Isaac - Chapter 84
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âA tour around the Royal Palace huh⊠should I take it as an honour to my family?â
The hallway Isaac walked through was a sight to behold. It was wide enough to let a bus through, with many sculptures placed in between the windows. The ceiling was also decorated from beginning to the end, and Isaac wasnât sure if they were paintings or if the ceiling itself was sculpted.
How long did Isaac leisurely walk through this art gallery of a hallway? At the end was a giant, rectangular steel door barring the way, its crude and brutish figure mismatching the elegance and flamboyance of the path they just passed through. The two Arc Royales leading the way walked to the door and began their struggle of pushing the massive door open.
âWhat. It was a sliding door?â
Isaac was surprised at the strength of the knights, who managed to push the giant steel door at first, but what surprised him even more was the doorâs breadth, which was as thick as a grown manâs arm. While Isaac blankly looked in awe at this mighty and barbarous steel door, Mazelan stepped in and called Isaac.
âArenât you coming in?â
There was faint light illuminating beyond the steel door, but it was like a dim lamp when compared to the brightness of the hallway. Isaac stepped in to follow Mazelan, and the knights began closing the steel door behind them. Isaac questioned Mazelan when it was just the two of them with all of the knights left behind.
âWhy arenât they coming in?â
âThis is an area restricted to only those who have received approval from the Empire, no matter how high their title is.â
âWow! What an honour. But arenât you worried that itâs just the two of us here?â
Mazelan quickly caught up to what Isaac was implying with those words. He smirked like a master who was challenged by a foolish child.
âWhat, you want to attack and subdue me? When it was me who monitored you the longest time in Campus? The weapons of your world have devastating effects, but the users of those weapons were⊠Hm, how shall I describe it? Boxing? Martial arts? Fighting? Whatever. They were surprisingly incompetent when it came to hand-to-hand combat. But you can give it a go if youâre confident.â
Isaac glared at Mazelan, finding his belittling smirk so irritating. But Mazelan was right. Joon-youngâs specialty was guerrilla tactics in the form of ambushes and terrorism. His close-quarter combat capability was at most mediocre. He would be quickly subdued if he were to ask to fight against someone from the College.
As the two began walking down the corridor, Mazelan began his explanation.
âWhere should I start⊠Do you know about the 7 Days of Calamity?â
â7 Days of Calamity? Iâve read about it a few times in history books.â
Mazelan looked at Isaac with great surprise when he heard that answer.
âSince when did you read history books?â
ââŠâ
While Isaac was faced with the depressing reality that he could never hit Mazelan for saying that, Mazelan touched the left wall of the corridor, and a giant map appeared on the dark wall.
âThis isâŠâ
âThe map of the Empire. As you can see, humans occupy just north of the continentâs centre. Further north are the non-human reservations that surround the residential area of humans.â
Mazelan pointed to the upper half of the map, where cities and castles were marked to indicate that they were human territory. Above it were the territories of non-humans indicated by blue dotted lines, showing the lands of elves, dwarves, beastmen, North Bears and even the dragonâs sanctuary. It formed a semi-circle above the human territory, blocking the path to the north completely.
âHow come thereâs nothing north of it? I assume you guys have knowledge of the terrain beyond it, seeing the seas and beaches are marked on the map?â
Isaac pointed even further above the nonâhuman territory, where it was just a blank white area.
âThe maps released to the public show it as a giant desert where nothing exists. But in truth, itâs the Forbidden Lands.â
âForbidden Lands?â
âIt is a nightmarish place where the first signs of the 7 Days of Calamity appeared and is still ongoing even to this day. Itâs too dangerous of a place to walk around carefree. Itâs also a humbling reminder that the 7 Days of Calamity isnât just a legend and keeps us alert to the fact that it may happen again. That is why other than the few expeditionary groups or scouting parties as part of training for Centralâs agents, we do not approach the place. However, everything changed when one of our scouting parties found an object weâd never seen before 50 years after the founding of the Empire.â
âAn object?â
Mazelan didnât reply to Isaacâs question, only waving his hand as he walked forward and touching another wall.
