The room fell deathly silent at Cronus’ proclamation. Zeke felt a lump in his throat, turning pale at the easy revealment of their biggest secret.

Mikella stood stockstill, her eyes widening. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't act cooly in front of this man thanks to his demanding presence.

Cloud’s eyes turned hard at his master, his mouth forming a thin line as he spoke.

“Master, how did you know?” Cloud asked, but it was mostly a demand.

“Not everything, of course, but you have to give me some credit here. Who do you think taught you about magical theory and mana research while you were floundering about?”

Cronus answered with a steady frown, crossing his arms and lifting his leg off to hang off another. It was as though he dropped his jovial persona and finally revealed his true self. A cold, calculating look in his eyes as though he had done these battles of wits many times.

“It’s only natural if you read the message I gave you. The towers that popped up everywhere are clearly not of this world, at least according to the written history. They came out, seemingly out of nowhere, and they are now displaying odd wavelengths of mana that disturb the area around it. In a country supported entirely with magic… just how do you think we’re reacting to that?”

Cloud actually looked guilty, his eyes turning down. There was something like aching in his eyes, only realizing what was going on with his home country.

“Is it so bad that even you have trouble?” Cloud asked, actually sounding surprised at how his master could ever have any issue.

“Thankfully, the situation is under control. Since its first arrival a few months ago, it disturbed the monster population and created some disturbances here and there. Some uprisings from settlements, barely a fraction of a fraction, trying to take advantage of the chaos, and so on. You know how things go in countries. But what I’m truly not getting at, Cloud, is the reason why you did not report immediately to me about this sort of thing. You know as well as I do that this completely falls under the contract we signed regarding anything of note outside Arcelot.”

As Cronus spoke, Isabelle stayed silent, utterly content at just being an accessory to Cronus while keeping a steady smile. It was the sort that didn’t seem unnatural, even though the topic was anything but fun.

Val also stayed silent, but for the complete opposite. She frowned while keeping Ana, who had been completely quiet this whole time, by her side as she rubbed her head for comfort.

“So when I found out that not only did you have the same issue a year back, you even managed to get rid of it. Not only that, but you have received new visitors with no background whatsoever, that not even our own seer could see where they came from. Cloud, our seer is pretty damn good at her Class, and even she can’t tell where they came from. So logic dictated that they cannot come from our own world, and instead come from the towers themselves… Did I get anything wrong?”

Cloud had his mouth clamped shut, listening to his master’s explanation. It was literally the sort of news that Zeke dreaded to hear.

More towers means more disturbance, like Cronus said. But what made him fear the most is just exactly how many towers were there. And more importantly than that–how many people were taken against their will.

Each tower must have had several people within, and considering that a whole year passed, and so far they haven’t found anyone of note–he could only fear the inevitable.

All those towers, each one having killed off the otherworlders that were supposed to have gotten out at some point. Zeke prayed that they must have found a way to survive in the tower… but the chances of that happening are slim, or even worse–they were all like Alex, future psychopaths waiting to happen. He shuddered at the thought.

“No, you did not as usual,” Cloud said, inclining his head. This time, it felt natural, and his voice felt genuine. “Once again, you astound me with your wisdom.”

“Cut the bullshit, Cloud,” Cronus snapped, cutting Cloud’s genuine response. “Who are they? Where did they come from? And more importantly–are there more?”

Cloud stayed silent again, but this time he hesitated. Having no other choice, he turned to Zeke and Mikella, his eyes warring over telling the truth or staying loyal to them.

Zeke could already tell when a battle is lost. They didn’t even have time for themselves to prepare for this onslaught of accusations. In the end, Zeke breathed in deeply, knowing that Mikella relied on him during moments like these.

“I believe I can answer that myself,” Zeke answered instead. “But first–I ask you not to blame Cloud or Val. We told them that we didn’t want to be known. Our secret isn’t anything so dangerous, but it’s more for our safety. It’s because we aren’t the only ones that came here.”

Cronus stayed silent on the matter, and even Isabelle frowned as she stared at them. Zeke turned to Mikella, hoping she understood what he was implying.

Mikella hesitated for a moment, but she nodded before she called over Clara and Zoan. When the two arrived, Isabelle widened her eyes at the new children coming in. Clara ran over to them, noticing the heavy atmosphere and staying silent. And as usual, Zoan still had that expressionless face, only just passively standing near the otherworlders.

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With the crew by his side, he felt like he could do anything. Confidence rose, even though he knew he was still on shaky ground.

“Master Cronus–if I can call you that… My name is Zeke Parlow, and these are my companions who arrived with me when we were sent here. As you said, we came from another world. A world far more different than what you might expect. It’s a long story… but I’ll try to keep it short.”

Zeke soon explained their short history, however incredibly dumbfounded it sounded. Arriving at the first tower, meeting Mikella, Clara, and Zoan (added in to avoid further complications), he explained the tough times they were put through. After leaving said tower, they came across Eve Glade and were mercifully let in by the lords.

