Fork This Life!

Chapter 27: Contineplation

(POV Gerald)

And so, Ferdinand explained everything he knew about the doppelganger, apart from the matter of how he was involved in the severing of the doppelganger’s arm – that would draw unwanted questions. And all the paladins were amazed by the depth of his information… yadda yadda yadda, you get the drift.

Still, there were some interesting things we got out of the conversation. Turns out the red armour stuff he used is likely to be some form of killing intent, something which apparently only mass-murderers and the like can use. It generally has an intimidating effect on opponents, but it seems this guy can do quite a bit more with it than that.

Anyway. We’re on the road again, and as always, I have quite a bit of time to think. Usually I’d just be occupying it with meditation and whatever magic skills I can get away with, but I figure just having a bit of a think might be a good thing to do right now.

I’ve been forking through my memories a bit, trying to see if we’ve already come across this mastermind guy without noticing it, or anyone connected to him. Unfortunately, I barely know a thing about him – or her – so it’s been a fruitless exercise.

With that done – let’s dabble a bit in some philosophy.

Am I a human?

In a way, I feel like I should be. I was a human for some twenty-two years in my first life. But now I’m a fork. But have I changed?

I suppose to answer the question of whether I’m still human, I have to determine what a human is. There’s the obvious – bipedal, opposable thumbs, considerable intellect and creativity in comparison to most other species on earth.

But if you ask some biology professor or someone like that, they’ll tell you that humans only have a few percent difference in DNA to that of similar animals, and the gap isn’t huge even with dissimilar animals. Then, are humans defined by those few percent? Perhaps… But what if I look at it from a different perspective?

Imagine if you have a human. And a pig. And through some miracle of technology, you swap their consciousnesses, or souls, or whatever. Now the ‘human’ body still has that same DNA, but the mind of a pig. Is it still human?

No, not really.

What about the pig, then? It has a ‘human’ mind. Is it still a human? Maybe. It’s certainly more human than the pig in a human body. But without the vocal chords of a human, it wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively. Without opposable thumbs, it wouldn’t be able to use tools or create, which are all defining features of human beings.

So it isn’t quite a human, then. But it is more human than the pig in a human body. Then, the mind is a more significant factor than the body in determining whether something is human? What if you had something else, say an elf, that has the same morals, emotions, thoughts and beliefs that a human would have. Would they, in a way, be human? Perhaps.

Perhaps it could be said that under the umbrella of ‘humanity’, there are countless ‘beings’ that aren’t quite the same, and aren’t quite different. Unique and similar, somehow. But that just brings me around to my original question: am I still human?

…Maybe not. But that doesn’t mean that I should just throw away my humanity, either. I grew up learning certain ideals: killing is bad. Stealing, forcing your will on others, discrimination, are bad. And many more.

I had sort of thought that I could just change to this ‘kill or be killed, no holds barred’ type of mindset, like flipping a switch. Upon further consideration, I don’t want to. It’s who I am, I can’t just throw it away. But in this world, even if I don’t want to, some compromises will have to be made.

I didn’t want to kill, but I already have. Monsters, perhaps, but all the same. Still, it all depends on what I want to do.

What do I want to do?

Find a way to imitate human senses, for one. I figure my best bet for that is magic or psychic abilities, and magic is the more common of the two and therefore the easiest to learn. After I’ve learnt that magic… well, I’m not so sure.

I suppose… I suppose I want control. Over myself, over my own life. I don’t want whatever life I build in the future to be upset by the whims of some more powerful being. But then, how do I determine how much power is enough?

Level 50? That’s higher than the doppelganger. But then again, the spider matriarch was level 83, and we just came across that at random. What’s considered powerful in this world? Is 100 the limit, or is it even higher? 200? 1000?

I suppose I can’t know unless I meet someone at that limit.

Levelling up means killing. Monsters don’t bother me, but what if I come across bandits or the like? Not all of them will be as friendly as that last lot. I could just run away. But then, they would still be doing the same to others. I’m not about to let others to fall into misfortune because of me.

If I were to take them to the nearest city, turn them over the guards… Let me just check something… The penalty for banditry in the Empire is death. The only difference then would be the hand that holds the executioner’s blade. What would be the point? Not having blood on my hands?

