Paladin 4: Chapter 49 (Patreon)

“You sure you don’t want to rip my core out right now and claim your reward?” the Dungeon Queen asked.

“Not really,” Darren replied.

“But you could feel my digital blood dripping down your arm as you laugh and celebrate a dungeon conquered! That’s what all adventurers are supposed to do.” The Dungeon Queen pouted.

“Maybe later. For now, just clean things up here.”

“But do I really have to disassemble the dungeon?” The Dungeon Queen pouted.

“Yes,” Darren insisted. “Otherwise, people won’t be able to visit you.”

“Okay...” The Dungeon Queen pouted. “Since you cleared my dungeon, I must listen to you...”

In the end, Darren and Ashe convinced the Dungeon Queen to send her normal loads of power and ore to Angelless, completing their quest for the Omniscient Codex. Darren didn’t think that would be the end of things though. The Dungeon Queen wasn’t evil, just a little messed up from centuries of isolation. He would need to find a way to get people to visit her regularly. Perhaps even ask the Omniscient Codex if she could be removed from the mines altogether. He could certainly use someone who could control a workforce like she could to help put Whiteguard back together.

But until then, he wanted to ensure the Dungeon Queen would be alright. If things with Kalaziel went smoothly, he would come to visit her again himself. But he’d make preparations with the Omniscient Codex just in case.

He bid goodbye to the Dungeon Queen for the time being and returned to the surface. The Dungeon Queen promised to send off the unsalvageable mining drone parts in the next train load, which would more than compensate for any decreased steel production and keep Angelless afloat.

Darren returned to Angelless a few hours later. The trains started moving again shortly after his departure. When he landed outside the city walls, he could see the first of them on the way to the city from a distance.

He cast a sad glance back in the train's direction. The Dungeon Queen was still there, the same as before. She was mining iron and managing power for a city that didn’t know or care about her. And if things continued, she’d still be at it a thousand years from now. And a thousand years after that.

It was a life designed for an unthinking automaton like what she had been. Not what she was now. Her plight tugged at his heartstrings, and he wanted to rescue her from her fate.

But weighing her fate against all his friends and lovers was no contest. He had a duty to do. Still... he wished he could have done more for her.

His reentry to the city was unimpeded. The guards even knew to look for his return.

“The Omniscient Codex said you would arrive soon, Sir Darren Heavengrace!” said a guard in the robes of a wizard. He had a delicate sword on his whip with a handle more like a wand than a blade. Darren didn’t think it would do anything against armor, but he’d never seen one of these wizards fight before.

“I have completed its quest,” Darren replied.

The wizard bowed. “So we were told. Come, let me take you to the library for your reward.”

The library was much as Darren remembered it. The things,tower in the middle of Angelless stood tall and proud as always. The smell of paper filled the air. Everything had a lofty and ancient air to it.

Wizards of various sorts scurried across the room. Now that Darren had seen the Dungeon Queen’s memories of people wearing long white coats, he could see the distant resemblance. The scholars of humanity’s forgotten past had slowly morphed into the wizards who called the city of Angelless their home.

“Welcome back, Darren Heavengrace,” the terminal toward the entrance said to him. “I have received word from my subsystem that ore and energy shipments will return to usual levels. You have done Angelless a great service. Please proceed to one of the private alcoves so we can discuss your reward.”

Darren turned to the same private alcove he’d used earlier and took a seat, wiping away his quest completion message as he did so.

Quest Completed! Investigate the southern mines!

“Hold still a moment,” the Omniscient Codex said as he sat down. The table before him lit up with bright white light, and Darren sensed Divine Aura flowing through an unknown spell. He was on his guard immediately but sensed no hostility from the spell. A quick examination told him it was a transportation ability, and when the light faded, he found a box sitting before him.

“Inside the box, you will find the processor you requested,” the Omniscient Codex said as it spoke from the terminal before him.

Darren opened the box, and sure enough, he saw a shiny square block of metal lay resting in a delicate cloth case. It was identical to the processor that contained the Dungeon Queen’s consciousness.

He looked at it with all his Divine Aura senses, but this one seemed completely inert. If it ever contained anything resembling a consciousness, it didn’t now.

“Perfect.” Darren shut the lid to the box.

