The Man Called Branch Chief

—Raust—

Since we were already battle-ready, we finished our preparation in less than the allotted time and left the adventurer guild.
However, even a few minutes later, Master was only walking around looking for something without even leaving the adventurer guild.

Observing Master, I unconsciously tilted my head.
If the branch chief and his staffs really had caused the labyrinth runaway, wouldn’t they be fleeing the labyrinth city?
I don’t think there is any point to meticulously search this place.
I wondered if I should tell her that.
It was then Master raised her voice.

「Great. I found it.」

「………Huh?」

Leaving me clueless, Master pressed her hand to the ground.
The next moment, magic was activated, the soil that Master pushed raised.

The sudden action Master took made me involuntarily opened my mouth.

「Master? What the…!」

However, I never got to finish those words.
In the middle of my speech, my eyes widened from what came into my sight.

It was a hollow below the raised soil.
The space, illuminated by a few lights, was clearly not a natural formation.

Under the soil, there it was, a man-made passage.

「What… is this……」

Seeing the passage before me, I couldn’t hide my agitation.
Not only there was a passage below the soil, but the passage itself was also too bizarre.

The passage was reinforced on all sides with something like white stone.
In the minimally lit passageway, it was hard to tell exactly what it was.
However, when I saw the slight luster on the white stone, I understood.

This wasn’t possible to replicate even with magic in today’s civilization.
It was plain to see that it was made using a technology that is incomparable to now.

While I couldn’t hide my agitation when I saw the passage, Master was not perturbed at all.
She stood up, brushing the dirt from her hands, then opened her mouth.

「At the end of this passage is the branch chief and his cohort. It took me a while to find it, though, because it was blocking my magic detection. As I thought, they prepared an escape route.」

「Wha-! This… This is made by the branch chief?」

「Yeah, probably. This is a passage built based on lost technology.」

「This is the lost technology…」

Having a glimpse at the passage, I finally understood what Master was saying.
I don’t know if that’s really enough to make the current event happen.
However, the lost technology is certainly a fairly advanced technology that the current civilization can’t comprehend.

When I came to that conclusion, I asked Master the same question I had been asking myself.

「Master, what are you going to do with the branch chief? Is the lost technology, maybe, capable of dealing with the labyrinth runaway?」

Even when I saw the passage, a product of lost technology, I didn’t think lost technology could intervene the labyrinth runaway.

Without Master, the Labyrinth City would surely have been overrun by the group of monsters led by the lich.
After seeing that, I can’t believe a human can do anything to the labyrinth no matter how great the technology is.

However, Master who knows more about lost technology than I may have a good reason to be confident that lost technology can control the labyrinth runaway.

After thinking that far, I couldn’t keep my curiosity bottled up in my heart.
Because I understood that this would give us hope to deal with labyrinth runaway.

That expectation was immediately dashed by Master.

「No. It would never be able to do that. The mechanism of a labyrinth is not something that people can control. There is no way to control the labyrinth runaway other than destroying the labyrinth core. Incidentally, with a labyrinth of this size, even World-Class adventurers like me can’t destroy its core.」

「………Huh?」

Hearing Master said that, my mind went blank for a moment.
The reason Master looking for the branch chief who knew lost technology, I thought it was to deal with labyrinth runaway using said technology.
Hence why, when Master said that was impossible, I couldn’t help but feel shocked.

Then why looking for him?
Is there any way to deal with the current situation?

Such thoughts dominate my mind, I even missed my chance to ask Master to elaborate.
Without paying me any attention, Master continued.

「In the first place, I don’t think it’s even possible to cause a labyrinth runaway with lost technology. Can you even easily cause a labyrinth runaway like that?」

「Eh…」

……I was beyond surprised and could only be bewildered by Master whose opinion turned 180 from what she said before.

I knew this person’s way of thinking was different from mine.
If normal people thought about one thing, then, Master, with her load of knowledge and experience, thought ten things at once.
Therefore, a person like me, who was thinking one matter at a time, couldn’t possibly understand the true meaning of the words Master said who was ten steps ahead.

Nonetheless, I hoped she could tell me the current situation with a little more order.

I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks twitching from the usual Master.
Maybe Master still has some leeway, such thought floated in my mind.
But that was just for an instant. Only until Master’s atmosphere suddenly changed.

While playing with her braided red hair and with the tension bordering on anxiety on her shapely face, Master opened her mouth.

「…… But this time, I think this is an exception. No matter how adept someone is in lost technology, I don’t think they can cause labyrinth runaway. But the guild branch chief of this Labyrinth City, it’s a different matter when it comes to that man.」

After taking a breath, Master continued with a serious look on her face.

「——— If it’s that man, I can believe he caused the labyrinth runaway.」

「……-!」

Master’s words took my breath away.
Labyrinth City Branch Chief. The image I had of that person was only someone who managed the guild staff.
Let alone ability, I didn’t even know how he looked, and to be honest, I was more impressed by Hanzam.
However, my image of him changed drastically.

The tension in Master’s words spoke more eloquently about the fact that the branch chief was a cunning man.
With that atmosphere, Master continued still.

「Even in this labyrinth runaway isn’t artificially caused, that man must have noticed this labyrinth runaway. The fact that man made a move is probably related to labyrinth runaway. 」

The evaluation of the branch manager’s ability in my mind kept increasing gradually.
Maybe, the fact that I never thought of him as a big deal meant that I have been in the palm of his hands all this time.
Gradually, my tension grew.

It was then smile formed on her face.

「……Huh?」

It was a ferocious smile that didn’t fit the current desperate situation.
When I let out a small cry at the unexpected expression on her face, Master moved her mouth with a belligerent expression.

「Then, there is no way he hasn’t prepared an escape route, right?」

「———!」

That was the moment I understood the reason Master was looking for the branch chief.
From the beginning, Master had no intention in staying in Labyrinth City and dealing with the labyrinth runaway.
She only had one goal.
She wanted to negotiate with the branch chief to use the escape route prepared by him because of the fight to escape Labyrinth City.

I smiled from the light of hope that finally appeared in this hopeless situation.

Considering the escape route prepared by the branch chief used lost technology, there was no doubt it would be much safer compared to if we evacuated Labyrinth City while escorting the townsfolk right now.

There was also a concern.
The negotiation was unlikely to come through, 9 out of 10 we would end up with a fight.
If it came to it, we would need to fight the cunning branch chief, whose strength we didn’t know, and Hanzam who was known to be quite powerful.

Still, we have a world-class adventurer here.
It’s not a bad matchup.

But! My thought changed after hearing what Master said next.

「This time, I will avoid fighting as much as possible.」

It was a timid remark unlike what the usual Master would say.
It seemed like a joke, with a smile still on my face, I tried to return her words with a light tone.

It was then that I realized that while Master showing a ferocious smile, at the same time, there was also an extreme tension I have never seen before.

「…Master?」

「Keep this in your mind,」

In response to my call, Master announced with a stern voice.

「I don’t know any of the staff in his entourage. But if you and I were to fight the Branch Chief together, expect the odds to be less than thirty percent.」

「………Wha-?」

I finally noticed Master’s stance.
The sense of crisis I had toward the branch chief was still too naive.

「Let’s go.」

All I could do was stare blankly at Master’s back who said that and stepped into the passage.