A few minutes before sunset, as the orange sky began to color the stained glass windows of the castle, Noah heard soft knocks on his bedroom door.
Knock Knock
"Come in." Noah said politely.
When the door opened, the same maid who had looked after him while he was unconscious bowed slightly before speaking politely. "Dinner will be served shortly, Lord Noah. Your presence has been requested by the Queen."
"Thank you. I'll be right there." He replied with a slight smile.
Coming from a modern upbringing in the other world, Noah was still getting used to being called "Lord Noah".
Wearing a clean shirt with red details and a dark vest embroidered in gold that made him look very elegant, Noah made his way to the hall.
When the doors to the hall opened, he found Queen Grimhilde already seated at the table, her hands crossed over her lap and her gaze fixed on a glass of red wine.
The table was elegantly set, with tall candlesticks, silverware and steaming dishes that perfumed the room with herbs and spices.
"Good evening, Lady Grimhilde." Noah greeted with a slight inclination of his head as he approached.
She looked at him for a few seconds, as if carefully analyzing him, until a small smile appeared on her lips.
"Sit down, Lord Noah." She said.
He obeyed, and soon the servants served them both with carefully prepared dishes. Tender meats, freshly baked breads and a white mushroom soup with truffle oil that surprised even his modern palate.
He thought he'd find rancid, bland food in this world, but considering he was in a royal castle, it's understandable that this is the place most likely to have spices being used in the food, right?
But even with the feast, the queen seemed distracted.
She slowly turned the goblet in her hands while squinting at the holographic screen floating discreetly next to her, as if she didn't want to show how absorbed she was by it, but also unable to ignore it.
It was only after a few minutes of silence that she broke the tension with a question that Noah had expected.
"Those people... the others who use your magical communication network... are they also from your kingdom? This so-called... America?"
Noah kept his expression neutral, but inside he celebrated the opportunity. "Yes, Your Majesty. They're people from the same place as me, but from different provinces. Some are nobles, others just scholars... they're people I trusted to let experience the internet, just like you."
She nodded slowly, returning her gaze to the cup. "I suspected as much. The way they debate... the arguments, the rhetoric... they're clearly educated nobodies, that's for sure." She said as if trying to convince herself.
Noah just continued eating calmly, without directly confirming or denying, but letting her reasoning unfold.
And indeed, Grimhilde was thoughtful for several minutes.
The words she had read on [Facebook] kept running through her head.
"Plows do not hold borders."
"Idle armies do not cultivate prosperity."
"Let the people breathe."
These phrases echoed in her mind as if they were prophecies of what would happen to Tador.
And the more she thought about it, the more she felt the ground beneath her feet shake.
She wasn't stupid, just... naive in some areas.
She was brought up by a strict mother who only taught her that just as a man's weapon is muscle, a woman's weapon is beauty.
So instead of spending time learning about politics and economics, the only thing she was taught was how to become more beautiful and how to stay beautiful forever.
Even the magic she learned was focused on staying younger and more beautiful, just like her mother.
So, since the King's disappearance in the war against Solmere, she instinctively resorted to force.
She turned all the men into soldiers, hoping that more swords would prevent the tragedies she so feared. After all, it was for lack of protection that Hadley disappeared. At least that's what she told herself every night.
She swirled the wine in her glass slowly, as if searching for answers in the dark reflection of the liquid.
"Hadley... has always had a strange talent for dealing with people." She commented with a distant tone, almost like someone talking to herself. "He used to say that a good king can hear even the whispers of the commoner."
She paused, her gaze still fixed on the glass. "At the time, I thought that was silly. After all, why should a king care about the opinions of people who can't even write their own names?"
Noah realized that she was just venting, not waiting for an answer from him, and chose to keep quiet.
"But now... reading these comments from your... compatriots, I found myself remembering him." She rested her glass on the table, not drinking. "The way they debate, although different from the nobles of Tabor, still shows the intellectual level they have... That's why I know they're nobles."
Noah maintained a polite half-smile, without contradicting her.
"I have to congratulate you, Lord Noah, your magic has managed to give me experience of interacting and discussing with people I would probably never have met, a means like this for gaining knowledge is nothing short of magical..." She said with a slight tone of genuine respect in her voice.
