"Wait, hold up, so someone in Welstom doesn’t actually belong here?!" Riva felt her bones chill at the idea.
“That is what we can assume,” Amira said, doing her best to remain calm. “It seems as though someone outside of the town entered unnoticed and used a memory spell to mess with our memories of who the residents are. So as far as we know, everyone “belongs here”. But we know that has to be impossible. None of the residents have magic strong enough to trip the totem, which means someone in this town is not actually from this town, and we just don’t know it.”
Azim spoke for the first time in several minutes, “Do you happen to have any leads?”
“No,” the mayor grumbled. “Nobody sticks out to us, as they all seem like they belong here. But you’re welcome to ask around, see if anybody is suspicious, ho, ho!”
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The two companions sat in the town square, unsure what to do. How could they possibly figure out who didn’t belong in this town if nobody was “hiding”? As far as all the townsfolk knew, everybody knew everybody here, and everybody belonged. This meant nobody was just lying to hide the imposter, because as far as they knew, their memories were true.
Riva had asked Azim to get to know the townsfolk, but being a logistical robot, he was not exactly the best at talking people up. While Riva herself was asking around how long everyone had lived in the town or known each other, as casually and nonchalantly as possible, Azim was a little more… direct.
“Gil, are you an imposter?” The naive robot asked bluntly.
“Uh… what?”
The metal man continued his intense detective work. “Are you an imposter of Welstom?”
“What… does that mean?” Gil was unsure what to make of the situation. “Is there an imposter here?! What are you saying, buddy?”
Riva caught wind of the interaction and broke it up before the android revealed too much about what they were doing. Azim was unsure of what he was doing wrong. “Hey!.. What are we talking about over, you handsome gents?” Riva blurted, feigning confidence. “Seemed like we were having a lively discussion, the matter of which I’d love to know!”
“Azim was just saying something about… an imposter? What’s he talking about?”
The woman was not the best liar. She had never really done well with split-second decisions. “Whaaat? No no... Azim, that’s not what I said,” Riva backtracking the robot’s words. “I said pasta, I wanted us to find the best pasta in Welstom. I’m so sorry for the scare, Gil, dear. Do you happen to know where we can find some?”
Surprisingly, Gil bought the lie and told them to check out Olvo’s Bistro. According to him Olvo was famous in the town for his bolognese sauce made with Salbat meat. As they walked to the restaurant, Azim asked, “You did not mention pasta before now, why did you lie to Gil?”
“Because we can’t have him or any of the other townsfolk worrying,” Riva explained. “If we let people know outright that there is an imposter, it could cause chaos. I talked to a few people. A woman named Jelle and an oddly quiet elf man named Tiz might be my best leads. But we have to find the memory messer quietly. Okay? Who knows, maybe it’ll even be Orvo.”
She didn’t notice Azim click.
Pushing through the open doors the two were met with a pleasant sight. The floor was lined with 4 tables, 3 of which were filled, and a row of unlit lanterns on either side of the interior. The place seemed busy and smelled of delicious meat, sauce, and spices. The two were greeted by Orvo himself, who wasn't any less aware of what they had done than anyone else. Orvo was a buff man, with several feint scars on both arms. He had dark skin and a hearty, brown beard that connected to his goatee, as well as a short, faded afro with a surgical line. Riva thought he looked too good for a town like this, and as it turned out, so was his food. “How’s it going, friends?” His voice boomed with enthusiasm. “You two are the first visitors we’ve had in about a week or so! How ‘bout a bowl for each of you, on the house!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Azim and Riva sat down and within minutes, were brought bowls of the house bolognese by Orvo himself once again. He sat down with them and continued talking. “Since everyone’s still reeling from the news, it will be a while before it gets busy again, so I can sit with y’all for a bit.”
Orvo and Riva started talking about various topics, Riva making sure to keep the conversation light, which she found was easy, since Orvo mostly asked about how the two were liking Welstom. Azim did not contribute much and spent his time fixating on his fork. He was hoping to levitate it or even make it bend but was not met with any success. The robot wanted to know what had come over him back then, and wondered if it had any relation to why he was here in the first place or why sections of his programming had been blocked off. Orvo went into detail about his cooking, and where he picked up his skills. He had actually come from a bigger city, ending up here by choice. Riva was charmed that her first impression came from a place of realism. Orvo told them how he had base level 6 magic but no real specialty. His family was not the wealthiest back in the city and wasn’t able to mold his magic potential, so he moved out to the countryside to make a name for himself, even if it was a small one. “Yeah, when I was a kid, my folks thought I could have been a prodigy, but weren’t able to help my stuff grow,” the man recalled. “I know it's crazy, but my magicraft skills haven’t really improved since my childhood days. It’s alright though, what did grow was my love for the culinary arts, ‘ya feel me? I may not be the most acclaimed chef out there, but right here, the whole town treats me like a legend. And that’s good enough for me, man.”