âItâs something weâve never seen before, but you know full well what it is.â
Lights spaced out evenly from each other began to shine, which lit up the area. Isaac could now see all of the objects that had been arranged as if this place were a museum.
â⊠It certainly is familiar to me.â
What laid in front of Isaac was equipment very similar to what heâd seen in the TV series âStargate,â that he watched frequently. Unmanned surveillance equipment, camera lens, antenna. Isaac didnât know what their official names were, but seeing the stars and stripes drawn in the middle of them made it obvious which nation they came from.
âI did have some suspicion, but the Americans really did come here before.â
Unable to hide the troubling emotions that welled in his heart, Isaac took out a cigarette to calm his beating heart. Just as he did, he felt Mazelanâs gaze, so Isaac asked Mazelan for permission before lighting the cigarette.
âAh. I can smoke right?â
Mazelan shook his head with a big frown.
âOne of the many things we cannot understand the more we learn about your world is why you guys love to smoke that poisonous plant eating away at your life. Once, there were scholars who studied on those âcigarettesâ and why you smoke them.â
âSo? What was the conclusion?â
Isaac dashed his lips with disappointment and asked while he placed the pack of cigarettes back into his pocket.
âSome hypothesised that it increases combat capabilities or strengthens oneâs mind, but after translating the words written on those packs, we found out that cigarettes were in fact poison. The conclusion we came up with was that all other-worlders were insane; whoâd smoke something that is warned to be harmful?â
âI canât argue against that.â
Everything Mazelan said was true. The cigarette was indeed harmful, and Isaac, who smoked this, was also very insane.
Mazelan didnât seem pleased when Isaac placed the cigarettes back into his pocket. He glared at the pocket for some time before giving up with a shake of his head and continuing onwards.
âAnyhow, after finding these materials, metals, languages, and machines that donât exist in our continent, Central came to the conclusion that another world existed.â
âYou guys believed that another world existed so easily, despite seeing those objects for the first time.â
âWe could have easily dismissed it as a myth or legend due to the amount of time thatâs passed if our world only consisted of humans just like yours. But there are many beings who live much longer than a human would in this world. The testimonies and documents provided by them that show they traded with those from heaven and hell before the 7 Days of Calamity was undeniable evidence.â
âWait. Wait. Heaven? Hell? They really did exist?â
âYes. I will tell you more about it later, since youâll need to know about it eventually. Anyhow, seeing these objects never seen before, the Empire sent an expedition of a massive scale into the Forbidden Lands. But the first expedition betrayed our expectations and withdrew after taking massive casualties without any achievements. The Empire regularly sent expeditions into the lands again and again, but they never found a gate connecting to another world. In the end, the expeditionâs goal changed from finding the gate to research and developing a safe and stable passage through the Forbidden Lands. We sent a total of 17 expeditions. But compared to the incredible human and material resources spent on this project, all we managed to achieve was finding a safe path and a few advancements regarding the abnormalities that occurred during the 7 Days of Calamity. With that, Central became very skeptical and decided an expedition into the centre of the Forbidden Lands where the 7 Days of Calamity first began was going to be the last expedition and forgo any further attempts. But it was this 17th expedition that found a gate which travelled to your world, although it was a highly unstable one.
âWhat do you mean by that?â
âEach time the gate to your world opened, the era of your world changed. The world we saw through the very first gate was that of the Stone Ages. But each time the gate opened, your world developed little by little, through the repetition of rise and fall of many civilizations. During this time, one of the Empireâs scholars came up with an ingenious idea.â
âWhat was that?â
âThe thought that perhaps we could monitor and apply some of the more useful ideas which are invented in that world where only humans existed.â
ââŠâ
Basically, these people watched the previous worldsâ history as one long documentary and stole everything they believed was useful to them.
âSo we created surveillance equipment to travel across your world and gather information.â
âYou guys had the technology to develop such a thing?â
Mazelan seemed excited by Isaacâs question, as if looking forward to Isaacâs reaction. Reaching the end of the corridor which was blocked by a steel gate, Mazelan looked back at Isaac as he opened it.
