‘1?’

Suji stared intently at the number.

It seemed that her other selves from the countless timeline branches that she was unaware of had never made it to the shop.

‘Why is that?’

There were many conceivable reasons.

Perhaps with too much information, they had repeated the same route even more, and as a result, failed to gain new experiences.

Or maybe they had felt more disillusioned with the ‘Great Beings’ than what she currently felt, and thus paid no heed to their proposals.

Or…

They had lived completely different lives.

Suji recalled the expression on Elaine’s face whenever he talked about her from the other timelines.

It was a face filled with pity.

Could it be that in the other timelines, the Zero scam incident never happened? If that incident hadn’t occurred in this life as well, Suji would have likely climbed the tower without rest.

If she had collected the 9-tier weapons like that and found a way to refine them into a 10-tier weapon…?

“Did you open the shop door for me because I tried to escape from this betting table?”

− Didn’t I say to ask only one question?

Trying to be nitpicky now?

At his words, Suji narrowed her eyes.

Who was the one struggling like hell because of this bet, and yet he dared to preach with such a response. It was absurd.

She continued to ask, ignoring him.

“You and the other beings have been constantly intervening since I suddenly took a break. If I hadn’t deviated midway, there would have been no need for such intervention, right?”

− You’re not wrong.

He acted like he wouldn’t answer the question, but then readily replied.

“Has any other version of me from a different timeline ever had a conversation with you like this?”

− No.

“…Even if one conquers the 〈Laurel〉, it doesn’t necessarily mean they get to converse with the ‘Great Beings’ who oversee that tower?”

− That’s right. That’s our choice to make.

“…Why did you do that?”

− There was a need to.

“Anyway, the route changed because I suddenly went on a break. The purpose was to coax and appease me, to send me to a place where I could see hints.”

− …Because that’s how the bet is established.

No, that’s not it.

It’s not like she was the only hunter. Since Elaine had memories, they could have drawn him in too.

It would be more accurate to say ‘because that’s more interesting.’

Even when watching a drama, it’s no fun if the main character gets replaced midway.

They were trying to somehow draw her, who was playing around tautly, back into this betting table.

She thought she had somewhat understood the ‘Great Beings,’ but she had only understood half of it.

They were really psychopathic bastards.

If it was really true that this was the first time they had opened the 〈Shop〉, she wanted to make them regret that decision.

She wanted to shred the ‘Messiah’ at the center of that bet with the items obtained here, and shatter all the ‘Great Beings’ too.

Looking around at the items, her mind was too preoccupied to really take them in.

Instead, the expressions Elaine often made and the words he said filled her mind.

“…Are you smiling right now?”

“…You seem to have brightened up.”

“…You’ve changed a lot.”

Whenever she burst into laughter, he would say such things and stare at her as if she was unfamiliar.

She had thought he said that because she rarely laughed, being so preoccupied with climbing the tower, but looking back now, he had another point of comparison.

The other her from a different timeline.

The other Daphne.

That version of herself must have gotten exhausted at some point while running solely for her goal, and thrown everything away.

To the point of tossing aside the goal she desperately wanted to achieve even after repeating it 100 times. Becoming so worn out that she wanted to end it all.

So, he must have seen a very tired version of her.

The scene of Elaine calling out her name fervently came to mind again.

‘…He cherished me enough to say he would bear my burdens for me.’

Strangely, she felt jealous.

Of herself from another timeline.

Of the version of herself that knew an Elaine she couldn’t remember.

But that didn’t mean she wanted to go back to that time.

She just had to move forward.

The Elaine that her past self knew was only the past Elaine.

The Elaine that her current self knew was the current Elaine.

She wanted to hold onto the present.

She wanted to properly protect the people she cherished and their memories.

Suji lightly shook her head and tapped her cheeks, telling herself to get a grip.

‘Whatever the reason, the fact that I came to the shop for the first time is a big opportunity. A chance to escape from the route where I’ve only experienced failure so far.’