No. The one who caused their deaths would still be me, even if another wields the blade. I’m not the kind of guy who would take relief from a single degree of separation. Then, if a situation like that arises, I will have to kill them.

That could be avoided by not travelling. But, again: I don’t want to restrict others, and I don’t want to be restricted by others.

I don’t think it’s possible to become strong in this world without getting blood on your hands. It just depends whose blood it is: the blood of innocents, or the blood of the guilty.

Then, who decides guilt? Who decides if a person deserves to live or die? I’m certainly not the type of person to judge.

Hmm…

I think… I have a solution. It’s crude, but I think effective: an eye for an eye. That is, I think that what I do to others in the future should not be greater than what that person has done to others, or what they are going to do. If they haven’t killed someone innocent, and aren’t going to, I probably shouldn’t kill them.

Of course, there’ll always be exceptions. Serial rapists, or thieves who steal from the poor in full knowledge that the money they have taken is everything they have.

…In those cases, would it be better to hand them over to the authorities? No… there’s no guarantee that the legal system won’t be corrupt, or that they’ll manage to escape, or that the laws are shaped in such away that their crimes don’t warrant a death or life sentence. What then? They could be back on the streets eventually, and then we’re back where we started.

And are there really ways to keep high level thieves, for instance, in prison? Or wizards? I doubt it. Laws are all well and good, but without a suitably strong and uncorrupted system supporting them, they’re useless.

…It was all so easy back on earth, where strict vetting, training and good equipment gave law-enforkers more power than most criminals could possibly have, and all sorts of methods and laws in place to make sure crimes could be prevented efficiently…

Ugh, that was way more thinking than I thought it would be for a conclusion as simple as that. Now my mind is stuck in this weird contemplation mode. Let’s go chat to Ferdinand.

I start up a telepathic link with him. “Hey Ferdinand, how’s it going?”

“I’m fine.” Ferdinand replies tiredly.

“You don’t sound fine.” I remark. “Sounds like another sleep would do you good.”

He yawns. “I’ll be fine. Nothing I can’t overcome.”

“…Okay, but make sure you get some good sleep tonight. Don’t think I didn’t see how much you overexerted yourself back there. You might be able to push yourself through the pain and exhaustion, but that doesn’t always mean you should. Humans can feel pain for a reason.” I warn him, slightly concerned.

“But all the stories tell of heroes pushing through the pain, overcoming their limits and growing stronger and stronger.” Argues Ferdinand. “And right now, I need to be stronger!”

Hoo boy. “That’s why they’re called stories: they aren’t real.” I sigh. “As far as I know, you can push through the pain to some degree, but you always have to be careful not to go too far. If you keep pushing and your body has nothing left to give, it’ll break apart. Muscles will tear, tendons will break. Sometimes the damage is permanent.” I explain, remembering all the times I’ve heard of athletes tearing something and then being unable to continue competing.

I see Ferdinand’s brows furrow and his hands clench. “But I need to get stronger!” He says, frustrated.

“I know.” I reassure him. “But this isn’t the way to do it.”

“How, then?” Ferdinand asks.

“I don’t know.” I say honestly. “Ki would probably help, but I have no idea how you’d go about getting that. You can’t exactly use my method, after all. Apart from that… the best thing would probably be to just improve on what you have. Luc’s training is working, right?”

“It is. I just wish it would work a bit faster.” He sighs again.

“Rome wasn’t built in a – wait, never mind. These things take time. But rather than working yourself into an early grave, you should be asking around, trying to find out more about ki. And that fighting spirit stuff you got recently, that sounds like it could be useful.”

“Maybe…” He muses thoughtfully.

After that, we chat about some more pleasant topics – the weather, passing scenery…

Currently, we’re en route back from the necromancer’s lair to the nearest city. Everyone else is mostly travelling in silence, likely ruminating on what has happened, and what we are going to do next.

“Hey, Gerald…” Ferdinand starts tentatively. “Do you know much about women?”

“I don’t know if any man can honestly claim that he understands women.” I say half-jokingly. “Why?”

“I think I’m in love, and I don’t know what to do.” He says quietly.

Huh. “Lily?” I ask, just to be sure.

