“It is easy to say you accept reforms from other lands, if you selectively murder everyone who says something that doesn’t fit your vision,” Jack continued, nonchalantly rolling his neck while the entire court was taken by silence. The king’s guard, the gathered nobility, the heads of influential merchant guilds and the rare peasant representative, they were all looking at Jack with a mixture of shock and awe. Slowly, their attention shifted to the king.

Who sat there in silence.

It wasn’t the worst reaction he could have had. Immediate, passionate denial would have probably gotten him out of the situation the quickest, but at least he didn’t go pale and start stammering about how bold a lie it was. “By your own admission, you have only been here for a few hours. What gall do you have to fabricate such an accusation?”

“I can be more specific if you wish, Roykal,” the Gamer announced. “Ten years ago, a man with red hair arrived. He talked of his home and how republics reigned just about everything. You had his wine poisoned. Three months later, someone else in a suit similar to mine and with black skin appeared. He told you that the guild system is poison. Of course, you couldn’t destabilize your economy in such a fashion, so you presented him with exotic fruits – which just so happened to be extremely poisonous. Then there was a blonde woman, about two years ago, who you had stabbed because she suggested your society should be more modest in terms of clothing.” Jack stopped for a moment. “Now, I can understand that people telling you how to dress are annoying, but having them murdered in a dark alleyway isn’t exactly the way to go about the criticism, you know? I could continue, but I think my point is made.”

Again, Roykal was simply quiet. In his head, he was likely ordering his responses to put out something that would make all of these accusations go away. “Why would I kill these people but leave so many others alive?”

“You mean those who you kept at court for as long as they were useful, before sending them out elsewhere to use their education to design you better farming equipment? Because not everyone who gets stranded here from another world is educated enough to really question this state of affairs.” Jack rubbed his chin, as the Gamer’s mind veered off elsewhere. “I wonder how it comes that this Kingdom sees so much interdimensional traffic. Maybe it’s just the centralized nature combined with the relative smallness of the world that makes it easy to spot everyone who comes over?”

“Stay on topic, visitor,” the king reprimanded, and the Gamer did come back to the then and there. It would have been a mistake to visibly drift from the topic like that, if John’s goal had been to definitely out-debate the king there. As it was, the Gamer was just waiting for Roykal to say the one line the crystal harpy royal needed to in order to end this discussion. “You are certainly informed about many things, that much I admit, but your accusations are without proof. Do you expect my court to take the word of a stranger over that of their king?”

“Of course not,” he immediately relented. “I’m merely demonstrating my knowledge. Just by looking at you, I can read your secrets.” Jack’s gaze wandered over to random members of the court. “Like you, Martryk. You always wondered if you would live up to what your mother expected. Jeryli, the childhood dreams on which you had to compromise to serve your country are still with you to this day. Halibel, you stress about financial things too much. Tzyial, your hunger will never truly fade and you wonder if it’s a bad thing.” He continued to rattle on for a little bit, combining what Observe told him with simple cold reading statements. He didn’t have to be specific to create a gloomy aura in the room. “Ellaty, you doubt you could ever find joy in marriage,” he finished up with the attractive leader of the king’s guard.

“You have well established that you know things, but that does not prove your lies,” the king declared.

“Factually correct,” Jack once more conceded the point. “Just because I know many things doesn’t mean that I cannot hide lies among them. Scepticism is healthy. I do not think you a fool, Roykal. I do, however, think you are complacent and unwilling to do what must be done to further the wealth of the people. I wish to replace you with a candidate of my choosing.”

John already had someone in mind, having scanned the crowd for the person with the highest Stats in combination with the right character traits. Just putting someone intelligent in charge wouldn’t do any good if they didn’t also have the Charisma to smooth over the wrinkles that being installed by a random traveller would create. It had to be someone ambitious, wise and, optimally, young.

If the society had been more advanced, John would have simply opted to topple over the entire system and replace it with something better. Given what he had to work with, that would have created the kind of strife that would have seen the realm go up in flames. Nobles would be at each other’s throat with the uninformed peasantry getting thrown into the furnace.

