The two days designated as holidays were spent walking around Seichun’s Town with Kouhi and Mitsuki.
Mostly, it was just window shopping at street stalls, but there were also dishes Kousuke had never seen before, and it was clear that various cuisines gathered here.
Kouhi, who had instantly become famous, was showered with enthusiastic cheers from women. On the other hand, Kousuke, who was walking with Kouhi, was subjected to piercing glares from the men.
However, even if he were physically attacked, with two layers of impenetrable defense, nothing would happen to Kousuke himself.
With that in mind, Kousuke and the other two enjoyed the pseudo-sightseeing in the town, while Ririka seemed to have spent the two days resting comfortably in her room.
He had asked if she wasn’t tired, but she said that was how she felt on her days off even when she was an adventurer before.
When they were in the Tower Town, she had been cleaning the temple, but in Seichun’s Town, there were no temples to clean.
Surely, there was no temple in the center of the West Continent dedicated to an avatar of a god, and she had no work to do as a shrine maiden.
As a result, it seemed she spent her time lounging around in her room.
After spending those two days, Kousuke and the others headed to the Gazenran Tower.
This time, Cecil and Arisa were accompanying them, and Kouhi was also coming along.
This was because their plan was to pass through the 45th and 46th Floors, so it wouldn’t take much time.
The confirmation was for the cards of Cecil and Arisa, and Kouhi’s card.
They predicted that the 46th Floor would be recorded as the highest attained floor for all three, but if it were otherwise, another pattern would be considered.
In that case, they would have to investigate what caused it.
Immediately, they teleported to the 45th Floor and began the conquest, and the result was as expected.
The cards of Cecil, Arisa, and Kouhi all displayed the 46th Floor as their highest attained floor.
In other words, the highest attained floor on the card only needed to be the last floor the person passed, and intermediate floors were not considered.
However, the Tower Conquest Guild had not explained this function of the cards.
It was unlikely that the Tower Conquest Guild was unaware of this function.
Considering that, it seemed they were deliberately not explaining it.
It was unclear whether this was to prevent people from attempting reckless conquests using this function, or if it was information held only by the Guild that had noticed it.
Or, it could be both.
After finishing the confirmation, Kousuke said to Cecil and Arisa.
“That aside, with this understanding, has the guild members’ policy been decided?”
“Yes. Instead of conquering each floor one by one, it’s helpful to be able to go to floors appropriate for our strength all at once.”
Arisa, understanding what Kousuke meant, nodded as she said that.
“Perhaps the top guilds in Seichun maintain their status in that way?”
While nurturing new guild members from scratch is important, a guild’s strength can be maintained by attracting strong adventurers from outside and having them immediately perform well on certain floors.
The reason why new guilds often struggle to rise to the top might be that they lack such information.
“There are few places with the leeway to conduct such investigations while advancing through the tower conquest, like Kousuke-sama.”
Cecil said that, and Arisa and Ririka also nodded.
Kousuke felt as if he were being praised, but decided to dismiss it as his imagination.
“W-well, one of the things I wanted to know is finished, so Cecil and Arisa, you are free to move as you please from now on. I might ask for something later, though.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
At Kousuke’s words, Cecil and Arisa nodded simultaneously.
Seeing that, Ririka looked at Kousuke as if she wanted to ask something.
Sensing this, Kousuke preemptively cautioned Ririka.
“Ririka, you’ll be staying with us for a while longer as there’s something you still need to confirm.”
“Yes!”
Ririka replied energetically, but her expression was somewhat complex since she would be proceeding with the tower conquest at Kousuke and the others’ pace for a while.
Additionally, Ririka, who had something else she wanted to ask, wore a perplexed expression.
“By the way, why are you taking me along?”
“Hmm… I think I mentioned it before, but I feel like there’s something artificial about this card and this tower.”
“Yes.”
Ririka nodded at Kousuke’s words.
However, she couldn’t connect that to her accompanying Kousuke and the others on their conquest.
“In this case, ‘artificial’ doesn’t just mean limited to humanity.”
“Ah… !?”
It wasn’t Ririka who cried out, but Arisa.
Ignoring Cecil and Ririka looking at her, she stared at Kousuke with a look of astonishment.
“Are you perhaps suspecting, Kousuke-sama, that one of the gods conquered this tower before?”
At Arisa’s words, Cecil and Ririka also widened their eyes in surprise.
Then, they turned their gazes towards Kousuke.
Kouhi and Mitsuki seemed to have sensed something to some extent, as they were not surprised.
The reason Kousuke thought a god might be involved was because he remembered the Amamiya Tower.
The tower had been conquered, but currently, there was no manager, leaving it in a state of neglect.
However, it still felt as if some kind of artificial management remained.
That alone wouldn’t have led him to believe a god was involved, but Gazenran Tower is the central tower of the West Continent.
The conditions were almost identical to Amamiya Tower.
However, based on these conditions alone, it felt too much of a stretch to assume that the previous owner of this tower was a god.
For that reason, he had deliberately brought the shrine maiden, Ririka, along.
“So that’s why…”
Ririka adopted a look of understanding, but her expression was somewhat somber.
Kousuke, noticing Ririka’s expression, guessed the reason and added.
“No, it’s not that I’m forcing you to find divine power, Ririka. I don’t think any such remnants of gods are left in the first place.”
“Eh? Then why me?”
“Because if we find anything that might be a hint while conquering, I thought I could ask you right away.”
Kousuke himself is an avatar of a god, but he is not knowledgeable about the gods of this world.
Ririka knows much more about the gods than he does.
Rather than returning to their base every time they find something to ask her, he thought it better to have Ririka, who is knowledgeable about such matters, present.
Although Kousuke can communicate with Silvia via Divine Power Telepathy, it is still much clearer to have her see something in person.
There are things that cannot be conveyed through verbal explanations.
“Even if Ririka doesn’t understand something, you can probably explain it to Silvia much better than I can, right?”
Kousuke concluded, and Ririka once again wore a look of understanding.
“I understand. I’ll do my best to be helpful.”
Seeing Ririka nod after saying that, Kousuke said no more.
He could have told her that she didn’t need to try so hard, but he thought that would have the opposite effect on Ririka.
Kousuke, having acted together with her so far, had learned a little.
Therefore, the investigation that required Cecil and Arisa’s assistance was now over, regardless of future plans.
Something else might come up, but after this, they would act individually.
Before that, they had to take the three current parties of the Guild to the floors that suited them.
Even if Kousuke and the others pushed ahead with conquering the tower to raise the Guild’s name, there were countless other things they could do.
For the sake of the future, it was necessary to do as much as possible.
This time, I’ve cleared a few flags.
And then, I’ve set new ones… Was the previous conqueror one of the gods? Or another being entirely! Please look forward to it!
I will end with this grand flag set.
Rest assured, I will resolve it within this chapter (though I have no idea how many chapters it will take lol).
