The Toxic Squatter

After that day, Lucia acted as if nothing had happened, and I didn't bring it up either. The days simply passed the way they always did.

-Haaaaah.

Morning came again. A breeze drifted in through the window beside the bed, left carelessly ajar. The air was crisp. Was summer on its way?

'...'

I turned my head and saw Lucia, fast asleep, facing me.

'Is she really okay?'

I'd always thought of her as someone indifferent to her own emotions — a person who harbored no deep feelings for anyone else, who thought only of herself. But maybe that assumption had been wrong all along.

'...I don't know.'

Time to shelve the heavy thoughts. Ruminating never made anything better.

'I... I don't know if I can truly become strong.'

That was the goal Lucia had been chasing so desperately. Doing everything I could to help her reach it — that was the best I had to offer.

***

By the way, today was the day we entered the Tower of Time. Exactly five days remained until the exam, and she'd need time to recover after coming out, so we'd planned the entry with just enough margin to spare.

That evening, after wrapping up a light training session, we arrived at the cliff in the forest.

"Is this the place?"

Lucia pressed her hand against the cliff face. It looked like ordinary rock, but it was actually a wall I'd sealed off on purpose.

[Could you step back for a moment?]

"Of course."

She moved back a few steps.

'Pew.'

-KRAAANG!

I shattered the wall with a blue Mana Bullet, revealing a cylindrical cave. At its center sat a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠violet portal.

[That's the entrance.]

Lucia walked carefully up to it.

"Then, I'll go in."

She reached out—

-VMMM!

When I came to my senses, another forest was spread out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around us.

"Those herbs you mentioned aren't here. Did you happen to gather them all?"

[Yeah, something like that.]

Herbs used to grow everywhere in here, but they'd been driven to extinction by a natural predator. I had no idea what that predator was. It definitely wasn't a sparrow, at least.

[The tower should be that way.]

There was nothing to do by lingering here, so I gave Lucia directions straight away. About ten minutes of walking in a single direction, and beyond the wall of trees, an empty clearing came into view.

"Something's... strange about this."

The moment she took a step forward—

[Welcome to the Tower of Time.]

An enormous tower materialized right in front of us. Lucia stared at it and murmured quietly.

"...It's huge."

The width spanned dozens of meters, and the tower rose ten stories, each floor a good five meters tall.

[Remaining time: 7 days.]

[Would you like to enter? (Max 2 people)]

A blue window appeared before my eyes — thoughtfully dubbed over with a woman's voice, no less. At the sight of it, Lucia froze for a moment.

'Stunned by the high technology, are we?'

That's what I assumed as I looked at her, but...

"...I heard a voice in my head, so I thought it was you speaking, Master."

Ah. So that's what it was.

[Hm. That could be a problem.]

The tower system's dubbing would continue from here on out. Complete this mission. X monsters remain. Proceed to the next floor. This is floor number whatever. At first the explanations were helpful, but as time went on, the messages filled up with lines designed to make your blood boil.

And worse—

'Like Lucia said, she might mistake it for me talking.'

To avoid falling victim to the tower's vicious psychological warfare, we'd need a countermeasure. I wracked my tiny sparrow brain, and then—

'...Ooh, that's a good idea.'

A brilliant solution came to me. I sent a telepathic message to Lucia.

[What if we prefix our messages with a code word? Something that makes it clear it's my telepathy.]

It'd be like military communication security — I'd attach a distinctive phrase before saying anything.

"Good idea. Even beyond right now, it'd be useful in crowded places."

Lucia nodded along in agreement, then added:

"...But then, don't we need to decide what the prefix should be?"

[...Hm.]

She had a point. For two people with critically bad naming sense, this was a fatal obstacle.

'Well then. Let's just go with something safe.'

I sent the telepathy with total confidence.

[Comms Security.]

"...What?"

[REJECTED.]

Judging by her reaction, it was not, in fact, safe. Come to think of it, she probably had no idea what "Comms Security" even meant.

'Then what DO we do?'

We'd hit a wall before even entering the tower. And of course, on this momentous occasion of choosing a critical code word, the only people here were Lucia and me. Not that there was a snowball's chance of anyone else being here anyway.

'Either way.'

If this went on, we were doomed. I was the type who couldn't even pick a name in games. And Lucia had zero talent for naming things to boot.

'...What on earth am I supposed to do?'

As my heart pounded and my sparrow head grew hot—

"—What about prefixing it with 'Jjaek,' as in 'Jjaek-jjaegi'?"

[...!]

It felt like something about my dignity was about to shatter, but it was, surprisingly, a line that suited my identity perfectly. After all, the name Lucia had given me in the first place was Jjaekjjaegi. And all I could actually produce when I opened my beak was chirping anyway.

'...Well then.'

[Jjaek. Sounds good to me.]

Her idea was adopted immediately... no wait.

It was jjaek'd immediately.

***

[Entering Floor 1.]

[Backpacks and space-expansion magic tools will be temporarily confiscated.]

I looked around. A round space stretched out before us like an arena. The ceiling was about five meters, same as it had appeared from outside, and there wasn't a single hole through which to see the outside world.

"The portal behind us — is that the exit?"

