Labyrinth Expedition #6

The teleportation inscription lit up brightly, reality fragmented and they were brought closer to their destination, The Second Floor's Starter City.

"F-uck." Akiro gagged, putting his hands on his knees, trying to gasp for air. "I'll never get used to that."

"Welcome to the 2nd Floor! The Starter City!" The robed guide welcomed his arms in the air.

Kaiser and the other teachers began to engage in friendly conversation with the man, learning as much as they could; however, the students were busy marveling at what they saw.

"Whoa!"

"That's so cool!"

Akiro and Ayama looked at the main board, which had a map of the entire city and the latest illustrations of the habitats of the monsters around. The teleportation circle had transported them to the middle of a circular city, with four roads in each cardinal direction, with sister roads branching into more roads in between the main four for a total of eight gates.

"The Adventurers guild is direct to the left, the church on the right, the mayor's office to the south, and the merchant hall to the north," Akiro notes, looking at the well-kept stone roads, the amazing Scavian Architecture— it was almost unreal that this was in a tower, then again, this was a whole different world.

Taking out the journal, are opened to the first chapter, finding out that this was a commentary diary of an expedition leader. "Interesting," Akiro thought.

"Day 1, of the 17th Millenium: Our Company of 2,000 strong had entered the mysterious tower. We had encountered a plethora of many green cretins, horrendous in appearance and behavior. They eat their own kind– despicable –in pursuit of being the greatest on all the floor. We have been commanded by our Lord to pursue the crystal balls."

Akira Closed his eyes, envisioning the words he had just read. Two thousand men, all dressed in the eastern armor from history, armed with magic fighting hordes upon hordes of goblins. He then turned the page.

"Day 15, of the 17th millennium: Our company of 2,00 strong has been reduced to 1,809. These cretins possess incredible intelligence for their small brains, making use of their terrain and natural color to ambush the army. Unlike their outer-tower counterparts, they are much more savage and aggressive."

"Day 18, of the 17th millennium: Our company of soldiers has successfully defeated the green-colored abominations, with our forces whittled down to 1,500—"

Clap! clap!

Akiro hummed, looking over the information, only for Kaiser to gather everyone's attention.

"Alright, Everyone! Gather around!" Kaiser clapped, waiting for everyone to finally flock to him. "This is our task! The guide says that we must be here for a week before we are allowed to move on to the next floor!"

Akiro divided his attention to both the book and the teacher, summarizing his message into a few points. Apparently, each floor has a unique condition or task, to fulfill, and only after it has been done can a person use the teleportation rune at the edge of each floor to move on to the next. Either they could wait patiently for the week to be over or do something productive.

"Alright! You're all dismissed! We shall meet here in a week's time!"

Akiro watched as the crowd slowly started to disperse, with the teachers headed to the inns by the merchant district. Ayama lightly jabs his shoulder, careful not to inflict damage, to get his attention.

"Hey! Got any plans? We're still going to get me a new sword." Ayama asked, practically itching to go to the merchant district.

Akiro thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nothing actually, I was planning to read the journal to study it for anything useful."

Ayama nodded with a grin, "Still a bookworm but instead of dramas, classics, and manga– you opted for books in this world," he said, "Don't think I didn't know about your late-night escapades through the Earlshide Castle. I know you were trying to find a library."

"You caught me," Akrio laughed, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Actually, are you interested in learning magic? I heard from a few adventurers earlier that it is possible for melee fighters to learn rudimental spells without being magically inclined."

"Yeah! I actually heard about that too! They said that as long as you put in the effort into learning them, then they can be pretty powerful in battle." Ayama recounted, "Tell you what, let's add that to the shopping list– surely, they're going to sell magic books around here."

"Thanks."

"Now let's get me a sword!"

Akiro watched Ayama briskly walk to the merchant district, specifically headed for the metal worker's district, and followed after him. To their inconvenience, the most popular stores– the very first ones to be seen– were holding a large sale. Of course, the two boys, who were looking for a sword, tried to squeeze in and failed. They had no choice but to squeeze past the crowd and onto the next stores after them.

“Fantastic…” Ayama huffed, catching his breath, “Are you okay?” he asked Akiro, who was behind him with his hands on his knees, gasping for air.

“I just need a minute…” Akiro replied, shaking an emerging memory back into his subconscious “You know how I am with large crowds.”

Ayama’s breathing hitched, remembering Akiro’s first stage of grief. It was a terrible four years, but he slowly got better at the start of their recent school year; even more so when they were transported into this world. After that traumatic event, Akiro had fallen into a pit of despair and pain, turning into a shut-in.

