Chapter 20

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 20

Chapter Title: The Fact of Not Dying - Complete

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I was aware of the clinic's existence.

Even though my time on the first floor was a distant memory, I'd lingered there long enough in the early stages that the village facilities were etched in my mind.

The clinic did exactly as its name implied—it healed adventurers.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Without charging a single coin, it restored the entire body in an instant.

The size of the wound didn't matter.

The split skin inside my palm from sword training, the stinging leg from a slime's touch—everything returned to perfect condition.

As long as you visited the clinic, all damage vanished without cost, so it was only natural that potions lost their appeal.

They had no advantages beyond portability.

"Why did I come to the clinic...?"

I fiddled with my throat.

It was smooth and intact.

Around the 80th floor, maybe, but back on the first floor, there was no infighting in the Adventurer Alliance bad enough to kill each other.

There were no monsters that threatened your life either, so there was no reason to die on the first floor.

Not unless adventurers shoved knives to each other's throats or someone decided to take their own life.

I hadn't realized it was possible to recover even after your breath stopped—

"Idiot. Still thinking there's something impossible in the Tower."

Did conjuring fire from human hands, cleaving cliffs with a sword, or returning to the past ever seem realistic?

In a way, reviving the dead might just be a flick of the wrist for the Tower.

I still hadn't fully grasped the first floor's system.

At first, I suspected ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the villagers.

Maybe after I killed myself and became a corpse, someone found my body and carried it to the clinic.

No one carried me.

I even ventured deep into the forest, but the result was the same.

The moment I died, my body teleported inside the clinic.

After that, my body—split into two from the neck down—returned to its original state.

When I woke, the message that I was fully recovered—which should have felt only warm—blocked my vision.

The crude sword that had pierced my throat multiple times was chillingly spotless.

Next, I doubted the Tower's limits.

I believed this nonsense couldn't be repeated endlessly.

I knew nothing was impossible, but I prayed it had to be this way.

I threw a tantrum like a child.

Wake in the clinic, kick the door open, go outside, stab my throat again—repeat.

I'd open my eyes in the same spot over and over.

How desperate was I that I didn't even notice someone witnessing that horrific sight?

"Adventurer...? I heard you were heading to the second floor today, eek!"

"Please, please stop!"

I died six more times right in front of Ellie's eyes, so it's a relief it didn't leave her with trauma even now.

Thank goodness she didn't know I'd been repeating that long before she found me.

And so ends the long tale.

After that, I never left the first floor, so those were days I didn't need to explain to Ellie.

They were just my everyday routine, exactly as she'd seen.

"Honestly, you know it's a hard story to believe, right, Earthbound Spirit?"

"I didn't say it hoping you'd believe me."

"No, I do believe you."

Ellie uttered two contradictory statements in one breath.

"It's not just that story that doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, exactly. Things that don't make sense aren't all that special to us."

I couldn't expect others to accept everything I'd been through at face value.

I could only roughly recount the major events with my clumsy words.

Staying in the tutorial unlike an adventurer,

Growing strong without experience unlike a beginner,

Shoving a knife into my own throat unlike a person,

Thanks to these unrealistic traits, Ellie naturally accepted the unrealistic reasons too.

"It's a good thing the reason it's hard to believe is unbelievable. If others had seen that spectacle, they'd call you crazy on the spot."

"That... sorry."

"No. If it's true, it was understandable enough."

If I'd seen someone who'd been fine until yesterday suddenly trying to repeatedly kill themselves, I'd think they were insane too.

It was truly fortunate no other villagers witnessed it.

"Truthfully, whatever the reason you didn't climb the Tower like other adventurers, it doesn't matter."

"Didn't you say you had to ask today or never? Weren't you curious?"

"It's not about what the reason is—it's that you told me, whatever it was."

Isn't that the same thing?

"Come to think of it, don't you think we know too little about each other for people who've seen each other's faces every day?"

"We run out of topics because the conversation starters are always the same."

"Then let's add more starting today."

Adventurer and receptionist.

That relationship stays static.

Take quests, hunt monsters, hand over byproducts, receive rewards.

