“What am I meant to do? There’s already enough food, there are beds, and a roof. I’m not good at fighting, and I try hard, but the army doesn’t want me.” The little gremlin says, sitting on a street corner staring down at his own hands. “It was much simpler before.”

I stumbled across this little guy on my way back into town, and the sheer depression washing off of him is enough to get my attention. I’m still figuring out dozens of problems, none of them so critical that I need to run to deal with them, however.

This is a great opportunity to see what issues my people are facing.

“You could do anything really.” I say. “Have you looked through all of the Skills and magics in your support device? Surely there’s something in there that interests you?”

“Not really.” He grumbles. “I just want to be happy. I want to do something that makes things better for everyone. Something simple where I don’t have to think and study.”

“What about joining Giant with building things?” I ask.

“There are already so many people helping him, I’d only get in the way.” The little gremlin grumbles. “I’m only making trouble. It’s the same with the farms, and everywhere else. I can’t do anything to help.”

“That’s…” I try to think of a solution, but I can’t come up with anything. I might need to develop a way of connecting people like this with work that they can do. A way to connect employers with employees, so to speak.

One more matter to add to the growing list of things that need to be done.

“Well, I could use some help finding others who are like you.” I say to him. “Maybe put everyone into a group chat, with me?”

He perks up a little.

“Why?”

“So, I can figure out what you can do.” I say. “Work, hobby groups, acting troupes, and whatever else might interest you, or might need to be done.”

“I guess that would be okay.” He doesn’t seem overly enthused, but at the very least it’s useful to have everyone together in a chat so we can see what we can do for them. Strangely enough, I’m not exactly lacking in labour or workers, largely because my people have such low living standards that they don’t really need many luxuries.

Food is the only critical resource that we need to be immediately concerned about, but mana does follow soon after that. At the same time, the more expert crafters we get, the more luxuries our people can enjoy.

“I want to make things better.” I say. “I want you to be a part of that change too.”

Some people need a little direction, a little push on the back. Those who know their direction in life are already out there fighting for every opportunity, the rest need some inspiration.

He looks up at me, and a little bit of shine returns to his eyes. Something that would soon die if I don’t take the extra effort to step up and give him a chance to make something of himself. I can’t make empty promises.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, what thoughts do you have?” I ask the gathered experts. Many are from Earth, but there are a good handful brought in from the wider universe. People that Red reached out to for us.

“That depends on what nature of society you want to build.” A tall stone man says. Large eyes open and close languidly across his body, all of different sizes and shapes. “If you want for an autocratic system, then you need to develop an organisation that can enforce your will among your citizenry.

“Alternatively, if all you want is a civilisation to draw talent from, you might wish to allow them to fight and compete among themselves to prove themselves valuable, but you will want to develop a group that can protect your talented healers and crafters.

“Most likely you’ll want something between these two, and you need to decide on where to draw that line.” He explains.

“If you want to model your civilisation after a human civilisation, then I think we can help you with that.” One of my employees says, looking up at me but clearly trying not to be distracted by his alien counterpart.

“Okay, okay.” I rub at my temple. “I want to be the ultimate power over my civilisation. If there’s someone who needs killing, I don’t want anything stopping me. If there’s something that needs changing, I need the uncontested power to do it.

“That said, I don’t want to be forced to use that power frequently. I want sensible laws that keep people from bothering each other, allowing things to be nice and happy between neighbours as they get a chance to work towards the lives that they want to live.

“I want people to have access to everything they need to survive, and access to the opportunities that will let them thrive, like education, and the chance to start up their own businesses.” I say. “How can we do that?”

“You will need to make some compromises.” The all-seeing rock man says, slowly nodding. “First of all, you will need to develop the organisations that will enact your will. I would suggest that you first develop a group to find the people that will make these separate core institutions.”

“So, I need a human- ah, people resources department?” I ask. “Who are specialised in finding the appropriate people for the rest of the institutions that I’m building?”

“And ensuring that they continue to function to demands, perhaps restructuring the other institutions when there’s issues.” He says, “You will need to find an initial staff then you can rely on them to develop the rest of the organisation that comes after. This way you can observe their competency early on and ensure that their team has good relations.”

“Does anyone have problems with this idea?” I ask, looking around the table.

“It seems like a good enough way of getting us started.” Another of my humans suggests. “I would advise that we be allowed to observe all of this to analyse later in case any issues arise.”

