24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 214

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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 214

Episode 214. A Ray of Sunlight (2)

The dot marking my location on the map draws closer to Gontawa.

As it does, strange noises begin to sound from somewhere.

It was a noise I knew very well.

“…Ah, right.”

The Eye of the Discoverer had the nasty habit of chirping incessantly in front of found items until I arrived….

This was already a neighborhood where people lived in depression from the continuous rain, and now it was causing noise pollution like this.

I increased the speed of the Emerald Skywalk and quickly headed toward the direction of the sound.

But the direction the Emerald Skywalk was heading deviated ambiguously from Gontawa’s position on the map.

‘Isn’t this going deeper and deeper into the forest?’

Somehow it feels like I’m walking into a dangerous place with my own feet?

I deliberately ignored the anxiety that suddenly came over me.

Chirp- Chirp- Chirp-

The Eye of the Discoverer was crying loudly, not knowing how much I had wanted to see it.

It was loud enough to be heard even through this fierce sound of rain.

Thanks to that, my heart only grew more impatient.

Eventually, after a long while, the Emerald Skywalk stopped in front of a small stone cottage.

I hid my body among the thick grass and observed the situation.

Not inside the village, but a stone cottage that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the jungle.

The Eye of the Discoverer was crying pitifully from the very top of its roof.

And.

“Why are those two people doing that there?”

Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju were standing in front.

Ah, of course Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju weren’t the only ones there.

Three strangers in total.

The strangers blocking the front of the house were glaring at Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju with expressions full of wariness.

Pointing sharp spears and crude hammers that would pose no threat at all to renowned mages.

Right, those three I’m seeing for the first time must naturally be residents of Gontawa.

‘Why are they confronting each other?’

I thought they would be gathering information with reasonable flexibility since Lee Taek-ju was there, but it seems I was mistaken.

…Or not?

Is this all because of the Eye of the Discoverer?

The five people in the pouring heavy rain just stood glaring at each other without moving.

Hmm, from the looks of it, they seem to be blocking Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju who realized the Eye of the Discoverer was a signal I sent.

‘I wonder what’s in that stone cottage?’

Actually, there’s no need to guess what might be there.

Naturally, inside there would be the ‘sacred Tears of the Divine.’

Though I don’t know why they’re keeping it there and guarding it.

I quickly retrieved the Eye of the Discoverer.

When the frantically ringing alarm sound stopped, Kim Seol, who had been standing still, moved her head slightly.

I deliberately made splashing footstep sounds as I headed in that direction.

“….”

Isn’t it customary to at least shout ‘Who’s there!’ when someone comes?

The entire time I approached behind Kim Seol, I consistently ignored the intense gazes of the Gontawa people who stared at me without saying a word.

“What’s going on?”

I deliberately asked calmly to match their atmosphere, but the answer came from Lee Taek-ju.

“Hyung-nim, you’re here! You sent that eyeball, right? That’s some kind of clue, isn’t it?”

“That’s right, I was looking for something. But why are you all like this?”

They weren’t having a conversation, nor were they fighting.

Isn’t just standing in confrontation like this too much of a waste of time?

Just as I was thinking that, Kim Seol muttered quietly.

“The clue seems to be inside there, but they won’t let us enter.”

“You showed remarkable restraint?”

“…What do you take me for?”

Kim Seol shot me a briefly dumbfounded look.

With Kim Seol’s personality, I thought she would have smashed everything and blown off the stone cottage roof before entering through the ceiling.

As the two who had been confronting and I casually conversed, the Gontawa people gripped their respective weapons a bit tighter.

In the midst of that, Kim Seol again whipped around with sharp eyes.

“7 people.”

“7 people are coming? This, this, shall I put up a wall?”

Lee Taek-ju swaggered and made a motion of rubbing his palms together.

Being a mage who could make farmers step aside when it came to handling earth, putting up a wall to block reinforcements would be a piece of cake.

