163 Downtime 3

Remian passed by a library, a gym, and a dojo before he figured out that the fourth floor were basically all facilities. Making a full circle, he went down a floor and found a massive food court, an inn (probably meant to cater to the airship crews when they docked), three empty lots, elevators and toilets. There were shops dedicated to selling clothes, strong drink, accessories, books…

Wait. What?

Remian found himself staring at the bookstore. "How did that get here?"

"Uh… I brought it here. From Ashdale. It's one of Lydia's friends. He said he wanted fresh air and the freedom of the wild frontier, but I suspect he might want something more with Lydia than just friendship." Mindy grinned. "He's got all the basic magic books, if you're interested."

"I'll definitely take a look." Remian said, brightening. Access to knowledge would be priceless for the developing clans. It brought a lot of considerations to mind, such as the future of these clans, the limits of their advancements of education, skill, and opportunities.

Mindy and Talia watched him stand there in a semi-daze, suddenly filled with thoughts before they decided to interrupt him and drag him on with the tour. "You can fry your brain overthinking everything later." Mindy said.

Someone had opened a restaurant below. This wasn't like the food stalls at the food court above. This was a single shop selling a whole menu of varied dishes, skillfully cooked and served at your table by waiters. "Where did this come from?"

"Song Chen's cousin. This is the Kara-Goth branch of the Song Family Restaurants." Mindy cleared her throat. "Apparently, Song Chen's family actually runs a restaurant franchise."

Arnold's workshop was likewise on the second floor, but at least half of it had turned into a gadget shop. There were a half dozen people fitting on ME-Frames right that minute. Remian gave Arnold a nod and a wave as they passed by. "Those two lots next to him are empty, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I think he could use the extra space. Also, see if we can send him some help, maybe a few interns or something. His inventions could do a lot to help our people develop."

"George said the same thing. Zane is already on it."

From the central commercial area there were broad tunnels branching out to residential blocks on the lower three levels. An especially large tunnel led to Residential District Kara-02 to the west. "Where does that go?"

"Another central area, with its own commercial open space, and it branches out to a whole lot more residencies. I hear it's smaller, but the central space is a square, and they turned it into some multi-purpose sports court. There's suggestions of putting seating in to make the central area like an arena."

"Just how many districts are there in Kara-Goth at this time?"

"So far? Four. There are plans for four more, though."

"That many? There still seem to be empty lots around here."

"Do you remember all those freed slaves you sent here last time? When George gave them options, some hundreds went off to each of the mines, but the majority of them were looking lost and wanting nothing more than to stay in this nice big safe haven dug into the hills."

A shadow loomed overhead, blocking out a substantial bit of the sunlight. Remian glanced up to see a familiar figure maneuvering to dock. The Red Fang had just arrived.

"You sent the Red Fang off without you?" Remian was amazed.

"Only on short runs within Shadowflash Fief. Mostly to the quarry and the farms. There were a couple of trips to the outlying mining towns, because there are just that many freed slaves, but that's about it." Mindy explained. "Don't worry. It's being captained by your sister."

"My sister?" Remian gaped. "Not Eriane, I hope?!"

"No, I'm talking about Sabriane." Mindy shook her head. "She needed a break, too."

"What of your Sky Galleon?"

"That one's busy at the farms. Nadia can handle it." Mindy trailed off. "Remian, we really need a lot more vehicles. Auto-carts and carriages, at least."

"You know about the mana crystal shortage, right? Anyone wanting to drive a vehicle around will have to power it manually." Remian shook his head. "That generally limits us to Frames and bikes or similar light vehicles."

"We can still use beast-drawn vehicles like the Dragon Empire does. We might not have giant lizards and magical creatures to pull them, but we at least have horses."

"You want our horse-type Wilds to pull carriages and carts?"

"Why not? I myself still carry boxes and do the dishes, sometimes."

"Don't you think it might be, maybe, demeaning to them?"

"You mean 'beneath them', like the Eagle Lord always says? Since when should jobs in the Frontier ever be beneath anyone simply by virtue of birth or bloodline? The rules for humans should apply to Wilds as well. Whether they want the job, can do the job and get the job is all between them and their employers. Free market rules."

"You really like those sort of rules, huh? As compared to aristocracy or noble houses like the feudalistic countries?"

"I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but at the end of the day, I think trades, including labor and hiring, should boil down to offers, negotiations and acceptance."

"That being the case, we better start a labor union before some savvy employers exploit less savvy workers in negotiations. Sometimes, people just aren't good at pressing for what they deserve or need. Sometimes, they need more eloquent people to speak up for them."

"Like lawyers?" Mindy grimaced.

"Champions. Leaders. Representatives." Remian shrugged. "Call them what you will. A lot of our people are freed slaves. They're really going to get bullied if we don't look out for them."

"I'll be sure to pass that along to George, but it might not be entirely true. They do have clans, after all. They already have clan leaders, and those leaders are usually related to them in some way."

"Speaking of employers… aren't I basically the guy employing everyone around here?"

"No, I think that's George."

"He's using my money, though."

"Fine, then. You are."

"Someday soon," Remian said, "We're going to have to make a careful inspection of those towns and make sure they're doing okay."

"Yeah, yeah. Just give them some time to settle down first, okay? Right now, I think they're more concerned with getting everyone enough blankets than about labor rights."

"Shouldn't we be seeing to that?"

"What do you think our airships have been doing?" Mindy shook her head. "Leave it to the others. Today, you're off duty."

"Oh, really? The whole day?"

"The whole day."

"And tomorrow?And the day after that?"

"As long as you need to recover."

"And if I don't recover?"

Mindy bopped him over the head. "Don't you say that! Don't ever talk like that!"

Remian snorted. He glanced at Death, still hovering several feet over his left shoulder, just waiting to grab him and go. "Well, I'll spare your optimism and drop the subject, but since we're talking about days off, how about we really take a break and go somewhere?"

"You mean, a holiday trip?" Mindy brightened.

"Yeah. You haven't yet taken my advice and visited other countries, I noticed. La Vive, Itarim, Ecclesia… you should see them all, and soon."

"Well, that sounds nice, but what's the hurry?"

"War's coming, and something tells me those places aren't going to be the same as they were afterward."