The Systemic Lands

Chapter 542: Day 5,004 – A Gaggle Of Governors

I sat on my throne in the council chamber while Clarissa went through various administrative tasks. There were several questions that were asked, but nothing that concerned me. I had dinner with all these governors over the last several days.

Zone disputes had mostly been settled, thank goodness. I was glad I hadn’t been around here for that. Level 3 zones were in contention, but it was ultimately ruled that cities had to effectively grind a portion of the zone for a set period of time before they could stake a claim.

Thankfully I hadn’t had to intervene in the past. The threat of me intervening by Clarissa was more than enough to get any group to settle with how she thought would be best. Navigating the social minefield with over 18 governors was a headache.

There were three main factions. The first faction was the Imperial faction. They basically supported whatever Clarissa and these were the cities around Purgatory. The second faction was the Asian faction, which consisted of a large portion of the cities the Divine Empress had controlled. They were more concerned about stability for the most part. They wanted more military spending and stronger security. There was a lot of residual turmoil and resentment from arrivals at being controlled by a ‘western’ government and having ‘western’ leaders.

The final faction was the Boarder faction. They tended to be the richest but the most isolated. Since there was no contention about neighboring cities for the most part regarding the zones near their cities, they just wanted to be left alone and as little Imperial Government interference as possible.

None of these groups had a bone to pick with me, and they all accepted the fact the Imperial Government was here to stay. It was aggravating in some respects to have political groups form but understandable.

I had a dinner with each one the last couple of days. One thing I had noted was that there was a lot of competition between cities regardless of their political group. The main purpose of the political blocks was to allow them to put pressure on the Imperial Government if necessary. Only if two of the political blocks aligned, did they have a reasonable chance of making Clarissa bend a bit on any decision.

She could still do whatever she wanted if she invoked the threat of me, but she tried not to be too heavy handed all the time. I noted she switched things up. Sometimes she would compromise on an issue, others she would say absolutely not, and others she would compromise. I had observed it depended on a number of factors.

The governors speaking up was a small boost to one side of whatever argument was the topic of the meeting. “We will now moved to a closed session, for a discussion of a sensitive nature,” Clarissa said. Anyone below the level of vice governor was shown the door and the doors closed.

“It is the decision of the Imperial Government and Emperor Michael to begin war preparations. Our strategy will be as follows. Emperor Michael will scout the opposing territory, using upgrades for the Regional Maps, in addition to preparing an expedition. The following cities are planned to be upgraded to level 5, and should prepare their payments immediately for said upgrades. They will be upgraded in the next twenty days as well.”

There were murmurs and nods at this and some excitement. I had been fairly stingy with city upgrades to increase the prices. We often auctioned off upgrade slots. Now some cities were skipping ahead. They would still have to pay, but it would be a boon for them to be able to have all the stats, and other materials for sale at their cities.

“New Dhaka. The Abyss. Normandy. Nanjing. East Bastion. First Seoul. These cities as you know are all at the boarders of the Empire. We will see how much terrain is out there, or if we are truly on an island in the middle of the void zones,” Clarissa said. There were nods at this.

“In addition, the Imperial army will be expanding to 500 soldiers, and the Imperial air force will also be getting a slight expansion. We plan to secure a beachhead in whatever land we find, taking a city, and possibly using the portal building. But after that, the rest will be the Wild West. No laws, no taxes,” she explained.

This time there was a lot more interest. “The Imperial Government will only intervene to defend its single city and to counter any high-level combatants. Anyone at or over combat level 6 will result in a direct intervention from Emperor Michael. The rest of the land is up for grabs by the populace. Cities can fund teams, but the Imperial Government will be staying out of it and not enforcing any contracts in regards to military expansion. Yes Governor Olivia?”

“We don’t have to participate?” she asked.

“No. The primary reason for this is to exhaust the excess population. While it isn’t a full blown crisis yet, we are moving in that direction. This is to help alleviate the pressure. However. All cities are expected to remain ready to repel any counter invasions or attacks that might occur. Your defenses, should be seen to as well. Yes Governor Olivia?” Clarissa called on her again.

