34. Insight
Since I was in Zhesa City, I decided to get a few other errands out of the way once my visit to Marquis Peori came to an end. With my escort of endgame players riding alongside me as I rode through the city on Shadow, I took in the city of my birth.
Zhesa Castle remained in ruins, standing over the city like a fallen golem. Reconstruction had barely begun when my grandfather was murdered, and had been on hold ever since. The streets, however, were as lively as ever, with thousands of Natives. When I had first left the safety of the castle, I had been surprised with how many Travelers were present in the city. The Natives outnumbered them five to one, however, it was simply easy to forget because they sort of blended into the background.
Most of the natives were going about their daily lives. I was surprised to learn, however, that I could use [Noble Insight] on them and discover all sorts of details. Their names, occupations, their daily routines, what quests they issued regularly and a separate list of which quests they were eligible to issue. There was also a number which varied greatly, but seemed to be higher for the Natives who issued the most quests.
I focused on one person in particular, a barmaid going about her business before her shift started, exploring the limits of my [Noble Insight] ability, when
Something happened.
Everything around me slowed to nearly a standstill, except for me and the woman I’d been targeting.
She turned to me and smiled.
<
I frowned, looking around me in confusion at the slowly moving reality. When I looked at the other Natives, they too turned their attention towards me, and I sensed a sort of hopefulness from them. I turned back to the barmaid.
<
<
As I watched, the number I’d been curious about, the one which was higher for some Natives than others, began to skyrocket for everyone around me.
Not knowing what else to do, I called out for someone I knew could help.
<
<
I willed things to begin moving at normal speed again, and
almost immediately, things began moving at normal speed again. However, the information that I’d been seeing about the Natives surrounding me vanished with a flash. All of the Natives were looking at me, I realized. For a fraction of a second. Then they all just smiled and went back to their daily lives.
“I just hit a massive lag-spike,” Aroha commented.
“You too?” Joon-ho asked. “I thought it was just me. Either something serious just hit the server, or someone cut a cable they really shouldn’t have cut.”
“Nā te Atua mō te whakakorenga ,” Aroha said. I frowned, because for the first time since I had been on Earth, I had no idea what a Traveler had just said.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked.
“I said, thank god for redundancy,” Aroha said, and I understood her perfectly. “There are many cables in the Pacific these days, but sometimes things go wrong and we’re forced to rely on satelites until repairs are made. It can be very inconvenient, but unfortunately my island cannot afford its own quantum nexus.”
“Oh,” I said, although her explanation didn’t help my understanding significantly. “I didn’t realize you lived on an island.”
“Technically everyone in our world lives on an island. Some of the islands are just very, very big,” Aroha joked. Joon-ho thought that was funny enough to give it a chuckle.
I frowned. “Are these sorts of things common? Lag-spikes, I mean.”
“Not common, no,” Aroha answered. “It’s just a buffering error between our headsets and the server nexus that powers this world, Lord Hail. It’s nothing to worry about, but it’s more of a problem if you don’t have direct quantum network access. I have a twelve milisecond delay on average. Just now, I experienced about a seven second gap where everything just stopped.”
“Seven seconds?” I asked.
“I experienced about the same,” Joon-ho confirmed. “It’s nothing to be concerned about, Young Lord. Just a bit of network instability. It’s pretty uncommon these days. If lag spikes happen frequently, it’s usually a sign that it’s time to buy a new headset or modem, but it must be a network issue if Aroha and I were both affected.”
“They do say that sometimes Lag is a sign that you’re unlocking new content,” Aroha commented. “Although I’ve never witnessed it happening around you, Lord Hail.”
“Not until just now, at least,” Joon-ho agreed.
I bit my lip, but said nothing further to them as we continued walking. The barmaid I had singled out had already vanished from view.
<
<
<
<<[Noble Insight] is only available to you as a [Lord]. Your other classes may continue to use [Analyze] as you have been since you unlocked that ability. However, rather than avoid its use, you should use it much more frequently,>> Thedum said.
I paused midstep, frowning. <
<
“Young Lord? Is something wrong?” Joon-ho inquired.
I frowned, glancing at him. “No, apparently not.”
We found my target working on a streetcorner, calling out hotcakes being sold at a nearby store. Port Mooncrest would have been heir to the lands of North Shire had history taken a different turn. As it was, he was the most easily tracked Native with links to the Beggar’s Court that I was aware of, and I had been meaning to pay him a visit for sometime. To find him, I’d merely needed to ask the other beggars on the street where he was. On a whim, I used [Noble Insight] on him as well. Just him, not everything all at once, a distinction which prevented time from crawling to a standstill.
Name
Port Mooncrest
Level
1
Health
100/100*
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Class
Beggar Child
Age
10
Affiliations
The Beggar Court
(stage 1 quest giver)
Notoriety/Fame
Very Low**
Resource Allocation
High
Quest Bank
>A Portrait of Lady Grey
>Don Mixed up
>Let Them Eat Crab
>How to Smash your Flagon
(Seventy two others, focus to expand)
Quests Issued
Quests Completed
103
23
*
This is a child Native. Port’s Health will never drop below 1/100.
Attacks made against child natives are flagged for review.
Cumulative Context:
Context Rating:
7.861X10^8
Consistently below goal**
**
This Native is in danger of losing its status as a priority quest giver due to a lack of notoriety.
There was significantly more to the analysis than the initial table that popped up, including details about Port’s daily routine which, frankly, I didn’t need to know. The two asterick note concerned me, and I decided to get clarification.
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
The system was silent for a moment, which was uncharacteristic of it. <>
<
<
<
<
<
<
“Young Lord, are you alright?” Joon-ho asked. I started, and realized that I had been standing in place for almost a full minute, just staring at Port, who continued to hawk the sweetpies of the nearby store.
“Sorry, I was lost in my own head for a moment,” I said. Then, realizing that I had gained a small audience of Travelers who had recognized me, I hesitated for a moment. If I acted now, I would most certainly bring attention to Port, and I was uncertain whether or not the Beggar’s Court would appreciate me for it. Fortunately, there was a way I could ask without alerting the Travelers.
<
<> the boy sent back, his voice almost robotic.
<
<
Satisfied I was on the correct course, I called out to him. “Port! Port Mooncrest! I see you there! How is your mother?”
The boy froze, his eyes going wide as though he had only just recognized me. He promptly stepped down from his soap box and gave me a deep, courtly bow. “Earl Hail Jeoran. It is a pleasure to see you again. Thank you for inquiring after my mother, she is doing quite well.”
“You don’t need to bow so deeply to me. If history had taken a different course a few decades ago, you would be a lord, set to inherit North Shire instead of me!”
Port hesitated, looking over his shoulders each way. “Lord Hail, please, don’t call attention to my family’s disgrace. If this is about the debt my grandfather left for you to deal with, I am very sorry, but it was all long before I was born!”
“You know as well as I do that matter is already being resolved by the courts, thanks in large part to the information your mother was kind enough to feed to me. Speaking of your mother and her good associates, I have something for them,” I said, and I pulled from my inventory the documents I had prepared for this situation. It was an open inventation to attend me at court, along with a voucher for portal fare. On a whim, I included a third document. One of the invitations that had been in Storm’s letter.
“Thank you, My Lord,” Port said nervously. “I’ll be certain to pass them along.”
“I hope you won’t find it demeaning if I tip you for the service,” I said, flipping him a gold coin. “But you’re the only messenger I know of who is certain to deliver anything to the Beggar’s Court.”
Port caught the coin, then looked around in panic. I feared, for a moment, that I had done the wrong thing. Especially as he gathered the documents I had given him and took off at a sprint down a nearby alley.
<