Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 115

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Cheating Admin Climbing Mythic Tower (115)
What struck him first was the form of the village itself.
Given the barren terrain with hardly a tree in sight, he’d half expected them to dwell in dugouts formed from packed earth, but……
“Where is this, exactly? Cappadocia in Turkey? The Zelve Valley, perhaps?”
“They’ve bored holes into the canyon wall—. It’s like some sort of human-sized honeycomb? An ant colony?”
Countless caves riddled across one face of the canyon.
Dark Elves poking their heads out from holes drilled so high up that one wondered how anyone could possibly climb that far.
While Park Hyun-gu and the others marveled at the sight of the cave village, Kim Moo-saeng was taking in every precise detail.
Among the endless stream of data captured in the mage Maia’s goggles, three figures he would not overlook.
The Tribal Leaders of the Bembe Tribe, the Sandu Tribe, and the Yodingo Tribe.
Of these, Kim Moo-saeng’s focus remained fixed on the Bembe Tribe.
This place was their stronghold, after all.
The Sandu and Yodingo tribes had gathered here—that was the structure at play.
Which meant the strongest voice belonged to…
[Baba-Bembe]
—Race: Dark Elf
—Age: 285
—Affiliation: Dark Elf Bembe Tribe
—Occupation: Tribal Leader
White hair twisted into a topknot.
Thick white eyebrows, bushy and wild.
Weathered skin, creased with age.
“……Cursed human. Have you come to choose the place where you shall fall?”
He could be nothing but the leader of the Bembe Tribe.
Kim Moo-saeng regarded the 285-year-old leader with a slight shrug.
“With all respect, there’s no need for such talk if you’ve no real intent to kill us. You already know we came to have a civilized conversation, don’t you?”
He wasn’t even using Invisibility.
No—hadn’t the first and second spear of each tribe been taken captive?
Once they’d confirmed that, their will to fight would have evaporated entirely.
“Hmm, hmm…… What business brings you here?”
“As I said—we came for a pleasant conversation. Could you spare us some time?”
Kim Moo-saeng had sensed he could push harder if needed, yet he chose not to—a technique in its own right, one might say.
Baba-Bembe swept his gaze across the cavern.
The other two tribal leaders offered no particular reaction.
He simply nodded.
“Follow me.”
“Of course, I should mention—any attack on our party, any unauthorized rescue attempts on the prisoners, and this conversation ends at once. I leave their safety in your hands, Hyun-gu, and all of you.”
Kim Moo-saeng let slip a single warning.
It was a caution aimed at the Dark Elves, and
“Ah? Yes, yes. Don’t worry.”
“You can count on us, CEO Kim! We’ll make sure nothing happens.”
also a statement designed to separate his party from the rest.
There was a clear reason for that necessity.
‘I thought the first spear would be the NPC with the highest Stat, but……’
Baba-Bembe stared directly at Kim Moo-saeng.
But his gaze was fixed not on Kim Moo-saeng, but on Wash drifting beside him.
For deeper conversation, it was better not to bring the party along.
The correctness of Kim Moo-saeng’s judgment became apparent the moment they stepped into the largest cave among those honeycombed into the canyon wall.
“……A curious living being.”
Baba-Bembe spoke, his gaze on Wash.
Even that single remark revealed everything.
[KYAHAHAHA! Compared to that Graf, these idiots are just the same as that savage female, aren’t they, Kim Moo-saeng?]
How vast the gulf between merely seeing Wash and truly understanding Wash’s nature.
“Well, I suppose it’s a bit rude to compare this old man to Su-ah, but… yeah, he’s got a point.”
Kim Moo-saeng murmured to himself.
The three Dark Elf leaders couldn’t hide their bewilderment.
In that brief space where they hadn’t yet decided whether to be angry or what to do,
“Now then—returning to the Promised Land……? I’d like to hear about your dreams and hopes first. An explanation, in detail, if you would.”
Kim Moo-saeng seized the initiative.
* * *
The story was long.
It was long enough that he would have fallen asleep if not for the subtle comedy that played out each time Wash opened his beak—the three tribal leaders looking utterly helpless with each interjection.
‘I held on well enough…… really, I held on.’
Moo-saeng had maintained his upright posture so impeccably that he wanted to congratulate himself.
And for that effort, he had learned something.
“Right, so…… I’ve heard the sad and beautiful tale of your people well enough. What you ultimately want is to escape this Desolate Land and secure a settlement. Specifically, you want a place in the World Tree Forest where the elves now dwell—the forest spoken of in your legends as where you were driven out from at the beginning—and it needn’t be at the very center where the World Tree stands, even a corner will do. The area doesn’t need to be particularly large, does it?”
The Promised Land = the World Tree Forest.
The Dark Elves’ bitter regret, dream, and hope = securing space there.
Area and location requirements = none.
“……That is correct. We need not even have a village. As long as we can enter that place whenever we wish, without any restrictions.”
If only he could have summed it up like this from the start.
From the elves’ history to the World Tree’s origins and the formation of the forest, the discord between elves and Dark Elves that occurred within it…… and then the current circumstances, driven into this Desolate Land unable to return to the verdant forest, and preparations for that distant day when they might return.
Moo-saeng swallowed the discontent that had risen to his throat.
All in all, he had endured it well and understood it thoroughly.
“So what you’re saying is, you placed that dream on Tozuka, in a manner of speaking?”
“Yes. Tozuka showed promise even as a future tribal leader…… but he pursued a faster method than leading his tribe toward fulfilling that dream.”
They lacked the strength to push out the elves and seize that land.
There had to be Dark Elves who could not wait for that distant day, all in the name of building strength.
One of them was the Dark Elf Moo-saeng had dealt with: Tozuka.
