[168] A Dangerous Deal (5)
"Ah..."
Hearing Shirone, Amy realized too. How had she not thought of it? The Harvester was a magical being that had inherited all of Viltor Arkein's memories.
Viltor Arkein, the archmage who once ruled the world.
If anyone might know secrets about the Kergo ruins that others didn't, it would be him.
Shirone and Amy looked at Canis with certainty in their eyes. But Canis's attitude remained ambiguous.
"Hmm. To tell you the truth, you're half right and half wrong."
"Half and half? What does that mean?"
Canis chose his words carefully. It was still premature. The secrets tied to the Kergo ruins were far more serious than Shirone suspected.
Amy leaned in, pushing her face forward.
"Are you going to keep dodging like this? If you're going to say anything, say it now."
"I don't see why I should. Don't tell me you're going to bring up payment."
"Of course that's included. But there's another reason you'll have to spill. You need us. Otherwise there'd be no point in negotiating."
Canis fell silent and exhaled slowly. He'd expected this. It was only a matter of timing.
"All right. Frankly, I want something from you, too. In that sense, we each have what the other needs."
"What do you want from us? Are you talking about passes?"
"That's easy. With mental magic, you can hand over a piece of paper and be done. Arin's telepathic ability can even handle language."
"Oh, so that's how you did it."
Shirone realized why those two had been able to enter the altar without an interpreter.
"The reason we didn't use that route is because at least one person must pass the trial's gate. But as you know, we failed, so we're asking for your help. That's why I want to negotiate."
Amy parsed Canis's words. Then an odd question sprang to mind.
"How many points did you get?"
Canis blinked at the unexpected question, then averted his gaze and dodged.
"I don't want to say."
"Oh? Why not? How many did you get?"
"Why should I tell you? If you want to know that badly, you tell me first."
"No, you tell first and I'll tell you after."
"Nope. You tell first."
Shirone cut in, abandoning patience. If this went on, they'd be repeating the same exchange until morning.
"Enough. Let's get back to the matter at hand."
Both Amy and Canis—legs probably trembling—fell silent at once.
Once that settled, Canis continued with hollow-eyed calm.
"Anyway, here's my offer: the trial route. If you pass the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice, then we'll talk again."
Amy frowned.
"That's kind of odd."
"What's odd about it?"
"You couldn't pass either, right? If Shirone passes, there's no reason to bring you along. There has to be something you can actually offer us for this deal to hold."
"That may be true now. But trust me—it won't be a deal that leaves you worse off."
"Then prove it. You don't have to reveal everything, but you could at least provide proof. Otherwise this deal is void. We won't let you use us without knowing your purpose."
Canis glanced at Arin, conflicted. He couldn't decide this alone.
When Arin consented, Canis opened his mouth as if reluctantly.
"All right. I'll put it like this. You said you were going to the autonomous district to learn about the Maze, right? Do you absolutely have to go no matter what?"
"Yes. We want to know more about the Maze."
"If that's the case… my information might save your lives."
Silence struck Shirone like a blow. Save our lives? He couldn't comprehend it. What could be in the autonomous district to warrant that?
"Let me be clear: if you approach the Maze's space without my information, your chance of death is nearly one hundred percent. But if you join hands with me, you might survive. In short, I'm proposing a deal with your lives as collateral."
"Wh—!"
Amy sprang to her feet and shouted.
"Do you think that kind of threat will work? That's not proof. It's just trying to scare us. The Freeman organization went in and out of there. No matter how dangerous, it's not that simple."
"That's why I said the district itself isn't particularly dangerous. The problem is entering via the trial's route. And Shirone—"
Canis looked at Shirone.
"I already know the method you're planning to try in the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice. You're going to open the Immortal Function in the Maze's space, aren't you?"
All eyes turned to Shirone. He kept silent for a long time under their scrutiny before finally speaking.
"That's right. When I first saw the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice, its structure struck me as odd. If its purpose is to test a warrior's power, there's no need to rotate the Maze's space in eight directions. The place felt too solemn to be mere decoration. So I thought maybe the Angel's gaze wasn't looking at brute force."
