Chapter 32
For this meeting, I bit the bullet and bought Si-Yeon a high-end suit.
The combat uniform she usually wears is cool too, but a suit is definitely more fitting for an occasion like this.
And since she was going out, I asked her to buy three melon-flavored ice creams on her way back, and our admirable Si-Yeon bought them.
She even had the good sense to get a 2+1 deal!
Wow. Look at how sharp she is. Whose retainer could she be?
I handed two out to Si-Yeon and Katarina, and kept one for myself.
Nom.
Biting into the ice cream with my fangs, I recalled the scene I had just watched through [Sight Sharing].
[I was a bit surprised that the Ice Empress was there.]
As soon as she entered the room, I was flustered because the Ice Empress was sitting there out of nowhere next to the Association President.
But thinking about it…
The Association side seems to consider me some incredibly strong and Dangerous Being.
Calling in an S-rank Hunter as a Bodyguard was completely understandable.
Anyway, I was glad to see that the Ice Empress seemed to have recovered well.
It made saving her worth it back then.
She’s an S-rank Hunter who raises national prestige, so of course she shouldn’t be sick.
Anyway, the earnest negotiations began like that.
Actually, there wasn’t really anything to call a negotiation.
Because it was just a meeting to receive tributes and listen to some explanations.
So I had given Si-Yeon exactly three instructions.
First, ask if the Association President is lying!
Second, deliver a message of peace that I will also act amicably if they keep their promise!
Third, ask if they can cover up a major crime on the level of the Black Cow Incident!
“…”
So Si-Yeon followed my orders, keeping her mouth shut and listening quietly.
“There are no lies in your promise; I assume.”
She threw out the first question.
I immediately checked the Association President’s inner thoughts with [Appraisal Eye].
[Status: Speaking the truth while extremely nervous]
[Oh?]
He really wasn’t lying.
Instead, he was incredibly nervous.
Seeing a man old enough to be my dad acting like that made me feel a little sorry for him.
“Master said that as long as you keep your promise, she is willing to treat the Association amicably.”
And the second.
She safely delivered the message of peace as well.
Finally, the third question.
Could they cover up committing a major crime on the level of the Black Cow Incident?
“Association President. You told Master that you could help as much as possible even if it was something outside the laws of the World. If so, does killing hundreds of humans fall into that category?”
Honestly, I was a bit nervous when Si-Yeon asked this question.
I was worried he would say that something like that was absolutely unacceptable no matter what.
But.
“If such a thing were to happen… It would surely be because True Ancestor-nim has a grand purpose for doing so.”
“As long as it is not the massacre of innocent citizens, we will of course help you.”
The Association President accepted it surprisingly coolly.
He did attach a condition, telling me just not to massacre innocent citizens.
Of course, there was no way I would do something like massacre civilians.
[Just what does he think I am?]
Something felt off, so I looked more closely at the Association President’s inner thoughts with [Appraisal Eye].
[Status: Wary, suspecting the other Party to be a Leader-level existence of a Vampire Faction]
[…Ehh?!]
Somehow, the Association President seemed to have noticed that I was a Vampire.
H-how in the World did he know?
I purposely sent Si-Yeon instead of Katarina so I wouldn’t get caught…!
Ah. Right.
My nickname was “True Ancestor”.
But did he not just see me as a roleplayer, and seriously believed I was a real Vampire?
Of course, he probably didn’t do it that simply, and seemed to have reached that conclusion through some incredibly complex thought process, whatever it was.
He was half right and half wrong.
Being a Vampire was the truth, but thinking of me as the boss of some massive Vampire Faction was a misunderstanding.
[Ah, so that’s why…]
Now everything made sense.
Why had the Association come out with such a low posture?
A Vampire, plus the Leader of some incredible Force, who clear even Nightmare-difficulty Towers in seconds?
From the Association President’s perspective, it must have felt like a living nuclear bomb was roaming around our country.
So it was only natural for him to bow and scrape like this while offering tributes.
[Hmm. But is there really a need to correct him?]
I was flustered, but
Thinking about it, I realized it wasn’t a bad situation.
