Digital Me

by Alston Sleet

  “Worse I talked to Mennen, the town mayor, he said the status window was full of things about mental capabilities and nothing about his skills with weapons or his physical condition. Even wizards learn basic combat skills. Why would it have nothing about his strength or his agility?”

  Rolick by this point had taken to pouring a small tumbler of alcohol in order to release some of his week long strain.

  “My King, we are in hock to this man for thirty levels because of my mistake. I’m convinced it was some kind of multi-armed plot to force us to be indebted to him. The man is cheerful and friendly, helpful even around a campfire not minding to clean or cook. He showed keen insight in things like the need for reinforcement of stone buildings and the economics of dungeon towns and trade and transport. But he also showed ignorance around the lack of danger of even simple goblins! He is a mix of commoner, noble, wise man, and idiot. I plead with you, go carefully in any deal you make, something here is far from what it seems and my sense of danger inflames the moment I talk with the man”.

  King Calferd could feel that migraine slowly starting to form again in his brow as this new complication landed in his lap. Jofrem had been casting divinations once a week ever since this wizard business had started, and each augury had shown the same thing. Friend and foe’s world would be changed with this wizard, and contradictory claims of his vulnerability and undefeatability.

  With a small wave the King gestured Rolick out, “Go. Rest. I’ll think on this before I meet this wizard tonight.”

  Chapter 7

  Meeting a King and Threats to a Kingdom.

  Crap.

  That was the thought which reverberated through my mind as I was lead to the meeting with the King.

  I’m not sure what I had done during the dinner that had made half the faces scrunch up like constipated rabbits. But whatever I did was bad enough that I was not feeling good about the upcoming talk with his Highness.

  The dining room was bright with glowing spheres of light hovering above the long dining table. The table made from solid thick old oak with polished floors of wood and walls of marble and carved stone. The room screamed opulence while not seeming tacky or gaudy. The distinction was subtle and I was unsure how it was achieved, but it was obvious even to a style and fashion neophyte like myself.

  I spent most of the meal in an effort to not offend. I watched carefully how everyone behaved. I carefully matched my manors to everyone else. I was deathly afraid I would give offense through some unknown slight by eating before I was supposed to or using some fork when I was supposed to use a spoon. I knew that was unlikely, but I was trying to avoid causing issues before the meeting.

  I did learn some interesting things during the meal. I figured out fairly quickly that your placement at the table determined ranking or position versus the King. I had been placed squarely at the midpoint of the table. Apparently, the King was making an effort to neither imply favor with me or offense. This kind of middle of the road behavior was either a signal that I was still neutral with the King or more likely it was the King signaling to his noble and merchant guests that he wasn’t going to provide favors to me or that he didn’t particularly dislike me.

  I would like to think I was a decent judge of character, but I can’t pretend even to myself this was the case. Bad relationships, failed business deals, and more than one bad employee hire had taught me clearly that I was not a good judge of character. Given this, I couldn’t figure out the people around me and I took efforts to be non committal to any suggestions.

  The merchant to my left talked about trade deals with me, it was an interesting discussion until I realized one of the products he traded in was indentured servants. I wasn’t sure if ‘indentured servant’ was a legal fiction for slave in this world like it had been in my own.

  On my right was a Baron who routinely discussed infrastructure construction with me. Roads, bridges, walls, fortifications, etc. He never asked me directly to support him in any of these, but it was obvious that he knew I could do magic focused on construction and that I was apparently capable of doing fast work. How he had heard this I don’t know, but his subtle hinting was more than a bit awkward.

  Somewhere in the midpoint of the meal, between some of the light soup dishes and before the thinly sauced meats, faces started to pucker as the dinner continued. It was a gradual thing, but the fact that I wasn’t willing to agree to any of the subtle offers or implications from the other guests was my best guess as to why they were looking so sour.

  After the dessert, a fluffy pastry with cream and sliced strawberries, everyone retired to a lounge with comfortable chairs with liqueurs while I was asked to follow a servant in order to meet with the King. I could feel a light layer of sweat form on my back under my shirt as I entered the door held for me by one of the numerous and ubiquitous servants.

  ###

  The King’s study was furnished with dark woods, with cushions of dark purples and deep reds and browns. Dark hardwoods and shelves of books. I understood quickly that the books, beyond anything else in the room, indicated vast wealth. Books in this society were few and far between and the display of wealth this number of tomes displayed would indicate that the owner of this study was both educated and had deep pockets. It was a subtle, but real attempt at intimidation, one done subtly enough that the recipient couldn’t really call the King on it. This kind of subtlety would normally fly over my head, but it was so stark from my normal experiences in this world that for me it was blatant enough I couldn’t miss it.

  “Sit, would you like a drink before we talk?” the King asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as he gestured towards a chair positioned at an angle facing the desk.

