The group followed Jonathan through fields of giant crops for a few minutes. Alice noted, with some amusement, that wheat and apples were nowhere near the only crops grown in Jonathan’s country. She spotted some sort of pepper, carrots, and several far more exotic-looking crops as well.
Finally, after about ten minutes of walking, they reached a large building. It was one of the strangest architectural designs Alice had ever seen. It looked like someone had made a palace-themed farmhouse. The farmhouse was much, much smaller than an actual palace – it was three stories high, and probably had thirty rooms in total. The walls were enchanted with a basic resilience enchantment, as well as a temperature regulation enchantment. The material was nothing special – it almost looked like regular wood, much to Alice’s confusion.
Jonathan gestured towards the farmhouse, and then winked cheerily at the group.
“A stupendous palace, wouldn’t you say, Lady Alice and Lady Cecilia?” he said, grinning. “It’s the envy of other [Kings] and [Queens]. Truly, a marvel of magical engineering and architecture alike. It’s also the very center of Superbia, the most powerful nation in the Shil Confederacy.”
Cecilia actually giggled at that. Alice also chuckled softly as she looked at the farmhouse. Superbia felt… safe, somehow. The indications of monster attacks and the broken System felt almost nonexistent here, and Alice had never had the [King] of a nation adamantly poking fun at his own nation before. It was a strange, novel experience that pushed the crisis out of Alice’s mind for a few minutes.
“It’s definitely a mighty palace,” Alice said. Then, she raised an eyebrow at Jonathan. “Out of curiosity, you don’t… well…”
“Seem to take my glorious and powerful nation seriously?” asked Jonathan, raising an eyebrow at her. He grinned. “I get asked that question a lot, actually. I think a lot of people who come to meet with me expect to see a petty tyrant, lording over my random chunk of wasteland and holding a trumped up opinion of myself. Or something like that.” Jonathan shrugged.
“To be honest… I founded Superbia as a joke. I mean, it isn’t entirely a joke. I do think that [King] and [Farmer] actually have some pretty good synergy for making ludicrously efficient farms. There’s a reason I make so much money as a [Farmer]. Lots of crops that aren’t supposed to grow on this continent flourish here. But at the end of the day, my nation has five people in it. It’s hard to take yourself too seriously when you’re aware that your nation has a weaker military than an average city’s [Guard] station.” Jonathan grinned. “Not that I can’t ward of [Bandits] or monsters, mind you. I’m still an Immortal. But… my nation is basically only a nation on technicality.” Jonathan shrugged. “Of course, there is one other reason that I founded the nation of Superbia. Besides just the levels in [King] and the synergy between [King] and [Farmer].”
“Oh?” asked Alice, curious.
“My children,” said Jonathan. “While most [Kings] don’t go around advertising this fact left and right, it is common knowledge that [Princes] and [Princesses] get some rather nice Achievements for growing up. I suspect it’s because most royal children experience a fair number of assassination attempts as they get older. Reaching the age of ten alive might not be an Achievement for most people, but if you’re a royal, sometimes it can be difficult to survive.” Jonathan grinned. “So I decided I wanted to lean a little bit into that. My children are technically [Princes] and [Princesses]. They don’t even have their royalty classes as primary classes, because most [Noble] classes require a lot more than this to level up. But even so, it technically qualifies them to receive those Achievements. Those Achievements aren’t anything too special – but a free Achievement for your kids is a free Achievement, right?” said Jonathan.
“Huh.” Alice nodded to herself. She had to admit, that wasn’t quite what she had been expecting… but it made sense, given Jonathan’s attitude so far. If he just treated his ‘glorious nation’ as a way to farm Achievements and levels, it made sense that he was willing to poke fun at it. However, Alice also couldn’t help but wonder if that messed with his levelling progress as a [King]. If everyone perceived his nation to be a joke… would that make it harder for Jonathan to gain levels as a ruler? Alice had a sneaking suspicion that the answer was yes, based on her understanding of the System.
As Alice ruminated on that idea, the group walked into the farmhouse.
Alice saw two men, one girl, and a woman sitting inside of the house arguing with each other.
The youngest child was a girl. She had exceptionally pretty blonde hair that resembled molten gold. She was probably eight or nine years old, and level 10 or so. She had bright blue eyes that sparkled with mischief and intelligence. She was sitting by the side as her older brother and her mother argued, and looked positively delighted to watch them yell at each other. When she saw Alice and the others enter, she held up her fingers in a shushing motion before she turned back towards the others.
