“These runts have everything we could only dream about and some more yet they whine like I stole their lunch money!” Lith snarled.
“Back in my day? Brats? Runts?” Kamila laughed her ass off. “You talk like you are an old coot like Rudd whereas you graduated less than six years ago.”
“Also, don’t believe a word he says, Kami.” Solus shared her hilarity and then some. “He used to complain about everything and if the old Lith had access to a Tablet, he would curse its inventor and scheme until he got his hands on physical books to keep cheating his way with Soluspedia.”
“Damn right, I would. Cheating is fine as long as I’m the one doing it.” Lith said with a straight face, making them laugh harder. “I hate fair fights.”
They had been forced to leave Lutia for a while because of the massive influx of tourists since the opening of the public Warp Gate.
Even those who until a day ago had sworn to be terrified at the idea of a Divine Beast living among humans had booked their trip to visit the birthplace of the only (known) living Magus of the Kingdom with the hope of meeting him in person.
As for the regional capitals, Tablets had spread like wildfire down to the working middle class. It helped kids with their homework, the parents to always know where their children were and with who, and the city guards to catch criminals like they were fish in a barrel.
Anyone with a Tablet could call for help with a button and the mainframe would relay the call to the nearest officer along with the coordinates of the crime. Witnesses could take photos and videos that could be forwarded anonymously just like at the academies.
Most of the senior citizens in the poor neighborhoods with nothing to do all day and a chip on their shoulders were gold mines, reporting multiple crimes and minor infractions daily.
“We are going to call this the ‘Respect your Elders’ or ‘Second Life’ program.” King Meron said. “Make up a plausible reason to give one Tablet for free to each senior citizen. We need to pass them as a personal reward like a tax refund.
“They must perceive the Tablet as something they earned, not charity, or many elders will refuse them out of pride. Also, we must make sure that they keep it instead of reselling it so force them to imprint the Tablet upon delivery in front of the clerk.
“We are saving a fortune in crime prevention.”
The anonymous reports weren’t anonymous at all. The Royals had administrator access to the mainframes and could trace the energy signature of every report to a specific amulet.
They used them to locate the pockets of crime and increase security in those areas, to issue protective details for the scared but still honest citizens, and to frame those who used the anonymous reports to frame their competition.
Even criminals liked and used Tablets, not knowing that every word they spoke was recorded and that the device allowed their position to be followed in real time with pinpoint accuracy.
Following criminals and collecting evidence of their crimes wasn’t a problem anymore, the issue was to have them sentenced without revealing the source of that information.
The free Tablet and its public library helped poor families to learn and practice how to read, write, and count. Paper was expensive and most of them would never hold a single sheet their whole lives but now they had dozens of tomes at their fingertips.
Those who were smart enough could reveal their talent no matter their upbringing, amassing knowledge if they were talented scholars and learning magic if their mana cores allowed it.
The Tablets also facilitated and improved healthcare.
Neighborhood healers now answered a couple of calls between patients, answering simple yes or no questions. It allowed them to recommend a check-up when the symptoms were alarming but most often to reassure anxious parents without them clogging the waiting rooms.
On top of that, many magicos without the necessary talent to become Healers found a way to profit from their limited mana thanks to the Tablets. Whenever someone was too ill to be moved or there was an emergency, the magicos would be called on site to help.
Even yellow mana cores could cast float spells, basic diagnostic magic, and keep the conditions of a patient stable, helping them to reach the nearest Healer quickly and safely.
So many people were saved this way that the Royals made it an official job and offered healing training to those determined to take it as their profession.
Better diagnostic spells meant that the magicos could call the various Healers, give them a preliminary diagnosis, and find the one with the necessary skills to treat the patient at hand without wasting time.
Also, teaching the magicos low powered flight spells made them faster than any carriage, allowing the patients to reach a hospital in time.
Last, but not least, the Tablets helped the mending process between the two sides of the Kingdom that had been split by the War of the Griffons to progress faster. Each considered the other’s grass to be greener, fueling envy and resentment.
The news on the interlink was only government approved so everyone took them with an unhealthy load of salt, believing them to be doctored to arouse compassion toward their old enemy.
Tablets, however, allowed the citizens of different regions to keep in contact even from a great distance and those who exchanged their runes with others in different regions didn’t find privileged individuals with a full belly, just people with their own grievances.
The use of Warp Gates required a fee, but to let their subjects experience and enjoy the full scope of the Tablets’ functions, the Royals had ruled that the first travel from one Gate to another would be free in order to allow people to exchange their communication runes.
Also, people who sent food supplies to someone with which they shared a rune wouldn’t pay shipping fees as long as the receiver took them in person from the other side of the Gate.
The reason for this was that every region had a different kind of local product that was cheap and easy to find that they used to stave off hunger between meals. They were all bland looking and even blander tasting, but eating food from different regions added variety and had the allure of novelty.
This kind of bartering was a zero-sum game that yet made people feel closer and more grateful toward their neighbors. Taking a spoonful from each other’s soup was more effective in breaking the illusion of wealth that people projected on the other half of the Kingdom than any article they could read on the interlink.
Free traveling broadened everyone’s horizons and keeping in contact with those they met hundreds of kilometers from home helped them to keep an open mind and check the news with people they trusted.
On a side note, the opening of the Gates coupled with the Tablets gave birth to the closest thing to a kitchen blog.
