They called it arrest and escort, but the mages didn't seem to care much about me and Shei's condition. They didn't even notice when I untied my ropes midway and secretly played cat's cradle.
[You told me to get captured, but you're just playing around!]
That Shei, of all people, scolded me out of frustration—well, that said it all.
The Mage Tower's door opened automatically. As soon as we entered, the door closed and began moving downward very smoothly.
An elevator? The Military Nation had such elevators too, but the Mage Tower's elevator was unrealistically smooth and fast. I couldn't even tell I was moving.
How much time passed like that? Now bored even with cat's cradle, I looked around and asked.
"Just how far down are we going? At this rate, it feels like we'll cross through the entire Floating City."
"Hah."
"Kik."
"Pfft."
'This is why the ignorant masses...'
Three different sneers flew at me. What? I only asked. What's so funny that they're surrounding me and laughing? Being surrounded and mocked gives me school days PTSD.
Not that I experienced it myself—I just read the thoughts of someone who was ignored by Lankart.
"...No, something's strange."
Shei, who took my words seriously, stared at the ceiling and spoke.
"We're definitely going down, but the direction keeps changing."
"What? How can the direction change if we're going down?"
"I don't know. But it definitely changed. What's going on..."
"It would be a long explanation. Telling you ignorant ones how this Floating City moves wouldn't mean anything anyway."
The Green Tower Master stepped forward and showed off without me even needing to explain. No, if you're not going to tell us, then don't even say anything.
"Even the ignorant have eyes like ours, I suppose. You too will be given a chance to observe and understand the Floating City. But only a chance, nothing more."
"What chance?"
Ding. A small chime rang announcing our arrival. The Green Tower Master opened the elevator door with her umbrella and spoke.
"The chance to witness, and understand, this mystery."
Witnessing the scenery outside the elevator, I instantly understood why the Green Tower Master had been so deliberately slow.
In the distant past, when rice-thieves called philosophers stole food from the world, and even the most trivial imagination gained substance and wandered about.
There were people who believed that beneath this earth lay a new land.
That the round earth was actually an eggshell, and we were nothing more than bugs crawling on its surface. That a true civilization, protected by the shell of the Earth Mother Goddess, stood upside down on the same ground as us, inside this earth—a baseless rumor that was once popular.
Though they are now the subject of mockery, had they been resurrected and seen this sight, they would have collapsed in awe.
A massive hollow. In this round world, countless mages were walking along the walls.
Mages standing upside down like bats walked leaning their staves against the ceiling. Upside-down trees grew like stalactites, stretching from ceiling toward floor. When someone fired a spell, a round sphere traced an inverted parabola and fell toward the ceiling.
They weren't hanging. The direction of applied gravity was simply different.
Permanently maintained Reverse Gravity pushed all things outward. From the center of the Floating City, toward the outside. Bodies pushed by anti-gravity planted themselves against walls and ceilings as if they were floors. Thanks to this, people could set foot and live on walls and ceilings alike.
Which way is up, and which way is down? Naturally, up is the center of this Floating City, and down is everywhere else.
The tower that seemed to pierce through the center of the Floating City, that 'something' radiating light like a sun from the very middle and dominating gravity—it was the sky itself. Not a 'sky' that was merely a name given to empty void, but a sky as an omnipotent and powerful god, right there.
YW9peUx5cktZYXhyU2hzY1VsMkQ0Uk9qK1RPd0IyUURFQkEwT3ZYbFo0QlA2ODR1ejREQjFqK3hXR2gwT1IrYQ
Shei too seemed to be seeing this sight for the first time, opening her mouth slightly and murmuring blankly.
"...So this is what the Floating City looks like."
Huh? You're a regressor. You're telling me you've never been to a famous and important place like the Floating City?
"Have you never been to the Floating City, Shei?"
"That's..."
"That's only natural. Not only could the ignorant never find this place without a guide, but even if they did, would they ever be allowed inside this far?"
I didn't ask you, and I wasn't asking about this round either. Why are you showing off so much? I barely held back the words that had risen to my throat.
Normally I would have been sarcastic and dug into them, but that's useless now. Because the mages' chosen people ideology is so firmly entrenched that digging into it would only earn me a sneer.
If I were stronger or could control the atmosphere of the people around me, I would have created an opening, but they are all mages, 'chosen people' who take pride in their learned knowledge. They consider me a different race from the start, so speaking critically wouldn't inflict any damage.
At times like this, questions are better than criticism. Because I can satisfy both their vanity and my curiosity simultaneously.
"But you still let us, who are nothing but ignorant ones, inside the Floating City?"
