A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"Really? Are you going?"

“Yes!” Bray replied immediately.

“Alright, alright, I’ll take you to town. I also need to herd my sheep while I’m at it,” the old man said, nodding slowly.

"But it seems I've forgotten something important?" He stroked his beard and muttered to himself.

It seems there's been some good news in the vicinity of town recently, but his memory isn't very good, and he's forgotten it all.

"Okay, forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore."

"By the way, what are you going to do in town with me?"

"..." Naruko and Bray froze simultaneously. "Phew... I almost thought we'd never reach our destination." Naruko wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and said with lingering fear.

"..." Bray was speechless.

"???" Levy looked completely confused.

Although the process was a bit of a pain, at least we arrived at our destination, the old man's ranch.

“It’s only two or three kilometers from my ranch this way to the town,” the old man said, pointing in a direction.

"Uh...yes." Bray responded hesitantly.

He was starting to doubt the old man's directions.

This old man, after walking just a few steps, would ask some startling questions.

For example, how many meters he just walked, and what he came out for.

This is no longer a matter of bad memory.

"I'll drive the sheep back to the pen first," the old man said, and then continued herding the sheep.

"Oh, right, I just remembered something." Just a few steps after the old man took, he patted his head, seemingly remembering something.

"The town has been quite lively lately," he said.

"lively?"

"Yes, yes, because a tall tower inexplicably appeared on the edge of the town."

"I heard that tower is very, very tall," the old man gestured.

"Also, this little girl is so cute."

After praising Levy, the old man really left without adding any further explanation.

"A tower that appeared out of nowhere?" Bray muttered.

"Isn't this great! We can also take a look at that tower!" Naruko was oblivious to any problem.

“I won’t look.” Bray immediately rejected Naruko’s decision.

"Why! Don't you love weird and wonderful places the most?!"

“When have I ever liked weird places?” Bray didn’t recall ever having such a personality trait.

"I bet you'll go," Naruko said, arms crossed, sounding a little defiant.

“Impossible,” Bray said calmly. The possibility that Naruko mentioned did not exist.

He intended to honestly complete the commissions, which is why he chose the mission to hunt down the Miqiu Rabbit.

“Then let’s make a bet!” Naruko chuckled a few times, then shouted to Bray.

"Tsk." Bray made a very displeased sound. Naruko was practically flirting with death.

He really didn't want to make any bets with Naruko, but seeing how arrogant Naruko was, he just couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"Tell me what you want to do," Bray said helplessly, which meant he accepted Naruko's provocation.

"If you lose~"

“I’m going to climb into your bed, Kuhahaha!!!” Naruko let out a perverted laugh.

"Ugh! Naruko is so scary!" Upon hearing Naruko's eerie laughter, Levy jumped up and shrank behind Bray.

Just by listening to Naruko's laughter, you can feel a strong sense of malice.

"Bang!" Without saying a word, Bray smashed Naruko's head with the hilt of his sword.

"Ouch, that hurts! What are you doing?!" Naruko cried, covering her head with tears in her eyes.

"I'll wake you up."

"Be serious."

"I'm being very serious, okay!" Naruko was genuinely trying to climb into someone's bed!

If Bray knew what this guy was thinking, he'd probably smash it again.

“I’m definitely not going to that tower; I’m going to hunt rabbits,” Bray said confidently.

"Why are you so obsessed with those rice ball rabbits?"

"I'm not obsessed with those rabbits..." Bray wondered if Naruko had misunderstood something; he had no grudge against Miko Rabbit.

"They're all the same kind, why be so cruel to them?"

“?” Bray’s dead fish eyes turned into a question mark.

What is Naruko saying? Is he the same kind of person as a rabbit?

“Yes, just think about this body pillow at home,” Naruko said earnestly.

Naruko's reminder made Bray remember the strange thing in his house.

It's that one-eyed,颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, dispirited) rabbit plushie; these guys actually claim it's him.

Are you kidding me?

“This joke isn’t funny.” Bray shook his head, thinking that Naruko must be making a joke.

"I wasn't making any jokes, to be honest." Naruko's eyes showed absolutely no hint of humor.

That earnest look left Bray speechless. He = a rabbit? No, no, no, at the very least he's a salted fish...

"..." As he thought about it, Bray found himself feeling a little heartbroken.

