Although I struggle to find an exit, I came to reasonably understand the geography of this place after walking around for 20 days.
I’m now in a spacious room in which only a few monsters reside. It’s a place I often use as a base when I want to rest. I gently lower down the girl on the ground.
Systematic breathing sounds and good face complexion. There are cuts and scratches here and there on her body, but it doesn’t seem serious.
It would be scary if some bacteria entered the wound, I don’t have any antiseptics on me so I tear off the sleeve of my clothes and roll it around the wound as a substitute for a bandage.
Even though it’s tattered, I’ve become sleeveless on one side. It does not make much difference so all is good.
I must somehow obtain decent looking clothes soon……
Because it would be too difficult for a flesh and blood human being to sleep on the stone floor directly, I at least put the girl’s head on my lap and wait for her to wake up.
In the meanwhile my attention is firmly distributed to the surroundings, I don’t forget to pay close attention to whether monsters are getting close.
But to be honest, there is a much bigger problem than monsters.
After this child wakes up, how can I avoid getting attacked……?
…… About 4 hours passed, no probably 5 or more.
Heartbeat stopped, lack of the sense of hunger, there is no sleepiness or fatigue, my biological clock doesn’t function at all.
As a matter of fact after dying, in other words since the day I started wandering around the labyrinth, the number of days that have passed is vague. I mean, you can’t see outside from this labyrinth.
Returning to the topic, well, a good amount of time has passed, yet there is no sign of the girl waking up.
But she occasionally seems troubled since a little while ago, I guess she’s having a nightmare.
Dreams occur in REM stage of sleep. It seems she will wake up soon.
…… Now then, what should I do?
When this child wakes up and her consciousness becomes clear, she will attack me 9 out of 10 times.
As one would expect, the body of the undead isn’t so weak that it would fall behind to the barehanded young girl.
In order to get information smoothly from her, and most importantly.
I want to talk to her. I want to communicate.
Since I came to this world, the number of days that passed is certainly more than I can count on my hands.
However, during this time, I have not met a creature I could connect to with words.
No matter how much dead I am, no matter how cold my brain gets, my nature won’t change.
While I was alive, I was just a normal 3rd-year high school student. All I worried about were the exams and the girl I was interested in.
Such an honest person like myself was left alone in this cold labyrinth where even the light can’t reach.
It’s impossible to keep enduring like this. I kept making fun of myself to deceive myself however, I’m at my limit.
Therefore, I was glad when I first met them. (Shin: Adventurers)
No, I can’t endure the coldness more than the loneliness.
Still, I was happy.
Therefore to me, it’s not possible to hold down this girl with force.
However, I don’t think it won’t end without me being attacked.
No matter how hard I think, I can’t find a solution.
Meanwhile, she woke up at last.
…… Ah, violent so violent.
When the girl woke up, she looked around the room absentmindedly, then when her eyes met mine, she screamed and hit me.
So I somehow kept dodging her who remained in a state of confusion, I attempted to persuade her that I’m not hostile, but this is another difficult struggle.
No matter what, her companions were slaughtered right before her eyes. Her fists and legs were raining down on me for good 30 minutes.
But as expected, after a while she became considerably fatigued, she became quiet when the fatigue hit her.
I keep a slight distance from her to not frighten her, I tried to converse.
The result well, you can say it went smoothly.
Because I’m undead she never completely let her guard off, but at least I got an answer to my question.
She introduced herself as Merlin. According to her, this labyrinth is located in a country called Shardia and is under that country’s adventure guild jurisdiction.
Although it seems that rookie adventurers have 1 year to pass this labyrinth, the two that died apparently came with her from the same village and diligently tried to pass this labyrinth.
From the contents of the story, it seems that this labyrinth “Labyrinth of Everlasting Darkness” acts like a wall that separates the wannabes from the full-fledged adventurers.
Certainly, this place is indiscriminately wide and cold, those with a living body that enters must be strong-willed. Because even I, a dead person has a strong will.
Because they had steady performance as adventurers for a year and gained some confidence, they thought it was time for them to enter the “Labyrinth of Everlasting Darkness” and triumphantly return.
But they encountered a strange intelligent undead that could talk…… Is it me? They decided to chase after me. After losing the sight of me they wasted the whole day by chasing me, so they decided to stay overnight.
And then――they, unfortunately, came across “Predator”, which caused that terrible scene.
When I asked what monster it was, Merlin remembered only that it was a very large beast.
She fainted because of the shock of her companions being killed in no time.
The “Predator” probably left her alive to become bait. The remains that were left behind had traces of being eaten. The beast doesn’t hunt more than it needs. It seems two people were enough to fully feed it.
Merlin burst into tears when speaking about this.
Because I heard what I wanted to hear, I will now let her cry until she is satisfied.