  “No thank you your Majesty. Oh, that brings up an interesting point. What is the polite term of address I should use with you? I don’t want to give offense unintentionally,” I said as I took the designated seat.

  “The polite term is usually ‘My Lord’ in the formal, I don’t know what ‘Majesty’ means but it’s been giving some of my advisors a bit of a conniption trying to determine if it was a subtle insult or some foreign accolade, it seemed polite, but one can’t always tell.”

  This explained some of the expressions I had received during the dinner, I had been using every polite term I could think of for the formal dinner. I had never been invited to such even in my old world, being a bit of the behind the scenes engineer rather than one who met with the clients, meaning I would have perhaps insulted even some in even my old world, let alone someone with a culture that may only resemble my own superficially.

  I had noticed that some words didn’t exist here. It made sense since some words were specific to technologies which didn’t exist in this world. Once again, I wondered how the Digitals had set up the Kingdom to use English with gamer word conventions. Useful for me, but somehow slightly unsettling as well.

  The term of address the King wanted came with some subtle implications which I had to address. While I was nervous, I kept reminding myself that there was literally no way the King could actually permanently harm me and that I needed to set the tone of my interactions in this world here or it would take suffering far more unfortunate issues in the future.

  Drawing out the first word a bit I responded, “That…might not be something I should use. I mean no disrespect, but I’m not allowed to lie. The term ‘My Lord’ implies some type of fealty and some kind of protection as well. I can’t claim your protection, and I’m not your subject”.

  I could tell that the King was not pleased to hear that kind of blunt explanation. He didn’t seem upset exactly, but the way I phrased it was far too harsh and without the usual honeyed subtleties he must have been accustomed to. I was always an engineer, never in marketing, that had never been in my skill set, though it was obviously another thing I had to work on.

  Placing his hands upon the table and leaning forward the King seemed to be trying to consider something he was unsure how to phrase. I decided to make
things clearer, while also moving forward my agenda.

  “May I make a suggestion?” I queried then waited for the King’s eyebrows to raise and a gesture of ‘carry on’ to be made, “do you have someone who can cast some kind of truth detection spell or a truth speaking invocation? It would be much easier for me to explain my position under such a thing”.

  I could tell the King found this to be an extraordinary offer since his expressive eyebrows climbed his head before his facade quickly returned to a polite neutral. He considered my suggestion silently for a moment then nodded and stated that, “his advisor would be here shortly”.

  I hadn’t been naive enough to think that the King would meet me alone, so I wasn’t surprised to have this tacit admission that others were listening in.

  The man who soon joined us took the other open seat across from the desk closer to me then the King.

  “This is my advisor Jofrem, a seer of some renowned and expert in many forms of information gleaning magics,” the King said as the advisor dipped slightly and bowed before settling further into his chair.

  “This truth spell, does it actually indicate if someone is telling the truth, or only if the person believes they are telling the truth? It seems likely to be the latter since the former would be far too open to abuse to think it would be allowed,” I queried the seer. The distinction was important to me since accusations of being insane were all too likely as I began my explanation.

  “Rather the first. I’m surprised, not many understand that distinction. Do you perhaps specialize in information magics as well?” Jofrem questioned with a polite and friendly smile. I had to remind myself that I was not friends with these people even if I wasn’t enemies either. I needed to control my normal open and friendly behavior even as I never told a lie. The urge to get into a discussion involving the mechanics and limitations of magic with an obvious expert in his specialty was almost overwhelming, but I had a singular political goal for this meeting and I needed to get it across without causing myself any further undue complications. Sharing my powers and weaknesses, even inadvertently while discussing a subject of interest, was not on the agenda.

  “I do not,” With that I asked Jofrem to cast his truth detection spell. After some muttered words and sharp hand gestures a gentle white glow surrounded me. Jofrem explained that knowingly stating a falsehood would cause the glow to flash.

  Slowly taking a deep breath I prepared myself. “I know that my explanation will seem fanciful and like the ravings of a madman if I can explain parts of it at all. Some of this can’t be explained, both of us simply lack context and even the vocabulary to describe it fully. I can use metaphor in some places and get most of that across even as I fail to convey precise details. The difficulty I have is that if I explain the story fully, not just the parts revolving around who I am and what my plans are, I’m afraid it will upset you both deeply. Do you want to know my truths even if they sound mad and would change your perspective on your world and your place in it?”

  Even my poor judgment of people could see that the King and his advisor were uncomfortable with my statement combined with the solid white glow. I was very careful to say only the truth, even as I shaded the implications of how much I could explain and in what ways. I fully could explain something like a virtual environment, I just doubt that this would be something helpful to me in the long run. I figured that a more metaphorical, yet still true, description would serve me better.

  With a nod both the King and his advisor indicated I should continue.

  “This world was built by intelligent beings so far beyond my understanding that they might as well be gods,” I stated slowly as I watched my audience closely.

