Misconceptions

The next day, Tau awoke in response to the old woman pulling off the covers. The sun had already risen decently high into the sky. Unbeknownst to the old woman, however, Tau's mind had been active ever since she had returned from her washing and put her body to rest.

She spent the time mostly chatting with Neu about the overload of information that resulted from encountering the mortals.

[You realize that each mortal maintains their own internal construct of reality both consciously and subconsciously, each playing a role in overlapping but not identical aspects of their interaction with reality, which in turn modifies that reality as well as both their conscious and subconscious models of said reality.]

{Uh… huh...}

[Not only that but reality itself also establishes set roles for these mortals which inhabit it. Although, it is unclear whether these world rules about mortal roles are being maintained subconsciously by the mortals themselves or whether they are simply innate to the world.]

{Okay...}

[Anyway, since all of this has an effect on how we should apply our domain to achieve our desired results, such holistic consideration is required. But, it's just way too much! And it only gets worse as you increase the number of mortals to consider!]

{So… your point is?}

[Ah, I was just considering alternatives to increasing domain stamina as a means of creating the desired change in the world despite the presence of mortals. And, my conclusion is that it is basically impossible.]

Essentially, it just became a therapy session where Neu unloaded all of his complaints while lamenting his lack of a solution and Tau did her best to understand what he was saying. At some point, the old woman who had occupied the middle of the bed had awoken and left the room to handle the morning chores.

Neu eventually settled down and returned to devising more organizational structures for the information he was tasked with maintaining. By this time, it was dawn and the man who had been sleeping on the far side of the bed, who Tau correctly guessed was the old woman's son, got up and, after a quick breakfast of porridge, headed out to work on the fields.

Kant had remained mostly quiet before this, no doubt resting in his own way. But, with the morning light starting to stream into the room through the now open window, he awoke from his own version of sleep.

"Oh dear," He commented, "It would appear that Phi still has yet to return."

"Oh yeah," Now that he mentioned it, Tau realized that she had not seen Phi when she woke up to take her bath, "Where did she go, anyway?"

Kant explained their arrangement for Phi to erase their presence around the lake.

"Huh… are you sure it was a good idea to let her go by herself?"

"Despite her childishness, she is not so impulsive that she would accidentally undermine the stability of this world without us having first achieved our objective in coming here."

Tau was confused. She had originally raised the question with the consideration that Phi was a young child, and therefore would be less able to handle the dangers of the world on her own. However, not only did Kant not even consider such a possibility, he had interpreted the question as expressing concern about Phi potentially damaging the world on a fundamental level.

{Can Phi really be so dangerous?}

[I mean… we're supposedly all gods with world-altering power. It's totally within the realm of possibility.]

{True...}

Absentmindedly, Tau allowed the old woman to lead her over to the dining table and sat down. Very soon, Tau was given a spoon and served a bowl of porridge. As Tau ate breakfast with the old woman, she tried to think about what exactly Phi had done that could be considered abnormal, in order to gauge the nature of her power and understand its world-ending potential.

It was then that Tau realized how little she actually knew about the norms of this world. All of her investigations into the logic of the world had been specific and task-oriented; she examined only the logic related to fire when she had to start one, and she examined only the logic related to the flow of air and water when she was trying to imitate Kant's fishing style.

Kant's lesson from the other day returned to Tau's mind.

{"You will find that interacting with mortals is just a more complex version of interacting with the world. At the same time, you will realize that to truly understand the world, you will need to interact with the mortals which inhabit it."}

[Hmm…?]

{The world may have its rules, but it's the mortals that give the world form. By their nature, they must interact with the world's rules. At the same time, their world is also very much determined by their interactions with each other...}

[Yeah. That's what I've been saying. That's why building an organizational structure that accounts for everything into is so hard.]

{But… these mortals… are they really so different from us…?}

[What do you mean? By the distinction that Kant pointed out, the answer would be yes.]

{I mean, they interact with the world and interact with each other, but these interactions aren't random… I mean, when they collectively set out to do something, their chance of success cannot only be explained by random chance.}

[Okay, I guess, but I'm still not seeing the point...]

It was a little frustrating. Tau felt like she had a grip on an idea that would greatly assist Neu in his task of defining a holistic organizational structure, but it remained only a lingering feeling; she couldn't find the words to properly describe it.

