[Royal capital of The Aurora Empire, a week after Detective Taylor ended his investigation]
[Ding! Congratulations on completing 10 stories and publishing them anonymously!]
-'FINALLY!'
Fiona Stone was currently extremely sleep deprived and sitting at her desk. She had just come back from working at the Church of Humanity as an 'Assistant Teacher'. In order for Fiona's plan to work, she needed to have experience working at the Church of Humanity in order to get a recommendation.
She had been working hard for the past 3 years, managing to publish slightly altered Earth stories and releasing them into the world. She had to make them somewhat believable so that a person from this world could've come up with them.
The deities of Midor had summoned a group of people from old eras of Earth in order to help them with the demonic invasion thousands of years ago.
'Demons' were simply beings that were not native creatures to the 'Realm' that they are invading. They can range from beings coming from space, The Void, different dimensions, other planets, erased periods of time, etc.
People from Earth had come to Midor after this summoning but because their appearance wasn't authorized by the deities of Midor, they were seen as Demons and mercilessly killed.
That is why some words in Midorian are identical to English and why other's aren't. This has led to the level of technology on Yvon to be all over the place due to some Earthlings not knowing how some things were made while knowing how others were.
There are working steam engines and trains and the printing press exists but ball-point pens, some food recipes and many other things do not exist.
And so, The Church of Humanity is now in charge of making sure that whenever some scientific breakthroughs are made, the person or group that made said breakthrough is interrogated, probed and tested in order to see whether they are a 'Demon' or not.
This has led to Fiona not having that many options when it came to 'writing' stories, since some previous Earthlings had already made some easy money with them or other inventions.
'Filthy thieves! Couldn't they have thought to leave some things for their predecessors?'
But through sheer desperation, Fiona had managed to write a total of 10 stories which she then published under the pen name 'Jane Doe'.
This has led her Writer Status to look like this:
[Writer Status]
Name:Fiona Stone
Species:Midorian Dwarf
Character Tier:Unmentioned
Traits:
-Dwarfish senses (As a Midorian Dwarf, your sight is worse during the day and better during the night, your sense of taste is dulled and your sense of smell is heightened in order to detect poisonous gasses)
-Mineral inspection (Your strengthened teeth and strong acidic saliva enables you to eat soils and minerals in order to find out they are made of. This has led to an increased immunity to poison, radiation, and indigestion)
-Thick and stocky (You are much shorter than the average human and you have much larger intestines and stomach, leading to making you look like a barrel)
-Writer's Memory( You can remember anything that you have ever read or written, allowing you to better avoid plot holes and inconsistencies.)
-Writer's Inspiration(You sometimes get random bouts of inspiration, leading to you coming up with innovative stories, answers to questions or simply having a higher chance to gain enlightenment for things related to a Writer.)
-Low Fate Affinity(As the Host of the Secretive Writer System you are expected to change the fate's of others and so you have been granted a Low Affinity to Fate. You now have a much more developed 'sixth sense', a minuscule amount of divination resistance and now have a vague sense 'fortuitous encounters', allowing you to have a minuscule chance to detect where a fortuitous encounter might be.)
-Low Water Spirit Affinity(Some water spirits have become curious due to the way you manipulate water in order to write. If you come up with more innovative ways to manipulate water, they will start to like you.)
Skills:
Active:
-Divination(Beginner):Allows you to perform extremely very low-level divination's with the help of instruments, using mana as the price. The more intricate the divination, up to a certain level, the more mana is required.(Example: You can perform a divination by using a copper coin and, after performing the needed ritual, chant or other preparations, ask what you want to know while the coin is still in the air. You can only use divination's to answer low level 'Yes or No' questions such as "Will it rain in the part of the city where I live in tomorrow?". If you simply ask "Will it rain tomorrow" the divination will fail as the question is too vague.)
-Water Manipulation(Intermediate):You have learned how to manipulate the water inside ink in order to write your stories much faster than with a quill, further improving your writing speed and quality. The mana cost is relative to the duration and complexity of the chant.
Passive:
-Writing(Expert):You have become an author and managed to write several stories that have inspired and entertained numerous people from Aurorus City and some neighboring settlements. You have caught the attention of some low ranking nobles but you are still relatively unknown.
Titles:
-Secretive Writer(given by the Secretive Writer System)
Secretive Writer Points: 1000
[End Writer Status]
She had completed 10 requests in total. 5 of them gave her 200 SW Points each while the other 5 gave her traits and skills.
