In many ways, this world I had landed in was similar to medieval times on earth. The way some people lived, the jobs, the buildings, much of it wouldn’t have been out of place in the past of earth. However, there were also interesting differences. Like how people went to a job agency to find work, how there were entire multi-story buildings full of bureaucrats in suits, handling various tasks, or how they had established a national, paper-based currency system. It didn’t quite fit. After hearing that Alarna had a “king,” I also had a certain picture in mind of what the administration of this place looked like, but these assumptions too didn’t hold up for long, and now it was clear to me that there was almost nothing medieval about this society. If anything, they were closer to modern times.
When we started talking to the people who had been arrested for the time being, a good portion of them were initially not keen on helping us. I had hoped for more, but expected less, as some of them did let a few things slip. The ones who were most helpful, however, were the priests. Even more so than the ones at the temple, they seemed to be eager to get on our good side, maybe in an attempt to stay in power. Whatever the reason, they told us anything we wanted to know, and every bit that we learned improved the talks with the Rulers in turn. The more information you have, the easier it is to convince people that you don’t really need them, which inevitably leads to them letting things slip or trying to broker information in an attempt to gain points with you.
Even with Berla and Reurig on our team, we hadn’t had a lot of information about how this town really operated, them only being Fighters, who were also relatively low in Alarna’s hierarchy. Little by little, we were starting to piece things together though. At the head of town was the king, who was comparable to a company president. He appointed officials to the authorities, coordinated agency-spanning operations and interactions, bargained with neighboring towns at times, and generally kept the ball rolling. My picture of a king, even a good king, was that they would spend a good portion of their day with recreational activities, or with enjoying the finer things that commonors would never be able to afford, but that was apparently not the case with King Hertar Alarna and his predecessors. If our prisoners were to be believed, the kings and queens had always been hardworking people, who gave their all for this town. Since even the priests shared this sentiment, I was inclined to believe them, seeing how the king was essentially their High Priest’s “archnemesis.”
Below the king were the other Rulers, who either assisted the town’s leader directly or had been placed at the heads of various agencies. Basically, they were the COOs, CFOs, CIOs, and department leaders. Some of them definitely seemed like they had gotten their positions only because of nepotism, but true to the town’s laws, every single one of them seemed to at least have an actual job. In total there were only fourteen adult rulers though, with ten of them currently being in prison.
On the other side we had the temple, which was nothing like I expected either. I had already learned quite a bit from Lilana, and just like the Rulers didn’t feel much like aristocracy, neither did the temple feel like a religious institution. Granted, most of them were devout believers of the gods, but that wasn’t actually a big part of their daily lives, and the gods and their teachings weren’t the driving force behind their movement. Instead, in one way or another, most of them seemed to simply be a bunch of do-gooders. Doctors, teachers, childcarers, but also researchers and inventors, who were determined to improve peoples’ lives just for the sake of it. Even Oryn, despite his flaws, appeared to do what he was doing for only two reasons. For the people and for science.
This was the only relatively common denominator that I had been able to find with the “Worshippers,” a Calling that was otherwise confusingly varied. It made perfect sense to me that someone who was good with their hands might become a Handiworker and end up as a tailor, but what gods or religion had to do with becoming a doctor was beyond me. The more I learned, the clearer it became to me that the Worshipper Calling was something else.
In the distant past, the Rulers had become the ruling class because of their actions alone, not because a god came down and proclaimed them as such. The first queen had taken over control, and with nobody seriously contesting her authority, a new status quo had been established, and this Calling had received its name. Over time, people might have come to believe that this had been the gods’ intention, or that it was natural for these multi-talented people to lead and coordinate all the other departments, which they could all understand and support to a degree, but the Calling’s purpose had essentially been man-made.
Similarly, the first people to join under the temple banner weren’t known as Worshippers. Actually, they were primarily Fighters, led by a few followers of the gods, who wanted to protect and help the people. They too took over control of town, even before the first queen, and shaped their future. There seemed to be a natural disposition for these kinds of people to receive this specific Calling, however, and they gravitated towards joining the temple instead of the authorities when it came time to choose between one or the other. With the temple and the early rulers fighting over the town, lines were drawn, and soon enough, receiving this Calling simply meant that you would join the temple. A group that consisted in large parts of believers, of people who worshiped the gods.
Today, the temple was essentially just providing public services, though they were largely financed by donations. At least that part was somewhat church-like. Just like the king, the High Priest was mainly responsible for everyone else doing their jobs right, and just like the Rulers, the upper clergy assisted him in this. One of them was responsible for the medical business, one for the schools, one for the rituals, one for the public libraries, and so on. And once again, none of these jobs seemed like the world would end just because they weren’t there for a week or two.