After helping them defend the town, they tried to figure out what was the cause, and found that another tower was beside them. Their own tower was much farther away, and hence did not see any changes to the town since then. He also implied that they managed to get out before the tower itself could become a hassle around the vicinity. That’s where they discovered another otherworlder–but after discovering his dangerous mindset, they had no choice but to take him down.

Then they found out about the biodome, where they finally received information regarding their reasoning in being in this world. The angel appeared to report that their mission is to become Journeymen within two years’ time, and that another tower had appeared within the biodome. There, with their connection to the towers, they entered and cleared it. As for the otherworlders inside, they had already perished.

They also believed that the current environment of the tower also changed the tower significantly, and due to that anomaly, it was stronger than average. However, they cleared it and soon took over the biodome eventually.

Zeke finished the explanation by revealing that the towers were made to train the otherworlders in a way–special dungeons made for them to fight against low-level creatures. Inside had various treasures, including skill books, and attribute fruits to help them break through faster. He admitted that he didn’t know the end goal, even though Zoan was literally right there with him, who had all the answers–but he certainly wasn’t going to question her on it now. That would just make things worse.

All the while, Cronus listened intently, his fingers laced in front of him as he bent to rest on his elbows. Isabelle covered her mouth halfway through, her eyes widening a little. When Zeke finished, he felt tired, exhausted, and quite frankly even he was amazed at the crap they had to go through.

“And that’s everything that we know,” Zeke said. “For the past year, we’ve been training to reach Journeymen to meet with the angel’s expectations. I can’t really show evidence that everything I said is true… but I promise you that we have no intention of harming anyone. At least… me and my family here have no intention. But like I said, there are other people from our world appearing along with those towers. Each one is different, so I can’t say for sure if they are truly on our side. We hope that’s the case, though.”

“...That is quite the tale,” Cronus eventually answered. He raised his upper body, facing the otherworlders directly. “And you say you have only been initialized into this world just two years ago?”

“Yes,” Zeke answered truthfully.

“And now you have reached Journeymen, or the requirements at least,” Cronus actually sounded surprised, almost bewildered. “Or is my Identify finally breaking down after all these years? My dear, what do you make of this?”

“They have spoken the truth, my darling,” Isabelle answered. There was that solemn look in her eyes, almost as if in pity for them. “And judging by their auras, there’s no doubt.”

Zeke wondered whether the aura comment was them reaching Journeymen, or perhaps she had some sort of skill that allowed her to see the lies from their personal auras. If it was the latter, Zeke was glad that they went with the truth while only avoiding certain topics.

“Did we intervene on that?” Cronus asked sincerely, turning to Cloud. After all of this, it felt awkward to say ‘Yeah, you kinda did’ without sounding rude.

“It was… on the list,” Cloud answered sheepishly.

“Mmh… well, after hearing this–I can see why Cloud was so distant with me.”

Cronus tilted his head, looking completely in deep thought. Another moment passed like that before he answered again.

“But that still doesn’t excuse you for not reporting to me. Shouldn’t this be precisely why you needed to tell me? Especially with this… tell me, was there something interesting about them that caught your interest? Because one of them certainly caught mine.”

Cronus turned back to the two otherworlders, showing a look that was both predatory and curious.

“Which one of you has a barrier type skill?”

Zeke was taken aback by that statement. After turning to Mikella for a moment, receiving only a shrug in return, he answered. “I-I do. It’s called Barrier Craft.”

“...Show me then.”

With that demand, Zeke did only as he could. He conjured a barrier in between the two leading figures, showing the resplendent turquoise colored wall that he used every single day since attaining the skill.

It was small, the height and width of a human torso, enough to show exactly the kind of skill he commanded. For a moment, Cronus stared at it as if he could blow a hole through it with his eyes alone.

“My darling, there is no doubt,” Isabelle finally spoke, nearly whispering to her husband while staring the same way as him. “That is the real deal.”

“I know,” Cronus closed his eyes. “I just wanted to be sure.”

Zeke paused at the statement. “You mean you heard of it before?”

It was surprising to find that this skill was known somewhere else. As far as he knew, this sort of barrier was rare for a reason.

It was just never created in such a way. There were dozens of barriers that mages commanded, some flavored with elements or just a powerful thin wall that can encompass practically everything.

His was the only type of barrier with as much free range as he had. It wasn’t every day that one can create a barrier in many ways, resulting in him creating his hare-braned techniques such as the Superball barrier, the elevator barrier, and even that crazed and hellish training course barrier.

He always just surmised that it was just a skill from the tower. But the way Cronus looked at it made him think it had a deeper meaning.

“Heard of it? I made it.”

Just as he said, he conjured his own barrier. A near clone of the turquoise barrier right beside it. Instead of turquoise, it was yellowish-blue, almost like lemon.

The same skill as Zeke. It wasn’t all that surprising to everyone that Zeke just stared at it in utter shock.