Chapter 9: A Mirrored Solution
As far as DM could tell, the map recommended by his program was an ideal balance of the nation’s needs. It met all the criteria and used the minimum resources for construction. The only question was, what should he do with this new design?
He knew simply providing the map would potentially cause additional friction, just as DM’s help during the battle with the Union had ultimately caused the king to flip out. However, it would be such a waste if this map wasn’t shared with the kingdom. It would actually bother DM to see the road construction project begin using a plan that was flawed or inefficient.
He wanted to act but wasn’t quite sure how. While Vulp continued to sleep, he spawned a tentacle and used it to carefully peel up the corner of the kingdom’s current map and road network design. He noticed that the large scroll of paper-like material was actually several layers thick. He got an idea.
Spawning a second tentacle for additional control, DM painstakingly separated the top layer of the map from the layers below. After removing the lower layers from the table, he placed the map upside-down. The ink or paint or whatever they used to produce the map had run through to the other side of this thin layer, essentially producing a mirror-image of the kingdom.
DM rummaged through the materials in the room until he found something he could write with. He then went to work marking up the back of the map with the optimized design for a kingdom road network. When finished, he combined the map’s layers again so that his work was obscured within.
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As the horizon began to glow in the pre-dawn hour, a cloaked figure walked down a narrow alley within the capital city. A second figure, short just like the first but bulkier, dropped down from above. The thin figure back-flipped out of the way, narrowly avoiding a dagger.
“Not bad.”
“Thaw!”
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“Follow me, Nina the Smasher.”
“Ugh.”
Thaw led Bandit to a nearby safe house. They sat down opposite one another.
“I’ve heard plenty of rumors, but give it to me straight.”
Bandit talked Thaw through everything that had happened recently in the Twin Cities, including the special work she had carried out at the request of the Guild Master.
“That idiot,” Thaw remarked. “You were in quite a pickle, but to utilize you that way…”
“Should I have refused his orders?”
“Hm? Oh, no, you did the right thing Nina. He just doesn’t know how to properly use Guild Agents. Don’t worry about it.”
“So what are you going to do about all the adventurers from the Union?”
“I’ll hurry back to the Twin Cities. I have some people to interrogate. You can take your time with your friends.”
“Okay.”
As Bandit was leaving the room, she could just barely hear Thaw mutter to herself, “So we really do have that guy to thank for the city holding, don’t we…”
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Vulp received assistance carrying the map back to the palace. After setting it down on the big table at the center of the throne room, she noticed various nobles and Lords filed into the area. Lord Davidson stayed up front to chat with other bigwigs, but Vulp slipped to the back of the group where she felt more comfortable. Eventually, the king entered and resumed the meeting from yesterday.
“Let’s start with the map, then we’ll go on to other topics. Whose turn was it?”
The group resumed deliberations. They began arguing about one part of the map in particular, trying to decide how to handle a coastal road off at the western tip of the kingdom. The region extended all the way to the edge of the map.
Stolen story; please report.
“Hm?” One man Vulp didn’t recognize was suddenly focusing on the edge of the map. “It looks different than yesterday. What’s this line?”
“That faded part?” another man responded, pointing to a spot on the map.
“Yes. It seems… hm?” He started fiddling with the edge. “I was right! It’s from the back, or rather, the back-side of the upper layer?”
“Did it bleed through from the top surface?” the king asked, also interested.
“I don’t think so, your Majesty. Hold on.” The man peeled the layers apart a bit further. “What is this?”
“Has someone sabotaged our plan!?” Now the king was getting agitated.
“P–Please wait, your Majesty.” The man continued to peel off more of the upper layer and inspect the back-side of the map. “There’s… another map back here. Help me separate these.”
Working together, several men completely separated the upper layer from the others, setting it down upside-down on the table.
“You’re sure this writing wasn’t here yesterday?” the king asked.
