24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 159

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 159

Episode 159. Turning Point (5)

When I called Green’s name, the documents became rain and scattered.

Green, who saw me appear like magic in the middle of the research lab that was clearly empty, lost his balance and fell onto a pile of documents.

The documents he must have painstakingly stacked scattered across the floor in an instant.

Green opened his eyes so wide I wondered if they could get that big, and lay there face-down, unable to even scream, just opening and closing his mouth.

It would be disastrous if he screamed!

I hurriedly whispered.

“I, I came because Theowald sent me!”

“…Brother did?”

“Yes, Theowald did.”

“How do you know my brother… no, how do you know me?”

“I happened to be nearby when Theowald was hovering between life and death.”

“Brother is sick?!”

As expected of these siblings, they have a good relationship.

Green prioritized his brother’s well-being over reporting that there was an intruder in Berylsha’s mayor’s research lab.

I naturally put on a wistful expression and answered.

“Yes, his mind was so scattered he couldn’t even recognize who was in front of him. Even in that state, he kept looking for you, Green. He said he was worried about whether you were doing well, that he missed his sibling so much…”

Of course, there wasn’t a shred of truth in this, but that doesn’t matter right now.

Right now, lowering Green’s guard is the most important thing.

Sure enough, Green hurriedly pushed through the pile of documents and got up.

Then he grabbed my hand without hesitation and asked.

“Is he okay now?! Brother has a chronic illness. Don’t tell me it got worse?!”

I, I didn’t know that much.

I was momentarily flustered, but I calmly held Green’s hand in return.

In this improvised drama, I am absolutely a character favorable to Green.

I am Theowald’s benefactor and the person who can give Green the most recent news about his brother, so there’s no need to be afraid at all.

When I gently wrapped his rough hands that showed he’d lived a busy working life, Green looked up at me in a daze.

“He’s fine now. He recovered after taking the medicine I gave him.”

When I comforted him with the tone of a reasonably kind nurse, Green’s eyes filled with tears.

I smoothed out the wrinkles in his crumpled shirt and gently patted Green’s back.

Now, I’ve successfully unlocked the latch on his heart.

‘From now on is what’s important.’

I solemnly added more to shake Green’s heart a little more.

“Theowald was very worried about you, Green. In our last phone call, he said you looked like you were having a really hard time.”

At those words, Green’s shoulders dropped.

His tear-filled eyes were shaking mercilessly.

“…He said that?”

“Yes. He said Green wasn’t originally that kind of person, and that you must be being forced to make some painful choice in Berylsha.”

The words changed a bit, but the nuance is similar.

The emotion reflected in Green during the phone call with Theowald was clear.

Green is currently feeling guilt about Berylsha’s, about Quentin Ixion Berylsha’s choices.

I continued speaking while affectionately patting Green’s hand.

“Theowald said this. That Green is someone who would somehow move forward for what he wants. That leaving Gearsgard was also for that reason. For himself. But…”

I spoke in a clearer and more resolute tone, making eye contact with Green.

“Green, are you really doing what you want to do right now?”

Depending on how he answers, it will determine whether Green becomes an ally or an enemy.

But even before hearing the answer, I already knew what Green would say.

Green, who had been moving his lips for a long time, slowly opened his mouth.

“…No.”

At the same time, the guilt that had been building up became a single tear that flowed down his cheek.

“I, I… don’t want to do this. How can we destroy all the other cities just so we can survive…? It’s cruel, Lord Quentin is strong… we could look for other methods, there must be a way for everyone to live…”

Green, whose floodgates had burst, mumbled as he poured out his emotions.

Green probably heard all the plans that came from Quentin’s mouth while working as his aide and fell into confusion.

Even knowing that they would attack Gearsgard where his own family was, he must have suffered in anguish, unable to confide in anyone about it.

Of course, even if Quentin had repented late and helped all the other cities, the Tower of Babel wouldn’t have shown mercy to those who don’t climb.

So even the thread-thin hope he clung to must have crumbled.

‘But that’s not what’s important right now.’

Even if Aetheria is a dimension that was destroyed, the Green in front of my eyes right now is perfectly alive.

Green is someone who will live in South Korea’s Tower of Babel even after the scenario ends, and I wanted to show Green a future he wouldn’t regret.

I calmly let go of Green’s hand and took a step back.

“Then you need to tell me.”

Green’s eyes shook once again.

I spoke clearly and resolutely without wavering.

“How to stop Quentin Ixion Berylsha.”

Green would know.

He might have just been a factory manager’s sibling, an ordinary mechanic in Gearsgard.

‘But there must be a good reason why Green, who’s from another city, established himself here.’

Green, an outsider, became the aide to Quentin, the strongest person in this dimension, and earned enough trust to enter this research lab alone.

So he must know some clue to stop Quentin.

When I gazed at him coldly, opposite to the warm behavior I’d shown until now, Green flinched.

It was an attitude that realized our conversation was a serious and heavy topic.

Perhaps realizing the talk would be long, Green settled down and sat.

Though he didn’t think about the fact that it would be on top of the collapsed pile of documents.

It seemed a bit funny to have a serious conversation while sitting on a pile of documents, but Green’s expression was so serious that I kept my mouth shut and sat beside him.

