Kingdom Of The Weak

"It can"t be! I won"t let it!" he vowed inwardly. "Remian can"t just die like that!"

Growing up with the Circling Ravens, he had always had to stay indoors or closely under the watch of a slayer, because outside, there were slavers who kidnapped children. A lot of his friends disappeared over the years that way. The outside was a scary place, and that"s why food was scarce, and expensive. George longed to take care of his friends, to plant food in a garden and provide for everyone so that they would never have to go hungry again. But he couldn"t leave. A little herb garden in Mandy"s kitchen was the best he"d been able to manage. Going out was impossible and far too dangerous.

Until Remian arrived. Suddenly, they weren"t afraid to go out any more. He was an agent of the Iron Legion! As long as he was there, as long as they were with him, n.o.body was afraid to leave the tavern, to leave the town, even. They could learn magic, they could hunt Wilds, they could even start planting vegetables, as long as he was there. The first garden George ever planted was behind Remian"s tent. It had not been on a whim, and according to his heart, there had never been a choice in the matter. It had to be safe, to provide for everyone, and safety was where Remian was.

As time went on, George learned skills and abilities that enabled him to fight for himself. The Cruel Rose gang had been destroyed, because Remian was there, and the Wilds outside became opponents that he could fight because of the things Remian taught them, and the things taught from other people that Remian asked to teach them. Over time, more and more good things arrived at Frontier Town. His friends didn"t live in fear any more. Everyone could put in some effort to earn whatever they liked with points or money. George"s farm grew bigger and bigger, and he always had enough points and lir to buy all kinds of food. He was never afraid to go out to town to buy food. He was never afraid to go out to the wilderness to hunt. It was easy to earn income by hunting or farming, now, because of everything Remian brought in.

All of it was because Remian was there.

And now, Remian was going to die?

There was no way George was going to accept it! Whatever those herbs cost, however hard it might be to farm them, he was going to do it! Remian wanted to know what his idea of the future Frontier Town looked like? It was a town in which Remian was in! A town in which they would never have to fear people dying of sickness! A town in which everyone could live safe from Wilds, and grow food without worry, and never be afraid of slavers again!

Healthcare! The word suddenly burned like fire in George"s heart. Before, it had been food. Now a new concept seized his attention.

He went to find the people most familiar with the concept.

"Phoebe!" he found her first. "I need to talk to you."

"I"m busy right now, George. There are a lot of people waiting to be freed." Phoebe said apologetically.

"What about lunch? You need to eat, right?" George asked.

Phoebe paused, examined him for a minute, then smiled. "I"m very flattered, George, and it"s incredibly brave of you, but you"re a little young for me to date."

George choked. "That"s not… I was just… forget it! I"ll ask Lydia!"

"She"s even older than I am, George. If you want a girlfriend, maybe try Mindy or Asda? Or one of the younger sand people girls?"

"I need to talk about healthcare!" George managed at last. "The future of Frontier Town… I want to help Remian with his disease! What do we need to do that?"

Phoebe paused, considering. "It"s going to be expensive, George. The level of healthcare needed to keep Remian alive longer is going to be something only the biggest cities in the world can manage, and even they have limits. We"re talking about machines and magic that replace organs that fail, life support that practically breathes for him, maybe even an artificial heart."

"But what about the wild spirit ginseng and other powerful herbs?"

"Ah. Those can help. If you can manage a good wild spirit ginseng farm, enough to provide him high quality ginseng every day, we could easily double his expected lifespan and more." Phoebe nodded. "Otherwise, we"d need to depend on finding them in the wilderness, or in the black market. There"s no guarantee we"ll be able to find them in either place, or afford them in the market if we did."

"What else?" George asked. "What would it take for even better healthcare than those biggest cities? What do we need to get there?"

"I"m not entirely sure, but I can write to my teacher back in Ashdale." Phoebe offered. "Meanwhile, I have a few ideas, if you"d like to know."

It was the longest conversation George ever had in his life. It went on even while Phoebe supported Lydia with mana for surgery. It went on through lunch, and both Mindy and Tim threw in their own ideas, both absolutely supportive of saving Remian. It went on through the afternoon, with a few added suggestions from Kairos and the priests. It would have gone on until dinner, but Phoebe hastily bade a quick retreat and George finally turned around and saw every guy in the vicinity looking at him with jealous expressions on their faces.

