It was an era when there was not much to learn. The renowned scholars of the time were also well-versed in theology and exchanged intellectual discourse with the Holy Court. The Holy Court sponsored such intellectuals and collected and preserved their achievements.
When alchemists were dying submerged in boiling molten iron, it was also the Holy Court that pulled out and saved the scholars who had learned alchemy. Without the Saint's foresight and warning, the continent's intellect would have regressed by over a hundred years, opening an age of darkness. Even amidst the war, the Holy Court's missionaries conveyed the continent's situation to the scholars of the North Sea.
"How could this be. Teacher Lavoisier is dead!"
"Teacher Lavoisier? As in the Theory of Alchemical Elements...?"
"He was the one who divided the boundary between material changes that occur without alchemy and alchemy itself. I also learned alchemy from him. He was stubborn but a very brilliant man, so how...!"
"It's a great loss for the continent."
War did not have eyes. Both the smart and the foolish were swept away by madness and died. The succession of bad news heard from afar brought the scholars closer together.
"Madness and anti-intellectualism are rampant. I cannot tolerate that madness."
"Let's create a society and gather the knowledge we possess. Regardless of whether it belongs to a witch or an alchemist."
"To survive here, we must build a tower of knowledge."
The gathered scholars created the Babel Society and grew their power using the knowledge they possessed.
Earth Arts, Druidism, Alchemy. There were already many powers in the world. If one understood the Demon God and aligned their mental image with it, the Demon God's Unique Demon Path would lend them power. The Babel Society met alchemists and druids who had fled the war, along with the Earth Mother Cult, and studied the power of the Demon God.
"Knowledge is power. We must gather more knowledge to overcome this crisis."
Geniuses of the century from various fields gathered in one place. Based on academic curiosity and fueled by the desperation to survive, they debated and held conferences. They did not care about the location. Sitting in carriages, staying up all night in a fireplace room somewhere, and occasionally sitting around the village square shouting at the top of their lungs.
Even those who had been wary of alchemists gradually welcomed them. The high-quality alchemical coal made by Fahrenheit was precious fuel, Pascal's windmill easily did the work of ten strong men, and they communicated with distant villages using Decibel's string telephone. The refugees, who were in no position to be picky, actively learned and accepted the advanced technology.
Because it was an empty wasteland with nothing, the Babel Society's knowledge seeped into daily life without resistance. The plains of the North Sea, once an empty land, were filled with awareness and knowledge.
They were the very forefront of humanity. Like the Babel of myth, the geniuses gathered from various places gradually built up the tower of knowledge, becoming the group with the most powerful authority and soaring fame in this land of the North Sea....
"It's exactly like Babel. Everyone is babbling in different languages."
One day, Principia spat out while watching the Babel Society's debate. Silence fell over the Babel Society.
A genius recognizes a genius. If that genius is superior to them, they feel it even more clearly.
Principia was a scholar superior to anyone else, and whenever someone had difficulty with an academic explanation, he would suddenly appear and establish the theory for them. The way he unfolded scholarship to the world was so beautiful and exquisite that even scholars with strong pride would yield to him.
Then, when a bit of an argument broke out, Principia would say he was focusing on his research and disappear for a few years. This was another reason why other scholars yielded to him.
It was the same this time. Looking at him who had been away for nearly 5 years and returned without any warning, Rene asked.
"Our audacity in using the name of Babel was to honor the technicians gathered from all over the continent building a tower with one heart. We shouldn't emulate their ending, though. Professor Principia. Could you calm down and explain it to us?"
Rene chided him with a soft voice, and Principia scratched his temple. Knowing that was a sign of agreement, Rene calmly waited for his next words.
"Well, how should I explain. If nature is a book, you are all just reciting your own book reports. Everyone saw the same thing, but they are saying different things. With this, it'll really become like Babel.... Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"...Did you read some novel or something? Book reports out of nowhere."
Principia was also bad at explaining. The other scholars also couldn't understand what he was talking about.
His assistant, unable to bear it, stepped forward and spoke.
"Probably, the professor's words mean this. The great principles of nature are written in the language of God, right? But we are speaking indirectly of what we understand through various rhetoric and metaphors, so it takes a long time for us to understand each other. Therefore, we first need to unify our academic language. To prevent the ending that occurred in the tale of Babel from repeating."
At the assistant's explanation, Principia nodded.
"Roughly correct. Though not perfectly."
Only then did the scholars of Babel understand Principia's words. The scholars of Babel were all outstanding, but they were immersed in their own worlds. The majority had awakened their Unique Demon Paths, and with that power, they established merchant guilds or formed families, steadily building their strength.
However, academic progress was not being made well, because the completed Unique Demon Paths blocked them like a sort of limit.
"Must we do that?"
The biggest wall is always oneself. The Sorcerers each hit academic walls, and instead of breaking those walls, they polished them more solidly to achieve their Unique Demon Paths.
