Zach guided the key toward the brick wall with a frown. Right before the key made contact with the stone, he turned back.
"This isn't a prank or anything, right? You're not making a fool of me for trying to stick a key into a solid wall?"
"No." Lexi shook her head. She could understand Zach's worry. If it hadn't been a Wishing Key and instead an ordinary key leading to another room in the castle, she might have done just that. But she was serious.
"...Then, how come you aren't trying to put your hands on it? Don't you have anything you wish for?"
"Not really. Not anymore." Lexi shrugged. "Besides, you're the one who earned it. I'm not such a bitch that I would steal from my little brother, you know?"
"What about that watch when we were little?"
"What watch?"
"You know, the one with silver—"
"I don't remember a watch like that. Just stick it in already!"
"Fine, fine!" Zach raised his hand in defeat and tucked his head in at Lexi's shout.
At this point, if nothing happened, Lexi stood more to lose, so Zach moved the key the final bit and pressed the tip against the wall.
He looked on with growing astonishment as the key disappeared into the stone wall like a knife into a block of butter. Like magic, the key entered halfway inside the wall before refusing to budge even a hair.
Zach felt like he could pull it out if he wanted now that he had confirmed that it was a wishing key. But the only thing he had really confirmed so far was that it was a magic key.
To find out if it was a Wishing Key, he had to turn it. Zach just had to do it.
But he hesitated.
Lexi had said it would open a room with whatever he desired–whatever he wished for.
That was where the problem lay.
Zach didn't know what to wish for.
Immortality? Endless riches? A peerless weapon that would let him defeat any and all enemies? Unbeatable strength? Maybe a solution to his cursed luck?
No. Immortality sounded boring. He was the son of one of the Empire's Dukes. What would he do with a weapon when he had Yanael? Once again, Yanael. His innate skill was Divine Luck.
He didn't believe it, but he wasn't going to waste a Wishing Key on getting rid of it, not when it might have been what got him the Wishing Key in the first place.
'I'm so fucking stupid.'
Zach wanted to facepalm.
He had come to the Labyrinth with one purpose. It was to find a way to summon his second familiar.
He hadn't expected it to go down like this, but the method didn't matter.
Zach wished for a room where he could summon his second familiar.
He turned the key.
Zach was sucked into the wall like a noodle and disappeared.
Yanael pulled out her sword and put it against Lexi's neck, her eyes staring fiery daggers at the young woman.
"Relax." Lexi pushed away the blade with a finger.
"He'll be back shortly. That was a Wishing Key."
"Are you claiming that there is no possibility of an antithesis to Wishing Key's existing?"
"What? You mean like one that sucks you in but kills you instead of rewards you?"
"..." Yanael's silence was her answer. Lexi had perfectly described what she was worried about.
Lexi shrugged.
"It's the Labyrinth. It might exist. But it wouldn't come out as a reward after killing a floor boss that no one else has killed. If it did, it would be a trap and it would mean that this…" Lexi picked up the unremarkable stone fragment. "...stone piece is worth more than enough to make up for the trap key and the reward for defeating the floor boss."
Yanael still pointed at Lexi with her sword.
"Are you saying that a worthless stone would be a reward after killing this rare floor boss, even if the other reward is a Wishing Key? How can you be sure that this stone piece isn't worth more than its appearance suggests, thereby luring someone to take the supposed Wishing Key?" Yanael didn't raise her voice or fill it with hostility. She was merely asking a question to ascertain Lexi's thoughts.
How could she be sure? Was she so sure she could let Zach just vanish without a way to find him?
"...Shit." Lexi's muttered cursing was not the answer Lexi had hoped for.
There was no way a worthless stone would be found as a reward after killing the floor boss. Even the worst reward she had heard about, a lump of coal, could still be used for something. And that had been found as a reward for defeating a floor boss while it was being born.
She didn't know the details of the entire event, but it was something of a story used to teach the newcomers to the Labyrinth that with more risk came more treasure. The longer a floor boss lived, the stronger it would get and the greater the reward for killing it.
Killing a floor boss that wasn't even newborn, but one that was in the process of being born wasn't a risk. It was a cowardly decision. That was worth about a lump of coal.
The rat king, on the other hand, was probably much older than its appearance. Its growth would have been limited by its surroundings and circumstances, but it was still too strong to be a boss on the first floor.
Yanael could be considered part of Zach's strength. With her, he was strong enough to arrive at the boss room without so much as a scratch.
The floor boss shouldn't have been much more difficult. But it not only separated the challengers to fight him one on one, it was also strong enough to break through Zach's barriers. And if the final burst of strength before Zach cut its neck was any indication, it could have shown a lot more strength.
Zach was lucky.
The rat king had held back.
The fight for it wouldn't end after Zach lost, after all. It needed to conserve its energy.
It had recognized the others' strengths and was going to fight them, too.
That in itself made Lexi realize how strong the rat king had been.
It had recognized the strength she kept hidden. It was still confident it could win in a fight.
It could have misread her strength, but still.
The rat king was strong.
A useless stone wouldn't appear after it was defeated.
"...shit!"
The only question was if the rat king was old enough to warrant both a valuable, mysterious stone and a Wishing Key.
Lexi hoped so.
Otherwise, the Labyrinth would have to rethink its career path.