Chapter 167 – Day 352 – Breakfast With The People

A good portion of my home on the first floor had been turned into a communal dining area. I sat on a comfortable chair with dragon motifs in the wood with my own table. The rest of the people got benches. Except for Naran and Clarissa, they both had chairs next to me.

I counted 12 guards, all men, and 3 women with uniforms, but not combat oriented. It appeared sexism was alive and well. It probably came down to Clarissa wanted large and imposing men for guards and women for the safer positions of managing the household.

I really felt like a Lord in their castle looking out at their minions. Breakfast was a thick vegetable stew. Delicious, but I was kind of getting tired of stew. “This everyone?” I asked Clarissa. I could tell the guards were all listening in.

“There are 4 on the morning shift that aren’t here currently. Watching the research building, the city treasury, and this building. The last one is on patrol.”

“Fairly light number of people to watch all those areas.”

“The soldiers of the RMPF guard and patrol much more heavily. It is about having our presence there. In time I will be recruiting more people from the RMPF, but there just aren’t enough people that have met my standards.”

“And what are those standards?” I asked.

“At least 100 stats, with at least 50 stats into Mind.”

“That is Union level.” I looked out at the group.

“It is. But there is a lot of danger going outside the city. More opportunity and chance for power, but the danger is much higher. And the RMPF is spreading out investments into stats for its members.”

“Diminishing returns. What is the current pay?” I asked.

“100 points per day, plus food, lodging, and equipment expenses covered. Also guaranteed points for regeneration if injured while in the line of duty.”

“We can afford that?”

“Yes, since I am using your home as the starting point for the Immortal Council.” Ah, she was taking that extra 10% of the tax revenue that had been set aside for that purpose. “As long as it is sustainable, and people keep up high standards. I also think that any attempted bribery will be doubled if they take the bribe and report it.”

“I have already implemented that idea.” I looked at Clarissa in surprise. She really was thinking ahead. “The main issue I am running into is deploying people to spy on other cities. It is very high risk.”

“Put a skill point up as compensation. Rework the skill acquisition list as needed. Increase the pay to 500 points per day.” She had a budget of about 5 to 10,000 points per day to work with based on the tax revenue, or what it would become. Better to start cultivating spies now, than waiting around.

“I am looking, but finding qualified people who are willing is difficult. There isn’t a big applicant pool to choose from.” I nodded at that. While eventually we would be drowning in people, right now there was a severe population and talent shortage.

“Do what you can. I trust you to handle things in my absence.” I said that for her benefit where all the people working for her could hear.

“Thank you, Michael. Perhaps a story to share with the people.” I could see a lot of hopeful expressions. If Clarissa was asking me, she probably thought it was a good idea. I thought for a moment on what story to pick. Well time to start crafting my own legend. I am sure Naran would get a good laugh later about the entire thing.

“Alright. I think my battle with Death itself will be quite entertaining.”

“Are you sure, you lost your arm,” Clarissa played up the story to the audience.

“That is what makes it all the more exciting.” I thought back to that fight and began to tell the tale. The initial shaking of the ground, which I still had no good explanation more. Then the figure of death in all its dark glory. The chase back to the city.

How it got in front of us and cut down the guards. The chance to the plaza and then a desperate last stand. It wasn’t a long tale, but I felt I had made it engaging enough. Once I was done, declaring my victory and Naran’s help to get back, there was a round of applause.

I followed Clarissa to the office that we shared after she quietly asked me too. I was curious what was up.

“What’s up Clarissa? I wanted to head out,” I asked as I took my seat behind the desk.

“There is one topic that is coming but hasn’t been discussed in depth. Negotiations with the Ritualist and our posture towards Truth. The trade period is coming up and you aren’t coming back for a while if I had to guess.” I nodded at that. “I would prefer not to call you back. Which is why I need your guidance on these issues.”

They were valid questions. “The Union teams won’t fight?”

“They will if it comes to it, but there isn’t a willingness to fight other people unfortunately,” Clarissa said.

“The Union is getting to be a bigger and bigger headache.” I let out a sigh and considered my options. None of them were good. This was an annoyance, but it could easily blow up into something bigger. In the end there was only one answer.

“We wait. If they force the Union teams away from the dungeons, the Union can be held accountable and their place for the dungeons of Purgatory can be removed until they take back Truth’s dungeons.”

“That would slow down the push to create teams to head out into level 2 areas.” I nodded at that. Clarissa made a good point, but it wasn’t critical like skill points were.

“That is fine. But the Union is just an organization to carry out the will of the city. Any talk or rumors about one of their members stepping up to the Immortal Council?” I asked.

