Chapter 53: Growing Plans

Chapter 53: Growing Plans

After Gongs rant about the incompetency and her irritation at the Vermillion Stripes gang as a whole, the group goes silent.

Ai is the first to break the silence. Cough. So, since it seems your spiders will do patrols all over this area, are you getting any monetary compensation?

With a shake of her head, Gong says, No, I always have done the patrols for free. If the spiders needed to eat or drink, then I would have to change that policy.

One reason I dont face as many issues on patrols, is because people understand I dont have to do this. Regardless of whether they are a demi-human or human, I help them if they are in danger. It not only provides a better image of demi-humans, it reduces the amount of people who would be tempted to join gangs like the Vermillion Stripes. The moment I accept money, they will distrust it.

Ai purses her lips, Normally, Id disagree that people would rely on goodwill in the first place but you have a history of helping people to do just that. I can see why they would trust you.

Her eyebrows wrinkle for a moment. I could have sworn I heard a rumor, though, that you had a secret deal going on

Gongs stance relaxes a bit, and she rubs the bridge of her nose, as if remembering a headache.

Well The Stripes had previously tried to spread a similar false rumor that I was only doing this for back-end payments from a mysterious source.

It took Big Sis Cranes help to prove that rumor wrong and regain their trust. The Stripes benefited, because they could push the idea that the only way you can be sure of your safety is to join their gang. At anytime, she could turn on you, so why not join us? At least you will know where you stand.

With a shake of the head and a wry smile, she continues, Luckily, most people realized it was fake with additional rumors floating around disproving it.

So, does this mean we will start inviting demi-humans and others to this area soon? That way, they have a place they can feel safer? Lin speaks up with a hopeful voice.

Its easy to forget, looking at them now but they used to be in a dangerous situation. CHeCk for new stories at novelhall.com what they were able to figure out from the base idea, with some reallocation of the spiders, it looks like the project will be completed just after we leave. Which was much earlier than I had assumed it was going to be.

I was originally thinking of using my scan to get the water table stuff and what stuff to use, but it really is smarter to have them build their knowledge base up. I cannot do everything and to be frank, Im pretty sure they really dont need me that much. Like I had originally thought, as long as they were free to live their lives, they would be successful in whatever they did.

Using this idea, we still decided to put a price and a sales limit on the food from the farms.

Charity apparently isnt encouraged in this world. In fact, it is just distrusted by most people. Unless you are viewed as nave, which in some ways can be better or worse. It takes consistently regular free help to get people to trust charity. And even then, people will take advantage of you with the thought, No need to let a fools thoughtless actions go to waste.

The exception is with lifesaving activities. Gong has been doing her thing for a long while, so people assume she does that for personal reasons and expects it from her. It costs nothing for her to do, as well. So, they take it as goodwill.

Moving back to the plans, they decide on a garden to feed the local demi-humans, with half the price of normal food, using the spider force to protect local businesses and demi-humans (particularly in the claimed areas, but also in the aforementioned areas), and solving requests using part of the spider force, to clear out infestations/creatures. It looks like I might not need to go monster hunting just yet.

While we go over this, Gong gives us a little more demographic information regarding this area. Near here is the slums (as weve already seen). While there is a high demi-human population, there are also a lot of humans. This area of the city is basically where all those who cant afford to live somewhere, go. A major road still goes through this section, so occasionally carts will barrel through quickly. Near to this section is the demi-human, human, and mixed marketplace. There are also gang controlled markets.

Our focus of influence will be these areas.

The question comes up from Ai and Lin, of why Gong patrolled the area she did near the major areas, near their old shack. Especially since she was centered in this area. Its definitely far from their old area.

Gong responded with the expected for information gathering. However, she had found that something was going strangely with Lin and wanted to investigate. That strange interaction was a foreign man that was nearly robbed by a local thief. He dragged her into an alleyway, with the unspoken support of nearby people.

I guess I made a bit more of a splash than I thought. Also, that sounds way more suspect than it actually was. And if people saw all of that, why didnt they help?!

She also explains that she can move insanely quickly, so she can cross the distance easily. What takes us half a day, takes her half an hour. Her tunnels reach across the Depths and Alleys.

With all of this, we are pretty much set to actually start preparing things. So, we head off to take care of different things. Before everyone leaves, I hand them their bracelets from the Yellow Sashes. Gong works on determining which spiders will do what and segmenting them into groups, while Ai and Lin continue refining their personal plans.

I head off to my room, which Gong notified me she had the spiders setup, to think on my next steps.