Police

It didn't take me long to reach the small building where I lived. It was an old building, made of red bricks darkened and weathered by time, with narrow windows and makeshift clotheslines. It was a poor place, but it was my home.

I climbed the stairs, avoiding the old elevator that always emitted suspicious creaks. My apartment was on the third floor, so the climb wasn't too bad.

As soon as I reached the door, I let out a sigh and turned the doorknob. I barely had time to open the door completely before I heard an angry voice demanding:

"Brandon Oneal, where the hell have you been?!"

My mother was standing in front of the door with her arms firmly crossed. Her black hair was pulled back into a messy, hurried bun typical of housewives, and the dark circles under her eyes made her exhaustion clear. Despite this, she had still been waiting for me all this time.

"I... I was studying."

Her eyes narrowed. "Studying? Until this hour? As far as I know, Mr. Omar's bookstore doesn't stay open until nightfall."

I scratched my left earlobe. "I'm sorry, Mom, but this time I went downtown. I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to visit the Lovikalen Public Library to celebrate my birthday."

Fumiko raised her eyebrows and then took a deep breath. "Oh, then it's okay."

The sudden change in mood was not only because I had explained that I had gone downtown, but also because I subtly reminded her that today was my birthday.

"Have you eaten anything since this morning?" she asked, glancing back at me over her shoulder as she turned.

I shook my head.

"Good. Then go call your sister. Dinner will be on the table in a minute."

"Yes, ma'am."

My mother had a calm and gentle personality most of the time, but she could quickly become stressed if things went even slightly off plan.

It wasn't that she was a controlling person, but someone who was raised by my grandparents in a strict environment and was therefore strict herself.

After taking off my coat and shoes to keep the apartment clean, I went to my sister Marceline's bedroom door.

Knock, knock

"Who is it?"

"Come to dinner!" I said to her, not answering her question because my voice made it obvious.

No answer came from Marceline, so I was about to go back to the table when I heard hurried footsteps coming from inside her room. A second later, the door opened.

Marceline was a girl of notable beauty, though thin due to our financial struggles.

When she grabbed my right wrist, I was immediately reminded of the small, bony hands of my Summon.

"What is it? Do you need something?" I asked calmly.

Marceline poked her head out into the hallway and looked both ways, as if checking the surroundings. Then she pulled me to the front of her room and closed the door.

Still very confused about what was happening, I rolled my eyes and asked her:

"What are you up to this time?"

"Your Blessing..." she whispered. "Come on, it's nighttime. You woke her up, didn't you?"

Ah, so that's what she wanted to talk about. For a moment, I was worried she needed love advice or help choosing a boyfriend.

But it made sense that she was whispering and asking about it in secret; after all, the Blessings were a forbidden subject in this apartment.

"Is that all?" I asked, and she nodded quickly.

Marceline's eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked at me. She seemed even more anxious than the original Brandon would have been at this point.

I felt that if I refused to show her my ability, it would affect our good relationship as siblings. There was also no reason not to show her.

So, I pointed my right palm at the ground and used [Summoning]. A magic circle appeared, and a figure made of black smoke began to form.

The smoke swirled and solidified, growing larger and wider as the strength and speed of the whirlwind increased. In a few moments, a skeleton-like creature appeared, with a sword in its right hand, glowing orbs in both eyes, and an iron helmet on its head.

In shock, Marceline stared at the Skeleton Soldier. Her jaw dropped, and her entire body shook. Just as she was about to scream in fright, I covered her mouth with my hand.

"Calm down, Marceline!" I whispered, but with a pleading tone. "That's my Summon! I got a Summoner skill! He won't hurt you!"

Marceline's eyes were filled with fear. It was understandable. Most people in this world, especially the younger ones, had never seen a real monster in their entire lives.

There were drawings of some types of monsters in the newspapers, but seeing one in person was a completely different experience.

It took me over two minutes to calm Marceline down and another two for her to get used to looking at the Skeleton Soldier.

"Y-you... you created that?" she asked, her voice still trembling.

"Yes. That's my ability."

She swallowed hard as she circled around the motionless skeleton. Her eyes stared at the creature from head to toe.

