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There was quite a bit of back-and-forth, but we managed to secure the feast they had prepared for me (aka Colin) before he could be butchered, boiled, or roasted. In exchange, we handed over all the food we had, which managed to satisfy both the pride and bellies of the Güllenses.

“Ge-ge-gero-gero!”
“She says, *’If you go straight down the wide path, there’s a big puddle where a large wastebeast often comes to drink water, so you should probably take a detour along the way.’*”

There were a lot of things I wanted to ask Colin, but for some reason, he had caught Mother Güllens’ fancy, and she wouldn’t let go of him. So I left the interpreting to Coppelia and had her ask various questions for me.

While that was happening, I asked Cestlavie and Regulus to help Colin recover his stripped-off clothes and get dressed again. Once we’d exchanged the necessary information, we were sent off by the Güllenses and continued deeper into the cave.

According to Mother Güllens, deep in the cave lies the queen who spawns the wastebeasts. She once had several creatures by her side that resembled humans, and apparently, there’s also an exit to the outside.

We don’t know if that’s where our destination lies, but at the very least, Mother Güllens and her kin say they haven’t seen any other humans recently within their “territory,” so heading further in is the natural course of action.

“Gero, gero, gero-gero-gero, gwah-gwah-gah!”
“She says, *’Beyond this point is another wastebeast’s territory, so we can’t go any farther.’* So I guess this is goodbye.”
“Colin, are you really coming with us? It’s still safe with the Güllenses, so you could head back to the surface now, if you want.”
“I’m coming! If there’s even a chance Maria Lou is ahead, I’ll go on alone if I have to. If I get in the way, you can leave me behind, Lady Clara.”

Personally, I would have preferred it if Colin returned to town at this point, but since he stubbornly refused and insisted on coming along, we had no choice but to bring him with us.

His objective is, in all likelihood, to rescue the Red Ram, also known as Artificial Saint No. 8 (Eighette), Maria Lou. Since she’s the one who abducted Eliza, and we’re here to rescue Eliza, that makes our destinations the same, but our positions the opposite. Depending on the situation, we may end up clashing with her right on the spot.

Even so, abandoning a complete amateur like him inside a labyrinth is akin to pushing him off the Angel Falls for a bungee jump minus the rope. I wouldn’t be able to sleep well after that. Besides, the fact that he’s risking his life to dive into danger alone just to save the girl he loves… There’s something undeniably heroic about that, and I couldn’t help but feel a little moved. So we decided to bring the ticking time bomb along with us.

And so we walked for about thirty minutes.

As we ventured deeper into the tentatively named Sant’Angelo Dungeon, the number of forks and side paths gradually increased, and the place finally began to resemble a proper maze.

Normally, a sealed-off space far from the entrance (or perhaps “exit” is more accurate?) would be pitch dark; you wouldn’t even notice if someone pinched your nose, but familiar phosphorescent rocks began to appear here and there. Thanks to the faint bluish-white glow they emitted from the walls and ceiling, visibility remained relatively decent.

“You know, it’s been on my mind for a while now. Doesn’t this glow look exactly like Cherenkov radiation? That ghostly blue light of doom from critical mass… When you think of it that way, it’s kind of romantic, don’t you think, Lady Clara?”

Coppelia said, unaware as ever of the atmosphere, as we proceeded cautiously in the order of Regulus, Sechs, myself, Coppelia, Colin, and Cestlavie

“I don’t think it’s Cherenkov radiation, since there haven’t been any reports of health issues so far…”

These glowing rocks, which emit light by absorbing magic, are said by some to be ordinary stones that transform after prolonged exposure to powerful mana, just like how living beings mutate into monsters. Apparently, there were once numerous researchers who tried to take these rocks from the dungeon to experiment with them as possible light sources, but as soon as they were taken outside, they began to degrade rapidly and reverted back to normal rocks in less than a week. Even if they were returned to the Dungeon, there are no recorded cases of them regaining their glow. Since they’re of no monetary value, even adventurers don’t bother with them.

And so, they’re just naturally present here and there, and I’ve never heard of them causing any particular problems. That said, for magic users like myself, they can be a bit of a nuisance.

That’s because these rocks can disrupt or interfere with Mana wavelengths—put simply (and rather crudely), it’s like trying to hold a conversation in a room where drums and cymbals are constantly being banged all around you. It’s an uncomfortable experience on a sensory level. For witches and magic users, places like this can basically be considered cursed zones.

Search Art becomes severely limited, too. So in situations like this, people with natural night vision or sharp senses tend to be more perceptive than those overly sensitive to mana.

That’s why Dungeons usually benefit greatly from having a professional thief or ranger in the party. Unfortunately, no one in our current group has those specific skill sets. Which is why we left the front position to Regulus, the demonkin with the sharpest senses and quickest reflexes among us.

Personally, I was kind of hoping that, as an automaton, Coppelia might come equipped with some convenient features—like night vision modules for seeing in the dark, or infrared emitters that could double as offensive lasers…

But when I brought it up, she cheerfully shot me down with:

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! I’m an ‘Artificial Human,’ you know. I’m designed to mimic humans as closely as possible—why on earth would I have something so dangerous built in?”

…A response so cheeky and exasperating, it made me want to scream.

Still, it would be a pain to keep reacting to her antics every time, so I held back my retort.

“In exchange, if any enemies appear, I shall crush them with this—as any proper maid should—just like those black demons that show up in the kitchen!”

Saying this, Coppelia swung around an absurdly massive spiked club, its spherical head bristling with spikes, looking quite fired up. Maybe she was frustrated from having been told to hold back during the Güllens battle, where we asked her to show restraint.

The weapon in her hand—commonly known as a morning star—had a head and spikes so ridiculously oversized and brutal-looking that it was almost laughable. It was the kind of terrifying size you’d expect from that “white devil” of a certain federation. It might’ve been our first time seeing it, but the heavy wear and polish on it made it clear she had used it extensively. Had this mechanical maid seriously been swinging this thing around to fight off cockroaches?

This is more overkill than using a butcher knife for a chicken. Wondering just how far this went, I asked her to clarify.

“But of course. Back in our lab, the things that showed up couldn’t be taken down with anything smaller. Now that I think about it, that battle was truly hellish… I mean, those things stood upright, were over two mertes tall, had bulging muscles, and each carried weapons of their own…”
“Are you seriously telling me those cockroaches evolved on this planet?!”

I couldn’t help but snap at Coppelia as she gazed off into the distance, recounting her heroic tale.

“…We sure strayed far from the topic of Cheren-whatever it was, huh.”