Chapter 22: Jewel Plains (2)
“Captain. We’ve arrived.”
With those words, the entire survey team swallowed dryly.
It was the key point of the area where one could obtain the Conquest Token.
In the case of the Jewel Plains, it was in the form of a tall, soaring spire.
It was at a level where you had to crane your neck back to see its top.
“Good. We will enter immediately.”
Im Jae-hwan, who said that, immediately turned to me and Seo Ah-in.
His crumpled face was deeply stained with an undisguised unpleasantness.
“You two stay behind. Just stay here and guard the luggage.”
“…”
Seo Ah-in’s face crumpled in response.
She had noticed that this was a trick to exclude us from the distribution if they happened to acquire valuables inside.
In the first place, guarding luggage outside like this could lead to encountering and fighting stray Demonic Beasts.
As always, it was an order that made no sense for porters.
“Really, to the very end…”
She muttered, but Im Jae-hwan just snorted and immediately entered the building.
Well, that reaction itself meant he had failed to screw us over on the way up here.
At this point, I wasn’t even that angry.
Soon, after confirming that all of their subordinates had entered the structure, Seo Ah-in immediately turned to me.
“…Why are you being so still for once?”
“What about it.”
“With your usual personality, you should be following them in to rip their souls out…”
“…”
Did she think I was some kind of madman?
“Well, I have something else to do.”
“Something to do?”
“There is.”
If anything, I was grateful that those guys had dropped us.
If they hadn't, I would have had to devise a way to separate from the survey team.
There was always a clear pattern until Im Jae-hwan and his minions went up there and officially triggered the ‘situation’.
In other words, from the moment I sent those guys up, I could move according to the timetable.
“Where are you going?”
“To do what I need to do.”
To be precise, there was someone I had to meet.
I answered and looked at the structure Im Jae-hwan had just entered.
Seo Ah-in, who followed my gaze and scanned it up and down, sighed and expressed her renewed impression.
“A building within a building… The Tower is a really strange place.”
Indeed.
The Tower boasted a terrifying size just from the outside, but the sense of space felt when entering inside like this was truly bizarre.
It felt as if each area was its own independent dimension.
“That’s why there are quite a few people who worship this place as a miracle of God or whatnot.”
“Like… Gusegyo?”
“They’re a bit different.”
“…That’s true, isn’t it?”
Seo Ah-in also agreed with a bitter smile.
There were many groups related to the Tower, but Gusegyo was a rather famous one among them.
There was a reason for that.
It wasn't common for people to follow Climbers around and nag them not to work.
The doctrine preached by Gusegyo was simple.
Climbing the Tower was an act that would bring about a ‘great disaster upon mankind’, so all guilds should stop their conquest activities immediately.
They said their ‘prophet’ had said so.
“That’s a funny story. What on earth is this disaster that will befall mankind? If you’re going to scam people, at least do it properly.”
Seo Ah-in said with a bitter smile.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
“…You seem to be taking it more seriously than I thought?”
“Who knows.”
I answered vaguely and turned my head slightly.
“Besides, isn’t it rude to say that in front of the people involved?”
“What?”
Seo Ah-in answered in a flustered voice and followed my gaze to where I was looking.
In the place we arrived at by walking around the spire, there were many people lying on the floor, groaning.
Nearby, several pickets with the phrase ‘The act of conquering the Tower is an act of strangling humanity!’ written in bright red letters were broken and scattered about.
Anyone could see they were members of the Gusegyo that had just been the topic of conversation.
“…”
While the speechless Seo Ah-in kept her mouth shut, I diligently looked around.
She should be around here somewhere…
“…A scam. I suppose that’s how we’re treated.”
And as they say, speak of the devil, a gloomy voice was heard from close by.
It was a girl wearing a uniform with gold embroidery that set her apart from the others in their drab, coarse gray robes.
Of course, even that attire couldn’t erase the sense of decadence that seemed to pervade the entire area.
She looked less like a cleric and more like a worn-out pessimist.
“Ah, no. I mean…”
“It’s fine.”
“…Th-that is. I wasn’t particularly trying to speak ill.”
“It’s fine. We know our level.”
