Vol.0 Ch.163 Making it to the Fifth Floor

Vol.0 Ch.163 Making it to the Fifth Floor

Once Quinus was done with his rest, he was woken up by Thomas. He quickly gathered his things and cooked up some of his food, which was mostly jerky and dried bread.

"So, did anything happen while I was asleep," Quinus asked as he started eating.

Thomas shook his head.

"Luckily, it was uneventful," Geralt replied.

"Yeah, but whatever that presence was isn't there right now. Maybe it's just an animal that left the maze?" Thomas suggested.

"That's what I'm hoping for," Quinus replied.

John was being quieter than usual as he finished eating his food.

After the group ate their breakfast, they gathered their things and walked to the stairway.

"Alright, let's get through the next two floors before the day is done. If we hurry, we'll have time to grab the crystals and set up camp on the fifth floor before we start our ascent," Quinus said.

Geralt and Thomas nodded their heads.

"Yeah, it'll be great. The sooner we get out of here, the better," Thomas replied.

John stayed silent, and the group went down the stairs.

They were greeted with another maze but could see more traps.

'Well, this will be annoying,' Quinus thought as he navigated the maze.

"Hey, what's up with John? He's been quiet since he woke up," Thomas asked Geralt.

"Just shut up and focus," Johnathan cut in.

Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Never mind."

The group traveled the maze and had to double back a few times before they made it to the stairway down to the fourth floor. Quinus was marking the walls with chalk so they knew how to get back to the surface once they collected a crystal.

"Alright, so far so good," Quinus said.

"Yeah, so far the mazes haven't been too difficult," Geralt added.

"Yeah, I almost wish there were some monsters in here just to break up the boredom," Thomas said.

"Yeah? How do you plan on killing a monster without your bow, Thomas?" Johnathan said in an annoyed tone.

"Hey!... W-Well, I guess you're right. I guess you're the only one who would have to deal with them? Sorry, John."

"If I'm the only one who can deal with monsters then I'll leave you all to rot... Because I don't have infinite mana, you know."

"It's ok, John. I can deal with the monsters if you're unable to," Quinus said.

"Yeah, yeah. Wait! But you don't have a weapon either. How can you deal with a monster?" John questioned.

"Depends on the monster. But I believe I can escape from almost anything, I hope."

John sighed and shook his head. He didn't believe for one minute that Quinus could take on a monster in unarmed combat. He wanted to retort, but he held his tongue and continued to follow Quinus.



They walked through the maze until they came to a three-way fork in the road. This was the fork where the adventurer had left a monster alive in the portal trap. John could tell by a rock formation that was drawn on the map that Marcus gave him and this was his chance to act.

'Now is my chance.' He thought as he readied himself to do what needed to be done.

"Your Highness? I think we should head down this direction," Johnathan said as he pointed to the right path.

"Why do you say that? What's wrong with the middle path," Quinus asked.

"Uhhh, it doesn't feel right."

Quinus looked at the middle path and studied the area.

"What do you two think?" Quinus asked as he looked at Geralt and Thomas.

Geralt thought about it and shook his head, "I can't really say, your Highness. All I can say is the air smells fresher from the left path. I don't know if that's due to a portal or not."

"Huh... Interesting... Thomas, your thoughts?"

Thomas was looking at the ground. His instincts were telling him to go down the middle path.

"Oh? Uh, sorry. The middle path looks like the path of least resistance, your Highness."

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah. It's more like a gut feeling... I wish I had a little more confidence in my instincts, though... I don't fully trust myself after feeling that presence yesterday."

Quinus was quiet as he thought about the choices.Yôur favorite stories on n/o/(v)e/lbin(.)com

'So, it's up to me to choose where we're going. Well, this is the first time Johnathan has spoken up so going down the right path doesn't seem like a good idea. If it is the correct way then I'll apologize... If Thomas was a little more convinced in himself then I would have chosen the middle path. But the fresh air coming from the left seems to indicate the presence of a possible portal trap that might kick us out of the labyrinth. Maybe we could sneak around it, if it is a trap? Yeah, we'll check the left route but if it's a dead end then we'll go down the middle path next.'

"Alright, we'll go down the left path first," Quinus answered.

John wasn't happy about that. "Are you sure, your Highness?" he asked.

"Yes, we'll try the left path and see where it takes us and if it's a dead end then we'll take the middle path next," Quinus said as he started writing on the stone floor with chalk.

"But that way is a dead end?" John yelled out.

Thomas and Geralt looked at John with surprise.

Quinus glared at John, "And how do you know it's a dead end? Do you have some information that you are withholding from us?"

John froze in place. He quickly realized that he let his mouth slip.

'Fuck...,' He thought.

He had to come up with something quick.

"A-Ah, I mean it's so obvious that it's a trap. You and Geralt said it yourselves. It smells like fresh air from that direction. So I don't want to be teleported to the surface, only to run all the way back down here. Just because you want to go through a process of elimination," John argued.

Quinus was a bit surprised by his statement but he wasn't sure what his angle was.

"Then why are you suggesting we take the right path? I like to know your reasoning, Johnathan," Quinus asked.

Thomas and Geralt looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They weren't sure why John was acting like this. He usually never hesitates to answer, but right now he was struggling to come up with a reason for them to go down that pathway.

"Oh... Uh, well the right path seems like the path because there isn't any fresh air coming from it. Frankly, I would choose this path or the middle one just because they must go in deeper. And the less likely we'll be teleported out to the surface."

Quinus had to agree with his logic but he didn't trust going down the right pathway so that meant one thing.

"That's an interesting argument. So I have to agree... We'll go down the middle path first."

Johnathan looked like the wind got knocked out of him.

