Chapter 84 (2/2)
“Well, maybe it’s because our worlds are different.”
Isaac shrugged at Mazelan’s criticism as if it didn’t bother him. Mazelan sighed.
“I guess we are no different. There are still many fools who dream of rebellion to become kings and emperors themselves in this world. I don’t even want to imagine what’d happen if they got their hands on guns.”
Mazelan continued after s.h.i.+vering.
“As our surveillance equipment improved, the Empire began to wonder if it was possible to load other-worlders into the equipment and bring them to our world. After much animal testing, we managed to… how to say, I guess summon is the right word. We successfully summoned those from another world through our surveillance equipment.”
Isaac was beyond disbelief at this point. So it wasn’t aliens who were behind all those conspiracy theories about UFOs abducting people but them. No, perhaps they were aliens, since they were from another world…
“Sounds to me like it was more of an abduction than a summoning. So did you interrogate them after bringing them here?”
“It was simple enough to erase their memories with their lack of resistance against magic. We sent them back into their world after erasing all memories and experiences they had of our world.”
“Why? I’m sure many of them would have been more than happy to stay here.”
There were many discontent people who dreamed of travelling to another world to become heroes or live different lives, meet beautiful chicks, and live happily ever after.
“Because of money.”
“What?”
Isaac replied with eyes wide at the unexpected answer. Mazelan smirked, happy with the look Isaac was making.
“If we allow them to reside in our world, we’d have to monitor them continuously for the rest of their lives to make sure they don’t say anything unnecessary, guarantee their safety, and cover their immigration. Considering the total cost of money and manpower, it was much cheaper to just send them back with a gap in their memories.”
It was perhaps a cruel yet realistic problem.
“Not only that, we hadn’t performed many summons when the gates stopped opening.”
“I thought you guys opened and closed the gates whenever you wanted?”
“n.o.body knows when the gates will open. We can’t possibly scour the entire Forbidden Lands when there is a constant mana storm raging over the entire region. What we can detect is a special frequency in mana waves that only occurs when a gate opens or closes. Even that takes much luck to detect. There have been many gates we missed during our expeditions.”
“So?”
“Roughly put, we found the first gate on the 50th year of the Empire, and no gates opened after the 100th year of the Empire.”
Isaac tilted his head at this description.
“That’s strange. Isn’t it year 383 now? Right?”
“Correct.”
“Was preservation magic that amazing? None of the objects I saw seemed very old.”
“Although the closing of the gates was disappointing, the Empire began to accelerate the advancement process using the information we had gathered. And those we would call geniuses in their respective fields began making great achievements.”
“Are you talking about the College graduates?”
Mazelan replied looking straight at Isaac.
“No. They were people like you.”
“…”
Isaac looked back in silence. Mazelan began walking down the exhibition and waved at Isaac to follow him.
“We didn’t know at first, but we began to notice as the time went by. Tools and machines that were used in your world suddenly appeared in civilian markets throughout the Empire.”
“I’m sure all humans think alike, so it wouldn’t be that surprising.”
Mazelan snorted at Isaac’s reply.
“We thoroughly investigated if our information had been leaked at first, but we never found any leads. Then, we found the first Type 1 Invasion otherworlder.”
“Type 1?”
“Type 1 invasion. Those transported to our world with both stable minds and physical forms. Type 2, who are born into our world with memories of the other world. Type 3, those who take over a body after an accident or a shock. Type 4, similar to Type 3 but can only remember fragments of memories due to an inability to bear the disparities between both minds.”
Isaac’s face stiffened at Mazelan’s explanation. The fact they had such organised cla.s.sifications meant there had been so many transmigrators in the past.
“… I guess I’m a type 3.”
“Yes. We had been advancing the level of our civilization following the long term schedule we’ve created, but it could be completely derailed if someone else began distributing aspects of a superior civilization as they pleased. So we would monitor the suspects, and if it is confirmed they are invaders, we choose whether to recruit them or terminate them.”
“Wouldn’t it be simple enough if you just captured everyone who’s suspicious? Why make it so hard on yourselves?”
When Isaac made that question, Mazelan replied with discontently.
“Do you think our intelligence organisation is as oppressive as your world!?”
“Was it not?”
Isaac smirked and pointed at himself. Mazelan was at a loss for words, replying with a heavy frown.
“…There are extremists in the organisation, but they are a minority. Not only that, but these invaders who appear into our world don’t discriminate against races.”
“So you’re saying it doesn’t just happen to humans.”
“Yes. And this world is not ruled by humans. We merely co-exist with the other races. This world has learnt well regarding the potential fallout from humanity’s natural despicable greed and aggression through observing your world. There are still a few within the Grand Council that demand the extinction of humankind. If it weren’t for the Queen, humanity would have disappeared long ago or only exist in numbers so small we’d be living in tribes.”
Another question popped into Isaac’s mind when Mazelan mentioned the Queen, but he decided to stay silent since Mazelan would eventually get to that topic. And what Mazelan said had logic behind it. The other races had the right to be wary of humans after watching humans perform countless acts of stupidity one after the other.
“So that’s why you guys just watched me at first. Then when did you guys realise I was a Type 3 Invader?”
Mazelan looked at Isaac as if he was an idiot.
“How could we possibly not be aware after the chaos you created in New Port City? You used Macau and Las Vegas as reference right?”
“How was I supposed to know it’d turn out like this?”
Isaac wasn’t surprised they knew about Las Vegas or Macau, since it was a widely known fact they could have easily picked up from others like Isaac.
“But how did you guys know about Macau or Las Vegas? I thought it’d been ages since the gates closed?”
Mazelan tapped at his head with an unsatisfied look in response to Isaac’s question.
“There are a few radicals who extract all information from the victim’s heads.”
“Those Dark Royale who kidnapped me?”
“… Although I do not condone their methods, the information the Dark Royale extracts are the crystallisation of all memories which their victims had seen, heard, and remembered. We know well about Macao, Las Vegas and other famous cities.”
“Hm. I guess that must be very useful.”
Mazelan shook his head and sighed, seeing Isaac approve of the method that he was a victim of.
“Getting back to the point, the gates no longer opened. As we began to monitor, hunt… I mean convert the invaders who are increasingly appearing into our world, we suddenly detected the signs of a gate closing.”
Isaac was disturbed by the word hunt but decided to gloss over it. In that time, Mazelan reached another steel door at the end of the corridor. While Isaac was busy thinking ‘how many doors are there?’ Mazelan spoke.
“The expedition force we hurriedly sent met them in the Forbidden Lands.”
“Them?”
Mazelan opened the door wide, entered the room and turned all of the lights on. He pointed at the exhibition as he spoke.
“Those who crossed over to our world of their own will.”
“…”
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