Conquest Complete, So Why Is the Affection Dropping? - Chapter 76
“Don’t you like the shoes I gave you?”
“I do like them. But liking a gift and you throwing away my belongings are two different things.”
“That’s rich coming from someone who ran away with everything I provided.”
“Ugh.”
He means when I transferred everything in the room to Hexion’s inventory. I can’t defend myself if he brings that up. But I only did it because I wanted to help Hexion.
Even though I ended up cornering him in the end!
“Besides, I didn’t exactly throw them away.”
“What?”
“How could I get rid of your belongings? They weren’t even transferred to my ownership.”
Marvis shrugged his shoulders with a sigh.
Come to think of it, the white shoes I lost weren’t just ordinary shoes – they were an item I got from the bonus roulette. It didn’t make sense that they’d just disappear because Marvis took them off.
‘Could it be?’
I activated Marvis’s inventory. While flipping through the pages, I found the white shoes icon on the very last page.
They were in the inventory. I didn’t notice because they were tucked away in a corner.
‘Then I guess I don’t need to go out looking for them.’
I closed the inventory window with a sigh of relief.
Marvis shook the water from his hair with a towel, draped the sleeve of his long outer garment over his shoulder, and extended his hand to me.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you the festival.”
“Eh? Well, that’s…”
The festival was just an excuse to get out of here, and now that I’ve found the shoes, I need to go to Sky Island… no, the Tower in the Sky to meet Cedric.
“I’ve been thinking, and I’m actually too tired to go out at this hour. I’d better just sleep.”
I sidled away like a crab, slipping between the iron bars and Marvis. He looked down at me in disbelief, then rubbed the back of his neck.
“You really are fickle, aren’t you?”
“……”
My face burned at his tone, like he was dealing with an immature child. Maybe I changed my mind too abruptly. As I pressed my lips together and turned my head away, he lightly patted my head.
“I’m envious.”
“Envious?”
“I can never predict you.”
That’s not usually meant as a compliment, is it? Puzzled, I looked up at Marvis, and he lowered his hand from my head to gently pinch my cheek.
“It’s fascinating. They say humans can’t create anything beyond their own predictions.”
“Ow. Wha’re you doing?”
“Yet humans themselves are unpredictable beings.”
I don’t know what Marvis is talking about.
This guy sometimes throws out philosophical topics without context. I wish he’d understand that not everyone with a liberal arts background is inclined to contemplate the origins of existence.
I freed my pinched cheek and rubbed my tingling face. Marvis stared at me intently as if watching something fascinating, then patted my back saying “sleep well” before disappearing to the opposite side.
‘Well, thanks to that, it’ll be easier to escape.’
I returned to the room and opened my inventory window. When I clicked on the white shoes icon, it deactivated and pristine white heels appeared on my feet.
Item: Go-Anywhere Shoes (Replica)
A replica of the ‘Go-Anywhere Shoes’ that can transport the wearer to any location containing ancient relics. Single-use only; once used, it loses its power and becomes ordinary shoes.
Even with the door locked, I can get outside using these. Since the start point is set to Niflheim, getting back won’t be a problem either.
‘Alright. Let’s go! To the Tower of Valhalla!’
I confidently declared in my mind.
And nothing happened.
“……”
What’s going on? Is there a specific way to use them?
I examined the item description window from every angle, but there were no user instructions.
‘Surely it’s not defective.’
Considering this system’s track record, there’s a possibility it could be trolling players under the guise of a bug. That’s a reasonable suspicion that makes me even more anxious.
I rubbed my chin in perplexity.
“What should I do? I need to meet Cedric today…”
The moment I said those words, the scenery before my eyes began to blur.
“Huh?”
A strong wind blew in. Though cool, it wasn’t as biting as winter’s sharp winds.
The dawn sky was a mix of purple and light blue. Clouds like unfinished cotton tufts were scattered across the sky like torn pieces of paper.
When I pushed through the clouds with my hand, the white clouds parted like foam. As I glided down swimming through them, I saw the tower standing tall.
Rather than being built on a floating island, it was more like a tall tower that pierced through the center of the floating island. The intensifying dawn light behind it was so bright that I had to close my eyes for a moment.
