Note: this and the preceding chapter is a stand-alone spin-off prequel to the work in the initial chapters.

A woman of poor wealth being assaulted by nobles. A common if cliched sight.

Nobles had been demanding ransom, had the woman not promised to accept their wantom demands. Nonetheless, she claimed to accept these demands as to be left alone, even if they could never be met by the poor.

Gottlob Frege had nothing to lose; he had already written his Great Works wherein he turned into logical strokes the logical syllogisms of Aristotle. He interfered.

That's when Gottlob Frege met with the cyber soldiers. Guards equipped with cybernetic gadgetry. Immediately, they neutralized the nobles. Now, they came for the woman.

"This woman has violated the 14th maxim by knowingly making false promises. Leave."

Frege would not budge now. What kind of wretched law was this? These sentries of the land did not ally with the nobles, yet they also wanted to arrest the poor woman… for lying?

"Not budging? You've violated the 23rd maxim."

They readied their robotronic hand-cannon.

Frege quickly dodged the blast. "Skolemization," the soldier said. That's what seemed to power their cannons. "Universal formulas in our knowledge base pass through the process of instantiation from variables to Skolem constants and functions. Then, they are transformed into clauses and go through a process of resolution. Automated theorem-proving, a mechanical process that can be done even by a machine."

As expected from the Center of Constructive Mathematics. They cared no more of logic as their philosophical foundations but as means to power their tools. It was not a tool of wonder but a toil for the workers who slaved away at the many factories to study out these boring processes.

Sentries sent to guard this very place came from the Center. But why? As a result of their technology, the Center had been steadily growing into a power. Some sort of treaty between the Center and the city had been made.

"You speak of Skolemization and cybernetics. What is this, gibberish words?" played Frege. He had after all dodged the blasts- though by taking a toll. He was not to be underestimated, as the very foundations of such mechanics rested on foundations made by Frege long ago. He had written his findings, and that was eventually adopted by the Center. Furthermore, the science of cybernetics was still new.

"Ugh," the guard exclaimed. "A normal human would not be able to dodge such a close-range blast."

Gottlob Frege took on each sentry. "Long ago, it was suggested to me that mathematical intuition was connected to psychology. As we formulate thought, as pure as they may be, the mind and body unite to create intuition. By taking on this line of inquiry, I strengthened my body with strokes of logical formulae to achieve super-human feats."

"Heh. Now speak," demanded Frege. "Why do you bother with this village? Who is at your command?"

At this query, the sentries shivered. A man of utmost importance reigned this place. No, not one who built machines. His influence lied elsewhere.

"A saint. No less than a saint. It's no secret to any inhabitant of here that a holy man reigns the place."

"This man," replied Frege. "does nothing but tyranny."

He continued. "As soon as he appeared in his immaculate presence, he set out to make an utopia. An utopia of pure reason. He sent first his seraphs, guards, even us. All to make his metaphysical Law come true. A jurisdiction where no one lies or keeps false promises. An utopia reigned by the universal maxim."

"Seraphs?" thought Frege. "A man to call upon seraphs. What were his true intentions? No, it could not be- him."

"Yes, he's the man who set up the maxims. He tolerates no dissent from his holy law. All inhabitants of the city must do only what is absolutely good without qualification, or else, feel his reprisal. Will you still stand against it?"

"I see. A man who would not allow a poor villager to make a lie or false promise even under coercion- for the mere reason that such an action can not be defended as an universal standard: if a single lie or false promise was told, the sanctity of a truthful statement or honest promise may later be asked into question."

The man who ruled the city was no other than Immanuel Kant.