She was a ecstatic to gain such abilities when all she had done so far is just write stories. Her growth wasn't as fast as the protagonists of the novel's she had read but she didn't mind as she knew just how powerful her abilities could potentially get.
She was still living in her predecessor's room inside the Singing Coras. A week ago a group of mean-looking mercenaries had just left the inn for some mission and so she was now starting to breathe more easily.
'They were so intimidating, I'm so glad that I don't have to see them for a long time.'
They let off a very intense aura and so she always felt uncomfortable when she saw or passed by them. She was still a young girl from Earth at heart so she wasn't used to being near people that kill for a living.
But now that she has completed her newest task, getting 200 more SW points, she has decided to test her abilities as a Secretive Writer and alter the fate of some people. Her first target? The innkeeper.
She slowly went out of the room and went to the slightly overweight and balding man, deciding to order herself a stew and a high quality commoner bread.
After paying 10 copper coins for the food, the young dwarf slowly walked to an unoccupied table and started eating her stew while bringing out the Status Window of the man.
[Character Status]
Name:Jordan
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Character Tier:Unmentioned
Traits:
-Slightly Overweight(Due to years of living a slightly sedentary lifestyle and having access to more food, he had started putting on weight. Slightly reduces END and can lead to various health problems. Nothing serious for now.)
Skills:
Active:
-Water Manipulation(Adept):Can remove the moisture and reduce the water content in some food's, making them last longer. Can bring water up to a boil or reduce its temperature by using his body as a conduit for heat. Mainly uses it to cook and make cool water during the summer in order to raise its price.
Passive:
-Cooking(Expert):A former army cook for the Aurora Empire during the war against the Rain Kingdom who decided to open up an inn in the capital by using up all of his saving and the money he gained. Has learned how to make the army rations more tasty for the soldiers, earning the respect of many along with now being able to make the most out his food ingredients, leading to less waste, reducing food costs.
-Business Acumen(Adept):Knows how to make a profit but also knows when to take a loss. Will not compromise his morals just to gain more profits and will sometimes decide to take a loss in order to do the 'right' thing.
Titles:
-Honorary Godfather(Given by:Various Auroran Soldiers.)
Current Fate: Will die in a few years by getting assassinated.
[End Writer Status]
'W-wow. And this guy isn't even mentioned?'
[Indeed Host. In the eyes of the Book you have read he is less than a background character.]
'Can I learn more about his fate? How many points will it cost to learn more about his fate and alter it?'
[Due to being an Unmentioned character, knowing his full fate will cost 1 SW point and due to your lack of experience, the System has given you various options on how to change his fate and the cost:
-Cause him to die of heart failure.(Cost:100 SW points. Explanation:Due to his poor diet, a heart attack, while almost impossible to happen due to his still relatively healthy body, is possible.)
-Extend his life for a few more years.(Cost:10 SW points. Explanation:Due to the nature of his death, it can be postponed by a few more years, leading to him dying only in 10 years instead of 5)
-Improve his life.(Cost:100 SW points. Explanation:Due to drastically changing his fate, allowing him to die of natural causes, this option costs more.)
-Make him wake up with a stiff neck tomorrow.(Cost:1 SW point. Explanation:Simply an inconvenience.)
-Make him slip.(Cost:5 SW points. Explanation:Will make him be a bit distracted when he is near a surface upon which he can slip on.)
-Increase Character Tier by 1 tier.(Cost:1000 SW points. Explanation:Will make him a Background Character which will lead to him interacting with a named Character.)
(...)]
Fiona was starting to feel like her abilities were starting to feel evil and weirdly expensive. She continued to eat her stew but ended up making several odd facial expressions, and when Jordan saw that he started to worry.
-'Does she not like the stew? I made sure to properly season it and it had been simmering for around 1 hour and a half...Maybe I bought a bad kind of bread? No, I used the same vendor as always also inspected each loaf carefully this morning...'
He tried to think of what mistake he could've made while making the stew but couldn't find any and so he just decided to ask her later, thinking that perhaps she hadn't had a good day.
'She does spend a lot of time in her room and then just goes to the Church.'
Jordan kissed the silver book necklace hanging off his neck as he mentioned the Church of Humanity. He was a man that was very thankful to the Church and he even wanted to get his youngest daughter to become a nun there.
