Hanon, Isabelle Missing

First Stratum Magical Labyrinth, Azure Isle.

As is the labyrinth’s habit, changing its face each quarter, the first stratum had once again transformed.

Into this Azure Isle stepped Hanon’s team.

“Huh?”

Or rather, Hanon’s team, minus Hanon.

“Where’s Prince Sweet Potato?”

Seron scanned their surroundings, his brow furrowed in puzzlement.

For Hanon, who had been with them just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.

“That fool, didn’t he follow us in?”

“No. Senior led the way, he should have entered before us.”

Aisha tilted her head at Seron’s words.

She distinctly remembered Hanon striding ahead.

“Oh, I’ll go back and check!”

“No.”

As Phoara cried out, offering to scout the outside, Sharin stopped him.

Since Hanon’s disappearance, Sharin had remained quietly silent, but now her eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

“There’s a spatial distortion.”

The Mirinae contained within her eyes clearly recognized the surroundings.

A peculiar current flowed through the entire labyrinth.

And within the cracks of that current, she could sense the lingering trace of Hanon’s presence.

“Arcane Palace Transference.”

Then, Grantoni’s teeth chattered, a staccato rhythm in the sudden silence.

Every eye shifted, the light within them altered in a heartbeat.

Arcane Palace Transference.

A transference phenomenon occurring with rare and cruel caprice at the entrance to the Arcane Palace.

The last recorded Arcane Palace Transference occurred some thirty-five years past.

Its nature was simple, starkly so.

During entry, a soul was cast adrift, hurled at random to any floor within.

Which floor, no one could foretell.

Only a single soul was ensnared by the transference’s grasp.

A sorrowful tale, for to be caught in its maw was to face near-certain doom.

This was the Arcane Palace.

A hellscape architected by the Evil Sovereign, rooted deep within a desire to extinguish the world.

The Arcane Palace knew only one purpose: to obliterate humankind.

“No, no, no.”

Seron’s face drained of color, leaving her pale as bone.

For she, too, understood the dread weight of the Arcane Palace Transference.

“We must go save her, now!”

“Indeed, we shall.”

As Seron cried out, Sarin responded with a resolve she’d never before revealed.

Yet, the white-knuckled grip on her staff betrayed the tumultuous emotions swirling within.

“Hey, Belle? Belle, where’d she go!”

In that instant, another voice sliced through the air, emanating from behind.

All eyes swivelled, landing upon Isabel’s team.

But Isabel herself, the very heart of the group, was conspicuously absent.

Like Hanon’s team before them, they were Isabel’s team, bereft of Isabel.

“Sharin Sazareese.”

Another voice joined the chorus, a darker harmony.

Drawn by the commotion from behind, a team that had forged ahead now turned back.

It was Iris’s team.

Iris, her ink-black hair a fluttering curtain, quietly posed the query.

“What troubles you?”

＊＊＊

A Mana Labyrinth Transference. A cliff face.

Isabelle and I, astonishingly, had both been swept up in the Mana Labyrinth Transference and found ourselves here.

I snatched Isabelle from the air, clinging desperately to the rock face, arresting our fall.

Isabelle, then, surveyed her surroundings with a bewildered expression.

Having lost consciousness due to the transference’s impact, she was only now able to properly observe our plight.

“W-what is happening?”

“Seems you and I were caught up in a Mana Labyrinth Transference.”

Upon hearing my words, Isabelle’s eyes widened into perfect circles.

She was, after all, quite aware of the Mana Labyrinth Transference’s dangers.

Clinging to the cliff, I slowly reduced our velocity as we descended.

“Fortunate, in a way. At least you weren’t transferred alone.”

The greatest danger of a Mana Labyrinth Transference lies in the isolation of a solo jump.

But, luckily, the Mana Labyrinth Transference occurred to both of us simultaneously.

Me being there was better than Isabelle facing this alone.

Isabelle, after hearing my words, stared at me, utterly flabbergasted.

“…You, in times like these, don’t you think about being glad you weren’t transferred *alone*?”

“I’m confident I could escape on my own.”

“I’m never quite sure where you conjure such confidence.”

Isabelle released a breath as she spoke.

“More importantly, descending together like this will drain your stamina. I appreciate the rescue, but, just for a moment, release me?”

At Isabelle’s request, I readily released her.

Immediately, Isabelle pushed off lightly from the cliff face.

*Shwa-shwa!*

From her back, a pair of snow-white wings unfurled.

The wings of a goddess.

“If it’s simply soaring, I won’t expend much stamina.”

So saying, Isabelle reached out her hand to me.

“Come here, you. Let’s go down together.”

No need to fan the flames of rivalry at a time like this.

We must help each other to live.

Extending a hand to Isabel, she lightly wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close.

Being in Hanon’s form, I was rather small, so Isabel could lift me without much trouble.

A citrusy, tangerine scent brushed past the tip of my nose.

Unable to ride on her back with those wings there, I obediently nestled in Isabel’s arms.

“Being like this, I understand why Iris-nim carries you around all the time. You’re incredibly warm, you know.”

At that moment, Isabel let out a giggle.

We were caught in a magic palace transference, after all.

It seemed she was trying to lighten the mood with conversation.

Then, as if something had occurred to her, Isabel’s gaze subtly shifted.

“…You, what’s going on with Sharin?”

