Isa brushed against the computer terminal attached to the Colony Leader’s desk. The connection wasn’t necessary, but it made infiltrating the system much easier. She probably should have done it during the first meeting, but Isa hadn’t felt the effort necessary at the time.

Now, though…

Neither the Colony Leader nor the man observing remotely had been enthused about her exploration of the dungeon. They had made that very clear. Thankfully, they were ecstatic about the results of the formation, which softened the negativity they felt over her small breach in social propriety.

Even now, most of the Gentrius Empire’s citizenry believed that civilized people didn’t engage in overt risk-taking activity. As far as they were concerned, there was no reason to put oneself at risk for something as minor as exploring an anomaly, especially with the abundance of technology at their fingertips.

It was a horrible mentality as far as Isa was concerned. Creating a society full of sheep was no way to develop a strong population. Progress would never be made in a padded room devoid of any risk, nor would it be made at the end of a leash.

“What were you thinking?” her mother hissed once the door closed behind her. Isa hefted the heavy backpack over her shoulder and started toward her room silently. “You’re going to get sent to the Wastelands if you do something like this again! It might already be too late,” Jayne warned her with a wavering voice.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” the girl said distractedly.

“I know you know better!” Jayne said as she kept pace with her daughter. “You’re a genius, for goodness’ sake! You must know how this looks!”

“Yes, Mom. I’m aware the government only allows certain people to show any sort of initiative,” the former goddess said tiredly, though the bulk of her attention was elsewhere.

“It’s not about initiative,” Jayne snapped. “You…” She took several deep breaths to calm herself as they continued walking. When they reached Isa’s door, Jayne continued. Her voice was almost pleading. “You know what happens to people who don’t conform. Doing something so risky…”

Isa shook her head lightly as she opened the door. It wasn’t because she didn’t believe her mother; it was because she already knew what happened to people who didn’t follow the Senate’s ideals – likely better than her mother did.

It had been one of the first things she’d looked into when she realized how different the political environment was from what she’d seen during her planning. Gentrius had changed a lot during the brief period she’d enacted her plan, and it wasn’t necessarily for the better.

Isa motioned for her mother to come inside and promptly closed the door behind her. After dropping the bag on the floor next to the table, Isa sat in one of the two chairs.

“The whole world has changed,” Isa said after a bit. Even with her improved mental stats, it was hard to pay attention to two separate conversations at the same time. Given how important the other conversation was, she was only listening to her mother vent her worries with a sliver of her attention.

Once she realized what kind of government ruled the world she’d reincarnated into, Isa had been careful not to say or do anything that might draw the wrong kind of attention. She had a measure of protection as a juvenile. But now that she was nearing adulthood, that protection was wearing thin.

Still, finding and gathering information on a dungeon hadn’t struck her as being suspicious or problematic. However, listening to the discussion being held about her actions made her realize that, for all her knowledge and experience, she really didn’t understand the humans of Gentrius.

Their way of thinking was alien to her. How could a successful society be so passive? Had they sent everyone with even a little bit of courage and sense of adventure to the Wastelands? It simply made no sense.

As the private conversation she was listening to wound down, Isa’s attention refocused on her mother. Her expression had turned grim.

“If they did do something rash over something so obviously beneficial,” Isa started before pausing. Perhaps pushing to be included in the future exploration of dungeons had been a bit much.

“What?” Jayne asked when the pause lasted too long.

“I might be better off in the Wastelands,” Isa muttered quietly, though it wasn’t quiet enough to escape her mother’s senses.

“What? No! That’s a death sentence!”

“No, it’s not,” Isa scoffed before pulling up satellite feed of the massive island on her tablet. Out of curiosity, Isa had accessed the feed years before, so she knew the propaganda spread by the Senate was false.

Placing it where her mother could see clearly, Isa zoomed in, displaying images of the island in real-time.

“How?” Jayne asked, dumbfounded. “Is this real?”

Isa rolled her eyes. “Of course, it’s real. As for how… you know what I can do. Why would you think I wouldn’t have access to something like this?”

“Because it’s got to be classified! I’ve never heard of anyone having access to feed from the Wastelands before,” her mother hissed before her attention was drawn back to the screen.

