60th Floor Free-for-All 3
There was so much I wanted to say. So much I wanted to argue about.
Even if the Holy Sword ignored every scrap of defense and resistance and drove straight through, I was still a tank by nature—no extra damage skills—so pure burst against a boss was starting to fall short. Or how there was this thing called Swordsmanship Fragments, and if I could use those fragments to borrow even a fraction of Roland’s genius sword sense, that would be perfect. Or why the hell a boss monster, after taking a faceful of defense-ignoring damage and deciding it hurt, would chicken out, run into the fortress, and lock the door—what kind of character design was that supposed to be?
As a gamer I’d felt the meta shift with my own body, so of course I wanted to rant about it. But Han Se-ah still firmly believed I was an NPC. It wasn’t even “the king’s ears are donkey ears”—I just had to stew in silence…
What the hell is this now…
Watching the knights approach from afar with their splendid banners raised high and an air of absolute swagger, every word I’d been about to spit rose to my throat and then sank right back into my stomach.
Even if you’d just gotten an earful from that old fogey Manager Kim at the office and your chest was boiling with resentment, how would you feel if, on the way home, you ran into a naked lunatic pissing in the middle of the main street? Was Manager Kim’s comment the problem, or the fact that a madman was right there in front of you?
When something utterly ridiculous hits you, everything that came before starts to feel relatively minor. This wasn’t even the base camp in front of a gate—why on earth was a noble lord’s carriage rolling up to the front of a boss monster’s fortress?
Imperial army… and the Imperial Guard at that? The Imperial Guard means the personal guard, right?
Judging by how the commander beside me was trembling like a mouse that had just met a cat just from those towering flags, that splendid crest had to be the Empire’s, and the banner standing beside it was the Goddess Church symbol I already knew well.
Black-armored knights raising both the Goddess Church symbol and the Imperial flag high, as if claiming that the Emperor of the continent was also a being chosen by the Goddess. If the Four Heavenly Kings’ armor had been a grotesque depiction of human muscle, these knights’ armor was a magnificent design that would set any man’s heart racing.
Black full plate that faithfully showed off the slender, soft lines of a woman’s body, right down to the cinched waist. Jet-black armor from head to toe, with gold decorations on parts like the helmet’s faceguard and gauntlets.
The way they approached so boldly, as if they had no reason to hide, made it feel less like they were standing in front of a boss monster’s fortress and more like they were strolling into some city square.
“Wh-what… what is this?”
“Hmm? Buddy, why so shocked?”
“Shut up and bow! No matter that you’re adventurers from the Kingdom, you don’t recognize that?!”
The apprentice commanders, startled by the sight, huddled together, straightening their clothes and starting to rein in the mercenaries and adventurers they’d hired. The adventurers and mercenaries, having quite a bit of experience dealing with high-ranking people, quietly moved according to the commanders’ fuss.
And of course that kind of movement was bound to pique Han Se-ah’s curiosity. If something she’d never seen before showed up like an event, there was no way a streamer would just sit still.
She immediately sent the camera toward the knights holding their flags high. Where the camera pointed was behind the knights—a large carriage approaching under heavy escort. With four massive black horses, muscular and with coats gleaming, it was clearly someone important.
“Whoa… what the? Those horses look almost like 50th-floor monster tier. At that level, just one horse’s price would be more expensive than your average adventurer, right?”
Of course, even in a fantasy world where magic existed, the technology level still hovered somewhere between medieval and early modern. Even a packhorse used by a merchant caravan cost more than a middling serf’s yearly earnings, so a warhorse that looked ready to fight monsters would weigh heavier than a pouch of gold coins.
If the lead horses alone were that valuable, the carriage itself needed no explanation—it was pure luxury. Unlike Princess Bradamante of the White Feather Shield, black and gold seemed to be the signature colors here; the carriage was black wood finished with gold leaf.
Seeing its long silhouette through Han Se-ah’s camera, it almost felt like a medieval limousine. They might have been going for that on purpose.
“Roland, the commanders looked completely terrified. Think someone really high up came in person?”
“Probably. Looking at how many knights are personally escorting the carriage… ah, and they’re not just knights—they said Imperial Guard. At least a ducal house, or maybe one of the imperial family.”
Not only Han Se-ah—our whole party watched the slowly approaching procession with curious eyes. The commanders stood in perfect ranks, holding their breath, while the adventurers and mercenaries clustered behind them as best they could.
The carriage came to a slow stop in front of them. From beneath it a red carpet unrolled itself forward with a soft thud-thud, and then the carriage door opened at a leisurely pace.
“The Eternal Sun of the Empire, she who spreads the Goddess’s word throughout the Empire—”
“Enough. I told you to skip the bothersome formalities.”
The person who stepped down was a woman smaller than expected. Since the Goddess was blonde, a lot of high-ranking people seemed to be blonde too—I was having that stupid thought when I felt a poke in both sides of my ribs.
“Roland, ‘Sun of the Empire’… isn’t that the Emperor?”
“Um, Roland? She seems really important. Should we show proper manners too?”
Ah. So not just “someone high up.”
About the same height as Katie—roughly 160 cm—small and slight. Catlike upturned eyes, golden bob swaying lightly, and porcelain skin that left no doubt she was highborn. A beautiful girl stepped down from the carriage.
“We greet the Sun of the Empire—!!!”
“H-how… how could someone so exalted come all the way h-here?!”
Cute looks, yet she carried the vicious title of innate 6-star Empress of the Empire.
Ruler of the Empire
Looking at it this way, all three innate 6-stars—including me—were blondes. Paladin Roland, White Feather Shield Bradamante, and Great Empress Charlotte. All three.
And anyone could see their motifs came from the French Twelve Peers. Because of that, French fans briefly soaked in national pride spammed the chat with French flags and baguette icons in a show of revolutionary spirit… only to get mercilessly purged by the bloodless, tearless AI.
While Han Se-ah and I stood there staring blankly at the chat, dazed by the sudden appearance of an innate 6-star, she walked straight toward us with unhurried steps.
If Princess Bradamante was an elegant, refined woman, Empress Charlotte was a girl with languid yet mischievous eyes. Saying she reminded me of a politely crouched golden retriever and a well-fed cheese cat would probably count as insulting both the imperial and royal houses at once.
“Ah, the Empire’s—”
“Enough. I have no desire to demand formalities from a hero party carrying out the Goddess’s will.”
Anyway, now that she was the Empress, I finally understood why every single Imperial Guard wore feminine armor. A female knight order that followed the Empress—viewers were going to love that. While I was briefly spacing out, the Empress naturally came right up to me—more precisely, right in front of Han Se-ah and me—and began looking us over like we were monkeys in a zoo.
“Uh, um. Guys, what are we supposed to do in front of an emperor? Wait, don’t even start with emperor or empress, just… you’re really no help at all!”
Han Se-ah trembled under that blatant stare. Even a streaming genius like her apparently found it hard to stay shameless in front of the Empress of the Empire.
Looking amused even by that, the Empress gave a small signal to her knights, and a tea table suddenly unfolded across the grassland. At least she didn’t insist on black for the tea set as well—right in front of the fortress walls that had been a battlefield five minutes ago, an impromptu tea party opened.
“So rather than bothersome etiquette, I would like an explanation of just what this situation is. A Tower story told by a hero… that should be quite entertaining.”
“Ah, yes. Yes…”
Even Han Se-ah, it seemed, turned meek in front of a high-ranking person this shamelessly direct.