"Let's go, we'll take the magic carriage to that town, it'll probably take another half hour." Bray abruptly ended the conversation, took Levy's hand, and walked away.

"Wait for me! You'll definitely go inside that tower." Naruko called out to Bray as she chased after him.

"impossible!"

---

The few kilometers to the town took Bray and his companions half an hour, which was about the time he had expected.

Fortunately, the old man pointed in the right direction; otherwise, Bray felt it might not have been a matter of just a few hours.

It probably won't take a day to get to this town.

However, after arriving in the town, Bray discovered some very interesting things.

That is, there are a lot of adventurers in the town.

Many adventurers display nameplates to show off their status.

In this way, others will naturally know whether he is an adventurer or not.

There were so many people in the town with nameplates that it surprised Bray a little.

Why are there so many adventurers in a town without a guild? Is it all for that tower?

Incidentally, Bray doesn't usually wear nameplates.

However—

"Are you adventurers who came for that tower too?" A woman in military attire stood with her hands on her hips in front of the group. Her attire had the characteristics of the Eastern Continent, with elaborate but not cumbersome decorations, making her look like a native adventurer.

Why could the other party determine that Bray was an adventurer even though he didn't wear a nameplate?

Because Bray's attire was so unlike that of a normal person; he looked like an adventurer.

Similarly, Naruko's denim outfit, which blends Eastern and Western styles, doesn't look like something an ordinary person would wear.

“Yes, yes!” Naruko nodded vigorously.

"..." Bray wanted to say no, but Naruko had already spoken.

"Then, why don't we form a team?" The woman enthusiastically invited Bray and his companions to team up.

"..." Bray remained silent, merely observing the other person with his right eye.

The other party is being far too enthusiastic.

"Naruko," Bray called out to Naruko.

When Naruko heard Bray call her name, she understood what he wanted to say.

"Don't rush, you dead fish eyes." Naruko simply waved her hand casually.

"Can you tell me what's going on here?" Naruko laughed heartily and started putting her arm around the woman's shoulder.

However, she did not immediately agree to team up with the women.

"As expected, you've only heard rumors and don't know the specifics at all."

"Hehe, I heard about it from a local, so I came to check it out," Naruko said. Few people remember clearly when this tall building first appeared.

In a daze, the towering stone tower that seemed to reach into the clouds was already near the town.

However, the appearance of this stone tower did not seem abrupt.

It was as if this stone tower was meant to be in this place.

A brand new site will naturally attract a lot of curious people to explore it.

Some people hire adventurers to explore, while others venture into the tower on their own initiative.

An unknown place also means resources that people didn't have access to before.

With rewards, there's no shortage of people coming to this place to admire and explore this mysterious stone tower.

The exterior of the stone tower is azure blue, adorned with a few golden reliefs.

Two golden statues of unknown origin cradled the tower at its base.

Despite the obvious marks of time on the tower, the golden statues still exude a sense of awe.

Some scheming individuals even considered digging up these golden statues.

However, they were unable to damage the golden statues at all, and in the end, these sneaky guys had to leave empty-handed.

However, it must be said that self-interest can still drive people to do things that cross the line.

"Inside this stone tower, there are some automatically moving magical creations, as well as some monsters," the woman in military attire explained to Naruko.

“I’ve explored the shallower areas by myself before, but I want to go a little deeper.”

"It would be too dangerous to go in alone, so I want to team up," the woman said.

This stone tower can bring out all sorts of mysterious things, and some of them were bought at high prices after being seen by certain mages or scholars.

Driven by greed, adventurers, smelling the scent of money, tirelessly explored every corner of the stone tower.

Of course, those magical creations or monsters are too powerful, and many people can only explore the shallow areas, that is, the first few floors.

But honestly, this stone tower is so tall, I really have no idea where the top floor is.

Bray looked up at the stone tower and couldn't help but compare it to the stronghold of the "Great Enemy of God".

They seem to be about the same height.

If that's really the case, then Bray would be quite surprised.

Because it's so high, aren't you afraid it will be blown over by the wind?

"What do you guys think?" The woman was still thinking about teaming up with Bray and Naruko.

As for Levy? Huh? Would a normal person use that little girl as a fighting force?

“We’re not planning to go in,” Bray said casually, glancing at Naruko’s expectant face.

Naruko was greatly disappointed.