Chapter 59
The Branch Tower's Mamaek appears at random spots across a 100km radius.
This was the first time Magic Stones had been generated like minerals in reality outside the Tower.
Currently, the only proper exploration method is to follow what protrudes on the surface inward and dig them up one after another, like pulling up sweet potato vines.
Once the approximate scale of the Mamaek was grasped and the estimates were finished, full-scale mining would begin.
Japan was also fervently pouring its efforts into Magic Stone Exploration within the radius of the Sendai Branch Tower.
"...Huh?"
The scholars and experts conducting the exploration panicked when they saw the Magic Stones in the excavation site suddenly lose their light.
This anomaly didn't just happen in that specific location.
The Magic Stones in all the spots Japan had discovered so far lost their luster all at once, as if they had reverted to ordinary stones.
The only intact Magic Stones were the extremely small number they had already mined as a test.
Like a river running dry, the Mamaek had completely dried up in an instant.
"What the hell happened?! Why did the Mamaek suddenly disappear!"
"All the other countries are fine? Why only we...!"
Japan was turned upside down.
A little while later, a post appeared in the communication window.
\[Person123: The clearer from a Branch Tower is given Activation/Deactivation Authority over the Mamaek.\]
\[Person123: Should any conflict arise due to the Mamaek, I will deactivate that Nation's Mamaek.\]
The communication window couldn't help but be turned upside down once again by Person123's post.
\[Torch: Branch Tower Ownership? So there was a personal reward for the clearer too?\]
\[DanceWithMe: I heard Japan is in an uproar right now because its Mamaek completely evaporated. So it was Person123's doing.\]
\[Insomnia: Why? Did Japan do something?\]
\[Pepper: I dug through the news, and it seems they unilaterally withdrew from some agreement or something.\]
Japan's withdrawal from the Magic Stone Agreement was an incident that wouldn't even be considered a global issue while the Branch Towers were just appearing, but Person123's post drew all the attention to it.
\[Turkey: Hahahaha They got greedy and took the first hit.\]
\[Blaze: As expected, world peace is Person123.\]
\[Sherlock: A healthy market economy is Person123.\]
\[ProbabilityAndStatistics: Brazil and Mongolia got lucky. Japan took the beating for them before they could do anything weird.\]
\[MangoJuice: But then, did those Chinese bastards know all about the Branch Tower Ownership and hide it to extort more from Mongolia?\]
\[Bant: That's honestly not surprising at all.\]
Japan, having blown away a massive national interest entirely by doing something stupid, was heavily mocked in the communication window.
\[Hjal: But if this is the case, there's no way Person123 is a Japanese person.\]
\[Mephisto: You never know. If it's Person123, he seems like the type to mercilessly beat down even his own country if it crosses the line.\]
\[Curd: He is that kind of great man.\]
\[Blizzard: Or maybe he's from one of the countries involved in the Magic Stone Agreement?\]
\[333Draw: Where's that?\]
\[Finger: Look it up yourself.\]
\[Jennifer: Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia.\]
\[Ullaryu: It wasn't even a big issue, but they got punished right away. He really might be from one of those countries?\]
\[Gold: Isn't he just watching the news a lot?\]
While everyone was having fun watching the fire, Japan, like a house on fire, was in chaos.
It was always more infuriating to have something given and then taken away.
The opportunity to become a global Mana Stone Resource Rich Nation had come right into their grasp, only to fly far away...
"Damn it!"
Prime Minister Sato was on the verge of losing his mind.
If he had known this would happen, he naturally would have read the room and been careful. That is, if he had known something like Branch Tower Ownership existed!
"Who could have known something like that existed...!"
There was no other way.
He had to beg Person123 on his hands and knees to reactivate the Mamaek somehow.
However, reaching out through the communication window to Person123, who ignored absolutely everything except Nightmare Clear Consultations, naturally yielded no reply...
Prime Minister Sato immediately issued an official statement.
