Chapter 46 - The Regressor Takes Action (3)

“... Don't come near me. You'll catch my stink.”

There was the beggar who seemed consumed by self-loathing, retreating a step whenever I stepped closer.

“... Why. Have you. Called me...”

There was the beggar who staggered out like a warlock's 1/3 Taunt minion from a card game.

“... What are you looking at? If you're not giving me food, get lost.”

And there was the beggar who responded aggressively the moment I spoke to him, repeatedly spitting on the ground.

Once I'd given them a quick wash, cut their hair, and changed their clothes, they all looked like perfectly ordinary residents.

Who was born looking like a beggar? We're all the same at birth. It's our circumstances that make us look different.

I roamed the streets, collecting every Bronze-grade token box I could find and actively helping people regain a normal appearance.

I had delivered these suffering people from their torment. Naturally, my Awe trait activated, and now a large crowd stood in orderly ranks before me.

“What have we done wrong? What's to blame for denying us even decent food and a good night's sleep?”

“Those goddamn boxes!”

“What's to blame for this city's twisted structure?”

“Those goddamn boxes!”

“Don't you want to save the residents from the clutches of these boxes?!”

“Yeeees!!!”

“Let's go! Let's rescue them!”

“Woooooo!”

With Awe active, getting these people to do my bidding was a piece of cake.

At my command, they poured out toward the Silver-grade residents. As instructed beforehand, each approached a resident and carried out their assigned task.

Step one was persuasion.

“Excuse me, Mr. Miller.”

“Who... Huh? Aren't you that beggar? Your name was...”

“That doesn't matter anymore. More importantly, don't you want to escape the tyranny of the grades?”

“... The tyranny of the grades?”

“Haven't you ever wanted to throw away that box that makes those goddamn tokens and live a free life?”

“... Actually, I have. The truth is, I never wanted to run some vegetable shop. I... I... wanted to be a singer...”

“Then come with me. You're already one of our comrades.”

They would explain that a Player would collect the box, then encourage the resident to follow another resident to where I was.

“Please take me with you.”

“Let me... let me come too! Where did you say I should go?”

More residents than I'd expected resented the lives the system forced upon them.

They willingly came to me, pulled open their shirts, and volunteered to have their boxes taken away.

But not everyone was so cooperative.

“Get lost.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, get lost. I like my life as it is. I don't have to think about anything. All I have to do is what I'm told, right? I like this token box, too. It symbolizes our relationship with God, doesn't it?”

“...”

Quite a few residents refused to surrender their boxes, saying they liked their current lives even though they were only Silver-grade.

In those cases, the operation had to move to step two.

“Wait... Who are you people?”

“Stay where you are. He'll be here shortly.”

“Who will? Get out of my way!”

“We can't do that. Just wait here quietly.”

All it took was for about five people to gather around the resident refusing to surrender their box.

Essentially, it was the same thing those thugs blocking the alleys did: exploiting the rule against violence to restrict someone's movements.

Just as Players couldn't use violence against other Players, residents couldn't use violence against other residents.

Surrounded by a human wall, the man had no choice but to let me take his dearly cherished box when I arrived shortly afterward.

We collected the boxes steadily, until we'd taken complete control of an entire street.

“Let's go. To the mansion.”

I led the people toward the mansion where a Gold-grade noble lived.

“... Climber. What in the world is going on? What are you plotting?”

Baron Licht glared at me through gritted teeth.

As I've said before, the nobles were strong.

In an unrestricted fight, I'd probably have a seventy-thirty advantage. But with Regression handicapping me, I'd lose eight or nine times out of ten.

But no one was stupid enough to fight on their opponent's terms.

This time, too, I'd pushed into the mansion using the residents as human shields.

Nobles or not, they were still residents bound by the rules. Residents couldn't harm other residents. Baron Licht's magic was effectively sealed.

A few butlers had tried exploiting the rules to block the corridors with their bodies, of course. But once I took their token generators away, those loyal servants immediately bared their teeth at their master.

