“Ugh ……”
The headache was followed by an inexplicable emptiness and a sense of loss.
Hans unconsciously frowned at the familiar yet still unwelcome sensation.
Well, was there anything pleasant in this labyrinth?
There was nothing but things he had no choice but to get used to.
Hans shook off the lethargy that gripped his limbs and stood up.
After blinking a few times, his eyes soon took in the familiar ceiling.
“This place…”
It was his home.
Honestly, he had been anxious, but did Alje somehow manage to pull it off?
Hans reached for his ear.
The eerie sensation of Ojojo’s beak digging in and tearing it apart was still vivid, yet the soft flesh his fingers touched bore no trace of even a small wound.
“Ah… ah.”
He tested his voice a few times to check his condition.
His hearing was intact as well.
That was a relief — except for one thing: Alje was nowhere to be found in the house.
The moment Hans realized that and half-panicked as he got up, the door opened.
“Uncle!”
It was a familiar voice and a familiar figure.
Hans easily caught the small body that came leaping toward him.
Alje bumped her forehead lightly against his chest and then looked up, grinning.
“How are you feeling? Are you okay? I worked really hard to fix you up. I also did a good job avoiding other people’s attention, just like you said.”
“One thing at a time, one thing at a time.”
Overwhelmed by her nonstop chatter, Hans gently set Alje a little away from him.
“…How much time has passed?”
“A few hours? It hasn’t been a whole day. It’s daytime now.”
Considering how much of the drug he had taken without preparation, he’d woken up pretty quickly.
It was probably thanks to some miracle, too.
Feeling a sense of pride, Hans ruffled Alje’s hair.
The girl smiled brightly, not caring that her sleek, black hair was getting messy.
“Pretty impressive. You found your way home just fine and even saved me. Honestly, I was worried I might lose my hearing or suffer permanent damage if the treatment was delayed.”
“Ahaha…”
If the girl hadn’t acted so swiftly, things could have gone terribly wrong.
Though she was being praised, Alje looked a bit guilty about something.
Well, it’s probably nothing.
Hans didn’t think much of it.
“What? You knew, and you still did it? What were you planning to do if things went really wrong?”
“There are a few ways to heal the body, even if they’re not as perfect as a saint’s miracle.”
Things like the Regeneration Herb or the Fountain of Life — expensive, but still cheaper than a life.
Or you could even transplant a monster’s body part onto the damaged area.
Though, of course, that would eventually lead to the entire body rotting away.
It might take months for the poison to spread through the body, but it only takes a week for someone to starve to death.
Truthfully, the other methods weren’t without their side effects either.
Setting aside the cost, the Regeneration Herb draws on life force, making the body age faster.
The Fountain of Life is so rare that even explorers struggle to find enough for themselves.
But the saint’s miracle…It has no side effects.
It never runs out.
Even if only half of the stories Hans had heard were true, a single saint could open the eyes of a hundred blind people and make the paralyzed walk in a day.
That’s why it’s called a miracle.
It’s also why saints were powerful enough to stand on equal footing with witches who could tear the skies and shake the earth.
“But still, you’re the best.”
“Hehe, right?”
Right now, Hans had that power all to himself.
A saint devoted to just one person — not even the greatest of kings had enjoyed such a luxury.
Selfishness — the kind that only thinks of oneself — was a common trait shared by every human in the labyrinth, and Hans was no special exception.
So he decided to fully enjoy this stroke of luck.
“Yep! Just leave everything to me!”
But more than anything, the greatest fortune of all……was being able to see that pure, unstained smile — a smile untouched by blood and untainted by the labyrinth.
For a brief moment, Hans saw two sharp little protrusions peek out from the corners of Alje’s mouth — but they vanished in the blink of an eye.
It was probably just his imagination.
After all, the girl didn’t seem the least bit hungry right now.
*
“I’m bored.”
An hour later, Hans was starting to slightly regret his earlier thoughts.
They were still stuck inside this cramped house.
Sure, it was partly because they had drawn the attention of a witch — but honestly, even if that hadn’t happened, Hans’s behavior wouldn’t have been much different.
Hans lay sprawled on the bed.
Meanwhile, Alje sat next to him, chattering away.
When Hans started responding half-heartedly out of laziness, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and began flitting restlessly around the house.
She used a drop of Hans’s blood to dispel the illusion hiding the safe, cleaned up the dust and junk scattered around, and inspected the weapons and monster trophies Hans had pulled out for her to play with.
And after getting bored with all of that in just an hour, Alje was now pestering Hans.
Alje knew well enough — she shouldn’t go out into Heimvig alone.
