Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: 53장. Collector (2)
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3.
“Boss.”
Before El Pam met with Collector Vivre, Dibo spoke up. He had heard the plan from El Pam.
“No matter how I think about it, this isn’t right.”
Dibo tried to dissuade El Pam.
“Mano is our comrade!”
Kyuu!
It wasn’t just any item—they couldn’t sell off a comrade.
And it wasn’t just Dibo who felt that way.
“Right. He’s our comrade.”
“Of course. How many times has this guy saved our lives?”
“Exactly. Mano is the second-best comrade in our party after the boss. We can’t sell him.”
Everyone considered Mano a comrade.
It wasn’t strange.
As they said, Mano’s contributions so far had been more than that of a mere comrade.
Above all, Mano wasn’t an item.
Kyuu!
He was a living being who freely expressed his emotions in response to those around him.
El Pam knew that too.
“There’s no deal to begin with.”
“Yes?”
He had no intention of selling Mano either.
“What I’m going to do is make a bet.”
“A b-bet?”
El Pam planned to make a bet with Collector Vivre.
“She wants that snail pet more than anything.”
Of course, it wasn’t just a vague idea.
“If I propose a bet to someone like her, she’ll definitely accept.”
El Pam knew Collector Vivre’s personality better than anyone, and her current situation. That was why he believed she would gladly take his bet.
At El Pam’s opinion, his comrades nodded in their own way.
“So, what’s the content of the bet?”
“I’ll get her what she wants.”
“Yes?”
But at El Pam’s following words, everyone could only wear expressions of disbelief.
“No, then the Collector will demand something ridiculous, won’t she?”
The bet was overwhelmingly unfavorable to El Pam, no matter who looked at it.
To that, El Pam replied.
“If it’s not to that extent, the Collector won’t accept the bet.”
At that point, El Pam’s comrades had nothing more to say.
‘No matter how I think about it, this seems like nonsense?’
They could only harbor anxiety.
And that anxiety became reality the moment El Pam returned from talking with Collector Vivre.
“W-where did you say?”
“Cresed.”
4.
“Vivre-nim.”
“Speak.”
“About the bet with El Pam—isn’t it dangerous?”
At her subordinate’s question, Collector Vivre smirked.
“What is?”
“Well... You only have three Zakum helmets in your possession, don’t you?”
El Pam had demanded four, but Vivre only had three.
In other words, Vivre had bet something she didn’t even possess from the start.
It was quite a risky move.
She was the Collector, after all—the one whose credibility was more reliable than anyone else’s!
If she failed to pay the promised price, that trust would crumble overnight.
Vivre knew that too.
“So?”
But she didn’t care.
“It’s a game I’m going to win anyway. What’s the problem?”
It was a bet, after all.
“Cresed, Cresed.”
At Collector Vivre’s following words, her subordinate could say no more.
She was right.
“The Celestial Temple Cresed.”
Cresed.
A temple floating in the sky, so few adventurers had ever discovered it.
Even fewer had reached it.
That was why a Cresed adventure was the stuff of legends.
“No one’s found it in a hundred years.”
Most discovery records dated back a hundred years.
That made it a legend.
In the Maple World overflowing with all sorts of bizarre wonders, it became legendary simply by floating in the sky.
“The fun part is, it definitely exists.”
Of course, that didn’t mean Cresed didn’t exist.
“Artifacts that occasionally fall prove its existence clearly.”
Being in the sky, relics from Cresed sometimes dropped to the ground.
That was why.
“We can’t deny it doesn’t exist.”
The bet could only stand.
No matter how much of a Collector Vivre was, she couldn’t demand something truly nonexistent.
Of course, Collector Vivre knew.
No matter what, since it was a bet, a single misstep could cause problems.
That was why she normally wouldn’t make bets.
Moreover, the opponent was El Pam?
At this point, he was a headache-inducing adventurer for Collector Vivre—someone she’d rather see dead.
Betting against such a person would stir talk even if it ended well.
“The snail pet is on the line.”
Yet she accepted the bet because the snail pet was that precious to her.
“Is it worth that much?”
At that fact, her subordinates tilted their heads.
It was certainly amazing, but who was Collector Vivre?
The woman with the most diverse items after the Phantom Thief.
She had collected countless rare and special treasures from the Maple World.
For her to be this obsessed?
“The snail pet knows the value of items and moves to find them.”
Even at the explanation that followed, her subordinates tilted their heads.
It was impressive, but was it valuable enough to make Collector Vivre smile?
At her subordinates’ expressions, Collector Vivre offered no further explanation.
‘And it can awaken special abilities.’
There was more to it than that.
No need to increase the number of people who knew that precious information, known only to a tiny few.
In any case, it was worth her desire, so she accepted the bet.
“The dice have been cast anyway. Well, I’ll win.”
Of course, there was risk, but she dismissed it as negligible.
Crucially, she knew.
“It’s not about conquering a Mystic Gate—it’s finding a place no one has found in a hundred years.”
That El Pam had shown the highest skill among current adventurers in conquering Mystic Gates.
That was why she mentioned Cresed.
Finding it was an entirely different kind of adventure from conquering a Mystic Gate.
Thus, she was convinced.
“El Pam must be panicking right now.”
5.
“Boss, did I hear that right? Cresed?”
At the word Cresed, Dibo and everyone else wore expressions of disbelief.
“Did I hear wrong? That temple floating in the sky, Cresed?”
It was inevitable.
No adventurer was unaware of Cresed.
That made it all the more problematic.
“No one’s found it in a hundred years? And now we have to bring back an item from there?”
