After a long battle that finally ended with the defeat of the great serpent, we arrived at the ninety-fourth floor of the Great Southern Labyrinth.
"Kyaa! So white! So cooold! Ahaha!"
In the blizzard-swept ninety-fourth floor, Lucre was frolicking like a child.
"After casting that much magic, how the hell does she still have energy left to mess around…?"
Will muttered in disbelief as he watched Lucre's high-energy antics.
I had to agree.
Lucre hadn't cast quite as much as Rain-san, but she'd still unleashed a considerable number of spells—easily into double digits.
Even if she hadn't done much parallel construction or standby activation that heavily taxes the brain, the fatigue should still be substantial.
The fact that she still had this much energy was proof of just how tough she really was.
Looking at the four of us (excluding Lucre) who were visibly exhausted, maybe she really was the toughest one here…
By the way, the ninety-fourth floor was an extreme frozen wasteland.
Similar floors existed even in the lower layers, but this one was incomparably harsher.
A constant blizzard raged, reducing visibility to almost nothing beyond a few meters.
The snow also messed with one's sense of direction; getting lost in the vast deep-layer space would mean being drained by temperatures well below freezing—heading straight toward death.
Even the *Golden Dawn* hadn't seriously explored the ninety-fourth floor, so I personally knew very little about this layer.
"We've finally reached it. The ninety-fourth floor."
Rain-san—watching Lucre's playful antics with a fond smile—spoke again after taking another look around.
"Yeah. Now we've caught up to the Dawn. All that's left is to surpass them."
Selma-san's reply carried a powerful sense of determination.
Information on the ninety-fourth floor was almost nonexistent, and visibility was physically blocked.
Conquering this place would undoubtedly be far more difficult than anything we'd faced before.
There was even a real possibility someone might drop out.
Yet it was precisely because we conquered the deepest reached floor and stepped into uncharted territory that the people called us brave, daring explorers—[Heroes].
There must be anxiety too, but Selma-san stared straight ahead without wavering.
(Maybe it's exactly this side of Selma-san that draws people in.)
After that, Selma-san and the other four placed their guild cards against the crystal at the entrance to the ninety-fourth floor to register the layer, then returned to the surface.
◇
By the time we emerged aboveground, the sun had already completely set.
"Ah! The Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky people are back!"
A huge crowd had gathered near the entrance to the Great Labyrinth. Someone spotted us first and shouted.
Judging by their attire, there were some explorers among them, but most were ordinary citizens.
Come to think of it, the newspaper Blanka published this morning had featured a huge headline about us challenging the ninety-third floor.
In an instant we were surrounded by people bombarding us with questions.
We were exhausted from the ninety-third-floor conquest and honestly just wanted a break—but reminding myself this was part of an explorer's duty, I put on a public-facing smile and answered the flood of questions one after another.
The news that we'd conquered the ninety-third floor spread through Tsutorairu like wildfire. The entire city erupted in celebration.
Seeing the excitement, I once again felt how much damage the *Golden Dawn*'s downfall had inflicted on ordinary citizens.
That's exactly why I wanted to keep being an explorer who could live up to their expectations from now on.
The next day onward was hectic—interviews with newspapers, attending sponsor-hosted parties, and so on—until I realized the year was already down to its final hours.
Finally able to relax a little, the five of us from the First Unit spent some peaceful time together.
"This year, with Orun joining us, we made huge progress. Orun—once again, thank you for joining the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky."
"Thank you, Orun-kun." "Thanks~!" "Thanks a ton."
Suddenly Selma-san spoke to me in an incredibly gentle voice. The other three followed her lead, each offering their thanks.
All four of them wore full, beaming smiles.
"…What's with the sudden gratitude?"
"The year's almost over. I just wanted to say it properly one more time. There's no doubt we came this far because of you, Orun."
"That's right. At this time last year, we were completely stuck—huge walls blocking every path forward. You broke those walls for us, Orun-kun. We're truly grateful to you."
"Yeah yeah! Ever since Orun-kun joined us, everything's been going so well! We used to rely on him a lot, but now that we've reached the ninety-fourth floor, I think we've caught up to him a little. From now on, we'll work hard so he can rely on us too!"
"Yeah. Things might not always go smoothly like before, but the five of us together can face any hardship. So let's keep pushing forward side by side!"
Warm words from each of my comrades.
Each one stirred all kinds of emotions in me.
Impossible to sum up in a single phrase.
——————.
"…Um, thank you. I don't really know the right thing to say in moments like this, but I'm really happy to hear all your words. I'm the one who should be grateful—for accepting me as a comrade. Now I can proudly say this is my place. Having a place like this is the greatest happiness. So… yeah… here's to many more years together."
After that, we spent time talking about the good things and reflections from this year—blooming into lively conversation about the past twelve months.
This year had truly been precious.
At the beginning of it, I never dreamed I'd be spending New Year's Eve like this.
Wishing next year would be even better than this one, we spent the last precious hours of the year together.
——————
—And then, several hours later, the calendar turned to the year 630 of the Four Saints.
In other words—a year that could be called a turning point for me had begun.