The end of the maze gorge, the Labyrinth, connected directly to the Gray Wall outpost base.
The outpost was both a tactical stronghold and a prison for exiles—and also a pen for monsters.
Because entry and exit had to be controlled, a gigantic gate had been installed at the chokepoint that formed the boundary between the Labyrinth and the outpost base.
"Your Highness, the checkpoint gate is visible ahead."
With his horse pressed close to the carriage, Sylvestian informed them through the window.
Eve and Rosenitte, who had been sitting blankly, snapped back to themselves at the same time.
Both of them leaned their heads out the window and looked straight ahead.
"Wow..."
At the end of a straight road where the view opened up refreshingly wide, an iron gate of dark ash-gray stood braced and looming.
It boasted a size and height so immense that even if you mounted it on the entrance to a Demon Dragon's lair, it wouldn't be lacking.
Rosenitte, perhaps wanting to share her excitement with Eve, bothered her with questions.
"If we open the gate, that's the outpost base, right?"
"Yeah."
"When we arrive, what are you going to do first?"
"We'll have to look around the base."
"Can't we bathe first? I haven't washed for four days."
"You go ahead and do that."
Even though Eve gave her half-hearted, perfunctory replies, the conversation kept going. Eve found herself thinking anew: had Rosenitte always been this talkative?
Around that time, the expedition force's movement stopped. They had finally reached directly in front of the gate.
It was a sealed artifact that couldn't be opened by physical force. The key was held by the guide, Baronet Erka.
"I will open the gate!"
A shining cube—perfectly hexahedral—slid snugly into the engraved recess within the crack of the gate.
Click, click, click.
The locking mechanism was like dozens of complex clockworks layered over one another. As they rotated in a chain reaction, the seal released.
Grrrrrk—
The gate opened to both sides. Just as everyone in the expedition force's eyes shone at the thought they could finally rest, a distant echo rang out.
Kiiieeeek...!
It was a grotesque scream, the kind a living creature might let out at the moment of death.
"Huh? W-What is that?"
From the gap of the opened gate, a black energy crept out in tendrils. Then the ground trembled, and everything began bursting out.
"M-Monsters!"
Blackened insects, tentacled plants, flying beasts, four-legged beasts—countless things poured out without end. It was a sight as if the door to a demonic pandemonium had been thrown open.
'Good heavens.'
Given the situation, Eve immediately flung the carriage door open and came out.
Brigitte also sprang out and issued orders.
"The front line, hold your positions, build the line, and block the ground-type monsters with your bodies!
The rear, shoot down the aerial monsters first. Do not let a single one through!"
Brigitte ordered a defensive battle. It was a measure to prevent the monsters from escaping the Labyrinth and flowing into the Empire.
Jingbeol and Baegya butchered the insects and four-legged beasts, while Byeokhyeol and Hwanyeom shot down the winged ones with magic.
They were monsters that did nothing but rush in on instinct, so there was no way they could become opponents for the upper-grade homunculi gathered here. And because the road was narrow, it had the advantage of being easy to defend. The knight orders slaughtered the monsters without hesitation.
It was a battlefield closer to a massacre.
But after about thirty minutes had passed like that, the expedition force realized that they were not, in fact, gaining the upper hand in this fight.
There was no sign the battle would end at all.
Because the monsters pouring out endlessly from the gate kept the situation locked in a stalemate.
Eve's expression hardened.
'In the face of a numbers offensive, there's no bargaining. At this rate, it won't be a defense—it'll just become a war of attrition.'
Worse, as monster carcasses piled up, it became difficult to move, and the formation began to break.
The biggest problem was when allies jostled into each other while trying to avoid falling bodies dropping from the sky.
Homunculi, who only knew how to survive on their own, didn't even know to pay attention to other people's paths.
'This won't do.'
Eve hurriedly looked for her half-sister.
Brigitte had joined the battle personally. A black wyvern had just been struck by her magic and was falling.
"Betty Unnie."
At Eve's quiet call, Brigitte reacted irritably.
"What? If you've got time to be a nuisance, you should help too! Ah—though your specialty, everyday-life magic, isn't any help at times like this."
"If you have the leisure to provoke me, then you must have the time to listen to what I'm saying. At this rate, it's only going to become a war of attrition. We need to take measures."
Brigitte made a face like she hated it but had no choice except to admit it.
"Sir Erka!"
Baronet Erka, who had been hiding in terror, jumped out at Brigitte's roar.
"Y-You called for me, Y-Your— kuh—!"
Barely dodging a wyvern's claws, Baronet Erka crouched down and couldn't lift his head.
Looking down at that pathetic sight, Brigitte asked,
"What is the meaning of this, Sir Erka? Wasn't there supposed to be a base beyond the gate?"
"T-That's right."
"Then why are monsters coming out instead of a welcoming procession? Explain."
"T-That is, it's probably..."
Baronet Erka squeezed his eyes shut and continued.
"It seems the outpost base has fallen!"
"What did you say?"
Not just Brigitte—everyone listening nearby wore shocked expressions.
