1.
There were only a few ways for me to get a feel for just how powerful my equipment was.
The Origin Script and its written descriptions, the experience I had accumulated from playing all sorts of games, and the demonstrations Dolores and the others showed me.
I had thought that would be enough to understand it, but...
Apparently, the average cost for a guild or organization to raise a climber to the point where they could challenge the 150th floor came close to 17 million gold.
And that figure excluded the value of equipment that could be reused or recovered.
In other words, the pure cost of training alone, excluding equipment, was 17 million gold.
"..."
For seven people, that came to 119 million gold.
Since they were climbers the Company had painstakingly raised, they might have actually invested even more than that.
Didn’t matter, though. They had been wiped out in a single blow.
"Heh heh."
I knew it was strong, but I had no idea it was this strong.
Meanwhile, as though nothing had happened, Dolores sat back down on the beach and leisurely passed the time holding the pearl up to the sunlight.
Not a single climber approached the beach afterward.
Maybe they had all seen the pillar of fire shooting up in the distance, but nobody even came near us.
For the rest of the time, Dolores sunbathed... and I watched her.
And so, the ten-hour Great Trial came to an end.
Dolores had naturally passed.
Nice, nice. She was now a high ranker in both name and reality.
"Who said she was washed up?"
The nerve. Tsk.
And since the Great Trial was the hottest event for climbers, the community response was just as heated.
[If you think this bastard is the god of balance adjustments, upvote this LOL]
─────────────────
(Photo)
They put all the fuckers who were going to team up in there beforehand, spawned them right in front of Dolores, had her wipe them out all at once, then made the remaining seventy people duke it out in a brutal battle royale. Absolute peak entertainment, upvote LOL
─────────────────
The photo was of the Tower, taken from outside.
Roughly interpreting the post, it was saying that the Tower system had placed Dolores there as a kind of white blood cell from the very start.
It had predicted the filthy, disgusting teaming by the Company germs and planned for Dolores to stand before them and exterminate them.
At least, that was how I understood it.
─────────────────
Anon: This is unfair on an unprecedented level. Is climbing with gear carrying you really skill?
└ Anon1: Connections are skill when you win, but equipment is unfair when you get your ass kicked? LOL
└ Anon2: You spent all day talking yourselves up because you have money LOL. Now that you got your asses kicked, clear out already, fuck.
Anon3: Honestly it was boring as fuck, so I spent all ten hours just looking at Dolores’s face. It was healing.
└ Anon5: Facts LOL
─────────────────
Most public opinion seemed to be heavily criticizing the organization known as the Company.
And on top of that... the guild fan wars looked particularly vicious.
─────────────────
Anon6: Back when the Dawn Apostles were active, these assholes got completely crushed in both fandom and skill. Then the Apostles retired, they recruited Cordelia, and started acting like they were some prestigious powerhouse. I’ve been dumbfounded ever since.
└ Anon9: Seriously. Do they think everyone else isn’t doing it because they don’t have money? LOL
└ Mina: Facts LOL. Those fucking weaklings.
└ Anon6: ? Mina? I don’t think you logged out?
─────────────────
"Oh."
In the blink of an eye...
─────────────────
Anon6: Back when the Dawn Apostles were active, these assholes got completely crushed in both fandom and skill. Then the Apostles retired, they recruited Cordelia, and started acting like they were some prestigious powerhouse. I’ve been dumbfounded ever since.
└ Anon9: Seriously. Do they think everyone else isn’t doing it because they don’t have money? LOL
└ Mina: (This comment has been deleted.)
└ Anon6: ? Mina? I don’t think you logged out?
─────────────────
Whoops.
So Mina had failed to switch accounts.
It looked like the comment had disappeared in barely three seconds.
Anyway, perhaps because it had been a while since the Company had gotten dragged this badly, the community was buzzing with life.
I sat in the mansion’s reception room until late at night, browsing through those posts as I waited for Dolores.
Hurry back, hehehe.
Today was a celebration party.
Creak...
Creak...
Beside me, Ruby had been working out for quite a while.
I glanced over and spoke to her.
