“…So you’re saying the pro-Japanese factions in Korea gained power and sold the country to Japan, and then China fell into internal strife and was torn apart, allowing Japan to take over not only the Korean Peninsula but also parts of China, Taiwan, and even parts of Russia?”
“Y-Yes, that’s what happened.”
“…”
A location far away from the crowd.
Justice had taken a knee, settling into position, while his other hand was stretched wide, allowing him to face Yui Otohara in the cockpit as they spoke.
“J-Just to be clear in case of any misunderstanding, I only conquered Towers! I’m a Hunter, not a politician…!”
It was a fair point.
The [Red Witch], Yui Otohara, currently in front of me, was an S-rank Hunter from a version of Earth where Japan had occupied East Asia.
She wasn’t from my Earth.
“U-Um… what happened to Japan in your world? It didn’t get destroyed or anything, right?”
“It didn’t fall, but it’s struggling enough that they need help from a Korean like me to even attempt clearing S-rank Towers.”
“Ah, I see… Oh, by the way, I know this is a bit sudden, but you do realize we’re each speaking in our own language, right?”
“I’m aware.”
Back in the U.S., when I first entered Babel, a friend taught me about it quickly.
— My friend from another world. If you know about ‘that thing,’ then I can trust you. So get out quickly. This Babel here… well, let’s just say it’s been taken over by the KKK.
Ten minutes.
We could have talked longer, but he wanted me to escape from Babel as soon as possible.
— It’ll be better for you to enter Babel from your home. Even if Babel claims to be diverse, sharing the same nationality gives a certain level of comfort.
Well…
They say the people you need to be most wary of abroad are other Koreans.
Of course, not all Koreans are like that, but considering that someone attacked me the moment I entered Babel, I need to be cautious.
Whether they’re Korean or from another country.
“You said that if I speak comfortably, you can directly sense the magic power in my voice. Right?”
“Yes. To me, your voice sounds like Japanese, but you probably hear my words in Korean. It’s a cognitive difference. Um, wait—do I sound like I’m speaking Japanese to you?”
“No.”
“Based on that, you can roughly guess a person’s language fluency. If it sounds like Japanese to you, it probably means I’m as fluent in Japanese as in my mother tongue. But honestly, people like that… are extremely rare.”
How many S-rank Hunters are fluent in a second language as if it were their native one?
Even Korean actors who make it to Hollywood end up learning English to communicate there.
But if someone created a sensation so big that Hollywood begged them to come over, they’d probably bring in a Korean interpreter to interview them in Korean.
Especially if that person is an S-rank Hunter—someone whose life and safety are critically important.
Anyway.
“In this Babel, no matter which Earth you’re from, the goal is the same—to conquer this Tower in the sky, right?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right!”
“And no one has cleared it yet?”
“No, not yet. If even one of the seven Towers had been conquered, the Babel in each respective Earth’s zone would’ve disappeared or something…”
Yui the Red Witch fidgeted with her fingers and smiled awkwardly.
“It’s just… clearing Babel is way harder than conquering an S-rank Tower…”
“How hard are we talking?”
“Extremely. At least ten times harder than clearing an S-rank Tower.”
“Hmmm…”
I thought back to all the S-rank Towers I’ve cleared so far.
‘Is it really that bad?’
Some had slightly tricky gimmicks, but the ones without any tricks—just brute-force fights—were easily handled by Elaine on her own. None of them felt particularly dangerous or hard.
‘Even if the bosses I’ve fought so far became ten times stronger, it doesn’t sound that impossible.’
Even take Justice, for example.
‘He didn’t even use his ultimate and pour all his energy into a single blow. If a boss has 300,000 HP, I can just use a 190,000-damage skill twice and be done with it.’
Like in tokusatsu shows where giant monsters and glowing heroes finish fights in under 3 minutes, Justice had cleaved down 50-meter-tall S-rank bosses with one decisive move.
So even if a boss were ten times stronger, it doesn’t mean Elaine or Justice would need to swing their swords ten more times.
‘It’s a bit baffling.’
Babel.
It should’ve appeared in other Earths long before it showed up on ours, yet not a single zone has been cleared?
‘What have all the S-rank Hunters who came here been doing?’
It’s not like they’re just lounging around in Babel eating, sleeping, and slacking off.
