The Systemic Lands

Chapter 53: Day 135 (2) – Teamwork

I entered the restaurant, and we were the first to show up. We got led to a table on the second floor. I noticed there were six places laid out. The other two were probably bringing someone as well to match Ruth. How political, since if there were just three seats, I would have asked for her to just sit at a nearby table. A server came up to our table.

“Welcome honored guests. The meal available today is a lightly seasoned mix of roasted vegetables, served on a bed of rice. Fresh bread will be served shortly along with water. Desert is a light cream infused with berries.”

“That sounds delicious. Any word on when the rest of the guests should be arriving?” I asked.

“They should be here momentarily. My name is Fredo, please don’t hesitate to ask for anything.”

“Thank you Fredo. Bread and water while we wait is fine,” I said.

“Of course.” He left. A minute later, Tyrese showed up and the accountant from the Red Dawn. I stood up and held out a hand to shake. I thought about objecting to his promotion, but that would undo all the hard work I had already done. Better to just move forwards and keep my eye on him.

“Tyrese.”

“Michael. Ruth. This is Ben our accountant.”

“Ben.” I shook his hand as well. Ken showed up as well with his minion slash helper Carl. We all sat down as bread and water were laid out. The water had a lime taste to it, quite enjoyable.

“So, let’s get right into things with your permission?” I asked. Neither of them objected. “Three things. First, the skill auction. It needs to be an auction. No minimum. That leads into my second point. Future purchases of community buildings how to prioritize them. Third, I would like to take a look at the accounting ledger. As for exploration, that will be the focus of my next trip, since I was training up Ruth to survive out there and assist me.”

“We can allow a free auction, but only provide information, no guarantee of getting the skill point if there is no minimum, there is a risk to it. We have to pay the men something and the equipment is not cheap. You were the one to set the original price.” That was true.

“Half, so 2,500 as a minimum, since I pioneered the option. But I want the auction to happen.” Tyrese looked over at Ken.

“I have no objection.”

“Done,” Tyrese said. That was quick. I liked politics like this, the top people quickly making decisions to move things along. “Let’s put the purchases to the end. Ben, the book.” The accountant pulled out a book and handed it over to me. I quickly flipped through it looking at the numbers. They were earning about 2,000 crystals per day. With a reserve of around 20,000 crystals at the moment. A quick scan didn’t show any repeated numbers and the markings appeared to be made at different times.

“You haven’t spotted any issues?” I asked Ken.

“Trust me, I look every other day, but it is all on the up and up.” I handed the accounting book back to Ben. “I guess I will go next?” Neither Tyrese nor I objected.

“There isn’t enough disposable income. I was thinking we should cut the tax rate down even more.” Tyrese looked sharply at Ken. That wasn’t planned I see. “People aren’t willing to push out more. The Union is trying, but it is a struggle.”

From the accounting book, the Red Dawn was at its limit paying for its upkeep with the current income. They were only getting disposable income from their side monopolies of gambling and the brothel. “We are at our limit and can’t take a cut to the tax rate. It was the same problem we ran into before. People can’t handle going out further,” Tyrese said.

“Why the lower tax rate, how will that help things?” I asked.

“It will motivate people to go out there,” Ken said. What wasn’t said, was that he wasn’t going out there and ran a business here in Purgatory.

“No tax on 50-point crystals,” I suggested. “That will motivate people to face stronger monsters. Things will get tough for the guard, but that is why you are paid. If it is easier to face monsters than the guard, people will go out there and the problem will solve itself.”

There was a long period of silence at my suggestion. “It could work, but the number of vagrants in the outer city will increase and there will be risks,” Tyrese said.

“Then they earn crystals or starve to death. It is that simple,” I replied.

“Can’t we lower taxes to allow people more spending crystals,” Ken argued. I sighed and rubbed my head. He was responsible to the people after all as the Elected Representative. It was probably the most heard complaint that came his way.

“What about 20%?” I asked and looked at Tyrese. He winced and Ben the accountant spoke up.

“Then the Red Dawn would have to dip into its business income to fund its operations.”

“Aren’t you doing that now, with members being paid taxes also operating the businesses?” I asked.

“Actually no. That was something I ended. The businesses operate as part of Red Dawn, but the books are separate as well as the employees. The guards we pay from taxes are for keeping order only. They will assist in an emergency, but they are on separate payrolls.” That made me wonder where all that disposable income was rolling to. Not my problem right now, which I was sure was going to bite me in the ass later.

“You had 100 guards and 10 captains on the payroll, but only five were guarding the pillars at night?” I asked.

“Pre-dawn is quiet, and they need to be in rotation and on breaks. It is a struggle to keep everyone with equipment and upgrades,” Tyrese said.

“But even with taxes, which is 6,000 crystals a day that is coming in.”

“Divided up to around 3,000 people. Only about 500 actually go out of the city. It isn’t enough. A lot of people are struggling,” Ken said.

“Will the people revolt in force?” I asked Ken.