By all measures, what appeared on the screen seemed to be a normal, semi-modern city. The buildings were economical and plain, and there was little overt technology, but it certainly wasn’t a wasteland or a death trap.

In fact, the cities were much more spread out than the towering monstrosities of Gentrius. Instead of building up, it seemed the people of the wastelands built out, violating dozens of environmental protection laws that had been put in place after the unification.

There were still a lot of green spaces, but it was nothing like the thick forest that was being forcefully propagated throughout the rest of the world.

Still, the fact that the wastelands didn’t look like wastelands at all was the real reason that images of the island of exiles were not allowed to be viewed by regular civilians. Given the security on the satellites she’d hacked into, most government officials probably didn’t know the truth about the island nation.

“Even if it looks like a normal place, nobody volunteers to go there. It isn’t allowed,” Jayne said after a few moments.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“If it was, would you go?”

The older woman hesitated before shaking her head. “Why would I? Gentrius is much more advanced than that,” she said, motioning toward the screen. “Most of those people look like farmers. I’d hate to have to work out in the sun like that. The gardens I work in are enclosed with lighting and temperature controls to ensure optimal growth. Even here, we have a better setup than those people.”

“What if they did exile me?” Isa pressed, suddenly feeling the urge to know the answer. “What if someone decided my single expression of an adventurous spirit was enough to justify sending me there? Would you ask to go with me?”

Jayne looked conflicted as she wrung her hands beneath the small table. Her mother’s obvious internal conflict bruised the former goddess’s heart.

She should have known better. She really should have.

Isa held up a hand and said, “Never mind. Don’t answer that. I think I’d rather not hear you say no.”

Jayne’s face twisted. “Isamie, honey, I love you so much. That’s why I want you to be more cautious in the future. Please, let this conversation be an unpleasant hypothetical, okay?”

The former goddess gave the mother of her most current incarnation a tight smile and nodded, though she could feel the fondness she’d developed for the woman waning. It still far exceeded what she felt for anyone else on the planet – besides her father – but that wasn’t truly saying much.

The population of this world really was too weak. Maybe this should be one of the lives she spent alone. New experiences were important for soul growth, after all.

----------------------------------------

*Colony Leader Amanda Scallard’s office after Isa departed*

There was silence in the Colony Leader’s office for several seconds after the teenager exited. The woman behind the desk scowled at the closed door, having grown increasingly annoyed at the girl the longer she saw her interacting with the Station Commander.

“Tell me, Amanda,” Station Commander Gordon Arcspire began, becoming much more casual once he believed they were no longer being observed. “What do you think of Isamie?”

The woman immediately bristled at Gordon’s casual address for the youth, but she ensured nothing of her emotions reflected in her expression. “She’s obviously brilliant. I knew that when I spoke with her earlier,” she said politically.

“It’s just us. Tell me what you really think,” her quasi-boss said through the screen. His face shifted from professionally detached to interested in an instant, making the Colony Leader feel seen.

She liked that feeling.

“I think she’s a dissenter, or at least, on the path to becoming one,” Amanda said bluntly.

The man’s eyes widened at her response, and he leaned forward, making his image fill the screen. “Why do you think that?”

The tall woman loosened the bindings on her hair, causing it to fall around her face. With an annoyed huff, she swiped it out of the way.

“What seventeen-year-old girl sees an anomaly after everything that’s happened and thinks, ‘I should go explore it alone?’” she asked rhetorically. “Only those who eventually get sent to the Wastelands would even consider doing something so ludicrous! There’s a reason people exhibiting that kind of risk-taking behavior are labeled by the Senate as seditious.”

“Curiosity is not seditious,” the man replied, though his thoughts had drifted in a similar direction when the girl had first started giving her report.

The government had put a lot of effort into stamping out certain mentalities and behaviors, and any who exhibited them found themselves in the Wastelands eventually – or worse, if rumors were to be believed.

Officially, the Gentrius Empire was much too civilized to kill someone for non-compliance, but exiling potential problems was perfectly acceptable. It removed a risk from polite society and ensured dangerous ideas didn’t pollute the rest of the citizenry, all without resorting to the barbaric practices of the past.

However, children were almost never considered for exile, and Isamie Stone was not yet an adult.