“…”
Seo Ah-in looked at me with eyes pleading for support.
It was a look that meant, ‘please do something to break this awkward situation.’
Alright. Let’s help her out.
“I’m sorry. This kid has no social skills and is clueless. I ask for your generous understanding.”
“…”
While Seo Ah-in, who received my support, was trembling with emotion, the girl sighed and took a step back.
“Well, it doesn’t matter… but you’d better not get too close to me. Please maintain about three steps of distance.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re treated as a scammer group, but we’re not really like that. I’m just a bit… strange.”
“I don’t really know what you mean…”
“…You look like you think a crazy woman is talking crazy. I’ll show you just once.”
Seeing Seo Ah-in tilt her head with a dubious look, Darien sighed and strode this way.
Until we were only a few steps apart.
“Nothing’s happening.”
Seo Ah-in said, looking around.
Well, on the outside, it seemed so.
“Hello, Ms. Seo Ah-in.”
Hearing her name suddenly, Seo Ah-in’s eyes widened.
Naturally, these two had not yet introduced themselves.
“Parents are Seo Jin-seong and Han Shi-yeon. Birthday July 3rd. Favorite foods are lollipops and cherries. Lately, whenever you’re bored, you practice trying to tie a cherry stem with your tongue, but you’re worried you’ll look too stupid if someone finds out-”
“W-wait! Wait a minute!”
Horrified, Seo Ah-in scrambled backward.
Like a frightened cat, she stared at the girl with wide, startled eyes.
“W-what, what are you? Who are you?!”
“I told you. I’m a bit special.”
“That doesn’t explain anything at all! How on earth do you know that…!”
“She reads minds.”
As I said that, the girl and Seo Ah-in simultaneously turned to me with surprised eyes.
“If you get within a certain distance, information from your surface consciousness is forcibly sucked in. That’s how she’s been able to travel safely inside the Tower, which is teeming with Demonic Beasts.”
Come to think of it, it was strange.
A place that even veteran survey team members barely reached after countless battles, and a group with no armed personnel was confidently striding about.
“…Wait a minute. I think I should say those words back to you.”
The girl narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“Who are you. What kind of person are you to know about this.”
I gave her a big smile.
Well, seeing that she didn't approach me to try and read my surface consciousness while saying that, she must be the person I knew.
This girl thought of her ability as a kind of ‘curse’.
She was wary of using it recklessly on others.
‘Found her.’
The ‘thing to do’ I just mentioned to Seo Ah-in was all related to this girl.
No, to be precise.
She was a big part of the reason I came on this main quest in the first place.
“I came here to meet you from the beginning.”
I said, observing the other person.
“Let’s talk for a bit. Ms. Darien Anfeld.”
This gloomy-looking girl was.
The raw material that would grow into a big shot who would one day be called the ‘Saintess’.
***
The background behind the creation of Gusegyo’s doctrine was heavily influenced by a person named Joseph.
The person the Climber Association recognized as the first human to have a real ‘precognitive ability’.
It was said to be a powerful ability, enough to be granted the moniker of ‘Prophet’.
“Oh, there was someone like that? If there was such an ability, the media would have been talking about it all day…”
As Seo Ah-in said that, Darien, who was sitting with her chin in her hand, sighed.
Due to Seo Ah-in’s strong opposition to having her mind read, they were at some distance, but I could feel her gloomy mood reaching me even from here.
“He died.”
“What?”
“He committed suicide, leaving a note, before any major announcement was made. It said, ‘We have already entered the countdown to destruction’.”
“…”
I smirked at Seo Ah-in, who had a bitter expression, and turned my gaze to Darien, who had been staring this way for a while.
“You have to finish the story.”
“What?”
I added a word to Darien, who answered with a puzzled voice, while checking my watch with my eyes.
“The original text had the words ‘As long as we have started to climb the Tower’ at the beginning, didn’t it.”
“…”
Darien narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
Her gaze was filled with wariness.
“…How on earth do you know that?”
“Somehow.”
“Joseph’s existence is one thing, but so many people desperately rushed to hide that suicide note. You’re telling me you just knew it ‘somehow’?”
