"How can there be competition if the government has so much power? It sounds like you're wasting Zephyx," Mentos asked.
"There is competition," Nick said. "Just not for the top spot."
"The government is the undisputed ruler, and there is no possible way to dethrone it. I would even go so far as to say that if there is a chance that the government can be dethroned, you have already committed a mistake."
Mentos furrowed his brows. "Companies are the ones that create the Zephyx, and competition is the thing that makes companies efficient. If only the weakest compete with each other, you will only get the smallest profits."
Nick looked at Mentos with an even expression. "Are you that dead-set on ignoring everything happening before your eyes right now?" he asked with annoyance.
Nick had enough of Mentos' bad-faith questions.
Marvin raised his brows while Simon just frowned.
Leopold seemed neutral.
"We are having a discussion," Mentos said with a cold tone. "Your arguments-"
"No, we are not having a discussion," Nick interrupted Mentos. "I told you how I run my city. You know the numbers I put out. This is indisputable. These are facts. You are trying to argue about facts by using hypotheticals that are not based on reality."
"I told you how many Specters the city has and how powerful they are."
"I told you what we pay in tribute."
"I told you how we are achieving that."
"Yet, here you are, arguing about how things should be based on your experiences and beliefs instead of how they actually are. You are ignoring facts in favor of a prognosis that is unnecessary and frankly untrue."
Mentos looked at Nick coldly.
Then, he turned to the other three for a second before turning to look at Nick again.
"If you are not willing to have a civil discussion, I see no reason to keep a polite tone either."
"What I am saying is that I think you are not presenting an accurate picture of the facts."
"I think you are keeping things hidden," Mentos said.
Nick looked with a bored expression at Mentos. "Fine. Go ask around."
Mentos raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Go ask around," Nick repeated. "Go ask anyone. Outer City, Inner City, I don't care. Ask literally any single person or Extractor. I am not keeping any secrets from you. I might have the power to manipulate a couple of people into lying to you, but I can't manipulate all 12,000 people to such a fine degree."
"Ask anyone."
Mentos frowned. "I'm not here to ask anyone. You are the one that is supposed to present the city."
"But I'm lying," Nick answered. "So, why do you keep talking to me if you think I'm lying? There is an easy way to get to the truth. You can just ask around. That will show whether or not I'm lying."
"You are free to go to any place in the city and talk to anyone. Do whatever you want to find out how this city is run. I'll wait."
Mentos seemed more than annoyed. "We are-"
"That's a good idea," Marvin interjected calmly.
Mentos frowned as he turned to Marvin, who continued talking.
"We are here to find out how the city operates," Marvin explained. "Looking at the city ourselves is the best way to do that."
Leopold nodded. "I want to know more about the Extractors. I think I'm going to go to a couple of them and ask them about the city."
"I'm interested in the social aspect," Simon said. "Quite a few things changed, and I want to take a closer look at them."
Marvin let out a small smile. "Perfect, because I'm interested in the business aspect of things. How about we gather here in two hours?"
The other two nodded.
"What are you going to do?" Marvin asked Mentos.
Mentos looked coldly at Nick. "I think I'm going to take a look at the government."
"I'll gladly accompany you," a new voice said.
Mentos looked to the origin of the voice and saw Aria looking at him.
Nick had sent a signal to Aria.
He didn't trust Mentos at all.
Mentos threw a cold glance at Aria before his demeanor returned to normal. "I would appreciate it."
"Then, see you in two hours," Marvin said before he flew away.
Leopold also quickly left while Aria led Mentos away.
Now, only Nick and Simon were left.
"A lot of things are different," Simon said.
Nick nodded. "I told you that everything will be different the next time you are here."
Simon just nodded wordlessly.
"Want me to show you around?" Nick asked.
"Sure," Simon answered.
Nick and Simon walked around the Outer City for a while.
Simon looked at the bustling streets and took note of the different atmosphere.
The last time he was here, the atmosphere had been oppressive.
But this time, the atmosphere seemed bustling.
Naturally, it wasn't filled with happiness. Such an atmosphere only existed in fairy tales.
Yet, it was still filled with life and ambition.
Nevertheless, not everyone could have a good life, and Simon eventually came across one of Crimson City's beggars.
The beggar sat on the side of the road with a metallic mug and just slept.
He looked disheveled and stank to high heaven.
Simon had lived for a long time, and he had seen millions of people over the centuries.
Inexperienced people would believe that this beggar was just like the poor people of the old Dregs, but that wasn't actually true.
The difference was in ambition.
The people of the Dregs Simon had seen five years before were fighting for their lives.
They were working themselves to the bone and taking immense risks to stay alive.
They might have been just as dirty and disheveled as this beggar, but everything else was different.
This beggar wasn't trying very hard to stay alive.
He just didn't care.
This attitude could have many different reasons.
A tragic accident that took away all of his hope.
Self-hatred.
Addiction.
Mental illness.
Depression.
Or he was just a very eccentric and lazy person.
Simon could see this difference very clearly.
Someone who wasn't willing to fight for themselves would find themselves at the bottom of society unless they had someone fighting for them.
Simon and Nick continued walking, and they soon found a couple more beggars.
One of them was rapidly pacing around the streets, talking to herself loudly.
One was walking around while looking at everyone with hatred.
Another one was extremely thin and constantly scratching a wound on his arm.
It was clear that all of these people had issues.
"What can they do to improve their circumstances?" Simon asked Nick after a while.
"Donate half a liter of blood," Nick answered immediately. "That gives you more than enough money to eat for a month. Housing is also pretty cheap since we have more houses than people. Right now, the city is searching for handymen to expand the sewer system since we don't want everything to turn into a big lake of shit again."
"Getting back on your feet isn't difficult in Crimson City."
"The only things that can stop you are mental illness and your lack of will to fight," Nick said.
"What about the mentally ill?" Simon asked.
"I'm not running a charity," Nick said. "If you are unable to take care of yourself, someone else has to take care of you, and if you don't have anybody else, nobody will take care of you."
"I want to improve the lives of the people, but I can only do so as long as this benefits Aegis as well."
"If the people want to take care of the mentally ill, they are free to do so. I'm not stopping them from making hospitals, asylums, or whatever."
"But the city won't pay for it."
Simon just nodded.
Naturally, there were always places that could be improved, and in Simon's opinion, this was one aspect.
However, highlighting that fact would be overly critical.
Crimson City already had the fewest poor people in every city Simon had seen in his life.
Criticizing Crimson City for that number would be putting too much focus on a relatively small issue.
Eventually, two hours passed, and everyone walked back to the meeting place.
When Nick arrived, Marvin and Leopold were already animatedly talking with each other and sharing their findings.
They seemed positively surprised by Crimson City.
"Ah, Nick," Marvin spoke with a friendly smile. "Just the person I wanted to speak to."
"Yes?" Nick asked.
"How did you manage to become so hated by the people?" he asked.
"Which people?" Nick asked.
"The ones living on the top floor."
"Ah, the upper layer," Nick repeated. "Well…"
Then, Nick told Marvin exactly what he had done to the people of the top layer, and the more he spoke, the more Marvin's eyebrows rose in surprise.
That was… very unorthodox.
"Why did you antagonize the most powerful people of the city to such a degree?" Marvin asked.
"Because they weren't willing to give a small part of their wealth so that the poor can have a life."
"If I don't take it by force, it will never leave their hands."
"They comply or die."
"There is no third choice."