The Automated King

Entering the City

The second test of faith was emerged ahead of the two adventurers. City of Malia, the resting place for the most clusters of fur-coated animals. They are in pursuit of life-making, the elementary household of sustainable co-existence from various species and races. Everyone is in trade of services, goods, and stage of entertainment to their humble visitors of the city. It’s a manifestation of ambition, an indication to thrive and prosper as the first and foremost key to the way of riches.

“Remarkable appreciation were designated to those who dedicated themselves for the greater good. Decent word, but a good design on the plaque to me.”

“In conclusion of that plaque, Simon, is that they do have great interest of arts. Look at those elephant statue up above, for example. We missed the stupendous stuff so much yesterday.”

The majestic pairs of statue were erected on each of the end-post of the city’s main entrance. It has a clear anatomy of the common two-legs elephant. Their white ivories, a big trunk, and the two flap of their ears were exhibited the sensibility of accuracy and details as the feast to the visitors of Malia Kingdom, including the newcomers such as the two of them.

“Do they always on their bare skin every time?”

“Look at that lion, Simon, is that old man standing naked to you?. In the other way to describe it, they were civilized enough to tell the right and wrongful act of living. Being nude isn’t a faulty gesture, as long you have the suitable place for it.”

As every entry to the city would be like, and by the experience of the two adventurers itself, they have to lie in wait for their passage to the city. The line of entree is longer than it ever was, since they have arrived to the city at noon.Before they set themselves to the queue, they transformed their carriage back to its former condition, along with 10 humanoid robots as the one in front.

"Hey, Regi, is that mode even more weirder to have? we were just like a slave trader with that sort of display."

"Since it is humans, it wouldn't be a problem to the crowds, you see."

“By the way, did you carry our documents? Check it again for our insurance.”

“Yes, I kept it safe under the seat. Wait a second.”

Reginald is climbing up to the passenger’s seat, then grabbed their specially-fabricated registration documents. It was written over the near-withered papyrus paper to bring the natural sight of a long-term possession to the sentinel inside the booth.

“Catch it, Simon.”

Reginald fake-throw the documents, hurling nonsensical petty trick to the master of speed. Of the contrary of expected outcome, Simon didn’t fall bewildered and stayed stoic on his look.

“A simple flick won’t affect a thing to my focus, mate. I've had told you of my expertise on that department, right?”

“Yeah, and you never showcase those self-claimed proficiency to me. Why do I have to nod and believe to that so easy?”

“I’m not bluffing to say this one right off the bat. Get out from that wagon and watch my hand.”

As Simon’s respond to the challenge, He's magically set forth a full set of cards out of thin air by the time Reginald going down from their carriage.

“This is not the show. Don’t let your blink deceive you.”

He shuffled the deck in exquisite manner, boasting his flexibility and prowess of the cards to his sole audience on the spot.

“The set is complete. Pick one card at the top.”

Reginald, under the advise of the magician, took the first card on the upper bracket in advance.

“Alright, what is it?”

“Ace of spade.”

“ That’s the masquerade, Regi. As my outer-space companion had informed me of the future, you would be in charge of the ace of spade.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“Allow me to do it once more..... Watch my hand carefully. follow the gesture of the cards on the top side of the deck.”

Simon went on his way to repeat the sequence. He tucked in and out the cards under the finesse of speed-shuffle, seasoned the stage with hints of flair and prowess.

“Take the one of the bottom card for now, no matter which.”

Reginald plucked a single card at the very down of the deck to fulfill his demand.

“What do you get, Regi?”

“Five of spades.”

“Under my psychic powers, I could recall myself having dinner with the family of cards. As I had predicted in the past, the five of spades was the final answer of all.”

While Simon bowing himself down to end the show, the string of applause enveloped their grounds in salutation. Hundreds of interested bystanders were encircled them both in time, enthralled by Simon’s basic artistry of magic to the abrupt commotion ahead of them two.

“What in the world...”

“Psst... Regi, get the empty box out!! We could gain a bunch of kick-starter with this.”

In his confusion of the current circumstances, Reginald hurl himself back to the wagon and took a vacant box for the upcoming donations from the audiences.

“Who’s in thirst of some..... Magic?”

The audience, as their respond to Simon’s gibberish, cheered him in ecstatic fashion. The clang of coins are pouring down to the box as token of appreciation towards the grand prestige of his talent, showering them with gratitude from the crowd in advance.

“Shoot, this is totally out of hand.... To all of my humble audiences! I need participants for the next trick. Raise your hand high to the sky!”

Simon wink to Reginald excessively. With no realization of the cue, Reginald tilted his head in question.

“Use the mask, dummy....”

Simon murmured the similar phrase consecutively, in hope for Reginald to receive his signal. In the audience’s point of view, His constant movement of his lips was being considered as the part of the show, a spell to enamor the masses. Reginald, after several minutes of misinterpretation, finally got the code of him and looked behind the carriage for some object to cover his face.

“Okay, I’m so sorry for the technical disruption. Back again, raise your hand! Ah, the man from behind!! Come to the stage, please..”

