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Chapter 71. Tikris (2)
SkyLord. A ship with a luxurious appearance was called the golden ship among the players.
With golden decorations all over the hull and two huge gravitational stones at the aft, this airship that spurs through the sky with incomparable force was enough to attract everyone's attention.
However, it was just one of the ordinary airships parked in this place.
Tikris,
The whole city was tinged with gold. Even the floating ships flying in the sky were so huge that I couldn’t even guess their actual size.
And among those airships, there was one that was covered in jewels and completely shattered the approaching sunlight and poured it in all directions.
“It...it’s amazing, huh.”
“Y...Yeah...”
After reaching the mainland of Tikris, Khea and I were busy watching outside the ship with our hands on the window standing side by side.
She said that everything was unfamiliar to her because it was her first time here too.
“I never dreamed I would come to a place like this.”
“You’ve never come here. Not even for a mission as a Sworder?”
“Problems in Tikris will be solved by the Sworders of Tikris, don’t you think?”
As soon as she finished her words, the name of a man flashed through my mind.
Right, this was the area of ‘Gohn’ the Swordmaster.
“I’m actually quite jealous of Sworders here. All they have to do is take a look around when they start getting bored.”
“And they might tell the truth to someone else.”
She looked at me giving me a squinted gaze as if she didn’t expect me to say such a thing when I replied to her complaint.
“We’ve got a true protector of the blades here, huh?”
Afterward, a familiar and pleasant sarcastic joke from her pierced my ears.
The SkyLord began to tilt down and move to the pier provided in one part of the city.
My eyes were stimulated by the buildings in the shape of a giant dome, which one would find in a theme park, and the buildings in the shape of a question mark seemingly in an unbalanced state.
Besides, this place did not attract attention because there were a lot of colorful and huge airships that made the SkyLord seem very ordinary.
It really felt like I was in a tourist city like Las Vegas.
Numerous crystal spheres were floating in the air.
What about the people passing by? Normal robes and armor were not the only things they were wearing. They were wearing various forms of clothes from flower-patterned dresses that seem to reinterpret a Hanbok, to clothes with strange designs made of materials that cannot be seen in real life.
The colorful crowd that can only be seen in Tikris in <Circuit> felt even more unique to me.
“We have arrived at Tikris. This place is bright enough to even overshadow me. But still, the brightest beings here are you who are sailing on your journey.”
Elsha quietly appeared in front of me and Khea and greeted us.
At her words, Khea bowed her head low. I followed after her and politely greeted her too.
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator - Dawn]
[Proofreader - Karane]
Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/reapercomics
***
As soon as we got off the pier, there was a scene where a lot of players were putting their hands on some rocks as they passed by.
There were blue letters floating above the stone.
<The Golden Anchor of Tikris - Spacial Crystal>
Khea called for me.
“I think that’s a spacial crystal, right?”
“That’s right.”
So I approached the stone with her and placed our portal stone nearby it.
< The location of ‘The Golden Anchor of Tikris’ has been saved. >
A blue text box appeared with a notification sound. Khea checked the text that appeared on one side of the portal stone she was holding and put it back in her pocket.
It was time to head straight out of the pier.
Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!
The clear sound of coins falling to the floor resounded here and there, drumming in my ears.
The sound was so simultaneous that I almost believed that an event had occurred.
“Ah fuck! Failed again!”
“Please just once! I’m just here to get it once!”
“Alright, c’mon!”
“Let’s gooooo!!!”
The street was filled with shouts that came from the players. They were all sitting in front of the slot machines placed on the street.
Ting!
I heard that sound again, but this time it came from one of the slot machines that a player was sitting in front of.
*trumpet sound*
A loud cheer erupted from all around as the trumpet sounded.
The man, who even started to receive applause, blushed and roared loudly as he picked up the prize that had fallen from the slot machine.
The prize had 'x2000' written on it on a white piece of paper.
The player in the seat next to him saw it and jumped from her seat, it was obvious that they were lovers or a married couple.
The banquet of slot machines, which are naturally arranged on the street like a food stall, immersed us in the spectacle as if we were enthralled by it.
The sound of falling coins, the sound of the slots spinning, the sound of notification of results, sighs mixed with various emotions, and cheers...
“Oh my... I did hear about this place before, but I never thought it’d be to this degree...”
She answered whispering to me.
“What Lorad said about this place was true after all...”
“What did Lorad say?”
“He said that Tikris is a beautiful and heartless city where hope and despair coexist.”
“His expression suits perfectly.”
Even when I hurriedly moved and approached the uphill road, the characteristic clinking sound often struck my ears.
Then, as soon as we reached the end of the uphill road, a beastkin boy with large, covered ears approached us.
The boy greeted us in a loud voice as he waved his chestnut-like tail.
“Hello! My name is ‘Poche’! I am the guide for the ‘Street of Coins’!”
The boy with his furry feet like that of a puppy held out his hands that were just as furry as his feet.
