“Well, I’ll take my leave here. You were a huge help today. I have to apologize again for the trouble my companion caused. Thank you... and I’m truly sorry.”
In the small room housing the magic circle and the stairs to B13F, the adventurer bowed his head deeply.
The swordsman had caught up with them a short distance away from where they had fought the Rock Spider. He had asked to accompany them until they reached the exit, so the group had traveled together as far as the stairs leading down to B13F.
Because he had been part of the party with the man with the spear, Set—who had been denied his chance to eat the Rock Spider—had spent the walk grumbling unpleasantly deep in his throat. However, the swordsman must have sensed the danger of his position. He had offered up several slices of dried meat he carried for snacking, which succeeded in mollifying Set. While the Gryphon wasn't exactly welcoming now, his grumpy attitude had at least subsided.
(As far as I'm concerned, it's better that Set didn't eat that spider,) Rei thought.
Rei knew from his knowledge of Earth that entomophagy—the practice of eating insects—wasn't uncommon in certain regions. He knew that in Japan, people ate things like locusts simmered in soy or wasp larvae. He even remembered variety shows where comedians traveled to remote corners of the globe to eat caterpillars, spiders, and scorpions.
Technically, spiders weren't insects, but Rei had little interest in the finer points of taxonomy; as far as he was concerned, they were just another type of bug.
Regardless, no further issues arose once the swordsman joined them. They continued through the rocky desert, defeating the occasional monsters that crossed their path, until they finally found the stairs and arrived at B13F.
Rei watched the man vanish as he teleported back to the surface via the magic circle. Beside him, Elena let out a long sigh.
“I truly didn't expect Bandit Goblins to appear here.”
“No kidding. Since they showed up at the oasis on B11F, does that mean the ones living on B12F somehow migrated up to the floor above?”
“But how? Given that these teleportation magic circles carry an enchantment that repels monsters, it should be impossible for a Bandit Goblin to even enter this room.”
Rei nodded instinctively at Elena’s assessment.
It was a different matter if a monster was linked to an adventurer by a magic power line or if it wore a tamed monster's necklace, but ordinary monsters simply could not enter the small rooms containing the magic circles.
However, the image of the Bandit Goblin Mage flashed through Rei’s mind.
“We did run into a monster that was anything but ordinary, didn't we?”
“...I see.”
Elena understood immediately which monster Rei was referring to. She frowned slightly and gave a small nod. To her, the incident where Rei had fainted the moment the Death Scythe absorbed the magic stone remained a bitter memory.
“Guruuu?”
Set let out a low trill and rubbed his side against Elena. Unlike Rei, she couldn't understand every sound the Gryphon made, but she could tell he was worried about her.
“Heh, are you worried for me? Thank you, Set.”
“Gurururururuu!”
Set let out a happy cry, his voice losing its worried edge. Understanding from the hand gently stroking his head that she was fine now, he chirped with delight.
“In any case, they are called anomaly species for a reason,” Rei said. “It probably used some unknown method to bring the Bandit Goblins to the floor above. I've no idea what that method was, though...”
Even as he spoke, Rei had a suspicion. It was a purely intuitive feeling, without a shred of evidence, which was why he kept it to himself.
(Summoning magic... Compared to other anomaly species, that Bandit Goblin Mage wasn't particularly powerful. It was a mage-type, sure, but it felt remarkably fragile. But what if that's because it used the majority of its magic power to summon those Bandit Goblins? Well, since it was an anomaly species, I probably don't have to worry about it showing up again. More importantly...)
Rei turned his gaze toward the exit of the small room.
“Shall we step outside?” Elena asked, following his gaze. Rei gave a small nod.
He guessed it was already close to evening. He had no intention of trying to conquer B13F today, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to see what the floor looked like.
“Guru.”
Set seemed to have no objections, purring as he looked toward the entrance.
With the group of three in agreement, they stepped out of the room.
“Ugh, this desert again,” Rei groaned.
“I wonder if B14F below this is going to be a rocky desert again?” Elena sighed.
“Guruuu?” Set trilled, looking unbothered, as if a desert was simply a desert to him.
An expanse of sand stretched out before them. It was a typical sandy desert, just like B11F—the quintessential landscape one imagined at the mention of the word.
However, there were differences. Because they were wearing the Dragon Robe and cloaks, and because Set was a Gryphon with high heat resistance, they barely felt it, but the sunlight was visibly more intense. The temperature of the desert itself was significantly higher than on B11F.
“...We're going to have to trek through this sand again, aren't we?”
Muttering with a weary expression, Rei looked toward Elena and let out a sigh. He turned back toward the magic circle inside the small room. Understanding his intent, Elena and Set joined him. Having decided that today was quite enough, they stepped into the magic circle together and teleported back to the surface.
Rei arrived at the teleportation device in front of the dungeon entrance and immediately noticed the noise. Elena and Set also looked toward the plaza, where a crowd of adventurers was gathered.
Even when they had entered the dungeon, people had been buzzing about the raid on the House Silwa warehouse, but the commotion now was on an entirely different level—it was a near-chaotic frenzy.
“...Did something happen?” Elena murmured.
