A moment after the silence, Meiko spoke. “Mia, can we speak alone?”

Her tone lacked her usual timid nature. Her voice was calm yet deep.

“Mola, please,” Amelia said, her eyes fixed on Meiko. “We’ll follow after you later.”

“It’ll be better if I’m listening so we can compromise on whatever problems you two may face.” Mola sighed, altering her eyes from Amelia and Meiko. “Scratch that. I can’t imagine leaving you two alone. I mean—”

“Please, Mola. Just for now,” Meiko interrupted. “I just want to… confirm. Confirm what Mia has to say.”

Meiko knitted her brows and expressed uncertainty. “Mia I… want to trust you. Really, I want to hear what you have to say. Let’s… not hold barriers. I want to know how we should treat each other; where we have to draw the line.”

Amelia nodded. “Bring me to whichever place you want if that will ease your mind.”

“Mia!” Mola was taken aback. “You know you should—”

“Don’t you trust Meiko?” Amelia asked.

“But this and that are different!” Mola pulled on her hair. “I know Mei isn’t a bad person, but you! Right now, I can’t really predict what will you do! And that makes me anxious!”

“Mola, there are things that you should not know. It’s something only Meiko needs to hear. So, please, give it a rest.”

“Mei! Tell me where! I’ll wait at the entrance! That’s the best compromise I’ll take!”

“Back in the chamber with Babel. There, I want to speak with Mia there.”

“Don’t tell me you’ll—”

Meiko shook her head. “You are mistaken. I do not intend to delve in deeper. I just want to talk there. There are things I want to know, too.”

Mola heaved a sigh as she hunched forward. “Fine! But I’ll stay at the entrance of the chamber. That should be far enough for me not to hear your conversation! Use Whisper if you will!”

The issue resolved between the three, they went towards the chamber with the statue of Babel. The chamber was empty like it usually did. The arms of the clock told it was four hours past sunset, two hours before midnight. Although Academia’s labyrinth was usually bustling with people, the chamber with Babel lacked nearby areas where adventurers and magicians could make a living.

“It’s been a long while since I went here.” Amelia looked up at Babel. “And it still amazes me how this thing has retained its pristine condition despite the age of the mega-structure known as Academia. Just shows how much I don’t know.”

“Mia, no, Amelia.” After gazing at Babel in silence, Meiko broke into Amelia’s monologue. “I’m sure you will call me naïve. Maybe careless. But… I want to be fair. I want to be open. I want… the truth. In return, I’ll tell you everything I can.”

“… I have already thought of you as naïve. However, there are people who change in a short period of time. So, whether you are or not, it does not matter.” Amelia took a deep breath and faced Meiko.

“Amelia, you are… lying. And at the same time, you are speaking the truth. So, what you have told me… is partially a lie or partially the truth.”

“So that’s what you meant by fair.” Amelia laughed in a dry manner. “But Meiko, can you confirm that your blessing is telling you the truth?”

Meiko narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Out of all the Heroes, I mean, you knew this isn’t some sort of game, wasn’t it? Evelyn does not seem all too serious either. She simply wants to make the most out of her situation.”

“…” Meiko unconsciously took a step backward. Her eyes shot wide open. Eventually, she realized her palms were covering her mouth.

Meiko trembled. She felt a shiver bolting down her skin. “H-how? How did you—”

“It’s a fair trade, isn’t it?” Amelia smiled. “So how was it? What did your blessing say?”

Meiko moved her head sideways. She stopped, then, again, shook her head sideways.

“Why? How come?”

Amelia chuckled. “So, you can’t trust even your own blessing. How inconvenient of a gift from a God.”

Meiko’s hands continuously shook. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. “Then, what is the truth? What is the lie?”

“Libra of Truth and Lies. It’s known magic, but not quite the efficient one. I doubt even the True Scholars could make it work on their own.”

“It was… known?”

Amelia nodded. “There is a lot of magic found here in Academia. Most are beyond what a single person could manifest. From the last I studied here, only about 40% were properly deciphered and explained. Although we could always copy the inscriptions and pour mana into the crystals to know what magic it is, it’s quite a dangerous practice. After all, it’s hard to know what the magic does without manifesting it.”

“Guinea pigs…”

“Right on the mark. Anyway, we’re getting far off. But you have calmed down. So, that’s better.”

“Yeah.” Meiko shook her head once more and slapped her cheeks.

“Meiko, it’s only yourself you can trust.”

“Right. Right.” Meiko took a deep breath and closed the distance between her and Amelia once more. “Maybe I should start.”

Meiko shifted her sight to the Babel. “I’ll skip the details but… this place. It’s something like the Babel itself.”

It has been centuries since the last dwarf that wielded their God’s gift, the Tool of the Dwarf God, emerged. At that time, Gareth, wielder of the said tool, shared Amelia’s views. A place that supported whoever that lived in it, no matter what race they came from.

