Magic is Programming

Carlos had barely put on his underwear when a familiar telepathic voice spoke in his mind. [Carlos! You finally respawned!]

Carlos froze in surprise for a moment, then chuckled and resumed reaching for a shirt to put on. [Hello, Purple. You've been anxious about me?]

[A little. Amber told me you would respawn, and I've seen people I killed come back again, but having my bond with you lapse was strange and unfamiliar. Also, I want to talk with you about what soul structures I should make.]

Carlos paused and blinked. Twice. [You're a lot more articulate than before.]

[Yes. I made my own comprehension aid. It helps a lot. I'm making an introspector, and then mana redistributor.] Purple sent a pulse of pride over the bond, then shifted to hesitant uncertainty. [After that, I'm not sure.]

[Congratulations! I hope those help you as much as they're helping us. Oh, I renamed the mana redistributor, by the way. I'm calling it a debugger now.] Carlos adjusted his shirt a little, and grabbed a pair of pants.

['Debugger'? Ah. Yes, that describes more of its functions better. What do you suggest for other soul structures?]

[Hmm. Most of the rest of ours are related to casting spells, which you don't do.] Carlos fastened the waist of his pants closed, and grabbed a pair of socks. [I'll have to think about it. I'll need to have an in depth conversation with you about what exactly you want first, too, and I might be busy for a while dealing with the people who killed me.] He let out a brief laugh. That was an odd thing to think seriously, and certainly a situation he had never imagined might happen.

[Ok. I'll finish my debugger in a few days. Then I'll need advice.]

[Then I'll make sure to have that discussion before then. Now, I need to focus on other things.] Carlos felt Purple's attention withdraw, and put on his shoes. He was glad Amber had insisted that he get a spare pair of shoes, just in case. On Earth he had just owned a single pair of tennis shoes and worn them every day, but here that habit would have left him almost barefoot in only socks, with his shoes somewhere in the Wilds and probably torn apart by trampling. Or, actually, his Earth shoe habits would have left him looking strangely partly overdressed, having to fall back on the formal black shoes that he only ever wore on the rare occasions that called for him to dress up in a suit.

He shook his head, dismissing thoughts of shoes and old habits, and stood up. He looked around but didn't see a sword or armor anywhere. He shrugged. He hadn't bought spares of those, and either they'd been left in the Wilds, or Amber and the guards hadn't intruded into his room to put them here. Either way, it was time to rejoin them. Carlos squared his shoulders, walked to his room's door, opened it, and stepped out to greet Amber.

Sconter rushed through the streets of Dramos, deftly weaving his large body around all the people who didn't react quickly enough to get out of his way. He was careful to make noise as he ran, for the sake of his disguise, but still slipped through the air with little disturbance. He didn't want to annoy the street vendor who'd told him about Amber's mad dash by blowing the man's merchandise to the ground as she had.

Except for avoiding collisions, he barely even noticed the people and buildings he passed by. His mind was far too preoccupied with the revelation that Carlos's home was a rented room at an inn. That could only mean that Carlos did not truly have a home. An exile from his house, cast out in disgrace and disowned, perhaps? Sconter shook his head. An exile would not be given such elite guards. Maybe he was a rebellious youth, rejecting a home he regarded as overbearingly stifling? That... could fit, with his family hoping that some time apart would lead to reconciliation, but the rift between Carlos and his family would have to be great indeed for it to affect where his soul returned to respawn.

He spotted the street vendor he'd talked with earlier, and absently waved as he ran past. Sconter didn't bother to look for whether the man responded. His thoughts were back on Carlos again. Could the boy even be a new noble, possibly? That was rare, but it would explain his lack of a home. Wherever he had lived before, he would not be allowed to take over lordship of the place from an already established house. Sconter sighed quietly. Regardless of Carlos's background, Sconter didn't know whether Carlos intended to make Dramos his home, or if this was merely a temporary stop before he moved on. All he really knew was that their assumptions had been mistaken, and he didn't know yet how bad the mistake was.

Sconter reached the gate, ran out of easy sight range from the walls, and finally dropped his disguise. He took off his breastplate and stowed it and his large axe in his enchanted storage bag, lit the special beacon in his soul that would let his allies sense where he was, closed his eyes for a moment to focus, and ran. He had already sent the signal that he had discovered a complication and was coming to explain. Haftel was probably pacing a nervous rut into the dirt, wondering what might have gone wrong, and Sconter would be happy to hand over the problem of figuring out what to do about it. Political subterfuge was far too often an annoyingly complicated headache; he much preferred scouting and ambushing simpler and more straightforward enemies.

"Carlos!" Amber slammed into him almost the moment he opened the door and hugged him tightly. Carlos staggered for a moment, then awkwardly hugged her back. They stayed there until Lorvan coughed quietly, and Amber stepped back, blushing slightly.

Carlos grinned nervously as he glanced at Lorvan, then looked back at Amber. "I, uh, respawned here after all? Sorry to worry you?" He shrugged. "What did I miss?"

