Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Qualifications to Climb the Tower (2)
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“……Not corpses, are they?”
Manannan muttered in a trembling voice.
Beside him, Regin nodded quietly as he glared at the corpses.
Corpses missing arms and legs, corpses split in half, corpses soaked in blood with muscles grotesquely exposed poured out.
Limbs missing.
Bodies split in half.
Piles of torn corpses with muscles grotesquely exposed.
‘…….’
He calmly regulated his breathing.
Hadn’t he come prepared? He already knew plenty.
……How close and commonplace death was in a place like this.
It was while he was trying his utmost to suppress the emotions rising at the sight of the corpse piles.
Clatter—
After the corpses emerged, knights clad in armor like the corpses began appearing from inside.
Around ten of them. All wore dazed expressions.
Anyone could see those corpses were their comrades, their faces heavy with grief.
“Everyone, make way!”
“……You idiots! What are you waiting for? Hurry up and collect them!?”
As the knights emerged from the tower, the knight order waiting outside rushed over.
They began loading the spilled corpses onto the waiting wagons.
“……What kind of nonsense is this, slipping out of the tower without even recovering the bodies? You trying to brag to everyone outside about the raid’s failure?”
“……We had no time. We recovered the captain and seniors’ bodies with magic, but…… we had to take the portal right away.”
He faintly overheard what seemed to be the knight order’s commander barking at the knights from inside.
Manannan looked utterly lost as to what was happening, but Regin grasped the situation immediately.
‘The kingdom sends raid parties to conquer the tower…… Those corpses belong to that raid party.’
He could understand why the outside commander was yelling.
If they’d recovered the bodies before taking the portal, it wouldn’t have been this blatant a display.
But they hadn’t even brought them out—they’d just dumped them via portal.
‘This raid’s failure. In other words, the kingdom’s yet another failure…… shown to everyone in the most shocking way possible.’
Manannan was seeing this for the first time, and with no expectations for the raid party to begin with, he wasn’t reacting much.
But other explorers were different.
Regin scanned the faces of the surrounding explorers. He saw twisted expressions.
Faces on the verge of exploding.
“Incompetent fools.”
“Raid party my ass…… How many times have they come back as corpses now?”
Thud.
As one spat out those words.
“Failed again?! Damn it. Didn’t even have time to bring the bodies properly this time!”
“They take every bit of support going, and all they return is corpses? We’d have done better going in ourselves!”
“……Those raid party bastards. It was already an eyesore seeing them strut around in expensive gear controlling the hunting grounds. And they still can’t break through the 16th floor!?”
Long-held resentment erupted like a dam breaking. Grumbles bordering on curses followed one after another.
“……Everyone’s really pissed off, huh?”
“…….”
“Well, yeah. They take so much in raid party support—supplies, taxes…… I’ve heard plenty of people have complaints.”
Manannan said, sounding flustered. Understandable enough.
Corpses had spilled out, yet instead of concern or mourning, it was resentment pouring forth.
“I get wanting to conquer the 1st Tower quickly. But the support funds for that come straight out of our pockets, don’t they?”
Hic!
A small-statured man hiccuped as he sidled up to Regin and Manannan, speaking softly.
He held a bottle of booze in one hand. His face and nose were flushed bright red.
Regin had seen plenty in DAT, but this was his first time seeing one in person.
‘A dwarf explorer.’
The dwarf, commonly known as blacksmiths and classified as a different race.
In DAT, you could often run into non-human NPCs in the tower, but this one looked like a seasoned explorer through and through.
‘People drink before entering the tower for one of two reasons. Either they’re so tense they need booze to calm down, or the tower’s so familiar they can afford to drink.’
“You seem pretty experienced with the tower. You’re not even fazed seeing corpses like that.”
When Regin probed, the dwarf nodded.
“Well, not some grand veteran, but I’ve spent a fair few years in the tower. You two…… your faces are full of tension. First-timers?”
“This is our first climb.”
“What?! Ha ha…… Bad luck on day one. Just our luck to arrive the day the raid party comes back in pieces.”
The dwarf let out a hollow chuckle, clearly shocked for them.
Manannan tossed a question at him as he watched.
“……Is it always this kind of atmosphere when the raid party returns?”
“Hm?”
“Everyone seems way angrier than I expected…… No matter what, you shouldn’t react like this to dead people.”
“Hmm. Yeah. Getting mad at the dead isn’t exactly normal.”
“…….”
“But if you’re taking our money, you damn well better succeed. Otherwise, you’re just falling behind the nobles from other territories.”
“Ah…….”
Right. That was the setup.
The towers were scattered across each territory.
The nobles around those territories were desperate to conquer them.
Regin nodded as he listened to the dwarf’s explanation.
“You know how it is. Most folks go into the tower and come back with just a handful of mana stones. Half of it gets snatched away in taxes.”
“…….”
“And yet…… the northerners are one thing, but we’re already getting lapped by those eastern slackers lounging around! Heh heh. This stings more as explorers than as locals of the territory.”
The dwarf shook his head as he spoke. Booze started flowing down his throat steadily.
“Back in the day, we in the west led the tower conquests, and that pride pushed us up. But not anymore.”
The city where Regin and Manannan were based—the one with Middle Street—was in the western territory.
Three great houses led the tower raids there.
Even with all the taxes and support funneled to their raid party…… their results were the worst.
