Chapter 247: Pioneering Project 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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Through the city of stone dwarves, we moved from underground to underground, making it possible to go from the 41st floor to the 42nd floor.
For adventurers, it was a tale of comfortably moving a distance that would take three days under the harassment of harpies on steep mountain paths, in just one day.
However, for the Magic Tower, intending to establish a large-scale laboratory inside the tower, the Guild wanting to maintain the adventurer front on the 45th floor, and the Temple with ambitions of purifying the entire tower, it was a story close to turning the world upside down.
Even the hero party, creating gates every ten floors using the loot and mana stones from suddenly appearing boss monsters, wasn't it all about using the 'Gate,' a magical facility, to travel through the tower?
But the stone dwarves didn't give a damn about gates or anything; they just made a tunnel through the underground.
"Should we report this to the guild?"
"Of course. It's not just us that can help the stone dwarves. If the guild steps in to protect the Vacuum Stone, we might really be able to create a passage that goes up to the 50th floor."
If that happens, the suddenly appearing red harpies wouldn't just float away, but I guess they'd have some related side quests or something.
It's not like, "We drilled a passage underground, so we don't care about the harpies and just move on to the 51st floor~", right?
While we were talking, some stone dwarves, still denying reality and rummaging through the ruins, were visible, but Old Bobo and a few auction losers came back to our side and started to accept reality.
Since their faces are made of stone, it's impossible to read their complexion, but the atmosphere itself clearly became more downtrodden and gloomy.
"...Hey squishies, is there a reason you went outside?"
"Do you remember the last time, when I explained about the Demon King and the tower?"
-It pisses me off. Acting all smug like you've won.
-Really, what a moron, obsessing over a debate with NPCs for weeks?
-People can have different opinions, but it's always "I'm right, and you're wrong."
-Anyway, my story was right, why are you so stubborn old man, damn.
Han Se-ah, who quietly approached the stone dwarves, explained about the tower.
At the explanation that there's a city of humans, a Goddess exists, and the world-invading Demon King built the tower, the atmosphere among the stone dwarves became increasingly serious.
Of course, that would be the case, as their city also came inside the Demon King's tower, which essentially meant the stone dwarves' regular customers, the interspecies alliance, were defeated by the Demon King, implying the world was destroyed.
No matter how much they tried to deny reality, the evidence pushed in front of them proved they were caught up in the Demon King's army.
They wanted to brush off Han Se-ah's words as a joke like on the first day, but in front of them was a ruin, and within that ruin were the collapsed houses of their acquaintances.
"So, huh, what now?"
"Well, anyway, there's a city of squishies outside, right?"
"If there's a city of squishies within a few days' walk, we need to meet with them. First, we have to request them to find and eliminate the cause of the destruction of this city."
Perhaps they found hope in the fact that their own city was intact and the world hadn't completely perished, but there was a new city of squishies.
In a somber mood, Old Bobo and his elderly companions began to mention some unidentified monster that might be lurking in the area.
My party and I were imagining something bigger than a wiggler, like a giant wiggler, but it was clear the stone dwarves had never seen or heard of a monster bigger than a wiggler.
Putting aside the story of the Demon King for now, they were intent on finding and exterminating the giant monster that could destroy a city.
Only after Old Bobo spoke did the quest window update, beginning to discuss the culprit behind the city's destruction.
-Stop living a real life and hang out in the community more, Se-ah.
-Ah lol, how can I live real life when the unnis and Roland are in the game?
Especially after we parted ways, the reaction of the temple knights, who were with Manaashi, was terrifying.
They conveyed the story to the higher-ups of the temple through nuns instead of knights, but it's scary how the temple knights seemed ready to rush in headfirst.
What exactly are you doing with the temple knights downstairs, Manaashi...?
Anyway, the temple, perhaps fascinated by Manaashi, appeared to be preparing for the exchange with the stone dwarves as if they were helping refugees from the Demon King, and they also confirmed their support if we wanted help hunting the monster that destroyed the city.
The Magic Tower was just as stirred up as the temple.
"Stone dwarves made entirely of stone?"
"They eat metal without a mouth? A silver coin disappeared into thin air after they chewed it?"
"A red crystal that melts rock and soil with mana but doesn't touch minerals and raw gemstones, and large insect-like monsters that are attracted to the wavelength of that mana?"
You could almost hear the mages of the Magic Tower's eyes rolling back in excitement.
Just researching one new race would provide more than enough material for a paper, not to mention their metal smelting techniques and alloy knowledge passed down through generations from another world, gem crafting, knowledge about special minerals like Vacuum Stone and Lava Stone, and stories about the subterranean insects, the natural predators of the stone dwarves.
Upon hearing that a passage allowing movement from the 41st to the 42nd floor without a gate had been created, the mages looked like drug addicts who had just had their supply cut off.
In this situation, two mages held an absolute advantage.
Antenor, who was promised minerals in exchange for teaching Han Se-ah lightning magic, and Charlotte Cavendish, who continued to support us for her own ambitions.
"Miss Cavendish, or rather, should I call you Mage Charlotte?"
"Yes, I prefer being called Charlotte of the Magic Tower over Cavendish."
"Understood, Charlotte. About the city discovered on the 41st floor."
Fortunately, the two mages had slightly different interests.
I'm not sure about the specifics, but thankfully, there were so many items to research and trade that the two mages began to collaborate and protect their rights without fighting over them.
Perhaps due to their greed for knowledge and desire for exclusivity, when Antenor, a senior mage, and Charlotte, who made many allies using Han Se-ah to her advantage, joined hands, they formed a sort of breakwater.
In short, most of the mages who would have come to bother Han Se-ah directly had disappeared.
The times when visitors would come en mass in our inn were gone, cut off by Antenor and Charlotte.
"Ugh, being a hero is such a nuisance."
"Ha-ha, the higher you climb, the more responsibilities you have."
As a hero who had explored the tower, as an adventurer who brought back information, Irene patted Han Se-ah, who was exhausted from running around so much.
There are viewers crying again for 'Mama Irene,' but we can just ignore that.
---
*[1] Google: ENFP is an acronym that stands for Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving. The ENFP personality type is one of the 16 different types...
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