“Gather nine keys!”
I tilted my head. “What keys am I supposed to gather?”
“Hmm! I’ll explain.”
The Mirage-Walking Princess snapped her fingers. An image appeared above the falling sand, as if sewn with platinum thread. At first, it looked like a slice of an anthill or a tree with many roots.
“This is…”
“Yes, Scream Sky! It’s a sectional drawing of your Tower. It looks different when you see it like this, right?”
Like she said, it was a sectional map of the Tower displayed floor by floor. Even when I had been a rookie Hunter, maps of the lower floors were unofficially passed around. Recently, the Black Dragon Guild and the Pantheon joined forces to map the Tower, so I recognized what I was seeing quickly.
“You were summoned to the first basement floor, and the zeroth floor is where your homeland lies. So, I’ll skip those.”
The princess smiled and raised her baton, tapping the first floor of the Tower drawn on the sand.
“The first floor of the Tower is a shelter. A base, a stronghold… It can be called many things, but shelter is the most fitting name. It’s a place where people can rest after fleeing from something. The first floor acts as a breakwater, shielding people from whatever they fled.”
Swish.
The baton lightly stroked through the model of the great river that flowed through Babylon, the city of the Tower.
“Water flows here. Rain falls in the city, too. The water is made from… Anyway, that water holds some nutrients. It’s clear and has no smell, and you can stay alive by drinking that. But if people feel like this isn’t true living…”
Swish.
The tip of the stick went up the sand and pointed to the second floor of the Tower.
“... they can choose to become a warrior.” The princess’s baton swept back and forth across the second floor of the Tower. “From the trees, they can gather fruit and timber. Stone and ores from the rocks. From the grass, vegetables and herbs. By defeating beasts like wolves or goblins, they can get meat, leather, items, and gold.”
“Yes, I know.”
“You’ve also walked this path, but tell me, Scream Sky.” The princess tilted her head. “Was this really necessary?”
It was a sudden question but it was also long overdue.
“Maybe we could have given them everything. The fruits, the timber, the ore, the herbs, and the meat. All of it. What do you think, Scream Sky?”
I fell deep in thought. The princess’ question was something many had thought of during the Tower’s early days. Bambolina had once said that it was one of the reasons cults never ceased to exist around the Tower.
I replied, “Probably because resources were limited.”
“Hmm.”
“To provide food, clothing, and shelter for that many people forever… That would require a large amount of resources, so inevitably…” As I thought about it, I realized something. “I see.”
“Hmm?”
“Was it on purpose?”
The princess smiled as I went on.
“I’m not a full Pillar yet, so I can’t be sure, but if I have to answer…”
The princess’s smile became wider. It seemed she wanted me to reply as a future Pillar who was meant to run the Tower.
“The Tower master wants to be seen as the source of all evil. By placing threats like monsters and making trials, the Tower master could be blamed for not saving everyone, even though she can…”
No, this was too vague and philosophical. There had to be a more realistic reason.
“Because a clear foe is needed for those who flee to the Tower to unite against? Hmm, that doesn’t feel right either. Then…“
The princess stood with her hands behind her back, staring at me. It seemed she was prepared to wait as long as needed.
After thinking for a long time, I said, “I’m not sure, Princess. Why is that?”
“Think about it. Before your world became as hot as it is now, back when your orphanage director was your age, what would have happened if your Guardian had been in your home country?”
I looked at the Guardian, who snorted with his arms crossed. The answer came to me immediately.
I said, “Um… he would have been a madman.”
“And?”
“And, well, a thug? A gym owner? A mixed martial arts fighter? Probably something like that, right?”
“Yes.” The princess nodded. “He may have moved to another country and become a mercenary for hire, but that’s all. Nothing more. But, Scream Sky, what if the Sword Emperor had been born in ancient times?”
I glanced at the Sword Emperor. The answer to that also came to me quickly.
“He would have become a hero.”
“Not a king?” she asked.
“What do you mean ‘king?’ What laws would he make? How would he rule? People may have worshiped him, and maybe he would have founded a kingdom, but it would have immediately fallen apart after the Sword Emperor died. Or maybe it would have happened while he was still alive.”
“Hehehe, you’re right.” The princess laughed. With her hands behind her back, she used her toes to sift through the pile of sand that had gathered on the floor, looking innocent. “But, from the Sword Emperor’s point of view, it would have been a much more fulfilling life than living as a mixed martial arts fighter, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“Such a world, such an era... A place where the age of warriors ended long ago. A place where heroes with swords yielded their place to legions using guns. How would someone like the Sword Emperor be treated there?”
He would be considered an obstacle. A self-righteous man. A madman. A social outcast.
“The Sword Emperor himself wouldn’t care at all,” she said. That was true. “If someone pitied him, he would have looked at them as if they were the lunatic.”
He would certainly have.
“But is that a just world for the Sword Emperor?” she asked.
Somehow, it made my heart ache a little, like watching a dinosaur’s corpse decay over the same time it took a mountain to crumble.