Kim Hajun exhaled and placed his drink down on the table. The bartender glanced at him and smiled. “Did something good happen today?” she asked. “You look like you’re in an excellent mood.”

Kim Hajun chuckled. Although he had used up his Ashley’s Holy Smite card, it was well worth it. He had eliminated Jackal, the mastermind behind the Virtuous Hand. To think he had actually been worried about how to dismantle the troublesome guild, who would’ve thought he’d give it a crippling blow before he had even arrived at the third floor? “A great thing happened today,” Kim Hajun said and nodded. “A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

“That calls for a celebration,” the bartender said and grinned before placing down a shot glass filled with clear liquid in front of the well-dressed man. She winked at him. “This one’s on the house.”

Kim Hajun grinned and accepted the shot glass, lifting it up towards the bartender before downing it in a second. Jackal rarely ever showed himself, which was why it was so difficult to get rid of him in the prophetic dream. Kim Hajun placed the shot glass down and exhaled, his eyes narrowing at his drink. All that was left was to climb the tower and defeat the Virtuous Hand members he came across. Without their leader, the whole guild would crumble like a castle of sand.

***

Tafel leaned back, her body resting at an angle along the spider’s body. She stared up at the ceiling and exhaled. Not only had she went inside the building that assigned missions for geums, she had also registered and selected a few to complete. The process took quite a while; at least, in her mind it did, but when she came out, Lindyss still wasn’t back. “Don’t tell me she got lost while looking for Jackal.”

“Your aunt is a much more sensible person than either yourself or Vur,” Diamant said. “There’s no way she got lost, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she got distracted by a good item. You did hear what she said about window-shopping.”

“Well.” Tafel sat up and looked at her companions. “You guys can go explore; this floor doesn’t seem like it requires a group. There’s no need for the rest of you to wait around with me.”

“That’s true,” Miranda said and looked around. “I’ll look around a bit. I’m guessing you guys will return to the residence at night to sleep?”

“Yeah,” Tafel said. “If you’re going to go off on your own, just meet us at the residence later.”

“Kax look at axe,” Kax said, pointing in the direction of a building with a holographic axe hovering over it.

“You’re supposed to look at weapons you’re unfamiliar with,” Melody said. “Why are you going to learn about axes when you’re already using an axe.”

“You go with Kax?”

“That’s not what I said,” Melody said and furrowed her brow. However, would it be alright to leave Kax by himself? The wife of Feathered Serpent didn’t think it was a problem, but could her judgment be trusted? “But, alright, I’ll go with you.”

“If the two of you are going together, I’m coming with you,” Miranda said. “Axes are as good a place to start as anything else.”

“Let me go with them!” Garlic said, Tafel’s pouch flashing. “Waiting around is boring!”

“Miranda,” Tafel said, lobbing the pouch with the melon-shaped egg inside of it towards the bald monk. “Take care of Garlic. If you happen to lose him, don’t sweat it too much.”

Miranda blinked and held out her arms. The pouch bounced off of her hands, and her eyes widened as she crouched and grabbed at it, barely managing to catch it before it hit the ground. She exhaled and stood up straight before hanging the bag around her waist. “I’ll do my best.”

“Do your best to lose me!?” Garlic shouted, his voice echoing down the block. “Tafel, take me back!”

“She meant she’d do her best to take care of you,” Tafel said. She glared at Miranda, the demon’s expression saying, “Don’t you dare hand him back to me.”

“R-right,” Miranda said, glancing down at the pouch on her waist. “I’ll be sure to show you plenty of sights.”

“You better,” Garlic said. “If you don’t, I’m going to complain up a storm.”

Tafel waved at the group of three people and one egg as they headed off in the direction of the buildings with holographic axes. Then, she lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. She could use the time to study the Trickster’s Book or experiment with the skills she had gained from the tower, but she didn’t know how long it’d take Lindyss to come back, and without knowing that, the demon wasn’t willing to let herself be interrupted at any moment. “If I knew Auntie was going to take so long, I would’ve gone with her instead of going inside.”

“Isn’t there a way for the two of you to communicate at a distance?” Diamant asked. “Jackal did it earlier, didn’t he? He sent a message through his root bracelet to get someone to gather the weapons on the thirtieth floor for him.”

“You’re right,” Tafel said and sat up. She glanced at her root bracelet, and it shone with an amber light. Her eyes shifted from side to side as if she were reading something, and a furrow appeared on her brow. “I have to add her as a friend first, and it costs ten thousand geums to purchase a friend slot.”

The grassy spider blinked its eight eyes. “Is that a lot of geums or a little?”

“The missions I picked have a reward of ten thousand geums each,” Tafel said and frowned. “It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s enough to be annoying. I wonder if I can name-drop Vur again to get a discount.”

“Well, you can try now,” Diamant said. “The elf’s back, and she brought a … friend?”

“Auntie,” Tafel said towards Lindyss who was walking towards the spider. “Is that a mummy?”

“No,” Lindyss said. “It’s a zombie wrapped in bandages.” She glanced around, raising an eyebrow at the lack of people. “Was I gone long? Where’s everyone else?”

“They went to test out axes,” Tafel said. “What’s the deal with the zombie? Did you bring back the weapons?”