“How did you – wait, of course you notice how often I look at her.” He realises.

“Yep.” I say. “Is it just me, or are you getting smarter? I must be rubbing off on you.” Obviously, I’m a good influence.

For some reason, Ferdinand isn’t so sure. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing… But what do I do?”

“Well, I must admit that I was a bit of a loner in my past life, and I have zero experience in this. But!” I continue at his crestfallen expression, “It was the right idea to ask me for help. At least now that I know, I can help stop you from making potentially disastrous emotion-fuelled snap decisions. What’s your current plan?”

“Well…” He starts uncertainly, “I had sort of wondered if I could somehow… impress her with my strength… but she’s much stronger than me, so…”

“Nope, won’t work, even if you were.” I state. “As far as I know, every woman has slightly different things they want in a man. And if Lily was interested in strong men, she’d be paying more attention to Luc, right? Besides, I’d think that it’s less likely for strong women to be interested in strong men: after all, they don’t need anyone to protect them if something happens.”

“That… makes sense. Then what do I do?” He asks again.

“I’m not really sure. Still, I can think of a few things you can do that can’t hurt. Talk to her, get to know her, and tell her about yourself. Uh, but try and be… natural… about it. Hey, I know a good start: ask her to tell you more about her god. She’s a paladin, I bet she’d be thrilled to talk to you about that.” I say, in a rare stroke of genius.

He sounds quite excited when he replies. “That sounds great! I’ll go do that-”

“Not now. Later, when you’re not on horseback and surrounded by a bunch of other guys with nothing better to do than listen in on your conversation.” I interrupt him.

“Oh… right, that makes sense…” He trails off in disappointment.

Sheesh, but does this complicate things. Not only do we have the doppelganger to fight, there’s apparently some mastermind controlling him who is somehow involved with demons as well, and now Ferdinand has a crush on someone.

This is starting to sound like the plot of some second-rate novel.

Well, forket that. It’s not like I have some special ability after reincarnating into a foreign world… wait a minute…

‘Your money or your life!’ A bandit screams as he sprints down the side of the hill towards us, closely followed by a bunch of his bandit buddies.

Oh. I just assumed those guys were going to be smart and not attack us, like all the other bandits we passed by so far.

Apparently not.

A very short period of tine later, the hapless bandits are tied in a little line behind us, obediently jogging to keep up with us. Plan is to turn them over to the guards in the next city.

I didn’t really think of what I’d do with the weak ones, did I? I suppose they’ll be fine just to turn over to the local law – as long as their prisons are strong enough to hold them, and their laws will give them a death or life sentence. Well, I’ll still have to do a cursory check over the place to make sure that they don’t have connections in high places or whatever.

What was I talking about before? Right, demons. So, I’ve gone through my memories to see if I can find anything on demons. Surprisingly, there isn’t much of substance. They almost seem like the boogeyman, like a story mothers tell their kids to get them to behave. ‘Brush your teeth, little Timmy,’ they’ll say, ‘or the demons will come and eat your soul’ – woah that’s hardcore. Not quite like that.

But anywho. Demons certainly aren’t a common problem. I’ve only been able to find out a few things: Demons are evil, but who knows, that could just be racism talking; they’re from hell – I hear it’s nice this time of year; and they have two hearts – information courtesy of the late Richard.

So, pretty much nothing of substance. I just love going in blind…

By the time we get to the city, night has fallen. After turning in the now exhausted bandits, reporting events to the local temple, arranging accommodation and having a quick meal, all the paladins and priests quickly go into their rooms, leaving a crestfallen Ferdinand without an opportunity to talk to Lily. Without any other choice, he too heads to bed, leaving me the only one awake as per usual.

Safe from prying eyes in the confines of Ferdinand’s room, I start my usual training: form manipulation – self and telekinesis. Unlike usual, after exhausting my reserves of psi and mana, I start paying attention to the happenings of the city.

Even at night, the city is active with patrolling guards, people drinking at bars, the occasional figure hurriedly moving along the streets and even the odd thief moving stealthily across the rooftops and into homes.

I figure the bar is the most likely place for me to hear any rumours, especially since there aren’t many people talking in the other parts of the city. For the next few hours I just sit there and lip-read their conversations, only going back to my training when the last few drunkards amble home happily.

