TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
Join the discord! Here
Regrettably, during the week-long trip from the South to the central region, Irene had not uttered a single word.
I was worried about what she might be agonizing over, to the extent that I hesitated to press her, as it seed she needed to muster her own courage.
And if I'm to confess so wicked thoughts... her fidgeting was sowhat endearing.
Thanks to Gabriel, an inquisitor turned coachman forrly known as Raphael Mk.2, we returned to the city of adventurers without incident.
Seeing the towering spires from afar, my mind settled, and I felt like I had returned ho.
Whether my past life was forcibly ended by soul extraction, or whether I was saved from high blood pressure after drawing a male character, I’m not sure... but undoubtedly, this place was more ntally stable than the southern jungles swarming with carnivorous bugs.
"Wow, it's always so crowded."
"Adventurers inevitably end up at the tower."
Gabriel, the inquisitor, seemingly had a pass as he entered the city gate, packed with aspiring adventurers, real goblin food, without any inspection.
"Welco back, Roland!"
"What, you even ca out to et ... What's going on?"
Was the coachman’s license genuinely for long trips, or just a façade?
Nevertheless, the carriage smoothly stopped in front of the Adventurers' Guild.
Stepping out of the carriage, I stretched my slightly stiff shoulders and neck from looking at hologram screens for too long.
Ellis ran up to briskly.
Under the sunlight, her beautiful blonde hair swayed, delighting the viewers.
Even if she wasn't a colleague, her title as the beautiful receptionist of the adventurers' guild was a position anyone who loves fantasy would adore.
That aside, why did she personally hurry all the way here?
"Do I only wander around when there's sothing going on?"
"Isn't that the case?"
"I wander around even more when there's nothing going on."
"...That makes sense."
After a brief exchange of light jokes, everyone disembarked from the carriage.
No matter how comfortable it was, a long journey by carriage stiffened the body, so each of us stretched like I did.
Looking around to see if anyone was missing, Ellis naturally pulled an envelope from within her robes.
Grace, who was turning her neck, and Katie, who had been stretching her arms up, froze in place like goats who've seen a predator.
Having received the letter and returned from the South, there was another letter waiting for us?
It seed they were more averse to sitting in a carriage for half a day than to the possible task itself.
Both Grace, a ranger in training who used to frolic in the mountains, and Katie, whose energy levels matched that of a runaway beagle, couldn't help it.
"Hanna, don't worry too much. It’s not a request. The Adventurer's Guild doesn’t treat people that harshly."
"Right. They just suck a bit of your marrow."
"While our hero party was active in the South, a lot happened in the city."
"Why is it 'our' hero party?"
As Ellis began explaining, soothing Han Se-ah whose expression was quite a sight.
Naturally slipping through my guild diss, she fluttered a rather fancy piece of stationery.
Complaining about the guild is an essential skill for an adventurer. Receptionists typically ignore it as if it’s a passive ability in this world.
It wasn't like the request from Lord Antibes with gold embossing or magically treated and perfud.
It just appeared as though a well-off commoner took care to send it.
In a world with a clear social hierarchy, you can generally guess soone's class by the items they use.
Han Se-ah, now treated as a hero by Ellis, received the envelope nonchalantly from her.
Casually tearing it open, the content, slightly embellished like the nobility's style, invited us straight away.
"An invitation? Who sent it?"
"It's from the Razwell Trading Company. They're not very large, but they're well-established due to their long-term dealings with both the workshop district and the magic tower."
"Oh, Razwell?"
"You know the place, Hanna?"
The Goddess is pleased with the hero's actions, and so on, we've benefited from it, and so forth. Ultimately, it's about picking up crumbs and the large rchant's Guild wanting to show goodwill and offer a legal bribe under the na of tribute.
Interestingly, it was Han Se-ah, not Grace or Katie, who reacted to the trading company's na.
Recognizing the place, she captured the attention of all party mbers. Despite her magical talents, she was often seen as clueless.
Interpreting the aning behind her companions' curious and admiring stares, she muttered softly.
"That... the trading company from which we purchased the alchemical solution this ti was Razwell."
"Ah, the bomb that crushed shell."
-The image of a bomb fanatic has definitely stuck now lol
-So, Razwell is essentially a sponsor for terrorists?
-How much did she buy that the trading company is lining up to give stuff?
-An invite due to the impressive 'activities' (hydrochloric acid and bomb terrorism) of a valued custor (terrorist)
Was that how their connection ford?
---
Raei Translations
---
The one-way trip alone took about a week.
