417 - Grassland Occupation War 2
TL/Editor: raei
Status: 5/Week Mon-fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The life of an adventurer and mercenary is one of becoming accustomed to saying goodbye. Half of the senior adventurers who trained me are dead, and the other half retired. That says it all. Even though temple priests can use healing sacred laws, the harsh medieval environment makes it difficult to transport patients to the temple in the first place.
And high-rank monsters, like ogres that occasionally pop up in the local hills, can turn people into a meat paste that even a saint's ancestors couldn't save if they all gathered together.
So what we need to do is humbly accept farewells and move forward.
"H-Humbly? It just hurts..."
"Whew, I'll give you a massage, with divine energy..."
"Ugh, I shouldn't have, gotten on this, carriage..."
No matter what I say, my companions, with their insides churning from the carriage's bumps, probably won't understand.
Grace, Irene, and Katie were making various "urk" and "eek" noises, suffering with each jolt of the carriage. Han Se-ah was guiltily averting her gaze from them, only to face a barrage of insults from viewers.
Whether it was because she was circulating divine energy instead of mana in her body, or because she could hold her liquor better, Irene was the first to recover from the hangover. She had the other two lying on her thighs, kneading their necks, but all three still looked equally pale.
"No, they looked too weak to walk, so I just suggested we ride something. Filming three suffering people at once and selling it for money? You're really cherry-picking from all these chat messages. Just say it outright. You're dead, seriously."
-Logically ???????? Since they're hungover ??????? Putting them in a carriage ???????
-As a long-time viewer of Han Se-ah's streams, knowing this isn't malicious makes it even scarier. You really have no sense...
-Wasn't the atmosphere really solemn just a moment ago? Why did the conversation turn out like this?
-So the 2★ priest and rescue team lost contact, so you tried to drink to forget, but now you're torturing your hungover companions with a full course carriage ride?
-Why not just rest and heal with divine energy before walking... Putting these hangover-stricken kids in a carriage...
The viewers' observation that when something bizarre happens to the party, it's usually Han Se-ah's doing, was spot on.
Seeing the three looking nauseous and struggling to walk, I suggested we rest for the day and leave tomorrow. But perhaps due to psychological burden and sadness, they wanted to set out slowly today. After all, even if we entered the tower, we wouldn't be fighting right away, so if we were going to rest, we might as well do it at Zedeau's mansion on the 50th floor.
But their enthusiasm took a strange turn, and the suggestion to rest at the mansion became resting at a safe zone on the 51st floor, which then became going up to the 52nd, 53rd, and even the 54th floor. Our companions were acting overly enthusiastic, as if they understood why I had made them drink that hard liquor.
The final blow came from Han Se-ah, who suggested, "In that case, why don't we just ride a merchant carriage?"
"Oh my, heroes. Are you alright? I, I should have driven a better carriage."
"It's fine. It's much better than walking."
The carriage we hitched a ride on belonged to a merchant group heading to the tent village in the 54th floor's safe zone. We weren't stuffed in the back of a cargo carriage with supplies, but riding in the carriage of the merchant group's general manager, who was excitedly fawning over us as VIP guests.
He was a shrewd man who calculated in 0.1 seconds how beneficial it would be for the merchant group to have the hero party accompany them, even if he had to suffer in the cargo carriage with the workers.
Of course, such a profit-savvy merchant wouldn't be riding around in a top-class carriage made by the Magic Tower for his personal use. It rattled on the mountain roads of Zedeau's domain and clattered on the prairie's dirt roads. The carriage swayed, exacerbating the effects of the hangover.
It wasn't a cheap carriage that would make your butt hurt, but it definitely wasn't a top-class one where people with upset stomachs wouldn't feel a thing.
"Whew... It's getting a bit better. I guess mana and divine energy are different after all."
"Mana breaks down the intoxication before you get drunk, while divine energy heals the body that's already drunk."
"Oh, there's that difference? Then priests must get drunk no matter how high their level is, right?"
"If they use the purification sacred law, they probably won't get drunk. But I doubt they'd go that far just for drinking."
"We've arrived, heroes!"
As expected of a 5★ priest, Irene seemed to have completely resolved the alcohol that would have killed a normal person in less than a quarter of the time. By the time we greeted the merchant group leader who was bowing deeply at the 54th floor's safe zone, everyone had fully recovered.
What I saw in the carriage during that time were dream-filled gifs: a swaying Katie, a frowning noona drinking alcohol, and a mama grinning broadly while stroking her companions.