"...The withdrawal from the Magic Stone Agreement was an unfortunate incident that occurred under a lack of mutual communication, and we express our regrets regarding this. Our cabinet feels a deep sense of responsibility for actions that may have appeared somewhat unilateral."
To translate the beating-around-the-bush statement directly, it roughly meant this:
We won't withdraw from the agreement; we will apologize to the Treaty Nations and try to negotiate well; and if Person123 has any separate demands, we will accept them all.
So please give us back the Mamaek, pleeease.
Person123's reaction? There was none.
No posts appeared in the communication window, and the Mamaek of the Sendai Branch Tower remained unlit.
Public sentiment across the Japanese Archipelago boiled over against Prime Minister Sato.
The one who turned off the Mamaek was Person123. But no matter how much Japan had been given and then robbed, was it possible for public opinion to spread criticizing the Savior of Humanity?
It was only natural that all the arrows turned toward the current Prime Minister, whose approval ratings were already low.
Of course, if the results had been good, no one would have blamed the Government, and the public wouldn't have cared much in the first place, but hadn't the results turned out to be the absolute worst?
Public opinion spread like wildfire that the Prime Minister had committed a massive blunder and ruined everything.
Watching that series of events, Mongolia didn't really do anything but felt relieved for no reason.
"We will aim for coexistence and cooperation so that everyone can benefit."
Brazil, which had been slowly preparing to test the waters with its neighboring countries, slyly put on an innocent look and issued a swift statement.
And... Korea and the Southeast Asian Nations, the parties entangled in the conflict of interest, were just a bit bewildered.
Person123 stepped up and did everything? What is this?
Such a trivial matter—of course, it wasn't trivial at all from the perspective of the parties involved, but was it something that Person123, who was busy saving Humanity, would take an interest in?
Person123 had only intervened in a political issue once, when the conflict between the Government and the Association was reaching its peak globally. This isn't an issue on that kind of scale right now.
They couldn't help but tilt their heads slightly.
"Did he get pissed off because they were doing stupid things with the Branch Tower he cleared?"
"He might be taking the conflict that the Mamaek will bring seriously, aiming to nip it in the bud. Anyway, Japan has become a spectacular example."
"It's not a bad situation, but how should we respond..."
Right now, Japan has a fire lit under its feet and is practically clinging to the Treaty Nations, including Korea.
They seemed to think that they had to somehow stage a scene showing they had reconciled well with the parties involved to change Person123's mind.
The Korean Government was also agonizing over what stance to take.
Well, if they just readjusted the clauses of the agreement so that some crumbs regarding the Mamaek would fall on this side too, they were more than willing to hold hands and play nice. Good things were good, after all.
But if they did that, would Person123 really turn the Mamaek back on?
Japan was clearly out of Person123's favor at that time, so Korea couldn't help but be needlessly cautious as well.
The involved nations, including Japan, just waited eagerly for Person123 to release some sort of additional statement.
---
After turning off the Sendai Branch Tower's Mamaek as an example.
Whispers kept coming through the communication window from people claiming to be from the Japanese Government, but I ignored them.
Because I didn't particularly have any intention of reactivating the Mamaek.
It wasn't there originally, so they could just pretend it never existed.
It was enough that I cleared it for them; it wasn't like people were going to die just because I didn't turn it on.
“Hmm...”
But as I thought about it, my mind changed a bit.
Is that still a bit much?
China would be excitedly mining Magic Stones from its Mamaek, while this side remained locked up. It would be a huge loss.
Even so, I didn't want to personally demand this and that from Japan, and it wasn't like I knew anything about international politics or state affairs.
So I just decided to do this.
\[Person123: Negotiate with the Treaty Nations regarding the Mamaek issue and form a treaty. If all five nations—Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia—agree, I will activate the Mamaek.\]
It would be best if they coordinated among themselves and made it work.
This way, at the very least, Japan wouldn't monopolize the profits.
Well, it was on Japanese soil, so it was Japan's Branch Tower, and honestly, you couldn't really say that was wrong.
