Status is Power

After our talk concluded, the princess pointed something out. I had been holding the database, glowing and active, for quite some time, yet I never felt it heat up.

"Maybe it doesn't get hot unless it's showing a memory?"
"When I removed it from your grasp, both times, it was very much unfathomably hot."
"Really?"

Now that I think about it, I didn't get burned once while I was melting snow either. I thought I was just getting used to knowing when to let go of it, but... It's not warm at all.
"It's fine. Weird." I hold it out. "Look, it's not burning me or anything."
The princess reaches out to poke it, then recoils with a yelp. "Oww, that's hot!"
I had a theory that the heat was a byproduct of the cube being active. Even now, I think that'd make the most sense; if it is a database, it's basically a computer with no airflow, so of course it's going to heat up!
But... it might not be a byproduct after all. It might just be intentional. To prevent others from using it, it burns.

Why, then, doesn't it burn me anymore? Has it accepted me as... I dunno, the admin?
Did it see something in my memories? Did it link itself to my thoughts?
What did it respond to? When did it respond?
...
...When the first death was registered...
Did bringing it to a display of death trigger this change? As if adding the first entry to its database made it begin to function properly...

While I'm mulling it over, the princess voices one of those ideas best kept silent.

"We could send birds to foreign countries, then kill them when they return! They'd be the perfect spies!"
"No, we're not doing that."

I reject her proposal immediately. I'm starting to get the sense that animals are treated very differently in this world...

◇ ◇ ◇

"I should really say..."

The princess brings up one final topic as we wander back into the village.

"If Yve is the destination, we'd best decide an identity for you."
"Is 'Ven Hildna' not good enough?"
"Absolutely not! For one thing, if you go living your life with two names, you'll be thrown in with Ancropy's ilk."
"I'm guessing that's a bad thing."
"Very much so. Furthermore, a name is hardly the main issue. What you lack is status."
"Status?"
"I should say you lack basic knowledge of society as well, but we can discuss that during our trip."
"Right..."

What I'm told is that, in this world, conversation is based on status. There's not really any formal protection for citizens in a lot of places, and punishment by law is treated more as a rare deterrent than as a continuous act of oversight.
She claims this is different in a place called Xarka, but that's a small part of the world, so it doesn't really matter right now.

Typically, people find a group that'll take them in. These groups then protect their members. For some, this is as simple as family, though usually only the utmost rich or the desperately poor depend on family connections to survive.
Someone who runs a business will be protected by other local businesses. An author will be valued by other authors. Effectively, everything is a bit like a union.

I'm a bit curious what that means for competitors—would two inns on the same street really try to keep one another afloat? It'd be better for business if your competitor mysteriously vanished... Ah, but then you wouldn't have anyone to protect you. People really have to trust one another for any of this to work. Maybe, when done on a large scale, a handful of betrayals don't matter...

As a practical example, Sera's parents are travelling merchants, so they don't have a local community to rely on. They do, however, engage with other merchants on the continent. They trade intel, they update maps for one another, and if a travelling merchant earns enough to open up a store, they'll use their local power to defend those still living carriage-bound lives.
The reason Sera's father wasn't sent out as a soldier was because of this. A businessman in Lann identified him as a merchant, proving his identity as a non-citizen and preventing him from being conscripted. That wasn't enough to get him sent back home, clearly, but... it kept him alive, if nothing else.

If I, in my current state, moved to a city, I would have nothing. If I were attacked, no one would defend me. If I went missing, no one would search for me. If I were falsely imprisoned, no one would vouch for me.
But most statuses are based on skillset. Technically, the me on Earth was a merchant, but... with zero days of work experience, and no knowledge of the world I'm in, I don't think that's the right label for me.

"I can't call myself a student?"
"Not in Yve, no."
"Really? What about... 'apprentice'?"
"You're too old for that, I'm afraid."
"People say I look younger than I am!"
"Apprenticeships are for children. Unless that cube can de-age you 12 years, it's not going to be possible."
"Man, this world sucks."
"It's a perfectly fine world! You- ...You'll get used to it, I promise."

We go over some of the possible choices.
I could be a Soonsiter. That's what they call writers. They don't get much respect, but you don't have to prove much to become one.
There is one common exception: writers of religious texts get a lot of protection! That might actually be desirable, but... they write in ancient script, which I have no hope of learning.

Religious practitioners also get a lot of protection. Local ones, that is. Sadly, I'm not a local of any city, so I'd have to be a travelling practitioner, and... most people look at those kinds with a lot of suspicion.

Running a business doesn't work because I have no money. Any practical skills don't apply because I don't have practical skills.
Modern science (specifically, the study of Earth-related sciences) only happens in Xark, as does all Earth-related learning.

I could be a soldier! That'd get me put in more danger than picking no status at all. I'd get to work with Ms. Tsa, though.

Idea after idea passes from Feana's mouth into my brain, but none of them return unscathed. The sad reality is, starting life in a different world as an adult with no prior experiences... isn't a good position to be in.
What I do have, nepotism be blessed, is a connection to the princess. That opens up two possibilities for me:
First, I could be an attendant. It'd be useless if I ever left Feana's side, but very useful if I plan to never leave Yve. It's very limiting.
The other option is to be a diplomat. If I were a diplomat, it'd be very hard for normal people to talk to me, and everyone would be scared of offending me, but I'd be quite free to do what I want, and I'd have free movement within allied countries.
It'd be ideal, so long as I don't accidentally offend anybody and ruin relations between their country and Yve.

It has its drawbacks, but becoming a diplomat is by far and away the most convenient choice. I'd be able to somewhat lower my status among citizens by telling them I'm trying to blend in, and I have two people with me who can teach me all I need to know, so long as they have time to teach me.
Ms. Tsa, as the princess's guard, sometimes performs the duties of a diplomat, and Feana herself is a princess, which she tells me is "a diplomat with a fancy title." Bitterly, she then remarks, "Until her entire family is slain."
It makes me aware that, in a week or two, I'll have to start calling her "Queen" instead of "Princess". That's going to be hard to get used to...

If I'm to be a diplomat, then one thing is certain...
I'll need to learn a lot about this world in a very short amount of time.

And so, I choose to become a diplomat from a country I've never set foot in.