17 – Episode 17. Return to hell_(2)
“Oh, Dana must be very sad that you still want to enter the tower after I told you so.”
Was it dried? Wasn’t it encouraged?
The store owner was a very strange woman.
I was laughing since earlier about how interesting this dry conversation was.
Do you like it?
And now I’m attaching it to Dana.
“Why is he sad? How long has it been since you met me?”
“I haven’t lied to you yet? If she dies, Dana will be sad. Sincerely.”
“Why?”
“Dana was sad every time not only you, but everyone who stopped by this town died. So if you’re going to die, die quietly, don’t let gossip gossip in the village.”
“I won’t die. I will definitely be back in town until I get the artifact.”
“Yeah, that’s it. I’d be very happy if you said that to Dana. Please tell me one more time before you leave. I will come back someday.”
Looking at it now, he’s also very far-fetched.
I know that you mean it. As I peeped into Dana’s memories, I saw firsthand how she guarded her tavern.
The kindness that I could never understand by my standards, and the persistent act of knowing.
I know that everyone is sincere from the heart. Although nonsense.
That’s why I hate her co-op, so you know that words like her betrayal and loss don’t go well with her.
But I am me and he is him.
If you keep hanging out with this woman, it will stop her, so she should hurry up and get out of her store.
I mumbled the answer and asked the next question.
I really need to ask this.
It didn’t appear in the game.
“As for what you said earlier, Dana got money from you to run errands. How did you do that?”
“Oh, the contract?”
“A contract?”
Then the woman pulled out something from under the bar and held it out to me.
A cylindrical shape slightly larger than the palm of your hand…
Scroll?
When the shopkeeper undid the string, the scroll became parchment the length of two A4 sheets glued together.
“This is the contract. In the tower, there are many things to share besides goods, so we write down the conditions here and sign a contract. You can also form a party with this, and later join a guild.”
“Does this apply to item transport or cards?”
“It depends on the case. Find out the details yourself, and all I can tell you is… That’s all.”
Instead of explaining in words, the woman pulled out a small chalkboard from the shelf behind her back.
Then he began to write letters with a stone pen.
1. Terms written in the contract may deviate from the law of equivalent exchange.
2. Contracts can be written between people, but parties and guilds are also included.
3. The contract applies at all times, regardless of distance or location between objects.
4. If you write a condition that the tower does not allow, the contract will be destroyed.
5. Penalties for breach of contract may or may not be small.
6. The condition to end the contract is death.
It was information about the contract, but I didn’t have to read it multiple times.
Because it’s too general.
I understand that you can write down wages and work just like a labor contract.
There are no details, and conditions that the tower doesn’t allow, this is too rough.
“What are the conditions that the tower does not allow?”
“Most of them are destroyed when the terms of the contract extend beyond the party.”
“You have to do it to know.”
“Yes. Still, if the conditions are equal, it works in most cases, so if you don’t want to die, you should actively use it, right? The easiest way to survive in the tower is to cooperate.”
“Are you serious?”
“Why? Do you have any bad thoughts?”
To be honest, I think of a lot more bad uses than good uses.
It’s not that I hate contracts just because I’m a solo player.
It’s just that I can feel TOE’s malice in every single rule the woman wrote down.
If only equivalent exchange existed in this world, everyone would be guaranteed their rights.
If you come up with a way to avoid that and put death as a condition of breaking the contract, this is embarrassing for anyone to see.
In my mind right now, rather than a party climbing the tower in good spirits, I think of the weak being caught by the strong and being forced into unfair contracts.
The target could be me.
Maybe that grandfather or someone else too.
“I have to be careful. Thank you for the information.”
“Careful? Well, as someone who has lived here a long time, my advice would be to use it rather than be careful. Because even if you don’t use the contract, someone else will. Did I tell you before? Only one person can reach the top.”
Are you kind or teasing?
That’s why contracts are bad.
Women say that cooperation is necessary because they cannot avoid competing with other teams, but
I felt the tower’s malice even more in that part.
Suppose I make a contract with someone and climb the tower.
Then who is going to the top on the last floor?
It’s not enough to make them fight each other by limiting the number of climbers, so it’s very TOE-like to urge betrayal in the name of cooperation.
“Would you like a copy? This is fixed at 100 gold.”
“No. I don’t need a contract, are you thinking of selling the equipment?”
“You can sell it, but if you buy the gear now, I’ll cancel the bet. Will you still live?”
“I knew it. I’ll save more money next time and take it as an artifact.”
“That’s it! Try hard. I will be cheering for you too. This is really sincere.”
So you’re saying the other thing is a lie? A strange person to the end.
I walked out of the store last time asking that question.
I couldn’t buy the materials because they were expensive, and I couldn’t buy the equipment because I was blocked from betting.
I didn’t get a single item, but there was still a harvest.
Because I found out that there is a way to avoid equivalent exchange through contracts.
Of course, I don’t think I’ll be writing anything, and I’ll have to be careful for the time being.