Unlike the previous times when I would drop dizzyingly downward, this time I could land slowly even with my eyes closed.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, a status window appeared.
Go-Anywhere Shoes (Replica)’s uses have been depleted. The item will now be treated as a regular item.
So they’ve become ordinary shoes now. Still, they remained comfortable on my feet, suggesting that ignoring moderate physical forces was a basic setting of this world.
I looked up at the tower. The Tower of Destruction, wasn’t it? Though darkened by deep shadows, the edges of what must have originally been pure white were now gleaming gold in the dawn light.
It’s a shame something so beautiful has such a terrifying name.
‘Is Cedric inside?’
The thought of facing him again gave me chills, but with only 24 hours to prevent the world’s destruction before another bad ending, I had no choice but to confront him.
‘Since it’s dawn, is he sleeping? Or could he be spying on Niflheim from the Mirror Room again?’
The thought that he might have seen my intimate moment with Marvis made me shudder with mortification, but true heroes don’t succumb to shame. I took a bold step forward.
CRASH!
And promptly hid behind some bushes, startled by the loud noise from the tower.
The cramped island in the sky was so small in scale that it was more appropriate to consider it as an accessory marking the tower’s entrance rather than a foundation. Thanks to that, while there were only a few short trees and bushes to hide behind, if I crouched down carefully, I could at least conceal myself.
Creeak. Clank.
The tower’s door opened, and two figures appeared.
‘Wait. Two people?’
I adjusted my angle between the branches to observe the other side.
The tall figure with smooth long hair must be Cedric. But the other person was someone I’d never seen before.
Though their face was hard to make out in the shadows, they appeared considerably older than Cedric. They seemed to be angrily saying something to Cedric, then roughly shoved him out of the tower before closing the large door.
Thud.
Once the massive door closed, everything fell silent.
‘What’s this? There was someone else besides Cedric?’
I hadn’t discovered anyone during the previous run, but it seemed there was another mage here all along, whether family or colleague.
Well, the tower was too big for just one person anyway.
Cedric stood still, endlessly staring at the closed door. Despite having enough magical ability to easily open that door, he remained motionless like a dog waiting for its owner to return.
Though I didn’t know what was going on, with the world’s destruction approaching, there was no time to investigate. I stood up and shook off my messy hair.
“Cedric!”
“Ah!”
Startled by the voice from behind, Cedric’s shoulders jumped as he turned around.
Still picking leaves out of my hair, I awkwardly waved at him.
“Cedric, it’s been a while.”
“…Who, are you?”
Huh?
‘Does he not recognize me?’
It couldn’t be that I’d transmigrated before meeting Cedric. He seemed to have been spying on Niflheim since the moment the elevator started working. He even knew about me and Marvis rolling around on the bed.
So, while I wasn’t sure exactly which point in the game story this was, it should definitely be after he became aware of my existence. Yet Cedric backed away with a wary expression as if I were some suspicious intruder.
“Cedric, I’m…”
“Why are you calling me by that name?”
“What?”
Wasn’t his name Cedric? I was sure I remembered correctly, but wondering if I might have been confused, I quickly pulled up his profile window.
Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Height: 183cm
The core of Valhalla, the last remaining ancient relic. Tasked with preserving the world’s records in the Mage’s Tower. Kind, affectionate, and sensitive. Making him cry might lead to something good.
Affection: X (Cannot be pursued)
‘What is this?’
Cedric’s profile was different from what I remembered. Not only was his name listed as unknown, but what was even more puzzling was the affection indicator at the bottom.
‘Cannot be pursued?’
Hadn’t it just been reset to 0 when I made the contract with Marvis and the Demon Race? Why does it show X?
I hastily pulled up the bomb description window. Kaint had 30 days until the bomb exploded, Hexion had 3 days, and…
[Cedric]’s current affection: 0
Time until next bomb: D-1
This one clearly shows him as Cedric. And the affection is still at 0.
‘Could it be… this isn’t Cedric?’
Suddenly, an eerie feeling crept over me as chills ran down my spine.
