System Programmer

"What do I want? A lot of things! Let's start with a hot dog!" he answered.

Suddenly, two hot dogs appeared in his hand. He handed one over to Catherine who looked confused, she had never seen one before, after all. Unsure, she took a bite out of it. It was surprisingly good!

"Thanks," she said.

"How are you holding up?"

"I've been better but I'll manage. Meeting an ancestor from four centuries ago wasn't really something I had expected. We barely got time to exchange a few words."

"I understand. It's really a shame. Still, I think he was happy he got to meet you at the end."

"I think so too, at least I hope so. Considering the situation he was in, anything would have been an improvement."

"Stop underestimating yourself, you're not 'anything'. You're Catherine Lippi, future Empress of the Lippi empire!"

Catherine sighed.

"I know you like people who don't give up on their dreams, but this won't happen in the near future. I still have a long way to go before that."

"Well, you're much smarter than that idiot sitting on the throne. That's a good start. Also, you're much more attractive than some old dude with a long beard. You'll have no trouble winning over the masses. Your beautiful smile will make people fall for you all over the country."

She answered with a vague chuckle.

"You're making it sound like I can smile on demand."

"Well, I can help with that!" he answered.

"You have a peculiar humor, but I'm not convinced you could make me laugh constantly," she said, rolling her eyes.

Joshua got closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, I do know how!" he answered as he slightly lowered his arms. "Your cousin taught me!"

He let out an evil grin and started to tickle Catherine's underarms.

"Nohohoho! Stohohohop!" she said.

He had no intention to though and continued so she started to tickle him back. Soon they were rolling back and forth on the ground as they were tickling each other. Any dignity had disappeared from Catherine's face, she was determined not to lose.

This little surreal moment went on for about five minutes, after which they both stopped to catch a breath. Joshua smiled as he saw Catherine's expression looked much brighter than before, he didn't like it when she looked all gloomy.

"You have the strangest cheer up methods I know of," she said, not unhappy of the situation.

"You should know by now, my plans are always brilliant."

"I'll admit, you haven't disappointed me on that flank so far. If you don't mind, let's get back to the matter at hand. Damien was stronger than me and still failed this task. Do you think we have a chance to succeed? "

"That's the main reason I came here tonight."

"Sort of. Let's call it a… security measure."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's go back to my lab, I'll show you."

She nodded and followed him. They entered his world and she was led to a freshly created small cabin. The place looked very small compared to the size of the world. And was about 5 meters in length and width. Joshua opened the door leading to it but didn't enter the place. Instead, he turned to her and said:

"The main reason Damien's group failed is that somehow his spirit was turned against the party, through unknown means. Afterward, the spirit was responsible for their demise. In other words, should the same thing happen to us, I would become the liability to the party."

"And you have a way to prevent to be turned against me?"

"I wish I had, but it's hard to protect myself from something when I don't even know what I'm up against. There is, however, a way to make sure I don't harm you. Please, enter this room."

Intrigued, Catherine did as asked. Joshua didn't enter and closed the door. This was really a bizarre room, the place was empty apart from a single desk and chair. Catherine approached and sat down on. When she did, a screen materialized above the desk. Suddenly, Luna's voice resonated in her head.

[Welcome SuperAdmin Catherine. This place is fully isolated from User Joshua, he cannot hear what happens in here.]

"Why did he create this place?" Catherine asked.

[User Joshua deemed the current security of the system insufficient. Should someone hijack the system and take control of it, they would put both users at risk. Therefore, this place was created in order to guarantee your security. User Joshua has granted you the role of SuperAdmin, which allows you to fully shut down the system in case of emergency.]

So I can completely turn you off?

[Exactly, as you know I'm fully powered by user Joshua's soul. Turning me off would literally shut down his own soul world, rendering him harmless.]

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"That's… won't that be dangerous for him?"

[No, such an action would merely render him harmless and unable to use his abilities. When you see fit, you can reactivate the system and everything will resume its operation as normal.]

"I see, so that's his plan." It made sense and it would prevent him from harming the rest of the group.

[In order to initiate the shutdown, a password will be required. The reason this room exists is so you can establish the password without his knowledge, so he can't reactivate the system should you choose to deactivate it. Please, enter a password now.]

Catherine thought about it for a moment and finally decided to use a term she had learned today.

"The password will be 'Hot Dog'."

[Please re-enter the password to confirm the selection.]

"Hot Dog."

[Password confirmed. Changing it is no longer possible. Security mission completed.]

The screen vanished, as did the entirety of the room. Joshua was merely leaning against a wall, waiting for her to be done. She went up to him.

"You're putting a lot of trust in me by doing this, you know."

"Judging by the current circumstances, I believe this to be the best course of action. And you're literally the only person I can trust with this."

"Fine, we'll remove it after we get out of here."

Joshua shook his head.

"I don't think so, this measure has to stay in place."

"Didn't you say you would agree to help me and in return, I should never limit your development? You've just given me a way to do so!"

"True, I apologize, I should have explained my reasons before having you enter a password. But honestly, I was afraid you would refuse if I told you everything."

"What reasons?"

"It is of utmost importance that a user never loses control over a system. I may be pretty smart, but I'm not infallible. Imagine if I make a major error in my development in the future. The system could go out of control. And I'm directly linked to it so it could affect me too. If that were to happen, you would be the only person capable of correcting the process."

"Sorry, but I don't get what you're talking about. What major development error? Luna's main use is scanning and analyzing data."

"Honestly, I don't know. I told you, it's just a precaution. If everything goes well, you'll never have to use it. You should have an emergency procedure in place before an incident, not making one after something bad happen so it won't happen again."

She nodded.

"Fine, since you attached so much importance to it, I won't object."

"Glad to see we're on the same page."

"In return, just do the same for me, ok? I don't have any weird password system, but if you think I'm heading in the wrong direction. Please, stop me."

"Of course! As the official smartest person in this entire kingdom, I won't tolerate any stupid decision from you!"

Catherine laughed.

"Since when are you the smartest person in Cestor?"

"Based on the average intellect of the people I met and by who is ruling this place, it's probably correct. If there is someone smarter than me in Cestor, I'd like to meet them."

Catherine just rolled her eyes. If he had time to go back and telling nonsense, he was most likely done with the serious stuff. She was pretty tired after the events of the day so she kissed Joshua good night and went to sleep.

Morning came and they resumed their travel. Catherine offered a prayer to Damien's tomb before leaving. Now the Hydra was gone, their progress sped up. Several days passed without any trouble.