Monroe

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Five. GTFO.

"You said the Tide is going to last five days, right?" Mike asked Eddi.

"Yep," Eddi nodded. "The Endless can guard twenty-eight towns, but that's stretching us awfully thin," he shook his head. "We're looking at level fifty monsters, so early tier eight, and there aren't enough of us, even with our Affinity Crystals, to delve that deep. When you consider that we'll need probably twenty-five of us on top of the Guild at all times, with another twenty-five in reserve so we can work in shifts, because it's five days, figure it'll take a minimum of fifty to provide protection. We've got fourteen hundred people at the tier five cap with their summon monster spell either at, or nearly at, cap, but it's going to be dangerous."

"I've got five thousand guys at the tier five cap, but only fifteen hundred of them have Affinity Crystals," Mike muttered.

"And you'll need some of them to protect the Redoubt," Eddi said.

"We've got enough folks to protect Spellhaven," Dave said.

"Spellhaven?" Bob asked.

"We had a vote," Dave shrugged. "Every other place had a name, and people wanted one as well."

"You don't want to know how close we came to being named 'Murderhoboville,'" Amanda grumbled.

"How do things normally work during a Tide?" Bob directed the question to Harv and Elli. Bailli and Eddi would have been children during the last tide.

"If your town can afford it, you get a dimensionalist to open a portal to Harbordeep and hide there," Harv replied.

"If you can't afford it, which Holmstead never could, because Thidwell doesn't believe in taxes," Elli continued, "You get everyone into the Adventurers Guild and pray that the highest level people in the town are powerful enough to hold the Tide back."

"I've heard it's really bad for the smaller towns," Bailli added. "They'll make the trip overland to Harbordeep if they get the notification soon enough."

Mike raised his hand. "I know I'm just a crayon-eating Jarhead, or retired Jarhead anyway, and I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but if things are going to be that bad, why don't we just have everyone fuck off to Earth for a week?"

Bob opened his mouth and then closed it.

Hearing no objections, Mike continued. "There's like two hundred thousand people in Greenwold, right? Fuck, there are like ten stadiums in the country that can hold over a hundred thousand people. If the people here regularly fuck off to Harbordeep, why not send them to Earth instead? Monsters only want to eat people, so if there aren't any people to eat, they aren't going to charge the towns, right? So property damage is going to be minimal, and there won't be any loss of life."

After another moment of silence, Dave spoke up. "I have no idea why we didn't think of that," he admitted.

"I'd say we aren't fully acclimated to interdimensional travel, but we bounce back and forth between Thayland and Earth at least once a month," Bob agreed.

"We'd have to move everyone we've put into stasis," Mike mused, "but honestly, we have mana powered forklifts, so it won't be that hard, at least not if we get started immediately. Pausing the process of putting folks in stasis will free up the crystals needed for portals, I think." He frowned and pulled out his tablet.

"What does the property damage look like?" Bob asked.

"I've heard it's incidental damage," Harv replied. "A few buildings trampled, more with a wall knocked out, or the ceiling collapsed. Nothing that can't be fixed."

"You should probably bring it to the King first," Bob suggested. "He'll definitely know the exact details of what a Tide entails, and he can either tell us why it won't work, or he can get things moving in the right direction."

"Woah," Mike raised his hands, "you're the liaison, shouldn't you be the one to tell him?"

"It was your idea," Bob retorted, "and besides, it's a chance to improve your standing, and thus the standing of the Old Guard with the King," he finished smugly.

"It might be better coming from a native," Mike suggested weakly, casting his gaze on Harv.

"I agree with Bob," Harv said quickly, with Elli, Bailli, and Eddi nodding vigorously.

"Doesn't your military have something about never volunteering yourself?" Jessica asked with a wicked smile.

"That's the squids," Mike grumbled, "Never Again Volunteer Yourself."

"Tell you what, I'll talk to the Secretary of Defense and get the ball rolling there," Bob offered, "while you go talk the King."

"I'm not sure that's an equitable distribution of labor," Mike said with a sigh. "Alright, I'll do it. Do we know if he's in Harbordeep?"

"He is," Harv confirmed, "he's getting ready for the tide."

Bob grinned as Mike stood and shuffled out of the room.

"Mike Hanson has asked to speak with you," Ericka announced.

Kellan raised a thickly scaled brow before shifting to his humanoid form.

He'd been taking a quick nap, as preparations for the Tide were hectic and often demanded his attention at uncommon hours.

"I wonder what our newest Noble needs," he mused as he strode out of the room with Ericka at his side. "He and his people are fiercely independent and self-sufficient."

"He indicated it was something to do with the tide," Ericka replied.

"Likely offering their aid," Kellan nodded. "They have a rather strict code of honor."

Walking into the audience chamber, he took his seat and nodded for Ericka to show Mike in. It was always important to provide the right image for your underlings.

"Your Majesty," Mike nodded as he entered the room.

