Her unusually intense scream drew everyone's attention. A simple hand on the shoulder shouldn't have caused such a dramatic reaction, yet all eyes instantly turned our way.
Fortunately, Ellis and our companions laughed it off, while viewers busily edited clips of her screaming, joking she'd lost her mind from too much ditation, making her the butt of their jokes.
After that dramatic outburst, we returned to our routine. Getting quests from the Adventurers' Guild, moving to our mansion in the tower, storing our northern gear in storage and gathering plains exploration supplies and food.
The Ice Cross Knights who tagged along handled their own supply contracts and everyone did their part, making preparations quick.
"Strange how it's rolling like a snow ball. Must be because it's virtual reality - Roland breaking through quickly makes other NPCs break through quickly too. Honestly, if NPCs clear the ga at this speed, they'll be beheading the floor 40 boss while our viewers are still at floor 10."
-Just rambling because you're embarrassed about screaming? lololololol
-Oof don't hit her with facts, she'll get cut
-But this ti it really is super fast, we weren't even in the north for months lol
-Feels super fast but looking at teacher's pace maybe not
-Still the Empress sent her knights, must be all 5★s so of course it's fast
Han Se-ah grew oddly talkative, perhaps from embarrassnt, as we returned to the eternally sunny plains instead of snow-covered fields.
The vast plains remained unchanged, but sothing major had clearly changed.
"Hey Hans! Move those supplies properly!"
"Who stacked all this here!?"
"Finish up work and get to dinner!"
Low-ranking soldiers and workers bustled about carrying supplies like construction workers.
We'd left right after establishing restrictions to prevent kidnappings by making people buy mana stones with gold coins. What was this situation? Did they have confidence in controlling the workers properly?
"What's going on here?"
"Who're you? ...Oh, heard so imperial knights are building so kind of base."
People crowded every path to the gates. Curious about the situation, I handed a silver coin to a worker in dirt and sweat-stained clothes who readily explained.
It wasn't about soldiers drafted for kingdom-empire cooperation, but a story so well-known even log-carrying workers knew it. Either the unseen Empress was quite displeased or had other political motives, but she planned to use the tower as a 'training ground.'
'Like the temple took the marsh area, is the Empire trying to take the plains?'
Just as priests made pilgrimages to holy sites created by the holy sword's massive marks after purifying the marsh, the Empire seed to plan on using the plains with its endless monster spawns as a training ground for junior officers.
Made sense for the Empire that constantly fought monster waves to need field commander training - the plains' wave-like spawns would be quite useful.
Since the Empire wouldn't send supplies across those treacherous mountains from their holand, they'd probably buy food from the Kingdom. The Kingdom could sell food while effectively renting out part of the tower, so not a bad deal.
"Looks like they're not just planning to subjugate the boss monster, but establish a permanent Imperial army training facility from floors 51 to 60."
"Our job hasn't changed though. We just need to find the path from floor 59 to 60."
"The boss monster appearing with an army would definitely help. Though we won't let them steal credit for defeating it."
My companions each comnted on the loose-lipped worker's silver coin-bought information. Perhaps due to pride in their divine mission, even Katie and Grace now cared about landing the final blow on the boss.
The mood had shifted from 'let's do it if we can' to 'we must do this.'
A good direction for both gar Han Se-ah and who needed to help her. Just as we finished assessing the situation and prepared to explore with the Ice Cross Knights, soone approached from the distance.
Their attire differed from both the shabby workers and half-armored soldiers who'd stripped down from the heat. Long coat with lace trim and feathered hat - more Three Musketeers or d'Artagnan from classic literature than knight, an outfit reminiscent of modern tis.
※
Despite my preconceptions, the Pringles-mustached butter gentleman who looked ready to fire a musket rather than act as a knight proved quite sensible.
"My word. I never expected to et the hero chosen by the Goddess. What brings you here?"
"Oh, we just returned from the Empire and were curious about all the changes."
Of course the construction supervisor had to investigate when an unknown adventurer party and twenty knights showed up asking workers questions and gathering information.
I watched the man carefully, worried Han Se-ah's clumsiness might cause trouble, but apart from his appearance he was just an ordinary noble - soone who believed in the Goddess, stayed loyal to the Empire, and respected the hero's authority.
Still, we learned Imperial knights were dispatched to floor 59's east and south, so we could head north or west.
"So, which direction should we take? Imperial knights are already thoroughly searching east and south, so we should head where it's empty."
"How about north? We just ca back from the Empire's north, might as well go north again."
"If that's what Hanna wants, why not?"
So we chose north from floor 59's gates. Han Se-ah making the choice was slightly concerning given her track record, but surely her clumsiness had limits.
Though she'd kept her distance since the screaming incident, she seed to have sorted out her feelings as she slowly approached while suggesting north.
Made sense - she couldn't keep her distance forever while progressing the ga. She probably realized maintaining obvious distance would give viewers ammunition. So she approached normally to continue the conversation.
"Then let's head north. We've got our supply contract and know what the Imperial army's doing."
"Katie, weren't you going to show that armor piece to your father?"
"Well, that can wait. As long as it doesn't get eaten by a golem, it'll be fine."
"Golem? ...Oh, that."
-lol Family treasure turned to battery
-Wasn't that when she got that weird '18 cha Girl' nickna?
-But that golem's doing construction up north now lol Looks like a giant knight but works construction lololol
-Hey what if this relic gets sucked into a magic circle on the floor again?
-Scary af put it in inventory for real lol If character quest reward disappears she'll seriously kill the kid
When concerns arose about Katie's self-deprecating jokes and the northern armor piece dissolving again, Katie quickly stuffed the family treasure into her inventory, but nothing else noteworthy happened.
We explored the plains with the knights, massacred goblin and orc troops, checked if proper flowers blood at checkpoints, then set up tents and lit campfires.
"Phew... Monster corpses turning into mana stones is so convenient."
"Better than getting covered in guts and filth just to pick up mana stones from the ground."
The group chatted over grain porridge instead of pemmican. No matter how used to this harsh dieval fantasy world, young won concerned with their looks wouldn't enjoy being covered in monster corpses.
Unless they were crazy like Rebecca. Co to think of it, lately we only saw knights but no high-ranking adventurers - where had they all gone?
"Honestly, after facing monster waves up north, I understand why Roland saved gold coins for magitech devices."
"Getting covered in filth where it's hard to wash was rough. ...A group of adventurers is heading this way?"
--That question would likely be answered soon.
Through the plains that remained bright despite the late hour, fla-red hair flickering in the distance caught my eye.
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