Chương 49: Chapter 43 - Peace and wine

Light swallowed me whole and spat me out somewhere else. My shoes hit smooth ground. Definitely not the rocks of the floor I just depopulated. The ground hummed faintly under my soles, like the floor itself was running on electricity. I blinked. A city stretched out before me. A very modern one, with towers of pale metal and dark glass rising into the sky. The sky itself looked like zoomed-in space, with a smaller but visible moon, asteroids, space ships, and a space elevator.

Light came from the city, both lamps and the buildings, with almost everything having an attached light source. Walkways bridged the buildings at multiple levels, suspended by cables so thin they were nearly invisible. The streets were wide, clean, and populated. People moved in loose, modern clothing, unhurried, speaking in low voices. Vehicles that floated a foot off the ground glided silently along marked lanes. It smelled like nothing. Literally nothing. No wind, no smoke, no food, no sweat.

Climate-controlled air, perfectly neutral. The sterility of it set my teeth on edge. White text materialized before my eyes. A man in a uniform rushed to me, a police officer by my estimation, just with a light, exo-skeleton armor and a rifle attached to a magnetic holder on his back.

"Sir?" Well, damn, I didn't have the mana to fight another city. I turned with a smile.

"Yes?"

"You are a climber from a lower floor, right?" He stopped next to me, posture relaxed. So, the Cloak of the Wanderer worked halfway. It made them see me as a native to the tower, not necessarily to the floor.

"I am."

"Welcome to New Haven. Let me give you a quick introduction. The city welcomes all travellers, for as long as they follow the strict no-combat policy. Any hostility will be met with lethal force, but as long as you keep things clean, everything will be fine. The city is the major city of the region, and it accepts all currencies from lower and higher floors. No need to exchange. Is there any assistance you need?" No combat. I could live with that, especially with no mana.

"Thanks, I need a place to sleep."

"Then I recommend the Spire Hotel. It is traditional for climbers, so you should feel right at home there. It's down the street, to the right, and then follow the main street. You won't miss it." Hmph. I motioned at the sword at my hip.

"Is this all right to carry around?"

"Yes, ancient weapons worn as decorations are perfectly acceptable." Sarah would have loved to hear that. I smirked.

"Thanks again." I headed in the direction he pointed me to. Nobody looked at me twice. A woman passed within arm's reach, glanced at my face, and kept walking. A pair of men in a different kind of uniform crossed the street ahead without a second look. Just another native going about his day. I really needed to rest. With about one percent of my total mana, I had to regenerate. Also, the muscles I didn't remember using ached from the shockwaves Elsha had carelessly thrown around.

My suit, the charcoal one, had survived structurally but looked like I'd rolled down a hill in it, which wasn't far from the truth. The fresh cloak hid most of the damage. I walked. The city was organized in concentric rings, which I figured out after about ten minutes of walking, when I was crossing a bridge over nothing. The outer ring was residential. The middle ring was commercial, with markets, shops, and what looked like restaurants.

The inner ring, visible as a cluster of taller structures ahead, looked administrative. I found the Spire hotel, mostly because it looked like a spire and had its name on it. I walked into a lobby with high ceilings and ambient lighting that shifted color slightly as I moved through it. Tasteful. Inoffensive. I liked it. The front desk was staffed by a woman with short silver hair and the practiced pleasantness typical of receptionists.

"Room for one, please," I said.

"Something with a great view."

"Duration?"

"A couple of days." I fished gold coins from my pocket, wondering what the cost would be. The hotel looked nice.

"That will be six hundred credits." I handed over a few coins, hoping it'd suffice. She gave me a slightly suspicious look, returned all the gold coins but one to me, and then gave me change in banknotes. Four hundred credits, if I read them correctly. Oh, so one gold was a thousand credits. Got it.

"Room 2407. Twenty-fourth floor, end of the hall." She set a thin card on the counter.

"Breakfast is included in the east wing restaurant."

"Thanks." I picked up the card, turned from the desk, and looked for a restaurant. I could do with a meal before sleep, and I apparently had a lot of money. At least here, for now. A restaurant sign shone on the other side, so I walked there. The place looked really nice, with quite a bit of space around the tables and natural barriers throughout the restaurant to provide privacy. I walked in looking for a secluded table. And I found one, except behind it sat Peace.