"What?" he scratched his head. "I"m just a kid."

It didn"t matter. Every guy around, no matter if they were young or old, was looking at him with that same jealous face.

Hastily, George sought safety in Remian"s company.

"Healthcare?" Remian blinked when he heard George"s pitch. "That"s a new one. I thought it would be something to do with the Wilds, you know, make the most of our natural advantages and all that. Like hunting, or turning the Wildlands into a pet-taming compet.i.tive paradise."

"Can you even tame Wilds? They"re not called Wilds for nothing." George shook his head.

"They seem fine working and living with us. They"re not tame, exactly, but they"re at least friendly."

"That"s because we can mind-talk." George guessed.

"You too?" Remian blinked.

"Uh…" George paused. [I guess? It"s like a baby learning how to talk by hearing people talk to him.]

[Since when did I mind-talk to you?]

[You did, several times. But usually, it"s the wolfcats mind-talking to me.] George explained. [And I have to mind-talk back.]

"What about something a bit more basic? Let"s talk about agriculture, industry and commerce." Remian changed the subject out loud. "For example, the things that you grow on the farm. Those won"t make much profit by themselves. Earlier, we started with materials for Scrolls. I think that went well, and we could probably scale it up since we now have dozens of new Adventurers who able to Inscribe at least Tier 1 scrolls. Now if we could add another level to that process, compile sets of those and put together whole books for basic magic…"

"Basic hygiene to begin with." George countered flat out. "Advanced water and sewage systems, the kind that supplies fertilizer. Paved roads and professional cleaning crews. High fines for litter and vandalism. Health inspections on all food sources brought into the city, no exceptions. There were other ideas, but a lot of them were expensive."

"Such as?"

"Elite grade medical facilities, free universal healthcare, hiring armies of life mages… that sort of thing." George shook his head. "I think we need at least commercial grade medical facilities, and a lot of skilled medical professionals. We"re going to need to pay high salaries so that we have a lot of high level doctors and life mages."

Remian fell silent. "George, just what kind of average lifespan do you intend for the people living here?"

"Five hundred would be good." George figured.

"What?" Remian stared.

"I heard about it from the priests. When it came to healthcare, they talked about the City of G.o.d that would come one day. According to them, in that city, infant deaths would never occur and those who live for a hundred years would be considered youths, similar to teenagers today. If a hundred years would be like a teenager, then the expected lifespan of people in such a city should be five to six hundred years. I want that."

Remian shifted uneasily. "Uh… George, I"m not sure that"s even possible."

"Not now, maybe. But if we make medical and healthcare technology a priority and keep supporting development in that area, we"ll at least be heading towards that direction." George pointed out. "Do you know what the average life expectancy was in Frontier Town before you arrived?"

"Not exactly."

"Six years for new arrivals, ten for newborns. Out of a hundred babies born, less than twenty would survive to adulthood." George"s face grew sad. "Most of my friends never made it."

"I"m sorry." Remian grimaced.

"Do you know what the average life expectancy is today? According to Phoebe it"s sixty years." George told him. "No more gang wars. No more fear of Beast Waves. No more drug overdoses or random killings in the streets. Sixty years!" George shook his head. "Until you arrived, I never would have thought it possible."

"What"s a kid like you doing thinking about such things as average life expectancy?" Remian had to ask.

"Mourning my friends deaths, that"s what." George shot back. "You have no idea what it was like, losing friends to hunger and sickness and gangsters and worse…"

Remian fell silent.

"Apothecaries, pharmacies, a proper church with sponsorships for life magi… I want our healthcare and medical technology to be so good, we"d be exporting medicine and medical devices." George said, his face flushed. "I want to have the best medical technology the world has ever seen!"

"And here I thought we were going to save lives with airships and cannons." Remian mused.

"I"ll let Mindy handle those. Me, I"m talking about what"s in the city."

"Lynxmice. Lots of them." Remian pointed out. "Aren"t they considered a health hazard?"

"Not if we can persuade them to keep themselves clean." George hesitated. "In fact… if we can really get them to behave, they can even help clean the place up."

Remian shook his head wordlessly. "And here I thought I was already asking too much of them."