——————————⚫

Anastasia Kingdom

"Ahh, is it not done yet?" spoke an innocent voice with a hint of curiosity.

Antaeus Labyrinth.

A place teeming with fearsome creatures, where the further you venture, the mightier they grow.

"It has to be done by now," said a heavy but gentle voice that sounded as if there was a smugness to it.

To further illustrate its brutality, this is a land where death is certain by a nondescript mistake, a territory that few would dare to enter, even with the promise of tantalizing riches.

In such a mysterious place, at an uncharted depth, in a cavern so vast that the collective heat of bright teal luminescent ore was enough to counteract the cold floor, a certain boy warms the flesh of a creature.

The boy, seemingly about 5 years old due to his height, has short black hair and a slender frame. His pajamas are nearly tattered, but what truly catches the eye are the deep dark circles beneath his eyes, a clear sign of sleepless nights.

Before him flickers a poorly lit campfire, and next to it are several chunks of meat skewered on a bone.

It sure is endearing to weave a beautiful tale, but for now, let them tell their own story.

PS: In future, when you see this '⚫' special symbol, please interpret it as a narration from a third party.

——————————

The meat better be cooked through.

With that in mind, I took the brown bag that was lying next to me, which looked inappropriately large for a child like me, and put it on my lap. I took the bone with the sizzling meat and used another bone to remove the stuck sizzling meat off the bone and put it on top of my bag.

Holding the meat and the bag close to my mouth, I blew on it to cool it down. However, my hunger got the best of me, so I said "Bon appetit." and took a bite.

The heat did not seem to care about my hunger at all. It even made me blow on the meat while it was in my mouth.

Blowing out air, I watched as the steamy vapor escaped my lips. And as soon as I chewed it because of the unbearable heat, the bitter taste spread across my tongue, making me want to spit it out. However, I quickly covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed it all in a single gulp.

As soon as I had swallowed the meat, I let out a small cough to rid my mouth of the unpleasant flavor.

"Calm down. You do not have to behave like a caveman just because we are in a cave," said a smug voice from a distance.

When I turned to my left, a knight stood far behind me, leaning against a large rock, with his arms folded and legs crossed, taking a moment to rest.

"Mr Knight, would you like to eat with me?"

"Ew, no way. I'm a vegetarian," he replied with a slightly disgusted tone.

His full-plated suit of armor was adorned with a painting of a black rose within the yellow thorns on a corner of the breastplate. He has moderately long, dark blue hair, which was partially tied back in a knot, while the remaining falls over the sides of his ears and the back of his head.

Even though he was wearing armor he does not look that huge. Is it because of the diet or is he always like this is the question I always ask myself when I look at him.

"You are saying the same thing as yesterday. Aren't you tired of not eating anything?"

"Who said I don't eat anything? The air in here is delicious enough..."

"..."

I fell silent after his stupid joke and chose to focus on my meal instead. The bitterness was still a problem, bringing me to tears with every bite. I pushed myself to swallow the meat again, but a small, or rather a large, piece remained stuck in my throat, causing me to choke.

Pounding my chest repeatedly, I quickly grabbed a water bottle and drank it in a go.

These bottles were not made for water, but for potions. Although Mr Knight said that these are the smallest of all, they sure are huge in my hands, making them perfect for holding a considerable amount of water. Plus, when it comes time to purify the water, I simply toss them into the fire.

They're made of glass, so there's no need to fret about them getting damaged. Right?

As soon as I finished the water and put the bottle down, Mr Knight, watching me eat the tasteless meat, tried to make fun of me as usual.

"Hu~h? Are you crying because I haven't eaten anything for days? How kind of you, Kiddo..."

"It's not for your sake. I just… I just chewed on the chili part of the meat."

"That's why I'm a vegetarian."

"..."

"What am I even doing? Competing in a lame-a** joke-exchange contest?" he muttered to himself.

I ate what was left, giving him a piercing look of silence.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I wish there was at least one more adult around," he muttered again.

"Me too."

"What was it, Kiddo?"

Once I had finished eating, I got up, moved around to look at the state of my body. Just a few glances were enough for me to notice that so many scars had formed after the wounds had healed.

"Looks like my body is in good shape for now..."

It was all thanks to the potions I had in my bag. I don't know whose bag it was, but there were several potions, some food rations and a lot of paper. As I had no use for the papers, I used them to fuel the campfire, saved some potions for future use and ate all the food a day ago.