"Right." Amber took a moment to compose herself. "We believe Esmorana's party caused the stampede, and deliberately targeted us with it. I want to confront them about it, but it should be both of us together. We've already talked with Mayor Stelras, and he's setting up a meeting. He's just waiting for confirmation that you're here and not, I don't know, respawned in that cave or Erlen or something." She faltered and looked down. "And that you agree with it. It's your house, if you think it's a bad idea we'll call it off. I was just so angry I didn't even think of waiting for you first."

"Heh. Erlen would have been awkward. Especially if someone else has moved in. Can you imagine?" Carlos chuckled and shook his head, then smiled and gently placed his right hand on Amber's shoulder. "Amber, look at me. Please." She took a deep breath and looked up at his face. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. You did the right thing. I agree, we need to nip this conflict with Esmorana's party in the bud, before they escalate even further. And if we happen to be wrong about who aimed that stampede at us, we need to find that out as soon as possible. Your judgement was good, and I'm glad that you proactively got it started. You need to trust your own competence a bit more."

Amber looked away and blushed, then impulsively hugged Carlos again. "Thank you," she whispered.

Carlos squeezed her gently, then broke the hug. "Now then. Stelras is expecting us right away, isn't he? Let's not keep him waiting."

Amber nodded and turned to leave. "I'll fill you in on my thoughts about this on the way."

Sconter was a few miles out from Dramos when he felt his belt pouch vibrating faintly. The vibration lasted one second, then after a pause of one second it started again. It kept pulsing on and off, repeatedly, and he stopped running to looked at his belt pouch, confused. That wasn't a signal his party used, and the stone for signaling them was strapped to his chest, not in his belt pouch.

He opened the pouch and dug through it, soon finding the vibrating object. It was a small disc of metal, about twice as wide across as a coin, with an engraved image of four people all with different weapons and armor standing guard in front of a large wall. The continuing pulses of vibration felt much stronger with it held directly in his hand. He stared, trying to remember what this thing was and why it would vibrate. The tiny depiction of a flag at the top of the wall above a mostly obscured gate caught his eye, and he remembered that the wall represented Dramos.

Sconter frowned, pieces of decades-old memories slowly coming back to him. "The... mayor's emergency signal?" That was strange. Mayor Stelras had never signaled an emergency call for adventurers in all the years that Sconter had lived in Dramos. The walls were strong, the city guards were capable, and things dangerous enough to warrant even mustering the city guards rarely came near the city. Any monster powerful enough to need adventurers to reinforce the guards would have stuck out to Sconter's senses like a beacon at night in this low mana density area, even from miles away.

An invading army could theoretically hide from his senses at a distance, but there was no nation anywhere near this border for an invasion to come from. That left internal strife of some kind, but Dramos didn't have any internal tensions bad enough to be beyond the city guards. Even if an elite adventuring party - souls, even if his own party - went on a rampage, the guards could overwhelm them with numbers. He snorted in amusement at the thought. There'd be a lot of guards respawning after a fight like that, especially if someone like Esmorana decided to damn the consequences and trash the entire area with large scale attacks, but the adventurers would lose in the end.

No, it would take someone on the level of a noble to out fight the Dramos city guards. His blood ran cold as that possibility came to mind. "Shit!" Carlos and Amber. Had their parents decided to take revenge on Stelras, or even the city as a whole, despite how the Crown would inevitably respond to that? Haftel had been so sure that fear of Crown punishment would ward off any too blatant noble interference, but maybe he'd been wrong.

Sconter shook his head, put the token back in his pouch, and resumed running. Whatever this was about, he would need to regroup with the rest of his party. They could handle so much more together than any of them could do alone.

A few more miles and several minutes later, a strong gust of wind blew directly in Sconter's face, and he stopped, sensing familiar mana in the gust and in the three souls rapidly approaching his position. The constant quiet rustling of leaves abruptly became many times louder directly above him, and was joined by the loud crackling of many branches breaking. The forest canopy above him parted, revealing a glimpse of the dim late evening sky, and an unnaturally straight tornado formed and descended. He leaped up into the tip of the tornado, and it rapidly lifted him into the sky above.

He was unceremoniously deposited into the rightmost of four chairs that were attached side by side to two long wooden rods, one at the tops of the chairs and one at the bottom in the back. Ropes extended from the top rod to several large pieces of cloth that billowed ahead of them, filled with a raging torrent of wind that blew the whole contraption forward even faster than Sconter could run. Despite the power of the winds propelling them, a bubble of calm and quiet air surrounded the chairs and the four people sitting in them.

Haftel turned his head to face Sconter from the adjacent seat, his face creased by a grim frown. "Sconter, report. Is your complication related to the mayor's emergency?"

"Maybe. I can only speculate about the emergency. The complication is that Carlos respawned in his room at the Adventurer's Haven."

"He had a respawn anchor?"

Sconter shook his head. "No. I would have sensed that. It was a completely natural respawn. He's homeless."

