Chapter 5: Haruki Suou and Akari Yamamoto

I look at the Mission and then look around "Hey look." I said as I pointed at a wall far away. "I think that's the Kingdom we need to go help." I continued talking as then a man with long purple hair wearing heavy armor approached us. "Halt! Are you guys intruders?!" he said as he pointed his Lance At us. "Huh? Who's this wannabe knight?" Akari said as the knight seemed baffled, I looked at Akari and then looked at the knight I then opened my mouth to speak "I dunno but I think it's safe to avoid him and keep going." I said as we began going around the knight to reach the other side. "Anyways we better hurry to the kingdom." Hebi said as we agreed we completely ignored the Knight and continued going until he came running and was now in front of us, I looked at him again and then looked at my companions, we all nodded and we proceeded to do the same thing again and ignore him and keep walking However, this annoying guy keeps appearing… after what seemed like 5 times of avoiding him he came once again and I talked. "What do you want?" I asked as he looked at me and then spoke

"I said… Halt!" he exerted Pressure that made it hard to move or so we thought. "Uh… are we supposed to be scared?" Akari said as he looked at how unfazed we are he seemed rather shocked. He stopped exerting his pressure and looked at us in disbelief, "Why... Why are you guys not scared?" he asked as I looked at him I walked up to him and pat him on the back. "There there, don't worry you're just not intimidating at all." I said as Hebi and Akari couldn't help but laugh at my remark. The guy looked at me and as I saw his face I realized something… He was crying. "Hey! This guy is crying." I said as the knight looked at us he then said "Why... Why does nobody keep taking me seriously?!" He definitely sounded in pain and I looked at Hebi and Akari, they both looked confused so I sighed and looked at him. "Tell me your name." I said as he looked at me he then said "I'm Henry, Henry Tepes." Henry looked troubled so I said "Well look I assume you're a knight right?" he nodded his head and I then continued "We are here to actually help the kingdom." He looked shocked after I said my statement that we were here to help the kingdom. "R-Really?! You're here to help?" he said as I nodded I began explaining that we needed to get to the kingdom and meet the king quickly. "I see… Well then don't worry! I will take you there personally; we are just a few hours away from the kingdom's entrance." He said as we began walking I decided to use my skill to see stuff about this floor. [ Activating First Conqueror of the Tower. ]

[The 99th floor is filled with many Items and secret missions, there are a lot missions for which can help the conqueror to conquer this tower! And there are many ways to clear this floor and even a hidden passage to the 98th floor! One of the passages can be found in the Basement of the Castle, Under the king's throne, and for ways to convince the king that will be hostile to you, the conqueror can either solve the solution with violence by fighting the king's son or by negotiating. But be warned that the choices made will make a change to the main mission so choose wisely conqueror.]

So I need to either negotiate with the king or fight his son? Hmm… I begin thinking of ways to negotiate as I see another message pop up. [Requirements for the Conqueror has been met! You can now access a Shop made only for the Conqueror! Say shop to open the shop.] a shop? I wonder what it sells, I muttered the word 'shop' quietly so no one can hear me and saw a giant window popped up to me in it, it showed me the shops and there were a lot of sections and realized something my balance was… ten-thousand Cronic coins. From what I understood cronic coins were the currency used but I gained the ten-thousand from god knows where… could it be from completing those missions..?

I began browsing and saw the weapons area and began scrolling until I saw something that caught my eyes a dagger that has multiple abilities and what really caught my eyes is its Name.

[The First Conqueror's Dagger

Rarity: ???

Abilities: The User can use the dagger to manipulate the five elements of nature, gain insight on the better outcome of events, self-conscious, Allows direct communication with Higher Beings.

Description: This Dagger once belonged to the first conqueror of the tower! He used this dagger and descended each floor and saw the end of this world.

Price: 5000 Cronic Coins.]

I immediately bought the dagger not hesitating as it had powerful abilities and the price was something I can buy, with the rest of my coins I decided to buy potions and such, as we were walking I looked at Akari and whispered for her to come close. She quickly stepped closer to me and then I began handing her the potions, "Can you keep these with you? We'll need them you know?" I said as she nodded and then we continued walking.

After some time we finally made it to the Main gate, Henry looked at us then said "Okay look, the Castle is close but it's too late to go there now so I suggest you guys go to an inn and sleep there for now, I'll pay for the inn so no worries." He said as he smiled he began showing us the way to the Inn, when we entered it seemed everyone knew Henry because they all waved to him as he got us a room However now this is a problem because… I have to share a room with Akari.

