The huge number three at the ceiling slowly faded before a new set of numbers started engraving itself. Attempt Three failed, the day changed into four. The very last person to arrive at the starting point was Icx, her expression was a little solemn. Looking at the situation, Hesychia was able to confirm the result but still asked, “How is it?”

“They were the same...” Icx replied with disbelief. “No matter the order we go in, the questions are the same…”

Hesychia looked at her other teammates who had a worried expression. “How about you, Erza?”

Erza gave the identical answer to hers, the three of them receiving the matching results.

The two players looked at each other in dismay and disappointment. Icx's frown deepened, sensing something amiss despite them discussing the right topic. It seems that Silas had no plan to reveal the solution to them, they need to earn it. To earn it by thinking by themselves. Although reasonable, why can’t she just say it straight so that they could get the hell out of here?

Even though they are strangers, they still need to help each other.

Hesychia started, “Now that we've solved the time limit, what's next was the order instructed to us. ‘Erza at the first labyrinth, Silas at the second labyrinth and Icx at the third labyrinth.’ At first, we decided that the right order would depend on the questions; however, now that we have tried another order, the questions remained the same.”

Erza sighed, “Silas, I know that you like seeing different types of reactions from other people; however can you now kindly tell us what's happening.”

The other woman also mustered her courage, “You look pleased but a problem arose, those questions are the same, there's no way we can determine the right order.” Icx bit the inside of her cheeks before helplessly asking, “Why do you look happy?”

Hesychia stared at them, her pleasant mood dissipating.

Erza, “...”

Icx, “...”

“Are you really worried about the order or worried that by following me, I would pull the two of you down to the grave?” Hesychia assessed their expressions, the little raise of their brows answered her question. “You also can't come up with a more reasonable solution that's why you can't disagree with me. Did I guess correctly?”

“W-We didn't mean it like that.” Icx said, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

There's only four attempts left, who wouldn't feel anxious, agitated and wobbly? Who knows really, what if this woman wanted all of them to die that's why she's happy?

Silence filled the air, their gazes dropping to the ground.

‘It seems like I have impatient strangers here, letting the two of them slowly understand the situation instead of pouring all the information in one go did not earn any positive feedback.’

The short-haired woman glanced at the three pathways, “The order doesn't matter anymore, it is nothing but a prop.”

“What do you mean?” The duo chorused.

“We would have more problems if the questions changed, fortunately it didn't.” Hesychia counted, “There are six ways to arrange the numbers one, two and three; (123), (132), (213), (231), (312), and (321). If the questions changed the moment we switched paths, I would come up with another answer and we would be on the edge since we've used up three attempts out of seven. We've used order (123) two times and order (312) once.”

Erza resembles one. Silas resembles two. Icx resembles three. Left resembles one, middle resembles two, and right resembles three.

“Out of six choices we used the same pattern twice, fortunately there's still four chances to try the other four. Though, we won't do that or we'll fail.” Hesychia looked at them with a blank face, “This solution is for the trial and error card if ever the labyrinth’s questions changed.”

“It didn't,” Erza said. “Now how is it a prop?”

“It's because a game should always have a solution, if we can't determine our labyrinth order by the questions served inside the labyrinth, what else could that mean? Meaning, the remaining 123 orders are not the solution for this nor basing our labyrinth order using the questions.”

Icx sighed, “I might be too stupid, explain simpler I beg.”

“In the game of Golden Maze of Solomon, each player has three different labyrinths connected. Player Erza's destination is the center of the first labyrinth. Player Silas’ destination is to reach the center of the second labyrinth. Player Icx's destination is to reach the center of the third labyrinth.” Hesychia repeated the announcement again.

“You really can recite it from memory...” Erza mumbled.

Hesychia continued, “After reaching the center of each labyrinth, each player would be served by a question they needed to answer carefully depending on the question's requirements. However, even though we reached the center of the three labyrinths, nothing happened.” after that, she asked, “Anything that’s clicking inside your head?”

Long silence.

A frown.

Then, finally, a snap of finger,

“What we reached is not the center. Imagine a three circle venn diagram.” Erza looked at her. “The three labyrinths only have one center!”

Icx also jumped, cheering: “The instructions said that our labyrinths are connected!”

「In the game of Golden Maze of Solomon, each player has three different labyrinth connected.」

The other male nodded enthusiastically, “That means the separate center of each circle has questions we need to answer, however it is not the tasked ‘center’ we needed to reach.”

Icx looked at Hesychia with almost sparkling eyes in happiness, “Exactly! The center we needed is what connects the three labyrinths together, meaning the center where all Labyrinths meet.”

Erza pointed out, “That means the order of whatever labyrinth we chose didn't matter since there's only one center. One center means all first, second, and third, labyrinths were already combined. We'll reach the center no matter what order because it's already on top of each other.”

The two of them chorused in amusement, “The place where three labyrinths meet was the starting point!!”

And, there was enlightenment.

Hesychia watched them high-fived each other, finally getting the point of all of this. She leaned on the wall, waiting for them to calm down. The woman closed her eyes thinking of a certain question.

Why was Solomon included?

This was a question she asked herself formerly.

