386 - Nobles of the Tower 1

386 - Nobles of the Tower 1

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/Week Mon-fri

Illustrations: Posted in discord.

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The gimmick on the 51st floor was a type of offense. A time attack offense, to be precise. If you failed the time attack, a random NPC would vanish into the tower's darkness - an incredibly vicious penalty.

The Empire's appearance didn't just abnormally increase the number of ordinary peasants. Peasants, hunters, adventurers, mercenaries, soldiers, knights, and nobles all increased about fivefold across the board. This wasn't a modern society where the entire population was tracked and counted, so it could be even more, but certainly no less.

Well, they were advancing through that vast landmass, breaking through monster waves, so the numbers had to be staggering.

And now all those countless mercenaries, adventurers, and soldiers had entered the tower, causing problems.

"We should check other safe zones too."

"Shouldn't we talk to the Magic Tower first?"

"Surely it won't trigger randomly just from people entering?"

With numbers increased at least fivefold from before Season 2 started, plus all sorts of adventurers and mercenaries specially hired by the kingdom and empire's upper echelons due to anxiety.

They'd long since departed for unknown spaces, and most adventurers tended to pack plenty of food for long-term exploration at times like this.

Even I only rested about once every two months when exploring the swamp with the Rebecca Mercenaries.

Even if we told returning adventurers resupplying food about the fake safe zones, it would take at least one to two months. This wasn't a world where you could just send a quick message on KakaoTalk or something.

"...So then, I can't do anything but pray? I have to beg 'please, please' hoping important NPCs for scenario progression don't get taken away?"

-What the fuck, how can there be a gimmick like this lololololololol

-What if by sheer luck the Empire's Emperor or the Kingdom's King gets yeeted into the tower? Does it move on to the 'continent is fucked' episode?

-Shouldn't we try resetting for real? If important figures get taken, we should reset and change it, right?

-Is this really a gimmick? It just seems to annoy like crazy

-But since it's spatial movement, won't the Magic Tower mages research and come up with something?

"No, what is this, no way..."

Ridiculously, there was nothing we could do. We could urgently gather mages and ask them to research the safe zones, but even that wouldn't yield immediate results.

As Han Se-ah's dumbfounded expression showed, all we could do was pray that important NPCs wouldn't disappear. Our last hope was believing BB Games was a game company with common sense and decency.

For example, NPCs crucial to the story wouldn't be taken, and only average mid to low-ranking troops or civilians would be dragged in to become shackles for the players. It was a cruel story in a way, but wasn't it more beneficial continentally and for gamers if some poor farmer died rather than a military commander dying and the Empire getting breached by monster waves?

"So this is how it flows. Should I have bought some land somewhere?"

-I didn't expect that serious atmosphere to suddenly flow into a real estate speculation competition

-The mansion land prices on the 50th floor Harpy Archipelago must have skyrocketed lolololololol This is fucking ridiculous

-So if you have money and ability, you evacuate to the tower? Well, if you don't want to die, that's what you gotta do

-Even if some people can't escape, it seems everyone avoids it if possible?

-If there's a drink with a 0.01% chance of killing you when you drink it, of course you shouldn't drink it lol

Who would consume it just because the probability is low?

Naturally, the nobles of the adventurer city were the first to start. Those who held only noble titles and rights to the city without territories to rule.

With just one gate, they could go back and forth to their mansions in 5 minutes, so evacuating to the tower interior was a very easy thing.

Next were the wealthy merchants passing through the adventurer city, then the nobles of nearby territories...

The high and mighty concerned for their safety flocked to the tower en masse. It wasn't like Lukius spread the story, I guess everyone thought similarly.

The idea that you weren't safe even in the northern Empire if you were outside the tower, so you might as well be in a safe zone inside the tower, occurred to everyone.

"The space untouched by the Goddess's will has become a space blocking the Demon King's malice. Seeing it like this, it feels nostalgic, like our efforts have borne fruit."

"You could think of it that way. Still, not everyone can flee to the tower, so we need to resolve the tower's anomaly as soon as possible."

From what I heard at the Adventurers Guild, tent villages for merchants had sprung up on the plains. Mages who didn't want their research disturbed had poured into the forest, high-ranking temple officials trying to visit the tower directly and start pilgrimages in this opportunity had visited the swamp clearings, and wealthy nobles had purchased mansions in the stone dwarves' underground cities and harpy nations.

As Irene said, the areas conquered by Han Se-ah as the player hero had become spaces safer for people than the outside. In adventurer terms, they'd become real safe zones.

Meanwhile, not everyone was sitting idle. We couldn't do anything about the adventurers and mercenaries who had already left for far-off places in the plains, but the information Lukius discovered spread to those who departed later or returned with good timing.

"The ratio of fake safe zones is higher than expected... should I say? 5 out of 12 is almost 40%. It's nearly half that are fake, they really made it viciously."

-But I still don't get why they made kidnapping a gimmick

-It's just to shackle the players, what else. If you carelessly choose a safe zone, you get a burden to protect

-By the way, won't gates between the Kingdom and Empire open when that's resolved?

-I don't know about anything else, but Empire travel will be convenient, gotta make some progress so things happen

-Tower travel without breaking through will be convenient for sure, Kingdom tours alone take years

That's why we also headed to the plains of the 52nd floor after minimal preparations at the mansion on the 50th floor. The nobles, royalty, and temples would have to deal with adventurers who might trigger fake safe zones without knowing.