No one spoke. The silence stretched on so long it started to feel like time itself had frozen.
*(Crap... I let my emotions run wild and said way too much. What the hell do I do with this atmosphere now...?)*
"Orun-kun, I understand how you feel, but would it be all right if we continued with our side of the discussion first?"
Just as I was racking my brain for a way to thaw the icy air, the Guildmaster finally broke the quiet.
"Y-Yeah, of course. Sorry. That was embarrassing—I lost my cool."
My face was probably beet red right now. It had been ages since I'd exploded like that.
Part of me felt refreshed after venting, but mostly I just felt mortified.
"I've never seen you get that emotional before. You're always so calm and composed—Eleonora-kun was actually worried you might not have any feelings left. Good to know they're still in there."
"Hey! Guildmaster!"
Eleonora-san shot him a flustered glare, cheeks puffing out in protest.
Was this the Guildmaster's way of lightening the mood?
The Hero Party members stayed grim and silent, but at least the Guild side of the room felt a little less suffocating now.
"Anyway, back to business. Orun-kun, just to confirm for the record: did you really defeat that black dragon alone? Selma-kun from *Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky* stated that you took it down single-handedly."
The Guildmaster asked directly.
Honestly, I'd planned to report it as a joint effort with Selma-san, but since she'd already spoken up, lying would be pointless. The stares I'd felt the moment I walked into this building told me the adventurers outside had already heard the rumors too.
"...Yes. I defeated it alone."
"Wh-What?! A single person taking down a deep-floor boss? That's supposed to be impossible! Did you use some kind of special magic?!"
One of the other Guild executives leaned forward excitedly the second I confirmed it.
"I can't go into how I defeated it. What I can share is limited to the black dragon's combat patterns, weaknesses, and things like that."
There's an unspoken rule among adventurers: don't pry into someone else's fighting style or original spells. It's rare, but when party conflicts turn ugly, that kind of information can be used against you.
Besides, original magic is something you pour your heart and soul into creating. Most people aren't eager to broadcast it to the world.
That said, adventurers are obligated to report any information they gain inside the labyrinth to the Guild—monster traits, mining spots for ores and materials, that sort of thing—and those reports become public.
But your personal combat methods or unique spells? No obligation to disclose those.
Still, even without spelling it out, people can usually piece together your rough fighting style from the reports you *do* submit.
(Wait—earlier I was about to say the black dragon wasn't a solo kill for reporting purposes... but that's outside the mandatory scope anyway. We only have to report monster characteristics and resource locations, not who killed what or how.)
"Of course, I understand. Then let's hear what you can tell us about the black dragon."
The Guildmaster accepted my limits without pushing.
I went over the new attack patterns I'd observed this time, compared them to our previous encounter, and pointed out the consistencies.
"Still as concise and to-the-point as ever," the Guildmaster muttered with an unreadable expression.
"Was there something lacking in my report?"
"No, your report is flawless. It's just that other adventurers' accounts usually give a clearer picture of how the party fought together. The Hero Party, despite its fame, always keeps individual details surprisingly scarce. You're still very good at withholding information."
"Information can be more valuable than brute strength sometimes. Sorry, but I can't budge on this. If there's nothing missing, I'll stop here."
"You're a tough one... Ah, one last thing then. As much as you're willing to share—I'd like to hear your plans going forward. You've proven yourself capable of soloing a deep-floor boss, yet you're no longer with the Hero Party. You're free. Countless parties and clans would kill to have you. Fights over you could cause real trouble, so the Guild would appreciate knowing your next steps."
My plans moving forward, huh? Truth is, I hadn't thought about it at all...
When I was with the Hero Party, I was constantly busy—barely any time to myself. Now that I suddenly have all this freedom and can do whatever I want, I'm kind of at a loss.
Is this what they call being a workaholic? ...Probably not.
"...I haven't decided anything yet. I'm fine continuing as a solo adventurer for now—it's sustainable. I'll probably just keep exploring at my own pace. Eventually I'd like to challenge the Southern Great Labyrinth again, though."
"I see. By the way, Orun-kun—are you aware that the Western Great Labyrinth has already been conquered?"
The Guildmaster suddenly brought up the Western one.
Right now I was in Tsutorail, a city in the Nohitant Kingdom on the southwestern part of the continent.
To the northwest, bordering Nohitant, lay the Saubel Empire—and they had their own Great Labyrinth in the city of Sebar.
One of the four Great Labyrinths on the continent was located there: the so-called Western Great Labyrinth.
Come to think of it, the new enchanter Philly Carpenter was originally an adventurer from Sebar.
About three months ago, a party led by an explorer known as a "Hero" reached the deepest part of the Western Great Labyrinth. They brought back the massive dungeon core—a magic stone roughly ten meters in diameter—and hauled it to the surface.
After that, no more monsters spawned in the Western Great Labyrinth. Materials from its depths could now be harvested safely.
As a result, high-floor resources flooded the market, and the economy in that region boomed.
To date, it was the only Great Labyrinth that had ever been fully conquered.
"Yeah, of course I know. What about it?"
"Adventurers who used Sebar as their base have started migrating to the other three remaining Great Labyrinth cities—including this one. A lot of parties are disbanding in the process, so recruitment is booming right now. I think you can handle yourself, Orun-kun, but if it ever escalates into a serious problem, please let us know."
Makes sense.
Once safe access to deep-floor materials opened up, you didn't need to be an adventurer to profit from the labyrinth anymore. Even if monsters might return someday, there was no income in the meantime—so switching bases wasn't unreasonable.
Though I still didn't quite get why so many parties were disbanding over it.
"...Got it. I'll keep that in mind."
With that, the meeting at the Guild wrapped up.
As for the black dragon's corpse, ownership went to me as the one who defeated it. I took almost all the undamaged scales for myself and sold the rest to the Guild.
The payout wasn't set yet, but it should be enough to keep me comfortable for a while.
(...Not that I was hurting for money to begin with.)
Still, while I'd gotten answers about this incident, nothing was actually resolved.
Why had the black dragon appeared and acted outside its boss area? No one knew. The Guild had no leads either.
Even the Guild—the central hub for all labyrinth knowledge—had nothing.
There simply wasn't enough information to investigate on my own. No starting point.
Bottom line: this kind of irregularity could happen again. I'd have to stay vigilant.
(Not that I'm ever *not* on guard inside the labyrinth.)
With everything I wanted to know now answered, I stood up to leave.
The Hero Party members kept their heads down, not moving an inch.
No one from the Guild stood either. They were probably about to discuss penalties for using forced return.
Better get out of here quick.
*And just like that, I headed for the door.*