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Maybe I was just being optimistic, but I felt like we could handle this. In a way, this entire town was structured like a company, and in the grand scheme of things, many of the key personnel we had just removed didn’t actually have crucial roles. I had to keep in mind that maybe not every single person was independent enough to work without oversight, but there were also people like Borus, head stoner and, albeit for just a short time, our former boss, who I could picture thriving under such conditions, when he didn’t have to constantly report to some higher up.
I had had lingering doubts that it would be difficult to replace a king, but even more than before, I started to believe that, technically, ruling Alarna wouldn’t be much of an issue. It would be a lot of work, especially in the first couple of days, but at its core it was just a management position.
The one thing that bothered me in all this was the High Priest. There were very few people who had nice things to say about him, and his actions never quite fit his job description. Even though he wasn’t the official leader of this town, he did everything in his power to appear like he was, and he apparently crossed lines much more freely than the king.
Reurig had already told us about how people who had once monitored Tomar and me had been disposed of without a second thought, just because they didn’t do their job well and their boss was in a bad mood because of it. This was apparently not something the king did lightly. The High Priest’s agents were also urged to spy on every single thing that happened inside the king’s mansion, so the temple always knew exactly what was going on in town. He might’ve been doing his job on the surface, but his motives were clear. Despite being a Worshipper, he didn’t really care about the people or the town, and I was a little worried about what he might attempt to do to get back to power. At least he didn’t seem to have many supporters, however. It will work out, I thought. It has to.
***
After spending the entire afternoon talking to Rulers, Worshippers, department heads, and people who, despite our guards, stopped us in the streets to learn more about what was to come, we had finally made it back to the temple and I let myself fall onto the comfy sofa in the High Priest’s office, right next to Berla.
“Welcome back,” she said with a smile.
“Tadaima,” I responded absentmindedly, drained from talking to strangers for hours. And hours... and hours.
“What...?” Berla said with a confused expression on her face, making me realize what I had just said.
“Oh, nevermind. I’m just... done for the day.”
“He’s been complaining for a while,” Tomar said with a grin.
“I really don’t enjoy talking for hours on end,” I said.
“Unless it’s about Omega,” Tomar said.
“Yup.”
I enjoyed discussions about certain topics, and I could certainly make a speech or two if I had to, but I wasn’t actually much of a fan of talking. That was one reason I hadn’t completely hated my life as a bodiless conscious inside other people’s heads. It had been quite inconvenient to not be able to actively do anything most of the time, but being able to just “sit back” and silently think and theorize about Omega day in and day out, while watching Tomar go about his day, had been relaxing back then. Something to strive for, getting back to a more quiet and relaxed life.
“So, how did it go?” Berla asked.
“I’m optimistic. We talked to most of the prisoners and some officials, and I have a cursory sense of what we’ll need to do in the next couple of days. Managing the town shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Just... work.”
“You’re not taking it too lightly again, are you?”
“Probably not.”
‘He definitely is,’ Lilana added in my mind.
“Shush.”
There were times when I almost forgot that she was there, as quiet as she was most of the time, but just like with Riala, you were reminded of her looming whenever she suddenly commented on a situation.
“Did you... talk to the king and his sister...?” Berla asked.
“Not yet,” I said. “They were apparently a little aggressive and even attacked the guards. The High Priest was too. I figured we’d let them cool down a little and accept their new reality first. Though we’ve been hearing good things about the king. If the whole hunting us down thing hadn’t been, all of this might’ve gone a bit different... I’m starting to wonder whether the temple forced his hand a bit. He might actually be a decent enough guy if people are to be believed.”
“I see... I do think he’s a good person as well... Did someone else mention my name?”
“Your... Huh? Why?” I asked, confused, as I was leaning back on the sofa. We hadn’t really talked to any Fighters yet, and especially no agents, so I didn’t know why anyone would ask about Berla by name.
“I guess I kind of hoped someone would tell you guys for me,” she said, adding to the confusion.
“About what...?” Tomar said.
Berla sighed and looked to the floor. “My mother... I’m... technically the king’s niece.”
Both Tomar and I looked at her with blank expressions for a few moments, before gathering ourselves.
“You’re what now?” Tomar asked.
Meanwhile, I just started laughing. “Hahahaha!”
Berla had looked kind of gloomy after the words had left her mouth, but startled by my reaction, she now looked at me in confusion. To think that the person I wanted to put on the throne was actually related to the king, what are the odds!?