Of course, repeating that process hundreds of times builds a decent bond, but my gruesome actions made even that difficult.

Ellie and I focused more than anyone on assigning and completing requests to pretend we were immersed in routine, cleverly burying the issue.

Thanks to that, the first floor villagers mostly guessed my reason for staying—lack of confidence, laziness, fear.

There wasn't even a whisper of rumors about me slitting my own throat.

Without Ellie's consideration, I'd have faced plenty of bad looks from the villagers.

Especially parents with kids—they might have even forbidden their children from talking to me.

I couldn't have dreamed of the reputation I've built as a village member now.

Ellie was the first person I'd ever confided in about events from erased timelines.

Those were things I'd kept tightly sealed, but the night's atmosphere must have loosened my tongue too.

"I won't dig into the past anymore. Just one last thing."

"What?"

"You said there are bigger villages higher up in the Tower, right?"

"There were. Lots of them."

The first floor village felt like a tutorial—bare minimum facilities for a village.

Just one damp forest where slimes lived as a monster habitat, and the training ground had only swordsmanship.

Higher up, the Tower overflowed with larger villages and more residents.

"Even if you gave up on reaching the top, there must have been better villages than this. Why stay 'here'?"

"......"

"Any special reason?"

No need to ponder an answer for this.

The reason was clear.

"No need to waste time climbing to another village, and above all, this place was the best."

"...!"

"It's the only place in the Tower where I can't use my trait."

To clear floors, I'd died countless times.

Sometimes, I'd rewind dozens of floors to devise new strategies.

Conversations with fellow adventurers during clears, new bonds formed—all vanished.

My achievements disappeared without a trace.

Everything became as if it never happened.

I think that's where I felt the greatest void.

My trait is so unforgiving—it only activates upon death.

So this deathless place means whatever nonsense I pull can't be undone.

I can't find better solutions for things I've already done, or turn mistakes into nothing—but that was fine.

I never knew irrevocableness could feel so whole.

Not dying meant, to me, something unchanging.

"You're clueless."

"Huh?"

"At times like this, shouldn't you say it's because of me that you stayed?"

"W-Was that what I should have said?"

"You let me build up all these expectations..."

Guess that wasn't the answer she wanted.

Maybe it wasn't the moment to bare my honest heart?

"Rien said it was obvious you stayed because of me..."

Looks like the "consultation" Rien gave before leaving for the second floor was love advice.

I'll definitely grill her on what nonsense she spouted.

"The request office resumes normal business after today. Tomorrow... you'll come, right?"

I nodded.

"Don't leave right after the quest either. Stay and chat awhile. I'll prepare some fragrant tea."

When I gave up everything, returned to the first floor, and even failed at dying.

From that day, visiting Ellie's request office religiously gave me, who'd lost purpose, something to do right then.

Daily quests were just that.

I still had no clear goal.

So tomorrow, and every day, I'd go take requests as usual.

That's all there was to it.

Earthbound Spirit is strong.

Even after repeatedly suiciding countless times, shoving all events into past timelines and gaining no growth elements, his accumulated experience remained.

But there were clearly domains where he was absolutely lacking now.

Back when he broke through the 700th floor, he had hyper-senses to pinpoint every living being's numbers and positions nearby.

Now, he couldn't even detect a single adventurer hiding behind the bushes.

"......"

Amelia is a talented mage and adventurer.

Among what he'd learned was how to eavesdrop on conversations from distances beyond human hearing.

Amplifying waves— no, the principle didn't matter now.

What mattered was that he'd overheard every word of Earthbound Spirit and Ellie's conversation.

"So that's why you never came to the second floor."

He'd first met him in the Tower, spent time together on the first floor.

But when he ascended to the second, the man who was supposed to follow never appeared.

You couldn't move floors mid-clear.

He rushed back to the first floor right after, but he looked very different from memory and showed no intent to climb.

The once weakest adventurer had become untouchable.

Had talent bloomed late? Found a hidden piece missed on the first floor? He'd hypothesized and discarded many.

He'd tried recruiting him every time he descended.

"So that's how it was."

The rank 1 guild master finally felt all the puzzle pieces click into place.