Getting Approval from Otherworld Clients - Chapter 9

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 9.
Life is not, an egg···
It is a Labyrinth (2)
“This way, if you please.”
When I returned from the restroom, the servant resumed guiding me toward the exit.
In truth, I could install a Keyring to return to the Company anywhere, but he wouldn’t know that.
Thanks to his ignorance, I could linger in the Palace a while longer.
“Crete Palace is so labyrinthine that even the servants lose their way often. Please stay close behind me.”
Yes, this place really is like a maze.
It’s already a Labyrinth—why open a Theme Park on top of it?
‘Still, this confusion might work in my favor.’
For someone like me, who had to slip past the servant’s eye and find Ariadne somewhere in this Palace.
My heart felt ready to burst from the mere thought of it, but it had to be better than stumbling into the Labyrinth naked and never making it back alive.
Right, nothing’s more precious than your own life.
‘…I’ll need to ask Hena and Pascal for their help too.’
I whispered softly to the two of them, still bewildered.
“I’m sorry for dragging you along without explanation. I promise I’ll make it clear soon… just bear with me a little longer for now.”
“….”
“? Well, I suppose so.”
They still looked uncertain, but we’d worked overtime together—that camaraderie would buy me at least some trust.
“There have been strange rumors around the Palace lately, so you mustn’t get lost.”
The servant continued listing warnings as he led us forward, seemingly unable to shake his suspicions.
After walking a short distance, the corridor opened onto a spacious courtyard.
A central garden sat in the middle of an open-air space shaped like a squared-off ring, its ceiling open to the sky.
Several corridors converged toward this center like strands of a spider’s web.
‘It’s a sort of Rotary structure.’
Right, I’d passed a few similar junctions already, so I’d figured I’d see another one eventually.
If that’s the case.
I began to fall subtly behind the rest of the group.
When we reached the point where the corridor we were walking through met the courtyard.
Scrape—
…I nudged the Vase sitting on the decorative stand toward the edge.
Precariously, as if it might lose its balance and fall at any second.
And just as our procession curved around the courtyard like a Rotary and moved into the opposite corridor.
I deliberately stomped forward with heavy, jarring steps to send vibrations through the floor, casting anxious glances back at the Vase tottering on the edge.
‘Please, please… tip over at just the right moment…!’
Gulp.
I was just thinking how loud the sound of me swallowing was.
Crash—!
…A far louder sound rang out instead.
I deliberately cried out.
“Oh! Someone just passed through that corridor!”
“Good heavens! Wait here a moment!”
Patter-patter-patter-patter!
The conscientious servant bounded off in pursuit of the imaginary intruder. Thanks for your loyalty to the court.
If this had been a straight corridor, he’d have realized the ruse quickly enough. But with multiple passages converging like a spider’s web, my shallow trick actually worked.
‘Hurry, I need to move before the servant gets back…!’
“Follow me, quickly!”
“··!”
I led the group urgently to another location and hid.
Once I caught my breath, I had a chance to explain the current situation to my bewildered teammates.
The details of human mythology, and the world that now mirrors that myth so closely.
* * *
“…Whether we need Ariadne’s Thread of Ariadne is purely my personal judgment. I’m fine with it, so would you two like to return to the Company first?”
The truth is, I’m not fine.
I want to beg them not to leave me alone in this strange place!
‘But I can’t make a fuss asking them to go into something this dangerous with me.’
Right, I said it out of guilt, out of politeness.
But I harbored no real hopes. Sneak into a royal—even a client’s—Palace and search for an item?
If a coworker asked me that, I’d abandon ship too….
“It’s too risky to leave a team member behind and return alone. This is part of the job, so you’ll come with me.”
“Why would you carry this burden alone? We’d find it much faster if we all searched together!”
…Both of you!
Unexpectedly, I received a willing answer. Fortunately, Pascal and Hena had chosen to honor their loyalty.
Thank you for not cutting ties with me. Truly.
And so the three of us set out to explore the palace.
