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…”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“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.

Commissioner Arrietti shrugged. “Heh, won’t the System take care of it?”

Chuckling, Tatiana pointed out the flaw in his thinking. “Won’t the System also take care of the nicotine high? You’d just be inhaling smoke.”

“Er… well… the familiar sensation…” The Commissioner mumbled, but Tatiana could tell that he hadn’t thought about this issue before.

Naffur shook his head and looked at Austin to get the conversation back on track. “We aren’t idiots. Yes, your company was a significant driver of growth for the past six months. But those initial expansions are the easiest sort of growth to achieve. Besides… don’t act like you are unilaterally improving Kharon’s situation. We are aware that you attempted to develop fields outside of Kharon and found the result… less than satisfactory. Do you want to guess as to the reason, or should I?”

Austin sighed. “...although we have no proof, we suspect it is due to the moss spirits. They… provide ambient energy that is very useful to the growth of the plants we use for our scents.”

“Exactly,” Tatiana steepled her fingers. “You’ve grown so quickly because of Kharon. You want more space because Kharon’s space is valuable. Not just to you, but to the entire city. That’s what it means to be the Wandering City under Randidly Ghosthound; every scrap of land carries significant benefits, even if they are easy to miss at first. Let me say this, Austin. So far you’ve been enjoying the benefits of the Ghosthound’s land. But those benefits come with responsibility. That’s why you are here tonight. So you can see the hard work that goes into making this city a reality.”

Austin was silent for several seconds. He took another sip of his martini. Then he slowly nodded. “...I understand.”

Commissioner Arrietti glanced around and frowned down at his empty cup. “Where the hell is that waiter…? The beer here is excellent. Ah, but does that mean we aren’t going to talk about immigration? There is still some room in the cheap housing; having youth is all well and good, but if we recruit capable individuals now it will benefit us in the long run.”

Naffur scratched his chin. “That would be great but… we can’t keep stealing away the best and brightest from other Zones. Even if Kharon has the Ghosthound standing behind it, we don’t want to go out of our way to antagonize the various States. Most of our income comes from shipping out high-end goods. Tariffs would devastate us.”

“Plus, the lurking issue of bringing in more people is the integrity of Kharon’s spirit,” Tatiana said. Everyone else at the table turned and looked at her. She wasn’t sure whether these power individuals had put it together yet, but this was the reason that they had set up such strenuous requirements for entry into Kharon. It wasn’t necessarily in order to make sure these people could use images, but the image training would temper their Willpower and let the Order Ducis nudge them in the right direction.

Seeing that she had their attention, Tatiana continued to elaborate. “Randidly Ghosthound has emphasized time and time again how important it is to cultivate the right sort of image for the people of Kharon. The reason that the immigration process is so slow is to partially condition the applicants to possess that sort of image. “

“Can we speed the process up?” Austin asked, looking over at Naffur.

Naffur chewed on his lip. “Well… possibly. But not in a way that will matter. Instead of taking three months to get their image in the right spot, we might be able to do it in two and a half. But that ties up more of the Order Ducis operatives.”

“Isn’t that better? Basically all the Order Ducis seems to do when you let them out into the borderlands is to bring more people to Kharon to train anyway.” Commissioner Arrietti pointed out.

“But rescuing those that need help will be the basis for our inviolability as an organization for when the Ghosthound leaves Earth,” Tatiana said quietly. “We need to be the most active force in the Borderlands. Besides, that’s how we spread the word about this city’s image to Earth’s population. If we back off, the mystique we cultivate will weaken. We have no choice but to embrace it.”

“Is this truly necessary? What happens if the image of Kharon isn’t so… ideal?” Austin said after a moment of hesitation. He too had finished his drink by now. “I know it is important to the Ghosthound, but…”

Spoken like someone who doesn’t understand all the hard work that has been done by someone else for you to have this opportunity, Tatiana thought quietly as she looked at the young owner of the fastest growing company in Kharon. But that combination of capability and naivety was why she had decided to pull him into these sorts of meetings. They needed an actor with Austin’s influence to be aware of the consequences for Kharon as a whole.

“Without that image the Ghosthound has cultivated, Kharon will collapse,” Tatiana said quietly. “It won’t be a quick thing, and Kharon might even become more powerful by switching its image for dozens of years. But that image we have right now… is the spine of Kharon. Built to last by the Ghosthound. Everything else we do grows from there. Altering our spine right now… is not a smart decision.”

Naffur and Commissioner Arietti both constantly interacted with people and helped normalize Kharon’s image in their lives, so they understood the subtle distinctions it created in people. The way it made them stand straighter and take more risks. The way it made people willing to try something and fail without being consumed by bitterness. Because Kharon was the city that wandered the edges of the world. They didn’t need to be perfect, they just never needed to surrender to the unknown.

They were always the first, blazing a Path. That gave the people of Kharon pride.

Austin was clearly confused and unsure, but he ultimately nodded. Satisfied, Tatiana smiled. “However… we can look into more efficient methods of immigration. We don’t want to be bottlenecked by this in the future. Preparing now can become Kharon’s strength for years to come.”

Heh, finding more willing grunts to accomplish tedious paperwork has a certain sort of satisfaction to it...

Before the conversation continued, the waiter finally returned. Trailing behind him were two women.

Helen jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Figured it was easier just to bring her.”

Clarissa’s eyes were sparkling. “And I absolutely adore hibachi.”