“Have you still not heard of any news from our men?” Waltier Agnis, the Patriarch of the Agnis family asked his right hand man.
He was the person who held the highest authority within the Second Floor of the Tower of Babylon. Ever since their family had changed the rules of the trial, very few people were able to climb to the next floor.
They were using the second floor as a base in order to make the talented challengers of the tower to become their subordinates. This practice had been going on for hundreds of years, and the Agnis Family had profited greatly from this practice.
“There’s still no word from them, My Lord.” The middle-aged man bowed his head in apology. “The Third Floor is quite big, and our men might be having trouble finding their targets. I already received reports from our spies on the Fourth Floor.
“None of them have seen anyone who closely resembles the two teenagers who passed our trial. It is quite possible that they are still on the Third Floor. They promised to send us a report as soon as they found people matching the portraits that we have drawn for them.”
Waltier nodded his head. “Keep me updated for any news regarding those two.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
“Leave me. I want to be alone.”
The middle-aged man bowed again before leaving the room. He pitied the two teenagers because Waltier was known to be a ruthless individual. He was sure that if William and Chiffon were to fall in his hands, their fate would be sealed.
“That red-headed teenager brought up a bad memory,” Waltier muttered. The image of a man accompanied by a Taotie appeared inside the Patriarch’s head.
That person had challenged their family openly, and they were left with no choice but to apologize and compensate him. That was a stain in the history of their family. One that the patriarch had long wanted to forget, but was unable but to do so.
‘Fortunately, he is dead,’ Waltier thought as he closed his eyes. ‘That Maxwell, I hope he suffers in hell.’
——
William had stayed on Oogwei’s floor for a week. After wiping out the group that were hunting them, he decided to wait until the cooldown of his Heroic Avatar was ready.
He didn’t know how many Saints the Agnis Family had under their wing, but William decided to play it safe and learn more about the Guardians of each floor from Oogwei, whom he bribed with several recipes that were not present in the world of Hestia.
The little turtle was more than happy to host William and Chiffon in his Domain. When Oogwei asked if the Half-Elf wanted to meet the ruling family of the third floor, William politely declined. He didn’t want to involve others in his affairs.
“So, the Guardians will not make a move even if someone attacks the ruling families,” William commented. “However, will they interfere if there is a possibility that the family’s entire bloodline was facing extinction?”
“Yes.” Oogwei nodded. “Mind you, there are many factional disputes even among the ruling families. There were even cases when they fought against each other to gain the role of administrators for the floor.
“We Guardians stay out of these family feuds, and allow them to duke it out. We will only interfere if less than twenty members of the family remain. So, if you’re thinking of attacking one of the families in Babylon, I suggest that you just kill the annoying ones. If you went too far, the Guardians will have no choice but to subjugate you.”
Oogwei smirked. The floor that it was planning to send William and Chiffon to was such a floor. The 9th Floor has a very unique balance of power. The two sons of the current ruler of the Tristan Family were at war with each other.
The Patriarch of the Clan was bedridden and there was no telling when he would kick the bucket. Because of this, the two brothers fought for succession because they had differing outlooks on life.
Although the elders in the family tried to mediate, both brothers didn’t want to pay them any heed, so the elders decided to just let them do what they wanted.
The Eldest Brother wanted to retain the status quo, but the youngest wanted to bring change. Because of this, the main family, and the branch family were split and fought against each other for supremacy.
The players of the 9th Floor were forced to choose between the two sides. They couldn’t advance unless one of the two won their succession war. Their fighting had already been going on for two years, and right now, the Older Brother had the advantage.
This was why the Youngest of the two was desperate for help from new players that entered their floor. He hoped that one of these players would be strong enough to tip the balance in his favor.
Oogwei had made sure to explain the current situation of the Tristan Family to William. After hearing the details, the Half-Elf thanked the little turtle, while he pondered about his next course of action.
He was left with two choices, the first choice was to take the shortcut and jump straight to the 9th Floor, or climb the tower up to the 7th Floor. The Guardian of the 7th Floor was a close friend of Oogwei.
The little turtle assured William that as long as he passed the Guardian’s Trial, he could use his authority to help William jump to the 12th floor directly.
After weighing the pros and cons, William decided to bite the bullet and jump to the 9th Floor directly.
The reason why William decided to go to the 9th Floor was due to the fact that this floor allowed slavery.
The Older Brother wanted the slave trade to continue, while the younger one wanted to abolish it completely. Choosing which side to support was a no brainer to William.
A day later, William and Chiffon faced Oogwei and his disciples. It was now time for them to continue their journey. During that one week living with the Demi-Turtles, the group had become good friends.
The Demi-Turtles were more than happy to spar with William and Chiffon. Through their matches, the little girl had become accustomed to fighting alongside William in group battles.
The Half-Elf was also impressed with how fast Chiffon was able to learn moves that she had seen for the first time. Perhaps it was due to her Photographic Memory, or maybe the pink-haired girl was that talented.
Whatever the reason was, Chiffon was like a sponge that absorbed the different fighting styles of the four Demi-Turtles who had become her friends, in the time that they were together.
“Take care, both of you,” Donutella said. “If things get rough, feel free to return to the Third Floor. We will gladly welcome the two of you with open arms.”
“That’s right!” Leonardude commented. “Come visit us anytime!”
Michaelangelhoe shook William’s hand, and gave Chiffon a pat on the head.
“Although we can’t accompany you in your endeavors, know that we will wish for your success from this floor.” Narnyah winked. “May both of you be safe, and may we see each other again.”
“”Thank you.””
William and Chiffon replied at the same time. The two of them were very grateful due to the hospitality that Oogwei and the Demi-Turtles had given them during their stay.
The Half-Elf held Chiffon’s hands tightly as he waited for Oogwei to send them to their destination. Chiffon leaned close to William and clung to his arm. If not for the fact that both of their hair colors were different, people would think that the two of them were a brother and sister pair that were climbing the tower together.
“See you again,” Oogwei said. “Goodluck to both of you.”
After saying its parting words, Oogwei raised its foot and both William and Chiffon turned into beams of light that shot towards the sky.
Oogwei believed that although the two teenagers would face difficult challenges as they climbed the Tower of Babylon, he was sure that William, and Chiffon, would be able to overcome them as long as they were together.
‘I sent you the help you wanted, Yves,’ Oogwei thought. ‘Now, it’s time for you to give me those heavenly cucumbers you promised me two days ago.’
Oogwei returned to the Guardian’s Hall to look for his friend and ask for payment. William didn’t know that he, and Chiffon, had been sold by the little turtle for a dozen heavenly cucumbers.
If only he knew that this was just Oogwei’s ruse to get some free snacks, William would have tossed the Guardian inside a pot, and used it as the main ingredient for turtle soup.
The Guardians of the Tower had been bored as of late, so they participated in games of intrigue. William and Chiffon were the new players that had caught their interest. They even placed bets on how far the two could climb the tower.
For them, the plight of the players was merely entertainment. As long as they could relieve their boredom, they were more than happy to move the strings behind the scenes. That way the entertainment that they were watching would be a little bit more interesting.