It was genuinely labyrinthine. We wandered through it earnestly until—
We reached a section with a mural directly ahead and two passages branching left and right.
“Another fork in the road… Shall we try going right this time?”
“Let’s do that.”
Tap, tap—
We walked silently through the quiet palace.
‘It’s unnaturally empty.’
Well, that was fortunate in its own way. No one to question our independent movements.
And then—
“Have you lost your way?”
Stop.
A voice from behind suddenly halted my steps.
I turned around to find an unfamiliar servant staring at us.
Yet there had been no sound of approach whatsoever.
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“Where are you headed?”
“We wish to have an audience with Princess Ariadne.”
“Ah, I see. You’ll want to go that way.”
The servant raised a finger and pointed down one of the corridors.
The three of us instinctively turned our heads in unison, following the direction of that pointing finger.
“…Yes. Thank you,”
I confirmed the directions we’d been given, then turned my gaze back toward the servant.
“…!”
Strangely, there was no one there.
An empty corridor.
Only a hallway tangled with passages like spider silk, waiting for us in silence.
“…They must walk quickly.”
“…Apparently so.”
“….”
We stood stunned for a moment before walking down the path we’d been shown.
Tap, tap.
After walking for a while, we encountered another mural.
This one depicted two figures.
Passages branched out on either side of the mural, much like before.
“This time, shall we try going left?”
“Let’s do it.”
Tap, tap.
As we wound through the palace’s complex corridors again—
“Have you lost your way?”
…….
Once more, a voice came from behind.
Again, with no sound of approach.
“Yes, I was walking to meet Princess Ariadne….”
“Go that way.”
I turned my head to check the direction, then looked ahead again.
“…….”
“…….”
As expected, the servant had vanished.
“…It’s the same as before.”
“…It certainly is strange.”
…Are all the servants here ninjas or something?
Or perhaps the ultimate introverts? They give directions and flee before another word is uttered.
Feeling a growing unease, I walked toward the path we’d been shown.
“…Another mural.”
“Huh.”
……Once again, we reach a fork in the road—the same structure as before.
A place where there’s a mural between the two paths.
But the image on the mural was unmistakably different.
Not a single person, just vases and objects scattered across the ground.
……As if someone had left behind pottery.
“Don’t you think… we’re just going in circles?”
“The mural did change, though….”
The picture was different, but everything else about the corridor remained identical.
‘…The energy from the mural, it’s different somehow too.’
Is there something here? If I look a little closer….
“Have you lost your way?”
We froze.
As expected, a voice came from behind our group as we stared at the mural.
“…….”
“…….”
The difference, if any, was in where the voice came from.
Behind us.
The voice asking us questions came from right behind us….
‘Now that I think about it, that’s strange.’
Why did the servants tell us foreigners…
…the location of the princess without a shred of doubt?
“Why do you not answer?”
…Damn it!
The voice twisted grotesquely. A chill ran down my spine.
‘I’ve heard stories about cursed murals similar to this situation!’
If you destroyed the original, it sometimes resolved things…!
“Speak!
”
Without turning around, I reached out and grabbed one of the objects lying beside me.
I suspected the cause of this strange phenomenon was the mural itself.
So I brought down the artifact hard against the earthen wall that radiated that sickening aura…!
Crash-!
“Cough, cough!”
A thick cloud of dust obscured my vision.
Once it cleared a bit, instead of the unpleasant corridor, I could see a room bathed in warm sunlight.
……It worked! The strange presence vanished, and we made it back safely to the palace!
But the joy was short-lived.
“Who are you?! What is this?!”
…A woman’s voice rang out.
A voice mixed with bewilderment and irritation.
‘…!’
A woman in fine clothes, seated before a loom.
Beside her in a basket lay thread with an unmistakable spiritual resonance.
I couldn’t help but connect it to the person I’d been searching for.
“Ariadne… Your Highness?!”
“That’s right! Who the hell are you?”
Ah, we’d found her safely!
But the situation was far too strange to celebrate….
Suddenly—strangers in foreign dress had burst into the princess’s chambers!
