The Tower of Harmony connected the five towers through its power.
Thanks to that, the tower masters, who would normally be stuck in their respective towers and cut off from communication, could at least exchange a few words.
But that connection had been cut off for a while after they worked to bring Lee Ha-yul, and it was only recently restored.
Whatever the case, the Tower of Harmony’s master was there, allowing the tower masters to communicate.
[I’ve never seen you like this. To think the cold-hearted one would be lonely all by himself! It’s a sight to behold!]
“……”
[You’ve really fallen for the Savior, haven’t you? Honestly, who could blame you! Wow, as that ancestry of yours becomes more prominent, your already stunning looks… well!]
But the master of the Tower of Harmony was a real pain in the neck.
To be precise, he talked a lot.
Some could call it endearing, but a few thought it was just noisy.
“Phew…”
Ariel closed her eyes for a moment, opened them, and silently flipped open a book to start reading.
This was a coping mechanism she had developed after spending quite a while working together before becoming tower masters.
Since this was an innate trait, even hitting him wouldn’t fix it.
Also, since he was a comrade she had grown somewhat attached to, it was awkward to do anything; it was best to let him chatter away while she did her own thing.
The master of the Tower of Harmony had at least a minimal awareness of being noisy, so it was fine with him to prattle on, regardless of whether the other person ignored him.
[But isn’t that a bit excessive? You practically stuck to him, rubbing your chests together, and blending your scents! I mean, I was genuinely shocked!]
– Gulp
Ignoring the voice, Ariel’s shoulder quivered slightly.
[I never expected the refined Ariel to act like that! Honestly, if you’d shown that to your old self, you would have fainted with your eyes popping out!]
“…I couldn’t help it. Stopping the curse itself was tough, and I couldn’t just leave Lee Ha-yul be, so I had to do something to lessen the curse…”
[I get that, but hmm… was there a hint of sentimentality in there? Honestly, did you really need to go that far?]
“Sentimentality? Don’t say such outrageous things. Do you have any idea how much I struggled with that choice?”
To Ariel, at that time, it had been a serious and difficult decision.
Letting their bodies intertwine, exposing chests, and allowing each other’s scents…
It was a truly horrible act that she couldn’t even dare to imagine.
How much she had agonized over whether to do it or not, and then for someone to dismiss it as mere sentimentality?
That was not something she could let slide.
[But didn’t it get better later? Yet you were the one to initiate it first… you were practically begging for it at night!]
“…You’re particularly chatty today. Why are you whining to me like this?”
Feeling the conversation turning unfavorable, Ariel subtly changed the topic.
The master of Harmony didn’t catch on and continued grumbling.
[You’re the only person I can talk to…]
The masters of the Space and Observation Towers were passing the burdens of their powers to Lee Ha-yul.
The master of Growth Tower had a bit more leeway, but recently, after Lee Ha-yul had almost revealed the curse and had been hit for it, that leeway disappeared.
To add to that, he was already busy managing Shio-ram and building forces with the master of Knowledge Tower.
For a while, direct conversation was going to be quite problematic.
So the only remaining talking partner was Knowledge…
“Considering all that, what’s really on your mind?”
[I want to meet the Savior too!]
Under Ariel’s persistent urging, the master of the Tower of Harmony let slip his true feelings he had been desperately hiding.
[I want to stroke that head! I want to hug him! I have so much I can do too! Why is it just you!]
“Oh my goodness…”
Ariel stared in disbelief at his openly exposed emotions and feelings.
“…Whether Lee Ha-yul would ever allow you to do that is another matter, but honestly, if you hadn’t carelessly run your mouth back then, things might have been a bit easier.”
[That’s… that’s…]
“Throwing away that precious opportunity like garbage, your big mouth has once again caused you trouble. Does your mouth have a curse or something? I’m still puzzled as to how you survived in such a harsh era with such a mouth.”
The master of the Tower of Harmony was a transcendent being who exhibited his unique ability of Thought Conversation.
It’s a technique termed ‘Distant Voice,’ where one can convey thoughts directly into someone else’s mind without speaking.
While it did not directly contribute to combat effectiveness, the Thought Conversation abilities were definitely worthy of respect in situations where one had to communicate thoughts quickly and accurately during critical combat.
The problem was that the master of Harmony used his mouth in conjunction with it, hurling double insults at the opponent.
[That’s… you’re right. I was too hasty… But can you blame me!]
The master of the Harmony Tower yelled in outrage.
[The compatibility with powers is strong! I don’t know how external abilities fit together, but I can understand! The Savior is amazing, so it must have worked out somehow! But how can a curse be compatible!]
Under normal circumstances, Lee Ha-yul’s curse shouldn’t have been that strong.
Even if they were outmatched with everything, no matter how they tried, nullifying the curse powered by the embodiment was absolutely impossible.
The curse meant to hinder growth was also supposedly reversed, and its level itself should have been weakened… it was just barbaric.
Yet it surged.
In a tremendous manner.
As a result, a complete catastrophe occurred where the master of Harmony completely failed to acknowledge the state window he had set up.
