Chapter 89
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Are You Serious Right Now? (2)
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It seemed like I'd feel better if I handled this myself.
‘This is going to take a while.’
I told Choi Soo-hyun I'd be back soon, but looking at the situation, it seemed like this would drag on.
To be honest, the previous floors were much easier.
I could just clear whatever quests were in front of me, Er'el's trial be damned.
The Transcendent Yoo Ji-han didn't seem to have any intention of killing Eun-young right away.
He'd be a headache as an enemy, but if he were an ally, even temporarily, there was no one more reliable than Yoo Ji-han.
‘Then again, this might all be because of the ring Choi Soo-hyun threw...’
As for the price of saving Eun-young, we agreed to let it slide in exchange for me impersonating him in the Tower.
Who knows?
Maybe Lee Eun-hee will develop a liking for me, leave for the lobby, and end up helping Yoo Ji-han?
You never know how things will turn out.
I'd told Choi Soo-hyun I'd be back soon, but I wouldn't know for sure until I cleared the 11th floor and left.
Calculating the time, two days inside the Tower was about half a day in reality.
It would be a tight squeeze before the raid, but not impossibly so.
For now, I decided to focus on the task at hand.
“Sigh, I'll figure it out myself.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Of course not.”
I shook my head at Aegis's words.
If I'd known this would happen, I would have completed some quests related to nobles.
Like a quest from a count who's into men?
Ah, maybe not that one.
While I kept my mouth shut, Lee Eun-hee and Er'el chattered on about how I should infiltrate.
“I'm telling you, let's just have him cross-dress. I'm great at makeup. Once I'm done, you won't be able to tell if he's a man or a woman.”
“That's ridiculous. He'd have to live with the women then. Considering Duke Faillia's hobbies, it'd be faster to go in as a slave. With that face, he'd definitely stand out!”
These women.
I can understand Er'el, but you, Lee Eun-hee, aren't you going a little too far?
We haven't even known each other for three hours. Weren't you the one saying we were strangers? Why are you twisting the knife like this?
I slammed my hands on the table and shot up from the sofa.
“I!”
“...”
“Will handle it myself!”
I huffed, my face flushed red.
Even if no one was watching, were they insane? Seriously.
The two of them clammed up.
* * *
“Ugh, just my luck.”
Deciding that things wouldn't progress if I stayed, I asked for two days and left the guild.
It was a sunny afternoon, and the market street, a short distance from the main road, was bustling with people.
“It's peaceful.”
*Munch, munch.*
“Now, how should I...”
*Nom, nom.*
“...Hey.”
“*Gulp*, what?”
Lee Eun-hee swallowed a heavily seasoned skewer.
Before I could even speak, she walked over to a nearby stall.
“I'll take one of everything, from here to here.”
“Everything?”
“Ah. And is this a drink?”
“It's a fruit juice made from Kurukurumango, a specialty of the Arent region. So good you wouldn't notice if the person next to you dropped dead.”
“Then I'll have one of those, too. Extra large.”
Lee Eun-hee pulled a gold coin from her pocket and placed it in the middle-aged man's hand.
The man's eyes widened at the sight of the gold coin. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed.
“Do you have a black hole for a stomach? Why are you stuffing your face like that?”
“Can't I?”
“It's not that, but...”
Lee Eun-hee clutched the skewers with large chunks of meat and the drinks to her chest.
Once we were a little farther away, she quickly put them into her item window.
Lee Eun-hee drank the mango juice.
“You try eating nothing but jerky and scraps of bread for a month. You'd be dying for something sweet.”
“What were you doing in the lobby for a month?”
“What?”
“Hm?”
Did I say something wrong?
Seeing Lee Eun-hee's flustered reaction, I replayed our conversation in my head, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Lee Eun-hee finished the mango juice and crushed the cup in her hand.
No matter how I thought about it, the jerky and bread excuse sounded flimsy.
“You really don't know what happened?”
Hearing the low, heavy tone of her voice, I realized my mistake.
‘Seriously, is this damn lobby a ticking time bomb? There's always some new trouble.’
This was a problem that arose because it was my first time meeting someone from the Tower other than Yoo Ji-han.
Lee Eun-hee pulled out a large piece of meat from her item window and muttered.
“Then again, I guess it's possible you don't know.”
I didn't know what she was thinking, but she seemed to have convinced herself of something.
It felt awkward to ask, so I decided to just let it go.
The smell of well-cooked meat wafting from her side made me hungry.
I was starting to get hungry, since the only thing I'd had since coming here was the dark beer I ordered at the beginning.
“Give me one.”
“What? This is mine! Go buy your own! Are you a beggar?”
Wow, being called a beggar by someone who's eating like one really stings.
See? The bread and jerky thing was definitely an excuse.
Lee Eun-hee hugged the meat to her chest and growled.
In the end, I bought a few pieces of fruit that looked decent from a nearby stall.
“Oh! Are these Pepe Grapes? I'll take all of them!”
“Stop buying everything! Woman!”
How does she know the names of all this food and fruit so well?
Lee Eun-hee gave the vendor two gold coins and swept all the Pepe Grapes from the stall.
They were golden-hued grapes, five times the size of a large grape.
Lee Eun-hee took a bite of a Pepe Grape.
I wonder if she entered the Tower just to eat.
“Are you really not going to cross-dress?”
“Are you serious right now?”
“This is no time for you to be a picky eater.”
“What do you know about me!”
It seemed like no one from the Tower was normal.
As we moved toward the center of the market, the crowd grew thicker.
*Bump.*
“Ah, sorry.”
