Chapter 185: Familiar Taste 5
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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"Isn't this just too much, no matter how you look at it?
We've faced a group of about ten adventurer bandits five times.
We've killed about 30 monsters, but we've killed around 50 thieving adventurers.
As adventurers, it's normal to be cautious and suspicious when encountering others in the Tower or the kingdom's remote areas.
However, meeting fifty bandits in a day is just absurd.
But there's one condition that makes it all make sense.
Han Se-ah's side quest.
"No matter how you look at it, the number of bandits attacking us is unusually high. Let's head back to the 35th floor."
"Indeed even though there are many patrolling brothers and sisters, there are too many bandits."
Katie, who was eagerly swinging her sword at the bandits, and Irene, who was blocking arrows with her barrier, both nod in agreement with Han Se-ah's opinion.
Even someone unfamiliar with the ways of the world would find it strange to encounter fifty bandits in a single day.
Ever since Han Se-ah appeared, the emergence of boss monsters and gates makes it feel like we're truly in a game world.
Katie, who was busy cleaning her dirtied sword blade, effortlessly hops over a collapsed dirt road.
It's a surprisingly cute sight, considering she's just slain dozens of people in a day.
"Then let's quickly head to the 35th floor. I need to buy a whetstone for my sword. It's one thing to target the joints of the undead, but human fat dulls the blade."
"Didn't you buy that when we were shopping for ingredients last time?"
"I thought I wouldn't need my sword much since we were against the undead I didn't expect there to be so many bandits."
Watching Katie, seriously dedicated to maintaining her sword, Grace and Irene can't help but chuckle.
It seems a bit hard for a hunter, who considers bows and arrows disposable, and a priest, who uses divine magic through bare hands, to understand.
As for me, I've seen enough adventurers who treat their weapons like lovers to understand.
There's a reason why fans who approach me are ecstatic to receive my secondary weapons as gifts.
Without any hesitation, the party, who had unceremoniously dumped the bandits' bodies into a muddy swamp, moved back to the 35th floor.
If a quest has really started, it looks like we'll be shuttling between the 35th and 36th floors for a while.
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Raei Translations
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The fact that this world is a game cannot be denied.
In the Tower, a boss monster emerges every ten floors, and upon its defeat by a player, a gate appears.
Han Se-ah, using a semi-transparent camera drone, films and communicates with her viewers, unbeknownst to the NPCs.
Even the sensation of the world pausing when saving and logging out is a clue.
"Good day, brother. As one who walks the path of the Goddess, I am honored to meet the Goddesss Sword."
'Such formality can be overwhelming.'
Hence, Ive come to accept and understand that unexpected occurrences, labeled as quests, are part of this reality.
A female temple knight, her face hidden by a helmet, chatters away.
It's likely due to the powerful divine energy I used to clear the 35th floor, which has made her extremely friendly.
Upon reaching the 35th floor and encountering her near the miniature temple, she immediately starts to explain without any hesitation.
She speaks of the workers who came to the Tower for the temple, who, hearing that there were no monsters on the 35th floor, began to wander out of curiosity.
Moreover, adventurers who were active around the 20th floor also flocked to the 30th floor, drawn by various reasons to join the temples cause.
"The sisters studying holy magic were worried that the remnants of the wicked spirit you vanquished might still linger. Perhaps its not monsters but an evil spirit stirring up human malevolence."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Well, it could be that those with weak wills, who have hidden their malevolent nature, are being influenced by such evil.
The carpenters and stonemasons who came for the temple aren't fighters..."
And then, the incomprehensible number of adventurers who began to engage in banditry.
Its almost as if, for the quest, all the kingdom's bandits were concentrated on the 35th and 36th floors.
This left even the temple knights puzzled.
In a world where bandits and outlaws exist, they typically emerge in unstable, remote areas like wandering monsters, not in front of a consecrated temple.
"The real issue is distinguishing them. We can't tell apart the noble adventurers from those bandits seeking an opportunity. It delays orders to subdue them."
Its a situation that smears the dignity of the temple.
Now that a holy war has been declared, dozens of bandits could be hanged without objection.
The problem, as the temple knight said, is finding a way to differentiate them.
These arent bandits who have built a stronghold and gained notoriety over time.
Its unlikely that any well-known bandit from the 20th floor would have made their way up to the 35th.