It seemed the events at the magic palace entrance had sprung to mind.

“When I asked her yesterday, she said she seemed to like me.”

I felt slightly awkward.

It’s a grateful thing, to have someone like you.

But perhaps because Seron had already confessed earlier…

And now with Sharin added to the mix, my head was growing complex.

From what Sharin had shown until now, the thought that this could happen had vaguely crossed my mind.

But now that it was becoming reality, I couldn’t help but have many worries.

“Seron, and now Sharin too…did you actually come to Jerion Academy to seduce women?”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be having these troubles.”

The heroines’ roles are important in the Flame Butterfly arc.

So, to advance the scenario, getting involved with the heroines was essential.

But that didn’t mean I expected things to turn out like this.

I thought it was a story that didn’t belong to me, unlike Lucas.

Perhaps closeness builds affection, as they say.

I think I now understand a little of what the elders meant by “boys and girls should not sit together after the age of seven.”

‘And to make matters worse…’

The figures I’m entangled with now, they were originally background players in the scenario.

Sharin and Theron.

Neither is supposed to be involved with Lucas romantically.

Sharin appears like a capricious wind, offering aid now and then.

Theron, in his case, is just an academy classmate.

And what of my relationship with Iris and Isabel, the true heroines for Lucas?

To Iris, I am an affection doll.

To Isabel, I am an object of love and hate.

My relationship with the two main heroines was far, so far, removed from love.

‘Could this be… because I’m Vikamun?’

Vikamun Nippleheim, the one I’ve possessed.

A mid-boss role, making a mistake in Act 2, apologizing for it, and then departing.

Perhaps, because I’m Vikamun and not Lucas, I’m being drawn to Sharin and Theron.

“If that’s your worry, wouldn’t dating one of them solve it?”

“I told you before.”

While navigating the scenario, I have no room to be dating anyone.

Training, academy studies, and on top of that, orchestrating the scenario.

I may pretend to be relaxed, but I’m moving at a far tighter pace than you’d think.

It’s a pitiful tale, but Vikamun’s talent extends only to physical stamina and quick recovery.

Nothing compared to Lucas, who was born with genius.

The scenario is what I must focus on now.

“…So wouldn’t rejecting both of them solve it?”

Rejection.

Certainly, that was an option.

If I rejected their affections, this wouldn’t be happening.

But I know that they genuinely like me, both of them.

“I might seem like trash, but right now, I can’t.”

I’ve lost the ability to love.

My emotions are not stirred by love, not in the slightest.

To refuse now would be a refusal without my true heart in it.

As sincere as they were being with me, so too did I want to be sincere in my reply.

I thought it only right, as a courtesy to Sharin and Theron.

Isabelle stared at me, unblinking.

I couldn’t know how I appeared to her, but I likely looked even more like a piece of garbage than before.

“Sorry, I was out of line just now.”

Then, unexpectedly, came a different answer entirely.

I had half-expected a torrent of curses, at the very least.

“I know you don’t harbor any personal feelings for me. I’ve been watching you all this time.”

Isabelle and I had been intertwined since the beginning of our second year.

And as such, Isabelle had been steadily observing me.

She knew that I didn’t express emotions for the opposite s*x.

“At least, if you *did* have feelings like that, you wouldn’t be so calm right now, in this situation.”

Isabelle smiled a small smile as she looked at my face.

The way I was embraced in her arms must have looked amusing to her.

“It makes me wonder, though. Even you’re a man, after all. How can you be so unaffected?”

A touch of gloom clouded Isabelle’s eyes.

“…Or am I just completely without any womanly charm?”

The other girls would all be weeping to hear that.

Isabelle was always competing for the top spot in the hearts of the boys.

Except that it went unnoticed because Lucas was always by her side.

After Lucas disappeared, Isabelle was broken.

That was why everyone was afraid to show their feelings.

Even now, there must still be many who secretly admire her.

Isabelle is kind and bright to everyone.

That’s a trait that’s more than enough to stir a man’s heart.

To say that she’s without charm is a grave injustice to all the other girls.

“Isabelle, I don’t know why you’d think that, but I can assure you.”

I decided to bring her back to reality.

“There wouldn’t be a single man who wouldn’t fall for you, if you truly set your mind to seducing him.”

Men, more than they’d admit, were vulnerable to a pretty face.

Isabelle needed to understand this truth.

Isabelle remained silent at my heartfelt words.

Then, quietly, she looked down at me.

“Then, what about you?”

My eyes locked with Isabelle’s.

Her eyes held a seriousness that belied their usual mirth.

“Would you fall for me, if I tried to seduce you?”

I, in turn, only blinked.

“Ah, the ground.”

But Isabelle landed before she could hear my answer.

As I stepped back two paces from Isabelle, she folded her wings.

In the dark space, a floor painted with red lines became visible.

The moment I faced it, my face froze.

“This place…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“…Probably not.”

I answered, clenching my fists tightly.

Isabelle noticed my hardened expression and showed a hint of bewilderment.

But I was already lifting my head, following the red lines.

Isabelle belatedly followed my gaze.

Soon after, she, too, froze.

In our field of vision.

A colossal door came into view.

A door etched with ominous images drawn in red lines.

Now I knew where the Demon Palace teleportation had led.

This was the Demon Palace’s ninth floor.

Before the entrance of the Evil One on the tenth floor.