Kellan restrained himself from shaking his head. Mike both respected and feared him, but the man was unwilling to bow. He couldn't wait to see him at the yearly nobles meet. He'd already committed to staying awake longer than normal to ensure that the Earth/Thayland integration issues were handled so he'd be present for it.

"It's good to see you," Kellan said warmly, "we're quite busy preparing for the oncoming Tide, so please make your request brief."

"Is there any reason not to just move everyone over to Earth for the duration of the Tide?" Mike asked bluntly.

Kellan blinked as he mentally shifted gears. "Move everyone to Earth," he repeated.

"There are only two hundred thousand people on Greenwold, right? Minus the refugees from Earth, but bringing them back home for less than a week is a logistical issue they can easily solve themselves," Mike began. "We have, I think, ten stadiums in the United States alone that have seating for over a hundred thousand people. Finding a place to stash people for a week won't be too difficult, and it would mean no loss of life, and if I understand the way Tides work minimal property damage."

"Dungeons are the real issue," Kellan replied, his mind racing. "The ritual enchantments that regulate the flow of mana keep the monsters at the correct level, but they appear almost instantly, packing the Dungeon. If you don't have someone at the bottom floor constantly killing, they'll push up through the floors and eventually, spill out of the Dungeon, making a mess of the town where the Dungeon is located. With a gated Dungeon, the danger is actually worse, as the monsters have nowhere to go, and the mana builds and builds until the enchantment overloads. Either way, the Dungeon would need repairs, but in the second scenario, a complete rebuild would be required."

"Still, having a place to evacuate to, as well as the crystals necessary to do so, is an option we've never had before," Kellan continued as he rose from his throne and began to pace. "We would need to pause the stasis project and redirect the crystals towards opening portals, but we have estimated that we'll have everyone we can get from Earth into stasis a full two months before the awakening of mana on Earth, so a delay of a week isn't a problem. Transporting them in stasis would arguably be easier than transporting my citizens when they're awake."

"This might very well be possible," Kellan finished, looking down at Mike with a smile, which caused the man to poorly hide a flinch.

"Bob's waiting for my call, if you think it's a good idea, we can get the ball rolling on Earth, start working on arrangements now," Mike offered.

"The only difficulty I can see is that my people won't be able to regenerate mana on Earth, which will be disconcerting but still a better alternative than suffering the inevitable casualties of the Tide," Kellan replied.

"We will have to move quickly to make this work," Kellan stopped pacing and turned his gaze to Ericka. "Fetch Dhoakes; I'll need to send the messages out through the Adventurers Guild."

He then addressed Mike. "Go tell Bob I've given a provisional yes answer to the plan, I should have the first portals in need of a terminus by tomorrow morning."

Mike nodded and hurried out of the room.

"A tide with no casualties," Ericka murmured.

"Mike is a fine addition to my hoard," Kellan agreed with a draconic smile.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Ed asked the ceiling.

"To be fair, I didn't think of it either," Bob replied with a shrug. "Mike was the one who asked the obvious question."

"I can't imagine the President saying no," Ed muttered, "although two hundred thousand people isn't a small number."

"Mike also suggested holding them in stadiums," Bob explained. "I guess there are quite a few rather large stadiums, and if we borrow three or four, there will be room to spare."

"That could work," Ed nodded. "I can't imagine any teams being unwilling to suffer the bad press they'd get for refusing to shelter refugees for less than a week, especially during training season."

Ed stood up and stretched, then put on his jacket. "Let's go talk to the President," he told Bob. "She's due to be out of a delve in about forty minutes anyway, so this is the ideal time."

Bob followed Ed as he walked out of his office and headed down into the valley. Things had changed over the past several months. There were signs in front of the bottom floors of the towers advertising goods and services.

"How are the civilians working out?" Bob asked

"Better than I'd hoped," Ed admitted. "Something about being offered magical powers and numerically defined personal improvement seems to be a great motivator."

"I think it's also that for the first time, people have a chance to take control, I mean really take control of their lives," Bob replied. "Where I grew up, there wasn't a whole lot of hope to be had. Our teachers and I suppose some of the parents, they told the kids that they could do anything, that the sky was the limit, but even as a kid, I could tell that the teachers didn't believe it. But now, it's true. There isn't anything stopping you from becoming a Dragon and finding a continent somewhere to rule over."

"Hopefully, we won't have too many Dragons on Earth," Ed said wryly.

"You'll likely have a few," Bob shook his head. "Honestly, with enough high-level people and ritual magic, terraforming Mars, or the moon, won't be that difficult. That's to say nothing of the brave souls who start hopping between universes, looking for a place to call home."

"I've heard a few people talk about doing exactly that," Ed grimaced, "I don't think many of them have thought it all the way through."

"Hopefully, they'll do some careful planning and preparation first," Bob agreed.

Ed halted at the base of a tower and motioned towards what looked like an outdoor diner, with round tables under umbrellas and a few people running in and out of the building with trays full of food.