“I agree.” Eye-rock-man says while, trembling slightly, a form of agreement. “We would then be organisation zero, observing the system for failures.”

“Good.” I say, “So, getting this ball rolling. Do you want to be in the room or simply observe the interviews as I bring this up with the potential organisers?”

“We’ll watch from afar. That way we won’t directly interfere with the system.” The stone man says.

“Got it. I’ll bring a camera along and stream it to the television in this room.” I say, waving to the equipment. We’re currently set up in a tower that we’ve set aside for civil matters that aren’t directly related to the throne and my personal power. It hasn’t gotten much use so far.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I head out of the room and meet up with Adler, who walks alongside me with a hop in her step. She seems excited about something.

~~

“Has something happened?” I ask, looking at her. “You seem happy.”

“I’ve been talking with June, and I have a few new perspectives on what I’ve been considering. I’ve also been discussing various topics with those people that you brought in, I’ve never before heard so many strange and interesting ideas.”

“I’m glad to hear about it.” I say, grabbing her hand. “What have you been up to recently? I know I’ve been busy, and haven’t really spent as much time with you as I should have. Especially after I pulled you into this new world.”

“It’s… it’s not fine exactly, but I understand.” She says, “I’m still… this entire relationship is still unusual to me, but I’m getting used to it. Nel is easy to speak with, and she always puts things in order when I’m confused or bothered about things. Eshya is… aggressive, and Vii is fun.”

“What about me?”

“You’re very, very assertive. You didn’t hesitate to turn my whole world upside down, even if you probably should have thought about it a little more.”

“Yeah, I’m working on that. I’m a growing person.” She chuckles softly. “I’ll help. I was listening in on what you were discussing, and I’d like to help with building this organisation that you’re trying to put together.”

“You want to be a part of it?”

“No, I want to overwatch it with you.” She says firmly. “I’m not ready to spend all my time on work like that again. I still have so much to think about, like our kids, I don’t want to be locked down with that much work. I just want to ensure that proper ethical considerations are made. I don’t want things to turn out badly down here.”

“Me neither.” I say, cuddling up to her side. “So, you want to help me pick some people for this job?”

“I’m right by your side.” Her voice comes out soft and warm, and suddenly it feels like half the weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

It doesn’t take long to get a response from our top picks of people to start this organisation. They’re the most responsible people I know who aren’t already burdened with their own business.

“So, with this done we’ll be taking the first step towards organising things properly.” Nel says, nodding slowly as she thinks, taking another seat with us. Vii and Eshya are off doing something again, I try not to feel too jealous as I watch them from afar and get this business dealt with.

“That’s the plan.” Adler says with a firm nod as she sits beside me. Hopefully we can get this right the first time. Reorganising this will be a pain in the ass.

“June, come in.” Nel calls for the girl, who walks right into the room. She seems a little confused and out of place. She’s still rather young, but she’s constantly out there looking for problems to solve. Even back in her home cavern she was out on the streets finding issues that the local leadership couldn’t deal with.

More importantly than that, she has the charisma to bring people together, so I’m sure that even without the experience she’ll gather together a competent team and keep them inspired.

“What’s this about?” She asks, taking the seat opposite us.

“There’s a job that we need taken care of and we’re considering offering you a leadership role in the project.” I say, trying to clear things up quickly.

“Umm, why?” She asks, tilting her head cutely. “I’ve been here for like 2 weeks?”

“Because you’ve proven yourself, not only trustworthy, but competent and capable of working independently. Alongside a long list of worthwhile qualities.”

“Kyra, this is for work. You don’t have to flirt.” Nel says, with an amused smile as she jabs me playfully in the side.

“Why does everyone think I’m always out to flirt with every cute girl I meet?” I ask.

“Something about having your own harem, I suspect.” Adler says rather dryly.

“We’re each other’s harem, damn it.” I say, slinking down into my chair, “Let’s get back to topic.

“We’re looking at building an organisation that will be responsible for finding issues in our city and developing new organisations to take care of those issues. If there’s too much litter on the streets, you’ll make a group responsible for cleaning it up. You need people to organise the pay? You’ll gather some economists to manage it.

“Essentially, I want you to find the people to fix the problems that we encounter as a society. Are you interested?” I ask.

“I… that’s a lot. I’m not sure I could do that much.” She says her eyes wide as plates.

“You’d get to make your own team.” I say, “There are a few others we’re considering that would be working with you on that.”

“I see… can I think about it?” She asks.