Even with how quickly we resolved the case, the incident had taken just under a month.
A month for a single side quest.
It's a sluggish pace for an internet stream, but viewers accustod to virtual reality gas have co to accept it.
Machines that tamper with human brain waves, like science fiction, had already surpassed the level of gas to beco a cultural revolution.
Regardless of any talk about the fifth industrial revolution or whatever, to the viewers, a month might seem too long, but for us, it wasn't.
Specifically, it was not a long ti to build a city.
"What is all this...?"
"Typical of rchants, they'll stop at nothing for money."
And that would have been true for the rchants as well.
"...Have I really only been away for less than a month on a side quest?"
-Could their race be Protoss[1]?
-Is this really a dieval fantasy? It feels more like sci-fi with magic.
-Just last month, it was only a self-moving platform with a cart...
-Do these magic tower folks not know when to stop?
-This doesn't seem like sothing rchants can do lol, clearly the mages are behind this?
The sight Ellis led us to left us speechless.
The carriages entering the tower had definitely grown larger.
They were not small carts pulled by a single horse but enormous carriages pulled by four horses, heavily filled with goods.
The carriages appeared too large for the terrain; their width greater than the path itself, suggesting they might sink into the swamp below or tumble off the cliffs...
Yet there they were, dozens of them, streaming continuously into the gate.
Having cooperated in defeating the boss monster and creating the gate, we, as heroes, temporarily stopped the procession of carriages to enter the gate, only to see a wide-open road.
"Did they just pave over the rocks?"
"The area being restored must be the excavated pit from the swamp, so the surface laid on top should be intact. I an, even in the forest below, while the forest itself was restored, the palisades and huts built there remained, didn't they?"
The dirt roads, previously maintained by the mages' earth control, had now beco wide paved roads that could accommodate a line of carriages.
Walking along the paved road that had replaced the swampy 40th floor, we reached the gate to the 41st floor.
Noticing fewer patrol personnel compared to other paved sections, I wondered if research had been conducted to prevent monster appearances.
Was this a butterfly effect from the safe zone I created by destroying the 35th floor?
As we stepped onto the 41st floor, the changes beca even more drastic.
The pathway from the gate to the safe area, though crudely made, was wide, resembling an entrance to a mining operation.
"Did they prevent the labyrinth from regenerating?"
"With developnt at this level, it's no wonder rchants are rushing here."
"I was taught that rchants play a crucial role in territorial wars. My tutors emphasized it heavily. It seems there was a good reason for that..."
Above the swamp, a paved road, mountains carved out from the gate to the safe area, magical freight elevators continuously transporting goods from caves to the underground, and mana stone lamps illuminating every passage of the underground city.
This place, barely navigable by a small cart just a month ago, had transford into a bustling tropolis thriving on trade.
"So, what does the developnt of the tower up to the 45th floor have to do with our invitation?"
"Exactly."
They had opened up six layers, from the 40th to the 45th floor.
While not every section inside the tower had been conquered, laying roads for trade and blocking natural monster spawns was an impressive feat.
It was as if the humans of this kingdom, much like Earth's explorers, were thodically conquering unknown continents and vast oceans, gradually mapping and developing the tower.
However, the connection between this rapid developnt and the invitation we received was still unclear.
Han Se-ah, head tilted in confusion, listened as Ellis, acting like a tour guide to the 45th floor, began to explain with a smile.
The re fact that Ellis, who could not even beat a goblin in combat, was present on the 45th floor felt like the world had turned upside down.
"The tower's developnt was only recently completed. That's why there's so much for the temples, magic towers, rchants, and the kingdom's nobility and royalty to discuss."
"Yes, and so?"
"The most discussed topic, naturally, was the allocation of honors. It’s because the hero party's power conquered these areas, which even the Goddess's blessings couldn't reach."
Allocation of honors.
Simply put, it ant rewarding those who did well and penalizing those who did not.
If the term 'allocation of honors' ca up, one could guess what was happening.
Essentially, the Temple was tired of the political hassle and decided to dump the responsibility on us.
Although the cause might be slightly different, we got dumped on for sure.
---
[1. raei: race in starcraft]
Toggle New Ads
4/5 Enjoy the chappy!
Please give the book a rating and a review on NovelUpdates.
It helps the website and helps people find this novel!
If you'd like to make a one-ti donation to support our translations or subscribe to read up to 15 chapters or more (depending on the novel) ahead, you can do so via Ko-fi.
Click here!
Reviews
All reviews (0)