I hope such pleasant gifs spread around and erase those horrible photos. They may continue to exist in someone's mind, but hopefully they'll never appear again on Han Se-ah's stream or the Heroes Chronicle Forum.
------
The safe zone on the 54th floor was unexpectedly full of adventurers and mercenaries.
"Food, flour mixed with dried fruit!"
"Hey, that's our order!"
Thinking about it, it made sense. After paying a 100 gold entrance fee, they couldn't easily go back outside the tower. They had to eat, sleep, and relieve themselves inside the tower, earning as many mana stones as possible until they collapsed from exhaustion. If necessary, they'd even deposit money in the bank through the merchant group to maximize their profits.
Moreover, the gate that forced mana stone purchases as an entrance fee was between the 50th and 51st floors. Parties capable of paying 100 gold to enter would be confident in their abilities, so they'd gradually move up from the 51st floor to the 52nd, 53rd, and 54th - gathering here.
The bustling scene of people moving food sacks and pouring out mana stone pouches to count them made me wonder if this really was the 54th floor.
"So, what should we do?" I asked.
"Let's rest for a day and gather some information," Han Se-ah replied. "We don't need to push ourselves too hard. Originally, we were planning to rest at the mansion until today and leave tomorrow."
Since it's a conquered safe zone, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
Everyone seemed eager to head to the 55th floor and break through to the 56th, but they didn't object to the suggestion to rest. With years of adventurer experience under our belts, we should be experts at managing our condition by now, right?
In this industry, if you're not an expert, you die.
"You're right, there's no need to rush and move two days earlier just because we moved one day earlier than planned," Grace agreed.
"Let's find a place to stay and pitch our tents, away from the trading area," Katie suggested. "Everyone uses the area near the safe zone anyway."
With that goal set, Grace and Katie naturally approached my side. Having experienced headaches and heartburn from the hangover, they seemed to feel a bit vengeful towards me for making them drink that hard liquor.
Though their revenge was more like playful clinginess, refusing to let go. I also noticed them subtly gesturing to call Irene over. This left Han Se-ah somewhat isolated, but... she had accumulated quite a bit of bad karma.
It's not that Han Se-ah had done anything particularly bad to her companions.
As a streamer, she often wandered off alone to communicate with viewers and complete missions, so they naturally accepted it. When a genius mage says she needs to sense mana and wanders around the city alone, you can't really interfere.
Even if left alone, she'd follow along eventually, and...
"You'll stay with us today, right Hanna?" Irene asked.
"Hm? Oh, yes, . It's not big enough to wander around separately anyway."
The kind-hearted Irene made sure to check and take care of her.
Grace was on my left, Katie on my right. Behind us, Irene and Han Se-ah naturally linked arms. As beautiful women flocked around a scruffy adventurer and mercenary, we couldn't help but attract attention.
Even armor that didn't reveal skin and neat hoods that completely hid their hair couldn't conceal their beautiful appearances, so this was only natural.
The only reason we weren't bothered was probably because this place was filled with top-tier adventurers who had reached the highest ranks and famous mercenary groups. At that level, it would be strange not to know the heroes' names and appearances.
An exotic black-haired beauty mage, a golden-eyed nun in thick habit, a gray-haired beauty with leather armor and a Magic Tower composite bow, and a silver-haired princess in light armor. With such distinctive looks and colorful hair - black, gold, gray, and silver - rather than plain brown, it would be strange not to recognize them.
"Hey, I haven't seen those faces before. Where are you from?"
"...Huh?"
"Not you, lanky guy. I mean the ladies behind you."
...Didn't I just say it would be strange not to recognize them? What's this about?
As Han Se-ah's camera focused on the scene, a voice cut through the viewers' incessant chanting of acronyms. Turning my head, I saw a man standing before us, the very image of a "sleazy young master," with long hair neatly pulled back.
He had dark blue hair, almost black, styled in a slick-back, and a beauty mark under his eye. He was handsome enough to have plenty of ★s, but there was something oddly off about his aura.
I'm not judging him negatively for hitting on someone he just met, but isn't there a meme that if a sleazy-looking pretty boy has a beauty mark, he must be a gay character? Actually, isn't this blatant flirting an act of asserting his heterosexuality to the world?
"By the way, your gaze seems quite impure," he said to me.
"I like women," I muttered reflexively.
"...?"
Seeing the viewers burst into laughter at my unintentional comment, I guess the meme about long-haired pretty boys with beauty marks being gay exists in Han Se-ah's Earth 4 as well.
---
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