Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Festival - 16
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There are many worlds.
There was the world I came from, and the world that Luden and Portam belonged to.
Or worlds that had become ruins like the second floor, not villages.
Even counting only the floors I'd set foot on, there were hundreds, each with origins scattered far and wide.
The tower had taken fragments of these horizontally spread worlds, piecing them together one by one to establish a single vertical direction.
This world on the fourth floor, that one higher up on the fifth.
Distinguishing above and below between fragment and fragment.
Even these had known of the tower's existence before becoming part of it.
Some set off for the tower, others did not.
They say each had its own entrance.
Harman, whom I could no longer remember mentioning it, had once spoken of it, and now Delion had brought it up again.
Each entrance connects to its own tower.
Just as there was a time when we couldn't imagine other worlds, we mistake the whole based on limited information once more.
No one had ever said there was only one tower.
'Just as there are many worlds, there are many towers.'
I could tell that the tower Delion spoke of was separate from this one I inhabited.
Otherwise, the timelines wouldn't match.
The plan to shove Portam into the tower had begun before Luden became the first floor.
Delion entering the tower was also before Luden became the first floor.
I'd considered the possibility that the tower stacked floors last-in-first-out, but based on experience from over 700 floors so far, that wasn't right.
New fragments weren't decided by pushing up all accumulated floors and laying at the bottom.
The lower the floor, the more ancient; the higher, the more recent it became part of the tower.
Time flows from bottom to top.
'When I organized routes and broke through hundreds of floors quickly, I caught up to the tower's pace of incorporating new worlds.'
There had even been moments when a new floor solidified the instant I moved to the next.
From the village's perspective, an adventurer arrived the moment it became part of the tower.
The tower stacks floors first-in-first-out.
The earliest fragment to become tower goes at the bottom, later ones stack on top of what's built so far.
Knowing this trait allowed me to spot the falsehood in Portam becoming a tower 30 years ago.
This tower's first floor, this village, was decided only 6 years ago.
Perhaps this tower started forming later than others.
The question that still wouldn't leave my mind remained unchanged.
'How, just how could someone enter the tower and come back out?'
Did the tower really have an end?
Did Delion reach the top and thus exit back outside?
A year seemed long when waiting, but terribly short looking back.
The total time I'd spent in the tower was mere dust compared to a year.
Conquering the tower in that short span was unbelievable.
I, who had endlessly revised routes, could declare it outright.
Absolutely impossible.
'No, I've made a habit of jumping to conclusions.'
There's no rule saying the tower Delion entered was this one.
What if its peak was far lower?
This tower had no end past 700 floors, but that one might have been just 10 floors total.
The possibility was slim, but...
Above all, Delion himself was the strangest part.
For someone who'd experienced the tower, he was too weak.
He matched adventurers who'd barely reached the fifth floor at best.
Of course, as a guard, Delion's physical abilities ranked high among villagers.
Excluding the outlier Tiana, he and Koon were top-tier.
Yet he was only at fifth-floor adventurer level.
This comparison was possible only because adventurers grew exponentially fast.
Gaining tower growth elements, accumulating experience, learning skills—all outpaced years as a guard in building physical specs.
But Delion showed none of those traits.
Even two or three floors should have granted basic status boosts that shone through.
Didn't we see it in the swordsmanship match?
Even with emotional factors, Koon beat Delion.
Did he have to forfeit all powers gained upon leaving the tower?
Or was this another tower measure?
If so, why did Delion retain his memories?
Harman had blocked all hindrances on the first floor.
"Doesn't seem like a skill learned in a year."
Even Deina, who enjoyed the bard's performance, had subtly voiced the doubt.
If he'd learned lute playing during that year-long 'journey' climb, he'd surely bear class and skill influences.
He couldn't take combat abilities out of the tower, yet his instrument skill remained.
Another unsolved curiosity.
All that remained was Delion's hatred of adventurers and the fact he'd once been one.
Having been on the 'taking' side, he knew how villages lost control and left words to that effect.
Thus, he stayed as a guard protecting the first floor.
From slimes, or adventurers.
To keep from losing the village.
'I don't even know exactly what "losing the village" entails.'
He was on the taking side before, yet now wary of being taken?