"Ruby, is school life treating you okay?"
She was so picky, and such a haughty beauty, that I worried whether she had any friends.
She ought to get herself a boyfriend too. Tsk.
For the record, after that kabuki makeup incident, she had apparently learned basic makeup from Yeomhwa, and she really had gotten much prettier.
"...Huff."
Ruby set down the barbell and straightened up.
"Yeah."
"You do have friends, right?"
"... ?"
"Nobody’s bullying you, are they? Want me to teach them a lesson?"
Ruby tilted her head, then...
"I’m the first-year president."
"...What?"
What the fuck?
How was she already the president when she only attended school half the week?
"I challenged the previous president and won, so I’m the president now."
"..."
What kind of rule was that...?
But she looked utterly serious, and on top of that...
Jingle.
She proudly showed off something pinned to her chest that appeared to be a president’s badge.
I figured her relationships with her classmates were going more smoothly than I had thought.
Looks like you’re doing well. You’re better than me, Ruby.
[T_T]
Don’t cry.
I grinned teasingly and moved to within about ten meters of her.
For the record, if you stepped any closer to Ruby while she was working out, you might get hit.
I had never been hit, but I might get hit.
She was already looking at me warily... probably because she was afraid I would smell. Still, she wasn’t telling me to leave altogether.
"Are there any decent male students?"
Ruby’s eyes instantly sharpened.
W-What was that?
Ruby, I’m ten meters away!!!!
"No."
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she was about to beat me up.
"Not even one?"
"Yeah. They’re boring... ah, uh. They suck."
Wait, that bad?
And "they suck" was something I said all the time... Seriously, I couldn’t say anything around kids.
"You shouldn’t use words like that."
"But they always come up and talk to me. Even when I tell them to fuck off, they don’t listen to... they won’t listen."
Ruby belatedly corrected herself and scrubbed her face hard with a towel.
"Anyway, there aren’t any."
The storm and stress of adolescence.
It was a blessing when middle-school syndrome hit during middle school, so I prayed that Ruby’s phase would pass quickly.
"But..."
Although her break had ended, Ruby didn’t resume exercising.
This was a genuine incident.
She fidgeted with her towel and watched me cautiously...
"?"
When our eyes met, she quickly lowered her head.
It seemed like she had something to say.
Ruby eventually raised her slightly flushed face.
"Lionel."
"Yeah."
"Can you come?"
"Of course."
I immediately started walking toward Ruby, but...
"D-Don’t come!"
"Yes, ma’am."
Ah, adolescence really was legendary.
Was I like this too?
Ruby covered her mouth with the towel and stared at me for a long while.
"...Not to me right now."
"Huh?"
"Final exams are coming up soon... and spectators are allowed at the finals."
Her cheeks, visible above the towel, had turned red.
"I mean, could you come watch then...?"
"Haha."
I snickered and waved a hand.
"Your big brother is a total unemployed bum."
I would definitely go.
I gave her a thumbs-up and confidently promised her.
"When is it?"
"Two weeks from now."
"Okey-dokey."
What did you think the advantage of freelancing was?
I could leave that day open and work on another day instead.
If it was still two weeks away, then no problem.
"And..."
As if she still had something else to say, Ruby fidgeted with the edge of her towel.
"Yeah."
"After that’s over..."
"Mm-hm."
I waited for around a minute like that, but...
I needed to be patient.
Our cute Ruby was going through adolescence, after all.
"Park-cherry-blossoms-cotton-candy."
"..."
...So that was a question, right?
Ruby waited for my answer as though she had said everything she wanted to say.
Since I more or less understood what she meant...
"Yeah, let’s do that."
I nodded.
We could bring Dolores along too.
Then, at that moment...
Bang!
"Dolores!"
Yeomhwa rushed in, pale as a sheet.
"You startled me."
Yeomhwa turned her head and looked around inside...
When her eyes landed on me, her expression eased slightly, but...
"Hi, sweetheart. Where’s Dolores...?"
"She hasn’t come back yet."
"Okay, thank you..."
I hadn’t known Yeomhwa for all that long...
