Chapter 1404 (2/2)
“First thing’s first. I want you to schedule a tournament,” Randidly began. Then he flicked his right hand and produced a heavy stone object the size of a textbook. “This will be the prize. Single… no, that’s probably too individualistic. Maybe fives…? No, then the playing field will be tilted toward Donnyton. Duos, then. A duo tournament.”
Tatiana’s eyes widened. “Is that…?”
“The Runic Tablet to name Earth, yea.” Randidly flipped the heavy piece of stone shaped like a miniature tombstone in his hand. For a second his expression was bitter, but very quickly his frown turned into one of determination. “I was going to leave it up to Earth to decide… and I still think that’s the correct decision. I don’t want to name the Earth, nor do I want the Order Ducis to have a hand in it. But… in the past, I adopted an attitude of non-interference to stay as distant as possible from the politics of Earth for the sake of my image.
“Yet in the end… I couldn’t stay distant; the typical growth of a planet will require too many deaths to teach the people of this world the lessons it needs. So I interfered intermittently. Which was confusing and dangerous for most of the forces on Earth. Because I was suddenly an unpredictable, unreliable element of great power.” For a second, Randidly’s eyes narrowed. “In that way, I can see why President Greyman wanted to conspire against me.
“She did it poorly, of course. But I can now see where she was coming from. I added stress to an already strained political ecosystem. So, for this last month or two that I remain on Earth… I’ll interfere as necessary to shape the world up. Starting with this Runic Tablet. Any questions?”
Tatiana shook her head. “None about the tournament. I’ll send out word immediately. But… are you alright?”
When she asked the question, Tatiana specifically pointed at Randidly’s metallic left arm. She was aware that it was only recently made, yet already it hung limp at Randidly’s side. Periodically white symbols would flash to life, but very quickly they would be shorted out as a broken connection was revealed in the Engraving.
Randidly chuckled. “I’ll be fine. The arm has some self-healing capability… the only problem is how much it was damaged. It will take some time to build up some healing momentum… but I’m in no rush to return to the Nexus.”
After thinking for a bit, Tatiana scratched her chin. “Actually, I do have a question. What sort of timeline do you want for the tournament? If you plan on two more months here, it should be easy to have while you are still on Earth.”
“Ah. Well, I was hoping you could delay it until my… other projects were established. So that they could be revealed all at once” When Randidly showed his teeth after speaking, Tatiana felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She gestured for the ogres behind her to prepare themselves.
This was where they learned the projects to which they would sell their souls to accomplish in the next two months.
“First, I’m ready to move ahead with the additional islands to follow behind Kharon. The first wave will just have three very large pieces of land, each one fully one-third of the size of the current Kharon. They will be used for agriculture, housing, and… a special project, which I will elaborate on later.”
Tatiana did some quick mental calculations over how much space Randidly was talking about. “The housing will be apartment-style then?”
“Yes, with some specialty housing for the ogres. We don’t want space to be the issue holding us back.” Randidly rubbed his chin. He quickly turned around and walked back into the shack before returning with three bundles of paper, that he passed to the waiting individuals. As Tatiana began to scan through the papers, Randidly began to speak.
“The second big change is the governmental structure. The details are in that packet. Take your time reading, I want to know what your thoughts are.” Randidly kept a packet to himself, which he then opened and began to peruse. While Tatiana continued to study him for several seconds, he produced a pencil and began to rapidly sketch out several shapes on the paper in front of him.
Likely not related to governmental stuff, then. Tatiana thought. Then, as she began to read through Randidly’s writing, she began to frown. A few minutes later she was chewing her lip. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer and spoke. “I can understand your motivation for some of these choices… but if you want to increase predictability, why make this roundabout method for selecting the individuals who will be on the council?”
“You might know better than I do how people will react, but I don’t think it will matter,” Randidly said slowly. “The representative nominations will eventually be pulled toward the big organizations. Whether it be through money or strength, I don’t believe that any process I casually design will be able to resist the human bend toward corruption. Which is why the Order Ducis and the Kharon local government will be independent; hopefully, those forces can act as a protection.”
“What about the threat of chance?” Tatiana frowned. “What if one demographic is overrepresented? Repeatedly.”
Randidly shrugged his shoulders while keeping his arms very still. “Then the other underrepresented group got very unlucky. Which is too bad, but I’m not here to make a utopia. As outlined in the packet, the true point is to make most of the civilian powers of Kharon quibble over those three seats on the council for as long as possible.”
“Because we will control all the true power, as the government of Kharon and the Order Ducis. And you intend to keep tight control over those areas.” Tatiana watched Randidly’s reaction as she said that. The leader of Kharon and the strongest man in the world just smiled mildly. Randidly Ghosthound had never been a very charming individual, but that smile had the sort of confidence that formed the solid foundation of charm.
He’s finally become aware of the influence he has on the world, and he intends to use it knowingly. Tatiana realized. She wasn’t sure if that knowledge was a good thing or a bad thing, for the relatively socially out-of-practice Randidly.
Still chewing her lip, Tatiana looked back down at the packet in her hands. After skimming through all the details, she snapped the folder closed. “There are some adjustments in the details, but I think all of these arrangements are fine. So, what’s this project that you’ve been teasing for so long…?”
This time when Randidly smiled, it was a wide and enthusiastic grin that made him seem like a normal young man. He twisted around the sketch he had made and offered it to Tatiana. “Heh. Let me introduce you to Kharon Academy. It will be my legacy… and probably my nightmare for the next several weeks.”