A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

They are about the size of a palm, and can be easily held in the palm of your hand.

Moreover, despite the ravages of time, the statue remains remarkably well-preserved.

There is no doubt that this plant has great historical research value.

“This statue is beautiful!” Naruko stared intently at the statue.

The statue depicts an angel with six pairs of wings spread out. The angel has a beautiful face and holds a scepter aloft, as if making a declaration.

Despite having worked with many Bronze-type beings, Bray was still taken aback when he saw the sculpted angel.

This looks even better than the real thing!

“A real statue must be worth a lot of money…” Bray said in a low voice.

"Maybe, but it's still worth more than the previous stones," Naruko said.

From any perspective, this statue shouldn't be cheaper than the stone that the adventurer sold earlier.

Since that's the case, there's no point in hesitating.

Bray grabbed the statue with one hand.

"Hey, don't grab people's heads." Naruko was speechless as she watched Bree grab the statue's head.

Even though it's just a statue, could you please be a little gentler?

"Tsk." Bray clicked his tongue and changed to holding the statue.

"This is so troublesome." Carrying the statue like this is troublesome even to walk, let alone do anything else.

"Brave~ Levy will get it for you." Levy obediently stretched out her little hand, swaying back and forth, waiting for Bray to hand her the statue.

"Do you want to?"

“I want to help Breonna 0V0.” Levy said, her tail wagging rapidly, making a “thud” sound on the floor.

Levy had no interest in the statue; she only wanted to "help" Bray.

But this floor is really sturdy; it didn't even break after being hit by Levy's tail like that.

“Levy is such a good girl.” Bray half-squatted down and handed the statue to Levy.

"Hmm!" Levy held up the statue with both hands, and a cute smile inexplicably appeared on her face.

"Fireball, move aside." Levy poked the fireball above her head.

"Meow?" Fireball, who was sleeping soundly, looked confused.

"Meow!!!" The next second, a statue appeared in the fireball's arms.

"Stay calm and collected," Levy earnestly advised her little lion.

"Meow meow meow?" Although the fireball obediently held the statue, which was about the same size as itself, with its paws, it still didn't understand what was going on.

Unfortunately, no one will answer the questions about the fireball.

Bray and his companions continued onward, their destination being to climb to the next level.

The staircase that had disappeared reappeared on a new floor.

Bray led the two women uphill, not knowing how high they had reached.

However, since we're already here, we might as well climb up.

Of course, if it takes too long, Bray is planning to leave.

After all, he and Naruko didn't have any food or rations with them, and they would starve to death if it got too late.

Naruko isn't important, but it's not good to let Levy go hungry.

"Achoo—" Naruko sneezed.

She touched her nose, then looked at Bray with a sharp gaze.

“You’re talking badly about me,” Naruko said, emphasizing each word.

Her intuition told her that Bray had definitely been talking badly about her a few seconds earlier.

"I just felt that even if you were to go hungry, I couldn't let Levy go hungry." Bray didn't hide anything and honestly spoke his mind.

Are you the devil?

“No, it’s humans,” Bray retorted.

"..." Just as Bray was about to say a few more words to Naruko, he noticed that there was a window on the wall.

He couldn't help but walk to the window, because the previous windows were all mounted on very high walls, making it impossible to look out.

"Wow, that's high! Did we climb that many floors?" Bray was a little shocked.

“We’ve been climbing for an hour or two,” Naruko said.

Bray and Levy ignored most of the supernatural and ghostly things along the way, so they climbed the stairs very quickly.

For a normal adventurer, dealing with those things would take a considerable amount of time—and they might not even be able to defeat them.

A good example is the team that recently sought help from Bray.

"Wow, it's really high." Naruko also looked out the window.

"About a hundred floors?"

"You made that up?" Bray glanced at Naruko.

“Yeah, it’s all made up.” Naruko nodded, thinking to herself that Bray has become much smarter lately.

"..."

However, what Naruko said is quite possible.

Moreover, during that teleportation not long ago, Bray felt like he had crossed many layers.

"There's no one left here," Bray remarked, noting that the higher they went, the fewer people there were.

There wasn't a single person in sight here.

"Shall we continue upwards?" Naruko asked tentatively.

“Of course,” Bray replied matter-of-factly.

