Rebirth Online World

Polymath Redux – You are the picture of perfection so act like it
Chapter XXXI

A week had passed since the conclusion of PROJECT: Hellgate and the city slipped into a period of mourning and rebuilding. Despite the massive destructive capabilities of the [Hellgate] skill, it was not reflected as such in the aftermath. Casualties and collateral damage was unexpectedly a lot lower than it ought to have been with skill of that caliber. Only a mere 5% of the ten million inhabitants were killed with most of the casualties being soldiers and high ranking officials. On the collateral damage front, 20% of the infrastructures were damaged beyond repair and a further 15% was repairable.

Most of the key infrastructures were left nearly unharmed, those of which included the Adventurer’s Guild main building and the Royal Palace of Xagontetia.

While those figures were arguably high when it came to flat numbers it wasn’t an amount that couldn’t be fixed with a bit of time. It was especially during such somber times of mourning and deep contemplation that Mordred could easily hijack and take advantage of the populace’s emotions. That was, after all, the entire purpose of this attack to begin with; to let the inhabitants understand their own powerlessness and that they needed someone to help guide them.

That being said, if too much of the city was destroyed the people would simply fall into a great depression and morale will be down too much, thus a lot of the buildings were left undisturbed. Most of the damage and casualties were simply for theatrics and to play up the tragedy. The new Daltress estate that was bought by Mordred was one of the areas that were virtually untouched. It wasn’t that the monsters avoided it but that they were simply unable to get past all of the automated defense systems.

“It really is a horrible sight… what happened to the capital, I mean.”

Rena spoke up as she peered out to the city filled with debris and rubble. She was currently at Morgana’s study room to bring her some tea and struck up small talk to distract herself from the state of the city. Oblivious to the truth of the incident she merely felt a bit of sympathy towards the capital of the sun country; to be quite honest she wasn’t too fond of the place that had treated her so badly over the years but she couldn’t deny that it was still part of her home.

“Really, compared to the city this place doesn’t have so much as a scratch thanks to all those siege golems and sentry cannons patrolling around. Seriously, how deep are that man’s pockets to afford defenses of this scale?”

Yda came into the room carrying a small envelope in hand. She, Grimal and Rena were all inside the Daltress manor during the course of the capital’s destruction thus they weren’t even able to see the magnitude of what actually went on. The only thing they witnessed were a few straggling monsters that were trying to break into the manor but were instantly annihilated by the automated defense systems.

“Good morning miss Yda.”

Rena greeted and they exchanged a hearty nod.

“Good morning Yda, do you have something for me?”

Casually trying to avoid the topic of Mordred’s seemingly bottomless pockets Morgana greeted Yda as she took a small sip of her tea. She was currently working on the finances of the estate and other related formalities in relation to their new home. It wasn’t especially necessary for her to do so but since economy was a fairly fragile construct in this world it wasn’t possible for her to spend money nearly as freely as she wanted to. This was necessary only to regulate the amount of gold that went through this mansion so as to not raise any suspicions on their transactions.

“Good morning mistress. Yes, I found this in the mail in the mailbox this morning. I’m not really sure who sent it and I’m not familiar with the seal but it has mistress’ name as the recipient.”

Yda answered as she nervously handed over the small brown envelope. Upon reading the contents Morgana’s expression remained unchanged but there was a clear air of seriousness around her; the chirping of birds outside the windows seemed to stop due to the sheer tension. She emitted a seriously elegant aura and curious as to why this was Yda asked about the contents of the letter and who it was sent by.

“Mistress? What exactly is that letter about? Actually I’m surprised someone knew our address since we only acquired this land recently.”

“Well the sender is quite resourceful so I wouldn’t be surprised if they found out about our address. It’s a royal summons from the king himself; they’re expecting me at the Royal Palace in three days.”

Morgana replied to her with a pleasant smile, returning the natural ambiance of the room from its serious tension. The background chirping of birds returned as the air became less hard to bear. It wasn’t as though they had been underestimating her in any respect but both Rena and Yda had fully realized at this moment that this woman wasn’t as weak and frail as she first appeared.

“… Eh? The king is summoning mistress?! How come?!”

Yda’s eyes twirled around in her sockets as she widened them with surprise. Since she was within the Daltress manor during the attack she wasn’t aware of the spectacular happenings and achievements that her ‘mistress’ had gained.

“Fufu~ Who knows?”