To explain it me and Hebi played rock paper scissors and I ended up losing 9 times so I just had to suck it up and accept my loss, but what am I supposed to do?! This is my first time having to sleep in the same room as a girl… actually no that's a lie I did sometimes have Ai sleep with me because she's scared. But still Akari is a woman while Ai was still a little girl… this is too embarrassing for me! "Why did Hebi choose to go sleep alone? He could have shared the room with you and I could have slept Alone." Akari said as she pouted and looked at me and then said "Also I have to ask… where did you get those potions from?" her eyes met mine with a look of curiosity I of course had answered her question with a lie. "Well I got them from a chest back then on the 100th floor before you joined us." As she then nodded she then asked "Why do you trust me? Are you not afraid I might screw you over like what Hebi was going to do?" that was a question I also questioned myself about but then I did remember something I never mentioned and that was when I met Finana and Adamas.

-------- the day Haruki met Finana and Adamas. --------

"Also one more thing we should mention dear." Finana said as she looked at me her gaze now becoming serious she warned me about Hebi and then mentioned the following "Akari can be trusted for one reason honey." Finana said before being interrupted by Adamas, Who spoke "This is the reason Brat." He said as he pointed at a picture they had on their palace, as I saw that picture and then looked shocked at what I saw. "Is that…?" I Said as they nodded to what appeared in front of me was a picture of a woman that's older than Akari but had the looks of Akari and Finana. "Akari's Mother is actually Our child." This revelation shocked me and I had gotten more questions than answers. "So… Akari's Mother is actually a Higher being?" I asked as they nodded slowly "Well yes but sadly one of the conditions to give birth to Akari caused her to… die." Said Finana as she then continued "So poor little Akari had been growing up aware of that thinking it was all her fault her mother died." As Finana told me this I looked even more shocked and began feeling bad for Akari. "I Have a question." I said as I looked at them and had a hint of anger in my eyes. "You knew about Akari being your grandchild yet you still chose to give me a blessing over her, why?" I asked as I pulled out my dagger and began getting ready to attack them due to my anger. "…" they couldn't even answer me but it was evident I was angry at the fact they discarded their grandchild yet chose a stranger over her, I put my dagger back to my Multi-dimensional space. "and you guys want to call yourselves my Parents? Don't make me laugh." I said as I then left.

That was the events of that day.

"Because you seem trustworthy." I said as she looked dumbfounded at what I said as it obviously didn't seem to be a good enough reason but she then looked at me and smiled "Well I hope you can trust me more Haruki, You are still hiding stuff from us right?" She said as I realized she saw through me definitely, "Huh? What are you talking about?" I played dumb asking a stupid question like this was no use but she sighed and then looked at me and looked serious "You know… I can see your skills." She said as my eyes widened I wondered what she meant. "Huh?" is all I could muster to say as she then said "Yeah Your secret super skill… head Petter!" She said as I then looked at her dumbfounded I wondered what she meant and then I laughed "Ahahahah! You really are funny Akari!" I said as she laughed with me, I stood up and smiled at her as I pat her head "Oh hey look I activated my skill!" I said sarcastically as she laughed at me but I noticed her face having a hint of red in it I decided to pay no attention to that as I looked at Akari I then said "Yeah you're right, there is stuff I can't tell you guys yet." I said as I laid in my bed i then said "But one day I hope I can explain everything to you all because, it's something even I don't know." I said as she then nodded in understanding she laid in her bed and then said "Well, I'm going to sleep now Haruki, Good night." She said as I then replied in a soft gentle tone "Good Night Akari." As I said that I also closed my eyes and began drifting to dreamville. 

When I opened my eyes I found myself in Finana and Adamas's Palace.

