Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon walked out at last from the threatening girls’ dorm, his cheese cubes hugged tightly in his arms. ”How could I forget about you?” he said with a saddened, heavy face.

Outside, beyond the littered signs full of death threats, Dorbish was waiting.

”About time for lunch,” he said, waving at Moon.

Moon nodded. ”Yeah, saving them muscles,” he said excitedly.

”Students’ eatery then?” Dorbish asked.

Moon’s eyes darted around for a second. ”I think I should go see Chef Ed, something important,” he said.

Moon started walking away, but Dorbish stayed rooted to where he was.

Moon turned around, signaling for Dorbish to follow.

In the eatery, ”Why did you bring that brat again?” Ed said, looking displeased.

Moon shook his head, his face looking sad. ”Shit happens.”

He then laid down the cheese he’d been hugging on a table. ”Is it ready?” he asked.

”What’s ready?” Ed asked.

”What else?” Moon’s eyes sharpened. ”That damn ring is expensive,” he added.

”You bastard looted it; don’t act like you paid for it with your own money,” Ed said dismissively.

”Looted it after a fight to the death,” Moon corrected. ”Are you trying to steal my ring or something?” He squinted, running his hand over the hilt of Liquid Mountain.

Ed’s face fell, looking rather disgusted. ”What an ingrate.” He threw the ring and two booklets at Moon.

”Give these to the brats.” Ed shooed him away.

”Ah, what about lunch?” Moon caught them. The ring was the same. Of the two booklets, one had Basil’s name on it, while the other came with Barrett’s.

”I’m not feeding you today, you ingrate,” Ed said, shooing him away a second time. ”Fuck off now.”

”Erm.” Moon looked down at the things he had in hand, then back at Ed. His mouth curved downward. ”O... okay...” He turned around, ready to leave.

Dorbish was about to follow him after watching the scene.

”Hey.” Moon suddenly stopped and looked back at Ed. ”You said you’d teach me how to use that ring?” he demanded.

Ed pointed at Dorbish. ”You teach him!”

”Yes, Chef,” Dorbish agreed right away.

With no other choice, Moon pursed his lips and walked away in defeat after getting kicked out of the eatery and having his request for food denied.

Walking around, hugging the booklets and the cheese, he couldn’t help sighing.

Sigh~

”It’s fine, we can invite the others too and have a meal together,” Dorbish said gently.

”Which others?” Moon asked, not sure whom Dorbish was addressing.

”Basil-”

”He hides somewhere when he eats, he won’t join us.” Cutting Dorbish off, Moon explained.

”The mask?” Dorbish asked.

Moon nodded once. ”He doesn’t take it off,” he added.

Tilting his head, ”What about Barrett?” Dorbish suggested.

”He would come, but don’t you think it’d be bad inviting one but not the other?” Moon slowly explained before refuting the entire idea.

Dorbish shook his head and looked at Moon closely. ”Why aren’t you dropping a few of these in your inventory?” he said casually. ”I mean, it holds like 4 items for us, but it would still save you some trouble.”

Moon’s eyes glittered; he’d been waiting for a chance. A chance to justify this. He smiled discreetly.

”Oh, welp.” Moon shook his head in a helpless, defeated voice. ”You see, my inventory was disabled when I cursed that bastard eyeball on the first floor.”

Ding!

[Unable to apply penalty]

Dorbish’s neck stiffened for a second. ”So you curse him again?” he added skeptically.

Moon nodded with a face full of sadness, locking his eyes with Dorbish. ”I can live without an inventory, but I can’t live without cursing that disgusting son of a bitch.”

Ding!

[Unable to apply penalty]

Dorbish helplessly nodded, but didn’t ask again. Meanwhile, Moon was smiling, pleased with himself.

’Now this is no longer a problem, he he he.’

Before long, they finally arrived at the students’ eatery, but it wasn’t a very good time to be there.

For-

”What the hell, not a single empty table?” Moon exclaimed, looking around.

Dorbish scanned the hall with him. ”What a bad time to be here,” he exclaimed.

”Should I beat a few of them and empty one for us?” Moon offered to Dorbish generously.

Dorbish pursed his lips. ”No, it’s fine,” he said. ”No need to hurt bystanders.”

Moon raised an eyebrow. ”Who said it’d be a bystander?” he said, while marching in a certain direction.

Watching him, Dorbish pursed his lips. He realized what was about to happen right now and couldn’t help shaking his head.

Helpless, Dorbish exhaled sharply and followed while keeping a distance between himself and Moon.

Zera was sitting alone at a table in the corner, eating while minding his own business.

His right eye was gone, now wearing an eyepatch; his Echo was also sealed, and his armor was confiscated.

Other than a certain someone, there wasn’t anyone else for him to speak to. And even that someone was restricted by work.

Zera found himself to be someone avoided by each and every single person in this branch without exception.

Or so he thought.

”Yo, that eyepatch looks dashing on you.” A voice came out of nowhere, a voice he knew. His gaze lifted off his food to see Moon sitting in front of him.

His insufferable smile was painful to look at, and today, for some reason, it was even wider and more hideous.

”Can you bastard see what that asshole did to me?” Moon stared into Zera’s lone eye. ”I lost most of my hair and eyebrows, dammit!”

Zera shook his head. ”Your hair and eyebrows will grow back; my eye won’t return, and Dara won’t come back to life,” he said softly.

Moon nodded. ”Makes sense, I agree with that,” he said readily. ”I mean, it’s a small price for someone who cheated and aimed for my life first - losing an eye, that is,” Moon added.

He wasn’t done either. ”How about I take that other eye of yours in exchange for that table?”

Zera listened for a moment before he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. ”How does this work? You want the table and the eye together?” he asked.

”Is that so bad of a deal?” Moon raised an eyebrow. ”I’m a very generous person; everyone knows that.”

Zera nodded. ”How about you keep your seat, and we both eat in peace?” he offered.

”Mate, why is your disgusting tone turning smooth?” Moon asked. ”Ah, right, isn’t that blue guy with a horn your boss?”

Zera’s gaze, which was falling on his food, suddenly snapped in Moon’s direction again. ”How did you-”

”Bruh, everyone knows he’s been watching my duels and everything, and I can say that you’re just like him no matter how I look at it,” Moon explained slowly to Zera - so slowly that Dorbish came closer, and instead of just standing far away, he pulled up a chair.

”Excuse me,” he said softly while sitting down, seemingly interested in where this conversation was going.

He was worried that maybe Moon would jump him, smash his head, and steal his seat and food. But thankfully, what he was afraid of didn’t happen; instead, something more entertaining was going on that it would be bad for him to miss.

Zera looked at Moon deeply for a very long moment, while Moon maintained his very same unimpressed look.

”I think it’s fine for you to know about him, for you to know about us,” he said slowly, before shaking his head.

”But I don’t deserve it,” Zera said with an emotional face, his old malice gone now. ”I don’t deserve to be compared to young master.”

Moon shook his head. ”What are you talking about? You both are disgustingly gay!”