Chapter 29: Festival (2)

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Chapter 29: Festival (2)

“Hah? Who let these lowly [Silvers] roam around here?”

I turned my head toward the unpleasant laugh.

“Heh, you should’ve just stuck to your company work. Watching you loitering around here is really ticking me off.”

These were the hulking figures who had been eyeing Mari and Luci from the shop.

They followed us outside, now openly picking a fight.

A tense atmosphere drew a crowd of onlookers.

“What's this, a fight?”

“Where? Who’s fighting who?”

“Silver versus Platinum.”

Ignoring the surrounding noise, Mari instinctively looked up to confirm their affiliation.

[Magleus (Platinum)]

The thugs provoking them were employees of the Platinum company.

Although the Administrator hadn’t explained the company rankings, Mari could tell instinctively: this was a company ranked higher than her own.

Mari squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I shouldn’t cause any trouble…’

Though she didn’t know the exact reason the Administrator had sent her here, there was one thing she understood clearly.

‘They trust me.’

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have entrusted her with Luci, the owner of the secret shop.

But contrary to Mari’s cautious thoughts—

“Oh, I thought I smelled garbage. Turns out it was the trash from the shop earlier.”

Luci glared coldly at the thugs.

“Vermin.”

“Sis!”

Mari flailed, trying to stop her, but it seemed Luci had already taken the bait.

The thugs' foreheads bulged with veins.

“What did you say?”

“How dare a [Silver] act so fearless?”

Immediately, the hulking figures drew their weapons.

They were clearly strong, just at a glance.

Mari quickly scanned her surroundings with tensions high, but no one seemed interested in helping them.

Without understanding Mari’s growing panic—

“Why should I come to you? You should come to me,”

Luci further provoked the thugs.

“You little brats!”

“You really think you’ll get away with this?”

The two thugs, now furious, began cracking their knuckles threateningly, advancing on Mari and Luci.

It was clear from their smirking faces that they were relishing this.

‘…’

It was obvious they had no intention of listening to anything Mari had to say.

Realizing this, Mari reluctantly slung her bow over her shoulder and readied herself.

‘I’ll wait for an opening and then escape.’

Her physical abilities couldn't be underestimated with no way to use her skills in this place.

Even if she could use her skills, there was no guarantee she could win.

In such a situation, protecting Luci would be impossible.

Mari quietly whispered to her.

“…Sis, when I give the signal, run. The Administrator will take care of this.”

Even though she had unintentionally gotten into trouble with the Platinum company, Mari was confident that the Administrator could easily handle this situation.

‘Even if they can’t solve it…’

It wouldn’t change the fact that being by the Administrator’s side was the safest place.

The most important thing now was how to get out of this situation.

Mari's mind raced.

‘When the bald one charges, I’ll roll and kick his legs out…’

But all of Mari's worries were for nothing.

“Hm~ Mari, don’t you trust your sister?”

With a light flick of Luci’s hand—

“Ugh.”

“Gah.”

Shadows materialized and pierced through the two thugs, ending the situation in an instant.

The surrounding crowd erupted into noise.

On the surface, it looked like employees from a [Silver] company had just beaten up those from a [Platinum] company.

Mari hurriedly grabbed Luci and shook her.

“Sis! You can’t just go killing people like that!”

Luci chuckled, seemingly finding Mari’s flustered reaction adorable.

“Pfft. No, Mari. They’re not dead.”

“…What?”

The shadows had clearly pierced their bodies.

Mari was sure she hadn’t seen it wrong.

To clear up Mari’s confusion, Luci used the shadows to stab her own arm.

“...!”

"Look."

Luci extended her arm.

The arm that had been dripping blood just moments ago was now instantly healed, as if nothing had happened.

Only then did Mari realize that the place where the festival was being held had the same properties as a waiting room.

"By the way, it feels like more flies are gathering. Should we head back?"

Luci suggested returning, and Mari quickly nodded, not missing the opportunity.

Mari missed the Administrator.

* * *

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“...There are a total of 100 teams participating in our round. And according to the information we’ve obtained, there are no Gold-level teams this time.”

A total of 100 teams.

And considering that no Gold-level companies could participate in the festival...

“It’s going to be tough this time.”

The usual festivals, including the Gold-level ones, had at most 20 teams.

But this time, there were 100 teams.

And all 100 were at least Platinum level.

This could only mean one thing:

‘They must've prepared thoroughly for this.’

Now that I think about it, it’s clear how absurd the proposal from Nice was.

I let out a chuckle at the sudden recollection of the contract.

But only briefly, as Mino continued speaking.

“I agree with that assessment. Aside from Seongjin’s company, all the competitors are at least Platinum-level.”

I glanced over at Mino.

Until recently, the Yeondan to which Mino belonged was only Gold-level.

But now they were boldly appearing in the festival, wearing Platinum marks.

Of course, I had some idea.

‘The [Glory] who tried to scheme against me has fallen, and the Yeondan has likely taken their place…’

By doing so, the Yeondan would monopolize all the merits accumulated by the alliance.

The company’s promotion was inevitable, but the timing was surprisingly fast.

So, could it be...

“Special promotion target?”

I muttered while resting my chin in thought.

Mino responded immediately.

“Haha, that’s right. We thought we weren’t just ordinary Silver level, but indeed! As you suspected, we are a special promotion target. It seems the pills we produce have been helpful.”

