Chapter 18, Conqueror?

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

 

During the two days, they decided to take a break. Kousuke explored the Seichun City with Kouhi and Mitsuki. They primarily browsed street stalls, discovering dishes Kousuke had never seen before, marveling at the wide variety of food available.

 

Kouhi, who had suddenly risen to fame, received enthusiastic cheers from other women, while Kousuke, walking alongside her, endured piercing glares from the men. However, even if physically attacked, nothing would happen to Kousuke himself—he had two ironclad defenses by his side.

 

The three enjoyed their pseudo-sightseeing tour of the city, while Lirica apparently spent both days relaxing in her room. When Kousuke asked if she was tired, she explained this had been her typical behavior on days off when she was previously an Adventurer.

 

Back then, she had cleaned the temple during the downtime, but there was no temple to clean in Seichun. Unlike the central shrine of the Western Continent, there was no living god enshrined here, and consequently no work for her as a shrine maiden. As a result, she ended up simply lounging around in her room.

 

After their two-day break, Kousuke and the others headed for Gazenran Tower. This time, Cecil and Arisa were joined by Kouhi. Their plan was straightforward: proceed from the 45th Floor to the 46th Floor, which would not require much time.

 

Kousuke checked the cards of Cecil, Arisa, and Kouhi. He anticipated that the 46th Floor would be recorded as the highest Floor reached for all three, but if another result appeared, he wanted to understand what rule was in place. Upon confirming the specifics, he would need to investigate what caused the discrepancy.

 

They immediately teleported to the 45th Floor and implemented his strategy. The result was as expected—the cards of Cecil, Arisa, and Kouhi all showed that the highest Floor reached was the 46th Floor.

 

This confirmed that the highest Floor displayed on a card was the last floor the owner passed through, with no consideration given to intermediary Floors. Yet strangely, this function had never been explained by the Tower Strategy Guild.

 

It was difficult to imagine the Tower Strategy Guild was unaware of this feature. Considering this, it seemed they had deliberately withheld the information. Whether this function existed to prevent reckless attacks, or whether it was privileged information known only to guilds that discovered it—or perhaps both—remained unclear.

 

After confirming his theory, Kousuke turned to Cecil and Arisa. “Now that we understand this, have you decided on a strategy for the guild members?”

 

“Yes,” Arisa nodded, grasping Kousuke’s meaning. “It’s much more efficient to go straight to the floor that matches your ability instead of conquering each Floor one by one.”

 

“I wonder if that’s how the top guilds in Seichun maintain their status?” Kousuke mused.

 

While training new guild members from scratch remained important, bringing in strong Adventurers from outside and having them perform well on a certain Floor right away could help maintain the guild’s strength. It was possible that new guilds failed to rise to prominence because they lacked this crucial information.

 

“There aren’t many guilds that have the time to conduct this kind of research while progressing through the Tower, like Kousuke-sama.” Cecil observed, with Arisa and Lirica nodding in agreement.

 

Kousuke was not sure if she was praising him, but decided it was just his imagination.

 

“Anyway, this answers one of my questions, so Cecil and Arisa can move freely from now on. I might need your assistance later.”

 

“Yes,” Cecil replied.

 

“Thank you,” added Arisa, both nodding simultaneously.

 

Lirica observed this exchange and looked at Kousuke, clearly wanting to ask something. Sensing this, Kousuke preemptively addressed her.

 

“Lirica, there’s still something I want to confirm, so we’ll continue working together for a while.”

 

“Yes!” Lirica replied cheerfully, though her expression remained complicated, knowing they would proceed at Kousuke’s pace rather than advancing quickly through the Tower.

 

She still had questions, and her expression turned curious. “But why are you taking me, specifically?”

 

“Hmm… I believe I mentioned this before, but there’s something distinctly man-made about these cards and this Tower.”

 

“Yes,” Lirica nodded.

 

However, she could not connect that observation to why she was accompanying Kousuke’s group.

 

“In this case, ‘man-made’ doesn’t necessarily mean it’s limited to the Human Race.”

 

“Ah…!?”

 

The exclamation came not from Lirica but from Arisa, who ignored the surprised looks from Cecil and Lirica to stare at Kousuke with a shocked expression.

 

“Does Kousuke-sama suspect that a God previously conquered this Tower?”

 

Cecil and Lirica also widened their eyes in surprise at Arisa’s words, turning their gaze to Kousuke.

 

Kouhi and Mitsuki, having guessed this to some extent, remained unsurprised.

 

What had first led Kousuke to suspect divine involvement was his recollection of Amamiya Tower. That Tower had been conquered but currently lacked an Administrator and remained unmanaged. Yet it felt as though some artificial management system was still in place.

 

That alone would not have suggested divine involvement, but Gazenran Tower’s location in the center of the Western Continent created a parallel with Amamiya Tower. The conditions were remarkably similar.

 

Still, it seemed presumptuous to declare the previous owner of this Tower was a God based solely on these conditions. That was precisely why they had brought Lirica, a shrine maiden, along with them.

 

“Is that so…” Lirica looked convinced, but her expression darkened somewhat.

 

Noticing this, Kousuke realized the reason and quickly added, “I don’t expect Lirica to detect Divine Power by force. I doubt there are any remnants of such a god left here.”

 

“Eh? Then why me?”

 

“I thought if you noticed something that could be a hint during our conquest. With you being here, I could ask about it immediately.”

 

Though Kousuke himself was a living god, he knew little about the Gods of this world. Lirica possessed far more knowledge about them than he did.

 

He considered it more practical to have Lirica, with her expertise, nearby rather than returning to base whenever he discovered something questionable.

 

While Kousuke could contact Sylvia through Divine Power, telepathically, it was much easier to understand something when seeing it firsthand. Some things simply could not be explained verbally.

 

“Even if we encounter something even you don’t understand, you can explain it to Sylvia much better than I can, right?”

 

Lirica nodded, finally understanding his reasoning.

 

“I understand. I’ll do my best to help.”

 

Seeing her determined response, Kousuke said nothing more. In truth, he could have told her not to try so hard, but with Lirica, such advice would likely be counterproductive. Even Kousuke had learned a thing or two about working with her so far.

 

This marked the end of their investigation with Cecil and Arisa. While more discoveries might await, from now on, they would need to act independently.

 

Before that, however, the three current parties of the guild needed to be taken to their appropriate Floors. Though Kousuke’s group would lead the Tower conquest to elevate the guild’s reputation, many other tasks remained.

 

For the future, they needed to do everything they could to raise the guild.