"Ow, ow, ow!"
The day after I barely survived that brutal fight with the black dragon, I woke up in my inn bed and—unusually for me—tried to roll over and go right back to sleep.
The moment I shifted, searing pain ripped through my entire body, snapping me wide awake.
This agony was the aftermath of yesterday's battle.
Yeah... I was one giant walking muscle ache.
I activated **[Pain Relief]** to dull the sensation.
"What a shitty way to start the day..."
My head still felt foggy from overusing magic yesterday. I grabbed a handful of raisins and popped them into my mouth.
Whenever my brain refuses to boot up, I reach for raisins. Or really, anything sweet. It feels like sugar kick-starts my thoughts.
Of course, it could just be that I love sweets and I'm fooling myself.
Anyway.
I'd collapsed into bed like the dead last night, so I had no idea what happened after that.
A floor boss—dead or not—had suddenly appeared on the surface. That kind of thing doesn't go unnoticed. There must have been absolute chaos.
If only the corpse had stayed put instead of teleporting with us... Good luck or bad luck? Hard to say.
Right before we got yanked to the surface, a faint light enveloped us.
I'd never seen anything like it, but given the circumstances, it had to be the Guild's forced return spell.
Come to think of it, I'd heard the Hero Party was exploring the 92nd floor yesterday too.
We popped out on the surface, and almost immediately, they showed up right after.
The odds that the Hero Party was involved in yesterday's mess were sky-high.
"Guess I'll head to the Guild first."
The Adventurer's Guild is always the fastest place to gather labyrinth intel. Since I was directly involved, they'd probably want my side of the story anyway. Perfect chance to ask what caused this irregularity and what happened after I left.
◇
The moment I stepped into the Guild, every eye in the place locked onto me.
Word travels fast among adventurers. Impressively fast.
"Orun-kun! Welcome. I figured you'd show up around now, so I've been waiting."
A familiar voice called out. I turned to see Eleonora-san standing there.
She's a Guild staff member who's looked after me since my rookie days. As the Hero Party's handler back then, we used to see each other almost daily.
"Eleonora-san, long time no see."
"Yeah, it has been. Hehe. Funny, though—it's barely been a week since we last met, but it already feels nostalgic."
"Haha, yeah, you're right. —So, if you've been waiting for me, this is about yesterday, isn't it?"
"Exactly. I really was waiting, but the timing is almost too perfect. I'm surprised!"
"Too perfect?"
"Hehe. Come with me for now? We can talk in there."
She led me to a meeting room where several Guild higher-ups—including the Guildmaster—were seated, along with the entire Hero Party.
Oliver, Derrick, and Aneli shot me looks like they'd just bitten into something sour. Next to Aneli sat a woman I'd never seen before.
That had to be my replacement, Philly Carpenter.
Poor girl—joins the party and immediately gets dragged into this nightmare. My condolences.
"Thanks for coming, Orun-kun. Sorry to jump straight in, but could you tell us what happened yesterday from your perspective?"
The Guildmaster spoke in his usual gentle tone, that perpetual smile never fading. His black hair was starting to streak with white, giving him a kind, approachable look—but the man was impossible to read.
"I don't mind, but first, can someone give me the overview? All I did was fight a black dragon that appeared out of nowhere. I wasn't involved in any cleanup, so the only thing I can talk about is the battle itself."
"Fair enough. Luna-kun, would you mind going over the sequence of events one more time?"
"...Understood."
At the Guildmaster's request, Luna began explaining.
While exploring the 92nd floor, a black dragon suddenly appeared—not in the boss area.
Realizing they couldn't win, they used **Capricious Door**.
As they tried to step into the distorted space, the dragon interfered, and instead, the dragon got pulled in.
They rushed back to the Guild immediately and requested a forced return.
What the hell...?
I felt my mood plummet in a way that surprised even me.
"After the forced return, the black dragon's corpse caused some confusion on the surface, but with the Guild's help, things calmed down quickly. That's where we stand now."
