Wow... in a gathering of Beastfolks, I would have thought that the arrangement for regions would be a lot more... equal.
They could have separated each region like a pie chart, with each race having an equal share in New Sparta.
But clearly, the Draconians had the advantage against the others as they completely dominated the center of the territory.
I did hear that the Draconians were the one who started New Sparta, so it would make sense why they had the center piece.
The other Beastfolks could have just moved in after the Draconians had already settled in, so the only space they had left was outwards. That's where the Beastfolks were living... but what about humans?
As he moved closer, he finally saw a cluster of small huts outside New Sparta.
Is that?
On the outskirts of New Sparta, he saw a collection of wooden shacks and cabins which had plenty of humans occupying inside.
There must have been tens of thousands of humans just camped outside of New Sparta!
He then began scanning through the crowd, searching for a familiar face when he finally found someone in the huts!
He immediately exited the Drone's Pocket Dimension and floated down towards a small hut near the lower left quadrant of New Sparta.
As he got closer, he saw Reptar, with his usual cowboy hat and spurred boots talking with his employees and commanding them with vigor.
Reptar only noticed him once he finally descended into the ground.
"Michael! You made it!" Reptar greeted, giving Michael a big hug. "It's been a while. How are you holding up?" he asked.
"Good, good. I got lucky and had some business ventures that got me quite a few Sand Dollars to spare. But as you probably know, it's always not enough. That's why I'm putting all of my effort here in New Sparta."
Michael looked around, noticing that the Reptar had made quite a home for himself here. Judging from the heavy-set furniture around him, it looked like Reptar was setting up for a long stay here.
Reptar noticed his look and chuckled. "Our living situation is not ideal, haha. But it doesn't matter."
"So we are going to be staying here outside of New Sparta."
"Yup. New Sparta is only for Beastfolks. We can only visit it or set up our shop there, but we can't be permanent tenants. But it's better this way because it would be much easier to transport our goods to and fro New Sparta."
Michael didn't mind the living situation, especially since he could just teleport to the Nation of Reborn whenever he needed to sleep.
"But why are you all living in huts? Why not build an actual structure?" he asked Reptar.
Even though they didn't have concrete to construct buildings extremely fast, they could still use conventional tricks to build a
house in a matter of a month or so.
"Others do," Reptar replied. "But New Sparta's only going to last a few months, a year at the most so it just isn't worth the effort."
"A year at most? I haven't heard of that."
"Ah, I forgot you weren't in the meeting. The Draconinans decided that New Sparta is only going to last for a limited amount of time. From this point onward, we and other companies would have to vie
for the Beastfolks' attention. You see all those other people in the distance?"
Reptar pointed at the small cluster of huts surrounding them. "They're from neighboring territories, and we will have to compete with them and prove to the Beastfolks that we are most deserving of their time.
Things aren't settled just through pure strength alone as other Beastolks value something other than power. They might value entertainment, utility, and other such factors.
But at the end of the year, there will be a show of power.
The Draconians are going to be setting up a massive tournament involving all companies and all Beastfolks in New Sparta.
The one who wins will get the respect of the Draconians. And you know what they're famous for, right?"
"No?"
Reptar chuckled. "It's their wealth! Draconians are famous hoarders of riches. You won't believe how much Sand Dollars those guys have. They could have gone toe to toe with the conglomerates if they weren't so individualistic."
Michael was glad to know that the competitions in New Sparta
weren't just going to be a test of strength. Although he was pretty confident of his power, he knew that the Dragonborns weren't ready at all for that kind of event.
Sheina was the only one who awakened her Diva, and she was still at
the 1st stage.
Thankfully though, it seemed like the tournament would only occur
at the very end of the year.
Hopefully, at that point, he would have already established great connections with the Beastfolks and have gotten enough Sand Dollars to fund the Dragonborns' cultivation up to a good standard.
"Alaric said that I have my own place. Can you show me where it is?"
Reptar nodded. "Of course! It's right beside mine, right over there!"
He pointed at a small hut surrounded by lots of open space, ready for an expansion.
"Your place is actually the best position to be in. I'm quite jealous, to be honest," said Reptar. "It's the nearest to the gate, meaning that you could potentially market your store to the tourists that are going to be coming in and out of New Sparta."
"Why didn't you get it?"
Reptar chuckled. "Are you kidding me? I don't deserve this place. Only
those that are in the Major Factions are the ones that have positions
in similar places."
Back in the meeting, they all unanimously decided that Michael and the Reborn company had the same weight as the Major Factions. He was just below that of the Legacies, but above that of the Rising
Six.
He was an entire league of his own. That was why he deserved this
spot.
"Thanks, Reptar."
"No problem! Just holler out to me if you want to ask any questions.
We're neighbors after all!"
Michael then walked over to the small hut reserved for him.
The whole place was literally built with just a few sticks as foundation,
with a giant cloth covered on top of it.
It wasn't a place meant to give you a comfortable night's sleep. But
that didn't mean it had to be.
Perhaps, this was a great time for him to show off the wonders of concrete to the tourists.