01. An Unfamiliar World
01. An Unfamiliar World
Ooh yeah.
She sprayed it everywhere.
"Oh my! Master!!"
The human slaves who had gone off to do their jobs came rushing over, cleaned up the sprayed water, and took away the soup to bring out a fresh one.
"Kuh...."
A twisted face.
Her face was beet red, so she must be feeling embarrassed.
Just from spraying a bit of water.
Still, though... what a cute look.
"Phew... Are you some kind of lunatic?"
After some time passed and she came to her senses, she spoke as if nothing had happened.
"Lunatic? I just asked something I didn't know."
"Does it make sense for someone in the Tower to not know about the Tower?"
"It does. Like I said earlier, when I came to, I was already here."
"Ha...."
As expected, she still didn't believe me.
"Why on earth does the Tower need Tower Warriors? It was built by the beings who lived here, right?"
"Yeah... You don't know anything from the very, very beginning... That could be possible."
Is that a habit of hers?
She doesn't seem to think it's possible at all. She's just resigned when it comes to me.
"Looks like a meal alone won't cut it."
"Oh. Gonna treat me to some coffee too?"
"Not that I want to, but I have no choice."
"That's unexpected. Not that it's my place to say, but in a situation where you'd have to teach me everything from one to ten, you could just tell me to get lost since it's a hassle."
She actually said something like, 'Figure that crap out yourselves,' before.
"If you accepted my invitation and set foot here, you're my guest. Brushing you off like that isn't something a Noblesse would do."
"Heh. Look at this noble lord gracing us."
"Cut the sarcasm there."
She took a sip of the freshly brought tea.
"Here's the soup."
The girl named Luna brought new soup.
.
.
The meal ended dryly.
Since they figured the conversation would continue afterward, everyone just ate their food.
The real talk began over tea and coffee.
She started from the very fundamentals.
"The Tower was built about 10,000 years ago."
Long ago, in the distant, distant past, on the Asran Continent, countless races lived while helping each other.
Thanks to a unified language, they understood one another, and through active exchange and communication, they prospered on this land.
Among them, seven races with particularly strong power and influence began calling themselves the 『Advanced 7 Races』 at some point, distinguishing themselves from the other races.
At first, it was just a matter of pride and superiority, but as time went on, it solidified like a class system, and in Continental Year 1092, the leaders of the 『Advanced 7 Races』 gathered to plot a special yet dangerous plan.
Namely, the 'Tower of God Project'.
They would erect a massive tower in the vast plain at the center of the continent—220 km tall, 40 km in diameter. Each floor would be about 2.2 km high, totaling 100 floors.
They applied spatial magic to make the internal volume over ten times larger than it appeared from outside, designing each floor to have the productivity of a decent nation, constructing a utopia.
Surrounding it, cities of countless other races serving the 『Advanced 7 Races』 would encircle the Tower protectively, with a long outer wall at the farthest edge. It was a plan that squeezed every ounce of strength from the entire continent.
Even the 『Advanced 7 Races』 had to stake their races' fates on it, but they pushed the plan through. They built a tower unprecedented in history, one that reached the heavens, and hoped to reside there and become 'gods' themselves.
And so the plan began.
Under the leadership of the 'Advanced 7 Races,' they gathered all resources and power on the continent, and the continent buzzed with dynamic energy, embracing the grand dream of mere mortals reaching for godhood.
There was discontent, of course.
Even if they built the Tower, only the 『Advanced 7 Races』 and those they selected could live there. Everyone else had to live like dogs on the outskirts.
How could there not be resentment?
But even with resentment, they couldn't defy it. The 『Advanced 7 Races』 were that powerful.
The 『Elves』, who commanded countless Spirits, had lifespans of a thousand years, and their beautiful appearances overwhelmed even the Demon Race or Dragonians.
The 『Dwarves』, who could handle all existing metals, compensating for their lacking physical strength and numbers with overwhelming dexterity and technology.
The 『Demon Race』, born from mana, possessing innate mana affinity; few in number but each one overwhelming a hundred of other races alone.
From their race name alone, you could glimpse their pride, honor, and elegance; the 『Noblesse』, with beautiful appearances and their unique ability 'Nobling'.
And...
The 『Dragonians』, progenitors who birthed mana, each one a ruler.
They checked each other but united their strength against other races.
If other races killed even one 『Elf』, hordes of 『Dwarves』, Demon Race, and other 『Advanced 7 Races』 led the charge in punishment, even exterminating entire races.
"Wait, Noblesse isn't 'noble,' it's just the race name? And you said 7 races, but why only mention 5?"
"Ask one at a time."
"Then tell me about the races first. Why 7 races instead of 5?"
"That's classified."
"No, hey."
"Even the fact that there are 7 'Advanced Races' is taboo. Only Noblesse level know it."
Then why tell me?
"..."
She was silent for a long while.
Did she realize after saying it, or is there something she can't say?
"You might be..."
"Huh?"
"No, nothing."
"What, boring."
"Mentioning the remaining two races is taboo in the Tower. No, most don't even know beforehand. Most think it's been the 『Advanced 5 Races』 since ancient times."
"How do you know?"
"I'm Noblesse."
"I see."
What tremendous racial pride.
"They can't compare to the 『Dragonians』, but they're too few in number and uninterested in the world, so practically, we 『Noblesse』 manage and govern the Tower. Naturally, we handle classified info too."
