Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139844414118669/episodes/822139846416789048
A night had passed since we conquered the Primordial Labyrinth, and the atmosphere at the academy had changed considerably.
The heavy, oppressive air that had hung over us before the conquest had vanished, but that didn’t mean the mood was lighthearted. Instead, a tense, hushed stillness hung in the air.
Elisia and I walked side by side along the cobblestone path leading from the dormitory to the school building.
The courtyard, bathed in morning light, was already filled with students. But the scene was different from usual; many of the students we passed were wrapped in bandages.
Others had their arms in slings.
Some had white cloths pressed against their foreheads.
Others were limping.
Some students were even walking while leaning on each other’s shoulders.
Perhaps they had just received healing magic? Quite a few students still had faint traces of magical energy lingering in their bodies.
“…There are more than I expected.”
I muttered this without thinking, and Elisia, who seemed to have heard my words, looked at me.
She must have realized from where my gaze was fixed that I was referring to the number of injured students.
Her expression darkened as she spoke gravely.
“I hear the infirmary is nearly at full capacity right now. —The healing mages are all out treating patients, but… honestly, they can’t keep up.”
“—I see.”
I replied briefly and turned my gaze forward.
Even further down the cobblestone path, I could spot a few students here and there wrapped in bandages.
This was a dungeon expedition involving 5,000 people.
With that many people getting injured at once, it was no wonder there weren’t enough healing mages to go around.
“We’re using a massive amount of healing potions, but even after gathering them from the academy’s stockpiles and buying them from alchemists in town, we still don’t have enough. …Apparently, we’ve even placed emergency orders with nearby cities.”
Elisia paused there.
She glanced at the bandaged students passing by, and a faint shadow fell across her expression.
“Medicine is sufficient for minor injuries… but when it comes to broken bones or deep lacerations, we have no choice but to rely on healing magic.”
Elisia let out a small sigh.
“As a result, the current situation is that healing mages have no choice but to focus on treating the seriously injured. It seems those with minor injuries just have to be monitored with medicine and first aid…”
“I see.”
I nodded in understanding.
Healing magic is incredibly effective, but unfortunately, it’s not a common type of magic.
To begin with, there are few mages who can use it, and it consumes a massive amount of magical energy. It’s a type of magic that requires a strong innate aptitude; it’s not something just anyone can use. Even I could barely manage to heal a scratch or two.
That’s how difficult this magic is.
It’s not convenient enough to treat many injured people at once.
(……Even so)
I mutter quietly to myself.
The scene unfolding before my eyes was vastly different from what I knew from the game.
In the original story, too, the school was shrouded in a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere after the dungeon was cleared.
But the reason was different. What overflowed there wasn’t the wounded.
—It was corpses.
According to the original storyline, the battlefield collapsed all at once, starting with the collapse of Class B and Class C.
With the collapse of those classes, which had been handling monster spawns throughout the labyrinth, the monsters they couldn’t handle began to spill out into the labyrinth’s interior.
Caught in a pincer attack by monsters closing in from the front and swarms surging from the rear, the assault team was nearly annihilated, and the Class D students handling supplies near the entrance were wiped out.
On the chaotic battlefield, students who failed to escape in time fell one after another.
The result—of the 5,000 students who participated in the dungeon assault, approximately sixty percent lost their lives.
It was the very beginning of the expedition. In a battle where, even by the game’s standards, the monsters’ difficulty should have been low, many students lost their lives. —That was the intended outcome.
Naturally, there was no shortage of healing magic.
That’s only to be expected, since there was almost no one left to heal.
But this time was different.
Apparently, while there were injured, not a single person died.
Because I acted as a decoy and kept the labyrinth’s attention focused on me, the fighting inside the labyrinth became widely dispersed. As a result—
(Everyone came back alive, huh…)
That’s exactly why we’re in this situation now.
The infirmary is overflowing with injured students, and we’re completely short on healing mages. …It’s ironic. Just because casualties were reduced, we can’t keep up with the aftermath.
“—Still, it really is a miraculous outcome.”
Elisia, walking beside me, muttered quietly without turning her head.
“For a student to return without a single casualty from the First Labyrinth campaign… there’s no precedent for that.”
Saying that, she slowly turned to look at me.
“There are many injured. Some students will likely have to leave the front lines… But even so—there were no fatalities. That alone is more than enough of a result.”
“…You’re right.”
When I nodded in agreement, Elisia looked momentarily puzzled.
Then, a small smile spread across her face.
“…You’re talking about it as if it were someone else’s business.”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly as she looked at me.
“This outcome is undeniably thanks to you, you know?”
Her deep purple eyes pierced straight through me.
“The decoy who kept the labyrinth’s attention. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would take on such a reckless role.”
A hint of reproach mingled in the eyes fixed on me.
…But it quickly faded, and with an exasperated look, she snorted and continued.
“But thanks to that, many students were able to move about relatively safely. …Everyone made it back alive and unharmed.”
Her expression softened, and in a slightly gentler voice, Elisia said.
“Thank you, Rai. —Without you, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“……It’s no big deal.”
When I shrugged in response, Elisia gave a wry smile.
As I took a step forward, as if trying to escape her gaze—which seemed to ask, ‘Are you embarrassed?’—I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of her smile deepening.
Seeing that, I let out a small sigh.
(I really don’t think I did anything special, Elisia. I didn’t act with some lofty ambition like yours to bring every student home safely. It’s just—)
I stole a quick glance at her profile as she walked beside me.
When she saw the injured student earlier, a shadow fell across her face for just a split second.
That was the face of someone feeling responsible. As student council president and representative of the students, it was an expression driven by self-reproach—wondering if she could have handled things better.
If people had died, just like in the original story.
That shadow would have been much heavier.
The insults, accusations, and demands for accountability hurled at her by many students.
The obituaries piling up day by day, and the accompanying feelings of anger and despair.
She, as student council president, would have to shoulder all of that alone.
Her spirit would be worn down, she’d be driven into a corner, and depending on the timeline, she’d lose her only escape—and in the end, she’d lose her life deep within the labyrinth, with no one by her side.
…I know that hopeless fate.
(I’ll have none of that ending……)
It’s not for some grand reason like wanting to save the world or wanting to save many students.
It’s just—I didn’t like the idea of this girl walking beside me meeting such an end.
That’s why I became the decoy.
I kept drawing the labyrinth’s attention. So that everyone could return alive.
That’s all there is to it.……Though.
(Though it’s not just about Elisia.)
In this world, there are still people who will meet their end without being saved.
The heroines who met tragic ends in the original story. Those who ended without ever being rewarded.
I’m going to turn all of those futures upside down.
That’s—the reason I’m doing my best in this world.
“……Rai?”
Suddenly, a voice called out from beside me.
I looked up to see Elisia staring at me with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Is something wrong? You look pretty serious.”
“…No.”
I shrugged lightly.
“I was just thinking about something.”
“…I see.”
Elisia stared at my face for just a moment, but didn’t press the matter further.
Eventually, she turned her gaze forward, exhaled softly, and looked toward the school building.
“……Let’s go.”
Saying that, she quickened her pace just a little.
“We still have to report to the principal. he said she wanted to hear the details about our dungeon expedition—and that he had things he wanted to report as well.”
I nodded at Elisia’s words and matched my pace to hers.
I already had a general idea of what the report would cover: the combat situation inside the labyrinth, the routes taken by each team.
And—the events that occurred at the deepest level.
It would likely be about the battle with the labyrinth’s core and the mysterious white-haired girl who was there.
The school building, bathed in the morning light, was slowly coming into view.
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