Unless they’re deliberately stalling…
“U-Um.”
“What is it?”
“How did you end up with such a powerful mech?”
“Hmm?”
While I was thinking about the difficulty of conquering Babel, Yui Otohara gestured toward the entire structure of Justice, including the cockpit, and asked.
“Could it be… your Earth’s last hope, created by pouring in all your resources?”
Yui Otohara asked the question very cautiously.
At the same time, the main screen in the cockpit shimmered, and her image shifted into an infrared-like display.
[Justice: Partner.]
Text output, not voice.
[Justice: I’ve detected magic power. Be aware—this woman has been analyzing our combat capability throughout the conversation.]
‘Of course.’
On the surface, she might seem a bit airheaded, but she had still cleared at least ten S-rank Towers.
It’s not strange that she’s trying to gauge our combat strength while pretending to have a casual conversation.
‘Justice had better be a little intimidating.’
Given that Justice’s power source is essentially based on the concept of a super robot, just the visible output alone is bound to come off as incredibly powerful.
“So, to you, it looks like we—our side of humanity—pooled every last bit of our soul into creating a final hope of a Hunter, huh?”
“Uh, w-well…”
“If that’s what you think, you’re mistaken. Because we are…”
Hmm.
“…Only the fifth strongest on our Earth.”
“!!”
[Justice: Partner?]
Justice sounded surprised, but I simply held up five fingers toward the pop-up window displaying him.
[Ah. In that sense.]
Justice is the fifth.
And strength isn’t limited to combat power alone.
Of course, if we were talking raw firepower—like leveling an entire island—Justice would be in the running for first or second place.
But when you factor in people like Drei, who could bring an entire world to its knees with a single hacking attempt… you can’t ignore that kind of strength.
‘Her hacking might not work as well here, but at least the tech level should be similar.’
Even if we’re from different Earths, the eras probably aren’t that different.
“Hey, Miss Otohara. Would it be rude to ask what year it is where you’re from?”
“Uh, well…”
“Is it rude?”
“…That sort of information requires a payment in Tower Coins…”
“…”
Babel.
The currency used here is something all of humanity has collected but rarely had a proper use for: Tower Coins.
Mostly used to change outfits inside the Tower like swapping ‘skins,’ they’re now actual currency here.
“How much?”
“Sorry?”
“How much do you want?”
I turned on my smartphone for a moment and asked Alice to check my remaining Tower Coin balance.
“Uh… maybe… 50,000 coins?”
“Trade?”
“Y-Yes! You know the control app, right?! You can just fling it over to me using that!”
As soon as I nodded at her suggested 50,000 coins, Otohara’s eyes sparkled and she eagerly moved to initiate the trade.
Even if she was trying to rip me off, it wasn’t a big deal.
Because—
[Justice: Master. Danger.]
Beep!
The threat radar flashed red in the northeast.
Justice immediately deployed an energy shield in response to the automatic sensor detecting an incoming attack.
“Miss Otohara. Hold on tight.”
“Eh? Hold on to wh—kyaa?!”
BOOOOOM!
A shell roared in from afar.
Comparable in size to Illinois’s main battery, the shot slammed into us, eating away a full 10% of Justice’s outer energy shield.
[Justice: A single fatal blow would be manageable, but continuous attacks like this are troublesome. Partner, awaiting orders.]
“Zoom in on the enemy.”
The camera quickly swept across the direction the shot came from.
An empty plain.
But switching to the magic-sensing thermal camera revealed something crouched low in the rainbow-hued landscape—then suddenly standing and fleeing.
A sniper.
“Quite a few S-ranks around, huh. But they think they can ambush a newbie?”
Now I get it.
The vibe of this Babel.
“If it’s basically a lawless zone, then we’ll just have to rule by force.”
I came in planning to show a bit of respect to the veterans—like a new player being polite to older ones in an online game.
But if this is how the so-called seniors act, then screw that.
“Even if Justice is more of a melee specialist…”
[Justice: Doesn’t mean my range is short!]
Click.
“Hold on, Justice. I’m swapping out parts.”
Click, click.
“Maximize range.”
+2, +2, +2, +2.
Long-range armaments loaded, enough to shoot from one end of a grid field to the other in a strategy RPG.
“Fire Punch.”
