Chapter 1417 (1/2)

Tatiana tapped her fingers against the wide table and then adjusted her pair of chopsticks so it was perfectly straight relative to her plate. ”This is a good problem to have. And it's much better than the alternative.”

”Have you spoken to Randidly about it?” Naffur asked as he took another sip of his sake. The four of them sat in a hibachi restaurant in the Orchard, patiently waiting for their chef to come out of the back and cook before them. Due to their rather sensitive identity and discussions, they had booked the entire restaurant. But because there was only three tables, it wasn’t quite as extravagant as Tatiana had initially assumed when Commissioner Arrietti had suggested it.

Honestly, with the dim lighting, it was easy to relax and feel like they were the only people in the building, buoyed out of the darkness by the candle chandelier hanging above their table.

At this point, they had given up on waiting for their fifth dinner companion in order to place their orders. Helen had a penchant for arriving at her own time anyway. But since these four influential leaders of Kharon were partially here to work through some issues, and there was no reason that they couldn’t get an early start on that.

Not like Helen will do anything but glower while we talk business… Tatiana allowed herself a small smile.

Commissioner Arrietti sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Already the police force is pushed to its limits. It helps to have the Order Ducis members following up on any serious issues, but in terms of population, there is only one police officer on Kharon for every 1000 people. My people are running themselves ragged to keep up with reports.”

“Honestly, those numbers would be quite high in the pre-System world,” Tatiana pointed out.

The almost-trademark frown of the Commissioner creased his face with lines, making him seem decades older than his actual middle age. “Perhaps. But did everyone in the pre-System world have the ability to shoot flames from their hands? Plus, Skills are only limited by the imagination of the user! The types of crimes that are now being committed-”

“Perhaps that’s where we should focus our attention,” Naffur cut in. As he began to speak more patiently, a silently moving server came through and deposited their previously ordered drinks in front of them. “Setting aside the natural tensions between the various groups in Kharon, the bigger problem is the scope of law enforcement hasn’t been well defined. Most other governmental bodies simply added a few addendums to their penal code and applied it to the System world. We don’t have that luxury. If we can clarify what constitutes a crime, a large amount of the police forces work would disappear.”

“Wolfram has been working on such a prospect… but some of the facets of ogre culture have made the initial result less than ideal,” Tatiana sighed. “He’s currently adjusting, per my instructions, but more and more questions crop up as we continue refining the definitions. Honestly, the ogre methods of challenging each other and having the loser obey the winner are at least simple.”

“That’s a horrible way of running things,” Commissioner Arrietti fluffed up like a disgruntled hen. “Simply fighting to determine the righteous party? What of justice and fairness? Is strength really what we want to use to arbitrate these matters?”

Finally, the fourth person at the table set down his martini and spoke in a quiet voice. “Then Kharon would rely on who has the biggest stick to maintain order. For now that’s the Order Ducis… but how long will that last?”

Tatiana smiled sweetly at Austin Dvelta, the most influential businessman in Kharon. “A good point, Austin. The structure that we create right now is the most important thing. Keeping it just is paramount. Beyond that, we will rely on the image that Kharon has cultivated to avoid others abusing the arrangements that we have made. But we’ve already dominated the conversation with talk of criminal justice; please, tell us how business has been.”

Austin Dvelta pushed some of his short blonde curls out of his eyes and sighed theatrically. “Honestly, it has been almost too good. I know now is not a good time to raise other complaints… but on the other hand, what better time than now? I think there’s an issue even more important than crime: immigration. I… I’d hoped to get all your opinions on this.”

Tatiana smiled at Austin while rolling her eyes inwardly. You’ve just recently expanded your scents and soaps business to rival the metalworking sector of Kharon… and you expect us to believe you came to this dinner begging for opinions? Well, at the very least, he is relatively straightforward to deal with… Tatiana rapped her knuckles on the table. “Perhaps before jumping to immigration… why don’t you explain to everyone here the content of the report you gave me? That will give them some context.”

Austin smiled shyly and twisted in his seat to look at Naffur and Commissioner Arrietti. Due to his slight stature and short height, the smile on Austin’s face was relatively endearing. Then Austin began to speak. “Over the past six months, my company has gone from a shack next to a single field to dominating most of the agricultural sector of Kharon. From working alone with my aging mother, Dvelta Luor has grown to employ just over nine hundred employees. Compared to the overall twenty-two thousand population of Kharon, that may seem small, but-”

“No need to dwell on your growth,” Tatiana remarked dryly. “Also, those population numbers are very dated. With the convoy coming down from the ogre nation, we expect to be at about forty-five thousand before we leave the Orchard. And yet you still want to allow more people into Kharon…?”

For a second, Austin blinked. It was clear that he hadn’t expected that the population of Kharon had grown to that extent. Honestly, neither had Tatiana. If she hadn’t requested that Randidly use his sharp senses yesterday to do a hard count of the lives in Kharon, they still wouldn’t realize that their population had ballooned upward to this point.

Finally, Austin spoke quietly. “That… impossible. If there are so many people-”

“Unfortunately, it appears to be true,” Naffur sighed. Then he gestured helplessly. “The problem is the children. We made the decision to allow guardians into the city along with their children, and as far as we can tell every individual from bubble cities who had children has taken us up on that offer. And these aren’t generally even their kids; those guardians were just the ones with enough decency to try and protect the children after the original parents died. Because of that kindness, the Order Ducis generally turns a blind eye to it…”

“But that leaves us with almost ten thousand children below the ages of sixteen.” Tatiana grinned at Austin. “Relax; wait a few years and a whole slew of new employees will be available to you. Problem, solved, yes?”

“Ah… well it’s not just employees that we need,” Austin continued. “Since arriving in the Orchard, through various channels, Dvelta Luor has sold nearly 120 tons of soap. The Ghosthound scent, in particular, has been very popular. That’s more than half of our total stock, and our depleted warehouses now require that we operate our factories constantly in order to keep up with demand. Without additional space, we will quickly reach the limits of our capacity. And considering Dvelta Luor’s effect on Kharon’s economy-”

Commissioner Arrietti harrumphed. “And where will this space come from? Did you know, we are basically at our wit's end when it comes to housing. We are expanding many of our apartment complexes upward, but even with the benefits of the System it cannot be done overnight.”

“Considering the economic impact of Dvelta Luor-” Austin insisted.

But Commissioner Arrietti’s expression brightened. “Oh, actually, I know what you need to do. Stop growing so many flowers; plant tobacco. Ah, what I would do for a good cigarette… the Donnyton brand cigars are simply too expensive.”

“Smoking is bad for you, Commissioner,” Tatiana said lightly.