The Regressor Is Tired (7)
The Regressor Is Tired (7)
One robbery. Two murders. It's no wonder the dwarves are furious. They were living peacefully among themselves, and players came storming in and did this. All the more so if it's true.
"Hmm..."
Tap. Tap. Tap. I tapped my thigh with my fingertips, lost in thought. How do I solve this? How did things get this screwed up? I still don't have nearly enough information to confirm everything, but the rough outline is taking shape.
And to fill in that missing information, I met Anael's eyes.
"First, I'd like a rough idea of what money is worth."
Just hearing Bronze, Silver, Gold doesn't really convey the value. In typical fantasy novels, one Gold coin can usually feed a commoner family for a month, but from a modern person's perspective, the phrase 'feed a family' is far too abstract. Surviving on instant noodles and triangle gimbap is feeding yourself, and visiting high-end restaurants for fine dining every day is also feeding yourself.
Anael nodded at my question.
"When Floor 11 was first designed, I heard it was made with the assumption a player would earn 1 Gold per day!"
The forest on Floor 11 is an artificially created environment, filled with valuable mushrooms, various minerals, and even rare animals. If you gather them and submit them to Anael, you receive money equivalent to their value.
"Of course, the more expensive the items, the harder they are to find! That's the principle of capitalism!"
Anael was waving the sign they held wildly. Their voice was so lively, it felt like there was an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence.
"However, the people entering Floor 11 these days are so exceptionally skilled that they earn at least 5 Gold. At most, up to 20 Gold per day! On average, I understand they earn about 10 Gold!"
"...How much is the Passage Stone?"
"50 Gold! Ah, for reference, a well-made fine sword is roughly 20 Gold! Lodging is 30 Silver per day! 100 Silver is 1 Gold!"
"Hmm..."
For a top-tier player, clearing Floor 11 requires an average stay of five days. It would take longer if you wanted to buy weapons and other things.
If I were an impatient psychopath, I suppose the idea of stealing dwarven goods would look pretty appealing. The killing part... I still don't get that.
But then, a sudden question arose.
"...Didn't you say the first player to come in left within three days?"
"Wouldn't that mean that person is amazing! Though not as much as you, Jun-ho!"
If they earned 20 Gold every day and left after only buying the Passage Stone, that makes sense... but if they cleared it in three days after taking everything they could, they'd be an absolute monster.
Anyway, I've roughly grasped the value of money. Next, crime.
"Are there no separate sanctions for crime? Like on Floor 2."
Floor 2 also had a city from another world, just like Floor 11. If you committed a crime there, the City Master would pop out and—bam!—turn the criminal into dust. I wondered if there was a similar system on Floor 11.
"Mm... It's not that there aren't any... but it's not enough to be a deterrent, like on Floor 2!"
According to Anael, there is indeed punishment for crime on Floor 11. If a player commits an immoral act, a debuff is applied that reduces their Status Window Attributes depending on the severity of the crime. On its own, that seems quite severe, but...
"The debuff only applies on Floor 11!"
They say the debuff is lifted the moment you leave Floor 11. Furthermore, since the dwarves aren't particularly strong in combat, a strong player can beat down a dwarf even with the debuff active.
"Hm..."
So the reason those criminals left Floor 11 in a hurry was because of the debuff.
No matter how much I think about it, I can't shake the feeling that the Archangel orchestrated this situation. Committing a crime and running away was no-risk, high-return. It would make any criminal's mouth water.
It's no different from setting a precarious Jenga tower in the middle of the street and saying, 'If this collapses, you're all screwed lol.' Sure, if you leave the Jenga alone, nothing will happen. The catch is, the probability of it collapsing is very, very high.
"..."
I realize that Archangel Raphael's words, 'I am well-disposed toward climbers,' were never empty words. Because it's been proven that you can design an irrational floor while pretending to be fair on the surface, if you're so inclined.
"But this is only hearsay from my fellow Angels! Since the person in question is under disciplinary action, it might be slightly different from the truth!"
Of course, this is a secondhand account.
"...Who is the dwarves' representative?"
I felt the need to speak with the dwarves too. If they'd talk, that is.
**
"Hello."
"..."
"We meet again."
Surprisingly, the dwarves' representative was the owner of the Passage Stone shop. Fortunately, while he was incredibly rude, he was someone you could have a conversation with.
"...What do you want? Have you collected 100 million Gold already?"
The shop owner, who had been examining a Passage Stone closely wearing a jeweler's loupe, put down the stone and the loupe and looked at us.
"I came to discuss the current situation."
"I've got nothing to say."
"Please, don't be like that."
"What do you mean, don't be like that? I told you, I've got nothing to say."
The shop owner snapped back, words spat out like darts. As if to show he truly wasn't interested, he picked up the Passage Stone he had just put down.
This won't do. We can't make any progress like this. After exchanging a brief glance with Choi Ji-won, I went straight to the point.
"The murder incident."
"..."
He flinched. The hand holding the Passage Stone stopped.
"...Are you sure a player did it?"
"..."
The shop owner, who had been chewing over my words for a moment—
BANG!!!
"You son of a bitch!!!"
His face flushed crimson, he slammed his fist down on the glass display case.
"I don't know where you picked up those rumors, but what? Are you sure a climber did it?"
In a single bound, the shop owner vaulted over the glass display case and reached for my collar.
