＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (2) ＞
“Oh my god···. That ability was hidden in the ordeal.”
“What, didn’t even the village chief’s grandfather know?”
“Didn’t I live my entire life on the 25th floor? There were really occasional challengers who conquered the upper floors and came back, but they . . . usually kept quiet about the upper floors.”
Tricia and Marco were sitting together in the chief’s study and talking. Andrea was absent, taking medication and recuperating in her bedroom.
Marco, who had been listening silently, looked at the village chief.
“I heard that you need to get a certain artifact to reverse the dungeon. Do you know how to get that artifact?”
The village chief shook his head horizontally.
“I was curious, so I asked the returning contestants, but I couldn’t get an answer. Those people… In fact, they don’t even talk to us well. They think of us as losers who can’t go any further on the 25th floor.”
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy. The village chief looked at Marco’s eyes and continued.
“Your first impression of the town was not good, right? Isn’t it?”
“Hmm… Well… It seems to be a bit like that.”
Perhaps it was embarrassing to curse openly, Marco stuttered his reply. The village chief smiled as if he understood.
“I am really sorry for the challengers, but I hope you understand. In fact, it hasn’t been that long since the villagers became so lively.”
The village chief continued to explain the history of the village at length.
Some of the challengers who were tired of climbing the dungeon settled down here and named it ‘Adsel’. Originally, they planned to climb the dungeon again someday, but they chose to live a comfortable life and eventually settle down. It was only when their offspring were born that the problem arose.
“The descendants of the challengers were not ‘challengers’. They didn’t have a deck, Arpan’s blessing, or a chance to challenge the dungeon. From the time I was born, I was destined to live on the 25th floor for the rest of my life.”
Ironically, what made their situation even more horrific was the environment in the dungeon, where there was no need to sleep or eat. With endless hours and no reason to work, many people suffered from extreme depression.
“I was born in this town. Everyone here is like my family. It was hard for me to just watch people get depressed. So I called Arpan to this floor and had a discussion.”
“You said you summoned Arpan?”
Marco asked with an expression of disbelief. Trisha had heard it before, but it was hard to believe.
“of course. Isn’t he the guide of the dungeon? You can go anywhere you want, not just the waiting room.”
“That’s true… but how?”
The village chief ignored Marco’s question and continued with what he was saying.
“I begged Arpan to give the villagers a chance to become challengers. Of course, Arpan ignored it at first, but eventually accepted my persistent request. He made a pact that once every three years, the winner of the ‘Duel Tournament’ would become a challenger.”
“I know the villagers are talking about it, but what the hell is that ‘duel’?”
“’Duel’ is a kind of mock battle using the cards of the dungeon I devised. If you are not a challenger, there is no ‘deck’, so even if you have a card, you cannot use it. However, it is not impossible to own a card. So by purchasing a card and competing through it…”
“…Easily put, it’s a card game using dungeon cards, right?”
The village chief looked in the direction the voice came from. Before I knew it, Andrea opened the door and entered the study.
Andrea pulled a chair and sat in front of the village chief. The village chief nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. People who were soaked in depression changed when they had a goal. I started working to earn gold to buy cards. Farming, brewing beer, and building an inn to serve the challengers who stop by here… The town quickly came alive.”
“Thanks to that, I had the minor side effect of trying to solve everything with ‘duels’. right?”
“Yes, it is as you said. Still, that’s not much of a problem. As the village chief, what worries me the most is that there are challengers who sometimes covet the cards of the residents.”
It seemed that the real business was about to begin. Andrea listened to the village chief.
“Obviously, residents can’t actually use their cards. So, if the challenger puts the force first, the villagers were bound to get their cards taken helplessly. Even if it wasn’t a card, there were some people who used force from time to time.”
“So you want to hire us, the same challengers, as policing officers?”
“Excuse me, but could you tell me what your name is?”
“Andrea.”
“Heh heh, Andrea-sama is really quick-witted. you’re right. You seem to hate lengthy stories, so I’ll be honest. Keep our town safe. As a reward, I will give you 3,000 gold per person per month.”
“no.”
It was a clean refusal that left no room for negotiation. The village chief asked in confusion.
“Yes?”
“To put money that costs only 100 gold a day to someone’s nose… We’re just going to relax a bit in the village before we go. If it’s something that can be done in a short amount of time, I don’t know.”
Andrea watched the village chief’s eyes and quietly threw the bait. The village headman’s eyes lit up for a moment. However, he did not immediately hand over another offer as Andrea had intended.
“Don’t do that, think about it again…”
“Oh, I have no intention of doing that. The medicine was well written. Trisha, Marco, I’m done with my business, so let’s go.”
Considering the circumstances of this village anyway, the village chief would have no choice but to propose a ‘disgusting job’ to Andrea and the others. Andrea hadn’t shown any signs of apologizing for being indebted to her until then.
Without slowing down, he left the study at once. Marco hesitantly noticed and followed Andrea.
Trisha told the village chief before leaving.
“The village chief understands. I also met that friend not too long ago, but his original personality was a bit like that.”
“Heh heh, it’s okay. I’ve seen so many strange challengers… that’s kind of gentlemanly.”
It was quite an embarrassing situation for Trisha, who had been indebted to the village chief before. Tricia nodded slightly to the chief and left the study.
As soon as she left the study, Tricia ran to Andrea and whispered to her.
‘What’s wrong, but the village chief’s grandfather gave me free recovery medicine and made me rest well, so why are you being so mean?’
