Chapter 869 (1/2)

Donny exchanged a glance with Mrs. Hamilton. What does Donnyton want to be to the world…? What was Randidly really asking?

“...are you perhaps aware of the push to name a global capital?” Donny said slowly. Randidly’s face didn’t change, but Donny continued to speak with growing surety. “To receive that honor would be ideal, but… we believe that it would be much smarter to support another city and extract concessions for our support.”

“He doesn’t mean that,” Mrs. Hamilton said with a frown. That worried Donny. Before the meeting, he and Mrs. Hamilton discussed many reasons for Randidly returning to Donnyton and wanting to talk.

Of course, the main one was to challenge Donnyton once more. And after hearing Mrs. Hamilton’s arguments, Donny understood the downsides to allowing it. Other reasons were to heighten the training challenges of Donnyton or to teach them some new trick. Both knew that Randidly would likely have information on how Donnyton had to prepare from his time in another world. This meeting was to reassure him that they were on the right path.

Donny, Sam, and Mrs. Hamilton’s plans were enough to keep the ship straight. Randidly had issued a challenge to humanity to grow, and they were doing it.

Yet Mrs. Hamilton was frowning. And she only did that when she was thinking rapidly. Her pile of notes sat forgotten in front of her.

“Then what do you mean?” Donny asked with a frown.

Randidly looked around at the walls of the observatory, and to the cloudy sky above. Waving his hand to indicate the entirety of the building, likely all of Donnyton, Randidly asked “This… gathering all these things… does that have meaning? What does it mean to be Donnyton?”

“...are you saying…” Mrs. Hamilton said slowly. “That… you are asking about… the image of all of Donnyton? The entirety of it”

Sam frowned and rapped his knuckles on the table. “What sort of image could an entire city have anyway?”

Randidly gazed around at every person at the table, as if weighing them with his sharp emerald gaze. Suddenly, Donny thought that without the light of the sun, the observatory was very cold.

“...You are the leaders of Donnyton, so I thought I would ask you personally,” Randidly said slowly. “This is the world we live in now; image matters immensely. First to the individual, but soon to the society. If we are to progress forward to face the Calamities, we need to create a powerful, unified image for our world.”

“But what does that mean?” Sam cut across as he pressed his stomach against the table and stared intently at Randidly. Donny blinked in surprise at the sudden show of emotion; Sam’s voice was incredibly rough. The blacksmith’s rough hands gripped the table. Why was Sam taking this so personally?

“...I second Sam’s thoughts,” Regina added with a frown. “Could you explain?”

Mrs. Hamilton remained silent, her eyes studying Randidly’s movements.

“Well, at some point it becomes an ethos rather than just an image,” Randidly said slowly. “When I was traveling through Orchard, I felt a nascent form of it. When an outlook becomes habit and self-perpetuating… but it was stumbling there as well. And in Donnyton…”

Randidly raised his head and closed his eyes. He breathed in slowly, then breathed out. Then he lowered his gaze to the people around him. “...I can feel something like that here too. Something that defines Donnyton more than anything else. I just wanted to know… if you were aware of what it was. Well no, you must know. It is something I have no doubt that you cultivated carefully. Isn’t that right?”

“Donnyton pursues strength,” Mrs. Hamilton said smoothly.

Donny nodded spread his hand to indicate the table. “This was earned due to strength. That strength created respect and capability. The food on the table? From a Level 71 monster that was killed by the individuals of this town. The materials for the plates and silverware? Probably the best in the world. They would be used as weapons in another Zone.”

“That meat… I brought it.”

Donny froze in confusion. “What…?”

Randidly pointed at the plates. His plate was picked clean… except for the meat. “This Level 71 monster. I killed it and sold it to a butcher. He ultimately was the one who revealed my presence, so I thought you knew. A coincidence then?”

Stunned, Donny leaned back in his seat without answering. Randidly glanced around.

“There is an image here. And you all support this. Consciously too. You are the leaders of Donnyton, it is your prerogative to influence the zeitgeist of the Village. What I am saying, and the reason I am here, is that your image needs to be refined. What will come next will test that image, push it to the brink. It needs to be able to survive that stress.”