Chương 63: Bonus Story : The Kingdom's Phone : Part 2 : The First Calls

They sat down on a bench.

"Now that your phone is ready, it's time to teach you its primary function." The knight immediately took out his phone.

"Phone calls."

"Exactly. But before you can call someone, your phone needs to know who you want to contact." She opened the Contacts app and showed him the screen.

"Here, you can save everyone you know. That way, you won't have to remember their phone number every time you want to reach them." Aldric studied the different icons. His first instinct was to take out his notebook and write down this new information.

"This time, you can leave your notebook alone. That's exactly what your phone is for. It'll remember all of this for you." The knight hesitated for a moment before putting his notebook back into his bag. The idea still felt strange to him. Ever since he could remember, important information had always been recorded on paper or engraved in ledgers. Entrusting such a task to an artifact felt unfamiliar. Emma created a new contact.

She typed in her name, entered her phone number, saved it, then handed the phone back to Aldric.

"There. Now, whenever you want to contact me, all you'll have to do is select my name. Still, keep the little piece of paper I wrote my number on."

"Hasn't my phone already memorized it?"

"It has. But if you lose your phone, if it's stolen, or if it ever stops working, you'll still have my number. It would be a shame if you couldn't reach me because of a simple problem with your phone."

"I understand. It is therefore wise to keep a physical copy."

"Exactly. You never know." Emma opened the contact card. In the middle of the screen was a green circle with a small telephone handset.

"This is the button that starts a call. As soon as you press it, your phone will ask the network to contact mine." She handed the phone back to him. △ NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED △ Phone Calls Function Allows you to communicate verbally with someone from a distance.

"Now, call me."

"Even though you're sitting right in front of me?"

"Yes."

"You'll still receive the call?"

"Try it." Aldric turned his attention back to the screen. His finger lightly touched the icon. Almost immediately, a ringtone echoed through the square. Aldric looked up. The phone in Emma's hand vibrated as its screen lit up. She swiped her finger across the screen. The ringing stopped.

"Hello?" Emma hadn't moved from the bench. She was still sitting less than a meter away from him. Yet he had just heard that very same voice through the artifact. He raised the phone to his ear before replying cautiously.

"I can hear you." Emma burst out laughing.

"So can I."

"And yet you're standing right in front of me. Still, your voice travels all the way to my phone." He looked around him. Suddenly, everything happening around him took on a new meaning. The pedestrians talking to themselves were not alone. Those smiling at their phones were speaking to someone invisible. At every moment, thousands of voices crossed the kingdom without anyone being able to see them.

"In my world, communication like this would have required the aid of the greatest archmages. Very few were capable of transmitting a voice across such a distance, and enchantments of that kind demanded lengthy and costly preparation. Here, an ordinary citizen can accomplish the very same feat simply by touching a green symbol on a screen."

"That's exactly how I feel whenever you tell me about certain things from your world."

"What amazes me most isn't the feat itself. It's the fact that no one seems to notice it anymore. To you, this magic has become so ordinary that it is now simply part of everyday life." Emma glanced at the pedestrians around them. They continued on their way without paying the slightest attention to their phones.

"You know... I think you're making me rediscover my own world." Aldric inclined his head.

"Then this lesson has taught something to both of us." Emma took the phone from Aldric's hands and reopened his contact card.

"Now that you know how to make a call, you need to learn how to receive one." She pressed the green button on her own phone once more. A few seconds later, Aldric's phone vibrated before a ringtone began to play.

"What must I do?" Emma pointed to the green circle.

"Simply swipe this button upward." Aldric did as instructed, and the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" Emma asked through her phone. The knight raised his own phone to his ear.

"I can hear you." Emma burst out laughing before continuing.

"Now you need to learn how to end a conversation." She pointed to the red circle displayed at the bottom of the screen.

"This one lets you hang up." He pressed it. The call ended, and the screen returned to its previous appearance.

"So it really is that simple."

"Yes. Answering, hanging up, calling someone back... they all work pretty much the same way." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Emma placed another call.

"There's one more important function." She pointed to the two buttons along the side of the phone.

"These let you adjust the volume."

"The volume?"

"How loud the sound is." She asked him to press the upper button several times. Emma's voice became louder. Then she had him use the lower button until the volume decreased.

"That way, you can adjust the phone to wherever you are. In a noisy street, you turn the volume up. In a quiet place, you can lower it."