“I’m fairly sure, your Majesty. When you look closely, you can see the writing from the back showing on the front side all over the map. It’s all backwards, though.”
“Well of course, it’s on the back.” The king turned to Lord Davidson. “Hey, didn’t your people borrow the map yesterday? Was this your doing?”
Before the king could get an answer, others who were inspecting the new map pulled everyone’s attention with their statements, shouted in no particular order.
“This is!”
“The plan is completely different!”
“The roads seem much more efficient like this.”
“Look how they handled this region here.”
The king turned away from Lord Davidson in response to all the commotion. “Is this better than what we had before?”
“Undoubtedly, your Majesty.”
The group continued studying the map, trying to make sense of all the differences between this version and the original one.
“Is it just me, or is this one better in every respect?”
“Hold on.” One noble responded to the other with a firm tone. “Look here.” He pointed to a southern area of the Holy State. “This won’t work. The whole area was damaged last year by flooding. Whoever modified the map like this clearly had no idea what they were doing.”
Everyone nearby stared at that portion of the map for a few moments before the man who originally discovered the alternate version spoke up. “But the damage wasn’t depicted on the map, correct?”
“Well, yeah, we don’t update maps that often.”
“So, in other words, this road network is ideal for what was shown on the map, rather than what’s actually happening out in the kingdom.”
“I suppose.”
The king turned back to Lord Davidson. “Well, you heard them. Who did this?”
“Vulp, uh, did you and your friends create this version of the map?”
“N–No, it wasn’t us…”
“You’re sure?”
The king interrupted before Vulp could reply. “This is Valorous Vulp we’re talking about, I doubt she’s lying. Besides, I don’t think some young girls could have produced this map.”
“That’s true, your Majesty.”
“So…” The king looked around the room at everyone present. “Where did this secret map come from?”
Everyone looked down or away, avoiding making eye contact with the king.
“I’ll ask again… Where do you suppose this map came from?”
“Your majesty, it could be the work of that dungeon master we discussed earlier,” one man suggested.
“That could be it!” another followed up. “We heard yesterday it helped Lord Davidson defend the city. Perhaps this map is its next attempt to help?”
“Okay, hold on.” The king placed his hands down flat on the table. “Even if that tentacle monster wanted to help the kingdom, how exactly would he have modified our map since yesterday?”
Nobody answered him.
“How did he come up with such an optimized map in one day when it’s taken the rest of us so long to produce the inferior version on the other side?”
Once again, nobody had an answer for the king.
The king looked over his shoulder at his attendant from the Church, only to finally notice that a young stand-in was there instead of the usual older man. “Why’re you here?”
“Your Majesty, there’s an important matter that the Church is attending to right now, so I was sent as a temporary replacement. I beg your understanding.”
“What matter? Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I believe so. One of our priestesses journeyed from the Twin Cities to present on several topics.”
“Present? That’s unusual. What is she presenting about?”
The priest hesitated. “I don’t know for certain myself.”
“Go ahead and guess.” The king was growing impatient, even of the Church’s representative.
“Something to do with the very forces that propel our world, the moon, and the sun through the great nothingness.”
“Huh? That sounds more interesting than most of the–deep breaths. Deep breaths.” The king clearly didn’t want to offend the Church. “Why is a priestess from the Twin Cities teaching this topic in the capital?”
“She seems to have learned this revolutionary information as a result of an investigation ordered by the clergy in the Twin Cities. Due to her success, she’s now reporting in the capital.”
“I still don’t get it.” The king wasn’t letting this go. “How would some investigation in the Twin Cities result in learning new information about the heavens?”
“That I am unsure of, your Majesty. Even now, I must confess I’m reporting mere rumors.”
“No, I appreciate it,” the king offered. “So long as we are already on the topic of rumors, please, tell me your best guess for where this priestess learned all this new information about forces or whatever it was.”
“I… I believe the source is the same as that road map you were just discussing.”