I'm the Only Wizard Climbing the Tower - Chapter 152

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 152

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Afterward, our party headed straight for the city.

For reference, we did not travel together with the refugees and rescue team.

They were on foot, so they were far too slow.

This was why people needed personal helicopters.

Pop!

After traveling south for quite some time, I looked around at the scenery and muttered quietly.

“Now that I’m looking around, the environment is completely fucked.”

I had not paid much attention to the terrain while saving people, so I only realized it afterward.

Compared to what I had seen just yesterday...

The environment was far more devastated.

The rivers had dried up, the ground was cracked, and the vegetation had withered away.

The mana veins were drying up.

I clicked my tongue.

“Could there be someone like Daesik in this world too?”

The mana veins were withering away, leaving the land completely lifeless.

How could this place be even more barren than Earth, polluted by those Chinese bastards?

We should all protect the environment!

Whether it was the Tower or Earth, those Chinese bastards were everywhere.

“Iing...”

“Iing Iing, don’t worry. If I find some bad bastard doing this later, I’ll smash their skull in and teach them a lesson! Let’s keep our environment green, green! Let’s keep our mana veins green, green!”

“Iing!”

Iing Iing smiled brightly when I declared that I would save the environment someday.

Just seeing your smile fills me with energy, Iing Iing.

Anyway.

After heading south for several dozen minutes...

We finally saw it.

“Jiho, over there...”

“Ah. Don’t you know? This is the territory of Extreme Lunatic Hell City. The environment on this side recovered thanks to me saving the mana veins.”

“No, but how...?”

Unlike the other wastelands that were completely fucked up like deserts...

This place still had lush vegetation and trees, fully intact.

Perhaps because we had just crossed the wasteland, the contrast was especially stark.

And beyond that green land, at the far end of the horizon...

“My Extreme Lunatic Hell Big City is in sight!”

A city stood tall amid the green landscape.

The Extreme Lunatic Hell Heaven Ark, the Last City of Humanity, had revealed itself!

It looked like the Garden of Eden, a paradise on Earth.

Hyeji and Yejin both looked surprised for once.

“What the hell? Why is this place so fine? It was definitely a desert just a moment ago... Did you really do this?”

“It was me.”

“You mean the land was purified because of you, Jiho? Really?”

“It was me.”

Yet my party members refused to believe my accomplishments.

I had merely restored the environment, as befitted an Extreme Lunatic Hell eco-friendly Hunter.

Why couldn’t they believe me?

Had they all spent their lives being deceived?

“Anyway, let’s hurry to the city. I’m curious how it changed over three years, or one day...!”

We approached the city.

Soon, it came into clearer view.

The first thing we saw was the enormous city wall.

Wall-Baek Jiho stood fifty meters tall, grand and majestic.

There were numerous watchtowers and stone towers atop the wall, though I had no idea how they had built them.

Even hot-air balloons, seemingly used for signaling, floated high in the sky.

When I looked inside the walls, I saw a developed city.

Countless multistory buildings stood packed together.

Numerous roads ran between them like blood vessels.

Countless people and carriages moved through the avenues I had built.

The waterways I created rushed along, supplying unlimited clean water.

People lived in the buildings I had constructed, each making a home for themselves.

Thus, the city looked far bigger, grander, more beautiful, cleaner, and more pleasant than when I had seen it yesterday.

It was truly nice to see the people smiling without a trace of gloom.

Feeling proud, I smugly brushed beneath my nose.

“Hehe. It’s truly wonderful to see ordinary people living happily thanks to this great one’s grace! I really am a veteran of city-building games! To grow it this much in just one day!”

“...Wasn’t it the people who grew it over three years, not you?”

“So this is why people play idle games!”

I had never understood people who played idle mobile games.

But now I felt like I understood the appeal.

You only put in a little work, then when you checked later, everything had grown so much.

There was little effort, but you still got that satisfying rush from growth!

It was the perfect genre for busy modern people living their real lives.

As I looked down at the city from the sky...

Suddenly...

“L-look over there!”

“Wait, is that...?!”

Murmur, murmur.

One by one, the city residents looked up at the sky with wide eyes.

At first there were thousands, then tens of thousands.

Before long, as many as a hundred thousand people spotted the golden ring floating in the sky.

The people of the city began shouting.

“An Angel! The Angel has come!”

“Tell the Deputy Mayor at once!”

“The Angel has descended to the mortal world after three years!”

“O Heaven!”

Rumble...

Everyone in the city of one hundred thousand stopped what they were doing and hurriedly fell to their knees.

Then I slowly landed in the middle of the large plaza at the very center of the city.

I spoke quietly.

“Do not be afraid.”

The Extreme Lunatic Hell Angel-Mayor.

Has descended here!

* * *

“Angel, this way.”

Valdemar walked ahead.

We were in the long corridor of City Hall.