“Certainly.” I reply.

“Before you go.” Nel calls her to a stop. “While you’re considering it, could you please look around you. Find the problems that you want fixed, as you always do, and consider how you would go about it. That’s all we’re really asking of you.”

She nods slowly, seemingly dazed as she heads out. I’m not sure that she’ll take the job, but she’d be a massive boon to us, and I’m sure she’d enjoy the work too. It’s just what she’s been doing already but in a more formalised way with more support.

“Slan is coming.” Nel says, staring down at her hands.

“How have the kids been? The insect kids, I mean?” I ask her. “They didn’t really tell me much. Or, I mean, they said a lot but I couldn’t keep up with it all.”

“They’ve been excited.” Nel says. “Ever since you exchanged their support devices, they’ve been eagerly exploring all the things they could do or be. One of them had a fit and we had to bring them to a healer after he twisted himself up trying to copy one of the weirder Skills.”

“He’s okay?” She nods. “Good. I wish I was there…” I say, feeling a cold flush run through me. I don’t want to be absent for all of this, and as much as I like our little insect babies, it’ll hurt much, much more when they’re mine by blood and marriage.

“I’m going to be here more in the future.” I promise. “All this work is to just to make sure that I can be here more often.”

Nel nods slowly.

“Good,” She says, but there’s still a sad look in her eyes and I know that there are doubts filling up her mind. I reach out and take her hand. “I’ll make sure of it. I’ve even got therapists now to help keep me in line.”

“Okay, but the world is still turning. That evil god is still destroying whole worlds, and you can’t just ignore that and settle down.” She says.

“I’ll find the time.” I reassure her as Slan enters into the room. “It’s part of the reason why we’re doing this.”

The half serpent man slides into the room with a confident smile on his lips. I don’t know what’s got him so spirited, but it might have to do with that pretty chef that he’s going out with. Apparently, things are going well for them, and I have to crush the possessive part of me that wants every pretty girl to be mine.

“Is there something you needed me for?” He asks, and we quickly go about explaining the job.

He sits quietly in consideration for a few long minutes before lifting his head and nodding firmly.

“I’d like to accept this opportunity. You said that I might be working with June? I haven’t known her long, but I understand why you’d consider her.”

“That was rather easy.” I say, blinking in surprise.

“Well, I’ve been watching you flounder around ever since you pulled the collars off of us.” Slan says. “I appreciate everything that you’ve done, of course, but there’s still so much else that can be done, and I’d be happy to be a part of that change.”

“No offence taken,” I say. “I do need to say that I still have absolute authority and responsibility over you, so if you do anything too fucked up, I’ll have to step in.”

“I know, I know.” Slan says, rolling his eyes.

Damn it, all of them are against me!

“Kyra,” Adler says, “I heard an interesting perspective from one of the humans you brought in. They said that a good leader should be careful with threats so as not to promote mindless flattery, and instead encourage people to speak the truth instead.”

“They’ve gotten to you too!” I grumble, lowering my head to the table and closing my eyes. “Can’t you just comfort me and tell me I’m doing a good job.”

“When we get back to our room.” Nel says, “Until then, you’re still an Empress. Put up with it, until we’re back home, okay.”

“Fine…” I grumble, sitting back up again.

“I love you.” Nel says, pulling at my hand and smiling at my overexaggerated antics.

“I love you, too.” I say.

“I… me too, I guess?” Adler adds a little more awkwardly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats and Skills

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 30,094 / 60,892 units

Current mana volume: 14,958 / 30,266 shards

Mana volume at crystallisation density (Max. mana volume):

Kyra: 30,266 shards

Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards

Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards

~Forms

Mana Canon

-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)

-Blood Fuel (20,000 mana shards)

-Bone Magic Storage (40,000 mana shards)

-Nail Shifters (50,000 mana shards)

Dancer

-Flash Nerves (8,000 mana shards)

-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)

-Burst Reflex Muscles (35,000 mana shards)

-Layered space Muscles (80,000 mana shards)

Turtle

-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)

-Catalyst Sweat Glands (140,000 mana shards)

-Repulsive Skin (80,000 mana shards)

-Prehensile hair (10,000 mana shards)

-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (100,000 mana shards)

Investigator

-Wide eyes (5,000 mana shards)

-Wide ears (5,000 mana shards)

-Sharp nose (5,000 mana shards)

Misc.

-Clean bowels (Adapted)

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Stealth

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net

-Eyes of an Empire