The Tower of Harmonization (2)
The Tower of Harmonization (2)
"Chatty? Scatter...brain...? What is this?! That bunch is badmouthing me!"
[???]
The Tower Master of Harmonization suddenly stared into empty air and flared up.
She clenched her fist, trembled, then whipped her head toward me. Betrayal seethed in her sky-blue eyes.
"Grrr... I'm already struggling so much because of the Savior, and being treated like a chatty scatterbrain is too much...!
[Question]
[I didn't say anything...]
"Your inner thoughts are like this!"
[Inner thoughts?]
I tilted my head. Inner thoughts, she said...
[Ah, could it be]
[Can you see my Status Window, Tower Master of Harmonization?]
"Of course. It's the Authority of Harmonization; there's no way I wouldn't see it."
The Status Window is a function woven with the Authority of Harmonization. Naturally, the Tower Master of Harmonization would be able to see it.
[What does that have to do with my inner thoughts?]
I understood her seeing the Status Window. But reading my inner thoughts is something else entirely.
The Mental State field? There's no way it would show that much detail...
"Ah, you don't know about this yet?"
The Tower Master, with a figurative question mark over her head, exclaimed.
"The Affection. For the Savior, the target is applied in reverse."
[?]
"So instead of A's affection toward Lee Ha-yul, it's outputting as Lee Ha-yul's affection toward A."
[?]
[Huh?]
The Affection feature in the Status Window.
A function that, by spending Points, lets you peek at how other characters view the player and their affection levels.
Since it appears as a combination of words or phrases describing how they think, it's great for reading inner thoughts.
"At first, it was forward, of course. But later, I flipped it."
[Why would you flip it?]
But if you flip the direction, doesn't it become completely useless?
When I asked that, the Tower Master of Harmonization clicked her tongue and crossed her arms under her ample chest.
"Well, because I had to bypass the curses."
[!]
"...Pfft, ahahaha! It literally says 'exclamation mark' out loud. That necklace is so damn cute!"
The Tower Master of Harmonization burst out laughing. She laughed so hard tears came to her eyes, as if it were the funniest thing she'd ever seen.
[What does bypassing the curses have to do with Affection?]
"Euhu... Ah, okay, okay, I'll explain."
When I shook my head and pounded the table, urging an answer, the Tower Master wiped her tears with a finger and shrugged.
"This is a bit complicated... As you know, the curses on the Savior are quite strong. So bypassing them is almost impossible; I had to layer on difficult restrictions just to make bypassing possible."
[Yes]
"These conditions had to be objectively heavy, and relatively heavy. That's how it ended up requiring a kiss."
[...You skipped way too much in between.]
"Well, that's the gist."
The Tower Master raised a finger, smiled, and continued.
"Deep contact of spirit-flesh through a kiss. Objectively, it's not an easy condition, but that alone isn't enough to bypass. However, for the Savior, it turned out to be an incredibly difficult condition, relatively speaking, you know?"
[What do you mean?]
"It means the Savior is an incredibly difficult person to kiss."
That was even harder to understand.
My brow furrowed slightly. The Tower Master, with one corner of her mouth curled up, wagged her finger.
"I didn't realize it when you first came, but looking back... our Savior takes affection very seriously."
[Takes affection seriously?]
"Yeah. Seriously? Or should I say cautiously? And you were afraid of giving and receiving affection, and the walls around your heart were incredibly thick."
That... I understood what she meant.
She's talking around it, but she means a year ago, when I was consumed by fear and anxiety and my mental illness was severe.
When my expression turned complicated, the Tower Master lowered her finger and continued.
"As such, forming a deep bond with the Savior, who had barricaded his heart so tightly, and sharing a sincere kiss was extremely difficult. That's what the scales judged at the time."
[...So, that—]
"But good heavens!"
The Tower Master suddenly threw her arms up.
"Some bulldozer-like woman perfectly hit the Savior's tastes, pried open the door to his heart, and even succeeded in getting a kiss in such a short time!"
[Heok...]
"It was unexpected! We designed the plan hoping you'd at least find someone to lean on within four years, but to think it'd be breached in barely half a year!"
[Heek...]
"And now it's not just one, right? How many was it... Hmm, looking at it, the Savior's tastes are really firm. You really like women with abundant maternal love and big brea—"
[Stop it! Please!]
"Kyaaak!"
Shameful things I could barely bear to hear were hammered into my eardrums. Heat rose endlessly to my face.
Even so, the Tower Master's mouth showed no sign of stopping.
Only when a clump of mana I hurled in frustration hit her forehead, and the Tower Master let out a dying frog's croak, did she fall backward.
[Hoo, hoo...]
I breathed deeply, trying to cool down.
The heat didn't go down easily. In the end, I manifested Azure Sea with both hands, pressed them to my cheeks, and rubbed, hastily cooling the heat.
As a bonus, the side effects of Azure Sea faintly kicked in, and the embarrassment quickly subsided.
"Wow, I never thought I'd live to see someone doing that routine alone."
[Hmph.]
The Tower Master, who had gotten up at some point, widened her eyes in admiration.
When I pouted my lips and turned my head away, the Tower Master chuckled and walked around the round table toward me.
"I said it jokingly, but it was a better result than I imagined. Just look at now."
The Tower Master arrived beside me, bent over to meet my eyes, and pressed a slender finger against my cheek.
"If it were the Savior from when I first became aware of you, would you have allowed someone you just met—me—to touch you so easily? Would you have shown such a variety of emotions?"
Probably not.
The answer came quickly even in my mind. The Tower Master, her eyes crinkling, placed a chair beside me and sat down.
"Can I hold you for a moment?"
[What?]
Suddenly asking if she could hold me? When I tilted my head in bewilderment, the Tower Master waved her hand.
