Chapter 27
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 27. 12th Floor
"Yes...? My eyes?"
Hong Chae-yeon seemed flustered, but at my voice, she soon obediently squeezed her two eyes shut.
Taking advantage of that gap, I silently took off the [Cloak of Night Shadows] I was wearing around my shoulders and put it into the inventory.
Then the red warning window blocking my vision disappeared, and a blue system window activated.
"Excuse me for a moment."
I carefully placed my hand on her burned arm.
Perhaps because of the unfamiliar touch.
Her shoulder flinched.
"Ugh...."
A faint groan leaked through her lips.
I just touched it lightly, is it that painful?
"...Did it hurt?"
"A... No, I was just startled..."
It's a relief it doesn't hurt. I focused on the system window.
As soon as I touched it, a transparent loading bar appeared before my eyes.
It was like registering fingerprint and facial recognition on a smartphone for the first time.
The number stopped at 12% and didn't budge.
As expected, is just the arm not enough?
It seemed contact with the source of the burn or a larger area was needed.
I turned my gaze to her face.
She still had her eyes closed, but a black mask was covering half of her face.
"Excuse me...."
"......Yes?"
"Could you keep your eyes closed and take off your mask for a bit?"
At my request, I saw her pupils shaking violently under her eyelids.
Since the mask was covering her hideously distorted face for her, I could feel her hesitation.
I didn't urge her and waited quietly.
She raised a trembling hand and unfastened the buckle behind her ear.
—Clatter.
The mask dropped powerlessly to the floor.
It was a dark alleyway, but her revealed face was disastrous.
A red scar leading from her right cheek to her jawline and down to the nape of her neck.
It looked like a burning snake was coiling around her face.
But I didn't frown.
"...Excuse me."
Without hesitation, I brought my hand to her cheek.
The texture of the rough scar tissue was felt on my fingertips.
At the same time, the stopped numbers started going up again.
It picked up speed.
The energy of the [Primeval Maker] spewing from my hand was permeating deep into her skin.
It was then.
A transparent water drop fell plop from her right eye, that is, the eye on the side where the burn had spread.
"Ah......."
She shrank back as if flustered, but couldn't avoid it because I was holding her face.
Tears flowed down the back of my hand.
"S... Sorry. Suddenly tears...."
She apologized with a wet voice.
How long has it been since someone touched her scar so casually.
The touch comforting her wound with such warm heat was so distant she couldn't even remember.
"It's okay. Stay still."
I pretended not to notice and focused only on the system window.
—Ding!
It's finally over.
I withdrew my hand and checked the result window that popped up before my eyes.
—Ding!
[Tears of the Purified Permafrost]
[Materials]
- [Ice Crystal Flower (Bingjeonghwa)]
- [Melted Permafrost Water]
- [Heart Fragment of Frost Giant]
- [Tears of the Moon]
"......Wow."
The material lineup was glamorous.
I quickly searched the Exchange data in my head.
[Melted Permafrost Water] comes out sometimes in the 20s floors, so although expensive, there was supply.
[Heart Fragment of Frost Giant] also seemed to come up often on the Exchange as a raid byproduct.
[Tears of the Moon] has a grand name, but it's just water from melting a rare ore, so I could get it if I tried.
The problem was the first material.
"Ice Crystal Flower..."
I've never seen this on the Exchange.
No, I don't think it even came up in searches.
I stroked my chin and made a troubled expression.
As my touch fell away, Hong Chae-yeon, who paused as if regretful, asked cautiously.
"By any chance... is there no way?"
Her voice was trembling faintly.
It was a reaction fearing she might fall into despair again after placing hope on the warm energy she just felt.
I shook my head to reassure her.
"No, there is a way. I found out the recipe too."
"R... Really?!"
Color returned to her face.
She leaned forward as if about to grab my hand any moment.
But I paused.
"However...."
"However?"
"Materials are the problem."
I said, scanning the material list floating in the air.
"The other things I can somehow get from the Exchange, but... one core material is missing."
I looked straight at her and said.
"I think I can cure it if I just have this, but I don't have the material."
"What on earth... is it?"
