Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 70 – C-Rank Labyrinth – Sanctuary of Restful Purification (3)

Author: Cireng

Chapter 70: C-Rank Labyrinth – Sanctuary of Restful Purification (3)

“You certainly have… unusual tastes.”

Lucius murmured in his usual calm tone.

“Can you really expect an elf who worships an evil god to be normal?”

“Thank you for saying what I couldn’t bring myself to.”

After finishing our work and taking a short break, Lucius quietly continued.

“Do you really think it’s necessary to work this hard… for ghosts that don’t even exist in reality?”

It was quite the provocative question.

A sharp inquiry that struck at the very foundation of this labyrinth itself.

“Is this some kind of personality test?”

“Sir Karr, you’ve already proven your character several times over. This is simply my personal curiosity.”

‘Ding.’

The clear ring of the bell brushed past my head.

As I quietly endured the harmful holy energy pouring onto the crown of my head, Lucius spoke again.

“You see, the longer explorers spend in this profession, the less they begin to regard labyrinth ghosts as actual people. After repeatedly entering the same labyrinths for rewards, they eventually encounter ghosts who repeat the same words and actions every single time.”

A truly intelligent being should be capable of thinking and acting according to its own will.

The people preserved inside labyrinths…

Were closer to golems endlessly repeating predetermined patterns.

Soulless puppets that mechanically pursued the ideals and dreams their originals once held.

“As a labyrinth management priest, I’ve met an enormous number of explorers.”

While lightly shaking the bell by its handle, Lucius smiled bitterly.

“In my experience… around their third year, explorers begin believing it’s acceptable to treat labyrinth ghosts carelessly.”

The first stage was simple neglect and contempt.

At least then…

They still regarded them as fellow people.

“By the fifth year, they become willing to kill or torment them whenever it’s convenient. And by the tenth… They stop seeing them as equals altogether. They become nothing more than useful exploration tools.”

Bait for locating monsters. Trap-disarming tools. Convenient meat shields.

Labyrinth ghosts were treated miserably by explorers.

“Father… Will I become like that someday?”

“Well… I’d like to believe you won’t.”

The priest’s black eyes stared into empty space.

“In any case, it’s true that no matter how diligently we care for these patients… it doesn’t really mean much. Even if their condition improves because of us, won’t everything simply return to normal once the labyrinth resets?”

“That’s true.”

“And to make matters worse, the rewards here are terrible. In a sense… We’re working ourselves to death for absolutely no reason.”

He wasn’t wrong.

But there were countless things in this world that couldn’t be judged by right and wrong alone.

“Pointless hard work without any reward. Yes… That’s exactly what volunteering is. People obsessed with calculating profit and loss could never perform something this meaningless.”

“So you’re saying you aren’t a rational person?”

“To be more precise… I don’t want to become one.”

I wasn’t easily swayed by emotions.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say…

My inner self was so barren that I barely felt them at all.

That’s why I deliberately chose paths that could only be taken through emotion.

Otherwise… The foundation of the one existence that should be most certain in the world… myself… would always remain unstable.

“Oh, it looks like the patients are getting a little better–”

“Wah! Twenty people started suffering all at once! Emergency!”

Our demon expedition member shouted, enthusiasm overflowing from his entire body.

“Sir Bartimir, I’ll help!”

“Sir Pendrick, hurry!”

I immediately administered the appropriate treatments to the patients showing signs of mass infection or life-threatening deterioration.

Only after running around frantically did the ward finally calm down again.

“…Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to switch roles?”

When I returned and collapsed onto the floor, Lucius cautiously suggested trading places.

Naturally… I refused.

“Absolutely not.”

There was no way I’d hand over work that filled my heart with such vitality.

“I’m dying…!”

Bartimir staggered over and flopped down, using my thigh as a pillow.

“There, there. Sleep well, little one.”

I gently patted his shoulder for a moment.

His eyes immediately drifted shut.

“He must be exhausted. Actually, it’s the symptom of the Mysteries [Sudden Nightmare].”

A cursed mystery he’d learned from the overpowered Mystery Tome obtained from the Library of Sin.

Every time he slept, all his fatigue disappeared completely.

In exchange… He developed narcolepsy and was guaranteed to have nightmares.