The second youngest child was around Alice’s age. He had a very bookish demeanor, and didn’t look like he was particularly strong or handsome. Alice grinned when she recognized a little bit of [Scholar] mana floating around in his body. However, Alice’s attention was quickly drawn to the last child of Jonathan’s family.
The oldest man looked to be in his early twenties, and he was about level 50. He had dark brown hair and green eyes, and seemed to be at least reasonably attractive. However, the mana inside of his body was… troubling.
For some reason, there seemed to be a fair amount of [Explorer] mana stuck in his body. However, there didn’t seem to be an [Explorer] Class seed present… meaning that all of the [Explorer] mana was probably eating away at his mind and personality. Alice frowned as she looked at him. She still didn’t know how to create new class seeds. She could fix ones that weren’t filtering mana properly, but creating a new one from scratch was beyond her. She had no way to fix this situation. At least, not yet.
The final member of the family was the woman herself. She looked to be in her mid forties, and had greying hair and intelligent eyes. When she saw Alice and the others enter the room, she held up her hand towards the others, stopping the argument before Alice could even make out what they had been arguing about. The oldest boy blinked in surprise, before he also turned towards Alice and the others. His eyes passed over Alice, Cecilia, and Ethan… and then became firmly glued to Allira for several seconds, before he realized he was staring.
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The little girl gave Alice a disappointed gaze, as if she was sad the show had ended. She got up, dusted herself off, and then walked back over to her mother, who gently picked her back up.
“#@*$(&@#% @#(*$#@ @#$#@$?” the man said, looking at his mother.
“Illvarian… I think?” she said, turning towards Jonathan.
Jonathan nodded. “The guests speak Illvarian,” he said. “Though the two older ones are Immortals, and know most languages in the region.”
The woman relaxed, and nodded. “I speak Illvarian well enough,” she said, before shaking her head disapprovingly at her son. “Jacob here should know Illvarian, but whether he actually does is up for debate.” Then, she turned towards the bookish-looking boy and the little girl, before she sighed. “As for Mimi and Stuart… Mimi probably won’t understand a word of this. Stuart?”
“I can speak Illvarian quite well,” said the bookish-looking boy. “I have the language skill at 80.”
The little girl looked at the group, before she looked at her mother, and then made the most dramatic sigh Alice had ever heard.
“*@#($* @#(*$#@$ @#(*$&@#(*$&#@ @),” she said.
“You’ll live, Mimi,” said Stuart, as he snorted softly.
“@#*($@#(*!”
Stuart sighed. “I’ll go take Mimi to play in the fields,” he said. “She could use a little more exercise, anyway. Honestly, if she doesn’t try to improve, I’m worried about what her future will be like.”
“Go for it. Thank you, Stuart. I love both of you,” said the woman, before she kissed both of them on the forehead. Stuart led Mimi away, before the woman turned her attention towards Jonathan.
“As for this one, could you kindly explain why now is not the time?” she said, gesturing towards Jacob.
“Ahem… perhaps we should continue that conversation once the guests are settled?” asked Jonathan.
The woman grumbled a few times, before she sighed. “Fine.” She turned towards Jacob. “Jacob, introduce yourself to the guests.”
Jacob looked embarrassed, but after a moment, he nodded.
“Ahem. Nice meet. I’m Jacob,” said the boy. Alice blinked.
Jacob had… questionable grammar in Illvaria. Since his mother had said he should be fluent in Illvaria, Alice got the distinct impression that he had been slacking off a bit…
“I’m Alice,” said Alice, after a few moments. “Nice to meet you as well.”
“I’m Cecilia,” said Cecilia, a moment later. “Nice to meet you… your highness?” she said. She turned towards Jonathan. “What title should I be using here?”
Before Jonathan could answer, Jacob grimaced.
“I’m… I’m [Farmer’s] son. Not real royalty,” he said. Cecilia looked questioningly at Jonathan, who shrugged and nodded.
“I understand. Nice to meet you, Jacob,” said Cecilia.
Allira and Ethan eyed Jacob critically for a few moments, before Ethan nodded. “I’m Ethan, one of the Immortals from Illvaria,” he said.
“Allira, another Illvarian Immortal,” said Allira. Then, she turned back towards Jonathan. “He seems a bit silly, but not bad.”
Jonathan actually beamed at Allira’s words. “He keeps trying to leave, but my wife isn’t keen on it. Still, he’s a fine young man.” He said.
“Illvarian Immortals… Then know Murim?” asked Jacob. His eyes started to shine with expectation.