‘We’re not going to have Quentin suddenly show up, are we?’

I was having quite reasonable concerns when Green carefully muttered.

“Right now is Lord Quentin’s training time, so he won’t come here for a while.”

You can read minds, Green.

‘Then that’s fortunate.’

Now it’s time to safely gather all the useful information I can from Green’s story.

Green, who had been hesitating for a long time, carefully opened his mouth.

“Lord Quentin was originally a bit unusual. Even though he sits in the position of the highest mage, he was much more interested in magical research than the city’s stability. You could even say that was his pure side.”

…Pure?

Before I could be flustered by the unexpected expression, Green immediately continued.

“I met Lord Quentin on the street as soon as I smuggled myself into Berylsha. Lord Quentin, who saw the engine research journal I was carrying, valued my abilities highly and gave me citizenship, helping me continue my research in Berylsha. Here I could do complex research combining engineering and magic. Berylsha actually developed a lot. I… enjoyed that.”

Hearing up to this point, he sounds like someone with nothing bad about him.

But Green hung his head as if the real point was starting now.

“Lord Quentin changed starting six months ago. From when he first discovered an ‘entrance’ he’d never seen before in the city hall basement.”

As soon as I heard those words, my expression hardened.

‘To think the Tower of Babel’s entrance was in the city hall basement.’

I was wondering if I’d have to fly all the way to the Tower of Babel to check, but surprisingly it’s easy to access.

Since Quentin is a mage sensitive to mana, finding the Tower of Babel’s entrance was a natural course of events.

“After he started training there, he gradually became strange. Previously he would at least review city administration reports, but he delegated all city affairs to the senior mages and devoted himself only to research. When we occasionally had conversations, he would only say strange things.”

“What kind of things?”

Green muttered quietly as if confused.

“…All cities have developed because they all had their uses.”

This is something only I can understand, knowing that the Tower of Babel exists in this dimension and has a fatal negative influence.

Green doesn’t even know about the Tower of Babel’s existence, so this would be incomprehensible to her.

The ‘use’ Quentin mentioned would be nourishment to be absorbed by the Tower of Babel.

“Then he began making plans to destroy the other cities. Quentin is a smart man. He knew how to make the other cities self-destruct. I wanted to refuse those orders, but….”

Green added cautiously, her hands trembling.

“I was scared. When I looked into Quentin’s eyes, it felt like… if he thought I was unnecessary, he would kill me.”

She spoke with a somewhat ashamed and troubled expression, but that was natural.

An already strong guy had gone mad, intoxicated by the Tower of Babel’s magic, so I could imagine how clouded and vacant his gaze must have been.

People who have lived as the weak know well when to be cautious.

“I couldn’t stop him….”

Green muttered with a voice full of guilt.

“No, it wasn’t something you could have stopped. And it’s not entirely bad. Because Green endured well, we can obtain this information and find a new method.”

“Do you think so…?”

“Of course.”

I deliberately gave her a gentle smile.

Of course, the situation was the worst and there wasn’t much I could do to help, but Green seemed to need a ray of hope.

Sure enough, Green, who had been making eye contact with me, couldn’t hold back and her expression crumpled.

Soon Green burst into tears again and spoke incoherently.

“I tried to persuade him… but he wouldn’t even look at the research, told me not to do such things and just leave it alone… I said that if Quentin helped, we could save all the other cities too, asked how long we had to keep fighting. But he wouldn’t listen to me at all, just told me to go pick spies to plant in Glimerstona… That was too hard for me….”

As I listened quietly and nodded, I suddenly realized that one piece of information I shouldn’t miss had just passed by.

I hurriedly grabbed Green’s shoulder and asked.

“Wait, you said there was research that could save all the other cities?”

“…Oh, yes.”

“What exactly was the research?”

“Research on combining magic and engineering to operate engines without mana crystals. However, this requires a mage as strong as Quentin, but Quentin had no interest at all, so we couldn’t even experiment-”

“When did you make that report?”

When I urgently interrupted, Green blinked in confusion.

“About… two months ago.”

Two months ago – by then, Quentin would have been thoroughly intoxicated by the Tower of Babel’s disgusting magic, so he wouldn’t have cared about coexistence of all cities or anything else.

The invention of a new engine that would eliminate the need to fight over mana crystal mines.

The answer to Aetheria’s scenario, ‘Nest,’ was magitech engineering.

Not Seo Jae-hyuk’s extreme method of supporting Berylsha, but a hopeful method where everyone could survive.

“…Quentin has completely lost his mind, hasn’t he?”

“Yes… oh.”

Green, who had answered without thinking, hurriedly covered her mouth.

But both she and I know.

That crazy mage bastard became a Babel Tower zealot and ignored an invention that could allow all cities to coexist.

That was the moment.

Thud-

An ominous roar came from outside.

Green and I exchanged glances and rushed outside.

The corridor was littered with broken glass, and wind was seeping in through the cleanly shattered window.

And.

“What is… that?”

“….”

An object that had fallen into the middle of the street visible through the broken window, creating a large crater.

Despite the tremendous impact, it was emitting a gentle, sacred aura.

‘…Isn’t that the Judge of Holy Light?’

It was Lee Hwa-yeon’s weapon, the Judge of Holy Light.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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