According to information Roland had once read online, the Tower of Babel was also known as the Tower of Babylon. Legend had it that Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, had overseen its construction or expansion.
In Hebrew, "Babel" meant "confusion," though some also interpreted the word for "confusion" as "Babylon."
In Babylonian, however, both "Babel" and "Babylon" meant "gate of god." The same word, "Babel," had entirely opposite meanings in the two languages.
Confusion was Babel, and unifying language, ethnicity, and culture was also Babel.
Two completely opposite approaches could both be called the Tower of Babel Project. There was something strangely fitting about that, given the Lainer Kingdom's current circumstances.
"On this theoretical foundation, with administrative orders and military superiority as prerequisites, Mage Tower education as the means of guidance, and advancement to Mid-Magic as the incentive, it is feasible to embed most of the language into the Lainer World's history and culture and complete the transformation.
"The only question is how the costs compare to the returns.
"I believe that is what you truly wanted to consult us about, sir."
"Correct. Isn't the fifty to two hundred years you mentioned a little too long?" Antonia pointed out. "We don't have that much time to wait for it to gradually turn toward the direction we want."
Roland said, "That was only a theoretical projection. It didn't account for administrative orders or military force.
"If you include those two factors, the time required becomes very short."
"How so?" Seeing how certain he was, Antonia sounded quite interested.
Roland said, "In the Annals of Qin Shi Huang in Romance of Seris, I mentioned how Qin Shi Huang unified the six states and standardized their writing. That is a classic example of administrative orders intervening in the evolution of language."