WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 661: Tower of Babel, Floors 3-6

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When we reached the third floor, the Holy Paladin Order was facing off against a group of mages. They were Dragon Gate candidates from the neighboring Decibel Territory. The six mages must have known one another before coming here, as they had arrived well prepared, but they were still no match for the Holy Paladin Order.

The outcome was obvious. Still, unable to give up on the Demon God, the mages prepared spells to resist. The Holy Paladins raised shields shaped like mirrors.

Just before the two groups clashed, I stepped in.

"We climbed this tower in pursuit of Saint Rene's teachings. Does it make any sense to fight one another over what lies at the top? Every person's strength is precious. Instead of fighting, let's work together and climb the tower."

The mages were weak. They had no choice but to accept my mediation.

The Holy Paladins were Holy Paladins. They could not reject it either.

Of course, the mages thought my words were a lie, but I easily saw through their spells and warned them. Their magic was nothing more than children's play, and the only reason I was not crushing them was Saint Rene.

"In Saint Rene's spirit, if you seek knowledge peacefully, I will share that knowledge with you."

That was how the mages from Decibel Territory joined us.

The third floor's problem was to find a focal point through spatial curvature. Since we had mages from Decibel Territory, we used sound reflections to find the answer within minutes. Having realized the importance of cooperation, the Holy Paladin Order headed to the next floor without complaint.

Similar things continued to happen afterward. Stronger, more experienced mages appeared as we climbed, but they yielded before a group that had already grown beyond twenty people. A few mages resisted, but Shei and Lankart subdued them before they got themselves killed.

The defeated mages yielded as well and joined us. Living was better than dying, after all. A rational decision.

By the time we reached the sixth floor.

"There's already fifty of us."

Shei spoke with an expression caught between pleasure and displeasure.

Fifty people shared food and took a brief rest. The mages went around the tower examining its problems and discussing them, while the Holy Paladins stepped in whenever the mages began raising their voices.

Even this hastily assembled gathering had found order. Instead of eliminating one another, competitors who had formed a group decided to cooperate and overcome the current ordeal.

"What do you think? This looks better than everyone killing each other, right?"

"It's better than that, but is this really okay? There's only one Demon God, and we don't even know how we'll obtain it."

"It doesn't matter who obtains it or how. We should be thinking about sharing the knowledge gained in Saint Rene's spirit."

"You really intend to share it?"

"Of course. When have I ever monopolized knowledge?"

Had I ever obtained a Demon God and hidden or monopolized it? If anything, I had spread it around.

Shei seemed to know that too, because she only sighed.

"Fine. Let's go up first and see."

"Climbing the tower is the most important thing."

"By the way, aren't you solving this floor's problem?"

"Lankart already solved it. He's thinking about how to put it into practice."

For some reason, Lankart had been actively solving the problems since the third floor. Thanks to that, I had it easy and was loafing around.

Shei looked at me suspiciously.

"What are you doing, then?"

"Me? I'm waiting."

"For what?"

"For the people who'll come up here."

The instant I finished speaking, a door opened in the ceiling. Nearly ten mages flinched a beat too late, then came tumbling down.

We were safe because sturdy Holy Paladins stood at the front, but the others seemed flustered by the unexpected fall. The first mage to drop began chanting.

"Anti-Gravity!"

A slow landing. It was a survival spell that any mage of the floating castle, where warped gravity was a fact of life, had to learn. The mage cast this rather advanced spell with ease and finally caught her breath. Then she spotted dozens of people and recoiled in shock.

"Uh?"

She must not have expected to find so many people on the sixth floor. The mage was simply overwhelmed by the crowd and shrank back. It was my job to calm her before she started throwing attack spells around.

Then I spotted a familiar face.

"Huh? Senior Avant-garde?"

Avant-garde startled like a small animal, then spotted me and hurried over.

"Hu, Hughes?! Why are you here?"

"What do you mean, why am I here? This is the Dragon Gate."

"Ah, right. Of course..."

"More importantly, I want to ask why you're here, Senior Avant-garde."

