Chapter 34

Chapter 34. Tower - Convoy Escort (3)

“...Wow.”

Even William, while firing Magic Arrows, could not keep his mouth shut at Le Thi Hoa’s combat.

I could roughly guess what impression he had, but he seemed careful in case he offended Le Thi Hoa.

However, rather than being afraid of Le Thi Hoa, it looked more like he was being careful because he did not want to hurt her feelings.

Historically, Britain had an image of thugs wearing the mask of gentlemen, but maybe real British gentlemen were different.

However, Le Thi Hoa also seemed to know how her combat method looked, because she gave a small cough.

“Forced possession is only possible when the target’s intelligence is far lower than mine. It is difficult unless it is something like a Goblin or a beast. And this is a method I only use when they are far away. When enemies are close, I fight differently.”

“No one said anything, Miss Le Thi Hoa.”

When the possessed Goblin that had caused internal strife was about to die, the soul Le Thi Hoa was controlling transferred to the last Goblin it had touched.

Then the last of the five remaining Goblins picked up the totem and smashed its own head with a stone axe.

The possessed spirit, having returned to the totem’s body, came back to Le Thi Hoa’s side.

“Can’t you just use them as escorts while they’re still possessed?”

At my question, Le Thi Hoa shook her head.

“If it is a simple structure like a totem, that is one thing, but in the case of living animals, it consumes a great deal of mental strength.”

Mental strength, not mana.

It seemed necromancy was an ability that used mental strength as its cost rather than mana.

Still, I thought, Wouldn’t she be powerless if there were no animals around to control? But she had said she fought differently in close combat, so she must have a separate combat method.

While the party members with ranged combat methods wiped out the Goblins, I did not particularly contribute to the battle.

I thought about using magic, but I had said I received swordsmanship as my superpower, so I hesitated for a moment because suddenly using magic felt awkward, and the battle ended in no time.

The Goblins who had ambushed us numbered only about twenty at most, so there was no way the battle could last long anyway.

“Well, this ended before I could even step in.”

“Not at all. Han Ji-woo, you also told us their exact locations with your detection ability, did you not?”

William smiled pleasantly and made sure I would not feel embarrassed.

Of course, the Goblins’ magic stones were excluded from the distribution.

As the trade journey continued, we were ambushed by monsters such as Goblins, Gnolls, and Kobolds seven times in only three or four hours.

There were far more ambushes than expected, and the Harpies Lororen had mentioned had not even appeared, so everyone’s gazes toward him were not kind.

“Lororen, is there something you are hiding from us?”

At William’s question, Lororen smiled and said,

“Haha, hiding something? There is no such thing.”

When everyone looked at Le Thi Hoa, she narrowed her brows and focused.

“He is deceiving us about something.”

William and I slowly moved our hands to the hilts of our swords.

We did not particularly take a stance to draw them, but perhaps feeling enough pressure, Lororen broke out in a cold sweat.

After his eyes darted around busily, he swallowed dryly and said,

“I-I cannot tell you anything about the goods.”

I see. The goods are a damned problem.

I lightly climbed onto the wagon, sat beside the sweating Lororen, and put an arm around his shoulders.

“You said if this trade journey fails, you go bankrupt, right? Do you want to go bankrupt?”

At my subtle threat, he panicked.

“Did you not contract with me?”

“Contract? Do you have a written contract? You were the one who said you’d pay us when we hadn’t even brought it up. Did you think we’re helping your trade journey just to earn that pocket change? Even without that little money, we can earn the amount you promised in an hour. No, what am I saying, an hour? We could earn it in ten minutes.”

Eleven thousand Credits was a large sum, but for Climbers, it was money one could obtain through the Tower Shop by hunting five or six Horned Rabbits at most.

Credits might be precious to native residents, but to Climbers, Tower Shop Points were far more useful and valuable, so they simply did not exchange them unnecessarily. Obtaining Credits was far too easy.

“For us, if this trade journey collapses, it’s only unfortunate because we’ll have to rest for about a day.”

If one failed a quest to climb to the floor above in the Tower, one could not retry it for a certain period.

In the 10th-floor range, failure meant one day. In the 20th-floor range, three days. In the 30th-floor range, about one week. The Tower forcibly blocked retries, telling Climbers to reorganize and make up for what they lacked.

“But that’s not true for you, is it?”

“A-Are you threatening me?”

“Well, look at that. Threatening you? That’s a dangerous thing to say. I’m simply telling you the facts as they are. I’ll guarantee your safety, even if I have to do it alone. Even if I die, you’ll be able to safely arrive at the village where we ‘departed.’”

At my words, Lororen’s complexion turned pale.

“Humanly speaking, shouldn’t we know what kind of danger there is too? Only then can we prepare. Right?”

We needed to know what kind of danger would come so we could at least buy potions from the Tower Shop.

“Should a merchant really make so many enemies?”

Mutual crimes between Climbers and native residents were prohibited only on common floors.

Of course, even without doing anything illegal, there were countless ways to ruin him legally.

Failing a quest does not mean we’re immediately forcibly expelled back to the 10th floor, you know.

At my subtle threat, Lororen confessed the truth.

The goods Lororen was delivering were a kind of monster-use spiritual medicine that accelerated monster growth.

The delivery destination was a research institute under a magic school affiliated with the Mage Tower in York, which studied monsters. If even the scent leaked out, it was a dangerous item that could cause monsters enchanted by the spiritual medicine to swarm in and trigger a monster wave.

