Starting To Change The World Part 3
The dungeons of the Askarian Castle weren't too different from what Kiran expected about a medieval castle. If he was honest, what actually surprised was the fact that he wasn't prisoned in one of those jails. It wasn't like Kiran didn't have heard the histories of many scientists and philosophers who were taken as prisoners by the church for exposing their ideas about the universe, ideas that were and are against the beliefs of the people. The histories of Galileo and Giordano Bruno were the first ones that crossed his mind.
Fortunately for him, in this reality, the people seemed to be interested to learn about the cosmos instead of getting scared about not being the center of the universe. They weren't "cobardes pedazos de basura (cowards pieces of trash)" as he would say.
Due to that, he was out of danger... or at least it seemed to be the case.
Once he and Alfonse reached the jail they were supposed to visit, they asked the guards to leave.
Inside, an Emblian soldier was tied up to a chair.
"I'm not going to talk."
The reason why Alfonse was there was to translate for Kiran, even though Veronica was perfectly able to speak Askarian, her soldiers did not, or at least, not all of them.
Kiran didn't answer instantly once he was aware of what the soldier told him, he just walked and sat near, on another chair.
"Are you sure? I mean, you are aware that if you don't cooperate you're not going anywhere soon... aren't you?" Kiran narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms.
"Tch, does it seem like I care?" the soldier yelled at Kiran.
"Apparently, no. But that makes me wonder, why?" he raised his eyebrow.
"Why do you care?!"
"I'm not going to talk." he smiled sarcastically.
"Tse!, screw you!"
"You know? actually, I could do that, but at the same time, I couldn't. I doubt Alfonse would lend me his powers for that." he considered the possibility... but he shook his head.
Alfonse, who was only hearing a translation of what Kiran said, didn't understand what he meant.
Then, the man started to try to free himself from the chair.
"As I said, you're not going anywhere..."
"I.. must.. kill you!"
"Try if you can." Kiran kicked him on the stomach.
"Graaaa!" the man struggled even more than before.
"Listen, being honest, what you are doing is purposeless, just like this war." Kiran closed his eyes.
"So what?!"
"What we want to know is this, why Veronica is doing this?"
"I'm just a soldier!, I'm not supposed to make questions!"
"So all of you are only puppets that only follow orders? talk about pathetic." Kiran mocked.
"Shut up! a soldier's loyalty is always with his country!"
"That's a fallacy, loyalty to anything that is not the justice and logic is bullshit."
"Tsee!"
Then, Kiran made a signal to Alfonse which meant they should leave.
No matter how many times they tried, all the soldiers refused to cooperate. And torturing them would probably only make them say whatever they wanted to hear rather than the actual reality of the situation.
Once they gave up, Kiran and Alfonse left the dungeons.
"I don't understand how they can follow Veronica's orders just because of yes." Alfonse sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
"Meh, it's pretty simple... a long time ago an experiment about the "memory" was created. It was about two persons, one is a random person, the second one is there only to deceive the first one. You make them meet each other, then you separate them, you make the first person to ask some questions that are already prepared to the other person. Using something that you could understand as telepathy if the second person gives a wrong answer, the first person has to electrocute the second person, and every time they answer wrongly, the electricity is stronger than before."
"Is.. is that legal?" Alfonse's face denoted the obvious horror you could expect.
"Don't worry, the second person never gets electrocuted, they are just acting." Kiran yawned.
"Then... what actually they study is..."
"How far a person is willing to obey the authority. It is necessary to say that the first person is not obligated to be there, but if they ask to leave, the scientist requests them, peacefully and kindly, to continue."
"So...?"
"Almost the sixty percent activated the amount of electricity that would kill the second person." Kiran sighed in frustration. It proofs that, asking for it kindly, you can make a person kill another person... and if you can do that being kind, now imagine what you could do if you add to your people nationalism, stupid beliefs, and ignorance into their ideology?..."
"... A disaster..." Alfonse concluded with sadness.
"Yes... fortunately, there's something that can prevent that situation."
"What is it?"
"Question the authority, never follow an order unless it makes sense, and no idea is true just because someone says it, and that includes me."
"...Basically, you are saying that the first person should have asked why it was necessary to electrocute the second person...then the scientist would have needed to explain it, and if the scientist didn't give a good reason, the first person should have refused to cooperate..."
Kiran nodded. "Exactly... you have learned the first rule."
"Wait, what? first rule?..." Alfonse inclined his head in confusion.
Kiran showed to Alfonse his hand, all his fingers were raised.
"Five... there are five rules that should be followed by all the humans if they want to know the truth... you have learned the first one..."
Alfonse felt curiosity, five rules? only five rules to be followed to discover the truth?...
If that was true... to know those rules would help him to be a better king...
He wanted to learn them.
"Which are the other four ones?..."