"Let's grab a quick bite while we wait," Ed suggested, "I'll text her detail and let them know we're waiting, they'll find us when they get out."

"I'm surprised there are enough people to run something like this," Bob said as he sat down. "I'd have thought with the capacity you have that you'd have everyone slammed into the Dungeons pulling eighteen-hour shifts."

"We're running them through as quickly and as much as we can," Ed grimaced, "and while we're up to sixty percent participation, we still have forty percent who aren't interested in delving but who also don't want to go into stasis yet. So they're working on the support side of things." Ed suddenly grinned, "Some of the kids of the support staff are absolutely thrilled to be delving, which has pushed a few of the parents into delving anyway, trying to keep up with their kids and keep them safe."

"Honestly, if they follow the rules and work together, delving isn't particularly dangerous if you're only going one floor down from your level," Bob replied.

"It would seem that adherence to the rules is something we have trouble with," the President's voice came from behind him.

Bob stood and turned, nodding in greeting. The President looked a solid twenty years younger and was barely recognizable in a suit of plate armor with a short staff and a shield.

She was surrounded in orange light for a moment, and when she was visible again, she was wearing her customary suit.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," she said, looking from Bob to Ed. "I'm guessing that you have run into some sort of terrible problem that will add more difficulties to my day?"

"The opposite, Madam President," Ed replied. "We have a solution to a problem."

Elania looked at Taylor, who was frowning thoughtfully.

"On the surface, it looks like a great idea," Taylor said. "We do a favor for the King of Greenwold, helping to square that circle while also keeping our own people from harm."

"I was also considering sending up a satellite or two, as well as a dozen squadrons of drones, to provide imagery of what a tide is like," Elania mused.

"If we had real video, it might help with some of the holdouts who are dead set on not leaving," Taylor agreed.

"We won't change the mind of anyone who is truly entrenched," Elania disagreed, "but honestly, those people aren't going to leave no matter what."

"The latest numbers look pretty good though," Taylor smiled, "we're at almost eighty percent in terms of scheduling, although we've got a problem with the farmers."

"What's that?" Elania had lost track of the number of groups who needed just a bit of a reshuffle in the stasis schedule. The lobbyists had been hard at work.

"Well, they'd like to know how we plan to put their livestock in stasis," Taylor replied.

"We're not planning on doing that, are we?" Elania asked rhetorically. "Monsters don't go after animals."

"Unless there aren't any people to go after," Taylor replied. "In which case, they apparently will. So, while we hadn't planned on it, we're looking at hundreds of millions of pets, and likely more than that when it comes to livestock."

"Shit," Elania muttered. "Aren't there like half a billion chickens in the country?"

"I don't know," Taylor admitted with a sigh. "I'll find out, but ultimately we'll need to develop a plan for them."

"We've already started the initiative to bring seeds over, right?" Elania asked.

"We have," Taylor confirmed. "That's one of the things the farmers aren't complaining about. The lobbyists are trying to arrange for all Plant Affinity Crystals to be offered first to farmers."

"Of course, they are," Elania sighed.

She had a few daydreams where the King of Greenwold took out every single lobbyist in the country.

It appeared that the lawyers and business people who made governance a battle were almost as smart as they thought they were. They'd showed great mental agility as they'd shifted their focus from the present to the future, and the Agricultural lobby's request to reserve a certain type of Affinity Crystals was not the first.

"On a more positive note, I've already gotten confirmation from the governor of Texas, stating that they can clear three stadiums, each with over a hundred thousand seats and that Texas would be happy to extend a helping hand to our friends in Greenwold," Taylor added.

"Of course, he is," Elania shook her head. The governor of Texas had been awfully quick on the uptake and had traveled to Thayland and started grinding out levels. Her last report, as of a few days ago, had him at level twelve. That same report indicated that he'd done a fact-finding tour of a few of the smaller towns in Greenwold, where his down-home persona, combined with a respectful attitude towards the natives, had gone a long way towards cementing his good ole Texas boy image.

He'd stopped all media spending the day after her speech, and it looked, to her, like he was entirely focused on making sure Texas came out of the whole apocalypse mess smelling like roses.

She couldn't fault him for trying to take care of the people he was responsible for, but he'd had two unsuccessful presidential bids, both of which ended with him in the top three in the primary. He wasn't satisfied with Texas, or at least he hadn't been.

"We can't really tell him no, now can we?" Elania asked rhetorically.

"As he made the announcement publically, on as many platforms as possible, no, we really can't," Taylor agreed.

"Well, the people from Thayland will be his concern then," Elania sighed, "assuming we don't encounter some reason that would prevent us from going ahead with this."

"The only concern is the property damage," Taylor said. "It'll take a lot of mana crystals to fix, but if we pause the stasis project now, we'll have enough to rebuild completely, which shouldn't be necessary, but the cushion will help."

"Call an emergency session of Congress," Elania ordered her friend. "I won't bring that many foreign people into the country without the approval of the House and the Senate, and the bipartisan support will make everyone look good."