Business at the cake shop was actually pretty average. After finishing the most basic batch of bread for sale, there were often stretches with no customers at all. Caro enlarged her harp, then leaned against a corner of the shop and began to play.

Lasi listened seriously to Caro’s performance, then gave her a thumbs-up. “That sounds really nice!”

Caro smiled, accepting the praise, then answered a little modestly, “What I play doesn’t really count as anything formal. I just play whatever comes to mind. Later on, I should probably try finding a teacher.”

“Mmm... I don’t really know much about music,” Lasi said, giving unexpectedly sound advice. “But I think as long as it sounds good, that’s enough.”

In truth, Caro thought the same way. How exactly you played—that was the music world’s rulebook. But if you had an instrument in hand and could play a tune, that already counted as success.

Still, compared to that, Lasi cared more about something else.

“You and that captain... how’s that going?”

Caro knew the owner had definitely misunderstood her relationship with Arnold. But that didn’t really matter. She wasn’t going to stay in this city for long anyway, so she couldn’t be bothered to explain.

But...

She thought of something interesting.

So in an instant, the girl’s expression turned sorrowful. The random tune under her fingers suddenly took on a mournful, aggrieved tone.

“He—he said he can’t marry me.”

That was the kind of thing that could make the listener grieve and the onlooker cry.

“After doing this and that to me, he came today just to tell me this was our farewell—he already had a fiancée!”

She kept spreading rumors about Arnold right there. Well, that was what a Bard was. If everything they said was true, that definitely wouldn’t do. Making things up was basic professional ethics.

Lasi froze for a moment. “Seriously?”

“W-Would I joke about my own chastity?”

The answer here was, of course she would.

But Lasi didn’t know that.

“Then he’s a complete scumbag!” Lasi suddenly looked a little furious. She grabbed Caro’s hand. “A man like that! It’s fine to cut ties with him! Everyone goes through something like this! You just need to forget him! He’s only a passerby in your life!”

She comforted Caro earnestly.

“Well... it’s not that bad, I guess. I believe he does like me. He’ll definitely come looking for me again.”

“You—!” Lasi choked on her words. “You young girls! You just haven’t suffered enough from love! You’ll never turn back until the very end!”

With the look of someone facing rotten wood that couldn’t be carved, she turned and went back to watch the counter. Caro snickered to herself. She felt that when Arnold came looking for her next time, he was going to get blasted without even knowing what happened.

And when that time came, she’d put on an innocent face too and say she had no idea what was going on. She could already picture Arnold looking utterly miserable.

That said... the labyrinth...

Lucy’s condition still seemed very stable. Arnold should be able to handle things fairly smoothly.

Caro looked outside the shop. The sun was still shining brightly. No one in Dermal City knew that something major was happening in this city, something connected to that ancient spirit tree.

Still, that ancient tree really was incredible.

Those golden leaves, that intelligence, and the ability to create a labyrinth on its own—what an astonishing creation.

As she was thinking that, she saw a customer.

Arnold?

No, this was a woman.

But unexpectedly, she gave off a presence very similar to Arnold’s. Her black hair was tied in a single ponytail that hung all the way to her waist. At both sides of that slender waist were two short swords. Despite how slim her waist was, this woman was developed in all the right places. The proudly rising peaks, the backside that looked full of springy elasticity, and the tight outfit subtly tracing the curves from thigh to calf... she was an absurdly stunning beauty.

Personally, Caro really liked this type of tall, elegant beauty. In fact, Hua Fanlin and the silver-haired Sword Saint were this type too—tall and cold. When women like that showed a shy expression, it was enough to make someone ten thousand times more excited.

“Miss, what would you like to buy? Regular bread? We have about three kinds here. The most basic hard bread, sweeter honey bread, and the slightly more luxurious meat floss bread...”

The woman in front of her just looked at her without speaking.

Caro couldn’t help feeling a little awkward, but she kept introducing things anyway.

“If you want to order a custom cake, then you’ll need to describe your request in detail here. The price will be a bit higher too. Cream is rather expensive, after all...”

The woman still said nothing.

“Miss?” Caro felt like the awkwardness had already peaked. But then she suddenly thought of something.

Could this customer be... mute!

Right, that had to be it! She was mute, so of course she wasn’t speaking!

Thoughtfully, Caro handed over a feather pen and paper. This should count as the cake shop’s property, not her personal stuff, right?

And yet—

The other woman didn’t take them.

After staring at her for a long while, she finally spoke.

“You smell like Arnold. You were in very close contact with him today—something like... yes, an embrace.”

“...”

Caro fell silent in an instant.

What kind of profession was that? I smell like Arnold? Why does that way of putting it feel so unpleasant? Caro sized the woman up carefully once again.

