Aiko said to Liliana with a wry smile:

"It's disrespectful to the deceased, but I'm glad you don't have to get married, Princess Liliana."

"I really have to blame you, Lily. Before we left, you didn't tell us a word about this... Of course, you can say it has nothing to do with us, but... We're friends. If you didn't tell us, wouldn't we even be able to worry about you?"

Aiko smiled reassuringly, while Yuka pouted as if she was upset.

The words and attitudes of the two made Liliana smile shyly, and she continued:

"Aiko-sensei, Yuuka-san, thank you for your concern. As I just said, the Kingdom must also abolish discrimination against demihumans and the slavery system. The Kingdom cannot become a loophole for the slavery system. We will be busy from now on."

"We don't discriminate against demihumans to begin with, so we welcome this policy. Regarding religion, while it might be difficult for people to accept initially, if it's Grandpa Simon, he'll surely be able to resolve it."

"Lord Simon has accepted the position of Pope."

Liliana had not known that Simon had succeeded to the throne of Pope, and now she heaved a sigh of relief.

This time it was Yuka and the others who told Liliana what happened in the Kingdom.

"I see. It seems a lot of problems have occurred, but they're all within our expectations. As long as there's a new Pope, the Church can be rebuilt, and once the Church is rebuilt, the people can revive. So that story really works."

"For those of us who know the truth, our consciences are truly troubled."

"...I'm the one who blew up the main temple. The goddess of plenty is the real murderer."

Aiko was alone, burdened by a powerful dark shadow. Everyone turned their gazes away, not daring to look at her.

"Really? How could he come up with such a vicious plot so easily? Lily, don't let Nagumo get to you too much, okay?"

Yuka's expression when she said this was very subtle, as if she was laughing at the memory of the past, but also as if she was smiling bitterly, but Liliana blushed for some reason.

“How, how can you say I was infected by Nagumo-san… We’re not that close yet…”

"……not yet?"

Yuka looked at Liliana with a stiff expression like a robot, and Aiko and the others also looked at Liliana.

"Ah, no, nothing."

Liliana's eyes darted wildly. The princess, gifted with both beauty and talent, and adept at forging a smile, was panicking!

Aiko asked with a stiff expression:

"Um, Princess Liliana? Did something happen between you and Nagumo-san?"

"What, what's that about the snake mosu?"

"Lily, are you tongue-tied?"

Liliana was speechless after being rebuked by Yuka. However, as expected of a princess, she immediately pulled herself together and coughed.

"Please don't get me wrong, there's really nothing wrong between us. Besides, the way he treated me was rude. You saw me being 'delivered' back by him, right?"

"Ah, that's right."

"Do you think I would have any special feelings for someone who's so outrageous? I'm not Miss Tio, you know?"

Indeed, Yuka and the others nodded in agreement. Realizing that their worries were unfounded, Yuka and Aiko breathed a sigh of relief.

but--

"He's really outrageous. He knows I'm going to be upset, but he keeps causing a commotion without even explaining why!"

"Uh~ I understand Lily's anger towards Nagumo, calm down a little—"

Liliana slammed her hands on the table, growing increasingly angry. Yuka tried to soothe her, but—

"Yes, I'm furious! He saved me when I was nearly raped by Bias-sama, and I'm truly grateful to him. But he didn't seem to care when he saw me in my disheveled state. What's going on?!"

"Hmm? Wait a minute, please explain this in more detail."

Yuka's request was ignored.

"But he complimented my dress, which made me happy. He was also willing to dance with me, and it was the happiest dance I've ever had."

"Princess Liliana, please explain this matter more clearly—"

"But oh! But the reason he saved me was because Kaori would care! Would he die if he said 'I did it for Lily' in that situation? Even so, he promised me that the worst-case scenario would never happen to me, and that made me happy."

“…”

Yuka and Aiko were speechless. They stared at Liliana coldly, their eyes as fierce as Yue's.

Shigeo and the others looked at each other with helpless smiles.

Liliana finally seemed to realize that the atmosphere was not right. She blinked and asked:

"Um... everyone? What's going on?"

Yuka pouted again and whispered, "Nanyun is an idiot~ idiot~".

Aiko was more sullen than ever before, her cheeks puffed with anger.

Then, Jūgo and the others cried out in their hearts—

——Here we go again! Nanyun!!

