Chapter 127: Minute Differences

- Crossroads, Merchant Lord Aste's Sector - Queen Laura's POV -

The silence that followed this time was even more pervasive. Whatever Jim had expected it hadn't been anything close to that and even I myself was surprised at the revelation. I'd expected, at most, that a gnome had memories of their previous life. I hadn't anticipated the person in question being a summoned... hero? Do we still call them that if they do the summoning themselves? How did they even do that? Why would they do that? Was Miscalis the destination or was it random?

All those questions flowed through my head as I attempted to order my thoughts, unfortunately Jim beat me to the punch.

[She summoned... herself? How does that even work?] - King Nero, Delegate of Abelis

[Honestly? We're not sure. We've been working with her to recreate her accomplishment but as of yet we haven't been able to replicate it.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[Okay but she's a Gnome, right?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[Yes. She is, for all intents and purposes, exactly similar to our race in every possible way. Even using our sacred technologies that examine a person's <Genetics> 1If you remember in an earlier chapter I said that I'd surround English words with a <> to indicate that the speaker isn't using the language of the natives. Most of the time that means that it'll be Rose or some other Otherworlder but in this case it's a native using a learned word. has shown no differences outside of normal familial ones.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[<Genetics>? I'm not familiar with that word?] - King Nero, Delegate of Abelis

[Think of it like the blueprints for a person, each person has their own and it's passed on and mixed in your children. Suffice to say it shouldn't be possible according to our sacred texts.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

<Genetics>? Another strange word that I'd have to ask Rose about later. The sacred texts of the Gnomish religion had always been rumored to be some sort of manual, or at least the words of a reincarnated, from another world. Perhaps they were related to those <textbooks> that Rose had spoken of when I was putting her through etiquette training. Not that she's followed it after leaving home though. I really need to refresh her on that when I get the chance.

[Okay? So these <genetics> you spoke of indicate what exactly?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[Well, I won't get into the technical details but it likely indicates that movement between worlds was once more common than originally thought. Even more it's likely it was fairly recent considering the amount of <genetic drift>, probably around 3,000 years ago or so, maybe a little before. I could get into a lot more details but suffice to say our Council views this matter as instrumental on our race fulfilling it's goal of travelling the stars like our honored ancestors once did. Perhaps even finding remnants of our once great civilization. So you see, while I expect that you told me of your Niece's... identity in the hopes that our guest would in some way help her situation I'm afraid this issue has no bearing on our current predicament.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[I see, I thank you for telling me this. I appreciate your trust with such an important piece of information, especially with the apparent lack of any benefits for either party.] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

What a shame. All the work to get this little piece of information and only minimal benefits from the knowing. Sure, I could later think of many ways to leverage this knowledge to deepen our friendship with Labyrinth City, perhaps even benefit from the technologies that would come about from sending our own researchers to help in their efforts. But, I did this on the slim chance it would be of help in my adorable niece's problems. The disappointment in learning that it was completely wasted effort was disheartening.

Seemingly aware of my inner dialogue however the Councilwoman continued.

[Well, I wouldn't say that.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[Hmm?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[It wasn't only because of the value I put in our continued friendship that I spoke of our guest. I wish for a trade.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

It wasn't in vain? What could that possibly mean? Does she perhaps have something that could help Rose in some way? Perhaps...?

[A trade? Do you have a way to help my niece?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[Perhaps. You've heard of spoofing status magic, correct?] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[Yes, we had a good frie- ahem! We had my former Royal Court Mage help with faking Rose's Celebration of Birth appraisal. For obvious reasons.] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[Hmmhmm... Impressive, that sort of magic is notoriously hard to pull off without alerting watchers of the subterfuge. They must have been a skilled mage.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[He... was, yes. Ahem! Anyway, you were saying?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

A momentary grimace. That was all the emotion that my face was allowed before I brought it under control. The thought of my once close friend and mentors' betrayal still stung like a fresh wound. Even worse was the knowledge that he'd been captured by the Church in all likelihood. After he'd shaken off the pursuit of our spies, he'd vanished in the ether. Likely running straight to the Church Black Ops he'd probably been squeezed for every drop of information at this point. Not that it'd help them much though since we'd changed all of our procedures and wards after he'd defected anyway. The only useful information they'd get from him being mostly related to unimportant goings-on and... the true identity of my niece.

[Ah yes, pardon the distraction. What I have to offer is a magical device, found within the deepest parts reached in the Labyrinth, that allows the wearer to manipulate the information seen in appraisal magic with whatever they wish to be seen. We've not been able to fully test it as of yet but, with a bit more time, we could verify its usefulness as well as its safety.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

[That's?!?] - Queen Laura and King Nero

[Indispensable for surveillance efforts? Exactly why we were initially interested in it. If we are able to replicate the technology we'll be able to move with impunity within Church-controlled territories with relatively simple illusion magic.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

Gorvi was right, with such a device we could easily hide my niece's status as the next Demon Lord. While it would do nothing to halt the rumors and speculation, we could use such a device, along with a believable reason for her to show her status screen, to completely derail any serious discussion as to her identity. There might be some that suspected us of using magic to hide her status but without proof they'd be unable to make any serious accusations.

On top of that was the potential use in Black Ops, with that sort of device in our hands, assuming they were able to make more of them, we'd be able to move without issue in enemy territory. The only question was what sort of trade could match what was on the table...

[And what exactly do you want in return for such a device?] - Queen Laura de la Anguis, Delegate of Anguis

[What I want is quite simple, give us access to the reincarnate, give us Lady Rose de la Amchier.] - Councilwoman Gorvi, Delegate of Labyrinth City

- Purity, Holy Empire of Fos Capital City - General Mercy's POV -

2This part is hard to write since it's from the perspective of an absolutely horrid person. Seriously though I wish this man the worst fate imaginable! Yet another week passed and yet another hidden village of sub-humans found. The continued success of Cardinal David's pet project had been a monumental surprise. One that all of my fellow General's hadn't thought possible. Even I, the supposed General in charge of the "asset", was a bit put off by how well it had gone. Up till now I had put off thinking about it by just viewing it as the blessings of our Holy God. That had, however, changed just recently.

It had started off as a normal day, this morning we'd confirmed the rumors of a hidden stronghold of animals in the mountains surrounding our capital, a group of feathered snakes or some such nonsense. Although I'd never really looked into the names these creatures gave themselves, I was aware of their defense mechanisms, their temperament and combat ability. Feathered snakes were somewhat similar to our greatest enemies, Lamia, but far smaller and less aggressive. Their communal tendencies made them excellent slaves and it also made it easy to gather them mostly unharmed. Just take a hostage, preferably one of their spawns, and you have an entire population willing to do anything you want them to.

In this, the "asset" had performed marvelously. Even better than expected to be honest since we'd only really tested it in a combat setting previously. This "test" had been to determine the "asset's" effectiveness at following complex orders such as capturing a hostage alive for negotiation. It'd done this job perfectly with no room for complaint. Unfortunately, the problem had occurred afterwards while we were processing the newly captured future slaves. The "asset" showed emotion.