Oh no! Offending royalty like this, wouldn’t we just get…
…executed on the spot?!
“Greetings, Your Highness. We are the people Prince Minotaur invited to oversee the opening of the Labyrinth Theme Park.”
Fortunately, before matters could escalate, Pascal’s voice cut through the room.
His tone was trustworthy, his greeting courteous.
The princess’s wariness seemed to ease considerably.
“We were told your thread could be of assistance, and we’ve hurried here for an audience. Please forgive our sudden and discourteous arrival.”
…Ah.
I’d been worried about whether it was alright to just ask for the thread outright,
but thinking about it—in the mythology, didn’t Ariadne offer her thread willingly to the stranger Theseus? …Was Theseus really that handsome?
If that were the case, Pascal could also receive the Thread of Ariadne,
“What, you want my help?!”
…but what came back was a cold refusal.
Damn it. Theseus must be a hero, so perhaps he has an athletic physique?
Though the team lead isn’t that type…
“Really now, that reckless brother of mine! I’ve told him countless times that a Theme Park like this has no future. But he pushes ahead stubbornly, and now he wants to borrow my hand too.”
The princess seemed to have misunderstood our words somewhat, but it was clear she didn’t want the Thread of Ariadne to be used for the Labyrinth at all.
“Tell him I can offer no help whatsoever. Now, would you please stop disturbing my rest?”
She waved dismissively, her response icy. At the commotion, a servant rushed in from outside.
“What is the matter, oh—I shall see you out at once!”
And so we were, quite literally, thrown out of the palace.
Ah, this is terrible.
We went to all the trouble of finding the Thread of Ariadne, only to be cast out without it.
What do we do now….
“Surely the prince would be amenable to skipping the Labyrinth on safety grounds, wouldn’t he? He seemed kind enough.”
“You’re suggesting we accept a commission without understanding the client’s core product. That makes no sense.”
Right. The client is king.
We’re just subcontractors. We have no excuse, no right to refuse a legitimate research order.
This would be a simple problem if we just had the Thread of Ariadne. It’s a shame. If Theseus were here, he’d have gotten it at once.
‘…Oh, that’s it.’
Right, Theseus could get it for us!
Theseus was a hero who saved people, after all.
If we explained the whole situation, maybe he’d help us. Why not?
“I’ve thought of a way to obtain the Thread of Ariadne. Could we go down to the harbor for a moment to examine the ships?”
In mythology, Athens sent tribute of people to Crete for the monster Minotaur.
Theseus was one of those tributes from Athens.
‘Since the Minotaur is active in this period, surely Theseus, so closely connected to him, will come to Crete soon?’
Even if this place doesn’t perfectly align with human-world common sense, the connections to mythology run deep.
Perhaps now, as events related to the Labyrinth that connect the two unfold actively,
the odds are high that Theseus has already arrived in Crete!
* * *
At the Mediterranean harbor, a variety of ships lay moored in rows.
One large vessel caught my eye.
Olive trees were painted here and there across the hull.
‘The olive tree is the symbol of Athena.’
This must be a ship from Athens, the city that has Athena as its patron goddess. If it came from there, we might find clues about Theseus.
I approached a laborer unloading cargo from the ship and asked,
“Pardon me, do you happen to know anything about the people coming from Athens as tribute?”
“Tribute? What kind of unlucky nonsense are you spouting?!”
The man flared up in anger.
“Crete and Athens are friendly nations. Even if Athens is a small power—what? Tribute?! We are equal nations!”
?!
‘This is different from the mythology I knew….’
The fundamental premise shattered—that Athens, bound to Crete, paid tribute to it every year.
‘Could it be because the Minotaur is recognized as royalty, not a monster….’
Then the prince Theseus isn’t currently in Crete?
Damn it, even this last hope vanishes. How on earth are we supposed to get the Thread of Ariadne?
Is there really no way…
‘…No, there is!’
Inspiration strikes suddenly.
Right, this is a world where magic and the divine exist, but science hasn’t advanced.
Using the fruits of civilization might just work.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————