Chapter 1: Ash, Gold, and Silver
The Era of Labyrinth Proliferation
Islaria Continent
Great Sin City-State of Greed
From the depths of the earth, labyrinths crawled up like snakes through the soil, spilling monsters into the world. Humanity, once boasting great prosperity, lost a significant portion of its territories. Forced into limited lands, humanity, with its diverse races, relied on higher beings—the spirits—and the priests who wielded their powers for survival.
In this world, Ur bore the status of a “Nameless One.”
Denied the safety of living in cities, he wandered between them, a drifter. To put it bluntly, he was the lowest class in this world. His misfortune began when his father died of illness.
- His father revealed his debts on his deathbed.
“He was truly a hopeless good-for-nothing, but I’ll at least bury him now that he’s dead.”
“Sorry, Ur… This is my last will, but your sister Akane has been taken as collateral for my debt.”
“What?!”
- He got captured by debt collectors.
“I’m sorry, look after Akane for me…”
“Wait! Don’t die! I’ll kill you myself. …Seriously, he just died on me.”
“Hey there, we’re the debt collectors! Anyone home, scum?!”
“You’re quick on the uptake.”
- He got a job in the labyrinth mines around the Great Sin City-State of Greed.
“Your idiot father put your sister up as collateral for his debt. It’s a formal contract. Here are the papers.”
“I’ll work off the debt, just don’t sell my sister.”
“Ten gold coins worth of debt, you know?”
“That father of mine, I swear I’ll kill him.”
“He’s already dead, though.”
And so, through these events, Ur and his sister fell into the abyss.
To stay close to his sister, Ur managed to secure a job at a labyrinth mine run by the debt collectors. But the pay, conditions, and the job itself were far from favorable. Dangerous, harsh, smelly, and filthy, with wages that were a pittance. It was impossible to earn enough to buy his sister back.
He needed to take a gamble.
Ur, who preferred safety and a steady life, knew he had to take a bet far beyond his means.
“A new small labyrinth and its master have appeared!”
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the opportunity for that gamble came soon.
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“It’s a small labyrinth with only three floors! It has a master and a core! It’s a prime target!”
Near the Great Sin City-State of Greed lies the labyrinth mine of Keika. Managed by the moneylender “Golden Phoenix – Greed Branch,” this grand labyrinth saw the night and day extraction of vast quantities of magic stones.
The method for obtaining magic stones, the universal energy source, is simple. Dive into the labyrinth and kill monsters. Slay or smash the hideous creatures, or obliterate them with magic, and blue-purple gems fall from their corpses. These can be sold to the city-state for money.
Those who made this their job were called “Adventurers.”
Reckless outlaws. Killing monsters and gaining superhuman abilities. Heroes sung by bards. The workers in this labyrinth mine were such adventurers.
“So, who has the courage to take on the challenge? Raise your hand!”
However, despite the foreman’s goading cries of “It’s a chance!”, the adventurers’ eyes were dull. What reflected in their eyes was self-preservation and fear.
Of course, the people here were less than “Copper-rank” adventurers. They didn’t even dream of striking it rich. They only wanted to earn enough to get by each day.
All the magic stones mined here belonged to the Golden Phoenix. These adventurers were employees, provided with food, shelter, weapons, and armor in exchange for their harvested magic stones.
It was absurd to expect such people to show the resolve to fight a labyrinth master.
“Bring back a true core magic stone and earn ten silver coins! First come, first served!”
The foreman, knowing their mentality, blatantly raised the reward. Considering their usual payment of a few copper coins, it was a substantial increase, but even then—
“Make it ten gold coins.”
Someone spoke up.
A gray-haired, small-framed human boy with a sharp gaze. A recent arrival, he was said to be a kid whose sister was taken as collateral for a debt, but no one knew the details.
It wasn’t uncommon for kids his age to mimic adventurers. Even children could kill small goblins. Nameless children diving into labyrinths to pick up magic stones weren’t rare (and often ended up as corpses).