Hong Chae-yeon asked urgently.
Her closed eyelids were fluttering.
I moved my lips and spat out the name of the material.
"It's a material called Ice Crystal Flower."
"Ice Crystal... Flower?"
"Yes. That is the most core material. Without it, I can't make the potion."
Her brow narrowed.
She seemed to be quickly scanning the list of tens of thousands of herbs and materials she had searched through over the last 10 years in her head.
As the head of Red Scale Guild, she would be intimately familiar with all rare items coming up on the Exchange.
But her expression soon sank darkly.
"......It doesn't exist."
A small sigh leaked out.
She knew it too.
That it was a name she had never heard of, let alone on the Exchange, not even in auction houses or black markets.
It was the moment hope crumbled before her eyes.
Deep regret and disappointment brushed past her face.
But that was also brief.
She clenched her fists tightly and raised her head.
A faint smile hung on her lips.
"Still... it's a relief."
"Yes?"
"Because for the last 10 years, I didn't even know the method. No matter how much money I poured in and visited famous healers, I only heard that it couldn't be cured..."
Strength returned to her voice.
"Now I have a definite goal. It means it's curable if I just get that."
I admired her positive attitude inwardly.
As expected, the head of a large guild has a different mentality.
"So if I just have the Ice Crystal Flower, it's really curable, right?"
"Yes, I guarantee it."
At my confident answer, she sighed in relief.
She stood her staggering body up and opened her mouth cautiously.
"Thank you so much. It's just a business relationship... you didn't have to care for me this much."
She tilted her head slightly and continued.
"Come to think of it... Your tone has become a bit kinder? Honestly, I thought you were a bit of a scary person."
"Ah...."
I scratched the back of my head.
I had forgotten that my usual tone popped out without me realizing because the situation was urgent.
It's awkward to lower my voice again now.
I decided to confess honestly.
"That's... Actually, I'm a bit reluctant to have my identity revealed. I acted a bit on purpose. Sorry for deceiving you."
At my confession, Hong Chae-yeon burst into a chuckle.
"No. I fully understand. A person with abilities like Mr. SW wouldn't be left alone here and there."
She remained silent for a moment and asked cautiously.
"Then seeing as you helped me even risking revealing your identity... I guess I've gained some trust?"
"Well... You could say that."
"Then um... can I open my eyes now?"
I pondered for a moment.
Well, I only didn't show my face, my voice is already caught, what meaning would it have to tell her not to open her eyes here.
Rather, establishing a trusting relationship by showing faces seemed better for future transactions too.
"Yes, you may open them. What more is there to hide now."
When my permission fell, Hong Chae-yeon's long eyelashes fluttered and slowly went up.
Her amber eyes revealed under the streetlight turned towards me.
It was the first gaze we met.
She stared intently at my face.
Perhaps it was different from the image she thought, her eyes grew round, then she soon smiled softly and greeted.
"...Hello?"
At the awkward but sincere greeting, a hollow laugh came out without me realizing.
I also smiled awkwardly back and answered.
"Yes... Hello."
Hong Chae-yeon left boasting confidently that she would find the Ice Crystal Flower even if she had to search the whole world.
She said she would give a reward when she finds it, but honestly, it was a concept of reward because I liked her work handling skills.
Of course, if she gives it, I have no intention of refusing.
Financial therapy is always welcome.
"Phew."
I shook off distracting thoughts, stood in front of the Tower, and reached out my hand familiarly.
My vision inverted, and the smell of barren earth brushed my nose.
Opening my eyes, Imperial Princess Cassia and her Royal Guards, whom I saved on the 11th Floor, were waiting for me having finished maintenance.
—Ding!
"You have come, Knight."
When I revealed myself, Cassia approached welcomingly.
She was still wearing old and broken armor, but her eyes were much more lively than on the 11th Floor.
Probably recovered energy thanks to the potion and food I gave.
We moved our steps across the wasteland towards the Imperial Capital.
While moving, Cassia explained the current situation of the Empire quietly beside me.
Listening to the story, the Empire's state was a mess.
