Chapter 1390 (2/2)
She was just so fucking excited about her options today.
*****
Tatiana sat at her desk with her hands folded. After passing all of Kharon’s systemic problems up to Randidly, her days had been refreshingly peaceful. When the issues she had addressed in her report came up in the daily operation of Kharon, Tatiana told everyone who would listen that Randidly Ghosthound had decided to make a change. She understood there were current problems, but they were currently being addressed.
Feeling heard, the crying voices in the city went silent. Obviously a temporary silence, but still one worth savoring.
With that assurance of the Ghosthound’s involvement, the pressure she was under was cut in half. As Wolfram and his cohort of ogre scribes began gaining significant Skill Levels in areas related to bureaucracy, Tatiana found herself completely without work. It was the first time such a situation had occurred since she had started running Kharon.
Now she understood why CEOs took so many vacations.
Yet while she had taken a few of the days since sending the report to relax, she had felt a mounting sense of dread as time passed without a reply from Randidly. As though drawn by a magnet, Tatiana was pulled back to her desk. Without any work in front of her, she could only wait for the inevitable bombshell of a decision that Randidly was going to drop on her.
Because the source of her anxiety was obvious: it was her innate Skill connection to Randidly. The strange thing was that the feeling transmitted through the connection kept expanding and contracting. Sometimes it felt like Randidly was about to announce something that would require a vast amount of work to manage without a thought to the consequences. Other times it felt like he had created a rather concrete plan but would need her help
Honestly, Tatiana would welcome the latter. Despite the fact that she was sad that Randidly was leaving, if she was honest with herself, Tatiana’s true fear was the fact that she would soon be separated from Randidly’s guidance. Having a large project that he left behind would do a lot to keep her distracted.
She obviously would be able to send him a message once Randidly headed toward the Nexus, but he wouldn’t be on Earth; he wouldn’t be able to sense the changes in the image around Kharon or the other Zones and know what that meant for the future of the planet.
Yet at the same time…
Tatiana rubbed the back of her neck and grimaced. “Whatever he’s doing is making my Skill going haywire. If I had to guess… Randidly has a crazy idea, begins to work out the details in an effort not to make more work for me, but then gets inspired by something new in an entirely new direction…”
Shaking her head, Tatiana pressed a few buttons in her communication terminal at her desk. If nothing else, she should keep her finger on the pulse of the city. A few seconds later, the terminal buzzed and lit up as the line connected. Commissioner Arrietti blinked in confusion but still bowed to the terminal. “Tatiana, is something wrong? I was just about to leave my office when I saw your call.”
Tatiana glanced to her left toward an antique clock sitting on her shelf; she was surprised to find that it was a little after 7 P.M. It seemed like not having a set agenda meant time moved even more fluidly than in a day that was packed with meetings and activities. Tatiana also didn’t miss that Commissioner Arrietti had fought tooth and nail for set working hours, but here he was in the office, a little over an hour after his shift should end.
He might bluster a bit, but Tatiana knew that few people loved Kharon with the same overwhelming purity of their chief of police. It was why he remained in the position, even as his individual power began to make that amount of authority less than ideal.
Probably will need to force this issue. Perhaps… he would respond better if I sent Helen as a training partner…?
“Ah, Commissioner. I’m sorry to trouble you. I just wanted to check in on the situation with the refugees.” Tatiana quickly supplied. “We moved so quickly back toward the established Zones, but we stopped this morning to let the Order Ducis handle the monster horde we encountered. Because most of the refugees were on the platform, I understand that many of them saw the entirety of the fighting. Not that these people are squeamish, but were there any… complications…?”
Commissioner Arrieti’s face crinkled into a frown and Tatiana struggled to keep her face under her control. Great, that’s one more issue that we didn’t need...
The refugees floating on platforms behind Kharon had been drawn from the six bubble cities that they had encountered heading to the Nether Equator, as people had taken to calling the area that the Ghosthound himself had gone to repair. But the situations in those bubble cities were vastly different. One had been a chaotic free-for-all, practically overrun with monsters from the get-go, with several powerful groups disguising themselves to survive.
That bubble city had, in pre-System Earth, been one of the richer neighborhoods of Paris. It hadn’t weathered the storm well. The refugees from there were particularly unpredictable.
“...truth be told, it does appear that there will be some trouble in the future because of it, but it’s more for Naffur than either of us.” Commissioner Arrietti shook his head.
That certainly had Tatiana’s attention. “Are you saying that the Order Ducis will need to put down a riot? We kept the number of people per platform as small as possible, but it just wasn’t feasible to create too many platforms.”
“Oh? Oh! No, not that.” The Commissioner looked chagrined. “No, I’ve just been constantly badgered by questions about how to join the Order Ducis. My patrol officers are honestly tired of hearing it.”
After thanking Commissioner for the information, Tatiana ended the call and tapped her nail against her cheek. Maybe it’s time for the Order Ducis to recruit a few more individuals… or at the very least, start another six-month training camp…
Tatiana’s eyes flashed. Perhaps the good Commissioner would be willing to volunteer as a training partner… heh.