“...And I assume you’ve also monopolized the results.”

“Yes. I don’t know what happened, but the previous alliance leader, [Glory], was dismissed, and we became the new alliance leaders. Thanks to that, we were able to take all the accumulated performance points and quickly rise to Platinum.”

At the time, [Glory] was on the verge of being promoted to Platinum.

Since the Yeondan had absorbed those points, they likely had nothing to worry about in terms of performance.

The Yeondan had essentially benefited from my help.

‘They say good deeds come back to you…’

And now that small favor was coming around to help me.

“So, who should we be cautious of?”

We returned to the main topic and continued the meeting.

Mino quickly got back on track and began the briefing again.

“Oh, right. I should finish explaining. The company to watch out for is here.”

Mino placed a finger on the paper that listed the company names.

“[Madari (Diamond)]. There’s a rumor that they have a 4th-rank employee.”

“…4th rank.”

The specs of a 4th-rank employee range from 51 to 69.

They’re beyond the level of a superhuman, the peak of what humans can achieve.

At this level, they’re usually considered equivalent to a knight commander.

‘Did they really send a 4th-rank employee to a mere event?’

No matter how tempting the festival rewards were, sending such a high-level employee didn’t seem cost-effective.

‘A 4th-rank employee would be one of Madari's elite... Are they out of their minds?’

If another Diamond-level company heard about this and sent their own 4th-rank employee, one of them would surely be eliminated from the festival.

‘That’s why there’s an unspoken rule among the users not to send employees above 4th rank to these festivals…’

But [Madari (Diamond)] had broken that unspoken rule.

Soon, other companies would use this as a pretext to put pressure on Madari...

‘...Damn.’

But that wouldn’t affect the upcoming festival.

Even if there was external pressure, it wouldn’t come until after the festival ended.

It was almost certain that a monstrous 4th-rank employee would be participating in the festival.

If things went badly, we might have to face that monster in the competition.

I let out a quiet sigh.

"…We’ll need more information."

Although it wasn’t confirmed that the 4th-rank employee would participate, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

Listening to my muttering, Mino made a face as if he had just remembered something and shared additional information.

“More information? In that case, it might be good to check out the parade at the plaza this evening. Most of the companies will gather there, so it’s sure to be useful.”

A parade.

Now that I think about it, this place was the land of knights.

It was Camelot.

Nice always used to hide clues for the tournament during the parades.

All the companies that knew this would be gathering.

It was the perfect place to gather clues about the tournament and information on other competitors.

"That's a good idea."

"I'm glad I could be of help."

Around that time, Luci and Mari barged into the room.

"Administraaatoooor!"

Mari slid across the floor as if she were gliding.

She was on the verge of tears, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

'……?'

Behind Mari was a bow I had never seen before.

"Th-that!"

Mino's eyes widened as she pointed at the bow Mari was holding.

"Mari, isn't that the Bow of Verdure?"

At Mino's overreaction, I hurriedly examined the bow on Mari's back.

'Status window!'

[Bow of Verdure C+]

- A bow made from the legendary tree Verdure, said to only grow in the dwellings of the elves.

*Spirit Shot.

- Once a day, it can fire a shot imbued with a spirit. (The deeper the story behind the spirit, the stronger the power it unleashes.)

A C+ grade item that would be nearly impossible to obtain right now.

Not to mention, it was a rare item with an active skill attached to it.

"…Where did you get that?"

It could’ve been a gift from Luci, who ran the secret shop, but I shook my head.

To my knowledge, the secret shop didn’t sell normal items like that.

That meant Luci and Mari must have found it while they were out and about.

But how?

No matter how grand the festival, there was no way Nice, even from headquarters, would sell such a high-grade item.

Which meant another company must have put it up as a prize…

The thought sent a chill through my body.

And judging by their reactions, it seemed like they had indeed gotten into some kind of trouble.

"Um, well, you see…"

Listening to Mari explain the situation was starting to give me a headache.

'…It’s not that we caused the problem, but…'

More likely, the company called [Magleus (Platinum)] had pulled a scam.

'Who in their right mind would put a C+, rare-grade weapon as a prize?'

It was 100% a trap for suckers.

I was almost certain of it.

No one would break [Headquarters] law and scam people in an Executor’s zone, but… surprisingly, some idiots did exist.

Of course, they probably rigged it so that no one could win first place.

There was no way Mari would have caught on to that, so…

I glanced over at Luci.

She was avoiding my gaze, pretending not to notice as she whistled innocently.

The fact she was dodging my gaze meant she knew they were tangled in something troublesome.

I looked down again at the bow on Mari’s back.

'Tsk. What a shame.'

If we had reported them to the Executor when they were pulling the scam, we could’ve gotten the bow without any issues.

But now, they’d already won the prize.

Even if we reported it now, there was no evidence left to protect us.

'This is going to be annoying.'

Since our company wasn’t highly ranked, who knew what kind of trouble those [Magleus] guys would stir up?

'If only we had an alliance with a [Platinum]-grade company…'

…

Wait.

I looked over at Mino again.

His company's name flashed above his head.

[Yeondan Society (Platinum)]

Looks like punishing [Glory] back then was the right call after all.

I patted Mino on the shoulder with a light smile.

"I’ll be counting on you."

"…What?"

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