Lucia pointed at the black portal that had appeared behind us.

[Jjaek. Yep. And see that one on the far side?]

On the opposite end stood a red portal, a good four meters tall.

[Jjaek. That's where the monsters will come from. They come in four waves, so pace your stamina carefully.]

The moment I finished speaking, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blue window popped up.

[The first wave will now begin.]

Monsters burst out of the portal. The things stood there dumbly, still sizing up the situation, but Lucia was already weaving her spell.

-KRAAANG!

The battle began with a goblin's head going flying.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"Kreeeeak!"

Dozens of monsters charged toward Lucia.

[Enemies remaining: 32.]

...Let me correct that. Thirty-two monsters charged toward Lucia.

"Whew."

Lucia exhaled and launched a massive sphere of blue light.

-KRAA-KAAAANG!

A Mana Bullet packed with fifty spell layers pulverized an orc's skull, and the blue flash of the explosion swallowed up the goblins around it.

Orc included, that was maybe five down in one shot.

"Kigehek!"

Lucia readied magic against the swarm of small monsters rushing her.

[Jjaek. They're too close.]

At my warning, she staggered backward and cancelled her cast—

-CRANG!

A dagger flew into the spot where Lucia had just been standing.

[Jjaek. A goblin behind the orc threw a dagger. When there are a lot of monsters—]

A random system tip window had cut me off mid-sentence. Anger flared up in me, but the moment I turned my head and caught Lucia's profile, it settled right back down.

[Jjaek. You caught that warning, right?]

"Yes, Master."

I kept watching Lucia's fight. She immediately incorporated the feedback, keeping the space behind the orc firmly in mind.

"Kreek!"

A dagger came sailing over the orc's shoulder. A barrier unfolded, poised as if it had been waiting for exactly that.

-CRZZT!

The shield that stopped the dagger shattered into glittering fragments.

'She's even managing her mana well.'

Calculating the exact power level of each incoming attack and using only the mana she needed — a subtle but essential technique when fighting monsters of low intelligence.

And so, after hunting our way through every wave—

To anyone watching, it would have looked like we had to choose right this second, but we could ignore it and rest up here instead. Besides, Floor 1's absurd monster count made it a serious stamina drain.

'Floors 2 through 5 chain together without a break, after all.'

Restoring our stamina here first was the smarter play.

"Master. You said we'd sleep here before moving on, right?"

[Yeah.]

"...".

[Jjaek. Yeah.]

"Yes, Master."

Wait — did she not answer the first time because she'd left off the code word?

[...Lucia. Once a floor is cleared, no other voice comes through. Anything you hear here is definitely my voice.]

"...".

[Are you doing this on purpose?]

"Yes."

Lucia gave a light nod, her face completely expressionless the whole while.

'Cute.'

I pressed my forehead against the side of Lucia's head — the only form of petting a sparrow's body could manage.

-Ssswish.

Right in the middle of my petting spree, her right hand came to rest on my head. The sensation was so meltingly blissful that I surrendered myself entirely to Lucia's hand. Nestled in her left palm, I was stroked with the other.

"Jjaek, jjaek..."

The comfort was so overwhelming that sparrow sounds escaped me involuntarily.

How long did I stay like that? Gradually, darkness began to creep over our surroundings. It was because we'd lingered on a cleared floor.

Just like a landlord trying to drive out a delinquent tenant, the tower was trying to evict its idle loiterers.

"...Haah."

A breath of mist escaped Lucia's lips.

[Cold?]

"...Yes. The moment it got dark, it suddenly turned freezing."

That was another of the tower's eviction tactics. Soon it would grow too dark to see, and if we sat still, it would get cold enough to cause frostbite. At that point, the stamina cost of staying would outweigh any recovery, leaving us no choice but to leave.

'But we came prepared, didn't we?'

I opened my subspace and spilled out a heap of firewood. I piled it roughly against the wall and cast a flame spell.

-FWOOSH!

"...You even prepared for THIS?"

Lucia said, sounding astonished, as she reached her hands toward the bonfire.

For now, this would hold, but we couldn't stretch our rest indefinitely. The tower would only drive the air colder and colder. It reminded me of a landlord pressuring you to hurry up and vacate the room.

'Not a chance.'

I was the delinquent tenant who would NEVER vacate.

From my subspace I pulled out a white tent and long wooden planks.

"Master. What is that?"

Even Lucia hadn't predicted this one — she simply watched me in silence.

[One moment.]

With telekinesis, I sent the tent and planks swirling into place.

"It's a... campsite?"

A tent stood finished, with neatly laid wood covering the floor beneath it. Lucia stared at me, blank-faced. I wondered why, and then it hit me.

'I forgot the mattress.'

I widened my subspace opening, pulled out a mattress, and spread it over the wood.

[I put heat-dissipation magic on the tent. It'll hold until you wake up.]

And so the true campsite was complete.

But something about it felt a little... bare.

...Oh!

[We've got a bonfire going — should we grill some meat? I packed some just in case.]

"...".

Lucia stared at me blankly, then said:

"You even prepared for THIS...?"

For the briefest of moments, bewilderment flickered across her face.