She was drinking from a glass of white wine, the crystal floating behind her, her trench coat hanging nearby. Fuck. My heart shot up to my throat. Of course, I ran into her when I was out of mana. Well, now what? With the four and a half million mana I had left, I could summon Astarielle a few times and tank something with my shields. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. But against her, that wouldn't be enough even on a floor that didn't strictly prohibit violence.

If I attacked her, I would have her plus the rest of the city to deal with. No chance I'd win. It also obviously wasn't a coincidence that we met. She knew I'd come here and waited for me. No point in trying to run away. With a straightened back, I walked to her table. She looked up from the wine, forming a faint smirk. One of the many I had seen on her. Like when she murdered Chris and Biscuit. Or when she kidnapped Sarah. I kept my face neutral, though.

"Is this seat taken?"

"Feel free to take it." She put down the wine glass, leaning slightly forward. I sat down. She smelled of lilac, and in the white with long sleeves, wide business pants, and formal heels, she looked just like any regular businesswoman would. Her face looked so gentle and peaceful that my mind wouldn't ever assign what she had done if I wasn't there myself. Still, my blood ran cold in my veins, heart hammering behind my ribs. The non-violence rule may well not have applied to her.

"Fancy meeting you here," I said with the calmest voice I could manage. With a bit of luck, she didn't know I was out of mana. The last time we met, she kidnapped Sarah. That was a couple of days ago. She motioned at a waitress and then braced her cheek against her palm, tilting her head.

"I wondered if you'd find the courage to face me here."

"I don't see why I wouldn't. It's you who runs all the time." A smile broadened on her face, somehow both gentle and vicious.

"After the twenty-fifth-floor incident, I would expect you to be out of strength." Oh, so she knew. I kept my face calm, not all that successfully.

"Just in case you would get some medieval ideas with the sword you are carrying," she continued.

"The paladin girl is not on this floor. She is hidden where only I can find her, sealed in a stasis coffin to which only I know the access code. If anything happens to me, she will never be found or recovered." I froze in my spot. She sure came prepared. A waitress came to us.

"What would you like?" she asked straight.

"Bring us a bottle," Peace said, glancing at her.

"And the menu. I feel like biting into something solid."

"Right away." The waitress walked off. That at least bought me the time to recompose.

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"It is the tallest, most impressive hotel in the city. An obvious choice for someone of your power, especially after climbing straight upon floor completion." I frowned.

"How did you know I did that?"

"I did not. I merely expected you to rush after me." The waitress came, placing a bucket with ice and a wine bottle between us. She added two menus, one for each of us. She opened the bottle, poured a bit into an empty glass, and handed it to me. As if nothing strange was happening. I took the glass, swirled it a bit to watch the viscosity, then checked it against light, sniffed a bit, and took a sip. Decent wine.

"It is acceptable." The waitress bowed a tiny bit, poured me a proper glass, and refilled Peace's. She picked up her glass.

"Cheers."

"Cheers." We toasted and drank a bit.

"Come to think of it," she said as she was putting down her glass.

"You should be careful about how much I drink. If I get too drunk, I might forget the code." I snorted. What an asshole.

"You don't strike me as the type that forgets." She started flipping through the menu. Reluctantly, so did I. The meals looked like what one'd expect at any decent Earth restaurant. We both stopped at the steaks section.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I wanted to meet you." She spoke more slowly now, reading the menu.

"You didn't know this was a non-violent floor. You also must be drained after the 25th floor, and you know that I need your blood to create Mefista. And yet you came straight. I don't know if I should be flattered that you chase after me so fiercely, or if I should pity your lack of self-preservation instinct." I narrowed my eyes, doing my best to hide the surprise.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please, you have surely read the pamphlet Liberation gave you. You know that I took the paladin girl for it. And I will take your blood as well, when the time comes." So, she knew. That froze me in place for a good second. The waitress came. I sipped from the glass, using the opportunity to reset my face.

"What have you picked?" she asked. Peace smiled.

"I want the rib-eye steak with eggs and salad."

"How would you like it done?" She wrote it down.

"Medium-rare?"

"Blue," Peace replied.

"It needs to bleed when I bite into it."