I shrugged my shoulders instead of answering.
While Darien continued to glare at me as if she would eat me alive, Seo Ah-in next to me sighed and opened her mouth.
“This person usually knows a lot of strange things. I gave up trying to find out too.”
As Seo Ah-in chimed in with a resigned look, Darien, who had been looking this way with a disbelieving gaze, finally scratched her head and continued.
“Well, anyway, that’s how it is. We are the organization founded to carry on his will, and we are still trying to stop Climbers from climbing the Tower.”
Darien, who said that, turned her head and looked at the other followers who were still lying on the floor groaning.
They must have been beaten quite badly, as they were still lying on the ground groaning, regardless of whether I was talking to Darien or not.
“Though no one listens.”
In fact, it was probably a daily occurrence to be beaten up like this whenever they did this kind of thing.
She herself would know best that what she was doing was treated as nothing more than a cult.
“Well, of course.”
I responded, checking my watch again.
“How much money do they make from climbing the Tower, why would they give this up. It would be much more convenient to think that that prophecy or whatever is a lie.”
“…You bastard! What kind of talk is that to the Saintess!”
One of the followers shot his head up and got angry.
Hmm.
It seemed the title of Saintess wasn't just for show, as they were diligently defending her.
“From your attire, you’re at best a porter, but this person is in charge of the core of the church! Mind your manners!”
Even what he said was reasonably logical.
Well now.
Compared to being treated as just a cult by the public, aren't they endlessly level-headed people?
“Well, I didn’t come here to say that either.”
I replied, still not taking my eyes off my watch.
“I just want to let you know a few things.”
“Pardon?”
“I am an ardent supporter of Mr. Joseph Anfeld. You could say I’m a fan of your father.”
I heard Darien cough.
She probably inhaled sharply and choked at the same time.
From the side, I also heard Seo Ah-in’s exasperated voice.
“…Come to think of it. Putting Mr. Kim Gyu-sik aside, it was certainly strange that she knew that information. If she’s the daughter, it certainly makes sense…”
“Yeah. Thanks for the supplementary explanation to secure the plausibility.”
“Please, can you stop spilling information that others think is secret so easily? The pace is always too fast for me to follow…”
“No, but there’s no time.”
I said, continuing to look at my watch.
Hmm.
It should be about time.
“Time? By the way, why have you been looking at your watch so much since earlier?”
“You know. Mr. Im Jae-hwan and that survey team were annoying, but they were reasonably skilled, right?”
“Pardon?”
“So, by my estimation, it’s about time they reached near the top.”
Around this time was when they would have progressed to the ‘boundary line’ that triggered the event.
It was a conclusion reached by combining the overall combat power of the entire party and the difficulty of the battle that occurs inside that key point.
“You can calculate that just by sitting here? On what basis?”
“Based on over 300 ending experiences.”
“…Pardon?”
I ignored Seo Ah-in, who answered blankly, and glanced at the spire.
Rumble, the sound of some device activating suddenly echoed.
It was probably the sound of the survey team activating a mana crystal near the top of the spire.
“And that thing Mr. Joseph said about the countdown to destruction.”
At the same time as I said that.
-!!!
The surroundings began to vibrate like crazy.
Seo Ah-in and Darien’s eyes widened simultaneously at the tremendous vibration, as if an earthquake and a tsunami had occurred at the same time.
“Wh-what in the world is this-!”
“I know a thing or two about that.”
I interjected with a calm voice into Seo Ah-in’s horrified shout.
“First of all, that happens today.”
Well.
The name of this main quest was ‘Opening Act’.
It wasn’t given that name for no reason.
Even in the game, the standard for the main quest to occur was how far the Tower’s conquest level had reached.
And.
Im Jae-hwan’s party conquering this Jewel Plains was the starting point for the first main quest.
“On top of that.”
I grinned and continued, speaking to Darien and Seo Ah-in who were looking this way with dazed expressions.
In short.
The ‘terrible thing’ included in the progression of the first quest, which I had been talking about, was also about to happen right now.
“If we don’t do something right now, at least tens of thousands will die, you know?”
“…”
“…”