Chapter 9 – Labyrinth Strategy 【1】

Before my eyes, an angel had appeared.

But the angel is now at a distance from me, face pale, wary of something.

“P-Pervert! There’s a pervert here!”

The angel’s scream-like words shocked me.

To think there’s a pervert in this room.

Right now I only have the physical abilities of an ordinary middle school girl, but I’ll definitely eliminate any existence that would harm her, even at the cost of my life.

Driven by a sense of duty, I looked around.

Strangely though, I couldn’t find the pervert anywhere in the room.

“Where is this pervert!? Right now I can only see you, but if you tell me, I’ll eliminate them immediately!”

Oh, my voice came out smoothly this time.

I just used polite speech because she’s my lifesaver.

Well, we’ll probably become close soon and talk normally.

Incidentally, the words “I can only see you” that I just said mean both that there are only the two of us in this room, and also literally “I can only see you.”

It’s important to accumulate small approaches like this.

“The pervert is you!”

“Pardon?”

What a thing to say. I’m not a pervert.

“I’m not a pervert. What exactly about me looks like a pervert?”

“You licked my shoes!”

I see…

Certainly, if a guy in a sailor uniform licks shoes while crying, that’s a genuine pervert.

Or rather, nothing but a pervert.

This is bad. At this rate, I’ll become a pervert in her mind.

Perverts should be eliminated, but if I’m eliminated, I can’t see her.

All right, let’s try persuading her.

“Just because someone licked shoes doesn’t necessarily make them a pervert.”

“Whaaat!?”

She’s completely unconvinced. Well, that’s a natural reaction.

“For example, a man who licked a beautiful girl’s shoes and a man who ate shoes—which one is the pervert?”

“E-Eating shoes… that’s impossible! It goes without saying the one who ate them is the pervert!”

Huh. I subtly complimented her by saying “beautiful girl,” but she didn’t notice at all.

“Right. Then let’s consider the following case. Once upon a time in a certain town, there was a man who explored a cave searching for medicine ingredients to save his sick sister. He explored the cave earnestly every day and finally obtained the medicine ingredients. But at that moment, an earthquake suddenly occurred and the cave collapsed.”

“Oh no…!”

“Fortunately, the man was safe, but he was completely trapped inside the cave. He waited for rescue from outside while rationing his food, but his food ran out in three days. So to survive, he ate bats and insects in the cave to prolong his life, but he consumed all of those in a week too.”

“Gulp…”

She’s starting to get absorbed in my story.

“A desperate situation. Even so, he didn’t give up. He’d finally obtained the medicine ingredients, he could save his sister—he couldn’t give up. With tremendous mental fortitude, he endured a full 15 days in a starving state. But still, no rescue came. Driven to the brink of starvation, the man went into mental delirium. But at that moment, his shoes suddenly came into his view. Synthetic leather shoes.”

“!!”

“Cowhide and pigskin are edible. So what about synthetic leather? Under normal circumstances, he would have immediately realized that was absurd. But because he was mentally delirious, the shoes looked delicious and he couldn’t stand it. Who could condemn him as a pervert for eating shoes in that situation? Now, answer me. Is he a pervert?”

“U-Ugh… Maybe not a pervert… But that person was in an extreme situation…”

“Which is the more extreme situation—that cave or this labyrinth?”

“…This labyrinth.”

“In other words, this labyrinth is an even harsher environment than that cave where going delirious and eating shoes wouldn’t be strange. So if I collapsed for over 15 days in this labyrinth and went delirious and licked shoes, there’s nothing strange about it, right?”

“Yes…”

No, it’s strange.

But since I can’t be avoided by her, I said with a sad expression:

“And yet I was suddenly condemned as a pervert, and now I’m very sad.”

“U-Ugh… I’m shorry I called you a pervert…”

Good grief. That was close.

If I were thought of as a pervert and avoided by her—my lifesaver and the person I’ve fallen for—I might not have been able to go on living.

Well, I still intend to kill the fifth floor boss regardless.

Anyway, I used sophistry to overcome the crisis and even got her to apologize in polite speech.

Hah, her dejected appearance is so adorable it sends shivers… no wait, hold on.

What am I doing right now? Am I an elementary school boy bullying the girl he likes?