“It’s probably related to this morning,” Rei replied, catching snippets of "House Silwa" and "House Rebisole" from the passing adventurers. Just then, someone called out to them.
“Rei, Elena. And Set, too. From the looks of it, you just got back from the dungeon?”
The man with a sword at his waist was Pleiades, the warrior they had saved from a sandworm a few days prior. Unlike their encounter in the dungeon, he was currently without his party members.
“We reached B13F and decided to call it a day,” Rei said. “...What’s with all the noise?”
Pleiades's expression darkened. “This morning, House Silwa and House Rebisole finally clashed.”
“...What?” The word escaped Rei’s lips in a gasp.
He had stopped by House Silwa to see Bosk before heading into the dungeon. While Bosk had mentioned finishing things quickly, Rei hadn't expected it to happen before the day was out.
In contrast to Rei’s surprise, Elena nodded as if she had expected the news and urged Pleiades to continue. “And the result?”
“It was the martial faction House Silwa against House Rebisole, the most desperate of the three houses. You can guess how it went. The main fight happened near the Rebisole estate, but apparently, Bosk-san took the lead, smashed through their defenses, and charged straight into the manor.”
It wasn't hard to imagine the outcome.
“So, House Rebisole was defeated,” Elena concluded.
“That’s it. Except Shaffner, the head of House Rebisole, wasn't caught. He’s gone missing.”
Pleiades used an honorific for Bosk but spoke of Shaffner with blunt familiarity. It was clear where his loyalties—and his respect—lay.
He likely wasn't alone. Given everything Rei and Elena had heard since arriving in Exil, most people seemed to share that sentiment. The only exceptions were probably Shaffner’s close associates, and even then, only because they stood to profit from him.
“What about the warehouse raid?” Rei asked. “Was it confirmed that House Rebisole was behind it?”
“No clear evidence was found for that. But something even crazier turned up instead.”
“Crazier?”
Rei asked the question, but he already had a hunch. They had speculated about it the previous day, after all.
“Evidence of illegal experiments using magic stones,” Pleiades explained. “Apparently, they were running a secret laboratory near the slums. The word is that even the anomaly species were products of those experiments.”
“...I see.”
Because he had expected it, Rei felt a strange sense of grim satisfaction.
“Is that what the fuss is about?” Rei asked, looking over the adventurers who were animatedly discussing the news with anyone within earshot.
Beside him, Elena’s expression grew troubled. “But if that’s the case... things have become dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
Elena nodded at Rei’s query. “I don't know what they were thinking when they created those anomaly species, but now that his crimes are exposed, Shaffner has nowhere left to run. There’s a chance he might act out in desperation.”
“I see. Cornered like a rat, he might gamble on one last act of violence... is that it? Pleiades, what’s happening with House Rebisole now? Shaffner is the head, but he’s fled. Someone has to keep the house running.”
“House Silwa is currently governing as a proxy. However, word is that Bosk-san has publicly stated he intends to have Shafner's son succeed to the position of the head in the future.”
“...A son? He had one?” Rei blurted out. He had only ever seen Shaffner when he was invited to the manor.
Elena nodded, as if it were obvious. “They may not be formal nobles... but they are still one of the three houses governing the labyrinth city. Naturally, there would be an heir.”
“Even so, I didn't hear a single mention of him while I was looking into Shaffner.”
“I can guess why,” Elena replied. “For better or worse, he was likely buried in the shadow of Shaffner’s tyranny. Am I wrong?”
Elena glanced at Pleiades, who seemed to stiffen slightly at her beauty despite having met her before. He nodded hurriedly.
“Y-yeah. By all accounts, he’s a very faint presence—a man with no personality to speak of. He’s almost never mentioned. Honestly, I didn't even know he existed until I heard about it today.”
“Then the chaos itself shouldn't last much longer,” Elena mused. “...Though the first priority will be finding Shaffner before he can do any more damage.”
“If House Rebisole was using magic stones to create anomaly species,” Rei added, “then what about House Marstchel? They’re collecting magic stones too. There’s a chance they're doing the same thing.”
It was a logical concern, but it was Elena, not Pleiades, who answered.
“They will likely use House Rebisole’s fall as a warning. Even House Silwa can't justify attacking House Marstchel without proof, just because they happen to be collecting magic stones.”
“But doesn't that mean anomaly species might keep showing up?”
“Unlikely. If House Marstchel really is experimenting on anomaly species, confirmable sightings would become circumstantial evidence for House Silwa to move against them next, especially after what happened to House Rebisole. I don't think they’d be that reckless... assuming House Marstchel is actually conducting such experiments.”
At Elena’s prediction, Rei, Pleiades, and even the adventurers eavesdropping nearby let out instinctive sighs of relief.
(Of course, there’s still the possibility that anomaly species from House Rebisole’s experiments are still out there,) Rei thought.
Most adventurers were a hot-blooded lot, but none of them wanted their friends, families, or lovers caught in the crossfire of a war between the ruling houses of Exil.
To Rei, it looked as though Elena had realized this and was choosing her words specifically to keep the surrounding crowd from panicking.