“Blessed One? What is that?” Lenora asked in confusion.
Roland was a bit surprised. “You don’t know?”
Seeing Lenora shake her head, Roland finally understood that Blessed Ones were not as well-known as mages.
“I don’t know much about Blessed Ones myself. It’s said that as long as you sincerely believe in a certain deity and offer something up, the deity will respond to the believer’s wish and grant them divine power.”
“Does that mean I can become really powerful without doing anything?”
“Supposedly, but I don’t know the specific process. I’ve only ever met one Blessed One so far.”
“Can mages become Blessed Ones too?”
“They can.”
Perhaps the idea of becoming stronger without having to use her brain was very attractive to Lenora, because she kept asking questions incessantly until Roland grew annoyed.
He finally managed to get her to shut up, but it wasn’t long before she started acting up again. Roland had no other choice but to stuff a book into her hands.
“Just stay quiet and read. We’re getting up early tomorrow to enter the labyrinth.”
***
As the first light of dawn broke, the pleasant sound of birds chirping echoed through the manor once again.
Even without Nasha entering the bedroom, Mia woke up first.
After eating breakfast, she took a notebook and a pen to find Graham, who was training the soldiers. She wrote down her thoughts: “Take me to see Isaiah.”
“Looking for Isaiah? Why?”
Mia didn’t explain. She simply stubbornly wrote down a single sentence: “If you don’t take me, I’ll go by myself.”
Graham had no choice but to agree. After all, he would be held accountable if he failed to protect Mia. He turned to the soldiers who were undergoing physical training and said, “That’s it for today’s training. Everyone, take a break.”
The soldiers let out a cheer.
Graham then led Mia to find Isaiah in the church. He was currently receiving a confession from a villager. Once the confession was mostly finished, Mia walked up and held up her notebook: “Teach me magic.”
After dismissing the villager, Isaiah didn’t ask for a specific reason. Instead, he told her, “Power is a double-edged sword. When you crave power, you must learn to question your own heart and know where that power should be used.”
“I want to become strong, stronger than Mama. I don’t want to see her bearing all the responsibility alone anymore.”
“Is it out of gratitude? I see. Then come. I will pass on everything I know to you.”
***
“You lazy pig, get up already. We’re going into the labyrinth.”
Roland delivered a sharp slap to the face of the bedridden Lenora, but this only barely managed to wake her up. Her eyes were half-open and half-closed, looking as if she might fall back asleep at any moment.
“If you don’t get up right now, I’ll hang you from a tree and let everyone see your underwear!”
Lenora’s eyes cleared instantly. She shielded her chest like a virtuous woman and resisted, “Don’t!”
Seeing that she was finally awake, Roland turned around to pack their things while saying, “Hurry up and get dressed. I’ll go buy some breakfast first; we’ll eat on the way.”
“Oh.”
The distance between the inn and the Anides Labyrinth wasn’t far. It only took the two of them a few minutes to arrive at the labyrinth entrance.
The entrance was located beneath a massive cavern opening. The surrounding rocks were covered in moss, looking like sponges soaked with water. Many adventurers were standing outside the labyrinth—some alone, others in small groups. It looked like they were searching for members, but none of them seemed particularly strong.
Roland asked, “What information do you have about this labyrinth?”
Lenora took a bite of bread and chewed a few times before saying, “The Anides Labyrinth has a title: the Water Palace. It’s because there’s water everywhere inside, and most of the creatures can survive in water.”
“Water… if I had known, I would have prepared more sets of clothes. If they get wet, the only way to dry them will be over a fire.”
“It’s okay. You can wear mine; I brought a lot of clothes.”
“Besides that? Any other information?”
“No.”
Roland was speechless. “I really shouldn’t have expected anything from you.”
“Hey, why the sudden disappointment?”
“If we’re going to conquer a labyrinth, we should gather all the intel in advance before making a plan.”
“But I have you… You’ll definitely protect me, right?” Lenora said with a face full of innocence.
But Roland wasn’t buying it. “If even I can’t handle it, I won’t hesitate to run away.”
“How can you be like that!”
“Because my life is more important.”
“Then I guess I’ll try to help out as much as I can.”
As the two chatted idly, they walked to the entrance of the labyrinth. Roland stopped and asked, “Should we look for a few teammates? If you’re feeling brave enough.”
The greenhorn Lenora hadn’t yet experienced the sinister nature of people. Although she had some concerns, she felt it was unlikely that anyone would backstab their teammates for a bit of labyrinth treasure. So, she nodded and agreed, “Let’s find some teammates. After all, we’re both mages. It would be much better if someone was walking in front.”
The task of finding people naturally fell to Roland. She didn’t think Lenora had very good judgment; it would be disastrous if they recruited someone who specifically preyed on rookie adventurers.
Although many teams extended olive branches, Roland could tell at a glance that those people were simply lusting after their beauty. This world wasn’t filled with nothing but beautiful boys and girls.
After filtering through the options, Roland finally selected a two-person team consisting of a warrior and a priest. Adding the two of them as mages would be more than enough.
“Thank you for your trust. My name is Royce, and this is my sister, Cameron.” Royce, who was wearing a suit of armor, reached out his hand. His sister stood to the side with a smile, holding a staff.
Roland shook his hand and said, “Just call me Roland. This person next to me is Lenora.”
“Roland! Didn’t I say to call me by my nickname!” Lenora protested.
“I forgot. Why are you so obsessed with a nickname?”
“If I don’t use a nickname, my dad will find my location in no time.”
“Fine, my bad.” Roland looked at the two in front of her and corrected herself, “Actually, her name is Asuka. Lenora is my younger sister; I just missed her so much that I had a slip of the tongue. Could you please forget that name?”
Hearing this, Royce’s brain turned for a moment before he caught on, giving a tactful response: “Alright. It’s nice to meet you, Roland and Miss Asuka.”
Lenora turned up her nose and said, “See how sensible other people are?”
“Keep talking trash and see if I don’t stuff moss into your mouth.”
Roland threatened her fiercely.
“Blehh, I don’t care.”
She was as good as her word, grabbing a handful of moss from the ground to stuff into Lenora’s mouth. Seeing this, Lenora immediately started running in circles around the other two, fearing she would be caught.
Watching the two of them running and jumping around, Royce felt like he might have agreed to the team-up too early.
Had they just recruited two weirdos? He wasn’t afraid of bad teammates, but he was afraid of stupid ones. If they accidentally caused some kind of disaster, the entire team might end up buried in the labyrinth.
However, since the words had already been said, he could only bite the bullet and try out the party.