Meanwhile, Fiona was currently reading Jordan's fate while enjoying the stew, making sure to dip the core of the bread in it while using the crust as a 'bowl' where she deposited some of the meat and vegetables and then ate it like a sandwich.
[ Jordan was born on May 26th, 5th year of the Aurora Empire's Alessandre Era, approximately 45 years ago.
He was born in one of the Western village's belonging to the Grand Duchess of the West, Belethor. He had lived most of his younger years in the village, working as a farmer under his strict, widowed father.
His life was ordinary and very common among commoners. On the 20th year of the Alessandre era, when he became an adult, he started saving up as much money as he possibly could, choosing to skip meals and do extra work in order to be able to afford his father's burial ceremony, as he had started to weaken with age.
For 15 long years he had worked hard, getting countless callouses on his hands and feet, ignoring his desire to become a cook as he did not have the money to properly learn. On his father's deathbed, his father told him to give him a Hunter's burial instead of buying a coffin, telling him that:
"When I am dead, I won't care about being inside some fancy coffin. I have lived my whole life among nature, and so I want to be completely one with nature once I pass.
I have not been the best father for you and I was certainly not the best husband, making my dear wife wait so much to see me."
His father had a tired but content smile on his face and gave Jordan the warmest hug he could muster. A few days later, he managed to die peacefully in his sleep, dreaming about the day he proposed to his wife with a bouquet of Melos flowers in his hands.
2 years later the Rain Kingdom rebelled after the passing of Emperor Alessandre, wanting to capitalize on the recent death which they found out through a third party. Prince Antonius, the current emperor and whose crowning marked the beginning of the Antonius era started a kingdom wide conscription order where each village, town and city had to provide a set amount of able-bodied adults.
Once Jordan heard about this, and having started to experiment with cooking and learning more about business with the help of the Head Teacher of his village's church, decided to enlist as an army cook.
He still underwent training just in case he needed to also fight as a combatant but he thankfully did not have to do so. For 10 long years he fought participated in the war against the Rain Kingdom, continuing to continue learning how to become a better cook while also trying to make the food given to the soldiers much more palatable, leading to many soldiers making him the honorary Godfather of their current and future children.
Some of these soldiers were the following:Adolf, Atronus, Anastasia Smith, Anos, Arthur, Bertholdt Smith, Bertrum, Castor Stone, Ferdinand and many others.
Once the war was over and he received his reward, along with some money given by the soldier's which he had been in charge of feeding, he managed to buy the building which has now become the 'Singing Coras'.
For the past 3 years he had worked hard to maintain and improve the inn, got married, had three children, the first two being twins and has been currently writing letters to his old military friends, even giving a copy of the newspaper to one after helping him get some medicine.
In 3 years his inn will start to become much more popular, becoming a regular resting spot for traveling mercenaries and visiting war veterans, even gaining the attention of a visiting son of a Viscount that wished to purchase the inn after seeing its popularity.
Jordan, not wanting to sell off the building which he bought with many years of saving and serving in the military, tried to politely decline the offer and instead tried to offer partial ownership. Feeling slighted for having to negotiate with a commoner, the young nobleman started what would become a 2 year battle for the rights to the 'Singing Coras'.
After expending large sums of money and even complaining to the legislative royal order and being ignored due to the matter not being of high importance, Jordan ended up getting assassinated by the order of the Viscount, the father of the young nobleman that started the ordeal in the first place.
This eventually led to his family using even more money in order to issue an investigation into the matter, but after managing to pay off a well known Detective, the assassination was brushed off as something perpetrated by a surviving Rain Kingdom soldier that wanted revenge for his fallen comrades which led to Jordan's death as he was the owner of an inn which many veterans of the 10 year Rebellion often frequented.
After receiving some settlement and selling the inn, Jordan's remaining family members left the outer rim of the capital and retired in GreenWood village.]
(Many cities in the Aurora Empire are separated in different 'rims'. The outer rims are typically where the commoners stay at, the middle rim being where various noble and merchant homes are with the central rim being solely for the ruler. Outside some cities there exists a 4th rim, the 'vagrant rim' where the homeless stay at and where most illegal activities are enacted.)
Fiona simply stared at the long system message, having stopped eating for a while now. She did not really know how to feel about Jordan's fate. This was different from what she expected.