But seeing Magic Stones springing up in the neighboring country while our country just sucked its thumbs was a bit much, honestly... I was the one who cleared it, too.
I was human too, so it was an unavoidable emotional issue.
It wasn't like I wanted to unconditionally benefit only our country either, so let's just leave it at this.
They could negotiate well and share the profits appropriately, or if they didn't want to, no one would get anything.
This issue ends here.
\[Time remaining until the Fifth Branch Tower Appearance: 5 minutes 1 second\]
Time passed.
The appearance of the final remaining Fifth Branch Tower was almost upon me.
Hoping it would pop up in a closer country this time, I sat in my chair and waited.
\[The Fifth Branch Tower is appearing.\]
A message popped up.
But there was another message that followed.
\[Upon the First Clear of the Fifth Branch Tower, a more Special Reward will be given.\]
\[Fifth Branch Tower Deadline: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds\]
"...?"
A Special Reward?
Even the deadline was 30 days. All the other Branch Towers were 7 days.
Was the Fifth Branch Tower somehow different?
\[Satellite: Did everyone see that? It says “Special Reward”?\]
\[Hwiba: The deadline isn't 7 days either; it's 30 days.\]
\[Huhahu: Throwing a curveball makes me anxious.\]
\[Blade: Where did the Branch Tower pop up?\]
I watched the communication window, waiting for news on where the Branch Tower had appeared.
The location was Tajikistan.
It was said to have appeared in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
“Central Asia, huh.”
I looked up the location on a map. It was a country right next to China.
The distance was about 5,000km.
Well... yeah, it's much better than Brazil, at least.
Excluding the roughly 120 hours' worth of charge I had saved up over the week, I just needed to do about 280 hours more.
I immediately started charging the Warp Device.
But if it gives a Special Reward, would the difficulty be the same?
It didn't seem likely. There was no way the deadline was needlessly extended.
It would definitely be harder than the other Branch Towers.
Even so, since I had to clear up to the 10th Floor in one go, I doubted every single floor would be as hard as Nightmare, but...
Boring time passed as I refilled my willpower, and I completed the warp charge.
I set the direction toward Tajikistan and immediately warped.
Arriving at a location far outside the radius, I adjusted my direction and warped one more time.
\[Would you like to enter the Fifth Branch Tower?\]
I had entered the Branch Tower's radius.
"Enter."
I entered with my tension slightly raised.
\[You have entered the 1st Floor of the Fifth Branch Tower.\]
Out of habit, I stopped time and checked my surroundings.
The location wasn't particularly different from the other Branch Towers.
There were weapons lying on the floor ahead too, but...
‘...There's nothing?’
There was no Monster to face.
I released time.
I wondered what this was, but I wasn't inexperienced enough to panic over just this.
I calmly looked around.
At that moment, my Sixth Sense reacted. Murderous intent was felt from behind my back.
Swish!
A Goblin that suddenly appeared thrust a dagger at me.
But I had already lightly leaped back from where I was standing.
Kerek-
It was a black-skinned Goblin with strange patterns on its face.
“Stealth.”
It was a Stealth Ability.
It wasn't just about being invisible.
Like Diul's ability, it was the kind of Stealth where presence itself completely disappeared.
However, judging by the speed of its attack just now, its Physical Abilities themselves were terrible, only slightly better than an ordinary Goblin.
Even if I had just let it hit me, it wouldn't have even left a scratch.
The Goblin became transparent again.
"You think that'll work?"
I immediately fired a Flame Strike at that spot.
The Goblin, having used Stealth again, exploded with a pop.
\[Successfully Cleared the 1st Floor.\]
I watched the scattering ashes.
“A Stealth Assassin Goblin...”
It's a bit unusual right from the 1st Floor, isn't it?
The final Fifth Branch Tower.
As expected, it wasn't ordinary like the other Branch Towers.
It was only very slight, but I could taste it. The Taste of Nightmare.