Suffering from food shortage internally, and national power hitting rock bottom trying to block monsters pouring out from the Red Rift externally.
"But why did you bother coming out to such a dangerous place, Princess?"
At my question, her expression sank darkly.
She moved her lips for a moment, then opened her mouth heavily.
"Because the telegrams were cut off."
"Telegrams?"
"It has already been over a month since my Royal Father... no, His Majesty the Emperor led the Knight Order to investigate the Red Rift. At first, he contacted us periodically, but from a certain point, news was cut off."
She clenched her fist tightly.
"I kept sending messengers, but no one returned. Thus, I said I would bring him myself."
She smiled bitterly.
"His Majesty the Emperor is the strongest swordsman in the Empire. Only when he returns can we calm the wavering nobles and handle the demons looking across the borders. If we cannot bring His Majesty back now... the Empire will be ruined."
Desperation showed in her voice.
"Actually... when His Majesty left for the rift. I pleaded to go instead."
"You were rejected."
"Yes. His Majesty looked down at me coldly and left just one sentence. 'You, stay here'."
Cassia's chin trembled violently.
"At that time... how miserable those words sounded. I only heard it as a reprimand asking where someone lacking skill was trying to follow. If I had been just a little stronger... if I knew it would turn out like this, I should have followed him even disobeying His Majesty's order then."
She was blaming herself.
She seemed to believe her father went missing and the Empire became like this because of her weakness.
The atmosphere sank heavily.
The Royal Guards also seemed to know the awkward relationship between the Imperial Princess and the Emperor, not daring to intervene and just reading the room.
I listened silently, then tossed a word indifferently.
"Isn't it just because he didn't want to send his daughter to a dangerous place?"
"......What did you say?"
Cassia stared at me with a blank expression.
She blinked as if it was an unexpected interpretation.
"No, right. What parent would want to drag their child to a place of death. And into an unidentified rift at that."
I shrugged.
"Not because you lacked skill, but he just left you behind worried his daughter might get hurt. Isn't a father's heart all like that?"
"......"
She opened her mouth slightly as if losing her words.
The Royal Guards escorting around flinched and stared at me.
I couldn't tell if they thought it was irreverent to interpret the Emperor's will so lightly.
But Cassia's expression changed gradually.
Her brow, which had been distorted with anger and self-blame, smoothed out, and a strange sense of relief permeated there.
"......It would be nice if that was truly the case."
She muttered quietly with a faint smile on her lips.
"Yes? What did you say?"
"Ah... It is nothing."
She shook her head and changed the subject, but her gaze was still aimed beyond the distant mountains.
Perhaps drawing her father who might be beyond there.
'...Father.'
It seemed I could hear her inner thoughts.
We walked silently for a while.
The escort quest was easier than I thought.
Not many monsters came out, and even when they did, there wasn't much need for me to step forward.
I think I saw on the gallery that there are sometimes "free ride" floors like this.
Before I knew it, we passed the wasteland and entered the Empire's territory.
But the scenery didn't change much.
No, it was rather more gruesome.
Imperial citizens left with only bones were sitting powerlessly on the roadside, and rice paddies and fields were cracked as if struck by a drought.
Dried-up crops were crumbled as if their life force itself was taken away.
"This... doesn't seem like a monster's doing."
At my words, Cassia nodded with a sad expression.
"Correct. When the rift opened, it wasn't only demons that poured out."
She pointed her finger to the middle of the field.
"Because of that plant."
Where she pointed, a bizarrely looking plant was growing.
It had thorns on a dark purple stem, and instead of leaves, tentacle-like vines were crawling on the ground.
The surrounding soil was dead gray, but only that plant was distinctively glistening vividly.
"Those things are sucking all the nutrients of the earth. Even if pulled out, they grow back quickly, and even burning with fire is useless because the roots are deep. Thanks to that, most of the Empire's farming is a poor harvest."
"Is that by any chance..."
When I frowned and looked closely at the plant.
—Ding!
Along with the sudden completion notification, my vision began to blur.
I still had more to ask about that plant.
My consciousness was bounced back to reality, leaving behind the overgrown purple vines.