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—Tsutrail: Explorer Guild—
To step back in time a moment—
"Ugh. I guess this year’s Thanksgiving Festival really is canceled..."
Inside the Explorer Guild, a female clerk named Liz grumbled while filing paperwork.
"Are you still moping about that? We're in the middle of a war with the Empire. We can’t exactly hold a festival right now, so there's no helping it, is there?"
Beside her, another staff member, Eleonora, spoke with a voice full of exasperation.
In Tsutrail, the Thanksgiving Festival was an annual tradition held from late May to early June. It was a city-wide celebration during which entry into the Great Labyrinth was strictly prohibited.
The official reason was to show gratitude toward the Great Labyrinth, as the wide variety of materials harvested from its depths were the literal backbone of the Nohitant Kingdom’s economic development.
In truth, however, that was merely a pretext. The ten-day closure served a more practical purpose: it allowed the guild to rebalance the labyrinth’s ecosystem, ensuring that materials could be harvested stably and sustainably for years to come.
But as Eleonora pointed out, the Kingdom was now at war. Consequently, the demand for magic beast materials and the Magic Stones that powered magic tools had skyrocketed. Given that the government was actively pushing explorers to dive deeper and more frequently, the guild had decided that a ten-day moratorium was simply unrealistic.
"I know, I know! I just wanted to see Orun-kun in all his glory at the Martial Arts Tournament again this year!"
"You're as much of an Orun-kun fan as ever, Liz."
"Of course I am! Even though he’s an S-Rank Explorer, he’s so soft-spoken. And more importantly, his face is exactly my type!"
"So it's the face, after all..." Eleonora muttered, her voice trailing off as she watched Liz’s passionate defense.
"The face is vital! You were the handler for Golden Dawn, Eleonora—or I should say, Elie—so I was always so jealous that you got to chat with him almost every day."
"If you felt that way, you could have offered to help me once in a while. You saw how busy I was right before they became the Hero Party, didn't you?"
"I would have happily taken over the chatting part, but the rest? No way. I would have died of stress. Especially with Anneri! If she had treated me with that cheeky attitude of hers, I would’ve wanted to knock her flat."
"Knock her flat? Honestly, I thought Anneri was cute in her own way. She was like a puppy barking to look tough. It was quite charming to see her trying so hard to make herself look big."
"Wow, Elie... you’ve got a bit of a mean streak, don't you? Oh, speaking of which—I still hear stories about Orun-kun and Luna-chan after last year's incident, but I haven't heard a single thing about Oliver, Derrick, or Anneri. I wonder what they’re up to now. You were their handler, so surely you know something?"
"............Well, I wonder."
"Wait, what was with that suspicious pause?! You definitely know some—"
Liz, convinced that Eleonora was hiding information, was about to press her further when a sudden, thunderous crash echoed from the entrance.
Every person in the building snapped their head toward the sound.
"Honestly, is it so difficult for you to open a door normally?"
"Hah? Why the hell should I have to take complaints from you when I’m just following your damn orders?"
The mangled remains of the front door fell inward. Through the now-vacant entrance, two men stepped into the hall.
One was a man who exuded the refined air of high nobility—"Rasetsu" Stieg Strom.
The other was a coarse, brutish man who made no effort to hide his foul mood—"The War Ogre" Zimon Ogre.
To an observer, they looked like a nobleman and his hired thug.
"I apologize for the disturbance," Stieg said, his smile appearing entirely devoid of malice. "We have business with the Guildmaster, Leon Conti. Would someone be so kind as to call him for us?"
"O-Of course! I’ll get the Guildmaster right away! Please, wait just a moment!"
A male guild employee, mistaking Stieg for a visiting noble, scrambled off toward Leon’s office.
"Hey, pal. I don't know why you're so wound up, but it's not right to take it out on property," an explorer standing in the lobby said, placing a hand on Zimon’s shoulder. He spoke in a gentle, pacifying tone. "This is the Explorer Guild. You don’t want to go making an enemy of the guild. Just apologize to the boss when he gets here, alright?"
"……"
Zimon turned a listless, bored gaze toward the man.
"And that greatsword on your back—you really should keep it in a storage magic tool. Carrying it unsheathed like that is dangerous, you know?"
Thinking the man was at least listening, the explorer continued his lecture.
"……Who the hell do you think you are?"
Zimon’s voice was a low, guttural growl, and a vein throbbed on his forehead.
"W-Who am I? I’m just giving you a warn—"
Before the explorer could finish his sentence, Zimon’s arm blurred.
In a flash, the greatsword was in his hand. A moment later, the explorer’s body, bisected cleanly at the waist, collapsed into two separate heaps at Zimon's feet.
Zimon turned his free palm toward the corpse. A red-black, misty vapor began to rise from the remains, swirling toward his hand until it condensed into a small, candy-like bead. Zimon tossed the bead into his mouth and swallowed it with an audible gulp.
By the time the people in the hall processed what had happened, screams began to erupt from every corner.
Zimon’s grin turned feral at the sound.
"Hahaha! Now that’s more like it! Ah, damn, I can’t hold back anymore. Hey, Rasetsu! I can kill the rest of 'em now, right?!"
Stieg opened his mouth to reply, but a booming voice cut him off.
"—Enough."
