World Keeper

For the first time in over twenty floors, Fyor had found a new, civilized race. More than just that, they actually seemed incredibly advanced. When this news was released, people saw it as a warm welcome amidst all the unfortunate news that had been released in recent weeks. There were, admittedly, those who were simply waiting for the ‘other shoe’ to drop, to find out that this race secretly ate babies or that they were a villainous group that would attack outsiders without warning.

Both to investigate this new race and to relieve these tensions, a diplomatic team was organized, consisting of Lifre, Thelsa and her shadow team, and a God of Insight by the name of Jack Dane. When Lifre heard that she was assigned to this group, she was beside herself with joy. Literally, she made a clone of herself just so that she could hug herself and dance.

Of course, the reason for her assignment was simple, as she was the only one that had experience visiting that floor, and had learned their language. More than that, she understood some of their common sense due to having learned an individual’s life story. Thus, Lifre was asked to gather with the rest of the diplomatic team in order to tell them what they all needed to keep in mind.

The place of their meeting was none other than Gate’s Rest on the sixty-second floor. The group sat within a meeting room at the back of the local adventurer’s guild, Thelsa and her shadows sitting around one table with the halfling god that had been assigned to the group. Lifre, meanwhile, began to pace back and forth, searching through her thoughts to determine what information needed to be shared first.

“Why not just start with their language?” Jack asked. As a God of Insight, he prided himself on being able to pick up any form of information quickly, even deciphering entire languages with only a few sample words.

“Hmm? Oh, sure! I guess we can start there.” She said with a nod. “Really, there’s nothing tricky about their language, once you get used to it. Simply mix your mana and spiritual energy in a four to one ratio, and apply it like a thin disc, covering your mouth.”

Jack blinked slightly, doing so. “Is this a language that operates by observing the movement of energy, or does the energy itself act as the language?”

“The second one! The race on the next floor is big on ‘intent’. See, with that energy covering your mouth, you just have to talk how you normally would, and the intent behind the words is translated to the other party. To receive the language, you just need the same ration of energy around your ears. Oh, just watch out, because this also means that lies can’t be spoken in this language.”

“What do you mean?” Thelsa asked, curiously.

“Put the energy on one of your ears, and I’ll show you!” Lifre smiled brightly. She waited until she sensed the thin layer of energy over one ear for everyone in the room. “I hate adventure, I really do. It’s the worst thing in the world. Honestly, it’s pretty boring.”

The people around the table twitched slightly when they heard her speak. Through the ear not covered by the energy, they heard her words normally. However, through the ear that the energy did cover, they heard something entirely different. “I love adventure, I really do! It’s the best thing in the world! Honestly, I can’t get enough!”

It felt weird that not only the words, but even the tone that she said them in changed when passing through this energy. Lifre nodded her head once she saw that everyone understood. “It does the same thing when you try to deceive by excluding information or twisting facts. In truth, they don’t have a ‘language’. If you don’t use this energy, you’ll only hear garbled voices when they talk, like an infant that doesn’t know how to properly string words together. That’s why, I’d like everyone to practice by keeping this energy up for this entire conversation!”

Petra nodded her head, clearly seeing the value in doing so. “I suppose that will make conversation with them a lot easier.”

“That’s right. And this whole intent language has pretty much shaped their culture. The crime rate is pretty low when you can’t lie about the fact that you committed the crime. They still have a pretty good army, but that’s not specifically for catching criminals. It still does that for when crimes do happen, but there are bigger problems for them to worry about.”

“Like what?” Jack asked in interest, curious what problems such an advanced race would be facing.

“It’s actually an old friend of ours. Who here remembers the thought bug from the twenty-eighth floor? It’s a creature that inhabits the mana stones that they mine there. Those same stones are found in the sixty-third floor, and in even greater quantities. I don’t know whether the bugs come from this floor, or if they’re just infesting it through the stones, but they are the biggest threat that the locals face.”

“Just one of these bugs can wipe out a small district, if it manages to infect an individual without being noticed. That’s why they have their standing army, to kill any of these bugs while curing those that have been infected.”

Jack pursed his lips, nodding his head. “If I recall, the twenty-eighth floor’s Rainbow-Eyes race had a decent magical civilization, due to having studied these stones. Is that the source of the technology you mentioned in your report?”