People would get murdered to have one talking head replaced with another one. Unwinged men and women bleeding into fertile fields, turning dirt into mud. Death and strife would destroy any social progress wanted. Total destruction of entire generations. Perhaps even racial purges as radical elements came to the forefront. Nothing, no corpse or child would be sacred. Social norms would all collapse into heinous acts.

“The aristocrats…” the king began.

“…won’t accept it, you won’t accept it, yes, yes,” Jack interrupted with a dismissive gesture. “I think I have established my knowledge and my power by now. If I wished to do so, I could remove you by force and there would be nothing you could do.” The authority of his words was somewhat undermined by Velka resuming her inspection of the floor. The front claws scratched over the stone, as she warbled, annoyed that it didn’t just give in under her digging. “However, I do not wish for any unnecessary bloodshed.”

“If you are not willing to usurp me and put a traitor to the world on the throne, then you might as well leave.”

“I cannot do that either,” the Gamer stated.

“Then we’re at an impasse, John,” Roykal pointed out the obvious.

“Indeed,” Jack said and stepped forwards. Ever so slowly he approached the throne. The king’s guard stepped in between, but the Gamer just ignored them.

“Stop him,” the king unwisely commanded.

A particularly eager king’s guard charged at Jack. ‘Guess the king didn’t quite believe what Ellaty told him,’ John thought and caught the blade between two fingers, just as he had in the duel minutes earlier. Rather than toss it away, Jack made a statement this time around by taking the tip of the blade with his other hand and effortlessly bending it until the curved weapon described a slanted oval. At the same time, a second attack slammed into his side. That sword became misshapen by the impact alone, while Jack’s artificial outside was left unblemished. “Do we really need to do more of this? I haven’t even cast a spell yet.”

“Swallow your pride, King Roykal,” Stirwin got involved, tapping forwards while Velka managed to cut the first trenches into the stone. Her claws were quite sharp, even if she didn’t yet have the strength to properly back up her swipes. By Abyssal standards anyway. When it came to a fight between Velka and a regular person, John would have bet on his Magryph.

The crocodile advanced as much of the king’s guard backed away. Only Ellaty stood between Jack and her king still. Knowing that she had no chance did not stop her from fulfilling her duty. John very much liked that. “Let the golden creature pass,” the massive monarch mandated, and the leader of his guard stepped aside. “What do you ask of me, exactly?”

“To think carefully,” Stirwin advised. “My summoner’s intentions are written on his sleeve and not even all of your forces combined in this place are able to stop him. That much should be obvious by now. All you can achieve by continuing to struggle against his will is to get your country and yourself killed. Yet, you are given the opportunity to instead negotiate. Make him prove beyond the disturbance of your court that he brings change.”

Jack was suddenly at the throne. Having taken a couple quick steps, he had moved at a speed impossible for anyone around to react to. Bowing down he whispered, “That aside, I can provide proof for everything I said earlier – and more. Kinslaying isn’t a good look, I would say.”

Finally, he managed to make Roykal go a bit pale. Jack backed off, knowing the carrot and stick had been properly applied. Now it was just a question of how exactly the king would react. Clearing his throat, he quickly regained his composure. “It seems that leaving you at an impasse would be unwise for my kingdom.”

‘Unwise for you, yes,’ John thought, but only nodded with a smile. The Gamer had gotten him where he wanted him to be. There was no need to further antagonize. The credibility of the king was damaged and now John just needed to raise his standing in a short time. ‘Given the situation, the thing I would do was to try and get me removed from the scene for as long as possible, to find a political solution, or just send me into certain death.’

“A trial, then!” Roykal declared and Jack had to suppress a smile. “To prove your strength and wisdom, you shall do a great service to us all. If you’re successful, I will allow you to name a new king from the people in the court.”

“Works for me,” Jack announced. “What will you have me do?”