To do something like this when she saved my life—isn’t that the work of a demon?

I deeply reflected and decided to give her a carrot to cheer her up.

“There, there, I like honest children.”

“U-Ugh”

When I said that with a smile, her face flushed red.

This is at least not a negative reaction.

I thanked my parents repeatedly. These words have the opposite effect without a certain level of facial attractiveness.

I wanted to praise her more and see her reaction, but there are still four floors remaining besides this one.

Let’s leave it at this for now.

Come to think of it, I haven’t thanked her properly or introduced myself yet. I need to properly express my gratitude first.

With that thought, I approached her.

She looked dejected, but she no longer tried to run from me.

I naturally walked alongside her and conveyed my thanks.

“Earlier, it had been so long since I’d spoken that I couldn’t say anything. Let me express my gratitude once more. My name is Suzuki Sugar, an ordinary student. Pleased to meet you.”

“N-No, I only did what was natural. I… I’m Mel Christopher. My class is… third-rank mage. Pleased to meet you. Ah, I’m really sorry for misunderstanding earlier!”

No, that wasn’t a misunderstanding. A genuine pervert.

If such a pervert appeared before me, I’m confident I could exterminate them even if I had to mobilize all the labyrinth’s traps.

I haven’t mentioned it until now, but this labyrinth’s traps are also extremely vicious.

But compared to me, what about her?

She forgave me for my perverted act, and despite using a potion equal to her own life to save someone, she says “I only did what was natural.”

She really is an angel, no doubt about it.

By the way, she hesitated slightly, but “class” and “mage” came up in her self-introduction.

It seems she came from a world where magic exists.

But why did she hesitate?

Does she dislike being a mage? Or is third-rank mage an embarrassing class? Or does she lack confidence? Or is she concerned that her magic has been sealed by this labyrinth?

There’s too little information about her to judge.

How should I assess this…

I looked at her.

The angel-like aged girl has angel-like eyes and an angel-like nose and angel-like lips and angel-like ears and angel-like hair and angel-like eyebrows and an angel-like face and an angel-like height and an angel-like chest and an angel-like waist and angel-like arms and angel-like legs, and gives off an angel-like fragrance while wearing angel-like clothes.

Truly an angel. Seriously an angel.

Wait. I’m wearing those clothes too, so am I also an angel?

No, I’m not an angel but an ordinary high school boy.

I gave an example of a delirious man earlier, but it seems I’ve also gone delirious.

After calming down a bit, this time I visualized her appearance in my mind instead of staring.

Staring intently at someone you’ve just met is rude and risks making them uncomfortable.

I don’t know her exact age, but she looks like a middle schooler.

With my poor vocabulary, the only words I can think of to describe her are “angel” or “goddess.”

Her porcelain-like skin gives a sense of transparency that seems see-through—of course it’s not actually transparent. That would just be horror—and while her upturned eyes seem slightly domineering, her innocent light brown pupils, light brown twin tails extending to her waist, and small frame make her look like an energetic, curious girl.

Her lips, neither thin nor thick but just the right thickness, shine a peach color.

The balance of her eyes, nose, and mouth is perfect, making each feature look even more beautiful.

Her face itself is no exaggeration to call a supreme work of art.

And if I shift my gaze down from her face, this time her sailor uniform appearance comes into view.

It felt like what should be had returned to where it should be.

The pure white blouse enhances the girl’s skin’s transparency, and the borderline-length skirt stimulates a high school boy’s imagination.

And the absolute territory visible between the skirt and knee-high socks.

In this moment, I understood. Her appearance in a sailor uniform—that is the perfection of sailor uniforms.

In the first place, the sailor uniform Hanako wore was designed for middle school girls.

In other words, this clothing that even exudes holiness is absolutely not something that should be worn by high school boys or muscular men.

But for my honor, let me say I have no interest in sailor uniforms themselves.

An ordinary sailor uniform is just clothing. It becomes divine garb because she’s wearing it.

The sailor uniform enhances her, and she enhances the sailor uniform.

And as the mechanism of the enhanced sailor uniform enhancing her again repeats, her charm becomes infinite.

This is a perpetual motion machine. The dream of scientists from the 16th to 18th centuries has been realized here and now.

