Chapter 8 - Brief glance at "common" history and their stories

After defeating the fake scorpion, Hajime and Yue moved the corpses of the cyclops and the fake scorpion to a make-shift shelter. They could have stayed at the room, but Hajime suggested moving as Yue wanted to get out the room, and Hajime already knew it from his previous experience. Yue was imprisoned there for years, and Hajime realized that he might be tempted to just show her the message her uncle has left behind for her. As such, they introduced each other as Hajime was resupplying the spent ammos and armaments.

"Then, Yue is at least 300 years old."

".... Hajime, rude."

Yue said with with blame in her eyes. It seems not matter the world, or timeline, it was rude to ask women about their age. Still, their conversation went on.

Vampire race went extinct due to large war about 300 years ago. Vampire race can live up to about 200 years though ingesting blood, however, Yue was an outlier due to "regeneration", making her an outlier. After she awoke to avatism, she became the strongest in few years and king at the age of 17.

Her strength and regeneration would make her to be perceived to be god or monster, but latter in this case due to the greed of her uncle. He incited others to kill her, but had to seal her away as she was impossible to kill with "regeneration". She was too shocked to counterattack, and was sealed in no time. That's why she didn't understand how she came to be in that room, with scorpion, at the depth of labyrinth.

Still, her strength was real deal, as expected of future "Demon Queen". She had affinity for all elements and no chant, yet still recites the name of the spell half due to habit and half for imaging. However, even if she could regenerate indefinitely as long as she had mana and could spam spells, she wasn't proficient in close combat, and also couldn't heal if she didn't have enough mana or was turned to dust in an instant.

They continued their talks now into the labyrinth, which had no exit available for them at the moment. Labyrinths were created by the by "Rebels" who went against god who supposedly tried to destroyed the world in the mythological age.

There were total of 7 "Rebels", the apostles of god, whom tried to destroy the world. However, after their plans failed, they ran to the end of the world and created the 7 Great Labyrinth. The "Orcus Labyrinth" they were in, supposedly had a "Rebel" living at the farthest depth.

"... Maybe at the depth, there would be an exit..."

"True. You wouldn't think that you would walk all the way back up from the bottom of labyrinth. Mages from mythological ages could have used teleportation magic to make a route to the surface."

As Hajime smiled about how they went down the labyrinth last time and finally got to the surface, Yue just stared at Hajime's hands.

"Is it that fun?"

As Yue just silently nodded at Hajime's question, Hajime smiled at the cuteness of Yue dressed in loose outerwear, with her small fingers barely peaking out of the sleeves.

'As expected of fantasy, loli-baba exists in reality.' Hajime reminisced about the old joke he made in his previous exprience.

"... Hajime, did you think about something rude?" And again, Yue had sharp intuition as always.

"No, nothing like that." Hajime denied with calm face, but was sweating inside. Maybe he was able to fool her, or she didn't want to pursue it, but now, she began to ask the questions.

"... So Hajime, why are you here?"

It was normal question. The depth of labyrinth was a place for monsters. Yue had many questions to ask him, from his ability to use magic directly, his unique magics, ability to eat monster meat and still survive, about his weapons, and if he was even human.

Hajime answered them all with same answers, enjoying the time with her, and remembering that same conversation they had with each other last time. How he was summoned with others but were called incompetent, to betrayals of his classmate, eating monsters and changing and somehow surviving with Ambrosia, and how he referenced the weapons from original world. As the conversation continued, at some point, he could hear sniffling from Yue.

Hajime turned to her, and wiped her tears.

"What's wrong?"

"...*sniffle* ... Hajime ... suffered ... so I am sad"

At her reply, he could only smile wryly and stroke her head gently.

"Don't worry about it. He doesn't concern me anymore, and there's no point in thinking about him. More than revenge, I just want to find a way to go back home." Yue narrowed her eyes like a cat as he stroke her, but twitched at his last words.

"... You are going back?"

"To the original world? Yes. I should go back home. ... Many things changed, but still I want to go back."

"... Okay."

Yue dropped her head in sadness, then suddenly mutterd.

"... I don't have any place ... to go back to ..."

At this, Hajime continued stroking her while smiling wryly. This might have been the start of how they got together last time.

"Then, do you want to come with me?"

"Yes?"

As Yue widened her eyes at Hajime's words, he continued stroking her head as he told her.

"I mean, to my home. There's only normal people, and you might not have any legal identity, but everything should work out, if you want to."

As Yue stared in daze, she finally asked after understanding what he said.

"Is that okay?"

Despite her question, her eyes contained expectations that couldn't be hidden.

Seeing her glittering eyes, Hajime just gently smiled, and nodded. And like her previous expressionless face was a lie, Yue's smile bloomed on her face, as they just stared at each other for a little while.