The items she obtained here would determine the match against the ‘Messiah’ and on the final floor.

Suji calmed her mind once more and looked around the shop.

The bastard urged her to leave a couple more times, but he didn’t take any more direct actions, perhaps worried that Suji would throw a fit again like last time.

Now that she understood the exact context, she could somewhat grasp the connections between the items on display.

Instead of the vague thought that there seemed to be a lot of Suji and Elaine’s items, she could analyze it systematically.

It was difficult to figure out which item was refined in which round since she couldn’t tell if the order of the items had any meaning, but there was a certain tendency.

‘They mainly tried to increase the penetration attribute. With this level of penetration, they could really ignore any decent armor.’

And yet they still failed. It seemed there was no such thing as ultra-thick armor.

Besides that, there were as many long-range equipment as melee equipment, a noticeable number of wing items, and among the team-wide buff items, there were many in the mental category.

Suji carefully selected equipment while removing about half of the items she originally planned to buy.

The goal was to maximize the set item effects with the equipment the current party members had, while also enabling defense against mental attacks and increasing penetration damage.

And there was one thing she chose that wasn’t equipment, despite being an item.

She found it after meticulously looking into every corner of the display case, and unlike the other items, there was only one of it.

The goddess who crossed the river of life and death watches over you.

Reduces the damage that would bring the user to death for the first time only. However, the remaining HP becomes 1, and 〈Dance of Death〉 is immediately destroyed.

Increases the shoe equipment slot by one.]

It was like gaining an extra life.

And it even increased the shoe slot?

It was an item that allowed her to receive an attack speed buff with the left foot and a penetration buff with the right foot.

Of course she had to buy it, but the fact that there was only one of this item bothered her.

It could be an item that was purchased once, used, completely failed, and never bought again, but somehow she had a feeling it was purchased in the last round.

Anyway, it didn’t matter how the other timeline version of her obtained this.

She listed out the names of the chosen items one by one and requested the purchase.

30,000F will be consumed.]

“Yes.”

They can be viewed in the item window.]

Ding.

Hearing the payment sound, Suji smiled with satisfaction.

Originally, the plan was to enhance the overall offensive power, but there were surprisingly many hints.

“Thanks, I had a blast shopping thanks to you.”

− …Right. It’s all thanks to me.

Even as he retorted like that, his voice sounded like metal being scraped, not sounding pleased at all.

Suji didn’t outwardly show her laughter, but she was intoxicated by the sense of accomplishment from figuring out information he hadn’t disclosed.

And just as she was about to say let’s go back…

“…As expected, there was no anomaly.”

Such a murmur escaped her lips unknowingly.

She had been so focused on finding suitable items for her companions that she hadn’t realized it.

The fact that aside from Elaine’s items, the rest were all to her taste. This fact pointed to only one meaning – no one else had used ‘Deviation.’

The number of displayed 〈Deviation〉 was exactly as Elaine had said.

It seemed that the Korean 〈Deviation〉 was still left in the tower.

‘…I expected it, but I still held out hope. Mom couldn’t use 〈Deviation〉.’

She thought she had properly accepted her mother’s death, but perhaps some lingering attachment remained in her heart.

It was such an obvious thing, but her insides felt strangely empty.

“I want to go back.”

− Took you long enough.

“Time doesn’t pass over there anyway, right?”

Based on her experience so far, it seemed to almost immediately connect to the time right before she left.

The moment Suji asked that, her vision blurred and she felt a sensation as if her body was being sucked somewhere.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Before her vision could even properly return, an alarm sound loud enough to make her ears feel clogged rang out.

As soon as Suji steadied herself, she saw her companions glued to the window.

The familiar and annoying sound poured out from the wave detection system. Not just from the terminal, but from outside as well.

A wave had occurred not too far away.

She gripped the terminal that was making a loud noise. At the same time, several alarms poured in.