Despite so many adventurers knowing of it, no one had found it in a hundred years—that meant it was practically impossible.
A situation beyond imagination in every way.
“It’s outside expectations.”
Even for El Pam, Collector Vivre’s proposal was beyond his anticipated range.
“Outside expectations?”
“I thought the item she’d demand was something the Phantom Thief could easily obtain if asked.”
The biggest reason El Pam proposed this bet in the first place was the Phantom Thief.
No matter how impressive the Collector’s collection was, it couldn’t compare to the Phantom Thief’s.
No, it wasn’t just incomparable—a significant portion of the Collector’s desired collectibles were from the Phantom Thief’s collection.
Of course, the Phantom Thief wouldn’t give them for free.
But at least he wouldn’t make an outrageous demand.
But Cresed of all things?
In any case, the dice had been cast.
“Boss, what are you going to do? If we go like this, we’ll lose Mano.”
Kyuu......
Now was the time to win the bet somehow.
“That’s not a problem.”
“Yes?”
“I said it’s outside expectations, not that it’s a problem.”
But El Pam had no particular worries.
“I know where Cresed is.”
“What?”
Everyone was shocked at that fact.
As mentioned before, no one had discovered it in a hundred years—Cresed was that place.
El Pam was the same.
‘It’s not a place I discovered myself.’
He had never been to Cresed even once.
He had only heard about it.
‘The final hideout discovered by the Resistance.’
The Resistance operating in Edelstein—their final refuge from the overflowing monsters and Black Mage followers was the celestial Cresed.
Of course, that final hideout didn’t last long.
‘Wing Master Orca destroyed it.’
Orca, one of the Black Mage’s commanders and current ruler of Edelstein as the Black Wings’ master.
She appeared there personally and killed every surviving Resistance member without leaving a single one alive.
She even brought down the celestial Cresed.
That was it.
That was all the information El Pam knew about Cresed.
He knew nothing more.
‘I had no connection to it.’
The only faction El Pam had any connection to was the Cross Hunters; he had barely exchanged greetings with Cygnus Knights or Resistance members, let alone connections.
It wasn’t strange.
At the time, the Maple World was isolated due to the overflowing monsters.
Survival was the top priority.
Exchanging in such a situation? Unthinkable.
That was why.
El Pam didn’t show hasty confidence here.
“It’s not certain.”
It was just hearsay, after all—he couldn’t bet everything on it.
At El Pam’s words, his comrades nodded instead.
‘The boss only has rough information too.’
Common sense dictated that easily finding the celestial Cresed, undiscovered for over a hundred years, would be the strange thing.
‘Having even a clue is something.’
This side of El Pam felt normal.
Thus, everyone steeled themselves.
‘It won’t be easy.’
The upcoming adventure to the celestial Cresed might be more difficult than any they had faced.
‘No giving up.’
But no matter how hard or tough, they would never turn back.
To his comrades, filled with such resolve, El Pam said.
“For now, we head to Orbis.”
6.
Orbis, the city above the clouds.
This place, where all airships coming and going from the Maple World gathered, was quieter than expected.
For one, the ways to get there were limited: take an airship or cross the Elnas Mountains and climb Orbis Tower. Only two options.
Neither was easy.
Another reason was that Orbis wasn’t a particularly appealing stage for adventurers.
In the past, it overflowed with those adventuring the vast Cloud Park, the cloud world starting from Orbis.
But now, Cloud Park had been fully explored—no new discoveries left.
Nothing to ignite adventurers’ spirits.
Yet Orbis was now bustling with adventurers more than ever.
The reason was simple.
“What’s up with El Pam? Did he get caught?”
“The bounty’s still valid, right?”
“It’s not a lie?”
“Either way, Aran’s item is definitely in the Elnas Mountains now.”
The appearance of the massive prey called El Pam.
“Find El Pam. By any means!”
Naturally, Orbis was filled with people desperately hunting for El Pam.
Of course, they didn’t know.
“It’s brutal.”
That the very El Pam party they sought had arrived in none other than Orbis.
“I’d have died a hundred times over without this.”
Thanks to the transformation potions.
But at this moment, not a single one was happy about being unrecognized.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
“Kiri, I know even without you saying. I know what kind of place we’re heading to now.”
Going to find the celestial Cresed, undiscovered for a hundred years—relaxing was impossible.
Instead, everyone resolved themselves.
‘It’ll be more dangerous than ever. We might even die.’
To death.
It wasn’t a vague resolve.
‘The celestial Cresed exists in the sky. To find it, we inevitably need an airship.’
One of the biggest reasons Cresed remained undiscovered was that finding it required flying in the sky.
And to fly required an airship, which was extremely expensive.
And dangerous.
The skies were filled with all sorts of hazards.
“Yeah, if a ship breaks over the sea, you fall into the water, but in the sky, it’s just over.”
Moreover, in the sky, you couldn’t hope for any chance encounters.
“More than that, I wonder how long it’ll take.”
Time was the same.
“Airships are fast, but only on routes. For searching, it’s different. The Maple World skies are vaster than any continent.”
No set time.
“Boss, roughly how long do you think?”
At the question, El Pam held up one finger, and everyone nodded.
“About a month?”
At that answer, El Pam shook his head.
“No way, a week?”
As everyone marveled at that, El Pam shook his head again, and by then, there were no more guesses.
“H-ha, a day?”
‘It’s impossible!’
Reaching the celestial Cresed in a day was unimaginable.
To such comrades, El Pam said.
“It’ll take about an hour. Maybe even less.”