The restaurant owner noticed Azim staring at the fork, unmoving. “Ay man, you alright? Not hungry? My feelings won’t be hurt if you ain’t,” Orvo chuckled.
Riva glanced over at the robot next to her. “No, that is not it,” Azim replied. “I want to move this fork, but I seem to be struggling to.”
“Oh, you tryna’ be a Metalmancer, huh?” Orvo asked understandingly. “Well I’ll tell ya’, I may not know much about it, but while on the journey of cooking, I’ve picked up the basics. I could show you a few things if you want.”
“That would be…” Azim looked up at Orvo for the first time the entire conversation. “Appreciated.”
“Alright, well, I can’t tell you much about full-on Metallokinesis, I can show you some low-level stuff,” the chef began. “Starting with something small, like this fork. Simply say, ‘Metal Charm’, and the thing should start movin' on its own.”
As Orvo spoke the incantation, the fork floated up and began dancing around the table. Azim watched in computerized amazement. “Then you just let it do its thing,” the chef continued. “As you get better at it, you can think of directions to give the targeted piece of metal, and it will do those things. Though initially, and this might be all you can do for now, you think of what you want the metal to do before you bring it to life. Then when the spell activates it will carry out the will you had when casting. Hence why the fork is dancing!” Orvo chuckled again, enjoying the tutoring lesson.
“This is very useful when cooking, but you can also… Scrap Return!” Orvo chanted while flexing open his right hand. In that instant, the fork stopped dancing along the table and zipped towards the restaurant owner, passing his face and resting in his palm for him to hold.
“Those two are pretty basic, especially depending on what you use them on. I mean of course, there’s a regular Return spell, but Scrap Return targets metal exclusively, so if your metalmancy level is higher than your base level, it’s better to just use that. The larger size or quantity of metal you try to mess with, the higher magic level you’re gonna’ need. I think those two are good to start with, especially if you got no previous experience.”
The chef threw the fork to his left, back onto the table in front of Azim. The android stared at it for a few seconds. He raised his hand over the utensil and chanted, “Return”.
Nothing happened. He tried again. Still, the fork remained on the table. Orvo then gave him one last piece of advice. “It's not going to make sense, but you gotta’ think without thought,” the restaurant owner explained. “That’s what I tell myself. You gotta’ think of what you wanna’ do, ‘cuz without thinking you obviously ain’t gonna’ do anything. But at the same time, if you think too hard about your execution of the magic, it’s gonna’ muddle the actual result. You can’t rationalize what you do when it comes to magicraft. There’s no step-by-step instruction or secret way to improve your hands or tone you incant. You learn the spells and stuff, but then that's it. You just… do. Think… without thought.”
This proved to be a real challenge for Azim. Being nothing but code, he was technically “thinking” constantly. He analyzed every action and micro-action he ever made, as well as thought. This applied to everyone around him and even his surroundings. If he really was capable of learning magicraft, even only one art of it, the biggest hurdle was going to be just what Orvo described; thinking without thought.
“I wish I could give you more help, buddy, but that’s about all I got,” Orvo said, wrapping up. “Sorry to say, but I don’t think there’s anyone else here with magic worth sharing. I know level 6 ain’t much, but I think I’m the most this town has.”
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As the two left the restaurant, Riva was stumped. “Could it have been him? He seemed so nice, so charming, though I suppose it could have been a cover. Maybe he was lying about his magic level…”
“Orvo did not lie throughout the entirety of our conversation with him,” Azim stated plainly.
“W-What? How do you know, hun’?”
“When you explained to me why you had to lie to protect Gil, it unlocked by ‘Lie-Detecting’ software. Though I was not able to do so until you triggered it, I am now able to read the biometrics of subjects in front of me and perceive whether or not they are telling the truth. This is done through eye movements, sweat, body language, tone of voice, heartbeat, and various other factors. Granted, it is not flawless as I can not actually see into a subject’s mind, but I can provide results with 89.2% accuracy. The accuracy is greater the worse a subject is at hiding the truth.”
“Wow, hun', that’s really impressive,” Riva admired. She paused. “Wait a minute… Azim, dear, I think I know one more person we might have to test that on...”
She grabbed Azim by the hand and pulled him forward. Azim was unsure where the frantic woman was taking him. The two of them found themselves at the foot of an entrance to a door that was closed. The only door that was closed. As Riva pulled the door open, they were met with two familiar faces talking in the main foyer. “Yes, dear?” the mayor asked. “What is it?”