But this was the first time I had ever seen her looking that terrible.
Yeomhwa left, but after exchanging a look with Ruby, I followed her out.
Ruby seemed to have sensed that something was wrong too.
Yeomhwa hadn’t gone far. She was sitting heavily at the mansion entrance.
She hadn’t even shut the door, so her back was fully visible.
I couldn’t even imagine how troubled she must have been.
"Yeomhwa, is something..."
Just as I was about to approach her...
[Stop, big brother...]
Yuna stopped me.
I quickly pressed myself beside a pillar, trying to figure out what was happening.
Why? Did something happen?
I asked quietly.
Instead of an answer, something scrolled across before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Imperial Communications]
[Cordelia Rosenfeld fails to conquer the 200th floor... Returns unconscious]
[Climbing Today]
[Ranked No. 1 Cordelia in critical condition... Rushed to emergency treatment immediately after returning]
[Inner Tower Daily]
[What happened on the 200th floor...? Cordelia’s medical team: "At present, survival cannot be guaranteed"... All efforts focused on sustaining her life]
[Daily Company]
[Cordelia Rosenfeld returns after abandoning the 200th-floor conquest... Company states, "Treatment is precautionary; reports of her critical condition are exaggerated"]
─────────────────
"..."
I wasn’t the type to read the news often, but...
Even I could recognize how conflicting it felt... how strange it was.
Three articles strongly insisting that Cordelia was on the verge of death.
And one article claiming that Cordelia had safely returned during her climb.
Once I saw the name of the outlet that had published the last article...
Well, unless you were an idiot, you could tell that Cordelia was in danger.
It wasn’t as though the other news outlets had investigated it by playing slap-card games.
"Cordelia..."
I had never even met her.
I had never seen her face either. People kept saying, "former Dawn Apostle" this and that, but I had never cared in the first place.
Still, just seeing Yeomhwa return so pale...
It was clear that Cordelia was someone they liked and had been close to.
Honestly, to me, this was news that a stranger had failed to conquer the 200th floor.
It was unfortunate, but I couldn’t take it the way Yeomhwa did... could I?
"Today’s celebration party..."
I had a feeling it would be difficult now.
Dolores probably wouldn’t feel like being celebrated once she heard the news either.
And, as expected, the community posts were flooding in.
[The Company is finished LOL]
["Returned safely" = At least she isn’t a corpse yet LOL]
[No, please save Cordelia...]
I didn’t think I needed to look any further.
I stood and headed toward Yeomhwa.
Her back kept lingering in my mind. Again and again.
"Are you all right?"
Yeomhwa raised her head.
"Huh? Ah, sweetheart..."
The corners of her mouth rose briefly, then fell again.
"I startled you by shouting out of nowhere, didn’t I? I’m sorry."
"It’s okay."
I crouched down beside her.
As I wondered for a moment what I should say...
Squeeze.
Yeomhwa took my hand first.
"Will you stay with me for a little while?"
"Yes."
I had intended to stay even without her asking.
So I settled down and sat beside her.
Yeomhwa stroked the back of my hand a few times as though grateful, then looked outside the door.
Tap, tap, tap.
Dolores was running toward us, her face grim.
Then...
[Big brother, but what if...]
No.
Realizing what Yuna was about to ask, I gave a small shake of my head.
I knew what she meant.
Are you thinking of making something for her?
But before making equipment for someone, I confirmed who they were first.
That had been a principle I set from the beginning.
I would never place equipment made with my care and effort into the hands of a hostile force.
I understood that she was a former comrade, but Cordelia was currently affiliated with the Company.
And after seeing the power Dolores had demonstrated with my equipment today...
I needed to get my head on straight and be even more wary of the danger and potential I possessed.
If I provided equipment, and its blade turned back toward us...
Wouldn’t I be the biggest fucking idiot in the world? By then, it would already be too late.
Besides, the Company was also the kind of place that manipulated probabilities and deceived people through the Dwarf Company.
I had no intention of adding equipment I made to a place like that.
"...Never."
That was why I would make and provide them with nothing.
NOT FOR SALE to you people.
That was my conclusion.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register