The issue was the amount he demanded with a straight face.
“Make it ten gold coins.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
The foreman, initially delighted that someone volunteered, scowled openly. Stepping forward, he struck the boy’s face without hesitation.
“There’s plenty of scum like you. Ten gold coins for a weakling?”
He hit him again, justifiably so.
Ten gold coins were exorbitant for labyrinth exploration. Such rewards were for top-tier “Silver-rank” adventurers. Feeling insulted, the foreman continued to hit him. But—
“You don’t want that labyrinth there, do you?”
Amidst the beating, the boy whispered softly.
“You were skimming magic stones and cleverly hiding them in unused tunnels…”
The foreman’s movements halted. The surrounding adventurers, watching like spectators, saw the boy wipe his bleeding face and smile faintly.
“Tough luck having a labyrinth form there.”
“How did you…?!”
“You’re not well-liked. I’ve heard complaints from various folks. And seeing your anxious face, I put two and two together.”
The foreman glared at the surrounding adventurers, who scattered immediately. Left were the boy and the foreman alone.
“You’re in charge of it for Lugola, right? This is bad for you, isn’t it?”
“You little…”
“I’m not trying to blackmail you. You know my situation.”
The foreman knew the boy wanted to retrieve his sister from the Golden Phoenix. He mocked the foolish kid, never imagining he’d be threatened by him.
“I don’t need money if I can get my sister back. I want to negotiate.”
“…You’ve got guts, don’t you? Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”
The foreman drew his club, placing it on the boy’s head. A strong blow would shatter his skull. Outside the city-state, without the law enforcement knights, no one would care if the boy was killed. His body could be dumped outside the barrier for monsters to devour.
“I’m desperate too.”
The boy must have understood this. Yet, he showed no sign of fear. His eyes gleamed fiercely, making the foreman’s grip on the club waver slightly.
“If I die, only a fool who knows your secret disappears. If things go well, it costs you but keeps your misconduct hidden. Either way, you don’t lose. Am I wrong?”
The foreman couldn’t reply, acknowledging his defeat in this standoff.
Keika Labyrinth Mine
Golden Phoenix Labyrinth Expedition Branch, Weapon Loan Warehouse
“I can’t believe it worked… Unbelievable…”
Ur was stunned that his threat had succeeded.
To earn money to buy back his sister, he needed to take a gamble. Gathering information desperately, he never expected his reckless threat to work.
After all, he had no proof of the foreman’s wrongdoing. His confident facade was almost entirely a bluff.
But it wasn’t over yet. It hadn’t even begun. Ur had to kill the labyrinth’s master, seize the core, and find the foreman’s hidden stash. On top of that, he had to negotiate, preventing the foreman from reneging on their deal (which was almost certain to happen).
“If everything works out, it’ll be a miracle…”
The more he thought about it, the more disheartened he felt, so he stopped thinking about it. He focused on the immediate task—rummaging through the haphazardly stored armor in the warehouse.
In exchange for magic stone extraction, adventurers were provided with weapons, food, and a place to sleep. That was the contract for working here, but the blades were barely sharpened, and the armor was rusty and falling apart. There was nothing decent.
Facing the reality that he had to entrust his life to such things was depressing, but Ur somehow managed to equip what seemed to be the least terrible armor.
“──You’d better not use that.”
It was at that moment.
A voice called out to him. It was a young girl’s voice, something he hadn’t heard in a long time in this place.
When Ur turned towards the voice, there was indeed a young girl about his age. She had neatly trimmed, dazzling golden hair, a refined appearance, and wore a white dress. To put it simply, she was so out of place that it would be more convincing to say she was a hallucination.
But she was really there, and she was pointing at the musty helmet Ur had just put on.
“……This?”
She nodded and walked straight towards him. She came close enough to touch and lightly flicked the fastener holding the helmet with her finger.
At that moment, with a clear irreparable breaking sound, the helmet slipped off Ur’s head.
“See?”
“Whoa……”
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