the record, most of Elemencia’s Sealing Magicians were said to be dead.
【Pururu】─She can’t open a portal right now.
“Why?”
【Bubble Bubble】─?? Why?
Elise and I asked simultaneously.
She couldn’t open a portal?
A Dimensional Magician?
【Pururu】─Her memory has returned, but her powers haven’t. She can recover them, though it will take some time.
“She lost her powers too?”
【Pururu】─Yeah, but she says she’ll be able to recover them on her own, although it will take some time.
【Bubble Bubble】─Oh, so she hasn’t completely lost her powers. That’s good to hear.
【Pururu】─Once she’s recovered, she’ll try to track you down and connect a portal for you.
“Tell her I appreciate it, and to focus on recovering her strength.”
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.
I had only asked out of curiosity.
Azeras had told me that even gods who wielded dimensional magic couldn’t open a portal to the Ancient Labyrinth.
Maybe it was because they had no one to track, but still…
I didn’t think Sage would be able to connect to a world that even gods couldn’t.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I’d like you to ask.”
【Pururu】─Go ahead. I’ll relay it for you.
“Monsters have been sporadically appearing on Earth lately, right? Could you ask Sage if it’s because of her?”
【Pururu】─Why would it be her fault?
“I thought maybe the barrier protecting Earth had cracked when she crossed over.”
Again, I was only asking out of curiosity.
I didn’t really think a single person crossing over would have torn such a sturdy barrier.
【Pururu】─Got it. I’ll ask. If it is her fault, I’ll kick her butt.
【Yumi】─LOL You say that, but I bet you’re asking her politely right now.
【Mysticism】─🤭
【Mysticism】─Pururu is all bark and no bite!
【Yumi】─She’s consistent, though! No chest, no…
【Mysticism】─😠
【Yumi】─Why are you mad? You’ve got plenty of chest, Mysticism.
【Pururu】─Why are you all chatting like this?
【Pururu】─Geon. I asked, and she said it’s not her fault.
【Rizenova】─She could be lying.
【Bubble Bubble】─Sage has a habit of blinking quickly when she lies. That’s why she used to wear a mask, to hide her emotions.
【Pururu】─She didn’t blink.
【Pururu】─Doesn’t seem like she’s lying.
So it wasn’t Sage’s fault that monsters were appearing.
That was a relief.
“Did she say why the monsters are showing up?”
【Pururu】─She said she’s never seen any monsters on Earth, so she doesn’t know.
【Pururu】─Hold on, she’s meditating in a lotus position now. Seems like she’s trying to figure something out.
【Mysticism】─She’s trying to find the cause!
【Yumi】─Even though she’s lost her powers, she said she can at least check if there’s any issue with the dimensional barrier around Earth.
***
Some time passed.
When Sage finished meditating, Pururu’s message popped up.
【Pururu】─She said there is indeed an issue with the barrier.
【Pururu】─Once she recovers some of her strength, she’ll attempt to repair the dimensional barrier herself.
So there was an issue with the barrier after all.
Still, it was a relief that the Dimensional Magician herself would fix it.
【Yumi】─We’re lucky. If the Dimensional Magician hadn’t crossed over to our world, we wouldn’t have been able to repair the barrier.
【Pururu】─For real.
“Thank her for me again. Did she mention what caused the tear in the barrier?”
【Pururu】─She doesn’t know yet.
【Yumi】─She’ll analyze it while recovering her strength and try to figure it out.
“We owe her a lot… Tell her I’m really grateful again.”
【Pururu】─She said you don’t need to thank her.
【Bubble Bubble】─Pass my thanks along too. Tell her not to push herself too hard and to take care of her health.
【Pururu】─No.
【Bubble Bubble】─Why not…
【Yumi】─She said no, but she’s already relayed the message.
【Mysticism】─Pururu’s got a tsundere streak.
This unexpected reunion.
Well, not a reunion for me, but still.
As I sorted through my thoughts about Sage, the monsters on Earth, and the dimensional barrier, one thing became clear.
‘…I hope we can stay in contact with Sage for future information exchanges.’
Unfortunately.
Unless I obtained an Invitation Ticket of higher grade than the Intermediate Ticket, there was no way to make Sage an Assistant.
“Dan-bi.”
【Pururu】─Yes?
“Could you exchange phone numbers with Sage? That way, I can be informed of the barrier repair progress and the reason behind the tear as soon as she finds out.”
【Pururu】─We’ve already exchanged contact info.
Thankfully, it seemed Sage had a phone.
Did the café owner buy her one?
【Pururu】─And don’t worry about staying in touch.
【Pururu】─Sage decided to move out of the café owner’s place and live with Hwang Mir at her house. She wants to stay in touch with us.
“Really? You’re more considerate than I thought, Dan-bi.”
【Pururu】─Haha.
“But who is Hwang Mir?”
【Pururu】─She’s my friend. She’s loaded.
【Mysticism】─She’s a chaebol heir!
“What? A chaebol heir, all of a sudden?”
【Pururu】─She’s really a chaebol heir.
【Yumi】─It’s true. I was shocked when I first heard it too.
“…How did you, of all people, become friends with a chaebol heir?”
【Mysticism】─They bonded over NSFW art commissions!
【Pururu】─Why the hell would you say that, you crazy woman?
Meeting a Dimensional Magician by chance was surprising, but hearing that Seo Dan-bi was friends with a chaebol heir was just as shocking.
And apparently, Seo Dan-bi had already told her quite a bit about me, the Ancient Labyrinth, and the monsters, so she was somewhat aware of these things.
‘A chaebol heir, huh…’
I should invite her to be an Assistant when I get the chance.
Along with Sage, once I get a higher-grade Invitation Ticket.
I don’t have any direct connection to this Hwang Mir person, but…
If I get a High-Grade Invitation Ticket, I should be able to invite a friend of a friend.
If not, well, that’s that.
For the record, it’s just my guess that a High-Grade Invitation Ticket allows you to invite specific people.
“Anyway, Hwang Mir isn’t just buying Sage a new place. They’re living together, right?”
【Pururu】─Yeah, they’re moving in together at Mir’s house.
“Isn’t living together uncomfortable?”
【Pururu】─Sage is really sociable.
【Pururu】─And Mir’s excited to live with a magician. Haha.
“That’s a relief. Sage agreed to it too, right? You’re not forcing her, are you?”
【Pururu】─Of course not. Do you think we’d kidnap her or something?
【Pururu】─Besides, we don’t have the strength to force her even if we wanted to.
【Mysticism】─Exactly. Pururu’s weak!
【Pururu】─You’re weak too, damn it.
And that’s how it was decided.
Sage, the Dimensional Magician, would be living with Seo Dan-bi’s friend, Hwang Mir.
Apparently, she’d continue working at the café to repay the owner’s kindness.
***
In the pond located in Cave No. 8.
“When will you take off your panties?”
“When we get closer.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Don’t be.”
As I was washing with a Centaurides, a loud voice suddenly erupted from the screen where Iris, who had accompanied me, was watching.
─［Doodoomba!!!］
─［Piii!!!］
The voice came from Group 2, who were exploring Cave No. 7.
It was the Hedgehog Summoner and the Jellyfish.
What’s all this commotion about?
As I zoomed in on the screen, a familiar object appeared behind the monsters.
─［We’ve found it! We’ve found it!!!］
─［Piii, piiii!］
It was a vending machine.
Though a bit more extravagant than the ones I’d seen before.