But that was all.
She didn't say she was wrong. She didn't ask for advice. She showed no weakness.
But Noah was very pleased.
Not just because she was showing the change, but also because she was opening up to him more, talking about the late king of this kingdom.
But there was only one doubt he felt when he arrived in the dining room.
'If it was just me and the queen at the dinner table, where is Snow White?' He asked himself confusedly. 'At what point in the plot am I supposed to be?'
Considering that the task ROB had given Noah to fulfill in this world was to improve the fate of the protagonists, he didn't intend to let the girl be killed.
So he also planned to investigate her later.
Now, after dinner, Noah would like to get in touch with his other savior, the one who really got him out of danger.
Opening the [Facebook] Backend, Noah saw that both Grimhilde and Ariel were online.
'These two look like middle schoolers, on their phones all the time...' He thought as he sighed.
Looking at their Likes and comments history, Noah saw a big discrepancy in likes.
While Grimhilde's feed focused more on gossip or noble discussions, Ariel's feed was more focused on posts about animals, culture and art.
Unfortunately, Ariel had only made one post, and since Noah wasn't online, no one had interacted with it yet.
Opening the post she had made, he was surprised that it was the subject of her first post.
[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
Thinking for a few seconds, Noah didn't hesitate any longer and sent Ariel a friend request.
-
In the depths of the coral palace, in the heart of the underwater kingdom, the princesses' bedroom was spacious and adorned with glittering shells, tapestries of seaweed and crystals from the bottom of the sea.
Each bed was a giant shell, delicately shaped to house one of the king's daughters.
Ariel shared the space with her sisters, all of whom had been lying down for some time, breathing slowly and rhythmically in their beds of pearls.
She waited... and waited some more.
Only when she was sure that they were all asleep, including Aquata, who was snoring like a distant whale, did Ariel sneak into the covers, curling her tail to better fit into the bottom of the shell.
Inside the closed shell, with her heart racing and a gleam of curiosity in her eyes, she took out the ring hidden in a little pouch of scales she had sewn herself, and slipped it on her finger.
With a slight flow of Mana, the magical screen silently lit up in front of her face, illuminating the inside of the shell with a bluish glow.
For Ariel, this was like opening a window onto the human world!
The [Facebook] feed slid smoothly in front of her, and Ariel went back to doing what she had been doing all day: exploring the surface without leaving her room.
She read about human recipes, jokes she still didn't understand, everyday stories and posts about creatures she'd never seen in the sea.
It was magical and strangely addictive.
But... even with all that, something bothered her.
She slowly scrolled down to her own post, written so lovingly when she first wore the ring.
❤️ 0 likes
Ariel stared at it for a while, the sentence seemed lonelier now, lost among hundreds of animated posts from other profiles. As if her voice had shouted to the sky... and no one had heard.
"Maybe no one saw it..." She whispered to herself. "Or maybe... nobody cared."
She lay on her side, hugging her tail, as she did when she was a child and had nightmares.
For a moment, she thought about deleting the post.
But then the screen flashed to life with a subtle little sound:
Pling!
[N] liked your post!
Friend request received from [N]
Ariel widened her eyes and sat down quickly inside the shell, even making a bubble spiral upwards.
"[N]...?"
Just as she had done with some of the profiles she had become interested in during the day, Ariel clicked to see this profile in more detail.
The profile was very discreet. It had no description, no posts, no friends, just 38 followers.
But something about it made her heart race.
'Could it be... him?' she thought excitedly.
She looked around, making sure none of the sisters had moved, and then accepted the request.
The screen flashed softly, now she had a friend.
She bit her lower lip, trying to contain the silly smile that escaped, so she curled up in the covers again, holding the magic screen close to her face, looking at her friends list which now had a name with a little green ball next to it.
Suddenly, below her new friend, a word appeared!
[Typing...]
'Does that mean he's typing a message to me?' Ariel thought, her heart racing faster and faster.
Then the first message appeared.
[N]
[Hi, Ariel... Sorry to add you and message you out of the blue, but I saw your post earlier and got curious].