We've already come this far, and it's not too late yet.

If we go a little further up, we might find something even more valuable.

Did you bring any bags or anything?

"How could that be?" Naruko waved her hand casually.

"Besides, even if you did, there wouldn't be enough artifacts to fill your collection." She shrugged, intending to dispel Bray's unrealistic fantasies.

“Ah…yes, there really is.” Bray paused, then said in a complicated tone.

"What nonsense are you talking about... ah..." Naruko initially thought that Bray was obsessed with money, but she quickly shut up.

"Huh?" Levy, holding the statue on her head, looked at the two frozen figures with confusion.

“So many…” Bray said, his heart aching as he squeezed out the words.

A dazzling array of treasures were neatly arranged in the empty room in front.

It was as if Bray and his companions had entered a collection room; no, perhaps this was originally a collection room.

Gems, documents, handicrafts—all sorts of things that looked valuable were laid out before Bray.

Unfortunately, Bray simply couldn't distinguish which were the most valuable.

If possible, he would like to pack everything up here and contribute to the historical research of black iron.

"This book looks pretty good." Naruko casually picked up a book with a gorgeous cover from the bookshelf.

"I'll put it away first." Naruko put the book into her small backpack.

"I'll grab one and take a look too." Bray walked up to the bookshelf and picked out a book with two swords on the cover.

But the moment Bray picked it up, the entire book vanished into thin air.

"..." Bray fell into a deep silence.

"How...did you pick it up?"

“Just pick it up like that.” Naruko picked up another book, and nothing happened.

“Really?” Bray said, then picked up a book with an abstract angel on the cover, still not believing it.

"Whoosh—" The book weathered away once again, and this important historical artifact disappeared from the world.

"How did you pick it up?" Bray's dead fish eyes were filled with sorrow.

"It's probably...luck?" Seeing the look in Bray's eyes, Naruko didn't know what to say for a moment.

“I feel like we’re the robbers of history right now,” Naruko said to Bray as she put small items into her backpack.

"Then why don't you stop what you're doing?" Bray glanced at Naruko.

"Isn't it because you wanted it?"

"..."

“Isn’t it all for the sake of income…” Bray muttered to himself.

"Huh? We're out of money again?" Naruko's body jolted, and she felt a little panicked.

"It's not that there isn't any, but at this rate, it'll probably be gone in two or three years."

Not long ago, Bray made a decision to take the smaller items with him.

Although it is very small, its value is still immeasurable.

If we can take it with us, it will definitely alleviate future economic pressure.

Everything is for the future; it's all about planning ahead.

However, Bray didn't think that taking these things was a big deal at first, but after Naruko said that, he felt a little embarrassed to continue.

"How about we stop here?" Bray suggested tentatively.

He felt guilty, like a sinner in history.

"Eh, what's the point of saying anything now that things have come to this?" Naruko changed her tune drastically, as if she had forgotten what she had said just seconds before.

“Even if we don’t take them, someone else will. And even if no one takes them, they’ll just sit here gathering dust in this wretched place,” she said earnestly.

When she heard that her family was having some financial difficulties, she immediately changed her mind.

"..." Bray's expression turned strange. He had seen Naruko's righteous attitude before, but now he heard such truthful words.

"Levy, you should pack too, or we'll starve," Naruko said to Levy.

"Hmm?" Levy asked, puzzled.

"!!!!!!!!!!" Then Levy started to bristle, as if she was starving to death?

"Fireball, pick up the things!" Levy instructed Fireball, and then followed Naruko and Bray's example, picking up some small items herself.

"Meow..." Fireball looked at the statue in his arms, feeling a bit troubled.

Throw it away? Probably not.

But if I don't throw it away, how will it hug other things?

Just as the newly summoned beast Fireball was struggling, several strangers suddenly appeared and rescued it.

Because everyone's attention was drawn to it, Fireball naturally got the chance to slack off.

---

"Why is someone able to climb the stairs faster than us?" A deep voice sounded beside Bray.

Bray casually glanced at the five people who had suddenly stood near him.

All five people were wearing long black robes that didn't seem to bother them because of the heat.

The robe was embroidered with sophisticated patterns, giving it a very high-class look.

He had sensed the person approaching earlier, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

Since everyone was going upstairs, there was nothing to be wary of.