Why was a mage who already lived in the floating castle climbing the Dragon Gate? This was practically pulling the ladder up after herself.

Avant-garde hesitated before answering.

"Well, the Tower of Babel is a tower even we haven't been able to climb. Babel is a treasury containing all the knowledge Lord Demon King has gathered. We can't just give that up."

"Even so, it's dangerous."

"...Huh? Are you worried about me?"

Avant-garde did not answer my question. She just giggled. I heard someone click their tongue, and Lankart glanced over before muttering, "Figures," and looking away.

Cardinal Elton came over and asked, "Do you know each other?"

"Yes. She's a senior from the floor above mine."

"Hm. If you know each other, there shouldn't be any trouble. I'll leave this to you."

The Holy Paladins had no magical knowledge, but their resistance to magic and holy power gave them a role similar to security forces. The Holy Paladins who had approached in case a fight broke out dispersed again.

Avant-garde watched them and muttered, "Holy Paladins?"

"Yes. We met them on the way up, so we decided to travel together until we finish climbing the tower."

"Can you do that? I mean, there can only be one of Saint Rene's relics."

"Even if we can't share the relic, we can share the knowledge. I can't promise everyone the relic, but I'll share the rewards of climbing Babel."

"Interpreting a relic won't be easy. Sometimes you spend years researching one and get nowhere. I was like that too, before you came."

"That won't happen to me."

"Tch. Full of yourself..."

'But Hughes might really manage it. No one was better at interpreting magic than him. If Hughes interprets it for us, maybe I can understand that magic too.'

Sorry, but I could not promise that yet. Rene might not be a Demon God, in which case no mental image may remain in the relic. Or I might not understand it if I could not read the Demon King's thoughts. Please understand.

"Still, you came here with other people, Senior Avant-garde."

"Ah. These people are..."

Avant-garde glanced at me but could not continue. It seemed she had some reason she could not discuss. Naturally, I had already seen through it with mind reading.

'They're other Crystal Tower mages who gathered to search for the Demon God's relic. There is no rule saying we can't enter, and we agreed to research the relic together if we get it. For now, though, our coming down here is a secret.'

The relic left by Rene, who was presumed to be the Demon God of Space, had been offered as the Dragon Gate's prize. It was the sort of treasure any mage would covet. Would mages from the floating castle yield it for the sake of younger students? That would be the truly irrational choice.

Though not everyone here had necessarily come to claim it.

'...'

'Hughes's claim that he wants to share knowledge is not a lie. Lankart and Shei could have defeated every one of these people separately before they joined forces. The moment Hughes gathered them and made them harder to fight, his actions gained sincerity.'

Among the Crystal Tower mages was someone whose skin was covered in a thin layer of ice, distorting vision and scattering light to imitate the appearance of a tall, slender man.

'Hughes. Your intentions are good. As the King of Humanity, you would not begrudge humanity your generosity.'

The Cyan Tower Master. Elisha Celsius.

One of the floating castle's five Tower Masters, she had once belonged to the Temple of the Demon God and glimpsed the secrets of the world.

She was also the mastermind who had sent Lord Johannes as a spy.

'But you must not trust every human. There are people in this world who must not be trusted, hiding among humanity and turning knowledge that should bless everyone into curses and fear.'

The Cyan Tower Master had concealed her identity with the White Tower Master's light magic, the Mask of White Light, which distorted light and changed one's appearance, and slipped in among the Crystal Tower mages. Since even Avant-garde did not know, she must have prepared a false identity from the start.

The Cyan Tower Master idly worked the light magic and surveyed the area in silence. The Holy Paladin Order, the mages, and the mercenaries. After looking over them all, she calmly finished her thought.

'The best outcome is that no one obtains it. The Holy Paladin Order obtaining it is the second-best outcome. There is no outcome after that. No matter how bad things become, the Temple of the Demon God will never obtain that knowledge.'

I had already read it through mind reading.

Lord Johannes was a teacher of the Cyan Tower. If they were acting as a spy, the information would certainly be passed to someone above them. Naturally, that would be either the Cyan Tower Master or the Demon King.