"Thank you, Luna-kun. Now, Orun-kun—according to Selma of the *Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky*, the dragon was transported via **Capricious Door* to the 50th-floor boss area, where you single-handedly defeated it. Is that true? ...Orun-kun?"
Logically, I knew I should stay calm and answer the Guildmaster properly.
But I couldn't hold back the emotions.
"I never thought you'd be *this* stupid. Oliver, I'm honestly disappointed in you."
I ignored the Guildmaster and directed it straight at him.
"The hell did you say? You just got lucky and finished off a weakened dragon after me and Aneli softened it up! Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"I wasn't talking to you. Bystanders shut up."
I said it to Oliver, but Derrick jumped in.
No interest in a real conversation with him, so I shut it down.
"Bystander?! I'm part of the Hero Pa—"
"Are words not getting through? I said shut up. Close your mouth."
I glared at him with killing intent this time. He flinched and finally shut it.
Should've done that from the start.
"I get that an irregularity happened. No one could predict a floor boss leaving its area. Fine. But let's get to the real question: Why the hell did you drag your brand-new enchanter straight into the deep floors? Luna opposed it, right? You ignored her—what made you think it was okay? Did you assume it'd be easy just because you'd been there before?"
Oliver just grimaced, no comeback.
"Hit the nail on the head, huh? I told you guys over and over—the 92nd and 93rd floors were pure luck. With our current strength, pushing any further had abysmal odds. We barely survived multiple near-death moments down there."
"—That's why we replaced the enchanter! If we got someone better at support magic than you, we could keep going! I decided—"
Oliver started strong but trailed off, voice shrinking.
"You decided, the majority agreed, and you kicked me out. I'm not mad about that part. Honestly, I was scraping by with tricks and half-measures. There are plenty of enchanters better than me. It hurt to be kicked out, sure—but you're the leader. You have a duty to conquer the Great Labyrinth. I don't deny that. What pisses me off is how much you **underestimate** enchanters!!"
"We don't underestimate them! We replaced you because we knew how important they are!"
Oliver denied it fiercely. He genuinely believed that.
"...Do you even understand how much mental strain an enchanter deals with in a labyrinth dive? First real teamwork in the deep floors? That's insane. Knowing you idiots, you probably expected her to perform at my level right away—no handover, nothing. No way in hell that's possible! Even a B-rank party would see that kind of setup collapse!"
"What the hell is so mentally draining about it?! Enchanters just reapply buffs when time's up and give orders from a safe spot, right?! It's easy! Anyone who can use support magic could do it!"
"...Are you actually serious?"
I was speechless.
"Of course it's serious! That's just how it is!"
That's when I finally got it.
When rage hits its peak, you somehow become eerily calm.
"...Oliver: 61 seconds. Aneli: 134 seconds. Derrick: 186 seconds. Luna: 140 seconds. Know what those are?"
Oliver looked baffled, racking his brain but coming up empty.
"The time until your buffs expire. An enchanter usually maintains an average of three buffs per party member during combat—and the activation timings aren't always synced. They have to track all twelve different durations in real time while acting as the party's tactician and commander. Oliver—could you do that?"
"Hah, it's just parallel construction applied. I'd get used to it!"
"You're a genius, sure. Maybe you could. But those exact seconds? No one tells you them. Knowing you lot, you dove deep, skipped proper sync checks, and jumped straight into fights. Philly had no grasp of the timings, yet you said nothing. Sure, she should've spoken up too, but think about it—she was probably terrified that letting a buff drop could get you all killed. That fear flashing through her mind while she desperately experimented mid-battle. And you call *that* easy?!"
Oliver's eyes widened. Finally, it seemed to sink in—the real burden enchanters carry.
Enchanters are slaves to the clock.
That gut-punch weakness when a buff expires? You never get used to it.
If it happens in combat, it's a fatal opening.
Monsters aren't kind enough to ignore those gaps.
Saying "a dropped buff could kill your comrades" isn't exaggeration—it's fact.
"You survived and made it back this time because of sheer luck... and because Philly was an outstanding enchanter. You owe her your gratitude."
With those final words from me, silence swallowed the meeting room whole.