Lee Eun-hee, who was walking behind me, bumped into a grimy little boy.
The boy bowed his head and ran off as if fleeing.
“What's with him?”
Lee Eun-hee nonchalantly swallowed a Pepe Grape.
I pointed at her waist.
The pouch where she kept her gold coins was gone.
“You've been pickpocketed.”
“What are you talking... Ah? Ah, huh? Hey!! You little punk!! Do you know how much money was in there?”
Shoving the Pepe Grapes in her hand into her item window, Lee Eun-hee quickly turned around.
“And you, how could you just stand there and watch! You did that on purpose, didn't you?”
I whistled, averting my gaze.
It's the victim's fault. Why is she blaming me?
The crowd was already dense, and the kid who stole her money was short, making him hard to find.
Forget finding him, he was already long gone...
“Found him.”
“What did you say?”
“You just wait until I get my money back!”
Lee Eun-hee rushed into an alley.
Unlike me, who had been tracking the boy with mana detection, Lee Eun-hee had found him purely with her eyesight.
It wasn't just her eyesight.
‘Her memory is good, too.’
It was extremely rare for someone to remember the face of a person they'd only glanced at subconsciously.
‘She caught him.’
I followed her into the alley, running in the direction of Lee Eun-hee and the boy.
A few blocks later, I saw her at the entrance to the slums, holding the young boy and looking annoyed.
“*Sob*, I'm sorry.”
“Hey! Hands up where I can see them!”
Leaning against a wall, Lee Eun-hee was scolding the boy, who looked to be around ten years old.
His clothes were tattered, his limbs thin, and his body was covered in small, untreated wounds that had festered and turned into scars.
I guessed he was ten, but he could have been older.
Malnourished children almost always looked younger than their actual age.
“What's going on here?”
The area near the slums was part of the city guard's patrol route.
A man in plain clothes approached, looking like he was off-duty.
“Oh, you're...”
“You know him?”
“More or less. It's a similar situation to yours.”
Call it a coincidence, but two of the quests I'd completed while waiting for Er'el had been from that guy.
He was Rudier Tour, a member of the Royal Guard and captain of the Western Guard.
Seeing his face as he approached, an idea flashed in my mind.
I can just ask this guy for help!
I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner.
Unlike me, who knew Rudier was part of the guard, Lee Eun-hee was wary of him.
A dark red bow was in her hand.
Rudier unbuckled the sword at his waist and showed her the scabbard.
The emblem of the Royal Knights was visible on the grip of the sword.
Lee Eun-hee put her bow away.
“I am Rudier Tour, captain of the Western Guard. A pickpocket?”
With her arms crossed, Lee Eun-hee looked down at the boy, who still had his hands up.
“Nope.”
“Pardon?”
“I said no. It's not what you think.”
“But...”
Rudier looked at me, confused.
The guy had years of experience as a guard. He could tell what was going on at a glance.
Anyone could see that Lee Eun-hee was siding with the pickpocket.
“Then what are you doing?”
“Can't you tell? I'm scolding him.”
“Why?”
“Because this kid tried to steal my bread.”
“Isn't that pickpocketing?”
“How is trying to take a piece of bread I was eating pickpocketing? Besides, he didn't even manage to take it.”
With her hands behind her back, Lee Eun-hee naturally pulled a piece of bread from her item window.
“I was just giving him a little talking-to. Sir Royal Knight, you should mind your own business and be on your way.”
“...”
“I said, scram.”
Lee Eun-hee made a shushing sound and waved her hand dismissively.
That guy's a pretty high-ranking official, though.
Rudier's gaze fell on me.
“Are you with her?”
“Something like that.”
“And the bread story?”
“It's true. It's really no big deal.”
“If you say so.”
Rudier buckled his sword again and turned away.
“Ah, right. Can I stop by the guard station later?”
“If you're alone, I could probably offer you some tea.”
“Don't worry, I'll leave *this* behind.”
“Who are you calling *this*!”
Rudier sighed and left.
Lee Eun-hee's gaze returned to the boy, who still had his hands raised high.
He seemed completely terrified after seeing her shoo away a member of the Royal Guard with just a few gestures.
It wouldn't be strange for him to suspect she was a noble, or even higher.
Honestly, when Rudier showed up, I thought she would immediately tattle on the kid.
I couldn't understand her motive for protecting the pickpocket.
Once Rudier was gone, Lee Eun-hee turned to the boy.
“Put your arms down.”
“Y-Yes, ma'am!”
“Here.”
Lee Eun-hee met the tense boy's gaze and held out her hand.
In her palm was the change left over from buying food.
I didn't know how much it was, but compared to the boy's living expenses, it was surely not a small amount.
Lee Eun-hee practically forced the money into the boy's hand.
“Go.”
“Um...”
“Don't say anything else, just go. I'm not interested in your sob story.”
“Th-Thank you.”
The boy took the money, bowed deeply, and ran into the slums.
“That was unexpected.”
“What was?”
“Just... everything.”
If Yoo Ji-han had done something like that, I would have smacked him on the back of the head and told him not to do such pointless things.
Unfortunately, I couldn't do that to Lee Eun-hee.
Because we'd known each other for less than a day?
No.
It was because her eyes, as she looked at the boy, seemed incredibly sad.
If she had told Rudier, the boy would have surely faced a grim fate.
Rudier was a good person, but that only applied to a skilled mercenary from Muel like me.
This world wasn't so kind to a child from the slums.
At the very least, Lee Eun-hee was wise.
She didn't give him gold coins, and she didn't show any interest in his trivial story.
“You're Korean... no, wait, that server only has Koreans.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Have you ever starved before?”