"The reason you could enter this place, even if only as prisoners, is ironically thanks to Lankart Spendrai. Since that madman brought ignorant ones, it's awkward to turn you away, yet also awkward to treat you properly."
The Green Tower Master's answer was somewhat reluctant. I read two conflicting emotions in her heart.
Displeasure and discomfort toward Lankart, who acted as if he owned the world. She resented Lankart for wielding such immense power at a young age, while simultaneously thinking that his far more powerful Unique Magic than expected might... contain even deeper enlightenment.
Hmm. Is it this emotion? I subtly probed.
"Our situation? What's so awkward about it?"
"That's not your concern."
"It's about our situation, so what do you mean we shouldn't care? Is it something you can't tell us? Or is it something we ignorant ones couldn't understand?"
Neither. It was just a capricious sense of reluctance. I asked while fully knowing, and the Green Tower Master, realizing there was no reason not to answer, simply decided to respond.
"Lankart's official position is that of a Federal Investigator. He has the authority to escort anyone deemed necessary by the Federation to the Floating City. Even if they are you ignorant ones who know nothing of magic."
"Wow, Lankart has really moved up in the world since I last saw him. But why did you drive Lankart away?"
"I believe I told you earlier. Falling from an altitude far above the Floating City is prohibited."
The Green Tower Master answered with an annoyed expression.
"The Floating City is the center of the sky, and even meteorites falling from the universe naturally follow the core of the Celestial Pillar. Most small and insignificant meteorites stop at the surface of the Floating City like you ignorant ones and become the bricks that make up this city. But occasionally, when a large meteorite that could harm the Floating City is detected, the Floating City's defensive magic activates."
"Large? Only three of us fell."
"You don't know anything. Well, I suppose it can't be helped since you're ignorant."
She keeps saying "ignorant, ignorant" every time she speaks. It makes the ignorant listener feel bad. The Green Tower Master, looking at me pityingly, sneered as if that was to be expected.
"A human-sized meteorite is large enough. If it falls as is, it could easily wipe out a village on that ground below. That's why we must pulverize it with defensive magic before it falls."
"You mean that magic beam that Lankart deflected?"
"The defensive magic is a multi-attribute magic condensation shell for anti-meteorite use. It means it wasn't originally designed with Unique Magic in mind. ...Though there's no other means that could pierce his Unique Magic either."
When adding that last part, she gritted her teeth, apparently still bothered by it. The Green Tower Master shook off the lingering unpleasantness and walked toward a large building.
"If three human-sized objects are falling, it means one of two things. Meteorites, or intruders. Either way, it's a matter that requires me, the Floating City's final line of defense, to deploy. My Unique Magic severs without discrimination, whether meteorite or human."
"Wow. Then you deployed because of Lankart. You must have a hard time with duty that's not even in your fate."
"You're ignorant, but an ignorant one with sense. You'll need it, if you want to survive in this Floating City without knowing the profound mysteries of magic."
The place we arrived at was a building that stood out even within this Floating City. As if mocking the civil engineering humanity had built up, the building had a thicker upper section than lower section, with dozens of rooms hanging from it like branches. It looked like if someone shook the building even slightly, those rooms would come tumbling down.
What is this. Do the Floating City's architects not know the laws of gravity?... Or are the laws of gravity different here.
Anyway, the Green Tower Master stopped in front of the bizarre building and detached the jewel from her necklace, inserting it into the door gap. Light flowed along the magic circle engraved in the rock door. Green light flashed, and the door rotated and opened vertically.
"This is the Security Bureau. You ignorant ones will be detained and interrogated by a security officer. I won't harm you, so please submit to the interrogation quietly."
"...Detained? You're detaining us?"
At the word "detained," Shei's aura sharpened. But the Green Tower Master paid no mind to Shei's reaction and spoke.
"Ah. Perhaps I should say 'protection' instead? Freedom is the same as license. If I were to release ignorant ones who have never seen or experienced the Floating City, and you were to accidentally touch something wrong and die, it would be troublesome for both you ignorant ones and me."
Surprisingly, she meant those words sincerely. She was saying that if I and Shei went outside, we could truly be in danger.
Every single word is full of chosen-people consciousness. It's as if she's demanding that the ignorant who can't use magic feel a sense of deprivation. Though the Floating City is a subtle and mysterious space enough to understand that...
'Hmph. This Floating City they're so proud of.'
That's why Shei's thoughts stood out even more. I read Shei's thoughts and widened my eyes.
'It fell to the ground from the Sword Saint's single strike, causing a great deluge!'