[4 - FLEET-FOOTED ENVOY]

'Fleet-Footed Envoy', or Mercury Mancini, was a publicly known figure in my past timeline.

He was famous for 2 things.

Being able to outrun the speedy Horned Rabbits on the First Floor…and dying to the cruelty of newcomer Players a year after the Tower came into being.

His death was shown all over the world, and soon enough Mercury Mancini became a symbol of cowardice and weakness. He helped newcomers finish the first floor of the Tower through his pure, selfless heart, and was scorned and killed for his kindness.

But why was he stealing Horn Fragments? Was this how he managed to clear the First Floor?

I sat down next to Mercury, evading his thrashing and flailing as he struggled to get out of Xingxi's grip. "What were you doing?" Mercury snapped at me, "Stealing horn fragments of course! I'm not as strong as the other 'Players', so what else can I do? I want to go home!" This was a normal reaction, a normal answer coming from a young man who was dragged into the Tower against his will. He just wanted to go home and see his mother and father again.

So why…

Why had I expected Mercury to say something different?

Wasn't this a good thing? If he went home, Mercury wouldn't have to die.

"I have a proposition."

Mercury looked up at me.

"You can take the horn fragments from every rabbit you lure towards us. Sounds good enough, no? We are open to suggestions in case you want something different." But I didn't know if I could offer Mercury anything else, so I was hoping Mercury would take the bait.

Mercury stopped thrashing, considering the thought.

"Fine."

His answer made me sigh in relief, Xingxi letting go. Mercury dusted himself off, placing his hands on his hips. "But I'm bailing if I'm going to die, so your little brother here has to protect me well." He held out his hand, "You can call me the Fleet-Footed Envoy." He's using his Player title, clever boy. "Then you may call me Erstwhile King of Ice." I shook his hand as Mercury made a face. "That's a strange title." Deal with it, Mercury.

After our verbal agreement, we discussed our next plan. The southern side had a little amount of horned rabbit burrows, but if you knew where to look, killing 100 of them would be easy. That's where my expertise came in, Mercury would proceed to lure the rabbits towards us, and Xingxi would kill them off. If I had a proper spell, I'd probably be able to fight too. But I deal with making potions and equipment, and I had no resources to make said items.

"50!? Why do I have to get 50 at once!? That's too many, I'm bailing! I don't think your little brother can even handle that many!" "You'd be surprised at how fast and efficient Xingxi is. But fine, we can take it slow, how does 20 sound?" Mercury crossed his arms, huffing, "Fine."

Let's see…I do remember a burrow of 20 rabbits a few kilometres to the west of the lake. I pointed to the approximate location, "Look for any swells within the earth, usually you can find a burrow there-" I didn't even get to finish explaining before Mercury took off in the direction. "Wow, that was fast." No wonder the Tower gave him the title of 'Fleet-footed Envoy'. I guided Xingxi in front of me. I couldn't fight, nope, one hit and I would be dead. Xingxi braced for combat as he stood in front of me, before dashing forward.

Xingxi could've been as fast as Mercury was.

The youth ran right beside me, skidding to a stop as he caught his breath. "I don't…I don't think I've run faster in my entire life…" I gave him a pat on the shoulder, poor Mercury, he's going to have to go through this a few more times. "That being said, you do run pretty quickly." Mercury puffed up his chest, "I'm the fastest guy I know! Not to brag, but yeah, I am bragging." I laughed. How could such a lovely youth like him die so cruelly?

I turned my attention onto Xingxi, who was slaughtering the rabbits with ease. Wow, no mercy for those poor rabbits. The rabbits were still well and whole, of course, I still needed to make money off their resources, but I could see Xingxi crushing the horns of all the rabbits. I elbowed Mercury, "Xingxi's crushing the horns into horn fragments, if you can take a hit, I suggest you run in there and grab them." Mercury looked at me weirdly, "It's like you want me to die." "Trust yourself and your speed, if you can outrun the horned rabbits then you can definitely avoid their attacks. They're simply creatures anyways, just think of this as an RPG."

"We don't die permanently in RPGs, do we?"

Mercury had a fair point. But then the horn fragments would go to me, and frankly they may be useful to me, but I still had the deal to uphold with Mercury.

[There is a trading system.]

I really am starting to get immune to the Tower's popups.

But it was right, I had forgotten the Tower implemented a trading system. Ah, I feel like a fool for forgetting it existed.

"Fair enough, I'll just trade them to you." "You can trade!?"

Mercury looked like he wanted to say more when Xingxi returned, presenting a bag of horn fragments. Where did he get that? A closer look at Xingxi revealed he had torn off the bottom seam of his shirt to create the makeshift bag. This silly child.

I held the bag in my hand, checking my status of the quest.

