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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Return Home
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As the surroundings shifted, everything came into sharp focus once more.
No matter how much time I felt had passed in each hall, I'd only snapped back to awareness after completing everything.
The ordeal was endured by the versions of myself trapped in those places—not by me now. That fact filled me with immense relief.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I looked around.
After that grueling process, I'd ended up back in the same space where I'd frantically pressed those runes at the start.
The blood-red sky and the eye-like crimson moon—now familiar sights—were gone.
I glanced down at my hands.
All the essence of swordsmanship at its pinnacle remained intact within me.
But my presence here meant...
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Congratulations. You have completed all tasks and returned here.
"It's over?"
The dizziness had passed in moments.
It seemed I'd succeeded in conquering every hall with all my memories sealed away.
Now that it was truly done, it felt almost absurd. The conversations with the text. The deal I'd struck with it.
Right now, I had no memories beyond the Sword Hall. In that sense, my current self was no different from the moment I'd emerged from it.
The other memories were probably still sealed, unrecovered.
There was a strange sense of disconnect, but that was the extent of it.
The condition that I couldn't go mad had ensured things were just as they were when I'd first arrived here.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You may now restore one memory, excluding those of the Sword Hall.
"Is that so?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Memories will restore one by one each time your mind stabilizes. Do you agree?
"A deal's a deal."
Anger at that damned text? Hatred? None of it mattered anymore.
Rage only lasts a day or two—too much time had passed, and I'd inevitably worn myself out.
Now, I just wanted to leave.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Memory restoration commencing. Any questions?
"My pre-Labyrinthos memories are clearer now. Even my past life ones. Every single thing I saw back then feels vividly recalled."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ This space prioritizes your safety above all. Thus, your prior memories are preserved absolutely.
Did that mean the memories I had before entering the Labyrinthos were perfectly intact, more than any others?
At least that was some good news. After all that suffering and return, losing all my past memories would have been ridiculous.
"Then hurry up and restore them, and let me out."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Imprinting Fist Hall memory. Beware of severe nausea.
"Urgh... Uwaaagh! Oh god, I'm dying—uwaaagh!"
I couldn't resist as I collapsed limply, vomiting up everything in my stomach.
With nothing eaten, it was just stomach acid... but I had to puke or I'd never endure it.
At the same time, memories that hadn't existed moments ago flooded in.
Crushing foes barehanded or with gauntlets, ultimately dominating and shattering the space with my will alone.
Memories from the Fist Hall.
So that's what it demanded—martial arts.
Hardcore stuff...
Oddly, viewing them as past events made them far less burdensome.
Vivid as they were, the pain wasn't as bad as I'd thought.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Name: Leon Cascadia ⚡ Age: 17 💨 Gender: Male ✨ Abilities: 💪 (Sword Hall) Pinnacle - Learned skills viewable upon unfolding. 🍀 (Fist Hall) Fierce Star – Learned skills viewable upon unfolding.
The familiar status screen now included entries for the new hall.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Memory restoration complete. I will now dissolve, having supported you until this moment.
"What?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Accommodating your demands consumed too much energy. The Labyrinthos has accepted your request and will be destroyed as a result.
So my choice meant this text—and this space—would be destroyed too.
"Don't kidnap anyone else, you bastards."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Thank you for your efforts. Farewell.
I didn't know if the text had any sense of self, but facing its own end, it remained so calm.
What a creepy bastard.
I flipped it off with a cold grin.
And then the world shattered.
Whoooosh!!!
My vision flipped in an instant, and I realized I was slumped over my desk.
I jolted up in shock, and papers stuck to my cheek peeled away.
Business investigation report?
Ah, right.
"Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha!!!"
I burst into mad laughter.
I couldn't help it.
This was my room. House Cascadia—the place I'd lived before getting trapped in the Dream Labyrinth, full of my memories.
The home I'd desperately longed to return to.
And every eon I'd spent in the Labyrinthos after entering hadn't cost a single second here.
"Finally! I'm really back!! Ahahaha!!"
I laughed like a lunatic.
It wasn't just laughter—cackles laced with sobs.
If I didn't laugh like this, the bittersweet joy would've been too much to bear.
The mansion stirred into chaos.
Then—BAM!!—my door flew open.
"Shut up!!! What the hell are you doing waking everyone up in the middle of the night, you crazy bastard!!!"
The venomous shout finally stopped my laughter. I turned to the intruder.
Long gray hair cascading down, gentle pumpkin-colored eyes inherited from our mother.
She looked pure at a glance, but deep fatigue and stress had carved dark circles under her eyes.
Her gaze burned with fury.
The moment I saw her, I rushed over and pulled her into a tight hug.