But Kim Seol shook her head with a cold expression.

“They’re walking. It’ll take 10 minutes.”

“Yes sir. Still, I’ll stay alert.”

“Lee Hae… you, did you find anything at the temple?”

Kim Seol, who had hesitated after almost calling me by name, asked quietly.

It was definitely a voice small enough for only me and Lee Taek-ju to hear.

“…Temple?”

The oldest-looking old man muttered in a somewhat sighing tone.

The atmosphere changed instantly.

The expressions of the residents standing with weapons on either side of the old man changed, and they exchanged glances.

With surprised faces as if they had heard something they shouldn’t have.

‘Why?’

These people are wary of the temple.

No matter how much they dislike the god, weren’t they once people who served the god?

Rather than being wary of the god, they seem to be wary of the temple itself….

‘Don’t tell me, are they wary of Kaem?’

Though Kaem seemed to be hiding something, he didn’t seem particularly shady, but seeing that reaction made things a bit strange.

Perhaps the weather problem isn’t everything.

That’s when it happened.

“Did you just say temple?”

An unfamiliar voice interjected.

There had definitely been only three people standing in front of the stone cottage, but somehow, when, another unfamiliar figure was standing there.

A young woman with short-cut purple hair and sharp eyes.

An attitude full of wariness as if she had jumped out without hesitation upon hearing the word ‘temple.’

And a long wooden stick of crude appearance in her hand.

Since she was holding it like a weapon, it must naturally be a weapon, and since it looked like it had no attack power, it was probably a staff.

‘Is that person Temi?’

The mage who had finished training that Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju had met near Gontawa.

From the message sent to Han Ro-mi, she seemed like someone who had guided Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju with a reasonably friendly attitude.

“So you’re from the temple.”

Temi, whom I had imagined would be a friendly person, was glaring at us with cold eyes.

With a chilly tone that felt considerable hatred, as if she had some grudge against the temple.

Temi narrowed her eyes and lightly swung her staff.

A translucent barrier descended in the form of a sphere surrounding the stone cottage.

Raindrops fell on the barrier making dull sounds, and Temi pointed her stick at us with her mouth tightly shut.

At a glance, it looked like she was trying to protect against us intruders.

“No, it’s not like that….”

It was the moment Lee Taek-ju opened his mouth, trying to somehow lighten the mood.

Swoosh—

The feeling of cold, dry air brushing against my skin.

I had only blinked for a moment, but before I knew it, Kim Seol was holding a massive frost scythe in her hand.

The frost scythe ‘Winterfrost’ emanated a chilling aura incomparable to Temi’s staff.

The tip of the long scythe, settled with the deep blue of the ocean depths, cleanly split the barrier in half.

Heavy rain poured down again on the heads of the residents who had been briefly freed from the rain.

No matter how genius a mage Temi might be, she seemed to fall short of Kim Seol’s precise magical power.

Perhaps it was a completely unexpected situation, as the residents standing in front of the stone cottage all froze in unison.

Kim Seol moved her fingers and gripped the ice-covered frost scythe.

To a third party observer, this would seem like a powder keg situation.

‘Ah, seriously.’

I sighed as I watched Kim Seol’s eyes brighten to an emerald color.

I mean, how can someone who came to solve a scenario get triggered at every turn like this?

I raised my hand for now.

“Wait a moment.”

No one reacted.

Well, being ignored is nothing new.

I didn’t give up and stepped forward in front of Kim Seol, shouting.

“What’s inside that house is the ‘sacred Tears of the Divine,’ isn’t it?”

Instead of taking over Gontawa through fear, I needed to solve the problem through dialogue first.

That’s what the virtue of scenario clearing is all about.

Since all scenarios after the 50th Floor don’t reset, I need to maintain amicable relations with the Gontawa residents for the future as well.

It seems like only Lee Hae-won, who isn’t a scenario participant, remembers that.

A low voice came from behind Temi.

“…How do you know that?”