[Quest Progress: 21/100 Horn Fragments Obtained.]

"Yeah, that's all 20…There should be a burrow containing 30 or so horned rabbits further south. Burrows here seem to be few but plentiful. You should hurry down now, Mercury, I'll sort out the rabbits." I needed the fur and meat of said rabbits, of course, now is a brilliant time to get rich. Mercury asked no further questions and rushed down, while I had to get comfortable and start skinning these rabbits.

This cycle continued two more times. Mercury would lure the rabbits, Xingxi would kill them and I would direct them to other burrows and sort out the rabbit carcasses. By the time we were done, it was time to keep up with my side of the deal.

[Player 'Erstwhile King of Ice' is offering Player 'Fleet-Footed Envoy' 100 Horn Fragments.]

[Player 'Fleet-Footed Envoy' has accepted the trade.]

Mercury held up the bag of horn fragments like it was a precious diamond. "I can go home!" He exclaimed, "Thanks for the horn fragments!" He was about to run off when he stopped, "Does the Tower have a friends list? Like in actual RPGs?" [Yes.] "Yeah." "Sweet! Hey, we should add each other then! Call me if you need me again." I blinked, didn't Mercury want to go home and not challenge the Tower anymore? In all honesty, this feels more like the Mercury that I knew in my past timeline. "I…sure." I agreed nonetheless.

We quickly added each other as friends, Mercury turning to Xingxi and asking for his Player Title. Xingxi shook his head. "He's not a Player, actually. Xingxi isn't human, and technically anything he does counts under me, so technically, I killed over 100 horned rabbits even though Xingxi was the one who did the actual killing." "...That makes sense now. No wonder you're willing to give me the horn fragments. Either way, I'm going to go home now! Don't forget to tell me when we're raiding the second floor!"

Mercury waved, running off to who knows where. He'll be alright.

I checked the leaderboard.

[Tower Leaderboard]

[1st - 'Seraphim']

[2nd - 'Erstwhile King of Ice']

[3rd - 'Shogun Infernal']

[4th - 'Fleet-Footed Envoy']

[5th - 'Stardust Champion']

Second place. That wasn't good. I had overtaken 'Shogun Infernal' on the leaderboard, which meant he may or may not be hunting us down at this very moment. At least Evgeni 'Seraphim' Sokolov was still in first place, and Mercury had skyrocketed to 4th. I asked the Tower to show me the extra rewards I gained from clearing the quest quickly.

[For being 2nd to clear the Quest, Player 'Erstwhile King of Ice' has received 5 Lucky Equipment and Weapon Draws.]

Turns out it was a lucky-draw!

I, Ye Mingyu, have horrible statistics in lucky-draws. I wouldn't go a single gacha game without spending money for the character, or weapon, or whatever special item was on rate-up! These things are my worst nightmare! I may have good luck in real life but my virtual luck is…virtually nonexistent!

"Can I change the reward to something else?"

[No.]

Damn this blasted Tower.

"Fine," I sighed, "Roll all 5 Lucky Equipment and Weapon Draws."

[Player 'Erstwhile King of Ice' has used 5 Lucky Equipment and Weapon Draws and has obtained: Narcissus' Mirror Shield x1, Sage's Staff x1, Clairvoyant's Cloak x1, Daggers of the Crimson Polaris x2!]

Alchemists have no use for these types of things! They're all class-restricted! I could give the daggers to Xingxi since weird Tower rules didn't apply to Xingxi, but what am I supposed to do with the rest!? I slammed the ground with my fists. What happened to being someone who personally won the Tower's favour!? Shouldn't I at least be allowed to change my bonus reward!?

"Excuse me, sir, are you alright?"

Wait, that…that's Evgeni Sokolov's voice! We must've gone too far towards the East while we were hunting for rabbits and caught Evgeni's attention. My former idol is squatting right before me and asking if I was alright! This is…so humiliating, and so inconvenient! Catching the attention of Rank 1 was the last thing I wanted! "N-No, I mean, yes! I am alright! Just fine and dandy!" What can I do…what can I do?

I remembered the Clairvoyant's Cloak, right, useless to me but probably a buff for Evgeni, considering his S-rank Blessing.

The cloak appeared in my arms and I thrusted it right into Evgeni's face.

"I got this as a reward and it's useless to me but it's probably good for you so you should take it instead and I don't need it, goodbye!" The words just fell out of my mouth as I came up with an excuse and hastily said goodbye right after, running as far as I possibly can. I have to avoid him, not only because I'm going to become a mess in front of what is probably still my idol, but also because he's one of the people that can easily find out I've gone back in time!

⸻⸻⸻⸻

"Owned by 'Erstwhile King of Ice'...what an unusual Player title."