The Tower Of Prophecy (1)

Meowi and Ju Na-young opened their mouths wide in surprise.
They looked at each other for a moment.
Soon, without anyone taking the lead, they both came over to my side and showed affectionate behavior.

“Se-Seha?”
“Hey, hey! Yu Seha! Wh-where on earth did you get this?!”

Hmm, they’re asking about the source.
Tsk, hmm.

Starting from <Land of the Forgotten Warriors>,
Explaining that I went all the way to the final boss Horman of <Festival of the Fallen> and got permission to take it would be ‘too long’.

I roughly lied that I was lucky to find the trial and went around searching on foot.

At the explanation, the two looked at each other.

Various hesitations.
Hesitating.
Finally, they sent me a look as if they couldn’t accept such a precious thing.

A reaction I fully expected.

I’ve said it countless times, but this world has an overall power balance lower than ‘GAL’.

The daggers and gauntlets the two are holding are semi-endgame items even by ‘GAL’ standards.

They’re items that don’t appear on the Hunter app and are completely unavailable even in the black market.

If they ever went up for auction, they’d easily sell for billions.

‘In other words…’

It meant these are better equipment than the <Tartarus> guys we’ll face in the near future.

Basically, it means they’re extremely rare.

Anyway, before they could argue, I placed my hands on their heads.
And petted them vigorously.

“M-meow…”
“Yo-Yong…”

Hmm, good reaction!
At the same time, I fiddled with their cheeks one by one and continued!

“M-memememeo! Doonnntt!”
“Yo-Yong-ik! Dontyong!”

While they didn’t know what to do with themselves,
I firmly engraved my opinion to them.

“Please accept it.”

And become stronger with this, protect yourselves.

“It will definitely be a great help.”

Both [Halrun’s Tooth] and [Helios’s Gauntlet] have good offensive performance,
but each is equipped with a special function that preserves the owner’s life in moments of crisis.

This is also true for [Yggdrasil’s Staff], currently attached to Moon Bora’s waist in the form of a firearm.

The anxiety about the worst-case scenario that I always keep in my heart.

It was a carefully chosen option to alleviate that even a little.

“B-but…”
“Even so, something like this…”
“Please accept it. I’m asking you.”

I completely hugged the two of them.
It was a silent action meaning I wouldn’t let go until I got the answer I wanted.

In the end, Meowi and Yong-ah surrendered.

“Alright, I’ll use it well…”
“Muaah. Thank you, Seha.”
“Yeah!”

Good, with this I clearly conveyed it to the two of them…
I turned my head.
I looked at the radiant woman watching this scene with delight.

“Next is our Moon Bora.”
“…What? Se-Seha? I already received it though?”

I gave the last ring I took out to the flustered Moon Bora.

Moon Bora’s eyes widened when she saw it.
As expected of a mage who controls ice, she recognized it immediately.

“Se-Seha… where on earth did you get this…?”
“I asked Su Ok-bin, the vice president. I told her I’d pay whatever it costs to get it.”

The ring was an artifact called [Soul of Ice].
Its grade was also Hero.
The cooldown was a whopping 30 days.

“You know the effect, right?”
“O-of course I do. It removes all status ailments in a crisis, grants temporary invincibility, and then boosts ice attack power, right? It’s the best survival item for weak mages like me. I tried to get it too…”

She replied that there were no listings at all, so she couldn’t get it.

I smiled gently and carefully held Moon Bora’s delicate hand.
The ring slowly slid onto her ring finger.
Moon Bora’s face instantly turned bright red.

“Hoo, huengeeng!”
“It will definitely be a great help.”
“…”

Moon Bora looked at me.
Her eyes asked.
‘If I refuse, you’ll make me take it anyway, right?’

I nodded, and Moon Bora gave a bitter smile.

“…Thank you. I’ll cherish it, Seha.”
“Yeah.”

A little later.
I shared a light drink with the kids.
While explaining the schedule starting tomorrow.

“Meow, meow~muamuaou~”

Ah, before that, I lifted our completely drunk Meowi.
She naturally settled on my lap.

“Muaa~”

Meowi smiled happily.
Soon she curled up into a ball like a loaf of bread.
I stroked her hair and continued.

“As I said before, starting tomorrow we’ll seriously begin star-level upgrades.”

Moon Bora lightly raised her wine glass and asked.

“Seha, speaking of star levels, there’s a secret place I know…”
“The arcade, right?”
“Ah, y-you already knew?”
“Yeah, I heard it from Hyeja noona.”
“Good. There’s nothing better than that place.”
“But we’re not going there.”
“…What?”
“Huh?”

Moon Bora and Ju Na-young holding a beer can looked flustered.
They both obviously thought we were going to the arcade.

I smiled gently and replied.

“There’s the best star-level upgrade place in Korea, no, the whole world. It’s almost cheat-level.”
“…What?”
“…Yong?”

I explained.
There’s no penalty of waiting months even if you fail,
No need to pay money, and the time is almost unlimited.