Kiran, who at this point hadn't discovered anything that he could use as proof to demonstrate Alfonse had bad intentions, was willing to explain to him the rules. Unlike all the politicians he knew from his own universe, Kiran was kinda sure that he could trust Alfonse.
Alfonse wasn't evil. Maybe he was ignorant, but that was because he lived in a medieval world, due to that, it was Kiran's duty to give him advice.
"Very well... accept these rules, and the cosmos is yours..." he claimed with a serious expression... before changing it. "Not literally but you know what I am talking about," Kiran said with a smile.
"Yes." Alfonse confirmed.
Kiran gave his most serious face as he spoke.
"Rule number two... think for yourself... question yourself, never believe something just because it sounds good or because you want to... the reality is the one that it is, it is not the one that would make us feel better the most, it is not the one that we would like the most, it is the one that it is, no matter if it is horrible or scary."
For Alfonse, this rule was very obvious, maybe it sounded dark, but as the same rule said, it didn't matter.
"... I see... next one."
"Rule number three... test the ideas by the evidence gained from experiment and observation.. if a favorite idea fails a well-designed test, it is wrong... get over it."
"Mmmmh... all this also applies to the ideas you've explained to us... right?..."
"Yeah, that's why I'm going to test the vaccines before to give them to your people, to prove you that they work and I'm not lying."
"How?..."
"Using prisoners... but not the Emblian ones, you'll see they work, I just ask you to be patient."
"And I'll be... next one."
"Follow the evidence wherever it leads. If you have no evidence, don't make the people lose their time, the evidence is the most important thing to discover the truth."
"Those rules... were kinda obvious."
"Many people ignore them, especially the first and second ones, more when we talk about their believes they got when they were children."
"Right..."
"And the last one and maybe the most important of them all..."
Alfonse stayed silent as he paid the most attention he could pay.
"Remember, you could be wrong, and that's because the reality may be more complex than what our mind can imagine by guessing... but it does not mean that we can't comprehend it of course."
"I see... understood..."
"Excellent... well, I'll go to make glass, I'll see you later... Poncho."
"Wait!, Poncho?!." Alfonse gave a confused look as he heard his most new nickname.
"Yeah, where I come from, that's how we call to persons with your name, deal with it." Kiran laughed as he walked away.
Alfonse wasn't sure if he liked to be called like that... but once his sister ran towards him...
"Ponchito~!" Sharena hugged Alfonse, almost leaving him unable to breathe.
"P-P-Ponchito!?" Alfonse yelled, now it sounded worse than before.
Anna also appeared, laughing.
"Kiran said that it is like saying: Tiny Poncho."
"It's super cute~, my Ponchito~."
"Don't call me like that!"
"Owww... but mom liked it so much!."
"...Noooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Jajajaja.
Poncho and Ponchito are the nicknames that Latin American players gave to Alfonse, it is very funny if you ask me about it, it didn't help the fact that when the chapter 3 of the book 2 was translated, Fjorm called Alfonso to Alfonse, they translated the name too!
I know, a short chapter, and maybe it is not what you were expecting, but since I don't have my PC and only my cell phone... writing using this thing is not very comfortable.
Let's explain some things: It is obvious that not all the countries of Fire Emblem Universe have the same language, that's why used the idea of the translator, the reason why Marth, Linde, and all the heroes speak Askarian is because of the contract, Veronica created her contract using the power of the orbs, that owned to Askr, it kinda explains it?... right?... even when the contract is broken, the translator remains, because the same happens with the decreasing of power when the hero is summoned (While the contract of Kiran protects the hero unlimited times, the contract of Veronica can kill the hero). Also, I will use black as the color for other languages, because I only know Spanish, English and some Japanese (Not too much, but I'm learning).
Maybe some chapters will be modified if I notice an argumental error.
Well, time for answers.
For JP I'm Italian.
1.-I never liked Tharja, less Loki...
2.-The idea of an especial chapter 500 years in the future is due to the chapter where Kiran is writing his book, now he knows nobody will understand what is written on it, he will need to translate it.
3.-You don't see love? well, considering that many people ships Alfonse x Fjorm..
4.-Yeah, I know technically I am god here, but if I want to write a realistic history, I can't write anything I want, I mean, for me it would be cool if Kiran is a reincarnation of Darwin, Newton, Faraday, and many other scientists, but let's going to be honest, it is... stupid, would you take it seriously?... I know this is a fanfiction but... damn...
For jdt
Kiran's objective is to ensure Fire Emblem humans survive to their planet's end, unlike all the heroes, he knows the sun will destroy the life on the earth in the future, he will not do anything to generate their destruction, so don't worry.
For Anthiese
Thanks... maybe you and Kira could appear in the story, as summoners from different timelines... somebody else wants to appear?
For Guest
Mmmh, If I can write romance, maybe it will happen, but considering what Jdt said, maybe I will use the first girl I had in mind.
As I always say, have you seen an error on the writing that should be fixed?.. where?...