A Labyrinth resembles life, it only has one entrance and one center, where the entrance means birth and the center means God. Once you've reached the center you'll receive enlightenment. That's what happened to Solomon's life, from his birth until he reached the peak of his life, the things he had done were great—even deserving blessings from the Creator above. After receiving his enlightenment he once again went back to his entrance where everything began, his humanity.

Humanity, where people get tempted and their lives are still under their choice. Instead of staying at the center of his own labyrinth of life, where he promised to worship only one God—upon reaching his old age, he married too many people. His Labyrinth connected to other labyrinths, as he slowly forgot who he's supposed to seek. In the end, the center of his life changed, as he started worshipping and devoting other beings.

Opening her eyes, she lifted her chin up and looked at the other two people who's waiting for her. Erza was the first one to bow a little, uttering in a sincere tone, “I apologize for accusing you wrongly. If there's anything I can do...”

Icx also did the same, “I'm really sorry, if ever we'll meet again please let me return the favor!”

Hesychia once again stared at Erza's face. Looking away, Hesychia's hand slowly soothed Icx's back, “That's enough, we're still not finished.”

“There's still a problem.” Erza approached them and started the serious topic. “All of us stood at the center; however the Minor Screening was not deemed complete. Is the question for the center hidden?”

“We have been discussing time limits and order...” Hesychia looked at the bell floating above her head. “that I almost forgot about this.”

「“The game rewarded each player ‘The bells of meeting.’ One person who will ring this bell would be able to summon the two other people to their own labyrinth. An hour would be given to the two players to try and help the player who had rang the bell. After an hour, the two players summoned would be transported back to their own chosen labyrinth.”」

Icx looked at them, baffled. “Then, the instructions are props to confuse players. If that's the purpose of the bell, the players would think that it is completely useless or they would use it on the stupidest question.”

Instead of using the bell, they went back to the starting point as a meeting place. Hesychia concluded that using the bell was pointless, personal questions would be rather answered by the person who owns it. Instead of seeking help, everyone would want to bury those sore questions down to the grave instead of sharing it to random strangers.

The riddles were in fact easy, even Icx and Erza didn't have a hard time. The three of them are capable of answering those riddles hence not needing to call for anyone's help.

So, what's the purpose of the bell?

Each of them already saw the questions at the separate ‘center’ of each labyrinth. The very center of their own labyrinth won't be there if it's useless, now this bell won't be useless too. With common sense, players should recognize that it's here because it's an element needed for them to solve this screening.

“The chances of ringing the bell is only three, one for each of us each. Meaning, if a member should find a hard question, the other two could help them.” Erza said, taking the bell that's floating on top of his head, “What if we all rang the bell at the same time because the question for clearing the screening is too hard?”

Hesychia spilled her thoughts, agreeing, “A question that doesn't exist is indeed hard to answer. If all of us found it hard, it is only reasonable to ring the bell and ask for help. However, all of us would ring it—who would help us now?”

“Why not find out?” Icx suggested cluelessly.

Erza suddenly counters, “In one!”

Hesychia instinctively added, “Two.”

Icx gave a shout, “Three!”

Cleansing sound of bells surrounded the space, the ground cracked with light, creating a triangular shape at the center of a three circle venn diagram. 

Erza laughed, “Isn't this our position earlier before the game started?”

Hesychia, “It is.”

“Greetings! Players Silas, Erza and Icx have completed the Minor Screening: Questions and Riddles under the game The Golden Maze of Solomon!”

“Loading...”

“Loading complete!”

“Rewards for each player are being prepared!”

「“Each player who reached the center of the maze, after going ritually through it, after ‘dancing’ in the way of an intuitive open-mindedness to natural laws and harmonies, which they maybe won’t understand, but feel inside of them, they will feel united, and it will be the best test of truth.”」

Who would have thought that hearing the mechanical voice will make them feel relieved. Hesychia suddenly felt fatigued, her tense body relaxing as the breath she's been holding finally went out. The young woman looked at them with a small smile, this time it wasn't sarcastic nor forced, but a genuine expression of congratulations.

Hesychia looked at the ceiling and thought that the strange voice seemed to be always listening to them and didn't reveal their real names despite knowing everything.

“Rewards are being given!”

A holographic green tab appeared in front of her. The woman looked at her teammates who seemed to be looking at something too yet Hesychia couldn't see it. By the looks of it, the screening gave them privacy of which rewards they were able to acquire.

「Player: Hesychia Astrid

Reward Buffs:

Increased Agility  - Rank A

Increased Stamina - Rank A

Sharp Memory increased by 25% - Rank S

Mental Capacity increased by 15% - Rank SS

Accurate Prediction increased by 10% - Rank SSS」

Looking at the added rewards, most of it went to her brain. The woman thought the rewards would be real life objects instead of body buffs, either way she was content that these rewards could help her.

“All players had received their rewards. Minor Screening will automatically close in five minutes, please leave immediately after attending to your needs! No one would want to be forever trapped in here. May you have a good day Players, best of luck!”

A mechanical looking portal appeared nearby, there was an insignia of neon green spoons present at its side. Icx was the first one to wave and run to the exit, “Thank you for today, let's meet again soon!”

Hesychia and Erza waved as they watched her back fade into shadows. After the third party's complete disappearance, the man then glanced at her, “Ya there, Silas. Or, should it be Swallowtail? Or perhaps, you prefer both?”