A voice that tried to stay calm but couldn’t hide its trembling.

The old man who had been standing in the middle like a gatekeeper of the stone cottage stepped forward in front of Temi.

Right, now we’re ready to talk, aren’t we?

I scolded Kim Seol with my eyes and took another step forward.

Following me, the old man also approached one step closer.

The two residents standing on either side and Temi simultaneously panicked and tried to stop him, but the old man stepped forward without hesitation.

The old man up close looked old enough to easily be over eighty.

His snow-white hair braided to one side, his deeply wrinkled face, and his slightly bent back showed the passage of time.

‘His eyes are sharp though.’

Only his gaze looking directly at me was firm and clear.

From the atmosphere, this person seemed to be in quite a high position.

I asked in a calmer voice.

“Is the reason it stopped raining in Raquan because the Tears of the Divine disappeared?”

“….”

Bingo.

The old man didn’t answer, but his unwavering gaze showed a moment of wavering.

On top of that, the two people standing behind him and Temi simultaneously gasped, so I couldn’t help but be certain.

I had only guessed based on information collected in Panco, but as expected.

I asked once more.

“Did all of this start because of the Tears of the Divine?”

It was a long silence.

While no one moved, only the intense rain that had been devouring Raquan for so long continued to move.

The old man stared at me for a long time without saying anything, then asked in a trembling voice.

“How did you know?”

“I went to Panco.”

“…Hah.”

Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, as the old man sighed.

Cracks appeared in Temi’s rigidly hardened face as well.

I didn’t know what they were thinking, but all the Gontawa residents had complicated expressions.

Normally here, I should gradually lower the tension to match the serious atmosphere.

‘When do I have time for that.’

I already felt like I was going to freeze to death from the cold air leaking from Winterfrost.

I decided to just say everything.

“I found the bell tower in Panco. I discovered a box hidden inside the bell, but it was empty. I came here looking for the Tears of the Divine that should have been inside.”

It was a confession with the consideration that I’d need to explain separately to Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju as well.

I took out the wooden box I had stored in my inventory.

The moment he saw it, the old man reached out his hand toward me.

It wasn’t intentional, but he seemed to have reached out without realizing it.

Having come this far, were they ready to talk?

Now I had no choice but to become a peace envoy, replacing the antisocial Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju who had betrayed my trust.

“So let’s stop being wary and have a conversation, shall we? Come on, Kim Seol, stop intimidating people too.”

When I glanced back and spoke, Kim Seol looked at me with an annoyed gaze.

Even so, she swiftly waved her hand to cancel the summoning.

If she’s going to do what I ask anyway, why does she always grumble like that?

Now that Winterfrost had disappeared too, I smiled gently, trusting in the comfort that Brother’s face provided.

Temi also hesitated before carefully lowering her staff.

Anyway, both sides had shown their intention not to attack.

The old man who had been staring at me without answering quietly muttered after a long while.

“This will be a long story.”

“Since it’s cold, couldn’t we go inside somewhere to talk?”

Especially if it’s going to be a long story.

Preferably that stone cottage.

When I grinned cheekily, the old man slowly nodded.

“…Let’s return to the village for now.”

Well, yeah, it would be a bit strange to let us into the stone cottage they had worked so hard to block off, wouldn’t it?

At least I had ended the standoff somehow, so that alone was a step toward a peaceful scenario resolution.

The old man pointed toward the village.

Perhaps having no intention of walking ahead with the stone cottage behind them, the residents and Temi stood guarding in front of it.

I quickly nodded to Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju.

By the way, since they said they met Temi, had they already received a report about Kim Seol and Lee Taek-ju?

At that moment, the old man spoke calmly.

“I am Rowena.”

‘…Huh?’

Exchanging names was a green light.

But that wasn’t the important part.

I blinked and stared at the old man’s back.

The leather-covered notebook with the forbidden book stamp that I had found on the prayer hall floor.

The protagonist of the diary was alive.

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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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