"Tell me what happened on the twelfth floor."
I asked the Party 2 leader.
The man turned to the shining mirror on the furthest left.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 12 -]
He began with a sigh.
"Harl instantly went stiff the moment she saw the soldiers. Well, honestly, all of us did to an extent."
So despite my previous warning, the encounter was still shocking to Party 2.
Perhaps since at that moment they realized it was impossible for them to leave the trial without killing the soldiers.
"You didn't attack the soldiers first, did you?"
I asked.
Zecht shook his head.
"When Harl became terrified, Tarran and Yuxia suggested that we talk with the soldiers. Thinking that we might solve the situation peacefully, without bloodshed."
"What happened after that?"
I asked, though I already guessed what happened in the end.
"Norn and I went to negotiate with the knight captain leading the soldiers. The man seemed sensible since he also said he wanted to talk with us as well."
"How did your conversation went?"
"Norn and I tried asking him about Jherendal Household and Tsuchi. Things that could be useful for the Quintal Trial. However…"
Zecht let his word trailed off. He was hesitant to continue.
"What did the captain say to you?"
I asked him.
The man let out another sigh. Frustrated one.
"He did not answer any of our questions. Instead, he muttered about hearing voices in his head."
"And what did the voices tell him?"
"To kill us. Upon saying that, the captain and the rest of the soldiers immediately assaulted our party. Every soldier refused any dialogue after that first charge. It was as if that command had been their life's sole purpose."
This was no surprise to me.
While frequenting the twelfth floor, Party 1 had been studying the soldiers we fought in that trial.
There were plenty oddities.
For starters, the soldiers we killed kept returning back to life the moment we entered the trial the next time.
That Shelvane had his head sliced cleanly off his shoulders the first time we cleared the trial.
But the man was alive and well when we entered the twelfth floor the second time.
We tried dialoguing during our third visitation.
However, the outcome of that effort was similar to Party 2's.
Other than saying the voices ordered them to kill us, the only other thing the soldiers said was the name Jherendal.
It was impossible to make them tell any more than those.
I had tried restraining some soldiers using telekinesis to properly interrogate them.
But they quickly turned rabid. Snarling and cursing at us, wishing for our deaths.
It was then that it became clear to me that these soldiers were nothing more than the monsters we subjugated on the lower floors.
Those soldiers' only purpose was to fight us. To kill us.
Nothing else.
A powerful Compulsion spell had invaded their mind. Disallowing any thoughts other than the great urge to kill.
I confirmed that the brainwashing was not a product of magic, however.
It was something more powerful and fundamental. Like the power of the forged land.
This unique power was what made the soldiers kept returning despite being killed many times already.
The black blood they bled was another proof and perhaps a clue to these oddities.
"You're right, Serafina. There's no negotiating with the enemies."
Zecht added.
"Just consider them monsters to be killed, Zecht. I doubt those things you faced could still be called humans anymore."
I told him.
Zecht's face turned troubled this time. Conflicted.
"Serafina, our purpose in the forged land is truly to save our world, right?"
I nodded to him. I had guessed where he was leading the conversation.
"From what I've seen in the previous Quintal Trials and in the Exploration Dungeon, our purpose is to correct the terrible history Dunia went through and direct the world to a better future."
"In that case, why are we fighting humans? Shouldn't all people support what we're doing? Wasn't the Jherendal Household also a victim to our world's calamity?"
"Maybe they're not fighting us according to their will. They did claim it was the voices that made them fight us. Perhaps they do support our cause."
"Even so, Serafina, what sort of history should we correct if we have to kill people to do it? And not even criminals. We killed soldiers. Knights. Honorable people!"
The same question had lingered in my mind ever since I first saw the soldiers on the twelfth floor.
Why would we have to fight humans?
I had seen enough of the trials to know that what we experienced on the eleventh to the fourteenth floor would be relevant to the fifteenth floor, the third Quintal Trial, if possibly the rest of the floors as well.
What we did on the fifth floor allowed us to reduce the number of ogres sieging Loro on the tenth floor.
Those two Quintal Trials helped us save Loro that was supposed to fall in the original history.
We had seen the effect of this change in the Exploration Dungeon.
The tower's trials were apparently there to guide our world to survival. Undoing the tragedies that befell Dunia which led to its destruction.
But in what scenario of Dunia's history that we should fight against humans to prevent the world from ending?
From what I remembered, all human nations were united in the war against the monsters.
I even heard news near Dunia's ending of a few septs of the Guntur folks allying with some noble houses and rich merchants in northern Tsatu.
There were even rumors of some southern coastal towns working together with the fabled Tsamudran people.
And other vague reports involving dwarves, lycanthropes, and ornithropes all across the continent.
Everyone was working together to fight the end of the world.
So how come we, humans, were turned against each other?
Why did the tower pit us against one another? What was the reason? The purpose?
What were we trying to achieve which would invite hostilities from our fellow humans? Or at least, the Jherendal.
Quite a complex mystery.
But the forged land's rule was certain.
What had to be done, had to be done.
We were master's army of heroes.
It was our duty to clear the trials master set us upon.
For if we refuse, other than gaining our certain death from master, our world would perish with us.
"In any case, we need to defeat any enemy we find in the trial, Zecht. If the mission requires us to kill humans, then we'll bloody our hands. We can't disobey master's orders if we want to survive."
I told my fellow party leader.
The scarred mercenary nodded to me determinedly. His face turned slightly brighter.
"Well then, I best get going. My party needs to find Harl's replacement. We need to do it soon if we want to catch up with you, Party 1."
He started for the exit.
"Good luck on the thirteenth floor!"
The man said before leaving the rift.
Upon his words, I turned to the shining mirror on the furthest left.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 12 -]
The forged land never ceased to surprise me.
When I thought I had it figured out, the forged land would present me with something that would throw my logic off balance.
Climb the tower if you want to know, the answer's there!
I was reminded of what the fairy kept repeating to us whenever we tried to ask her questions about the secrets of the forged land.
There were abundant of complicated mysteries I would like to solve.
And just as the fairy said, the best way to figure them out was by continuing our climb.
Upward toward the top of the tower.