The Systemic Lands

Chapter 59: Day 150 (3) – A Speech

“Silence, anyone interrupting will be kicked out of the Meeting Chamber and if they resist, they will then be executed, without exception.” The guards had their weapons drawn so it looked like the arrival was going to happen without a death.

“You can’t do that! Hey!” Guard came over to an older white woman who was screaming. If it talked like a Karen and looked like a Karen, it probably was a Karen. She yanked her arm from one of the guards and slapped him.

He brought a club around and smashed in her face and the rest of the guards raised their weapons up and pointed them at the crowd. “There will be order. Take her out and remove her head.” The guards grabbed and dragged the moaning woman out of the Meeting Chamber, a couple of her bloody teeth were left behind. There was utter silence as the sounds she was making were cut off.

“I will begin again. I am Ken Hatfield, the Elected Representative of the city of Purgatory.” I smiled a bit at the name of the city. That was me. A lasting accomplishment that actually stuck. “None of us know what brought you or us here.”

“Every ten days, 250 people arrive in the plaza. This is day 150 from the time the first group arrived.” Ken glanced in my direction. He then went on to explain the store, monsters, city, rules, and then the charter.

“As new arrivals, you are entitled to ten days of protection until the next group arrives. At the South side of the city there is public housing and guards of the Red Dawn patrol it. If you mistreat the items inside, leave a mess, or cause a disruption you will be kicked out. If you attempt to resist the Red Dawn Guards, they will kill you without warning or exception.”

“I am sure many of you have questions, you can ask the five guides stationed at your temporary housing and they will answer any questions in more detail. For now, you are asked to leave the building to make way for other matters. Good luck hunting monsters.”

Everyone left quietly. Once the new arrivals left, long term residents began filing in. The Meeting Chamber could handle up to 1,000 people comfortably. It was filled to twice that with people packed in on the benches and standing up around the edges of the room. That was about 2/3 of the total population, maybe a bit more.

Tyrese stood up and took the podium while Ken moved off to the side. “A large crowd which is good to see. Welcome everyone and thank you for your patience while we dealt with the new arrivals. I am Tyrese, the Boss of the Red Dawn which are the guards if you did not know.” Everyone knew unless they were an idiot.

“First, we will have speeches from our three political candidates. A speech from our Champion. Then the auction for the next skill point from the dungeon. Finally, the election itself. As a reminder, there is a 5-crystal fee to vote, with the winner getting all funds to manage their expenses.”

“The incumbent Ken will get to speak last and the order that the two challengers will speak was decided at random. Each candidate is given ten minutes to speak and will be given two warnings, the first when there is about a minute left, and another once they reach their time. After they have spoken, any individual may pay 10 crystals to ask a question. There is a fee in order to make sure only serious questions are asked and not to waste everyone’s time. Any interruptions will be dealt with harshly.”

“First to speak is Will.” An older man stepped up to the podium and Tyrese went back to his seat.

“People of Purgatory. My name is Will and I ask that you cast your votes for me for a simple reason. The excessive taxes the Red Dawn takes and their unrepentant violence on the people of this city. We need to work together to achieve anything.” Tyrese just sat there quietly. I would have been pissed if someone called me out like that. That was another reason I wouldn’t be a good politician.

“And a Champion. What nonsense! Hording secrets and knowledge-“

“I accept,” I called out and there was silence and Will turned to look at me. “Since you insulted me while I am present, that is considered a challenge. I look forward to facing you in twenty five days, or another challenger replaces you.”

“Champion Michael, you are out of order. All candidates are given uninterrupted time. You will be fined 100 crystals for such an outburst, with the proceeds going to future store purchases.” That was a tiny fine in comparison to my wealth. I knew this, Tyrese knew this. He was making a point to the crowd that I was bound by the rules. Well, if he was doing me a favor like that, I could play along and not melt him.

“I apologize for the interruption. Let me pay the fine right now. As long as the challenge stands.”

“Of course it stands. A public declaration like that cannot go unanswered. Will, you can have your time back.” I got my pack and began to set the crystals on the table in front of me one by one while everyone watched.

“Um, I wasn’t challenging you,” Will said. I looked at Tyrese.

“I suppose if a candidate names a member of the Triumvirate they may respond.”

“An insult to me is a challenge. I will accept a sincere apology and allow you to rescind your challenge.”