The odd disconnect from emerging from the Labyrinthos made it hard to adjust.
I stumbled awkwardly but crawled if I had to, embracing her fiercely.
No tears came. I just grinned vacantly like a madman.
This was the home I'd yearned for so badly.
"W-what are you doing?!"
She yelled in flustered panic.
Despite the endless time passed, my memories of her—of this house—were sharper than anything.
"My little sister... the one who never listens and has such a foul temper..."
"No, has this guy really lost it in the dead of night...?"
She spat venomously but, for some reason, didn't shove my hands away.
"My little sister, whose temper makes me worry what tantrums she'll throw at her future husband."
"Sh-shut up!!"
Finally, she pushed me off with real force.
"I missed you, Melissa."
I chuckled hollowly, slumping to the floor as I said it.
We'd fought so much.
Truly an annoying little sister.
Yet right now, I was overjoyed to see her.
But she just scowled.
"What're you saying? We saw each other two hours ago, and now you're spouting nonsense? Do you know how many people you've woken up? I barely got to sleep, and now this."
Yeah, just two hours for her. But for me, an incalculable longing.
I reflected on our memories.
—Hey, a present for you.
—Huh? Kyaaah!!!
Stuffing a bug down her collar out of nowhere.
—Hmph, acting like a dog, Leon? What, wanna go on all fours?
—Sounds like a headbutting dinosaur grunting. Think brute strength like a gorilla is everything?
—You little shit. Get over here!
Hm. Thinking about it, were we ever a normal sibling pair?
From birth, we'd fought endlessly—and gotten along just as much.
Like we were born to bicker. Or maybe...
That bitch who stole Mother's attention—I could never forgive her!
Only a year apart, our clashes were fierce.
I pranked her constantly; she humbled me in spars.
But with our baby sister, the latecomer, we were both endlessly soft.
No doubt we'd fought a ton. Though we'd had plenty of good times too.
"Why'd you wake up? Go back to sleep."
"Are you insane? You were the one screaming and laughing your ass off! Can't you see you've woken the whole mansion, even the night guards?!"
Ah.
Only now did I notice the night sky outside the window.
Asleep meant nighttime. So my maniacal laughter had roused the entire household.
Ahem.
"Ahaha... the laughter just keeps coming."
"Ha! Hilarious, right? What, is that it?"
"Huh?"
"You think this situation's funny? That it's a joke?"
Her voice dropped an octave.
"Mom, Dad, and our baby sister caught in that accident—no bodies even found yet. You get that? You're all that's left of the family with me."
A mere sixteen-year-old girl and her seventeen-year-old brother, a year older.
The last remnants of the house.
"Someone's been sacrificing sleep for six months straight to save this crumbling family since the accident... and you think this is funny?! Do you?!"
Tears streamed down as sudden grief exploded in a scream.
Ah. Right. I hadn't forgotten.
Our family was in dire straits.
Our parents had taken our eleven-year-old baby sister Arsha on a trip.
The ship accident claimed them—no bodies recovered.
With our father, the pillar and family head, gone overnight, House Cascadia was shaken to its roots.
"Melissa."
"Forget it. You don't know how much I'm suffering."
She clutched my arm, sobbing.
A rare vulnerable side from her.
"One mistake, and the family falls, Leon. Everything's so precarious we might not even pay the servants' wages. What do their families eat then? You know how many lives shatter if our house collapses?"
She pleaded through sobs.
"Please, I'm begging. I won't ask for help. I'll protect you and the family myself—just don't get in my way."
The brash girl had to grow up overnight.
Exhausted, she poured it all out and turned away weakly.
"Haa... sorry. Didn't mean to yell. Guess I'm on edge."
An invisible weight of responsibility crushed her.
Why did she bear it?
Simple.
As Count Regent succeeding Father, she had to safeguard the house.
Our house was the Border Count family, guardians of the kingdom's north.
Near our territory lay the Demon Realm, and we'd guarded it generationally, preventing monster outbreaks.
The accident was just six months ago.
By rights, as eldest son, I'd inherit—but Father chose her.
Simple reason.
Unlike my utter lack of talent, she was a swordsmanship prodigy, sharp as a tack.
The Border Count role required certain conditions—sword aptitude I lacked.
I'd accepted it willingly back then.
Seeing her now, it tugged at my heart—maybe I shouldn't have—but no need to voice it and shatter her resolve.
In short, as his successor, she bore the full burden.
"Coming out here means I'm surely crazy."
A genius who'd entered Sword Expert at such a young age—not even Aura User, but true prodigy.
That was my sister, Melissa.
Meanwhile, pre-Labyrinthos me was barely Swordsman level, unable even to sense aura properly.