To such people, Principia's argument was too unrealistic.
"Your will is high, but it's too abstract. There is no language of God that can explain the principles. Even if there were, mere humans wouldn't be able to understand it."
"There are many laws in the world, and the laws a single human can learn are only a few."
If it were the past, they might have listened a bit more attentively or followed him. But too much time had passed while Principia was in hiding. The scholars of the Babel Society were people of power and were running this land in the form of a federation. There was too much to give up to be moved by passion for knowledge.
And above all.
"Professor Principia. You don't even have a Unique Demon Path yet, do you?"
No matter how brilliant, without a Unique Demon Path, they didn't consider one to have completed their own scholarship. Principia's words did not carry the same weight as before.
"At least the foundation must be laid for us to see and judge, Professor. I respect you, professor, but I don't have time to indulge in dream-like matters."
"If your research progresses, send a letter later."
Everyone had an indifferent attitude. Just as they were about to disperse.
"A process of finding the language of God, you say. That's interesting. May I dare to take a look at it?"
Rene was now the bishop of the Northern Mission, and at the same time, she was the orator of the Babel Society, and also its patron. She was incredibly busy, but she showed great interest in Principia's research.
Rene was watching Principia closely. He was a genius, but he didn't like his logic being attacked.
Because of that, Principia unfolding his logic meant that the theory was already completed. Rene had to see the theory that Principia would have devoted himself to completing over the years.
Because.
"Oh. She's hooked! Assistant. You were right!"
"...Yes?"
"From the beginning, the only one I needed was Bishop Rene. I didn't need anyone else. Only you."
"...Pardon?"
"Bishop Rene. You researched coordinate geometry while drawing maps before, right? I need your map. The calculations are finished in my head, but I had no way to explain it. Only with geometry can I back up my theory."
Principia showed pure academic goodwill.
Surely, Principia must have needed Rene's knowledge. The coordinate geometry Rene devised while drawing the map of the North Sea was innovative and academic. Principia also remembered it deeply, and must have sought her out when he needed it.
Receiving that transparent and academic goodwill, Rene felt guilt in her heart.
There was only one reason Rene wanted to help Principia.
Because Principia was the scholar with the highest possibility of becoming a Demon God.
As expected, Principia's research was nearly complete. Rene's geometry was the last piece for Principia's research. He tried to explain the logic of the world from its very root, and depicted the world's movements with simple principles.
Rene was a scholar before she was a cleric. She admired and immersed herself in Principia's research. His haphazardly scribbled doodles were interesting subjects of contemplation, and the paper of only a few pages contained new discoveries to be recorded in history.
"Earth Arts, Druidism, Alchemy. And even Divine Power. There is power in the world obtained through faith."
A genius who stood out even in Babel, where all the talents of the world gathered. Spending time with him, Rene harbored an instinctive doubt about human intelligence.
Is intelligence an extensive property, or an intensive property? Even if countless humans put their heads together and ponder, can they catch up with a single line of thought he left behind? If they cannot catch up. For the development of humanity, is a single genius more valuable than tens of thousands of humans?
"But where does that faith come from? Can one obtain that power just by believing blindly without any contemplation, thought, or interpretation? No, they cannot. Not all fanatical believers of the Earth Mother are proficient in Earth Arts, and even druids who lived in the forest their whole lives have different affinities. It means power does not come from faith. Power comes from knowledge."
Principia drew a picture on the paper. The transmission of power. The movement of matter. The change of state. He connected the academics obtained through conversations with the many scholars of Babel. Simplifying, approximating, assuming, and analogizing, he reproduced the phenomenon solely with text and pictures.
"Knowledge is the true faith. By understanding, we can directly handle power. Like this, if we reproduce Fahrenheit's principle of heat and flames."
The paper instantly bursts into flames. Fahrenheit's discovery, the principle that formed his Unique Demon Path, was reproduced with just a single sheet of paper and a drawing.
Without knowing it, humanity achieved a massive leap through just a single human. Rene shuddered. Having contributed to the discovery of the century, she muttered with a trembling voice.
"That is truly... magic."
Then Principia clapped his hands in delight.
"Great! That's it!"
"Pardon?"
"I was agonizing over what to name it. The assistant is good and all, but lacks sense. He keeps trying to attach grandiose names like the language of God or runic letters."
"It's still better than yours, Professor. 'Reproduction of principles through natural philosophy'? It's too long and boring."
Listening to the assistant's grumbling with one ear and letting it out the other, Principia wrote the title on the cover of the book he was writing.
Y1lzUDczMjBMTnE0dFY4Wk9oYmFwRndlaFJYNWpjNzE2M3VzMTNadFRFSlJMRGRScVFaTWNqdHlwNTdVdDdOQQ
The Principles of Magic.
It was the beginning of great magic, heralding the end of mystery.