'W-What? How did that not work?' John thought.

Geralt and Thomas looked at John with confused expressions.

"U-Um, are you okay, John? You seem a bit nervous," Thomas said.

***



"This sucks...," John mumbled.

It took him twenty minutes to grab all of the ether crystals from the pillar. And none of them stabilized as the dust fell to the ground. John was frustrated. He didn't want to admit defeat but no matter how hard he tried, the crystals would always disintegrate.

"Damn it... Why did I pick the biggest one?" John complained.

"Hey, John! Food's ready," Geralt yelled out to Johnathan.

John grumbled as he started walking toward the campsite.

"So, did you find a replacement crystal?" Thomas asked.

"What do you think, idiot," John snapped.

Thomas winced a little from the insult.

"I guess not," Thomas replied.

"No, I didn't find a replacement. So, I'm stuck with a shitty crystal," John snapped again.

"Geez! Calm down... It's not like we keep the crystals after we leave this place. The Eternal uses them to tell us a fortune or something," Geralt said.

John frowned and looked around.

"Speaking of which. Where is the prince?" John asked.

"Oh, the Prince is checking the perimeter. He wanted to make sure nothing was around," Thomas replied.

John grimaced as he missed out on an opportunity to push Quinus down into the sixth floor.

'Fuck... I had to try and find a better crystal. Ugh, well, there is always tomorrow and that's my last shot,' John thought.

That was when Quinus walked up to the group.

"So... You're back for dinner," Quinus said as he looked at a defeated ten-year-old boy.

"Y-Yes," John said as he avoided looking at Quinus.

"I'm surprised you didn't clean out the rest of the pillars of ether crystals," Quinus said, poking fun at John's expense.

"I wasted enough time trying to prove you wrong... Your Highness," John replied.

"Hmmm...," Quinus nodded as he sat down next to Thomas and Geralt.

"Well, anyway, let's eat. It's been a while since we had a warm meal," Thomas said.

"Yeah, dry bread and jerky can only do so much," Geralt agreed.

"Thanks for sharing your hotpot," Thomas said.

"My pleasure. I still need to come up with a way to make it lighter though. There's no way I can carry it if I'm wearing my armor and weapons," Quinus replied.

"That would be a great invention, your Highness," Geralt said.

Quinus smiled, "Thanks. But, I can't take all the credit. A lot of the design was thanks to the dwarven craftsmen. As well as having the help of alchemists, who created a special alloy. It collapses well, but the weight is the issue."

"Really?" Thomas asked.

"Well... technically yes. But the dwarven blacksmiths made most of the design. I just took their work and managed to downsize it," Quinus explained.

"Huh... No one told me you were also a master blacksmith," Geralt said.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I just drew up the plans and hired people to put it together," Quinus replied.

Johnathan was silently eating his stew. He didn't really care about what the Prince was talking about. All he was doing was plotting on how to push Quinus into the portal.

"So are we doing four-hour shifts again?" Geralt asked.

"Yeah... We'll do the same shifts. Once you two are done eating, get some rest. Johnathan and I will take the first shift," Quinus said.

Johnathan looked up and noticed Quinus was giving him a stare.

"Fine...," John replied with his usual tone of indifference.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get some sleep," Thomas said.

"Heh... Same. I'm not used to doing such strenuous tasks. I guess my mother was right to say that my father was spoiling me," Geralt commented.

Quinus smiled, "You'll get used to it. It just takes time and practice."

"Yeah! I never wanted to become a knight but this is making things interesting," Thomas commented.

"Same here," Geralt agreed.

John was getting more and more annoyed by their conversation. So he just ignored the rest of it and went back to eating his food. It took about a half-hour before everyone was done eating and cleaning up.

Geralt and Thomas lay down in their blankets and went to sleep. Quinus sat there and started meditating. While John was playing with another water ball he conjured up.

"Johnathan. You're bad at hiding your feelings. But, I don't want to talk about your motives. I will just say this, don't mess with me and I won't mess with you," Quinus said.

"You don't have to remind me... Your Highness. I am perfectly fine without your warning," John replied.

Quinus opened his eyes and stared at Johnathan, "I hope you can keep that promise. Because, if you try anything, you won't like the outcome."

"Is that a threat?" John asked.

Quinus chuckled, "Just a fact."

Johnathan snorted and didn't bother saying anything as the rest of their shift was uneventful before they woke up Thomas and Geralt. Johnathan fell asleep pretty quickly. But Quinus stared at the ceiling.

"Your Highness, are you okay? You haven't slept yet," Geralt whispered.

"Yeah... I just feel like I'm all alone sometimes," Quinus said.

"Really? I'm sure your mother and father love you dearly. And I'm sure almost every lady in the kingdom would kill to be your wife," Geralt said.

Quinus chuckled, "That's not what I'm getting at... But thanks."

Thomas was listening in and grimaced.

"It must be tough being the heir... Everyone has an agenda or they either want to be friends because he's the Crown Prince. Or they hate him and want him dead," Thomas said.

Quinus looked over at Thomas, "Well if I die... maybe I'll be reborn in another world."

"You're talking nonsense, your Highness. Tertius is the only planet created by the Gods and Goddesses. We are the chosen people, remember," Geralt said.

Thomas laughed a little, "Yeah... There's nothing but chaos in the heavens if there were more worlds. The Gods and Goddesses would surely fight over who gets the other worlds. Or maybe they will create a new set of gods and goddesses."

Quinus looked at the two and smiled. 'If only they knew... But I guess they are normal boys just like the rest of the people I run into.'

"Well, I'm going to get some rest. Goodnight," Quinus said.

"Goodnight, your Highness," the two said.