Tower Of God: Life As Hoaqin

1st Floor

Truly 'exceptionally,' unless someone opened the door of the Tower and came here, Headon was almost always alone. Spending an endless eternity here by himself, with no end in sight. Of course, as the most senior Administrator, he was tasked with personally meeting and selecting those who would become Regulars, so he wasn't particularly lonely. It was uncertain whether an emotion like loneliness even existed for a transcendent being like an Administrator in the first place.

"Hmm~"

As usual, Headon, who had been leaning against a mural, tilted his head. Headon's round, gray eyes looked in one direction. Finding himself rather intrigued by the appearance of a completely unexpected individual, Headon used his staff to push himself off the ground and stood up.

"My, my. I never expected you to visit in person."

"It's been a while, Headon."

A man of white—white sword, white hair, white skin, white clothing—everything about him white, slowly walked toward Headon from somewhere. When the man greeted him, the dark gap on Headon's rabbit-mask-like head filled with teeth. It was his way of expressing that it had been a long time for him too—that he was glad to see him.

"Yes, it's been a long time for me as well. Lord Arie Hon."

Headon twirled his staff a few times and bowed to Hon in a gentlemanly manner.

"Now then... so, what brings someone who should be on the 100th Floor all the way down to the 1st?"

"I have something to ask. Or perhaps, I've come to confront you."

"Oho~ Something that would make Lord Hon come to protest personally—how intriguing even for me. Do you have a complaint about us Administrators?"

"I do. It's about my son, Hoaqin."

"...!"

Headon reacted. Hon felt a certain satisfaction that he no longer needed to explain to Headon who Hoaqin was, and continued speaking.

"My son—he became a Ranker ten years ago, but for some reason, it seems he didn't receive the power he was rightfully owed 'as a Ranker.'"

"..."

Headon fell silent. Hon did not like that reaction. There was no way the Administrators had confiscated the power granted upon becoming a Ranker just because his son was too strong. The contract with the Administrators was not something so trivial, and they were not that kind of beings. Surely, there had to be a reason they hadn't given him the power...

"Lord Hon, you are under a misapprehension."

"...?"

"You believe that power was not delivered to young Hoaqin, but... the moment Hoaqin became a Ranker, the Administrator of the 134th Floor transmitted power to him. And it was absolutely not a reduced amount, either."

"What good is giving him power if it's power he can't even use?"

"No, the boy is already using that power."

At those words, Hon tilted his head.

"I have never once seen the child use the power he received upon becoming a Ranker. It doesn't even seem like he can use it consciously."

"Well~ if he can't use it consciously, then perhaps he's using it unconsciously~"

Headon grinned, baring his teeth.

"If he can't channel the power outward, then perhaps he's pouring all of it inward... Well, there could be various reasons, couldn't there? What's certain is that the boy definitely received the power, and whether unconsciously or otherwise, he is definitely pouring all of it into something."

While Hon sank into thought with an expressionless face, Headon approached him.

"Lord Hon, since we're on the subject of that child... aren't you curious about 'what he harbors within him'...?"

"What?"

"I only learned of it belatedly myself, and even among us Administrators, opinions are divided on the matter, but what's certain is... that boy is a dangerous existence in many ways."

Hon gazed at Headon with cold eyes. Headon still smiled with teeth bared, and opened his palm. As the closed palm opened, a purple butterfly that had been trapped within fluttered its wings and flew around Headon and Hon. Where the teeth had been on Headon's face, they had at some point changed to eyes.

"Are you... willing to listen?"

....

78th Floor, Floating Ship Landing Pad

Flutter, flutter—

"Stay still. My little sister is arriving soon."

The butterfly that had been frenetically flying around me suddenly calmed down in an instant. The more I looked at it, the more mystical a creature it was—it seemed to understand words, and it had interesting abilities too.

After stroking the butterfly that had obediently settled on my shoulder a few times, I looked up as Heron approached me.

"What is it, Heron?"

"Nothing much. It's just that your complexion seems much better than it was earlier, Branch Leader. Hahaha."

Every time Heron laughed good-naturedly, the muscles that his uniform could barely contain rippled as if alive. Uncomfortable with the sight, I smiled awkwardly and subtly looked away.

"You must be happy to see your younger sister after so long. I'll handle the work for a while, so why not spend time with her until she leaves?"

His consideration brought a natural smile to my face, but still, I couldn't burden him with too much.

"Thank you, Heron. But I can't leave everything to you—there's already so much work these days."

Below the 77th Floor was Khun Family territory. The 77th Floor, directly below mine, was constantly being provoked and threatened by the Khun Family, and now their reach had extended even to the 78th Floor. And it wasn't just us—the political situation throughout the Tower was chaotic during this period.