It wasn’t like any problems had arisen, but rather, I had only gained massive benefits from that image.
I tried to hide my identity because I was scared of being found out as a Vampire.
If it had been revealed anyway, it was better for them to think I was incredibly strong and amazing.
That way, they wouldn’t be able to treat me lightly.
Anyway, now I have an all-purpose ID and a secret card!
I can deposit money with this.
I don’t have to pay taxes either.
I can even do real estate transactions and other things that require an ID.
I was even registered as an Unofficial S-rank overnight!
I don’t know what I did to become an S-rank Hunter.
Anyway, you’ve moved up in the World. Yu-Jin!
All of this is entirely Thanks to my two Retainers.
“Si-Yeon. Katarina. You are very excellent Retainers.”
Feeling good, I called my two Retainers over and patted both of their heads simultaneously with both hands.
“Master… Mmh…”
“H-ngh. Liege Lord… To bestow such an undeserved honor again…!”
The two of them seemed to really like it as well.
Honestly, if I had my way, I’d want to go beyond just patting them and give them a full hug.
There was a rejection response from [Exalted Dignity], perhaps because that would lower my authority a bit.
[What a shame.]
I inwardly vowed to find a workaround to hug them later.
* * *
[Alright. Now that the urgent matters are resolved, I should look at the 5th Floor strategy guide.]
For reference, the Tower entry Cooldown up to the Nightmare 4th Floor was one week, right?
It has now become two weeks.
So I had plenty of time left to spare.
Today was for the strategy guide by 'Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa' that I had saved last time.
I planned to read through it properly.
[Title: Nightmare 5th Floor Strategy Guide Context: Two weeks.
So I had plenty of time left to spare.
I planned to read through it properly.
[Title: Nightmare 5th Floor Strategy Guide (Scroll Warning)]
Poster: Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa
I cleared the 5th Floor a long time ago, but I’m writing this guide because I’ve been getting so many questions lately.
The 5th Floor has a completely different (Scroll Warning)
Poster: Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa
The 5th Floor has a completely different Tower structure from what you’ve seen so far.
Up until now, floors 1 to 4 just required simple combat.
Whether it was an arena or a Cemetery, only the number or quantity of monsters differed; the format itself was the same.
But starting from the 5th Floor, it changes to what you’d call a story mode in a game.
Chapters are introduced, and you have to clear quests for each chapter to move on to the next.
The setting is a medieval fantasy castle.
The setting is the same as the Normal Tower 5th Floor.
But while that one is just a normal siege battle unfolding on the Castle Wall,
the Nightmare 5th Floor uses the entire castle town as a map, so all sorts of things happen inside it.
It’s hard to clear with just simple martial prowess; you need various abilities. Yup.
The perceived difficulty is similar to clearing the 50s floors of the Normal Tower, I think?
But the point here is that the entry condition is restricted to below Level 40.
Since you have to clear something on the level of the 50th floor with sub-level 40 specs,
you can guess how intense it is, right?
So, if your level isn’t high enough, I recommend grinding hard in the Normal Tower or gates to max out at 39 before looking at the actual guide.
There are guys who act tough and mess around trying to clear it at a low level.
You’ll just suffer like crazy and fail to clear it, so make sure to hit level 39 before coming.
How do I know?
…I didn’t want to know either.
…
[Mmm…]
The Tower structure completely changes from the 5th Floor.
This was information I had never heard before.
As expected, it’s not called Nightmare-difficulty for nothing.
[But I’m way lower than level 39?]
[Level: 27]
I leveled up quite a bit by clearing the 4th Floor and drinking the Ghoul Lord’s blood, but even so, I’m still only level 27.
That’s a whopping 12 levels lower than the recommended level Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa mentioned.
Will I be able to clear it like this?
Of course, my situation is very different since I have Katarina and Si-Yeon.
Still, since he said it couldn’t be cleared with martial prowess alone, I was a bit worried.
Regarding Heon-gael, they say you usually receive another new Skill at Level 30.
So it might not be a bad idea to hit Level 30 and get one more Skill before entering.
I was about to organize my thoughts like that.
One crucial problem came to mind belatedly.
[Sunlight…!]
