Chapter 144: Three Norns (3)

"H, Here you go."

Bicester's hand shook while placing the coffee cup down.

He was an outstanding player who made the almost destroyed Night Watch into one of the strongest dark clans outside of the Tower, but he couldn't bring himself to meet Yeon-woo.

Rather, he put his subordinates on edge while waiting for Yeon-woo to get here because he didn't want to make any mistakes.

Thankfully, his subordinates said they hadn't even looked in that direction, let alone touched Henova's smithy.

That was how big the shock Yeon-woo gave them was.

But they could still be in trouble with something, so Bicester wasn't able to lift his gaze unti Yeon-woo quietly raised his cup.

Since Yeon-woo had grown even more, he didn't have any thoughts of rebelling.

Even when he first saw him, Yeon-woo was scary, and he had heard about what Yeon-woo had done until now. He wasn't someone they could touch.

Yeon-woo lightly sipped his coffee looking around. It was definitely different than when he had come and made a mess.

"A lot's changed."

"T, Thanks to you, we are able to i, improve."

Thanks, he said.

Smirk. Yeon-woo slightly smiled looking at Bicester speak those words he didn't even believe in.

But to Bicester, that was scarier.

Yeon-woo quietly placed his coffee back down and cupped his chin to look at Bicester. Bicester unconsciously straightened his back.

"Since we'll just be tired if this gets long, I'll just get straight to the point."

"G, Go ahead."

Bicester nodded with a nervous face.

"I want to look for someone."

"Who.....?"

"Braham."

"B, Braham? Are you speaking about the 'Exile?'"

"Correct."

Braham was originally a part of the Elohim clan. However, after being kicked out due to unknown reasons, he always had to live with the word exile following him around.

But the problem was that Braham liked it. He was an interesting guy the more I looked at him.

Out of the Eight Clans, Elohim was famous for being choosy about accepting members.

There was one thing they wanted.

Species.

They looked into what kind of blood you had, if it was pure or mixed, and assigned ranks based on that. Also, they had the belief that some people were born with more 'superior blood' than others.

Half magical-species, Vanir, and others were classified into Superior species, and Draconic species and giant species were in the Supernatural species category.

Because they had an established hierarchy since the beginning of the Tower, they easily looked down on players who struggled to climb the Tower.

In other words, they were the bourgeoisie of the Tower.

Braham was someone who was kicked out of that kind of clan.

And some people said that he was in a high position in Elohim being the descendant of a superior species.

But wherever Braham went, he laughed at his origin, saying it was useless, and liked his name 'Exile' like it was a badge of honor.

Whatever he did, he was a free spirit, and he hated being locked in. And he had a cold personality, so he was easily noticed wherever he went.

"4 days. Please give me just 4 days. Then I'll contact you."

Bicester wisely didn't ask why he was looking for Braham. He was a smart guy who knew how to behave if he wanted to live long.

"Fine. Then contact me with this as soon as you find him."

Yeon-woo pulled out a ring-shaped artifact from subspace and tossed it at Bicester.

In Intrenian, other than materials to make the Stone of the Sage, there were gold and silver pieces and many other efficient artifacts.

This ring was a communication device that allowed people to speak with each other no matter how far away they were.

It was quite expensive and limited in use, so it wasn't easily attained.

Yeon-woo was able to give it away so simply because it wasn't his in the first place. Of course, he had removed all traces of Red Dragon from it.

"And this is the fee."

After the ring, Yeon-woo placed a pouch on the tablet. It sounded heavy.

Bicester carefully opened the pouch and jumped in surprise. Inside, gold and silver pieces were piled up.

A communication device and a fee of this amount. He saw Yeon-woo in a new light.

Also, the location of Braham was something that wasn't too hard to find if one just searched for a bit.

He asked for 4 days in the worst possible scenario that Braham was hiding his location, but really, 1 day was enough.

"Y, You don't need to....."

"Just take it. That's how fast I want you to find him. And it's nice if you protect Henova in the future as well."

"Thank you. I'll use it well."

Bicester shot up and bowed.

In his head, calculations were rapidly being done. To them, Yeon-woo was no different than a grim reaper, but he was definitely a skilled player who would become more famous in time.

He judged that it was better to forget about the past and establish a trading relationship with Yeon-woo so his clan could continue to grow bigger.

And that was why Yeon-woo had shown his wealth and the will to continue to make these kinds of exchanges in the future.

Looking at Bicester who quickly understood what he was trying to say, Yeon-woo slowly stood up.

He was a clever guy so he didn't have to tell him to keep his mouth shut.

'Now until Braham is found and the swords I requested for are finished, I can focus on climbing floors.'

Yeon-woo turned his head to look outside the window. His gaze was fixed on the firmly standing Tower.

***

[This is the 16th floor, the gate of 'Life's Wheel.']

Yeon-woo swept his hair at the familiar sight. And he could feel gazes on him.

'Should I have finished the trial when I was here?'

The moment he arrived, he felt the owners of the gazes rushing somewhere.

They were probably heading back to where they worked.

