Metro Labyrinth - CH 63.1

~An Apprentice Miner’s Perspective~

The work was hard and scary.

Of course it was. I had to stand directly in front of a rock doll many times my size.

“Hey, it’s almost here! Get ready!” (Miner)

“Rock Doll Mine”, Ouji Metro. I worked here as a miner’s apprentice.

My main task was to distract the golems in front so that the adults would have an opening for their spears and hammers.

“Don’t move there! Hold it still until I finish it off!” (Miner)

Too close and they would grab you and suck your fluids until you died. Too far away and you would endanger the adults. Still, after more than a year of practice and guidance from my master, I was able to perform my role reasonably well.

“Die! You big bastard!” (Miner)

“It’s still moving! Hit the vital point properly!” (Miner)

I always stared coldly at the adults with bloodshot eyes as they rushed to finish off the golem.

I belonged to a medium-sized group of about ten people who were in charge of one floor. My master was strict about work and did not coddle us, but neither did he bully me. Thanks to this, the share I received was not so bad, considering that I was a child, not even close to an adult.

But I hated my job.

Most of my earnings were taken away from me by my foster father, a man who drank day and night without working, a man who had taken me in as a child.

And yet, if I didn’t make enough money, I would get beat up.

Because the older workers would make me go out with them to relieve stress outside the watchful eye of my master.

Because they are tough and scary.

In addition to these reasons, there were other reasons.

—Also, because I felt sorry for the golem.

They are indeed terrifying.

They come out of nowhere and slurp up the living blood and sporangium of any living creature.

They are as ferocious and voracious as they appear. There is nothing cute about them as a the “blessing of the metro.”

But—the individuals of the floor in which us miners operate are young, stupid, dull and weak.

Of course, to an ordinary person without a Fungal Class, they must be monsters, but only at a level that can be overturned with numbers, weapons, and experience.

At least since I joined the group, not a single one of us had fallen prey to a golem. Overall, the story was that accidents and casualties would not disappear anytime soon, but they were also decreasing year by year.

The golems were no longer the hunter, but the hunted, although we are only talking about the tenth floor and above that had fallen into human hands.

(And yet those guys–why do they keep coming out?) (Apprentice)

(Do they come out just to be killed?) (Apprentice)

They are not ghosts or just moving rocks. They are living creatures, and they are undeniably alive.

They are man-eating monsters, yet they are weak beings that are born from the depths of the earth only to die.

It was somewhat comical. I felt pity for them.

I even saw myself in them.

They can’t go anywhere, crawling around like moles under the ground, exposing their lives to monsters, and in the not-too-distant future, it will only be a matter of time before they die in the Metro.

I wondered what was different about these rock dolls. They are a reflection of my present and future.

If so, this was no different than killing my own alter ego.

That is why I hated this job. I hated the Golems. Every time I saw a golem die, my soul seemed to be quietly being whittled away.

That day, our group was put in charge of the tenth underground floor. It was the deepest and most dangerous place for miners to work.

After more than half a day of walking and descending stairs, we finally arrived at the tenth underground floor. We had to stay here for three days.

“It’s hard to get back home, isn’t it?” (Miner)

“I can’t wait for the construction of the elevator to start.” (Miner)

“Even if they start now, it’s rumored to be another five or ten years before it’s completed.” (Miner)

“By then, the Golem will have eaten us all up and we’ll be dust in the Metro.” (Miner)

My friends were grumbling about it.

I decided to take a break and explore the floor I had only been on a couple of times before.

“Don’t go too far because there are still Metro Beasts around here.” I ignored my master’s advice not to go too far and kept walking. I thought it would be a good idea to just run away. However, I knew there was no way I could escape.

I felt a tremor under my feet. It was a sign that a golem was about to appear.

Reflexively, I braced myself, but an arm of rock protruding from the wall caught me.

I found myself in a strange place.

I was lying in the grass. The pricking of grass against my cheek woke me up.

At first, I couldn’t believe I was in the Metro.

It was like a wide-open field. Firefly Moss lit it up brightly, the rock walls were moist with seeping water, and the soft ground was lush with mycelial plants. Tiny insects were flying around, and mice were scurrying about.

(――Where is this place?) (Apprentice)

As I was walking alone, I was caught in the arms of a golem. The moment I thought I was going to be killed, I lost consciousness—but when I woke up, I was in this place.

(I mean, why am I still alive?) (Apprentice)

(No, maybe I am in heaven?) (Apprentice)

At first glance, this peaceful-looking scene certainly fits the bill. However, for a heavenly place, the rock wall looks a lot like that of the Metro. The plants and flowers are clearly those of the Metro.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was sure that I was in the Metro.

The question was, where in the metro?

As far as I knew, I had never heard of such a place on the tenth floor.

So—an undiscovered area.

Due to the nature of the golems, part of the Metro itself is used as its physical body, the Ouji Metro is said to have many “gaps” because of this. These can become so-called “hidden rooms” or “hidden passages” depending on the metro changing. It was more than a decade ago that Ouji began to operate in earnest as a metro under the direct control of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, but it is said that such things are still often discovered.

(I wonder if this is one of those places.) (Apprentice)

(Even so, why am I here?) (Apprentice)

With a thud, the room shook.

When I looked back toward the direction of the sound, I saw that part of the wall was being pushed toward me. It was like a door that opened inward.

What pushed it open and entered was a single golem.

It looked different from the golems I had faced in the past. None of the golems I had seen had heads or something similar. That was what was expected.

But this golem had a head. It had no eyes, nose, or ears, but a stumpy, square head.

The head turned toward me. Even though it had no expression or vision, I knew that its attention was directed toward me.

Sure enough, the golem approached, stomping on the ground. It was a majestic figure, showing off its own majesty.

“Hii–” (Apprentice)

I fell on my butt and backed away. I wanted to get up and run away, but my legs and back would not listen to me.

(I’m going to die, I’m going to be killed—) (Apprentice)

There were no masters or adults here. There was only one helpless child who could only act as a decoy.

The monster crawling out to die—something I pitied—approached me step by step, like death itself.

The golem extended its left arm. I clutched my head and cowered to the ground.

“……eh?” (Apprentice)

A tiny white ball of fur was in the palm of his knobby rocky hand.

It was a young rabbit with horns on its head–an Almiraj. It seemed to be curled up and sleeping.

It set the Almiraj down gently on the grass and the golem turned on its heel, its joints creaking.

It grabbed the door, pulled it closed, and walked out.

Silence returned to the field again.

I couldn’t understand what had happened.

The golem had brought a baby rabbit. It left it behind.

I was supposed to be food, but it left me, and the rabbit.

It did not kill me, did not suck a drop of blood from me.

One person and one baby were left behind. I stared dumbfoundedly at the white rabbit, which turned over in its sleep.

A/N: This chapter is about the story told in “Chapter 54: The King Slayer Silver Wolf”.