Morgana responded playfully with a teasing smile. She turned her glance towards the clock on the wall to check the time and gave a small nod as she finished up the last bit of her morning tea. She stood up from her chair and issue a small request to Rena.

“I guess it’s time already. Rena, please prepare the carts as usual.”

“Understood, then please wait a moment.”

Morgana nodded as Rena left the rooms to prepare what she had been asked for. For the past week Morgana had been delivering an assortment of food and other necessities to the people living outside the city walls. After that massive catastrophe the inhabitants on the outside were hit the worst. Not particularly in terms of physical property damage but because the capital was unable to spare enough money to help them rebuild what they had lost in the flash fire.

Due to a lack of funds and expertise the outside inhabitants were only able to crudely repair their temporary houses and nothing beyond that. All of their livelihood were destroyed, their farms, their crops and their equipment. None of the peasantry or commoners had any idea of what to do next or what would become of them in the near future; they simply had to wait until the country was feeling generous enough to lend them a helping hand. However that was highly unlikely as at least 40% of the inhabitants on the outside were mostly demon-kin and thus hated by the nobility and church.

However amongst this great tragedy a single figure appeared to lend them a hand. Morgana Daltress, she brought it upon herself to bring them what they needed, food, building plans, raw material, and equipment, all free of charge. Because of this her reputation preceded even the king’s and she had become a sort of saintly figure among the masses.

“Mistress, is it okay if I came along with you?”

Yda asked. Busy with housework she didn’t have much time to spend with her mistress as much as she wanted these days but today was a little different. With the help of Grimal all of her work was finished and thus she had some free time. Morgana turned and giggled at her innocent and childish form and gave a nod.

“Yes, by all means do as you wish.”

“Thank you!”

Yda answered with a large smile.

Bringing along several carts full of food, raw material and equipment Morgana entered the outskirts of the city. As though a goddess had descended amongst them the people flocked with a smile filled with gratitude. One by one Morgana and some volunteers started to hand out aid and food. The recovery of the buildings and other infrastructure outside the city was proceeding much quicker than even the inside and that was all due to the efforts of Morgana Daltress.

“Hmm~”

Taking a small break from her work Yda sat down near a shaded area and looked at the happy expressions of the people receiving help from her mistress. Yda had mixed feelings about all of this, at times she even worried whether or not the Daltress estate might run out of resources giving them away like this.

“Is something wrong, master?”

Grimal walked over and offered a cool drink.

“Ah, no… it’s just… I guess you can call it envy?”

Yda replied with a solemn smile.

“Envy? Of what may I ask? If you are feeling unsatisfied I will try my utmost to rectify that situation.”

Grimal replied in a professional tone. He really was a mystery to Yda, a powerful devil that listened to whatever she asked.

“Ah, no, no. It’s nothing like that. Back when I was smaller I used to have a hard time. I’d rely on stealing and pick pocketing to get by and often had to sleep on the cold floor during winter nights. I thought I’d die somewhere along the line but somehow I made it through.”

“… I see.”

Grimal could hear the words but could not understand the emotions of his master. He had not had the same experiences as her so he could only give shallow pity as a response.

“During those times I always thought to myself things like, ‘Am I going to die here?’ or ‘Will no one help me?’ and like that I’d cry myself to sleep. So seeing someone like mistress with such a kind heart helping these people in their time of need makes me feel a little jealous. I always wished that someone like her would come to my rescue… well I guess because of that lifestyle I had I was able to meet mistress so it isn’t all that bad.”

After she finished speaking out her mind she closed her eyes in solemn contemplation. ‘I’m glad I met her’, she thought silently to herself.

…

After handing out the necessities towards the people it was already evening by the time Morgana, Yda and Grimal made their way back to the manor. As they entered the smell of freshly cooked food made their way into the entrance.

“Food!”

Yda shouted out as the sweet aroma lingered near her nose.

“Fufu~ be sure to wash your hands before eating.”

Morgana told her in much the same way a kind, motherly figure would.

“Welcome back, Miss Morgana, Miss Yda and Mister Grimal.”

Rena came out to greet, still in her cooking apron. She gave off a sweet homey atmosphere about her; a picturesque stereotype of a very ‘girly’ figure which fit so perfectly with her attitude.

The four made their way to the living room to find a large table filled with delicious looking food. The smell lingered in the air accentuating the luxurious lifestyle that they were really living. To both Yda and Rena who had lived much like street rats since a young age this scene was almost unbelievable to them.