Unfortunately, I don’t catch anything relevant to our current situation, but the information is interesting nonetheless. Everyone is still concerned about the Lich – news of his death hasn’t spread yet. Actually, rather than saying that people are concerned about the Lich, they’re more concerned about the effect his actions might have on the price of food.

There seems to be a common assumption that he only targeted villages because he wasn’t strong enough to defeat the defences of a city. Eh… with what we saw, he could probably take down a city or two, if he didn’t get attacked by a group of elites like us.

Anyway, people are concerned that food will grow more expensive. Uh, of course it will? I don’t know exactly how many villages were destroyed, but I think it was most of them. Rather than being concerned with the cost of food, you should be more concerned if there’ll be any food at all.

What with many of the higher ups being corrupt and the supply of food dropping considerably within a short period of time, I’m betting the Empire is going to collapse soon. Now, I may not be an expert on history and city management, but I’m pretty sure the solution to the equation ‘greedy officials + severe lack of food’ is ‘riots, rebellion, famine, disease and other bad things.’

Other than that, there was a bit of talk about that new prince. Not much is known about him, apparently, since he doesn’t seem to make public appearances. Some people think he’s sick. Others think he’s not fit to rule. One weird guy who sat in the corner of a tavern seemed to be convinced that the prince doesn’t exist, and that it’s some sort of political plot.

Seems you get conspiracy theorists whichever world you’re in.

Well, that was pretty much a waste of time. Back to training…

Once I notice other people getting up, I rouse Ferdinand. He gets his gear together and heads down to the first floor of the inn. The innkeeper and a couple of his helpers are already up, and Ferdinand orders some food. Within a few minutes, Lily comes down as well, and Luc shortly after.

With all of them soon finishing their food and armed with the knowledge that most of the other priests and paladins don’t wake up early, I prod Ferdinand along, “Hey. This is a good time. Go talk to her.”

“Okay. Wait… as in now, now? He asks hesitantly.

“Yes, now!” I say in exasperation. “Come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to kiss the girl, just go chat with her for a bit. Try asking about her god. It’s just a chat.”

“And if she doesn’t want to talk about him?” He questions nervously.

Sighing, I say, “She will. But if you can’t think of anything else, you can be practical and find out some more information on fighting spirit or ki. Or demons, but that’s probably not a pleasant topic… NOW GET OUT THERE BEFORE I FORCE YOU TO WITH TELEKINESIS!” I shout.

One of the many advantages of telepathy is that nobody else can hear you shouting, so I can do it in a public place without so much as a pointed glance being directed our way.

Ferdinand gets up somewhat abruptly and walks over to Lily, sitting down opposite her and delivering the first line… he’s a bit nervous initially, but after that he hits the ground running and manages not to embarrass himself horribly.

I carefully keep track of the conversation, just in case he stalls and needs me to supply a line – the heck is this, backseat dating? – but he performs admirably. In carrying a normal conversation. Woo. Still, gotta learn to walk before you can run.

Well, nothing so far has indicated that people of her religion have to stay chaste or anything like that, so that’s a good sign.

Ugh, why the heck am I thinking about this, anyway. I think I’ll just stick to giving advice…

Once everyone is up, fed and able, they all go to the local temple and explain their own perspectives of the event, as well as depositing all the loot – with a few notable exceptions. What used to be the Lich’s phylactery is now a powerless lump of metal, but it apparently still holds the potential to be used again for the same purpose. Because of that, it has been decided that it’ll be melted down and the metal used for something else, but there aren’t any blacksmiths capable of working with mithril in this city, so for now it remains in Luc’s capable hands.

The Lich’s death note is being held onto for obvious reasons, leaving the final object – the Lich’s Necronomicon. In and of itself, the Necronomicon isn’t dangerous. What could be dangerous is if gets into the wrong hands, and the knowledge within is used by another necromancer, or anyone, really. But at the same time, by studying the Necronomicon and understanding the methods and magic involved, the temple will be able to find and exploit potential weaknesses.

Still, the danger is still present, and the local temple has said that it doesn’t have the strength to fend of the trouble that it could potentially attract. For now, it lies in Lily’s hands…

Gerald:

Ferdinand