Lucius gave an awkward laugh.

“…If it’s a curse, why don’t you cure it? Even the High Priest personally offered to heal him.”

“Sir Bartimir loves mental and physical calamities.”

“……”

Perhaps because I’d summarized things far too much…

The polite priest wore an expression as if he’d just bitten into an insect.

“Ughhh…”

Lucius studied the sleeping demon suffering through his nightmare before speaking.

“You’re both very strange. This demon… and you as well, Sir Karr.”

“Am I?”

“But perhaps that’s exactly why… Even ten years from now, I think you’ll still treat labyrinth ghosts as people. That’s just the feeling I get.”

It was an astonishingly perceptive observation.

“Of course.”

Labyrinth ghosts were sentient beings.

NPCs were people, just like us.

It was a belief bordering on irrationality.

And because it wasn’t rational…

I would gladly continue carrying that belief in my heart.

Wasn’t that exactly what an emotional judgment was?

“Sir Bartimir.”

After wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and waking him up, the Calamity Collector black mage slowly sat up.

His face was utterly miserable.

“…I want to get rid of these Mysteries.”

“Didn’t I warn you? Endure it. Removing it would complicate things considerably.”

“Ugh…”

“Come on. Let’s get back to work.”

Once again, we immersed ourselves in nursing.

“Sir Karr! Number Twenty-Three!”

“I’m on my way!”

We really were busy.

Not even a full day had passed…

Yet there was barely any time to rest.

I was already completely exhausted.

‘…I’m alive.’

At least in this moment… I was farther from death than anyone else.

***

Every calamity that barely existed in the real world…

Had gathered here.

As a result…

Though exhausted, Bartimir’s eyes continued shining brightly.

“Oh! A disease that replaces your eyes, nose, and mouth with brand-new ones every day. Isn’t this pretty good?”

“No. Eventually, it starts replacing your brain too.”

“Then what about that dwarf’s curse? Doesn’t it just turn your body red?”

“That curse transforms your blood into the host’s appearance… And the host becomes blood. A terrifying curse.”

However…

Even the demon who had initially been excited like someone out shopping gradually became dejected.

“There’s nothing worth taking into my body…”

“Of course not. If these calamities were harmless, why would they have ended up in this temple?”

“Oh… right.”

“Just wait a little longer. When we have more breathing room, I’ll find a few suitable ones for you.”

Even after midnight…

Naturally, we still couldn’t rest.

We took turns sleeping in brief naps while caring for the patients.

[Only now has one day finally passed!]

[Time remaining until completion condition is fulfilled — 4 days.]

Day Two of the expedition.

At last…

The completion countdown had decreased by one.

But the volunteers… Were already physically and mentally worn to rags.

“…I’m tired.”

Still holding his bell, Lucius sat on the floor and gave a weary laugh.

“My entire body already feels heavy. And we still have to do this for another four days.”

“I’m dying too.”

Even though my Stamina stat had risen considerably…

Fatigue had accumulated so violently in such a short period that it simply refused to disappear.

This labyrinth truly deserved its C-Rank classification based on workload alone.

[So even you are capable of understanding the concept of being “tired.”]

“This is why volunteer service is avoided even within our own church.”

Lucius forced down his breakfast bread while brushing back his messy hair.

“You have to push yourself to the absolute limit for five days inside a ward where death lurks around every corner. Even unwavering faith isn’t enough to endure it easily. In fact… Four of my brothers and sisters lost their lives here.”

“My condolences. It truly isn’t an easy labyrinth.”

Thanks to my constant running around…

Our entire group remained alive.

Normally… At least one person died here.

“This place is so difficult. And yet the reward is only a blessing that lasts a single week. Even so… Do you still enjoy caring for these patients?”

Leaning against the wall, I quietly nodded.

Only now…

It seemed Lucius had finally accepted how I truly felt.

Without another word, he nodded back.

“If Sir Karr enjoys it… Then I’m happy as well. The happiness of those less fortunate is the joy of us followers of the Church of Harmony.”

Was I truly such a pitiful cultist that I deserved sympathy from a priest?

Come to think of it…

Whether in this world or the other… I really was an orphan squared.

The past of Cultist Karr began with his own family selling the half-elf they despised to the church of an evil god.