A small coin was placed on the bright pink soles of his hand.
“Would you like to use the Street of Coins?”
Poche took a handful of coins in the other hand and showed it to us with his bright eyes looking at me and Khea.
Khea then lowered her head and brought herself to eye level with Poche.
“How much for one coin?”
Poche answered with a smile big enough to reveal his small fangs as he started to wave his tail even more quickly.
“3 silver for one coin!”
Then he put the coins he was holding in both hands in his pocket and lifted up one little finger.
“There is an Ormachon token hidden in one of the slot machines! And everyone over there is trying to get the Ormachon token!”
“Is there an Ormachon token inside for every machine?”
At my question, he twitched his ears and shook his head.
“Nop! Only 3 out of the 500 machines have the Ormachon token in them! There are still huge prizes besides the Ormachon token!”
As soon as Poche finished speaking, all the people sitting next to each other got up and exchanged seats.
“That spot, how much did you put in?”
“Around 8 gold? But who knows? There might be an Ormachon token in it.”
“I put in like 20 gold and didn’t get anything.”
“You’ve been here for a while so you will get something pretty good real soon.”
Poche started speaking busily again to Khea and me after we watched that scene.
“This is the rule for the Street of Coins! You have to switch seats every hour!”
“What if you don’t want to?”
“Then we just turn that slot machine off!”
The place looked like a street with machines laid out randomly on it, but it was a place with rules.
You could play the slot machine once per 3000 won. This did sure seem like a great experience for people who came here for touring purposes.
“This Street of Coins is the most basic game area! Above it is 'Card Street', and above that is 'Dice Street'. And above that is 'Numbers Street'! That’s the most popular place people love and go to a lot”
Poche continued to explain enthusiastically.
As I listened to the explanation, I looked around and saw the faces of people who were not happy after changing seats.
The place seemed like an adult gambling area as the people sitting in front of the machines were skillfully pulling the bars with tired faces as they were obviously investing a lot of money into this whole thing.
“Alright, then. I’ll give you 30 silver, so could you give me 10 coins?”
“Of course! Thank you so much!”
Khea took silver coins from her pocket and handed them to Poche. Watching her act like that, I naturally made eye contact with her. Then she whispered to me.
“These children are the ‘street kids’ who are overworked by their keepers. The Information Guild calls them with a new word called, ‘young salesperson’.”
I was finally able to start noticing some things that I couldn’t before she whispered to me that.
He was wearing shabby, stained leather suspenders pants, with dark specks of dust over his soft furry face.
“They are treated this way only because they are of the Lympu race.”
Khea seemed to have a strong affinity for the boy.
She must have felt something more than a bond as she had suffered through the same pain of racism.
“Here you go, 10 coins!”
After receiving the coin he had handed over to us with a bright smile, I called him in again.
“Poche?”
“Hi!”
He started walking toward me with his tail and ears waving. Khea slightly grabbed my hand at my action.
“Don’t tell me you’re...”
“It’s nothing like that.”
Her cold eyes glared over my face.
But I had no intention to save him from the situation he was in as she was worried.
It’s just that,
“This is a gift from me to you because you are so kind. Always keep your hopes up and be kind to everyone, then good things will surely happen.”
Carefully patting the child’s head, I opened up my inventory.
Hearing that magic word, Poche’s eyes gleamed like lapis lazuli.
The amount of gold in my possession was indicated at the bottom of the inventory,
[669 Gold 87 Silver 11 Bronze]
I put my hand to that place after thinking of the amount I wanted to pull out. Something was caught in my hand.
Poche’s mouth opened wide as he saw the sparkling gold coin unfolding in front of his eyes.
“A-are you really giving this to me...?”
“Make sure to put it in the deepest and safest pocket of yours, and use it when you really have to. Alright?”
This must be the biggest happiness that a giver could feel.
To think that one could receive such a surge of emotions just by giving an amount that was not burdensome at all. The heat I felt from the surge of emotion from the inside tickled my neck.
After hearing my words, Poche received the coin politely with his two hands and put it in the deepest part of his pocket.
Then he bowed his head to me and Khea so deep that it almost touched the floor.
“My mama said that all the adventurers are great people! Thank you so much!”
And so, he took off with excited footsteps as he found another group of players. He approached them with his waving tail and a soft voice.
“That could get them harmed.”
Khea, with a cold but softened voice, looked at Poche in the distance, who was busily explaining.
“I believe in the boy to be smart enough to keep it safely since it’s precious to him.”
“Thank you.”
Khea suddenly thanked me.
“You could hurt those children in an attempt to save them. So I...”
“I know, you did it because you were worried about them. But you still willingly bought the coins for him.”
“It only fed his keeper though...”
Just like how she pulled my arm, I pulled her arm with a dissatisfied expression on her face.
“In anyways, since we bought the coin, we might as well use them, right?”
After that, we spent all 10 coins and got nothing except one double.
However, I was sure that we earned something more valuable than an Ormachon token.