Because being captured and enslaved by someone is worse than death.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being careful if you’re going to do something like that to someone on the first floor.
Now that you’ve got the info, now…
Finally!
It’s time to enter the tower.
As I passed through the north entrance of the town square, I saw a familiar scene.
A stone wall standing out of place in the middle of a forest, and a steel door pierced through the stone wall.
It is a door that I have seen on the TOE screen as well as in Dana’s memories.
I see people preparing for an adventure in front of the door.
Most of the faces have despair, but I’m more on the side of hope.
The first goal of this expedition is to secure enough food to treat the returning soldiers when they return.
The second goal is to get ingredients for the chicken soup for the event.
Of course, to do that, the first step is to basically learn the battles of this world.
Dealing with monsters is natural, and maybe even people.
If there’s one more thing you want, it’s that you don’t want to commit murder on this expedition?
I’ll have to do it someday, but…
Anyway, it’s burdensome.
There are two entrances to the tower in this village.
One is the front door in front of me right now, and the other is the secret door I entered.
Where shall we go this time?
Well, I guess…
That would be nice.
**
『Tower 1st Floor Cronus Labyrinth – Corridor of Death Route』
Most of the labyrinths of Cronus consisted of small rooms.
A room with a monster or treasure chest, and a corridor connecting the rooms. Traps.
However, the scenery here was quite different.
Walls and ceilings stretched endlessly into darkness, and the space was so vast that a chill raged through it.
A beast’s cry is heard in the darkness.
The corpses of ghouls are rolling around on the floor, and the stairs with wide open black mouths greet climbers on the walls as if they were the entrance to hell.
Experienced climbers called it the Slaughterhouse.
It was a nickname that came about because of the countless trials and tribulations that had to be overcome to reach this place, as well as the horrific stories of people who descended the stairs.
So no sane climber would ever come here.
Today, two torches flickered here.
A man who had just arrived tapped the wall with his finger, and soon another man appeared from under the stairs.
The man who arrived first had short hair, short stature, and a mean look with slanted eyes.
The man who climbed the stairs was literally a giant.
2 Meters tall, thick torso, large sword attached to the waist. Eyes as strong as blazing fire.
Finally, the yellowed dog tag hung around his neck.
The slit-eyed man lowered his head to the tall man and said.
“Brother Grow, how is the situation? Are you making any progress?”
“I don’t think there’s much left. The old lady I caught this time is quite competent… I might reach the end of the corridor in two days.”
“That’s good news. If you just get that card at the end of the corridor… The 5th floor won’t be a problem anymore, right?”
“You don’t know the tower even after being beaten like that. No matter how much you prepare, it’s not enough.”
Grow and Flick.
The two once partyed and climbed the tower, but despite their good jobs and physical condition, they hit the limit on the 4th floor.
[The tower cannot be overcome with skill alone.]
Having learned such a valuable lesson, they willingly endured the curse and reversed the Tower.
Then the target was changed.
It’s the climbers who attack, not the towers.
Hiding in the dark, hunting climbers, getting information. Use it
In the meantime, I ended up getting a lot of information from a climber I recently caught.
『4, Corridor of Death… I heard there is a unique grade card there… Please save your life…』
The Corridor of Death that I found was a terrible place, but it didn’t matter.
Because there is no need to attack directly.
A few humans enter the tower every week, and to Grow and Flick, they are expendable.
They considered humans to be more valuable than cards and artifacts.
Cards are cards. The more capable people there are, the better.
From noble mtl dot com
Flick said, nodding at Growe’s words.
“That’s right, no matter how much preparation you do, it’s not enough. So, brother. I saw something funny in town…”
Flick told Grow what he saw in the village.
A man in pajamas entered the tavern and said he made food and sold it to people.
“I paid 70 gold by myself, so I think I earned at least 500 gold. And the food tastes… No kidding, it’s way better than the original world.”
Hearing that, Grow immediately remembered a face.
The uncooperative dark-haired human we met at the starting point.
A man who never came out no matter how long he waited at the entrance and disappeared even at the starting point.
The face that had been stuck in Grow’s head for two days appeared with better information.
How did you disappear from the starting point, why did you reject my offer, and what was the food?
There were many things I wanted to ask him.
Even if it’s not news now, he was a human to be caught someday.
To go higher in the tower, you need more people, cards, and information.
“I will hunt him. As soon as the corridor ends, we will move towards the entrance.”
“If hyung-nim does it, it’s comfortable for me. Then I will try to penetrate the eastern route with this year.”
“Where did you pick that up again?”
“I was walking alone on the street today, so I picked it up. Even if it looks corrupt, it will be a meat shield.”
As Grow lowered the torch, a fainted girl lay at Flick’s feet.
Pink hair, subtly pointed ears, and a large bag.
And even though he is short, he is too short.
Grow was used to everything about her.
And she thought.
‘I can figure out how I got out of the starting point… Right now.’