500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

"So, how are we doing this? Are you going to be my guide, or are you just going to breathe heavily behind me the entire time?" I asked as we started to walk from the castle.

"I need to keep my eye on you," Dalla said but walked up beside me to give me a sideways scowl. I was considering just spraying her with water to cool her off, but that would probably just piss her off more.

It was a real son of a bitch that Tallia had to leave, and I was curious to know what she was called back for? I hoped that there were no problems back in Northwall, but Tallia didn't seem that concerned.

That was the other reason why I couldn't spray this brute. I was promised a sleepover if I didn't fuck anything up. A tall order, but I think I could make it through the day without screwing everything up.

"So, where are we headed first?" I asked, and the woman looked over at me with a narrow-eyed look.

"To go see the Easterners. We can go to any of the shops around here, but it is already near the first nap time," Dalla growled, and I frowned.

"I thought they didn't have a scheduled time?" I asked.

"They don't but we have learned that they usually close around this time. There are a few that do stay open, but it is a toss-up of what will be open. They don't seem to care about the fact that other people work all morning without stopping. They just expect us to keep coming back to check if they are open!" Dalla growled, and I frowned.

"What about the Vine? Can you just use that to figure it out? That would save you a lot of headache and heartbreak from coming to a shop each time, right?" I asked, but Dalla shook her head.

"Vine is not something that is used popularly here. Most Peekaan do not like it and refuse to use the system. I do agree that it would be better, but the Queen started to restrict people from using it. People started arguments with information that should have been kept in the Vine. The problem with the Vine is that everyone that is in the area can hear and use it. This also caused major rifts to form with the Easterners. Not like things weren't bad enough with them already. It got to the point where most of them just refused to open shop," Della explained and then gestured to a Deli that had smoked fish hanging in the window.

The store was closed for napping.

"Well, I can see why this must be frustrating," I said as I looked around to see if there was a note of when they would be back, but there was none.

"You have no idea, cat man. Sometimes, I think that they wait to see certain people come by and then close the shop right as they get there. It has happened before," Dalla said as she crossed her arms, and I turned back to her from the store.

"Okay, so this is rather annoying, and they won't work with you to offer better hours?" I asked, and Dalla shook her head.

"No, they will just start talking about leaving the city. This is the big threat that they always try to use against us," Dalla explained, and I frowned.

"Then let them go. If they aren't going to be a working part of society, then get rid of them. I can understand your frustrations, but if that is the case, then letting them leave is in your best interests, right?" I asked, but Dalla shook her head.

"If they all leave, then we will have no one to run the shops," Dalla said, and I lifted an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? What is wrong with the Peekaans? Why can't they do the job? Don't you already have some Peekaans that run shops?" I asked in confusion. I had heard that the Easterners were the ones that ran all the normal shops, but I had also heard that some of the Peekaans did as well.

"You expect a perfectly good Peekaan to work in a shop?! Who is going to run the boats, then? Who is going to bring in the food that feeds everyone if we have to run all the shops as well? This is the issue that we face right now and why tensions are so high for our people," Dalla explained as we started to walk again.

"I see. I can understand that, but have you ever thought of importing workers from anywhere else?" I asked, and Dalla stopped to give me a strange look.

"What does that mean?" Dalla asked.

"I mean, recruit people from other races or other cities. One way to get the easterners moving might be to put up some competition. That will force them to either get their shit together or leave as they threaten. This way, you will have people that will actually do the job that you ask," I explained, and Dalla slowly nodded.

"That is a good idea. Honestly, I never really thought about that, but I don't think that it will be that easy. It is not like we haven't had other races in the city before, but... Peekaans tend to be very short-tempered in nature. You could say that we hardly get along with each other most of the time, and it tends to be worse with those that are different than us," Dalla explained as we came to a sewing shop that was also closed for napping.

I was starting to get ticked off about all these shops being closed, and this was my first day here. It was easy to see why tensions had gotten so high, but there had to be some reason for this.

"There! Kajita's Bakery is open! Kajita is one of the few that is open almost all morning but then closes in the afternoon. This is one of the better Easterners and as good of a place as any to get the full scope of everything," Dalla explained as we walked up to the stone bakery.