Andrea let out a low sigh and turned around.
‘Tricia, did you stay at the village chief’s house the last time you came to Adsel?’
‘Yeah, I didn’t have enough gold to buy a card… Still, I didn’t work for the village chief’s grandfather. But why?’
‘Let’s go out and talk. There are many eyes to see.’
A group of sturdy young men were sitting in the living room of the village chief’s house. Some seemed to be challengers, judging from their exotic equipment and clothing.
The eyes that contain a sense of goodwill or a boundary.
Tricia stared at them, then followed Andrea.
*
“You’re buying this beer, of course, right?”
“What are you talking about? I thought you were living there?”
“Damn, then how about a duel?”
“I was waiting for that!”
Tricia rested her chin on her face, looking at the men sitting next to her. It was a landscape I hadn’t gotten used to seeing.
Marco decided to come back after resting upstairs, so only Trisha and Andrea were seated at the table. Since the body would be fine, it must have been mental fatigue.
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Not befitting the times, there was even a menu board in the restaurant at the inn. Andrea was sweating as she stared at the prices written next to the menu.
Trisha turns her head and looks at Andrea strangely.
“What, why did you choose for so long?”
“Ah…that’s it…”
Andrea was feeling a great aversion to the act of using gold right now. To him, the price written next to the food felt like the weight of a piece of flesh to be removed from his body.
In a dungeon, you don’t get hungry, so actually buying food is a luxury. However, people in the outside world are willing to invest money in things like cigarettes and alcohol that they don’t have to buy. Eating food in an impoverished dungeon environment is of great help to mental health.
In Andrea’s case, it was adversely affecting her mental health.
“I… have… dry rye bread… vegetable soup.”
“What, can I just have it? I’m going to shoot, so choose a hearty dinner.”
“Oh, then duck confit, thigh steak, deep-fried freshwater crab, lettuce salad and dark beer.”
Trisha was taken aback by the sudden change of attitude.
“…Chief, if you do that, you’ll run out of money.”
Trisha, who had been robbed of all her money by Arpan, only had about 300 gold. Inevitably, Andrea only ordered duck confit.
‘At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before I’m treated like a madman.’
Andrea was deeply conflicted inside. No matter how much I thought about it, it was unreasonable for me to hide my miserly quirks and continue my journey.
In the end, I decided to confide in Trisha.
“It’s not because I have no money. Wait, look at this.”
Andrea handed the status card to Trisha.
[Name: Andrea]
[Class: Shadow Follower]
[Level: 36]
[Max Mana: 2]
[Muscle Strength: 34]
[mana: 40]
[Resistance: 36 + 1]
[Luck: 40]
[eccentric: miserly]
“What… didn’t you say you didn’t have a class?”
“It definitely wasn’t there until we passed the 33rd floor. That… it came into being like a quirk as soon as I told you about my story.”
Trisha opened her eyes wide in disbelief and looked at her status card.
“You have a blessing and a quirk? Isn’t this only available in temples?”
“I think ‘he’ was playing a trick on me. The card full of question marks actually comes from accepting the gift of ‘him’.”
Andrea deliberately avoided the word shadow god. People have a preconceived notion that Khalicis’ followers are usually thieves, assassins, or swindlers. Even if it was a village inside a dungeon, it wasn’t much different.
Trisha returned the status card to Andrea.
“He is truly an unknown god. But it’s a miserly quirk… isn’t this a very troublesome quirk?”
Andrea nodded grimly. It’s a quirk that doesn’t matter much when it comes to combat, but in a situation where you have to spend money, there was no other quirk that was as difficult as this.
In the game, the miser’s quirk was applied in such a way that whenever money was spent, the character’s stamina was reduced or the character could not use the store at all. Having experienced the eccentricity firsthand, Andrea thought it was well worth it.
“I’ll have to gradually find a way to get rid of it. Because ‘he’ won’t give you a problem that can’t be solved.”
The words were slick, but it was Andrea who had a harder time understanding the situation. Trisha really believed that Andrea had received a revelation from the Shadow God, but Andrea knew it was a lie.
In any case, after further discussion, it was a problem that could not come up with a proper solution right away. Trisha nodded once and changed the topic of conversation.
“Yes, assuming that it happened because ‘that person’ was paying special attention to you… Why are you being so harsh with the village chief? Among the information ‘that person’ gave you, was there anything about the village chief’s grandfather?”
It wasn’t just that. Andrea thought she should tell Tricia the truth about the town.
Andrea glanced around before speaking. When the men who were dueling to pay for beer left, no one was left at the inn.
“Tricia, would you like to follow me for a second?”
Andrea went to the side of the kitchen with Trisha. There was a commotion coming from the kitchen.
“Peek in for a moment so you don’t get caught.”
In the kitchen was the innkeeper and a swarthy boy. It was the boy who waited at the entrance of the village and informed the people that Andrea and his party had arrived.
Up close, the boy’s arms and legs were stained with scars and bruises, and few healthy parts were visible. The innkeeper was threatening and beating the boy.
Trisha wrinkled her brow.
“What is this, b*tch?”
“Do you know why that boy guarded the village like a watchdog and ended up being beaten by the innkeeper?”
Trisha shakes her head. Andrea gave the answer with a heavy heart.
“That boy did poorly in the ‘Duel Tournament’. The real purpose of the ‘Duel Tournament’ is not to turn the winner into a challenger. They take over this village by threatening to enslave the losers.”
＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (2) ＞ End