"That is a particularly useful feature."

"Wait. You haven't seen the most entertaining one yet." She tapped another icon showing a speaker. Emma's voice echoed directly from the phone.

"So you speak through the artifact itself."

"Exactly. That's speaker mode."

"So several people can hear the conversation. That would be extremely useful during a war council."

"It's usually used in situations that are a little less dramatic." After trying it several times, Emma stood up from the bench.

"Now we're going to see how far the phone works." She walked about ten meters away before dialing Aldric's number. Despite the distance, he could still hear her voice perfectly.

"Can you hear me clearly?"

"Perfectly."

"Even if I move farther away?"

"Yes." Emma continued walking until she reached the far end of the square. Several pedestrians passed between them, cars drove along the neighboring street, and the noise of the city grew louder. Yet Emma's voice remained just as clear as it had been moments before.

"And now?"

"Nothing has changed." She returned to him with a smile.

"Good. Let's try something else." They left the square and walked down two parallel streets. Emma asked him to remain at the corner of a building while she continued walking until she disappeared completely from his sight. A few seconds later, his phone rang again. Aldric answered.

"Can you still see me?" Emma asked. The knight looked around.

"No."

"And yet?"

"I can hear you as if you were only a few meters away."

"That's exactly how it works." He continued walking down the street with the phone held to his ear.

"In my world," he said at last, "there were a handful of artifacts capable of transmitting voices across great distances. They were kept in royal palaces or the greatest academies of magic. Crafting them required years of work, several master enchanters, and extremely rare materials. Even kings sometimes possessed only a single one." Eventually, they walked back toward each other. When they met again at the same intersection, Emma ended the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"So?" she asked with a smile.

"What do you think of your first real long-distance conversation?"

"I believed I already understood how it worked."

"In reality, I have only just begun to appreciate the true value of this artifact."

"This time, you're going to do everything on your own."

"Very well."

"Pretend I'm not here. You need to find my contact, place the call, and carry on the conversation without me explaining anything." The knight lowered his eyes to his phone. He unlocked the screen, found the Contacts app, and opened Emma's contact card. He paused for a few seconds in front of the green button, mentally reviewing every step he had just learned. Once he was certain he hadn't forgotten anything, he pressed it. A few meters away, Emma's phone immediately began to ring.

"Hello?" Aldric raised his phone to his ear.

"Good morning, Emma."

"Good morning, Aldric."

"Very good. See? You've already mastered the basics. You can end the call now." In his former world, an audience never ended abruptly. Whether speaking to a king, a general, or a simple villager, it was customary to thank the other person before taking one's leave.

"Thank you for answering my call." Emma burst out laughing.

"Did I make a mistake?"

"Not at all. It's simply that you treat every phone call like an official audience."

"Is that not an appropriate display of courtesy?"

"It is... but most people just say 'See you later,' 'Have a nice day,' or 'Bye.'""So they do not thank the other person for granting them a little of their time?"

"Not quite so formally."

"I understand. Even so, I shall continue to do so."

"I thought you might." The knight inclined his head.

"A respectful custom should not be abandoned simply because it has become rare."

"In that case..." she replied with a smile, "thank you for calling me."

"No, it is I who should thank you for teaching me this new skill." At last, they ended the call. Emma checked the time.

"We've made good progress today."

"I've learned far more than I expected." She smiled before glancing at the cafés lining the street.

"You know... after all those explanations, I'd really like something to drink."

"In that case, allow me to invite you."

"That's kind of you, but it's not necessary."

"You devoted a large part of your day to helping me. It is only right that I treat you." Emma let out a soft laugh.

"You're really generous."

"I'm simply trying to show my gratitude to those who help me."

"In that case... I'd be happy to accept." They continued walking side by side toward the nearest café terrace. They took a seat at an outdoor table. A few customers chatted quietly around them while several waiters moved between the tables. Aldric placed his phone on the table in front of him.

"We're going to go back to an app you've already used." She picked up his phone.

"Contacts."

"I already know that function."

"You know how to use it to call someone. But you don't yet understand what it's really for."

"In my world, stewards maintained enormous ledgers containing the names of the kingdom's nobles, merchants, and officers. They were updated regularly and sometimes filled entire libraries." Emma then opened her own contact list and turned the phone toward him.

