Labyrinth Renovation – 012 | Sousaku – 創作

Episode 12: There was a use for the poison!

The dragon had no recollection of what could be considered a memory.
He was created along with the birth of the labyrinth as a completed individual and has been there in that form from the beginning.
The dragon had only one mission.
To crush the strong who will eventually come here with all his might.
So he remained here, until that day when the door opened, and he faced against that person.

How much time has passed?
The dragon spent most of his time sleeping, but that did not mean he was foolish enough not to notice the intruder.
A weak and feeble one.
One who did not even have the power to be considered trivial.
It was the first time the dragon had seen a life form other than himself.

But that door had not yet been opened.
Above all, this was not a "strong one". On the contrary, she was so fragile that she could die out from his nasal breath alone.
――If so, then this weak person is not the enemy that I should defeat.
The dragon's instincts decided so.
The room was large enough to at least allow a small insect to get in.

The two weak and feeble ones wandered around but never touched the dragon.
If they should touch me, it would be fine to crush them. The dragon thought this way, but it seemed that they were not trying to harm him, just that they were going to put something around him.
The dragon had never left this place, but that didn't mean he was ignorant.
There is a custom for the weak to give offerings to the strong. He had that kind of knowledge.
Then, was this a gift from the weak?
There is a sound of pouring some kind of liquid.
Although he has never drunk it, it may be the kind of alcohol he has knowledge of.

The dragon pretended to be asleep and waited, so as not to alarm the weak.
The room was empty, with only the sound of something moving faintly echoing around.
The dragon waited for a short time and then woke up to see what was going on.
――What is this?

The ground was wet, and the liquid that looked like alcohol was giving off a bad smell.
Was this what alcohol was like?
He didn't know. He didn't have that much knowledge.

――Should I call the weak and have them explain? No, I, the Dragon King, should not be asking for guidance.

The instinct of the dragon only strived to defeat the "strong" with all his might. Nothing more.
He didn't have a way of life.
He didn't exactly live a life as the king of dragons.
He was just a mere set piece and had no way of understanding the situation correctly.

The bad air gradually increased in density, but there was nothing the dragon could do about it.
The meaning of this was unclear.
He was not being attacked with a sword.
Neither was he being attacked by magic.
To begin with, there were no enemies anywhere.

When the dragon raised himself.
There was a click somewhere, and the next moment, the room was filled with a flash of crimson light――

◇◆◆◆◇
It's been ten days since Fiona and I started our unbridled debauchery.
I think that's enough for now.

"Fiona, I'm going to open the door soon～."
"I'm just going to laze about some more~."
"This girl has really gotten a taste for it now……"

I didn't know if the dragon was defeated, and I felt really anxious, so I got carried away and set up some futons in a corner of the Hardware Store and had a movie night, and as a result, she became a complete slacker.
What's more, she smokes in bed, so her futon gets burnt, and even though she looks really cute, she's actually quite a hopeless case.
Ah, for some reason Fiona could understand the words in the movie.
I'm not sure whether Fiona is special or the movie is special.
Or rather, I myself was able to communicate with Fiona without any problems, so I wasn't really aware of it, but it's a mystery why we were able to convey ourselves in Japanese. I wonder if this is also an example of the "other world" effect.

As for me, I had a fair amount to do, I was busy looking after the animals and caring for the plants, I was quietly busy. Fiona also helped me, though.
The dog (Pochi), the cat, and the lizard are fine, but the problem is the fish. What the hell are they doing selling Arowana in this store? There's no manual, and if it wasn't for me, it would have died immediately.

Also, I gave them names because they are all in the same boat as Pochi.
The Akita dog is Pochi.
The Bengal cat is Tama.
The bearded dragon is Kaiser.
The arowana is Arrow.

The hamsters don't have particular names.
To begin with, it's not possible to identify each individual, and I'm not the type of person who has a lot of love for mice.
I can feed them to snakes without hesitation.

Pochi and Tama were kept in a cage, but I felt sorry for them, so I let them run free.
They were both clever, and they quickly learned how to use the potty, and they played together.

I also started growing vegetables in planters. I don't know if they grew up in places like this.
I think I can grow things like potatoes, spinach, and onions.
Personally, I'll be happy when tomatoes, daikon radishes, and eggplants grow. I want some color on the dinner table.

Leaving that aside, it's the door.
It's a mystery what's on the other side, and it's quite scary.
What's more, that door opens to this side. If there was pressure on it, there's a possibility that the door would burst open as soon as we pushed it open. Scary……
"Well, shall I open it? Maybe it's better if we stay apart.”
"Y-Yeah."

Stumbling to say yeah, Fiona clung on to me.
How could this scaredy-cat be an adventurer……?