[And what’s that! How can a curse obstruct observation? No matter how closed your eyes are, you should be able to see the state window, and granted, it should definitely be captured during observation…!]
The voice of the master of Harmony dripped with grief and regret.
Ariel frowned at the loud voice, but she couldn’t outright dismiss his words.
While it was true that she had hastily spoken out of turn, there were parts of the master of Harmony’s confusion that were understandable.
The state window… the Player Enhancement System was a function created using the Tower of Harmony and the Tower of Knowledge.
Among those, the connection and output of the state window were handled by the power of Harmony.
Even if blind, the information linked through the power of Harmony should have been perceived.
However, the curse had obstructed even the recognition of that power.
It blocked the information of Harmony, and even what should have been recognized from the state window during observation.
While it should have recognized the hologram implemented through Concord’s power, it utterly failed to recognize the state window also implemented through Concord’s power.
That was a critical variable that neither Ariel nor the other tower masters had anticipated.
Who would have thought that a mere curse could obstruct a power… a state window?
[…The Savior will intervene behind the scenes, right?]
“Given the will you’ve expressed… Yes, I’d say so.”
Moments later.
Ariel fell into thought as the master of Harmony casually suggested this.
Behind the scenes.
The disasters set to descend upon this world.
Lee Ha-yul would most likely intervene beforehand to lessen the suffering from that catastrophe.
*
[Yeon-hwa and Seo-yul have arrived.]
[Are you going down to the first floor, or would you like to rest, Lady Baek Ahrin?]
The process of melting the chilling cold surrounding Baek Ahrin’s body had to be done very delicately.
She had to close off all external observations except for vital checks, just to avoid harming Baek Ahrin.
So, she could only observe Yeon-hwa and Seo-yul upon finishing her work and arriving at the mansion.
“No, I’ve gotten quite better, so I’ll go down too.”
[The cold has mostly thawed, but… are you sure you’re okay? Lying down for a day would be… what if you got hurt?]
“The doctor is really skilled, so I think I’m fine. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to fight or anything, just going down to chat.”
Baek Ahrin shrugged her shoulders, responding back.
I also nodded, resting my chin on Baek Ahrin’s chest.
The chilling cold within Baek Ahrin’s body had almost completely melted.
To be precise, it was more accurate to say that I had forced the ice that had frozen her body into her heart.
Since we weren’t in a serious battle, there shouldn’t be an issue with light movement now.
Earlier, moving vigorously could have risked breaking her body, but that wasn’t the case now.
With the cold fully melted and having basked her body in Gop-hwa’s glow to warm her chilled body, Baek Ahrin’s color also brightened significantly.
– Squish…
The payoff was that as the cold melted into liquid, Baek Ahrin’s skin became incredibly smooth.
The chill that was previously hard and cold was replaced with soft and warm skin.
It felt much better against my cheek than before.
To put it bluntly, it felt much better than the cool Baek Ahrin I usually knew.
If only I could catch her scent here, that would be perfect…
“Go on ahead. I’ll take a quick wash and change before joining you.”
[Ah.]
Baek Ahrin looked at me with a teasing smile, gently patting my back while she spoke.
Oh right, Baek Ahrin was in her underwear.
What’s more, it was soaked in some unknown liquid, maybe sweat.
She couldn’t exactly walk around the mansion like this.
Whoa- After a few pats on my cheek, Baek Ahrin stood up from the bed and headed for the wardrobe.
She flung the wardrobe open, not caring that I was right there, and pulled out some clothes without any hesitation.
Seeing her bold action made me quickly turn away, thinking she might throw her underwear off right there.
[Alright, I’ll head down first.]
“Sure, I’ll follow soon.”
– Clunk
I closed the door behind me.
Then I realized that my pants were also soaked from the earlier incident.
‘Maybe I should have taken them off too…’
I activated a simple life magic.
Sucking the moisture out of the pants, making it all evaporate…
‘Oh, this was the magic of Changhae.’
I certainly didn’t have the energy for such trivial life magic.
Woosh! After evaporating the residual moisture with Gop-hwa, I dried my pants and stored them in the spatial pocket.
Then I pulled out the same clothes I wore earlier.
Thanks to Lady Ariel giving me multiples, I could just rotate through them.
Once I dried off and got ready, I could head down.
Feeling my heart pounding, I made my way down the stairs.
.
.
.
“Does Ha-yul want to come out too?”
“…Where to? The magic tool-making contest? I feel confident now after practicing hard…”
“Not that. The cross-dressing contest.”
After meeting again after such a long time, what kind of nonsense is that, Yeon-hwa…
The mischievous look on Hong Yeon-hwa’s face was unmistakable.
Fear filled my eyes as I stared back.
*
[Seer Enhancement System: Exploration Level]
[The system measures the approaching disaster.]
[Quest “Hidden Realm” has been generated.]
[The system will fully assist the actions of the Savior.]
…
[Player Enhancement System: Exploration Level]
[Quest “Birth Ritual” has been generated.]
…
[Quest “Cross-Dressing Contest” has been generated.]
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