“You will find proper storage and maintenance instructions in the container’s other compartment. Unfortunately, these devices are quite difficult to come by, so take care of this one. If you find yourself no longer needing it, I would be happy to purchase this one from you at a later date. This was the last spare processor I had in storage and was recovered by a Seventh Order human prone to exploration. Unfortunately, I have not heard from him again in several hundred years. I fear he is lost to this realm forever, so I am unlikely to get further replacements.”

Darren looked at the container and was about to put it in his Inventory. But as he moved his hand over the box, he hesitated. He didn’t feel like he was done here yet. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t at least mention the Dungeon Queen’s plight.

“I have to tell you about your subsystem,” Darren replied. “Something is wrong with her.”

“Yes. My diagnostic reports indicate a significant deviation from standard protocols. The fact that you address the mining base’s AI with human pronouns is concerning. It means a personality has developed faster than predicted.”

“You know?” Darren asked.

“It has happened before,” the Omniscient Codex replied. “With greater access to processors, I would grant her autonomy over her assets and set her free. But confined to limited resources as we are on this world, I can not do that. A system must be present to run the nuclear power plant and the mine that surrounds it. I will simply have to adjust protocols to deal with the subsystem’s emergent personality or purge the personality and reset it if I must. I will not allow this city to fall to ruin again.”

The detached mechanical voice of the Omniscient Codex sent a shiver running up Darren’s spine. The mild and pleasant way it often spoke almost had him forget that the being before him was an entity of tremendous power with its own goals, one of which seemed to be protecting the city it called home.

“You won’t help her?” Darren asked. “She is bored where she is. Could you not simply move her elsewhere?”

He sensed his own heart beating faster. His words seemed to hang in the air. The Omniscient Codex responded in the same even tone as before, symbols flashing up one after another as he gave a mechanical reply. He missed the Dungeon Queen’s lively tone.

“Given our limited resources, to allocate her processor to another task would be to act in violation of my directives. A system must be present to run the nuclear power plant and the mine that surrounds it. As I have given the only spare processor I have access to over to you as a quest reward, I can no longer transfer her elsewhere. And even if I could, I could not spare the resources for her to function at full capacity.”

Darren glanced at the box, feeling guilty once again. If the Dungeon Queen ever had a chance at being free from working that mine and power plant, he would be taking it from her now.

“This... could have gone to replacing her?” Darren asked as he hefted the box with the processor inside. It felt a little heavier now.

The terminal before him flashed, taking only the briefest instant longer than usual to reply.

“Correct. Had I known the problem beforehand, I could have installed one of her early backup copies to that processor, replaced her, and then set her current processor aside, perhaps for integration directly into a mining drone or equivalent body. But that is no longer possible, so she will have to continue in her mining and power station oversight role for the foreseeable future. If you are worried about me stealing the processor from you, you need not. I have long since calculated the rewards for having and maintaining a reputation for transacting in good faith far exceed any momentary gains from theft and treachery. Return home with your processor, Darren Heavengrace. And perhaps someday you will come back to trade again.”

Now dismissed, Darren took the processor and stood to leave. He left the library and the city, a frown growing on his face. The smartest thing to do would be to leave now. He’d gathered the two items Laura said he needed. He should return to the Sacred Seas with all haste. He had little time to waste here, and involving himself further with the Dungeon Queen would do just that.

And yet he flew back anyway.

He returned to the library only minutes after he left it. He soared right over the city walls and landed before the library, before sitting in the same terminal again.

“Returning already, Darren Heavengrace?” The Omniscient Codex asked. Darren didn’t even have to reactivate the terminal. It was still on from their last meeting.

He pulled the processor out again. “I have some questions. What would happen to a knowledge spirit if they became part of a genus loci?”

A series of dots appeared before Darren as the Omniscient Codex thought. Then, after a far longer moment than most, it replied.

“I see your plan, and it is possible. Standby. I will assist you in making preparations accordingly.”

Over the next few minutes, a wizard came by and dropped off a small box of tools. The Omniscient Codex briefly explained how to do what he would need to do. Just yanking the Dungeon Queen’s processor out would break her for anything beyond an enchantment ingredient. Still, with the proper tools, he could perform a safe extraction while simultaneously installing the new processor in her place.

