At the bottom of a cave hidden among reddish coral formations and slowly swaying anemones, Ariel swam in restless circles.
Her treasure trove, or as she fondly called it, the "storehouse of wonders", was illuminated by tiny jellyfish floating on the stone ceiling.
Makeshift shelves made of shipwreck wood were crammed with human objects: forks, candlesticks, cracked mirrors, wet books and even an old pair of boots that she thought were very elegant, although she didn't understand their purpose. But the center of her attention at that moment was something much more recent.
A silver ring with a faint, mysterious glow rested on a cushion of shells. Ariel stared at it as if it were a shell about to sing.
"You shouldn't even be wearing that, Ariel." muttered a small voice next to her.
Flounder, her faithful fish friend, swam in agitated circles around the cushion. "It could be cursed! Humans live by bewitching things. What if this ring is a trap? What if... it turns you into a human permanently?!"
"Flounder..." Ariel said patiently, rolling her eyes with a smile. "That was the first gift I ever got from a human. He was dying and yet he gave me something that seemed important to him. Do you really think a human would curse something like that?"
The little fish hesitated. "Yes! I mean... maybe! You know how they are!"
But Ariel was already reaching for the ring with her delicate fingers. She held the jewel lovingly, almost as if it were a magic crystal, and placed it carefully on her finger.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, when she concentrated some Mana from her natural magic, the same energy she used to sing and move the gentle currents around her, a soft light shone through. A circle of energy projected a magical screen right before her eyes, suspended in the air.
Ariel gave a delighted squeal. "Flounder! It's working! Look at that!"
"WHAT?!" He shouted in fright. "That's dangerous!"
But Ariel was already completely mesmerized.
"Welcome to [Facebook]..." She read aloud.
Reading that she would need to choose a name for herself, she didn't think too hard and just chose: [Ariel]
Soon afterwards, dozens of windows began to open slowly, gliding smoothly like shoals of shiny little fish.
Curious, she began to read the message windows that were popping up on the internet screen.
[OldHunter]
[Hahaha, this old man is still a great hunter, after going out hunting in the morning, I managed to hunt three deer by myself!]
❤️ 2 likes - 💬 0 comments
[Cloudwatcher]
[Did anyone else see the sky last night? There was a star falling, that was so beautiful...]
❤️ 11 likes - 💬 3 comments
[BlueFlower]
[This morning my neighbor's daughter arrived after dark, accompanied by a young soldier... it looks like there was romance there].
❤️ 27 likes - 💬 10 comments
[FirewoodMage]
[If it's possible to use fire to burn wood, would it be possible to reverse this process?]
❤️ 1 likes - 💬 0 comments
Ariel spun in circles around the magic screen, her eyes shining brighter than any pearl she had ever encountered.
"Blimey! They... they talk to each other through that ring! They share stories, jokes, tricks... that's... that's AMAZING!" she exclaimed, completely enchanted. "And look at that, Flounder! They talk about fashion, stars, magic, everything! They don't look dangerous, they look... curious, like me!"
She scrolled through the posts with her fingers, amazed at each new sentence. When she came across one about human music, Ariel sighed and hummed softly. She could hardly believe that she was seeing the human world without having to get out of the water.
"Flounder... do you think he might be here?" Ariel asked.
"What? Who?" the little fish asked confusedly.
"The human I saved. He had several rings like that... if he had so many rings, then it's likely that he also uses this magic, right?!" Her eyes were full of hope.
Flounder still looked unsure, wanting to calm her friend down, but Ariel had already made up her mind.
For the first time in a long time, she hoped to have contact with humans without having to frighten them and she wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.
Seeing how people were posting about their day, she hesitated for a moment and finally decided to do something.
Ariel sighed, her eyes fixed on the magic screen, a faint smile appearing on her face as she pressed the "create new post" button and wrote her first message:
[Ariel]
[Today I saved a boy from the sea and he gave me this magic ring. If you're reading this... I hope you're okay].
❤️ 0 likes
She didn't know if he would see, but still... there was hope.
-
Noah was currently being treated very well as an honored guest in Queen Grimhilde's castle.
Not only had his quarters been changed to a larger, more luxurious room, but the Queen had even ensured that the room he was given had a space for him to develop his magic.
So now Noah had somewhere to sleep and somewhere to work in peace.
Having spent the last six days working non-stop, the last thing he wanted now was to have to program something, so he decided to go out for a walk.
Sure, to ensure his safety, the queen commanded one of the soldiers to go with him and protect Noah from any surprises that might happen.
When they left the castle, Noah expected to see a beautiful medieval town, with people working and going about their daily lives with simple expressions and smiles on their faces, just like he saw in fairytale books.
But the reality was quite different from what he had imagined.
The vast majority of stores were closed, and those that were still open were strangely all run by women.
Noticing this strange pattern, Noah couldn't help but ask the soldier who was accompanying him. "Why do only women work in the stores around here?"