Reading this message, Ariel bit her lower lip with wide eyes and thought excitedly. 'Someone actually read my post! A human read my post and came to interact with me!'
At this point, even if that person wasn't the boy she had saved, Ariel would still be very happy.
[N]
[You actually saved someone at sea? That's incredible. Do you remember what he looked like?]
Ariel blinked, confused. He didn't know?
[Ariel]
[Yes... I saved a boy. He looked like he was drowning and couldn't breathe properly].
[N]
[Do you remember what he looked like? Like... hair? Clothes?]
Ariel thought for a moment, then answered:
[Ariel]
[His hair seemed to be black... His clothes were...] Thinking about the boy's clothes, Ariel realized that she wouldn't know how to describe human style to another human, so she just erased that and quickly wrote something down before sending it. [And he had very pale skin, but I couldn't see any more than that].
There was a short pause. Then:
[N]
[...Is your hair red?]
Ariel froze.
The scales on her arms shivered, she felt her chest quicken and her face flush.
[Ariel]
[Why?]
[N]
[Because I almost drowned a few days ago, and I vaguely remember someone pulling me... and they had red hair, very red].
[Ariel]
[...Red hair?]
[N]
[Yes. Kind of floating in the water... it looked like a fire under the sea].
She bit her lip and squeezed her face with her hands.
[Ariel]
[So... you were the boy? The one I saved?]
[N]
[Apparently... it was you.]
[Ariel]
[...Wow.]
She didn't know what to say. For some reason, just knowing that he was there, alive, and talking to her... made her chest feel light and warm.
[N]
[I didn't know your name or who you were. But that ring... I remember I gave it to you before I erased it, hoping I'd be able to find you again through the Internet].
Ariel looked at the ring glowing softly on her finger, a little nervously.
[Ariel]
[You gave me this ring as if it was important].
[N]
[Actually... it wasn't. I mean, not in the way you're thinking].
[Ariel]
[What?]
[N]
[This ring is an experimental magic I'm developing. It wasn't to save anyone or a memory of a relative who has passed away... it's just a way of allowing people to connect with each other. Like a magical thinking network. You were one of the first people to test it].
Ariel's eyes widened.
[Ariel]
[So... you're a wizard?]
[N]
[É. Something like that. A wizard who understands codes and formulas more than powerful spells].
[Ariel]
[That's... amazing.]
She smiled to herself inside the shell, holding the magic screen with both hands.
[Ariel]
[I thought this ring was something sacred, like... a hero's heirloom].
[N]
[Hahaha, no. Nothing that grand. I just tested it on myself and a few acquaintances, as you may have seen from [Facebook], and when you saved me, I thought... "maybe if I give it to her, one day I can thank her", and now it's worked! I'm so happy to be talking to you].
She didn't know how to react to that. No merman had ever spoken to her like that before.
[Ariel]
[I hid that ring from my family. They'd freak out if they knew I was wearing something like that].
[N]
[They don't like magic?]
[Ariel]
[They don't like...] Ariel was typing that her family didn't like humans when she realized that maybe the boy she saved didn't know she wasn't a human... then there was a silence in the conversation, she didn't know how to answer that.
The conversation was awkward for a while, but Noah managed to get back on track and change the subject to something lighter.
So the conversation went on for quite a while.
They talked about music, weird foods, and places they wanted to see.
Ariel tried to keep her answers vague enough not to reveal that she was a mermaid, but she still felt... light. As if talking to him was the most natural thing in the world.
Totally different from when she talked to the Tritons her family tried to introduce her to.
By the time she realized it, more than an hour had passed.
[N]
[Unfortunately... I think I need to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day].
[Ariel]
[Of course. Go and rest. And... thank you for talking to me].
[N]
[Thank you. It was nice to meet you again, Ariel].
The screen flashed one last time, and the little green ball next to [N]'s name disappeared.
Ariel stared at the conversation history, scrolling back from the first sentence, smiling alone inside her shell.
She pressed the magic screen against her chest and closed her eyes.
"He's alive..." she whispered, her voice tinged with joy. "And now... he's my friend!"
The more she thought about it, the more excited Ariel became, without realizing that while she was using the internet in the shell, one of her sisters noticed the strange light there.