Canis nodded as if that made sense.
"For now we can only hope that method is correct."
"What? Don't you already know?"
"I told you—half and half. But I suspect it's connected to the Immortal Function. I could be wrong, of course."
"Then Canis, what do you want?"
"We'll talk about that after you pass the trial gate. I told you this much because you're an unlocker. I believed in a slim possibility and gave you quite a bit of information."
"Hmm. What should we do?"
Amy met Shirone's eyes and nodded. They had decided to attempt the trial before meeting Canis; making a deal now wouldn't cost them anything.
Amy sorted things and gave instructions.
"All right. Shirone goes into the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice. We'll use the passes and head to the autonomous district first. That's fine, right?"
She asked for confirmation again—proof of how heavy Canis's card was.
"No problem. The smuggling route is merely a convenient entry. Only one person needs to get a pass from the Maze's space."
Amy's head throbbed. She could sketch a rough picture, but with so little concrete information, everything felt fuzzy.
"Ugh, I don't understand half of this. Either way, if Shirone passes, we'll know. Let's move. If we walk now we'll make it in time."
The group split into two as they left the tavern. Amy's party joined Canis's; Shirone headed alone to the altar.
"Do well, Shirone. Don't overdo it."
Amy worried. Shirone had once opened the Immortal Function recklessly and hadn't come back the same—or at all.
"Yeah. I won't overdo it. If it doesn't work, I'll stop. You be careful too, Amy. Something unexpected could happen."
When talk of lives had surfaced, concern was inevitable. Amy checked the party's lineup: Rian with his strength, Tess with agility, Canis specialized in defense, and Arin covering the mental side.
Those two who had seemed unbearable in other situations could still do their part in a crisis. The thought was oddly reassuring.
"We'll be fine…"
"Ha! That's a relief. Glad the team's been reinforced."
Amy couldn't shake her worry. Shirone also seemed to sense a greater danger than she'd expected.
Shirone left for the altar. Amy led her friends westward.
"Arin, let's go too."
As Amy's group widened the distance, Canis looked back at Arin. She, however, seemed unable to tear her gaze from Shirone as if she'd noticed something strange.
"Arin? What is it?"
"Um, Canis… is Shirone blond?"
Arin's way of perceiving things differed from most people. She couldn't easily combine an object's form with its name, sometimes unable even to tell what the true form was.
So for Arin to recognize Shirone as blond was certainly unusual.
"Shirone? Yeah, he's blond. Why? How does he look?"
Arin blinked and turned away.
"It's nothing really. Let's go."
Canis shrugged and followed Amy. Arin walked lost in thought. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she turned back.
"Oh— I see. That child is…."
Arin kept staring at Shirone for a long time.
* * *
Shirone arrived at the western altar. He approached the fierce-looking native and spoke the password.
"Kertia, ro Hoima. Acrasia, Widmia Benzan."
The native nodded, activated a mechanism, and opened the door. Shirone stepped into a dark entrance where a spiral staircase lit by torches awaited.
He descended slowly. He'd been here before, but being alone made the atmosphere entirely different.
At the bottom of the stairs was the familiar corridor. The natives spoke as they guided him. He couldn't understand their words, but he could sense their meaning—it was ritual protocol, nothing requiring further communication.
Beyond the iron door at the end of the passage was the familiar sight: the broad altar and eight spheres floating around it in an octagon. The Maze's space—called the Angel's Eyes—waited for Shirone.
The gatekeeper had changed, but the man with white facial tattoos looked the same as before. Or maybe he wasn't the same; Shirone still couldn't clearly distinguish Kergo faces.
"May I take the trial?"
"This is the Room of Achievement and Sacrifice. The eight eyes of the Angel will judge you. To enter Kergo you must pass through the Maze's space."
While waiting for the man's explanation to finish, Shirone climbed onto the altar. Before testing the Immortal Function, he planned to strike the Maze's space with a laser.
He decided to go all out and focused the laser straight ahead. The crimson beam flared, and even the stolid white-tattooed man showed a surprised expression.