Ayama looked at him understandingly, with care and support, “I know,” he answered softly, “Take your time, I know your curse is a pain in the ass.”

Akiro let out a small chuckle as he got to his feet, “Thanks. Let’s look for a sword, shall we?”

“You bet!”

The blonde watched as Akiro walked past him and he watched his back, glad in his heart that the walls Akiro had been building were being weathered away slowly but surely. A sudden transition from a shut-in loser to a revered hero would be tough for anyone, even more so for Akiro. Ayama can only smile and keep the promise he made.

“Don’t worry ma’am, your little boy is getting better. Slowly but surely,”

Akiro and Ayama ventured further into the district, which grew significantly poorer and less developed as they got further in. The surroundings were no longer clean nor well-developed and maintained. It was as barren as the few customers that came through.

“How about here?” Ayama pointed to a store whose sign was about to fall off, and it read: Greatswords.

Akiro gave him a skeptical look, after all this was going to be the tenth shop that tried to sell terrible swords for way too much. “Let’s give it a shot, I’m starting to think that going into the crowd would be much better than here.”

Ayama shrugged in agreement, “Yeah, I’m starting to lose hope.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you a new sword.”

Entering the shop, their noses were immediately bombarded by the smell of mold, sweat, and metal. It was quite hot as a forge in the back of the shop was lit and a man was clearly forging.

“What do you want?” The blacksmith asked, not even bothering for any formalities, “If you’re askin’ for protection money, I don’t get it or need it. Get lost.”

“We’re here to look for a sword, a greatsword for my friend here,” Akiro replied with the same amount of respect as the man did. “Mind if we have a look?”

“Go knock yourselves out.”

With a hesitant look, Ayama turned to Akiro, who just shrugged, before he went to the wide assortments of swords. All of which were large in terms of width and length and the complexity of their design.

“How about this?” Akiro pointed to an 84-inch claymore, “It would be long enough to pierce through the skin of ogres and trolls.”

“Looks kinda flimsy,” Ayama hummed, picking it up, “It's nice, but not what im looking for.”

“Hm, considering the abuse your swords go through, this wouldn’t last,” Akiro pointed to a jagged longsword, “This’ll break if you swing it too fast since the guard is too thin– damn it. They all suck.”

“How about this?” Ayama asked from across the shop, his hand in a small bin.

Akiro inspected the item, it was about six feet in length– just a few inches taller than himself and Ayama– it had a textured handle, curved guards, another handle past the guards that ended at parrying horns, and a straight blade with two spikes along with the tip.

“Looking back on Ayama’s style, piercing, slashing, crushing– this sword is perfect.” Akiro gave Ayama a thumbs up, “Perfect, that'll suit your build quite well.” he said, “And to boot, it has a seal on the butt of the handle that’s exactly like the one from the journal. Although it’s rusty and is in need of maintenance, it’ll be a worthwhile purchase.”

“That hunk of junk?” The blacksmith sneered, “Fine, two platinum coins.” he said.

Ayama paid without arguing, while Akrio was seething. “I won’t tell him that it’s not his own creation, but an ancient item owned by one of the Army generals, or else he’ll charge even more.” he thought, “So I’ll let it slide for now.”

Without looking back, Akiro and Ayama exit the shop and headed straight for the merchant’s district.

“So now what? A few maintenance tools from the adventurer’s guild, and two magic books right?” Ayama merrily thought, making a checklist in his head.

Akiro nodded. “Yeah, just a kit and two books will do then we can head to an inn and get some food, I’m feeling peckish.”

Luckily the crowd had dispersed and the road was clear, making the trip to the most luxurious building in the city a breeze. The building was white with marble, each window spanned the floor to the ceiling in four distinct hues. The tiles were marble and the decorations were glistening gold to contrast them.

“Whoa,” Ayama squinted, “Very…golden.”

“My eyes hurt,” Akiro complained.

It was a square building, with only one floor, but it was strategically placed just across the adventurer’s guild. Each cardinal side was dedicated to one of the four elements: Blue, Green, Red, and greyish-white.

“Hello, adventurers, how may I help you today?” The central desk clerk greeted, “Are you perhaps looking for magic spells to learn?”

“Exactly,” Ayama smiled, “So do we just pick one, pay, and leave?”

The clerk nodded, “Yes, but since our establishment cares greatly about our customers, a test will be conducted on which magic elements you can control, free of charge, of course.”

Akiro nodded appreciatively. “Great service,” he muttered, “Where will we go for these tests?”

The clerk pointed to the Wind-element desk clerk, who was wearing a robe and a hat, “Each side will have a mage conduct the test, and only after do you receive their approval may you choose an element to learn.”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“No, thank you, Adventurer, for coming into our establishment.