**Day 37 Morning The Farthest Labyrinth Outside**
We pass through the entrance—well, the dungeon's exit—on the first floor and step out onto the surface. The sudden brightness blinds us, but I'm sure everyone's smiling.
Looks like dawn just broke. A brand-new day starting. Finally, a day where everyone's together again.
"Finally outside～! Great escape～! Total illusion～!"
Haruka-kun's thrilled to be out after a week underground. But there wasn't a single illusion involved—it was all brute force. No "great escape," just meticulous, thorough mass slaughter. He wiped everything clean from the bottom up, right? Everything except "outside～!" is wrong. Also… who wrecked the entrance like that?
There's a huge crowd outside. They're staring at us in shock.
Adventurers' Guild folks. Receptionist lady, Guild Master, tons of supplies.
They must've been worried and came to help. Guild Master Hakies pushes through the adventurers and rushes over.
"Is everyone safe? We brought healers. How many injured—...!?"
Then he spots Haruka-kun and freezes, hurrying closer.
"…Haruka-kun? Wait! Weren't you supposed to have fallen to the lower levels? Are you okay?!"
"? I'm fine? I fell, so I climbed back up? If I fell and didn't come back up, that'd be bad, right?! Probably?"
Guild Master looks troubled. He's too serious—he actually tries to make sense of Haruka's words. That's why he's always confused. You can't look for logic in what Haruka says. Haruka himself is the logic violation. The worst part? Everything he says is technically correct… but still makes no sense.
The rescue adventurers are all staring, equally lost.
We're struggling to explain too. We heard Haruka's story and sort of understood it, but our brains refuse. Common sense is rejecting it outright—if we accept it, our heads and sanity will break. So we can't explain. Not one of us.
"Long time no see～? Wait, first meeting? Uh… why is nobody looking at me??"
The moment they notice Haruka, every adventurer's head snaps 90 degrees. Some probably twisted too hard and hurt their necks. There were audible cracks. Eye contact is probably traumatic for them now.
"Ignored. Bullied. Solid ignore. Full ghosting. Newbie harassment. Ostracized. Mongoose… (continues at length)"
Haruka's complaining about something, but it stopped making sense around "mongoose." Just ignore it. He's already at "Ezo deer" level. Pointless.
The Adventurers' Guild was setting up a base camp underground to support us. Fighting monsters together, supplying us, preparing to reach all the way to the bottom to rescue us. Everyone here came for our sake.
And yet the guy who actually fell is still whining—"Now I'm an Iwato-bi penguin" or whatever. It's not even complaints anymore. …Just ignore him.
We somehow managed to explain the situation.
What we understood, at least.
They probably won't get it.
We don't really get it either.
The person who caused it doesn't get it.
So we stuck to the important parts:
The labyrinth is dead.
All monsters inside are wiped out.
Everyone's safe.
The labyrinth won't revive.
Because the Labyrinth Emperor isn't there anymore.
(We didn't mention she's standing right next to us looking innocent.)
I mean… Labyrinth Emperors probably don't rent rooms at inns or go shopping, right? Normal people stuff.
If we said "This is the Labyrinth Emperor" at the inn, the landlady would probably start crying and doing some weird dance.
If we told the gate guards "This is the Labyrinth Emperor," I doubt they'd let her in.
But if anyone's mean to her, Haruka will retaliate way worse. Better to keep quiet—for the town's peace. Because the real danger here isn't the Emperor. She's actually a very nice non-human. The summoner? Questionable whether he's even wearing human skin anymore. Total outlier.
So we talked, explained, fudged a little, and headed toward town.
Everyone's faces are complicated—happy? Convinced? Still rejecting reality? All of the above.
Good. I'm glad nobody just casually accepted it. This world doesn't have people like Haruka running around normally.
The town comes into view. Feels incredibly nostalgic.
Just having Haruka here makes the town, the inn (name aside)… feel like home again.
Armed soldiers are lined up at the gate, preparing something.
"That's Omui-sama preparing a rescue squad for Haruka-kun. I'll go explain real quick."
Guild Master runs off toward them. So serious.
Everyone—the townspeople—were worried. Trying to help.
Trying to save Haruka. Save us. The outsiders, the newcomers, the troublemakers.
Well… only one real troublemaker.
And that one brought along someone who's trouble on a whole other level. Not just trouble—calamity-level.
But still.
We made it back.
All of us.
Thanks to that one person.
…Even if he's the reason we almost died in the first place.