NOVEL WEB Chapter 26: Culture shock
Monarchs coming to visit him made Jack very nervous. An actual King and Queen of a country! It was absurd to think about. He knew that he was technically important as a representative of the system and Deis, but he was just some guy. Normal people didn't get to meet kings and queens. he spent the next two hours asking about etiquette, behavior, and anything else he could think of to not be rude.
"Will they kill me if I offend them?" He asked nervously. Fantasy rulers tended to be weird and extreme in isekai stories.
Dirge laughed at the question. "No, of course not! A little trip to the dungeons maybe but nothing too serious." There was a mischievous twinkle in their eye even as Glimm smacked them on the arm.
Reph chuckled at the two of them. "Honestly Jack, you're probably more important than they are. By coming to see you they put themselves below you in the hierarchy. You're likely the most influential person on Drowl right now."
It was a sobering thought. Jack knew that he was important. He knew that his work was something world-changing, but he had never considered the level to which he was valued by society. "But...how should I react to them?"
"Just treat them like anyone else." Dirge declared boldly. "Why Glimm and I are both from minor noble houses. We can trace our lineage back to the first steam and mana internal types to found our country."
Jack gaped. He knew that it didn't really change anything but...hearing that a person you knew was extremely important was humbling. "Is lineage that important to bore-bots?" He asked curiously.
The three of them paused and glanced at each other. They seemed to gather strength for a moment before Reph sighed and spoke. "Yes, lineage is important. Or rather, our society carries a lot of pride around the concept of our origins. A bore-bots internal types are the ones they are built with; and the ones they will die with. For a while, most of our kind would partner together to make bore-bots of the same types. A few hundred years ago was the first time two different types of bore-bot partnered and made the first dual-type internal bore-bot. It was nothing short of a miracle, truly a new age of innovation and culture. But there were those in power who saw it as a threat to our identities and history. They couldn't erase what was rapidly becoming more and more common, so the high council at the time began to create propaganda and fear concerning a triple-type. Even to this day, it is widely considered a crime to even attempt to create a triple-type internal bore-bot, doubly so for those with direct lineage to the founding of our empire."
Glimm and Dirge nodded sadly as Reph spoke, but they reached out their hands and placed them upon their partner. Reph smiled fondly at them before turning back to Jack. "Your creation was not entirely our doing. The High Deity gave us blueprints to follow, and a mission to create a body for you. Our own attempts to create a triple-type internal have been...less than successful."
"Well if the High Deity ordered you to make me a body I hardly think you should get in trouble for that. But why are you trying to make your own?" Jack asked, confused. "If it's like one of the worst crimes someone can commit then..." he trailed off, seeing the sadness turn to resolve in the eyes of the three bore-bots.
Glimm spoke for them. "Do you have a concept of marriage where you come from Jack?" when he nodded she continued. "Many bore-bots consider life-long partnership to be something very similar. These two are people I want to work with until my mana heart stops beating. The three of us decided that we wanted a child. Our society is somewhat split on the idea, but many consider building the next generation to be like having children. Building them up the best we can and giving them a part of ourselves. The three of us wanted that, so we ran away from our friends and families. We ran away from home to try and hide away here and give life to the child we all want."
"...I had no idea," Jack said. He felt...intrusive. Like he had just forced them to admit a deep and personal secret that he had no business knowing. This wasn't just about some old crazy laws, it was about them fighting against society and running away with people they cared about. Jack had walked into the middle of this unknowingly and practically made them public figures. "Is there any way I can help?"
Dirge laughed. "You're already helping. Getting to work on your body and studying how it works is giving us a ton of data. It might take a few weeks, but we are pretty confident we can finish construction on a new body and get to testing. What's important is hiding that work from anyone who comes to see you. Your support means a lot to us, but publicly supporting our desire to build a triple-type internal bore-bot will probably alienize a lot of people."
Jeler awkwardly raised a hand to speak. "I know that all of the bore-bot mercenaries don't want to help you out because of your body. I doubt any of them would actually try to hurt you directly, but that's why none of them volunteer." He turned to the three bore-bots, "You guys are in the clear as far as I can tell. There's definitely some grumbling but most of it is pretty lowkey. The official story is that you were ordered to make Jack by order from the High Deity, no one thinks you would ever make a triple-type on purpose."
They all nodded, a bit of relief on their faces. "If you ever need bore-bot test subjects for your system experiments, then count us in." Reph offered, the other two agreeing quickly.