By the time residents filled the mansion's corridors to bursting, even Baron Licht, who'd locked himself in to hold out, had no choice but to let them surround him.

“Why?! Why are you doing this?! Surely you have a reason!”

“Didn't you say your job was to mediate violence between Players and residents?”

“...”

“You ignored your duties and only cared about what you could get out of it, didn't you?”

Baron Licht flushed. Apparently, he still had some sense of shame.

Since the tokens were making the bastard act that way too, I supposed I ought to give him some allowance for the circumstances.

I approached with the residents' bodies shielding me, jabbed a vital point with my scabbard to knock him out, and collected everything I needed.

The people were about to scream with joy at finally getting rid of one of those detestable nobles, but I gestured for them to calm down.

“Don't celebrate yet. We've only cleaned up one street. We have a long way to go.”

That was only one down. There would still be countless token generators left.

“Let's go. Let's smash this unjust system.”

The flames of revolution had yet to die out.

“Are there any more?”

“No. From Gold tokens down to Bronze tokens, we've double-checked the list of residents. No one's been missed.”

“Whew... Good.”

How much time had passed?

After investing quite a lot of it, we'd finished collecting every token generator.

Except for nearly letting one noble who could fly escape, everything had gone smoothly, just as I'd planned.

There were no longer any classes assigned to these people. No interference from the system forcing them to behave a certain way, either. They could simply live however they wanted.

I had, at last, brought true equality to this city.

But that was only how things looked from the residents' perspective.

As a Player, I had my own part to play.

With help from some of the residents, I walked toward the square, dragging a heavy sack behind me.

Overwhelmed by the enormous crowd, the Players backed away before we even reached them. I could feel awe flowing into me from some of them.

“...”

When I finally reached the center of the square, I came face-to-face with the angel, who was watching me with a stiff expression.

The angel's eyes darted about as though unable to comprehend the situation.

“Hello there.”

Unfazed, I grinned at the angel.

“... What are you thinking, climber? What you're doing seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with self-improvement.”

“Well, you don't need to worry about that...”

I confidently thrust a Platinum token toward the angel.

“I've brought a token. Let me clear the floor.”

“...”

“Oh, this sack? It's just... spoils of war? I'm allowed to take it, right? You never said I couldn't take this stuff out of here. Right?”

“... You can, but I recommend against it.”

“... Huh? Why?”

I twisted my face into the most obnoxious expression I could manage and leaned in toward the angel.

“Does it say that in the stage rules? It doesn't, does it? Why don't you recommend it?”

“... If you take all of those away, no one will ever be able to clear Floor 2 again. Humanity will be one step closer to extinction, and this city will become an enormous prison.”

The angel raised an eyebrow, as if asking whether I was all right with that.

Apparently, the claim that Archangel Raphael loved humanity, at least on the surface, hadn't been a lie. Here was an angel, of all things, worrying about humanity's future.

“That's none of my concern. Well, I could leave them behind if there were a suitable reward...”

But I shrugged as though humanity's future had nothing to do with me.

The angel was right.

If I took every token generator to the next floor, no one would ever be able to clear Floor 2 again.

Everyone who came up to Floor 2 would be trapped here forever, endlessly praying that someone would clear Floor 66 of the tower.

Wasn't I pushing humanity toward extinction of my own accord?

Yes. If the angel simply let me clear the floor now, humanity would move closer to extinction. Everyone who came after me would be eliminated from the climb.

But I was certain of one thing.

There would be someone who didn't want the current system destroyed.

Someone who had personally offered the city to God and brought this entire situation upon herself.

A rules fanatic who hadn't intervened because nothing I'd done so far had broken any rules.

“You're listening, aren't you?”

She probably was.

After all, she was holed up somewhere out of sight, watching over the entire city.

I braced my stomach and shouted at the sky with all my might.

“Get me the manager!!!”

It was time to meet the city's ruler.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Thank you for reading.

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