Shirone poured his energy into the laser. The time before a number appeared on the Maze's space was longer than usual—probably because it had been receiving continuous impacts.
Finally a number flashed on the Maze's space. The first number Shirone saw was only 200. Then the digits climbed by the second.
From 400 to 782. From 1,311 to 2,643. It even shot past 4,874 to 6,822.
Shirone clenched his fist at the sight of hope. Then the number reset and began rising from 72 again.
It seemed the Maze's space itself had a time limit. After two cycles of counting, the final maximum score of 6,822 appeared.
The Maze's space pulsed red and broadcast Shirone's failure across the room.
"Whew."
Shirone let out a hollow breath. The laser had clearly had an effect, but the Maze had anticipated tricks like energy accumulation and set restraints.
What stung most was that despite achieving a personal best, Shirone still failed.
Canis's warning that he might lose his life drifted through his mind. How far had the headmaster anticipated when allowing ruin exploration?
Lost in thought, the white-tattooed man spoke in a solemn voice.
"Will you leave or will you remain? If you wish to prove your skill, pass through the Maze's space."
Shirone shook his head as if shaking off fear. He had come this far; he couldn't give up. His friends were already in the autonomous district, weren't they?
"One more try."
The man folded his arms and waited silently. Shirone, thinking he'd been granted permission, took his place in the center of the altar.
Immortal Function.
If this didn't work, he would stop pushing. Whatever Canis knew, Shirone planned to quit cleanly.
"Hoo."
He calmed his mind and entered the Spirit Zone. A defensive field expanded and swallowed the Maze's spaces floating in eight directions.
After checking the zone's edge one last time, Shirone opened the Immortal Function with his eyes narrowed.
"Ungh!"
Something unbelievable happened the instant he did.
Mental energy flowed in uncontrolled torrents and was sucked entirely into the Maze's spaces.
'N-no—!'
The rate of mental absorption was enormous. In a normal state the zone would have collapsed in an instant. But as much as energy was drawn away, force from the realm of Infinity surged in to counterbalance, maintaining a precarious equilibrium.
Shirone feared the loss of control. He felt as if his self had been stripped away, becoming merely a gate linking two powers.
"No! Pull myself together!"
In this state, his consciousness could disintegrate and be reassembled by the Maze's will—unlikely to return to him as before.
"Ughhh!"
He cranked the defensive frame to its max and tightened the zone. He felt taut resistance, but the mental outpouring was so strong the form remained unstable.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself into an unbreakable stance, clinging desperately.
He could think of nothing. He only prayed for it to end quickly and that he not be scattered.
At that moment the eight Maze spheres shone brilliantly. Eight beams of light shot toward Shirone at once and, converging on him, swelled into a white globe that engulfed the altar.
"Haaaargh!"
An intense sense of deprivation shook him—like when he'd first opened the Immortal Function.
"Ohhhhhh!"
The natives cried out in astonishment as they watched Shirone swathed in light.
His body shot up toward the ceiling.
It was like a vision unfolding: eyelids frozen mid-blink, pupils trembling as if shocked by what they saw.
Having absorbed near-infinite mental power, the Maze's spheres used that very power to transmit information to Shirone.
It had to be something the eight spheres could reveal only when they were filled to their limit.
The natives screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Ra! Anke! Ra!"
A blinding flash exploded and filled the chamber with light.
The natives averted their faces and squeezed their eyes shut.
When the light faded, Shirone was standing on the altar, gasping for breath.
"Huff! Huff!"
He still hadn't recovered his bearings. He couldn't even tell where he was.
What had he seen? Was it real? What possible reason would the Maze have for crafting such a mechanism and waiting for an unlocker?
'Was it an illusion? Or was it real? I don't know anything. What does this have to do with the Immortal Function?'
Shirone pulled himself together and looked around. The natives had all come forward and were kneeling, heads bowed.
"Wh-why are you doing this?"
Shirone asked in bewilderment. But the natives made no sound; they only assumed positions of obeisance.
The white-tattooed man looked up at Shirone and spoke.
"Deliver Ra's will, messenger of the gods."
(End of Volume 7)