Chapter 85: Arc Lab ⑦

The witch’s house.

We were cheerfully guided by the witch into the living room.

Without delay, she served us a cup of black herbal tea—its deep voice whispering “Come over here” seductively.
Ah, here we go again with the weird gimmicks. Haiyaan immediately stepped back from it and said—

“Please, Witch. I need to know how to get into the dungeon.”

A rabbit prostrating himself on the table.

“Oh my, that’s quite the request.”

“Please. I absolutely must get to the Lab.”

“Haiyaan…ummm… please, we really need to get into the dungeon.”

The witch put a hand to her lips, eyeing us.

“Hmm, hmm. Strange. The dungeon’s restrictions will be lifted soon. Could it be that impatient boy Wof again?”

“Witch, the dungeon’s been closed indefinitely. We went to the guild today and that’s what the notice said.”

“What? What? Hmm… would you wait just a moment?”

Looking a bit bewildered, the witch left the living room.

That left just Haiyaan, me… and the black herbal tea, still whispering “Come over here~” in that strangely sticky baritone.

“Say, my friend Wof.”

“I’m not your friend, but what is it?”

Haiyaan wore a rare, serious expression.

What now?

“Don’t you think the witch is definitely wearing sexy underwear?”

“…”

“Ah—sorry. Just a joke.”

“She is. I’ve seen it.”

“Wha—what…!?!”

No need to look like lightning just struck you.
The witch’s underwear is always that sort of sheer, skimpy type.

“What’s with that look?”

“I just… didn’t expect that answer.”

“I see. Oh, I’ve also seen her naked a few times.”

“Wha—whaaat!? Aren’t you two just in a teacher–student relationship!?”

“We are.”

“Then how on earth did you see her naked!?”

…This is getting tiresome.
Maybe I should’ve just knocked him out.

“The witch sometimes walks around the house naked.”

“She’s a nudist!?”

“Something like that. So I’ve seen her like that before.”

“I’m… so… jealous!!!”

To the point of tears? Really?
I sighed just as the witch returned.

With a small grunt, she sat down on the sofa opposite us and sipped her tea.

“Well, well. Turns out the indefinite closure is real.”

“Do you know the cause?”

“Mhm. A dungeon anomaly.”

“A—an anomaly!? But we already solved the last one!”

I was shaken.

“Yes, yes, you and your friends did solve that one. But this is different. A new dungeon anomaly.”

A new anomaly, at this point?
No wonder it’s indefinite… Still, I asked—

“Is there still a way to get in?”

“Hmm. Wof. You understand that entering a dungeon during closure or lockdown without permission could result in permanent revocation of your explorer’s license, yes? And you’re still asking?”

Her voice was uncharacteristically stern.
As a First-Class Explorer, and my teacher, she was warning me.

“…Wof.”

“There’s a girl crying. I don’t want her to cry anymore.”

I looked straight into her clear green eyes and said it. Said it outright.

The witch gazed at me for a long moment, then gave a small, charming smile.

“Oh dear. You really are hopeless. Absolutely, irredeemably my dear disciple.”

“Witch?”

“See, dungeon closures are literal—they’re physically sealed off, every entrance up to the deepest reached floor. Breaking through that isn’t just difficult, it’s practically impossible. Even the dumbest adventurer wouldn’t try. But… there is a way.”

“Really!?”

“How?”

“Now, Wof—are you truly going to do this?”

“Yes.”

I answered without breaking eye contact. She smiled wryly, looking amused.

“Well then, Wof. Borrow money from Kon.”

“…Huh?”

Huh?

“Borrow… money?”

“What do you mean, Witch?”

“Because what you’ll need to get in is extremely expensive. At minimum, one hundred million Auro.”

“One hundred… million!?”

I was at a loss for words. Haiyaan spoke up—

“What exactly do we need?”

“Mhm, mhm. The first absolute necessity is a portable teleportation circle.”

“A teleportation circle…? The same kind we’ve used before?”

Haiyaan’s ears twitched upright in realization.

“So you’re planning to skip floors with a teleportation circle?”

“Ho-ho, you noticed? That’s exactly it. The floor entrances are sealed, so getting through the proper way is impossible. Even undoing one seal would alert the Guild. But with a teleportation circle, it doesn’t matter.”

Floor-skipping—ah, that. The thing we did in the Water Dungeon.
Using a teleportation circle to jump past several floors at once.

“You see, the floors of the city’s dungeon already have teleportation circles installed. So if we connect to one, we can get there from here. However, unauthorized connections are illegal, and setting up a teleportation circle without permission is also illegal.”

“It’s nothing but illegal.”

“But, but—if you don’t get caught, it’s not illegal.”

The witch flashed a wicked smile.
And of course, she was the one capable of making sure we wouldn’t get caught.

“What’s a ‘portable teleportation circle’?”

“Ah, that’s a legacy. A single-use teleportation circle.”

“So using a disposable one would erase the evidence.”

“…Not a single part of this is legal.”

“Exactly. And that’s what you’re about to do for Mineha’s sake.”

“Even so, I still want to get to the 12th floor.”

I steeled myself once again. The witch tilted her head.

“Hm? Hm? The 12th floor is your destination?”

“Yes. The Arc Ruins.”

“Hmm, hmm… hmm. I have a feeling this dungeon anomaly might not be unrelated to you.”

“What do you mean?”

A bad feeling crept over me. The witch spoke as though recalling something.

“According to information Kon dug up, the dungeon anomaly seems to be a massive horde of bluish-white metal Minotaurs. And that horde apparently emerged from the 12th floor.”

The 12th floor! Bluish-white metal Minotaurs! — I instinctively looked at Haiyaan.
The white rabbit standing upright on the table bared his teeth and widened his eyes. He seemed shocked.

Those Minotaurs… that’s the same thing we fought before, isn’t it?
And now there’s a horde of them. I didn’t even have to think to know the cause.

Yes—this rabbit.

Haiyaan spoke to us in a low, muttering tone.

“Those are Minos Units. Golems modeled after the dungeon’s Minotaur monsters. They were still in the prototype stage… so they’ve been completed.”

“Why did they activate?”

“Most likely, the one who turned me into a rabbit. I suspect they set it up so they’d activate the moment I awoke. The timing fits.”

“Is there a way to stop them?”

“The Lab.”

“…Witch, we now have no choice. We must go there, no matter what.”

“Hmm. It certainly seems that way.”

The witch chuckled as if exasperated. I gave a dry laugh myself.

Not even a week into being an explorer, and I was already on the verge of losing my license.

Still—there was no avoiding it now.
We had caused this. Or rather, I had caused it in the first place.

Somehow, my whole life plan was already in ruins.
How did it come to this?
I almost missed the days, just a few months ago, when I was struggling to scavenge in the junkyard.

“Well then, let’s go borrow some money from Kon right away, Wof-boy.”
“P-please go easy on me… So, what do we do first?”

The witch didn’t answer.
Instead, she reached into her chest and pulled something out, tossing it into the air.

The moment Haiyaan and I instinctively looked up at it—our surroundings changed completely.

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