“Umm, is mister Mordred not with you? I haven’t been able to see him all day actually.”

Rena asked, looking around.

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen that man all day either.”

Yda responded.

“Why don’t you three eat up first, I’ll find and bring him.”

Morgana told them as she left the manor once more.

…

On a small hill high enough to overlook the entire city was a lone figure wrapped in darkness. Mordred with his assortment of stealth related skills active. He reached out his right hand and started an activation sequence of a certain spell.

[Celestial Bombardment]. A small yellow glow swirled around him as he prepared to shoot.

“If you do that then all of our efforts will have been meaningless.”

The voice of another interrupted his spell casting and ceased. He turned his head to the side to see it was Morgana that was waiting for him with that ever so pleasant smile. It didn’t so much as irk him but that smile felt rather heavy for him for some reason.

“I wasn’t going to do anything.”

Mordred replied.

“Yes of course, I understand that.”

“I wonder… do you really? Don’t you think it’s time for you to graduate from being my shadow?”

A subtle but sudden shift in tone could be felt in Mordred’s voice.

“What do you mean? Are we not perpetually connected?”

Slight trembling, anxiety and fear creeping up from within her. As a thinking, feeling individual it was the first time she had felt something like this. Mordred and Morgana were indeed the made of the same being but to Morgana she had viewed herself as less than Mordred; as a simple doppelganger. Not a god, but her entire world and everything she knew were a byproduct of Mordred, so as he had aptly put it she was simply his shadow. So then what did it mean to ‘graduate’?

“It seems you’ve mistaken something. The connection between you and I are perpetual but not always linked; it is impossible for me to be linked with you a 100% of the time.”

Mordred answered, justifying this entire scene was that sole reason. Because he and Morgana were not connected at this moment they were not sharing thought and this situation could be called a ‘conversation’ instead of a ‘monologue’.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

Morgana responded with a cold sweat dropping past her back, waiting in anticipation of his response.

“I think you’re taking it the wrong way. I’m not saying that you’re unnecessary or anything like that it’s simply a physiological thing. ‘Extrasensory Feedback’, well that’s the best name I could come up with, simply put it’s hard for me to register multiple different perceptions all at once. I first noticed it when I was using my [surveillance spectres] but my brain isn’t used to all the extra perceptions, at least I cannot use it for an extended period of time.”

Mordred explained.

“So that’s to say that it physically hurts you to experience more than one perception at a time?”

“Something like that. It’s possible that I can get used to it and attune my brain to register the extended perception over time but for now it’s difficult.”

“I see… then because of this do you find it hard to trust me?”

There was a brief moment of pause between the two.

“Trust you? How could I ever trust you? I’ve spent all my life to scrape up what train wreck of a personality I have now, but you… you’re different; from the moment you were born you were perfect.”

At his words Morgana felt a small sting within her but that piercing pain disappeared completely as she understood his words. So instead of grief what she felt was true understanding, of the inner workings of the person Mordred. There was no malice in his words; simply his truest thoughts on the subject and because of this she could feel her anxiety clearing away.

“Fufu~ indeed even I would have a hard time trusting someone who was perfect. I see, I see.”

Morgana responded with a smile as her normal ambiance and posture returned to her.

“But that not all.”

“Yes?”

“You’re also evolving.”

“…”

Indeed, Morgana could feel it within herself the growth of her own personality as an individual. As Mordred said, his influence on her was limited to the base personality and small pockets of thoughts and desires that flowed into her every so often. From the beginning she talked very little when around him but after a while she was making her own thoughts and talking even without having been told to; they were her own actions.

“You’re different from my other doppelgangers; they don’t have as much of an independent thought as you do. But that’s a matter of course, since Morialia and my clone were made simply for convenience. You’re different; you were created with my true thoughts for one reason.”

“A figure of perfection… is it?”

It was both a fearsome and inspiring revelation to her. Perhaps one day she will have desires of her own and become a person; an individual.

“Well enough on this topic. You’ve received the summons from the palace right?”

Mordred asked as he changed the topic.

“Yes, I am expected to arrive in three days.”

“Good, then we just need some of the chips on the board to move themselves before the closing event. They’ve probably had enough time to think about it so they should be contacting me soon.”

“’They’?”

Morgana asked, puzzled.

However all she got in response was Mordred’s sinister looking grin.