“I am sorry.” Time to make it clear, don’t mess with me. If you want to call me out, then call me out. None of this doublespeak nonsense. I risked my life out there and if a person wasn’t willing to put their life on the line, then they can bugger off.

“No, that wasn’t sincere. Sincerity only comes when you cut out one of your eyes. If you don’t have a knife, you can scoop an eye out with your hands. It isn’t that hard, just reach in and yank it out. That should be sufficient enough to show sincerity.” Will blanched. There were gasps from the crowd which went deathly silent.

“He can’t do that? Can he?” Will looked at Tyrese.

“As everyone knows, the Champion is a position of grave responsibility. To insult and degrade him, is the same as a challenge. Moreso to his face. I commend you on your bravery.”

“This is a conspiracy. You are all conspiring to keep power and rule over us!” Will shouted, there were some soft murmurs at that.

“Hah!” I called out and stood up. “You think I care about ruling? Bah, you are an idiot. You don’t even realize the sheer difference. I have cleared multiple dungeons. I can earn more in a day than the entire city together. The only reason I bother to be here is, so this place doesn’t descend into chaos and bloodshed due to idiocy. When I look at you, I only see a worm thinking it is a dragon, ready to be crushed!”

Will took a step back. “You think if I want to kill you any number of people will stop me? If you never enter this place again and rescind your candidacy, never speak in front of me again, I will consider your challenge rescinded.”

“Yes!” He then ran out of the Meeting Chamber, and I sat back down. Tyrese went back up to the podium.

“The right to speech is specifically not guaranteed in the charter and Champion Michael will take no insults. Doing so constitutes a challenge. The next candidate is Elizabeth.” I gave a small nod to Tyrese as he sat back down which he returned. When a person was willing to risk their life exploring new areas, then they could talk smack to me. Until then they better shut the hell up, since I had no patience for that nonsense being aimed at me.

“Thank you, Tyrese.” A middle-aged black woman came up to the podium. Her hair was in an afro. I wondered how she maintained it in this place.

“My name is Elizabeth, and I am here today to run for the position of Elected Representative. I do think changes need to be made to this place to help people, specifically the ones that have prior illnesses or defects of their body that make restorations prohibitively expensive.”

“Restorations are a key factor in allowing hunters to go out and kill monsters. I know many of you out there struggle each day to fight and gather crystals.” I noted several people nodding. “Long term I seek to implement emergency care. A person who works hard but makes a mistake should not be left to die, just because they are poor.”

“We are pioneers in this new land. I will not seek a tax increase or decrease but a reallocation of funds. How many lives could this building have saved?” There were several more nods at that. “We don’t know why we are here, but we can all work together to make this city a better place.” She didn’t use the name Purgatory, so my opinion of her already went down a bit.

“There are differences between us, but we all need to work for a brighter future.” The rest of her speech was in a similar vein, lots of fluff and nice sounding statements, but nothing more concrete beyond subsidized healthcare.

Once she was done, Ken went up. “I am Ken Hatfield and while my opponent might say many nice sounding things, the problem is the reality we are now in. Unlike her, I won’t lie to you. People need to go out and fight in the grasslands and the higher tier monsters. Right now, the city of Purgatory has reached capacity in regard to killing slimes.”

There were murmurs at this. “It is something that can no longer be hidden. A better solution can be found, and I am sure many of you have guessed already. There are not enough low tier monsters for the population.”

“There is a certain amount of crystal consumption at the store each day for food. Even if we used the portion of the tax set aside for city upgrades, that would only postpone the problem a short while. At a certain point there needs to be more crystals coming in to support the population.”

“If you elect me, I will ensure those that those who work keep their work. Those that slack off and don’t hunt or are lazy, will be left behind. As much as I would like to help everyone, the resources aren’t there. Personally, I hope you don’t reelect me, then this will be someone else’s problem.”

“The only reason I am bothering with this is that my opponent has no solution for the pending crystal crisis. Trying to restrict hunting is impossible with how much area there is and how hard it would be to enforce.”

I was surprised Ken was being this direct about the upcoming crystal crisis. It was the best platform to convey this message, but I was still surprised. The rest of his speech didn’t offer any solutions, just expounding on the issue and how times would get tough. It was a stark contrast of hope versus fear in terms of political messages.

Then the questions started, people would line up and could pay to ask either candidate a question.

“You talked a lot about the crystal crisis that is happening and how it will get worse. What is your solution?” That was the first question to Ken, and I was curious how he would respond.

