The Systemic Lands
Chapter 638: Day 5,185 – Drama Elsewhere

“Congratulations on your recovery,” Clarissa said.

“Thanks. But it isn’t complete yet,” I replied as we shared breakfast togeather before my departure.

“Another issue has come up,” Clarissa said, and I paused to look at her.

“Not another pointless rebellion?” I asked.

“Minor things, but I wanted to get your input before your departure,” she answered. I frowned slightly as I sipped my juice. If they were minor, why was she asking me? “It appears that the Holy Kingdom of God has swept East, taking everything up to Ireti. That is seven cities under their control.”

“That is fast. Very fast,” I muttered.

“Huge bribes to people outside of New Kochi to learn about summoning in detail, and hire people as support personnel,” Clarissa said.

“And all the other nations?” I asked.

“Wiped out. Mass purges have occurred. It happened while we were dealing with the sphere, and it wasn’t a big concern, but now they are wanting to open up an official dialogue with our nation,” Clarissa said.

“That just leaves four then. Us, the Holy Kingdom, The Leader’s Domain, and the Indian Sultanate,” I worked out. I also had to give it to Blessed Pope Emeritus the Third for taking advantage of my passing and our push into the Western areas.

“Yes, it does. But there is more. The Holy Kingdom has launched an invasion to take over the Leader’s Domain and the Indian Sultanate. They have left the cities alone that we demanded to be left alone, but there was a recent message, asking for us to intervene,” Clarissa said.

“That would be four more cities, putting the Holy Kingdom at eleven by my math if they don’t push further East? And isn’t there a huge separation between the nations?” I asked.

“There is, but the road network has remained behind. They are moving troops, and paying the people who went West from our Empire for support. They are also looking at installing puppet rulers by proxy into the remaining five cities that we have demanded remain free from occupation,” Clarissa said.

“They cleared out that much, that fast?” It was shocking.

“From what I have been able to gather, it is high level teamwork from their paladins combined with summons. That extra bit put them over the edge and allowed them to sweep through the zones,” Clarissa explained.

It was a shocking development. I didn’t know how to feel. On one hand I didn’t care, but they were becoming a peer power. “I am guessing that they don’t want us to intervene?” I asked.

“Actually, they are agreeable to whatever we decide,” Clarissa said.

“Eleven cities, which is a fair number. Sixteen if they manage to take the five cities, I want to remain free through the use of proxies. What are you thinking?” I asked Clarissa.

“I don’t know. With our past stance, we would ignore their actions. Also, we have enough internal problems now. But letting them consolidate their gains would mean trouble long term,” Clarissa explained.

“Their effective tax rate is much higher than ours and they are co-opting our people,” I muttered trying to think on what course of action would be best. It was a smart move and I had underestimated how smart Blessed Pope Emeritus the Third actually was. I heard theocracy and just mentally wrote them off.

But it was clear, that the nation was far more than just a theocracy. They were organized in a way that allowed them to take advantage of the situation and expand. “You mentioned long term trouble? You don’t think they could overtake me?” I asked.

“Probably not. But there is the question of towers, zones, access, and so on. And the vote,” Clarissa said.

“Appoint someone to be in charge of the shadow war and assign them to New Kochi. Keep up the boarder controls and confirm our policy of not interfering as long as they five cities aren’t taken or paying tribute to one faction or another. The chaos will bleed over,” I explained.

“So, keep to the same plan then?” Clarissa asked me.

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“Yes. Having one opponent or multiple, doesn’t matter. But there needs to be a competing human nation to prevent complacency and to use it as a comparison. And also, the Wild West type area we are setting up needs pushback from other nations to work properly,” I explained.

There would be no change to our policy. I didn’t want to get involved with pointless power struggles. If there was a full out battle between our nations, I would win. While the sphere had humbled me, it also made me more confident than ever. Humans were no longer a meaningful threat to me.

But that did raise up the question of how much contact I wanted to have with this other nation and the towers. I would need to start clearing the towers in level 3 zones right away. Those were at risk of being cleared and I wanted to accumulate the mystery votes for myself.

“Change of plans. I won’t be grinding I will be assaulting towers in level 3 zones. Get two airboats, fly one at the top and have the second pick me up,” I said. I had worked this out a while ago, assaulting the towers via crashing airboat. It was far easier than climbing up them. Just skip pass everything and have one big battle against the level 6 monster at the top and all the other flying monsters the tower unleashed.

