Quest 1, Part 6: [Technology]

A day passed since I sentenced two men to their deaths. During the time I practiced magic in the balcony while watching every second of the suffering of the three I’ve caused. I had the urge to puke many times, but somehow endured.

No, it’s not the self-esteem bullshit from stories that almost made throw out my non-existent meal, but the pure gore and the cruelty of the people. The ex-leaders are being tortured by the citizens themselves. My retainer has a bit better since I gave a different speech for him, but he didn’t manage to escape the punishment. He will live, I hope.

The other two has it far worse. They are sentenced to death, but the angry mob won’t let them die yet. It’s disturbing to see how much a person can endure, add healing magic to the mix and you get eternal suffering.

If they survive for a week the soldiers will execute them “accidentally” by my orders. I have to admit this little play boosted morale a big time, but it’s not a long term solution.

During the training I managed to learn how to use most of the spells up to lvl 40. After that I got stuck, but at least I’m able to do basic things without wasting large chunks of mana. I became a bit better at using it thanks to that.

I also tried to implement a few things in the world. I wrote and drew plans like crop-rotation technique, muskets, gunpowder. They are not impossible to make even with my limited knowledge. I ordered to gather the ingredients and tools for me, but those will take a lot of time.

When I tried to write down the principles of steam engines to show the mages (since I have no idea how they actually work in practice), the paper suddenly burned away from existence. The now familiar feeling in my head told me why.

The system won’t allow me to copy advanced technology. It detected something that they don’t want here to exist. They don’t want me to turn this world into a sci-fi fantasy. At least I confirmed that this virtual world is still related to the outside. For me, this is the only realistic answer.

I’ll have to give up on such technologies. For now.

Other than that, I proved that I can do more things with magic. At least something similar. When inspecting the game’s magic circles, I realised that they are not controlled by the system. They are pure magic circuits, that can be programmed. Although NPC’s made no research on them, the [The Book of the Dragon God] contained a few informations about it.

It contained one thing that immediately caught my attention.

Something that could solve a lot of problems for me.

And something that would make me the worst human in existence.

[Magic Programming] that will allow me to develop a [Slave Collar].

A collar made by magic conducting items. Capable of exploding via remote or self-destructing when when tampered with. Can be modified to have various effects. Almost impossible to remove.

The perfect thing to destroy illegal slavery, at the cost of my humanity. Still, this will be essential. When the time comes, I’ll have to use it. Without telling anyone, I made plans for making them and ordered to pile up some [Dragon Fiber] and [Magic Steel]. All of them will have a different command that can set them off from any range. If the victim tries to disturb the magic, the energy reserve will run out after some time, causing the same effect.

These plans were made by me. Too perfect. There should be no one(not even the dragons) capable to remove it with my slight… Modifications. I hate that I have talent only for cruel things. It is a matter of time only until I’ll be able to make them.

[Space Distortion] is something developed with magic programming. It can only be used between dimensions to close off a space from outside, making it only accessible for me. I don’t think anyone else is capable of using such things and destroy my protection. Although, the creation is so poorly made that one square meter of wall takes all my MP. Maybe I can find a way to improve it.

At least it works… I feel so depressed now.

Let’s blow off some steam for now. Tomorrow the Head Priestess will come for an audience as per my invite and I already ordered Neth to use the funds I got from the space distortion to buy the ruined land and hire workers. With the crop-rotation and reserves there should be enough food with huge surplus. Every grain of wheat will be mine, since I only hire workers for fixed salary. This will make the market mine, selling the most at the cheapest.

Is this considered as a manufacture type workforce? I don’t think so. I was not that good of a student, this is my punishment. Stupidity. There is no internet here to search for the answers.

What matters is the growing influence. Giving food for everyone for cheap will win the people over.

I still have some time until evening. I guess I take a glimpse inside the guild in disguise.

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Hidden under a cloak and a hood I sit in the back of the guild at one of the many tables. I watch as the young cat-beastwoman waitress serves the NPC adventurers and when my round comes I order some beer and a meal.

Since my face is covered I’m mostly recognised as a dwarf woman. Short in both height and temper. At least none of the drunkards are trying to mess with me. Not only because dwarves are a little ugly, but because they break your bones when angered. I learned it in the hard way back in the days.

The main thing why I’m currently in here is to hear their opinions with my own ears. With my high senses I’m able to hear most of the conversations.

As the most spoken topic at the moment is the torture punishment, I can hear both sides of their impressions.