“My hope is that more people are motivated to go to higher level areas to kill monsters there. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen and is wishful thinking, since it hasn’t happened yet. There is no good solution that doesn’t result in people dying or starving. If anyone has an idea, let me know.”

Elizabeth then got asked the same question. This was a make it or break it moment for her. “I would form groups of people to go after different types of monsters. And I…I would ask the Champion for his support if possible.”

Everyone looked at me, I let out a long sigh and stood up and looked at Tyrese. “No objections if you want to respond.”

“Thank you Boss Tyrese. I guess I will give my speech now, and then people can keep asking these two questions.” I went up to the podium and Elizabeth stepped aside. Everyone got really quiet. Luckily, I had countered my fear of public speaking when I was young. Two thousand people was nothing.

“I am the Champion. The strongest person in the city of Purgatory. I have pioneered every area around the city, the slime forests, the wolf forest, the grassland, and the slime dungeon. I have shared this information, some freely, some with a cost.”

“Many people have attempted to go beyond the level one area into the level two areas. The difficulty curve of the Systemic Lands is not a joke.” A new name. Let’s get that out there into circulation. “I have encountered teleporting monsters, poison gas monsters, and monsters that spawn other monsters at level two.”

“It is not easy to progress, and the death rate will be quite high. But something I realized when I first arrived, the longer you sit around, the weaker you will become. Use people’s deaths to learn how to beat the higher tier monsters and honor their sacrifice by killing those monsters to survive and thrive.”

“In addition, monsters respawn in the middle of the night and don’t spawn on top of people and shouldn’t run into you. This is no guarantee, but if you clear any nearby monsters in the middle of the night, you should be able to sleep outside.”

“That was incredibly valuable information I just shared with all of you. Incredibly valuable information I gained at great risk. I ask that you respect me for sharing that information no matter what else you may think of me.” I let out a sigh as people were hanging onto my every word.

“There are other cities out there. It is my guess, just my guess mind you, that the other cities will either be comprised of people from other areas of Earth, since we are all from the United States, or they will be aliens. Not illegal aliens mind you, but actual life forms that are completely different from humans. When we encounter these other cities, do you want to be enslaved, tortured, raped, murdered?”

“Most cities will fall under control of an elite group of people or a warlord like figure. I could have taken that path and used your taxes to empower myself even higher. I don’t and now I earn more in a day than the entire city combined when I put my back into it.”

“Instead of fighting for scraps, you need to be figuring out how to beat the Systemic Lands instead.” I waved my hands. “All this here is pointless. I only do this, so I don’t have to kill hundreds of people each time I want to use the store. A dislike of something, doesn’t mean I won’t do it.”

“So, my message is this. You are all responsible for figuring the impending crystal crisis out, not me, not the Elected Representative. This is everyone’s problem. My first solution would be to randomly pair up people to fight to the death to halve the population, repeat that each time the crystal crisis gets near. That is why I am not in charge.”

“I will always choose the path of blood, if forced to choose. I hate that choice. Don’t make me make that choice. So, all of you need to group up, pool information on higher tier monsters, get supplies, and go kill them for several days in a row outside the city of Purgatory.”

“That is the only kind solution. If you die, you die, but at least you tried. Otherwise, you can eek out an existence as best as you can and slowly wither away until you are too weak and powerless to make a choice.”

“I can see some of you thinking about robbing others. My advice is don’t. The people brave enough to go out hunting, will cave your skull in. You might get lucky, once, twice, but in the end hunting people is not efficient for long term survival.”

“Boss Tyrese, there are no taxes on higher tier crystals, correct?”

“Yes, there are no taxes on higher tier crystals.” I nodded at that.

“That is the ticket to a better future. Find a way or die. I am telling you, that you need to find a way now, before it becomes too late. Go after the level two monsters before it is too late to make that choice.” I left the podium to silence and sat back down.

Someone started clapping. Then more people started clapping and shouting. It took a minute for things to settle back down. I guess people appreciated my blunt talk. Apparently, my speech had salvaged some of my reputation. No polling unfortunately, but the clapping was a decent indicator I wasn’t universally despised.

Tyrese stood back up and spoke after a long moment. “Thank you, Champion Michael, for the very informative speech about the wider area, going outside at night, and the path forward for the crystal crisis. We will continue with questions to the two candidates.”