There is the cliche of how a young master is bullying a hard working business owner, but now that she could put a face to a name, a real face, she honestly felt sick. She knew that this was something that must happen countless times, something that must have happened in her old world as well, but now that she had come to somewhat know Jordan's life, he wasn't some random person anymore.
And she had the power to change his fate. She could see how his story was going to end if she were to not interfere, but she also felt conflicted.
She learned all of this by using 1 point on some random person, someone that she chose only out of curiosity, but what was she going to do if she were to save him this time? Was she going to start saving each and every person with a sad backstory and a tragic future?
She had already gained 1000 points for simply writing some stories and now that her Pen Name is now relatively well known, she is going to start earning passive gains as well. Every day she was going to get points for each person that read her stories, with the amount depending on their Character Rank.
But if it costs to change the fate of someone with the lowest Character Rank then how expensive will it be for higher ranks? The Supporters or the Main Characters? She wanted to become a part of their story, and since she could raise the character rank of Jordan then most likely, she could raise her own rank as well.
She slowly inhaled and then let out a soft sigh as she glanced at Jordan for a moment. She now knew about how he had to struggle and save up money just to get a good coffin for his father, how he decided to enlist and possibly lose his life just to become a better cook and how he was respected by his fellow soldiers.
-'...System, can someone's fate be changed without spending points? Could I warn him to simply sell the inn?'
[While it is possible in theory, only actions that your character would logically make could work or those that end up having a very small impact. Your character would have no reason to warn the Innkeeper or tell him to sell his inn if he were to be asked in the future. Currently you are a failed writer that has decided to work for the Church of Humanity in hopes of becoming a teacher at Aurora Academy.]
'So in order to save his life, I have to depend on you?'
[Yes]
Sofia went silent and then finished what remained of her stew and bread. After quickly returning the bowl and the utensils to the worried innkeeper, and before he could say anything, she went straight to her room where she stayed until the next day.
[Writer Status]
Name:Fiona Stone
Species:Midorian Dwarf
Character Tier:Unmentioned
Traits:
-Dwarfish senses (As a Midorian Dwarf, your sight is worse during the day and better during the night, your sense of taste is dulled and your sense of smell is heightened in order to detect poisonous gasses)
-Mineral inspection (Your strengthened teeth and strong acidic saliva enables you to eat soils and minerals in order to find out they are made of. This has led to an increased immunity to poison, radiation, and indigestion)
-Thick and stocky (You are much shorter than the average human and you have much larger intestines and stomach, leading to making you look like a barrel)
-Writer's Memory( You can remember anything that you have ever read or written, allowing you to better avoid plot holes and inconsistencies.)
-Writer's Inspiration(You sometimes get random bouts of inspiration, leading to you coming up with innovative stories, answers to questions or simply having a higher chance to gain enlightenment for things related to a Writer.)
-Low Fate Affinity(As the Host of the Secretive Writer System you are expected to change the fate's of others and so you have been granted a Low Affinity to Fate. You now have a much more developed 'sixth sense', a minuscule amount of divination resistance and now have a vague sense 'fortuitous encounters', allowing you to have a minuscule chance to detect where a fortuitous encounter might be.)
-Low Water Spirit Affinity(Some water spirits have become curious due to the way you manipulate water in order to write. If you come up with more innovative ways to manipulate water, they will start to like you.)
Skills:
Active:
-Divination(Beginner):Allows you to perform extremely low-level divination's with the help of instruments, using mana as the price. The more intricate the divination, up to a certain level, the more mana is required.(Example: You can perform a divination by using a copper coin and, after performing the needed ritual, chant or other preparations, ask what you want to know while the coin is still in the air. You can only use divination's to answer low level 'Yes or No' questions such as "Will it rain in the part of the city where I live in tomorrow?". If you simply ask "Will it rain tomorrow" the divination will fail as the question is too vague.)
-Water Manipulation(Intermediate):You have learned how to manipulate the water inside ink in order to write your stories much faster than with a quill, further improving your writing speed and quality. The mana cost is relative to the duration and complexity of the chant.
Passive:
-Writing(Expert):You have become an author and managed to write several stories that have inspired and entertained numerous people from Aurorus City and some neighboring settlements. You have caught the attention of some low ranking nobles but you are still relatively unknown.
Titles:
-Secretive Writer(given by the Secretive Writer System)
Secretive Writer Points: 899
[End Writer Status]
[Elsewhere in the city, within the outer rim]
Detective Taylor was preparing to clock out for the night,walking back home after having just completed another job given to him by two masked women to investigate the new mysterious writer 'Jane Doe'.