Gareth was a peculiar man for a Dwarf. Unlike most the Dwarfs, Gareth did not seek what lied beyond their skills. He did not seek the peak of his skills, although he wished to improve himself in his crafts. Rather, Gareth sought after crafts that would someday lead him to his goal. The goal of a diverse community.

Gareth was not alone. Summoned Heroes joined his quest and gave Gareth some advice. Among those Heroes, there were some which recalled the story of Babel. The part where the humans were made to speak in a diverse language in order to halt the completion of the tower interested Gareth.

Diverse language. I wonder, were the races in a similar situation before? No. No. The big question is why do the races only have one language? Thinking about it, isn’t it possible for a dwarf of another continent to speak a different language? But some has crossed the seas and yet they speak the same tongue. What is it? What was it that binds the races? Are the races like bees from the same colony which can inherently communicate in an unconscious level?

His knowledge was supplemented by stories from Heroes. His ideas spawned from the simple methods and unique ideas the Heroes held. And among anyone else, Gareth was the only person who overcame the limitations that the blessings placed on its benefactor. Gareth made a tool that deciphered what a Hero was saying whenever the communication interference kicked in. All thanks to the Tool of the Dwarf God.

The Tool manifested itself before Gareth after a time Gareth worked on crafts that helped bridge the difference between races. It was as if the Tool recognized his efforts and his goals. For Gareth, it was as if their God has recognized his dream. For a race without a guardian, it was the best recognition that a dwarf could hope. His desires renewed by the tool, Gareth’s hunger for knowledge grew far more intense.

For a time, Gareth understood how electricity worked. He understood that electricity traveled from material to material depending on its properties. With that as a basis, Gareth formulated his own. It was what was now known as the Mana Lines that was spread across Academia.

Nevertheless, those Mana Lines were but one of the inventions of Gareth. However, before it became functional as the Mana Lines, they were experimental ideas. Not until one day Gareth could no longer be satisfied with the stories and ideas of the Heroes. And thus, Gareth created the greatest tool he could have ever made with the Dwarf God’s Tool.

It was considered an artifact. An object on the level of what was bestowed by the Gods. Even Celestia found the tool peculiar and interesting to a point.

The tool was a watch. A pocket watch.

True to its nature, the watch worked by manipulating time.

Gareth used the artifact to take a short trip into the future. At least, that was how he understood how time worked. Nevertheless, Gareth wanted to see what was in the future of the world. He wanted to see what objects or advancements the society has made. He wanted to see the problems of the future so that the present can prepare for what was to come. And so, Gareth, for a short time, visited and saw the future.

When Gareth came back, his face drew nothing but dread. The future was bleak. The fate of the races was nothing but a dead end.

“There is none.” Gareth clutched the chain of the pocket watch. “None other should see.”

Gareth removed the pocket watch and stored it in one of his protected chests to never see daylight once again.

“I need to create a place where people can keep on living.”

Gareth, in his trip into the future, saw one of Origin’s Reset. He saw nothing but destruction. He saw the reconstruction of the continents. However, for Gareth who knew nothing of the Reset, he saw it as simply as the end of the world.

From there, the construction of the immovable fortress, Noah’s Babel, began.

“This place is like this tower of Babel, but in reverse,” Meiko explained. “Rather than a tower that reaches for the sky, it pierced the ground. And rather than divide whoever that lived or helped with its construction, it united them. Maybe this statue of Babel was a reminder of that.”

Amelia could not help but tilt her head to the side. “If that was true, and going by the condition of this inverted tower, we should have at least met a person among those—!”

Amelia’s eyes shot open. “The records!” She grabbed Meiko’s hands and held it just above her chest. “There should be records of skeletal remains around the time Academia was first founded! If we can find records of those, then we can determine if people really used to live in the labyrinth of Academia instead of beasts!”

“R-right.” Meiko was taken aback. Amelia’s enthusiasm threw her off-guard.

“And if it really was an inverted tower, then we have barely explored its depths!” Amelia smiled from ear to ear.

If the maker of this tower is alive! Or at least he left something that helped in the creation of Academia, then! Then! Hope is not lost!

Tears began to roll down Amelia’s cheeks.

“Haah… What is this?” Amelia freed Meiko and brushed her tears away with her fingers. “Why is it—flowing?”

Amelia’s lips trembled. She could not help but express a smile. The weight in her chest was light.

“No. No. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Amelia.” Again, Amelia kept brushing her tears away. She covered her face and turned away from Meiko. “Nothing was proven yet. There is no assurance.”

Don’t hope. It’ll break you, Amelia thought to herself. There’s no guarantee that we’ll find anything useful deep down. We do not know of the dangers. There is no assurance that we’ll find something within two months. I.. must not blind myself.

Amelia could not help but try to suppress her emotions. However, she was relieved. Deeply relieved that there was a new option for her to choose from. Relieved that she can work towards a goal without a definite path in mind. Albeit her new option only opened another bottle of expectations, that island of reprieve was an irreplaceable land for Amelia’s sea of problems.

“Amelia…” In the end, Meiko was struck speechless as she witnessed Amelia’s fragile form.