“Curiosity might not be, but she took the initiative to investigate the anomaly before notifying anyone of her discovery. She also attempted to persuade a valuable member of my crew to enter alongside her. Had he followed, he would have been punished for performing actions beyond the scope of his duties. Which brings me to another issue,” the woman said.

“Not only did she not get punished, but I also didn’t get the sense that Miss Stone felt repentant about her behavior, at all,” Amanda said. “If anything, her insistence that she be allowed to explore further only highlights her abnormal mentality. I don’t care if she is a certified genius. Genius doesn’t excuse overt risk-seeking conduct. It is antithetical to the teachings of modern, civilized society.”

“And what about the changes we’ve seen since being forced into this new… realm?” he asked, genuinely curious about his quasi-subordinate’s opinion. He enjoyed discussing such matters with the woman. It was just too bad she was assigned to the colony and rarely got to visit the station.

The Colony Leader shrugged. “What of them?” she asked uncaringly. “I consider the system and classes as tools for those interested in learning. Nobody who chose a potentially violent class was allowed to remain in the colony, and I’m sure you enforced a similar restriction on the station.”

The man nodded thoughtfully. He’d had to send a few individuals back to the Wastelands because the ‘class’ they’d chosen was overtly oriented toward violence.

Such classes were a blatant declaration of an intent to commit violent acts since there was no reason to choose such a thing unless one intended to use it. Those who had such intentions had no place in the culture being nurtured by their government.

But for classes with utility and non-violent applications, the benefits were undeniable. Healers and Nature Mages were just two examples they’d seen of extremely valuable magic classes that were already making a noticeable improvement in the lives of citizens.

Some had argued that other mage-type classes should be outlawed and any who take them, exiled. But every elemental mage had utility, so the proponents of such a ban were swiftly outvoted.

Besides, there was no reason to give the Wastelands any more power. They’d already been bombed twice in the last fifteen years due to their constant attempts to reach beyond their place. Sending them the bulk of the world’s magic users would only be asking for more problems out of a group of known troublemakers.

“I did,” he admitted. “Unfortunately, I’m having trouble replacing them now. It doesn’t help that a couple of additional station members have also suddenly engaged in questionable or outright unacceptable behavior. That’s one of the reasons I’m not so inclined to throw a prodigy away over something so minor. As long as she doesn’t pose an actual risk, I’d rather not lose her.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Amanda asked, “How do you think she defeated stone golems if not with offensive magic that she’s kept secret? Even if she managed it otherwise, the fact that she was able to defeat magical creatures on her own implies a clear and pressing risk.”

Having made such an excellent counterargument, the woman preened. Gordon’s face fell as he realized the trap he’d walked into. The fact that the girl had entered what she called a dungeon and left after defeating at least one stone creature implied a lot. And he didn’t like it.

Releasing a deep breath, the Station Commander said, “Regardless, the colony’s mission takes priority. I’ll loan the colony anyone with Air or Water magic who agrees to assist in the project, as Miss Stone requested. Once the atmosphere is firmly in place, I’ll have her transferred back to the station.”

The Colony Leader shook her head, not bothering to conceal the smirk of satisfaction she felt. There was little he could do to stop her after admitting the girl posed a legitimate risk AND had engaged in potentially seditious behavior.

“No, Commander Arcspire. I’ll allow her to stay until the atmosphere is in place – with a guard – but I cannot, in good conscience, allow her to be transferred to your station. It would be positively treasonous for me not to report her at this point.” The woman grinned victoriously.

“You forget she is still a juvenile,” he stated blankly, causing her expression to falter.

As the dots suddenly connected, the Colony Leader’s smile returned. “Ah, but she’s already essentially admitted to engaging in multiple acts of violence leading to death. That alone justifies her exile, regardless of age.”

The man did not look pleased. In fact, the woman would have been worried by the fury that flashed across his face had she been paying attention to his reaction instead of internally gloating.

“Reporting such suspicions is your right as a citizen,” Commander Arcspire said stiffly, all traces of friendliness erased. “I’ll have the first set of mages sent over during the next cycle,” he added before cutting the transmission.

Feeling accomplished, Amanda Scallard leaned back in her oversized chair and pulled out a box of expensive chocolate she’d purchased during her last trip to Gentrius. The occasion called for a small reward. The fact that the girl could have been a tremendous asset didn’t even enter into the woman’s thoughts.