In the Tower, criminal activity is rampant, with few survivors able to give testimony due to their dire circumstances.
Victims, left without a lantern, archer, or supplies, and injured, wandering the Tower, have a slim chance of survival, let alone reporting to the guild it's as rare as winning the lottery.
"This is why the temple's brothers are deeply concerned. They can't just randomly capture every adventurer entering the Tower, as it goes against the Goddess's will."
"Understood, thank you for the information."
"Ha, if my babbling can be of any help to you, brother, I'll keep talking until my lips wear out."
-I'm scared that might actually be possible.
-The audio isnt just full; it's overflowing.
-If they were part of the team, the editors workload would have increased fiftyfold.
-So, the number of bandits increased because of the quest, right? Thats why the temple peeps are acting weird.
-Forbes' no.1 Most Annoying npc to streams.
Thanks to the lengthy explanation, the viewers' chats, filled with boredom, pop up on the screen.
Han Se-ah, however, seems content, realizing she didnt need to explain the quest herself as the NPC did all the talking.
While the party members' expressions hardened at the temple knight's words, I sneakily glanced at the stream, where a quest window appeared next to the chat.
[The 31st floor of the Tower, safer than the lower levels due to the temple's unprecedented declaration of holy war.]
[Workers and mages, gathered in the Goddess's name, have crowded the area.]
[But, as they say, where there is light, there is also darkness; criminals too have converged for their own gain...]
What stands out in the quest window is not the term 'bandit' but 'criminals.'
The quest implies not just bandits but that criminals have emerged.
Could it be that an outright criminal organization has infiltrated as far as the 35th floor?
No way, even if they built a temple here...?
The quest window explicitly states that criminals have arrived.
The issue then lies with the miniature temples constructed from the 30th to 35th floors for the holy war.
Temple knights patrol in pairs, and priests and nuns, grouped in tens, are scattering divine energy.
What could criminals possibly gain in such a neighborhood?
I can't even begin to guess what these criminals are up to or how they're operating.
"It seems we werent the only ones encountering bandits."
"Criminals appearing right in front of the temple? Could it be some sort of black magic from the Demon King?"
"I doubt it. Even if the sister said so, the 35th floor has already been purified and a temple built. It's a place showered with the Goddess's blessing. If there were such things, the saints would have noticed."
Despite Grace's mention of evil spirits prompted by the talkative temple knight, the others seem to dismiss it as a light joke.
If a place declared and purified as a holy war site by the temple still harbored evil spirits, it would be the work of the Demon King.
Since there was no mention of evil spirits in the quest window, Han Se-ah, myself, and even the viewers simply assumed that the quest had attracted a criminal organization.
Isnt it typical for game quests, where a savior sets off to save the world, only to be asked by a local housewife to bring some eggs?
Or being tasked with moving luggage, only to face an unreasonable time limit?
Even if it's a bit nonsensical, we just go with it.
"Lets see if a market has sprung up in the meantime."
"Already? Ah, theyve set up tents and opened general stores for adventurers? Merchants are quick to capitalize on opportunities. They even make their way to the frozen wastelands of the North."
No matter how much we ponder the bizarre increase in criminals, like a monster wave, theres no solution.
The party members seem to think the same, as Grace, with her keen vision, points towards a direction with her long, slender finger.
From general stores selling adventurer essentials like ropes, oil, and whetstones, to makeshift inns serving hot meals with large chunks of meat.
We may not know about the criminals, but the merchants have definitely made their presence felt.
"Look at that, a whetstone that costs three copper coins outside is going for thirty-five here?"
"Well, an intermediate-level adventurer might hesitate, but a senior adventurer would rather spend an extra thirty copper coins than descend five floors and go outside."
"True, Roland used to casually tip gold coins at the tavern. But still, an 11-fold increase is hard to swallow. Is it because I'm still an intermediate-level adventurer?"
"Still, its better to buy here than to go outside the Tower."
The shopkeepers, looking to make a hefty profit from those risking their lives in the Tower.
Grace tuts, closing her wallet, confident with the arrows she looted from bandits, but Katie, true to her noble upbringing, buys a heap of whetstones, oil, and cloth without hesitation.
Who would have thought wed experience such price gouging inside the Tower, almost like a tourist trap?
But how does Han Se-ah plan to resolve this criminals side quest?
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