“No, maybe. But I will be voted out next election for sure.” Well not if people didn’t have crystals to pay the voting tax. That was probably why he was sensitive to the general tax, since those were the people who would vote. Urg, this is why politics gave me a headache. Like a soap opera, fun to watch, hell to be a part of.

“No challengers?” I asked.

“No, why?” Tyrese asked.

“Michael no,” Ruth spoke up.

“You can read my mind?” I asked her.

“I know what you are thinking. It isn’t worth the headache to resolve their issues,” she said. I was going to ask to take the blame for the taxes, but Ruth was right. This was an internal issue, which was not my problem.

“If you both agree on a new tax rate, I will hear it out. No promises, but I won’t be a tiebreaker in this issue. We agreed on 25%, and I want to stick with that.” Ken let out a long sigh.

“That will be tabled for now. No issues on my end,” Tyrese said. I munched on some bread. “That leaves what we will be spending the reserve on. I was thinking we purchase the Rod of Control first. It should give us a greater ability to manage the city.”

“Well, my suggestion was the Meeting Chamber. A public place for people to gather other than the plaza would be quite useful,” Ken said.

I thought about both suggestions. “We can purchase the Meeting Chamber right away. The Rod of Control, will take quite a while. I would prefer the Monster Processing building. Meeting Chamber, then the Rod, then the Processing building in that order?” I offered.

Tyrese was silent for a long moment. “That is reasonable. Who will make the purchase?” Tyrese asked. There was an uncomfortable silence at that. Since whoever made the purchase might get some special benefit. I knew why Tyrese wanted the Rod of Control, the stupid name.

“Ken, the Elected Representative will have control of any non-military buildings. We can decide on a case-by-case basis going forward. Really, we should rotate on each pick, the person who picks makes the purchase,” I suggested.

“I have no issue with that,” Ken said.

“That is fine,” Tyrese agreed. That was when the food was brought out.

It was quite enjoyable to have a cooked meal. “Airships, kind of want to make that my pick, but Monster Processing is probably more useful.”

“Really, why do you think so?” Ken asked.

“It seems like we would get things from monsters. Right now, they only drop crystals. If we can get other things, I would rather start that sooner rather than later. I suspect it will tie into Enchanting and Alchemy.”

“Maybe, but it could just be fancy equipment. Also, there is the next upgrade to consider,” Tyrese said.

“I would prefer to get the gates and shield before we go for another upgrade. It may trigger an event. The map, now that is interesting as well,” I said.

We continued to speculate about the buildings over the meal. Once it was over, we made our way to the Red Dawn HQ. Four large chests were brought out along with 20 guards as we made our way to the pillars.

Ken cashed them all in and made the purchase. It took up a 2x2 footprint. The North side of the plaza was chosen.

“The building won’t disappear if anything happens to me. It is part of the city,” Ken said. “There were some minor design choices I made.” I didn’t care about that too much.

“Anything we should know about?” Tyrese waved his hand.

“No, but there are more upgrades that can now be purchased. Like the ability to move property for 500k, the ability to ban people from the store for 500k, the ability to track Store purchases 1,000k. The abilities are all managed through the Rod of Control and require the Meeting Chamber.”

“So, the Rod is the interface and everything else is an add-on to the functionality. Like a civ game,” I muttered loudly. The main issue with those games, was one person controlled everything. The Rod of Control would be a key item if a city was developed enough to have one.

“Let’s check the building,” Tyrese said.

We made our way over. There was a double reinforced door on the outside already. There was no lock though. We went inside and it was completely open on the inside with lights hanging from the ceiling.

There were benches all facing the front where there were three tables with two chairs each on elevated platforms. There was a podium in front of the tables facing the benches. “I picked out the table options for our Triumvirate,” Ken said.

“It looks alright. New arrivals can be brought here, and meetings can be held here,” Tyrese said.

“The elections can also be held here and other ceremonies,” Ken added.

“Hmm, well I am glad this purchase has worked out. I am leaving tomorrow, unless there is anything else?” I asked.

“I think we are done, Tyrese?” Ken asked.

“That is it. Might want to be back for day 150 since that is the next election,” Tyrese suggested.

“It might get heated?” I asked.

“Probably. Having you here will calm things down and people would probably want to hear from you about what is out there.”

“Ken?” I asked.

“It would be for the best. We need to be seen together. It won’t be a regular thing. But this is important.” If they were both asking, then I didn’t have a problem with their request.

“Unless there is a challenger to create some drama. Still, I signed up for that. Alright. Should have purchased an arena.”

“That isn’t an option,” Tyrese said.

“I know, I know. Alright, I will mark it down, but no promises. I will be really traveling, so there is a good chance I get delayed or killed.”

“That…that won’t happen, will it?” Ken looked at me.

“Anything is possible out there. You deal with people. I deal with monsters. Ruth, I am going to get supplies, coming?”

“Sure, this was fun, thanks for the meal, the bread was great!” She was certainly upbeat.