Come to think of it, he said the 5th Floor is set in an entire medieval fantasy castle.
Then the sun would naturally rise there, right?
The 1st and 2nd Floors were arenas with ceilings, and the 3rd and 4th Floors were cemeteries with night backgrounds, so it was fine.
This means the 5th Floor would have Sunlight.
[I’m going to get super Nauseous…!]
Of course, it’s not a massive restriction.
I wouldn’t be participating in combat anyway, and my Retainers would do all the fighting for me.
Whether I was groaning in the back or not wouldn’t really affect the strategy.
[But it’s exhausting.]
It feels like seasickness, seasickness!
Do you know how awful that is?
[What should I do?]
Naturally, something like sunscreen wouldn’t solve it.
A parasol wouldn’t work either since it wouldn’t block it completely.
Would it be fine if I bundled up my whole body and even wore sunglasses?
It would probably be fine. But I’d look too weird.
I’m not a mummy or anything…
[Exalted Dignity] let it slide when I wore a comfortable T-shirt and shorts at home, but I felt like it would absolutely never tolerate me looking like a mummy.
Hmm. What to do.
First, I tried searching for items on the internet.
sun-blocking items didn’t come up, probably because there was no demand for them.
Then should I contact the Association President and ask?
But I had already received a ton of tributes, so I felt bad extorting more right away.
Then trade in the Climber Community?
That person named “24-Hour Inquiries Welcome” or something did say they welcomed trades anytime.
But that also felt like exposing my weakness to the outside, so I was a bit hesitant.
Then what should I do?
[I don’t know…]
Even after agonizing over it, no answer came to me.
For now, there’s still a lot of time left before going to the 5th Floor, so let’s think about it while hitting Level 30.
The new Skill that supposedly appears at Level 30 might have a way to solve the Sunlight Problem.
* * *
However,
“…”
For the next few days, I became a slacking True Ancestor who did nothing but lounge around at home.
This was because.
[Why is it so peaceful lately…?]
No High-rank Gates had opened.
To Level Up, my only options were to climb the Tower or drink the blood of a High-rank Monster.
I kept checking the internet and logging into the official Hunter site with the ID the Association President gave me, but I couldn’t find any decent gates at all.
[Hmm. Won’t another Sudden Gate pop up in the neighborhood like last time?]
I even started having thoughts like that.
Back then, I drank Pure-blood Vampire blood and leveled up three times.
And it tasted really delicious too.
Slurp.
I was smacking my lips in regret when I realized something.
[Ah, right. It was today?!]
Today was exactly one month since I Awakened.
This meant that.
The 30-day Cooldown for [Summon Retainer] was up.
[Summon Retainer]
- Blood Power Consumption: 100
The Required Blood Power was 100, so I could fully use it.
[Let’s go right away!]
I used the Skill without hesitation.
Splash - !
Blood poured from my wrist, surging into the air.
Then it gathered, writhing as it molded into a human form.
It was a gruesome sight, but having seen it once already, I felt more anticipation than disgust now.
Instead.
“T-this is the Liege Lord’s power…!”
“…!!”
The Retainers, seeing the [Summon Retainer] Skill for the first time, were extremely surprised.
Katarina’s jaw dropped, and even Si-Yeon, who rarely showed emotion, flinched for a moment.
Anyway, the form was gradually being completed.
[What kind of retainer will come out this time?]
Please be a good retainer.
Let another SSR-rank retainer like Katarina come out!
The retainer was summoned onto the bed like that.
[Another woman?]
It was a female retainer this time as well.
“…Mmh?”
The woman blinked and looked around the room.
She had red eyes just like me.
Red bob-cut hair, and pointed ears.
Large eyes looked pure and full of curiosity.
An incredibly good figure, and…
She was wearing some sort of work clothes that were quite revealing.
Her eyes met mine.
Soon.
“Are you, my Master?”
The retainer tilted her head and looked at me.
“Indeed. You are this body’s Third Retainer.”
I declared with overflowing majesty.
At that.
“Wow, Master - - - !!!!!”
Smiling brightly.
She flew at me right from the bed with her arms spread wide like a flying squirrel.
[Yikes?!]