Originally, it had been properly sealed so no scent could leak out, but perhaps a tiny gap had formed during transport, because it seemed to be drawing monsters without anyone realizing it.

The mercenary company originally hired had known that fact as well, so they had deliberately taken stomachache-inducing medicine and pretended to have food poisoning, breaking the request.

After hearing the truth, we glared at him with cold eyes.

“It seems we need to discuss this for a moment. What do you all think?”

At William’s suggestion, the four of us, excluding Lororen, gathered and began a meeting.

“What do you all think?”

At William’s question, I remained silent for now.

Because this was a clone’s body, no matter how dangerous it was, I would not mind pushing ahead, but the others were different.

People normally only had one life, so I could not act selfishly.

Most importantly, if Lee Soo-young, my party member, chose to withdraw, I intended to follow her opinion.

However, unlike what I expected, Lee Soo-young spoke with serious eyes.

“I think continuing like this isn’t a bad idea.”

“Miss Lee Soo-young. If the seal comes undone during battle, it could put us in an extremely dangerous situation.”

“But at the same time, I think it could be an opportunity.”

At the word opportunity, Le Thi Hoa’s gaze and mine naturally turned toward the cargo wagon.

“Are you thinking of demanding something in exchange for not abandoning this mission?”

At Le Thi Hoa’s question, Lee Soo-young nodded.

“From what I saw, there were magic tools and potions that looked pretty good.”

Lee Soo-young looked at me as if asking for my agreement, and I nodded.

There were quite a few magic tools caught by my qi sense.

They were packaged as goods, but the object Lororen would pay a penalty over was the spiritual medicine that attracted monsters, not the magic tools.

The Tower Shop also sold healing potions, but so far, it did not sell magic tools.

If one climbed higher, the Tower Shop would likely sell magic tools too, but from what I had seen on the Community, the magic tools it sold were mainly one-time-use or strongly consumable items.

Semi-permanent magic tools had to be obtained by hunting monsters or looting ruins while climbing the Tower, or by obtaining the production method and making them oneself.

Therefore, obtaining a semi-permanent magic tool on only the 14th floor was an opportunity.

Even if it became useless once we climbed past the 20th floor, the value of helping us climb at least five floors more easily was considerable.

William and Le Thi Hoa also fell silent for a moment at Lee Soo-young’s words.

“It is certainly a good opportunity, as Miss Lee Soo-young says.”

“Of course, we would have to examine whether there are magic tools suitable for us.”

The three of them already seemed to be leaning toward it.

I warned the three of them.

“What ruins a person’s life is greed. Remember that greed can cost you your life.”

At my words, William looked at me as if surprised.

“Are you opposed to continuing, Han Ji-woo?”

At his question, I smiled faintly.

“No. I just said it because I thought someone needed to sound the warning. Before making a decision, someone should give everyone a chance to think one more time.”

At my answer, William smiled as if pleased.

“Those are good words. An opinion without checks makes one unable to look back at oneself. Still, I am glad Han Ji-woo has not chosen to give up. Honestly, four people are more reassuring than three, are they not?”

After saying that, William stepped forward first and created three kinds of mana arrows.

“Since we have become companions of shared fate, crossing danger together, I will explain my ability in more detail to ensure our safety.”

William explained before we could stop him.

The glass-like transparent arrow was the basic arrow, which consumed the least mana and had the shortest cooldown.

The red arrow was a Flame Arrow, which had the effect of burning the target it hit.

Conversely, the white arrow was an Ice Arrow, which had the effect of freezing the target it hit.

“And I was fortunate enough to obtain a detection ability from an ability stone. To be precise, it is an ability called Hostile Intent Detection, which detects hostile intent.”

Since he introduced not only the ability he had received when entering the Tower, but also an ability he had obtained through an ability stone, an atmosphere formed where everyone introduced their abilities.

After William, it was Lee Soo-young’s turn.

Lee Soo-young did not have much she had hidden.

The only thing she revealed was that she had Bitpung in addition to Mulpung.

Since I could not reveal “Multidimensional Avatar,” I revealed that I had learned swordsmanship, footwork, and barehanded fighting, and that I had learned simple magic at the 10th-floor Mage Tower branch.

Spirit Arts was still only Level 1, and there was no way to use it in combat, so I did not mention it.

“Ah, still, today is only my third day since entering the Tower, so I would rather you not expect much from my magic.”

After hearing me, William and Le Thi Hoa were surprised that there was a Mage Tower branch on the 10th floor as well.

“Magic. As someone with an ability that handles Magic Arrows, I would have asked you to guide me if we were in the same city. What a pity.”

Even if we had been in the same city, I would have opposed going there.

Avoiding madmen is the best policy.

“By the way, do you not have a detection ability like mine?”

“No. After learning martial arts, my senses developed, so I can tell enemies’ locations and numbers through breathing sounds and faint noises. I do not have a special detection ability.”

“Oh! The mysteries of martial arts!”

This man is steeped in Orientalism.

What era is this for him to say martial arts like that, a hundred years ago?

And I learned martial arts after entering the Tower.

When Le Thi Hoa’s turn came, she controlled her totems.

“If the totems are near me, they can use something like beams by consuming my mana. And if I summon a soul into myself instead of a totem, I can enhance myself.”

Le Thi Hoa’s other abilities felt somewhat plain because the sight of her taking over a Goblin’s body had been so shocking.

William stood and said,

“I will handle the negotiations with that merchant. I am quite confident when it comes to negotiating. Ah, of course, since Han Ji-woo already frightened him beforehand, there does not seem to be much for me to do.”

William gave a gentle smile.