After that, preparations for the emergency meeting were completed, and Liliana couldn't hide her feelings in her report, and the kingdom's high-ranking officials learned of it...

"Ah, Lily has grown up!"

Princess Lulualiyah was delighted for her daughter's first love.

"T-That guy~~!! He's not just after Kaori, he's even got his hands on Sister Wang!? One day or another, I'm definitely going to kill him!!"

Randir, who is also the next king and Liliana's brother, roared in anger at the meeting.

Volume 8, Chapter 2: The Great Labyrinth of Hartrina

In the thick fog that enveloped them, Hajime and his companions advanced with unwavering steps.

They were heading for the entrance to the truly vast labyrinth of Hartrina's Sea of ​​Trees—the Great Tree of Uya Aruto. Normally, the dense fog would obscure even the demihuman senses near the tree, but once every ten days, the fog would drop, allowing a path to be cleared.

On the third day after Hajime and the others arrived at [Feyaberugen], that road opened up.

During the three days they stayed in the city, they had a very comfortable time under the hospitality of Alfred and others.

Shia is entangled by Eltina, Hajime is entangled by the Horiyah tribe, Ryuutarou is entangled by the warriors, Kouki is entangled by the girls who were originally slaves, Kaori is entangled by the believers, Tio is entangled by Hajime and ends up being tied up, Suzu covets the demihuman children and entangles them, Yue pushes Hajime down...

During this period, they were almost all happily entangled or being entangled, only Shizuku seemed to feel very tired.

"Heaven's River, on the right."

"——!"

The monsters in the sea of ​​trees hid in the fog and launched a surprise attack.

However, Hajime, Yue, Shia, Tio, and the people of the Hauriya tribe did nothing, leaving all the monsters to Kouki and his group to deal with. Since Kouki and his group were challenging the Great Labyrinth for the first time, they were actually using the monsters of the Sea of ​​Trees as a warm-up exercise.

However, since the fog in the sea of ​​trees would seriously disrupt the senses of non-subhuman races, the monsters here could not be compared with the monsters they had fought in the [Orcus Great Labyrinth]. Therefore, not only could Guanghui and others not warm up, they seemed to be stuck in a difficult battle.

Just now, Guanghui was almost attacked from the side, but was able to block it thanks to Hajime's advice.

Guanghui frowned slightly, he seemed quite anxious.

Ryuutarou, like Kouki, had been smacking his tongue from time to time. Both Suzu, who was protecting the group with a barrier, and Shizuku, who was in charge of the guerrilla warfare, had stern expressions on their faces.

Among the group, Kaori, who was fighting alongside Kouki and the others, shouted with great enthusiasm.

“…Over there! Like this…like this again!”

Since Kaori hadn't yet fully mastered the body of God's Apostle, Noin, she volunteered to train. Noin's body seemed unaffected by the dense fog, making this a perfect place for her to recall Noin's combat experience and skills.

Kaori now flapped her gleaming silver wings, releasing silver feathers to repel the monster. Her control of the silver feathers seemed quite proficient, tracking the monsters like homing missiles, instantly disintegrating and destroying them.

"drink!"

In addition, when facing approaching monsters, she would swing the silver-shining sword in her hand and cut the monsters in half beautifully.

Although it was still quite difficult for Kaori to wield two greatswords as freely as Noin, her skills with just one sword were already quite impressive, at least to the point where she wouldn't be ashamed to call herself a "swordsman."

"Kaori seems to be quite familiar with the body. After all, you fight Yue every day."

"...Her physical abilities are extraordinary. I can't slack off, or she'll catch up."

Seeing Kaori lower her stance and exhale, Hajime and Yue said this.

If it were the original Noin, her combat prowess would have been enough to put even Hajime, even at full strength, in a tough fight, so Kaori still had room for improvement. However, considering that only about two weeks had passed since the soul transfer, Kaori's rate of improvement was truly astonishing. Perhaps it was Kaori's inherent diligence that allowed her to quickly master Noin's combat prowess.

"That's not true. My offensive magic isn't usable in combat yet, and I have to concentrate to activate decomposition... I haven't even defeated Yue once."

Kaori seemed to have overheard Hajime and Yue's conversation. She pouted as she approached them. She wanted to get stronger quickly, and her mind knew how to do it, but her body just couldn't keep up, making her extremely anxious... The emotion was written all over her face.

