Episode 126 — The Source Code of a Pioneer City

I drizzled a generous amount of homemade honey over another piece of toast and handed it to Léonard. He snatched it up and took a massive, unceremonious bite.

"Chomp... mrow... Besides, the capital is just a terrible place to live. The sewage is left out in the open, the roads turn into a muddy mess every time it rains, and carriage wheels get stuck constantly. In the winter, you see the poor huddled together in back alleys, shivering. Compared to that, what’s Felsen like now? Clean water is available to anyone who turns a tap, the roads are beautifully paved with cobblestones... Even at night, streetlights stay lit, and you have Magic Races teaching mathematics. No matter how you look at it, this place is civilizations ahead of the capital."

"Léonard... be careful with your words. The capital has a thousand years of history behind it," Gustav chided, but his voice lacked conviction. He likely understood better than anyone that Felsen’s "logic" was already overwhelming the capital’s legacy systems.

"Well, there’s no need to rush. It’ll spread to the capital eventually," I said, taking a sip of coffee as I leaned back.

"Spread? You think a revolution this massive will just naturally find its way into the capital, where all those conservatives are huddled together?"

"Yeah. If you look at the historical records from my world, major changes that rewrite reality always start in small, out-of-the-way places. New 'systems' grow in areas where central authority either can’t reach or simply doesn't care to look."

I searched through the database in my mind and pulled up a few names.

"Florence. Once, a cultural explosion began there. Art and philosophy rewrote the ancient protocol of 'God’s will' and implemented a new, human-centric value system. Then there was Amsterdam. A financial revolution happened there. They created the world’s first joint-stock companies and stock exchanges, building a powerful economic system where private capital could move nations. To the giant empires of that time, these were just experiments in minor provincial cities."

The city names were likely foreign to Léonard and Gustav, but I kept going.

"In a city called Manchester, coal and steam engines threw the world into the whirlpool of the Industrial Revolution. Production that had been done by hand was updated to mass production by machines, and the baseline specs for human living standards were completely overhauled. And then, Silicon Valley. From a dusty country town, the logic of information—the IT revolution—erupted, allowing humans all over the planet to share information in the palms of their hands. Every single one of these began as a 'local testbed.'"

"A local testbed..." Gustav repeated the words, as if savoring them.

"Exactly. Felsen is in that stage right now. Under your authority as Lord, a new 'source code for the world' is being written. Once it’s finished and proves its overwhelming convenience and efficiency, it won't matter how much the people in the capital reject it. The public will want it, the economy will demand it, and eventually, the Kingdom’s entire OS will be overwritten by the Felsen version. Léonard, you don't even need to bother running away to hide here—the world is going to come chasing after you on its own."

After listening to my explanation, Léonard slowly finished the last scrap of toast on his plate.

"I see. So Felsen is the 'first line of code' in the process of rewriting the giant system known as the world. Zect, listening to you makes my own worries seem like nothing more than a temporary lapse in judgment."

Léonard laughed, his face bright with clarity, and clapped Gustav on the shoulder.

"Brother, I’m going back to the capital after all. I’ll wait in the best seat in the house for this 'logic' you’ve written to reach me. Though, if it takes too long to get there, I might just have to kick the palace gates open from the inside."

"Léonard... you really are something else..."

Gustav let out a deep sigh, but his voice was thick with relief.

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