“You are to find the long-lost silver fur of the royal family,” Roykal announced.

‘The what now?’ the Gamer thought, not having any idea what was meant. Whatever it was, it had not been mentioned in the history books he had read. ‘I should have taken the extra thirty minutes to read about legends.’ “As you wish,” he said and looked at Stirwin. The light spirit nodded and poked Velka in the side with his snout. After a few more nudges, the chimera followed the elemental outside.

“…Are you not going to go with them?” Roykal wanted to know. Doubtlessly, he had hoped to remove the Gamer from the premise to call an emergency meeting of some variety. “You can hardly fulfil your trial without attending it.”

“You underestimate my power still,” Jack sighed and shook his head. “Thinking that I can only be at one place is in itself a fallacy. Now, while we wait for myself to be successful, how about I tell you all about the theory and practicality of separation of powers?”

_________________________________________________________________________

John did not like the air in the dungeon. It had that moist, stale feeling that seemed to cling to the back of his throat. There was also the smell of iron, stemming from chains and blood, along with excrement. Canalization wasn’t a widely applied system yet, so buckets were the way to go and apparently lids were too good for the prisoners.

Ignoring all of that, John kept up eye contact with the king’s spymaster. She was a voluptuous woman, a Kyr who hid her well-nourished body under a thick robe. Perhaps she simply found it too cold in the dungeon to reveal her chest like the rest of her kind or maybe she was just eccentric. “One more question: what is the silver fur?”

“Officially, the silver fur is something that was stolen from the royal family by the great legged serpent,” the short-haired woman responded in the sheepish tone of the hypnotized. “In reality, it was the first of many payments to the monster to ensure it would only attack when we ask it to, devouring the political opponents of our winged royalty.”

“Hmm, I see… how do you reach this serpent?”

“I do not know.”

That was inconvenient, but not necessarily a hurdle. “How do you get in contact?”

“There is an entrance to a vast cave system in the depths of the dungeon. We deposit our offerings and a message there and the great monster takes what we give. If it is pleased, it fulfils our request.”

“Where is this entrance?”

“In the fifth cell to the left, you will find a trapdoor under the sleeping mat. This will lead you to the secret dungeon. In the secret dungeon, there is a staircase that leads to the deepest cell. Inside there is a wooden horse. Move it to the side to reveal an entrance to the depths.”

“Thank you. Now, you would be best advised to never speak of this to anyone,” the Gamer said. “Not until twenty years have passed, anyway. Then you may let people know what transpired today. If you do anything before then, I’ll come back and you will have to fear worse than temporary loss over your mental faculties.”

There was a knock on the door and John stood up. With the eye contact broken, the spymaster snapped for air, as if she had been under the surface for several minutes. “What… what is happening?!” she wanted to know.

“I’m changing the course of your world,” the Gamer responded, while opening the door and letting Stirwin and Velka come in. The Magryph was visible panting, having had to sprint heavily to keep up with the crocodile. In order to keep anyone from tailing them, they had needed to get away from the court as quickly as possible. Thanks to the commotion Jack had made (and was still making), the castle’s defences were basically non-existent at the moment. “Did you already pick up on the silver fur, hm? Or did you sense a hoard, maybe?” he asked Velka, scratching the Magryph’s head while he let her cool down. “I hope this isn’t too much excitement for you in a single day.”

Velka answered by leaning into his scratches and purring. She was clearly having her fun. The same couldn’t be said of the spymaster. “What do you mean?! Who are you?!”

“John Newman. You should head up to the throne room to get the whole picture,” the Gamer responded nonchalantly. “Again though, no talking about what happened down here. I don’t particularly enjoy having to use the Hypnotic Gaze so aggressively… albeit I will compromise on my morals a bit to topple outdated monarchies.”

“I… I’ll just go.” The crystal harpy must have realized John wasn’t going to give her any straight answers and simply walked out of the door, where several people were lying unconscious. John had commanded all of them to sleep to avoid unnecessary witnesses.