An absurdly generous benefit.
Moon Bora and Ju Na-young looked at each other.

“Th-that can’t be possible…”
“It is.”

I smiled gently.
Thanks to a tremendous backing, it’s literally a cheat and hidden piece in ‘GAL’.

I planned to go there tomorrow.

The luxurious dinner came to an end.

Once again, the four of us prepared for another night of sleeping together on a spacious bed.

“Mua~ Na-young, Bora. Here are pajamas!”
“Oh, what? Cute! These are lizard doll pajamas. And you, are you a wolf?”
“Yeah! I’m a fierce wolf! Doesn’t it suit me? Meoww!”
“You’re just a cute furball though…”
“Meow! Meoww!”

Meanwhile, Moon Bora cluelessly raised her hand.

“…You three? I’ll sleep in the next room. There’s a spare bed and many rooms, so no need to insist on one place”
“Mua! Denied!”
“Yong-ah! Denied!”
“Hoo, huengeeng?! We even slept together this morning! That’s enough!”
“No. From now on, no matter what happens, we’re all together including Seha!”
“Right. Moon Bora. You don’t dislike being all together, do you?”
“…G-grr! Then at least give me different pajamas. I hate the purple turtle pajamas because they’re ugly!”
“Mwang~ Denied! Na-young, hurry and dress her.”
“Okay~”
“W-wait! D-don’t come closer. This is a crime. A crime! Ah, d-don’t touch me! Hoo, huenge! Huenge! Se, Seha! Don’t just watch, help… Kya, kyaaaak!!!”

Hmm.
There was minor resistance in the middle.
Anyway, we slept soundly and woke up.

The next morning.
After packing, we headed straight to the officetel rooftop.

Creak.

Opening the green security door revealed a spacious area.
In the center was a circular drawing engraved with a special mark.

Moon Bora looked around curiously.
Wearing a pure white dress and a straw hat,
she looked like a young lady radiating innocence.

Feeling a bit puzzled, Moon Bora quietly asked me.

“…Seha? Didn’t you say we were going to the ‘Tower of Prophecy’?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, shouldn’t we contact the <Order> even now…”
“I already did. And we’re going to fly there.”
“…What?”

The beautiful girl Ju Na-young immediately took over the flustered Moon Bora’s words.

Wearing a pink blouse and fashionable jeans, she quietly approached my side and whispered.

“…Hey, hey Yu Seha. Even if I can fly, I can’t carry this many people at once.”

I blinked, wondering what she meant.
Then suddenly, I realized and said, ‘Ah, ah~’.

By the way, during last night’s <Repayment>, Ju Na-young made a surprising confession.

She said she was now able to spread her wings.

Apparently, riding a high ride at an amusement park actually helped.

‘However…’

The rambling content,
That she would never show it to others,
That it’s very different from what I imagined, so don’t get your hopes up,
And her shy ‘Yong-wooee!’ and other disclaimers…

It seems it’s not the cool image of spreading wings and flying that I imagined.

Well, what does it matter?
The important thing is that she flew.

I chuckled.
I gently stroked the head of the cute and lovable Yong girl.

“Yo, Yong… i-it tickles…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t ask for such an unreasonable favor.”
“Yong?”

Ju Na-young’s question naturally arose.
It was naturally resolved about 10 minutes later.

Dududu.
Dududu.
Uduududu!

The characteristic steady vibration sound.
Something was flying through the clouds.
Meowi’s eyes widened when she saw it.

“M-muaah…!? A-a helicopter?!”

It was a helicopter.
Its distinctive pure white gloss stood out.

It wasn’t just ordinary paint.
It was a phenomenon visible because it was made mainly of metal infused with holy power.

Soon, with a landing signal sound, the helicopter landed.

Ziiing.

From the window that rolled down,
A fresh and lively voice was heard.

“Mauu!”

A signature sound recognizable by anyone.

That’s right.

The pilot was none other than Choi Mari.

Our party’s healer and joker whom we hadn’t seen in a while.

Choi Mari, with flowing crimson hair tied back, took off her helmet and waved.

“Seha, Na-young, Bora, and angelic junior Meowi~~~”
“Ma, Mari! Senior!?”
“Meow?!”
“…Se, Seha? Senior Choi Mari, do you have a helicopter license?”
“Well, I heard the artifact handles the fine operations. Still, I have some driving experience, so I manage it.”

I smiled gently.
I looked at the surprised party members.

Apparently, they couldn’t believe that the arrogant <Order> even provided a helicopter.

‘…When I contacted them about the star-level test, they actually tried to pick us up.’

Roughly, conversations with high-ranking bishops.
Naturally, conversations with the Holy Maidens.

During that, Senior Choi Mari’s story came up.
They called her because she knew how to fly a helicopter.

Anyway, enough small talk.
Such background is not very important.

I clapped my hands to focus everyone’s attention.

Clap!

“Alright, then, let’s all go inside.”

The destination was the <First Order> headquarters in Bangbae, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The most important core place there.

None other than…

“The place where the Holy Maidens stay.”