âIt seems your world calls our surveillance equipment UFOs.â
â⊠Huh?â
Isaac couldnât hide his surprise, looking as if heâd been hit on the back of his head. Mazelan seemed satisfied at Isaacâs reaction and pointed at the exhibits that were arranged on both sides.
âWow! They really are UFOs!â
Countless different types of UFOs were exhibited on the sides behind glass like a museum. Mazelanâs voice held a grain of pride as he spoke to Isaac, who was busy looking inside with sparkles in his eyes.
âThese surveillance tools are the pinnacle of the Empireâs study of magic. They have given us much information, and their contribution was paramount to allow our Empire to grow to where it is now. Most of the Empireâs systems referenced what we saw from your world.â
âThen how come your weapons are so pathetic?â
It was true this world was very convenient to live in, but their armies were still stuck in the medieval era. If they knew about guns, they should also know about the power of gunpowder, and developing materials similar to it should have made it possible to develop their own guns. Yet they still swung swords and shot arrows at each other.
Mazelan looked down on Isaac as if the question was pathetic.
âAnd where are we supposed to use those highly developed weapons? The greatest flaw of your world is that your weapons are too advanced. Those who use a sword will reconsider in killing their opponent if they donât have any intention to kill. But the gun finishes everything without giving any time for such reconsideration. It is too simple to use and much too powerful. That is why those who act before they think thrive without fear in your world with weapons like that in their hands.â
âWell, maybe itâs because our worlds are different.â
Isaac shrugged at Mazelanâs criticism as if it didnât bother him. Mazelan sighed.
âI guess we are no different. There are still many fools who dream of rebellion to become kings and emperors themselves in this world. I donât even want to imagine whatâd happen if they got their hands on guns.â
Mazelan continued after shivering.
âAs our surveillance equipment improved, the Empire began to wonder if it was possible to load other-worlders into the equipment and bring them to our world. After much animal testing, we managed to⊠how to say, I guess summon is the right word. We successfully summoned those from another world through our surveillance equipment.â
Isaac was beyond disbelief at this point. So it wasnât aliens who were behind all those conspiracy theories about UFOs abducting people but them. No, perhaps they were aliens, since they were from another worldâŠ
âSounds to me like it was more of an abduction than a summoning. So did you interrogate them after bringing them here?â
âIt was simple enough to erase their memories with their lack of resistance against magic. We sent them back into their world after erasing all memories and experiences they had of our world.â
âWhy? Iâm sure many of them would have been more than happy to stay here.â
There were many discontent people who dreamed of travelling to another world to become heroes or live different lives, meet beautiful chicks, and live happily ever after.
âBecause of money.â
âWhat?â
Isaac replied with eyes wide at the unexpected answer. Mazelan smirked, happy with the look Isaac was making.
âIf we allow them to reside in our world, weâd have to monitor them continuously for the rest of their lives to make sure they donât say anything unnecessary, guarantee their safety, and cover their immigration. Considering the total cost of money and manpower, it was much cheaper to just send them back with a gap in their memories.â
It was perhaps a cruel yet realistic problem.
âNot only that, we hadnât performed many summons when the gates stopped opening.â
âI thought you guys opened and closed the gates whenever you wanted?â
âNobody knows when the gates will open. We canât possibly scour the entire Forbidden Lands when there is a constant mana storm raging over the entire region. What we can detect is a special frequency in mana waves that only occurs when a gate opens or closes. Even that takes much luck to detect. There have been many gates we missed during our expeditions.â
âSo?â
âRoughly put, we found the first gate on the 50th year of the Empire, and no gates opened after the 100th year of the Empire.â
Isaac tilted his head at this description.
âThatâs strange. Isnât it year 383 now? Right?â
âCorrect.â
âWas preservation magic that amazing? None of the objects I saw seemed very old.â
âAlthough the closing of the gates was disappointing, the Empire began to accelerate the advancement process using the information we had gathered. And those we would call geniuses in their respective fields began making great achievements.â
âAre you talking about the College graduates?â
Mazelan replied looking straight at Isaac.