Thwack.
"That's enough."
"...Fuck, fuck..."
When Choi Ji-won subdued him with one hand, he roughly shook off her grip and stepped back a couple of paces. I could have subdued him myself, but...
Anyway, with the shop owner stopped, I continued what I was going to say.
"No, think about it, that's exactly the point. Just because a dwarf died and a player fled Floor 11 the next day, you don't have any proof that those people did it. It's all circumstantial evidence. I agree it's suspicious... but as I understand it, the forest on Floor 11 is home to a variety of creatures. Couldn't it have been them?"
"...You're quite well-informed. Even though you've only just entered Floor 11."
The shop owner hopped back onto the glass display case, his complexion having calmed somewhat—seemed he was cooling off.
"Yeah, some people thought that at first, too. Maybe this fellow fell into a pit, or got dragged off by some monster. You think we didn't consider that?"
"..."
"But when the wounds are clearly sword slashes, and the weapon used to inflict them is dumped right next to the body, that changes things. And the second murder—they mashed the victim to a pulp with a hammer. Animals don't kill prey that way."
Given how definitive the shop owner's tone was, it seemed certain at least that the dead dwarves were killed by weapons. Damn it. Some truly monstrous troll bastards came through here.
In that case, it's Plan B. I'll warn him about the realistically possible threat.
"...I sincerely apologize on their behalf. I'm truly sorry this happened. But if you keep pushing this hard, it'll backfire. You should at least lower the price of the Passage Stone."
A cornered rat will bite a cat; when people have no way out, they're bound to try extreme measures.
"Right now, there are people trapped on Floor 11 for a week, without any hope of escape. What about them? They aren't even the ones who committed the crimes."
"..."
"They're holding it together for now... but people who are exhausted and half-crazed might harm you. You need to consider that possibility..."
"Go ahead and kill us."
"...What?"
"I said, go ahead and kill us."
The shop owner's face flushed crimson again.
"Boil us, roast us, fry us, do whatever you want. Our brothers and sisters would rather choose death than live in disgrace. We haven't even properly honored the spirits of those who died unfairly, and what? You might harm us? We'd welcome it. We'll all die together, and we'll take a climber or two with us on the way."
"..."
I know it from talking to him face-to-face. This isn't a bluff. It's pure, honest sincerity.
"...There's no turning back for us. You say you're backed into a corner? So are we. Go ahead and try. It will never go the way you want."
A normal person wouldn't make such an irrational decision. But the dwarves were far from a normal state.
You could say they're consumed by malice. Or, you could say the signature dwarven stubborn streak is on full display. Whatever the case, the dwarves weren't afraid of death.
"...we know this state of affairs can't last indefinitely. You lot might just be unfortunate victims too."
The shop owner's tone, which had been thick with fury, slowly softened. Even he seemed to realize that coming on this strong was a foolish thing to do.
"So we are discussing our own countermeasures."
"...Countermeasures?"
"Temporarily, we plan to sell the Passage Stone only at a designated time. After we've checked on the well-being of all our brothers and sisters, we'll distribute them. The price... around 10 Silver. And don't ask us to sell weapons. That would be an insult to our race."
10 Silver, huh. Short-term, distributing the Passage Stone cheaply would certainly achieve results. From the perspective of someone just trying to clear the tower, it would be a shame to miss out on gear or consumables, but you could clear Floor 11 easily.
But this is merely a stopgap measure. There might still be people who commit robbery or murder and then play dumb. And from the dwarves' side, they had no adequate means to punish criminals anyway.
"Therefore, the ultimate goal is to migrate from this place. We'll completely empty this fortress and go live somewhere far away."
Thus, the dwarves' final goal is to migrate to a place completely removed from human influence. Dwarves living as dwarves, players living as players—this was their ideal.
"...Then what about the players?"
But in this case, buying a Passage Stone becomes impossible. Which means the method to clear Floor 11 disappears...
"Don't players need the Passage Stone?"
The shop owner picked up the blue Passage Stone and twirled it around.
"I make the Passage Stones myself. I will be the only one remaining here. That settles it."
"...You make them yourself?"
"Did you think they just fell from the sky? This thing is originally meant to counter magical pressure. It's the culmination of magic engineering technology."
Thump. The shop owner put the Passage Stone down and stared directly at me and Choi Ji-won.
"We only want one thing."
His eyes weren't burning with rage, nor were they drenched in sorrow. They just looked... immensely tired.
"To live in an environment free from threat. And right now, you climbers are our threat."
"..."
"Tell them to wait three days. The sale of Passage Stones will resume. The funeral ends in three days. Give us time to honor the spirits of the dead."
And then the shop owner kicked us out, telling us to convey the gist of our discussion to the others.
"..."
"..."
Choi Ji-won and I stood there after being thrown out, staring blankly at the sky.
"Jun-ho, what if..."
"Yeah. I was just thinking that."
What if.
What if, by sheer bad luck, the shop owner dies because of some lunatic...
For now, it would be okay because of the Passage Stones he already made...
But future players would permanently lose any means to clear Floor 11.
And the moment we came out of the fortress, a stranger, a young man who called us over, said:
"Choi Ji-won, right? I've got a proposal. Let's turn the dwarf village upside down. What do you say?"
It was practically an express train heading straight for that bleak future.