Leon Conti, the Guildmaster of the Explorer Guild, stood at the far end of the hall, his eyes burning with fury as he glared at the intruders.
"War Ogre-dono, I understand your enthusiasm, but please restrain yourself a moment longer. —Guildmaster, you certainly took your time. A man has died because of your tardiness, you know?"
Having chided Zimon, Stieg addressed Leon with an airy, casual tone that held not a trace of remorse.
"...It is the height of absurdity, but I will accept that his death is my responsibility for not arriving sooner. However, I am here now. I will not allow you to spill any more blood."
Leon’s shoulders shook and his brow furrowed in rage, yet he kept his voice controlled.
"That depends entirely on you, Guildmaster. Depending on your answers, I may find it necessary to wipe this city off the map."
"……"
"I only need you to answer my questions. Please, don't make such a terrifying face."
Stieg continued to needle him, flashing that same innocent smile.
"...Then ask your questions and be done with it. And then, leave this city immediately."
"Why so angry? Surely the loss of a single pawn is of no consequence to a man of your standing."
"Do not project your monstrous lack of humanity onto me. Ask your questions."
"So impatient. Very well, here is my question: Why did you close the path? Because of you, we were forced to travel all this way on foot. To think a mere Guildmaster would waste the time of us Cult Executives... This is a blatant act of treason, is it not?"
Eleonora, trembling with terror, could not begin to comprehend what Stieg was talking about. However, the question clearly meant something to Leon.
"Isn't that just a misunderstanding? I haven't closed any paths. If you like, I can even show you."
Leon answered flatly, showing no signs of intimidation.
Stieg’s smile widened. "I see. In that case... please die."
The announcement was made without any change in inflection, followed instantly by a sharp, popping crack that echoed through the building.
As Eleonora wondered what the noise was, Leon began to stumble, clutching his chest. A massive amount of blood began to soak through his clothes.
"Guildmaster!?" someone shrieked.
"Everyone... get out... of here... now..."
Fighting through the haze of death, Leon gasped out his final orders while activating the magic tool on his wrist—a masterpiece he had received from Cavadele. He focused his mind, sending a telepathic plea to Selma.
(Selma-kun... I am speaking... in the hope... that you can hear me... Please... protect Tsutrail...)
With those final thoughts, Leon’s strength failed him, and he collapsed.
Stieg watched the body hit the floor with total indifference before turning to his companion.
"War Ogre-dono, sorry to keep you waiting. The Stampede has successfully begun, so let us begin our work here as well."
Stieg casually flicked his wrist.
Suddenly, countless thin filaments of light shot out in every direction. Wherever the light touched—be it stone, wood, or human flesh—it sliced through with effortless precision.
"Finally! I've been itching for this!"
As the building began to crumble into fragments, Zimon stood at the center of the chaos, radiating a suffocating bloodlust. With his greatsword in hand, he began to butcher the survivors who had managed to dodge Stieg’s initial attack.
A few explorers tried to fight back, but their resistance was meaningless. One by one, the people inside were reduced to corpses.
Stieg stepped away from the slaughter and began to walk calmly through the ruins. Even as the structure of the guildhouse collapsed around him, not a single pebble fell on his head, nor did any debris block his path.
The sight of his retreating back was the last thing Eleonora ever saw.
Stieg reached the area that had once been the Guildmaster’s office and activated a card-shaped magic tool. In response, the ground before him vanished, revealing a hidden staircase leading into the depths.
He descended until he reached a subterranean chamber—a perfect cube, five meters in every direction, hollowed out of the earth. He activated the card again.
A complex magic circle surfaced on the previously bare floor.
"Hmm... The path is indeed open at this moment. And yet, it was undeniably closed the other day. Does this mean it wasn't deleted, but rather... altered?"
Stieg rested his chin in his hand, contemplating the circle.
"But to alter it, one would need a profound understanding of the Principles of Magic. It should have been impossible for a commoner like Leon. Was it the Sword Princess? No, if it were her, she would have naturally opted for deletion rather than the delicate work required to rewrite a formula. If so... then who?"
He continued to stare at the magic circle, his lips curling.
"Hehehe. You've left me quite the fascinating parting gift, Leon Conti."
Stieg laughed, his expression shifting into one of genuine, dark amusement. He cleared his mind and channeled mana into the circle.
The light of the magic circle intensified. A moment later, a group of figures clad in crimson robes materialized before him. They immediately dropped to their knees.
The man at the front spoke. "Rasetsu-sama, we await your commands."
"I have one additional task for you. Two of you will remain here. The rest will proceed as planned: massacre the residents and capture the members of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky alive."
""Understood!!""
The majority of the red-robed cultists stood and vanished up the stairs.
"Rasetsu-sama, what are our orders?" the two remaining cultists asked.
"There is something I find myself needing to ask Leon Conti. Recover his body from the rubble and deliver it to The Wraith-dono."
"As you command."
The two assigned to the retrieval departed immediately.
"Now then, I suppose I shall spend some time killing the explorers of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky. I'm sure our friend will be pleased if I provide a few fresh specimens. —Hehehe. I’ve set the stage just as I promised. You’d better hurry, Orun Doura. The longer you take, the higher the mountain of corpses will grow."
And so, the massacre of Tsutrail at the hands of the Cyclamen Cult’s executives—Rasetsu and The War Ogre—began.