Chapter 195: Big Guy and Little Guy 5
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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Setting aside concerns about quests that couldn't be immediately resolved, it was time to advance in the game.
A week may seem like a short time to accomplish something, but for the viewers, it was like an eternity of boredom.
For the temple, angered to its core, it was more than enough time to uproot the trees.
With many intermediate adventurers flocking up from the 20th floor, simply opening their pockets solved everything.
"I'd like to request the brothers to search for the monster-bearing trees."
"That should be done through the guild, shouldn't it, priest?"
"Ten gold coins for information on each tree, no questions asked!"
"From today, our party is not hunting undead but exploring the 31st floor!"
The undead, greatly reduced by the divine energy of priests and nuns, the intermediate adventurers driven by greed, and the temple, infuriated by the simultaneous insult to the Goddess, saint, and holy figures.
These three elements intertwined, turning the marshland tier into something reminiscent of the Wild West.
Adventurers swarmed, not to hunt monsters but to explore the edges of a floor.
Even parties solely composed of scouts emerged.
Adventurers formed 4-5 person parties for post-battle profit distribution.
But when rewards jumped from silver to gold coins, the dynamics changed.
Forming parties of ten to find trees was profitable, as each would still earn one gold coin.
"Wow, is this really the tower?"
"Nothing but marsh. Nothing natural left, aside from naturally spawning monsters.
In the distance, a party of three vanguards and seven scouts boldly advanced through the marsh.
Skeletons, like lizardmen, would occasionally appear but were instantly destroyed by blunt, heavy arrows, designed for undead, raining down like a storm.
The ten of them, with no hesitation in using expensive arrowheads, motivated by the absurd profit of one gold coin per tree found.
Plus, being monsters from the 39th floor, the mana stones they dropped were valuable enough to break even.
Ah, the 39th floor.
Once an area where only high-level adventurers dared tread, now swarmed by intermediate adventurers, relying on their numbers and bravely charging in.
"The temple has offered gold... Is it really worth going to such lengths?"
"Of course. Not every party resolves requests daily like ours. Most requests above the 20th floor take about a week."
"Oh, really?"
"But finding a tree is a matter of luck. It could be done in a few days, so it's enticing. Seems like most are already dealt with, though."
Grace, who had only ever been part of herb gathering parties, murmured in amazement.
Katie, with her experience as both a mercenary and high-floor porter, immediately started explaining.
Her stories turned Grace's eyes wide in wonder.
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Raei Translations
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Monsters are scarce, and adventurers, blinded by the lure of gold, were plentiful.
With the proof of their holy inscriptions, they can confidently identify themselves to one another, avoiding unnecessary suspicion and swiftly moving on.
This made our ascent from the 37th to the 38th and 39th floors unimpeded.
Even as Grace and Katie, Irene and Han Se-ah, chattered away, sticking close to each other, it was of no concern.
"Roland, what's on your mind?"
"...I'm wondering if it's really okay to so easily surpass my personal best record as an adventurer. My highest floor was the 37th."
"What was it like when you first reached it?"
"Who were you with?"
Honestly, with the gates, the 39th floor feels more like the 9th to me.
There's no significant difference between breaking through from the 1st to the 9th floor and starting from the 30th to reach the 39th, so I feel no particular thrill.
As I pondered this, Grace and Katie, who were discussing other intermediate adventurers, suddenly turned the topic to me.
Katie, who seemed to have no sense of personal space, was particularly close, maybe due to her long experience in disguise or the camaraderie felt as a party blessed by the Goddess, almost as if she had become my lover like Grace.
"Back then, I didn't travel with a fixed group. It took at least three months each time we went up, so we formed temporary parties for major quests. That's how I got to know the spear-wielder Lily Depp."
"Aha, so that's why you know so many people. What about Rebecca?"
"Yes, Rebecca's mercenary group is large but lacks high-level power. So, for top-tier quests, they often include adventurers, especially rare high-level vanguards like me without a fixed party."
Katie, now noticeably closer, was curious about my past with Rebecca.
Having been the youngest in Rebecca's mercenary group and recommended to join my party, she must have been quite close to Rebecca, experiencing her difficult personality firsthand.
