Of course, with Colin’s physical condition and endurance, he wasn’t going to just pass out like that. Although right now he really wished he could lose consciousness, the situation still required him, so he had no choice but to keep going.
Colin declined the outstretched hand of a beautiful young knight who had suddenly rushed out from the Maiden Knight Order and got up from the ground on his own.
As soon as he stood steady, he saw the room full of beautiful girls of all kinds looking at him with worried eyes, which only made his head throb even more.
But no matter how painful his head was, he had to find a way to solve the immediate problem.
“So, you all became like this because you triggered a trap inside the labyrinth?”
Seeing that Colin had calmed down a bit, Larian explained the reason why they had changed.
At that time, Larian had been leading the members of the knight order deeper inside, until they reached a room they had to pass through. Since it was a necessary room to proceed, they entered without much suspicion.
But after everyone stepped inside, the door suddenly shut, and magical arrays appeared simultaneously on all the walls.
Before they could react, they were all bathed in the intense light emitted by the magic circles.
When they woke up, they had all turned into their current forms.
After teleporting back to the camp, they were still a bit disoriented and hadn’t fully established their communication magic, which was why Colin received such a vague magical transmission.
As for why Larian and the others hadn’t contacted him sooner, it was because they didn’t know how to explain what had happened to Colin.
By the time they realized it, the communication magic directed to Colin had already been cut off.
So they used communication magic through Eirene instead.
And that led to the situation now.
After hearing everything, Colin finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.
Then, he looked at his master with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Then… Master, have you found a way to turn back?”
But Larian’s reply quickly extinguished that small spark of hope.
“Uh, although we have explored quite deep, and are probably close to finishing, we still haven’t found a way to reverse Miss Liamie’s and our condition. So, I’m sorry, Colin.”
“…No, Master, you all have done your best.” Although Colin felt a bit disappointed at Larian’s answer, he didn’t lose heart. “Besides, I was the one who asked for your help in the first place. How could I blame you for this? It should be my fault. If I hadn’t asked you to help, none of this would have happened to you.”
“Alright, alright. Although you did ask us for help, becoming like this was purely our own carelessness. It’s absolutely not your fault! Right, everyone?”
Larian cut off Colin’s self-blame and instead offered comforting words, which the group of former Holy Temple Knights-turned-maidens echoed.
Seeing this, Colin was moved.
As expected, even if their appearances had changed, his master and everyone else were still the same as before!
“…Besides, being like this actually isn’t so bad,”
Larian muttered quietly.
Colin didn’t quite catch it and asked with curiosity, “Master, what did you just say?”
“Huh?! Haha, n-no, I didn’t say anything. Don’t mind it. Let’s talk about something else.”
Larian laughed it off, and Colin didn’t press further, instead starting to discuss the next steps with everyone.
“Master, can you still continue exploring? Is there any problem with your current state?”
After a while of discussion, Colin asked Larian.
He wanted to know if her current form would affect her original strength.
Although Liamie hadn’t experienced any issues, that was just a special case; it couldn’t be assumed that everyone else would have the same outcome.
“Hm? It’s okay. Although it feels a bit strange, our original strength should still be fully usable. We might need some time to adjust, but continuing exploration shouldn’t be a problem!”
After speaking, Larian asked the other knight members, and seeing no objections, she declared they could continue exploring.
Colin breathed a sigh of relief.
If his master and the others really had hidden dangers because of this, he would never forgive himself.
“Well then, although this might be a bit of a downer, when do you plan to continue exploring?”
At this moment, Sephnie suddenly spoke.
Though a bit blunt, her question was exactly what Liamie wanted to know.
Larian’s answer made Liamie feel pleased.
“Of course, we can continue exploring anytime!”
“Wait!”
Suddenly, Colin interrupted the conversation.
“I’m coming too. I can’t just let you risk yourselves while I stay safely behind. That’s not what a Holy Knight should do.”
Upon hearing this, Liamie furrowed her brows.
She was about to persuade him when she heard Larian’s praise.
“Good! As expected of my disciple! You really would do that—I see now that my training wasn’t in vain.”
Though a bit surprised that Larian agreed so readily, Liamie understood after remembering it was Colin speaking.
That was indeed the kind of thing he would do.
Just as Liamie thought Colin would join the exploration team, Larian suddenly changed her tone.
“Even though I said that, you still can’t come with us.”
Colin’s expression, which had just relaxed, turned serious again.
“Why?”
Larian didn’t explain much, only pointed at herself.
“Why? Look at me now, doesn’t it speak for itself? Do you want to become like this too? This exploration is only for us.”
“How can that be? I don’t agree!” Colin immediately rejected the proposal.
If this had been before anything happened, he might have agreed, but now that even his master had turned like this, there was no way he could remain on the sidelines.
“I have to enter the labyrinth and explore. If you don’t agree, then I’ll go alone.
Don’t worry, I know my limits. If I encounter anything I can’t handle, I’ll teleport out immediately.”
Larian frowned deeply, clearly disapproving of this plan.
After all, if they had been able to teleport away in time during an emergency, they wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Just as Larian was about to continue rejecting Colin’s plan, Sephnie spoke up with her own suggestion.
“If Colin can’t go in, then I can, right?”
Colin and Larian both immediately denied this proposal.
“No, it’s too dangerous. I can’t let you go alone.”
“Although Miss Sephnie, you’re female and that magic array might not affect you, this labyrinth isn’t only dangerous because of the arrays.
There are also other powerful ancient constructs.
Trying to explore while protecting you on the side would be extremely difficult for us.”
Although her suggestion was rejected by both, Sephnie’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest.
She opened her mouth and gave her reasoning.
“How do you expect to find a way to reverse our bodies in such a vast array of ancient records without me?”