333 - Knights' Valor Poem 3
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: Posted in discord
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A new monster had appeared, but calling it a battle was embarrassing. The knights who could wield aura, the supporting mages, and our hero party standing by as a separate unit—such a force was overkill against a intermediate-level monster that couldn’t even use magic yet.
We thought maybe a huge or powerful creature might jump out, but the passage remained quiet until it was fully opened. In the end, nothing needed handling except for one sluggish monster that made a small hole beside the passage.
Even that was quickly patched up by a mage using earth control.
"So, do we head straight to the 47th floor?"
"We probably won't charge in; they'll just scout it out."
With no losses and the biggest enemy being boredom, we moved toward the underground city of the 47th floor, which was much like the 46th.It was full of remains that were once stone dwarves.
"This... are these the bodies of stone dwarves? It looks like it."
"...Should we be glad Old Bobo returned to the city?"
The city was old and poorly maintained but still sturdy, with different colored stones scattered on the streets. If they weren't remnants of buildings, there was only one kind of rock to be found in this underground city.
Unlike the 46th floor, the timing was bad; the city was full of darkness and death as we crossed it to the stairs leading above ground. Grace sensed nothing, so we passed quickly through the city.
The stairs, like the city, were old and worn out. The heights varied, edges were eroded, and occasionally a step crumbled underfoot, dropping debris below.
The fortunate part was that the stairs were carved out of the cliff, so despite looking unstable, they could easily support hundreds of people.
"If this collapses, it'll be a mess."
"Since they carved the whole cliff, it probably won't collapse easily."
-Every time she opens her mouth... Oh, never mind.
-And here we have Irene thinking she's scared and trying to comfort her, lol.
-Shouldn't she be saying those annoying things to us?
-I thought she was talking to us, but she was saying it loud enough for Irene behind to hear.
"By the way, these stairs are hellish. They remind me of those GOP? GP military stairs you see on the internet."
[Toilet Naphthalene Thief donated 10,000 won!]
Lol, is she a military vet?
[Supermarket Raider Han donated 50,000 won!]
Should I change my nickname to Raider Han Se-ah or Golden Carriage Rider?
Maybe Han Se-ah was having a harder time because she was secretly streaming and chatting with her viewers.
Though we had lights, we didn’t bring any elevator-type magic tools, so we kept climbing the long, steep slope. Han Se-ah pretended to struggle for the stream, but Irene, only a bit tired, followed along easily, proving once again that stats were everything.
This meant that intermediate-level mages, not being high-level, were lagging behind and struggling. Looking back, their faces resembled those of office workers forced to go hiking with a hangover after Friday night drinks.
But if it was just city scouting, why did the mages have to follow?
Given their reclusive tendencies, it was likely that the higher-ups at the Magic Tower forced them to participate. Without explicit orders from the Knight Commander, their pitiful struggle to climb the stairs was understandable.
Finally, after climbing endlessly, we reached a cave. Compared to the stairs, the cave was so short it almost wasn’t there, and we headed straight outside.
"...Doesn't the city seem much bigger?"
"As the floors go up and the enemies get stronger, I guess the cities also get bigger."
And there it was, a city far larger than the one on the 46th floor. Compared to the cities in Heroes Chronicle, it was indeed large and spacious.
If the 46th floor was like a modest rural estate on the outskirts of a kingdom, the 47th floor was like a sprawling free city, expanded due to trade. If I caused a ruckus alone, it would only disturb a part of the city, not the entire thing.
There were many harpies flying around, and the buildings were of a higher quality. The fact that there were no gaudy buildings with jewels stuck all over them in the city center showed the difference in class.
"There are no glittering buildings here."
"Yeah, those were easy to spot and served as a good reference point."
Even to someone like me, a university student and military veteran familiar with modern society, those buildings were closer to kindergarten art than modern art. For those living in medieval times, they must have been more than shocking.