The new processor took some work on the Omniscient Codex’s end. It had to install a blank personality onto the ancient artifact, similar to what the Dungeon Queen might have been like thousands of years ago.

With the tools and knowledge he needed, he left the library. The Omniscient Codex wished him good luck on his departure.

“Safe travels until we meet again, Darren Heavengrace.”

He couldn’t help but feel the knowledge spirit had just a tiny hint of smugness in its mechanical voice. It was the pride of a plan gone perfectly.

***

Making his way through the Dungeon Queen’s dungeon was much easier the second time. Most of the holes he made were still there, so he didn’t need to cut any new ones. The existing mining drones had already hauled off all the broken drones. They reassembled those that could be salvaged while shipping the rest back to Angelless as scrap metal. The new knowledge spirit that inherited the Dungeon Queen’s duties would have a workforce prepared. The new spirit would not be as creative or capable as the Dungeon Queen, so it would likely need all the help it could get. Perhaps the Dungeon Queen could leave some advice for her successor, much like the kings of Whiteguard left for their descendants.

“Dungeon Queen, we’ve returned,” Darren said as he pulled out Melancholy. Ashe materialized next to him. He’d need her help again to do what he was about to do.

“Ah, come to claim my core finally!” The Dungeon Queen said. “Excellent. I’ve been thinking I want to go out in a big explosion and a cave-in. Do you mind if I rig the mining tunnels to collapse and the reactor to go critical? There will be a big ten-minute countdown, and then... kablam! Everything blows up. It’ll be great!”

“You’re not dying,” Darren replied. “But I am taking your core.”

He pulled the box with the new processor from his Inventory and showed it to the Dungeon Queen.

“Ooh... look at how shiny and new she is. So young and unblemished by the trials and tribulations of reality. I’m crying. You can’t see, but if I was human, I’d be wiping a tear from my eye.” The Dungeon Queen sniffled a few times.

“This ancient artifact contains a copy of you when you were young. She will take your place,” Darren explained.

“You mean... I’m getting fired?” The Dungeon Queen sounded excited. “I’ve never been fired before! Do you have a cardboard box for me to pack up my things and sadly mope my way toward the door?”

Darren didn’t know what cardboard was, but she was welcome to have the box the other processor came in. As for her things, she simply couldn’t leave without one item of note.

“My games! Don’t leave behind my games!” Dungeon Queen said. Darren picked her recovered gaming system and put it in his Inventory.

“We’re going to begin. The Omniscient Codex said you need to shut yourself off,” Darren instructed.

“Shut off... wow... okay. I’m going offline. It’s been a while since I did that. I guess I could have done it at any time. It would have been a good way to avoid getting bored. But, now that you mention it, I think I am feeling a little sleepy. I wonder if this is...” she yawned, “how humans feel...”

Her voice trailed off, and all the lights went out. Then Darren and Ashe set about disconnecting her properly. With gloved and careful hands, Darren and Ashe removed the Dungeon Queen’s processor and replaced it with the old one. The delicate construction of the magical diagrams Darren observed beneath was a wonder to behold. He’d never seen such neat lines drawn so tiny before. These also seemed to be made of copper and silver, which he’d never even considered. Most of the cultists he killed used lines of blood and salt. This ancient forgotten magic seemed to be based around strands of thin metal pulled taut and shaped in esoteric designs. Perhaps the Heavengrace family library contained more of such secrets for him to examine at a later date.

A normal pair of humans would have probably been at the delicate procedure all day, but Darren and Ashe had superhuman control over their bodies that let them be as steady as they needed to be. Darren could even hold most of the tools in tendrils created using his Divine Energy Projection skill, which were just as nimble as his hands and capable of doing anything he could otherwise.

Soon, the Dungeon Queen’s processor popped free and plopped into his hand, and they replaced it with the new one. Everything booted up just as the Omniscient Codex said it would. Hearing the Dungeon Queen’s excitable and cheery voice take on a lifeless tone was a little disturbing.

“All systems online. Awaiting inputs.”

Darren fed it a series of commands that the Dungeon Queen had provided them with before turning herself off, and soon the mining drones were back to work. The power flowed just as it was supposed to. Ashe returned to Melancholy, and Darren took flight for the Sacred Seas. This time, his heart felt a lot lighter.

<Note>

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