Chapter 64

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 64

Chapter Title: Records - 3

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Senior had returned.

He had changed into fresh clothes.

Ellie processed the requests for the three of them and handed over their rewards.

"Well... I'll do what I can about Fria. She's not affiliated with anyone anymore, but she's not the type to ignore a heads-up."

Even though she claimed to have no authority, Amelia was trying to clean up the mess belatedly.

"The vice guild master—no, she's the guild master now, right? Anyway, you're planning to climb up to wherever she is?"

"She just told me not to look for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her when she left, and didn't say a word about recruitment. I think I need to meet her again."

'So she's completely stepped down from the guild master position.'

Amelia, who no longer had any decision-making power.

The vice guild master who had taken her place as guild master.

Amelia wouldn't climb the tower anymore.

She conveyed that fact matter-of-factly.

'Was it Senior's influence?'

Senior still hadn't cleared the 1st floor, and she was starting to follow in his footsteps.

He clearly had some incomprehensible past with his record of over 700 floors, but why had Amelia—who had only reached the 60th floor—stopped in her tracks?

There was no way for me to know, nor any reason I needed to.

On the contrary, the fact that a major star had stepped aside was good news for me—it meant more room to shine.

Amelia had clearly played a huge role in the tower's allure that drew me in, but it wasn't her who had lifted my feet off the ground into reality.

My goal was the Sword Saint. I knew he wasn't the type to give up climbing in disappointment.

Because that's the kind of person he was.

"Alright, let's get back to the original topic. We should start from the 12th floor, right?"

Amelia stepped aside, and Senior began explaining the next floor.

"Explain it in more detail this time. Last time... there were just too many surprises all around."

"I'll tell you the key points as much as possible, but I can't cover everything. I've long forgotten routes unrelated to clearing or ones I abandoned."

It was like with Mariel on the 11th floor—things that might catch me off guard on first encounter. He was saying to at least prepare my mind in advance.

Every piece of information he shared was incredibly useful.

Imagining slamming my head against the wall without knowing them, it was a massive gain in both time and rewards.

Unaffiliated with any guild now, unlike the first 5 floors where guild strategy guides were available, every little bit was precious.

Monsters appearing on each floor.

Their weaknesses.

Items needed to exploit those weaknesses.

Actions to take on the 12th floor for the 13th.

Actions to take on the 13th floor for the 14th.

All the advice interlocked, preparing me for the journey up to the 20th floor.

The details up to the 19th floor didn't seem much different from what I'd heard so far.

A new type of clearing condition awaited me, but the actions required were clear-cut.

"And finally. The 20th floor..."

I doubted my ears.

Not because the explanation was hard to understand, but because Senior's advice was so absurd.

"...Pardon?"

"There are no physical threats from start to finish. Well, unless another adventurer attacks you."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. So go separately from that adventurer you were with, and enter when no one's around."

In Senior's words, the 20th floor was essentially a massive hallucinogen.

Officially, it was called the 'Trauma Room'.

After receiving all of Senior's advice up to the 20th floor, the sky had already been dyed orange.

The clearing condition for the 11th floor—the Sealed Demon—could only be challenged once a week anyway.

Even if I returned to Fria's side right away, I couldn't proceed to the 12th floor yet.

But staying on the 1st floor offered no further gains either.

My original plan was to hunt in an appropriate-level area for experience after finishing with Senior.

'What's going on with this since earlier?'

Whenever I moved toward the gate to head to the 2nd floor, an overwhelming barrage of messages blocked my path.

It wasn't particularly fluent with its vocabulary, but now it was just repeating the exact same word.

'Oh, so it knows other words too?'

'Still stuck communicating in single words.'

The forest only had lush grass and even lusher trees.

And slimes. A ton of slimes.

Senior had sliced them all up today, so there might be fewer.

But they'd respawn by tomorrow.

'What's idiotic! I've done everything you wanted, and you're still complaining? That attitude of yours... Keep it up, and I'll just head up!'

'Yeah. Let's get along?'

The trait went quiet again.

I tried heading toward the forest entrance as it wanted, but it blocked me instead.

It was saying now wasn't the time, that I needed to wait longer.

I couldn't leave the 1st floor, yet there was nothing specific to do.

It was a thoroughly awkward situation.

The best way to kill this downtime was...

"Sigh, why do you look down again? Something must've happened at the forge."

"I think of it as an opportunity instead."

"Huh? Opportunity?"

"Nobody's perfect all the time."

What was the big deal?

Just pick up the conversation with Ellie that got cut short at the request office.

She was quite the handful.

One moment she seemed fine, but when Senior returned with a dark expression, she got flustered again right away.

"And... I don't think we need to worry much about any rivals."

"Hmm? ...Really?"

She seemed pretty easygoing too.

Come to think of it, these two had lived in the same village for years, even before I climbed the tower.

Yet their relationship was still like this.

'I wonder if anything will change by the time I return after the 20th floor?'

I'd bet my trait on it staying the same.

Someone would have to set the place on fire for progress to happen.

"Um... by any chance, do you have any of those here?"

"What kind?"

"I think we might need something like this, so I wanted to ask."

"What, what is it? Tell me quick!"

Nothing beat this between a man and a woman.

Thanks to that, I breezed through what could have been a boring wait.

The sky had darkened.

This was the moment the trait had been talking about.

Time to head to the forest.

⋮

A guard stood at the entrance.

'Who is that? Not Koon.'

I recalled there were two guards in the village, including Koon.

It was too dark to identify properly, but Koon wouldn't stand watch 24 hours alone, so it had to be the other guard.

'If it's saying that's not him either, then it's definitely not Koon. So why tell me to come to the forest?'

'Sneak in? Right now?'

There was only one entrance, guarded by the guard.

I wasn't an assassin class, so no stealth skills for me, and sneaking past a guard wasn't feasible.

'Infiltration doesn't even make sense first off. And at least explain why I need to go inside!'

'What does that even mean?'

Was Koon in the damp forest or something?

Objective aside, I needed a way to get inside first.

Any adventurer trying to enter the forest at this hour would obviously be turned away.

And being alone in the forest while the other guard was on duty seemed suspicious.

'It wasn't this insistent even in front of Amelia. Just what records does Koon have?'

Honestly, being a guard didn't require much creativity or variety, did it?

It wasn't about creating something new.

Standing in the same spot, doing the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠duties day in and day out.

That was how you maintained safety.

Yet Koon had richer records than anyone else on the 1st floor?

It might just be the trait's peculiar taste, but its fussing had me hooked too.

Senior had said there were no hidden pieces or rewards that flipped the strategy regardless of difficulty.

The 1st floor had 1st-floor items, the 10th had 10th-floor ones.

But Senior himself was beyond a 1st-floor character.

Not to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mention the village's top mage and former Crimson Flame Guild master was still here.

At Harman's forge, I'd gotten a mysterious weapon full of question marks, unlike any other item.

'Now I'm curious too. Can't turn back anymore. Gotta check it out.'

No adventurer could resist a secret.

That's what made it an adventure.