But still, is it okay for a mere instructor at this Academy to know? She's telling me so casually.
"Revealing such classified info to Sihwan-nim, who's 'Human'... Does that mean one of the remaining two races is 『Human』?"
Huh?
Humans are an Advanced Race?
When they're discriminated against like this and worked like slaves?
"...Sharp one. Unlike your master."
"I'm pretty good."
"Hey."
"Yeah, correct. One of the remaining two races is 『Human』."
"That doesn't add up. If Humans are such great 『Advanced Races』, why do they live discriminated against like this? And everyone treats them worse than Outer Races."
"Because they really are worse than Outer Races."
"...."
Something doesn't line up, right?
You feel it too, don't you? That your own words are a mess.
"Human strength only shines when gathered in groups. Individually, humans are worthless. Even against Beastkin Outer Races, humans get pitifully beaten—that's their level."
"Not all are like that. There must be exceptional humans."
Like me.
"You think there aren't among Beastkin?"
"...Right."
"Humans need at least 30 million gathered to even straighten their backs. Otherwise, they're no different from Outer Races. And now it's even less than that."
Yeah, got it.
But human reproduction rates are insane.
Back in ancient China, the Han Dynasty hit 30 million early on. And that was just China, not all humanity.
"Humans can't increase their numbers."
"Why."
"Because they're prevented from doing so."
"?"
"Those inside the Tower are slaves anyway, so it doesn't matter, but if the humans outside exceed 10 million..."
For a moment, her already red eyes seemed to turn even redder.
"The 'Management Committee' moves and kills half of the humans outside the Tower."
They kill half just for exceeding 10 million population?
What the hell is this bullshit?
"With the power of just over 10 million humans, they can't stop the Management Committee. Even one extra person means half the population gets massacred."
"They're insane."
I thought it from when they killed 300 examinees,
These bastards really aren't right in the head.
"So human nations enforce 'population control' themselves—each village, city, region has population limits, and if exceeded, they sell the excess to the Tower or humans kill their own."
"...."
"That's the current state of the former 『Advanced Race』 Humans. Luna's ancestors entered the Tower that way too."
Horrific story.
At the same time, it pisses me off.
Even if I'm not one of these humans, seeing my own kind treated like that, how can I not get angry?
"I get that they're in that state now. But why do they do that? They were originally 『Advanced Races』, right?"
Even the fact itself is now classified; only a few know, everyone else is in the dark.
Why on earth
do they
"Remember we got to the Tower of God Project?"
"Huh?"
"I'll continue."
"No, wait, answer my question—,"
"The answer's right here."
"...."
Tower of God Project.
This devastated the entire continent.
All resources and lives poured into Tower construction, stockpiled inside.
Famines horrible enough to call horrific broke out everywhere, and some Outer Races rebelled, but couldn't stand against the 『Advanced Races』' overwhelming power.
After about 500 years, when the Tower reached the 5th floor, problems arose.
Previously, knowing territory was scarce, the 『Advanced 7 Races』 yielded to each other, freely roaming 4 floors, mingling and bickering.
But then...
When territory became ambiguously sufficient, conflict began.
At the <Summit> deciding the fate of the Tower interior and the entire continent, floors 1-5 were distributed:
1st floor: 『Human』 and 『???』
2nd floor: 『Dwarf』 and 『Elf』
3rd floor: 『Demon Race』
4th floor: 『Noblesse』
5th floor: 『Dragonian』
An allocation bound to breed discontent.
Floors 1 and 2 shared by 4 races, but from Demon Race onward, one floor per race?
If numbers were high, maybe, but among 『Advanced 7 Races』, 『Human』 had the most, then 『???』, then 『Elf』 and 『Dwarf』.
In other words, the two most populous crammed into floor 1, next into floor 2.
They promised priority allocation later as more floors built, but 3 more floors would take 300 years.
Of course they'd rage.
『Human』 tried uniting the anger of 4 races to resist.
But from 『Demon Race』, power gap was overwhelming; for 『Dwarf』 and 『Elf』, their populations covered each other enough living together, so no big issues.
Ultimately, uniting anger failed.
『Dwarf』 and 『Elf』 settled for reality.
Finally, only 『Human』 and 『???』 dissatisfied.
The two weren't peacefully coexisting on floor 1.
Both had seriously upward population growth; soon severe land shortage.
And with their sky-high arrogance and pride as 『Advanced Races』, live outside the Tower now? With lowly Outer Races?
Impossible.
"In the end, Humans waged war there. The first war between 『Advanced Races』. Using overwhelming numbers as a weapon, they exterminated the opponent and seized floor 1 by force."
Aha.
"Humans do... like war a bit. But wasn't the cause that damn <Summit>? Ridiculous. Why allocate like that then."
Even combined, 『Demon Race』, 『Noblesse』, 『Dragonian』 couldn't match 『Human』, not even 『Elf』, yet they took 3 floors—how's land not short?
"Yeah. If it ended there, it could've been overlooked. But Humans didn't stop. Not satisfied with floor 1."
"No way."
"They immediately invaded floor 2, encroaching on 『Elf』 and 『Dwarf』 territory. Even with promise of more Tower in 100 years and priority allocation, they couldn't wait."
Her eyes were downright murderous.
She despises humans for greedily chasing what's in front.
But hey.
100 years is 3 generations for humans.