Rise of the Godking - Chapter 81

Daneel's mind raced as he swept through the town. He seemed to gather up slaves, refinery workers, and even a few from the Courtyard as if he was a gale gusting over a dusty landscape. They fell into step behind him, asking where he was going but still following even if he gave no answer. His head was bent in thought, his brows were furrowed with concentration and his eyes remained on the tiled pavement, but he was not unaware of the large crowd he was gathering with each step that he took.

A babble grew behind him, getting louder and louder with each second that passed. It was mostly filled with curiosity, but there were equal parts awe due to what he had accomplished in the town before and shock due to his relationship with the dwarves that they had found out, and the nickname whose origin they did not know.

Daneel kept his focus firmly on the problem in front of him. He still didn't know the exact details of the workings of the town, but at the moment, they didn't matter. He trusted those three enough that he didn't doubt their alarm, and although he had seemed perfectly confident in front of them, only a vague outline of a plan had formed then which he was flushing out now before he reached his destination.

Thankfully, such tasks were his bread-and-butter. He relied on everything he had seen and learned from Earth, everything he had experienced and lived through on Angaria, and soon, an old school scheme of the sort that he had used to love to deploy on the island he had transmigrated to came to him.

He ducked into a large mansion on the way, not caring about who it belonged to. There were a few nobles inside who gawked at him as he burst through their doors, and although they looked like they were about to give in to their instincts and throw him out as they would have done if this was a few days ago, they controlled themselves in the last moment and saved themselves from the beating that the crowd would surely have given them if they had raised even a hand in protest.

Not even granting a glance to any of them, he went to their wardrobes and picked three outfits after rifling through at least fifty as he searched the perfect ones that suited his purposes. When he was finally happy, he nodded to himself and made his way out, and with even more puzzlement than before, the crowd followed, now swelling at its seams, barely able to fit into the large roads of the surface as they followed him down his path.

Soon, this problem ceased to exist when he left the confines of the elegant buildings and reached the empty, dusty area that was present between the last building on the border and the crystals that led to the Pit. He walked up to the teleportation matrix and looked like he was about to step through… but at the last moment, he turned around with a flourish and began to use his hand skilfully to modify the clothes he had been carrying under his arm.



One had been a crisp white suit. Now, the hands of the shirt and the jacket had been torn off and the vest had been changed to be worn around the waist, ready for tools to be hung from it if needed. The pants had also been turned baggy so that anyone wearing them would be free to move, and donning the attire in one quick go, Daneel stepped into the crystals and heard the others follow.

Soon, they were all crowded into that entryway in the Pit that was usually empty. It was a very tight fit, with many actually having to stay on the surface as there was simply no way for them to come, too. Those that had arrived had their eyes fixed on him, and without even blinking, they followed as he made his way inward, his steps echoing strangely through the caverns as they were empty for the first time in anyone's living memory.

Soon, he was at the entrance of a mine. Many of those watching drew in breath sharply as he picked up the tools lying outside and started to work, digging out a crystal from a vein that was nearest to him.

Some slaves who clearly loved him more than the rest stepped forward to help, but he simply raised his hand to stop them. He walked out with a big crystal in his mind, and as they parted in front of him, he heard them muttering between themselves, wondering what he was up to.

Daneel was soon at the Refinery. Here, he took the second suit which had been a fashionable, blue three-piece outfit, with a long fur-lined cloak with a hood at the top. He had cut away the furry parts of it and had made it so that it simply hung to the floor, and as for the rest, he had given them a similar treatment with the only difference being that the vest remained as it was.

He made his way into the refinery with the people following still, and when he walked out of it, in his hand was a refined crystal. The sun above had been dimmed as no one was using it, but still, its power had been enough to refine just the one he had brought out of the Pit.

He then went to the Courtyard, and there, the third suit which happened to be crimson was not altered. Here, he did not wear it as he had no idea what he was supposed to do… so he gestured at one of the younger members of the Courtyard who had been following him until now to come forward. As the man did his work, he finally addressed the people whose curiosity was close to bursting like a balloon.

"Hear me. I said we would talk… and now is the time. You have all heard the words of those people who interrupted us so rudely. We have a quota to fulfill, and if we fail, they will rain fire and death and destruction down on us. I could have sugarcoated this in many ways… but I choose to give you the truth as it is. Everything that has ground to a halt needs to begin, anew… but things will not be the same, at all. You have just seen me establish the uniforms for those who will work in each layer of the town. First and foremost: no one will need to live underground. I have made the estimations: there is more than enough space up above for all of us to live in harmony. All the living areas in these three layers will be repurposed later, but for now, they shall be empty, standing as an unpleasant memory of the time when our lives were not in our hands. 

"Each and every one who works will be paid a salary. Right now, all former slaves only know how to dig in the Pit, and all those in the Refinery only know how to work that tower. But from tomorrow, itself… tutors will be present who will teach you the ways of working in the layers above yours, if you wish to learn. Even if you don't, what you will earn will be more than enough for you to live happy lives. If you work hard, you will rise in life, and no one will be there to stop you and send you back to the depravity you were unlucky enough to be born in. Until now, you could not choose either your past, or your future. From now on, the latter is firmly in your hands. This is my promise. No matter what one's vocation is, they can hold their heads held high with the dignity that is only present in those who earn their right to live. If there are any doubts or issues, let me know. But if there are bone… then let us take this first step into the future together. I'm itching for a shift in the Pit. Will anyone be joining me?"

Hands shot up in the crowd, and Daneel smiled. Almost all the slaves were ready, with a few from the Refinery even avidly jumping, as if there was nothing, whatsoever, wrong with their menial work. 

That was what Daneel had wanted. On earth, the dignity that one obtained from the work they did was a really important aspect of human society. In a specific country, the job of a construction worker might be looked out upon to be menial and unworthy of notice… but in a different place, it would be respected, and even coveted by many for the stability it offered. A job's value changed depending on how society saw it. Daneel was determined to have the same happen here, by offering both housing benefits and salaries that no slave had ever dared to dream of, and in front of him, he could see his plan blooming into what he had hoped it would be.

He knew that it wouldn't be perfect, though, and he hadn't expected it to be so, either. Small steps. Only small steps, taken one after the other would lead the town to where he wished it would go, and for now, he was happy with this particular step.

'And at the end of the day… what else can one wish for? Brother… I've already begun. If you're watching from somewhere… I hope you're smiling.'

With that thought, he grinned, too, and switched clothes before heading to the Pit with a long line of people behind him, all rearing to go as if they had been promised a trip to paradise.