"Not that I have ulterior motives... not completely none, but I'm trying to tweak it so the Savior can use the Status Window. I failed before, but now that I'm right here beside you, it should be easier."
[Aha.]
Modifying the Status Window. At those words, I nodded obediently and spread my arms.
Suddenly, the Tower Master's expression became enigmatic.
[...?]
[What's wrong?]
"...It's nice that you trust me, but aren't you being too easygoing about this?"
[You have no reason to harm me, Tower Master of Harmonization.]
"Well, that's true, but... hmm..."
When I tilted my head again, her expression grew even more complicated.
"...Ahem, okay. Let's start tweaking the Status Window."
After a fake cough, the Tower Master grabbed my waist and lifted me up.
Her eyebrows twitched at how easily she lifted me.
"Hey, you're way too light... You are eating a lot, right?"
[I'm eating a ton.]
Soon I was seated sideways on the Tower Master's lap. It was soft, like sitting on a cushion.
"Lean on me comfortably for a while. I'll try to get it done as quickly as possible."
As I waited with my hands on my knees, the Tower Master pulled my head against her chest.
- Squish...
Her ample chest gently supported my head. My head and neck became much more comfortable.
In such a relaxed position, my eyes blinked. Thump... The heartbeat transmitted through the flesh brought on a bit of drowsiness.
It was because I was already mentally fatigued from operating a clone while conquering a dungeon.
'I could... leave my main body in a power-saving state for a bit...'
Crisis Observation is active, and I'm confident I can respond immediately to any incident.
Above all, I trust the Tower Master of Harmonization, Lady Gracia.
'They have no reason to betray me.'
Though purpose and motivation may have come first, how could I doubt people who now trust me and are helping me, carrying all sorts of burdens?
It could be called trust. The process is a bit complicated to explain, but... it might be similar to feelings toward a guardian who takes care of me.
'While waiting... I should restore my stamina.'
My eyes were already closed. I let my consciousness sink a little.
* * *
- Sshh... Sshh...
"...Did you really fall asleep?"
Instead of an answer, quiet breathing rose from his chest.
Gracia pressed her lips together.
This space. How long had she spent only within the Tower of Harmonization?
In all that long time, it was the first time she'd heard breathing other than her own.
Lowering her gaze, she saw Lee Ha-yul quietly asleep in her arms.
Eyes tightly shut. They'd been closed before, too, but now he seemed completely asleep.
Gracia's expression grew deeply complicated.
'Isn't he trusting too easily...'
Of course, he wouldn't be defenseless.
Roughly scanning, she could see he was constantly operating the Authority of Observation with mind-boggling skill, and his own ability was absurdly high.
Even so, the way he threw himself into her arms and fell asleep... she found it puzzling.
Gracia gently stroked Lee Ha-yul's head.
Startled by the incredibly soft sensation—something she'd never felt in the world—a bitter smile formed on her lips.
"I'm sorry."
Lee Ha-yul.
The hero chosen by the Tower Masters. The only way to stop the invasion.
So they prepared ways to support him with all their might, but in the process, they couldn't ask for Lee Ha-yul's understanding.
If they ever met, she'd thought, as she said earlier, he might slap her first, or even worse, mark her as a target for vengeance.
But to trust so easily, to extend such deep trust...
An indescribable emotion spread across her face.
Because Lee Ha-yul was asleep, she didn't have to force an exaggerated smile, so her expression showed more openly.
[Comfort]
[Squishy]
[Voluptuous]
"...Or maybe not? Maybe he just likes people who are kind to him and have big breasts."
A laugh escaped through the gloom at the inner thoughts the necklace spat out.
Of course, it wouldn't really be for such a simple reason. The Tower Master chuckled and focused her mind.
'The Status Window... since we're this close, it's easy to contact.'
While stroking Lee Ha-yul so he wouldn't wake, she carefully wielded the Authority of Harmonization to interfere with the Status Window.
'I have years of experience handling the Authority of Harmonization.'
I can modify it.
Ever since the Status Window was blocked by the curses, I had been devising measures to deflect the Status Window away from the curses.
'Quickly, quickly, if I apply them one by one from the start...'
Something would click. She incessantly operated the Authority of Harmonization.
There were results.
Gradually, burrowing into the authority, entering the Status Window buried in curses—she could change it so Lee Ha-yul could use it.
Gracia's eyes shone.
- Ding!
The Status Window rang an alarm.
A sound Gracia had set. Simultaneously, a blue window appeared in her vision.
[W+q2jOuKpSDvvaLsmqnsgqzvvaPqsIAg67Cc7Zi065Cp64uI64u───]
'What's this?'
A strange string of characters in the window... it's a cipher.
Gracia's eyes narrowed.
A cipher is a twisting of characters to hide meaning. Naturally, it is within the scope of the Authority of Harmonization.
The already manifested Authority of Harmonization dug into the cipher.
The undulating string of characters, as if ink had been scattered in the sea, slowly changed.
[Authority ｢Hero｣ ───]
"Huh?"
Gracia's eyes flew open wide.
Whoosh! Light flooded her vision. A bright light erupted from the center of Lee Ha-yul's chest.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Gracia Tehulin
●●●●●○○○○○(52/100)
｢Tower Master of Harmonization｣ ｢Upper-Mid Grade｣ ｢Support Type｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Energetic Person｣ ｢Natu...re｣ ｢Scatter...brain｣ ｢Chatty｣
▼Change▼
●●●●●●○○○○(52▷63/100)
｢Tower Master of Harmonization｣ ｢Upper-Mid Grade｣ ｢Support Type｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Squishy｣ ｢Energetic Person｣ ｢Natu...re｣ ｢Scatter...brain｣ ｢Chatty｣