In a single day, Valdemar had changed completely.

Instead of the shaggy hair of a knight, he now looked like a middle-aged man with his hair slicked back with pomade or some other kind of oil.

Instead of the rough armor he wore as captain of the knights, he wore a neat official uniform.

At some point, he had changed classes from knight to bureaucrat!

I looked at him and spoke quietly.

“Valdemar. You’ve risen in the world. To think that you, who used to eat fucking disgusting Wyvern meat, now put oil in your hair. Your skin is shining.”

“It is all thanks to you, Angel.”

“The people all looked happy too. It made me proud just watching them. You even sent rescue teams outside to save people. You are doing very well.”

“You praise me too highly. I merely tried to save as many people as possible through the Angel’s spirit of love and philanthropy.”

“Mm! Love and philanthropy, mercy and salvation! A benevolent Angel who watches over all humanity! That is me.”

“The guy who ground up the Chinese army is talking about...”

I ignored Choi Yejin’s grumbling from beside me.

Anyway, we arrived at the mayor’s office.

“This is the mayor’s office.”

Creeeak.

Valdemar slowly opened the door.

I looked around the unfamiliar interior.

It had a barbaric medieval style, but it was decorated rather luxuriously.

The chair and desk had clearly been made with care, paintings and artworks hung around the room, and there was even a long carpet on the floor.

Perhaps because Valdemar had personally scrubbed it with toothpaste for three years straight, it was quite clean.

Well, it wasn’t bad!

“Mm. Is this my place?”

I sat in the chair and sank deeply into it.

Soft.

For a barbaric medieval-style chair, it was remarkably comfortable.

At this rate, I wouldn’t need a Herman Miller chair.

You could feel the touch of a master craftsman.

I slowly looked around.

Outside the window, I could see my city, Extreme Lunatic Hell Heaven Ark, the Last City of Humanity.

Before me, the Deputy Mayor stood at attention with his hands folded respectfully.

“Iing! Iing!”

And adorable Iing Iing sat perched on the desk, giggling.

“...Why is that bastard making such a stupid expression? It’s really pissing me off.”

“I think he likes playing mayor.”

On my right, the two bus freeloaders were talking nonsense.

Ha!

So this was the life of a mayor!

To sit in my own office and command my underlings.

It was moving.

So very moving...!

Now then.

I had come to work.

What should a mayor do after coming to work?

Naturally, work.

I interlaced my fingers and placed both hands on the desk.

It was roughly an Ikari Gendo pose.

Lowering my voice, I spoke.

“Deputy Mayor.”

“Yes, Angel.”

“Report on your work.”

“...Pardon?”

Valdemar looked confused.

I spoke quietly.

“The mayor has come to work after three years. Should I not receive a work report?”

“...!”

Valdemar’s eyes widened for a moment.

Then his expression turned resolute.

He pulled out a thick ledger and began his report, turning the pages one by one.

“The city’s current population is approximately one hundred and two thousand. We have accepted many refugees and finally surpassed one hundred thousand people.”

“Mm!”

Nod.

“We are self-sufficient in food through the farms within our territory. Last year’s harvest was about thirty percent greater than the year before, and our warehouses hold enough reserves for six months.”

“Mm!”

Nod.

“The waterways branch off from the main river you brought here, Angel, and now reach the entire eastern, western, southern, and northern territory. We have completely secured both irrigation water and drinking water.”

“Mm!”

Nod.

“The rescue teams have been organized into ten groups and patrol the wasteland. Over the last year, they have rescued approximately twenty-five thousand eight hundred people.”

“Mm!”

Nod.

Nod, nod.

Anyway, it was good news, right?

He looked proud, so it had to be.

I praised him.

“You have done well, Deputy Mayor. You have managed the ordinary people well even while I was away. Continue managing my city, Extreme Lunatic Hell Heaven Ark Last City of Humanity City, and keep growing it. I trust only you.”

“...I will fulfill my duty! Angel, thank you for trusting me!”

Valdemar bowed deeply with a moved expression.

It was an excellent right-angle bow, not unlike Han Seonga’s.

Civil servants everywhere were good at right-angle bows.

As I nodded in satisfaction, something suddenly came to mind.

“Ah, Deputy Mayor. I saw that the land outside the territory was in terrible condition on the way here. What happened? The rivers were all dried up, and the ground was cracked open.”

At my question, Valdemar’s expression darkened slightly.

“Yes. You saw it...”

“It wasn’t that bad yesterday, no, three years ago. Why is the land so fucked up now? Is there global warming here too?”

“...We do not know the reason either. The territory you purified, Angel, grows greener every year. But the land outside the territory has grown drier with every passing year.”

Valdemar walked to the map hanging on the wall.

He pointed to the upper edge of the map, the north.

“The north is especially bad. The land is drying up and the temperature is rising, starting from the north.”

“Hmm.”