The door seems to have some mysterious power working on it, because even if I pull on it with a rope, it won't open, and I have to open it myself. It's pretty scary, but there's nothing I can do about it.
Incidentally, this door won't open for some reason even if Fiona tries to open it, so it would probably be better to put a stopper on it so that it doesn't close if we manage to defeat the dragon.

I carefully opened it a few centimeters. No airflow was observed.
If the other side of the door was in a state of oxygen depletion, the air would be sucked in all at once, or the door would be too heavy to open in the first place, but there was no such response.

"……Looks like everything is fine. The gas detector looks fine too. Let's go."

We climbed the stairs, dodged the sandbags, and finally reached the door in front of the dragon room.
Apparently, the door was intact even though there was a gas explosion.
Touching the door with my hand, it didn't feel particularly hot. If the door was made of iron, it should've been affected to some extent by the temperature on the other side. It doesn't seem likely that it's still burning.
……Well, I don't know if this door is made of iron, but since it's metal, it should have some heat conductivity.

"Can you hear anything? "
"……I can't hear a thing. “Nothing at all.”

Even if we put our ears up to the door, we couldn't hear anything.
No dragon breathing sounds either.

Slowly, I opened the door a few centimeters. There is no inflow of air.
When I looked inside using a mirror, I couldn't find the rechargeable battery that should have been placed in front of the door, nor could I find any containers.
I opened the door further and checked the room.

"Fiona, look. I wonder if that's…… dead."
"Eh, EH? "

The dragon was crouching by the wall.
It didn't move at all, and it looked like a corpse, but it was emitting a slight glow. What is that?

"He's alive……! We haven't beaten him yet.……! "
"What, he's still alive? Even like that? "
"Because dead monsters turn to stone! "
"What's up with that?"

Do you turn to stone when you die? So, the whole labyrinth is full of stone statues?
Oh, do they carry them out and sell them to collectors? It looks like a lot of work to carry.

However, the dragon should be on the verge of death.
The gasoline containers we had placed there were all crushed and the fragments were scattered everywhere. The storage batteries were also scattered about, and it seems that a fairly large explosion occurred.
Because it was a sealed space, it's not clear whether it was an explosion or whether the pressure and temperature just rose intensely, but surely it must have been a hellish situation.
The smell of gasoline is still there, but the oxygen concentration seems fine. I guess there really is a source of oxygen.
It seems that the iron bolts and nuts and the steel bars also damaged the dragon's body to some extent.

"Was it pressure, temperature, trauma, or lack of oxygen? Well, I guess one of them worked. ……Uh, Fiona? "

I noticed that Fiona had disappeared.
She's nowhere in the room. Did she go back because she realized we hadn't defeated the dragon?

But still, what's the situation here?
The dragon was covered in scars, black soot, and its mouth was all burnt black.
He's not breathing, his mouth is open, and it looks like he's bleeding, but there's no blood flowing out now, and he just looks dead.

I didn't go near the dragon and was at a loss as to what to do.
If she's saying he's not dead, then we have to finish him off――

As I was thinking about this, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Maho! Move aside! "
"Fiona!? "
"UWAAAAAAAAAA! DIEEEEEEEEE! "

Fiona screamed, throwing a bucket of liquid into the dragon's mouth.
Is that the poison (nicotine extract) I made before?

"Maho! Maho, help me! Let's make him drink it all! "
"No, it looks like that dragon isn't even breathing, so I don't know if he'll drink it or not. "
"Well, there's nothing else we can do! He's using self-healing magic, so if we don't kill him quickly, he'll regenerate! "
"Are you serious?"

Well, there is no other choice in that case. There was no use for the poison anyway, so I'll just make him eat it all.

I made several trips with Fiona and poured the entire contents of the poison into the dragon's mouth.
The dragon was apparently in a state of suspended animation, with no biological reactions, and the poison flowed from its open mouth straight to its stomach.

"……I wonder if it will work. It feels like he's half dead, so shouldn't we attack him with physical attacks? Why don't you try cutting his head off with a saw? "
"Maho, you said it was a strong poison! If it works properly, then poison magic will deal a small amount of damage over time."
"Oh, that's just like a game, too."

After watching for a while, the dragon's light subsided and gradually changed to a toxic color. Is this a type of reptile, or does he have the ability to change the color of his body like a chameleon? Or is it the effect of the poison? Maybe it's just so that the poison status is easier to understand, like in a game.

A few minutes passed after the dragon stopped glowing.
Pang! With a sound, the dragon exploded.

"Whoa! What the...!? "
"We did it! Maho! We did it! We've beaten him! We actually defeated a dragon! "
"Eh, EHH? Did he die? I thought he was going to turn to stone!? "
"He did, like I said he turned into stones! And such large magic stones at that! Whoaaa! "

Fiona ran off, shouting. She was so excited to pick up all the colorful stones.
Although it didn't turn into a stone statue, the part about the stones selling for a high price to collectors may have been correct.