"Take a look." Aldric discovered a seemingly endless list of names. He scrolled through it with the tip of his finger. Dozens, then hundreds of contact cards appeared one after another.

"All of these people..."

"I can call any of them whenever I want."

"Do you know them all?"

"Not necessarily very well. Some are friends. Others are coworkers. I also have my doctor, my landlord, my mechanic, my hairdresser, several shopkeepers... Whenever I need to contact someone, their number is already saved."

"So you never need to ask for someone's contact information a second time."

"Unless they change their phone number."

"Which seems to happen relatively rarely."

"Exactly." Aldric continued scrolling through the list for a few more seconds before handing the phone back to Emma.

"This is a remarkably well-designed invention."

"Wait, there's more." She opened her own contact card. Several fields immediately appeared: Last Name. First Name. Phone Number. Email Address. Mailing Address. Birthday.

"You can fill in all of this information. You don't have to complete every field, but you can if you feel the need."

"So each person has their own file. And afterward, all you have to do is search for their name to find every important piece of information."

"Exactly."

"The archivists of my kingdom would have dreamed of such a tool."

"I think phones have made many professions much easier." He looked at his own contact list. Only one name appeared: Emma. The knight smiled faintly.

"This list is still rather empty."

"Every time you meet someone, you'll be able to save their contact information. Little by little, your phone will keep a record of everyone who becomes part of your new life." He thought back to the landlord of his apartment. Patrick. Julien. The employees he had met since arriving in this world. Until now, he had simply memorized their names. From now on, each of them could have their own contact card.

"In my former world, a knight could go years without seeing some of his companions again. If he wished to reconnect with them, he had to hope he would find them in a city, a fortress, or an inn. Many simply disappeared with time."

"That's exactly what it's for."

"I understand now why you call them 'contacts.' This artifact doesn't merely store numbers. It preserves the bonds we forge with other people." Emma took Aldric's phone again and reopened the Contacts app.

"We're going to add a few important numbers. First, your landlord. If you ever lose your keys, discover a water leak, or run into any problem with your apartment, you'll be able to reach him." She entered his name and phone number before saving the contact.

"Next, the fire department."

"They respond when there is a fire?"

"Yes. But also for many other emergencies. If someone is seriously injured or if a person's life is in danger, you can call them as well."

"And finally, the police."

"The city knights."

"If that's what you'd rather call them..." She saved the last contact before handing the phone back to Aldric.

"There. Even though I hope you'll never need to call them, it's better to have them saved already."

"May I ask you a question?"

"Of course." He pointed to the screen.

"Why does your name appear before my landlord's?"

"Look. Emma begins with an E. Landlord begins with an L. The phone sorts every contact alphabetically. It doesn't matter how important they are or how often you call them. Their position in the list is determined solely by their name."

"I understand. So even if this list contains several hundred people, all you need to know is their name to find them quickly."

"Exactly. It's much more practical than organizing them by importance."

"And yet that seemed perfectly natural to me. In the military records of my kingdom, kings came before generals, generals before captains, then officers, and finally soldiers. I assumed this artifact worked the same way."

"That would be complicated. Everyone would organize the list differently. Some people would put their family first, others their friends, and others their work. No one would ever be able to find anything."

"Indeed. A good record should not reflect its owner's personal preferences. It should remain organized according to a rule that anyone can understand immediately." Emma took Aldric's phone once more and opened the Contacts app again. The four contact cards they had just created still appeared in the list. She selected one of them before pointing to a small star-shaped icon.

"There's another useful feature. You don't have to scroll through your entire contact list every time you want to call someone. You can add certain people to your favorites. These are the people you contact most often. Once you add them here, they're always easy to find." She tapped the star. Instantly, a new tab displayed the fire department.

"That way, you can call them in just a few seconds without having to search through your entire contact list."

"Is there a limit?"

"Not really. You can add as many as you like. But generally, people only add the ones they contact regularly."

"In my kingdom, every commander kept a list of the people he could summon whenever the need arose. Captains, scouts, healers, or the most reliable messengers. When a situation became critical, there was no time to waste deciding whom to call."

"That's actually pretty similar."

"So this tab is like a list of one's most valuable allies."

"I never would have put it that way... but yes, you could certainly look at it like that." She handed the phone back to him. Aldric opened Emma's contact card. His finger hovered over the small star for a moment before he tapped it.