After quietly thinking for a while…

I rested the back of my head against the wall before speaking.

“I don’t think I’ve lived a life pitiful enough to deserve sympathetic looks.”

I’d become so accustomed to hardship…

That most adversity could no longer shake who I was.

If that was the case… Couldn’t I say I’d lived a relatively peaceful life?

Compared to those worn down by endless misfortune until they cornered themselves…

I considered myself fortunate.

“……”

The sleepy-looking priest said nothing.

He merely gazed at me silently.

To an evil cultist…

It was an unbearably heavy look, as though my body would melt simply from meeting his eyes.

“Let’s get back to work.”

Agonized cries began echoing through the ward once more.

We each faithfully returned to our respective duties.

“Sir Karr! Number Three Hundred Thirty!”

“Understood!”

A curse that caused adorable little creatures made of claws to endlessly crawl out of a patient’s eye sockets.

A charming, lethal poison that would seize control of the host if ignored.

A perfectly ordinary disease that melted every internal organ.

Peak-era black mages and cultists had clearly worked overtime creating every imaginable nightmare.

The ward never knew a moment’s peace.

Nursing that felt almost absurd…

Where everyone would be endangered if we were even slightly late or made a single mistake.

[Day Two of pointless suffering!]

[Time remaining until completion condition is fulfilled — 3 days.]

Second day of volunteer nursing.

Pendrick worked so hard… He nearly collapsed.

Had Lucius not cast healing Mysteries on him in time…

Our genius swordsman would already be lying in one of the hospital beds.

“I should’ve gotten more rest before coming in!”

“Hang in there, Pendrick!’”

[You’re all working incredibly hard.]

[Time remaining until completion condition is fulfilled — 2 days.]

Third day of volunteering.

Our movements had slowed considerably.

Even Valentin, who had only been directing us until now, finally threw himself into the endless pit of nursing.

He worked so tirelessly… That his complexion quickly turned deathly pale.

“Are you alright, Sir Holy Knight?”

“…There’s no problem.”

“Compared to the sins and corruption that plague this world… This little bit of overwork is a trivial opponent.”

He was panting constantly.

One of his legs was already limping.

It wasn’t exactly convincing.

As I dried off Sky Invader, now soaked with sweat, I wiped my forehead with my arm.

‘We’re all reaching our limits.’

It felt as though my mind was even more exhausted than during our forced march through the same C-Rank Nightmare World.

At least there… I could relieve stress by beating random priests and black mages to death whenever they appeared.

Here… Stress only continued piling up with no outlet whatsoever.

Naturally, it wasn’t healthy for the mind.

Still… I could endure.

At the very least… I was still capable of walking.

“Ugh…”

Bartimir staggered, his legs giving way beneath him.

I hurriedly caught him.

Unfortunately…

Since I weighed less than he did…

We both fell together.

“…Sorry.”

“Let’s get up.”

Supporting the demon, who was practically leaning against me, I helped him to his feet.

Still dizzy, Bartimir clung to me for a moment before suddenly asking,

“The five days of nursing… that’s only the normal completion condition, right? The rewards you mentioned before entering the labyrinth are tied to the Hidden Piece.”

“That’s right.”

“Then how do we obtain the Hidden Piece? Do we really just keep nursing people like this?”

It was about time he’d started wondering.

As I considered how to answer…

Valentin, despite standing quite a distance away, somehow overheard our conversation and approached.

“Brother Bartimir. Sanctuary of Restful Purification is a labyrinth whose Hidden Piece has never been discovered. It’s been seven years since this labyrinth first appeared, yet we’ve learned nothing. We exhausted every mystery of wisdom granted by Artein. And still… We couldn’t uncover it.”

“Hmm. Did you search the entire temple? What about outside?”

“We thoroughly examined every corner up to the labyrinth’s boundaries. But we found absolutely nothing.”

After speaking, the white-toothed Holy Knight slowly turned toward me.

There was an innocent hope…

And unmistakable excitement…

Shining in his eyes.

Perhaps the duty of a star… Was never disappointing one’s fans.

“Yes, I know…Just as I thought.”

Valentin raised his eyebrows and placed a clenched fist against his chest.

“Would you be willing to tell us?”

“Of course I intend to. However…”

I looked around the ward.