CLANK

The annoying sound of steel falling onto the ground echoed. It was the sword in my hand earlier that made such sound because I intentionally threw it with all my might and anger. Even if I do such thing, a weapon on par with heroic weapon won’t break.

I’m using such a weapon with special properties but I can’t use its magic or any skills because I really can’t. However, I am using such a weapon to fight but…

“How the hell did we lost to boss three times in a row?!”

“You are the one who fell into a trap this time…”

Daisy rebutted me as I shouted that.

It’s true that I got my lured into a trap this time and got caught in a net but I was able to escape halfway when Boss and her people started kicking around everyone!

Even with Mimi and Daisy on the offensive, they can’t get around the blond girl and the broadsword user. Their archer and magician get in the way of everything and they can’t do anything reckless. Casablanca and Hibiscus tried fighting boss themselves but got played around instead.

Though Boss gets a support from one of her companions that seemingly boost her movements, I would say that it’s only a matter of skill that she overpowered Casablanca and Hibiscus all the while groping them almost everywhere.

That bastard is so touchy feely!

Then Topaz started chatting with the bunny girl in a peaceful atmosphere for no real reason over a lunch, though at the end of the day, she’ll be stripped of her clothes too…

“What the hell is with them?!”

“Stop getting so ballistic, Asagao.”

“It’s so nice being so carefree, Topaz.”

“Ehehehe!~”

“Ehehehe!?”

I’m fine if Topaz feels happy but I don’t think that walking home with only little clothes covering our skin should be okay though.

Mimi and Daisy are quite fatigued after fighting around so they are now walking while they slouch their backs. If I could have just joined from the get-go, we could have wiped them with the floor as long as they didn’t alter the landscape of the forest again.

They already did it twice before we can even remember the placement of the trees.

But the ones that received the most damages are the twins.

Seeing how they walk with really lethargic faces with eyes as dead as a fish looks really pitiful, even Emby, on the top of my head, can only sigh.

“We…go felt in a lot of places, Casablanca.”

“She was…really focus on my butt…”

“Well, she kind of licked the edge of my ears…”

“Huh? Hibiscus, she did that to you?”

“Hmm? Isn’t yours more severe?”

“Aside from touching my butt and thighs, there’s nothing else, I guess.”

“Come to think of it, she never once touched my chest.”

The bastard is picky too to the point her preference is all over the place!

Currently, we are waiting for our ride back to the Lady Hinoki’s estate, not the white house where she works. It seems that they are planning to round up some forces to walk forward towards the mountain while on a defensive stance against any attacks from the dwarves.

It’s like they are gambling for a piece of information because they can’t send out any decisive scout of an intel. If they try to send a scout to the plains where the enemies live on a higher ground, it only means death for them.

That’s why they needed a force that can defend their selves while trying to scurry what little information that they can have. Within the week that we stayed here, the soldiers were restless but couldn’t move due to lack of any information.

Unless we can remove the Mad Maidens from their spot, we don’t have any choice.

If Lady Hinoki takes a gamble too and sends large troops in the forest to remove the Mad Maidens, there are chances that the dwarves might attack or they might be really lying in ambush within the forests.

However, our encounter with boss’ party, I can feel like something is greatly amiss. I started doubting if they are mercenaries or even adventurers hired by the dwarves.

The possibility of them being a neutral party might be plausible but for what reason, they would impede us?

“You lost again, huh?”

“Ah…”

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Lady Hinoki appeared in front of us from a distance as we idle on the entrance of the city. Her countenance is neither angry nor disappointed. Rather, her face shows that she relieved, a face a mother would show to her children.

She opens her arms towards us and smile.

“I’m just glad all of you are fine!”

““Mama!””

The twin rushes to her embrace and tenderly clings to her. Then, Lady Hinoki looks at us with an expectant smile seemingly bringing out something amiss about her.

I’ve seen this face before…

It’s like my mother all over again with an idiotic smile as she lures us towards her arms.

“Come!”

“…”

How can you just say that with a face of complete satisfaction?

It seems Topaz got the message and pounce directly on Lady Hinoki’s chest while sandwiching the twins with her breasts.

There’s no harm getting swept into this moment so I also cling onto Lady Hinoki and she embraces us all together. Daisy also joined the fray hesitatingly.

“I feel like I’m betraying my mother!”

“It’s a simple hug, it doesn’t matter.”

I hope Daisy didn’t word it like that that may cause a lot of misunderstanding if there are people within earshot. But well, the fluffy warmness spreads throughout our body and we started feeling a little lighthearted.

“Mimi?”

“Ah, no, well…”

Only Mimi stood behind us with a troubled countenance. She can only look sideways while trying to avert any eye contact with Lady Hinoki who sprouted a quizzical countenance.

Lady Hinoki is one of Astlan’s lovers after all.

For Mimi, to embrace a person who she treated as her very own master and someone who took Astlan away from her too is a little…

Mimi respects Lady Hinoki but there are lines that she is scared to cross.

“I can’t…to such person…to my former master’s lover…”

“I was wondering what you are trying to say. It turns out to be another senseless worry.”

“…Maybe later or something.”

“I get it. I won’t force you.”

Mimi still refused Lady Hinoki’s proposal and being the understanding one here, she only smiled at her. Mimi herself can only cling to the hem of her clothes with a listless eye.

It’s a problem from the past but it’s still lingering in the present. It’s a problem that only them can talk about among themselves and solve it by themselves. It’s all personal and greatly tied to their attachment to a person.