‘Ever since the kingdom was founded, nearly 100 years ago, every local and explorer has been caught up in this competition.’
The west’s 1st Tower lagged the most.
Everyone gathered here was furious about that.
“Of course, not every explorer…… is numb to death and just vents anger.”
“Some have enough experience to know…… each tower has its own difficulty.”
“……The towers have different difficulties?”
At Manannan’s question, the dwarf nodded quietly.
He lowered his voice and continued.
“Yeah. Some explorers think that way. That the 1st Tower…… has something different from the others.”
“Really……?”
“They figure the achievement of reaching the top will be that much greater because it’s so tough.”
The dwarf glanced around as he gulped down more booze, then spoke slowly.
“So they’re running hard to leave their mark on those difficult footsteps.”
Regin nodded silently again.
‘He knows more than I thought.’
Clearly a high-floor explorer. Well-informed about how the world turns, too.
This called for some prep.
“I’m Regin.”
“Regin?”
“……Yeah! I’m Manannan!”
“Regin and Manannan.”
The dwarf smirked and nodded.
“Alright. No clue if I’ll remember, but if you make it to the 11th floor, let’s meet again. May Iella’s blessing be with you. Hell, may it pour down till you’re sick of it!”
Hic!
With a hiccup and a laugh, the dwarf slowly headed toward the tower.
Regin watched his back quietly. No registration needed for him, so he was prepping to enter early.
“……That drunkard’s a high-floor explorer?”
Manannan eyed him suspiciously, but Regin smirked.
‘Veterans always act the strangest to look at.’
* * *
The area around the tower remained chaotic.
The guards were busy recovering bodies, and explorers’ voices mixed everywhere.
“……Guess we have to wait a bit more? Things are messy, so we can’t head in right away?”
“Registration isn’t done yet either.”
“Hmm. At least that’s a relief. Plenty of people mourning.”
Manannan glanced around and blurted it out.
As the dwarf said, not everyone was venting anger.
Some made the sign of DAT’s deity to pay respects.
Others prayed with somber faces.
‘The dwarf’s right. Those who’ve climbed the tower know. How death is just par for the course inside. People who know tower raids aren’t a game can’t easily condemn them.’
The 1st Tower had that tendency especially.
Anyway, there was a saying among tower raiders.
‘Nobody knows what happens inside a tower.’
It sounded obvious, but experiencing it made it hit different.
You had to be cautious to the utmost because anything could happen.
And yet, in a tower world where survival wasn’t guaranteed.
Those quietly mourning understood that well.
“But do you think that drunk uncle was telling the truth, Regin? That the 1st Tower’s the hardest?”
“No idea. But I think Master Nuada mentioned something like that.”
“……Really?”
Of course it was true.
Though it was something he’d say later, not now.
Order didn’t matter much, did it?
“…….”
Manannan swallowed hard, staring where the corpses had been.
Bloodstains still marred the grass there. Looming above was the towering structure.
“Scared?”
Trembling eyes. Unsteady breaths.
Regin asked, seeing Manannan’s state, and after a moment’s thought, he shook his head.
“Nah?”
“……Doesn’t look like ‘nah’ to me. You seem pretty anxious.”
“Not that…… Yeah. This much fear is just right for a trial a disciple of Master Nuada can overcome.”
He’d seen corpses on day one.
And heard it was par for the course.
No surprise if he trembled in fear—and Manannan clearly was.
But he was desperately steeling himself.
Squeeze—
Clenching and unclenching his fists, Manannan continued.
“Archmage.”
“Huh?”
“I’m trying to become an archmage…… They say succeeding in the 1st Tower raid gets you closer to archmage status, right? No giving up. Gotta run like mad from now on.”
……Archmage. A title Regin had heard from NPCs while playing spellcrafter.
Hearing Manannan’s resolve, Regin quietly vowed the same inside.
To survive.
And to return to the world outside DAT.
He had to claim that archmage position first.
“Adventurers climbing the tower now, please enter the portal!”
“Time limit is 10 minutes! Those not climbing, leave immediately!”
Hearing the guards, Manannan hurried after Regin to the portal.
“Let’s go.”
“……Yeah. Let’s write a legend. Death won’t stop me. No—better not die.”
Manannan shouted energetically and stepped into the portal. Regin followed slowly.
Whiiiir— Shhh—
An odd sensation hit. DAT lore said portals caused nausea.
‘Definitely not wrong.’
Regin covered his mouth with his hand.
Head spinning, stomach churning.
He couldn’t even tell if he was walking forward.
Just blue light filling everything.
‘……Tougher than expected?’
NPCs said portal sickness could be overcome with practice.
Seemed his first time made him sloppy. As he endured the misery.
Flash.
A white light passed, and green leaves came into view.
Regin reached out, and his body was ejected from the portal, landing in a bush.
“Urk—bleeegh!”
The second thing Regin saw was Manannan vomiting against a tree.
Regin let out a relieved chuckle at the sight.
……Maybe he had a talent for portals after all.
“Manannan.”
“……Urgh.”
“Snap out of it and get up.”
Regin patted his back. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.
‘1st Tower, 1st Floor. Forest at Dawn.’
The first area in DAT.
Regin continued as he examined the randomly generated trees and grass structures.
“We need to find a safe spot first. Once you’re in here…… whether monsters charge or something else…… nothing’s protecting us.”