Chapter 49: Today’s Ally Is Today’s Enemy

The moon had already scattered its full colors across the sky—it was late at night.

Normally, I would still be busy running my shop at this hour, but the sheer density of questlines in each zone was on a completely different level. 

That’s how I had lost track of time.

“Haaahhhm…”

Tina, who didn’t actually need to sleep, pretended to yawn out of habit.

“Let’s clear up to Zone 10 today and take a break tomorrow.”

I decided to be a little greedy.

After all, I had breezed through Zones 7 and 8, leaving only Zones 9 and 10.

[Tower of Wishes, 16th Floor – Great Forest: Langin Tribe Territory, Zone 7 Cleared!]

[★★☆ Defeat the Langin Tribe’s reinforcement troops and claim victory. (Achieved)]

[Tower of Wishes, 16th Floor – Great Forest: Langin Tribe Territory, Zone 8 Cleared!]

[★★☆ Engage in an honorable duel with the Langin Tribe’s leader, ‘Enya,’ and emerge victorious. (Achieved)]

A classic case of retroactive application!

Originally, the proper route was to withstand their waves of attacks—beating up the vanguard, smashing through the reinforcement troops, and finally taking on Enya after exhausting them in an honorable duel with Renatel.

But instead, in true heroic fashion, we had… honorably skipped all of that with a well-executed hostage situation.

Speedrun, speedrun. 

Gotta love a good speedrun.

Honor doesn’t put food on the table.

So, if everyone was on board with proceeding to Zone 9…

[Tower of Wishes, 16th Floor – Great Forest: Langin Tribe Territory, Outskirts, Zone 9]

[★☆★ Find clues to unite the Langin Tribe.]

[★★☆ Complete the mission within 2 hours.]

[★★★: Complete the mission without harming any beastkin.]

The problem?

The questline had completely changed.

Ordinarily, like any proper idle combat game, non-stop fighting was the default progression route.

But since we had their leader, Enya, graciously invited into our custody, there was no longer any reason for the Langin Tribe to fight.

I shared the quest details with my fellow heroes.

“The beastkin affiliated with the Darang Unit didn’t seem to hold much of a grudge, but the other Langin Tribe members were quite angry. Maybe that’s where we can find some clues?”

…Could that be because you guys went around chopping off their tail fur?

It seemed like the Darang Unit had done similar things, too. 

Isn’t casually trampling on someone’s pride the real evil here?

Well, not my problem.

“Tina, what did you notice?”

“It was weird! They all had this… lost look in their eyes!”

Was that because you were smearing filth everywhere?

Somehow, their testimonies felt a bit unreliable.

“Rumi, what do you think?”

Today’s MVP, who had taken down the enemy commander single-handedly, was happily wagging her tail.

“Woof! Smelled like cats, woof!”

…A rather abstract observation.

Zero useful intel.

“Alright then, let’s go see Enya.”

We had already heard Renatel’s incredibly biased perspective.

For neutrality’s sake, we should at least hear what Enya—the one Renatel claimed had “sided with those damn cats”—had to say.

***

Enya was surprisingly calm as she sat there.

Of course, considering she had a collar around her neck and shackles on her feet, there wasn’t much else she could do.

…Wow. 

Tied to a pillar with a leash? 

That was just… downright malicious, depraved, borderline insane, and oddly… sexy—

“What do you want, invader? I have nothing to say.”

The moment she saw us, she bared her teeth and ground them together.

…What was this? 

A “we do not negotiate with terrorists” kind of stance?

Felt a bit like that.

But I was a skilled negotiator.

The water knows the answer.

“Rumi? Grab her.”

“Let go! What are you trying to do to me, you wretched fiends?!”

As SD Ellis giggled in the background, I skillfully administered a potion, pouring it straight down Enya’s throat.

“…?”

She blinked in confusion as a surge of energy filled her body.

Just like the town’s resident heroes, even without a formal contract, she seemed to be leveling up bit by bit. 

The effects were working.

I should’ve given some to Renatel earlier, too.

“How do you feel? Feeling healthier?”

I flashed her my best, most refreshing smile.

“……”

Enya immediately turned her head away.

I already gave the medicine.

“Here, one more.”

I opened another potion bottle.

“…I’ll drink it myself.”

Perhaps because they understood that I had no intention of harming them, this time, they drank it on their own.

This is why I enjoy taming wild animals.

“Ah! That one’s mine!”

Ignoring Tina’s scream, I popped an Ark-special dalgona candy into their mouth.

Originally, I considered giving them Ellis’s special ‘Truth Serum,’ but that seemed too cruel.

Let’s keep things as gentle as possible.

“Now that you’ve been captured like this, are you still going to resist?”

“…Hmph. Those fools. Why would they ever doubt the great and mighty King-God-Master-Neko Lords? I simply cannot understand.”

Enya spoke, looking deeply displeased.

…That phrasing sounds a little odd.

“King-God-Master-Neko Lords?”

“Yes. The feline beastkin is the supreme among all beastkin, unmatched by any other race. 

They are the strongest, the most adorable, and the most powerful… Ugh.”

As if entranced, Enya continued her praise of the feline race, only to suddenly clutch her head in pain.

“I’ll take a look at this.”

Johanna approached Enya and placed a hand on her head, sharing a healing blessing.

“Rumi, what do you think?”

“This is weird, woof… I thought feline beastkin were too arrogant to get along with wolf beastkin.”

Typical of cats.

“Rude, how rude! Calling us arrogant!”

At Rumi’s words, Enya nearly had a seizure, growling and hissing.

This feels familiar…

It’s kind of like those cult members who get too deep into their faith.

“This is suspicious. We need to investigate further.”