Jack took them up on their offer, using [Status Granting] on them before looking at their screens.
Something Jack had noticed, and could now confirm was that the race section only included the main racial type of a person. All three bore-bots were just listed as bore-bots. When he asked their opinion on whether specific subraces should be mentioned, they looked uncertain. Jeler spoke up with an interesting point. "I've met some half humans, half animalus before. They aren't super common but they do exist, probably some other people out there of mixed race too. I think it would be interesting to see something more specific than 'animalus' personally."
Jack nodded thoughtfully. It would be potentially useful to track ancestry, or at least do a more thorough breakdown of a person's race. The status screen was starting to feel full already though, Jack idly wondered if he should have Deis create pop-up screens, extra little blue squares that pop up with additional information. He would probably need to do that before long anyway, but there were more pressing matters. If more and more people were coming to visit him and be given statuses, then he needed to make sure they all worked well and wouldn't cause any problems.
The next few hours were spent discussing skill lists, stats, and potential system magic. The bore-bots were more than happy to throw ideas at him, showing a great deal of insight and understanding as Jack told them he didn't want to completely break the balance of this world. He told them of stories where people could use the system to bring about great harm or 'cheat' their way into power. Jack wanted to create something helpful and impactful, not make an overpowered protagonist who went on some huge, game-breaking revenge quest. These were real people, he had to be thorough and careful with the system.
It was late in the night when they decided to finish up. There was just one last thing Jack wanted to say to the assembled group. "Everyone, I'm very grateful that you're helping me with this and are being so understanding about my...situation. I would appreciate it if we could all keep a bit quiet about me telling you where I come from. Earth, I mean. I'm worried that the High Deity would punish me for sharing everything I did, but I wanted to tell you all. The four of you are the closest things I have to friends and allies here, I don't want to get you in trouble. Deis can't see me when I'm down here on the surface, I don't think he can see people around me either. So just don't bring it up to anyone unless I'm nearby okay?"
Jack saw the uncertainty and concern on all of the faces around him. But one by one they nodded, making eye contact with him as they did so. He sighed in relief, glad that they seemed to understand how serious he was. Jack was mentally drained from all of the revelations and information he had gone through today, he just wanted to sleep. "Can bore-bots sleep?" he asked tiredly.
Dirge nodded, "It's more like shutting your brain off for a bit, but yes. Wanna borrow a room upstairs?"
Jack nodded and Dirge helped him upstairs. It was darker out now and Jack noticed through a window that the sun had dimmed significantly, giving off a glow closer to the moon than the sun. He sleepily thought about how that would make time zones nonexistent, every part of the world experiencing night at the same time. Jack trudged into his room and collapsed into a wooden bed, not even able to feel the comfort of a mattress, before he switched his brain off and fell asleep.
Jeler also borrowed a room in the house, the one next to Jack's. He lay in bed and tossed a knife into the air over and over, catching it as it came back down. It had been a long day, testing with Jack, and then all the conversations. He hadn't understood more than half of it, space, the void, walking on a ball and not falling off. It was all over his head.
The part he latched onto the most was right at the end. Jack had said that the High Deity couldn't see him? Did that mean that Jeler was hidden from the God of god's sight right now? Jeler wasn't especially religious, he followed the true church of course but never gave much deference to the High Deity. The God of gods had servants and worshippers everywhere, why would he care about Jeler? But not thinking about the High Deity watching you, and learning that he couldn't see you were two very different things.
Jeler thought about that for a few long minutes. He remembered the mission that the High Deity had given out to the world, and how it had been phrased. 'Go and investigate what the King of all Demons is doing. Stop him from committing his heretical acts. Bring him back to me.'
There had been more, of course. The High Deity was long-winded in these kinds of announcements. The way he had said it though...could the High Deity have not been able to see the King of all demons? Such a thought would have been absurd before meeting Jack. He had talked about, 'going back to talk to Deis.' Could the High Deity really not see what they were up to? System changes only happened after Jack left after all.
...If the late King Plexion had been able to hide from the High Deity, and if Jack could also do it, did that mean that there was likely a skill for that? Would people be able to acquire the ability to hide from the God of gods? It was an appealing notion, there would be a great many people who would jump at the opportunity. But the High Deity had called for a worldwide manhunt for Plexion which had ended with the demon's death.
He thought about it some more until his head began to hurt. There was no use thinking about it until he could talk to Jack privately. He turned over in his bed and went to sleep.