Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 174

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

Episode 174. The Tower – Signing (2)

Elliott slipped into the city in secret, parted ways with the Climbers who had escorted him, and quietly made his way to the Temporary Command Post.
Once inside, Elliott lost no time in meeting Ulysses S. Grant, the Northern Military’s Supreme Commander.
“Welcome, Vice Minister Elliott. I’m sorry for the trouble my mistake has caused you. I heard through messenger that enemy guerrillas disguised as bandits attacked and severed the railway?”
Whether the enemy had disguised themselves as bandits or allied with actual bandits remained unclear, but the fact of the attack did not change.
General Grant had been using the Northern Military’s overwhelming numerical advantage to pressure the Southern Army, and had already begun a siege at Petersburg in Virginia beyond the James River, where General Robert E. Lee, the Southern Army’s commander, had dug in with his forces. He might have extracted Lee’s surrender.
But somehow, General Lee used bizarre weapons to break through the encirclement and fled westward.
Yet despite these strange weapons, the Southern Army had already been driven into such a desperate position that breaking the siege inflicted catastrophic losses upon them, allowing the Northern forces to recapture them.
Though in that process, the Northern Military suffered unforeseen casualties as well.
“By divine mercy, I was able to barely repel the enemy and return. There is something I must tell you about this.”
“What is it?”
Elliott answered Grant’s question with resolve.
“Before the treaty signing tomorrow—or rather, right now—please obtain the Surrender Document signed by General Lee, the enemy commander.”
“Vice Minister Elliott, signing the Surrender Document serves not only as external demonstration but as a crucial element in neutralizing the remnants of the Southern Army.”
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t hold a signing ceremony. I’m merely suggesting we obtain the surrender document with his signature beforehand, as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances. If the ceremony goes smoothly tomorrow and we affix the seal without incident, we can simply burn the pre-signed document.”
Grant sensed something grave in Elliott’s demeanor.
“What is the matter?”
“Tomorrow there will likely be an act of terror.”
Elliott relayed Han Ji-woo and Bogard’s suspicions directly, recounting the strange explosions and weapons wielded by the racist extremists he had encountered—technology far ahead of their time.
Grant, who had once let General Lee slip through his fingers due to these bizarre explosions and weapons, fell silent in thought for a moment.
“Very well. We’ll obtain the Surrender Document as you suggest. And we’ll prepare against terror in multiple ways.”
Grant spoke in a tone of casual indifference.
His manner suggested he doubted whether this “terror” was truly so significant.
Though he had received reports from his subordinates, humans invariably fill in the gaps of what they haven’t directly experienced with imagination.
Imagination born from experience could sometimes inflate trivial matters into catastrophes, but conversely, it could reduce tremendous threats into mere trifles.
When it came to weapons never encountered before, even the most vivid imagination struggled to grasp the true danger they posed.
Elliott, observing Grant’s lack of gravity, sighed inwardly.
Yet Grant was far from being an incompetent commander who ignored intelligence.
Though he bore a reputation for having a temperament poorly suited to military rigidity, Grant was considered a natural-born soldier of exceptional ability.
Even when he didn’t personally grasp the severity of a situation, once he recognized that action was necessary, he always moved with certainty. No matter what the enemy did, when it came to his duties, he never wavered—a stubborn ox of a man who pushed forward with unwavering resolve.
The mere possibility of terror prompted him to strengthen security at the signing ceremony and spare no effort in safeguarding General Lee.
If anything happened to Lee—assassination or otherwise—no one could predict what would become of a war that seemed already won.

* * *

Shortly after sending Elliott safely to the Northern Military’s Temporary Command Post, a Crystal appeared before us, offering passage to the next floor or the Common Floor.
“I guess the Quest on Floor 26 is complete.”
“If things go wrong, we can always jump out.”
Everyone had agreed to Elliott’s terms and said they’d stay through to the treaty’s end, but clearly they were prepared to flee the moment their lives seemed in genuine danger.
Reasonable enough. Nothing matters more than one’s own life.
We hadn’t received an advance payment, and we were risking ourselves based only on Elliott’s word—we couldn’t stake our lives on that alone.
As Elliott emerged from the command post, I noticed the Northern Military’s security around him intensified.
It seemed Elliott had persuaded Grant well.
“Looks like he convinced the General about the terror threat pretty effectively,” I said.
Kong seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Elliott laughed at Kong’s comment.
“General Grant is a wise man. If something is necessary, even if it sounds absurd, he pursues it with stubborn determination.”
At Elliott’s words, Bogard’s eyes widened.
“It seems Grant the President is still alive.”
“…President Grant?”
Elliott was momentarily taken aback by Bogard’s remark, and Bogard gave a slight cough and waved his hand dismissively.
“Just think of it as nonsense.”
“…No, sir. The citizens of the United States of America have always had a fondness for heroic figures. General Grant doesn’t exactly fit the military temperament naturally, so once the war ends, he may retire from service and pursue a career in politics.”
Elliott’s eyes gleamed—spoiled about the future.
Whatever butterfly effect this might trigger, it’s none of my concern.
Honestly, we haven’t been particularly careful with our words and actions since arriving here, and Elliott is capable enough to become a high-ranking official—he may have deliberately held his tongue while extracting information from our conversation.
“You’ve gone to considerable trouble protecting me this far. I’ve arranged lodging for your rest right next to the Temporary Command Post—shall we head there?”
Elliott guided us to our lodging, where we were assigned a double room and settled in to rest.
We were exhausted from the hurried journey, having dozed fitfully on uncomfortable trains and carriages, so we wanted a proper sleep.

