Kingdom Of The Weak

A whole day had pa.s.sed since the Beast Tide went through here. The Beast Tide had fallen upon Fal"Herim, La Vive, Itarim, Ashdale, Bellas, Germat and Auria now. KarGoth and Three Pines had survived more or less untouched. The resource colonies sent by the warring nations and the Midlands Sea People islands could not say the same. The Tide had pretty much left them in pieces and then plopped down to stay.

Also, the Wilds seem to have no plans on returning. Nine new Lords previously from the south now occupied the northern edge bordering the desert. Six new Lords had settled down in the Sea People islands. The Wilds who made it all the way to the northern continent showed no signs of turning around or leaving. Even the Deep Emperor had gone to stay in the Midlands Sea.

All told, the Wilds were no longer contained in the Wildlands.

On a happier front, Shadowflash had returned and was no longer contained in the Amber Gorge. The wolfcats now lived in KarGoth"s main lobby. The humans thought that they were practically pets or beasts of labor for the citizens of KarGoth. The Wilds thought the exact opposite.

Whatever the case, both sides seem comfortable enough. George was happy to have the wolfcats provide some measure of round-the-clock security. Shadowflash was happy to have free food every day. It was especially beneficial for the cubs, he felt, to live in a safe place protected by both the super-pack and humans who would provide for their tummies and scratch their ears with soft fingers.

The adults, however, went hunting with him last night. They brought back six Tier-4 carca.s.ses. Song Restaurant took the hides and a 10% cut of the meat in return for cooking it for the wolfcats. That was the deal George set up for them, and Song Chen"s cousin, Song Chiu, seemed entirely happy to keep it.

Speaking of George and deals, there he was now, dealing with Arnold at the Frame Workshop.

"What"s this?" Remian asked, eyeing the new Frame that George was testing.

"New design. I call it the Basic Frame." Arnold explained. "B-Frame, for short."

"Is it a better design?" Remian inspected it. "It seems more like a Bare Frame to me. Doesn"t seem very strong."

"That"s the beauty of it!" Arnold chuckled. "It isn"t! At least, not without Gear Sets."

"What are Gear Sets?" Remian asked.

"Those things!" Arnold pointed. "You see, the Basic Frame is designed to be able to fit different sets of equipment. That one over there increases kinetic output; that means more strength and more speed. The one next to it? That"s the Mining Set, including lighting, stronger arms, armored hands, safety helmet, and extra power reserves. The third one is Jim"s design; it actually uses steam power instead of mana, but it runs out of steam pretty quick. He said it should be hooked up to a steam generator, like a kettle with a tube running into the Frame"s back. Since we"re all running out of mana crystals, he figured the Steam Mining Set should last longer than a miner trying to channel mana into his Frame while digging at the same time."

"I thought the main point of the Frames was combat." Remian pointed out.

"It is." George said. "The B-Frame already have three different sets for combat purposes, one with heavy armor, a precision set for ranged weapons, and a strength burst set for fast and powerful attackers. The designs just need some tweaking and adjustments before production and testing begins."

"What if I wanted something even stronger?" Remian asked. "Something that can fight Tier 6"s? Super heavy armor and super strength?"

"That… that"s going to be really expensive. And probably three times the size of our current Frames." Arnold grimaced. "You"re not… serious… are you?"

"Actually, I am. Did you see the Wilds hanging around here?"

"You mean the vestiges of the Beast Tide? There are six new Tier 6"s, aren"t there? They"re all qualified to challenge Lords." George nodded.

"If those guys attack, how do you plan to fight them off?"

"I figured Shadowflash would handle them."

"I think you better not rely too heavily on others." Remian warned him. "But it"s up to you. KarGoth is your show to run, now."

"In other words, you"re done giving me instructions, think it out myself?"

"Something like that."

Sighing, George handed Remian an envelope.

"What"s this?" Remian peered inside. There was a stack of receipts for bank deposits.

"It"s the net profits over the past few months." George explained. "Including all the mines around KarGoth. We banked it in to your account directly. I just wanted to hand you the receipts in person so you"d know I was actually doing a good job."

Remian did a quick estimation. Given the amount of paper and the numbers on the first one, the receipts in the envelope could easily surpa.s.s a million lir. Looking through them, however, it seemed the latter numbers grew bigger and bigger, so the amounts totaled should be a few million. "How did you ever manage so much profit?"

"Well, you own the entirety of KarGoth, you know. Everyone living here basically pays you rent." George pointed out. "Also, you have a cut of the businesses, and all of the profit made by the Adventurers Guild. In short, everyone in KarGoth makes you money one way or the other. Even the Wilds we befriended have helped increase productivity."

"Even the wolfcats?"

"Especially the wolfcats! You have no idea how much more people are smiling in KarGoth now that they"re here to stay. It"s like they"re living promises from the Wilds; everyone understands that as long as they"re with us, the Beast Waves won"t attack us any more. Plus, they"re clean as cats and constantly providing round the clock security. They make everyone feel safer. Just this morning, the Comrade registry listed fifteen new Bonds."

"Bonds?"

"That"s what we"re calling the friendship pact between a human and a Comrade. n.o.body owns anyone else, it"s a bond of friendship."

"It sounds like there"s been nothing but good coming from the wolfcats staying here."

"Well… if there was a downside, several people reported that they"ve lost their old Comrades today."

"What happened?"

"Um… they got eaten."

Remian stared at George blankly. "Eaten?"

"By wolfcats. Most of them were rabbit-types. One was a goat." George grimaced. "I think we should advise everyone to avoid Bonding wolfcat-food types from now on."

"You think?" Remian shook his head. "May as well just advise them to bond only wolfcats."

"We could, but then the lynxmice would complain, and the Feelo-Wasps would feel left out. We actually rely a lot on the lynxmice for digging, and the Feelo-Wasps provide literally all of our honey. I wouldn"t want to offend them." George shifted. "Besides, I wouldn"t want to impose on anyone and tell them what they can or can"t bond. It"s just that… this is wolfcat territory, and wolfcats eat smaller Wilds for lunch. That"s all."

"Well, they won"t do any better at Three Pines. Eagles eat rabbits too. Maybe we need a third settlement for those who prefer to live with herbivore types."

"I"ve heard of people starting settlements for mining, for housing, and for industry, but I"ve never heard of people starting one for the sake of rabbits."

"They help with the burrowing, don"t they?"

"In softer soil, sure, but their paws are no match for lynxmice claws when it comes to hard ground and rock. They also don"t have the lynxmice sonic attacks for rocky situations."

"Sounds like we should put them on the farm."

"Except then we"d lose a huge chunk of the farm produce. Plus, they"re still likely to get eaten." George sighed. "No, farmers prefer cattle-types. Pulled plows dig faster, and cows just survive better."

Remian grinned. "It sounds like you"ve got it all figured out already."

"No, I don"t. n.o.body has! This sort of arrangement has never been done before!" George flailed. "When did people ever live with Wilds like this? It"s unheard of! There"s n.o.body else who"s done it before, and n.o.body to tell me how to do it! Nothing has been figured out! We"re all just groping our way in the dark!"
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Remian"s grin grew. "Excellent. You really have figured it out."

"Remian, have you even heard a word coming out of my mouth?! We haven"t figured out anything!"

"Even so, I"m not worried. You"ll manage."

"That"s just because it"s my job!"

Remian barked a laugh. "You"re about to be more than a manager, soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, George, that after today, KarGoth is yours. The ownership, the profits, the risks… I"m leaving it all to you."