She didn’t know the layout of the city, and she had no desire to deal with the unpleasant stares she’d undoubtedly attract.
More than anything, it had been nighttime earlier — and back then, she had been cloaked in the scent of blood.
Like most cities, Heimvig was far more active during the day than at night.
While its atmosphere was more lawless than even the roughest of outlaw towns, the number of actual crimes committed here was far lower than in the capital.
Invisible familiars monitored people from all directions, and even petty theft was punished with death.
But that also meant the city struggled to deal with acts that didn’t quite qualify as “crimes.”
Things like unpleasant remarks, people blocking your path — minor, yet impossible to ignore.
“I’m boooored! Let’s go outside, okay? Please?”
“There’s nothing worth seeing out there anyway.”
“Ugh, well… that’s true, but still.”
It had only been a day since they left the hill of corpses and arrived in Heimvig — and what a chaotic day it had been.
They’d drawn the wrath of a witch, been attacked by a hopeless addict, and ended up breaking the rules out of necessity.
No matter how harsh life in the labyrinth was, if every single day was this eventful, Hans knew he wouldn’t last long.
Maybe it was because he’d been blessed with too much luck — and now fate was trying to balance it out with one misfortune after another.
Thinking that way, Hans suddenly felt like being a bit kinder to Alje.
“Well… it’s not like I don’t have a reason to go out.”
“Really?! I wanted to visit that white-brick street!”
“Good instinct. That’s exactly where I’m headed.”
After all, Hans was just like any other human of the labyrinth — hopelessly superstitious.
And besides, it wasn’t fair to call him entirely selfish — he had treated Alje well so far.
That said, he wasn’t her father.
He couldn’t exactly follow a girl bigger than a foal around, cleaning up after her every step.
“But you can’t come with me.”
At Hans’s firm words, Alje’s face froze — then crumpled into an expression that would’ve been embarrassing even for a child her age.
“Why! Why not?!”
“Do you think just anyone can walk into Sindelstrasse? Guys like me would get beaten up the second we set foot in there.”
Even within Heimvig, the differences between districts were stark.
This place, Kumo Strasse, was raw and unfiltered — the bottom of the barrel where people showed their true, unpolished selves.
Sindelstrasse, on the other hand, at least pretended to be a place where civilized people lived.
Which, of course, just meant it was full of pretense, vanity, and extravagant displays of wealth.
In the end, they were all still prisoners of the labyrinth — they just wore nicer masks.
Which is to say, it was a district full of pretense, vanity, and extravagant displays of wealth — people acting like nobles when they were just as trapped in the labyrinth as everyone else.
“Huh? Isn’t it just a street? How do they even tell people from the two districts apart?”
“The way they dress. To get into Sindelstrasse, you have to wear clothes from the surface.”
No matter how clean you kept them, clothes made from monster hides always had a certain sheen and texture that gave them away.
Meanwhile, the everyday wear in Sindelstrasse.
Even if it was simple clothing that surface-dwelling commoners might wear, it still had a refined look.
Sure, in terms of sheer practicality, monster leather was far tougher and more durable than regular fabric — but that wasn’t the point.
To live in Sindelstrasse, you had to have enough wealth to spend on “useless” luxuries like that.
“More than anything, it’s not like I really want to leave you behind.”
“Whaaat? Hans, are you saying we’re already at the point where you can’t live without me? I wasn’t ready for this…!”
Hans ignored Alje’s ridiculous joke without so much as a glance.
“…….Uh “.
“I’m going to see a witch.”
“Before she comes looking for me, it’s probably better if I take my punishment on my own terms.”
Leaving Alje alone made him uneasy — but taking her in front of not just one, but several witches?
That was even worse.
After all, witches hated beautiful women.
And the moment one crossed their path, they wouldn’t hesitate to snatch her up.
Witches hated beautiful women.
They might not snatch up and kill every pretty face they saw on the street — but they certainly wouldn’t ignore one if she was close enough to reach.
Oh, and there was also the small matter of keeping the fact that Alje was either a saint or a monster under wraps.
“Yeah… I really don’t like that person… and I think she doesn’t like me either.”
Hans didn’t bother correcting Alje’s misunderstanding.
Honestly, it was better this way.
At least the girl who had been so stubborn a moment ago was now willing to back down.
But that didn’t erase his worries.
As Hans looked into those eyes — pure and brilliant like an uncut gem — his voice carried a hint of concern.
“…So, Alje. Can you stay here and watch the house by yourself?”
“Of course! I’ve got this!”
“You won’t go outside? Won’t cause any trouble?”
“Uh… well…”Yeah.
Like he could trust that.