“That will be expensive,” Clarissa said.

“I can cover the cost with occasional grinding sessions, but I think the time has come to collect votes. At least from the level 3 towers. There are three left on our half of the map, not counting the two I have cleared. And five on the other side of the Systemic Lands not counting the one that has already been cleared. So, eight total. The travel time will be a hassle, but multiple airships will keep things on track so I don’t have to run everywhere,” I said.

“I will make the arrangements. We have enough spares and can build more. But you will need to get points. I thought you would be focused on level 7 zones?” Clarissa asked and I shook my head at that question.

“I need to recover. Level 6 monsters are not that dangerous. The amounts are concerning, but I can shield myself and get back into fighting shape. But the higher-level monsters are riskier with the possibility of crazy abilities I am not used to. I can’t risk curse damage. Also, better to collect the votes now, before someone else collects them,” I replied.

“I have no objection. And the higher-level towers?” Clarissa asked me.

“The maps collected have less or no information about level 4 zones. And there might be something different at the top. I would prefer to be healed up first before taking that risk. Let the Holy Kingdom know, that I won’t interfere, but I reserve the right to travel anywhere I want to,” I said.

“That message will be passed along. They clearly don’t want to fight us, or you in particular. They are happy taking second place for now and trying to swallow all their gains and win,” Clarissa said.

“They will choke. There are other considerations. Like that sword. What do you think will happen when the Indian Sultanate is defeated? My guess is that it won’t be. There is a reason the Leader never invaded Meech. It just wasn’t worthwhile. Let the Holy Kingdom deal with rebellions and trouble themselves. Having their nation split, is a bad idea as well,” I explained.

The population crisis was no longer imminent after we had lost so many cities, but it would happen once again as people kept arriving every deek. That was just how things were. With the sphere, I was reconsidering the issue though.

If I took over everything, that would be a lot more tax revenue. It would help me over the next decade or so and become stronger more quickly. But taking over everything, would see the nation splinter unless I began purging people internally, inside my Empire.

The problem was that once everything was taken over, it would be impossible to let things go afterwards. It would also take time for the tax revenue to pick up. It would take hundreds of days to develop the grinders and processes in place to grind crystals and move them.

I considered the matter once again, but I was content with my decision for now. I might change it later once I had more information, but I wasn’t about to get sucked into a war. Also, we didn’t have the manpower to expand. It was a headache taking the cities we had before but lost the population to the sphere. Clarissa was working extra hard to get people, but there were only so many competent people that could be hired. The available work pool was very limited.

I was glad that it wasn’t me that had to deal with all that administrative headache. Just thinking about interviewing people, talking about their qualifications, and other aspects of themselves, would lead to very short interviews. What are your stats? Will you obey? Will you rebel?

That wasn’t the right way to go about things. People would lie and could change their minds in the future. Plus, there were the various bureaucratic components that had to be in place to make things work. Like collecting taxes and paying salaries. Small things, but they needed to be done correctly so everything else could function.

Like a giant machine, if one part was broken the entire thing would fail. While I could handle something like that, I didn’t want to. It was something I could do, but I knew I wasn’t good at. My strengths and preferences lay in other areas.

“Anything else?” I asked Clarissa.

“That’s it in terms of minor issues. Unless you had something else?” she asked me.

“No. Just keep an eye on XLR8 for me, he isn’t happy about being stuck in the city,” I said.

“I will keep an eye on him, you don’t expect there to be trouble?” Clarissa asked me.

“Most likely not, but he has some strong feelings he shared with me. Best to keep an eye on him discretely,” I explained. Clarissa nodded at this. I wasn’t going to betray XLR8 completely, but he shouldn’t have complained about Clarissa to me.

It had been an unimportant meeting except for that one thing that caught my attention. His complaints concerned me slightly, but not enough to replace him. Clarissa was the only one besides myself that wasn’t replaceable in my mind. The level of trust we shared was immense and would not be replicated again.

With everything that we had been through, I would trade a hundred XLR8 and even Doctor Katz, Michelle, and my other teammates in exchange for Clarissa. She was irreplaceable.