"Branch Leader, given the current state of affairs... the main house has been dropping hints. They want our branch, which governs the 78th Floor, to expand its forces as quickly as possible. And to quickly expand the branch's forces..."

"...Haah, yes, yes. I know. I need to take concubines and produce children."

The administrative and military divisions of the main house brought that up at every opportunity. And every time such talk arose, all sorts of insignificant people clung to me, trying to get me to marry their daughters.

I had considered whether they'd stop if I just stepped down from the branch leader position, but as it turned out, they didn't actually want the branch to grow stronger—they simply wanted many children born carrying my blood. Right, right. The first Regular in the Tower's history to defeat a High Ranker. My blood must be quite coveted.

Heron's face darkened slightly at my consistent, extreme aversion to taking concubines.

"Branch Leader, someday... you will have to make a choice. Simply accepting those who come on their own, like Lady Orca, has its limits. Even Lady Orca, despite always speaking as if she's joking, does what she does out of genuine concern for you, so please understand her."

"...I know. But the time to make that choice is not today. At least for today, I just want to think about my little sister. Ah, there—I can see it."

A floating ship, visible as a dot in the distance. Judging by the divine beast wavelength I could sense, my sister was definitely aboard.

Heron too spotted the floating ship and, as if nothing had happened, brightened up again and moved about busily.

"Haha, I'll hurry and prepare."

While Heron put the Family Rankers to work setting up a simple welcome, this time Orca noona approached me.

"Oh my, she's already here?"

"Already? It's been a full thirteen hours since we got word she was coming."

"Pfft, fine, fine. You doting little brother. You really do cherish your family to pieces."

"You and Heron are practically family to me too, noona, so please don't be too jealous."

"Oh..."

We were actually related by blood, after all. I flashed a playful smile at the stiffened noona and walked a few steps forward. The dot that had been the floating ship had already grown larger than a fist, and it was still drawing closer.

Whoooosh—

The floating ship that had finally reached our branch estate gradually slowed its speed, descending as it began to land at the landing pad. Soon, with a dull, far-carrying rumble, the ship made full contact with the ground, and Heron, Orca noona, and I walked toward where it had landed.

Whirrrr—

The door finally opened, and two handmaidens stepped out of the floating ship first, bowing respectfully to us. After two more handmaidens and one Ranker emerged, the guest I had been longing for peeked out shyly.

White hair, white eyes true to the Arie bloodline, skin like white jade. Dainty little limbs and an overall tiny frame—on her small face, her eyes, nose, and lips were gathered together neatly and cutely. The girl with long flowing hair met my eyes.

Still small, but she's grown a lot.

When I smiled warmly with my eyes, glad to see my blood sibling after so many years, the child smiled slightly too. Ah, how adorable.

At last, carefully guided by the Ranker and the handmaidens, she descended from the floating ship and reached me. Then she bowed her head in greeting.

"H-hello... Branch Leader Hoaqin..."

I smiled warmly in return.

"It's been a while, my dear sister."

"Yeah! Oppa..! I missed you t—"

When I answered warmly, the child finally beamed and started to respond. Or rather, she was about to respond when she suddenly froze in alarm and clapped her own hand over her mouth.

While I tilted my head in puzzlement, one of the handmaidens admonished her.

"My lady, you must show proper etiquette to the Branch Leader."

Who are you to enforce etiquette that I don't even care about? I reprimanded the handmaiden.

"Enough. I don't care about it, so why should you? Step back."

""W-we're sorry...""

After shooting a glance at the handmaidens who had stepped back, I bent my knees to bring myself to my sister's eye level.

"Call me whatever you're comfortable with. It's okay."

My sister shook her head side to side with her hand still over her mouth.

"M-Mother said that no matter how close the relation, if they outrank you, you have to maintain proper etiquette..."

...Mother again. She still doesn't see her children as anything more than instruments of power.

I smiled bitterly and gently coaxed my sister.

"Hagipherione, then are you going to call me 'Branch Leader' the entire time you're with me? We're family."

"Mmm... H-Hoaqin oppa?"

"Yes, call me that. Isn't that more comfortable and nice?"

"R-really, I can call you that?...?"

Nod, nod—when I gently nodded, she broke into a bright smile once more. Then she ran to me and threw herself into my arms.

"Hoaqin oppa! I missed you!"

"Haha, yeah. I missed you too."

As she clung tightly to my legs, I stroked her hair, and her overwhelming cuteness made the corners of my mouth rise on their own.

Officially, my blood sister Hagipherione had come to receive sword training and other instruction from me, but who cares about that. I'd been mentally exhausted lately anyway—I was going to play with my sister to my heart's content.

"Branch Leader Hoaqin, this is Lady Hagipherione's schedule, prepared by Lady Raphir."