"Do you realize how amazing this is?" she asked but didn't give me time to answer.

"Summoners are a very rare class, and—"

"Hey, Marceline, come to dinner..." My mother opened the door suddenly, and the last word caught in her throat.

Of course, she couldn't ignore the red-eyed Skeleton Soldier standing in the middle of the room.

And unlike Marceline, I couldn't get to Fumiko in time to cover her mouth. It took me a good fifteen minutes to calm her down.

When I realized it, we were already sitting at the table, with a plate of rice, chicken, and peas in front of me and the Skeleton Soldier sitting on the couch a few meters away.

Fumiko glanced at the skeleton out of the corner of her eye before returning to reality.

"Mom, please pass me the pot of peas?" Marceline asked. She had already had enough time with the skeleton to conclude that it was harmless.

My mother passed the pot of peas to Marceline and turned her gaze to me. "So, you're a Summoner. That's rare, very rare..."

"As far as I know, there's only one other Summoner in Lovikalen: Lord Belmonte,"

Marceline contributed to the conversation. "With a class like that, he can definitely join a good guild and earn a good salary."

In this world, the concept of guilds was no different from the concept on Earth. The only difference was that here, the word was much more common and popular, not just used in RPGs.

Guilds had existed since before the emergence of the Tower of Babel, as swordsmen's dojos, when they grew large enough to have several branches, became guilds. The same was true of many other martial arts.

The word "Clan" in Aland was used only to define the most noble families with martial arts that were not taught in dojos or guilds.

Therefore, for those who came from poor families like me, belonging to a guild was already a great victory.

Larger guilds offered regular salaries, contacts, and an almost always fixed group to explore the Tower of Babel. This greatly increased the chances of someone returning home alive after passing through those stone gates.

"Brandon... I know you're an adult now and can make your own decisions. But you know how I feel about you becoming a Climber, right?" Fumiko looked me in the eyes."I know."

From Fumiko's tone, she already knew that I had long since decided to try to climb the Tower of Babel. The same thing happened in all the timelines of "The Journey to the Beyond" with Brandon S. Oneal.

It wasn't really a financial issue for the original Brandon. Like most of those who challenged the Tower of Babel, he believed the story that a wish would be granted by God to the first person to reach the top of the Tower of Babel, and he had a clear goal in mind.

Ten years ago, when a Tower of Babel appeared in Lovikalen, the city was thrown into chaos.

My parents, Marceline, who was just a baby, and I, who was only seven years old, managed to hide and protect ourselves at home that night. Even so, my family suffered the side effects.

As I said earlier, I was the middle child in this family. Marceline was my younger sister, and I had an older brother.

His name was Nathan. He worked as a patrol officer in the noble district of Aurelian, the capital of the Kingdom of Durtch. He was a talented man who had managed to become a two-star officer in only his second year after graduating from the police academy.

However, on that fateful night of the Tower of Babel, Nathan died in a tragic accident.

Allegedly, he was hit by a carriage and trampled by horses. And when I say "allegedly," it's not without reason.

Brandon's memories of that day were quite vague, as it had been ten years, but years later, Brandon was rummaging through Nathan's belongings to find an old photo album he needed for a school project. He found the photo album —and much more.

Among Nathan's belongings that Fumiko had stored in the back of their storage room in the building, there was a box of police files.

Brandon's curiosity overcame him, and he opened the box. He discovered that it contained files on the cases Nathan had worked on during his two years of service.

Money laundering schemes, networks of corrupt politicians, con artists... Wasn't Nathan merely supposed to be just a patrol officer?

In fact, even though Nathan had all that evidence on important people, he never solved any of the cases in that box. He wasn't allowed to, but each one had a beginning, middle, and end. Apparently, he was saving all these investigations so he could release them once he achieved his goal of becoming an investigator.

Unfortunately, that evidence on those criminals never saw the light of day.

Nathan died before he could achieve his goal, but I could take on his mission and find out who ordered my older brother's death. After all, on the day of his funeral, I saw with my own eyes the mark on his neck: a knife had been stuck there.