âNo. They were people like you.â
ââŠâ
Isaac looked back in silence. Mazelan began walking down the exhibition and waved at Isaac to follow him.
âWe didnât know at first, but we began to notice as the time went by. Tools and machines that were used in your world suddenly appeared in civilian markets throughout the Empire.â
âIâm sure all humans think alike, so it wouldnât be that surprising.â
Mazelan snorted at Isaacâs reply.
âWe thoroughly investigated if our information had been leaked at first, but we never found any leads. Then, we found the first Type 1 Invasion otherworlder.â
âType 1?â
âType 1 invasion. Those transported to our world with both stable minds and physical forms. Type 2, who are born into our world with memories of the other world. Type 3, those who take over a body after an accident or a shock. Type 4, similar to Type 3 but can only remember fragments of memories due to an inability to bear the disparities between both minds.â
Isaacâs face stiffened at Mazelanâs explanation. The fact they had such organised classifications meant there had been so many transmigrators in the past.
â⊠I guess Iâm a type 3.â
âYes. We had been advancing the level of our civilization following the long term schedule weâve created, but it could be completely derailed if someone else began distributing aspects of a superior civilization as they pleased. So we would monitor the suspects, and if it is confirmed they are invaders, we choose whether to recruit them or terminate them.â
âWouldnât it be simple enough if you just captured everyone whoâs suspicious? Why make it so hard on yourselves?â
When Isaac made that question, Mazelan replied with discontently.
âDo you think our intelligence organisation is as oppressive as your world!?â
âWas it not?â
Isaac smirked and pointed at himself. Mazelan was at a loss for words, replying with a heavy frown.
ââŠThere are extremists in the organisation, but they are a minority. Not only that, but these invaders who appear into our world donât discriminate against races.â
âSo youâre saying it doesnât just happen to humans.â
âYes. And this world is not ruled by humans. We merely co-exist with the other races. This world has learnt well regarding the potential fallout from humanityâs natural despicable greed and aggression through observing your world. There are still a few within the Grand Council that demand the extinction of humankind. If it werenât for the Queen, humanity would have disappeared long ago or only exist in numbers so small weâd be living in tribes.â
Another question popped into Isaacâs mind when Mazelan mentioned the Queen, but he decided to stay silent since Mazelan would eventually get to that topic. And what Mazelan said had logic behind it. The other races had the right to be wary of humans after watching humans perform countless acts of stupidity one after the other.
âSo thatâs why you guys just watched me at first. Then when did you guys realise I was a Type 3 Invader?â
Mazelan looked at Isaac as if he was an idiot.
âHow could we possibly not be aware after the chaos you created in New Port City? You used Macau and Las Vegas as reference right?â
âHow was I supposed to know itâd turn out like this?â
Isaac wasnât surprised they knew about Las Vegas or Macau, since it was a widely known fact they could have easily picked up from others like Isaac.
âBut how did you guys know about Macau or Las Vegas? I thought itâd been ages since the gates closed?â
Mazelan tapped at his head with an unsatisfied look in response to Isaacâs question.
âThere are a few radicals who extract all information from the victimâs heads.â
âThose Dark Royale who kidnapped me?â
â⊠Although I do not condone their methods, the information the Dark Royale extracts are the crystallisation of all memories which their victims had seen, heard, and remembered. We know well about Macao, Las Vegas and other famous cities.â
âHm. I guess that must be very useful.â
Mazelan shook his head and sighed, seeing Isaac approve of the method that he was a victim of.
âGetting back to the point, the gates no longer opened. As we began to monitor, hunt⊠I mean convert the invaders who are increasingly appearing into our world, we suddenly detected the signs of a gate closing.â
Isaac was disturbed by the word hunt but decided to gloss over it. In that time, Mazelan reached another steel door at the end of the corridor. While Isaac was busy thinking âhow many doors are there?â Mazelan spoke.
âThe expedition force we hurriedly sent met them in the Forbidden Lands.â
âThem?â
Mazelan opened the door wide, entered the room and turned all of the lights on. He pointed at the exhibition as he spoke.
âThose who crossed over to our world of their own will.â
ââŠâ