Like the 46th floor, the city on the 47th floor was located below an underground cave. To be precise, the cave was on the way up the mountain, and the city spread widely in a valley between the peaks.
Since stone dwarves built the cities, not harpies, it was inevitable that the city was constructed in a lower area. Thanks to this, both the Knights and our party, along with the exhausted mages, could observe the city until they collapsed onto the dirt ground.
"Hmm… Let's head down."
"But, huff, already…."
"You can rest a bit before coming down. Or use mana to descend the cliff."
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Raei Translations
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A hundred knights capable of wielding aura at the highest level, and Edward Aquitaine, a born 5★ character who rose to a 6★ buff-type character as the Knight Commander. Plus, our entire hero party at 5★ level, and me, the 6★ wielder of the holy sword.
With this force, we could completely annihilate a baron's estate, not just a rural manor... but the opponent was harpies, who flew with wings, requiring a different calculation.
Even on the 46th floor, we couldn't catch a few commander-level harpies that openly fled. Destroying the city would be fine, but missing the commanders during a Royal Second Knight Order expedition would be a disgrace.
For adventurers, winning and collecting loot was all that mattered, and for players, advancing the quest was the goal. But for the Knight Commander, there was an obsession with achieving a perfect victory for the honor of the royal family and the glory of the Goddess.
In short, it was about saving face for the nobles.
"Can you talk to the guild about hiring a large number of adventurers?"
It was already an overkill force for simple fighting and smashing. Yet, they were gathering mercenaries, adventurers, and mages, suggesting a political issue. I had guessed as much when I saw the knights gathering in front of the adventurers' guild, but I didn't expect it to be this blatant.
Edward Aquitaine scratched his beard, which was more like fur, and spoke. Maybe because I had shown myself protecting Ellis, he politely asked me instead of storming into the adventurers' guild and overturning Ellis's outfit.
"Are you planning to hire both mercenaries and adventurers?"
"The city is vast. The more hands we have, the faster we can clear it and move up."
"It was indeed large."
Unlike the incompetent commander on the 46th floor, someone with any strategic knowledge would know that humans would be at a disadvantage. Not that we would lose the fight, but it would be a headache if the enemy retained their forces and retreated.
How terrifying would it be if these winged creatures abandoned their base and started flying around, harassing people? Humans already struggle against tunneling guerrillas, so what if flying guerrillas start dropping things on their heads from above?
The only consolation was that humanity's stronghold was in the stone dwarves' underground city. But even so, having to constantly watch the skies while traveling was far from pleasant. Conquering the tower in the name of the royal family while leaving harpy guerrillas behind was a significant problem.
"Still, given the time constraints, I can't offer much help."
"Just informing us in advance is more than enough. Our goal isn't to stop but to advance to the 50th floor. Isn't that right, Hero?"
"...Uh, me?"
-Wait, me? Lolololololol
-This guy forgot she's the hero and is just gaming, lol
-Roland is the Holy Sword's wielder, and you're the hero, you idiot
[Message deleted by the mod]
-She's in the middle of a serious conversation but is distracted by filming Irene's side-boob, lol. Good job, this is what you should be capturing.
Since he only asked me to inform them, there was no reason to refuse. Anyway, rumors had already spread that the knights were gathering people.
Wasn't that what led to yesterday's disastrous scene?
In the adventurers' city, where rich nobles and merchants took an interest, and in the kingdom's core close to the royal family and the Great Temple, there were plenty of magic tools for cleanliness.
Because nobles maintained cleanliness, citizens who envied and admired them also adopted a culture of cleanliness once they earned some money.
But if you moved away from the kingdom's center, it quickly turned into medieval despair. It was a world where people believed bathing could make you sick. And now, on the 43rd floor, people from all over the kingdom were gathering.
If stone dwarves weren't familiar with and indifferent to other races, they might have erected private isolated areas in their city.
At least Han Se-ah’s stream chat was in chaos.