"By the way, does that Great Spirit appear in the Labyrinth too?"

"No. The Great Spirit does not manifest within the Labyrinth."

Good. If I had gotten involved with something like that with almost no points, it would've been over.

"Before I mentioned it earlier this morning, while entering the blacksmith's, the Great Spirit doesn't appear—but in their place, a 'Demon King' manifests within the Labyrinth. That's the greatest drawback of creating a Labyrinth. While extremely powerful Demon Kings don't usually appear, they occasionally manifest even in lower levels, so Hikaru, you must be careful—"

"What?"

"Demon Kings, too, love those who are beloved..."

"This is bad... Wait, what exactly is a Demon King anyway?"

That's something I've realized since starting to talk with people—there's so much I still don't know about this world.

Well, I suppose it's understandable that someone who's lived their whole life avoiding people would be clueless, but there's a limit to how much you can excuse.

"You've been deep in the labyrinth and don't even know about the Demon King...!? "

"I already said I'm a beginner, didn't I?"

"The Demon King is the manifestation of evil that appears in this world when the chaotic spirit energy swirling within the labyrinth stagnates and gathers."

"So it's different from monsters?"

"Monsters are aggregates of various spirits, including chaotic spirits, but they're not pure. So, you rarely get chaotic spirit stones from defeating them."

"So chaotic spirit stones are more valuable, right?"

Price matters.

After all, explorers are essentially diggers collecting spirit stones.

I have one myself, but all I know is that it's expensive.

How expensive, exactly?

It's incomparable. The chaotic spirit stone can be used for anything, and complex magical devices simply won't function without a chaotic spirit stone. A colored one of the same size would be worth ten times as much."

"I see..."

Incidentally, I once used a spirit stone to identify an item before.

Open the status board and bring up the past history.

[Spirit Stone: Chaos] Chaos Spirit Crystals are rarely obtained either from the bodies of animal monsters or dropped by defeating monsters. Chaos is a mixture of spirits that failed to achieve pure attributes, containing all elements and thus also known as "Demon." It drops from the Demon King with a 100% rate. It is extremely rare for regular monsters or animal monsters to drop it, making it highly valuable. Large stones serve as sources of spiritual energy and are traded at high prices as power sources for magical devices. This particular specimen dropped from the Hōmura Mandrill

Monster. LL size. Rare material. This is the item鉴定 result for that flaming great ape's spirit

stone. The鉴定 result can be retrieved from the log and displayed. Back then, I didn't

understand its meaning, but now I do.

It says here that the drop rate from the Demon Lord is 100%. And that it's a precious item, used as energy for magical artifacts.

...All the important details were written down.

"And, Hikaru, please keep this a secret between just you and me—especially don't tell anyone from the temple."

"Why the secrecy?"

"If temple personnel found out, you'd be imprisoned as a sacrifice."

"Seriously? I'll be careful then. Maybe it's best not to get near anyone from the temple... Wait, wasn't Reflair also part of the temple?"

"I'm just an apprentice. Besides... I oppose sacrifices. Honestly, creating a dungeon city like this goes against nature."

"I see. Reflair's hometown is the Grand Cathedral of Light, right? Do they not use sacrifices there?"

"Syltio is a natural shrine. It's different from an artificial temple that uses sacrifices to seat the Great Spirit."

"I see."

To create a labyrinth city, the Great Spirit is needed—and to obtain that, a beloved one must be used as a sacrifice... That's probably how it works. I suddenly feel like I've been thrust into the darkness of the labyrinth city.

"It was lucky that the beloved one was revealed to be Refreia. If it had been someone else, I (・)would have (・)become (・)the (・)sacrifice

."

"Yes. So please be extremely careful?"

From Refreia's serious expression, it's clear this is truly dangerous.

In fact, we were lucky we had the barrier stone—otherwise, we might have been finished.Yet, wouldn't quite a few people who spent thirty points to gain the favor of a spirit—whether they're being sacrificed, eaten by a great spirit, or not—have fallen into this trap?

Especially the part about being eaten by a great spirit—there's no way to avoid that, right?

Few would have managed to gain favor with thirty points and then acquire spirit magic with an additional ten points.

Forty points total is quite a steep cost.

"Ah, still, I'm constantly amazed. Being with Hikaru means nothing but surprises. His spirit magic is impressive, he's not afraid to order at the blacksmith, he's beloved by spirits, and he even has a magic item capable of repelling a great spirit like this one."

"Well, that last part kind of dragged me in too. It's got a long-lasting effect, so let's just go eat some yakisoba."

The ward stone's effect lasts half a day.

Perhaps because of the effect of keeping danger at bay, it seemed we were visible only to the harmless people around us.

This barrier stone was the last one, so I'd wanted to save it for a crucial moment, but never thought I'd end up using it like this...

Well, I guess such mishaps are necessary for boosting viewership.

By the way, the yakisoba was delicious.

It's quite a plus point for someone originally from Japan that the food here in this other world is so tasty. If I'd ended up in a world with only grilled meat and bread, I might have seriously considered cooking for myself. Or maybe I'd have just traded sandwiches made of crystals all day long.

After a while, temple officials rushed over to question us, but they seemed unable to see us, so they simply passed by.

Probably, as Reflira said, they were searching for someone who is "beloved."

"It seems we can safely lift the barrier now. The presence of the Great Spirit has disappeared. Maybe they've returned to the temple."

"Eh, yes... that's probably right. Hikaru, the temple also manages those who are 'beloved' to prevent incidents like this. Please never forget that."

"Yeah, I don't want to get eaten either. I'll stay away from the temple."

Currently, our points are zero.

While it's technically possible to exchange one barrier stone for a crystal since we have over thirty crystals, we can't keep using barrier stones like this every time.

Fortunately, we've memorized the Great Spirit's presence. It seems we're safe as long as we don't get too close.

"Are you absolutely sure? If this keeps happening, the temple will surely search for you, even if they have to comb through every blade of grass. Once they get serious, we won't be able to stay in this town anymore... Are you absolutely sure?"

"I understand. I won't get close under any circumstances. I promise."

Repeatedly urged to take it seriously, I made a promise to Reflair.

After all, I had fully realized that, for me, the Great Spirit was an absolute enemy. There was no way I'd ever approach it.

After that, I undid the barrier and dashed back to the guild.

The presence of the Great Spirit never appeared again.