Allira and Ethan nodded, and Alice started to get a better understanding of Jacob’s situation.
Jacob seemed to admire Murim. He also had a lot of [Explorer] magic stuck inside of his body. He kept trying to leave…
And he couldn’t have picked a worse time to actually succeed in ditching his parents for a while. Normally, Alice felt that it wasn’t a bad thing for children to find their own path. Admittedly, that was probably due to how she was raised. Her parents had always supported her finding what she wanted to do in the future. In most cases, she felt that Jacob getting in a bit of exploring would be a good thing…
That is, it would have been a good thing if the System was up and running properly. Unfortunately, it was currently broken beyond repair.
Alice also started to feel even more uneasy. Just a few minutes ago, she had been thinking that it was nice in Superbia because she couldn’t see any signs of the collapse of the System. The moment she had entered the farmhouse, another problem had reared its ugly head.
Alice inched her way over to Ethan. “Ethan, can you put up a privacy Perk?” she asked.
Immediately, a bubble of rainbow mana flickered into existence around the two.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“I have two things to say. First, I have a question. How much do you trust Immortal Jonathan? Is it all right if I discuss more detailed parts of the collapse of the System, or should we only distribute standard information to him?”
“Immortal Jonathan is pretty trustworthy overall. In his own words, he’s just a simple [Farmer] who happens to be the [King] of the greatest nation on Luliv.” Ethan rolled his eyes. “Jokes aside, he’s a good person.”
Alice nodded.
“Then, second question. Do you think it’s a good idea to tell Immortal Jonathan that his son is flooded with [Explorer] mana, and Jacob does not have a Class seed to handle it?”
Ethan paused. For a brief moment, his expression turned into horror as he looked at Jacob and Jonathan.
“Really?” Ethan asked. “Jacob is…” he frowned, and then put a hand on his forehead. “No, I can see how that would have happened. That doesn’t surprise me. Damn.” Ethan sighed. “[Explorer], huh. I haven’t visited Jonathan recently, but I did hear that his kid kept trying to leave the country. Why hasn’t he ever picked up the damn class before now?”
Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. It does seem like Jacob was arguing with his mother earlier. Maybe we can get some ideas from that? But if I had to guess, I imagine that his parents were afraid of him getting kidnapped by [Bandits] or something. It’s hard to say. Either way, he never got the class, but he has a lot of the mana for it.”
“So how in the world did the kid get access to [Explorer] mana now, after the collapse of the System?” Ethan sounded more numb and frustrated than genuinely curious. Then, Ethan sighed. “Nevermind, I guess it doesn’t really matter. Maybe Jacob got the [Thief] class by stealing something from his father and then returning it? That would get him the stealth Perks he would need to slip away, and wouldn’t leave any traces behind if he immediately returned whatever he stole. It still leaves quite a mess behind.”
Then, weirdly enough, Alice saw a hint of.. respect in Ethan’s eyes. “The kid knows what he wants, that’s for sure. Still, kind of foolhardy. I’m willing to bet that if his father caught him, he would be forced to shovel manure for months on end. At least, if that’s indeed the way he started exploring the area. Either way, his timing couldn’t be worse.”
Alice nodded.
Ethan sighed again.
“What a mess. Well, I don’t think hiding it from Jonathan is a good idea.” Ethan let the Perk dissipate, and then gestured towards Jonathan. “I trust him. Let’s tell him everything about the collapse of the System, and go from there.”
Alice nodded, and the two made their way back towards Jonathan, who was still watching as Cecilia, Allira, and his wife chatted with each other, and the younger boy and the little girl played in the fields.
“Jonathan…” said Ethan, hesitantly.
“Ethan?”
“I… or rather, my apprentice, has some news to share with you.”
Jonathan looked at Ethan’s face, and then Alice’s, before his gaze hardened. “Not the good kind of news, I take it?”
“Sadly not.”
Jonathan grimaced. “Well, let’s hear it. The sooner I know, the sooner I can get to handling it. Is it a monster swarm heading this way?” Jonathan frowned. “If we evacuate my wife and kids to the nearest city, the two of us should be able to face it down, if you’re willing to help out.”
“Jonathan.”
“If it’s a bigger horde, I can abandon the farm for a while and just go somewhere else. My country doesn’t really mean much to me, so I don’t care if it’s razed to the ground. I care about my family, and the country can always be rebuilt later.”
“Jonathan.”
“If there are a lot of problem monsters…”
“Jonathan,” said Ethan. “It’s not a monster horde. It’s your son. Jacob. It seems that he’s sick.”