  Again, the eyebrows rose swiftly on both men before quick poker faces formed, I don’t think that they had expected me to talk about things this far removed from the human norm.

  “These beings designed and built this world in order to develop and produce more of their own kind.” Once more the eyebrows did a subtle shift up and then returned to their resting home.

  “This world was built for the purpose of being a simple egg.”

  With a slow deep breath I continued, “As much as I hate the term, I am the first infant to be developed in this egg.”

  This time both sets of eyebrows rose quickly, but this time they stayed raised while the advisors face formed into a look of complete befuddlement.

  Jofrem was the first to respond and shifted to face the King, “I detected no lies and my secondary spells showed no efforts to subvert the truth spell. I can see no spell casting or shielding device upon him, as far as I can tell, he believes this to be true.”

  “That’s the basic background on who I am and why I am here. I lack any of the history of your world, but my unique perspective, and knowledge from outside your world, presents me with a different view of things. This comes with both penalties and advantages. None of this explains my future plans, it just sets the background for why I act the way I do.”

  The King, with a slight tilt of his head, gestured for me to continue.

  “My short term goal is to let others know who I am and how I plan to behave. That I won’t lie, and that I will hold to any agreement I make and that further I will deal harshly with anyone who breaks a deal with me. The current estimate is seven hundred thousand years before I will be ‘born’ from this world. I don’t plan to be harassed on a regular basis during that whole time. It would be better for me if legends and stories of how to deal with me passed down from people to people so I don’t need to deal with silly issues over time.”

  The King sharply cut into my explanation here with a slight sneer, “So you want me to what? Have the criers and bards travel the realm proclaiming the birth of your godhood?”

  “No, that would actually be counter productive for me. I didn’t expect to deal with anyone in a position of authority, such as yourself, for at least a few hundred years. I had expected to travel the land making deals and demonstrating my capabilities till I was summoned before some person of responsibility.”

  I could see that the King was not convinced, but Jofrem was giving me a more considered look during my story.

  “Legends and stories of me will need to cover this land eventually. I need to be known as someone who is fair and never tells a lie, while also providing clear reasons not to bother me unduly or act against me through fear. I need to be known as someone who can be bargained with but not to be harmed. I need to be known as someone who is tricky and to be handled with respect and fairness. I will be living in this world for far longer than I think you can understand. I must take such a long view that I see Kingdoms as passing fads as ephemeral as the current seasons clothing style.”

  Jofrem appeared to understand the logic of my position, even if he didn’t see me as telling the truth, the King on the other hand seemed to be less convinced.

  “So how exactly do you plan to do this and how do you plan to resist those who would harm you or control you?” The King slowly asked. The implied threat hidden in his words could be construed as simple inquisitiveness, a game I just wasn’t courtly enough to match.

  “I can explain that, but excuse my language since I mean no threat. I just have to explain it as what I will do if I must, not what I want to do, or as some threat against you personally. I just have a perfect example in the case of our current agreement.”

  The tension in the room raised at my statement and I could hear slight shuffling behind a couple of the walls. Apparently the listeners were either preparing to enter the room through some secret panel or had sent guards to outside the doors.

  “As an example we currently have an agreement. The village Melcot is to be provided either gold or services in excess of 5% of what I had previously agreed to perform, I am to be assisted in 30 levels of power-leveling and I am to not be harmed by you or yours. In exchange I was to meet with you, and not harm you or yours.”

  I paused as I prepared myself and looked the King solidly in th
e eyes.

  “If I am harmed I will have to act in a way that will be remembered across the Kingdom, my counter actions must be something that can only be legendary. I will destroy the capital.”

  I made every effort not to blink or look away. I was deadly serious as to my intent. I didn’t want to harm anyone here and I would feel horrible about doing it. But this is the only way I could see to reduce the future issues and save others lives as well in the long run. The King did not move in any way as I described my response, the steady glow implying that I not only believed I could do such a thing, but stating that I would do it if I must.

  “You, a level 5 I believe, with but two spells to your name think you can destroy the capital? What is to keep me from killing you now out of hand. I would be breaking my agreement, but you would be dead and with a witnessed direct threat such as that no one would think twice about it.”

  I could tell that the King was willing to have me executed if it was needed. His voice implied clearly that he had done it before, and to protect his Kingdom, he would do it again.

  “You can kill me, I just won’t stay dead,” I said as I stared as the King fixedly.

  I could see that this statement had some meaning that I wasn’t aware of since both the King and Jofrem shifted when I said it.

  “I can destroy the capital and all it will take is one of my spells. My ability to move earth.”

  At this Jofrem scoffed.

  “No wizard is powerful enough to destroy the capital with just a simple earth movement spell. You might be able to collapse part of a wall or cause some minor harassment, but the city will stand regardless.”