Lifre shrugged her shoulders. “Dunno! That’s not something that your average citizen would really know about in detail. All I know is that their understanding of runes is on par with our own. They even use geometric magic, and have begun to dabble with familiars. Admittedly, familiar magic isn’t all that popular from what I know. Or maybe the guy I grabbed the information from was just biased. Either way, they’ve been studying these ‘new’ forms of magic for a few hundred years now.”

Jack nodded his head. “It seems like a fairly utopian culture. Did they not notice that you were different when you were there?”

“Oh, no! When you get to floors this high, everyone’s an energy being of some variety. The energy that they’re made of is actually a much more complex mixture of what we’re using to communicate, I just simplified it to help with the process. Because it relies so heavily on intent, it’s pretty common for people to change into different shapes. Their true forms most closely resemble elves, but it wouldn’t be weird to find a three-headed tentacle monster walking down the street.”

The others all just blinked when they heard that. “Okay… is there anything else that we need to know before we enter?” Sora asked, Lifre taking a moment to think it over.

“They’ve got great snacks? Also, their own internet. They use portals like we do to make sure that there isn’t any noticeable latency, even when you are talking to someone more than ten billion kilometers away.”

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“Yeah… how are those portals not at risk from the void?” Petra suddenly asked. “I don’t use the computer all that much, so I never really thought about that.”

Jack shook his head, briefly explaining. “They use shielded cables and secure, point-to-point transmission within the void itself to make sure that the path of the portals are never exposed to void monsters.”

“Getting back on topic!” Lifre suddenly interjected. “Their system of government involves one local representative for every one of the ten million districts, a group of five thousand ministers that oversees the representatives, and a single president that oversees the ministers with selected advisors. All of the major positions are voted in from the lower ranks. So, representatives come from normal people, ministers come from representatives, and the president comes from ministers. All positions only last five years before the new votes, as well.”

“I don’t think we needed to know that part.” Maria muttered under her breath.

“Of course we do!” Lifre smiled brightly. “We’ll be entering via District Eighty-Seven. After talking to their representative, we’ll need to speak to the minister that oversees them. Once we get their approval, we’ll be able to talk to someone speaking on behalf of the president.”

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“Just because there’s not much crime doesn’t mean it’s non-existent. Basically, nobody other than his advisors sees the president personally during their term, as a matter of safety.”

Jack massaged his forehead with his fingers, nodding his head. “Still… hopefully the fact that we come from a lower floor will help to speed the process along. Just to be clear, there aren’t any memetic hazards that we need to be concerned with?”

“That’s right!” Lifre nodded. “The guy I got the information from doesn’t have any concept of the void. Their network portals are all done via folding space. Anyways, that should be all that we need to know.”

After she said that, Lifre opened up a portal next to herself. “This will take us to the other gate on this floor, and we can all go through together.”

The others stood up, with Jack briefly reporting to the guild’s branch manager that they were leaving. Once they entered the portal, they all proceeded to walk through the gate. On the other side, they were greeted by neon lights and unrecognizable signs, numerous people walking the paved streets.

It didn’t take long for the others to realize what they needed to do, covering their eyes with the same energy as their ears and mouths. When they did so, the signs seemed to shift, the text becoming legible.

Lifre, meanwhile, was looking around intently. After a few moments, she smiled wide, running over to a man with pointed ears and glowing, blue eyes. “Hello, officer!” She proclaimed, the man turning to face her with a gentle expression.

“Hello, there. Is there something you’d like to ask about?”

“That’s right! I come from a world much unlike this one! Would it be okay if my friends and I went to speak with the local representative?” She asked, keeping that smile on her face as she clasped her hands together.

The officer blinked in confusion, pausing. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid that I must have misheard you, could you repeat that.”

“Oh, it’s fine!” Lifre nodded as the others walked up. “We came here through that black gate you guys use as a tourist attraction. Please take us to your leader!”

The officer froze, not sure how to respond to this. Lifre simply tilted her head, wondering what was wrong. “I said please…”

“R-Right. My apologies.” He quickly stood up, bringing a finger to his ear and speaking quietly. Of course, his voice couldn’t escape the keen ear of the trained adventurers. “I need backup at the Black Stone Square. I believe we may have a few infected individuals, claiming to come from another world.”

Lifre pouted her lips when she heard the officer’s words, about to yell that they weren’t infected. Petra brought a hand to her shoulder, shaking her head. “It’s just a formality. Once they realize that we’re not infected, we’ll be able to get back on schedule.”

“...Fine… I would like to file a formal complaint, though! I said please and everything!”