Hearing this question, the soldier practically froze, not knowing how to answer, until after much thought, he managed to formulate the most formal answer he could.
"Since King Hadley's disappearance in the war against the Solmere Kingdom, the Queen has ordered all able-bodied men to join the army, leaving only the women to look after the family business." The soldier said, trying not to show any negative emotion.
Hearing this, Noah was shocked.
'Did that really happen in the movie? I don't remember anything like that...' He thought, unaware that this was part of the plot of the movie he hadn't seen.
"But... if this keeps up, the country's economy could collapse at any moment!" Noah realized.
If the kingdom fell, his plans to have a powerful foothold in this world would go up in smoke.
Although the movies portrayed princes and princesses as ordinary, kind and benevolent people, that was only from their point of view, if Noah went to any other kingdom and wanted a meeting with the King of that place, the guards would just laugh in his face and kick him out of there.
The opportunity he got to meet the queen of a country was unique, and he didn't want it to go that way.
So after the short tour of the city, as he walked back to the castle, he began to think about what he could do to influence the queen.
'The queen is a confident and arrogant woman, if I just pointed the finger at what she's doing wrong and she somehow felt humiliated by it, it's quite possible that she would order my execution. So I have to be subtle about it...' Noah thought.
Using his ring, Noah accessed the [Facebook] backend and realized that there were a total of 3 active users on that application now, which was a big surprise to him, but something he should ignore for the time being in order to deal with the imminent crisis that could arise in the Kingdom of Tabor.
'The Queen has been using Facebook so far... and from her history of likes and comments, the nobles' opinion of what other nobles were doing was what interested her the most.' Noah analyzed the data the algorithm had collected from her so far. 'Maybe I can make a post about a conversation between nobles popping up on [Facebook] where they discuss economics in a way that interests her, and makes her realize her mistakes, without these "nobles" needing to point out her mistakes and take offense at anyone.'
The more he thought about it, the more Noah felt that it could work.
In his previous world, people were very much guided by other people's opinions online.
If a user accessed a video, even if they really liked it, if the video had a lot of unlikes and only comments cursing and complaining about it, the user would start to rethink whether they really liked it, often being convinced by comments that didn't even make sense, just because of the volume of comments and the frequency with which they appeared.
So as soon as he got to his room, Noah used the ring to open [Facebook] and make the posts.
Choosing the profile of the aristocratic [Duke Hollowind], Noah typed the sentence calmly, reviewing the punctuation, the rhythm and even the tone of restrained indignation - enough to sound provocative, but not rebellious.
[Duke Hollowind]
[What's worth more to the Kingdom: a still sword or a productive hand?]
❤️ 67 likes - 💬 212 comments
3 hours ago
"Someone needs to say: Duke Reginald is making a mistake in our kingdom. Calling up so many men to the army since his daughter was kidnapped may seem prudent... But what's left when the crops fail for lack of arms? When stores close for lack of craftsmen? We are preparing for a war that may never come... while we lose the battle of hunger, the economy and progress every day."
Almost immediately, Noah switched between the other profiles to start moving the comments.
[Baroness Virelle]
"That's exactly what I've been saying in the local councils! My fields produce half of what they could, and yet I'm charged as if I'm wasting resources. What resources do I have? In my territory there are only children and old people trying to keep planting!"
[Viscount Thorne]
"With all due respect, noble duchess, but without a strong and ready force, what's to stop neighboring kingdoms from taking what we have just as they kidnapped Duke Reginald's daughter? Plows don't hold borders."
[Marchesa Bellune]
"And idle armies do not cultivate prosperity. Hungry soldiers don't win battles. Balance, viscount. What do we defend if there is no functioning kingdom to protect?"
[Earl Redgrave]
"Over-training soldiers without purpose is like fusing swords that will never be wielded. Why not train only the best, and let the rest support their families?"
[Lord Argentis]
"Perhaps we are focusing too much on keeping the people obedient... and forgetting that a well-fed, educated and productive people are the most loyal people there can be."
[Viscount Thorne]
"...I don't deny that there is wisdom in some of these words. Perhaps the current model does need an overhaul. But not total demobilization."
[Duke Hollowind]
"Nobody here has suggested that. Just let the people breathe. Teach swordsmanship to those with talent. Let the rest strengthen the kingdom with what they do best."
Noah made the comments appear in sequence and the likes counter rise consistently, giving the impression that this is a real post that has just been made and that several users are reacting to it.
He didn't need Grimhilde to respond or interact, he just needed her to read it... and feel that the thinking elite of another realm were beginning to form a new view that was different from what she believed to be right, with reasoned explanations and proof that they were right.
Opening the Facebook backend and seeing that [Fairest] was currently reading this post made Noah start to smile.
In a few minutes it would be dinner time and he was excited to see if this would bear fruit