Katie wasn't the only one curious about my past with Rebecca.
Naturally, the camera, capturing Katie, Grace, and me, turns towards us.
I noticed Han Se-ah, pretending to chat with Irene, glancing over at us.
It was so obvious that even Irene, mid-conversation, noticed and grinned, making a considerate gesture acknowledging our discussion.
-So, you're going to spill the beans about your past, the kind involving a 'frenzied-kidnapping-forced-outdoor-session-savage-girl'?
-How long can a nickname get?
-Enough about that, please share your first love story, teacher.
-With that face, it's probably not a story of a first love, but how he charmed someone into falling for him.
-It's been a boring week so Roland's story is the most exciting thing right now
The viewers, already curious about Rebecca's daring actions on the stream, felt an increased interest due to the week-long tree-searching and map-lighting project.
Directly facing the camera was burdensome, but it was too late to stop the conversation now.
Avoiding the camera's direct gaze, I slightly turned my head towards Katie as I began speaking.
"Most of the requests Rebecca and I took on were the guild's highest difficulty ones. They revolved around tasks that assumed the ability to externalize mana, a high-level skill. So, most of our quests involved jungle exploration related to the 35th floor area
I casually talked about stories like how Rebecca, overwhelmed by the heat during a stealth mission to observe monster ecology, annihilated a lizardmen village, which extended our request by two weeks.
As we walked and chatted, we naturally arrived at the passage leading to the 40th floor.
Climbing up while chatting with beautiful women, enjoying warm food, bathing cleanly, and resting in comfortable beds - I never dreamt I would achieve the pinnacle of my career in such a manner.
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Raei Translations
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Reaching the 40th floor didn't immediately bring about any dramatic events.
However, perhaps due to the shift from the 30s to 40, there were quite a few undead on the 40th floor.
Adventurers aren't low-intelligence A.I. assistants; they're bound to realize the possible dangers of the 40th floor.
With incidents occurring every ten floors, causing deaths - at the 10th, 20th, and 30th floors - it's hard to believe the 40th floor would be safe.
Adventurers, deeply superstitious due to their faith in the Goddess, naturally harbored fears about the 40th floor.
Citizens died because of the Full Moon Wolves on the 10th, knights were attacked by orcs on the 20th, and adventurers were ambushed by worms on the 30th, so fear of the 40th floor was understandable.
"Wow, a troll... it's been a while since I've seen one."
"Should we shoot it or lure other undead to it?"
"The terrain isnt great, lets just take it down."
Even the bold and arrogant adventurers who had ventured up to the 39th floor, driven by the desire for gold, seemed reluctant to step onto the 40th.
This was evident from the fact that we encountered a troll within just five minutes of exploring, something we hadn't seen while mapping the mini-map.
Come to think of it, Han Se-ah was supposed to make a troll bomb using alchemy, but it seems she hasn't done it yet.
Well, if it was really needed, the Magic Tower researching the tree that spawns trolls would have told us, right?
-So, Han Se-ah was going to learn alchemy to make troll bombs?
-Got so caught up in her solid performance that she forgot about the troll bombs?
-She's completely neglecting alchemy.
-Aren't you idiots supposed to pay? She won't learn if there's no funding, haha.
[Chat deleted by mod]
"Hey, that kind of slander is too much. Reflect for 30 minutes and come back."
The viewers, previously idle, now buzzed with excitement over the potential of troll bombs.
Meanwhile, Katie, never having been to the uncharted 40th floor, was keenly looking around, her head turning in every direction.
Irene, finding this rather cute, smiled broadly, and Grace, who had been scanning the surroundings, chuckled and patted her shoulder to calm her excitement.
Rebecca, the wild and unkempt beast, the mages of the Magic Tower who always blamed others first for their mistakes, and an archer who shot me in the back without an apology - my past party members left a deep impression, a stark contrast to my current companions.
It almost brought tears to my eyes.
The kind-heartedness of my party members, all buffed by the gacha, was remarkable.
And it was such a relief that Han Se-ah wasn't the kind of streamer who was so bad at games that viewers would grind their teeth in frustration, to the point of needing to visit the dentist.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m