"Finally we meet again, Child." Adamas said as he smirked at me, These were the people who left Akari alone and did nothing about her. "What do you want?" I asked it was obvious I was still mad at them for what they told me that day. "Well we need to talk." Finana said as I then got angry. "I don't believe we have anything to talk about, I'm still mad at you for what you did." I said as I then continued more "I also want to know… Why me?" I asked as they then looked at me with a curious gaze I then kept talking "Why choose me over someone who is actually related to you by blood?" I said as I began a verbal attack at them "You had the power to choose who you want to give blessings to, yet you didn't go for the obvious choice, and then you ask me to be your child." I begin laughing at them as Finana then asked "Are you done?" I looked at her and then replied to her question "No, I'm not done yet." I said as I continued "I really did not care if I died or not back then. But, you guys are the worst seriously." I said as Finana then said "We have our reasons to help who we want." As I then followed it up with a question "So you don't care about your Grandchild?" I asked as Finana kept replying to all my questions we were going back and forth at each other. "Listen, I know what I'm going to do when I clear this tower." I said as they both looked curious. "I will destroy every one of you Higher Beings. I will show you that we humans are not toys for your amusement to use and play as much as you like." What I said had shocked the two of them and then Adamas replied "Hey! Have some respect you brat!" He stood up and approached me and so I was now face to face with Adamas. I won't lie if I said I have never been more scared in my life than today due to the amount of pressure he's exerting, but I still held my ground and faced him because at this moment of time, I want to punch him. Before we can even act two long green vines appear and slap both me and Adamas in the face. "Ouch! What was that for?!" we said in Unison as Finana glared at us she then spoke "Both of you stop this nonsense." I looked at her and then pulled out my dagger and slashed the vines in front of me. "No." I said as I looked at them and then I used my Multi-dimensional space and pulled out Mask of the fool and wore it as I looked at them, they seemed shocked about the mask. "I'm leaving, and Don't talk to me ever again." I declared that I wanted nothing to do with them but then when I was leaving Finana spoke and her tone suddenly changed. "Wait." As she said that, I realized I can't move my body as vines grabbed me and now I was hovering in front of Finana. "Listen, Child we have our reasons for doing what we are doing." She sounded way too different than the sweet gentle mother figure that Finana tried to be when talking to me. "Then Tell me!"

"Tell me why you chose me?!" I screamed as I was on the verge of tears, obviously I was angry but at the same time sad and wanted to know why. "Because we found you interesting, there is nothing more or less to it Haruki Suou." Finana said keeping it simple as she then let go of me. "Now, do you understand why we chose you?" she asked looking at me as I then replied "Well then I hope you never talk to me." I said as I left.

I then awoke in the middle of the night and saw Akari sleeping soundlessly. I then stood up and sighed a sigh of relief and then left the inn to take a walk to relive my stress.

"Hey there, Fancy seeing you out at night." A voice said from behind me and as I looked at the source of the voice it was none other than the man in the beanie, Hebi. "Oh, It's you Hebi." I said as he fist bumped me I looked at him. "Wanna go for a walk?" I asked as he nodded and we began walking around the city at night. "Man the view here is amazing." I said as I looked at the night sky it truly was beautiful.

We continued chatting the night away and eventually we found a place to sit down and began chatting about while time passes. "So you have a sister back in our world?" Hebi asked as I nodded and then pulled out a necklace that has a picture of her. "This is her, her name is Ai." I said as I smiled looking at the picture of Ai really gave me memories about home and how Ai would always come to me for help when she doesn't understand something. "Man just seeing this picture got my resolve back to me." I said as I stood up and looked at the sky. "Alright Hebi! Tomorrow me, you and Akari will meet the king tomorrow and we will complete this quest and descend all the way to the bottom! And giving up is not an option, So just trust me Hebi and we'll be fine." I said determined as Hebi looked shocked but his shocked expression turned to a smile as he stood up. "You got it, I trust you." We then shook hands as we went back to the Inn and bid farewell, I entered my room only to see Akari awake and then said "Where were you?" She asked as I then said "I went to relive some stress while walking." She looked shocked "No way… Haruki! I didn't know you were this perverted!" huh? Was this girl misunderstanding me? "What?! No No! I wasn't out with anyone other than Hebi!" I said and began explaining to her as she began understanding, I told her to go to sleep. "Anyways, how about you go to sleep?" I said as she replied "Well I just woke up so I will go out for a stroll myself, Want to come with?" She had invited me who just came back from outside so I quickly shook my head "No thanks, I want to sleep a bit." I said as she pouted and left. I closed my eyes and slept looking forward to the next day.

As the next day arrived as planned Henry met us and began guiding us to the castle.

Soon enough we made it to the castle and he looked at us and said "Alright I want you three to be in your best behavior… or else… you might get executed." He said as he seemed serious so I replied "Yeah okay we'll be at our best behavior." And then we entered and thus seeing him for the first time I was honestly shocked, I thought the king was to be an old guy who can barely move but no he was actually a guy in his thirties. And to be honest if I ever thought I was good looking this guy had to be ten times more handsome than me! "Hello there your majesty." I said as we all bowed he smiled and then said "Oh please honored guests, you don't have to bow before me." As he said that we stopped bowing and then he introduced himself "Well I'm William Tepes the king and I believe you are already acquainted with my younger brother Henry here." He said as I then looked at Henry and then at William "Huh? He's your… Brother?" I looked at him and then he nodded "Yes he is, He's quite strong isn't he?" William said seemingly proud of his brother as Akari then spoke "Ah, No he was weak." That statement had me, Hebi and the king shocked at what she said as I then looked at Akari and then back at the king who seemed mad at us now. "Guards… Seize them." He said as he then continued "for they will be executed tomorrow morning."

And just like that, we were going to be executed tomorrow morning.