Saha, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward.

And then—

“Ark, please step outside for a moment.”

They kicked me out.

“Why? Why?”

What are you planning, you crazy heroes?!

Even though I tried my best to resist as they pushed me out, there was an undeniable difference in physical strength, and I was soon thrown out of the room.

Thud!

“Violence! No violence!”

I left them with that one warning as the door slammed shut.

Then, I perked up my ears and focused on the voices coming from inside.

“Haah! What—what are you doing?! This is blasphemy!”

“It’ll be over soon, just hold still. Tina?”

“Heeheehee!”

“Why! Why are you taking off my clothes?! Hyah! Hyaaah!”

“Oh, abs.”

“Here. This is—”

“Ah, noooo…!”

What?

This is getting a little concerning.

“Ari, cut it open just a little more.”

What’s happening there?

Let me see what you’re seeing!

I really didn’t want to, but—

I had no choice but to activate my maximum imagination power and reconstruct the scene in my mind.

I can’t help it. It’s instinct.

“Found it!”

“Wow, this was in here—”

“No! That’s—”

“It’s fine!”

“Haaaah!”

It was attached…

That thing…

With Enya’s final scream—

“Ark, you can come in now.”

“I’ll… I’ll just sit here for a moment…”

I couldn’t stand up.

After a moment.

Barely managing to summon a sense of calm and peace—drawing on the river flowing within my heart, the vast ocean, the waves, Mahāprajñāpāramitā, form is emptiness, all those religious notions of tranquility—I steadied myself, opened the door, and stepped inside.

Enya was slumped over weakly, her eyes reddened.

Her clothes were completely intact.

“…What did you do?”

Explain.

In as much detail as possible.

“Look at this!”

But instead of offering any explanation, Tina waved a talisman she lightly held between her fingertips.

On instinct, I reached out to touch it—

“Ah! You can’t touch that with your bare hands—!”

Cats are the best, cats are life, the Myoin race is the greatest in the Great Forest, no, in the entire universe, the strongest race, the cutest beings, always to be revered without question, and everything I have belongs to the Myoin race, and among them, Lord Neb is the most supreme of all…!

“Gah…!”

The soft sensation wrapping around my back snapped me back to reality.

When I turned my head slightly, I found Rumi hugging me from behind—her face close, way too close.

“Woof! Master, you mustn’t touch that carelessly, woof!”

Yeah. I almost got recruited into the cat worship cult.

“That item… does that mean—?”

At my words, Saha nodded.

“It is a type of talisman that bewitches the soul. That was… um… it was…”

“?”

Saha trailed off, her face turning red.

“It was inside her panties!”

Tina cheerfully revealed the origin of the object.

“…!”

Wait, why the hell was it stuck there?

“It’s, um… something that’s been trending among the Great Forest folks lately. They say that if you wear it on your body, it makes your fur shinier, boosts confidence, clears your skin, and helps you find your ideal mate…”

Enya, now fully regaining her senses, blushed as she explained the talisman’s origin.

What kind of cheap scam was this?

And they fell for it?

Is the intelligence of the Langin race really okay…?

“D-Don’t look at me like that…! A lot of Langin folk actually saw results…! Including me…!”

She protested, thumping her tail against the floor.

Now that I looked, her tail fur was really glossy—almost premium quality. 

Drool—no, wait, ahem.

“Of course, it turned out to be the dirty trick of those damn cats… b-but still… didn’t I end up meeting a proper mate, just like it promised…?”

Even now, Enya was refusing to admit she had been scammed, choosing self-justification instead.

…That last part sounded a little strange.

Now that I think about it.

She was an attempted kidnapper and rapist, wasn’t she?

“Rumi?”

“Grrr…”

“Hyaaaaagh!”

I had Rumi, who had been quietly growling behind me, reaffirm the pecking order once again.

“Ellis, what do you think?”

I turned to SD Ellis, our alchemist, who had been floating around the talisman, observing it closely.

“Hmm… smells like a female.”

“Hey.”

“Fufufu… You look adorable when you’re flustered, my lord.”

Every time she opens her mouth, it’s nothing but lewd jokes.

She’s got the perfect demeanor of a mid-level corporate manager.

“It’s imbued with demon magic, along with actual alchemical effects. I’d wager the skincare benefits and all that are real enough… shall we take some for later?”

“Let’s do that.”

Does it really have skincare benefits?

A female scent…

I don’t know about that, but—

I can definitely smell money.

It’s practically wafting in the air.

But that’s secondary for now.

“The other Langin must be in a similar state, right?”

At my question, the warriors nodded.

“…Let’s go. If we inform Renatel, we might be able to resolve this more easily.”

The mystery was completely solved.

And on top of that—

[Tower of Wishes, 16th Floor – Great Langin Forest, Zone 9 Cleared!]

[★☆☆ Find a clue to unite the Langin tribe. (Achieved)]

The system confirmed the clear!

Now, all that was left was Zone 10—the usual boss fight.

Just as I started wondering who the boss was—

Boom!

“Kyaa?!”

A powerful tremor shook the entire structure.

At the same time, new information popped up.

[Tower of Wishes, 16th Floor – Great Forest: Langin Territory Outskirts, Zone 10]

[★☆☆ Subdue the rampaging Renatel.]

[★★☆ Survive for at least 10 minutes.]

[★★★ Defeat the rampaging Renatel before Darang Dreamland burns down.]

“Sigh.”

Just from reading the text, I could already see—

how this was going to be a disaster.

That talisman must have stuck to them somehow…

Which means—

They went from a weak enemy that became an ally…to a ridiculously strong former ally that turned into an enemy?!

And to top it all off, they probably chugged potions and fully geared up…?

Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.