“Will any losses be covered by the Imperial Government?” she asked.

“No. Losses will not be covered by the Imperial Government. You are only responsible for defense and general support for the war effort. But there will be no compensation for any casualties or destruction that might arise as a result.”

The discussion continued in that vein. When would things be publicly announced? When I returned from my exploration of whatever other nations were out there and assessed their threat level.

Could other cities join the Empire? Yes, but they needed to be secured and the strategic situation assessed. The real answer was no. This wasn’t a war of conquest. Well, it was, but it was not the primary purpose. It was a war whose only purpose was to kill people. It wasn’t the stupidest reason for a war, but it felt backwards. Too many people and not enough jobs would just lead to instability in the future.

Since the increase in population was not tied to birthrate, but an external source, this was something no nation on Earth ever had to deal with. I guess immigration could count, but with Earth countries people could seal the borders. We couldn’t exactly stop the Almighty System from teleporting people in, or creating them from nothing. Another point of debate was if we were copies of the originals.

Killing everyone that arrived had been considered as well. Executing everyone who arrived, but that would have led to riots. There were lists that cost a lot to add a name to, but those names would be checked against new arrivals for loved ones. There were silver, gold, and imperial levels of service.

Silver meant your name was put on a list that arrivals could check against. Their names were also put on a list as well. If names were matches up then a saved message would be delivered to the person in question, who had just arrived. Gold level service, meant people would check for their name, and a message would be sent to you if they were found.

Imperial level service had a dedicated person that would check against a list of 1,000 names at most. If the person was found, they would be whisked away for special treatment. This service was not cheap and an ongoing fee was charged of 10,000 points per arrival. Gold and silver were 1,000 and 500 respectively for each arrival.

People could pay ahead of time. A million points would buy name checks on a single person for 100 arrivals or 1,000 days. The sheer cost was to stop people from crowding arrival points, hoping to find their loved ones. Many poorer people asked shop owners in the city their loved ones would be arriving in, to keep an eye out.

The cost was to streamline the entire process and to subsidize the cost of new arrivals’ restorations. People had to pay for 10 arrivals at a time, in advance. The names of arrivals were available for sale for 500 points. Certain shops would buy several copies to sell or rent when people returned. People had hope, but the success stories were few and far between.

Now we would be killing even more people. Another service offered was a will in trust. A person could leave a letter, their name, personal information about a loved one with challenge questions, and then it would be a record of some sort. If they died, their loved one could eventually get the letter.

The main difference between these basic services and the Imperial level of service, was that points would be given out to the individual in question. Again, this was a much higher fee. We didn’t have computers, so there were a lot of files stored, with names.

Since it was all in English, that was another point of contention that had come in the past. Also, one I refused to budge on. The government would operate under a single language. While people in the government could speak a second language, all forms had to be in English, with no exception.

Sometimes I wondered if I was as bad as the Divine Empress. The amount of blood on my hands was immense, but it was also necessary. As the governors and Clarissa discussed the general timeline and war posture, I thought about how insane it was, to have to kill so many people.

What was the Almighty System thinking? That people would get strong enough, quickly enough, to escape the closing in walls of everything. There just weren’t enough crystals or space for everyone. Sending people to fight for their future gave everyone a chance. It was the best we could do. At a certain point the number of people that we had to deal with was mind boggling.

It was easy enough to rule by fiat a city of a couple thousand people. But millions of people required an entirely different set of considerations. They became more numbers and less people at that point. There was a feeling of detachment as well. At least the good doctor had been working on a solution for a while and he wasn’t all talk.

But it wasn’t enough. Ultimately it came down to points. For 20 points a day, I could save 4.5 million people myself with just my grinding a level 6 zone. But those people would not produce that much value in return. It wasn’t a good investment, if one didn’t consider the moral cost. I was a prisoner of this place too, and while I wouldn’t shut the door behind me, I wouldn’t lift others up.

That was the compromise I was willing to reach with myself. Charity would only just drag everyone down on the sinking ship we were on. There was only so much room in the boat, and the boat had to find shore somewhere, without knowing the distance. For everyone who would be killed, I gave them a mental apology.