Simply because it's his own village now?
Or aversion to the act of taking itself?
Frustrating.
The emotion I'd felt countless times while climbing was utterly exhausting in daily life.
***
Ellie leaned on my shoulder.
We'd planned the festival to enjoy together, but overthinking was an incurable disease for me.
A guy like Ryu Jae-hyun would just charge ahead blindly, but my way of tackling the tower was endless agony and verification.
A bad habit ingrained in my body.
Late, I tapped her cheek with my index finger.
She had to see this scenery before the fireworks ended.
"Uh...... Huh? Earthbound Spirit, sir?"
"Ellie, look up."
Thanks to that, she awoke from sleep to take in the dreamlike sight.
"Wow......"
She might have recovered from fatigue if she'd slept deeply, but repeated short naps and wakings made her look even more tired.
Rubbing her eyes and yawning cutely, she kept her gaze lifted to the sky.
"Yaaawn... Did I fall asleep again?"
"Yeah. You were sleeping soundly."
"Almost missed this amazing sight. Good thing."
Tiana said it was her first fireworks.
Ellie asked if she'd seen them before.
"Yes, once."
"Really?"
"Not as flashy as this, but I saw some as a kid. The noise scared me back then."
Gunpowder explosions inevitably boomed loudly, but now magic mimicked fireworks.
Colors and shapes were more ideal, the eardrum-shattering roar gone.
"Did you hear Delion playing earlier?"
"Delion played?"
"You were already asleep by then."
"He played? Delion? The Delion I know?"
Yes, that's the normal reaction.
No one in the village had seen Delion singing poetry.
This was everyone's first.
"Too bad... I should've seen it."
"Should've woken you sooner. Sorry."
"No. It was me getting drunk."
She seemed aware she'd been drunk.
Unlike some oblivious ones.
"But why's your face gloomy again?"
"...Me?"
"We held the festival to cheer you up. What made you sad this time, Earthbound Spirit, sir?"
Ellie put a finger to her chin, pondering.
Her conclusion:
"I didn't do something wrong, did I?"
Doubting her drunken past self.
"My memory's fuzzy, so I didn't mess up, right?"
"..."
"D-Did I?"
"No. Nothing much."
She wasn't prim, but decent for blackout drunk.
"Except when you kept pouring me drinks, saying I wasn't drunk enough?"
"I-I did that?"
"You said we both needed to get drunk. What did Rien tell you?"
"Eek, ugh... Uh..."
Ellie glitched.
She could barely speak more than when drunk.
"I'm drunk right now."
"You're fine. The alcohol's worn off."
"No. The buzz hit late."
A lie too blatant to buy.
Who'd believe it when she spoke so clearly?
Emphasizing her impulses as alcohol-fueled for what came next.
"You haven't done today's request yet, right?"
"Request?"
Sudden topic.
The daily repeat request.
Go to the forest, catch five slimes.
No receptionist posting requests at the festival, no adventurers taking them, so none today.
"A new request came in. Wanna do it?"
"Another request? At this hour?"
"Emergency request. Emergency."
Obviously, the client was Ellie.
Only taker was me.
The village had one standing request, but special days added specials.
Like last time with the special monster.
Of course, not monster subjugation this time.
"So, what's the request?"
"Stay still for 10 seconds. No matter what, don't move."
"Reward?"
"Y-You'll be happy."
How could staying still 10 seconds make one happy?
"I just stay still, and get happiness as reward? Too good a deal."
"You caused a drunken scene, so I made the conditions favorable."
No quest alert popped.
Not formal, no request form—just improvised prank. Natural.
"Caution: you must close your eyes."
"..."
"You'll do it, right?"
"Gotta do the request."
I closed both eyes as the receptionist instructed.
Couldn't see ahead, only ears open.
"No moving."
Hearing sharpened.
Eyes closed, senses focused elsewhere naturally.
Fireworks spreading, slicing air.
People laughing.
Cloth rustling.
Breath.
"..."
"..."
Lips touching.
10 seconds passed.
I open my eyes.
"Your request reward."
"..."
"If not now, I might never."
Strangely, even eyes open, vision wouldn't focus.
Nor hearing still sharp.
Only the lip sensation lingered.