"A homeless high noble respawned, and then the mayor sent an emergency call."

"Yes."

"Hmm." Haftel drummed his fingers on the handles of two of his sheathed daggers, fidgeting as he stared straight ahead and thought. "High nobles are touchy about commoners standing up to them. It's possible that they might be offended enough to risk Crown punishment even for the sake of an estranged exile. But..." He looked sharply at Sconter. "They were at only the first compression when they arrived, correct?"

Noralt spoke up from her seat on the far left. "Yes. I remember that seemed odd. High nobles shouldn't have any trouble doing the first few compressions at home, why would they come here before even doing that?"

Esmorana rolled her eyes. "Because the first few are so easy and cheap that it doesn't matter, duh."

"Hmm." Haftel brooded in silence as the walls of Dramos rapidly approached.

Mayor Stelras looked up from his desk as Liafra knocked on his door. He glanced at Carlos, who was sitting to his right on one of the chairs that usually stayed in front of Stelras's desk. Amber was sitting beside Carlos on the other chair, holding Carlos's hand, and the two royal guards were standing in formal parade ground posture on either side of them, resplendent in their gleaming full plate armor without disguises. Carlos nodded, and Stelras called out to Liafra. "Show them in."

Haftel led the procession, tall and lanky, his hands at his sides but periodically twitching towards some of his daggers. Esmorana came second, striding with practiced poise in her long dress, her hair fluttering slightly in an unseen breeze on her back. Noralt followed, her bulging muscles and shorter height combining into a thick and swarthy appearance. Sconter brought up the rear, his large frame dwarfing the other three, yet walking in utter silence. They all took in the sight of Carlos, Amber, and the guards in heavy plate, as they lined up in front of the mayor's desk.

Stelras broke the silence first. "I expect you four already know the incident that prompted this. Don't you." It was not a question.

Haftel stilled his hands by curling them into fists. "Sir. First, may I inquire about the details of..." He glanced at Carlos again, his gaze lingering for a moment on Lorvan's armor. "Lord Carlos and Lady Amber's business in Dramos?"

Stelras locked eyes with him for several seconds, then nodded minutely and raised his right hand towards Carlos. "High Lord Carlos Founder, and High Lady Amber Carlos, are the new rulers of Dramos by order of the Crown. Due to their unusual lack of a pre-established power base, they intended to remain incognito for some time, to build up their power and resources before openly announcing the founding of their house. Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens are on loan to them from the Crown's Royal Guard for the time being."

Gasps rang out at the announcement of their full names, and of their authority over the city. The four veteran adventurers stared in varying degrees of shock, shifting their gazes among all of Stelras, Carlos, Amber, Lorvan, and Ordens. Eventually, Haftel took a deep breath with his eyes closed, and turned back to squarely face Mayor Stelras once more. His three party members all looked at him, and let him take the lead. "Mayor, I do not doubt your honesty, but this is an extraordinary development. I would like to see specific proof, if I may."

Before Stelras could begin to answer, Carlos leaned forward and raised his right hand, showing a polished silvery white ring on his ring finger. He touched it with his mana, and a floating image of a steel plate appeared, inlaid with light-drinking black adamantium lines that spelled out his name. Amber mirrored his gesture, showing an identical image projected by the ring on her hand as well. "The actual plate is in the city's secure treasury. If you insist on inspecting it, you may arrange that with Mayor Stelras later."

Haftel slowly walked closer, and bent forward to examine the image in detail. After inspecting it from several angles at less than a foot's distance, he straightened and stepped back. He turned and walked to his party, and they gathered in a tight circle for a whispered discussion. Not even the slightest sound of their voices could be heard outside the group, until they all nodded and returned to standing in a line, but facing Carlos this time.

Haftel took one step forward, and slowly dropped to one knee on the floor, bowing over his raised knee. "High Lord Carlos Founder, we all give our sincere apology for attempting to drive you and Lady Amber away, and forcing you to respawn. We plead ignorance, and beg your forgiveness. We believed you were from an existing noble house, and that you sought to drain our Wilds' resources for the benefit of your own house elsewhere. We will not try again. We hope that you will rule responsibly and use the power and resources you gain to benefit Dramos and your eventual heirs, the future of your house."

Carlos nodded gravely. "I accept your apology. I understand your mistake and your motivations, and I forgive you for it. I also promise that I do intend to invest in Dramos's growth for the future. As for the possibility of a visiting noble draining resources to take back home, funny you should mention that..."

Jamar Tostral angrily glared at her father, tapping her foot impatiently. "It's about time you got here to see me!"

High Lord Recindril Tostral crossed his arms and glared right back. "I was busy. Ruling our lands involves tasks that I cannot arbitrarily interrupt for non emergencies, and you know that."

"Well, I have news for you. Some up-jumped ignorant brat from a minor house is breaking the rotation agreement! I died while confronting him about it, not from taking whatever stupid risk you thought I did. Is that important enough to justify interrupting you for it?" Jamar smiled as her father's expression changed.

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