A tight outfit, two short swords? Why did that sound so familiar?

Black hair...

“Blade Dancer Karin!?”

In an instant, Caro realized exactly who the woman in front of her was. She clicked her tongue twice, then very rudely gave the Blade Dancer another rather lecherous full-body look.

“Not bad at all! Arnold really is enviable, having a beauty like you as a teammate.”

Karin looked a little uncomfortable under Caro’s gaze. “Y-You know Arnold?”

Caro frowned. “Didn’t you just say I smell like him? So what’s strange about me knowing him?”

“He... told you his real identity?” Karin asked.

That made it sound like Arnold normally never revealed his real identity to anyone he came into contact with. But Caro had known he was Arnold from their very first meeting. Arnold hadn’t seemed to have any intention of hiding it either.

Still...

“Well then, Miss Former Teammate, what exactly did you come here for?”

“I came to find Arnold.”

Her answer was unexpectedly straightforward.

Caro showed a puzzled expression. “I heard the Demonhunt Squad already kicked Arnold out. And lately, he doesn’t seem to have any plans to be an adventurer again. Even if you came to ask him back to the team or something, he probably wouldn’t agree. He seems to be on a journey to meet old friends from the past.”

Actually, Caro didn’t want to show any good attitude toward people who had kicked Arnold out. But considering the kind of person who could be Arnold’s teammate, she was definitely terrifyingly strong. If the woman got annoyed and stabbed her, wouldn’t that be a huge loss for Caro?

So she still kept a basically friendly attitude.

Unexpectedly, those words silenced Karin all at once.

“...Miss Karin?”

For the first time, a smile appeared on Karin’s pretty face. But it was an extremely bitter smile. She seemed unable to say it, yet some force was making her speak anyway.

“Actually... I was kicked out too.”

“...?”

Caro froze.

...

“The labyrinth created by the Ancient Spirit Tree feels kind of similar to me,” Lucy said as she lay on Arnold’s shoulder, observing their surroundings.

Arnold nodded. “In fact, when the Ancient Spirit Tree gives people advice, that act itself counts as a kind of transaction. Those who pray to it receive its guidance. If they carry out that guidance, then they form a kind of contract with the tree. A part of their thoughts remains in this labyrinth. And didn’t Helen say before that your kind of existence is a collection of thoughts?”

Arnold casually cut down a half-man-tall treant that came close. A mass of pure white substance floated out of it, then dispersed.

“Over these long years, just how many thoughts has it accumulated? How much power does it have now? Even I find it frightening. But an agreement was already reached a few years ago.”

This labyrinth was made entirely of roots, buried beneath Dermal City. The roots formed a complicated network of caverns that could make anyone lose their way at any moment. For Arnold, though, that wasn’t much of a problem. The walls made of roots couldn’t truly block his advance. He didn’t need to follow the “path.”

“These treants are tough, but in terms of strength, they’re only around silver-rank adventurer level. No matter how you think about it, that shouldn’t be enough to make Fanlin House pay such a huge price.”

“That’s exactly what I need to investigate. Something has gone wrong with the Ancient Spirit Tree. I suspect it has something to do with the demon race. But I’ll need to investigate further before I can be sure. The current Demon King is very strong. And very intelligent.” Arnold’s tone was grave. “Targeting the Ancient Spirit Tree would be perfectly normal. The question is whether the tree was passively controlled, or whether it reached some kind of agreement with the demon race.”

Little ghost-like Lucy also let out a sigh, even though she didn’t really have that ability. “The demon race is very good at hiding among humans. So if they did something like this, it wouldn’t really be surprising. If this really was caused by the demon race, then...”

“I’d actually prefer it if this really were the work of demons behind the scenes,” Arnold said instead. “If that’s the case, then we just need to eliminate the demons causing trouble. As long as the Ancient Spirit Tree itself doesn’t have ideas of its own... I don’t want this tree, which has stood in this city for ages, to disappear. In a sense, it’s also one of humanity’s symbols. There’s even a military corps in this country called the Ancient Spirit Corps. This tree has meaning on the level of spiritual symbolism.”

As he spoke at length, Arnold killed two or three more treants. Then he said a little helplessly, “Lucy, is this bad for you? This... dispersal of thoughts.”

“For me? Not really. If anything, I feel like I’ve... grown a little. But it’s hard to describe exactly. I’m not sure whether I’ve gotten stronger. It’s a very faint feeling. But it probably won’t affect me much.”

Arnold let out a breath of relief. “That’s good. If you feel any discomfort, go back to Caro. Leave the rest to me. I don’t really understand this kind of thing.”

“Mhm. I’ll be careful.”