“More extreme and more aggressive, you might say.”
If elves and humans had joined hands.
Dark Elves would join hands with monsters.
Drive out humans and elves alike, and let the monsters seize the human kingdoms while Dark Elves claim the World Tree Forest…… that was the plan.
There was no need to dismiss it as nonsense.
Baba-Bembe spoke.
“……That is merely the perspective of humans. As for myself, I had no grounds to refuse the proposal. What is the term ‘Dark Elf’ to begin with? It speaks as though elves are the standard and we are a branch from them…… yet you humans do not divide yourselves by calling some ‘humans’ and others ‘black humans’ or such.”
In that alone, one could perceive the anger inherent in the Dark Elf race.
Of course, understanding and outright accepting were two different things.
Moo-saeng spoke.
“But you yourselves call yourselves Dark Elves.”
“The malady of custom built over long ages.”
“Well, you certainly have your rhetoric. Ah, and humans too have…… ‘black people’…… well…… I suppose there are counterarguments to be made, but this doesn’t seem like the place for them.”
“We are different from elves. Breeding between us is fundamentally impossible. Just as with you humans.”
“I see.”
It was the kind of statement that would have delighted Kim Woo-min.
In any case, for Moo-saeng, these various details and backstory elements—
held no immediate interest.
What mattered was whether he could secure even a corner of the World Tree Forest.
“Very well then. Let me act as mediator. I’ll see to it that you can set foot in the World Tree Forest.”
Moo-saeng had already completed a rough calculation on that front.
“Pshaw.”
“Preposterous! Cursed human, your three-inch tongue will avail you nothing.”
“How could a human possibly mediate for Dark Elves—”
The three tribal leaders dismissed his proposal with outright scorn.
But Moo-saeng was not one to fail to anticipate even this.
“I am one who has received the Blessing of the Elves. The elves could hardly ignore my words.”
A special status acquired thanks to fulfilling the first hidden condition upon eliminating Tozuka on Floor 27.
[Blessing of the Elves]
“To the benefactor who thwarted the vile and treacherous schemes of the Dark Elves, I grant a modest blessing in token of the long-standing goodwill between humans and elves…….”
To the benefactor who perceived and shattered the schemes of the Dark Elf Tozuka, all members of the elf race extend their gratitude.
Affinity with the Elf Race +100%
Authority to enter the World Tree Forest unconditionally
Ability to acquire 1 type of World Tree Fruit or item crafted using the World Tree
The Blessing of the Elves existed.
Though he had yet to meet them in person, judging from the wording and effects written in the special status alone, he should at least be able to make their acquaintance and hold a conversation with the elves.
If he got that far—
“B-but even so…….”
“How could a human—. The elves would never listen to a human, not words like that—.”
“And considering the very attitude those creatures display toward us—.”
“Ah, don’t concern yourselves with that. Once I get them seated, all the entangling and persuading—I’ll handle every bit of it myself.”
After that, things should work out one way or another.
Whatever happens, whether I kill every Dark Elf visible on this stage of Floor 31,
or whether it’s better than fleeing and hiding from the Dark Elves’ gaze for all thirty days!
Moo-saeng smiled, a thin, sharp thing, and spoke.
“The moment I accept this, attacks directed at me will cease… or better yet, I’d ask you to dissolve the curse itself.”
There was no way to refute such a logical argument.
Simple. Yet decisive.
“Hmm, but that… the time limit…”
“Come now, how many years was it you said? A thousand? Surely you aren’t asking me to finish everything in a mere day or two after waiting all those centuries? In any case, as long as I complete the work before I die, that should suffice, yes? You already know who I am anyway, so if I fail to deliver, you can simply curse me again at that point.”
“No, but that’s… that’s…”
At this point, even two hundred eighty-five years of wisdom seemed to amount to little.
It was true that Moo-saeng’s words held appeal, but if the tribal leader accepted those conditions—
what if Moo-saeng simply ran away?
What safeguard existed? Should they forge a contract?
Would such a thing even mean anything?
[Gahahaha! Exactly. That’s why you can’t sit across from this damnable human. Neither me nor even that Murometz bastard could weather what he deals out, and there’s no way you pitiful elves could either! Especially since you don’t even have the Abyss Contract!]
Wash laughed, his voice crackling with something like electricity.
Moo-saeng met the eyes of Baba-Bembe and the other tribal leaders, then spoke.
“I live and die by contracts. I know well that even a verbal contract is a contract. Don’t worry. I won’t run away.”
Good faith.
Without something like the Abyss Contract, after all.
Without any safeguard to implement.
What was most necessary?
“… Trust.”
Baba-Bembe murmured the word.
Moo-saeng nodded vigorously.
In that silence, as even the other tribal leaders began to exchange glances of complete agreement—
“Ah, and to make the work proceed more smoothly, I wonder if there might be something you’d offer me? A sort of… token of faith, shall we say?”
“Uh, what?”
One step further, taking what came before closing time.
That too would be a fitting conclusion, if we’re speaking of what was true to Moo-saeng.
[Congratulations!]
[You have achieved the Clear Condition.]
[Time Remaining: 688:21:38]
[Contribution Rate will not be calculated.]
[Individual rewards are granted to all participants.]
The Hidden Quest, which should have consumed thirty days of bloodcurdling flight and evasion, was finished in just over a day.
The rewards alone were enough to make the eyes of the party members in the Dark Elf settlement go wide with amazement—
[Blood Oath of Three Dark Elf Tribes]
[No, stop! The Blood Oath does not literally mean blood itself!]
[Additional rewards are granted.]
Compared to the additional reward that only Moo-saeng had managed to claim, anything the others received would scarcely register.

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