He wasn't really sure why they wanted to know more about this lady but he could make a few educated guesses. They were waiting for him inside his own home, already having prepared and finished themselves a cup of tea while he was haggling with a fruit seller over some apples.
They both wore large cloaks that covered their whole bodies but with his trained and experienced eyes, Taylor knew that they had very impressive figures, and so he did not mind their intrusion and instead even gave them a smile that managed to charm many of his female employers.
He was pretty sure that he was ignored since their masks completely hid their faces, not even having holes for their eyes, but he swore on the Great Teacher's Quill that they were mesmerized!
The masks were metallic but were as reflective as mirrors so he could see his own face as he talked with them. Most unnerving of all was that the reflection was not deformed by the shape of the masks at all, and so it felt like he was talking with copies of himself.
The brown haired one seemed to be the other woman's attendant, and so Taylor decided to call them Brown Mask and Boss Mask.
Since they went as far as wearing cloak's and wearing masks that completely covered their faces Taylor also assumed that they changed their skin color, voices and hair color with some hidden artifacts, most probably the masks.
He also didn't bother asking them why they wanted him to investigate this writer and instead he went straight to business, wanting to know what exactly they wanted to know and how much they are willing to pay.
Boss Mask simply told him that they wanted to know who exactly is Jane Doe, their name, place of residence, species, age, gender, etc.
A standard commission, and when he asked about the money he saw something that almost caused his hearts to stop beating.
5 Obsidian Coins with Emperor Antonius' face stamped on them, his mug staring right at him.
He had to do a quadruple take and before he could say anything he was told the terms of the job. He gets 1 coin as payment upfront and the rest based on the quality and quantity of information that he can get.
He agreed immediately and so one coin was thrown into his hand, his gaze following it closely. Once he raised his head, expecting the 2 mysterious women to have already disappeared, they were instead still seated, with Boss Mask even clapping her hands as if she saw an impressive magic trick, with Brown Mask doing the same, following in her example.
They then left his home and told him that they will be coming back in a week, with Taylor now expecting them to be waiting for him inside his house yet again.
Unfortunately he wasn't going to get the rest of the payment as managed to find absolutely nothing about this 'Jane Doe's figure.
Trying to find their identity by comparing their style of writing with other, more well-known authors? Nothing.
Trying to bribe the publishing companies and the newspaper that published their stories? The stories just appeared in their office's out of nowhere without anybody noticing.
Asking the patrolling guards about any suspicious figures sneaking around? Absolutely nothing.
Offering 1 obsidian coin to anyone that can give him any amount of provable information? Nothing but beggars, frauds and liars.
Using his connections? Even they don't know!
He even tried divination and all he got was vague answers that could mean anything.
And so, having failed his commission, Detective Taylor opened the door to his house and said:
-"I apologize for my incompetence but I could not find anything about the author Jane Doe, if you were to give me a bit more time then I'm sure that I will be able to find something."
But when he opened his eyes he saw that his home was completely empty, and just as he thought that he still had some time, he heard an altered voice from behind.
-"It's fine."
-"Campbell's Quill!"
Detective Taylor jolted and then grabbed his cane but once he turned around and saw his face getting reflected back at him, he slowly calmed down.
Boss Mask and Brown Mask were both standing calmly in front of him, like 2 spectre's.
"I was just curious about them since their stories were very 'unique'. You may keep what remained of the advance payment that I provided. Have a good day Detective Taylor, and also it would make future customer conversations more pleasant if you were to not eat beforehand. You stink of seafood."
Detective Taylor quickly brought a panicked hand to his mouth and then looked on as the 2 mysterious figures walked away, closing the door for him as they left.
Now that he had talked with Boss Mask once again, Taylor was now more and more sure about their identities.
He had just gone to his favorite restaurant to eat before coming here and if they could smell it even under those masks then their senses must be highly trained.
He slowly took off his monocle and top hat, set aside his Vamas wood came and sat down on his chair, slowly massaging his glabella.
-"Heresy Erasers."
They were also called the Demon Purging Order and they were only talked about in hushed voices by the people that knew about them.
They were one of the highest authorities in the Church of Humanity, being able to investigate and persecute even high nobles without the need for permission.
They only answer to the Pope, The Emperor and Empress and the four Grand Duke's/Duchesses.