While I was looking at the state of my body, I also noticed that the clothes on my body were almost torn. I dropped my arms and took a handkerchief from my pocket. As I dusted the handkerchief, I turned my eyes to a dark place away from the ore-filled cave.

"Then, shall I have a look at that?"

Where I'm standing is the campfire and the camp I made a day ago were, and even without looking around, anyone could say that the land around me is flat. But just a little further away, not so close but not so far, there's an uneven surface.

I covered my nose and mouth with the handkerchief and started–

"Now now, Kiddo."

"Huh? Anything unusual? I was just going to–"

"The problem is not at the destination, but at the starting point."

"..."

"Change that look. Don't look at me blandly. You are the one who forgot the rule."

"To check if I'm carrying everything I 'had' with me now?"

"That hit the mark. But always remember, or I will be the one to eat you alive."

"Giving up the vegetarian act already?"

"Not in a bad way, but someone as careless and undisciplined as you is sure to be considered a vegetable."

"Don't mention it if it's considered bad!"

"And vegetables like you sure do taste delicious!"

"Listen here! I got it, alright! Don't change your character anymore than that!"

The sca– weird talk made me go through my only possession and check if the remaining three potions, a sharp tool and a handkerchief…

Huh? Handkerchief, handkerchief, handkerchief… Is missing! What should…

When I tried to pull my hair, my panic ended as soon as it started. And that was followed by a sigh of relief, knowing that Mr Knight wouldn't make fun of me again.

"You moved rather strangely, like a cat on a brain freeze. Am I missing something interesting, Kiddo?"

I-I covered my nose and mouth with the handkerchief and decided to walk towards the place that looked uneven.

The place where my camp is full of light because of the ores, but as I walked further away from the camp, it got darker and darker. Even though I say it is dark, it is not completely dark, because there were some ores here and there along the way, which made it possible for me to see where I was going.

With just a few steps, I got closer to the uneven land. Close enough to realize that the uneven land was rather a horde of various creature corpses and some very badly injured creatures.

The reason why I can approach these deadly creatures is that they are unable to move. Their injuries are so severe that all they can do is pray for a quick death. But they are still the creatures of the <>, the more cautious the better.

I took a sharp tool from my bag and held it with both hands. Being cautious of the injured creatures, I approached the horde. When I reached the corpses, a strong stench hit my nose.

"Ugh! If I have a magical lamp, my wish would be to have the ability to control my nose."

"And my wish would be to go home…"

Wow! My eyes widened and the wishlist got updated. That was really dumb of me. Well, let's focus on the current task.

Currently in front of me is a giant corpse. Mr Knight said it was called a <>.

<>, a low depth creature, a creature with strong, bright red scales on its long body and two sharp teeth on its jaw. It resembles the normal centipede that can be found outside the labyrinth, but it's super huge and super scary.

Mr Knight said that it takes at least ten strong individuals to defeat an adult <>.

Such a being is in front of me, but dead. Even though it's not an adult, it's width is almost half my body size. Thanks to this corpse, I was able to get hold of this survival tool, the sharp tool in my hand, the <> tooth.

Before this, I used to use the blunt tooth of another creature.

I climbed on its head, spread my hands to the sides to balance myself as I started walking on its half severed body. Just after a few steps, the body was twisted in the middle, so I jumped down and continued to walk on the ground with my arms still spread. And after walking a few more steps, I reached my destination.

Here it is, the skin I've skinned off the <>'s stomach, and the cleaned intestines.

Even though the back of <> is covered with tough scales, its bottom is made up of not-so-tough skin. However, with the help of its own tooth and Mr Knight's instructions, I was able to make some material from his belly skin that could be used as clothing and a blanket.

"Hehe, I think I can sleep without the cold bothering me from now on. What do you think Mr Knight, I can hold out until the rescue team comes, right?"

"It's still not dry, but it looks like it's stopped stinking. Let's take it back and put it closer to the fire."

"Roger!"

"But maggots may spring up. Do you know about maggots? They look really scary–"

"Are they like, alive?"

"Yes, but they are–"

"Then I can eat them!"

"Don't eat them!"

"If it can help me skip that horrible taste every day, I'll accept anything."

"I know you are not joking and that in itself is very scary..."

As Mr Knight scratched his head, I folded up the almost dried skin and tied it with the dried intestines.

Getting here was easy, but getting to where we wanted to go next was a little tricky. The creatures here are frightening enough to make me freeze in my tracks when I see them, but after living in this place for three days here and the help of Mr Knight, I have built up some courage.