Yeon-woo already made a mess out of Skuld's temple. It was obvious the apostles and the priests would be plenty nervous now that he was here again.

He didn't regret it, but it was a bit annoying.

When he brought Hanbin out, he quickly left because he might be tracked down by Cheonghwado.

But seeing how many people were being wary of him, he thought it would be difficult to finish this trial.

However, this didn't mean the situation was any different.

Yeon-woo organized his thoughts and headed towards the 3rd path, the temple of Skuld.

He didn't have any other reason other than the fact that he couldn't go anywhere else because of the rule that once you picked a path, you couldn't go anywhere else.

But then.

[You cannot head to the temple of the future (Skuld). The owner of the temple doesn't allow your entrance.]

There was a problem.

The temple of the future, no, the goddess Skuld, was refusing Yeon-woo.

'Do I have to force my way?'

If this kept up, he couldn't finish his trial. He moved his hand towards Vigrid to force himself in, but he heard a voice behind him.

"This is the holy territory of a god. Please refrain from violence."

He turned back to see someone politely bowing down at him wearing a pure white robe.

It was hard to see the face because it was covered by a rope, but the voice was a woman's.

A robe with a gold wheel. It was the robe that symbolized the goddess of the past, Urd.

"You?"

"My greetings are late. I am an apostle of the goddess Urd, Hepburn.

Yeon-woo's eyes sharpy flashed past his mask.

Hearing Urd's name, something came to his mind.

-Of the. Three Norns. Three goddesses. Beware. Of. The oldest.

The message of some demon that Laplace had delivered to him.

He still didn't know the name of the demon. He wasn't interested, and didn't really want to find out.

However, he couldn't ignore the fact that Urd's apostle came herself.

An apostle was a god's proxy. Since the gods couldn't leave the 98th floor, their apostles acted in their stead, and it could be considered that he was speaking with Urd herself.

Fortunately, Hepburn didn't seem to have any enmity towards Yeon-woo. But even if she did, there wasn't anything she could do about it.

The power of an apostle depended on their god. Since she was an apostle of Urd, who could only tell fate, she was probably weak.

However, she probably still possessed the power of a ranker.

Yeon-woo didn't think that he was lacking compared to rankers.

No, unless they were high rankers, he had no reason to fall short.

Hepburn knew this very well. So her attitude was very respectful.

"So. Why is Urd's apostle all the way here?"

But he still thought that Urd's apostle coming here definitely couldn't be something good.

It was obvious he would be wary of her.

Hepburn spoke in a calm voice.

"The goddess wants to meet you."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Is she trying to hurt me?"

"Don't you already know the fact that we don't have the power to do that? And the goddess really wants to meet you. But if that's hard to believe, I'll swear on the god's name."

To swear of the name. That meant that they were ready to deal with whatever came their way if they broke their promise. The higher gods they were, the worse the consequences were.

But she still wanted to meet? Yeon-woo couldn't guess what Urd and Hepburn were thinking.

However, he couldn't not go now.

The path to Verdandi's temple was probably blocked as well. To finish the trial, he had no other choice but to go to Urd's temple.

Annoyance surged in his mind.

Even if it was a god, he hated this situation being pushed around them.

And he couldn't tell what they were thinking, so he could easily be used.

In the world of the Tower where you were chewed up if you blinked, doing such an act was like sucide.

Of course, Yeon-woo had aggravated them first.

But Yeon-woo thought what he did was fair.

So Yeon-woo put magic power into his Black Bracelet. Then, Hepburn's shadow shifted and soared up.

Hepburn quickly stepped back but the crescent-shaped scythe was already at her neck.

And her hidden face behind her mask was revealed.

Pure white skin. Sharp ears. A crumpled, but still beautiful face.

And hair that fell like a gold waterfall.

"High elf?"

Yeon-woo widened his eyes in surprise.

Gold hair meant that one had been descended from the goddess of beauty, Freya.

High elves were targeted by elfs or dark elves. Also, because of the fact that they couldn't easily have children, their population was rapidly diminishing.

So they were hard to find within the Tower, and the ones who were left were known to be at least a thousand years old.

But that didn't mean he was going to put the shadow scythe under Hepburn's chin away.

Just because he was surprised didn't change the fact that she was Urd's apostle.

Rather, Yeon-woo thought this was for the better.

Since an apostle was a part of the god, if they died, the god would be affected. And if a Superior species like a high elf died, then the level of the god would quickly fall. This was how valuable she was as a hostage.

He could feel the spirits that always followed the high elves clashing around him, but his Monster Portents didn't move.

Hepburn wrinkled her face as if she didn't like Yeon-woo's attitude.

"What are you dog?"

"Even if you swear of the god's name, I can't completely trust you. When this is over, I'll let you go. If you're not gonna try to hurt me like you said, then you won't be hurt, right?"

Hepburn frowned even more, and turned away with a calm face like nothing had happened.

"I'll take you to where the goddess is. Please follow me."

Hepburn left those words and disappeared. The Monster Portent in her shadow moved with her.

Was she saying to figure it out himself?

Thinking that her revenge was simple, he lightly laughed and used Shunpo towards where Hepburn disappeared.