The Demon King, though, had no need for a spy. He was practically omnipotent. Was he not the one who had offered the reward for this Tower of Babel?

Then there was only one possibility.

As expected, the Cyan Tower Master had come to the tower. Now, this tower would become even more interesting.

"Hey, Hughes."

"What!"

At that moment, Shei jabbed me in the side. The sudden attack caught me off guard, even with mind reading, and I twisted in surprise.

Shei pouted.

"What are you dawdling for?"

"What? When was I dawdling?"

"Just now."

"Did it look like I was loafing around? I was persuading the newcomers. I've done the same thing from the second floor to the fifth!"

"You know her. You could've wrapped it up quickly, but you kept dragging it out."

How much talking had I done already? I had spent nearly an hour on the fifth floor mediating people who were about to fight foaming at the mouth. Compared to that, this had taken no time at all!

Her absurd interruption left me speechless. Avant-garde, on the other hand, seemed to have found something to say.

"Y-you're the one dragging things out...! We met again after so long, so why are you getting in the way of us talking?"

"Getting in the way? That's what I should be saying. We need to climb the tower, so what are you planning to do by holding him here and talking? You should be thinking about solving the sixth floor's problem. Are you going to leave the problem to Hughes without even trying to solve it?"

"Ugh...! What about you? Why did you come here without solving the tower's problems?"

"M-me? Solving problems isn't my role."

"There's no such thing! You're the one who clung to Hughes and climbed up here! You can't even get past the first floor alone!"

"Hughes and I are comrades, so we're one!"

"Why only you? Then I'm one with Hughes too!"

Excuse me. Why were they arguing over my body? I had no intention of sharing one body with anyone.

"Hui. I solved it. I created a pseudo-gravity space with a spherical magic circle, so there should be a response soon..."

Lankart, who had solved the tower's problem, was walking over when he stopped with an annoyed expression.

"Another woman?"

"That's how it turned out."

"Handle that problem yourself. Don't let it come to me."

"What an unnecessary worry. When have I ever thrown a problem onto you?"

"...True. You're you because you can solve even that sort of problem."

Lankart sighed and snapped his fingers.

The sixth floor was an area with shifting gravity like the floating castle. Lankart found the inflection point of gravity in the turbulent gravitational field, then activated the magic circle. The distortion opened a hole in space, and stairs appeared beyond it.

"Oh. It worked. It really was a gravitational inflection point problem..."

A Holy Paladin who spotted the opening stood and muttered, "The seventh floor now. Where does this end?"

"The Tower of Babel is still a tower, so it'll probably have ten floors."

"Why? Other towers have more than ten floors."

"Ten doesn't simply refer to the number of floors. A change in the number of digits means a higher concept, one that goes beyond the existing concept."

A mage who heard the muttering explained as if giving a lecture.

"Before the concept of numbers existed, people needed fingers to count. But after using all ten fingers, they couldn't count any further. Numbers were born to overcome that limit. Ten represents a realm beyond the existing concept."

"So Babel will have ten floors? Are you certain?"

"...I'm not certain."

"Seriously. It's only a guess. Forget it and let's get moving."

They had not known one another for long, but they already seemed fairly close. Considering that mages and clergy held fundamentally different views on the existence of gods, it was remarkable progress.

As before, the Holy Paladin Order entered first. The priesthood and Cardinal Elton followed, while the remaining mages gathered their belongings and moved. Just as nearly sixty people were about to advance.

"Stop!"

"Ambush! Prepare yourselves!"

Clang.

The sound of clashing blades, screams, and shouts rang out from beyond.

At the same time, a dizzying scent reached us. The smell of poison and blood crossed through space. Cardinal Elton hurriedly leaped inside, while the priests clasped their hands and began to pray.

The tense mages raised their staffs and held them out. I also pushed through the crowd, fully on guard.

And there.

"Hehe. You all smell so fresh... Disgusting."

"There are a lot of them. We should thin them out in advance."

A group of mercenaries armed with swords, spears, and maces waited for us, giving off a rank, bloody stench.

Footnotes:

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