“And the number of monsters coming down from the north has also increased sharply. According to the rescue team members... it is as though they are fleeing from something.”

“Monsters making a panicked retreat...”

The north.

The knight I met earlier had said the same thing.

The land was drying from the north.

And the monsters were being pushed down from the north...

I stroked my chin and thought deeply before muttering quietly.

“Just as I thought. There must be some bastard like the Chinese.”

“...Pardon?”

“Nothing. I was talking to myself.”

It was only a gut feeling, but there was definitely some trash bastard somewhere in the north sucking the mana veins dry.

An environmental destroyer like Daesik.

There was one in this world too!

To dare destroy the environment before me, an eco-friendly Hunter.

Unforgivable!

Someday, I would definitely smash their skull in!

Anyway!

“Good. I have heard your report. Continue taking good care of my city.”

“Yes! Angel! I will remember!”

Valdemar gave another right-angle bow.

I stood up with a satisfied smile.

I clapped. Clap, clap.

“Now then. Work is over! Is it almost time to clock out?”

“...What work did you do, you fucking bastard?”

Choi Yejin stared at me like she couldn’t believe it.

Tsk, tsk.

This was why ordinary people who had never worked in public office were like this!

“I received a work report.”

“All you did was nod and say ‘mm,’ you crazy bastard.”

“Isn’t that the end of a mayor’s job? You just sit in your seat and receive reports, take pictures with other politicians once in a while, show up at local events to take credit... Ah! I should siphon off the budget too! But this is only a city of one hundred thousand people, so it would be a little wasteful to steal from the budget now. I should grow the city more before taking it!”

“Good grief.”

As I envisioned the ideal blueprint for local government, Valdemar carefully opened his mouth.

“Um... Angel. There is something I would like to give you before you leave.”

“Mm? What is it?”

Was he going to give me a present?

Valdemar opened the desk drawer, then took out something neatly wrapped in cloth and offered it to me with both hands.

I accepted it and unwrapped the cloth.

What appeared was...

A palm-sized statue.

It held a staff.

It wore a coat.

A round ring floated above its head.

It was a handsome man.

It was incredibly familiar.

“Huh? This is... watashi?”

There was no doubt.

It was me.

My figure, a statue of me, had suddenly come out of the drawer!!!

Valdemar explained.

“It is a statue of the Angel, worshipped in every household by the citizens. Craftsmen began carving small ones for elderly or sick people who could not go out to pray before the statue at the city gate... Now, every household has one.”

“Oh.”

Had I become some sort of religious symbol?

I slowly examined the statue.

The first thing I noticed was...

This great one’s handsome and beautiful face, carved in delicate detail.

The tall bridge of the nose, the sharp yet solemn eyes, the firmly pressed lips that seemed to represent unshakable will, and the noble, holy, beautiful presence.

Together with the golden rotor above my head...

It was a statue that reproduced my magnificent appearance in extremely realistic detail!

I nodded in satisfaction.

“Hehe... So these figurine goods have been distributed to every citizen? Excellent. I like it very much. I have gone beyond being an idol of Hunter Gallery and become an idol of Extreme Lunatic Hell City too. Terrifying! My idol appeal is terrifying! At this rate, I will enchant everyone in King Korea, the Tower, and all across Earth...!”

“No, are all Tower people fucking blind? How is that supposed to be you? The glorification is fucking ridiculous!!!”

“Choi Yejin, you ordinary mortal. Don't use such strong words, it makes you look weak.”

“Iing...!”

“Iing Iing. Do you want that statue...? Why...?”

Choi Yejin vented her frustration.

Iing Iing stared greedily at the merchandise of this great one.

Hyeji looked at Iing Iing with concern.

Anyway, I felt good.

I had official merchandise now!

Then a thought suddenly came to me.

‘Huh? Isn’t this perfect for proving myself on Hunter Gallery?’

The Hunter Gallery losers who had caused an uproar last time, telling me to reveal my face.

They had made all kinds of malicious accusations and slander, saying this great one was ugly, that I probably looked like an internet shut-in, and that I did not show my face because I lacked confidence in it.

I could indirectly show those evil bastards my handsome face like this!

I nodded.

“Wait for me, Hunter Gallery losers. I will show you my beautiful face! I can clearly see those bastards collapsing in shock at this great one’s face, which puts Cha Eun-woo to shame!”

“Jiho. That’s fraud. It looks too different from the real thing to call it your face...”

“Silence! This statue faithfully recreates my face! What could possibly be different?”

“...Sigh.”

Hyeji sighed quietly.

Why was she sighing?

In my eyes, it had not even perfectly recreated this great one’s beautiful face.

Anyway.

“Deputy Mayor. This great one will treasure it.”

“It is an honor, Angel.”

I carefully wrapped the statue in cloth again and tucked it into my clothes.

After that brief visit to the city, we left and headed for the Escape Portal.

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 46)]