But I think anything she wears becomes a perpetual motion machine, not just sailor uniforms.

In other words, she is a perpetual motion machine manufacturing device.

Ah, I got too excited.

There’s so much I want to say, but sinking into my own thoughts alone probably won’t give a very good impression.

Let’s leave it at this for now.

By the way, “Mel Christopher,” huh.

Her hair is natural light brown too, and her light brown eyes definitely aren’t contacts.

She really is a foreigner—or rather, from another world.

I don’t really understand why I can communicate with someone from another world, but thinking about it, Hanako also conversed normally with the demon god. Therefore, this labyrinth probably has a translation function.

Now then, which is the first name between “Mel” and “Christopher”?

Both common sense and intuition tell me Mel is the first name, but since she’s from another world, I’m not certain.

Also, there’s a possibility the translation function changed the order of surname and first name.

In her world too, it might be rude to suddenly call someone by their first name upon first meeting. It’s no exaggeration to say my impression from here on will be determined by how I address her.

Well, I should be able to tell immediately by asking which is her surname, but in that case I’d have to call her by her surname.

I really want to call her by her first name.

Assuming “Mel” is her first name, I came up with a method to call her by her first name without causing discomfort even upon first meeting.

I was a bit anxious about whether the corresponding term exists in her world and whether the translation function would work properly, but I took the gamble.

“Um, Mel-sama…”

“Fwah!? M-Mel-sama!?”

She panicked as expected. It seems the “-sama” form of address exists in her world too.

I don’t know how high a position third-rank mage is, but judging by how readily she apologizes and her manner of speaking, she doesn’t seem to be in a distinguished position where she’s normally called with “-sama.”

She’s probably flustered now about being called with “-sama” and hasn’t noticed being called by her first name by someone she just met.

However, if I leave it at this, I’ll just be a weird person to her.

A weird person might be fine as a friend, but I can’t expect further development.

Let me provide some supplementation here.

“How long do you think I was collapsed here?”

“Um, I’m not really sure, but you said earlier you were collapsed for over 15 days, so a month?”

“No, that’s not right. At least over 100 years.”

“A hundred years!?”

She was shocked. Actually, it wasn’t just 100 years but over 10,000 years I should have been collapsed, but I deliberately reduced it because it lacks realism.

“Th-Then you’re a grandpa…”

“No, that’s not right.”

So that’s what surprised you.

“One year in this labyrinth is one second outside. So I’m not a grandpa but still an ordinary student. You understand, right?”

“Y-Yesh”

“Anyway, for a long time, several people passed through here. But no one helped me. Only Mel-sama. You used a potion equal to your own life to save me. If Mel-sama hadn’t saved me, I would no longer be myself. That’s why Mel-sama is my benefactor. Not just my life, but my benefactor who saved my heart too. For me, calling Mel-sama with ‘-sama’ is only natural.”

This is my sincere, genuine feeling. Like my mother, I’m constitutionally unable to lie.

My father occasionally said things like “That makes it even worse…” but not lying is a good thing, right?

Perhaps my feelings got through, as she seemed to calm down a bit.

“B-But ‘-sama’ is… that’s still a bit…”

“Hmm, I see… Then it can’t be helped. I can’t burden Mel-sama either. So, how should I address you?”

“My friends call me Mel, so Mel is fine.”

So Mel was the first name after all.

Thus I shifted her attention from “which to use, surname or first name” to “how to address the first name,” and successfully got to call her by her first name.

I was slightly worried about what I’d do if she said “Please call me Christopher-san” in this situation, but fortunately that didn’t happen.

“Then Mel, please call me Sugar too. In my country, surnames come first and given names come last.”

“Fwah? U-Understood, Sugar… san”

Her face flushed slightly red. She seems to have belatedly noticed being called by her first name by a man she just met.

But since I got permission from her, there’s no problem.

Now, let’s advance the relationship a bit more.

“Not Sugar-san, just Sugar. And no need for polite speech either. Mel is my lifesaver.”

“B-But Sugar… also uses polite speech with me, and you’re a grandp—I mean, older than me…”

I’m not a grandpa though…

I might have messed up. I should have said 10 years instead of 100 years.

Well, what’s said is said. Let’s just focus on advancing the relationship now.

“Then how about we both drop the polite speech?”