A massive uproar followed the entrance of a volunteer to cheer them up. Reginald, as the person under the mask, entered the stage in his anxiety. He didn’t understand of how to come up with this, and due to their unprepared improvisation, fell down under the clutch of nervousness.

“Welcome, my humble visitor of the stage! Please, spell your name, my fellow performer.”

“Ni-taa-ma.”

“Haha, don’t be so hysteric, Mr. Nitaama. Let’s play!”

Simon assembled the three set of cards and put them all across the table ahead of him.

“This is the game of speed. Follow my lead, and do not let your eyes fooled you out of a whim.”

In an unmatched velocity, Simon shuffled all of the three decks simultaneously. He then piled them up into a single set of cards up front.

“This is my prestige, the grand illusion of Mr. Phantom. Please, Mr. Nitaama, inspect the cards for me.”

Mr.Niitama, the man-in-disguise, dismantled the tidy construction of the cards in full caution.

“Don’t be too vigilant, Mr. Troops. I got myself terrified by your gaze somehow.”

The audience has quite similar reaction to the participant. They are stripping the assemblage off cards alongside the apprehensive volunteer on the stage, one-by-one in an expression of curiosity of the result.

“All jumbled up, Mr....”

“Stupendous! No matter how much I shuffled those cards, the final results were disorganized all the time!!!”

The thundering admiration of the street audiences showered the flawless display of skills by Simon, some of them even thrown several bouquet of flowers as a form of regard.

“Thank you, Thank you!! See you next time, my friends!!”

---

The unexpected event brought the two aspiring merchant into an ever-lasting fatigue. By their chance to hit the sack, both of the human spy are leaning down across their bed in joy.

“That tiresome display was despicable, Simon. It’s horrendous for me to see you so confident with our un-planned event. Did Merry notified us with their rules and conduct of the city? No magic allowed.”

“I am absent on that warning, hehe. It’s a one-time grandiose, don’t worry.”

“Let’s not forget of the last one. What’s with that wink? How could I respond to that sign easily?”

“It’s not a big problem to you, in the end. You could learn the ideas and blend yourself  to the crowd, after all.”

“Oh, damn. I could diagnose your symptoms; a star-syndrome of old.”

“Star-gazing? You wanna go out to see stars with me?”

“Forget it, Mr. Veteran... By the way, could you explain the level-up mechanics? I let this one slipped away for some time, I wonder if I could catch up with it right now.”

“With pleasure, Regi. Where do we begin? The 7 grades probably, it would be more relevant to a novice like you.”

He turned on his own bracelet to provide Reginald with the visual display of the ranks.

“This time, you are a novice. From our venture to the green market, you kept pronounced myself as veteran. Do you have any idea of it?”

Reginald shook his head accordingly.

“As you can see, this is my current level. I am a veteran, just like what you said. For this, you need to jump over the two previous level first.”

Simon clicked on the ‘veteran’ title on his virtual identification card that were projected from the bracelet.

“However, in contrast to the usual role of an RPG fantasy kind of game, your abstract exploit, conduct, and the swiftness of the job would be more accountable to up-scale. Therefore, you could pounce yourself way further than the usual day-to-day rank up.”

He then minimized his own identification card and clicked the ‘rank’ menu bar, by which expanded into a new set of information of the rank-order and displayed the .list of current standings.

“For example is the man on the tip of this list. We don’t know his whereabouts, or where did he went to, but this man is atrocious. In my prime days of youth, this unidentified personnel’s achievement was staggering to the newbies.”

He tilted his head up, trying to assemble his memories of the past by averted his vision to the wooden-knit ceilings above them.

“I am not intrigued at first. However, this woman over there, the two ranks below.... You know her, Ellen, acted like his promoter every time we went on a casual training. She always spoke of him out of the moon.”

“So, she’s like, your senior or something?”

“Nobody in our organization standing up above each other. You do understand the reason, right?”

Reginald shaking his head, showing his void knowledge of the probable answer.

“The level wasn’t meant to boast or brought superiority, but to measure of how much is our commitment and resilience to the goals towards Mr. LORD and our fellow saviors.”

Simon clicked the outside background of his virtual monitor from the bracelet, made the display shifted to the standard interface of the program. He then clicked on the ‘identification card’ menu, brought them back to the square one.

“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you this. There are seven levels that you could obtain in this organization. The beginner is the kick-starter, followed by novice, intermediate, expert, veteran, fabled, and top class. Ellen were seated on the fabled position for a long time, and for the top class.... is this alien.”

Simon placing his hand across the chin and scrunched up his nose of the explanation, but then nodded down after spending a few moments to look upon the list.

“Hmm, is there anything I forgot to notify? Ah, right, even if the job are based on your level, you would only gain benefits based on the Mr. LORD’s evaluation. You would be paid less if you don’t put much effort to the job, regardless of the level. This is the reason of why your payment are way bigger than I do on your first mission.”

“Hmm... Interesting. Nobody stands above all, huh.”

“Yeah, hail to the creator of the grade system, they are amazing. By the way, happy sleeping, Regi.”

“Good night.”