Chapter 98 Anomaly
The past few days had been very hectic for Daneel.
At first, it had been the time spent partying in the throne room which let him finally let his pent up emotions out.
Although he had lived for 18 years on earth and then 4 years here in Lanthanor, this was still his first time seeing death up close. Moreover, it had been instilled in him either consciously or subconsciously that murder was something immoral and wrong.
Yet, over the years, as he heard each and every account of the young teens who joined the Domination Corps, it became more and more apparent that this world had a very different moral scale than that on Earth.
Even if this should have been apparent to him long back with the death and destruction he saw during the Dwarve's Rum incident, he had only been an observer at the time.
It made him think of the psyches of people back on Earth. Many saw horrific news about deaths and destruction all over the television. There were even many forms of entertainment which glorified gore and bloodshed.
Yet, all this was nothing compared to how it felt to actually do the act in real life. The uncertainty, doubt and guilt had hit him instinctually even though he knew he was doing the right thing.
The King was someone whose actions had resulted in the deaths of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens just because he wanted to increase his own life for a few more years. He was someone who did not deserve the slightest ounce of mercy even if his last action had been to save Daneel. Even then, when Daneel had sent that icicle through his chest, that image had been burned into his memory.
It was the first time he took justice into his own hands, and made the tough choice to do things himself. Hence, it would always be remembered by him.
Although his first time in taking justice into his own hands had been with the King, the first death he had both witnessed and caused had been Laravel's. More than from the encounter with the King, it was this event that made him shelve away the most emotions in his mind.
He still remembered the relaxation on Laravel's face when the needle of fire entered his mind, penetrating his mageroot and brain to grant him the final release of death. At the time, Daneel had been hit by that same cocktail of emotions but multiplied many times over.
He had already ordered Kellor to ensure that Laravel would be buried with all the honor befitting one who died while saving the Kingdom. In fact, even Kellor had been very sad hearing Laravel's actions and circumstances of death. If alive, he would have made a great figure who could have helped lead Lanthanor onto a new frontier.
When all these bottled up emotions burst out, he had no choice but to cry and hug his parents like the little kid he used to be. Even though he knew very well that he was now the King who had to command respect with every action, he was still a human who laughed and cried whenever his heart couldn't hold in his feelings.
Still, he resolved to have better grasp on his emotions from then on. Ordering the kitchens to send expensive wine and delicious food, the King spent his first night in the palace partying in the throne room with his friends, family and followers.
With all the time spent laughing while recalling fond memories and telling a modified version of his adventures which resulted in him becoming King, Daneel felt himself letting everything go and returning to normal.
Robert and Maria wept almost all night, even eating and drinking while crying with tears of happiness. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect their son to become a King! Robert had known that Daneel was doing something big, but he had never expected that it was something so impressive. All he could do was thank the gods for blessing him with a good son.
As for Elanev, Faxul and Joshua, they had been initially hesitant on approaching Daneel due to his new status. Stifling a laugh, Daneel had walked up to them and given each one bear hugs which shattered their hesitation into pieces. He even said that as their King, he was ordering them to treat him like they always did in informal settings.
Daneel had already decided on this long back. No matter what heights he reached, he would always remember and cherish those who helped him along the way. Such was his character, and this was also impressed onto the onlookers as they watched him laugh and party with them raucously. Although he didn't drink, he was still vigorous enough for many to wonder if he had downed a few bottles of wine. Even the generally reserved Faxul had a constant smile on his face while he interacted and laughed along with all of his friends. Yet, his face had an expression of hidden sorrow that was always present under the surface, as if something was bothering him despite the festive atmosphere.
After sleeping for half of the next day, Daneel finally woke up hale and hearty, with the feeling that all the tensions and worries ailing him had disappeared. They were all replaced with a wish to just do everything he could to help those who believed in him so ardently.
His first order had been to set up the Citizen Justice Centers. Collecting information was the first thing that was needed in case he wanted justice to be handed out smoothly and satisfactorily.
With the nobles still locked and being fed, Daneel ordered someone to observe them at all times without their knowledge. Their wealth and assets had already been seized, and they now had nothing to their name. Each and every one of their interactions, words and actions were carefully recorded.
Daneel's second order had been to bring all the financial records from over the years for him to peruse. He wanted a clear outlook on the Kingdom's finances which would help him in making his future decisions.
Information such as this was typically stored in two forms: the first was simple parchment for small amounts of data.
The second were mass-storage trinkets, which were imported from the same Kingdom which made the barriers used to formerly keep the mosquitoes away from energy resources.
These trinkets were square cubes made of a material that looked like copper.
Costing 5,000 Gold Lans each, each cube could solve up to 100,000 'rows' of information. Each cube was specially designed for each purpose; for instance, the cubes meant for financial information had rows which could store the date, place, amount, need and parties involved in a transaction. Thus, one row would be one financial record.
After Daneel gave the order, more than 500 such cubes came in front of him. Besides, these were the ones from only the past few Kings. The complete archive was apparently many times larger, and for practicality, only summaries of those records were stored instead of detailed ones like the one in front of him.
After all, the cost of the trinkets in this room itself were two and half million Gold Lans! This was simply a staggering number.
"System, can you analyze this much information?", Daneel asked, apprehensive that his ambitious plan of obtaining a grasp over the Kingdom's finances wouldn't be foiled by the sheer amount of data present.
[Affirmative. System is capable of absorbing a near limitless amount of data, but the analysis speed is limited. Tool "Big Data Analysis Module-1" suggested. Cost: 2000 EXP]
Daneel sighed with relief hearing this. He had seen this tool before, and had expected to buy it soon after becoming King.
"Buy it."
[Purchase made and tool deployed. Thank you for shopping with the system!
Remaining EXP: 8000]
Ordering everyone to leave, Daneel started the long task of touching each and every cube to store the information in the system. Before the coronation, he had decided to use the King's chambers with the dragon heart as his base of operations. It was a large room, and Daneel felt it was fitting given that he hadn't been crowned yet.
After touching each and every one of the cubes, he collapsed onto his bed and waited for the system to analyze years of financial data.
Finally, after a few minutes, the system sounded in his mind.
[Preliminary analysis completed. Anomaly found. Would host like to hear the information about the financial anomaly?]