"...Kaori, what are you talking about? You possess physical abilities that easily surpass ours, and you possess the ferocious ability 'Decompose'. You're proficient in all magical attributes, and you can cast spells without chanting or magic circles. Your swordsmanship is also improving at an astonishing rate, and you haven't seen your limit yet. Furthermore, you already possess the defense of a fortress, and you've inherited the power of healing magic, allowing you to heal instantly... Even calling you a cheat isn't enough. You're a character that's basically ruining the game's balance. Aren't you satisfied with that?"

Shizuku objectively pointed out Kaori's abilities, as if she had been defeated. Kaori, feeling like a monster herself, shifted her gaze with a guilty conscience.

"But I still can't defeat Yue and Shia... If I'm the one who disrupts the balance, then what are Hajime-kun and the others?"

"...I can only say...it's an indescribable existence..."

Shizuku had a troubled expression on her face as she thought about how to describe Hajime and the others, but it seemed like nothing came to mind.

At this time, Guanghui said to Shizuku:

"It's okay, Shizuku. As long as we pass the Great Labyrinth, we'll become as strong as Nagumo. No, considering Nagumo's non-combat vocation, we should definitely be stronger."

"Yeah, I wonder what kind of magic I'll get. I'm really looking forward to it."

"Yeah, we have to work hard."

Although Hajime's strength wasn't solely due to Age of Gods magic, Kouki put that aside for now. He clenched his fists with great determination, and Ryuutarou and Suzu also showed great fighting spirit.

"Everyone, we're here."

Just as Guanghui and the others were burning with fighting spirit, Xia turned back and told everyone that they had arrived at the tree.

Hajime and the others also chased forward to catch up with Shia who was gradually disappearing in the other side of the thick fog, and suddenly came to a space without fog. In front of them stood a huge dead tree that was exactly the same as the one they had seen before.

"This is... the big tree..."

"So big..."

"It's...huge..."

Guanghui and the others looked up, but could not see the top of the tree. Moreover, because the trunk was too wide, it looked like a wall at first glance, which made them stunned.

He must have had the same expression when he first visited here—Hajime and Yue looked at each other and smiled.

Hajime took out the certificate for clearing the large maze from the "treasure box" and walked towards the stone slab at the base of the tree.

The stone slab was the same as before, with seven patterns representing the major mazes painted on the vertices of the heptagon, and a groove on the back for embedding proofs.

Hajime knelt on one knee, playing with the five certificates in his palm. Kouki and the others finally came back to their senses from the magnificent sight of the tree and gathered around Hajime.

Next up was the real demonic realm, where anything could happen—Hajime looked around at everyone with a sharp gaze, reminding them to be mentally prepared.

"Kamu, we don't know what will happen, so please take the Hauriya tribe away for now."

"As you command, Boss. I wish you good luck in your military endeavors."

After negotiations with the elders, the area south of the tree was designated as the territory of the Hauriya tribe, so Kam and the others followed. Although they looked a little disappointed after hearing what Hajime said, they saluted and dispersed together.

After confirming the Hauriyas were gone, Hajime slowly inserted the ring containing the proof of the "Orcus Great Labyrinth" into the stone slab. After a beat, faintly glowing words began to appear on the stone slab.

——Four proofs.

—The power of regeneration.

——Signposts that come with bonds.

——A new road of trials will be opened to those who meet all the requirements.

"It's the same as last time. What kind of proof should we use... Let's use something other than the sacred mountain."

As he spoke, he embedded the evidence into the stone tablet one by one: [Rison's Ring], [Grun's Necklace], [Melkin's Coin]...

With each insertion, the light emitted by the stone slab intensified.

Then, as Hajime inserted the final coin, the light from the slate seemed to be liberated, shooting along the ground towards the tree, causing the tree itself to emit a dazzling flash.

"Hmm? Patterns are appearing on the trees too."

"...Hmm, next is the power of regeneration?"

Just as Tio spoke with deep interest, a heptagonal pattern emerged from the trunk of the tree. Yue walked towards the pattern, reached out and touched it, casting regeneration magic.

Then, an intense light, incomparable to before, covered the tree. Starting from the place where Yue's palm touched, waves of light spread like ripples towards the top of the tree.

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