The woman slowly raised her arm towards the kids and waved towards her
"You can come down now." She says with a soft smile
"What?" Adam thought
"What's happening?" Seleph asks while acting confused
The man sighs
"Seriously. They sent kids up here without even explaining anything?" He says while scratching his head. "Can't they do their job properly?"
"Now's not the time, Kenzo." The woman says after hitting him in the back
She turns and looks at the kids
"First of all, you can come out of the pillar." She says while reaching out to them. "It'll need to go back down so they can send more people up."
"Send more people up?" Adam thought as he walked out of the platform
The man called Kenzo looks at Seleph and nods with a smile while reaching out to Eve. Seleph takes her arm off his neck and lets Kenzo carry her out of the platform with the young boy. After they all walk for a bit, the platform closes and heads back down
"Because of what happened on the first floor, it was decided that the residents from there would come up and stay in designated area on the second floor for a few months." She explains to the two young boys while she guides them to the exit of the Scalae
"We're going to live on this floor from now on?" Seleph asks confused
The woman looks at Seleph and pats his head with affection
"Yes." She answers softly. "But that's only going to be until they finish inspecting the first floor. Like I said it could take months and since the area's aren't ready yet, you'll have to stay in the Scalae for now."
She looks at Eve. Ever since she first saw the kids, Eve's state had been on her mind
"Is she ok?" She asks with worry
Seleph shakes his head
"What happened to her?" Kenzo asks while carrying Eve on his back
"We...We saw something. Something... something horrible." Seleph starts with a shaky voice
"Are you ok?" Kenzo asks after putting his hand on Seleph's shoulder
"We...We...wee....ww....we...sssaw." Seleph tries to continue as his voice increases in shakiness. So much so that even his body starts to shake
"We saw the people we considered family... die." Adam finishes for him with a frown
The two knights simply stared at the kids. They had gone through an incredible amount of emotional pain. They felt pity towards them but were also amazed by the fact that the two young boys hadn't collapsed. One was barely keeping it together while the other had managed to regain his composure. The woman lowered herself and placed her hands on both boy's head. She was deeply impressed by their mental fortitude but more than that she felt a deep sadness for them
"You don't need to say anymore." She says as she brings them in and hugs them then she does the same to Eve
The tears that were slowly starting to come up started pouring down from Seleph's eyes. The boy was doing his best to hold them in. To hold everything in. He needed to be strong because he forced Adam to bring him and Eve along. He needed to show that he was useful so that he wouldn't abandon them. So, the first thing he did was hold everything in and he wasn't the only one. Just like him, Eve started to cry her heart out while Adam did his best to limit his crying to a few tears rolling down his cheek
"Something like this shouldn't have happened." The woman thought as the kids cried. "It only happened because the first floor is the only one the White Lion Order don't watch over. It's the only one on which we don't have a base. It's a lawless floor where everything goes and that's wrong. Something needs to be done about this."
About three hours after that small but meaningful event took place, the woman who was with the kids just a little earlier was now walking through a considerably long corridor. At the end of it, there was a double brown door which needed to be pulled to open. She stops before it, grabs the handles on each door and pulls them open. The door led to an incredibly big office. A man was sitting on a desk at the other end of the room. short, scarlet red hair parted in two on top, emerald-colored eyes. There was no doubt about it, the two were related. The man had sharp features just like the woman but looked much older, around his 40's. His fancy suit said more than enough about his high status. Finally, he was wearing some black glasses as he was working on some papers
"What could be so urgent you would come in my office without knocking, Elaine?" The man asks without even raising his head to look at her
"Didn't you hear?" she asks with an angry frown. "The first floor was broken into."
He stops writing, raises his head slowly and looks at Elaine
"Broken into?" He asks calmly
She nods
"People died. Children lost families and it only happened because the White Lion Order doesn't have a base there just like it does on all the other five floors." She says with anger
"Get to the point, Elaine." He says as he stares at her
"Why does my proposal keep getting rejected, father?" She asks while trying to remain calm
Her father sighs
"This again?" He says as he gets back to working
"Answer me, father." She replies
He raises his head again
"The real question is why do you keep insisting on building bases on the first floor?" He asks Elaine while staring at her
"What are you talking about? I just told you why." She answers with a frown
He takes his glasses off and puts them on his desk
"Tell me, Elaine." He starts while staring at his daughter. "Are you still looking for hi-"
"NO!" She suddenly yells
Her father simply stares at her in silence while she breathes heavily
"This has nothing to do with him." She says while looking down
"Are you sure about that?" He asks
She raises her head and stares back at her father
"We both know what he did." She says after calming down. "This has nothing to do with him. Why does nobody care about what happens on the first floor. I know that people that committed grave crimes are sent there but that's not enough of a reason. There are still some innocent people there. What is being hidden from us, father?"
"It's not a secret or anything. It's just not mentioned." He starts. "There is a difference between those who lives on the first floor from the rest of us."
On the second floor, the kids had just got back to the Scalae. Kenzo took them out for a short walk around to help recognize their surroundings
"Who was that?" Seleph asks while looking at Adam. "She was so kind, right?"
"Remind how I'm supposed to know?" Adam asks while looking at the pillar when they enter the Scalae. "Did you forget this was my first time meeting her too?"
"Her name is Elaine." Kenzo says to the kids. "She's a really strong knight and a great person as you said, Seleph."
Seleph smiles
"Do you love her mister?" Seleph asks with a smirk
"WHA! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" The knight yells with a flushed face
"Looks like she's pretty liked around here." Adam says while looking at more people coming out of the pillar
"Yeah, she is." Kenzo says with a smile. "Even though she's a noble, she treats everyone she meets and knows equally until you show that you don't deserve it."
"SHE'S A NOBLE!" Seleph yells surprised. "Like the ones in the books!?"
"Stop yelling, Seleph." Eve says pissed off
"She's a noble?" Adam thought surprised. "She's nothing like those I've seen."
He lowers himself by bending his knees forward and looks at the kids in the eye
"So, what are your names?" Kenzo asks with a friendly smile
"Adam." Adam answers
"I'm Seleph and that's Eve." Seleph says after pointing at himself then Eve who looks annoyed
Back in the room in which Elaine was in with her father, their conversation had reached an important topic. A topic which had been partially hidden from the tower's history
"The reason why we don't care about them?" Her father repeats. "It's because they're humans. Because they are an inferior race."
Elaine frowns upon hearing those last words
"So that's the truth behind the first-floor negligence?" she asks with anger. "Discrimination against humans? Even though we aren't even that different from them?"
"We are very different from them." Her father says. "Us, arch humans live longer, are physically and mentally better in every way, our brains are far more developed, and more importantly we have arcane energy. Do you really think that they deserve that same treatment?"
"... How do you even know that there are no arch humans down there?" She asks after a short silence
"You didn't answer my question." Her father replies
"Answer me." She demands seriously
He sighs as he removes his glasses
"When arcane energy and arch humans were first discovered, it was also discovered that an arch human has almost no chance of having a child with a human. Even if they did 99% of the time, the child would end up being human." He explains. "To avoid the thinning of the arch human race, they were separated from us and sent to the first floor."
Elaine's eyes widen in shock
"As for the arch humans, the more arcane energy they had the higher in the tower they were sent." Her father finishes