"Feudalism..."
Otto rolled the word around on his tongue, as if tasting the lingering aftertaste of expired food, his face contorting into an expression of undisguised disgust.
"Speaking of which, someone actually proposed that exact system to me. That guy definitely left quite an impression..."
Left an impression because you'll never forget how monumentally stupid he was, right?
"You must understand, this world is never in short supply of individuals who are entirely too full of themselves and utterly blind to their own incompetence.
"At the time, I was still in Sapphire City, organizing and taking in survivors. This guy approaches me with a densely packed, meticulously written proposal. I'll give him credit for that much—he actually managed to seize the one and only opportunity to get an audience with me.
"Hmm... His logic was incredibly naive. Since the Fire Moth already possessed absolute military supremacy, he suggested we divide the survivors into several factions and have them garrison the neighboring cities.
"He seemed to operate under the delusion that the residual supplies in those cities could magically sustain populations in the millions, and that as long as there were people, the cities would naturally rebuild themselves.
"Shu, why don't you guess what his grand strategy for urban reconstruction was?" A faint, mocking smile played on Otto's lips.
Shu didn't even bother thinking too hard about it, tossing out two historical buzzwords.
"Work-relief programs and public-private partnerships?"
Clap. Otto chuckled, giving Shu a single, sarcastic round of applause.
"Exactly. That was his brilliant master plan.
"He genuinely believed that if you simply dumped people in a location, they would automatically generate labor and solve their own problems. According to him, all he needed to do was allocate some baseline resources and point them in the 'general direction'.
"His true focus was entirely on 'suppressing rebellion'. His proposal was crammed full of detailed strategies on how the Fire Moth should restrict regional authority, how to maintain control over the territories, and how to crush any uprisings...
"As for how those territories were actually supposed to survive, how they would develop, or how the people assigned there were expected to achieve a better quality of life...
"In his eyes, those problems simply didn't exist... Oh, wait, I suppose he did mention it briefly.
"He claimed that the regional officials, driven by their desire for political merit, would naturally strive to improve the lives of the people under them. Just like how he assumed the people, driven by their desire to not starve to death, would naturally strive to solve all logistical problems on their own."
"Is that guy even human?!" Shu was genuinely appalled.
Even through Otto's retelling, he could tell just how astronomically delusional the guy who proposed this was.
In ancient times, when the commoners were treated as less than human, such a system might have made sense. Excluding rampant corruption, that was the idealized form of governance for ancient emperors.
Ideally, the only documents on the Emperor's desk should be disaster-relief allocations and border-war reports. Domestically, the Emperor only needed to express "sympathy" for the refugees; everything else was just a stage for His Majesty to build his legacy.
The common folk? Weren't they just resource nodes you placed on a map that passively generated grain and converted into political achievements for local officials?
What do you mean they're people too? Holy shit, they're actually people?!
"Besides, he completely missed the most critical issue, didn't he?" Shu couldn't help but add. This time, it was Otto's turn to watch Shu with a knowing, amused smile as Shu started to get worked up.
"The entire reason we gathered everyone in Arc City in the first place is so that when a Herrscher appears, I can protect everyone at once, right?!"
"Hah..." Otto couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Exactly. That is the problem, my friend."
If the world was simply a post-apocalyptic wasteland where the only threats were mindless zombies and scattered Honkai Beasts, Otto might have genuinely considered decentralizing the population.
Because in a relatively stable environment, humanity's primary objective is repopulation, and expanding their territorial footprint is undoubtedly the most effective way to facilitate that.
A larger territory means more resource acquisition. To throw in some sociology: humans with a higher standard of living are far more inclined to reproduce.
Conversely, the current hyper-dense population naturally exacerbated wealth disparity, which drastically reduced the urge to reproduce.
But that was the crux of the issue.
Otto hadn't gathered everyone here for the sake of repopulation. He gathered them here so that Shu could protect them.
The enemies they faced weren't just zombies and Honkai Beasts; they were those absurdly overpowered, logic-defying Herrschers.
With the Fire Moth's current capabilities, excluding Shu, they could barely scrape together enough combat power to contest a single Herrscher—and even then, the odds of failure heavily outweighed the odds of success.
Under the right conditions, Kiana and the others could defeat a Herrscher. But the likelihood of them actually getting those 'right conditions' was incredibly low.
"So, I rejected his proposal. He was furious. He cursed me right then and there, calling me a power-hungry dictator..." Otto laughed. Shu could tell he was genuinely exhausted by the sheer stupidity of the interaction.
"Honestly, I couldn't even be bothered to explain it to him. A fool who could come up with a plan like that, completely blind to the reality of our situation, wouldn't understand even if I spoon-fed him the explanation. And besides, even if I let him be, what kind of waves could he possibly make?..."
Otto paused, his tone laced with utter disinterest.
"The absolute worst thing a creature like that can do is whine about me on the Spark forums, gather a few like-minded losers to circle-jerk about the utopian empire they would have built, and then die decades later, having achieved absolutely nothing, simmering in their own bitter resentment. Am I wrong?"
"You really didn't hold back on tearing the guy to shreds, huh..." Hearing Otto's brutal assessment, Shu actually started to feel a sliver of pity for the poor idiot.
Otto shrugged indifferently. "The man was at least twenty years old and still spouting that kind of drivel. He's already wasted the golden years of his life living like a dog; do you honestly expect him to accomplish anything monumental?"
"There's no need to go that far... really..." Shu waved his hands, sweating nervously. "Late bloomers exist, you know? Just look at, for example..."
"For example, you? Or perhaps the man with the 500,000 Marks..." Otto's lips curled into a smirk.
"Stop right there. Do not speak that name." Shu quickly cut him off, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off an incoming headache.
"Speaking of which... did I ever properly explain Rice Cake's Herrscher Authority to you?"
"Hmm... You weren't incredibly detailed, but the gist of it was... Rice Cake enhanced your existing abilities, correct?" Otto's expression grew serious as he recalled their previous conversation and summarized his understanding.
"To be precise, Rice Cake's ability is to grant a target the exact power they need to fulfill their deepest obsession. It only manifested as an 'enhancement' for me because of my specific situation."
Otto: "..."
He leaned back slightly, staring silently at Shu.
After a long pause, Otto spoke, his voice hauntingly quiet.
"So... what you're telling me is that there is a non-zero chance that the idiot from earlier could awaken as a similar Herrscher, and then use some incomprehensible, logic-defying power to forcefully execute his delusional master plan?"
"It's only a possibility. And a microscopically small one at that," Shu quickly offered, realizing he needed to give Otto some reassurance before the man had a stroke. "Hmm... It's about as likely as the moon suddenly shattering and falling on our heads right now."
"But the moon has shattered before," Otto pointed out grimly, causing the sweating Shu to freeze in his tracks.
"Has it...? Well... haha..."
This world truly is plagued by disasters, isn't it?