"All right." The waitress turned to me.

"What should I get you, Sir?"

"The filet-mignon, medium rare, with the spring salad."

"An excellent choice." The waitress smiled and rushed away. Peace sipped from the glass again, eyeing me over the brim.

"Interesting. I was half-expecting you to try to outcompete me by ordering an even wilder type of steak. Instead, you chose what you want independent of my choice." I clicked my tongue.

"You like to overthink stuff, don't you?"

"It is through our intellect that we face reality. Especially for me, since I have no mana or combat talent. In all aspects, I am a commoner. And yet here I am, having a two-zero lead in head-to-head matches against the man who killed twenty-five overseers in a single fight." Hmph. I motioned at the floating crystal.

"What about that?"

"That is a weapon assigned to me for years of excellent service. I started in Paradise as an assistant receptionist on floor three."

"And now, you are one of its champions." She chuckled, faintly blushing.

"It has indeed been a couple of decades since I started back then. I was young, barely twelve, and took a job to make the tower a better place."

"Is that what this creation of Mefista is about?"

"Yes. By returning to the tower the god it needs, we will turn it into the paradise it was always meant to be. Our organization's name is a little bit on the nose, admittedly." She sipped from the wine again.

"But what about you? Why are you climbing the tower?"

"Chris sure isn't enjoying the betterness of it."

"The sacrifice of the few is usually necessary for the benefit of the many. But you understand that well yourself." The smirk returned to her lips.

"That's different. You lured him to his own death. He believed in you."

"He was a good boy. But there were many good boys on floor twenty-five. That I knew him while you didn't know them changes nothing." I glared at her. For a moment, we sat in silence. She wasn't wrong. I couldn't care less about collateral damage to the tower. I was here for fame and glory, and what met the spiritual beings along my path was a cost I had to be willing to pay. The waitress brought the steaks, together with a wine refill. For a moment, we ate alone.

"You have yet to answer my question," Peace finally said.

"Fame and glory," I admitted.

"That's why I entered the tower. Now, I climb to get Sarah out of your grasp."

"A selfish goal turned noble." She raised an eyebrow.

"I like that. I figured you would be here for the tower's treasures. Originally, I came here to offer you the opportunity to join Paradise. That would get you all the treasure and glory you could handle. But… you are too proud for that, aren't you?" How annoyingly insightful. She read me perfectly. Now, we both knew a ceasefire wasn't an option. My pride wouldn't allow me to leave Sarah behind. She got taken on my watch. And I had Chris and Biscuit to avenge, on top of that.

At the same time, she needed my blood, so she was going to have to expose herself to get it. We ate the rest of the meal in silence. We ran out of things to speak of.

"Before we depart," she said, setting aside the silverware.

"Tell me, do you have something greater than yourself to live for?" I frowned. A strange question.

"Not in the sense you mean it."

"I appreciate your honesty." She rose, reaching for her trenchcoat.

"The dinner is on me today. I will call this a draw, so we are two-zero for me." She headed for the exit.

"May you find peace." The floating crystal followed her without a sound. I watched her leave. Had we lived different lives, we could have been friends. But we lived the lives we had, and her life was going to end by my hand. I finished the wine and headed for my room. On the way, I grabbed a couple of bottles of champagne from a service tray. My room was a top-tier room, with floor-to-ceiling windows that offered an amazing view over the city. The bed had cashmere blankets, and everything looked spotless.

I crashed into the bed and went to my soul chamber. Since this cost mana, I didn't linger and quickly re-did engravings on Ashy and Astarielle. Out combat buffs, in mana cost reductions for summoning and maintenance. I still kept the quick summon on both and a quick unsummon on Astarielle. The advanced engraving couldn't be changed, so I left that be. I returned to my tower self and summoned Astarielle. An excellent use of mana when I had barely any, but I was about to get sleep.

She looked around, searching for enemies. When she realized where she was, a grin crept onto her face.

"I see you plan to treat your mana like your money." Oh, I loved it when she rubbed it in my face.

"We haven't had the chance to celebrate yet." Her grin broadened. She flicked one champagne bottle. The cork blew out, followed by a fountain of champagne. She grabbed the bottle, swaying her hips as she walked toward me.

"Cheers."