* * *

“Ah. I’ve slept well.”
I opened my eyes, refreshed, to find it was dark outside—night had fallen.
From the sound of breathing and the faint movements coming from the bed next to mine, it seemed Park Jeon-bin, my roommate, was sleeping soundly.
Checking the elapsed time on my Avatar Slot, it appeared to be around two in the morning.
Since I’d fallen asleep while the sun was still in the sky, I’d slept nearly nine hours.
Spending so much time in my reincarnation avatar’s body, I’d momentarily forgotten that my Tower self still carried the fatigue from battling the Golden Dragon Knight on the twenty-third floor, and it hadn’t fully worn off yet.
Though I’d healed all the injuries with Regeneration, the corresponding exhaustion remained unresolved.
So nine hours wasn’t surprising.
About to rise without using light magic—which might disturb the others’ sleep—and instead relying on Night Vision Magic to see in the darkness, I felt something slick roll off my body.
It was Light Breeze, whom Lee Su-young had placed on me while I was sleeping deeply.
As Light Breeze yawned while looking at me, a Community message came through from Lee Su-young right away.

-Lee Su-young: You’re awake?
-Han Ji-woo: Yeah. It’s late—why aren’t you sleeping?
-Lee Su-young: I was sleeping, but Light Breeze woke me up with a signal.
-Han Ji-woo: I see. Then go back to sleep. You set up the Simple Barrier I gave you, right?
-Lee Su-young: Yes, I did.
-Han Ji-woo: Good. Sleep well.

Before entering the city, I’d given Lee Su-young and Diana magical devices for the Simple Barrier.
They could sound an alarm if there was an intrusion and deploy a defensive barrier capable of blocking a hit or two.
I’d made them hastily and roughly—they’d be destroyed after one activation—so they weren’t anything remarkable.
I closed the message window and created transparent Mage’s Eyes, scattering them in all directions.
The probability of terrorism happening was high, so I figured I should keep watch over the area.
Let’s see, the Anti-Terror Manual….
“Huh, the phone’s actually turning on?”
Without thinking, out of habit I’d switched on my mobile phone and opened the Anti-Terror Manual from Teacher Riven’s files—and it actually worked.
Wasn’t it the case that electronic devices with communication and storage functions didn’t work in the Tower?
Ah, maybe that was only on the Common Floor.
I’d never needed to use my mobile phone outside the Common Floor, so I hadn’t realized it then.
Besides, I hadn’t really had a reason to use a phone anyway, and I’d printed out most of the information I needed and kept it stored on Tower Floor 1.
Well, Tower Floor 1 is part of the Tower too, and it worked there, so this makes sense.
The Tower is inconvenient in these matters, I tell you.
You always have to figure out the information for yourself.
In truth, it didn’t mean much to other climbers.
Even if the mobile phone turned on, you couldn’t make calls or use the internet—you could only use the camera for storing information, but the battery would die in a day or two anyway, so you couldn’t use it long-term.
I had a generator on Tower Floor 1, and I could charge it using my reincarnation avatar’s body, so it didn’t matter to me.
I searched through the Anti-Terror Manual for tactics that could be used in this era as well, sending Mage’s Eyes to various spots around the area.
Because the signing ceremony for the Surrender Document was scheduled for tomorrow, there were many soldiers in Northern Military uniforms patrolling even at night.
Checking through my Mage’s Eyes the places that looked good for hiding bombs, I realized that people’s thinking was the same across all eras.
“They really did hide them in those spots.”
I’d need to take a night walk around the area.
Using Concealment Magic, I lightly leaped out the window.

* * *

“A-a-ahh~!”
I let out a light yawn.
Seeing me like this, Diana handed me a cup of coffee.
“I hear you were up late last night and couldn’t sleep.”
“Well, that’s how it is.”
As I drank the coffee, I momentarily wondered if coffee even existed in this era, but then I recalled that after the Boston Tea Party, which had sparked American independence, people had begun drinking coffee instead of tea, so of course coffee would be available in this time period.
It’s the mid-nineteenth century, yet weapons from the late twentieth century are running rampant everywhere, so I suppose there’s reason to doubt everything.
It seems I haven’t fully woken up yet.
As I sipped the coffee and looked outside, I could already see journalists gathering at the signing ceremony venue for the Surrender Document, which was set up simply but looked quite presentable in front of the Temporary Command Post.
The Northern Military appeared intent on making a grand spectacle of the surrender, hoping to thoroughly crush the morale of the remnants of the Southern Army.
Since quite some time had passed since the capture of Robert E. Lee, the commanding general of the Southern Army, there were more journalists waiting than expected.
“Do you think they did the same thing in actual history?”
At my question, Bogard Dellington shrugged.
“Who knows? I didn’t major in history, so I’m not sure. This parallel world has a lot of differences from what I know.”
Fair enough.
There was no way to know whether Ulysses S. Grant, who would become the eighteenth president of the United States in this place, was entirely the same person as the one we knew.
That’s when Park Jeon-bin spoke.
“The signing ceremony is beginning.”
As Robert E. Lee, the commanding general of the Southern Army, appeared alongside the Northern soldiers, a barrage of camera flashes erupted from the journalists.
Around the time Robert E. Lee began reading the contents of the Surrender Document line by line at the podium, some among the journalists and onlookers became visible, glancing about with expressions of confusion.
Of course they were bewildered.
The bombs that were supposed to have been planted beforehand should have detonated, but I’d safely disarmed them and kept them stored carefully on Tower Floor 1.
When Robert E. Lee’s reading of the Surrender Document ended and he was about to sign, the racial supremacists who realized something had gone wrong began to move.
And we moved as we watched them.

(To be continued in the next part)

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