I read the schedule handed over by the handmaiden who had cautiously approached, and after reading just the first line, I immediately conjured white flames and burned it to ash.

Are you out of your mind? The child is only nine years old, and you want her to do fourteen hours of sword drills? And after that, reading, etiquette, studying... the allotted sleep time was less than three hours.

"B-Branch Leader?"

"Shut up. This is my domain. Schedule or whatever, as long as you're here, everything falls under my jurisdiction, so if you have a problem with that, then get the hell out. And in your honest opinion, do you think that schedule is appropriate for a child who's only nine years old?"

"".....""

Clicking my tongue at the lot of them standing there sheepishly unable to say a word, I had Heron draw up a new, child-appropriate schedule. Well, it was just for reference anyway—I had no real intention of sticking to it.

I turned back to Hagipherione and called her by her nickname.

"So Harpe, don't worry about anything you were told before coming here. First off, want to visit the shopping district?"

"What's a shopping district...?"

"...Oh dear. I'll definitely show you."

Resolving to introduce my little sister to as many pleasures she'd been deprived of as possible, I scooped her up in my arms, spread my divine beast wings wide, and soared into the sky. In an instant we'd risen to a great height, and Hagipherione squealed with delight, saying the rapid ascent was fun.

From up high, the shopping district was visible at a glance below. Just as I was about to head there, someone followed me up.

"B-Branch Leader..."

"What is it?"

The Ranker who served as our branch's messenger looked at me, gasping for breath. After catching his breath for a moment, he finally delivered his message, and the instant I heard it, irritation surged through me.

"The Lo Po Bia intruders have begun mining the rare resources!"

"Haah....."

So much for any help. I'd planned to deal with it gradually, but I never dreamed they'd suddenly pull something like this.

I put on the most apologetic expression I could and looked at Hagipherione.

"Harpe, I'm sorry but could you wait just a tiny moment?"

"No."

"Uh, huh?"

"I want to watch oppa fight too. You're going to fight now, right?"

Hagipherione's eyes sparkled brightly. Beyond that gaze that seemed nothing but adorable, I could somehow see a battle-maniac streak reminiscent of myself or Mascheny.

Hmm... if I don't take her along, she's going to be really upset...

"...Then hold onto my coat tight. I'm going in one shot."

"B-Branch Leader? Taking Lady Hagipherione there is dangerous..."

"There is no place safer than by my side."

The Ranker seemed confused by those words but ultimately appeared to concede the point. After glancing at him briefly, I immediately set my destination and spread my divine beast wings wide, racing through the sky at high speed.

.....

Khun Family, Main House

Clang—the office door was thrown open roughly, and two Khun Family Rankers hurled a man onto the floor.

"We've brought him, Princess Mascheny."

"Good, well done."

She had been sitting comfortably in her office chair, sipping coffee, and now looked down at the man on the floor with cold eyes.

"That was fairly entertaining. Evading my eyes for a year—that's reasonably well done, all things considered."

"P-Princess Mascheny... p-please, at least spare my life... I-I'll give you everything else you want! I-I was threatened with my life too, and had no choice but to smuggle the documents..."

Crackle—

In that instant, a lightning spear pierced through his leg, and a tremendous voltage seared through his body.

"AAAAARGH!"

Mascheny, with an emotionless expression, withdrew the lightning spear and dismissed the summoning. Click, click—she walked slowly toward the man, grabbed the hair of the groaning, whimpering man, and lifted his head.

"Hii, hiik!"

"Threatened with your life, so you had no choice, you say... Then I suppose it can't be helped."

"Th-then...!"

Squelch—

"Gkh—"

"You betrayed me prepared to die, so you must have expected a result like this, right?"

Her hand had pierced through the man's heart. Red blood poured out in an instant, pooling on the floor like a puddle. Mascheny flicked her hand once, washed away the remaining blood with shinsu, then ordered the two Rankers to dispose of the body.

Sip.

"Haah...."

As she held the remaining coffee to her lips again, she let out a sudden sigh. The work was harder than expected. It was all proceeding smoothly, of course, but after ten years of power struggles, the fatigue was unavoidable. Still, victory was not far off, so there was no stopping now. Absolutely not.

...But still, it's hard.

.....I miss Hoaqin.

Suddenly wanting to look at the photos she'd taken with Hoaqin after a long time, she walked toward the Lighthouse tucked away in one corner of the room. She activated the Lighthouse's internet mode, and just as she was about to access the gallery, a headline caught her eye.

— The Extraordinary Supernova That Set the Tower Ablaze 10 Years Ago! The Nebula! Who Will Be the Youngest Branch Leader Arie Hoaqin's First Concubine? His Fan Club Is Abuzz with Opinions..!

"...."