“Nothing concrete. There was some talk, but I haven’t heard anything for a while,” Clarissa answered.

“Remind them. They don’t have any more rights or privileges than anyone else. I want high level people who are capable combatants.” I was confident about maintaining my lead, but these people needed to step up and quickly.

“I will do what I can. With all the instructions you left about monitoring the Union, I can put a lot of pressure. Laura won’t be happy.”

“As long as you keep an eye on her. She needs to learn to stay in her lane.” I noted that Clarissa nodded at what I said. “Also, the spy issue, we need someone in Truth.”

“I am working on it.”

“Good. Now the Ritualist. Refuse all trade or any further negotiations. But let him make the first move. No reaching out to him.”

“It sounds like you want to put pressure on everyone,” Clarissa replied. I smiled a bit at her statement.

“Yes.”

“You want them to respond. You want another war.” Her expression hardened but it wasn’t a glare. “Why?”

“To keep people focused externally. If there are outside threats, they will be too busy to create much trouble for me or you. There are some risks, but at the end of the day, I still retain power.”

“You don’t want to do anything more?” Clarissa asked.

“No. No assassination attempts or anything. Let our enemies make the first move. We will take a stance of zero engagement until we are attacked. Then we will respond. If people die, the more competent ones will be left.”

“Michael, I disagree with this. This isn’t business, where competition creates a marketplace. This is life and death.” I nodded at that.

“True, but governing a nation is different than running a business. You must have noticed it yourself, how much more smoothly everything is running after the Ritualist’s attacks?”

There was a long pause before Clarissa responded. “While that may be true, any engagement risks losing people. Each person is an investment of points. Any kind of attrition will hurt long term. Especially the Union teams, since it takes so long to get someone to that level.”

“Which is why I am not rushing things and am letting our enemies make the first move. Time favors me. The faster I can grind a level 3 zone, the harder it will be to catch up. And the people around today know what happened to the Guild,” I replied.

“All those may be true, but people are stupid. And there is one outcome you haven’t thought about. They could just leave.”

“Where? Truth? The people there are as bad as you get. Neo Brasilia has been wiped out. Then there is Esperanza, which may be an option.” I wasn’t even going to count Heaven. If anyone went in that direction, they were complete morons.

“Don’t underestimate what people might do. They will look at you, then look at the option of setting out on their own. A strong pre-emptive strike will resolve this issue, take out Laura and any drama dies with her, same with the Ritualist,” Clarissa replied.

“Or it just creates the drama I am hoping to avoid. No. We will take a wait and see approach for now. We will put soft pressure on our enemies.” Clarissa let out a long sigh and slumped a bit. “There is another reason. If I go out looking for trouble, I will slow down. That will allow other people and groups to catch up.”

I paused before continuing. “I can be pressured if threat after threat comes. But I am not worried about that. Even if people leave. How many would want to face me in battle? They know they will be marked as traitors.” Clarissa looked up at me and stared me in the eyes before responding.

“There is a lot of risk. The gates and the RMPF can’t be guaranteed to hold. Top Union members are closing in on 800 to 900 stat points. There are several with 500 Body or more.” I frowned at that, it was concerning, but not serious.

“Stats most likely aren’t linear. They are logarithmic. Even if one person passes me in a stat, they would have to invest heavily to get a full level above me. Unless they had 1,000 Body, I am not worried. Even if there was a team of people with skills, they won’t be fast enough to pin me down.”

My mind drifted to the force enchantment. Force boots, now that would be interesting and give a boost in speed. Next time I came back I would need to look at the notes for crafting and see what people came up with. I shook my head a bit and focused on what I wanted to say and not get distracted.

“Clarissa. People won’t leave that easily. A 10% tax is nothing and can be waved away when we start purchasing city buildings. You seem stressed.”

“I am stressed Michael. My previous jobs never involved me putting my life on the line. Now my life is on the line every day.” Her voice cracked slightly.

“You have my permission to delegate, hire your own secretary. If anything, your title would be Prime Minister. I can make it official if you want?”

“Hahahahaha,” she burst into manic hysterical laughter. And I just sat there until she calmed down. Then we sat there in silence for a bit. She was having her moment as the stress leaked out of her. I felt sympathy for Clarissa, all the crap I shoveled on her plate wasn’t simple or easy to deal with. The battles, the threats, everything else was wearing her down.

That was one of the reasons why I didn’t want the position. I knew it would wear me down I would just resort to killing people. That wasn’t a good way to build efficiency or a government long term. Sure, occasionally killing people was useful, but too many and fear would sink into everyone. Hesitating could be just as bad though.