“Anyway, get into the vehicle and take a rest while on the way, okay? Like we talked about, none of you will leave the estate tomorrow.”

“Yeah…”

Vehicle…

It’s like what Lady Hinoki said, it’s a vehicle.

I’ve been in the Elven City for days now and…

It’s totally like a modern city after all. There are cars and such on the wide streets and roads of the city. There are also magic-powered trains and their sanitation system is already on a par with one-flush toilets.

It’s like what I heard before…Lady Hinoki’s first husband is a reincarnator and on top of that, a genius in a lot of things from architecture to modern science.

The whole Elven City doesn’t really feel otherworldly at all aside from the varying races of people.

This might be one of the reasons why the Elves isolated themselves. I heard before from Merissa that she wanted to go here but there are strict regulations against outsiders. This might be the reason she wanted to go here.

I never expected this.

That’s why Casablanca and Hibiscus can freely talk about politics and governance because Lady Hinoki have already solved any inconveniences that can be normally seen outside their city.

But…to call a limousine a vehicle is just too much…

All of us boarded the vehicle and sat on the comfortable seats.

Immediately, all of my companions fall onto each other’s shoulders and started dozing off. Even Mimi and Daisy are tired beyond belief because they fought the Mad Maidens head on.

Only I and Lady Hinoki stayed awake.

“You can sleep too. I always guarantee everyone’s safety above all else but if my daughters wanted to do something, I’d like them to take care of themselves.”

“It must be hard…to worry about them.”

“You jest. I’m not just worried about them. I’m worried for all of you.”

“I’m sorry for making you worried then.”

“You better be. Being the Elven Queen is really stressful but knowing that you children are also going to risk your lives, an endless anxiety attacks me.”

“I see…”

“I don’t want to become like your mother too...that Nivalis…”

I immediately grimace as Lady Hinoki said those words as if she just spats out a curse. Her countenance really didn’t have any drastic change but her eyes show that she has something against my mother.

I can’t describe it with words but her anger against my mother saddens me.

“Was…my mother really that bad?”

“Nivalis…is a sinner. She doesn’t even deserve the title of the Goddess of Blessing.”

“To say such thing…”

“I won’t say sorry about speaking ill about your mother but, I at least wanted to apologize for making you feel that way.”

“Dissing my mother without me knowing why, of course, I’d feel awful. What did my mother do in the past that you are so angry with her?”

“…I won’t tell you but at the very least, I wanted to say that I hate her for leaving a daughter all alone. Even if you are previously a man, leaving you behind is still unforgivable.”

“She just has a lot to take care of. She also said that she sent me to that world so I can escape from this world’s gods.”

“…Asagao, you have a good mother but she carries something so heavy that it angered a lot of gods. That’s all I can say for now.”

“I see…”

What did she do in the past?

It must not be a mere thousand years ago…

I wonder if Nil knows anything about mother…

“Let’s change gears. Asagao, what in the world happened today?”

“That’s…as you can see, we lost to Boss again. This time, I became a victim of their trap and the rest of them fought while I struggled to break free.”

“That’s really terrible. So, these Mad Maidens are still messing with the forest’s structure? Do you know why they are doing this?”

“I already have some assumptions about it. Those people, I don’t have any definite proof yet but, they must be a neutral party.”

Lady Hinoki widens her eyes in surprise. She immediately falls into a momentary pondering and looks at me again with eyes of interest.

“What made you say that?”

“They must be doing this to keep the Elven Army and the Dwarven Army in a deadlock.”

“So, you are saying that they are also hindering the dwarven scouts?”

“It’s a possibility. Maybe the reason the dwarves haven’t made any advances yet is that they are in the same situation as us. A stalemate in a war without even clashing is really rare but this is too odd.”

“Wait a minute! So if what you are saying is true, then these Mad Maidens are actually trying to stop the war then?!”

“It’s just a hypothesis! The way they move, especially Boss, is really sketchy too. What would they gain from doing this anyway? How will they benefit from it?”

What are these Mad Maidens anyway?

Adventurers or Mercenaries?

They have an elf in their party so I would most likely say that they are adventurers. An adventurer’s job will be quite detached from any interests of the Kingdom they are born from after all. Their job or commission can’t be disclosed to any uninvolved parties too.

We can’t go around asking about them. They are most likely using an alias too so we really can’t go ahead and check for their background.

As I thought, if we want to know something about them, we have to defeat them.

“We should defeat them but…”

“Asagao…are you perhaps…unused fighting with Casablanca and Hibiscus?”

“Not only with them. Everyone is out of sync when a battle starts. Even just detecting traps was already hard enough as it is.”

“Perhaps you guys need to train together?”

“Train?”

“That’s right! Teamwork can be pretty much a decisive factor in a battle in many cases.”

“M-Many cases?”

“Uh…well…take those who use Astlan’s Ira for example.”

Meaning, teamwork is useless for overpowered people such as Fonfon and Alstroe. They are that kind of existence after all.

“What do you proposes then, Lady Hinoki?”

“Asagao, why don’t you try to conquer a famous labyrinth just outside this city? It’s frequented by adventurers. Oh, but you need to register as one to access the place.”

“Labyrinth? So, it’s like you are trying to tell that we train, right?”

“Yes, train your teamwork and work on polishing your skills within an unknown environment.”

“Sounds like a good idea but…are you sure about that? I mean your daughters will go too.”

“As long as you know when to turn back, I can agree to it.”

“What’s the name of the Labyrinth?”

“It’s…Labyrinth of Avalon.”

…Where did I hear that name from before?