Eve, too, drew in a small breath.
It was a situation she'd vaguely anticipated, but it still left her in turmoil.
'Why?'
In her previous life, the Gray Wall outpost base held firm until the subjugation war. This was clearly not something that had been 예정—something that was supposed to happen.
'Could it be that the regression affected things?'
The land beyond the wall was a place heavily influenced by Ambroksa. If it were an existence on the level of a Demon Dragon, maybe it hadn't been swept along helplessly by the regression ritual.
For example, on Galapagon Island, Galamut's thought-form had even recognized Mikael—who at the time had not yet awakened—as the "King of Homunculi."
As soon as she thought of this as an abnormality born from the regression ritual, a heavy sense of responsibility pressed down on Eve's chest.
Then Brigitte, who had been silent up to now, lifted her head. Her gaze—staring out into empty space—was chilling to the extreme.
And then, in a low and cold voice, she gave her command.
"We abandon the outpost base. Close the gate."
Eve snapped her head around with an audible whip of motion to look at Brigitte. When their eyes met, Brigitte spoke irritably.
"If we keep the gate open, there's a chance these many monsters will escape the Labyrinth and threaten the Empire."
"So you mean to close the gate to stop the leakage?"
"Yes. Above all, the Empire's safety comes first. And it's right after the rainy season, when monsters are at their most rampant. If the outpost has already fallen, there's no need to take losses by committing our forces immediately. It's better to close the gate and wait for the monsters to quiet down."
At the cold opinion, Eve fell silent for a moment, then answered.
"Understood."
"...Understood?"
Inside the outpost base lived exiles and mid-grade homunculi.
So to abandon the outpost base was no different from abandoning the survivors inside.
Brigitte had phrased it indirectly, but Eve would know what it meant—yet when Eve answered in compliance, Brigitte instead looked puzzled.
Of course, Eve wasn't finished speaking.
"Instead, Jingbeol and I will enter through the gate. After that, please close it."
Every startled gaze nearby stabbed into Eve.
Silence fell between Eve and Brigitte. After a moment, Brigitte asked,
"You're saying you'll go into that place that looks like a demon's den? Are you seriously saying that right now?"
"Of course I'm serious. It's not like we're in a situation to joke around, is it?"
"Well. True."
Eve calmly made her intentions clear.
"Jingbeol and I will try to clean up inside."
"Tch. Reckless nonsense."
"That way, we'll still have a face to show Abamama. You won't oppose me, will you?"
Closing the gate was a choice for the Empire's safety, but at the same time it was also a self-preserving choice for the Imperial Family.
If they returned after abandoning a military stronghold and all the mid-grade Homunculus forces there, the expedition force would have difficulty escaping criticism.
'If someone is willing to step forward and take a risk, it isn't a bad outcome for the expedition force as a whole.'
That thought entered both Eve's and Brigitte's minds at the same time.
So instead of answering directly, Brigitte shifted to a different point.
"...From the inside, you can't open the gate. Once you go in, even if you want to come out, you won't be able to."
"I know. So I'd like you to open the gate from outside at this same time, three days from now."
Brigitte let out a short laugh, then asked as if testing her.
"And what if I don't open it? Wouldn't it be the perfect chance to bury you alive with your honor?"
The words were casual, but what they contained was murderous.
As the political conflict between the two was laid bare, the atmosphere tightened, taut with tension.
Eve lowered her gaze, sunk in thought.
"Certainly, Unnie is the kind of person who would do that and still have it in her."
"And you'll still go in?"
As was only natural, there was no trust between Eve and Brigitte. But credit—trustworthiness—could be created immediately.
"We'll need strong collateral."
"Wise. What?"
"A person would be best."
After a brief deliberation, Eve decided.
"Give me Derrick Orabeoni."
Derrick, named out loud, convulsed in panic.
"No, why! Why me?!"
"Because you two are on the same side. I think Derrick Orabeoni is the right person for a hostage—no, for collateral."
"Absolutely not?!"
"The situation isn't good, so please don't throw a tantrum."
"Hey! I'm not doing this because I'm scared of what's beyond the gate! I'm doing it because choosing me is just wrong!"
"Why is that?"
"Do you still not know Betty Noona?!"
Derrick shouted, spittle flying.
"Noona is a cold-blooded woman with no blood or tears! She'd throw away her own side a hundred, a thousand times over and still have plenty left in her!"
"...Ah. Yes."
Brigitte, having been openly insulted for her character, glared at Derrick sharply.
But Derrick—standing at the brink between life and death—was not in his right mind.
He seemed not to realize what he was even saying.
In the meantime, Eve chewed over Derrick's words.
'Th-That… makes sense.'
It seemed the threat to his life had given Derrick political instincts he hadn't had before.
He'd desperately worked his brain, building a survival strategy.
"If you're going to take someone, take Roji! She's the daughter Abamama cherishes the most, so no matter how much of a Betty Noona she is, she can't just let her die!"
This time, the one who got dragged in by the hair was Rosenitte.