Despite her continued efforts, Tau's thoughts only continued to dance around the piece of insight, never really capturing it. Then, the feeling passed, and Tau found herself staring blankly at the now-empty wooden bowl before her.

Seeing that Tau had finished, the old woman took away her bowl and spoon. Tau watched as she scrubbed the wares clean within a washbasin. Leaving the dishes to dry on the kitchen counter, the old woman took Tau by the hand and led her outside.

"So, what's next?" Tau asked Kant as she stood in front of the house, watching the old woman empty out the contents of the water basin into her small tomato garden.

"In terms of your training, you should regularly use your domain to create progressively larger phenomena," Kant replied, "but in the meantime, it would be beneficial for you to gain experience in interacting with mortals."

"Okay."

After placing the water basin back inside the house, the old woman once again took Tau by the hand and started leading her through the village. Looking around, Tau saw much fewer people in comparison to yesterday when she had first arrived. Mostly, there were just a bunch of kids running around, playing and paying her no mind. The few adults she did encounter, though, all stared at her with the same curiosity they exhibited the day before, again triggering the same feeling of discomfort she had felt then.

The old woman brought Tau to a house at the edge of the village, right by the forest. Tau vaguely recognized the house as one of the many she had passed when she went to take her late-night bath. In the light, Tau could see that the house was a little different from the typical farmhouses in the village. For one, it didn't have any gardens or chicken coops attached. While the roof was straw like the other houses, the walls were piled logs instead of packed dirt. The logs had been so seamlessly put together that it was hard to believe that the wall consisted of separate beams of wood.

Several moments after the old woman knocked on the door, a girl who looked similar in age to Tau's current avatar appeared at the door and let them in. After stepping through the doorway, Tau found herself in a relatively large room with a large table in the center. The walls were covered in shelves filled with various jars and pouches of weird-smelling materials. She was quickly led through the mess to a smaller room on the far side of the building.

The inside of this room was even more of a mess than the room outside. Tall stacks of papers and books outlined the edges of the room. Loose pieces of paper and books littered the floor. The desk in the corner of the room was covered with open books. Sitting in front of the desk, using a book as a clipboard as he wrote and occasionally flipping pages in some of the books seemingly at random, was a young boy.

At least, Tau had originally assumed it was a young boy, based on the person's short stature. As the entered though, the figure set down his pen and turned to face them. His developing wrinkles and graying hair revealed his true age. With her domain, Tau could sense that this individual was quite unique: below those long black robes was a body more solidly built than any of the farmers who labored daily in the fields.

The girl who had let them in excused herself and left the room and the old woman started talking as the strange man observed Tau and Kant with mild interest. In that instant, Tau felt Kant's domain branch through the world like lightning. It went through the minds of every nearby mortal and quickly extended beyond the range of Tau's own domain. Before Tau could react, Kant had retracted his domain back to just the volume of the sword.

"What-?"

"I am merely reminding myself of some trivial details. I will be imitating the assumed properties of a holy sword for the imminent examination. Also, I retrieved a certain troublemaker."

Tau felt Phi's presence pop into the room.

"What the-? Where-?"

Then, noticing Kant and Tau nearby, she smiled and hugged Tau.

"Man, I thought I was going to be lost in the woods forever!"

"About that," Kant interjected, "would you care to explain some of your activities while you were away?"

"I don't know what you mean," Phi giggled mischievously.

The two of them continued, Kant lecturing Phi on her inappropriate behavior.

Meanwhile, the strange man got up from his desk and approached Tau. He extended a hand to try and touch Kant. However, when his hand was just a millimeter away from the edge of the blade, he suddenly pulled his hand back, as if he had been burned. Slipping back into his seat by the desk, he started to laugh. The girl from before quickly reappeared, drawn by his laughter. After exchanging a few words, her face filled with excitement and she ran out of the house. Even the old woman cracked a smile.

Tau could only watch the scene with confusion.

"Kant, what is this?"

"Basically, they believe me to be a rare historical relic of technological and military significance," Seeing Tau still wanting, Kant added, "The details matter little. With this, these mortals will make more active efforts to assist in your integration, which will no doubt be helpful for you."

"Uh-huh… thanks... I guess?"