“-the Princess is quite scary for her short legs and modest breasts.”1

“Yeah, I know. I almost shit myself when the bastard couldn’t shut up and angered her.”2

“You two, shouldn’t speak of our Princess like that. What if they hear you? Some might even rat you.”3

“You are the only one to do such a thing, George.”2

“Even if you say that, the Princess was always so kind back in the days. She saved most of us. I think she did it for us.” 1

“But she didn’t come out for 15 years! What kind of depression is that...”3

“I heard that she is the oldest person alive, around 400 years old. Only a few monsters are older than that.”1

I shuckle a bit in myself hearing such things. It’s just a calm, friendly conversation. An another one is quite interesting though.

“Have you heard about the [Justice Squad] group? That D rank group claimed themselves to be descended gods. What do you think?”

“What would I? I only heard a few rumours. They are probably just some arrogant assholes trying to look cool. I wish they anger the Princess and there will be one less group of idiots.”

“They came here yesterday and made a fuss that they won’t allow the Princess commit such horrible crimes. You should have seen them when the angry waitress beat them up. Alone, all of them. Kuri is quite scary, she is a former B rank.

“You mean she is that Kuri? Never knew. Too bad I didn’t see it.”

“You might will, look, they are here.”

Hearing their conversation I look to the way he points. A few men enters the guild from the front door, wearing tattered silver armor and iron weapons. One of them is a bow user while the other 3 are wielding swords.

They look quite angry, like they were beaten up by monsters. There are no strong monsters near the city though.

I continue eating while keeping them tab by their presence. Their angered aura is easy to follow.

They walk to the pult and hand over some goblin fangs. They are quite weak just like in any other fantasy game, but they breed fast. So fast that they are impossible to uproot. I once burned the whole north forest in anger, but nothing else was effective.

They were respawned by the system the next day. You don’t want to know how angry I was.

As for these bunch, I use appraise on them to confirm my suspicion.

[Tester]

Name: Hajime

Titles: Justice Squad

Race: Human

Level: 12

Age: 21

HP: ~1200

ST: ~800

MP: ~200

I almost laugh out loud, knowing their info. Is this what I had feared? These garbage? Even their japanese names are stupid. Hajime, Mako, Sasuke, Katana. And their stats! Of course their characters died of old age, so they started anew. Now I get why the stats remained, but not the level. I’m supposed to be a new existence in this world.

I cover my mouth with my palm as I chuckle quietly. I see that everyone else is the same, even if for different reasons, but they can keep it themselves. The guild personnel should be able to use [Personnel Appraise] or something similar, but they are better actors than me.

As expected of me, my mistake was recognised. What is this, the cliche justice freak tries to bully the little girl, but gets beaten up? I almost laugh at these thoughts as the four approach me.

“Hey you. Shortie. I’ll be blunt. Are you a [Tester]?” Sitting alone in suspicious clothing betrayed me it seems.

“Although I have no obligation to answer, yes I am. What do you want from me?” I answer him in an annoyed tone, even if I’m amused in reality.

“Quiet woman and listen. I want you to help us to capture the ruler of the city. We can’t allow them to do as they please.” In the corner of my eyes I see the waitress girl as she tries to come closer, but with a glace I stop her from doing so.

“You are not the best schemer in the world aren’t you? At least sit down, talk quietly and show some respect.”

“Why would I respect a girl? Forget it, just follow what I, the stronger says if you want to live.” Is this guy some kind of xian-xia character?

“How about you sit down and we talk a little about the… details. I want you to answer a few small questions before I help you.”

I smile at them as I uncover my hood slowly. Everyone in the whole room freezes for a second before turning back to what they were doing, acting as they haven’t seen anything. Even the waitress went back serving others while smiling. They ignore our existence. Good.

The leader of the group nods and all of them sit in front of me, to intimidate me.

“So. I’m Aurora. First question. Why is there no mages in your group?” This is something I found very strange. A healer or at least a support magician is essential in any group.

“I’m Hajime, these are Mako, Sasuke, Katana.” He presents his friends to me starting with himself. The only thing on my mind is the information I need and what kind of experiment I’m going to conduct with them.

“Actually Mako is a mage, but magic doesn’t work anymore. Maybe you need an item or complete a quest for it.” Ah.. Idiots. Human NPC’s learn magic for 10 years to before they can use it. I feel lucky since I’m a fairy and can feel mana. But I still can’t use spells normally. Maybe it’s just my fault.

“Ok. Second, are there others helping your… cause?” I hope not.

“Sadly it’s just us.” Great!

“My last question. Which one of you want to be the first to help in my research?”